Chapter Text
“I need backup over by the 7-11.” Peter heard Tony’s voice come through the coms. Peter started making his way over to him.
“On it,” Peter and Steve said in unison. They made eye contact as they both arrived at the same time.
“Watch yourself, Spiderman,” Steve warned Peter as they rounded the corner.
“Right back at you,” Peter replied.
Peter only caught a glimpse of Tony before he was knocked off his feet by some kind of explosion.
He blacked out.
When Peter woke up, he was alone. He was wearing different clothes and in an unfamiliar place. Peter was sitting on the edge of a field; and was wearing a light blue tshirt and jeans instead of his Suit.
Wait a second. No he wasn’t. He did recognize this place. This field was near Albany, where Ben’s parents lived. Peter looked to his left and saw a small playground a little ways away. There were some children playing there with their adults watching them. Peter made his way over.
As he approached the park, he noticed a little girl with black hair and a pink shirt. She looked sort of familiar…
“Did you find a good stick?” she asked Peter.
“What?” Peter was confused.
“A stick. For mixing our potion?” The girl said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Peter realized he knew her name; a fluke, really. Her name was Chloe. Peter had only met her twice, and both times were at this exact park. He remembered this day now.
“A stick…” Peter looked down at his hands and there he saw a rather large twig in his right hand. “Here’s one.” He offered the stick to Chloe.
“Perfect,” Chloe said. She took the stick from Peter and led him over to a small hole in the ground filled with water, leaves, and rocks. She shoved the twig in and began to mix the sludge around.
“Peter!” Peter heard someone yell from behind him. He turned to see Aunt May standing at the edge of the park. She looked a lot younger than he remembered. “Peter, it’s time to go, sweetheart.”
Peter sighed. “But I don’t wanna go!” he called back.
“Don’t make me come over there!” May told him. Peter put his hands up in surrender. He turned back to Chloe.
“I have to go,” he explained. “I’ll see you next time.” Peter realized he had said that without thinking--it’s what he had said when this event had really happened. He hadn’t had any idea that there would be no next time. The next time Peter came up to Albany, Chloe’s family had moved away.
Peter gave Chloe a quick hug anyway (sort of awkward from his perspective as he was very tall now and she was not) and ran to join Aunt May at the curb. They started walking back to the car which was a little ways down the road. There was a line of bricks laid on the ground which Peter decided to walk on (while holding May’s hand, of course).
“Hey, Peter, what do you say we pick Ben up from Gramma and Grampa’s house and then we go out for dinner?” May suggested. Peter was more focused on his footing than what May had said, but he vaguely registered it.
“That sounds like a great idea,” he said and jumped off the last brick. But when he looked up again, May was gone. He was not in the field any longer. He was somewhere new. Somewhere he didn’t recognize at all, no matter how hard he tried.