Chapter Text
Of Nights By Ourselves
“Peter wake up” Peter heard a voice, it was a voice he tried to forget. A voice that he rather never have to hear because it ate his very soul having to remember what happened that night, why it happened
“Peter wake up” the voice said again, it was the voice again. “Wake up for school. Come on May isn’t here right now, I ain’t going to let you stay at home your coming with me to work for the day” the voice said again rather stern, like a half threat-half joke
Peter felt as if he were a kid again, barely waking up from some bad sleep after staying up all night reading or tinkering around with his old computer (Hammertech OS and hardware, load of garbage the models were). Peter felt the dark, then light came into the room as a door opened. A tall silhouette clouded in darkness and looming over Peter as a shadow he can never escape and the only way to avoid it was, never mentioning it again
“Peter wake up” the voice said rather softly, Peter felt a soft hand over his hand. It was Jean, looking worried and also frustrated. Peter felt she was going to scold him but withheld herself from scolding Peter (for the moment at least). Peter felt pain over his body, cuts and bad hits from The Rhino “Yeah right lame” Peter thought a bit sarcastically at his other other universe Peter’s word.
Jean was sitting next to Peter, she had her arms on her legs and she looked at him, intently as if thinking what to do. Peter was still in his damaged suit which felt rather uncomfortable at the moment, it was comfortable enough to sleep with however it was rare Peter would outright sleep in it, unless he came back really tired and it had only been in days when crime was really bad in the city
But with all the cuts and blood all over his suit, it was extremely unpleasant to be in it right now. Peter just looked at Jean “than you” he said grateful, but unsure how to react. Having someone in his apartment sitting next to him while he healed and having said person watch him. It was just so strange to Peter, as if it’s something that should never happen. Yet it was. He felt a warm feeling in his chest which could be the aftermath of the beating
“I have to patrol” Peter said trying to get up, but Jean annoyed and a bit angry used her telepathic powers to restrain Peter “no you don’t” Jean said annoyed, as she stayed seated next to Peter “but the city” Peter said as he tried to overpower Jean’s telekinesis but it was futile. “Nothing has happened, no crime reports. The city is dead. City is very calm right now, stop worrying” Jean said rather grimly as if everyone but them was dead in the city
“Just because something hasn’t happened now, doesn’t mean it won’t happen in a couple minutes or hours” Peter said, still struggling a bit. Jean in annoyance used her power to force Peter to sit “relax” she ordered
Peter still struggled but he swore he saw her eyes red and for the moment calmed down. And she stopped restraining him. The two just sat there, Peter was unsure what to say or do and Jean looked at the apartment door, grabbing Peter’s hand. “He won’t harm you again…Metzger” Peter stated as he slightly tried to get his hand off from Jean. But she held it tighter “If he gets near me. I will make him beg for death” Jean said with a cold rage.
Peter didn’t say anything because what could he tell Jean. Whatever he said would ring hollow he felt that at least. Ultimately he didn’t want to anger her. It wasn’t the time to give her a “sermon”
“I appreciate the help,” Peter said, trying to change the subject in this case. “No problem” Jean said, she finally stopped restraining Peter, he relaxed and gave a deep breath. He needed to take a shower and was going to quickly bandage himself, he had an extra suit to put while E.V repaired his current one, but unfortunately Peter wanted to go on patrol now and E.V did sometimes take his time fixing the suit when it got its current damage. It was almost ripped to shreds
However Peter had never used the suit because it didn’t really scream “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man”. It was more the suit that made criminals cower in fear, or so Peter thought. Peter looked at the window “Don’t even think about it” Jean said “City is calm, no crime” Jean said almost like a warning
“Very well” Peter said, he didn’t want to argue with her, he wasn’t really in the mood and. He supposed things were calm, but he would just wait for Jean to leave so he could go patrol. However he couldn’t put his suit to repair right now, if he played it as if he wasn’t going to go on patrol, Jean might leave and he could go to his usual schedule. Jean narrowed her eyes, however she didn’t say anything. Peter had an extra suit though he never used it because he felt it was too menacing, and while sometimes having criminals cower in fear when he pretended to keep his mouth shut, was fun. It wasn’t exactly the image he wanted to give, it had been hard as it been to earn the city's trust and get Jonah to become an irrelevant mad man, who no one listened too besides weirdos and criminals themselves
The last thing Peter needed was a suit that looked like he was going to rob you and beat you up. Or beat you up and then rob you. Peter just laid back on the couch as Jean kept looking at him. She nodded her bed a bit “You cleaned a bit, I am impressed, blushing almost. All this for me” Jean said in a tone that Peter didn’t know how to read if it was sarcastic or genuine, especially with the hand gesture she did.
“I took the comments you made to heart” Peter said, Jean gave a nod as she looked like she wanted to laugh “Well I was trying to provoke you, it wasn't meant to be real criticism. Just whatever” Jean said as she laid back. Peter got up, as he felt Jean place his arm on her, he did it quickly “I got to shower Jean” said Peter, quickly excusing himself as he went to get some clothes from his storage box (he didn’t use the “closet” for clothes, but to place tools and other items). “This attic has so much space, and I barely use all of it” Peter thought
“Careful spiders can die if they get hit with too much water” Jean said rather bitterly, Peter stopped for a moment. He grunted, not wanting to think about the swing in the rain when he saw MJ kiss her boyfriend. Peter gave a deep breathe “I will”
However Peter saw that Jean was still wearing the same clothes as she had when he met her, and when he handed her to Metzger basically. Jean didn’t look like she had showered in a while. Peter didn’t want to judge because it wasn’t his place, especially because of what Jean lived through. He assumed the clothes had meaning to her or she just liked them a lot. Peter grabbed his clothes to sleep. “After I finish showering, if you want to shower and wash your clothes,” said Peter, almost whispering, still loud enough for Jean to hear.
Peter felt as if Jean was going to send him flying, however her eyes widened “Your bold Parker” she said, however she got up, keeping her eyes on Peter “thanks, just get out of the apartment while I shower”. Peter nodded, giving a smile as he thought about using the gap that she would shower and wash and dry her clothes, to Patrol in that meantime. At most it would be an hour or half an hour, hopefully two. Peter quickly went to shower, and bandaged himself. Peter quickly dried himself, quickly dressing himself with a white shirt and some sweatpants
Opening and stepping out of the door, Peter quickly left as Jean had been sitting in the coach “your turn”. Peter rushed to get his backpack and his extra suit and was running to the door however, Peter heard a locking sound “Don’t go patrolling” Jean ordered, Peter froze though he wasn’t sure if it was him or Jean doing it
“I was just going to get a pizza for us” Peter said “you must be hungry”. A quick smile appeared on Peter’s face. Jean however didn’t look amused “no patrol, you're resting” she said sternly to Peter. He kept quiet nodding. As Jean unlocked the door and opened it for Peter who stepped out and felt the door slam.
Thirty minutes passed as Peter had to debate whether he should just leave and patrol regardless, but with Jean’s power being far greater, at this point Peter knew he couldn’t escape Jean’s eyes. Finally the door unlocked “You can come in”
Peter entered “how did you wash your clothes so quickly?” Muttered Peter curiously, however he saw Jean was wearing his old clothes, seeing one of his storage boxes which he hid to the side of his apartment. Full of old clothes from high school, stuff he rather not see because the memories that they brought were too much. Peter just washed and dried them so they didn’t get mold or smell weird.
She wore his old gym shirt from Midtown, and a Captain America pajamas (pre Avengers breakup/civil war) from Ned. Peter cringed at just how Jean seemed to treat his apartment and his stuff as hers “I don’t like your hair products nor body wash” Jean stated. “It’s just me here…” Peter said, she looked at him with a glare “take the couch I’ll sleep on the floor. I have enough blankets” lied Peter, he had one extra blanket and a really flat blanket he occasionally used to lay on the floor to rest his back. Peter went to grab his blankets and pillow, he was going to set them up on the couch but Jean used her powers to move the blankets and pillow in a way she liked. “I sleep weird so it’s best I leave the couch the way I want it”
Peter chucked nervously as he placed a blanket on the floor and the flat pillow. Peter was going to turn off the lights off but Jean turned them off with her telekinesis. Peter just sighed, as he laid down on the floor “Night” Peter said. Jean didn’t say anything “You owe me a coffee” she said with a yawn “what?” Peter asked
“Coffee, you don’t remember what I sent you in text some days ago?” She asked annoyed, almost offended really. “Oh yeah, I mean I was just offering you to stay if you needed. I am not doing it because…” Peter stopped mid sentence as Jean interrupted “I know” she said “you are genuinely a simple spider”
Peter gave a slight huff through his nose “just go to sleep” Peter shook his head, he faced the door, and just looked in the distance waiting for Jean to sleep so he could patrol. He thought about what had happened over the last days and even the whole year and he just didn’t know how to react to this. He had been so, consumed he supposed of being Spider-Man that this whole interaction with Jean felt like some dumb dream you have before you wake up and realize the dream was just you remembering something that happened in High School and you can’t go back to it, because so much time passed you as the current person couldn’t understand such feelings anymore of just talking to someone in an awkward way but still sort of hanging out. It was probably a wrong way to put it, but that’s how Peter felt
Probably around the first year from the day Doctor Strange casted the spell to make everyone forget he (Peter) was Spider-Man, and as he tried to isolate himself from even attempting to get in Ned and MJ’s life again. As with each day, Peter knew it would get harder and harder to just introduce himself and try to be their friends, he had at the time resigned himself to stay away even if he kept tabs on them during their MIT days
During those years, Peter found himself having the occasional strange dream of random interactions with all types of students and teachers in Midtown. From the Decathlon Team to just regular students he hadn’t interacted much.
Cindy, Abe, Sally, Betty, even Flash to an extent were people who Peter occasionally dreamt off in strange dreams that felt like they were real but felt off enough for you to doubt if they were actually something that was happening. Even random students Peter interacted with once appeared, it was a strange comfort to Peter but also had brought a sadness in him knowing that none of them would remember him. “Consequences” Peter thought to himself, he had to live with them. This interaction with Jean was close to it
Peter however fell fast asleep, the beating he got from The Rhino still ached in his body and a quick nap wouldn’t hurt Peter. Just twenty minutes he thought
Peter woke up, and felt some weight on him, his eye eyes widened as he looked behind him and it was Jean, sleeping next to him. Deep in sleep. Peter checked his phone, and it was around three in the morning. Jean was resting hand over Peter’s shoulder with her almost leaning on his shoulder.
With a careful and slow roll, Peter managed to get out of the blanket over the floor without waking up Jean. He went to grab his extra suit. He went out of his window “E.V set up an alarm if someone but me tries to barge in” Peter whispered “of course Peter” E.V said. With that Peter set off to patrol, the rain began to fall heavy as it thundered