Peter called Grace that night, and — after she told him about Harley, easing his worries immensely — casually mentioned that he changed his mind about going to D.C. with the Decathlon team.

"Oh, that's awesome," she said. "When's the trip?"

"Tomorrow," Peter said.

She chuckled a little at that. "Well, take a lot of pictures for me — if you can."

Peter smiled. "Of course I can." If they let me go with them, he silently added.

Now, he's sprinting towards the bus, a bag on his back and his heart racing. He overslept, and he's lucky Ned called him and woke him up.

He's also lucky he has super powers, otherwise he wouldn't have made it in time.

"Hey, it's Peter," he hears Abe say as he comes to a stop in front of the bus. All of his teammates are standing outside of it, bags in hand and yellow jackets on.

"Peter?" Liz asks.

"Yeah, I was hoping maybe I could rejoin the team," Peter says sheepishly, worry filling him.

Flash steps forward from the back of the group, pushing past people to stand in front of Peter. "No. No way. You can't just quit on us, stroll up, and be welcomed back by everyone."

Then, Mr. Harrington steps out of the bus. He sees Peter and smiles. "Hey, welcome back, Peter. Flash, you're back to first alternate."

"What?" Flash says, shocked. Peter actually feels a little guilty.

"He's taking your place," Abe says.

MJ walks over, looking at Mr. Harrington. "Excuse me, can we go already? 'Cause I was hoping to get in some light protesting in front of one of the embassies before dinner, so..."

Mr. Harrington nods positively. "Protesting is patriotic. Let's get on the bus."

Flash takes his jacket off and shoves it at Peter, who takes it apologetically. But he's got a job to do, so there's no way around this.

Peter puts the jacket on and sits next to Ned, then takes out his phone, going to take a picture. He takes one of him and Ned, who doesn't notice until after the picture is taken.

Ned gives him a weird look. "Dude, what are you doing?"

Peter clicks on his and Grace's messages. "Grace told me to take pictures."

Ned just laughs in response while Peter sends the picture — Ned, looking to the side with a tired expression, while Peter has a cheesy smile plastered on his face. 'Ned and I are on our way! I'll be sure to get more pictures of other things besides me when we get there.'

And then Ned looks over at Peter, whispering, "Give me the web shooter, and I'll sit in the back and track the bad guys. Make sure they stay where they are."

Peter nods and hands Ned the web shooter discreetly, and Ned moves to the back. Peter can hear him talking briefly with a few others as he walks down the aisle.

Then, Peter's phone vibrates — a text from Grace. 'Honestly, I wouldn't mind just pictures of you. I think I'll have to draw that one, to be honest.'

'Well, it'll be easier when I'm not moving so much,' Peter jokes as he blushes lightly.

'Oh, definitely,' Grace jokes. 'I'll have to start on it soon.'

Then, Liz stands at the front of the bus, bells in hand. She starts passing them around. "Focus up, everyone. Our first topic is the moons of Saturn..."

Peter quickly texts Grace. 'I gotta go. We're practicing.'

'Have fun,' she replies.

'I'll try.'

They begin practicing, Flash answering too. Peter answers a few questions, but the tournament isn't really why he's going.

While Liz is asking is a question, Peter's phone starts ringing. A small part of him hoping it's Grace, he checks it and finds that it's Happy instead, which is almost the next best thing. Sort of...

"What is the current standard unit of radioactive-" Liz starts.

"Can I take this real quick?" Peter asks. "I'll only be a sec."

"Yeah, fine."

He goes to the back of the bus, sitting in the seat behind Ned as he answers the phone. "Hello?"

"Got a blip on my screen here," Happy says. "You left New York?"

Peter pulls the phone away, muttering, "Tracker." He puts the phone back to his mouth. "Uh, yeah. It's just a school trip. I-It's nothing." Then, he sighs. "Look, Happy, I gotta say, you tracking me without my permission is a complete violation of my privacy."

Ned turns and points to the web shooter, which is projecting the weapons guys' location.

"That's different," Peter whispers.

Happy hears him. "What's different?"

Peter's eyes widen. "Nothing. Look, it's just the Academic Decathlon. It's no big deal.

"Hey, hey, hey, I'll decide if it's no big deal," Happy replies.

Peter rolls his eyes. "Look, it's fine. I told Grace about it, so she already knows. You can ask her."

Happy pauses. "So you've been talking to Grace?"

Peter shrugs. "Yeah."

Happy sighs. "Why am I not surprised?"

Peter's brows furrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Look, just remember I'm watching you." And with that, he hangs up the phone.

~~~~

Grace is sitting on her bed, reading with her phone next to her. She's waiting for Peter to text her again — maybe even call her.

She smiles, thinking about that picture he sent her — his cheesy smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners. It's cool to see what Ned actually looks like too, even if he isn't looking at the camera.

Suddenly, there's a knock on her door.

"Come in," she says, putting her bookmark in her book and closing it as the door opens.

Happy stands in the doorway, a brow raised. "You've been talking to the kid?"

"Who?" Grace replies. "Peter?" Panic starts to blossom in her chest; he might know about Peter sneaking onto her balcony.

"Yes, Peter," Happy replies. "I just called him. He's on a school trip? Academic Decathlon or something?"

Grace starts to calm. "Oh, yeah, he told me about that last night. It's the big tournament or whatever in D.C. He sent me a picture this morning." She grabs her phone and shows Happy the picture.

He walks forward to see it, squinting at it and holding her phone at the bottom. He points to Ned. "Who's that?"

"That's Ned."

He sighs and lets go of her phone, standing up straight. "Alright. Just... let me know if he does anything stupid."

"Will do," Grace replies.

Happy shakes his head, turning to go, saying something under his breath that Grace can't hear. He starts to close the door, then stops and says, "Just be careful, alright?"

"Careful of what?"

He shrugs. "Oh, I don't know. Just... make the right choices."

She raises a brow, confused. "Okay...?"

"Okay."

He closes the door behind him, and Grace turns back to the her book. A couple hours later, her phone vibrates with a text from Peter. It's a picture of a large, fancy hotel lobby.

'We made it,' he says.

Grace smiles. 'Wow, you look like you're living large.'

'I know, it's so awesome,' he replies. 'I can't wait to see the room.'

'Rooming with Ned?'

'Yep.' A few moments later, he adds, 'Wish you were here.'

Grace smiles a little, but sadly this time. 'I wish I was too.' Then, 'But I guess a postcard will have to do.'

'Which amazing landmark do you want on it?'

Grace thinks for a moment. 'The Washington Monument.'

'Any reason why?'

'It was the first one that popped into my head.'

'I'll be sure to get it for you.' He tacks a laughing emoji on the end, then sends, 'Gotta go. I'll text you later.'

'I'll be here.'

She starts to turn back to her book, but stops and decides to text Harley instead. 'So, you asked out that girl yet, Keener? I'm bored. I need something interesting to talk about.'

He doesn't reply after a few moments, so Grace goes back to her book and waits.

~~~~

Once Peter and Ned get their room key, they find the room and head inside. Peter tosses his backpack on the bed, then puts the Do Not Disturb sign on the door.

Ned starts taking equipment and the glow-y thing out of his bag, along with other more normal things. Peter does the same.

"We need to remove the tracker from my suit," he says.

Ned raises a brow as he opens his laptop. "Why?"

Peter hooks his suit up to the laptop. "Because I gotta follow these guys to their boss before they move again, and I don't really want Mr. Stark to know about it."

"So, you're not only lying to Iron Man's daughter, but you're lying to the actual Iron Man now, too?"

"No, I'm not lying," Peter replies. "He just doesn't really get what I can do yet. And neither does Grace. Once I catch this guy, they'll both see that I can handle more than they think. Besides, if one of them knows, they'll probably tell the other one."

"You think Grace would snitch on you?" Ned asks as Peter starts messing with the tracker.

Peter shrugs as he takes it out of the suit. "I don't know. I mean, in this case, maybe — since she'd be so worried about me getting hurt and all that." He turns and hides the tracker in the lamp on his nightstand. "All right, Happy. Enjoy tracking this lamp."

"There's a ton of other subsystems in here," Ned says typing, then smirking, "but they're all disabled by the Training Wheels Protocol."

Peter turns to him abruptly. "What?" He looks at the screen where, sure enough, the words 'Training Wheels Protocol' stand out in red. "Training Wheels Protocol?" he says. Ned laughs, but Peter frowns. "Turn it off."

It's Ned's turn to frown. "I don't think that's a good idea. I mean, they're probably blocked for a reason."

Peter groans. "Come on, man. I don't need training wheels." He stands on his bed, then jumps, landing in a criss-crossed position. "I'm sick of him treating me like a kid all the time. It's not cool."

Ned raises a brow. "But you are a kid."

"Yeah, a kid who can stop a bus with his bare hands."

Ned sighs. "Peter, I just don't think this is a great idea. I mean, what if this is illegal?"

"Look, please," Peter says earnestly. "This is my chance to prove myself. I can handle it. Ned, come on."

"I really don't think this is a good idea. I mean, both Grace and Iron Man said-"

"The guy in the chair," Peter whispers, leaning toward him.

Ned grimaces. "Don't do that."

"Come on," Peter insists.

Ned finally sighs and starts typing. Then, the Spider-Man suit flashes blue.

~~~~

An hour or so later, when the sun goes down, Peter puts the suit on, with a jacket and sweatpants over it. He slips on his backpack and the hood of the jacket, then turns back to Ned at the door. "The glowy thing, it's evidence. Keep it safe."

Ned nods and picks it up. "Okay, I got it."

Peter pulls the sleeve of his jacket back, looking at the projected map from his webshooter. "They're moving."

"Be careful," Ned says.

Peter nods and hurries out of the room, but then he sees Liz walking towards him. He stops and smiles, internally worrying about the weapons guys getting away. "Hey, Liz."

"Hey, Peter," she says. "Perfect timing. We're gonna go swimming. Go get Ned and come with us."

Other members of the team walk up behind her, among them Sally, Cindy, Charles, and Flash.

"I was, uh... I was gonna go study, um, in the business center," Peter says.

Liz rolls her eyes. "Peter, you don't need to study; you're insanely smart. And besides, a rebellious group activity the day before competition is good for morale."

Peter gives her a weird look. "Really?"

Liz shrugs. "Well, I heard it in a TED Talk, and I read a coaching book, so... are you and Ned coming or what?"

"Um, I-I think I'm gonna sit this one out, but I'll go ask Ned." He turns back and knocks on the door of his room. Ned quickly opens it.

"What, did you forget-?" He stops when he sees Liz and the others behind Peter. His eyes go wide. "Wh-What's going on?"

"They're sneaking down to the swimming pool, and they-" he discreetly gestures to Liz "-wanted to know if you wanted to come with them."

Ned starts stuttering, so Liz says, "Come on, Ned, it'll be fun."

Peter nudges Ned, who nods numbly. "Uh, ye-yeah. Yeah, sure, let me just, um..." He closes the door and hurries to put his swim trunks on. Peter laughs to himself, then says bye to everyone and hurries off.

He climbs up onto the roof, quickly taking off his jacket and sweatpants and shoving them in his backpack. He can see into the indoor pool from here, and he watches for a moment as Liz and Ned splash each other, both laughing like little kids.

Peter shakes his head, wondering at how in the world Ned hasn't asked her out yet before he puts his mask on.

Suddenly, he hears an automated female voice. "Good evening, Peter."

Peter looks around widely. "Hello? Hello?"

"Congratulations on completing the rigorous Training Wheels Protocol and gaining access to your suit's full capabilities," the voice says.

"Um... thank you?"

"So, where would you like to take me tonight?"

"I-I put a tracker on someone. He's a bad guy."

"Tracker located. Plotting course to intercept target." The course pops up in his field of vision.

Peter nods, already moving towards the edge of the roof. "Okay, well, as long as I make it back in time for Decathlon, it's fine."

And with that, he swings away.