Here's me, not knowing that they changed the formatting and that I had to use actual page breaks to take a break, that along with posting the first few chapters half asleep, made them almost unreadable so I went back and edited them. Those and this should be a bit easier on the eyes. Enjoy the calm before the storm. SHIT'S ABOUT TO GO DOWN

Gwen hugged Peter in the lobby. "I brought gifts. Not knife-basket gifts of course," she said with a smile over her shoulder to Talia, "But, cookies."

"Avengers?" Peter asked as he picked up one decorated with a mini arc reactor.

"Seemed appropriate," she said with a shrug.

"And the Spider-Man ones?" He asked as he bit into the red, blue and black iced sugar cookie.

"Well it felt rude to leave him out after he saved the city, too. It was Talia's idea. She even helped me bake."

"The Black Widow baking? Is it the end of the world?" He grabbed one of his own cookies- a primed bow on a purple background- and ate it in a single bite.

"I don't know Clint, it was fun. It reminded me of Kolkata."

Barton frowned. "Did we even go on the same missions?" He rolled his eyes. "You guys missed the show today. Flash Thompson joined in. I almost let him hit me a few times. On a related note, do you want some gum? I have way more gum than I know what to do with suddenly."

Peter snorted. "Come on Gwen, Ms. Potts wants to meet you." He nodded a greeting to the redhead.

She might have let out a meep as he led her to the bank of elevators. "She wants to meet me?"

Peter's eyebrows shot up. "Did you just gulp?" He laughed. "You totally just gulped like a 1940's cartoon."

She pushed him gently, though he stumbled like she was full of hidden strength. "Sorry we can't all be the picture of grace when we meet our heroes, I mean I'm sure when you met-"

"Alright, sorry, sorry," he interrupted with a glance back to Barton and Talia. She smirked and he matched it, grabbing a black and red hourglass cookie. "And yes, she wants to meet you. Don't tell anybody, but I think Tony Stark has been saying nice things."

"Destination, Mr. Parker? Miss Stacy?"

Gwen jumped and nearly dropped the platter but, of course, Peter caught it easily. "What was that?"

"JARVIS, the AI butler. Ms. Potts, J."

"Of course."

She bumped her shoulder to his. "Ooo you're on a nickname basis with the computer. You're fitting in well."

"Yeah, but not as well as if I made cookies. I should have thought of that."

"I'm sure if you looked really hard, you could find something to bond over."

He gave her look that she could only meet with a half grin and an eyebrow raise. "You could at least argue with Tony about who likes him more."

Peter grimaced. "I'd say never meet your heroes but Ms. Potts is, like, everything you'd thought she would be and more."

The doors opened and he led the way through the mostly empty offices. "So Tony Stark isn't what you thought he would be?"

"No he's exactly like I thought he would be too, I guess. I just thought that when I met him, I'd have 12 calendar models on my arms too. And cool sunglasses." At Gwen's incredulous look, he shrugged. "I was eleven. Cool sunglasses seemed important at the time."

"First lesson, Mini Me: Cool sunglasses are important all the time." Tony was wearing reflective aviators as if to prove a point. "No calendar models 'til you're 18 though."

Peter groaned. "I don't think I'll ever live that video down."

"No, probably not," said a voice with a tinkling laugh. Pepper Potts (Peter didn't even want to know how she had seen it) walked out from a glass office, leather briefcase in her hand that coordinated with her shoes and belt. "You must be Gwen Stacy."

She looked at the woman in slack-jawed wonder. "Funny," Peter whispered to Tony. "I've only ever seen you look at Ms. Potts like that." Tony didn't even try to deny it.

Gwen only managed a squeak before shoving the platter in the older woman's face. "Yep! Cookie?"

"Don't mind if I-" Tony began, but pulled back his hand slowly at the evil look the teenager threw at him. "Never mind. Pepper? Cookie?"

She laughed again, snagging a green cookie with a purple hazmat symbol. Gwen finally let Tony get one, too.

"Wow, these are delicious," She replied kindly.

"Thank you, Ms. Romanova helped."

Peter could only watch the exchange, amused, as Tony spit out his arc reactor cookie, claiming poison.

"Are those cookies?" Darcy said by way of greeting. "God, you're a lifesaver. Literally. You're saving Dr. Foster's life right now. And they're Avengers themed?" She hugged Gwen, despite not even knowing her name. "You know what, Parker, I'll totally overlook the fact that you brought someone to a restricted area if you let me snag a few of these."

"Hey, JARVIS said we should come down here and help you feed your wayward physicists!" Peter defended. "And you know, Aunt May would probably help you if ask nicely. We had to get takeout yesterday cause the Cap ate everything."

Darcy's eyes sparkled with appreciation. "I knew I loved that woman for a reason!" She looked back to Gwen, a bit more sober. "Sorry. Darcy Lewis. Stark's PA."

"I'm Gwen Stacy, Peter's… friend," she replied hesitantly.

"Mmhm," she began, not having the heart to tell them that Tony gossiped more than, well, her, the teenage girl. "Well since, you're here and you provided the treats, you may as well meet the rest of the crew."

If Gwen had anything to say about that, Darcy didn't hear as she was already opening the lab doors. "Janey! I've procured you sustenance!" She grabbed a hammer cookie. "Look! Thor themed! It has Myeh-Myeh on it!"

That got the slight scientist's attention. She turned around, heavy lidded and dressed in rumpled plaid and jeans. "Darce-" She didn't get to finish, as the assistant shoved the food in her mouth without thought. "Darcy. How many times have I told you not to do that," she chastised, though she finished that cookie and absently reached for another.

Gwen handed it to her and she bit into it, not even acknowledging the teenagers. Peter wasn't sure she actually knew they were there. "How many times have I told you to eat more?" Darcy countered. "Cause I'm pretty sure it's the same number."

Peter leaned into Gwen and stage whispered, "I was gonna ask why she had to feed physicists when she was Tony's assistant, but now I see."

That brought Jane's attention to them. She flinched, before scowling. "I thought there was an age minimum for entering the labs. For legal reasons."

"Sorry, she gets grumpy when she's hungry and tired, and to be fair, Jane, you totally ignored them. Gwen, Parker, this is Doctor Foster. Jane, Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. You didn't even thank Gwen for dinner."

"Oh! That's them?" Dr. Foster asked in a way that Peter did not like at all. Then her gaze softened. "Thanks, Miss Stacy," she said as she grabbed five more cookies. "Sorry, I tend to get absorbed in my work."

Gwen nodded. "I get it." She looked around the room, noting the star charts and the 3D models that littered the lab. "Astrophysics, right?" She didn't notice the look of surprise on Jane's face (or the look of pride of on Peter's for that matter). "It's not really something we've learned yet, but I recognize some of the math you've been doing from practice problems we've had." She looked to Peter and he nodded in agreement.

"And I've been reading up on string theory. Not really enough to be of any use, but it was interesting." He peered at some of the diagrams. "Is this a 3D model of Juan Maldacena's Holographic Principle?"

Darcy recognized that gleam in Jane's eye and grumbled. "I'm surrounded by nerds." As Jane explained her work to people that could actually understand it ('4D' and 'theoretical' were tossed around), she still managed to scarf down the rest of her cookies and a few that were still left on Gwen's tray.

There was a knock at the lab door. "Oh, good, Darcy, you're here." She waved at Doctor Banner with a smile. "I thought I was going to have to drag Doctor Foster out."

"Nah, Gwen is helping me feed our workaholic." Banner's brows shot up.

"Gwen Stacy?" She turned at her name. "Peter told me a lot about you." Both teenagers blushed and Darcy could only meet Jane's eyes with a knowing smile. "I'm Doctor Banner."

Recognition flitted across her face. "Oh! You're Dr. Banner?" She turned away from him, working on her tray. "Talia Romanova and I made a special cookie for you."

"Cookie? Black Widow?" He glanced to Darcy who was just as surprised as he.

"Voila! And if you don't like it, she told me to say it was her idea." A plain cookie sat broken in the middle of the tray and the Hulk themed cookie sat in the center of its pieces as if it burst through.

Dr. Banner's eyes shot up and a small smile played on his face. "I… thanks." He shuffled a bit as he bit into the cookie. "It's good. I like the presentation. Very…" he furrowed his brow as he looked for the right word. "I don't know. You could go on the Next Great Baker with those."

Darcy smiled shooting a quick text to Tony. We have to snag this girl from OsCorp.

"Jane's nice," Peter said as they ate whatever food they could find in the communal kitchen.

"I'm sure she would've been nicer if you hadn't insulted her."

"Okay, yeah, maybe but you have to admit she was kind of a mess."

"Passionate, I think." She dipped her apple into the peanut butter and munched it. "Besides, I've seen you worse."

He shrugged, but then looked at her in a way that made her sit straighter. "Gwen."

"Peter Parker." She answered.

"Gwen I-I'm sorry, you know that right?" He grabbed her hand stared into her eyes.

"Of course I do," she replied. "It hurt, not gonna lie. But I know why you did it."

He wondered vaguely if she could feel the tightness in her chest like he felt in his. "I love you. More than Jane loves your baking."

Gwen grinned. "I love you, too." Her grin fell a little. "All of you. You understand? Everything that makes you you."

"Even the ridiculous Tony Stark hero worship?"

She rolled her eyes. "All of it. The science geek, the guy who helps even when Flash could kick his ass. You are meant for great things Peter Parker and you have to know that you'll get there because you are the geek and the hero, not because you're one or the other."

Peter looked at her like she was better than any new invention from Tony Stark. "Gwen Stacy…" He started though he didn't know how to finish. Instead, he just kissed her deeply, pulling her to his lap.

She kissed him, parting her lips at the gentle prodding of his tongue. She'd kissed him before, but this time, she felt like she was drowning in fire. She couldn't breathe as his hands roamed up and down her torso, touching the underside of her breasts. She pulled back just long enough for air, and for her brain to wonder if JARVIS was the one to raise the temperature of the room or if that was just her.

In a moment, they were at it again and, as she straddled his waist, she could feel him growing hard beneath her. She was far from experienced, but it still made her grin into his mouth. His hands grazed up her thighs with light touch and a jolt of electricity jolted from her chest down to her belly and then back again. She shivered against him which made him groan into her mouth.

"Mr. Parker, Miss. Stacy."

Gwen jumped and, if Peter hadn't had a good grip on her thighs and lower back, she would have landed on the floor. " Yes, JARVIS?" He answered, getting a hold of his breathing.

"This area of the tower is constantly monitored by cameras. As such, what you're doing right now is rapidly leading toward illegal."

Gwen blushed from her roots and down her neck. He wondered if it further. "You're right, Peter. It's possible to be absolutely mortified by a computer." He just laughed.

"Come on, Gwen. I'll show you my stamp collection."

She yelped and giggled as he stood-up with her still wrapped around his waist.

"Doctor Connors, Tell me what you know of Peter Parker."

He frowned. "Leave the boy alone. He has been through enough."

"Please, Doctor," the man said condescendingly. "Make this easy for us. It will be easier for you, too."

This time, he said nothing.

"How noble, Doctor, but we have ways of making you comply."

And even as the roughly dragged the one-armed doctor out of his cell, he sent up a silent apology to the Parkers and their son.