“Mr Stark?” Peter hoped the intercom was working. “Mr Stark, can you hear me?”

Tony Stark's voice crackled over the line. “Where are you?”

Peter tried not to look down. “Uh… about that. You see that plane heading up to the sky? The big one with a ton of explosives? I'm on it.”

Tony stilled. “What? What do you mean you're on it?”

“I mean just that. The explosives are enough to wipe out half of the city. I'm taking care of it. I'm going to activate them when we're far enough away.”

“No. You can't do that!”

“I'm sorry, Mr Stark. I don't want anyone else getting hurt if I can stop it. I have to do this.”

“No you don't." Tony said frantically. "We can figure something else out!”

“Like what? Look, I only have about a minute left before I detonate. Tell Ned I'm sorry I couldn't finish the death star. Tell MJ that I really liked her. I want to do this, Mr Stark. I need to be someone they can be proud of. That you can be proud of. I have to go. If I don't make it out...take care of them. Okay?”

“Peter…”

Peter dropped the earpiece on the floor, then hit the button.

Tony lifted off the ground, but before he could follow Peter, the sky lit up with an explosion. The shock wave, even though it had been miles away, was still enough to knock everyone to the ground.

Tony dropped to his knees, staring at the sky. “Peter… no.”

Cap knelt beside him. “I'm sorry.”

Tony shrugged his hand off viciously. “He's dead, Steve. He was a boy. I let him fight. I can't… I can't…” he trailed off. “I promised.”

Steve stepped back. “Tony. You can't blame yourself. He chose for himself. You had no control over him.”

Tony clenched his fists. “He did this because he wanted to prove that I could be proud of him. I already am. But he didn't know. I didn't tell him.”

-------------

Eight months later, Peter stood at the door of an apartment in Queens. The door of MJ's house. He raised his hand to knock, and noticed it was shaking. Nerves probably. Then he knocked. Silence, so he knocked again. This time he heard footsteps.

The door opened slightly. "Yes?" The vise was quiet.

Peter stepped back. "Uh... is MJ here?"

The door opened fully, and the girl herself stepped out. Peter looked up, and her eyes met his.

She inhaled sharply. "P-Peter? What-"

Peter scratched the back of his head. "Uh... hey?" Her eyes got even wider, if that was possible, and she threw her arms around Peter. Muffled sobs came from her, and Peter just hugged her tightly. "Everything's okay. I'm back."

She pulled away, wiping her eyes. "They said you died!"

Peter rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah. I know. I wanted to come back sooner. I just...couldn't remember how."

She frowned, but quickly dismissed it. "Come in while I call Ned."

The corner of his mouth twitched. "Okay." He followed her in, sitting down beside her on the couch as she waited for Ned to pick up. Soon he did. "Ned you have to get over here! Now!" She waited for a second. "Yes it's an emergency! It's a good emergency! YOU HAVE TO GET OVER HERE."

Peter could hear Ned's voice then. "Okay, okay. I'll be there in about ten minutes. Jeesh."

MJ hung up, and sat staring at Peter for several seconds before hugging him again. She didn't move for several minutes. "I thought you were dead." She mumbled against his shirt.

Peter grinned. "So you keep saying. I missed you too. Funnily enough, you were one of the only things I could remember."

She sat up. "That's the second time you've said that. That you couldn't remember. What happened?"

Peter exhaled. "Long story. Wait till Ned gets here, then I'll tell you guys."

She lapsed into silence. Before it got awkward, however, the doorbell rang. She jumped up to answer it, and before long, her and Ned walked back in.

Peter stood up. "Hey."

Ned glanced up. "Uh..." then he got a good look at Peter's face. "Wait what? Peter? How-"

Peter grinned "Yeah. I'm alive. What's up?" He hugged Ned.

Ned was too shocked to respond for several seconds, then hugged him back. "What happened to you dude? We were worried sick! Then Mr Stark said that you were dead!" They all sat down. "Seriously dude. What happened?"

Peter closed his eyes. "Oh man. Where to start."

MJ folded her arms. "The beginning."

Peter snorted. "Yeah. That would work." He shifted position. "As I'm sure you guys know, I was trying to detonate a plane full of bombs when I disappeared. I flew it up as high as it would go, and then detonated. I hadn't taken into account my super healing,  though. I have no idea how I survived, but when I woke up, I had crash landed in this old woman's garden, without my memory. I was there for about six months, trying to remember everything. Then I tried to come back. Unfortunately a lot of people have it in for me it seems, most of them mad because I'd foiled their plan to destroy one of the biggest cities in America. I've been trying to get back ever since."

Ned stared at him. "How are you not dead?"

Peter rubbed his eyes. "I have no idea. Can I crash here? I haven't slept in two days."

MJ nodded. "Yeah. Of course."

Ned broke in. "Hey, does Tony Stark know you're alive? We've talked several times, and he's in bad shape. He blamed himself for it."

Peter sighed. "No. I just arrived. May's gone, of course, so this is the first place I thought of. I do need to see him though."

MJ threw a pillow at Peter. "Sleep first. Ned, you wanna stay?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I'll call and see if it's okay with my mom."

They stayed up late talking. Just saying anything, trying to fill the void.

"I missed you guys." Peter finally said.  "A lot."

MJ hugged Peter again. "Loser."

He laughed quietly. "I even missed that."

Finally they decided to get some sleep. There would be time to talk the next day.

-------------

It was still dark when Peter woke up the next morning. Ned and MJ were still asleep. He rose silently, going to the window. The next two hours he spent watching the city waking up.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" Peter turned at the sound of MJ's hushed voice.

She was sitting up, watching him, her eyes sleepy. "The city. Watching it wake up is one of my favourite things to do."

He chuckled lightly. "You're not exactly a morning person."

She rolled her eyes. "Hmm. I'm going to get dressed. Wake Ned up."

She left, and Peter crouched beside Ned. "Hey. Ned. Wake up."

Neds eyes fluttered open, then closed again. "Nnnnn."

Peter shook him. "Ned! Wake up!"

Ned suddenly shot up. "What?"

Peter was sent sprawling. "Jeesh Ned." He joked. "Careful."

Ned looked at him in silence for several seconds. "Yesterday wasn't a dream?"

Peter shook his head. "Nope. I'm really standing...well, sitting, right here. You've still gotta get up though."

MJ returned, shoving a sandwich at each of them. "Eat." She was wearing light blue jeans and a science pun t-shirt.

Peter recognized it. "That shirt's mine."

She smirked. "You died. I stole it."

He halfheartedly glared at her. "How dare you."

She tossed her hair. "Loser."

Ned shoved his hands in his pockets. "So are we going to see Stark, or?"

MJ shrugged. "Depends on whether Parker can get over me stealing his shirt."

Peter stood up. "I'm ready when you guys are."

Eventually they made it to the tower. The clerk at the desk looked up. "There aren't any tours scheduled for today. I'm sorry, you kids need to leave."

Peter shook his head. "I need to see Tony Stark." The clerk sighed. "Sorry kid. Mr Stark doesn't do interviews."

"I need to see him." Peter insisted.

The clerk sighed again. "I don't think so kid."

Peter huffed. "Fine. Miss Potts then."

The clerk pursued his lips. "You need to leave before I call security."

Peter raised his eyebrow. "Hey Friday." He said out loud.

"Peter?" The AI responded, sounding shocked.

"Yeah. Can you tell this guy that we're allowed through?"

The clerk's computer chimed, and he stared at it for several seconds before looking up. His face was awed. "I'm so sorry. You can go through."

The three made their way to the elevator. Once the doors closed Ned started laughing. "Did you see that guys face? He was terrified!"

Peter grinned. "Friday, what'd you send him?"

"Classified," the AI responded. If an AI could be said to laugh, she did.

Peter shook his head. "Whatever it was, it worked. Where's Mr Stark?"

Friday hummed. "He is in the main room, along with the rest of the team. He just got up to go to the kitchen."

Peter grinned widely. "Oh boy."

The elevator doors opened, and the threesome stepped out.

"The terrible trio has arrived." Friday announced.

Conversation died away as one by one the group noticed the three. Pepper was the first to recover. "Peter?" She asked softly, hand over her mouth.

Peter spread his hands out. "Hey Miss Potts. What did I miss?"

The rest of the team unfroze, running to greet him. Everyone tried to hug him at once, voices rising and falling, talking louder to be heard. When they moved back, Peter let out a long breath he'd been holding. A crash startled them, and as one, they turned to see the source.

Tony Stark was standing in the doorway, staring at Peter. His son. His kid. Peter walked toward him. "Hey dad," he said simply.

Tony shook his head in disbelief. "Peter?"

Peter waved. "Hi. Yeah, it's me."

They hugged, for several long minutes.

At last Peter pulled back, wiping his eyes. "I have so much to tell you guys it's insane."

Tony's smirk was watery. "And a lot of explaining to do." Peter grinned. "That too."

They sat down on the couch, Pepper and Tony on either side of Peter. Mj and Ned curled up on one of the couches, while everyone else clustered around, eyes on him.

Peter took a deep breath. "First off, Ross is dead. The plane exploded-" he got cut off by Tony. "Yeah how did you survive that?"

Peter grinned at him. "Let me finish, then I'll answer questions." He shifted position. "I let the plane fly until it was high enough to not cause severe damage, then I detonated the explosives. I don't know how I survived, honestly, but I think it was my super healing. I crash landed in some old woman's flower garden. Without my memory. I spent the next seven months healing, trying to remember. The advanced healing saved me, but I was hurt pretty bad. She took care of me. I only remembered when I saw my suit again. She had taken it off, and put it up, not knowing what it was. When i was well enough to leave, she brought it to me. I saw it, and everything just...rushed back. Then I hitchhiked back here. The web fluid was completely gone at that point. I got to MJ's apartment yesterday, stayed the night, and came here first thing."

Everyone was silent for several seconds. Then Pepper hugged Peter again.

Peter flushed. "I'm okay, Pepper."

She pulled back, taking his hands in hers. "You're grounded."

Peter blinked. "What?"

"You're grounded." She repeated.

"Yup," Tony stage whispered. "So grounded."