I do not own the Avengers or Spiderman.

AN: I have no idea what happened to this chapter, it just got longer and longer! It's the final chapter so enjoy. I'll say more at the end.

Needless to say that the entirety of the Avengers team, especially an angry team, against one man would never end well. There was no contest at all, just a heavy defeat and a black eye curtesy of Tony Stark. It wasn't even 5 minutes later when Cross found himself on the very jet the Avengers had almost taken off from, only instead of his previous plan where it would take them on a mission away from the tower, he had booked himself on a one-way ticket to the Raft. An escort was personally provided by Hawkeye and Black Widow themselves, the former deciding he wanted to turn the key on the cell himself.

Honestly, I couldn't care less about what happened to him now: that stage of my life was over and it was time to move on. Not that that part was easy – at first, things seemed to get better on an exponential scale – only a couple of days later not to mention after a heap load of food to get my strength and enhanced healing working, Bruce was officially able to declare me well and truly fit for duty.

Alongside my own physical changes, the Avengers changed towards me too. Sure, they were still themselves -they weren't walking on eggshells around me anymore, but there was still a difference. Maybe my words did have an effect after all – I'd have to accept that I was always going to be the baby of the group, but they all stopped thinking of me as less than them. No-one went easy on me when we trained; when planning potential strategies, no-one gave me the rubbish role just to keep me out of harm's way: they gave me the job best suited for my abilities; and the next time things went bad, I knew they wouldn't ask me to go home. If anything, it just went to show how differently they were treating me before.

Of course, I may not be a child to them anymore, but like it or not, I was still a kid and there were some parts of that title which I would never be able to get away from…. Like School. Ok, so I can't complain too much – There was no way that I could go back to Midtown or any actual school, but the alternatively created for me was interesting to say the least. I can probably, and by that I mean with almost 100 percent certainty, say that I am the first person on earth who has been taught by an AI. Karen took over most of my schooling, but Steve was always around to give me a history lesson or two – I could listen to his stories all day. Bruce took over the sciences, and unlike school where experiments were controlled tenfold with over a hundred 'do's and don'ts', the labs we did together were far more creative. We even accidently evacuated the entire compound once when one went pear-shaped. Tony's speciality was engineering. It was mostly free reign when we got into his workshop, but I still learnt a whole lot more with him at my side than my pathetic teacher at school ever taught us. Natasha kept quizzing me on my language skills, and everyone else chipped in whenever they could, but apart from that, we were in Karen's teaching territory.

It seemed like the Avengers could do anything if they put their mind to it – save the world from an alien threat, done; create a school for a teenager with superhero powers, easy. But they couldn't recreate everything in my old life.

Clint was one of the few who, as a self-proclaimed high school dropout, couldn't do anything schooling related. Instead, he gave me something far more important. It was only a few days after I had been given the all clear when he snuck into my room at night. He quite obviously hadn't been given any permission to do this, because we had to creep around the base, pausing whenever any Avenger related personal came along. Eventually, we made it to the roof and onto a jet. Despite everything connected to the Avengers being branding with the logo for publicity, the first thing I noticed, was that this one was completely devoid of anything on the outside telling anyone who owned it. As soon as we were in the air, a cloaking device was activated so we couldn't be seen – when we landed I found out why.

We touched ground in a small field, beyond which lay a path leading to a rather picturesque white house with green shutters. I looked at Clint curiously, wondering where on earth we were and why we were here, but instead of giving a sensible answer, all he did was smirk and say,

"Wait and see." He strode off down the path, his pace fast considering there didn't seem to be any particular hurry to get anywhere. Once inside the house, he gave me a quick glance and a wink before calling out:

"Honey, I'm home." As if it had been on que, I heard footsteps come pounding down the stairs. Before I knew what was happening, Clint was scooping two kids into his arms, with a third being a little slower and just behind the others. There were squeals of delight and noise as Clint knelt down on his knees to greet the people who could only be his children. I had almost forgotten he had them, it had been a long time since he had first mentioned them. I hung back, feeling slightly awkward as yet another person came sliding into the room. Clint looked up immediately upon his wife's arrival, a smile on his face that could only be described as pure content and happiness.

It wasn't long before I too was swept into a hug by this woman, her motherly instincts noticing my unease at being just an onlooker. Sure enough, I was soon being ushered into the next room as though I was one of them.

Clint and his wife Laura had 3 kids in total: Cooper who was 12 and who loved playing with Lego (If I got the chance, that was going to be one hobby I was definitely going to encourage); 10 year old Lila who had been taking lessons from Natasha and was turning out to be a formidable dancer/gymnast; and tiny Nathanial, who was 3 and spent his time tottering around, mostly watching everyone else. Their likeness to Clint was uncanny, and though I only spent a day with them, I knew that Cooper and Lila had the potential if they wanted to take over from Clint one day and become mini Hawkeye's themselves.

I appreciated the day more than anyone knew – there was a normality about it that I had been lacking. It wasn't like the compound where an artificial intelligence ran the place, technology and gizmos littered the building and during the day at least, you would see government people around every corner. Instead, there was hardly any technology at all, not even a TV; and being on a remote farm, the chances of you coming across someone were slim to none. It felt like I didn't have to worry about anything here – the world could go to hell and back and I wouldn't know.

But it wasn't exactly the same kind of normal that I was used to either – it wasn't like Queens, and though Laura was a mother at heart, she wasn't Aunt May. I left the place feeling slightly hollow, it had been the best day in months and yet all it did was remind me of what I had been missing. Clint was quite melancholy too, and when he paused upon reaching the jet as we made to leave, I thought for a moment he was going to turn right around there and then to go back inside. Instead, he sat down on the lowered entrance, gesturing me to sit beside him.

We rested in silence for a while, simply watching the sun beating down on the rolling fields.

"You know, the best kept secret is one no-one knows about." Clint said suddenly and without warning, leaning back as he relaxed. "That's the best thing about this place, no-one knows it exists. I don't get to see them that often but at least they will always be safe." I thought back to how innocently Lila was playing with Cooper's Lego bricks – already a feeling of protectiveness had come over me. It was scary how oblivious they had been as to what might happen if people knew they existed, but it was better that way.

Aunt May didn't hadn't have that luxury – she had been forced to move her home, even change her name just to keep safe. Last I heard, she was still living as Eva Lisbon in Ohio.

"Tony's been setting something up." Clint continued, "There's going to be a car crash soon, and the post-mortem will release to the public a few dates later that the victim was none other than your Aunt May who had been secretly living as Eva. Now be warned, the press will go mad – they've been wondering where she has been ever since you went public and now they will finally know. In their eyes, Spiderman's only living relative will cease to exist but that means your enemies won't be able to hurt your real Aunt."

"We have contacts that will be able to keep your Aunt May under the radar for a while. When Maylene Stewart moves into 2 Summerfield Close, the next house over, about a month later, no one will think anything of it." I looked up incredulously, wondering what he was saying. Did he really mean what I thought he did?

"I can live with her again?" I asked disbelievingly. Clint replied immediately before I could think on that any further.

"Not live with her. Officially, you'd be a minor with no guardian, so you'd be expected and need to be seen at the Avengers compound. But, when you get leave, you can visit just like I do for my folks." I sat dumbfounded – it wasn't perfect, but it was so much better than never seeing her at all. I couldn't help but smile incredulously as I realised the truth.

"You wait." Clint continued, "Laura and May are going to gang up on us next. We'll never get a moment's peace." He chuckled. That didn't matter to me though – all that mattered was that soon enough, I would be with her again and things could go back to normal, albeit only lasting whenever I had leave.

That day was a while ago now though and even though I still hadn't yet had the chance to see her, the accident had officially happened so it was only a matter of time before the next stage of the plan could be implemented.

Tony had spent so much time sorting things for me – it wasn't just this, although Aunt May had been the main one. He also gave me a new phone: it was based on the latest Stark Phone, but it was obvious that the man himself had upgraded it even further than that judging by how much it wasn't to the standard specification. It was certainly a bit of an improvement on my old flip phone which Tony had made no effort to return so was probably still lying around Tony's lab somewhere.

He had even managed to keep my number the same, something that came in very useful when Ned called me in the second week back. I had been losing a game of chess against Vision when it came through – quickly excusing myself, I walked out into the other room, trying not to let the surprise show on my face.

"Ned?" I asked curiously. The last time we had spoken had been pretty intense – I owed him a lot.

"Peter, you won't believe what has just happened." He said, and before I could ask the question he was hinting at, he was already on the answer, "I've just been given an internship at Stark Industries." I stood startled for a moment, my brain trying to catch up with what he said. Letting out a huff of surprise, I replied:

"Wow, that's… Congrats mate, you deserve it." I stammered out.

"Yeah, they just rung me up, out of the blue. I get to work every other weekend. Man, it's going to be awesome."

"That sounds amazing." It really did – Stark Industries internships were really rare, hence why no-one would believe me at school when I said I had one. They were right of course, mine was only a cover up, though the real thing would be incredible. Honestly, there was a slight twinge of jealously in me that bubbled slightly on the surface before I quickly squished the thought down. Ned deserved this after all.

"I didn't even know you had applied." I admitted to Ned, though this was hardly surprising given our amount of contact recently. Then, my thoughts were quickly brought down to earth.

"What?" Ned questioned, "Peter, you idiot." I blinked, taken aback at this exclamation. "It's not a real internship – Stark doesn't give those. It just means I get to go to the compound every so often." I looked up suddenly, even though Ned wouldn't have been able to see that.

"That… That means. You… We can." I stammered.

"We are having a movie marathon. Oh, and can I be your 'guy in the chair again?'" Ned was off in a moment, barely letting me get a word in edgeways. I had missed this and couldn't help but smile fondly. I leant back against the wall and let his words roll over me, I wasn't really taking anything in and I didn't really have to. Looking around, I spotted Tony walking past, looking at me with eyebrows raised though I was sure he knew exactly what was going on. Gratefully, I mouthed 'Thank You' before he walked away to leave us in peace.

My relationship with Tony was improving tenfold. There was still a part of him that would always treat me slightly differently – everyone did to an extent. There had long been a special bond between everyone in the team, a result of having been through certain experiences that no-one else could relate to. Thought there were circumstances like school in which everyone treated like a child, what Tony didn't try to do, was treat me like his child – he would make sure I was ok, but he would never tell me what to do.

As for Tony and Pepper? Well they were talking to each other once again and were definitely closer than they had been, but there had been no announcement of any sort just yet. Even so, at the rate things were going, I wouldn't have to wait too long before I became a big brother.

On paper, I was supposed to be completely back to normal. I had my family back and I had friends, both old ones and new. My injuries were healed, and the threat had passed.

It didn't feel like it all the time though.

I couldn't sleep. At first, my solution was to lie awake for most of the night whilst counting sheep. Whenever I did succumb to the darkness, my night was plagued with the images that I would rather forget. I would wake up, sweating and sticky, feeling weak as I remembered how helpless I had been when faced with the knife. If Clint hadn't turned up, Leon would have stabbed me and I wouldn't have been here today.

You'd have thought that being Spiderman and all, I would have faced up to the reality of death before now. Having lost my parents, and my Uncle, I had never been blind to the fact that it had always been a possibility, and if you'd asked me before, I would have probably said that I was prepared for it.

I hadn't been though. There's a big difference between knowing it is a possibility and seeing that possibility right before your eyes. It could happen to any of us in this job – the reality was one that I had never wanted to admit to.

I had never been so scared as I had been in that base. The fear pumping through your veins, the helplessness you feel as a victim. When I finally returned to my duties as Spiderman, the feeling made me realise just how important my role was. There had been someone there for me when I was scared and alone. If I could take anything from my experience, it was that people should never be alone, and if Spiderman could help with that, then you can be sure he will.

Things got better when I restarted my night-time patrols. I had increased the amount of time I spent on them, a result of being home-schooled and not having to keep with the pace of others nor the school timetable, but every second felt that much more important than before. Even if it was just helping a little old lady across the road, or something bigger like stopping a rapist or bank robber, I took great pride in the work.

My tongue, having been held captive as Peter Parker, ran riot when I was out at night – it seemed like there was a plethora of jokes to be told, not all of them good mind, and sarcastic comebacks. Talking like that gave me a sense of freedom right from the beginning: though I could never speak like that as Peter Parker, the anonymity of Spiderman has always meant I could say exactly what I wanted when I wanted. More importantly, Spiderman wasn't scared of anything.

If I were to take an example of this, it would be the Manhattan Raid. Yeah I know, a bit out of the way of my usual patch, but I had been tracking this gang for weeks and that was where their next target was. They were 5 of them in this group, all seemingly highly trained professionals so were very different from the usual thugs I took down. They carried knives and guns and could wield them as easily as though they were nothing more than an extension of themselves. Their targets: some of the biggest banks in New York. They were after money in any shape and form, only they didn't care who got in their way.

Probably the most sensible thing for me to have done would be to call in some backup – the other Avengers had told me so many times that I could do just that so I wouldn't have been overstepping the mark. Only I had been tracking these people for ages – I knew exactly what they could do and how they did it. I even knew where their next targets were so I would have the element of surprise. Sure, they weren't a simple enemy, but at the end of the day, they were just men who I could deal with. This wasn't something I was doing all gun's blazing – I was prepared.

I went to their chosen bank early to set up half a dozen web grenade spots. I had been working on them all week with Tony and Bruce – they were tiny pockets of web fluid that I could place around any room and could release remote via Karen. After that all I had to do was wait. The roof I had chosen across the street was a perfect viewing point for the street below. The wind was a little chilly, and not for the first time I wished that my suit was made of more than just fabric. I took my mask away from my face – it was easier to hear the music that was blaring through my headphones that way. It was the only thing that was keeping me awake right now.

Eventually, there was some movement. Anxiously, I got to my feet and carefully climbed down the side of the building, making a concerted effort not to be seen. As I entered the bank and leant against the wall, I felt a small sense of déjà vu – the situation had some familiarities.

"Oi, I think you'll find they're closed." I quipped loudly, "They open tomorrow at 8 if you want to come in then." There were 5 masked faces looking up at me – they hadn't yet been able to get into the safe of the bank, so the money was secure for now, but their machinery was littered across the floor and there was a crack where they had attempted to cut through the wall.

"Or if you are really busy then, you can always do it online you know. Well I guess you have to be pretty good at hacking for that." I said offhandedly.

"You're Spiderman?" one of the men questioned.

"You've heard of me? I'm flattered." I joked, wincing as my voice squeaked out at a higher octave than I would have liked. Then, whilst they were distracted by my ramblings, I silently gave Karen the ok. Instantly, I jumped up onto the ceiling and out the way as the web grenades were released with a loud bang, a special but completely unnecessary effect that I added. Sure enough the room was quickly covered with sticky gluey webbing, trapping the men in their places.

"Well don't hang around. If you've got a transaction to do, get on and do it – I don't have all night." I joked, turning around so I could call the police. It was as I was holding the phone to my ear, the number already dialled in, when things turned sour.

In an instant, I was swept of my feet as a blast of warm air brushed past me. There was a loud bang as a ball of smoke erupted, covering the room from view. I turned back around in time to avoid a knife that was flung my way. Of course it wouldn't be that easy.

"Seriously, I thought you were done here." I laughed, not at all fazed despite the change of power. The men used the time in which they were covered from view to cut themselves free from the webs, an easy job with their knives. I blinked for a moment, taking note of how the smoke was starting the creep outside the door and onto the street, catching the attention of the people outside. I hoped they would get the message and not come in: I really didn't need to have to deal with civilians on top of everything else.

I had planned the scenario meticulously, but I hadn't realised they had smoke bombs – regardless, it was still a mistake for them to use them. The world might know Spiderman, but they didn't know what I could do. My enhanced eyesight was able to see through the smoke a lot quicker than they could meaning I was able to trap 3 of them once again before they could even fully react, this time also relieving them of their weapons.

Heart beating slightly faster than normal, I tried to stay calm as things picked up. One man tried to fight me. He took a lunge at my side, which I sidestepped and flipped him onto his back easily, webbing him to the ground. These guys might have been more professional than most, but they were still stupid, and I was still enhanced. Moreover, despite their weapons, they hadn't really expected company and were entirely unprepared for such a scenario. Kicking the knife and gun from his hands and webbing them too on the complete other side of the room, I ran after the last man who, being the coward he was, had decided to abandon his friends and run – yet another mistake on their part.

I chased him outside onto the street, following him via Karen who was doing all the hard work for me. Passer-by's looked curiously as I passed, but all I gave them was a cheeky grin and a wave as my phone installed in Karen began to vibrate. Not slowing my pace, I answered.

"What are you doing kid?" Tony asked – he didn't seem angry, merely curious and slightly concerned. I looked up, for the first time spotting the helicopter circling up ahead. I could easily pick out a TV camera poking out of it, presumably offering a live stream to the news channel.

"Look never mind about that – do you need a hand?" Tony tried again when I didn't answer. I hesitated slightly, taking the left turn a moment after the man had.

"Err…Where's he going?" I questioned, not to Tony but to myself, "No, I've got this, thanks." I then replied to him. The final criminal was clearly not a local for the route he was taking was entirely shocking. It seriously didn't take me long at all to catch up despite his head start.

"You there. Yes, I'm talking to you," I shouted, ignoring Tony's wince as it came through on his side far too loud. "Game's over." I webbed him from afar, catching his shoulder and pulling it towards me. Before I got to him, he whipped his knife out, cutting the web which made me fall to the ground with a huff as I was suddenly pulling nothing.

"Wow man, not fair." I grumbled,

"Ow, you hurt your bottom." Tony joked, knowing I was not really hurt. The TV cameras were still clearly showing everything. I jumped to my feet, diving behind a skip as the man pulled out his gun.

"Shut up."

"Yeah, no can do. This is great entertainment, Nat's got out the vodka." So it wasn't just Tony, they were all watching the footage – just want I needed. I had better not make a mess of this. The loud gunshot cracked through the air, pinging as it hit the side of the skip.

"Ok, this is getting serious. You sure you don't want that backup." Tony wasn't joking anymore – the gun made this a whole different ball game. I didn't reply. Instead I took a deep breath and jumped up onto the wall, my spider sense going crazy as I avoided, ducked and dodged any bullet that came my way. As soon as I got sufficient height, I turned around and jumped away, twisting in mid-air and attaching the web to the wall I had just departed. I soared over the criminal, so I was behind him and when the rope went taut I was swung back the other way. Upon my return to the wall, I kicked the criminal on his back causing him to flail to the ground, the gun flying out of his hand on impact.

"I think I'm good." I replied to Tony eventually, securing the man tightly to the ground.

"Uh huh." Tony replied, he seemed a little out of it, as though he had only just realised I was super-powered and was in shock. "Err…listen kid. You in the mood for pizza. We're ordering some in." he got back on track.

"Sure" I walked away from the scene, happy to leave now that my job was done, "Can we get it from Rizzo's? Their garlic bread is seriously good."

"Hey, Spiderman. You are dead meat. I'll get you for this." The criminal called after me.

"Yeah, whatever." I called back, not caring less. I had heard that kind of talk all before. I opened my mouth to reply to Tony, already having forgotten his reply, but before I could speak, yet another person interrupted us.

"That was awesome. You're Peter Parker? You're Spiderman. Man this is so cool." I stopped suddenly in my tracks, digesting what he said. It was only an innocent by-stander: I had no idea who he was, but something about his words took me by surprise.

It had been ages since the world learnt my name. They knew I was Spiderman now, it should hardly have been a surprise that he called me by my real name, not just as Spiderman. It just, felt different coming from someone I didn't know. I guess I had been so caught up in the fact that people knew Peter Parker was Spiderman that I think I had forgotten that in the same sentence, the world also learnt that Spiderman was Peter Parker.

Maybe I should explain: for as long as I can remember, I have thought of Spiderman and me as being two different entities. Spiderman was the cool one, the one who was the hero and would save the day, always with a quick comeback to any comment made. The Peter version of me was far more mundane. I was a certified nerd, bullied, no family and pretty much a complete loner. Then, that normal life of my mine was flipped upside down as the world found out that Peter Parker was Spiderman. It was like a rug had been swept out from underneath me: all of a sudden, I was cool and people wanted to claim as being my friend. The media scrambled for every piece of information they could find about me. Me, the boring nerd, was suddenly famous and my normal mundane world ended.

Then things went from bad to worse, and then better, a rollercoaster of emotions in the months since the announcement. In that time, I had been so caught up in everything that I hadn't realised something so blatantly obvious that it was staring me in the face. People didn't just see the nerd as Spiderman, they also saw the hero, as Peter Parker. The man that swung around the city as though he owned the place, saving lives and being the children of New York's idol, was me, Peter. In that moment, Spiderman's life had changed too.

"Hey Kid, I'm not waiting all day." Tony's voice interrupting my thoughts.

"Err… yeah." I said softly, starting to walk once more, "I'm on my way."

I let out a burst of webbing, and with a final wave at the guy who had called out, I swung off through the city, rejoicing at the freedom of the wind against me. Then, in a moment of impulse, for the first time in my life, I pulled away my mask, letting the world see me as me.

Spiderman was Peter Parker,

And Peter Parker was me.

So, if Spiderman could overcome anything, then so could I.

"I'm coming home." I whispered in the darkness, believing it once and for all.

AN: And that is it. I hope you enjoyed the ride.

I want to thank everyone who has read this story, especially those who have favourited, followed and reviewed. I never imagined when starting this story that it would get this level of response, and I am humbled by it. A special thanks in particular to those of you who have been with this story right from the very beginning - you know who you are, and so do I by your reviews!

Please keep the comments coming in. They always make my day.

Infinity War is amazing by the way. There will not be any spoilers here, but its definitely well worth a visit to the cinema!

In the meantime, thank you once again for your support and I'm sure I'll be back writing something else soon enough.