After kissing a second time, they soon realized how late it was, and Peter knew that he had to leave, though he didn't want to. But Grace insisted, not wanting May to worry about him even though she wanted him to stay, too.

But Peter stalled, kissing her as he picked up his mask, as they stood, then as he moved toward the railing. He went over it, then held onto it and leaned forward to kiss her again. Grace laughed when his lips weren't on hers.

"Peter, you know you can't stay forever," she said, but her hands were resting on top of his on the railing at the time.

He smiled a little. "I know; that's why I'm trying to savor every moment."

Grace blushed at that, then kissed him again, longer than the ones he'd been stealing before. She pulled away slowly, then chuckled at the dreamy look on his face. "Alright, Spider-Boy. It's time."

He sighed, frowning a little. "I know."

"Call me tomorrow?" Grace said, successfully bringing the smile back to his face.

"Definitely," he replied, stealing one last kiss before he put on his mask and swung away, waving back at her from a distance and nearly crashing into the side of a building.

She laughed as she turned to go back in, picking the postcard off the ground where she'd left it. The monument itself was beautiful, of course, but the writing on the back was what mattered. She traced the written heart with her finger, her smile widening.

Then, she went inside and grabbed her phone, calling Harley. She never thought she'd be one to kiss and tell, but this was huge. She had to tell somebody — and, thankfully, Harley answered his phone.

"So, remember when you mentioned Spider-Man sneaking onto my balcony...?"

~~~~

Peter called Ned that night and told him what happened, as he simply couldn't keep quiet about it. He kissed Grace. It was huge.

Ned was super excited for him, of course, and then he asked if that meant that Peter and Grace were dating.

And Peter had no clue.

"I mean, neither of us said anything about it..."

"Then, call and ask her," Ned replied simply.

"But what if she says no?"

"You can't just go on not knowing something like that. And, honestly, I don't think she'd say no, anyway. Why would she?"

Peter didn't know the answer to that either. "I mean... I don't know."

"Then call her."

"I can't right now," Peter argued. "She's probably asleep. I'll call her tomorrow."

But Peter had — and has — something else on his mind, too. She really doesn't have a reason to say no, unless she suddenly decides that she doesn't like him anymore, which, while it's a scary thought, isn't likely. However, there's a reason she doesn't actually have yet.

Peter lied to her.

He promised her he would leave the vulture guy and all of that alone, and he didn't. His friends almost got hurt, or, sickeningly, worse, because of it. Ned, especially.

He screwed up big time, and it's definitely not over yet, seeing as the Vulture — a fitting name for the villain — is still out there, still hurting people. And no one is doing anything about it but Peter. He has to be involved; he has to stop him. And if that means lying to Grace...

It hurts him to do it, but there's no way around it. He shouldn't've promised, but it's too late now. And actually establishing a relationship with her, especially right now, would just hurt her more when she finds out. Because she inevitably will — though hopefully when it's all over — and having her boyfriend lie to her as opposed to... whatever Peter is right now would be that much worse.

Aside from that, he can't comfortably make that next step with her while knowing what he's doing. It'll have to wait. There's no way around it. Any of it.

All of this contributes to Peter's depressed mood the next day at school, but also his desire to finish this fight with the Vulture once and for all. So, that's exactly what he plans to do.

~~~~

Tony walks into the large living room quietly, carefully going over to the couch, where he can see Grace with her headphones in, slightly bent over something. When he gets closer, he looks over her shoulder and sees that she's drawing something.

It's a man, looking out at a green light, reaching for it.

"The Great Gatsby, huh?" Tony says casually. "That's becoming one of your favorites, isn't it?"

She jumps and takes out her headphones, turning when she hears his voice. "Dad?" she says; she had no idea that he was coming home.

He smiles and hugs her, the couch still partly between them. "Hey, sweetheart."

She pulls back, now more excited than shocked. "I thought you'd be gone for at least another week."

"Well, the trip got cut a little short — I've got some business here that came up — so I decided to surprise you." Then, he remembers something and begins digging in his pockets. "Oh, that reminds me — I got you something."

Grace is excited until he pulls out a keychain that says, 'I Heart India.' But she takes it from him anyway. "Wow, Dad... Thanks."

Tony nods. "Yeah, I figured you'd like it. Straight from the airport gift shop."

"It's... It's really nice. I'd definitely put with my car keys if I had any."

Tony grimaces a little. "Yeah, I don't see that happening any time soon." He sees the barely masked look on her face and laughs the way that dads do, then tousles her hair. "Don't worry, I got you something better. It's in my suitcase. Happy's bringing it up."

"I figured," Grace replies, smiling again. She gets off the couch and heads towards the kitchen. Tony follows.

"So, how were things while I was away?" he asks as she begins digging in the fridge.

"Oh, they were good," Grace replies, keeping her back turned so he wouldn't see her blush. She's thinking about Peter, of course.

Tony raises a brow. "Just good? You didn't do anything fun?"

Grace turns then, her blush now faded as she makes a joke. "Oh, yeah, I went skiing in alps, saw Big Ben, spent a couple days in Hawaii. Walked down the street, you know, out in public."

Tony sighs. "Grace, I... I'm sorry, okay? But you know-"

"I know," she replies. "I was just kidding around. Sorry." She turns back to grab a yogurt cup, then closes the fridge. As she grabs a spoon, she tells him what she can. "I finished a painting, and I finally read Pride and Prejudice. I called Harley a couple times. He's going a date with that girl he likes."

"Hannah?"

"Yep. He asked her out at their homecoming dance."

Tony chuckles a little. "Kid's growing up."

Grace pulls the top off her yogurt. "He's been grown up, Dad."

"Not really. He's only — what? — fourteen?"

"Yeah," she replies, her spoon halfway to her lips. "He'll be fifteen in two months."

Tony thinks for a moment. "Gosh, and Peter's sixteen. Feels like I recruited him only yesterday." Grace's eyes widen a fraction, and she shoves another spoonful of yogurt in her mouth, hoping Tony will change the subject. But he doesn't. "Have you been talking to him lately?" She only nods in response, her spoon in her mouth. Tony sighs. "He's a good kid. He just needs to step back and realize when things are too much for him to handle."

Grace swallows. "I think he has," she says.

"Really?"

"Yeah," she replies. "I mean, he promised me he would leave the big stuff alone — that vulture guy with the weapons. The biggest thing he's done since then is saving his friends at the Washington Monument."

"Yeah, I heard about that," Tony replies. "The elevator failed or something. It's lucky he had his suit with him."

"I know."

"I should call him about that, actually. Commend him for doing such a good job on the fly."

"You should."

After a pause, Tony sighs yet again. "Well, I gotta go deal with some things. I'll tell you all about it at lunch, okay? We'll make some grilled cheese. Sound good?

Grace smiles. "That sounds great."

He begins to leave, calling back, "Alright. Hang tight for a couple hours. Finish your drawing. I'll be back!"

Grace just laughs and finishes her yogurt, then goes to finish the drawing. She'll probably send it to Peter once it's done.

~~~~

Peter got detention.

Shocking, yes, but that's what happens to kids who try to skip class.

The school day started with a sea of students full of "spider mania." After what happened in D.C., the whole school was buzzing about Spider-Man. It bolstered Peter's confidence, which was exactly what he needed considering his plan to fight the Vulture

Ned seemed more outwardly excited than Peter, though. "Dude, dude, dude, dude — what is it like being famous when nobody knows it's you?"

Peter smiled a little. "Crazy, dude."

"It's crazy," Ned repeated. "Should we tell everyone?"

Peter's eyes widened. "No-"

"Should I tell everyone?"

"No, dude, no, that's not a good idea."

Ned sighed disappointedly. "Okay, fine, come on; we'll be late to class."

Peter shook his head. "I'm not going to class."

Ned was in shock. "You're already in so much trouble for ditching the Decathlon-"

"Dude, listen, I figured it out, right? The Vulture-"

Ned interrupts him, confused. "You gave him a name?"

"Well, he's a villain."

"Okay, yeah, that makes sense."

"Anyway," Peter continued, "he's stealing from Damage Control. And what he takes from Damage Control, that's how he builds the weapons. So all I gotta do is catch him."

"But we have a Spanish quiz."

"I'll figure that out, too," Peter replied. "But I gotta focus on taking this guy down. Once he's gone, I can talk to Grace and tell her about how I lied to her and apologize for it and do whatever I can to get her to forgive me, and then Mr. Stark might make me an Avenger, and then I could see Grace even more even though Mr. Stark is moving the Avengers facility upstate. I am so far beyond high school right now, dude."

And then his whole plan was put on hold by three words from Principal Morita, whom he hadn't even noticed was behind him. "Parker, my office."

And now he's here, in detention with MJ, watching Captain America talking on a TV. "So... you got detention. You screwed up-" Peter sighs heavily "-and you know what you did was wrong. The question is, how are you gonna make things right?" This hits Peter, as it makes him think of Grace, and then he gets even more ticked at either Captain America, himself, or both. "Maybe you were trying to be cool. But take it from a guy who's been frozen for sixty five years: The only way to really be cool is to follow the rules." Peter stands abruptly and begins to walk out as Cap continues. "We all know what's right. We all know what's wrong. Next time those turkeys try to convince you of something you know is wrong..."

Coach Wilson glances at him and tiredly says, "Hey, where you going? Get back here."

But Peter keeps walking, stopping only to grab more web fluid before going home. He makes sure May isn't there first, then rushes into his room and puts on his suit, then normal clothes over it. Finally, he sits down. "Hey, Karen. What's up?

"Hey, Peter," Karen replies. "How was your Spanish quiz?"

Peter, deciding he doesn't have time to tell her that he didn't take it, says, "Listen, I was wondering if you could help me. I'm trying to figure out who the guys under the bridge were that night, but, I mean, I can only kind of remember part of a license plate."

"I can run facial recognition on the footage of that encounter." A collection of videos pop up on Peter's mask, seemingly filmed from his own perspective.

His eyes widen. "Footage?"

"Yes, Peter. I record everything you see," Karen replies.

Peter thinks of all the time he's spent with Grace while in the suit — which is, like, almost all the time they've spent together. "Everything?" he asks cautiously.

"Everything."

The kiss, too...? "Like... all the time?"

"When your mask is on. It's called the Baby Monitor Protocol."

Well, now he's just annoyed. He's sixteen; he doesn't need a baby monitor. He sighs. "Yeah, of course it is. Just roll it back to the day of the party."

"With pleasure."

There's a video of Peter before the party, taken right after he put the suit on before May took Ned and him to Liz's. Peter was standing in front of the mirror, holding up a wooden hammer. "It is I, Thor, son of Odin!" past-him says in a horrible fake accent.

"No, no, no, no, no, no," present him says. "This is just me messing around, we don't need to see that."

"Your impressions are very funny, Peter," Karen says.

Peter waves his hand, saying, "Just fast forward it, fast forward it."

The video fast forwards, but stops while Peter is still in front of the mirror, now pretending to be at Liz's party. "He-Hey, what's up guys? It's me, Spider-Man. I just came to say hi to my buddy, Ned." He pretends to bro-hug Ned while present-him cringes, beginning to protest until he hears the last thing that past-him said. "Hey, man. Where's Peter? Is he around? No? Aw, man, I guess I'll have to catch him later. I-I actually have a date I gotta get to — Grace Stark, actually- not that that's really her name. She's my girlfriend, though. Pretty cool. Don't know how I swung that."

As past-him does finger guns and then berates himself for it, present-Peter shakes his head, filling with shame for lying to Grace yet still cringing at himself. "That's definitely... no. That's definitely not what we wanted to watch. Just... fast forward to the arms deal. Please."

Finally, Karen does, and it looks exactly how Peter remembers it.

"Okay," he says. "The two on the right, who are they?"

"Searching law enforcement databases..." Karen says. "No records found for two of the individuals."

"Nothing?" Peter asks, disappointed.

After a moment, Karen says, "One individual identified. Aaron Davis, age thirty three." She zooms in on him in the video. "He has a criminal record and an address here in Queens." With that, she pulls up Aaron Davis' record.

Peter smiles a little; he's one step closer. "Let's pay him a visit."

"Would you like me to activate the Enhanced Interrogation Protocol?"

Peter has no idea what that is. "Uh, yeah. Sure." And he swings away soon after.