Peter Parker hasn't talked to Grace Stark in two months.

That's partly on him, though; he won't call her — or even just text her. He doesn't know what to say. And, anyway, he's not even sure if she wants to talk to him.

Happy certainly doesn't. Peter's called him a hundred times and he's never answered, forcing Peter to just leave him voicemails. Tony hasn't called, either, and Peter is definitely not calling him. You don't call Tony Stark — Tony Stark calls you.

He doesn't know if Grace is the same way, though. If she isn't — if she's the exact opposite — that could be why she hasn't called him. But if she is, then she just doesn't want to talk to him. Which, if that's true, then why?

There was something between them in Berlin. Peter felt it. Things happened between them in Berlin — not big things, like a kiss or something, but still.

He comforted her at the airport battle, and they talked for what felt like hours in his hotel room. And then there was the plane.

He'd never gotten close to a girl like that before. He's never felt this way about a girl before. Liz Allan, the girl he and his friend Ned used to stare at all the time, was a mere infatuation. Peter realized that now.

Looking back, he realized that in that hotel room, when he asked her what her favorite book was and her insanely blue eyes lit up in excitement.

But he can't text her. Because he doesn't know what to say.

He sighs, settling for rewatching his video diary instead.

On his laptop screen, the words, 'a Film by Peter Parker,' appear, then fade out as a shot of New York out of a car window fades in.

"New York," Peter hears his deep narrater voice saying. "Queens. It's a rough borough, but, hey, it's home."

"Who are you talking to?" Happy suddenly asks from the front seat. The camera immediately jerks over to him.

"No one," Peter's voice replies. "Just making a little video of the trip."

"You know you can't show it to anyone," Happy says. It makes Present Peter remember that, at one point, he actually considered showing it to Grace, but then realized he looked like a dork in the whole thing.

"Yeah, I know," Peter's voice replies.

"Then why are you narrating in that voice?" Happy asks.

"Uh... Because it's fun."

"Fun." Happy puts on his sunglasses.

"So, uh, why do they call you Happy?"

Happy presses a button on the rear view mirror, causing a partition to go up between the front and back seats. Peter can see his past self reflected in it. He remembers that Grace texted him at that moment, so he had to stop the video to read it.

The scene cuts to Happy walking towards a plane. Peter, of course, is behind the camera.

"Come on. I'm not carrying your bags," Happy says. "Let's go."

"Hey, should I go to the bathroom before?" Peter's voice asks.

"There's a bathroom on it."

It cuts to inside the plane, a shot of the cockpit. Peter's voice is amazed. "Woah. No pilot? That's awesome."

Then, he sits down directly in front of Happy, who raises a brow at him. "Is that where you're gonna sit?"

"Yeah," Peter's voice replies.

"This is your first time on a private plane?"

"This is my first time on any plane."

Happy gets up and sits in another seat, farther away.

"Should it- Should it be- Should it be making that noise?" Peter's voice asks him worriedly. Happy never replies, but he seems unconcerned.

It cuts to Peter putting a finger to his lips, then shows a close-up of a sleeping Happy. Peter laughs, causing him to wake up, and then the video starts shaking as Peter hurriedly runs away.

Then, a bunch of shots pop up in quick succession — Happy in the airport, Peter in the airport, Peter in Berlin, a vendor, Peter again, a few locals waving at him, a pretzel vendor, the hotel. Over it all is a voiceover — Peter's voice, of course. "No one has really told me exactly why I'm in Berlin. Captain America went crazy, and I have to help arrest him or something. There was something about the Accords. The whole Avengers are fighting. But why Berlin? Who knows."

It cuts to Happy in the hall at the hotel, pointing to a door. "This is you."

"Oh, we're neighbors?" Peter's voice replies.

"We're not roommates. Suit up."

It cuts to Peter, filming himself in the mirror as he wears his homemade suit. He's saying, "Okay, Peter, you got this. You got this."

Then, Happy walks in, and the camera pans over to him. "What are you wearing?"

The camera tilts down to Peter's feet, then comes back up. "It's my suit."

"Where's the case?"

"What case?" Happy starts opening the door next to him, walking inside. "That's not my-" Peter stops. "What? I thought that was a closet. This is still my room?"

"Go. Please."

"My room is way bigger than-" He enters a living room area, a case sitting on the coffee table. "I found the case. I found the case. I found the case."

On top of the case is a card that says, 'A minor upgrade - TS.'

"A minor upgrade?" Peter's voice asks. He opens the case and a Spider-Man suit pops out. "Whoa. Oh, my gosh."

The camera pans to Happy, who says, "Put it on."

"This is the coolest thing I've ever seen-"

"Let's go."

"Wait, I don't understand. Is-Is it for me?" The camera shows Happy walking out of the room. "Happy — Happy, wait."

It cuts to Peter taking off his old suit and being excited. "This is insane. Insane. Look at this thing. Look. Look at the eyes. This is the greatest day of my life."

Happy walks back in. "Let's go. Tony wants to meet with you."

"Okay."

"Come on."

It cuts to the actual airport fight, Peter filming himself before he flips in for the first time. "Okay, so Gr- Savior gave me this cool earpiece for our super secret plan. I have it in right now. This is awesome. Mr. Stark told me to keep her safe, which I am definitely gonna do — if-if she needs me to." The camera pans to the confrontation that's going on. "There's Captain America, Iron Man, Gr- Savior, Black Widow. Woah. Who's that new guy?"

"Underoos!" Tony shouts.

The camera shows Peter again. "Oh, that's me. I gotta go. I gotta go." He puts the phone down, then flips into the fight. There's a cut, then he says,  "Hey, everyone."

It cuts to him swinging to a safe place, then stopping, excitedly ranting at the camera. "Okay, so the craziest thing just happened, right? I just had a fight with Captain America and I stole his shield and I threw it at him-" But, then, he stops, seemingly listening to something. He presses his ear piece. "What about the weird guy?" Another pause, then, "Okay. I'll let you know when I see someone you can talk to."

And, then, the weird guy grows into a giant behind him. Peter turns. "Oh, I gotta go. I gotta find Grace. Hang on." He sets the phone down, and it only shows the sky, but Grace and Peter's voices can be heard from a foot or so away. It's why Peter kept that part in the video.

"New plan," Grace says, "figure this out first."

"But this is a perfect distraction," Peter replies. There was a pause, then Peter shouts, "I got him!" Not long after, Peter and War Machine go flying across the screen.

It cuts to Peter back in his hotel room, talking excitedly to the camera. "It was the most amazing thing that's ever happened! So Mr. Stark was like, 'Hey, Underoos!' and I just sort of flipped in and I stole Cap's shield. I was like, 'Hey, what's up, everybody?' And then-" Someone knocks on the door, and Peter sets down the phone. "Hey, just a second! Coming!"

He backflips off the bed, landing next to the door, but Happy opens it before Peter can.

"Hey," Peter says.

Happy replies, "We have thin walls here."

Then, it cuts to Peter laying in bed and talking excitedly to the camera again, but he's talking more quietly. "I just talked to Grace for, like... hours," he says, running a hand through his hair, absolutely amazed. "She-She told me my suit suits me, and-and we talked about our favorite things. She likes Harry Potter movies and she's a Gryffindor, and she thinks I'm a Hufflepuff, and-and she loves so many books, and her favorite color is purple and she loves to paint and draw and stuff-" He takes a deep breath. "Point is, she's super cool. Like, where has she been all my life? Seriously."

Then, it cuts to the part in the car. He, Tony, Happy, and Grace, all back in New York, on their way to Peter's apartment to drop him off.

"What are you doing," Tony asks, "a little video diary?" Grace turns to look at them after he says that, though she can't be seen in this part at all. She doesn't talk, either. Not until after Peter stops filming. He remembers what she said, though.

After they made an alibi video for May and Happy got out of the car to get the Spider-Man suit for Peter, Peter asked Tony if he was an Avenger. Tony said no.

Then, Grace said, "I'm not either, Pete. Don't stress it."

First it's Parker, then Peter, then Parker again, then Pete, and, when she said bye to him, she called him Peter again.

Did it mean something? Probably not. But then why? Calling someone by their last name would be considered formal, though the way she said it didn't have that tone. First name is just normal. And then there was, "Pete." No one calls him Pete. Not on a regular basis. He's not complaining, of course, but...

He sighs. He's over-analyzing everything.

Not that it matters, seeing as he hasn't talked to her since. And he probably won't, unless he sucks it up and texts her. Or she texts him.

He wishes he could talk somebody about this. Maybe get some advice. But the only one who knows anything about her is May, and he doesn't wanna talk to his aunt about a girl he likes. She'd freak out and make a big deal about it — not that it isn't a big deal but still.

He wants to talk to Ned, but he can't tell him anything. All he knows is that Peter has an internship with Mr. Stark. That's it.

So, he'll just sit here, thinking about her, and never doing anything about it.

~~~~

Peter opens his locker, stuffing his jacket inside and pulling his books out. Then, a small LEGO figure appears over his left shoulder and a voice behind him says, "Join me, and together... we'll build my new Lego Death Star."

As he closes his locker, turning to find Ned, a girl to his right says, "So lame," but he ignores her.

"No way!" he says. "That's awesome. How many pieces?"

"Three thousand eight hundred and three," Ned answers.

"That's insane."

"I know. You want to build it tonight?"

Peter stops, his face falling. "No, I can't tonight. I've got the Stark-"

"Stark internship," Ned cuts him off.

"Yeah, exactly."

As they start to walk down the hall to their next class, Ned remarks, "Always got that internship."

"Yeah, well, hopefully soon it'll lead to a real job with him," Peter replies.

Ned smiles again. "That would be so sweet."

"Right?"

"He'd be all, 'Good job on those spreadsheets, Peter. Here's a gold coin.'" Peter gives him an odd look, and he shrugs. "I don't know how jobs work."

"That's exactly how they work."

"Oh." He laughs. "I'll knock out the basic bones of the Death Star at my place. And then I'll come by afterwards-"

He stops himself, seeing Liz Allan at the end of the hall. Peter looks at Ned, amused; he's in his own world, with just him and Liz. She looks over at them, meeting Ned's eye, then continues down the hall.

Ned finally looks back at Peter. "Wow," he says. Peter laughs, causing Ned to say, "What? You saw her, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did."

"She's so pretty."

"Sure."

"Sure?" Ned says incredulously. "Sure?!"

Peter shrugs. He's thinking about another pretty girl and the feeling of her head on his shoulder.

~~~~

After Chemistry, then Physics — the first of which he made more web fluid in, the second of which he watched Spider-Man videos in — and a few more classes, he and Ned head to lunch.

They sit with their trays in their usual spot, MJ a number of seats down from them with her own tray and a stack of books. It reminds him of Grace, and he tries to see if they're books that Grace mentioned to him, but they aren't. Not that it mattered, but...

He sighs, clearing his head of Grace and looking over at Ned. He's staring at Liz, who's helping hang up a banner for Homecoming.

"Did Liz get a new top?" he asks.

Peter shrugs, amused again. "I don't know."

"No, no, we've seen that top before," Ned answers himself. "Just never with that skirt."

"You should probably stop staring before it gets creepy, though," Peter remarks.

"Too late," MJ butts in. "You guys are losers."

"I wasn't staring," Peter argues.

"You're still a loser."

"But then why do you sit with us?" Ned asks, somehow tearing his eyes away from Liz.

"Because I don't have any friends." And then she turns back to her book.

Ned looks back at Liz, watching as she finishes putting up the banner. When she moves away, he looks back at Peter.

Peter had been eating and thinking, not really looking at Liz. Ned notices. "Dude."

"What?" Peter asks, looking over at him.

"I mean, I hate to ask it," Ned starts, "but... do you not like Liz anymore?" To his surprise, Peter looks down and shrugs, mumbling. Ned's eyes widen and his mouth falls open. "What? Are you serious? How could you not-?" He stops, realizing. "You met another girl, didn't you?"

Peter's head snaps up at that, his face red. "Wh-What? Why would you think-?"

"You did," Ned says, pointing at him accusatively. "You did, and you didn't tell me."

"I never said-"

Ned starts looking around the cafeteria. "So, does she go here?"

Peter sighs. Ned's not gonna drop this, and, anyway, he's right. And Peter really wants to talk to him about her; he just doesn't have to give away too much. "No, I... I think she's homeschooled."

"Then, where did you meet her?" Ned asks. He gasps before Peter can respond. "Did you meet her in Berlin?" Technically, no, but that's when they spent the most time together. Peter hesitates, wondering how to answer, but apparently Ned thinks he's paused for too long. "You did! Is she from Germany?"

"No."

"So she went with you guys on the trip?"

"Yes."

"Is she an intern too?"

"... No."

"Well, what's her name? Come on, Peter, you gotta give me something here."

Peter stops. What should he tell him? A fake name? He doesn't really want to lie to him any more than he has to... Maybe just her first name will be fine. It's a common name. Maybe Ned won't connect the dots. "Grace," he says quietly.

Ned's eyes widen again, his voice practically a whisper. "You-You mean- You mean- the Grace? Grace Stark?" Peter opens his mouth, though he has no idea what he's going to say, but Ned says, "Oh, my gosh, you're in love with Grace Stark."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm not in love with her. I haven't known her for that long. I met her right before we went to Berlin."

"And you've been talking since then?"

"No," Peter replies. "The last time I talked to her was when we got back. And, please, don't ask anymore questions about her, okay? I-I can't say anything; you know how Mr. Stark is about keeping her a secret-"

Ned nods. "Yeah, yeah, of course." He shakes his head, amazed. "My best friend loves Grace Stark."

"I like her, Ned," Peter corrects. "Like her."

But, just thinking about her, he knows how easy it would be to fall for her.