This is the last chapter, folks. I'll get more emotional towards the end, but I just want to thank you all for all the support and encouragement over the last few days. So without further ado, enjoy!

TEN.

"Dude, you've got your tassel the wrong way."

"What?"

"Here—" Ned reached over and flipped the tassel on Peter's cap on the other side. "You're supposed to move it to the other side after the graduation ceremony's over and stuff. Otherwise your tassel makes it look like you've already graduated."

"Oh," Peter said, fingering the yellow strands of the tassel dangling by his ear.

"Don't mess it up!" Ned protested, whacking Peter's hand away.

"I'm not gonna mess it up," Peter replied, but still, at his friend's insistence, he kept his hands by his sides. He lifted his head to gaze around the gymnasium instead, where students in caps and gowns identical to his were milling around either by themselves or in big groups. Some kids were raising phones to take photos of each other; other kids were giving hugs or holding hands in anxiety or excitement, Peter couldn't quite tell.

"You nervous?" Ned asked, as though reading Peter's mind.

"No," Peter replied automatically. And then, a second later, he said, "Maybe a little." He looked over at Ned. "Is there anything else wrong with my outfit?"

"Nah," Ned said, waving his hand.

"You have a ketchup stain on your sash," a voice said from behind, and Peter whirled around. MJ's arms were crossed, but the small smile on her face made her look more relaxed than usual.

"Very funny," Peter said after a beat. "But I didn't even have ketchup this morning." When MJ continued to smile at him, Peter ducked his head down just in case. To his relief, there were no sneaky red splotches on the golden sash over his robes. When he lifted his head back up, MJ only started laughing.

"You still looked," she said triumphantly.

"You knew I would!" Peter shot back.

"He's just nervous," Ned supplied. "MJ, tell Peter he'll be fine."

"You'll be fine," MJ said. She dropped her hands to her sides. "You're just giving a speech. Just think of it as another Decathalon. Or giving a presentation to class. Or," she added, dropping her voice to a surreptitious whisper, "like going on the news to answer questions about saving the world." As both MJ and Ned exchanged high-fives, Peter groaned into his hands.

"One day, my identity will actually be revealed, and it'll be because you guys wouldn't stop talking about it," Peter muttered, shaking his head.

"No, I'm pretty sure it'll be because you accidentally post something on Instagram," MJ replied.

Peter groaned again, but before he could think of anything to say, a bell sounded, and students instantly started to stumble themselves into some sort of cohesive line out the gymnasium doors.

"You'll be great," Ned said, clapping Peter on the back as they started to look for their designated spots on the line. "You'll see."

"Thanks," Peter said, shooting his friend a brief smile. Before they could fully depart, though, Peter felt a warm hand slide into his, and he didn't even have to look to know that it was MJ.

But he still looked, and when he did, MJ was smiling at him for real now—the bright, gentle smile that MJ only ever wore when they were alone on a rooftop, or when Peter was about to fall asleep from late-night patrolling and studying, or when MJ thought Peter wasn't looking (even though he always was).

"See you later," she only said, and with a quick kiss on the cheek, she let go of Peter's hand and disappeared into the crowd of students.

Cheek burning from where MJ's lips had met it, Peter made his way to his spot in line. He let that ridiculous feeling of MJ's touch float him through the procession of students—float him out the gymnasium doors, and then he was walking under the hot sun towards the football field, where people were already sitting on the stone benches and the bleachers awaiting the students.

From somewhere, Peter heard the beginnings of the graduation music start to begin, and for a second, Peter could only think about the Fantasia movie he watched as a kid with that same music. He vaguely remembered seeing Donald Duck in Noah's Ark, and he remembered how Donald and Daisy Duck scrambled about the boat almost always missing each other, and Peter couldn't understand why he was thinking about that movie now, but either way, as he walked to his seat in the field of seats arranged on the turf, he felt his heart both rise and sink as the music swelled around him.

All of his classmates wore similar expressions of both dread and glee. This was it, Peter knew they were probably all thinking. High school was finally over. College was around the corner, or maybe it was military service or travel or work or trade school around the corner. And for Peter—despite all the late-night patrols and missions—he had somehow managed to get into MIT. Both Tony and Rhodey had offered to write recommendation letters for him (Tony had almost sent the recommendation letter, more like), but Peter had refused their help. "I want to see if I can get in on my own," he had told Tony specifically. And there had been arguments—plenty of arguments—but then May had stepped in, and then Pepper stepped in, and even Steve stepped in, and then even Morgan took Peter's side, which ultimately made Tony finally drop the recommendation.

Peter swiveled his head up at the bleachers. He saw Ned's parents (they were up at the top), and then he saw MJ's parents. He saw some of his other classmates' parents, some old teachers, even some older alumni of the high school, and as all of the students sat down in their seats, Peter spotted them.

He saw May first. Once finding Peter in the crowd, she instantly started waving, her face alight under the bright sun. Right next to May, Peter noticed, Happy had his sunglasses pushed up to his forehead and was waving at Peter with the same enthusiasm as his aunt. Peter shot Happy a quizzical smile before moving his gaze upwards.

He spotted Bruce, who gave Peter a thumbs-up, and then he saw Sam, who was holding up a camera of the whole scene, and then he saw Bucky, who was trying to sink out of the camera's lenses, and then he saw Wanda, who was glaring over at a man who was ogling at her from a bench away, and then he saw Clint, who was trying to get his kids to sit still, and then he saw Thor, who was proudly telling anyone who would listen that "the young fellow is about to start a new phase in his life", and then he saw Natasha, who (after Tony consulted with some friends in Wakanda and outer-space, was somehow brought back) was mouthing something to Peter (he had yet to learn how to lip-read), and then he saw Steve, who only winked at Peter, and then he saw Rhodey, who was threatening to grab Sam's camera, and then he saw Pepper, who was handing out a water bottle to Morgan, who was bouncing up and down in her seat with the excitement of any other six-year old, and then he saw Tony.

Tony, who had pushed his sunglasses away, and despite the murmurs and shifts in the crowd as people took in the great mass of superheroes sitting at the very center of the bleachers, Tony looked at total calm. When finding Peter, Tony shot him a wide smile, and Peter couldn't help but smile back.

And then student performers were singing some song about moving on to greater, better things, and all Peter could do was alternate his glances between Ned and MJ and his friends—no, his family—sitting up at the bleachers. Peter looked over at Ned, who was going to MIT, too, and then he looked over to MJ, who had gotten into Harvard, despite the fact that nearly everyone in the class thought that she wasn't going to apply to college at all. MJ caught Peter looking and pretended to gag at the singers, but when the song ended, Peter couldn't help but notice that she was clapping almost as loudly as everyone else.

There were speeches. Long speeches from the principal and the class president and the school superintendent, and as the sun rose higher and higher in the sky, Peter felt sweat trickle down the back of his neck. He reached up to brush the sweat away and looked up again at the bleachers, this time at Morgan, who, despite her mother's protests, had started using the water bottle as a cooling compress. When Morgan caught Peter watching, she waved the water bottle teasingly in the air.

Stifling a smile, Peter turned back around in his seat just as the principal called, "And now I'll call up class valedictorian Peter Parker to deliver a short speech to his classmates."

Peter's smile slid off his face as he stood up from his chair. He flicked his eyes up to the podium ways before him and vaguely heard Ned and MJ whisper something like "good luck" before he moved out of the row of seats. He lifted his eyes to the principal, who nodded encouragingly as Peter walked across the field.

The principal started rattling off some short summary about Peter's time in school, but all the words drowned out in Peter's ears as he reached the podium. He shuffled out the cards he had tucked in his pocket this morning and for a second, the words seemed to blur right before him.

"Peter Parker, everyone," the principal said, and the principal moved out of the way for Peter to take up the microphone.

Peter felt himself set his cards down on the podium and looked up at the sea of faces before him. He found his friends again, but then he looked to the bleachers again.

And this time, he saw Tony first.

And Tony, lifting a raised thumb, only gave Peter a single nod, and Peter felt something shift into place. He let his eyes wander from Tony to the rest of the large family that had somehow all managed to gather for this one day. He let himself float from this podium to some few hours after the graduation ceremony—how he'd be walking towards his new family at the end, probably take some pictures, maybe kiss MJ in front of everyone, and then jump into the lake with everyone at the end of the day. And later, much later, Peter saw himself packing for college. He saw himself in the car with May as they drove to Massachusetts. He saw himself with Ned in the dorm, probably cramming for exams. He saw himself with MJ on the weekends. But he also saw himself coming home on holidays. He saw himself still eating Thai food with May and baking cookies with Morgan and just being in the same place as Tony. As everyone.

Peter smiled and lifted a hand. He waved at them now—at the people who had somehow been with him for the longest time—and started his speech.

And when he finally finished his speech, and when the students and parents started clapping, Peter found that specific spot on the bleachers again.

His family was whole again.

A/N: When I first had the idea for this story, I was so nervous that no one would want to read it. I was also extremely nervous about doing a longer fic because I haven't written very long stories/had large projects for years. Furthermore, I was worried at taking any stab towards Far From Home, especially since movie speculation isn't exactly my forte.

However, you guys have just been so supportive and so awesome when it came to this story, and I really can't thank you guys enough for it. If anything, your support has given me the hope and energy to maybe start embracing more projects (more Tony and Peter stuff, for sure, and probably some other familiar faces), because frankly, I'm not ready to let these guys go just yet.

I think most importantly, though, I really wanted these characters to have the happy ending they deserved. Because honestly, I think tragedies have become overdone. In a world that already faces enough tragedy, we need stories to speak of hope and love and joy more than ever. And, of course, that starts with characters that we already know, as well as our own original characters maybe percolating in our minds.

So I hope this story brought all of you guys at least a glimpse of joy or love or hope in your days, because writing this story certainly brought lots of joy for me. But of course, that joy only came more strongly after seeing you guys come through with all the warmth in the world. Thank you, everyone-love you 3000.

Katierosefun (Caroline)