Peter silently followed the Vulture- Liz's dad- through the house to the kitchen. He was trying very hard not to freak out. He couldn't make the man suspicious. He just had to get through tonight and then he could take down Toomes.

"Won't that be a fun conversation? 'Hey Liz, I'm sorry but I'm the one who took down your father and now he's in jail. By the way, do you want to go on a date on Saturday?" he thought bitterly. No matter how this turned out, someone would be getting hurt.

Liz's mother, Doris, greeted him briefly before walking away to get Liz. Peter was left in the kitchen with Toomes, both of them standing there awkwardly. His spider-sense had dulled, only a faint pressure in the back of his skull, warning him to keep his guard up.

"You alright there, Pete? Want something to drink? Maybe some bourbon, or scotch?" Toomes asked. It occurred to Peter that the man was testing him. Not because he was Spiderman, but because he was a guy taking his daughter out to a dance. Toomes had even taken out a couple of knives to clean as an intimidation tactic.

"No, sir. I'm not old enough to drink," he said truthfully, trying to act unnerved.

"That's the right answer." Toomes smiled at him before he focused on something behind Peter and his eyes went wide.

Liz walked into the room. She was wearing a pink, knee-length dress overlaid with floral lace in a slightly darker shade. Despite the danger present, Peter's jaw dropped as he admired her.

"She looks beautiful, doesn't she Pete?" Toomes's voice cut through his slight haze.

He turned towards Liz and gave her a soft smile that she returned. He wasn't going to ignore her and he doubted that Toomes would try anything. He just had to stay alert.

"Yeah, you look really pretty," he said sincerely. "Oh, I got you a corsage." He hastily pulled it out of its box and slid it onto her wrist.

"Thank you, I love it." She beamed and Peter could feel the heat rush to his cheeks.

"How about we take a couple of photos and then you all can get going?" Doris suggested.

Peter stepped closer to Liz as her mom pulled out a small camera and started taking photos. His smile was set as he looked into the camera, trying his hardest to not look at Toomes who he could feel staring at him.

They were in the car not long after. Peter had tried to stop Toomes from driving them but the man had just said he was going out of town. That caused warning bells to go off in Peter's head.

"Happy is moving all the stuff out of the Tower tonight," he thought. "It must be his last chance to get any more alien tech."

A feeling of dread welled up in his stomach as he realized that he would probably have to leave Liz at the dance to go and fight her dad. The Fates really did hate him.

"So, Pete," Toomes said suddenly, causing Peter to snap to attention. It was a good thing because it reminded him that he had to stay focused. "What do think you're going to do when you graduate?"

"Oh, um, I don't know. Maybe something with marine biology," he stuttered. He wasn't prepared to be put on the spot like that.

"Really?" Liz asked, surprised. "But you have that internship with Tony Stark. Aren't you more interested in engineering?"

Peter didn't get the chance to respond before Toomes cut in. "Tony Stark? What do you do?"

He scrambled to come up with a believable lie. "Yeah, engineering is interesting but I've always found to ocean fascinating. I'll probably do something involving both. And I actually stop interning with Stark Industries at the end of the school year."

"Really? That sucks. You got to hang out with Spider-Man and cool stuff like that." Liz frowned.

"Spider-Man? What's he like?" Toomes asked and the faint ringing in the back of his head increased slightly.

Peter was quickly starting to panic. "He's nice. I worked on his suit a couple of times but that's it."

"I've seen you around before, right? Your voice sounds familiar," Toomes inquired, getting more suspicious.

"He does Academic Decathlon with me. And he was at my party," Liz told him helpfully. Her tone turned playful, "But he was only there for, like, two seconds."

Peter scoffed indignantly while silently begging her to stop talking. He could feel Toomes becoming more apprehensive of him the more they talked. He quickly made up an excuse. "Yeah, I wanted to stay longer but my cousin, Nico, got really sick. My aunt freaked out and took him to the hospital so I had to leave."

"Was he okay?" Toomes asked, feigning concern.

"Oh yeah, he was fine. Just a bad case of the flu." He hoped that was a reasonable explanation that warranted a visit to the hospital.

"That's good," Liz said empathetically. "I've only talked to him once but he seems sweet. Are he and your other cousin coming tonight?"

"Uh, yeah. Nico's boyfriend is probably going to drive them," Peter told her. She looked surprised for a moment before going back to smiling. She looked like she was about to say something else but before she could they realized that they had made it to the school. Peter breathed a sigh of relief. It was short lived when Toomes asked to talk to him alone. Liz went ahead and got out of the car and walked into the building.

The ringing in his head increased, making Peter aware of the gun the that Toomes had pulled out. He had hoped that the man hadn't figured out his secret but it seemed that the Fates couldn't give him a break.

"Does she know?" Toomes asked menacingly.

"Play dumb!" his instincts were basically screaming at him.

"Who's she?" he asked.

"Not that dumb!" he chastised himself.

"She doesn't, that's good. I admire that. I've got a few secrets of my own that I don't want my family to know about." Toomes cracked a grin and shrugged. "Peter, nothing is more important than family. You saved my daughter's life. I could never forget something like that. So I'm gonna give you one chance. You walk through those doors, you forget any of this happened. Don't ever interfere with my business again. Because if you do, I'll kill you and everybody you love. That's what I'll do to protect my family. Do you understand?"

Peter nodded, silent. He didn't meet the other man's eyes, afraid that Toomes would see the anger burning in them. He continued to stare at his feet before an idea came to him. He quietly dropped his phone onto the padded floor of the car as Toomes continued to speak.

Toomes smirked at him. "I just saved your life, kid. Now, go in there and make sure my daughter has a good time."

Peter nodded again and silently got out of the car. He already knew that he couldn't let Toomes get anymore alien tech. He stopped walking once he got to the doors of the gym and stared inside. His friends were already inside, standing in a circle and talking. His cousins were there too. Nico was standing next to Will, their hands intertwined while Thalia was talking with MJ.

He didn't want to ruin their night, but he also needed their help. He would deal with them later though. He opened the door and made his way across the floor to Liz. She was dancing with her friends when she saw him approach and pulled away to talk to him.

"What'd he say to you?" she joked. Her smile faltered once she saw the serious look on his face.

"I'm sorry. You don't deserve this," he said solemnly. "I've gotta go."

He ran across the dance floor, leaving Liz standing there alone, a look of hurt marring her features.

Another chapter is done and is on time! I was hoping to have this story done by Endgame but I think it's going to take a couple more weeks. We should be ending soon though! Let me know what you think of this chapter.

<3 S