Chapter Text
Peter stared at his phone as he watched Videos on Ned's Insta, who was having the best time at MIT with MJ, the love of Peter's life. If he hadn't said yes to Tony all those years ago, he could've gone to MIT with his friends. Aunt May would be alive, everyone would remember him.
This is why you should always do your homework. Even if a rich genius, billionaire, playboy and philanthropist asked you to fight a guy who has an awesome shield that you would be able to steal.
A silent tear made its way down Peter's cheek. He just wanted coffee. He wanted the pain to go away.
Queens didn’t have Peter Parker anymore. It also didn’t have Spider-Man anymore. His Parker Luck, as Aunt May used to call it, always comes back like a sickness. It killed his Parents, Uncle Ben, Tony, Miss Natasha and now Aunt May. It made Happy, MJ and Ned forget about him. It was actually starting to scare him.
So Peter decided it would be better if his luck couldn’t hurt anyone anymore. So he quit Spidey. Of course Deadpool, Daredevil and the other vigilantes were wondering why he had quit. He remembered the day he told them vividly.
…
Spidey waited on the roof of an abandoned building, when Matt and Wade arrived. They both had gotten the text from Peter telling them to meet him there, but they didn’t know why. It had only been a week after the whole multiverse fiasco and that's exactly how long it took Peter to decide to quit.
On the roof Wade and Matt were standing behind Peter. Both were in civilian clothing. Peter was in his suit, mask over his face he turned around. “Hey Spidey! Wassup?!” Wade said cheerily. “I wanted to let you and Matt know that I-” he took a pause and looked to the ground.
Peter couldn’t meet their eyes. Matt seeing (yes pun intended) this opportunity spoke to him. “You’re nervous. What is Spider-Man? Is everything alright?” Peter wanted to cry.
“I quit,” he said quickly and quietly. “You quit what?” Wade questioned the young vigilante. “I quit this! I quit Spider-Man!” There was a short silence, until Matt asked: “Why?”
It was a simple question, but instead of answering like a normal person, Peter ripped his mask off, showing just how young he really was. Wade gasped. “Fuck, I have been making wayyy too many inappropriate jokes around you kid.”
There it was. The word. Kid.
Peter hated it. Tony called him that. Ever since Ironman died, he never let anyone call him that ever again. He had told Matt and Wade the first time he showed them his identity, but the spell caused them to forget him as well.
“What is your name kid?” Matt asked, completely ignoring his inappropriate partner. “I’m not a kid.” Is all that Peter said. “Please.” Matt begged. “Peter. Peter Parker.” Peter whispered.
“Thank you Peter, for trusting us with this.” Matt said. Then the blind lawyer shuffled Wade with his elbow in Wade’s stomach. He let out a screech in pain. “Yeah, Thank you.” The immortal vigilante assured.
Peter huffed out a quiet laugh. It was his first. His first laugh since the incident. And it hurts. It hurts every time he thinks of Aunt May. Tony, Miss Natasha, Happy, Ned and MJ. He missed all of them.
With lots of effort and talking things out with Wade and Matt, he finally got them to agree, to let him disappear.
Matt was more eager to do it, ever since he learned his age. Even back then, when the devil knew his identity, he had tried to get Peter to quit.
Queens didn’t need Spidey. All he did was stop muggers. Get cats out of trees. (Some of those cats are aggressive for no reason at all.) And return stolen items.
…
Peter stood in the line in the café where MJ used to work at. She had to quit because of school. But Peter could sort of still sense her presence. Even though that made little to no sense at all.
He ordered a cappuccino and waited for it to be ready. The new bartender wasn't nearly as nice as MJ, but he ignored it and thanked her for the coffee that he desperately needed.
As he left the café, he felt all of the hair on his arm spike up and that was the moment he knew. His Spidey-Sense was calling him. The words ‘Peter Tingle’ echoed in his mind everyday his senses acted up.
And like every time it did, Peter chose to ignore it.
Bad Idea.
The next thing he knew, he was thrown violently through some sort of portal. While he was falling he watched through a different portal as Miss Wanda uses her powers to let a giant stone castle of some sort crash on her.
“Miss Wandaaaa!” He yells in terror and grief as he watches another one of his friends die.
That’s when he landed face first in a puddle. His coffee landed a few seconds later on his T-Shirt. “Shit!” he yelled. That’s when he looked around. He couldn’t sense where he was. It was dark, smelled bad and had this dark and evil around it. Peter guessed he was in New Jersey. Ew.
He got up and made his way towards the city. For a city this dark it was weirdly enough bright at night. It reminded him a little of New York, but still bad.
What did Peter do to deserve this? Universe. Why ?????!!!!!
Judging by how extra dark the city was, Peter conducted it was night-time. That was bad.
Strange New city + evil and unknown = Danger! Peter was doomed. But then again it was nothing new, just something that was annoying.
At that moment Peter remembered something Miss Natasha had taught him on how to survive in places he didn’t know.
Peter also missed her. After all, she was his Momma Spider. And she died because of a stupid glowing rock! How was that fair!
Peter almost started crying again, but he remembered he needed to survive first.
That was the first on the Check List Natasha had given him.
1)Survive first, then wallow in self-pity
2)Find shelter
3)Find Water
4)Find Food
5)Don’t get killed
6)Annoy Clint
That last one he couldn’t really do, but Peter does it in spirit.
Okay, so he has technically done the first one already.
Survive first, then wallow in self-pity. Check.
Next he needed to find a shelter. Luckily for him Peter finds himself finding a library. The words The Gotham City Public Library, were written on the stone in front of the building.
He snuck in through an unopened window. He carefully closed the window and made his way towards the bathroom to check if the water was drinkable or not.
They were drinkable. Yess!!!
Find Shelter and Find Water. Check.
He looked around the library searching for the little box that usually libraries have ,when you return a book too late and have to pay a fee to put the money in.
He found it. Yes! That means he’ll have money for food the next day.
Find Food. Check.
The last thing on his list was to not get himself killed, which he really was questioning, when his Spidey Senses spiked up and he turned around to see a woman with long red hair and glasses sitting in a wheelchair with her arms crossed.
She looked at him sceptically. “Who are you and what are you doing here? The library has been closed for 5 hours?” Peter knew that one should never underestimate a woman. He learned his lesson with MJ.
She had made him recreate scenes from her favorite books. The heroes of Olympus Series were one of the many. The scene which he had learned the lesson from was when Annabeth and Percy meet again and she Judo flips him in front of the entire Roman army.
Safe to say. Peter respects Percy. Because that flip hurt. How was MJ so strong?!
Anyway, the woman in front of him looked friendly,but he was still wary. “I was looking for shelter.” He said cautiously, playing the ‘please forgive and baby me I am a poor little kid, who has nothing left in the world’ card.
The lady’s face immediately softened. She searched for something in her bag. It was a sandwich. She handed it to Peter, who gratefully accepted it, since the 17-Year old was starving.
“What’s your name?” The lady asked. Peter looked to the ground. “Peter.” he mumbled.
“Hello Peter. I’m Barbara. Barbara Gordon.”