After communicating with the future Professor through Kitty, informing them of Apocalypse's existence, and leaving the decision in their hands, Peter bid farewell to the X-Men and departed. He still found Kitty's reaction somewhat strange; even if they were comrades-in-arms in the future and she knew his secret identity, she seemed to place an almost excessive amount of trust in him.
It couldn't be... no, please don't let it be. He was already dealing with enough headaches and had no desire to face similar situations wherever he went.
Peter sighed, preparing to head home. The entire operation against Nimrod could be divided into two parts. The first part—preventing Nimrod's birth in the present—was essentially complete. With the collapse of A.I.M., Stark Industries' acquisition of Trask, and the series of actions taken by the X-Men, it was safe to say that it was now impossible for Nimrod to be born according to the original timeline of Earth-811.
Furthermore, as the past changed, the connection between Earth-811 and Earth-616 was growing weaker. Peter could clearly sense that the Spider-Man of the other world was becoming increasingly distinct from himself. One could say that Earth-616 had temporarily escaped the "Days of Future Past" ending.
Their primary enemy had now become the Nimrod from the future. Currently, Nimrod and the X-Men were in a race against time to secure advantages; Promethium, Master Mold, and Rogue were all assets that both sides needed to fight for.
But for the moment, none of that had much to do with Peter. Returning home through the window in his suit, he deactivated his invisibility and collapsed onto his bed. For a while, he didn't want to think about anything, nor did he need to.
It was time for a proper rest.
Peter sighed, feeling as though his school life was a distant memory. Lately, he had been solving various crises almost every day, leaving him with no time for school. He had even relied on an LMD to attend classes for him for several days.
He felt completely derailed from his life as a student.
Sighing again, he opened his backpack and took out his phone to check for assignments. After working on his homework and reading for a bit, Peter Parker admitted a desperate truth.
Compared to textbooks and studying, saving the world was actually a lot more interesting.
With a helpless sigh, Peter Parker acknowledged that he could never truly be an ordinary student again.
He forced himself to finish his homework, then yawned, feeling an unprecedented wave of exhaustion. After sitting in silence for a while, he took out his phone, hesitated, and finally decided to send someone a text.
A few seconds later, he heard the sound of a window opening on the second floor next door. He sprang from his bed and hurried to his own window.
"You should be able to hear that I'm home, right?"
Gwen opened her window and chatted with Peter. "There's no need to use a phone to get in touch."
"I know, I just... alright, I'm not busy for the time being, so I don't really know what to do with myself."
Peter looked at Gwen somewhat helplessly. "Do you have any good ideas?"
"None. I don't know what you should do either."
Gwen shrugged helplessly. The two of them leaned against their respective windowsills, looking at each other. After a while, Gwen felt the situation was too silly, so she simply decided to head out.
"Come on, smart guy. Since you don't know what to do, let's just go for a stroll."
The adults were all at work, and since there was no need to save the world today, Peter truly felt lost. He seemed to have fallen into a sort of panic: world peace was obviously the best outcome, yet he felt that in a peaceful world, there was nothing left for him to do.
"Is this a form of Super Hero PTSD?"
After hearing Peter's description, Gwen couldn't help but ask. Peter shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, maybe. The problem is, I don't know what to do about it."
"What about the other Avengers?"
Peter gave serious thought to the others.
"Tony Stark has severe psychological issues of his own. Since the Battle of New York, he's been trapped in an inevitable panic regarding invasions from higher civilizations, thinking about upgrading his armor every single day."
"The Captain hasn't fully adjusted yet—or rather, he's resisting this era. He doesn't socialize, has no job, and does nothing but train when he's not fighting as an Avenger."
"Then there's Dr. Banner; the Hulk is his biggest psychological burden. Dr. Pym isn't doing much better; he's a pacifist, but the Avengers' actions tend toward violence."
Thor and T'Challa were different—one was a warrior and a prince, the other a king. Their understanding of responsibility and related concepts was likely different from Peter's. Counting them all up, it seemed only Janet was psychologically healthy?
But as everyone knew, the Wasp's role in the Avengers was mostly that of a mascot.
"What kind of people are you Avengers? It's practically a psychiatric ward."
Gwen joked helplessly. These people were the "World's Mightiest Heroes," considered by countless people to be the final line of defense for the world.
And yet, there didn't seem to be a single perfect existence among them, like Superman.
"So, Spider-Man isn't needed for the next few days?"
"On call, but apparently, yes. Spider-Man isn't needed for now."
"Then, simply put, go back to the life you had before you got your powers."
Gwen offered her suggestion. "Why don't we try living like we used to?"
Peter wasn't sure if that would work. The main issue was that everyone around him knew Peter Parker was Spider-Man. In an environment where everyone understood that he had to sacrifice his personal life to save others, could he really go back to being the same as before?
Wait, hold on.
"I just had an idea."
On a whim, Peter made a suggestion to Gwen. "If all else fails, we could go to the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning to experience life there for a bit, pretending to be mutants. Most of the students there don't know me, so I can be more relaxed."
"Setting aside whether that's a good idea or not..." Gwen said hesitantly, "even if we want to pretend to be mutants, we'd need superpowers, wouldn't we?"
The two of them actually did have superpowers, though Gwen's were difficult to detect. Peter thought about it for a long while before finally convincing her with one sentence.
"Anyway, let's just give it a try. It's a school where everyone can use their powers freely, Gwen. Don't you want to go and see what's fun there?"
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