On Second Thought
In his 22 years of being Spider-Man, Peter B. Parker has gone through a lot of things. Some good, some bad.
Mostly bad...
But he never gave up, solely because of the words his Uncle Ben taught him. The sad thing is, those words used to inspire him, give him hope.
Give him a reason to want to help others...
However, as he grew old, he began to resent the words. Those words were the only reason why he was still Spider-Man. He only helped others because he was told to. Forced too.
At this point in life, he only helped others because he needed to. Not want, need.
And that disappointed him. Probably disappointed Ben too.
He was in a rut, and he knew it...
Anyway, he's faced a lot of villains in his life, a lot of them. He'd been fighting super villains since he was fifteen. He's sprained his wrist, burnt his skin, and broke his back. Thank goodness, for super healing, right?
But the villains weren't his only problems. Sometimes the world just didn't go the way he wanted to, as if the good part would never come. He can't completely blame the world though. He's made some bad decisions himself.
Like owning a spider-themed restaurant (Boy, Chef Ramsey did not hold back), getting a divorce with MJ, and letting that thief go...
But in all his life. He never faced anything as bad as this.
An unorganized desktop. A very unorganized desktop.
"Organize your desk, lady!" Peter shouted in frustration, hanging his head back. He stared at the multiple computer screens of this world's Spider-Man.
Who needs this many monitors? Seriously, isn't one enough?
Peter rolled his eyes. Boy, was this Spider-Man pretentious. Though he couldn't deny, he felt a pang of jealousy for this world's Peter Parker. He was kinda perfect...
His Aunt May was alive, he had all these cool gizmos, a big lair, no belly, he had a better reputation than him, and he was still married to one Mary Jane Watson.
He clicked on another folder and groaned. Nope, just more useless information.
He looked at the computer desk, spotting an action figure on top. He webbed it up, pulling it towards him. He caught the plastic toy and stared at it. Peter chuckled.
Ha! Guess you're not that special after all. He had action figures of himself back home too.
He continued to examine the toy, and eventually ended up playing with it. Stop evil doer! Or face the wrath of The Amazing Spider-Man!
What? Can you blame him? He didn't have much of a childhood.
He stopped. Wait a minute. His action figure wasn't as poseable as this one. He glared at it before throwing the plastic toy away. Great, he had better toys too.
Getting back to the task at hand, he clicked on another folder. This one looked promising.
It wasn't. In a fit of frustration, he opened the folder's options. And deleted it.
Take that, Liv.
It was then Peter heard digital bullets being fired, which were followed by digital explosions. He spun the chair around and looked at the only other person in the room.
The kid was sitting on a Spider-Man beanbag, mashing the buttons on a controller that was connected to her Spider-Mech.
Peter sighed. Apparently the other spider-people weren't as tech-savvy as him. Gwen was good with drums, not computers. The Peter Parker in black and white lived in the 30's, 'nuff said, and as soon as the pig pulled out a mallet from non-existent pockets, Peter made sure he/it stayed as far away from the CPU as possible.
The other girl however, seemed to be good with technology, as she lived more than a thousand years into the future.
He snapped his fingers, catching the girl's attention. "Hey, kid? Mind helping me out?" He asked.
"I'm busy." She muttered, turning back to the game. Peter spun again, groaning in frustration. Her atoms were decaying by the second and all she could care about was playing space invaders. Kids. He'll never understand them.
Peter opened another folder. Still nothing. In an attempt to relieve his anger, he screamed into his arm, the coat muffling his voice. The girl however, heard it. Peni paused the game and turned to the older man, shocked. She turned back to the robot, who's 'face' turned into one of pity. She put the controller down on the beanbag and walked slowly to the Spider-Man.
"A-are you okay?" She said, her voice barely above a whisper. Peter turned around again, staring at the girl, deadpanned.
"No kid, I'm not okay." He said. "I'm stuck here, looking for a file in a computer that has more trash than a garbage dump, all the while my atoms, and by extension yours and everyone else's that's not from here are slowly decaying. So no, kid. I'm not okay."
She looked at Peter, ashamed of herself. She never really thought of them suffering that way. Her whole life she's always been lucky, aside from her father's death, of course. The world always seemed to go her way, with a few bumps here and there. She's always faced her problems with a smile on her face.
Maybe, she's been too optimistic.
So seeing someone who was basically screwed over their whole life, made her feel guilty. "Are you mad at me?" Stupid question. She knows. But it might just help Peter...
His gaze softened, "No. I'm not mad at you." Peter said, "It's just- I'm just tired of everything being my responsibility, you know?" He said, slouching on the chair.
Peni looked at him in empathy. She knew a thing or two about responsibility, her father taught her a lot about that. Her dad was a hero, the very first pilot of the SP/dr. She looked up to him, even after he died.
He meant a lot to her.
"You know..." She started, catching the superhero's attention. "My father always said to me that: "With great power must-""
"-also come great responsibility." Peter finished, surprising Peni. "Yeah, my Uncle Ben taught me that too." He chuckled, "I'm guessing every Spider-Person has learned something about responsibility."
Peni smiled, "I guess so." She looked behind him and onto the computer screen, eyes widening at the mess. "You weren't kidding..." Peni turned back to Peter, "Do you still need my help?" She asked.
"Yeah, I guess so." Peter retorted. "But, honestly, I don't really know how you can help."
"Easy!" She chirruped, "We just connect the CPU to your computer and my Spider-Bot, that way you and I can find it together." She said and Peter nodded in agreement. "You take that side and I'll take this." She added, pointing at the screen.
"Sure. Thanks." Peter said and Peni grinned at him. He chuckled. Cute. Peter spun back to the monitor, "Seriously. I was this" he made a pinching gesture with his hand. "close to breaking down, Penny."
Peni was halfway through plugging the CPU into her mech before she had turned to glare at the man. "It's Peni." She corrected.
Peter spun back to the girl, confused. "Uh, that's what I said."
"No. You said it with an N and Y. It's just an I." She nitpicked. It really frustrated her when people got it wrong.
He scoffed. "Okay. First of all, does it matter? You can barely hear the difference. And second, picky much?"
The girl continued to glare at Peter, before her mouth turned into a mischievous smirk. "You're right." She said, "I'm sorry, Spiderman." She added, turning to her mech.
It was Peter's turn to glare at the girl. "It's Spider-Man." He seethed. "You're not using the hyphen. There's a small pause- oh." Frustrated and embarrassed, he turned back to the monitors. Though he caught Peni sticking her tongue out at him.
He rolled his eyes. Kids. Why're they so annoying? How can they be so loud, obnoxious, and not have a care in the world? They can be so insensitive sometimes. He made the right decision about not having children, after all.
Okay. That was a bit harsh. Even for the likes of Norman Osborn, and he's a psychopath, for crying out loud!
He sighed. What did he do? Why did he have to leave Mary Jane like that?
It wasn't fair to her.
He broke her heart; all because he was too scared to move on to their next 'stage' in life.
He was too afraid to have a child.
But can you blame him for that? They weren't financially ready. They could barely pay the rent, and there was that whole T.G.I. Spidey's mess.
He shuddered. What was he thinking?
...The truth is, they just couldn't support a child, period.
And another thing is, they weren't ready emotionally. Do you know how hard it is for the both of them every time he puts on the mask?
I'll give you a hint: pretty hard.
Every day, she worries for him. She stays up every night, scared that one night he won't come back. Do you know how scary that is? Do you know how sad that is? The fact that he'll just die one day and she'll probably just end up finding it out on the news.
And the scary thing is that it happened in this universe.
He wasn't going to take that risk, especially if they would end up having a child.
He couldn't stop being Spider-Man either, even when he hated it. He probably wouldn't even want kids, anyway. I mean, what if the kid grows up to be a super villain? Or grow up a druggie? Or become a hero and end up dying because of it?
Sure that was very pessimistic of him, but can you really see the good things in life, if life only showed you the bad things?
He was too young to even remember his parents, he was bullied for being a 'nerd', his Uncle Ben died because he let a robber go, so many others died because of him too. And let's not forget that Aunt May died because he did the 'right' thing.
Even if he did the good thing, the responsible thing, the world still screwed him over.
But he couldn't blame kids for being insensitive either. They deserve to have their freedom, to enjoy life while they can.
To live without responsibilities, for just a little while.
He sighed again.
He missed being a fifteen year old kid where his biggest problem were just other teenagers. He chuckled to himself. Man, he could still remember the times Sally Avril turned him down as well as the times Flash and his cronies would stuff him in a locker.
What happened to the simple times?
The times Aunt May would make him wheatcakes. Ben would take him to baseball games. When was the last time they all sat at the table together? He felt a tear dripping down his cheek.
Wiping it with his sleeve, he wished that the spider never bit him. How can one little arachnid ruin my life? Cause so much tragedy?
He chuckled again. Life was funny like that.
He cleared his throat. Now, back to the task at hand. He opened another folder. "Huh." He stared at it's contents. It wasn't for the goober, but it was about spiders. "Optical camouflage and bio-electric energy?" Why's that so fam-
Miles!
He hoped the kid was alright. The 'team' was a little too hard on him, if he was being honest, but they had a point, Miles wasn't ready. Not yet at least. Peter hopes that he'd be ready before tragedy could strike, but guessing by their current track record, it didn't look so well. Let's just hope doesn't take it too hard.
A loud snore had interrupted his thoughts. He turned to the noise and frowned.
She fell asleep.
With a groan, he stood up and walked to the girl and her mech, with the latter just staring at the sleeping girl. He stood beside the two, staring at the girl in minor annoyance. He knocked on the bot's glass dome thrice, to which it's face turned into one of displeasure. Knock. Knock. Knock. "Peni." Knock. Knock. Knock. "Peni." Knock. Knock. Knock "Peni."
She woke up, a weird bubble thing on her nose popped as she did. "W-what?" Peni stared at the man in confusion. "Did we find it yet?" She asked.
"No. Not yet." He said. The girl nodded and got back to what she was doing before dozing off. Peter, who admired her determination, couldn't help but feel worried. He crouched down and put a hand on her shoulders. She turned to him immediately. "You alright, Peni?"
Peni nodded, "Yeah, just tired." She turned back to the bot, still looking for the folder.
Peter hummed. "And why is that?" He asked.
"Well... I haven't really slept for two days." She admitted rubbing the back of her neck.
"Why? A growing girl needs her 8 hours of sleep." He half-joked.
She chuckled, before her frown returned. "I've just been busy with my "Spidering", that's all." She said, air quoting.
Peter stared at the younger girl in sympathy. Oh yeah he's been through that way too many times. Staying up all night long to be Spider-Man. It took a toll on his studies, and even his attitude a few times. It wasn't healthy to say the least.
Obviously.
He looked up in frustration. "Can't believe I'm doing this." He groaned. "Take it from someone who's been Spider-Manning since he was fifteen. You always need a good amount of sleep." He added. "I'm guessing your little bot is an AI? Or sentient at least?"
Peni nodded. "Great. So you can make him help me look for the files, while you get some good shut eye. Whaddya say?" Spider-Man offered.
The girl shook her head, to the middle-aged man's surprise "No! I want to help us get back home!" She said. "I don't want you to do this by yourself." She added. Admittedly, she was just feeling guilty for making him do all the work.
"That's very nice of you, kiddo, but it's fine. Plus, I have your little spider-bot to help me." He gestured to said spider-bot, but the girl didn't look convinced. Peter groaned again. Kids. "Okay, fine. I don't see any USBs or Flash Drives in here. So maybe you can, I don't know, buy one later?"
Her face lit up. "Okay! I'll make one when you're done!" She cheered.
Peter stared at the girl, a brow raised. "What? No! You can just buy one-" the smile on her face was enough to make him stop. "Fine, whatever makes you happy." He shrugged, walking back to the chair. "Just go to sleep, Peni." He said, sitting down.
He hadn't even touched the mouse when something had fallen onto his lap. "What are you doing, kid?" He asked.
This girl was starting to irritate him.
"Going to sleep. I can't really do that while you're talking." She retorted.
He groaned, "I didn't mean on me." No response. So much for being a good guy. He put a hand on his face, sighing. "Okay. Fine. Whatever." He glared at the girl who snuggled closer to him. Instinctively, he ran a hand through her hair, ruffling it. As would a father to his child.
Is this what MJ wanted? He chuckled to himself.
Okay. On second thought.
Maybe life wasn't so bad. Maybe he just forgot the good things in life.
And maybe. Just maybe. Kids weren't such a bad idea...
Did you guys enjoy the one shot?
This idea just came to me randomly and I didn't want to waste it, this isn't a ship fic btw. I really loved Spider-Verse and I for one, can't wait for it's sequel! This is meant to happen after Miles leaves the team, so possibly just as he's being chased by the Prowler. How Aunt May died is meant to be a reference to Spider-Man PS4 and did you guys catch the Big Bang Theory reference?
I know Peni isn't like this in the comics, she's more broody and serious. But I made her attitude match the movie more, in order too contrast Peter's attitude and outlook on life.
Also, I got a story planned which takes place after the Spider-Verse movie. Do you guys think I should write it?