Field Trips, Infinity Stones and oh mY GOD IS THAT SPIDER-MAN?

Chapter 10: Endings and beginnings

Even though the battle had ended hours ago Peter's blood continued to pump desperately through his veins. It was as though his body had registered that he was safe now but was still on high alert, ready for whatever might come next. It was exhilarating, if somewhat exhausting.

Peter had said goodbye to his classmates three hours earlier. They'd be at the memorial later that night but given where they'd be standing compared to where Peter was supposed to be... it was unlikely that he would see them.

"I'll see you at school then..." Peter said looking down at his feet and then glancing up to meet MJ's gaze.

"See you then." MJ said slowly, her eyes searching Peter's face.

Peter turned to leave, tugging his backpack closer to his back with one hand. "Peter wait," MJ said reaching out and lightly touching his hand. Peter stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly as she slid her hand into his and squeezed it.

"Remember," She said and with her other hand reached up to brush her finger tips against Peter's temple lightly, "here", her hands moved down to where his heart was "and here." Peter's Spidey senses were still raring to go and the proximity of her hand to his life force made him almost recoil instinctively away. But Peter remained still, brought back by the memory of her words earlier that afternoon.

'For the record I don't think that you ever really lose someone.'

Peter swallowed, looking down at her hand as she withdrew it from his chest. He didn't really know what to say to that. His gratitude couldn't really be put into words, so he settled for a tender squeeze of her other hand which was still in his.

Slowly, MJ let go, allowing Peter to turn around and say goodbye to Ned.

"In case we don't get to see you later," Ned began enveloping Peter in a tight hug, "you'll be fine, I mean come on you're Spider-Man," Ned said quietly. "But if you need to chat later or you need a distraction or anything, just give me a call."

"Thanks Ned." Peter said grinning as he withdrew from the hug.

Though he had tried to ignore it, Peter's mind had somewhat been spinning after his interaction with MJ and had drawn his focus away from the people he ended up having dinner with. He'd felt good as he ate with May, Happy and Morgan but that high had quickly crashed as soon as they arrived back at Stark Industries.

"Your suit." May said having retrieved a black clothes bag from the back of Happy's car.

Peter raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Don't worry, I mean suit, suit." May said smiling and unzipping the bag a fraction so that Peter could see the lapel of the formal jacket.

"Oh right." Peter said, mildly embarrassed but taking it from her non the less.

The Stark Industries bathrooms were not the most comfortable place to get changed into a two-piece suit, but Peter had definitely gotten changed in worse places... he wasn't sure what that said about him and so decided not to dwell on it further. He stepped out into the blue lit bathroom, tugging at the corners of his jacket to straighten it out at the top.

Peter braced his hands on the bathroom sink top and looked at the mirror and at the face staring back. His eyes were looking a lot better compared to how they had appeared at lunch time which was a relief, though Peter couldn't predict how they might look by the end of the memorial. He wasn't quite sure what to expect but knew that Pepper's speech was likely to be emotional. He ran a quick hand through is hair to neaten it out a bit more and looked himself up and down. The quicker this was over, the better.