17

Chapter 17: it's time you learned you're more than your gift

Notes:

1) This is one of the rare chapters where there's no angst because I think Peter needs a bit of a break and some time to be a teenager.

2) I think I've finally figured out who's living and dying for the ending of this fic...

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

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

Chapter Text

Tony's rock playlist played in the background as they both worked at their stations in the workshop, the lights much softer than the usual fluorescent tone and a few Christmas decorations were placed where they wouldn't interfere with the scientific work occurring.

Red, blue and gold tinsel hung around the workshop in a simple but pretty plait and an Iron Man Funko-Pop with a Christmas hat stood next to some of the schoolwork he had brought with him.

A silver Christmas tree with flashing white lights stood proudly in the corner closest to the entrance which had a Christmas wreath with a few miniature gold pinecones -real gold, not the spray painted gold ones he and May made every year- hanging from it.

It looked like Santa Claus had paid a visit but hadn't overdone it and in all honesty, he was surprised the workshop was decorated at all. They hadn't decorated the workshop until 2017 but maybe because he spent more time with Tony he had been allowed to put more stuff up. Or maybe it was Pepper and Rhodey's influence.

"So, Underoos, how're you doing with the nanobots?"

He startled, having been so in his own head that he had briefly forgotten where he was.

The nanobots in question were doing well, mainly because he was from the future and knew how nanobots worked. He was mindful that Tony had given him the technology to play around with because it was an early Christmas gift but he hadn't had much time to play around with them in the other timeline.

The Iron Spider suit had been fun to swing around with and was much more efficient at taking down major criminals with the exceptions of Fisk and Scorpion but he hadn't done much else with it like see the capabilities of the nanobots.

Spending the last three hours seeing how they reacted under different temperaments entertained him as much as it would any other scientist and he couldn't put it into words how grateful he was that Tony let him have access to nanotechnology.

He knew Mark 50 was ready because Tony had shown it to him once they had entered the lab and he fanboyed over it for an embarrassing amount of time before he was allowed to experiment with the technology and see how he could incorporate it into his current suit.

"Oh, it's going well!" He exclaimed, gesturing for Tony to come over to his workstation. "I managed to incorporate the nanobots with the exoskeleton of the spider-drone so it can shield itself from debris and camouflage with the help of the camera."

"So it's a lower scale version of cloaking technology. Impressive," Tony said as he ruffled his hair, messing up his hair as he laughed whilst throwing his hands up in a half-hearted attempt to protect his hair. "How'd you figure it out so quickly?"

His heart skipped a beat as he panicked, unsure of how to explain himself considering Tony had only recently worked out the capabilities of nanotechnology himself. He couldn't be completely honest and explain he had about a year's worth of practice with the nanobots since he was from the future; that would make him sound like an idiot. How could he summarise his experience with nanobots without sounding crazy?

"It's just like working with a half-sentient robot," he lied. "Once I realised I could train the nanobots to react to different stimuli in the way I wanted them to, it became easy."

Tony took his explanation without question, simply smirking at him with pride shining in his eyes. "Well then, let's see how the drone works."

"Right!" He picked up the curled up spider-drone and his phone, pressing a button in the app on his phone to activate it. The black metal spider unfurled its legs to reveal its thin form before he commanded it to move around the workshop, sending it to scuttle towards the wall before making it climb up to the ceiling and hang from there before he pressed the camouflage button.

The black spider disappeared, leaving the plain white ceiling. The nanobots did their job impressively well and now he had a new gadget to use on stakeouts or to track someone down!

Tony nodded approvingly before he made sure to recall the spider-drone to his hand and put it back into the back of his suit for later use.

"Boss, it is 5 PM," FRIDAY announced, startling both of them. "Happy is waiting to drive Peter home."

"Ah, right, that reminds me," Tony said as he strolled over to the far side of the room as he started to pack his notebook away. His suit went in the largest pocket and whatever technology he left lying on the workbench was put in the front pocket. Most of it was scraps that he could use at home so it was unlikely to be damaged or stolen considering how little it was worth.

"Here you go kid, merry Christmas from Pepper and me. There's something for your aunt as well," he said as he handed Peter a red bag with golden stripes in a diagonal pattern. It was heavier than he had expected but he grinned.

"Wow, thank you Mr Stark. Um, there's stuff for you and Ms Potts in the bag on the workstation-" he gestured to the spotty bag he had left by the lamp, "-and a card from both of us."

"You know you can drop the formalities now, right? It makes me feel old whenever you call me that." He shrugged sheepishly at Tony's comment as they made their way to the parking lot.

"I'll try and drop it but who knows? It's like muscle memory."

"We'll get there eventually." Tony dramatically sighed. "Ah, one more thing," he said as they walked downstairs. "I won't be available next Saturday; something came up and I won't be free for the afternoon."

"Oh, okay. Have some TV company invited you to host the New Year's show or something?"

"Something along the lines of that," Tony replied as he made a dismissive gesture. "After that there's a weekend where I'm in Tokyo so do something fun like hang out with- what's his name again? Ted?" He chuckled, knowing how Tony was messing with him. It was an ongoing joke but he didn't mind it anymore.

"No, it's Ned."

He snapped his fingers. "Right, that was it. I'll see you next Friday."

"Bye Mr St- Tony, I mean Tony." He grinned sheepishly but warmth bloomed in his chest at Tony's smile. He wouldn't take moments like this for granted ever again.

He waved goodbye as he sat in the car and Happy drove away from the Compound, his eyes widening when he realised it was snowing!

A flurry of white whirled past the window as they drove back to Queens, snowflakes covering all the trees in a thick layer as car's front lights lit up the road. Maybe he would do a final swing around Queens and have a snowball fight in the morning with Ned and Michelle if they decided to meet up.

The snow had lightened form the almost-blizzard it was after he had returned from his patrol -he had dropped off Stephen's present on his way back and bought some chocolates for Wong- to a light powder on Christmas morning. Ned had been the first to message and begged for them to meet up at a park near his house and he and Michelle had agreed to meet there at 12.

The late winter light cut through the darkness in his room, highlighting the patterned quilt that was wrapped around him like a cocoon to fend off the chill in his room. He had foolishly forgotten to fully shut the window after he returned from his late patrol and had only properly shut it a couple of hours ago.

"Peter! Wake up, it's Christmas!" May cheerily exclaimed as she opened his door, her fluffy grey dressing gown wrapped around her to shield her from the cold. The whole apartment block's heating had cut out because of the ice, hence the mass of layers. Obviously the heating had kicked back in after a few hours but it hadn't been long enough to heat their home.

"Morning May," he replied, his voice gravelly from sleep. "I'll be up in five minutes."

"Oh no mister, you've been asleep for two hours longer than usual."

"What, it's already nine?" He finally stirred, dragging the covers with him as he sat up and yawned, stretching his arms as goosebumps appeared.

"Ten actually. Breakfast is ready and the presents are under the tree!"

"Okay, I'm up!" He reluctantly let her pull him out of bed before he put on his slippers and wandered to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

He had substituted his quilt with an oversized hoodie and had donned the fluffiest socks he could find before he entered the kitchen to see a massive stack of blueberry pancakes and his favourite mug -an Iron Man mug Ben had bought him for his 14th birthday- filled with over-sweetened coffee.

Christmas music played in the background as May placed her mug filled with chai on the table and they both sat down to eat the one meal neither of them had accidentally burned.

He let himself slip into a relaxed mindset as they started talking about what they would do for the day; he would go to meet Ned and Michelle before patrolling for a few hours and dropping by FEAST. May would spend most of the day at FEAST before going home to relax for a few hours, then they would both go to a restaurant for Christmas dinner and finish the day with watching a movie.

"So, who is MJ?" May asked as she drizzled honey on her pancakes. "Is she the girl you were crushing on?"

He spluttered as he drank his coffee, choking in surprise for a couple of seconds before he composed himself. He had known this conversation was coming for a while and he and Michelle had talked about what they wanted to do.

"Technically…yes." He blushed as May smiled knowingly. "How did you figure it out so quickly?"

"You stopped talking about bringing Liz to Homecoming and then you started talking about MJ as your decathlon captain and you sounded so in love," she teased.

"Stop," he groaned. "Is it really that obvious?"

"Yep. And what did you mean by technically?

"Well, we started dating a couple of months ago."

"And you didn't tell me?" She asked, pretend hurt in her voice even though her expression was anything but that.

"We wanted to see how well it would go," he whined, weakly defending himself. "But it's going well now and I can tell you want to meet her."

"Of course!" She exclaimed after she drank some of her tea. "But only if she's comfortable. I don't want her to feel pressured into meeting me."

"Nah, she definitely does." Excluding the fact they had already met, albeit had been under more…embarrassing circumstances. "I'll ask her when she's free."

After that they opened presents and he was happy to receive a couple of new Lego sets and a weighted blanket which he had been asked for a few months ago. It helped keep him grounded during sensory overloads or when his Spidey-sense decided to build up his anxiety rather than help him in a battle situation.

Time rushed by as he decided to get changed and head to the park, Ned and Michelle's presents in his bag as well as an extra set of gloves and a hat. He knew how soggy his clothes would get after a snowball fight and he didn't want to freeze even more than he knew he would.

The park was pretty empty for a residential area but Ned had explained most of his neighbours had gone on holiday a few days before or were out visiting relatives so they had the park to themselves.

Most of the snow resembled a blank sheet, completely unmarked except for the footpath and a snowman someone couldn't help but build early in the morning -the person probably built it from the snow on the pathway- so he chose to leave his bag beside it. A couple of snowbanks had built up against the play set overnight which provided them with shelter so they could set up their bases.

"One minute to build up ammo," he said as Ned hyped himself up and Michelle smirked. Her red and blue beanie and her jumper -one with a reindeer wearing a Santa hat- stood out against the plain landscape.

"3, 2, 1…go!" Ned exclaimed as they scrambled to their designated bases. He had chosen the area with the slide which had a massive snowbank beside it and had propped his phone at the top of the slide, making sure to video the miniature battle that had broken out.

Making sure to tug his hat down before he started making his mountain of snowballs, he separated them into three separate piles: one on either side of him and one behind the snowbank for emergency use.

"Time!" He yelled, launching his first snowball at Ned and laughing when it hit him in the face before flinching when something hit the side of his face and snow trickled down his neck. "Oh my- shit, that's cold!" He exclaimed as Michelle smirked knowingly and threw a snowball up and caught it before she threw it at Ned.

"Hey, no! That's tag teaming!" He shouted as he brushed snow off of his Spider-Man hoodie -he had bought it four days ago and proudly sent a picture to him on WhatsApp- before he threw a snowball at Michelle, groaning when she dodged it.

"We didn't agree on an alliance Ned. Every person for themselves!" She chuckled before throwing another snowball at him. He ducked behind the swing set where he had set his base up before throwing snowballs at her and Peter, laughing when he hit Michelle.

He easily dodged before leaping over his snowbank with an armful of snowballs and lobbing them at Michelle at rapid-fire speed, his jaw dropping when she avoided all of them.

If she and Natasha ever met then she would have potential to be a good spy, especially with her high level of observance and her ability to collect information.

Darting to the side to avoid a round of snowballs from Michelle and Ned, dread flashed in his mind as he realised they had teamed up against him.

Realistically it made sense since he had enhanced reflexes and speed even if he knew he could beat them easily but he wasn't in a competitive mood. All he wanted to do was enjoy being a kid again and do dumb shit like throw massive snowballs at his friends and that was what he was going to do.

He joined in with Ned's contagious laughter when Michelle accidentally scooped too much snow from the climbing frame she had based herself by and snow showered over her. She yelped as snow fell down her neck and she frantically brushed it off herself before chucking a massive snowball at him, snickering when it hit his back.

Near the end of the fight they had started cornering him to his base with the large snowballs in their hands, both smirking evilly at each other before lobbing the snowballs at him from point blank range.

He darted to the side to avoid one of the snowballs, laughing for all of the two seconds he felt victorious before yelping when he tripped over his feet at the same time the other snowball hit him and he tumbled into a snowbank. Shock filled his body as snow infiltrated his clothes and numbed his ears but all he could do was laugh.

Michelle silently shook with laugher and Ned had doubled over as he wheezed at Peter's unfortunate position in the snow before he stumbled over and offered him a helping hand.

Obviously it was a big mistake.

He yanked Ned forwards, careful to use the right amount of strength that his friend toppled over and fell into the snowbank to his left as Michelle finally broke and chortled at how stupid they looked.

"You traitor!" Ned exclaimed, grabbing a handful of snow and throwing it at him before he carried on laughing,

"It was your snowball that made me fall over!"

"Doesn't mean you can pull me down with you! It's friendly fire."

"Serves you right for making me cold."

"As much as I love seeing you two bicker like an old married couple," Michelle interrupted, a smile on her face as she rubbed her hands together. "I think one of you will end up like a popsicle if we stay out here much longer."

"She's not wrong," Ned replied. "I can't feel my ears." Internally he agreed with them. His fingers were numb from holding snowballs despite his gloves and the front of his sweater was soaking from the melted snow.

He hauled himself out of the snowbank before climbing up the slide to retrieve his phone -he would send the video to their group chat later- and jogged over to grab his bag. They made their way to Ned's house for hot chocolate as they discussed what they had received for Christmas from their families.

He sighed in relief as his body tingled in response to how warm Ned's house was, finally regaining feeling in his ears and fingers as he relaxed against the radiator in the living room, the hot chocolate warming his chest as Ned found presents for him and Michelle.

It turned out he and May had coordinated what they would get for him since he bought Peter the lightsaber he'd had his eyes on for years but hadn't bought in the other timeline since their money situation had been tighter ever since the Blip. Ned had bought him the one that lit up blue which meant justice and protection which was quite a fitting choice.

He and Michelle had exchanged presents on the last day of school and she had given him a set of film to use for his polaroid camera that he and Ben had fixed a few years ago, calling him an adorable dork for his hobbies.

Sometimes he was in a mood where he preferred to use his polaroid instead of his phone -maybe it was the aesthetic of it all- but on their next date at his home he had taken a picture of them together and pinned it on his corkboard.

Time had flown by as they played some card games and both Ned and Michelle had family coming around for Christmas, so he walked her to the bus stop and shyly kissed her goodbye before he went on patrol, hardly missing the blush on her cheeks as she sat down and the bus drove away.

Patrol went very well for Christmas day – so many families and tourists were out and asked for pictures with him and since there weren't many crimes he had time to interact with the public.

He had a small snowball fight with some kids in another park before he helped a woman who sold churros roll her cart to another street -bearing in mind the concrete was icy and they both slipped at least once- before she gave him some churros for free.

After his patrol he rushed home to shower before finding his Iron Man Christmas jumper and meeting May at the restaurant and eating a late lunch with her before they went back home and lit up the Christmas pudding she had bought.

Being as picky as he was with some foods, he practically drowned his slice of pudding in double cream before they both sat on the couch to watch movies. She chose Home Alone and after a brief intermission of heating up more Christmas pudding and bringing it back to the sofa, he chose Arthur Christmas.

His eyes drooped as he leaned against May, relaxing under the warmth his weighted blanket provided as he yawned. Resting hadn't been on his agenda for the past few months after the necessity of dealing with Toomes and the mess he left behind before the whole Shocker escapade.

He could allow himself to nod off for one afternoon in the safety of his home, finally in the past where everything was okay and he could afford to relax for a day.

Notes:

Would anyone be interested if I wrote a post-NWH fic where it's MCU Peter but Ultimate Spider-Man (Cartoon) characters?

It would ignore the existence of the Defenders Iron Fist and Luke Cage series and focus on Peter in a SHIELD team.