26

Chapter 26: tick...tick...tick...Notes:

1) Lemme just say past me was a genius for the chapter title. Absolute goddamn genius. Ok, slight praise done.

Thank you so much to everyone who commented the stuff about Homecoming in the last chapter! I'm from the UK and have no idea about American customs or anything lol

2) Hope you like the memes :)

3) Enjoy the chapter and leave a kudos and comment!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Vine Compilation no.1

Someone was holding the camera at an angle which showed a section of the lab -the one nearest to the massive column with the stairs- with Peter walking towards something just outside of the camera frame.

Music overplayed the video as he walked towards a yellow wheelie bin with its lid already up, and he jumped backwards into it, his face bored and looking completely done with life.

"Fuck this shit I'm out."

*beep*

The camera was turned towards Peter's face before it flipped and turned to show Shuri in front of a Bunsen burner and a bottle full of bubbles. The camera turned back to Peter quickly.

"Welcome to physics," he said excitedly as he turned the camera back to film Shuri lighting a match and dropping it into the bottle full of bubbles.

Bang!

The bottle filled with fire, smoke swirling out of the lid at the same time Peter and Shuri's incoherent shrieks echoed in the lab before the camera turned back to a shocked Peter before the video cut.

*beep*

The video was outside in the same area Peter and Shuri had battled with their lightsabers. Shuri was holding the camera, her legs stretched in front of her as the camera recorded Peter practicing his lightsaber skills in the sun.

Shuri cheered as he backflipped before she zoomed in on his face as he landed, his legs wobbling slightly as he landed off-balance. His ankle rolled and he collapsed to the ground as the camera picked up Shuri's gasp.

"Ooh he needs some milk!"

*beep*

Peter held the camera as he and Shuri strolled down a street with a few people milling around. His cap shielded him from the glare of the sun as the camera wobbled toward Shuri as she glanced at the can of Coca Cola in her hand.

"This bitch empty, YEET!" She exclaimed, yeeting the can down the street as Peter cackled behind the shaking camera.

*beep*

The camera revealed Peter and Shuri were strolling down a different street, this time with dozens of people passing by each other but in a weirdly organised way.

An orange sign shaped like a triangle was in the corner of the frame but not brought to the forefront until the camera moved to face Peter who looked at the sign before glancing at the person behind the camera.

"Roadwork ahead? I sure hope it does."

*beep*

The camera was angled so that it showed Peter's face, shade covering him before the camera flipped to show Shuri walking by with her phone in her hand, albeit she was facing to the side as she walked as if Peter wasn't there.

"And they were roommates," she said as if she was gossiping to someone.

The camera flipped back to Peter. "Oh my god, they were roommates," he gasped.

*beep*

Once the camera adjusted to the light, it was obvious that it was late evening. The sky was navy but light from the palace gently peeked into the alcove, quickly highlighting Peter's face, his shaky hold on the camera making it slightly difficult to see.

He flipped the camera as he jumped out of his hiding spot, causing Shuri to stumble back in shock, her jaw dropping slightly.

"Stop!" She exclaimed. "I could've dropped my croissant!"

*beep*

The camera adjusted to show Peter was back in the lab as he leaned against one of the desks embedded into the wall. The unknown camera person kept both of them in view, recording Peter casually eating a banana as Shuri walked into the frame.

"What are those?" She shouted as she pointedly gestured at Peter's footwear.

"They are my crocs!" He replied before the video cut.

*beep*

The video showed a panorama of the fields in front of them. Geese milled around in the middle of one of the fields, farmers tending to them as Peter entered the frame.

"Look at all those chickens."

*beep*

The footage started with Peter entering a bathroom, his Spider-Man suit somewhat loose. The most noticeable feature was that he was wearing black swimming goggles instead of his mask.

"It is Wednesday my dudes."

He screamed incoherently as Shuri cackled in the background of the mirror's reflection, her head peeking through the doorframe.

End

"It's a shame you have to leave so soon," Shuri sighed as she typed something into his phone.

The shadow of the plane loomed over them as a few items were loaded onto it but he was pretty sure it was some more vibranium for Tony to use in the lab.

"I know…" He trailed off before lighting up once he thought of something. "You'll come to America though, at some point? We can meet then and maybe you can see MJ and Ned!"

Shuri chuckled. "I hope so. My brother has a few projects he's working on and he'll bring me on one of his trips eventually."

He really did hope Shuri would be able to meet Ned and MJ at some point, even if it was over the phone.

Ned would freak out about how cool Shuri was, work out more space theories with her and definitely have a lightsaber fight with her. MJ would externally seem calm and definitely enjoy Shuri's version of banter but probably be freaking out internally, as she normally did.

Not that he blamed her. Shuri was an amazing person and he couldn't imagine someone remaining calm when they first met her if they knew who she was.

"Underoos!" Tony called out from a few metres away. "It's time to go!"

"Aw man," he muttered, slightly disappointed to leave but more grateful than anything that he had been able to go to Wakanda in the first place. He had tried so many things he wouldn't have been able to imagine in his dreams and met people who he technically should not have been able to, but here he was.

"Here you go. Now we can carry on talking and perhaps I could meet your friends," Shuri said as she handed back his phone. He checked it only to see a new contact: memelord no.1.

He laughed at the contact photo Shuri had put for herself (a picture of her and him making stupid faces) before thanking her.

"You have made my life, like, infinitely better," he said as she grinned.

"And you have kept things interesting around here. I'll see you in New York!"

After all the 'goodbye's had been completed with T'Challa and Okoye, he found himself back on the plane after arguably the best holiday of his life. The royal family waved them away from a safe distance as the plane took off and flew away from Wakanda, signalling the end of a mind blowing week.

July and August had flown away in a haze of heat and relaxed patrols, his technically 18th birthday but actually 16th birthday passing in the middle of it before they returned to school and jumped back into the fray.

September had started with a series of recall tests for all of the AP classes as Midtown made sure its top students had kept their braincells over the summer, leaving him slightly drained after all of it but seemingly content with how his life was going.

There had not been a major threat since the weirdos in Times Square and most of his patrols had been filled with low level thieves, muggers and one or two shootouts between some gang and the police.

He had met Stephen twice over the past few months to talk about Thanos but there had been no new developments aside from more Nova Corps being moved to Xandar as the date for Thanos's abrupt arrival and decimation of the universe neared. None of the stones had moved and the most likely event they had for Thanos doing anything was sometime in late April.

They had some time.

The antsy feeling in his chest did not settle even with that information.

Stephen had promised to tell him when Thor came back to New York since it was a significant event. Thanos would steal the Space stone roughly two days after that and they needed to be prepared.

The end of September had arrived much faster than he had expected it to, and with the end of September came the preparations for Homecoming, meaning the school was buzzing with all the preparations that came with the beginning of the football season.

It confused him slightly; Midtown was mainly a STEM school but still made a massive deal out of football. Oh well, it wasn't as if he was preparing for most of it. He only had to buy a ticket for the dance, rent out a suit, figure out how to make a corsage for MJ, actually ask MJ out…

Yeah, he still had a few preparations to make.

He welcomed the remainder of warmth the September sunshine gave as he read over his notes from chemistry, trying to make sense of the slightly more challenging equations Ned had given him as a challenge.

Time travel came with the slight downside of knowing everything already and making all the notes again was tedious, so he and Ned had come up with the idea to find MIT-level questions for each other to make things entertaining.

They had reclaimed their spot on the rooftop, well aware no one except the janitor knew how to access it and they knew the janitor didn't have a problem with them as long as they kept the area clean.

His Spidey-sense hummed dully as someone climbed up the ladder to the roof and he glanced up to see Ned climbing to the top before he walked over and sat opposite him, leaning against the wall as he placed his bag by his side.

"Are you already finished with those?" He asked as he rifled through his bag before pulling out his laptop.

"Yeah but I'm not sure if they're right," he replied, handing the notebook he had been scribbling the answers in to Ned as he slumped slightly. "Is MJ not coming up?"

Ned shook his head. "Cindy roped her into doing something for Homecoming and she told me to tell you she wouldn't be around until Decathlon."

He pouted slightly but shrugged as if to say, 'what can you do?' If MJ was busy then he couldn't help it and he would see her later for Decathlon practice anyway.

He would ask her out to Homecoming after that and then he would work out how to make a corsage because those took a long time to make. Well, it would take a long time for him to make considering he had never made one before.

"Are you asking anyone out for Homecoming?" He asked, smiling sheepishly at Ned's surprised expression. The question was a bit out of nowhere…

"Um…probably not." Ned shrugged. "I'll remain a bachelor."

"I thought you still liked Betty?"

"Yeah but I don't think she's interested in me."

"Maybe she is. You two dated in Europe and it seemed like you two were the perfect couple."

He wasn't lying either. Despite the number of affectionate gestures and cutesy-couple things Ned and Betty had done while they were in Europe, he had known Ned had actually liked her for a while. Maybe he was reading things wrong and Ned had moved on, but he wouldn't mind supporting him if it came to Ned asking Betty out again.

Ned snorted. "More like the overly affectionate couple. I moved on about a month after the trip and I'm fine going as a bachelor. I can still hang out with you and MJ!"

"As long as you're happy," he said before they lapsed into a comfortable silence as they tried to complete their questions.

Most of his patrols passed smoothly for the next week until he stumbled upon something he hadn't expected.

Bearing in mind Tony had sold Avengers Tower about a year ago, it was a bit weird to see a crowd outside of the building, all of them shouting and pointing fingers at something or someone?

The wind roared in his ears as he swung down, landing behind the crowd as he craned his head to see what was happening. Karen dimmed the lenses as he stared up at the bright sky, squinting slightly to make out the figure who was…what the hell were they doing?

The person was hovering in the air using some sort of device – oh was it a jetpack? He subconsciously scolded himself for his distracted thoughts before he turned towards one of the civilians who he guessed had been there for a while.

The guy had a duffel bag with splatters of neon spray paint next to him and he had been yelling for a couple of minutes, his voice distinguishable from the lamppost he had been perched on a few minutes ago.

"Hey," he greeted the man before getting to the point. "Do you know what he's doing?"

The guy shrugged, looking as nonplussed as he felt. "Honestly man, I have no idea. He was preaching some random stuff about Tony Stark and WMDs before he shot up there with his jetpack and a spray can he nicked from me."

A rock plummeted to the bottom of his stomach as he put it all together. This had to be another lunatic who wanted to send a message against Tony!

It was always the bad guys who focused on Tony's past with weapons making and never focused on how Stark Industries had shut down all weapons making, or if they did pay attention to that, they didn't seem to remember the dozens of green energy projects Stark Industries operated. Tony had made up for his wrongs in every way he could once he realised how to.

"Well crap. Thanks man, and uh, try to run away in case this guy starts to destroy stuff," he advised before shooting a web up to the side of the old Avengers Tower.

Pulling himself up, he sprinted up to where the jetpack guy was, grimacing at the dripping scarlet spray paint whenever he passed one of the gaudy messages already painted on. Whoever owned this building would probably feel annoyance at the very least once they saw what was written.

177 deaths on your hands

Billions worth of damage

When will Stark learn?

He could practically see the bold headlines in his head and guilt flared in his chest as he realised there was a high chance he was going to make things worse for Tony if there was any damage. He would need to approach this criminal with a lot more caution than the others.

"Stay back!" The guy shouted as he turned around, a scarlet spray can in one hand and a circular object in the other. His dark green cargo pants had paint platters all over them and the bulletproof vest he was flaunting made sirens go off inside of his head.

This guy had to have serious cash behind him if he had a bulletproof vest and a jetpack – well it was that or he had stolen both. It wouldn't be surprising if he had stolen the item considering he had stolen the spray paint.

"Dude, I'm not interested in a fight yet!" He exclaimed as he stopped a few metres away from him.

"You're always interested in fights! You and your superhero buddies!" The guy yelled, underlining part of his final sentence on the glass.

"Karen, facial recognition?" He murmured as the guy started to rant.

"Chase Gallagher, 23 years old. Relatives are unknown but his social media suggests he has a strong preference for harsher Sokovia Accords and punishments for superheroes and any enhanced being," Karen announced into his ear.

He was in for a fun evening, wasn't he? Just him trying to talk down a psychopath on a regular Thursday afternoon.

"…because of you freaks, my family are dead! All because of Stark and his technology! I had nowhere to go after Sokovia and was homeless for years! Do you know how demeaning that is? And the second I get back on my feet, the government follows orders to tax me to poverty. You know whose orders they were? Stark's."

Chase had festered his hate for years. The way he snarled, hissed and criticised Tony made it evident that he wasn't going to be reasoned with, if he even managed to get to the reasoning stage at all!

"Listen man, I get that you lost your family. I get that you want revenge," he called out, slowly standing up to keep his image as a threat to Chase minimal. The last thing he needed was for him to go berserk and hurt somebody. "But dragging down Tony Stark by damaging property that isn't even his doesn't seem like a good idea."

"He's fucked me over multiple times and now I'm going to drag him down with me," Chase snarled, pressing a button on his jetpack that lowered him to Peter's level. "Tell me this Spider-Man: have you ever grieved for someone?"

He thought about the hollowness in his chest after Ben had died. How that chasm had filled with red hot anger and nauseating guilt until he couldn't think of anything but how to make up for his wrongs. How he needed to be better and help May and find a way to be proactive to stop the bad things happening when he could have prevented them.

He thought about the depression that had encased him after being brought back to life only to see Tony die on the battlefield twenty minutes later. How he had been in survival mode until he and May finally managed to get their home back. How he had spent months in a numb state until the world overwhelmed and bombarded him with questions about how he was going to be the next Iron Man when he was still grieving for Tony.

The absolute desolateness that had encased him after he had failed to save May from Goblin. How he had sobbed his heart out on his school's rooftop as MJ and Ned hugged him, trying to let their comfort flow through the numbness surrounding him. The blazing fury that had encapsulated him, driving him to almost murder Goblin on the Statue of Liberty.

"I've grieved before."

Chase grinned maliciously. "Then you'll know why I'm doing this." He pressed the top of the circular object in his hand before he turned back to him. "Make your choice."

Tick.

Oh no.

Tick.

His heart stopped.

Tick.

Chase threw the bomb towards the crowd before he flew away, leaving Peter torn between going after him or the bomb.

He chose the obvious option.

Notes:

Any ideas on how Strange would comfort people? I have a couple of ideas but it'd be nice to see what you guys think :)