Chapter Text
Peter loved the virtual reality game MARVEL, he had hours logged into it. It was just another one of those hero games, but the protagonist, Spider-Man, had a lot of different storylines. Depending on which choices a person makes you could shape the entire game differently.
It's why it had done so well at first. Anything was possible and it was hyper-realistic. People flocked to the game because of the appeal of so many different endings.
Which also somehow made people lose interest after a while. Comments spamming the reviews about how much it just felt like living another life but only as a hero and that if you made a small mistake it could ruin the entire game and you'd have to reset.
It didn't help that no one ever knew anything about Spider-Man himself, the character had no civilian identity and the game never alluded to one either. It was great at first for people because they could just fill in the blanks themselves with their own lives. But when the story prevailed and some of the villains and heroes started mentioning things about Spider-Man's usual personality or behaviour people got turned off.
The game never released more info. There were no extra rewards, just long hours of grinding and crime-fighting with occasional storylines. The game devs never responded to a single comment or released another game patch. It was just radio silence.
Peter fucking loved the game. Kept playing, even when he made mistakes he kept going to see where they'd go. Only when an 'ending' was reached did he reset the playthrough. The world was so vibrant and detailed that he couldn't help but love it. It was better than his own life. It was lively and real and nothing like the monochrome days of his own life.
Peter was just an orphan living in a cheap apartment. Not even able to attend school, but having to learn for his GCSEs in hopes of holding a diploma and getting a better job. The virtual reality gaming system he used was dirt cheap too and he had to fix it up himself.
That game made it worth working shitty retail jobs and struggling to get through the day.
He's pretty sure that since its release, two years ago, he's now the only one still playing MARVEL.
He'd gone through countless interactions and played thousands of storylines. He learned so much about the MARVEL world and the characters in it.
Peter learned about Spider-Man too. Those little comments characters made, the throwaway lines and sometimes even a character's behaviour.
Once on his longest run, he even got to a point where suddenly no one in the game even alluded to Spider-Man's real identity. Nothing. Interactions got stilted and strange. The characters lost their trust but there hadn't been a major event or a storyline twist.
When he'd commented on it to the devs he only got a patch note about how the game must have been corrupted and they reset the game for him with an apology.
It's not that Peter's obsessed with the game, even if he's the player with the most hours on it. And he's got notebooks detailed with everything he noticed and knows about the characters and the world the game plays in.
He's just invested. He loves that game because it feels so real because he can pretend even for just a moment that that's his life. Not this empty thing that seems seconds away from collapsing around him at any time.
Peter loves that game, but it's a game. It's not real.
Except that it did turn real.
One day, like any other Tuesday night, he walked back from work, walking the same steps as always, taking the same bus as always. Checking the same sites and information on the game, as always. A steady routine that comforted him after a horrible day of back-breaking work.
Then he noticed the sheer chaos in the game's community board.
Someone had unlocked a story on one of the characters, it had been a lucky coincidence, but the game glitched and the run got deleted. The player, who unlocked a storyline on Iron Man also known as Tony Stark, was absolutely spitting mad about not being able to continue the storyline.
The Player kept spamming messages towards the admins, requesting that run back.
And then other people demanded an explanation on why the run had been taken away. Why the devs wouldn't just tell them the storylines. It looked like a madhouse, the community seemed to be revived. People that had abandoned the game came running back at the chance to air their grievances at the game developers.
And Peter is going to be honest here, it kind of maybe pissed him off.
Queen Space
This game can run on forever if you don't achieve an ending and if you reset it you lose all the connections you made. It's absolutely horrible!!
Cowboy Rockets
And no one even knows shit about the protagonist, who even is Spider-Man? Some characters make comments on the player about behaviour. Sometimes it just feels like you devs forgot to erase a protag they made because they wanted a shoe fit for all players!
Better Than You
And not even to mention the endings you do get! What so I put hours into it and then you just close it off because I hit some stupid milestone? Better should have let me go on!
Now, Peter believed in being polite to people. To not be rude for no reason and to just try and brighten someone's day up when he can. Have some basic human decency.
That does not mean that he isn't capable of being rude.
So, while the bus jostled him around and he had to awkwardly avoid eye contact with that one weirdo on the bus, he furiously typed a response. He could feel the summer heat burning his neck and he knew that he was going to be absolutely overheated when he got home, but that didn't matter.
He typed out a response and then posted it, a sharp satisfaction hitting him as he read it over while waiting for any response.
Top Slinger
If you all actually paid attention to any of the gameplay you would know that endings get unlocked after you finish the storyline you strive for. In the first few missions, the game tests out what kind of journey you want to have and thus adjusts to you so you can have optimal gameplay. It doesn't run forever if you just focus on the objective you pointed to at the beginning.
And information on Spider-Man isn't some bugs that slipped through the cracks. It indicates that there is a civilian identity of Spiderman. We as the player just need to unlock it. You get hints throughout the game about what kind of character you have. For instance, if you go for a bad ending multiple characters will lament about your morality and how they never expected this to happen. They make it obvious they know Spider-Man underneath the mask. It's not lazy writing or stupid bugs, it's an unexplored story you just haven't paid attention to yet.
The gameplay has endings because if it doesn't it could run on for years. Especially if you don't achieve your main mission or if you put something too hard into it. You have to work for it and the game is complex enough that it keeps going. The developers put hours of work and coding into this game, and you're upset that you finished a storyline? Clearly, you don't understand the point of this game.
And my last point, as the game itself tells you. It could be anyone under the mask. Anyone could be Spider-Man.
It took several seconds for anyone to even begin typing. No one replied.
And then the chaos continued. People called him a troll, a dweeb. Someone way too passionate about gaming. Someone else pointed out he's the only one who has been regularly in the community for the last two years. Posting about things or sharing information.
Lead
You're a no-life gamer, what do you know? I bet you only play bc ur life is so horrible!!
Pocky
Can't believe you're still playing this game and defending it.
Queen Space
Clearly, you're just a die-hard fan of the game.
Peter had the urge to just launch his phone across the bus. Instead, he pocketed it and furiously waited for his stop to come.
They weren't wrong, not really. He didn't have a social life, his life was paycheck to paycheck and only the online classes he could afford. He's not active or social.
The only thing he enjoys is playing MARVEL.
He sighs as the bus comes to a stop at his stop, he checks out and pushes past the crowd of people trying to trample him.
He checks the time on his phone and sees that someone sent him a private message on the community board. Opening it he almost drops his phone on the concrete ground when he sees who it is.
A dev. A dev just messaged him.
Holy shit.
DEV: SYSTEM 0
Dear @Top Slinger, it seems to me and the other DEVS of MARVEL that you are one of the only players that truly understand the game. Not only do you have the highest amount of played hours, and you have also unlocked more storylines than any other player in the world.
We want to thank you and give you a gift as a token of our gratitude.
Please press the link in this message to see it.
Thank you again, and we hope you will enjoy what comes next.
Peter felt his heart absolutely burst from excitement. They responded to him, and they were happy he played the game. It felt like a validation for all the hours he spent on the game. All the time he found a delightful hint or little detail. He wished he could tell them what a delight this game was and how much it meant to him.
Then he saw the link. He pressed it, his phone screen went white like when it needs to load something in.
Then Peter heard someone scream and a car honk and everything went black.
_______________
Peter groaned as he opened his eyes. He was laying on the ground for some reason and when he sat up his head pulsed with pain, causing his eyes to water. It made his head swim and his throat constrict. He felt his breakfast trying to climb up his throat and he immediately tried to keep it down.
He just sat there for a bit, trying to get his bearings.
When the world finally stopped swimming and trying to make him throw up he started looking around him.
He wasn't in the middle of the street anymore. He wasn't even wearing his own clothes.
Instead, he was in a familiar suit, the Spiderman one.
Peter wanted to know who the fuck would kidnap a person and put them in a game character's suit. And apparently, dump them on some random roof.
Welcome PLAYER 1! You have logged into the game MARVEL and are now playing the character SPIDER-MAN. Give the system a minute so you can sync the PLAYER and the CHARACTER fully!
What the fuck?
And then Peter was hit with the most horrible sensation he ever felt, slamming into him like a fucking truck. He groaned and flopped back down, curling up in a ball as the pain waved through his body. It rippled from his head, each nerve lighting up in a way that made him too aware that it hurt. It spread to his entire body till he only was left to helplessly sob, hoping for it to end.
It did, but only after what felt like an eternity.
Then he just lied there.
Welcome PLAYER PETER B. PARKER, you have now successfully entered the MARVEL universe. The system hopes you enjoy your stay!
Peter made a vague sound of confirmation at the system. Too exhausted to even get up or even demand answers.
Since PLAYER 1 seems to still be recovering from the sync, the system shall explain more about the situation, free of charge of course.
Isn't that great huh?
PLAYER 1 has been blessed by the DEVS with the opportunity to immerse into the MARVEL game as SPIDER-MAN. A reward for understanding, defending and playing the game.
As the PLAYER knows, there first must be an objective placed for the game. In this case that is not necessary. While the game had a rigid rule standard the immersive experience offers a far more free way of playing!
So, treat this just like real life. Characters will be encountered. Interactions will be more real. Fights will be fought. But you can still rely on the system to make it easier for the PLAYER!
Oh god. Oh fuck, does this mean he's in the game? Is Peter losing his mind? What the fuck?
Oh no, oh fuck that. This game was amazing to play but Peter knows the god-damned fights he would need to do. The enemies he'd need to fight and the investigations, and not to mention the people he'd encounter and need to talk to! How the fuck would he do that? He's not used to this kind of shit.
Don't panic PLAYER! The system is here to guide the PLAYER into a comfortable playing experience. Plus, with the systems store the PLAYER can buy any skill, object, information or power when needed!
Okay so the system was also capable of reading his thoughts, that's the opposite of comforting.
For now, the PLAYER should familiarize himself with the memories uploaded to the PLAYER's memories.
Peter tried to not melt into a puddle and die of confusion and horror.
This all felt like a badly written Isekai story. He did not want to be in an Isekai story. Those always had some traumatic events happening for character development. Peter did not need traumatic events to grow as a person. He rather likes not having traumatic events happening to him.
This is the most shitty reward he ever got.
New mission! Get back home by following the yellow star.
Peter blinked and suddenly he could see a floating yellow star popping in on his vision, when he tilted his head it stayed there. When he turned around the yellow star got a little arrow next to it and moved to the corner of his vision. He turned back to it. It even had a little distance count under it.
It felt just like the game. But real. This was horrifying.
How was he even supposed to get there?
Wait, he was Spider-Man. The one that cool web shoots and flings himself everywhere. Holy shit, he could do that!
The web shooting took him a minute to get used to. He had memories of it, vague impressions of doing it a hundred times before. Of working up the muscle memory for it. Both in real life and when he used to play games.
They overlapped and in the end, his first attempt made him smash into the side of a building and almost fall a hundred feet down to the ground.
But he figured it out and got to enjoy the feeling of almost flying.
When he arrived at the apartment he apparently lived in, and it was a really nice one too, he crawled in through the window where the star was floating in front of.
When he got through he was met with the most teenage boy room he'd ever seen. It was filled with action figures, shelves with models and school books. A bed with really nice-looking pillows.
It made him freeze in place.
This wasn't his room at all. His room was bare of all things because he couldn't afford all this kind of shit. He didn't even have his virtual reality console either.
It felt like it was slowly sinking in that Peter wasn't in his own world anymore. That this was real.
The PLAYER should change out of his hero clothing lest he gets caught :(
The smiley face was disturbing but Peter did grab for the closest shirt and jeans he saw and changed into them.
He hid the costume under the floorboards that seemed to have been left open and then looked towards the mirror in the room.
When he caught his own reflection he breathed a sigh of relief.
He looked the same still. It was his face. Except his body was way more jacked, well sure it didn't look like he had muscles but he did have a six-pack. Which was pretty cool. He never had the chance to train for one so having one with no effort required was kinda awesome.
Someone knocked on his door, and before Peter could process that the door opened and a kind-looking woman stood there. She looked around the room and when her eyes found Peter she smiled at him. Something soft that Peter had never seen directed at him before. It left him stupefied and glued in place.
That was a look a parent shot at their kid. The one that Peter used to be so fucking jealous over when he saw it aimed at everyone around him except him. Something he could never have.
And now it was aimed at him.
"Hi Peter, dinners soon so clean up and we can eat," she said, then looked towards his desk where some books stood open. "Maybe also finish your homework after okay?"
Peter was also trying to process the goddamn name tag above her. Aunt May was spelt out and floating above her head. It freaked him a bit out.
Then she closed the door and Peter could hear her footsteps fading away.
Who the fuck was Aunt May? Was she his actual aunt? Did Peter have a family now? Is that why he had a regular teenage room?
Was Spider-Man a teenager? Was that his civilian identity?
Oh god.
Peter needed to sit down.
This was not happening.