Chapter Text
“You’re gonna forget who I am.” You tilted your head in confusion, trying to ignore the building fear in your heart.
“What?” You felt tears sting your eyes as Peter looked at you, tired and battle-hardened but still full of love.
He gave you a reassuring smile that didn’t quite meet his eyes, resting a gentle hand on your shoulder. “It’s okay, I’m gonna come and find you, and I’ll explain everything.”
“No, no, no. No, Peter-”
“I’ll make you remember me.” You shook your head, tears starting to stream down your face.
“Peter please, I can’t do this.” Your mind drifted briefly to when Tony died, and how Peter was there for you and you were there for him, and how-
“It’ll be like none of this ever happened. Okay?”
“Peter I can’t lose you too, I can’t forget you, Peter please-”
“There’s not something we can do?” MJ cut in, and you tore your gaze away from Peter, glaring down at the ground in your attempt to stop crying. “We can’t come up with, like, a plan or something?”
“There’s nothing we can do.” The finality of his words hit you in the chest like a ton of bricks. You hiccuped out a sob, squeezing your eyes shut to stop the tears.
The silence between the four of you hung in the air with a tension you could cut with a butter knife.
“But it’ll be okay.”
The sound of your alarm brought you out of a dream that was already fading from your memory. You groan, hand blindly flailing onto your bedside table until you managed to hit the snooze button. Silence once again filled the room, and you slowly forced yourself to sit up. You went to wipe the sleep from your eyes when you pulled your hand back, realizing it was wet. Quickly, you wiped the rest of your tears away, vaguely wondering what kind of dream you had before you shrugged it off, chalking it up to a dream about your dad that you just couldn’t remember.
Still, you pulled yourself out of bed, trudging off to the kitchen where Pepper stood with a mug of coffee. She gives you a tight-lipped smile and raises the mug in greeting.
“Hey, Pep.” You say quietly, grabbing your keys and slipping them into your loose pocket. “Heading to the donut shop to visit MJ.”
“Not even gonna change out of your pajamas?” She asks, giving you a once over.
You glanced down at your outfit. Black sweatpants with an old oversized t-shirt with a science joke on it. You looked back up at her, shrugging. “No?”
With that, you left, taking the turns you knew all too well until you arrived at the little donut shop, pushing the door open with a tired smile when you saw MJ standing at the register. She gave you a quick smile, motioning towards the back of the shop.
You notice Ned, moving around the customer around your age to sit beside him, leaning towards him to see what he was looking at on his phone. In a silent understanding, Ned moved his phone closer to you, continuing to scroll mindlessly.
Glancing up at the customer ordering, you paused. He was already staring at you with an unreadable expression, eyes flicking between your face and your old t-shirt.
“Hi, how can I help you?” MJ’s voice caught him off guard, making him blink at her for a moment before stuttering out a sentence.
“Hi… My name is Peter Parker. And I…” He took a deep breath in before smiling. “Would like a coffee.”
MJ glanced at you for a moment, giving you a confused look before turning back to the boy - Peter Parker. You shrugged at her before turning back to Ned to listen to the story he started telling.
MJ finally walked over, handing each of you a donut. “For my fellow engineers.”
Ned looks up, cutting himself off from his story, furrowing his brows.
“MIT.” MJ clarifies, “they’re the engineers.”
“Oh right. I should probably know that,” Ned smiled, setting his phone to the side.
You laughed, leaning forward and resting your arms on the counter in front of you. “I like the school spirit, MJ. Where did all that come from?”
She laughs, nodding shortly. “Tell anyone and I will deny it.”
You find your gaze falling back to the boy standing at the front, waiting for his coffee while MJ left you guys to tend to him. He was cute, you would admit that. He had a certain look to him that made him look so familiar. You must’ve seen him around Midtown and just never spoke to him.
He turned, catching you staring at him. Your eyes widened for a split second, and you quickly dropped your gaze down to your donut, feeling your face grow warm.
Finally, he paid and left, and MJ was able to relax and go back to talking to you and Ned.
“Did you know that guy?” MJ asks, pointing vaguely behind her at the door where the boy - Peter - just left through.
“No, why?” You tilted your head in confusion.
“He just kept staring at you.” She said with a shrug.
“Maybe he went to Midtown.” Ned piped up, making you nod.
“That must be it.” You kept nodding, trying to shake the feeling that Peter gave you.
There was just something about him that felt so familiar somewhere deep in your heart.
“Hey, I’m gonna head out.” You said, grabbing your donut and giving MJ and Ned a quick wave before ducking your head and leaving the shop. You weren’t sure what made you so anxious to leave, but you rushed out nonetheless.
Instead of going back to the Cabin where Pepper and Morgan were, you took a last-minute detour to the Avengers Compound.
It was painfully nostalgic seeing the building come into view, and you quickly pulled in, parking your car and jogging up to the entrance.
A smile makes its way across your face when you enter, hearing FRIDAY greet your arrival. It was often the only person that welcomed you home to an otherwise empty compound.
With a sigh, you made your way to the kitchen, lights turning on the second you walked in. You tossed your keys onto the island in the middle of the kitchen, trudging over to the cabinet to grab a glass of water. With a glance at the picture that sat on the counter, you froze.
It was a picture of the same boy from the donut shop next to your dad.
How did…?
You snatched it off the shelf, bringing it closer for further inspection. How did Tony know this mysterious kid? And how did you never know about this?
“Hey FRIDAY?” Your voice echoed through the empty room, activating the AI your dad designed.
“Yes, Y/N?” She responded. You hadn’t taken your eyes off of the pictures, brows furrowed in confusion.
“Who is… Peter Parker?”
There was a short pause before FRIDAY spoke up again. “I have no memory of a Peter Parker.”
What…
“So how did my dad know him?” You muttered to yourself, not entirely expecting a response. FRIDAY, however, continued.
“Would you like me to play security footage that contains the words Peter Parker?”
You finally looked up, thinking over the idea. “Uh, yeah. That would be great.”
A holographic screen enlarged in front of you, making you set the picture to the side, on the counter.
The scene that played out in front of you took part in the old Avengers Tower, a painful sting of nostalgia pulling at your heart.
“Hey, Peter ?” Your voice rang out in the tower.
“Yeah?” Peter yelled back from behind the massive pile of blankets in his arms. They towered over him, comically, as he tried to balance them.
You leaned around the corner, holding in your laughter when you saw your boyfriend holding about a million blankets. “Do you want pizza or popcorn?”
He managed to set the blankets down, dumping them onto one end of the couch before fully turning to you, excitement in his eyes. “How about both?”
Your already wide smile brightened, “Good choice, Parker .”
“I do try.” He pressed a quick kiss to your cheek before resting his head against your shoulder as you grabbed your phone and put in the order for the pizza.
The two of you walked away to begin making popcorn when the footage cut out.
You sat there in silence as the hologram minimized before frantically wiping the tears from your eyes. Despite not remembering any of that, you were overcome with emotion.
“Would you like me to play the next video?” FRIDAY asked as you tried to collect yourself.
“Y-yeah.” Your voice was weaker than you expected, but you were determined to find out more about this boy you supposedly knew. And pretty well, it seemed.
You were cuddled up to Peter, half asleep as a movie was playing quietly in the background with neither of you fully paying attention. Peter was looking down at you, a stupid smile on his face.
“ Parker !”
You both jump, with you and Peter both tumbling off of the couch and landing in a pile on the floor.
Your dad appeared in the room, giving the two of you a look before continuing.
“There you are, kid.”
Peter scrambled up, nervously standing before your father. “Y-yes, uh, hey, Mr. Stark, I-” He glanced down at you, who looked entirely unamused.
“Dad, we were having a movie night.”
“On the floor?” Your dad raised his eyebrows, crossing his arms.
“Dad-” You slowly stood, taking a step in front of Peter.
“Look, it’s fine if you want to have a little movie night with your boyfriend, but I need someone to help with a suit and he’s the only one available.” He said simply, looking between you and your boyfriend.
“No, Dad!” You groan dramatically, leaning backward onto Peter only for him to gently hold you up with his arms around you. “Dad, can we just-”
You swiped the holographic screen to the side, sighing as it disappeared before your eyes.
“Are you alright?” FRIDAY asked as you sniffled, holding your head in your hands.
“Why don’t I remember any of this?”
You noticed you were still crying, and quickly wiped your eyes and rushed into your room - the same room you hadn’t touched in weeks since you’ve been staying with Pepper and Morgan to get to know your sister better. The first thing you notice are the polaroids lining the wall above your bed. Most of them were pictures you remembered taking - candid pictures of MJ when she was having a good time or Ned when he was building Legos. There were pictures of Avengers that you snuck, as well as some that they happily took with you. Years of a found family hung up on your wall.
However, on closer inspection, you noticed the same Peter Parker in most of the pictures. You frowned, stepping closer. How was this boy so involved in your life when you had no idea who he was?
It was almost getting to be too much for you, not being able to remember someone that seemed so special to you.
You closed your eyes, sighing to yourself.
“FRIDAY, can you call Spiderman?”
You sat on the rooftop, knees tucked under your arms as you waited.
“Hey!” A familiar voice made you snap your head up, a smile immediately on your face.
“Hey, Spidey!” You jumped up as he landed on the roof, wrapping your arms around him.
“How’s it going, why’d you call?” He asked, resting his hand on your shoulder.
“I was just-” You stopped, taking a step back to take in his appearance. “Is that a new suit?”
He froze before glancing down at his suit. “Uh, yeah- I- I guess it is. But- uh, hey, what did you call me for? We never usually… hang out?”
“Yeah- Yeah!” You snapped back to attention, nodding. “Yeah, I just felt like I was going crazy!”
“Why’s that?” His voice was soft in such a comforting way that you practically melted.
“Just…” You sighed, resting your head on his shoulder. “Do you know a Peter Parker?”
He tensed under you before taking a large step back, forcing you to bring your head up, looking at him in confusion.
Spiderman started sputtering, looking everywhere but you. “I- uh- I mean- wh- who- why do you ask?”
“Apparently my dad knew him. I think… I think I knew him too.” You frowned, trying to ignore how weird Spiderman was being.
“You don’t remember?”
“There’s security footage of us hanging out and we seemed so close , but I… I just have no memory of him.” You had both hands on his shoulders, shaking him in frustration.
He was quiet for a long time before you shook him again. “Yeah- that’s, uh, weird.”
“Weird? That’s all? Spidey come on, you have to help me out.” You groaned, dropping your head in disappointment.
“Listen I just- I have to go okay?” You stopped, letting him move your hands off of his shoulders and step away from you.
“Wha-”
“Sorry, uh,” He nodded awkwardly, waving quickly. “Bye.”
And with that, he swung away, leaving you confused on the rooftop of the compound.
Days had passed since you last saw Spiderman, and you’d been forcing yourself to be fine with going on nightly patrols alone. It was hard, but you were glad to at least be hanging out with Ned and MJ again.
“Hey, Y/N, do you wanna hang out later?” MJ asked, nudging you lightly to get your attention.
You looked up, lips curling up in a smile. “Yeah! You guys can come to the compound so we don’t bother Pepper and Morgan, I just have to let Pepper know I won’t be having dinner with her tonight.”
“I’m down for that. Ooh, do you think we’ll see an Avenger?” Ned looked at you with the excitement of a child, making you laugh.
“Ned, it’ll just be us three.” You continued to laugh to yourself as you brought your phone out to call Pepper.
It wasn’t until you were scrolling through your contacts to find Pepper’s name did you freeze, heart stopping for a second when you read an annoyingly familiar name.
Peter 💗💞💖💕💗💕💘💕💗💗
“Pete?” You saw Peter’s head poke around the corner, eyes wide with curiosity.
“Yeah, babe?”
“Did you change your contact name in my phone?” You asked, stifling a laugh when you saw the guilty look in his eyes.
“Peter Parker was very formal.” He said with a quiet voice, making you burst into laughter.
“That’s your name!” You squeaked out between laughs.
“You don’t even have anyone’s full name in your contacts!” He defends, trudging over to you in mock frustration. When he reached your spot on the couch he draped himself over you, putting all of his weight on you, falling back onto the couch on top of you.
“Peter!” You shrieked, laughing loudly, trying and failing to push Peter off of you.
“Y/N?” MJ’s voice snapped you out of your daze and you jumped, looking at her with wide eyes.
“You were… gonna call your mom?”
“Oh- yeah, one sec.” You shook your head for a moment, letting the memory dissolve and focusing back on your phone.
The second MJ and Ned left, you found yourself staring at the contact name that haunted you. Every time you read the name, you were pricked with memories you couldn’t hold onto for more than a second.
Your thumb hovered over the name, but you weren’t sure of yourself. What would you even do when you got the chance to talk to this guy? Clearly you knew him, but how could you forget something that had meant so much to you?
You flop down in your bed, staring at your phone, frustration building.
Back in Peter’s new dingy apartment, he flipped through his GED study manual, sighing to himself.
He wasn’t expecting to have to talk to Y/N as Spiderman, and it went as horribly as he expected. He couldn’t stop thinking about how you asked about him . Peter Parker. How did you even know that name?
Maybe he shouldn’t be avoiding you, maybe he should be out there, patrolling with you.
He missed you more than anything but he couldn’t-
He froze when his phone started ringing.
No one knew his number, no one remembered his number
When he looked down in fear at the screen of his phone, his heart dropped to his feet.
Call incoming from: best girlfriend ever <333333
He stared down at his phone, hands suddenly moving of his own volition.
With a hesitant click, he raised the phone to his ear.
“Hello?” Peter barely recognized his own voice.
“Hi. Who are you?"