A year to Remember. Part 3, The Conclusion

Reciepts

The week was... interesting. His work at Spider-Man was fun as always. Ned and MJ started joining by call as well, both chatting with Peter and Nat when she joined along. Nat proved to be a lot nicer to Ned than he expected, still scary when angry but nice, like MJ. Shuri did join too on occasion, though only if Nat wasn't there. If there's anyone who can hold a grudge it's her.

Peter also felt different. That thrill he felt jumping off buildings, gliding through Queens, it's changed. That rush of adrenaline burning through his veins and void in his stomach he felt before has been replaced by a calmer but stronger fire in his heart and mind, a calming cooling shiver at the crest of every swing, and a rising wave of confidence in his chest.

Stopping crimes has also stopped being the goal, the main goal. He still stops crimes and has Karen guide him to the nearest one but Peter's realised his first priority has been changing the lives of those around him.

Before he always stuck with everyone out of a sense of responsibility. He still cared, of course he did but the primary driving factor was a feeling of responsibility. Now he always sticks to everyone because he knows for certain, regardless of who they are, his presence and support can help them. A lesson he learnt from the Avengers.

This also meant that the crushing weight on his shoulder grew lighter every day, specially when he got help from Nat.

One more change he noticed and really liked ever since he returned was that Queens seemed to love him more. People were cheering any time he swung above them. When he was stopping less intense crimes others would try and help any way they could or if he asked. And any place he stopped he got thanked, offers for high-fives, hugs or food, and even a few gifts.

Spider-manning also provided a very easy excuse for Ned, MJ, May and others of why he kept getting bruised or cut. The real reason for those injuries being a pissed off Trash, he's been getting worse and more physical recently, more aggressive. Random punches, kicks, knee hits, usually in the bathroom or after school though he'd sneak something in every time they're alone together.

Luckily, Today's Friday which means no Trash and yes Internship. "You sure you're ok dude?", Ned asks for probably the 12th time in Happy's car. All boys in the back, MJ in her book at the front. "Your head loser", she points at the bandaid over his forehead. "I'm fine guys, I promise".

That's the last time they could ask, which was excellent news for Peter, as that's when Happy stops by the tower's private staff parking lot. "They're waiting for you", happy shoves them off his car, pushing them up to the elevator and having Friday shoot them up to Bruce's & Tony's lab's, and Sam & Pepper's office.

Though when he's up to Tony's lab, the interrogation begins again. "Hey kid! How's your mo- what's that", Tony's initial friendliness flips for confusion and worry, walking up to Peter and instantly looking over the cut on his forehead and anything else he can find. "I'm fine Tony, I promise".

"Then what's that?", he asks a lot less worried and more stern. "I fell walking up the stairs yesterday, cut myself, but I promise I'm fine". Again, Tony's smarter than that, he knows Peter's full of shit. He can also guess the real reason behind his injury but, again, long game. "Alright, if you want to change your bandaid there's some by the first aid cabinet", he points to the kitchen moving back to his desk, nodding Peter over.

Tony extends his hand at the teen, "can I have the watch back. There's a couple optimisation updates and bug fixes I wanted to upload to it". Peter doesn't question it, preoccupied with the changed bandaid recommendation. Tony on the other hand was elated for the second prong of his plan landing.

He wasn't lying about the updates, but there was another reason. Tony had some recordings to download. The watch was to help Peter with his internship, but Tony also wanted to find out what was going on and knew Peter would never tell. The updates themselves just added a remote activation option, instead of the recordings starting at 7:15 to 4:15; school hours.