Chapter Text
“I swear to god I am going to eat you alive”
“I mean if you sleep with your mouth open they say-“
Peter felt the bruising immediately, finding himself tossed into the wall nearest him. It was his first true villain case since the incident on Roosevelt Island, and he was realizing quickly that he was more than out of it. As it turns out, spending weeks healing and not training or fighting crime wasn’t exactly good for you. No, but Mac was out again, and he was unfortunately needed.
“How did you even get the tail back? I thought I ripped it off?”
Peter joked, spinning a web to yank himself away from the sharpened tail diving towards him. He landed on the wall, quickly sending a wad of webbing to coat the scorpion’s sharpened end.
“I have people, Spider-Man. Anyone powerful enough can get you anything.”
Mac eyed Spider-Man on the wall, quickly swiping at it with his monstrous tail, bringing it down as Peter lept away again. He landed quickly, pain rocketing up his arm. Something was damaged. Probably from being thrown through a wall.
“Look, Mac, I’m really not in the mood…” Peter grumbled, entering a fighting stance. Mac smiled, leaning forward, both aimed, ready to pounce. Peter ran first, headfirst, before Scorpion quickly ran after, the two on a collision course. Suddenly, Mac froze, only for a moment, dead in his tracks. That was all the time Peter needed, shooting webs past him, propelling him forward even faster. Peter’s foot collided with Mac’s jaw right as he became aware again. Not that he could do anything about it.
Peter took full advantage of a stunned Scorpion, rapidly circling him, web after web after web, tying his limbs together.
“Can’t keep that with you. It’s too sharp. It’s a bad influence on your young fans”
Spidey joked, as he ripped the robotic tail off the villain, wires sparking and buzzing as he did so. Without the tail, Scorpion was tame, easily being webbed up, a cocoon plastered to the wall.
“I appreciate the time, but I’m tired. Same time next week?”
“I swear to god I’m gonna kill you…”
“Careful, man, your adoring fans,” Peter gestured across the street, a single young boy in a makeshift scorpion T-shirt watching onward, before having his vision obscured by blaring cop cars. “My cue to leave.”
Peter swung off, propelling himself into the night sky, the lights of New York dim below him. He loved the feeling, looking out on the endless skyscrapers as he reached the peak of the arc, before falling again, catching himself on the web. With the new organic webs, he could swing to his heart’s content, no longer having to think about if it was affordable. He could swing for hours uninterrupted. Until he was. It was Ned calling.
“Hey Ned, how’s it going?”
“Hey Peter, so, I was thinking of ways to try and get MJ’s memories back.”
“Look, Ned, we’ve tried. I don’t want to force anything.”
“Peter, you lost a whole relationship, a whole love; don’t you want to get that back?”
“Look, she’s got her own life now, so do you. Don’t let me get in the way of it. Besides, if I only wanted her memories back so she could love me again, that would be kinda scummy.”
“Yeah, true. But still, all the memories before that?”
“It’ll come back, eventually. Hey, I gotta go, man. Talk to you later.”
Peter hung up as he swung into the alleyway. He’d started entering the building normally, letting him meet some of the residents on the lower floors. They were nice enough. There was a couple with a dog. They asked him to dog-sit once; that was nice cash. And an old lady. Peter liked talking to her. Sometimes she reminded him of Aunt May.
Peter, backpack strapped to him, made his way inside, passing through the beaten wooden doors, approaching the elevator. It didn’t take long for it to arrive, a beaten metal box, harsh grinding heard from the shaft as it opened. Peter stepped inside, turning around to face the wall, noticing a woman running to catch it. Peter stuck his arm out into the closing elevator door, keeping it open for the young woman.
“Thank you,” She muttered, straightening her hair. “You know how these elevators are; I would’ve been waiting ages for a new one.”
Peter gave a soft laugh. “Yeah, I swear the fire escapes must be faster.”
She pressed a button on the elevator, ready to head up, noticing the light for the top floor. “Do you live in the attic?”
“Oh, yeah. It’s dirty, but it’s pretty cheap and spacious.”
“Interesting. Oh, this is my floor; it was nice meeting you…”
“Peter. Peter Parker.” Peter reached his hand out.
“Gwen. Gwen Stacy.” She replied, shaking it.
***
Peter tossed his bag on his bed. It was late, and he was exhausted. All he wanted was sleep, but unfortunately he was still tuning his spider sense, and he could hear everything. The car honk outside, the dog barking in the building over, the woman approaching from the hallway, the couple on the second… Peter shot up. Someone was approaching; he could sense it, focusing on his door. He wasn’t sure if he should mask up or not, creeping to the door.
Finally there was a knock, a light thumping on the door. Peter approached and yanked it open, ready to fight back, only to find-
“Jean! What are you doing here?”