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When Phil first discovered his powers it was like manna from heaven.
Suddenly he could do everything he had ever secretly dreamed about being able to do. He could fight crime, he could climb buildings, pick up a car to get his keys that he had dropped underneath somewhere… The point is that it was exciting.
He could do so many more things than anyone else could, he wasn't just regular old Phil, he was motherfucking SPIDERMAN.
He had found out about his powers by accident, after inadvertently hospitalising a kid in gym by sending a volleyball into their stomach with the intensity of a fucking gunshot after spiking it towards them. He had never been able to keep up with sports before so the fact alone that he was able to see the volleyball sailing over the net towards his side - and react in time to spike it back - was a shock that should have given something away.
In retrospect he was probably not supposed to spike the ball there. He wasn’t sure about the rules of volleyball.
Either way, he had to know what had been different. He wasn't punished - it had clearly been an honest mistake - but he spent the rest of the day in a haze, feeling like everything around him was different, that he could feel the gazes of everyone on him. Their voices seemed so loud, every movement felt like it was in slow motion.
It all came to a head when on the walk home he somehow ended up walking on a nearby wall to avoid a woman walking her dogs and taking up the entire pathway.
Naturally he ran the rest of the way home.
He tried to keep it a secret from everyone but Techno and Kristin were nothing if not persistent.
Kristin had been his then crush and Techno was the weird kid down the hall in their apartment complex who had cornered him one day to berate him about how loud his television set was. They were all he had in the world really, his father was a mess and his mom was working full time. It didn’t take him long to open up to them - he just had to tell someone.
First he was just crawling around, being a little nosy neighbour trying to find out gossip on their neighbours downstairs who had been having loud arguments since they moved in 12 years ago.
But then Phil saw the husband hit his wife.
He couldn’t just barge in their window - not for lack of trying, the second he saw it happen he tried to pull the window off but was very quickly noticed and had to hide to avoid recognition.
Phil crawled to Technos apartment and explained what had happened.
They had to do SOMETHING.
But how could they do anything without it blowing up in their face?
It was Kristin who came up with a solution. All they had to do was make a way he wouldn't be recognized. She took some of her dad's old clothes and sewed them into a makeshift mask and bodysuit - which sucked and looked horrible by the way - and they began to devise a plan on what to do next. First theyd wait for them to start arguing again, then Techno would come to the door to ring the doorbell - the wife always answered - and then while she was distracted Phil would come in and beat the shit out of the husband.
Honestly… in retrospect, probably not a solid plan. But they were 14.
The plan worked - kind of.
Techno rang the doorbell. Phil beat the shit out of the husband and then the wife called the cops and it was a very poorly thought out plan and Techno had to lie and say it was just a weird coincidence.
They… naturally retired the whole idea of beating the shit out of people who deserved it for a while. Stuck to being nosy and sticking shit to the wall with the webbing that came out of Phils wrists.
But then… it came up again when they were 17.
What if instead of just breaking and entering into places, they worked together and actually did some justice type shit.
They had all laughed it off at the time but clearly they couldn't stop thinking about it because eventually they started jokingly passing notes to each other in class designing suits and joking about finding a police radio.
And then… they weren't joking.
And then Kristin got a police radio.
And then Techno started writing down patrol routes in the city and finding out where violent crimes had occurred - and where the police weren’t helping people.
And then Phil started taking self defence courses.
And then… after six months of “what if…” it became “when.”
And by the time Phil turned 19, they had made him a custom suit, set up police radios in Technos room, bought cell phones and computers - it was 2007 so it wasn’t the best by any metric.
Kristin had tried to name him cockroach boy, so when Techno suggested spider man he all but lept at the chance to end the conversation.
At some point the too-tight suit pants became sweatpants, the early morning patrols became before work patrols and the Nokia bricks turned into smartphones but it all stayed the same really.
It was just the three of them against the world. Spider-Man and the people he loved the most in the world.
They never tried to draw attention to themselves, focusing instead on helping where they could. Show up to help the cops out on some bank robberies, stop some petty thefts, kick some dickheads jaw in… little things.
Phil tried to focus on things he could solve. Whenever they would see repeated domestic disturbance calls, he would make his way to the place and talk to the battered spouses and tell them if they wanted to leave, they knew some people who could protect them - and had the muscle to back them up. Kristin had gone into social work, they really did have people that could help.
It wasn’t always beating up the bastard husband but sometimes Phil did get to knock the teeth out of some angry drunkards.
It made them feel useful.
Small, sure.
But useful.
And then one day, Phil looked up and it had been 15 years and they were all in their 30s.
He was okay with that. Just your friendly local neighbourhood spiderman.
He really liked it actually. Just the quiet, day to day helping people where they could.
And then a new kid showed up.
He was high energy. He started picking fights with gang bosses like the kingpin and taking on guys that Phil had avoided. He was loud and people heard him coming more than they saw him coming.
He reminded Phil of himself when he was younger and that was turning out to be a real problem.
The kid wanted to take on the world and didn't seem to have anyone around him that had actually lived long enough to know how it worked.
Of course, it was a given that they would reach out to him.
The only problem was he took one look at Phil and called him an old man - not like him, he was the “big man” - and swung off into the city.
If anything, Phil was pissed that he had stolen his thing.