Peter wasn't sure where to go. He briefly contemplated calling Fury, the only other person in the world who knew who the teen really was, but he shook the thought out of his head. Why would he go back to the man who'd lied to him for years?

No, he couldn't go to SHIELD. Instead, Peter took a familiar path through the city, looking for the row of town-homes Ned lived on. His feet had a mind of their own as they took him right to the door, knocking lightly on the hard wooden door.

"Peter," Mrs. Leeds greeted, opening the door. "I didn't know you were coming by tonight. It's a school night."

"Hi, Mrs. Leeds." Peter shifted his weight from foot to foot, tears pricking at his eyes again. "I, uh... I need a place to stay for a bit? If that's okay. I can always go somewhere else, but I didn't know where to go and I can't go back to the apartment and-"

The older woman cut the boy off with a quick hug. "Of course, honey. You're always welcome here."

Peter followed the woman inside the house, taking note of Mr. Leeds, Ned, and Miranda, Ned's little sister, at the dining table. He kicked of his shoes by the door and set his bag by the stairs as he came into the kitchen.

"Hey, Leeds clan."

They all chorused hello back, Mr. Leeds sending a sideways glance at his wife.

"Peter, make yourself a plate."

The teen busied himself with food while the family had a quick conversation in hushed tones, unaware that Peter could hear every word.

"Why is he here? It's a Tuesday."

"He said he couldn't go back home, something happened with May. He's staying here for now."

"Doesn't he have anywhere else to go?"

Peter's ears burned with blush when he heard that. It was no secret that he was an orphan- that he only had May, but hearing it out loud like that always made him uncomfortable. Now that he knew he wasn't even an orphan, now that he knew he was just some kid Fury found, he felt even worse.

"Hush! He's welcome here as long as he needs. We're not going to turn out a 15 year old!"

Peter turned, his plate piled with food. He smiled at the small family as he made his way towards the table.

"Thanks for letting me stay," he murmured, keeping his eyes fixed on his food. "I just didn't know who else to call."

Ned smiled reassuringly. "Anytime, man."

Dinner was uneventful after that. Everyone ate quickly, and Ned and Peter helped clean up the dishes, of course. When everyone was done, and the dishes had been put in the dish washer, Ned and Peter had raced upstairs to Ned's room. Peter liked being with Ned, especially because he got to be himself. No snarky agent attitude, no adrenaline rush, no pretending, just Peter. Peter, who loved Legos and could eat a whole pizza in under an hour.  Peter, who did a spot on Jar Jar Binks impression. Peter, who loved people way too hard, despite all the times they let him down.

Ned pulled out his Lego sets, passing Peter the instructions as he started sorting pieces. After a few minutes, he cleared his throat and looked up at his friend.

"Want to tell me what's going on with May?"

Peter sighed. He knew that he could trust Ned with anything, even something like this. Something convoluted and strange and life-shattering.

"Ho scoperto di essere adottato," he said quietly. Ned rolled his eyes.

"English, please."

"I found out I'm adopted," Peter repeated, flipping through the Lego book. "We're starting with 2 of the 6-by-6 lego flats, then we need a couple 2-by-3's."

Ned handed over the pieces. "Didn't you already know that? I mean, May is your aunt."

"I know that." Peter fitted the pieces together easily, then passed it over to his friend for the next step. "I mean before that. Mary and Richard weren't my real parents."

Ned's eyes went wide as his face drained of color. "That's like, really big news! How'd you find out?"

"I found a box in the attic this morning while I was-" The teen cut himself off, realizing that he was about to say 'putting on my super-suit'. He might have trust Ned with his life, but he wasn't ready to tell him he was a half-spider freak.

"Getting my books from my room," Peter finished after a second. "I fell and grabbed the string for the attic and it just sort of tumbled into my arms. Apparently, my mom was a teenager."

Ned gasped. "You're a teen baby! That's so cool, that means that she'd be like 30 now, and that's not that much older than us!"

Peter crinkled his nose. "It doesn't matter, Ned. I'll never meet her."

"Didn't May know who she was if Mary and Richard adopted you?"

The brunet shook his head. "She said she didn't know anything about her, but I have a feeling she's lying. I hate that I think she's lying, God, I've never questioned her before. Scheiße!" (Translation: Shit)

Ned was accustomed to his friend's jumbled up languages by now, and he was familiar enough with Peter's choice phrases to know it was a swear word.

"So you left."

Peter nodded. "I just couldn't talk about it with her. She kept calling me these pet-names, reminding me that when I think of home, I think of her. I couldn't talk about how that was all a lie."

"But it wasn't a lie," Ned quipped, clicking a Lego brink into place. "She still raised you for as long as you can remember. Still took care of you."

Peter thought about that for a minute. Thought about all the times May had patched up scraped knees and helped with homework. All the times she took him to the zoo or the science museum.

"Yeah, I guess," he relented after a moment.

"There you go," Ned said with a smile. "Problem solved. She's still your aunt."

Peter gave a half-hearted smile. There was so much more to this than just family. It was the fact she'd known about Fury, it was the fact that May had let him go through that training so young, it was the fact that every throw away comment of 'you have your mother's smile' and 'your father would have loved that joke' was just a lie.

Peter itched to feel that freedom he got from being Spiderman, like he felt earlier today. He wanted to go swinging. He wanted to do something for someone else, since he couldn't do something for himself.

"Ned," Peter said, pulling the Legos out of his friend's hands. He had to tell him the truth. "I need to tell you something."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony spun in his office chair lazily, his head tilted back. He hated thee stupid meetings anyways, they were useless! They'd already turned in their official reports! Why did they have to go to in-person reports, too?

"Stark," Fury barked. "Stay focused."

The billionaire rolled his eyes, then caught Bruce's eye from across the table and pulled a silly face.

"Does anyone else want to say anything about the mission?"

Everyone shook their heads except Steve, who opened his mouth and started talking about the team's drop-spot.

Tony mimed tossing a drink completely back, making a few of the others giggle. He'd been sober for years now, but that made it even funnier now. Just as he was about to mime something else, something probably dirtier and much funnier, his phone buzzed.

Looking down discretely, he saw a text from Pepper.

You should see this.

She'd attached a video to the text, so he checked to make sure his phone was on silent before opening the video.

A blur of blue and red. A swinging figure. Gun fire.

He closed the video, having seen all he needed to.

Who is that? he texted back, watching as Pepper typed a reply.

His name is Spiderman. Seems like he's new to the job, but he;s got some incredible skills.

"Stark!" Tony's head snapped up and he slyly pocketed his phone again.

"Care to tell the class what's so interesting on your phone?"

The billionaire shook his head. "Nothing. I mean, nothing is interesting. Just Pepper reminding me about a meeting later."

The team resumed the conversation, but Tony's mind was miles away, thinking about the spider vigilante and how he could get him on the Avengers.