Chapter Text
r o m e, i t a l y
The group entered in a small tourist-y shop with a cute retro coffee shop on the side. A little bell rang as the group walked through the door, painted a bright turquoise color and looked pretty old.
"Hello!" An old woman said from the back of a counter.
"Hi"'s came from the group. Ned waved to her and she waved back.
"Let's look around!" said Kayla who plucked a baby pink beret from a hat stand.
"OooOooo this looks neat," said Ned who picked up a little teddy bear with the colors of the Italian flag. He turned around and picked up some magnets on a white pole.
Peter wandered around, searching for the perfect souvenir for his Aunt May. He spotted a couple scarves in the back and made his way there. Somehow, he felt like something life changing would happen there. Maybe it's my Spidey senses? He thought to himself.
He bumped into a stranger about the same height as himself as he made his way to May's souvenirs. A large body mirror stood beside the bin filled with scarves.
"Oh sorry mister!" Peter said to the stranger.
"Ugh, watch where youre going," the stranger said in a British accent, obviously annoyed. He wore sunglasses and a dark navy baseball cap.
That's weird. Why would he wear sunglasses inside? Peter thought to himself.
The stranger looked up at him and gasped. He lifted up his sunglasses to get a better look at the boy standing in front of him. Peter's eyes met the stranger's at the exact moment.
"W-what?!?" Peter whispered. The stranger and him looked into the mirror.
They were.... lookalikes? Or twins?
"Shut. Up." The British stranger retorted. The boys looked back at each other.
"What... what..." Peter was in shock.
"Excuse me, but who are you??!!" The British boy demanded. He had the same deep golden curls, chocolate orbs, and height as Peter, but he wore an expensive outfit and sunglasses, and, of course, a baseball cap.
"Um yeah, I have like the same question, too!" Peter shot back.
"You mean you don't know who I am??" The British boy lifted an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly.
"No idea," Peter said in a annoyed tone. The British boy dragged him by his shirt sleeve further into the back room and shut the door.
"I'm Aiden Earle, obviously." He rolled his eyes.
Peter stared at him blankly.
"You still don't know who I am? I was on the X-Factor! I bloody won the competition! And I'm famous all over the world!" He threw his arms up in frustration.
"Well you're not popular where I'm from!" He pointed to himself. "I seriously doubt anyone knows who you are in New York!"
"Wait-- you're from New York? I'm scheduled to play a show there this summer! And you didn't answer my question! Who are you?"
"Uh I'm just Peter. Peter Parker," he shrugged his shoulders.
"So a nobody?" Aiden cocked an eyebrow.
"Yeah I guess so," Peter replied, looking visibly offended.
"Wait--- I have an idea," Aiden said looking like the thinking emoji. "What if we switch places?!"
"What?"
"Yeah! You can pretend to be me and I'll pretend to be you!"
"I know what switching places is. Why do you wanna do it though?"
"Well, it's... hard to be famous. It's kind of a long story. Ah, bollocks, I'll tell ya. My mum died when I was three years old and my father... well... he forced me to become famous." Aiden slowly sat down on a crate, looking at the floor sadly.
Peter looked at the British boy with curls forming a halo around his face. "Oh... I'm sorry to hear that," he said sympathetically.
"Thanks, I guess," Aiden bit back tears. "My father is friends with Simon Cowell, and after One Direction broke up he called Mr. Cowell to arrange for my appearance on the X-Factor. The competition was rigged so that I won. And now I'm a superstar," Aiden's voice cracked at the last word.
Aiden stood up. "Wellll it isn't all that bad. You get a lot of a fans, get a lot of perks, and you get to travel a lot! But I miss being free to be unnoticed... and that's why I wanna switch places with you, Peter!"
"Umm... Aiden I feel bad for ya but I don't know if I wanna commit to this," Peter looked to the door.
"Please Peter! Do this for me? Let's just do this for a week, okay lad?" Aiden grabbed Peter's shoulders and pleaded.
"Weeelll alright then. But just for a week, okay?"
"It's a deal, Mr. Parker!" The boys shook hands with each other.
"Oh shoot. We gotta change clothes though." Peter remembered.
"Not now! We'll switch tomorrow! Here, let's get each other's cell numbers and I'll text you and send a cab for you to come to my suite tomorrow morning," Aiden handed Peter his phone. They exchanged phone numbers and exited the back room. Aiden put back on his hat and glasses and left the gift shop through a side door.
"Hey Peter! Dude we were looking all over for you," Ned said, running up to him.
"Ohh yeah, sorry man. I got lost in the back," Peter grinned nervously.
"Ooookay?" Ned looked at him skeptically.
"Let's just go, ok?" Peter added quickly.
"Sounds good. The bus is here." The gang rejoined the rest of the school group outside.