Finding the Way Home

Chapter 1

A/N: Does not contain spoilers for No Way Home. Although I'm calling it a "rewrite", it's most just goes off of the mid credits scene of Far From Home. Honestly, the NWH trailers contain more spoilers for the movie than this entire book.

It was May who picked them up from the airport with a smile much too big to mean she didn't know what Peter had asked in Prague. Michelle didn't have it in her to be either surprised or annoyed with her recently dubbed fiancé for sharing the news, though. As soon as May and her way too eager smile were in sight, Michelle couldn't help but grin as well and break away from their cluster of friends to entertain May's questions.

"Show me the ring!" May demanded, grabbing Michelle's left hand after a very brief, very tight hug.

For what it was worth, Michelle didn't think the ring itself was anything worth showing off. Between the little silver ring and the black dahlia necklace that Peter had given her, the necklace was by far her favorite. May seemed to have one interest and one interest only, though, and Michelle would be a liar if she said she wasn't giddy to tell her all about it.

"Oh, MJ," May breathed, "it's beautiful."

It was, but what Michelle loved about the ring was that it was her. In the second after Peter pulled out the ring box but hadn't yet opened it, she'd been worried the ring would be a bit too gaudy for her. When he'd opened the box and shown her a simple silver band, however, she knew he understood her better than she could have ever hoped.

"You've already seen the ring, May," Peter said, stopping behind Michelle and brushing a kiss to the side of her head.

"Not on MJ," May immediately retorted. Hardly sparing her nephew a glance, May waved toward the trunk and told him, "Take care of her bags, Peter."

Michelle grinned and Peter chuckled but did as told.

"Tell me everything," May said, squeezing Michelle's hand and finally looking up from the ring. "I know what Peter said he was going to do, but I want to know what actually happened."

While Peter dropped both their suitcases into the trunk of the car with ease, Michelle launched into the story. Due to Spider-Man's―or Night Monkey's, as Ned had so eloquently renamed Peter in Europe―interruptions throughout the trip, it wasn't until they were all piled into the car that Michelle could really explain what happened.

With how big of an impact he'd had on the trip as a whole, Michelle couldn't leave out Mysterio's persistent appearances. From the first time he'd dragged Peter away from their friends until he'd ambushed Peter in Berlin and gotten him hit by a train, Mysterio had played a much bigger part in how Peter had actually ended up proposing.

"I really did have a plan," Peter murmured, apologizing not for the first time that his proposal hadn't been perfect. "I just―Beck couldn't be ignored."

Michelle hummed in agreement, but she had also left Fury a particularly brutal voicemail about never contacting Peter again because goddammit, he hadn't handled it half as well as she had expected the former director of SHIELD to.

"We heard about him," May said, frowning. "Mysterio. That's what he called himself, right?"

In the backseat, Peter nodded silently and Michelle reached back to grab his hand.

"It was all over the news," May said, and then she filled them in on what New York had seen.

Mysterio had, unfortunately, become quite popular in the short time he'd been around. Only their little group, it seemed, knew what Mysterio had actually been up to. Even amongst them, the details on what happened in London were a little blurry. The rest of the world didn't know anything outside of the fact that there had been some sort of attack that involved Spider-Man and Mysterio. Michelle at least knew how bad it had really been.