Peter's identity was revealed two months ago.

Maybe he deserves this for finally going on a normal-kid vacation, thinking nothing could go wrong. Both May and Tony had urged him to go on this trip- and he had really wanted to.

Now, he regrets it. He regrets it so much.

He'd been so stressed with everything- coming back from literal ashes, getting used to missing five whole years and yet being the same exact age he'd died with. He's stressed with almost loosing Tony to the snap and watching the strongest person he knew suddenly age like, ten years after the loss of his arm. He notices every groan when he leans down to pick up one of Morgan's toys and the lines on his face becoming more evident.

It's like his personality changed when he became a father- an actual one. He became much more gentle and the only way Peter can describe the way he's acting now is fatherly x100. It's the one thing that isn't a bad change, but it's still different, so it had been difficult to acclimate to. He'd been so used to his mentor's balance between strictness and the whole 'I'm-lecturing-you-because-I-care' thing. His workaholic self with the unhealthy sleeping habits and the coffee addiction.

The coffee addiction stayed, so at least that part was consistent. Something Peter could rely on.

Peter doesn't like talking to anyone about his identity being out. He just thanks Pepper for helping with the press issue as much as she can, and does his best to follow the new rules of his life with the entire world knowing Peter Parker is Spider-Man.

She'd hugged him and told him it was going to be ok and he doesn't think he believes her. Not with the court date coming up. The Murder Trial. He could end up in the IceBox.

Tony tells him they've got enough proof with the baby monitor footage and doesn't seem too worried about it, but no matter how this plays out, there are people that will never believe him.

He still goes to school and it's an absolute shit-show. Hes surprised Midtown let him back with the constant crowd of people outside screaming his name. The principal and teachers are nice but it's weird. People are nice to him now, but only because he's Spider-Man and they believe he's innocent, or because he's possibly a mutant murderer of Mysterio and they're terrified of him.

They're constantly videoing him like he isn't even a person- they don't even try to hide it. They vlog right next to him and pull him close to take a selfie, even if he makes an effort to cover his face. Flash is the worst when it comes to his videos- he brags about them being best friends after the many years of bullying and he even wrote a book. And published it. It's in Barnes and Noble.

Peter doesn't understand how his life turned into this chaos. He wants out.

He'd ended this day on a decent note, laying on the ceiling with MJ as she read articles of him using his spider powers to hypnotize her into a relationship, which she'd managed to make funny. That's what he loves about her. She can make an awful situation feel a little better.

She hadn't even mentioned what he ruined for her once.

His somewhat ok day had gone sour when May had informed him she was sent home early from work because people had followed her around with cameras all day, and when he went to clear his mind on patrol, someone rode by with a bucket of green paint and threw it at his face. Then, his web cartridges ran out so he had to walk back to the tower with his ego more than bruised and a swollen cheekbone.

People yell insults at him everywhere he goes. They scream and tase him after he's saved their life. It shouldn't affect him as much as it does, but it really, really hurts being hated and feared like this.

He had started to stay at the tower more when someone followed him home one night with a knife and rope. It seemed like bad things only happened when he was around, so if this kept May safe, he would stay away.

He knows she's worried but he can't tell her these things. She'd tell him it wasn't true and that she could handle herself, but he can't loose her.

Peter finally gets to the tower, overwhelmed with
emotion.

He storms past Tony, green paint dripping all over the floor. The man looks between him and the floor for a moment in confusion before beginning to follow him.

"Woah, what the hell happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it," he shouts before slamming the door to his room.

Tony walks in and Peter's already changed into a shirt and is making an effort to rip the suit off his feet. He stumbles over it, cursing loudly.

Tony leans against the doorframe with his arms crossed and brow raised. His calm demeanor makes Peter angry.

"You know, I recall telling you not to go on patrol in the middle of this."

Peter ignores his presence and walks right past him to drop his suit into the bathroom sink. He throws the cabinet doors open and grabs a sponge and soap, beginning to scrub the suit. It seems to make the stain worse and he groans frustratedly,
"I told you I don't want to talk about it!"

"Pete."

He scrubs at the suit faster.

"Peter."

He throws the sponge onto the sopping wet suit, finally whipping around and making eye contact,
"They still need my help!"

He looks shocked at the sudden outburst. Peter had been a shell of himself the past few months, avoiding any conversation- especially this one.

"Kid, I know but they-"

"I know- I know they hate me but people are still in danger."

"I wasn't going to say they hate you. They're... misinformed."

Peter scoffs and sits on the edge of his bed, dropping his face in his hands.

They're both silent for a moment, unsure of what to say. Tony begins to walk over to Peter to probably give some kind of pep talk, but he's stopped by Morgan, who peeks her head around the corner.

"Peter? You're back."

Peter had woken her up.

As if he didn't have enough to feel guilty about.

She has a small, tired smile on her face.
"Are you feeling better yet? I'm happy you're home."

"Thanks, M," he croaks.

Tony steps in front of Peter.
"Morgan, honey, why don't you go back to bed?"

"I want to hang out with Peter."

"You can hang out with Peter when it's not past your bedtime."

She pouts for a moment before sighing.
"Fine. Night, Petey. I love you."

"Love you," he murmurs. He rubs at his eyes, feeling like she may be the only person in the world that feels this way after everything. After all the trouble he's caused for his loved ones.

Tony sits next to him, staring.
"Let's talk."

"'bout what?"

He's kicking you out, a voice tells him in the back of his mind.

"Everything. All of it. Tell me what's going on."

Oh, that might be worse.

Peter's eyebrows furrow in confusion.
Where could he even start?

"I... I don't know."

His head tilts to the side,
"What do you mean?"

"I mean I don't know," Peter snaps, "There's too much."

He died. He came back years later to every single thing in his life being different. They had to get a new apartment because someone who didn't die now lives there. May had to get a job at a new hospital because technically, she doesn't work there anymore. He has previous classmates that are graduated from high school. Tony's a real father now. Tony almost died and is now missing an arm. He's older now and Peter's five years closer to loosing him one day. He made a new superhero friend and he turned out to be a giant asshole who framed him for murder. Everyone in the world hates him.

"Ok. Ok, I get that. Start with today. What happened to you today?"

Peter laughs humorlessly,
"Well, for starters someone threw a huge bucket of paint at my face. Suit's stained... sorry about that."

"That's fine. We can fix that," Tony replies, patient.

"Um... and before that May apparently got harassed at work and..." his throat closes up. He hates that this is happening to her because of him. He's ruined her life.

"And?"

"And..." he inhaled a shuttered breath, looking towards the ceiling to hold tears in. "And MJ and Ned didn't get accepted into college. Because of me."

His voice cracks and his breath hitches embarrassingly. He looks over at Tony miserably, eyes shining. "I ruined their lives, Tony."

"Pete," he whispers, "this isn't your fault. You have to understand that."

"If they didn't know me, they wouldn't be in this situation. I just wish they'd never met me sometimes."

He shakes his head, "Nah-uh. That's not how we're going to think. They love you."

"If they didn't, they'd be going to MIT in the fall. If they didn't know me, they wouldn't be getting yelled at by the press or stalked."

"You're getting stalked too, Pete."

"They don't deserve that."

"You don't deserve that either."

"Maybe I do," he whispers.

"Excuse me?"

"I let him trick me. And now, because of that, I've ruined the lives of my friends and family and now I'm going to end up in the Ice Box for the rest of my life classified as a murderer." The thought of that feeling has his chest feeling tight and his breaths become shorter. His shoulders heave with silent cries in an effort to compose himself.

"Listen to me- you are not going to the ice box."

"What if I do? Half of the baby monitor tapes were glitching from Beck's weird reality-bending smoke."

"There's enough there. Your lawyer says so."

"He could be wrong, Tony!"

"He's not. He's the best out there. He's defended people with powers before."

"I..." he has more to say. He doesn't have confidence that he can be saved from this. "Ok."

Tony offers a small smile, patting his shoulder.
"Ok."

Peter drags his palm across his cheeks, trying to wipe any trace of tears away. Tony leans down to ensure they make eye contact.
"What can I do right now?"

"What?"

"How can I help right now, in this moment, to make you feel a little better. I'm worried, kid."

He sounds so genuine. It upsets Peter that he's made him feel this way.

Like Tony, he copes with this feeling by cracking a joke.
"You can take me to Doctor Strange and get him to cast a spell to fix this mess."

Peter pauses.

He had meant it as a joke but hearing it out loud, it didn't sound like a bad idea.

"No," Tony laughs, "You know how I feel about magic. We're fixing this the right way."

When Peter stays silent, adverting his eyes, his mentor places a hand on his knee.
"Listen. It'll be ok. We are going to fix this, I promise. I was being serious though."

Peter thinks about how they used to do movie nights after a tough day. He'd love nothing more than to fall asleep on the couch to a Star Wars movie right now.

He doesn't say that though.

Peter smiles sheepishly,
"I think I'm just gonna go to bed. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You need your sleep and I'll leave you to it. Night, kiddie."

The door shuts and Peter's gaze hardens.

He flips his suit inside out and slips it on once again.
"Karen, map out the fastest route to the Sanctum Sanctorum."

"With pleasure, Peter."