A/N: hellooooo

me now that my semester is finally over:

just a side note, i freaking love this woman. she looks so happy here. what an icon, honestly

so i got my cap and gown and i tried it on and omg i got a little emotional. im all grown up, aren't i? 🥺 feels like just yesterday i was an angsty middle schooler who thought i would marry harry styles one day. and now im an angsty adult who thinks she'll marry tom holland one day. but now she has a cap and gown and a diploma and degree so she's a boss bitch and can do anything she wants. dont need no man 😤 but ill still accept tom 🥺

also!! for those of you who have been following my physics stories, guess who passed physics with an A?? my professor dropped my lowest grades so BAM straight A semester once again ;) now i just have four more semesters to finish at uni this fall before im done with school for GOOD. then it's work until i die 🙃

i finally finished watching all the back to the future movies and i think i now have a crush on young michael j fox? i feel like he was the tom holland of the eighties which is neat cause tom is trying to be the marty of our generation.

life update over, here's the (wayy longer than usual but angsty as always) chapter

————————————————————
"I call police!

I call mayor!

I call the Mr. President!"
————————————————————

Peter and Adelaide had been called into the principal's office early that morning at school.

They were sitting in front of Principal Morita's desk, diligently ignoring each other as they waited for him to arrive. Adelaide stole a glance at Peter and looked away before he could see. He had a tiny scratch on his cheek from where he had gotten hit on the ferry yesterday. She had a small bruise on her shoulder, but other than that, she was fine.

The door opened behind them and Principal Morita walked in. They could feel the disappointment radiating off of him. He took his seat across from them with a sigh. He looked at them.

"What is going on with you two?" he said, shaking his head. Both teenagers glanced at each other and then looked away. The man ran his tongue over his teeth, leaning back in his seat.

"Adelaide, Peter, you both are good kids and you're smart kids. So just try to keep your heads straight, okay?"

"Okay," Peter mumbled.

"Yeah," Adelaide sighed.

"All right. Get out of here," Principal Morita said, turning around in his chair.

Adelaide reached down to pick her backpack off the floor. By the time she was standing upright, Peter was already out the door. She followed him out of the office and swung her backpack over her shoulder, momentarily forgetting about the bruise.

"Ouch!" she gasped, dropping her backpack. In front of her, Peter jumped around, studying her with a worried look.

"Are you–" he started, his eyes traveling from her hand on her shoulder to her backpack on the floor. He took a step forward and then hesitated.

Wincing in pain and ignoring him, Adelaide picked her backpack up again and slung it around her other shoulder. Swallowing, she walked past him. Before Peter could say anything, Adelaide had disappeared around the corner.

"Are you expelled?" someone suddenly said and Peter snapped out of his daze and turned around to see Ned standing there.

"Do you have to go to that high school on 46th where the principal has a crossbow?"

"Um, pretty sure that's an urban myth, and no, I'm not expelled," Peter said, glancing over his shoulder at the corner where Ada had disappeared. He wasn't feeling...guilty, was he? No. No, of course not. That was ridiculous.

"You're so lucky," Ned breathed, but Peter barely heard him, as his mind was elsewhere.

——————

Adelaide held her face up in the palm of her hand, looking around the cafeteria.

She was sitting by herself at the cafeteria table. Michelle was nowhere to be seen and so Adelaide assumed she was in the library again. Vivian was out helping Liz with last minute homecoming preparations, as she had informed her brightly this morning on the subway.

There was such a buzz in the crowd. Everyone was excited for homecoming and everyone was talking about it. From what they were going to wear to who they were going with. Adelaide had been avoiding it like the plague. The last thing she needed was a stupid high school dance to distract her from what mattered the most.

Which was how to stop the Vulture and Sandman from getting their hands on more alien weapons. But how was she going to do that if Tony had taken Peter's suit away?

"Hey Adelaide," Ned said, taking a seat across from her. He looked around the empty table. "Where is everyone?"

Adelaide shrugged, absentmindedly shoving food around in her plate. The cafeteria had made a special dark chocolate brownie desert today, yet it still looked unappetizing. She had no idea why. She used to love dark chocolate. But lately, nothing felt appetizing anymore.

"Anyway, I need to tell you something," Ned said, pushing his own plate aside to rest his elbows on the table and lean forward. She dropped her spoon into her plate, looking up with a sigh. Ned grinned at her, looking like he was holding in a huge secret.

"So you know how homecoming is tomorrow?" he asked excitedly, "Well I was thinking of asking Viv out. Do you think she'll say yes?"

"I don't know," Adelaide said, lifting one shoulder, "We're not exactly close."

"Yeah, but you're a girl so you're already closer to her than I am," he said. Adelaide gave him a look. "C'mon, Adelaide. How should I ask her? How do girls like to be asked out?"

"Ned, look who you're asking. Does it look like I know?"

"Oh..." he winced, "Right. Sorry. But, theoretically, if you were to be asked out, how would you want to be asked?"

"Ned..." Adelaide sighed. She really didn't want to talk about this. The last thing she needed was salt in the wound.

"Come on, please," he said, "It's a life or death situation over here."

"Fine. But only cause you're my friend," she said, giving him a look. Ned's grin widened. "Maybe you could...you know, just be straightforward about it. A little nervousness is cute, too. Just tell her that...that you like her and ask her if she wants to go the dance with you."

"...That's it?" Ned asked, "I thought girls were complicated."

"They're only complicated if you are," Adelaide mumbled.

"Woah. I had no idea," he breathed, leaning back in his seat, "I guess I'll ask her today. Thanks, Adelaide."

She nodded, eyes dropping back down to her plate. There went another person who had a date to the dance and it wasn't her. Not that if made any difference to her. She was determined to not let it get to her head.

"Hey, so listen," he suddenly said, "I, uh, saw you on the news last night. What's going on?"

She glanced at him before looking away again, "It's nothing."

"I didn't know you were working with Spider-Man," he said. Adelaide inhaled, slightly annoyed. She didn't want to lie to him any more than she already had. And if she told him what she was really up to, he was going to want in. She didn't need to put him in unnecessary danger. Besides, he had been keeping a secret from her too.

"I'm not," she mumbled.

"Adelaide, you know you can tell me if there's something you nee–"

"I don't need anything, Ned," she finally snapped, "I'm fine. You don't need to know everything that's going on in my life, okay? Just let it go already."

Ned blinked at her in disbelief. He knew she was stressed, but he didn't know that she was this stressed. There was obviously something going on with her. Before, she would have told him everything. But now she was hesitating. Maybe it was because of what had happened with her and Peter. Ned didn't understand how that involved him in any way, but he couldn't say that he wasn't a little hurt.

"Adelaide, I'm sorry. I just thought–"

"I have to go," she sighed, suddenly pushing herself up to her feet and walking away, leaving Ned sitting alone at the table, feeling terrible.

Had he already lost both of his best friends?

——————

Ned found Vivian helping Liz hang up a few last-minute homecoming banners in the science wing. It was later that same day, during their last class period.

"Hey Ned!" she brightly greeted him. Ned swallowed, nervous.

"H-Hey," he said. He glanced over his shoulder at Liz who had just stepped down from the ladder. Thankfully, she got the hint.

"Hey, I'm going to use the restroom really quick, okay?" she told her. Vivian nodded.

"Sure."

Liz smiled encouragingly at Ned before turning around and walking away. He waited for Liz to turn around the corner before bringing his attention back to the girl in front of him.

Ned thought Vivian was so pretty. He didn't really know how to ask pretty girls out. And she was so nice, too. What if she only said yes to him cause she felt bad?

"What do you think?" she asked him, gesturing to the colorful banner hanging over the science wing trophy case. He looked up at it. Homecoming is tomorrow!, it read.

"I-It's great," he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "You guys did great."

"Thanks," she smiled.

"Listen, so, uh..." he started, twisting his hands together nervously.

He remembered Adelaide telling him that girls liked a little nervousness in guys. Well, he had definitely gotten that part down. He wondered if Vivian would still think it was cute if he passed out from nervousness. Probably not. All he had to do was be straightforward and tell Vivian that he liked her. Easy, right? Maybe for anyone else but him.

"Um, I...I need to tell you something," he said. Vivian put down the decorations in her hands and wiped her palms on her jeans, giving him her full attention.

"Okay, what's up?" she smiled. Ned's stomach flipped at her smile. What if she said no? No, he had to think positive. He swallowed.

"I...uh, I kind of, um...sort of...see, the thing is that I..."

"Ned," she said gently, "Is everything alright"

He looked up, catching her dark eyes. He swallowed again.

"I, uh, like you," he said, "A-And I was wondering...would you maybe, uh, want to go to homecoming with me?"

Vivian's lips parted in surprise. She thought Ned was very sweet and kind of cute too, but she had no idea that he had liked her all this time. She looked at him as he anxiously studied her face for an answer. She smiled warmly.

"Of course," she smiled, "I would love to go to the dance with you."

At that, Ned's face lit up. She said yes!

"G-Great. That's uh, that's c-cool," he said, trying to hide the giant grin on his face as he took a few steps back, "Okay, I guess I'll um...see you t-tomorrow."

Vivian smiled, feeling butterflies in her stomach. She tucked her hair behind her ears.

"Yeah. See you," she said quietly. Ned gave her one last grin before turning around walking out of the hallway.

He had a date to the dance!

——————

Adelaide dragged herself into the detention room.

This was the last place she wanted to be. But if she skipped out on this again, Principal Morita was for sure going to transfer her out to boarding school or something. She didn't think he actually had the authority to do that, but she wouldn't put it past him. Maybe he would make her scrape gum off the desks, which was way worse.

She saw Michelle and Peter already sitting there. There was another kid sitting in the other corner of the room. She was pretty sure he was hiding some drugs under the desk, but she didn't question it. Coach Wilson was on detention monitor duty again. Yet, he was, as usual, sleeping away at the job. She sat down in the seat closest to the door, behind Peter and Michelle, dropping her backpack onto the floor loudly and making it clear that she didn't want to be here. Not that anyone in the room cared.

Her eyes flitted to the clock.

She still had an hour to kill before she would be allowed to leave.

She sighed angrily, rolling her eyes. Detention was the worst. She hated detention. The room was silent except for the sound of Peter loudly drumming his fingers on his desk. He had been doing that all day long, in every class that they had together. This was just the last straw.

"Shh," she said angrily.

Peter stopped and then turned around to look at her. He gave her a glare before shifting back around in his seat and drumming his fingers even louder now. She rolled her eyes. He was only doing it to annoy her. Asshole. She put her head down on the desk, welcoming the feeling of the cold surface on her cheek.

Just then, Michelle turned around with a small smile on her face and held up her sketchpad. She looked proud of the drawing. There was a sketch of Adelaide, looking absolutely miserable. Adelaide frowned. That was not what she looked like...was it? Michelle looked from her back to the sketch a couple times and grinned, satisfied.

Adelaide let out a long sigh. Alright. That was it. She had hardly been in here for a minute and she needed out. She threw her hand up in the air and by some miracle, Coach Wilson noticed.

"I need to use the restroom," she said.

He gestured to the hall passes hanging on the wall and she stood up, quickly taking it and practically running out of the room.

——————

There was a knock on Flint's hotel room door.

After looking through the peephole, he undid the locks and opened the door. Adrian nodded at the man and let himself inside. Flint locked the door behind him and turned around to find the man sitting in a chair by the bed. He gestured for Flint to take a seat. He did.

"Iron Man showed up, Adrian," Flint sighed after a moment, "I'm not sure about this anymore. I told you before, I don't want any trouble."

Adrian cocked his head, narrowing his eyes, "And you think I do?"

"That's not what I said," Flint mumbled, leaning back in his seat. Adrian studied him for a beat longer.

"Either you're in or you're out, Flint," Adrian said, "I can't have a man on the fence on my team." Flint sighed.

"I'm in. Of course I'm in. I'm in too deep anyway," he said, shaking his head, "I just need to know that I won't have to go back to jail." He couldn't afford to stay away from his Penny for that long again. A little picture of her inside a locket wasn't enough. He needed this money so he could be with her again. As a family.

"You won't," Adrian said. Flint glanced at him.

"How can you be sure?"

"Eh. Once we can get our hands on that Stark tech tomorrow night, we're done. I'll give you your share and you can leave."

"And you'll stop this business?" Flint asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

"Of course not. That's stupid. But if you want out after tomorrow night, you can leave."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that," Adrian nodded, "No strings attached. Unless, you want to stick around to make millions more."

Flint smirked at him, "How can I turn down an offer like that?"

Adrian smiled, satisfied. He stood up, holding out his hand. Flint shook it.

"Be ready for tomorrow," Adrian said, walking past him to the door. Flint stood up.

"What about the Spider-Man?" he asked. Adrian paused, his hand hovering over the doorknob. He gritted his teeth.

"I'll take care of him," he muttered.

—————––

Peter walked out of the bathroom, swinging his hall pass around his finger.

Suddenly, he spotted Liz walking toward him and his eyes widened, his step faltering. She smiled at him.

"Hey," he breathed, stopping in front of her. Just then, Adelaide walked out of the bathroom behind them, but she immediately turned herself invisible to eavesdrop when she saw them standing together.

"Hey," she smiled, glancing over Peter's shoulder at the bathroom door, wondering if she had just seen it open. Peter glanced over his shoulder, but then turned back to Liz.

"I uh, I thought you had calculus fifth period," he said.

"Yeah, I was just doing some homecoming stuff," she shrugged, stuffing her hands in her pockets. He nodded, looking down at the floor. He glanced up at her for a second.

"Hey, look, I, uh...I just wanted to apologize about the whole Decathlon thing. I really—"

"It's fine," she said, closing her eyes and shaking her head, "Last week, Decathlon was the most important thing, but then I almost died."

"No, I, I just mean that...it was not cool, especially..." he sighed, looking down at the floor, "...because...I like you."

Adelaide scowled, twisting the hall pass around in her hand. She never thought Peter would have the guts to actually tell her.

"I know," Liz said, holding back a smile.

Peter looked up at her, shocked.

"You do?" he breathed, wide-eyed. Liz laughed lightly, shaking her head.

"You're terrible at keeping secrets," she smiled. Peter felt himself smiling too. His stomach flipped. He couldn't believe he had finally told Liz the truth. After so many years of admiring her from afar.

"Yeah, you'd be surprised," he smiled. They held each other's gaze for a moment before Peter nervously looked away, glancing down at the hall pass in his hand.

"I got to get to class, but, um, I'd say we should hang out, but I'm gonna be in detention for..."

"Yeah..." she nodded.

"...ever, but, um," he said, glancing up at the homecoming banner hanging on the wall as he began to take a few steps back, "I guess you already have a date to homecoming."

"Actually, I was so busy planning it I never really got around to that part, so..." she shrugged, shaking her head.

Peter's eyes widened. This was his chance. This was his chance to ask Liz Allen out!

"Uh, do you want to go with me?" he breathed nervously. His brown eyes darted around her face, trying to pick up any sort of emotion she was feeling. His breaths were definitely out of wack from nervousness. Liz smiled shyly.

"Yeah. Sure," she said quietly. Peter's lips parted in surprise.

"Really?" he breathed and then swallowed, "I mean, uh, great. Cool."

"Cool," she nodded. Peter smiled at her and then awkwardly pointed down the hall.

"I'm actually uh, going that way," he said, walking towards her. He gave her a small smile as he walked past her.

Then his face broke into a huge grin.

He was going to the dance with Liz Allen!

—————

Adelaide stumbled into her apartment, completely out of breath.

And it wasn't because she had taken the stairs.

She slammed the door behind herself as hard as she could and threw her stuff onto the ground, beginning to pace across the floor right there. She groaned in frustration, pulling at her hair.

She couldn't believe Peter had asked Liz to the dance. God, she was just so mad.

What