Chapter Text
a familiar voice rang through the computer's speakers—
“It's 6am, both of you requested I wake you.” E.V announced.
A groan came from the other side of the room.
“That was before we spent hours busting down a drug trafficking ring…” Peter groggily said before sitting up on the couch, blinking slowly, still half asleep. He got up and walked over to what used to be HIS bed.
“Wake up.” Peter nudged Jean's body two or three times. A half constructed sentence was mumbled out by the ginger who was still far off in dream land.
Peter let a sigh out before taking the pillow that was covering her face and hitting her with it. She grumbled as she rolled over to her side, away from Peter.
“Jean!” he raised his tone to get her to wake up.
She quickly retorted with a very annoyed, “WHAT!”
“jeez, took you long enough.” Peter ruffled her ginger hair with his hand. Mornings like these are what made both of their days just a little better. He flopped down on the mattress, laying across her legs.
“You're too heavy, get off.” she said with lingering annoyance that would quickly be forgotten. “You're too heavy!” he mocked her with a high pitched voice as he sat up.
four months since Peter was laying in his own pool of blood. Jean shook the thought away, it was something that lingered in her mind as much as it did his. On the upside, it had been three months since Jean moved in with Peter. Their bond quickly progressed to be something of siblings, with a whole lot of emotional trauma that bonded the two together.
Jean collected her thoughts before speaking out, “hey, I was thinking we could go to that new coffee shop that just opened.” She paused and looked at his face, it had hesitation written all over it.
“Hey don't give me that look.” She raised an eyebrow
“What look?” Peter responded a little too quickly.
“That one.” She let out a small laugh of fondness. “Come on Pete, we both need a break.” Her tone became softer as she finished the sentence.
Peter bit his lip. Learning how to take a break as spider-man and focusing on peter parker was something he was still struggling with. Being in a mindset where he pushed Peter Parker back for years, definitely didn’t help either.
“Fine, but you’re paying.” Both of them knew that he would end up paying. He never let Jean pay even when she insisted.
A bright smile came across the red head's face. “Finally! it’s been forever since you actually did something with me.” Peter let out a chuckle. “Go get ready or I'll change my mind.”
She rolled her eyes and got up to go get ready. Peter never thought that he could actually cancel on Jean for anything, both of them simply enjoyed each other's presence too much.
Sure he had Frank and Matt, but they were always like the older uncles that you see at family gatherings once every six months. Jean was the only one who Peter felt truly understood him. They'd both gone through a lot and either of them would never want to see each other like that ever again.
Peter snapped out of his thoughts as he heard a blow dryer switch on.
He figured that was his cue to also start getting ready.
· · ─ ·🕸️· ─ · ·
Side by side, they both walked across the damp New York sidewalks. The humidity made Peter's slightly overgrown hair curl up more than usual. Jean’s hair always had a permanent wave, lucky for her it didn't change much.
“You need a hair cut.” Jean commented as they walked the path to the coffee shop. “I’ve been asking you to cut it and you never do.” Peter quipped back in response.
“Thats because you ask at the most inconvenient times.” She muttered under her breath. “Did you forget I have super sensitive hearing, or did you actually want me to hear that?” He pushed the door to the coffee shop open.
A girl with light brown hair greeted them. They both ordered and sat down in a cozy spot next to a window. For a few moments they both watched the rain fall down the glass as it sprinkled from above.
“My back is killing me.” Peter said while taping the table top with his fingers. “Well that’s what happens when you try to bust down a drug ring without any help.” She gave him a stern look with no actual bite behind it.
“You knocked out the very last guy, chill out.” he rolled his eyes. “that one guy could’ve easily knocked you out in the state you were in! be grateful your savior was there.” She said with a grin laced with a fake dramatic tone.
Their coffee came to their table. They continued back and forth, the conversation switched from topic to topic with no actual goal in mind. Even when their cups ran dry, the conversation never stopped. They simply just stayed to talk and enjoy each other’s presence.
A feeling of unease settled in Jean's gut. The two were always slightly on edge, ready to fight whenever and wherever. Sometimes no matter how hard they tried, they could never fully get rid of the fear of losing someone they loved out of their bones. But this was different.
It wasn’t the normal type of unease that she got almost every day. It felt more like anticipation. She summed it up to the coffee sitting wrong in her stomach.
But with the way Peter was acting, she knew he felt it too. The small change in the way he looked around the room, how he gripped his coffee cup just a penny tighter.
She tapped her chipped maroon painted nails against the empty coffee cup. Trying to focus on something else. Peter gave her a look, immediately she understood. “yeah, lets go home.” A faint smile on her face.
· · ─ ·🕸️· ─ · ·
Peter’s spider sense didn’t go down whatsoever when they got to the apartment. It was seriously starting to give him a headache. He turned to Jean who also looked like she was going through it.
“You okay?” He was starting to worry. If he and Jean were experiencing the same thing something has to be wrong.
She shut her eyes tightly before opening them again and responding, “mhm, yeah.” It was safe to say that it worried Peter even more. “Cant get a read on anyone around us.” She said quietly.
“E.V what are you getting, scan everywhere within a 100ft radius.” Peter tried to conceal the panic in his voice. His spidey sense was practically screaming at him now. “There appears to be an unknown anomaly approaching. I cannot get a scan of the entity. There's no physical form to scan.” The AI responded.
The pair quickly shifted closer together, both of their senses going haywire. Jean grabbed Peter's hand as whatever was coming started to shake the apartment.
Peter squeezed her hand back to make sure she was still there with him. Neither of them wanted to lose each other to whatever was coming, and that scared Peter the most, losing someone he loved. Either of them couldn’t go through it again, if they even made it out alive.
Peter shouted, like he was trying to get out of speaking in his head, “it's getting closer!” both gripped the other harder than before.
a white flash of light flooded Peter's senses cleanly. For a moment he felt at peace. The light engulfed his body, and he let it.
Is this it? Is this what death feels like?
It felt nothing akin to the snap. The snap felt like his body was being torn in half, while it was trying so hardly to put itself back together. The snap was painful. This wasn’t. Or maybe it was, he couldn’t really tell.
The familiar sounds of New York came back to him. People talking, dogs barking, the rustling of trees in the wind.
Jean.
He opened his eyes and started to panic. Where the hell is she? he frantically looked around what looked to be central park? How the hell did he get here?
He would deal with that later. There were bigger issues at hand. Peter soloed out as many voices as his senses would let him. Searching for a familiar one.
Just across the way he found Jean, who was actively body swapping people to find Peter. Peter didn't know he could run as fast as he did when he spotted Jean. They both crashed into a hug. They gripped each other like a life line.
He pulled back. “Are you okay?” he didn't waste a second before examining her face. Worry laced his words. She nodded. “yeah, you?” Peter nodded before pulling her back into a hug.
“How did we end up in central park…?” She pulled back and looked around.
· · ─ ·🕸️· ─ · ·
Peter analyzed their surroundings. Standing on the Gapstow bridge an all too familiar Avengers tower loomed in the distance. It looked exactly the same from when he was fifteen and still Stark’s annoying intern.
It made no sense. The building had changed years ago, after Tony—no. Stark’s death. His death was something Peter definitely didn't want to revisit any time soon.
He glanced over at Jean who still seemed to be a little shaken up
“Let's go get something to drink, yeah?” She looked at him, her shoulders relaxing a bit. “Yeah, I could kill for some water right now.”
They walked into the bodega and grabbed a few water bottles from the fridge. Jean petted a cat who was sitting on top of a box of ramen. Peter refused to pet the cat. He always had a random weird fear of them.
While Peter went up to the cashier and paid. Jean stared up at the tv.
“Two years ago from today, half of the nation came back from what we deem “the blip”. No one knows how or why it happened but we sure are grateful that our loved ones are back. Following this event, New York continues to mourn one of our bravest vigilantes, rest easy spider-man…”
She tuned out the rest of what the reporter said. mourn…?
Jean looked back up at Peter whose focus also turned on the tv.
They walked out of the store and stepped onto the sidewalk, both simultaneously turning to each other.
“what?” They said in unison.