|Towards the Endgame|

•Chapter 10• Homecoming

The next day, Peter walks into an almost empty hallway. His eyes fell on the girl walking in his direction. "Hey," Peter called out. Liz looked up. "Hey." She replied. "I thought you had calculus the fifth period," Peter said. "Yeah, I'm just doing some homecoming stuff," Liz explained. Peter approaches her. "Hey, look I, uh...I just wanted to apologize about the whole Decathlon thing. I-" he started. "It's fine. Last week, Decathlon was the most important thing, but then I almost died." Liz cut him off. "No, I-I just mean that... it was not cool, especially..." He sighed, "...because... I like you." He continued. He glanced down at his feet. He didn't want to make eye contact with the girl next to him. Liz looks at the boy. "I know." She tells him. Peter's head shot up. He looked at his crush with a shocked expression on his face. "You do?" He questioned. Liz thought he was adorable. "You're terrible at keeping secrets." She tells him. Peter chuckles at her. "Yeah, you'd be surprised." He smiled at her. He took a step back from her. " I got to get to class, but, um, I'd say we should hang out, but I'm gonna be in detention for...ever, but, um, I guess you already have a date to homecoming." He said. "I was so busy planning it I never really got around to that part, so..." She replied and shook her head. Peter couldn't keep his eyes off her, but somehow this didn't feel right. He decided it was probably just him being nervous. "Uh, do you wanna go with me?" Peter asked her. Liz smiles at him. "Yeah, sure. Although, I thought you'd be going with that new girl. You two seem to be very close." Liz replied. Peter furrows his eyebrows. "Y/n?" He questioned. "Yeah, you two were hanging out all the time. So, I assumed-" she started. Peter shook his head. "No, no, no, no, we're not...we're not like that. We're just friends." He assures Liz. Liz smiled and pushed a strain of hair behind her ear. "Okay, good." She said shyly. Peter was happy he finally asked the girl he liked to the dance. But Y/n's name kept popping up in his head. "Then I have nothing to worry about." She added. Peter snapped back to reality. "What?" Peter asked her. Liz giggled at him. "If you two are just friends, then I have nothing to worry about," Liz explained. "Oh, yeah," Peter replied, "I'm actually...going that way." He added. He walked past Liz with the biggest smile on his face. Y/n was right. He didn't need Spider-man to get the girl.

Meanwhile, Y/n sat in her room reading a book. She sighed as she turned another page. Someone knocked on her door. "Go away, Dad, I'm not in the mood." She said. The door opened and Pepper stepped inside. "I don't want to talk to you either," Y/n tells her mother. Pepper ignored her comment. She walked towards the bed and sat on the edge. "You want to talk about it?" She asked her daughter. "I just told you I don't want to talk about it," Y/n complained. Pepper tilted her head. "Do you want to talk about him?" She asked. Y/n furrows her eyebrows at her mother. "Him? You mean Peter?" She questions. Pepper nodded in response. "What about him?" Y/n asked. Pepper chuckled at her daughter. "You're adorable." She said. Y/n rolls her eyes at her mother. She stands up from her bed. "So, what exactly happened on that boat?" Pepper asked. Y/n shrugs and puts her book on her desk. "What happened was that we fought a birdman," Y/n tells her mother. "Honey, don't think I haven't noticed. You've been a lot happier and more cheerful since we've sent you to that school with him." Pepper tells her daughter. "I do feel happier," Y/n admits, "but my only friends left, so any social contact would've made me feel better." She added. Pepper sighs. "I'm sorry, honey." Pepper apologized. "There was nothing you could do about it, mom. Don't say you're sorry." Y/n tells her. The girl looked outside her window. "Your dad is trying to protect you." Pepper reminds her daughter. "Well, he could've done that by letting me stay with Peter." Y/n replies. She turns around again to look at her mother. "You know your dad's not very good at letting you go. He wants to keep you safe." Pepper said. "Yeah, well, I'm not a little kid anymore. He shouldn't worry about me." Y/n tells her mother. "He will never stop worrying about you. Your father will do anything to make things right and protect those he loves. You know that. And he will always be your father. You will understand that when you become a parent yourself." Pepper explained. Y/n sighed loudly and walks back to her bed. She sits down next to her mother again. "I understand, mom. What I don't understand, is that he's taking me away from my friends. Away from everything that has been making me feel better for the past weeks." Y/n complained. Pepper puts her hand on her daughter's shoulder. She scoots closer to the girl. "I know it's hard, honey." She whispered. She kissed the top of Y/n's head making her sigh again. "I just miss him. And dad taking his suit...it was just not fair." Y/n said.