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The song “I Will Always Love You”—the Whitney Houston version, not the original by Dolly Parton—played over the video. Appearing amongst the clouds was the figure of Tony Stark. After a moment, the image dissolved away, replaced by a picture of Captain America—Steve Rogers.

Then Natasha Romanoff.

And an artificial being known as Vision.

Avengers, and heroes, all.

These were just some who were known to have made the ultimate sacrifice to stop Thanos from using six all-powerful Infinity Stones to snap away half the life in the universe.

As images of birds f lying across the sky gave way to memorial candles, Midtown High reporters Jason Ionello and Betty Brant appeared on-screen, delivering the high school’s special report.

“Gone, but not forgotten,” Betty declared, in the most serious voice she could manage.

“Thanks to Kenneth Lim and Vihaan Ramamurthy for their help with that touching video tribute,” Jason added, as the boom microphone dropped into the shot from above.

Betty faced the camera, and started to deliver her report. “This year has been nothing short of—”

“SH—”

BLEEP!

“—is crazy. It’s like insane,” Jason interrupted, his curse bleeped out by the crew.

“Jason,” Betty chided softly.

“What?”

“No swearing,” she reminded him, smiling at the camera.

“It’s like the last day of school,” Jason said, unconcerned. “We’re good.”

Betty ignored her co-anchor, and addressed the camera once more. “Historic. Over five years ago, half of all life in the universe, including our own Midtown High, was wiped from existence. But then eight months ago, a band of brave heroes brought us back. They called it ‘the Blip.’”

A graphic appeared on screen saying, appropriately enough, THE BLIP.

“Those of us who blipped away came back the same age,” Betty related. “But our classmates that didn’t blip had grown five years older.”

Jason appeared perplexed. “Yeah, like my little brother is now older than me.”

Betty shook her head. “Yeah, it’s math,” she chided Jason, annoyed. Then she turned back to the camera. “And even though we had blipped away halfway through the school year, and had ALREADY TAKEN MID-TERMS, the school made us start the WHOLE YEAR over from the beginning.” Her disdain for the school’s solution to this very unusual problem was apparent.

“It’s totally unfair. It’s not right,” Jason added.

Taking a deep breath,Betty finished. “Tigers, it’s been a long, dramatic, somewhat confusing road. As we draw this year to a close, it’s time to move on to a new phase of our lives.”

“And pray nothing crazy happens again,” Jason added. “’Cause are the Avengers even a thing anymore? Does anyone even have a plan?” Nobody knew. And everyone wondered.

“I have a plan.”

Peter Parker sat in the art room next to his best friend, and fellow Blip returnee Ned Leeds. He pulled his chair close, and said in a quiet voice, “Okay, first, I’m gonna sit next to MJ on the flight. Second, I’m gonna buy a dual headphone adapter and watch movies with her the whole time.” He’d put a lot of thought into this.

“Okay,” Ned agreed, following Peter so far.

“Three, when we go to Venice。。。Venice is super famous for making stuff out of glass, right?” Peter asked, but he wasn’t really asking. He’d looked it up online.

“True,” Ned confirmed.

“I’m gonna buy her a black dahlia necklace because her favorite f lower is the black dahlia because of—”

“The murder,” Ned finished his friend’s sentence, not batting an eye. MJ was MJ.

“The murder,” Peter reiterated, glad that his friend got the reference. MJ was into all kinds of stuff that some might describe as “off the beaten path.” She was fascinated by the strange and macabre, including the 1947 murder case of a woman known as “The Black Dahlia.”

Peter continued. “Four, when we go to Paris, I’m gonna take her to the top of the Eiffel Tower, give her the necklace. Then, five, I’m gonna tell her how I feel. And then six, hopefully she tells me she feels the same way.” It was a good plan. He was proud of it.

“Don’t forget step seven,” Ned contributed.

“Step seven?” Peter questioned, surprised, and suddenly afraid that he had forgotten something that would COMPLETELY DESTROY his carefully constructed plan.

“Don’t do any of that.” Ned was quite serious.

Peter felt like his head was going to explode. “Why?” he asked. What could be wrong with his strategy? Each step led logically to the next!

“Because we’re gonna be bachelors in Europe, Peter,” Ned reasoned. “Look, I may not know much but I do know this: Europeans love Americans.” He had not looked this up online.

Peter stared at his friend, not sure that he had an accurate grip on reality.

“Really?” Peter didn’t sound convinced.

“And more than half of them are women,” Ned added. This was as much optimism as hearsay.

“Okay, sure,” Peter conceded, trying to turn things around. “But I really like MJ, man, okay? She’s awesome, she’s super funny, in a kind of dark way. Sometimes I catch her looking at me, and I feel like I’ve stood up way too—she’s coming.” He forgot to breathe as sometimes happened when she was around.

Ned turned slightly, and saw MJ walking toward them carrying a large rectangular art portfolio, her head bobbing up and down.

“Don’t say anything,” Peter whispered.

“What’s up, dorks?” MJ greeted them, her tone indicating that she was just as much a dork as her friends. “Excited about the science trip?”

Peter felt super nervous. “Hey, yeah, we’re just talking about the trip.”

“Yeah, and Peter’s plan,” Ned helpfully inserted into the conversation.

Peter cringed.

“You have a plan?” MJ said f latly, her eyes burning holes into Peter.

“I don’t—I don’t have a plan,” Peter stuttered.

“He’s just gonna collect tiny spoons when we’re traveling to other countries,” Ned covered poorly. It was the first thing he could think of.

MJ looked at Peter. “Like a grandmother?”

Peter wanted to punch Ned. “I’m not collecting tiny spoons. HE’S collecting tiny spoons,” Peter jabbed.

“Oh. Okay, well, that was a real roller coaster,” MJ responded, already done with the notion. “By the way, travel tip—you should probably download a VPN on your phone so the government can’t track you while we’re abroad.”

“Smart,” Peter acknowledged, just glad that they were no longer talking about collecting tiny spoons. “Will do.”

MJ tucked the portfolio under her arm, and walked away.

Peter exhaled.

“Dude, I think that went really great,” Ned concluded as the resident expert on romance.