Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Peter felt the icy air nipping at his ears as he perched on the top of his old apartment complex. His new suit didn't have any of the heating technology that his da- Mr. Stark had put into the old one, and it was starting to get to him. Ever since Dr. Strange made everyone forget who Peter Parker was, he would spend his patrol watching over May's building and the surrounding area to make sure she was okay. He would watch her walk into the lobby every night, still in her scrubs and a fluffy, black jacket that he'd given her for Christmas last year. He wondered if she remembered it was a gift from someone she loved, and who loved her back, or if Strange's spell made her forget any sentiment the jacket held.

The logistics of the spell were weird. Peter still had his I.D. and a decent credit score, but he didn't have any school records. He spent most of his days getting ready for his GED test and all of his nights patrolling near May's. The few days that he didn't study were mostly spent holed up in his room, trying not to cry too loudly in case he disturbed his roommate.

As far as roommates go, Skip Westcott was decent. He wasn't a slob, he didn't have parties, and he let Peter drown himself in self-pity when he was too depressed to get out of bed. They didn't talk too often, but he knew the basics about Skip. He was a college student in his junior year, and was going to Queens College. Peter thought about going there once he got his GED, seeing as all of his plans for MIT were down the drain. It was a good enough school, and right inbetween their apartment and May's. 

His heart sped up in excitement as he saw his aunt's car roll into the parking garage across from her apartment. She stepped out, her black jacket wrapped tightly around her and snowflakes starting to land in her hair. Her phone was between her shoulder and her ear, and she was having a heated discussion with someone on the other end. Of course he didn't like to eavesdrop on May, but he couldn't communicate with her in any other way, and he wanted to make sure that she was okay.

"No, Happy, I'm not going crazy," She rolled her eyes and slammed the car door. "I swear I'm not lying or imagining things. I saw the suit, his suit, in my apartment. I know that we're dating, and I know your best friend is Tony, and I know Tony hasn't heard from him since Mysterio died. I see him around here all the time, too much to be a coincidence. Hap, no, I don't need you here to 'protect me,' he's not dangerous and I'm more than capable-"

May looked up suddenly, and Peter fell back against the roof to avoid being spotted. His heart was pounding out of his chest, and he felt tears spring to his eyes. As much as he wanted to go down there and hug her and tell her what was happening, Peter knew that he would just cause her to get hurt again. May's legs were still in pain daily, her nerves fried from Green Goblin's bomb and the fallen debris landing on her. It had taken a month of physical therapy just to get her to be able to walk around again. He wanted nothing more than to be reunited with her, and Mr. Stark, and his friends, and everyone else in his life...but he knew he couldn't hurt them again. And he knew that if they were associated with him, or even knew his name, they would get hurt eventually. He wasn't going to let that happen.

"Sorry, it was nothing. Thought I saw something..." May resumed her call, and Peter let out a sigh of relief that he wasn't caught. She walked into the building briskly and Peter stopped listening to her conversation. It felt too intrusive at this point, and he was just going to upset himself if he kept listening to her mellifluous voice. Blinking away the remainder of his tears, he shot a web to the building across the street and flung himself into the air.

-----

Tony Stark is many things. Genius, billionaire, ex-playboy, philanthropist, husband, father, friend, Iron Man. But one thing he wasn't? Stupid.

So of course he realized that something was wrong. He remembers watching the news about Spider-Man on the Statue of Liberty, still bedridden and recovering even a year later from snapping his fingers. And he remembers the immense fear he felt for the red suit-wearing vigilante. Why would he care so damn much about a 'superhero' who refused any of his attempts to make him an Avenger. He vaguely remembers being on Titan with the hero, and fighting alongside him in Germany, but he had always refused to give away his identity. The whole thing was shady, and Tony never fully trusted him because of it. So why was he so scared for Spidey during the Statue of Liberty attack?

He tried to chalk it up to the regular concern he feels when the world is in danger, especially New York. But it wasn't that, it felt different, more...personal than that. So ever since, he's been trying to get in contact with Spider-Man. Every report that comes out about him, every article, every picture, it was all immediately sent to his private server and FRIDAY would show him as soon as he was available. That's where he was now, looking through his server and seeing every account of Spider-Man patrolling. Some people have been posting on social media about him too, saying that he's been different ever since the Statue of Liberty fight. Saying that he just webs up the bad guy and walks away, no more snarky quips or personal conversations with the victims.

Tony was looking over the pictures captured from today to see if anything looked wrong. He was wearing a different suit, apparently no longer interested in the insanely high-tech one Tony had made for him. To be quite honest, he was a bit offended that his suit was no longer 'worthy enough' of the Spider's attention.

"Tony, your eyebrows are furrowed up again," Pepper walked into their room and laid down on the bed next to her husband. "They always do that when you're stressed. Morgan calls it your 'caterpillar face' because your eyebrows get so bushy."

He laughed and tried to relax his face. "Where's our little Maguna now?"

"I just put her down for bed, she had a long day at school," Pepper started to run her hand across Tony's back. "What's wrong, Tone?" 

He sighed and showed her the pictures from today. "Why do I care so much about this kid? I don't even know who he is, and I feel like I need to take care of him. I've known him for, what, 8 years? Minus the 5 years of the Blip, so really only 3. But still, I've known him for a long time and I don't even know who's under the mask."

Pepper bit her lip and looked down. "Happy called a couple minutes ago...he said that May found Spider-Man's old suit in her apartment. She swears she doesn't know how it got there, but Spider-Man patrols around her place pretty much every night."

"What am I missing?" Tony huffed, frustrated. "Obviously, something happened with him. Or to him, or something, I don't even know what to think anymore. I can't stand the thought that something is going on and I don't know about it, especially if it's something relating to superhero shit."

"I know..." Pepper put her head on Tony's shoulder and felt him release some of the tension there. "We'll figure it out soon. Harley's coming over tomorrow, and you always say that he's the smartest kid you know. Maybe he can piece something together that we can't."

"Hopefully. For now, we just have to wait and see, right?"

"Right."

"...I hate waiting."

"I know," Pepper laughed. "I know."

Chapter Text

"Ned, you have to get out of bed at some point..." MJ turned over in the bed they were both in and looked him straight in the eyes. He glared at her, but there was no heat behind it. 

"You first." He huffed at her, knowing she wouldn't get out of bed. She was just as upset as he was. She sighed and pressed her forehead against his.

"Neither of us want to get out of bed, but we both need to." MJ lifted her head and kissed his forehead. They've been more touchy and cuddly ever since the night on the Statue of Liberty, like they had finally solidified how comfortable they were in their friendship. He leaned into the kiss and let out a whine.

"We don't need to, nobody is gonna make us. Beside, this is better than the world out there, and you know that as well as I do," Ned looked up at her, frowning still. "Just...just a little longer, okay? I promise we'll get outside today, I just need a couple more minutes."

"Okay," MJ gave him a small smile and wrapped her arm around him. "Then we can go out, and I know your mom has been dying to make you pandesal." 

At the mention of the bread rolls, Ned felt his stomach drop. The day of the Statue of Liberty attack was fuzzy in both of their minds, and they could only remember bits and pieces of the day. He remembered that the rolls were there, and him and MJ were stress eating them. Then...something happened, but Ned can't recall. They ended up at the Statue when the attack was happening, but neither of them knew why. Spider-Man saved MJ, but she's convinced that it wasn't New York's beloved Spider-Man. 

"It just felt weird, like different," she had told Ned the day after the attack, when they had tried to piece together the night. "I've been saved by Spider-Man a lot, he's always around. Washington, Europe, now this, but it wasn't him. He's just...different."

Ned believed her of course, they agreed to always believe each other after that night, but he didn't know what she meant. That didn't mean he didn't also get a weird feeling from that night. Something definitely felt wrong, but he didn't feel the same way that MJ did about Spider-Man being different. 

"Em?" Ned whispered, avoiding her gaze. "Do you think...do you think that something bad happened to us? Or to him?"

"What do you mean?" MJ asked, sitting up a bit and frowning. She knew things had felt odd, but she hadn't thought of it in that way before. 

"Like...Spider-Man hasn't been the same since the Statue, you and I both know that's true. What if whatever happened to us happened to him too? I know you've been upset since that night, pretty much going into one of your depressive episodes. You're only putting on a positive face for me."

Her ears flushed red with embarrassment and she shifted away from Ned. "So? If I can't figure out why I'm depressed, why bother dwelling in it?"

"I know that's not how it works, don't act like it is," Ned scoffed and rolled his eyes, yet his actions remained void of malice. "You can't just say 'I'm not gonna be depressed now!' and it stops."

"Well, obviously that's not going to happen, but I have to at least try to pull myself out of this. One of us has to be happy for both of us, and seeing as it's usually you..." MJ poked his shoulder and smiled when he tried (and failed) to hold back a small giggle. "I thought I could be the happy-go-lucky friend for a little while." 

"You sure it's not the fact that your boyfriend is coming over later today and you want to match his puppy-dog energy?" Ned waggled his eyebrows at her and she couldn't help but to laugh. 

"I suppose that might have something to do with it," she grinned at her friend. "But I also don't want Harley to worry. He's been feeling it too, that something is wrong, even though he wasn't with us that night. If he sees that I'm upset, he'll just get more worried."

"Maybe it's good to let him worry..." Ned gave a shy smile and shrugged. "I mean, if we're all worrying, maybe we can actually figure out why we all feel like the Earth fell off its axis."

"Yeah, maybe," MJ huffed and shook her head. "Maybe..."

-----

Peter knew that he shouldn't be getting close to anyone. That was the whole reason he didn't recite his note to MJ at the coffee shop, he didn't want to put anyone in danger anymore. The band-aid above her eyebrow was a sign telling him that he was hurting her, and he couldn't do that anymore.

So when he started to get close to Skip Westcott, he knew it was a mistake. Peter knew that he was potentially putting this poor college boy's life at risk, but Skip was the only person he could possibly talk to. His job at Joe's Pizza was bringing in enough money, but it wasn't like he talked to any of his coworkers or Mr. Aziz outside of work. 

"How is someone like you," Skip had started one day, sitting down next to Peter as he studied. "Getting a GED? You're the smartest guy I know, Einstein, and you're going through these books like they're nothing."

"Just luck I guess," Peter had laughed humorlessly. He knew he shouldn't be engaging with Skip as much as he had been, but he really couldn't help it. "There's no way I'm the smartest guy you know, though. I'm definitely no Einstein."

"I'm serious, kid!" Skip defended himself and put a hand on Peter's shoulder. If it felt too tight, he didn't notice. If his Spidey-Sense went off, he didn't care. He was too touch-starved to worry about insignificant things like danger at this point. Instead of backing away and staying on edge like he normally would, Peter's eyes fluttered closed and he leaned into the touch. Skip smirked and squeezed his shoulder tighter. "Tired?"

"I guess..." Peter stifled a yawn and opened his eyes to look up at Skip. His sleeping hours were haunted by nightmares, and that's on days when he came home from patrolling and even had time to sleep. Most nights, he climbed through his bedroom window just to get dressed and bike over to work. 

"I'll bring you to bed, don't worry." Skip offered in a sickly sweet tone. Peter, of course, was too enthralled in a potential friend to notice how sinister his roommate seemed to appear. He just nodded and smiled. 

That was only 2 weeks before Peter had almost been caught snooping around his old apartment by May. 2 weeks before May had called Happy frantically to let him know that something was wrong. 2 weeks before Harley would take Ned and MJ to the Stark's and try to figure out what was wrong with their memory.

But in those 2 weeks, Peter would finally understand how badly he wanted his old friends back. Especially after his only new one was Skip Westcott. 

Chapter Text

"Happy Thanksgiving Eve," Skip purred near Peter's ear, making him shiver. He couldn't tell if it was in a good way or a... not so good way. "I was thinking that maybe we could go out tomorrow, y'know, to celebrate?"

Peter smiled, looking up at his friend. "Thanksgiving Eve isn't a real thing. And besides, I have to see how much more I have to study, and Mr. Aziz might want me to work. You know how much I need the money, s-"

"C'mon, stop being so uptight, Einstein," Skip scoffed and sat down next to Peter on his bed. "You could walk into the GED Testing Services right now and pass the test with flying colors, you don't need to keep your nose in a book all day long. And if Mr. Aziz wants you to work on Thanksgiving, tell him to fuck off."

Peter sighed and moved away from Skip. "As much as I would like to tell the one person willing to employ me to 'fuck off,' I can't. I have to keep working Skip, unless you want to cover my half of the rent this month."

"I wouldn't mind," He shrugged, smiling slyly. "I've got some extra money saved up, it wouldn't be a problem."

"Skip-" Peter huffed, rolling his eyes.

"No, I'm serious. If it means I get to actually hang out with my roommate, I would gladly pay for your rent," Skip's eyes went dark and he leaned closer to Peter. "You'd have to find a way to repay me though."

"That's exactly why I can't let you pay, I don't have enough money to pay you back, even if you don't mind it being late. There's this little thing called 'food' that I need too."

"I'm not talking about money, Petey," Peter flinched at the nickname. Only Mr. Stark and May were allowed to call him that. "God, for a genius, you're acting so dumb right now."

Peter frowned and curled into himself a bit, self-conscious and nervous. "What are you talking about?"

"You wouldn't be paying me in money, Peter. I know you know what I'm talking about. The way you saunter around the apartment, swaying your hips..." Skip groaned, getting closer to him. 

Peter recoiled and stood up from his bed. MJ and Harley might not remember him, but he sure as hell remembered them and he wasn't about to cheat on them. Well, not cheat because they're not technically dating anymore, but it's not like they broke up, so actu-

Peter's thoughts were cut off as Skip moved his lips to his neck and nipped at the skin there. Peter jumped back, his breath caught in his throat. He didn't want this, and even if he did, he wasn't going to bring someone into his life. It was too dangerous. 

"No, I don't want- Skip, stop!" Peter shoved him away, his heart beating out of his chest. 

"Stop acting like such a tease, Pete," Skip smirked and leaned in closer. "I get it, I get it, you wanna play hard to get. Let's just cut out the back and forth, and get together already."

"I..." Peter tried moving away again, but his back hit the bedroom wall. He felt like he was trapped, Skip's hands moving to wall on both sides of his face. "Steven, I really don't want to do this."

"'Steven'? What's with the hostility, dropping my nickname like that? Come on, you can't actually be serious right now. You were practically asking for it before! You can't just pretend that you're a victim here!" 

Skip scoffed and moved away from Peter, running a hand through his white-blond hair. Peter bit his lip, frowning slightly. 

'Have I really been leading him on this whole time? I didn't mean to... maybe it was just an honest mistake...' Peter thought to himself, and moved towards Skip to put a hand on his shoulder. 

"I'm sorry, Skip... I really didn't mean to make you upset. I'm just not in a place to be dating right now, or messing around, or anything like that." Peter rubbed his back in an attempt to soothe him. 

"You can't do this to me, kid," Skip turned around and put a hand on Peter's cheek. "You're jailbait, and I know, I know that you are aware of it."

Peter shook his head and took a step back. "I'm just gonna go to work now... I'm sorry, I'll see you later..." 

He walked out the front door and covered his mouth to hold back a sob. Blinking back tears, he grabbed his bike helmet and made his way down to the lobby.

-----

"You're gonna forget who I am." A somewhat blurry face said, holding back tears.

"What?" Ned said, looking back and forth between the man and MJ.

"Forget who you ar- what are you talking about?" She said, brows furrowing.

"It's okay," the man continued. "I'm gonna come and find you, and I'll explain everything. I'll make you remember me, and it will be like none of this ever happened. Okay?"

MJ shook her head quickly, eyes widening in fear. "Okay, but what if that doesn't work? What if- what if that doesn't work? What if we can't remember you? I don't want that, I don't- no I don't want to do that."

"I know, MJ. I know." The man nodded and held her cheeks softly. 

"But, wh- Is there not something we can do? We can't, what we can't come up with, like, a plan or something, you know? There's always something we can do."

"There's nothing we can do," he shook his head and smiled at her shyly. "But it'll be okay...!"

Ned looked around nervously between them and felt his heartbeat pick up. "You promise?"

The guy pulled away from MJ to smile at him and nod. "Yeah, I promise," Ned and the man did... a handshake of sorts. It was familiar, but distant and confusing at the same time. "I'll come find you okay?"

"I know you will." Ned grinned, trying to fight back the tears flooding his eyes.

"You better," MJ crossed her arms over her chest, staring at the two of them. "If you don't, I'm just gonna figure it out. I've done it before, I can do it again."

"I promise I'll fix this." The guy nodded, looking at MJ and Ned with a hopeful look in his eye.

"I really hate magic." MJ pouted and looked down. 

The man laughed, smiling sorrowfully. "Yeah, me too..."

MJ wrapped her arms around him suddenly. "I love you." She said, her voice barely above a whisper. 

"I lo-"

MJ shook her head and pressed her lips against his to stop him from talking. She pulled away after a second and smiled. "Just wait. Wait and tell me when you see me again."

He grinned, his eyes twinkling with love. "Sure..."

MJ's eyes shot open and she gasped, trying hard not to go into a full panic. She knew him, the man from her dream. How the hell did she know him?

Her eyes fluttered around the room, briefly landing on her best friend and boyfriend before looking away. She spotted her colored pencils, a birthday gift from Harley this year, and a loose piece of paper and immediately went to work. 

At first, MJ worried it would be hard to remember all the details of the stranger's face from her dream, but she surprised herself when the pencils ran across the paper in precise detail, almost as if from muscle memory. She knew him, she had to. The only question- from where?

MJ tried her best to make everything look the same; his brown hair had to fluff up in just the right way, his eyes had to sparkle the way they did in her dream, it just had to be right. And it wasn't hard to do so. Once she started drawing, it was like she couldn't stop herself, even if she wanted to.

By the time she had finished drawing him and took a step back, she still hadn't noticed Harley watching her in fascination. He watched her furiously sketch out the mystery man, a small smile gracing his lips.

"So, who's the lucky guy?" He sat down on the chair next to her and leaned over to get a better look. "He looks familiar... I know him?" 

"Right?!" She looked at him, almost bewildered. "He seems familiar! I was trying to convince myself that I was just imagining it, but he is, isn't he?"

MJ took this moment to stand up and start pacing around the room. Ned groaned and sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes slowly. 

"Can you guys please be quieter? You're giving me a headache," He mumbled and shook his head a little to wake himself up more. "What are we talking about?"

MJ brought the paper over and handed it to Ned. "Tell me your first thought about this. Not a critique, or a vague 'Oh cool MJ! Great work!', tell me your first thought about the guy himself."

"He looks like..." Ned made a face and tilted his head softly. "Wait, who is this? Is this one of your new work friends? I'm really bad with names, but I feel like I've met him before."

"Exactly!" MJ whispered sharply. "He looks like someone we know. But who is it?" 

"Maybe we can get FRIDAY to look it up?" Harley suggested, moving to sit down on the foot of Ned's bed. "She can look through databases, all that kind of stuff."

"FRI?" MJ looked up at the ceiling slightly. "Anything?"

A somewhat robotic voice filled the room "There is no person in the Department of Records for New York City that looks similar to your drawing. Would you like me to contact NamUs to search for a missing or unidentified person?"

"No, don't bother them," MJ sighed, her head lowering to her hands as she pouted. "It's probably a goose chase anyways."

"I can help!" A small voice came from the doorway. Morgan was standing there, giving a big grin with one of her front teeth missing. 

"Oh yeah?" Harley laughed and went to pick her up. She giggled as he balanced her on his hip. "How's a little princess like you gonna do that?"

"Well, don't tell Mommy or Daddy..." She lowered her voice and looked up at the three of them, waiting for them to confirm they wouldn't tell. They all nodded their head, going along with Morgan's game. "But I've got a super special superpower!"

Ned's eyes widened in faux shock. "No way! Morgs, how have you been keeping this from everyone?"

"I'm just, like, the best-est secret keeper in the whole world," Morgan shrugged as if it was no big deal. "But my secret power, you wanna know what it is? It's that I... am... really smart! So I can definitely help for sure!"

She jumped down from Harley's arms and started to walk out the door. "Come on! Lets go figure out the most mysterious mystery in the world!"

MJ laughed and moved to follow her. "Lead the way, kiddo."

Chapter Text

Morgan led the group of three to her room, grinning the whole way there. She tugged on MJ's arm and pulled her through the doorway of her room. 

"Look!" Morgan smiled and sat down on her bed. "I was snooping around, trying to find an early Christmas gift for myself-" 

Harley frowned down at the girl and shook his head. "Mag, I don't think you're suppos-" 

"No interrupting," she huffed. "And no telling Mommy or Daddy, okay?"

"Fine Morgan," Ned rolled his eyes. "So you were snooping, what happened next?"

"Right, so I was looking around my room cuz sometimes Mommy will try to hide things from me by putting them in an obvious spot, and I found this in my closet!" 

She pulled a poorly wrapped gift out from under her bed. A little note on the side of the wrapping paper said 'To Petey, from Morgan.' She held it up triumphantly with a wide smile on her face. "Ta-da! Lookie, I made this!"

"That's really good Morgan! How does this relate though?" MJ furrowed her brows and looked at the boys behind her to see if they knew what the young girl was talking about. If the look of both of their faces was anything to go off of, they were just as lost as MJ herself. 

"Well, I don't know any 'Petey's! I have no idea who this is supposed to be for," Morgan glanced up at the three excitedly. "We should open it and see if it's the same mystery guy from your drawing! Like maybe I drew a picture of him too, or it can a clue or something! Like a really fun game, right?"

"Sure Morgan, a really fun game," MJ faked a smile. She was hoping that the small kid in front of her had something that would help her more than this, but tried to hide her disappointment. "Why don't you open it up and see what's inside?"

The grin on Morgan's face tripled in size and she squealed happily. "Early Christmas, early Christmas!" 

She tore into the wrapping paper and opened the box that was previously concealed. Morgan's eyes widened in joy and she pulled out a fuzzy brown bear stuffed animal from Build-a-Bear. "Early Christmas..." she whispered to herself and hugged the toy with all her strength, although that wasn't saying much. 

"A stuffed bear?" Harley stepped forward, frowning. "Why would he want a stuffed bear?" 

Ned walked over the box as Morgan twirled away to the other side of the room with her new toy. "Em..." 

MJ looked up, concerned with how nervous and confused Ned's voice sounded. "What's wrong?"

He grabbed something from inside the box and held it up for everyone to see. It was clothes for the bear, red and dark blue with a gold outline of spider on it. 

Spider-Man's costume.

-----

Peter curled into himself on his bed, dozens upon dozens of bags of chips piling up near him. His pillow cover had gotten hard with dried tears and he couldn't remember the last him he had gotten out of bed to do anything besides work. He hasn't even patrolled in days, having lost all of his energy by the time he gets home. 

"Hey Pete!" Skip's voice rang through the small apartment and Peter sighed. Skip had been flirting with him all week, and all Peter wanted to do was scream that he was already dating someone- two people in fact! But then Skip would pester him about meeting them, and he wouldn't be able to explain anything, and it would become a huge mess. 

"Hi Skip..." Peter groaned, turning around on his bed. "You can order or make whatever for dinner, I'm not hungry." 

"Aw, I'm sorry kiddo," Skip cooed as he walked into Peter's room. The younger boy cringed at the word, but tried not to show it. "I'll order Chinese so you can get some wonton soup, okay?"

Peter faked a smile that he hoped didn't look too much like a grimace. "Sure, whatever you want." 

His roommate grinned and walked out, causing Peter to immediately drop any small amounts of fake happiness. He turned back over to his phone, and looking through his old text messages. Nobody other than his body and Skip have texted him in two months, and it hurt more than he thought it would.

Peter groaned and finally stood up from his bed for the first time that day to go to his desk. His notebook was sitting there, the pages dog-eared and worn after years of use. He looked down at it for a minute, soaking in the nostalgia that the cover brought him. The smell of hot chocolate still lingered from him, MJ, and Ned spending hours of their lives at Peter Pan's and drinking until their wallets were empty. The paint had started peeling from the cover of the journal, which Peter wasn't too surprised about, seeing as him and May had painted it back when he first got it for his 12th birthday. May had helped him add pages a couple years back when he had run out of space, and he couldn't help but smile at the different tints of the aging paper. 

Peter blinked back the tears that he hadn't realized swam in his eyes, and opened the book up to the next blank page. 

Hey Aunt May! It's me again, Peter.
It's November 25th, which means that Christmas is in exactly a month. I was thinking of getting you a really nice gift, saving up some money, maybe even asking Mr. Stark for help, but now I'm worried that a gift would be too suspicious. I know you're getting worried about me, even if you're worried about Spider-Man and not Peter Parker. I wonder if you would recognize me if you saw my face, or if you would just walk right by me. I hope you wouldn't walk by without another thought, I think that would just be the tipping point for me. 
Skip is a nice enough roommate, although I know you would never want me living with a stranger. You would insist that I stay with you, or at least the Starks. I check by your apartment every day though! I like checking up on you, it reminds me that you're doing okay without me. 
I hope things are going well with Happy, and really just everyone. I love you May.

Hi Mr. Stark and Mrs. Potts! Just Peter checking in again. 
I hope you're both doing okay. It seems like you are, from what I can tell without tripping FRIDAY's alarms. I miss her, and DUM-E, and U. I'm trying to make my own AI or robot, but I don't have enough supplies. I miss working in the lab with you, Mr. Stark, but I listen to our work playlist every day. It reminds me of you, and that's really nice. I'm sorry I never called you Mom and Dad to your faces, I'm sorry. 
I'm sorry this letter isn't as long as my others ones, I'm not feeling good today. I miss you both a lot.

Hey Nedward, miss you! Hope you're still building that new Lego set that came out about me, the one of the bank robbery. I don't know if you even still like Spider-Man or if you just liked him because it was me, but yeah. I hope you're still building because I know you love it, and I want to know you're doing something you love. Cuz you're my brother, and I love you. 

Hi MJ, hi Harley. I love you two. It's been a bad day, a bad couple of days actually. I just wanna cuddle with you and make sure you know that I still love you. I just want a hug. I want one so badly that I feel like I'm going to explode. The only person willing to hug me is Skip, and I know that he has ulterior motives, bad ones. I don't want to date anyone else, I hope you both know that. You know that, right? That's stupid, you guys can't answer. I'm writing this in an old journal that smells like memories of you, but it's not like you can answer. I'm sorry.

Peter clamped his mouth shut with his hand so that Skip didn't hear him crying. He slammed the notebook closed and trying to slow down his panicked and muffled sobs. His hands started shaking as he bit his lip so hard it almost started bleeding. Peter took a deep breath in and wiped his tears away.

"No use crying over people who don't even know your name." Peter's lip wobbled as he whispered. 

"Peter Parker," a voice said from behind him. He turned around, staring at the person in front of him with wide, bloodshot eyes. "You, my friend, are a very difficult person to find." 

Chapter Text

Stephen Strange tried to be a good teacher, okay? But it was never his strong suit, even when he was still a surgeon. All of the interns and residents at his old hospital hated doing rounds with him for that very reason.

Peter Parker, on the other hand, loved to be taught things. He was like a sponge that was constantly trying to soak up as much information as he could at any given moment. It's what gave him an edge in school, it's what made him a good lab partner to Tony, it's what made him so nerdy in such an adorable way. 

One would imagine that Peter, an eager student, and Strange, a reluctant teacher, would never make a good duo. That person would be very wrong however. Nobody really knew how or why their relationship worked, but nobody questioned it either. 

Stephen Strange also never wanted to be a father. He'd known this since he was a young adult, when his girlfriend in college had mentioned wanting at least two kids when she got married. Yes, he understood the appeal, but he never quite had it himself. This is yet another reason why Peter and Stephen shouldn't have had as good of a relationship as they had. 

Peter didn't really think he'd miss Stephen when he had to cast the spell that made everyone forget him. In fact, Peter thought that it would be one of the easier people to let go. Yes, they'd shared a fairly large amount of time together, but he always suspected that it was only because Tony asked Stephen to watch over him. So maybe it was the fact that even the man who almost destroyed the multiverse for him forgot him, maybe it was the fact that he would never team up with Wong to annoy him again, maybe it was the fact that Strange's cloak- a being that never should've been able to recognize him in the first place- didn't seem to know who Peter was, but losing Strange hurt worse than he imagined. 

He tried not to think about it too much. It wasn't like anyone was going to remember him again, so why focus on the people from his past? He wrote letters to MJ, Ned, Harley, May, and the Starks so that he could get all of his emotions down, but besides that, he tried to avoid it. It was too difficult to keep reminding himself of everything he lost and how everyone forgot who he was.

Well, almost everyone.

Stephen Strange knew that the spell he cast was risky when he cast it. He knew that the wizard who casts a memory-based spell would have a 50/50 chance of remembering what everyone else was going to forget. He wasn't supposed to remember the Full Moon Party at Kamar-Taj, and yet he couldn't forget Wong drunkenly trying to give sentience to an actively burning jump rope.

Peter asking him to cast that spell was one of the worst things he'd ever heard. In the immediate moments following Tony Stark waking up from his amputation surgery, he made Strange promise to take care of his kid. At first, he assumed Tony was talking about Morgan, and wondered if Tony understood just how bad he was with children, but then remembered Peter. Sweet, kind, loving and loyal, adorable Peter. Peter, who would rather lose everyone he knows and loves than put them in danger. Peter, who he wasn't sure if he would remember or not. 

Stephen prayed to whatever gods were out there that he would remember Peter Parker, despite what the spell would do. And while he couldn't remember exactly what happened that fateful night at the Statue of Liberty, he knew for a fact that there was a kid who needed him.

Now he just has to remember who that kid was. 

-----

Pepper Potts-Stark was a very, very detail-oriented woman. Every hire of hers was deliberate, thoroughly researched, and she had FRIDAY make sure that they all were dependable. Whenever someone missed a day without notifying their department head, Pepper was always the first to know. 

So when one Peter Parker, who for some reason had higher levels of clearance than people who had worked for Stark Industries since before Tony became Iron Man, decided to not show up to work for almost a month, of course Pepper knew about it. 

FRIDAY had found his new address for Pepper, and she had Happy drive her there. The drive was around 30 minutes, and it was surprisingly close to May's house. Happy practically knew the streets like the back of his hand, a weird frown clouding his face as he came closer and closer to their destination. Pepper made her way up the dingy staircase, not trusting the rusty and creaking elevator. 

'How does someone who works at Stark Industries lives in a place like this...?' She thought to herself as she made a note to check Mr. Parker's salary when she got back home. She finally got up to his apartment and knocked on the door tentatively.  

"I didn't know the delivery guy woul-" a young man appeared at the door and froze when he saw her. "You're...I'm sorry, you're Pepper Stark..."

"Potts, but yes," she smiled tiredly, feeling her heart plummet when she realized that this wasn't Peter Parker, or else he would've known that. "Does anyone else live here with you?" 

"Wh- uh...yeah, yeah, sorry I'm just kind of in shock right now," he laughed and ran a hand through his greasy, white-blond hair. "Yeah, I've got a roommate, Peter." 

Pepper smiled and motioned to the apartment. "May I come in to talk to him? Peter works at Stark Industries, a-" 

She was cut off with a laugh. "Sorry, Mrs. Stark-" 'Potts...' she thought, annoyed. "I don't mean to be rude, but I think you've got the wrong guy. Peter's a high school dropout who rides around on his little bicycle delivering pizzas. He's pretty smart, I guess, but definitely not smart enough to work for someone like Tony Stark." He threw on a Cheshire grin, pearly white teeth that were almost as bright as his hair glaring at Pepper. "On the other hand, his roommate is the smartest guy you'd ever have the pleasure of meeting. Steven Westcott, ma'am." 

He raised a hand out to her, and she gave him a tight grin while passing him by to walk into his apartment. "Thank you, but we don't typically employ people like you at Stark Industries." 

"People like me?" Steven gave a confused look to her.

"Yes, well, as CEO of Stark Industries, I try to make sure that we employ a certain type of person. It's a pretty basic criteria, namely being kind. I supposed you just couldn't meet that criteria." She smiled at him and walked away without another word. 

Almost immediately, Pepper noticed the door on the right side of the apartment, towards the back, that had the word 'Peter' painted on it in blue and red paint. One corner of her lip tilted up, the first genuine smile she'd had since she arrived at the worn -down building. Pepper knocked lightly at the door, and upon hearing no answer, let herself in. 

"Peter Parker. You, my friend, are a very difficult person to find. I mean, FRIDAY had to take a whole day just trying to find your address. You're very sneaky." She laughed a bit, then looked down to get a good look at the boy.

The boy who, god, couldn't have been older than 16, turned to face her. His bloodshot eyes and tear-stained cheeks were telling, and she frowned down at him. His eyes widened at the sight of her as he shook his head in disbelief, like this couldn't possibly be real, she couldn't possibly be here.

"Pe- uh, Mrs. Potts, um, what are you doing here?" He sat up and wiped at his face with one hand. A tattered book was next to him, open to a page that had started with neat hand writing, but had devolved into something barely legible. She couldn't help but tilt her head in confusion as she saw her name scrawled across one of the lines. Peter slammed the book shut and threw it onto his bed. 

"Well, you haven't been to work in almost a month, and haven't contacted anyone. We were getting nervous about it, are you alright? Your roommate mentioned that you work at a pizza place...?" 

"Oh, right," Peter's face went bright red, and he looked everywhere but at Pepper. "Well, uh, I just...I turned in my resignation a while back." 

Now, one thing you should know about Peter Parker is that he is an awful liar. He can be good when he needs to, like when it's a life-or-death situation, and his kidnappers need to know the coding for the Iron Man suit, and Peter refuses to tell them- oh shit, is that why Tony always says Peter gives him grey hairs?- but on average, he isn't good at lying. 

And Peter didn't know that Tony made him an official employee. To be honest, Peter thought Tony was just joking around, pulling his leg, yanking his chain, etc. But obviously it was real, or else Pepper wouldn't be showing up at his door wondering why he hasn't been showing up for 'work'. 

So Peter had to lie. 

"Yeah, I did it online though, I guess maybe the email never went through. I quit though. Yeah." 

"Oh," Pepper looked...was that sadness? "May I ask why? I'm sure we can resolve any conflict, if that was the issue."

"No, it wasn't anything like that. I just...had to quit. I'm sorry." Peter bit his lip and hoped it was a good enough explanation, even if he didn't explain anything. If Pepper stayed any longer, Peter didn't think he could keep back the waterworks. 

"Alright then," Pepper took a deep breath and straightened her posture. "If you change your mind, and decide to come back, just email me, alright?" She reached into her bag to give him her business card before pausing. Her hand hovered over the card for a second before taking it out, along with a pen, and writing her personal email on the back of it. Pepper wasn't quite sure why, but she felt a pull to this scrawny kid, who looked at her with such a bittersweet expression that it made her want to wrap in a hug and hold him forever. 

Peter took the business card, his eyes widening in shock when he saw what was written on the back. He looked up at her one last time, tears started to flood his eyes again. 

"Thank you, Mrs. Potts." He whispered, voice cracking. 

Pepper stared at him for another moment before kneeling down to his level, where he was sitting at his desk. Without another thought or any hesitation, she leaned in close to hug him. For a split second, he almost hugged her back and she felt his arms twitch against her side as he held his breath. Pepper realized that it was odd, how could she not? But something about just felt so right. Peter let out the breath he had been keeping in and wrapped his arms around her, not caring about the sob that burst through his lips. Pepper shushed him, not in a cruel way, but how a mother would shush a crying baby to try and comfort it. 

Pepper took a shuddering breath in, suddenly overcome by emotions. She stood up slowly, Peter's eyes following her through every second of it, almost looking for something, some sort of change. She stared back for a second, then smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. 

"Please consider coming back." 

Without another word, Pepper left his room and walked straight out of the apartment, not even bothering to glance at Steven. Happy didn't say anything to her when she sat in the passenger's seat and started crying silently, but he did pass her his travel size packet of tissues. She noticed him glancing at her on the car ride back, but they sat in a comfortable silence. 

Eventually, Pepper would talk about her experience with Peter Parker, unknowingly sparking memories in both her own head and her husband's. Eventually, Morgan would spill the beans about the mystery man that MJ and Ned and Harley couldn't stop thinking about, and show her parents the picture. Eventually, Stephen Strange would tell Tony about the boy he kept having nightmares about, and how he was worried he broke a promise to protect him. 

But like all good things, they would have to wait.