Chapter Text
“What if everyone forgot who I was” were brave last words from both Spider-Man and Peter Parker alike. He found himself thinking more about those words as his speed picked up with his swings, moving further away from his teary-eyed friends. The handshake he’d never do with Ned again. His girlfriend who he would never get to late night call again. The sorcerer who he fought wars alongside. “Yeah, it would work. But you gotta understand that would mean that everyone who knows and loves you- we’d have no memory of you. It would be as though you never existed.”
Peter teared up, tears that blurred his vision under the mask. It would be hard to move on, to pretend as if none of this had ever existed and hadn’t happened. At least his friends would be safe, get into MIT and live better, safer lives than they have with him. Mr Strange wouldn’t be bothered anymore by Peter’s rambles. Nothing felt the same after Mr Stark... A flash sealed the spell, engulfing the world in a hue of yellow, leaving Peter blinded mid-swing, and as he threw his hand to swing, he fell.
Peter was falling, longer than he should have been with how high he assumed he was, but his speed quickened. When his vision returned, he blinked a few times, removing the tears as well as spots that danced his vision from the flash before looking up at the sky, which no longer was the cotton pink and yellow of his home. It was grey, darker than normal. He closed his eyes again, tears reforming, accepting the pain that would come, before swiftly falling unconscious, still rapidly falling from the sky.
-
“Jesus fuck-” A voice muttered somewhere in the distance as Peter slowly opened his eyes, wincing at the light. “How are you even alive?”
Peter moved to sit up, hissing abruptly before hands pushed him back down, a hand moving to his chest to keep him laying on the bed, which was, strangely comfortable. Maybe he was fine being kidnapped, he considered going back to sleep in all honesty.
“What happened?” Peter muttered to whoever was in the room with him.
“Well, you fucking fell from the sky for starters. Saw you crash land in an abandoned construction site.” The voice replied, almost impressed. “I’m going to assume the tarp softened the fall as you fell because there is no way you should be alive unless you were a meta human, plus the wood was splintered beneath you.”
Peter shifted in the bed, grunting slightly as he shifted the pressure to his forearms. Everything currently hurt, he wasn’t healing as fast as he normally would be. He looked closer at the room, more specifically the man. He was tall, around 6 feet, and was well built, his muscles prominent as his arms remained crossed just under his chest. Peter noticed the man had a white streak in his hair.
“I should thank you for your help then-”
“Jason.”
“-Jason. Thank you for your help.” Peter continued with a pained smile. “I should really head home.”
“Like hell are you leaving. You can stay here till you recover enough to walk.” The voice, Jason, replied, before walking towards the door. “I’ll be back shortly, don’t do anything stupid.”
Peter almost laughed as the man left. He looked down at his arms and noticed he was no longer in his suit, but rather shirtless with bandages wrapped around his arms and torso. On the chair beside him, he found his normal clothes he was last wearing before his suit. Where was his suit? Wincing slightly, he leaned over to grab his backpack. His ID, wallet, and phone were in it. Nothing else?
He first opened his wallet, $52, a button and his lego Emperor Palpatine figure he stole from Ned. He then moved to check his phone, dead.
Okay, so, let’s recap. Peter fell from the sky, no one would remember him, the sky wasn’t the colour -(hold on, colour? Shouldn’t it be color? C’mon author, it’s set in America, make the spelling American!)- it should be, his phone is dead, suit is missing and he has $52 and a dream. Oh and he was kidnapped, but also saved, by some guy who may or may not be called Jason. Brilliant! He would be fine.
With a small hiss, he shifted his body upright and moved to sit on the side of the bed, grabbing his clothes stiffly as he changed into them. The bandaging on him was good, almost suspiciously good for some random guy. As he shifted the shirt over his head, the door opened.
“I thought I said not to do anything stupid.” Jason spoke, placing a drink on the bedside table.
“Technically I’m not doing anything stupid, just changing. Also where did you learn to bandage?” Peter asked, turning to face the man, eyeing the drink.
“First, it’s hot chocolate. Second, this is Gotham..? You pick up a thing or two.” Jason’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Gotham..?” Peter asked the older, before muttering, “So I’m not in Queens anymore,, Wade would laugh at me in this situation.”
Peter moved to grab the cup, giving it a swirl in his hands before taking a sip.
“Fuck this is good!” Peter spoke in amazement before finishing the drink quickly, a small snort coming from Jason, who was now sat on the chair. “Look man, I really don’t want to bother you further, but thank you for your help.”
Jason raised an eyebrow as he watched Peter stand and slowly walk towards the door.
“My number is in the back of your phone if you need anymore medical attention-”
“Peter,” Peter smiled.
“-Peter. Stay safe out there.” Jason gave a small nod with some new found respect for the younger.
-
This place was nothing like home. It was darker and much more sketch than Peter was used to. No one gave him a second glance, even with the bandages showing on his arms. He threw his hands into his pocket as he walked down the street, and like any crossover fanfic, he found himself standing outside of a library. Yes, Peter was aware this wasn’t any normal situation for him to be in, and I mean, he can break the fourth wall sometimes as well, but he wouldn’t do it much, the author just needs to have some fun every now and then, which he could totally respect, plus, he had been hanging around Wade a little too much.
As Peter walked into the library, he was greeted by an attractive woman who wheeled over towards him.
“Hello! I was wondering where your computers are? If this library has any, that is.” Peter asked with a smile.
The woman’s eyes narrowed at the bandages before giving a smile, “Just over there, hopefully your arms heal soon, was it Man-Bat? I heard there’s been sightings of him around recently.”
“Oh this? Sadly it was from my own clumsiness of falling-” Peter mentally which would sound less insane “-from a few stories, but I should be okay. Some guy helped me out which was nice! Thank you so much.” Peter smiled before waving at the nice lady and walking towards the computers.
Now, I’m not going to bore you with the usual stuff of “Who's the Justice League”, “Who is the ‘Tony Stark’ of this universe” and all of that as frankly? It’s boring. Peter, however, instantly settled on his favorite hero, Zatanna. She reminded him a little of Dr. Strange, and my god was she good.
“Ah! Zatanna.” A voice spoke behind him, causing Peter to jump slightly.
“Ah- yes! She is by far one of my favourites.” He smiled at the woman from earlier.
“Batgirl is personally mine-” she smiled at him, “-I love how she acts and moves. I’m Barbara by the way, I forgot to introduce myself earlier.”
“Peter.” He smiled and shook her hand.
“Well Peter, what do you like about Zatanna?” Barbara asked, seeming genuinely interested in the male’s answer.
“What is there to not like! She can cast spells backwards Barbara! Backwards!” Peter was excitedly talking now, listing most of what he learnt which genuinely amazed him. It was nice having someone to listen, and it had been so long since he was able to happily talk about something he was interested in. So long since he last had a talk this deep with anyone since… Ned.
Barbara must have noticed something shift with Peter as he was talking, words growing less enthusiastic as he continued on before stopping. She offered her hand to him, and he took it gladly, both sat there for a while in a comfortable silence. She must have assumed he lost someone he did this with previously, which technically wouldn’t be wrong.
After a beat of silence, Barbara spoke, “Here. My number in case you ever need anything.”
“Thank you Barbara.” Peter smiled at her. “And sorry for talking so much- oh my god- Please let me repay you by listening to you talk about Batgirl soon.”
She gave a laugh, “Of course Peter, I’d be happy too. Just let me know when.”
Peter took his phone off charge and smiled before walking towards the exit with his bag. The next step in this whole predicament, finding where would be safe enough to stay. Peter found himself walking aimlessly around Gotham, taking in the lifestyle of the place, its gloomy atmosphere. From what he could see, it seemed… Wildly unsafe. People were getting mugged, beaten up and so much more. The worst part? The cops did nothing about it. It made Peter’s blood boil and he swore he would soon step up and actually fix the issues others ignored. Gotham looked to need a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.
-
Sirens sounded in the distance as night fell, and Peter found himself staring up at a building. It looked somewhat safer than the other buildings he had considered, so he began to climb towards the roof, before plopping himself down in a somewhat sheltered area. He hadn’t noticed how exhausted he was, and his back ached from the fall.
He sat on the edge of the roof, his bag behind him, and stared into the city lights, the sound of police sirens in the distance. Peter found himself thinking. Really thinking. About everything from the day(? Days? How long had it been since he asked Dr. Strange to cast the spell?) before. The loss of his friends. The loss of his Aunt May.
Tears stung the corners of his eyes as they blurred, his hand moving to wipe them, but they came out quicker than he could clear and process. Peter was lost. He didn’t know what to do or where to go. He wanted his Aunt, who would cheer him up by watching a movie with him. He wanted MJ, who would know exactly how to handle a situation like this. He wanted Ned, who would laugh with him at the absurdity of all of this.
“You uh… Aren’t planning on jumping, right?” A voice asked behind him. Peter turned around to see a masked man in red and black.
“Shit, uh, Red Robin, right-? No- God no- nothing like that, just… Mourning.” Peter mumbled towards the end before looking back at the city lights.
“I’m sorry dude, anything I can do to help?” Red Robin asked, sitting beside the male in which Peter instinctively leant on him.
“I don’t think so.” He sighed out, eyes closing, missing the range of emotions crossing Red Robin’s face. He felt something wrap around him, in which he realised to be Red’s cape. Peter almost forgot he was just in a t-shirt.
The two sat in a comfortable silence, Red Robin’s arm and cape around Peter, as the other leaned on him. Both were watching the lights of Gotham which felt oddly beautiful and calming. Time passed in a blur before Peter spoke up.
“Sorry, I’ve completely taken you from patrol, you should continue so Batman doesn’t get worried.” He spoke, sitting up straight, giving a small stretch.
“Hm, I guess that’s true. Just, promise me you won’t jump or do anything stupid.”
“I promise.” He gave a small smile.
“Get home safe.” Red Robin finished before grappling off into the distance.
Peter watched him swing away before standing and moving back towards his bag. He should get some sleep, it was late and he would be busy tomorrow. He leaned against the wall, his bag behind him against his lower back as he closed his eyes. Today had been a crazy, yet somewhat successful day.