Chapter Text
November 2024
Peter Parker crawled through the window of his small apartment landing on the hardwood floor with a thud. “Not my coolest entrance,” he deadpanned.
Laying on his back, Peter tried to catch his breath. He couldn’t, and he began to choke and wheeze. He needed to take his mask off; he needed air. He was dying, suffocating on the floor of his shitty apartment. Peter willed his battered hands to move. With a supreme effort, he pulled his mask off and managed to turn to his side, coughing up blood. His ribs were broken, but he stayed on his side anyway, his mouth open, his blood pooling on the floor.
‘I thought you had super strength,’ Happy Hogan had remarked as he stitched up Peter’s wounds just a few months prior.
‘It still hurts…” Peter had admitted bitterly to Happy.
At the time he and Happy were still processing the pain of losing Tony Stark. The voids left by the deaths of Tony and Aunt May would never be filled, but as unconsciousness took Peter, he wondered if Happy even felt his absence. Did he even miss him? Did Ned? Did MJ?
‘Be careful what you wish for, Parker.’ Dr. Strange’s harsh voice made Peter flinch as everything faded to black.
Hours later, sunlight filtered into Peter Paker’s apartment and a fly buzzed annoyingly in his ear. He was desperate to hold on to his dreams and escape from the loneliness he constantly felt. For a moment he was in his old apartment with MJ. He could feel the warmth of her body and the scent of the light perfume she wore. Since the day he’d been bitten by that spider, his dreams were always vivid and intense. MJ had become the most vivid of all the characters who haunted his dreams: the people who once loved him, the ones forced to forget him. Because of his failures.
He opened his eyes and his apartment slowly came into focus. He pulled himself off the floor and stood unsteadily. He felt better, not great, but less horrible than he had. His healing factor was racing to mend his broken body. He looked around his small apartment, but there wasn’t much to see: his GED books finished in a matter of days, Ned’s Lego Emperor Palpatine, and the takeaway coffee cup MJ served him, just a week ago, at Peter Pan’s Donut and Pastry shop where she worked. He gently touched the cup.
‘This is a one-way ticket… Don’t pretend you thought this through…’ Tony Stark’s ghostly voice echoed in his mind.
At the time he’d told Tony he had thought it through and maybe, at that moment, it was an honest answer, but looking back on the past few years, had any of his decisions been the right ones? Including the decision that started him on this path. He closed his eyes and allowed that memory to wash over him too.
November 2015
A school bus from the Midtown School of Science and Technology snaked its way through the crowded streets of Manhatten. The elderly driver, Mr. Stan, drove with a complete disregard for the rules of the road, or the panicked shouts of science teacher Roger Harrington to drive more carefully. Finally, the bus pulled up outside the doors of the Institute for Advanced Molecular Interdisciplinary Modeling, IAMIM. A 14-year-old Peter Parker excitedly stepped off the bus with his equally excited best friend Ned Leeds. Neither boy knew that IAMIM was, in reality, a SHIELD research center.
‘Dude! This is going to be so dope!’ Ned exclaimed as he looked up at the impressive glass edifice. Before Peter could reply, a girl’s sarcastic voice cut between them.
‘If you consider creating an army of the dead dope, then yes…’ The girl, also 14, was taller than Ned and slightly taller than Peter. She was pretty but her disheveled hair, clothes, and sarcastic aurora were as effective as a locked door.
‘That would be dope…’ Peter muttered as the girl turned toward him. He began to babble. ‘I mean… ah… an army of the dead… ah… zombies are dope, right?’
The girl’s brown eyes locked with Peter’s. His voice was like a key and for an instant, a slight smile brightened her pretty face before vanishing.
‘Right…’ The girl nodded slightly. ‘But stay close… to the group I mean…. It’d be a shame if you vanished forever inside one of those labs… Peter…’
The combination of her concern, veiled threat and the use of his first name confused and unsettled Peter. They’d only been in school a few weeks and he didn’t remember introducing himself to the girl. Ned, his mouth agape, pulled his friend away as Mr. Harrington struggled to regain control of the freshman class and enter the building. Peter offered a genuine smile to the girl as he allowed Ned to lead him away.
Michelle Jones swallowed hard and began to shake. It had taken all her nerve to approach Peter Parker and his friend, but she’d done it. Receiving that adorable dorky reply and his warm smile allowed Michelle to ignore the taunts and teasing of the other girls without resorting to a sarcastic quip. She followed her class into the building with a renewed sense of purpose to make the most of the chance her impressive intellect provided her. A chance to recreate herself at this new school. It wouldn’t happen overnight, but she finally found someplace and maybe someone who made her feel like she belonged.
For Peter Parker, his time at IAMIM was exhilarating in a way he’d never experienced before. A perfect day.
Their last activity before leaving required the class to be broken into more manageable numbers. Ned went with the robotics and computer section while Peter went with the biomedical research section. Peter noticed that the strange girl, who he now knew was named Michelle, stayed with his group. She always held back and never provided a chance to engage her in further conversation, but her pointed questions to the staff clearly indicated that her intellect was impressive, even among some of the brightest students in the city.
Although they never talked again Peter felt her approving glances as he also challenged and impressed the staff with his intellect and overwhelming excitement. As the staff made ready to lead the group toward their waiting buses, Peter gestured to Mr. Harrington, indicating his need to use the bathroom. The always distracted teacher failed to notice Peter’s request forcing him to take matters into his own hands. He had to find a bathroom right now. His bladder was overfilled from the bottomless soda IAMIM provided their guests at lunch. Peter weaved his way deeper into the lab pushed on equally by his full bladder and desire to explore. Finally, thankfully, he found a bathroom.
As he washed his hands, he sternly told his reflection, “you should not be here, Peter.” The reflection of a nearby building caught his attention. He gasped. Turning away from the sink he excitedly moved to the window and couldn’t help but stare in awe. The giant A at its peak leaving no doubt as to its identity: Avengers Tower. He hadn’t realized how close he was to it. He wondered ideally if Tony Stark was in residence.
2010
An eight-year-old Peter Parker stood alone in front of the Hammer drones attacking visitors at the Stark Expo. People were running in all directions and he should have run too, but instead, he stood his ground feeling an overwhelming desire to step up and protect the people around him. The boy pointed his toy repulsor at the drone with unnatural confidence. The Hammer Drone locked on the boy and made ready to strike. Suddenly Iron Man appeared next to him blowing the drone apart with his very real repulsors and quipping “nice job kid” before flying away.
November 2015
The new high school freshman was dragged from his daydream of Avengers Tower and Tony Stark by a series of frantic texts from Ned. ‘Dude! Where are you? We’re about to leave!!!’
Peter tore his eyes away from Avengers Towner and ran from the bathroom, but rather than backtrack he made the fateful decision to move still deeper into the lab in search of an exit. He came upon a room filled with glass cages containing an unsettling number of insects. He bumped into one cage and instinctively grabbed it trying to right it before it fell. Turning away from the cage he felt something crawling on his right hand, but before he could do anything he screamed in pain. His hand felt like it was on fire. He frantically shook his arm and a large and oddly colored spider impacted the floor in front of him dead. Peter felt faint, but somehow he managed to find his way out of the building and toward the waiting school bus.
‘Well, Mr. Parker you look like I feel…. A long day for us all,’ a frazzled Mr. Harrington said without humor as Peter boarded the bus.
Peter unsteadily made his way toward Ned and the seat he left open for him. ‘Dude, you look horrible. What the hell happened? Are you OK?’
Peter nodded unconvincingly. ‘Yeah, I’m fine…’ He just wanted to go home and collapse.
‘I told you to be careful, Parker…’ Michelle Jones quipped sarcastically, but her face radiated nothing but concern. ‘But I’m… I’m glad you’re back….’
November 2024
An older and more broken Peter Parker allowed the memories of his last normal day to fade away. He moved his hand away from the takeaway coffee cup, but his last meeting with MJ played out in his mind as it had been doing for the past week.
‘Peter Parker… Peter Parker. Your coffee.’
MJ’s voice was friendly but reserved. Peter was now a stranger and MJ didn’t warm up to strangers quickly. In spite of her reticence to engage him further, Peter knew he’d piqued her interest.
‘if you expect disappointment…’ MJ began to him.
‘…then you can never really be disappointed,’ Peter finished with a knowing grin as she gazed at him intently.
Her brilliant mind spun wildly and tried to make sense of their encounter. In spite of her confusion, she continued their discussion agreeing that an exciting new life was waiting for her.
‘Is there anything else?’ MJ asked wondering where this odd, but strangely attractive boy would lead her next.
Peter simply smiled at her steadily. He loved her and would love her forever but he’d made his decision.
‘Uh... no,’ Peter replied softly. ‘Thank you.’ He continued putting more emotion into those two words than would be expected.
‘No problem,’ MJ replied with an uncertain smile.
‘I’ll uh... see you around,’ he said as he vanished from sight.
MJ stared after him. Her mind was in turmoil. A memory bubbled to the surface. A comment made to someone she once knew.
‘Where are you going? What are you hiding, Peter?’