#katies2kwc

You opened the door to your shared apartment. “Honey? I’m home!”

Tom appeared from the kitchen, an apron on and a big grin on his face. He hugged you from behind while you hung your jacket on the coat rack next to the income, and placed a soft kiss on your cheek. “I missed you, darling.”

A giggle escaped your lips as you turned and wrapped your arms around his neck. “I’ve only been gone for a few hours, Tom. I’m sure you can survive a short time without me.” With a wink you leaned in to kiss him back. It was only a short, sweet kiss, but just like the first time your lips met his, your heart fluttered at the feeling.

“So, how was it?” Tom asked when he pulled back, his arms still strong around your waist.

“I mean, it was alright. They should have the dress ready tomorrow, Zendaya promised she would pick it up.” Zendaya had quickly become your best friend after Tom had introduced you. If it hadn’t been for her and Harrison’s schemes, you would probably never had the courage to tell Tom how you felt. Without them you wouldn’t be where you were now.

Z was now your Maid of Honor, and Tom had unsurprisingly chosen Haz to be his Best Man.

“But …?” Tom ducked his head to look you in the eyes, and you weren’t even surprised that he knew instantly something was off.

“There were reporters again, you know? They tried to get pictures and kept shouting questions when I exited the store.” You sighed at the memory. “But I guess that’s part of marrying you, isn’t it?”

Tom pouted. He knew you didn’t like life in the spotlights, that’s why at first he tried to keep your relationship a secret for the public. But Tom had become even more famous than when you and him first met, and now the paparazzi was more interested in him than ever. Since they found out that not only he had a girlfriend, but that he was also engaged, they wanted to know everything about the wedding. Forcing you to make the ceremony bigger, and hiring extra photographers for the press.

So much for keeping it small.

But hey, if you could marry Tom, you were happy. So you simply shrugged and send him a comforting smile. “How was your day? Cake tasting, wasn’t it?” You said with a wink.

Tom’s expression lightened up a little, although his eyes were still a little weary. “I think I have gained at least three pounds, but I can assure you it will be delicious!”

“And what are you making now?” You raised your eyebrows while looking at the bright pink apron he was wearing. You were certain you’d never seen that piece before, which meant Tom had bought it himself. Something that you couldn’t help smiling at.

Your boyfriend snickered at your amused gaze. “It’s your favourite …”

Your eyes widened a little, before you delightedly clapped in your hands. “Yes! Tom, you’re the best!”

His grin didn’t seem like it would disappear anytime soon. “Don’t I know it, darling?” He winked. “Just go take a nice bath while I finish this, okay?”

“Thanks Tom.” You kissed him on his cheeks and looked him admiringly in the eyes. “I love you.”

“Love you too. Now go!”

Tom had made sure there was a soft bathrobe waiting for you when you were done, and you felt completely relaxed when you exited the bathroom. It’d been weeks since you last were so calm, but in the back of your mind there still was this nagging feeling that kept reminding you of all your responsibilities. You had a wedding to plan, and that involved a lot of stress for you and your soon-to-be-husband. But maybe you could forget about that for now.

You exited the bathroom, and where one moment you felt totally carefree, the next you were frowning your eyebrows and sniffing in the air. Something was burning.

With big steps you followed the smell to the kitchen. “Tom? What did you do?”

You turned around the corner and found Tom, staring back at you with wide, innocent eyes. Behind him smoke circled to the ceiling. “Well … I may or may not have broken the microwave a little.”

You raised one eyebrow and a corner of your mouth turned up when you looked at the mess behind him. “You broke it a little?”

Tom raised his hands in defeat, but grinned at you. “Okay, no. It may have exploded a little.”

A laugh escaped you lips. “Why am I not surprised?”

“But you love me.” He wrapped his arms around you and gave you a kiss on your nose.

“You know I do.”

At that moment your phone rang, and both you and Tom groaned at the interruption. The display lit up when you reached for the device. “It’s your mum.”

Your boyfriend groaned again and tried to push the phone away. “She’ll understand.” You gave him a pointed look, and he sighed in defeat. “Fine. But don’t let her convince you to go away tonight, okay?”

With and exaggerated eyeroll at your boyfriend’s neediness, you picked up the phone. “Hey, Nikki!”

“Hey Y/N, sweetie!” Nikki’s voice was as enthusiastic as ever – you knew she adored this wedding planning, and it was mostly for her this ceremony was going to be so big – but you heard a hint of stress. “’Are you free tonight? The florist needs to know which flowers they need to order for the wedding.”

“Uhm - I am free, but …” You hesitated. Sure, this wedding was important for everyone – they’d made that more than clear –, but all you wanted was one carefree evening with Tom. But you’ll have more of that when this wedding was over, you realized. “Yes, I’ll come o-“

The phone was ripped out of your hands, and you glared at your boyfriend – who just winked and turned around, making it impossible for you to grab the device back. “Sorry, mum, we’re busy tonight! Maybe another time, okay? Love you, bye!” With a wide grin he turned back to you and handed you the phone. “You’re welcome.”

You threw him another glare. “You know, you’re lucky you’re cute. Or-”

“Or what?”

He gave you a challenging look, but you sighed – not in the mood for your playful bantering. “This wedding is important, Tom. You know it has to be perfect.”

His expression fell, and confusion was written over his face. “You never cared about that.”

“Of course I do!”

Tom shook his head. He knew you too well for that. “No, you don’t. You’re not happy with all of this, am I right?”

You looked him in the eyes for a moment, and realized that no, he wouldn’t believe you if you denied. So you let you head hang in defeat and walked to the living area, letting yourself fall on the couch. “It’s just so stressful, you know? Everything I do is being judged by the whole world.”

“And you hate being in the spotlight, I know that.” Tom took a seat next to you and pulled you closer in a comforting hug. “We don’t need to have a big wedding, if you don’t want to.”

You huffed. “There are lots of people who say otherwise.”

“But it’s our wedding, not theirs.” He pulled back to look you in the eyes. An idea popped up in his mind. “What would you think if we disappeared for a while? Just you and me, going away for the weekend to where no one could find us?”

It was an alluring perspective, and you couldn’t help but smile at the thought. “I’d like that.”

Using what little energy he had left from the day, Peter Parker all but threw his backpack onto his desk chair before collapsing face down onto the bed in his dark dorm room.

Only a little under two months in and MIT was already kicking his ass.

On this day last year, November 1st, he thought life was about as stressful as it could ever get. Being a senior at Midtown Tech meant endless homework and projects were due, his early application to MIT needed polishing, and, of course, the whole being Spider-Man thing took up most of the nights he had available.

Except now, he’d give anything to be back there.

It was MIT, and Peter should’ve known full well what he was getting himself into. But maybe it was all the pamphlets, all the admissions emails, and all the comfort Mr. Stark gave him about how good of a school it was.

All of it built up to the false sense of security that he was somehow made for this school, that he could thrive there, that he wasn’t just some scrappy kid from Queens that probably only got in thanks to a big check signed Tony Stark.

After hearing about the countless acts of philanthropy, internationally-recognized tournament wins, and other jaw-dropping feats accomplished by his peers, Peter soon began to doubt that he really did anything to deserve being there.

It was nearing finals season, and it wouldn’t be too late to quit while he was ahead. To stop before he went down an inescapable hole.

Because that was what college felt like to him right now

A hole, a grave he’d dug for himself, that was starting to feel too deep to get out of.

But he could never tell Aunt May about it. He could only imagine her disappointment if he ruined his one shot, he could picture moving back home with her and how embarrassed he would be from being a near MIT graduate to just some deadbeat living in his aunt’s apartment.

She’d been so proud when he got the letter saying he’d been admitted. As Peter opened the paper, her head rested on his shoulder, eager for the results. She’d screamed shortly before reading aloud the opening line,

Dear Peter,

On behalf of the Admissions Committee, it is my pleasure to offer you admission to the MIT Class of 2022!

He was in shock as he read the lines over and over again, not really processing the whole thing. She then embraced him in a hug until he could barely breathe. His chest was starting to feel that tight again, like she was there, hugging him until he couldn’t breathe.

As he inhaled deeply into his pillow, Peter smelled the faint scent of cinnamon. The fragrance probably leftover from the pumpkin spice donuts he’d picked up from the dining hall the other day. He felt the crumbs burrow their way into his skin.

The longer he breathed in his fall-scented sheets, the more his thoughts tossed and turned.

When’s the last time I changed these sheets?

When’s the last time I even showered? He followed up.

The onslaught of problem sets, clubs, following up with Mr. Stark weekly, and the incessant news reports on theories as to where Spider-Man was all slowly piled up. It amounted to him having to choose between having a good enough GPA or the comfort of showers and sleep. As told by his dark eyes and greasy hair, school took the reins.

Peter tilted his head to the side, opening his eyes to take in the room.

He was thankful no one else had to live with him in this pigsty. Notes from quantum flooded his desk, dirty clothes made a sea of fabric across the floor, the Halloween decorations were still up, likely to not come down ‘til New Years, and what little personal items he had laid on the empty bed across his.

A faint buzz drew Peter out of his thoughts. Reaching into his back pocket, his left hand snatched his phone and brought the screen to his line of sight.

NEW MESSAGE

Ned

Hey man! (this is kinda late, but hope you had a good halloween!)  maybe you’ll get this?? we gotta hang soon, bye!

His fingers hovered over the REPLY button. He felt bad for not speaking to Ned in so long, but he’d been busy with all things MIT. Weren’t people supposed to drift apart after high school, or was he just making excuses for himself?

Either way, the cloud that's been following him all day probably wouldn’t let up any time soon. So he sent a small, totally! and put his phone facedown on his desk. All he wanted was five minutes to himself, to sleep, to shower, to whatever.

-

At the shrill ring of his phone, Peter straightened up, awake and alert. Squinting out into the pitch-black room, he grabbed blindly to turn his desk lamp. Noticing the faint glow making its way from beneath where his phone met the surface of the desk, Peter groaned and grabbed his phone. Peaking beneath his curls, he noticed the name of STARK imprinted across the screen.

Putting the phone against his face, he yawned out, “Hello?”

"It's nearly nine, did you sleep through the messages and calls I sent you?" Tony’s voice sounded like a mix of anger and panic.

While this would be the perfect time to be embarrassed, Peter instead played tug-of-war with his sheets to try and rush to the nearest object that displayed the time. Grabbing his childhood Captain America clock, the arms lined up to 8:56.

Before he had a chance to drop the alarm, a cough from the other end of the line brought him back into the conversation, “Ah, uh, no.” He sighed, “Sorry,” shrugging a hand through his mess of locks, he replied, “lost track of time I guess.”

He closed his eyes as tight as possible, as if ready for some kind of reprimand, only to be met with a long exhale.

“Tell me what’s going on,” Tony demanded softly.

As tempted as he was to lie, Tony was always able to see right through him.

“It’s just…”

“Just what, Peter?”

“A lot,” he blurted out, “it’s just a lot to deal with.”

“It’s MIT, you’re not in high school anymore. I hope you weren’t expecting to coast from A+ to A+, right?” Tony scoffed.

“You don’t get i-”

“Which part?” Tony cut in, “The going to MIT part or the being a superhero part?”

Peter paused, “At least you get to save people.”

He waited for another quip, but only heard static and Tony’s faint breathing.

“Going to college doesn’t mean you can’t help people.”

And God did Peter want to believe that. “It’s not like there’s skyscrapers here or anything, you know? I can’t exactly swing in and save the day anymore.”

“Massachusets has a population worth saving too. You don’t have to be Spider-Man just to save people, I’m pretty sure the Friendly Neighborhood Peter Parker can still do some good.”

“But I just left them all Mr. Stark. How could I do that?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong for wanting to be normal and go to college.”

For the first time in their talk, Peter stopped himself mid-pace, “I’m not normal. I’m an Avenger.”

“You’re a kid who seems overwhelmed, Peter.”

He found his way back to his bed, “I don’t belong here,” he confessed, “I don’t deserve to be here.”

Tony snorted, “So then, I guess you got into one of the best high schools in the country because you didn’t belong there either?”

“What?”

“Your high school, it’s one of the hardest in the country to get into, and you were able to do it.”

“But that was then-”

“And this is now,” Tony stated. “You helped me redesign each one of your suit enhancements, you were the one winning science fairs and decathlons before I ever knew your name, and you got into MIT because of everything you did, Peter.”

He added, “But if you still really feel that way, you can always come back to New York, I’m sure Columbia would take you in a heartbeat.”

“Or you can just come back, not school, you can be Spider-Man, or Peter Parker, or whoever you want.” Tony amended to the silence.

Peter didn’t know where to begin. The reality of everything that’s been happened in his life for the past few months was all crashing together in one phone call. “I don’t know. I feel bad enough that you’ve already spent so much on my tuition, I couldn’t just stop right now. I can’t keep wasting your money like this, Mr. Stark.”

“Forget the money, it’s nothing I can’t earn back.”

The plastic spiders that hung from the ceiling stared back at Peter, spinning round and round, hypnotizing him as he tried to think of what to say. “I honestly don’t know what to do.”

“You don’t have to let me know right now,” Tony consoled, “how about you sleep on it, and tell me when you’re ready?”

“Okay,” he nodded to himself, “I can do that.”

“Great… and Peter?”

“Yeah?”

“You know if anything gets really stressful or hard, you can talk to me, or your RA, or any of your friends, okay?” He took a deep breath, “I don’t want to have to call that many times again and not get an answer.”

Eyes widening, Peter answered immediately, “I’ll always pick up your call.”

“Even in class?” He teased.

“Depends on who’s lecturing.” Hearing a laugh ring out, Peter smile to himself for the first time in a long time. His gaze cut to the clock again, 9:32, “Well I guess I should go.”

“Yeah, I probably kept you too long anyway, talk next week?”

He confirmed, “Talk next week.” At hearing the line cut out, Peter looked around his dorm. While he wasn’t magically cured with some sense of productivity, he peered down at the phone in his hand.

Opening his messages, he typed out, ned, i’m actually free rn and saturday if you wanna still do smth?

And he felt confident as he pushed the SEND button.

He felt confident that he could get his life back on track.

Confident that he could still make all his old friendships work.

For the first time in his college career, Peter Parker finally felt that he belonged.