Work Text:
Liz was not focusing on the TV playing quietly in the background, instead diverting her attention to the course-work in front of her.
It was just another report on another event involving superheroes. Something she didn’t care to watch. She had grown bored of superhero talk – avoided it in fact. It brought up memories she preferred to ignore, and not to mention the fact that there was some new event every other week.
She reached for the remote and pointed it at the TV.
“There you have it, folks.” The man speaking on the TV said, J. Jonah Jameson by the title appearing on at the bottom of the screen. He whipped off his glasses. “Conclusive proof that Spider-Man was responsible for the brutal murder of Mysterio, an inter-dimensional warrior who gave his life to protect our planet. And who will no doubt go down in history as the greatest superhero of all time!”
With any other superhero it would be different. She would just turn off the TV and go back to studying, but that name caught her attention. Spider-Man.
He sent her dad to prison.
Jameson leaned forward. “But that’s not all folks. Here’s the real blockbuster. Brace yourselves you might want to sit down.”
The report cut from Jameson to footage of a man, Mysterio, his face littered with small cuts, leaning close to the camera he was holding, looking panicked.
“Spider-Man’s real name…” He muttered quickly. The video glitched as he turned his head quickly to look at something behind him. “Spider-Man’s real name-”
The video cut out and then flashed back onto the screen. Liz’s eyes widened as she realised what was about to happen. Her hands clenched on the remote.
“Spider-Man’s real name is Peter Parker!”
The screen flashed to a familiar face and a photo she recognized. The person who had worn the same decathlon uniform as her. The person she had invited to her party, and to go swimming. The person who had been to her house, had met her family, had taken her to the Homecoming Dance and then left her alone.
The person who had send her dad to prison.
She dropped the remote, ignoring the rest of the report as she turned away and fumbled with her phone. She knew that she should stop. She should calm down before she does anything rash, like call the number of an alleged super powered murderer, but she couldn’t think. Her hands moved as though they had a mind of her own. She was normally so rational. She could always step back, take stock, and figure out what she needed to do.
Not this time.
She pulled up her contacts and scrolled until she found his name.
Peter Parker.
She shouldn’t still have his number. After her dad’s arrest she had moved away. Her parents had told her to let go of her old life; delete her contacts and social media, lose contact with her friends and anyone she used to know. At first she refused. She would wait until late at night to message her friends under the covers of her bed. But as her dad’s trial had grown more public, her friends had stopped replying to her messages. So she stopped sending them. But she had never been able to cut off the possibility of talking to them again. She kept everyone she used to know saved in her phone. Just in case. But, she had never needed to contact them, until now.
She took a deep breath and tapped on Peter Parker’s name. Her phone started ringing, and she held it tightly to her ear.
How old would he be now? She was in college now, an adult. She lived on her own and had a job. Spider-Man – if Peter really was him – hadn’t survived the blip. He would still be a teenager. Still in high school. Still a kid. Jameson claimed that Spider-Man killed Mysterio. Could Peter have done that? The Peter she knew could never have done that. But if Peter was Spider-Man, then clearly she didn’t know him as much as she had thought. He could have changed in the time since she had seen him: nearly eight years for her, but less than three for him if he had been blipped.
When had been the last time she saw him?
It had been a few days after the dance, and she had been leaving Midtown High for the last time. Peter had run up to her. He had said sorry, and it struck Liz now that he may not have been apologizing for leaving her at the dance, or for what she had been going through because he felt sorry for her. He was apologizing because he was the one who had put her dad in jail. He was apologizing because it was because of him she had to leave her life in New York. She remembered what he said to her.
‘You don’t deserve this.’
She had never been able to shake her anger at Spider-Man. She knew he was doing the right thing, that her dad was making weapons and that he needed to be stopped, but that didn’t stop her from wishing he had just left her dad alone. Peter – if it was Peter – knew that it was Liz’s dad going those things. He had to have. He knew that it was her dad. He knew what would happen to her if her dad was caught, and yet he went after him anyway.
‘If there’s anything I can do to help…’
He couldn’t bring her dad back.
‘I can’t imagine what you’re going through.”
Liz felt her emotions rising, and she resisted the urge to cry as she listened to the steady ring of the phone. She was about to hang up when the ringing stopped and she was met with silence on the other end.
She didn’t know what to say. She waited, listening to the silence.
“Liz?”
He hadn’t deleted her number either.
His voice was quiet, but the exact same as she remembered. He still sounded like the same kid who had nervously asked her to the Homecoming Dance. He had been blipped. But, she reminded herself, that didn’t prove that he was Spider-Man.
“Liz?” He repeated. “Are you there?”
“I’m here.” She said, slowly.
She heard him exhale. His voice shook when he spoke.
“What can I do for you?”
“Is it true?”
There was a pause.
“Liz-”
“Is it true?” She repeated, louder this time.
He took a deep, shaking breath.
“Liz, I am so sorry.”
That was all the confirmation Liz needed. She couldn’t hold back the tears now, and she pressed her hand to her mouth to stop a sob from escaping.
Were there any signs? Of course there were. It was obvious. There were signs everywhere. The bruises that littered his skin one day and were gone the next. When he quit all of his after-school clubs and meetings. The way he happened to disappear every time Spider-Man turned up, and Spider-Man always appeared where he had just been. Ned practically shouting to their entire PE class that ‘Peter knows Spider-Man!’ The way he had froze when he saw her dad at her house before the dance. How he acted so strangely afterwards. The look on his face as he apologised to her.
“Liz,” Peter said, quietly. “You can’t tell anyone. I-”
She coughed out a laugh, her misery turning to anger.
“Didn’t you see the news, Peter? There is no secret anymore! The whole world knows!”
Peter stayed silent.
“You knew…” She said. “You knew he was my dad and you went after him anyway.”
“Liz, I am so sorry.”
He was just a kid, she reminded herself, a kid who just had his biggest secret exposed to the world. She took a breath.
“I know, Peter.”
“I didn’t want to hurt you.” He said. “I really liked you.”
“I know.”
They both paused. Liz wiped the tears from her face.
“What are you going to do?” She asked.
“I don’t know… I’m still in school, and know everyone will know. People think I killed Mysterio…”
“You didn’t, did you?”
“No,” He said quickly. “I just don’t know what to do. I can’t go home, and I can’t go to Ned, or to MJ because that will only put them in danger. I have people I can go to… I suppose. People who deal with this kind of thing, but I just want to go back. I didn’t want any of this to happen.”
He stopped himself.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be unloading all of this on you.”
Liz smiled. “Stop apologizing, Peter.”
They stayed silent for a moment.
“So…” She said, slowly. “You’re Spider-Man…”
He laughed quietly to himself, as though he could believe this was happening. “Yeah, I suppose so.”
There was another silence.
“I’ve got to go.” Peter said. “Feel free to call me… if you want to.”
“Yeah… See you, Peter. Good luck.”
“Bye, Liz.”
She hung up, and placed the phone down on the coffee table, hoping that, whatever Peter Parker was going through, he would figure it out.