A/N: Who else is ready to collapse into their bed? It really be like that sometimes :((

So this is pretty much just a filler chapter, but, in other news, I wrote the epilogue of this book and I even started a spinoff (that has no plot whatsoever) about another teenager *wink wink* if you know, you know

Anyway....long story short, I am out of control and I will write anything except for the next chapter I need to publish. I mean, I barely got this one out on time :(

Btw, look at that hottie up there *swoons*

———————————————————
"Hey, come on.

You gonna shoot at

somebody, shoot at me"
———————————————————

"DJ Flash!"

"Okay," Ned said as soon as they walked through Liz's door, "We're gonna have Spider-Man swing in, say you guys are tight, and then I get a fist bump or one of those half bro-hugs." Peter nodded, still looking around in daze. He couldn't believe he was at Liz Allen's house. It was insane.

"Can't believe you guys are at this lame party," someone said and both boys looked over to see Michelle standing there...spreading jam on a slice of toast? Who ate toast at a party?

"But you're here too," Ned argued. Michelle leaned forward, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

"Am I?" she said. Then she took a bite of her toast without breaking eye contact and walked away.

"Oh, my gosh," someone said and Peter turned to find Liz standing there. She was laughing at something someone said to her and then she noticed them standing there. She waved and began walking towards them. His eyes went wide and he swallowed.

Be cool, be cool, be cool.

"Hey, guys," she greeted them with a smile, "Cool hat, Ned." Ned beamed.

"Hi, Liz," he said.

"Hi, Liz," Peter heard himself saying in a high-pitched, squeaky voice that he hadn't used since he was 10 years old. Thankfully, Liz didn't seem to notice.

"I'm so happy you guys came," she smiled, "There's pizza and drinks. Help yourself."

"What a great party," Peter said, his voice still ridiculously high. He cleared his throat and reminded himself that his eyes were still widened. He blinked out of it.

"Thanks," she said. They both smiled at each other awkwardly for a moment as Peter struggled to find something to say. Suddenly, there was the sound of someone breaking glass in the kitchen which caught her attention.

"Oh, I..." she started, "My parents will kill me if anything's broken. I gotta–"

"Yeah," Peter squeaked. Liz smiled.

"Have fun," she said, walking away from them.

"Bye," Ned said. Peter couldn't get his voice working to say bye too.

"Bye," she said, disappearing into the kitchen.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Ned whispered once she was out of earshot, "She's here. Spider it up."

"No," Peter said, shaking his head, "no, no. I can't...I cannot do this. Spider-Man is not a party trick, okay? Look, I'm just gonna...be myself." Ned sighed, giving him a look.

"Peter, no one wants that," he said.

"Dude," Peter said and then began to walk away, slightly hurt by the remark.

"Penis Parker, what's up?" Flash said into the speaker system. Peter sighed. Great. Just what this party was missing.

"So, where's your pal Spider-Man?" Flash said, "Let me guess. In Canada with your imaginary girlfriend?"

Everyone around them laughed.

"That's not Spider-Man," Flash laughed, "That's just Ned in a red shirt."

Everyone booed and Flash played a blaring honking noise over the speaker system. Peter frowned.

Enough was enough.

—————

Thanks to Liz, Adelaide was stuck cleaning on a perfectly good Friday night.

Not that she had anything better to do.

But still.

"Where do you want this?" Adelaide mumbled, holding up a box of Japanese movie posters.

"Just put it over by the bed," Vivian said. She was digging through a different box, shuffling around the room and trying to organize everything.

"Thanks for helping me with all this, by the way," Vivian smiled, "I know it's not the best way to spend your Friday night, but...I really appreciate it."

"Hm," Adelaide said, not paying much attention.

"I was worried I was going to have to make new friends all over again and I'm not the best at making friends," she laughed, cutting open another box. She was in sweats and an oversized sweatshirt with her thick black hair tied up into a messy bun that had more locks of hair fallen out of it than tied in the hair-tie. Somehow, she still didn't look like a homeless psychopath.

Adelaide was about to just drop the box of posters by the bed, but she paused and then gently put it down. She frowned at the box, standing up straight again.

"So how long have you been living in New York?" Vivian asked. Her dad was out somewhere, which was the only reason Adelaide was still here. She couldn't stand that grumpy old man. She picked up some tape off the carpet, tossing it in the trash can.

"A couple years," she shrugged.

"Cool. My dad and I used to live Japan and then we moved to Chelsea a couple years ago, but then he was relocated to Queens. Feels almost the same. Definitely feels safer," she laughed, "Back in Chelsea, it was dangerous to just own a car. And here...well, at least there's Spider-Man."

Adelaide scoffed. Yeah. Spider-Man. Big reassurance there. What would Queens be without a superhero who was only out every night to kill a man for revenge? Oh, that's right. It might actually be safe for a change.

"So have you done the decathlon before?" Vivian asked, digging through a duffel bag.

Adelaide sat down in her desk chair, leaning back and spinning around. Her eyes caught a photo frame sitting on the bedside table. It was three people. Vivian, her dad, and what looked like her mom.

"No," Adelaide mumbled.

"Really? I guess we'll both be doing it for the first time this year then. My old high school didn't have anything like this," she smiled.

"Yeah..." Adelaide sighed. She didn't know how to make it any more obvious that she didn't want to be here.

Of course, Vivian knew. But she was used to people being cold around her. And she knew when sometimes they just needed time to warm up to her. She reached into one of the smaller boxes by the bed and pulled out something.

"Here," she said, handing Adelaide a small box. Adelaide glanced at the label. Her eyes furrowed in confusion.

"Burn cream," Vivian explained with an unsure smile, "I, uh...noticed the marks on your arm yesterday so I thought..."

Adelaide blinked.

She swallowed, taking the box into her hand unsurely. What just happened?

"Oh...um, thanks," she mumbled, "I..."

"You don't have to explain," she smiled, "just take care of yourself."

Adelaide didn't know what to make of this gesture. Her mind was turning up a blank. She had barely remembered this girl's name this morning, and yet she had noticed that little detail about her when not even Ned or Michelle had noticed it.

Adelaide had repeatedly made it obvious that she wanted nothing to do with her, and yet here she was, with someone who'd barely known her for a day, who was actually noticing her. She didn't know how to take it. Was this considered being too nosy? Or was it considered just being nice?

Adelaide hadn't had someone take care of her in so long, she'd nearly forgotten what it felt like. She had almost become invisible in the past three months, even to herself. Just...fading through every day without actually being present.

"I, um...I will," she said quietly, wrapping her hand around the box.

There was a small silence.

It was a good, calm silence. Adelaide hadn't realized how much she had been rushing through her days until now, when she finally paused for a moment to herself. It was peaceful. And she realized how tired she really was. Mentally, physically, emotionally.

It was moments like these when she wondered how she was still just 15 years old.

"Do you want something to eat? We don't have much besides leftover takeout," Vivian said, breaking the silence.

Adelaide's eyes flickered to her in surprise. Somehow, her ever present smile seemed...kinder.

"Um, no...thanks. I'm just...I'm just gonna go home," she mumbled, still collecting her thoughts. She stumbled out of the chair, shaking her head to herself. She had to get out of here.

"Okay, see you tomorrow then," Vivian smiled, "Thanks again for helping out."

Adelaide looked at her for a moment longer before pushing open the door and nearly running out of the apartment.

—————

"Hey, what's up? I'm Spider-Man," Peter muttered to himself.

He was sitting on a rooftop across from Liz's house, watching the party through the window in his Spider-Man suit.

"Just thought I'd swing by and say hello to my buddy Peter. Oh, what's up, Ned? Hey, where's Peter, anyways? He must be around..." Peter sighed, trailing off. This was ridiculous.

"God, this is stupid. What am I doing?" he muttered, running his hand through his hair in defeat. It was like he had told Ned -- Spider-Man wasn't a party trick. This was all a stupid idea. He spotted Ned through the window, looking around for him. He sighed.

Just then, a bright light to his left caught his attention.

There, past all the trees, was a bright blue explosion of light, almost like an atomic explosion.

"What the hell?" he muttered to himself. He stood up straight, forgetting about the party as he ran across the roof while pulling his mask on. He shot out a web, swinging through trees until he landed on another rooftop. Then he flipped off the rooftop and landed on the street, in front of a golf course and shot out a web over it.

It flew off his web shooter, having nothing to attach itself to on the wide open golf course.

With a determined sigh, he began sprinting across the golf course. Just then, the sprinklers became activated and sprayed around freezing cold water at him.

"This sucks!" he gasped.

—————

Beside the bridge, there was another explosion of blue light. This time it was directed towards a car which was blasted by the force of the weapon immediately.

"Now, this is crafted from a reclaimed sub-Ultron arm straight from Sokovia," the guy in the beanie said, holding out the weapon to the buyer, "Here. You try."

"Man, I wanted something low-key," the guy in the red shirt said, "Why are you trying to upsell me, man?"

Unknown to the arms dealers (and buyer), Spider-Man was crawling on the bridge, silently spying on them.

"Okay, okay, okay," the beanie guy said, "I got what you need, all right? I got tons of great stuff here. One sec." He stuck his head into the back of the van which was filled with a multitude of different alien weapons. Peter's eyes narrowed at him.

"Okay, I got, uh, black hole grenades, Chitauri railguns..." the beanie guy listed, shuffling through the stuff.

"You letting off shots in public now?" another guy said, walking up to the buyer, "Hurry up. Look, times are changing. We're the only ones selling these high tech weapons."

"Oh, this must be where the ATM robbers got their stuff," Peter whispered to himself. A shot of adrenaline raced through him. This was real stuff. Not just bike thieves or pickpockets. It was the real deal. Alien weapons! How cool was that!

"I need something to stick up somebody. I'm not trying to shoot them back in time," the buyer said.

"I got anti-grav climbers..." the guy in the van said. Apparently, he was still listing the stuff he had. Peter's eyes widened. That was a lot of dangerous weapons. If they got out on the streets...

"Yo, climbers?" the buyers said, walking over to the van.

Suddenly, a loud yodeling ringtone began playing.

Peter gasped to himself, scurrying to to turn it off.

"Okay, what the hell was that?" one of the guys said, standing up defensively. Peter glanced at the caller ID. Ned. Peter inwardly cursed, switching it off.

"Did you set us up?" one of the sellers said, aiming his gun at the buyer. The guy in the red shirt put his hands up, taking a step back.

"Hey, hey, man," he said, weary.

Peter flipped himself off the bridge, effectively catching their attention.

"Hey! Hey, come on. You gonna shoot at somebody, shoot at me," he said. The seller moved to aim the gun at him.

"All right," he said, pulling the trigger.

Peter shot out his web, taking the gun and then ran towards him at full speed. Last second, he dodged and the guy in the van suddenly turned around, punching Peter with an electrified alien arm.

He flew back, slamming hard into the side of the bridge.

He groaned in pain, falling onto the ground while clutching his side. What the hell? He made a note to himself to not tell a criminal to shoot him.

"What was that?" he mumbled to himself as he pushed himself off the ground.

Suddenly, one of the sellers jumped into the van and started it while the other guy in the beanie got into the back of the van as the car began to speed away.

Without thinking twice, Peter shot out his web at the open van door.

His eyes widened as the van began to dragging him behind with it. He frantically tried to slow it down or at least get back in control, but, suddenly, the van swerved to the side and flung Peter into a trashcan.

"What? Ah!" he shouted, coughing. He shot another web aimlessly, desperately trying to gain control again. It attached to the van and he tried to steady his feet to find balance.

"We gotta call him," the guy driving said to his friend.

"No, no, no, no," he said immediately, readying another high tech weapon.

The guy in the beanie fired another blast of energy and it took out one of the van doors.

"Did you just do it again?" the driver shouted angrily. Boss was going to kill them.

"Shut up," he spat, readying it again.

"I'm calling him!" he shouted.

Meanwhile, poor Peter was still being dragged through the neighborhood, just barely clinging to the back of the van.

"Oh, my butt! Agh!" he shouted, wincing in pain.

This was not how this was supposed to go.

Beanie guy continued to relentlessly fire more blasts at Peter every time he was about to gain his balance. With another blast, Peter lost his grip on one of the webs. Peter's eyes widened and he began to wave his arm around frantically, trying to secure a web on the van again.

Just as he was about to fire another shot, the van hit a road bump and he accidentally blasted a hole in the van. He dropped it and it rolled out of his hands, coming to a stop in someone's front yard.

Suddenly, the driver made a sharp turn, making Peter slam into the side of a parked car. Without a break, the van dragged him through a line of garbage bins until he hit a solid brick pillar and fell onto the road along with a heap of bricks. He groaned in pain, but quickly pushed himself upright and shot another web at the speeding van. It latched onto the van door, but instead of pulling him towards the car, it door broke off, flying off.

He threw his arms up, exasperated.

"Great. Guess I'm gonna have to take a shortcut," he sighed.

Quickly, he began jogging down the sidewalk. As he approached a tall metal gate in front of someone's house, he jumped over it and then slid over their car, picking up his pace. He saw two guys playing ping-pong in the garage as he sprinted past them.

"Hey, guys. Good game. Have fun," he said. Both guys watched after him in disbelief as he sprinted across their yard. Just then, a dog ran into the teenager, standing on his hind legs.

"Hey, hey, buddy. Sorry, no time to play," he frowned, shooting a web out to catch the ball sitting in the grass across the yard and then threw it aside, "Here, go fetch."

Once he found a clearing between the houses, he shot his web out and began swinging through the neighborhood.

"Whoo! Now, this is more like it," he grinned to himself.

—————

Meanwhile, things at the party weren't going so well.

Ned was standing in an empty corner he had found, trying to get to Peter, but he wasn't picking up his phone. It was going straight to voicemail.

"Peter, where are you?" Ned whispered.  "The hat's not working. This is not cool."

—————

A/N: sorta boring chapter, i know, i'm sorry i literally just wrote this whole thing yesterday after i finished studying for my test so yeah :/

in other news, college is icky and it's taking too much of my time so nothing new there

anyway, fun fact, the actor who plays beanie guy in homecoming actually graduated from the university i'm going to next year. i thought that was so cool lol.

question: do you like vivi a lil' more now? she's the sweetest <3