/QUEENS, NY/

\TWO WEEKS BEFORE\

Peter was walking home from school, his friends chattering about an upcoming dance or something next to him. He had sworn off school dances ever since his encounter with Vulture, but that didn't stop Ned and MJ from trying to entice him into going to this year's homecoming dance.

"Sorry, guys," he said as they approached his apartment building. "But I'm still behind on schoolwork." Because he just went on another mission with the other Avengers. Nothing too big, but enough for him to miss a couple days of school. "I can't keep falling behind. Aunt May's gonna kill me if my GPA keeps dropping."

Ned let out a loud sigh, and MJ rolled her eyes skeptically. "With that Stark Internship, I'd doubt if it would even matter. Isn't he, like, trying to pay for college?"

Peter bit his lip, wondering how much he should tell his friends about Tony Stark. They knew he was Iron Man, of course, and that he was helping Peter and his aunt out financially, but not much else.

"He is," the teen eventually admitted. "But I'm determined to get into a good school by my own merits."

MJ laughed then, amused. "Okay, sure. He's still Tony freaking Stark, though. It's not like he can't afford it."

Peter briefly wondered if MJ was a bit jealous of him, but he immediately banished that thought. It was absurd, wasn't it?

"Y'know," Ned cut in, trying to ease the oncoming tension. "I've met Tony Stark before."

"You saw him from a distance, while he was doing a public interview," Peter corrected with an eye roll.

"It still counts," Ned replied with a slight pout. "Although... it would be pretty cool to meet him formally, you know? Maybe some of the other Avengers, too?" He looked at Peter hopefully as the three made their way into the teenager's apartment building.

"Tony's a busy man," Peter responded evasively. "So are the others."

"I'm sure they could spare a few minutes, couldn't they?" Ned persisted, looking over at MJ. "Right, M?"

MJ sighed and mumbled something about boys being stupid. Peter unlocked the door to his aunt's apartment, and the three teenagers stepped inside.

"May's still at work," Peter explained as they walked through the empty apartment. "She shouldn't be back before six."

"And that matters because...?" MJ rose an eyebrow.

Peter and Ned raced toward the teen's bedroom. "Well, I don't think she'd quite approve of this," Peter explained, pulling out his laptop from his desk drawer. "And I suppose Tony wouldn't, either... now that I think about it."

Ned plopped down on Peter's bed, and the other teenager followed suit. MJ stood in the doorway of Parker's bedroom, arms crossed. "Are you two trying to hack into the surveillance cameras from the strip club down the street again?" She asked, only half-joking.

"We're trying to get Peter's suit some new upgrades," Ned said, rolling his eyes at her comment.

"And we've never hacked into security cameras," Peter added defensively, though his face turned a couple shade redder than usual.

"Why can't you just ask Stark for new upgrades?" MJ asked, taking a seat next to Peter. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

The teenager shrugged in response, though his casual demeanor seemed a bit forced. "He tried to give me this... this super fancy suit the last time I saw him," he answered. "I declined his offer, and he seemed pretty bummed out about it."

"Why didn't you take it?" MJ questioned, looking confused.

Peter shrugged again. "I guess it just didn't feel right at the time."

Ned looked over at the other teen, then. "You're the only person I know who would turn down Tony Stark on an offer like that." He shook his head. "You really missed an opportunity there, man."

Peter frowned, then looked back down a his laptop screen. "Yeah... yeah, maybe I did," he conceded, though he didn't really feel like he had. "Either way, though, my suit should probably get an upgrade."

Ned nodded, taking Peter's laptop. "Yes. Leave that to me."

Parker rolled his eyes and moved to his closet to get his Spider-Man suit. He had spent most of his night's patrolling the surrounding streets for the past few months. His suit was getting a little worn down, but he didn't want to admit as much to Tony. The billionaire would probably make him accept the new suit.

"It's a little... rough," he said as he handed it to Ned. "Karen still works fine, though."

Ned nodded, hands tapping away at the laptop's keyboard. He grabbed the suit from Peter and started examining it. "Geez, man, when was the last time you washed this thing?" He sniffed it and then made a point of hoisting it across the room. "It smells worse the a middle-schooler's gym locker!"

"Who's Karen?" MJ asked, getting up from the bed to look at Peter's suit.

"She's an AI inside my suit," Peter explained, sitting back down next to Ned. He then turned to the teen beside him, "And I'll have you know that I washed it this past weekend."

Ned scrunched up his nose, looking a bit repulsed. "That thing should get washed at least every other day, Peter. You could knock someone out just by having them smell it."

"It's not that bad," Peter argued, crossing his arms. "You're being over dramatic."

Ned started working on the new upgrades, and Peter made comments about them every now and again. MJ resorted to working on homework she hadn't finished in class, and eventually to playing on her phone. It was around five when Peter got a message of his phone.

"It's probably May," he said as he got up to retrieve his devise from his bedside table. "Maybe she's staying late tonight."

But as he checked his message, he was surprised to find that it wasn't from May at all.

"Everything okay?" MJ asked, seeing Peter stare at his phone without typing a response, or saying anything at all.

Ned looked up from the laptop, eyebrows furrowed. "Summons from Stark?" He guessed.

Peter could only nod his head in response. "I Uh... I gotta go," he said hurriedly. "It's... it's bad."

Ned stood up, setting the laptop down on Peter's bed. "But the updates aren't done yet—"

"Don't worry," he replied, waving a hand dismissively. "I don't think I'll be needing it for this."

Ned wanted to ask what he meant by that, but Peter was already racing out of his bedroom and out of the apartment. "Stay here and finish the updates!" He called back to Ned. "I'll be back in a couple hours!"

"What if your aunt comes back before then?!" MJ called back, giving Ned a look. "What should we do?"

"Tell her Tony needed me!" Peter answered, swinging open the front door. "But don't tell her about the updates!"

Ned and MJ stared at Peter rushed out of the apartment and down the hall. The two teenagers looked at each other and then at the still-open front door.

"Is he always like this?" MJ eventually asked, walking over to close the apartment's front door.

"Not usually," Ned answered, looking bewildered. "This is strange... even for Peter."

MJ nodded, walking back into Parker's bedroom. "Hey, look," she said, grabbing Peter's discarded phone. "Let's see what that text was all about."

"We shouldn't look at his messages," Ned said with a frown, taking the phone from her. "That would be rude."

MJ rolled her eyes and took the devise back. "It's not like I'm looking at all of his messages, Ned. I just wanna see what made him freak out like that so suddenly."

Ned looked conflicted, but he didn't stop her as she unlocked Peter's phone and looked for the most recent message he'd received. She read it over, frowned, then read it over again.

"What does it say?" Ned asked, peering over her shoulder at the text.

"It... it doesn't make sense," MJ answered, handing him the devise. "What does this mean?"

Ned studied the text, trying to decipher the weird almost code-like structure it was worded in, then made a little "oh!" sound.

"What does it mean?" MJ repeated, confused.

Ned slowly looked up from the phone, his gaze darkening. "This... This isn't good, M. Peter's gotten himself into... something bad."

"How bad?" MJ wondered aloud, raising an eyebrow.

"We have to tell Tony."

"But didn't Peter say that the text was from Tony?"

Ned shook his head, a worried expression filling his features. "He lied, MJ. This isn't just some summons to go on another mission. This is... this is really bad."

"I don't understand—"

"Stay here," Ned said, racing back to Peter's laptop. "Stay here and wait for Peter's aunt. Once she gets here, make sure she stays here until I can contact someone." Ned grabbed the laptop atop Parker's bed, and also put Peter's phone in his back pocket. "I'm gonna video message Stark, if I can get him online, and tell him where Peter went. If he doesn't answer, I'll have to try some of Parker's other contacts."

MJ stood in the middle of Peter's room, behind confused. "I still don't understand," she said. "Where did Peter go?"

"There's an old warehouse a few blocks from here," Ned explained. "That's where he went." He gathered Peter's suit in his arms, along with the laptop, and started towards the front door. "But that's not the bad part."

"Then what is?" MJ questioned, trailing behind Ned.

"The bad part is who he's meeting at the warehouse," the other teen answered, opening the front door again. "And what they're gonna do."

"But that still doesn't explain—"

"I need to get ahold of Stark now," Ned cut her off. "And you need to stay here in case May comes back before Peter."

MJ wanted to ask more questions, but Ned was already rushing down the hallway after Peter. What had she gotten herself into? Why couldn't she have just taken the bus home for once?

AUTHOR'S NOTE: So this is really fun for me to write. I hope you guys are enjoying it so far!

Just so there isn't any confusion, this story takes place when Peter is in his Junior year of high school, so the year after Spider-Man: Homecoming.

I'm not sure about the time-gap between that movie and Infinity War, so in this AU Peter was a sophomore more Spider-Man: Homecoming, and so now he's a junior.

(Cuz 17 can be the age of a junior in high-school, right? I'm currently 16 and I'll be a junior this fall, and my birthday is halfway thru the school year. So yeah... that makes sense, right?)

Anyways, I know this story might not be making a lot of sense right now, but hopefully these flashback chapters will help clear some things up.

Also, feel free to leave reviews if you're liking this story so far, or just to tell me what you think of it in general! :)

I always appreciate feedback, and it helps me improve my writing for future chapters/stories.

Thanks again for reading this story so far! I hope you continue to enjoy it! ;)

~ Miss Faith