A/N: I know! Two chapters in one day?! Please leave me a comment and let me know what you like about the story so far! Thanks so much!

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Chapter Fourteen

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He was finally free! As soon as May found out about Tony giving Peter his now-repaired suit in that briefcase, at first she started to put her foot down.

"He's not ready! He's still healing. He-"

"I'm fine, May! Honest. My body is fully healed. Yeah, my mind is a bit fuzzy on the memories but they are all minor details." Peter had pleaded, nearly to the point of getting on his knees to beg her. Before Mary Jane came back into his life, he found that he was so entirely bored just sitting around all day and night. Ned got himself a summer job but he came around whenever he could. But still, Peter was itching to actually go out and do something. His muscles were pulled tight like a coil that was a moment away from being sprung. All this pent-up energy that he had, and he had no outlet to relieve it.

"I'm sure a bit of web-slinging wouldn't hurt him, May," Tony had piped up from his seat on the couch, "The exercise might do his mind a world of good. Besides, the news is starting to notice Spider-Man's absence and as a result, the riff-raff is starting up trouble on the streets again."

Aunt May's face had turned an alarming shade of red. "I don't want Peter fighting crime this soon!"

Tony had held up his hands in a sign of peace. "No one said anything about him fighting crime. Him being seen web-slinging through the city should scare a good chunk of them back into the basements they crawled out of."

That is what had convinced her. He was under strict rules not to stop and fight any crime unless he was in danger. But… As he promised, he couldn't help but think it was a lie.

Uncle Ben's words of power and responsibility flitted across his mind and he knew that if he saw a crime happen in front of him, there was no way that he could ignore it.

Which brought him to his current predicament. He had been web-slinging through downtown New York, loving the feeling of free-falling and then catching himself with a web, when his eyes caught on a specific flag-pole. He gasped as memories flooded back to him. Him using that very flag-pole in order to launch off of it to catch a van full of thugs with Chitauri tech as they tried to shoot him out of the sky. And beyond that, he remembered Flint Marko among them. He had been normal then. How in the hell had he wound up as that sand-man? He watched in his mind's eye of how Flint had begged him for his life, something about 'The Big Man' would kill him if he wound up in jail. But… how did he end up on the street again? Peter sent a message to Tony, requesting that they all got picked up for the Avengers' special holding facility. Did that not happen?

Peter groaned at the prospects this held. He now had a better idea why Flint Marko was so angry and wanted to kill him.

The address that Flint had given him that night came to mind… where the Big Man was supposedly supposed to meet with some of the city's top crime bosses. Peter supposed now that it was all one big trap for him now that he knew that the building he landed on had blown up. But someone had to have been watching him to know when to set off the bomb, to keep watch for when he was bound to arrive.

Peter flipped in the air after coming up from a down-swing and turned back in the direction that he came. He was going back to where the building exploded. He wanted some answers. See if he could find some sort of clues. Especially if what he feared deep in the recesses of his mind was true - that this 'Big Man' was creating super-powered villains like the Sand-Man from street criminals.

….

As he swung, he found that his thoughts drifted off to what Tony said to him after he pulled him aside before he left for the night.

"So, your little girlfriend-"

"She's not my girlfriend," Peter had protested weakly, half embarrassed by the notion but mostly wishing that it was true.

Tony gave him a long, speculative stare. "Yeah… ok. Sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night. She gave me a message for Spider-Man. But since it sounds like you don't care-"

Tony started to walk toward the front door.

"No, wait!' Peter ran forward to grab Tony's arm to halt his progress. "What did she say?"

He tried not to sound overly eager. On some level, this was a bit messed up. Two parts of him entangled directly with the same girl, trying to keep his secret at the same time as dancing precariously around her, dangling it in front of her.

Tony smirked at his desperate tone to hear what she had to say. "Something about how she decides her own fate and to meet her on the roof of this building tomorrow night at eight o'clock."

He remembered freezing in shock. In a roundabout way, fate did find a way to get them in contact with each other again. The first was something that MJ wasn't aware of, when she met him as Peter Parker for the first time. The second, was when she found a way to reach him through Tony.

So Mary Jane wanted to meet him again. Or rather, she wanted to meet up with Spider-Man. He wasn't sure what to make of that. How he felt about it. He knew that those who Spider-Man specifically got close to could end up as a target.

But how would she feel if Spider-Man never sought her out again after she went out of her way to contact him? Would she feel abandoned? Neglected? The thought caused his stomach to roil with bile. He never wanted to be the cause of those feelings for her.

But the danger…

He sighed. He had until tomorrow night to decide if he was going to show up or not. Until then, he should focus.

It didn't take him much longer to find the burnt-down building. He remembered the way and he noticed that Tony had put his suit back under 'training' mode, which meant that he no longer had Karen to guide him.

The site was a mess. It was coned off with police tape and "Do Not Trespass" signs. And beyond that was the base of charred brick. It was all that was left.

Peter sighed as he closed his eyes and tried to hone in on his newly recovered memory of that night.

He had just landed on the roof of the building and his Spider-Sense had alerted him of the impending danger, enough for him to leap out of the way but not enough for him to avoid the blast of the explosion that sent him head-first toward the ground below. But that wasn't all that he had felt before he realized the imminent danger of the blast. No… his Spider-Sense was also trying to direct his attention somewhere else. Toward the building directly across the street…

Peter's eyes snapped open and he turned to face that very building.

It matched the rest of the street, in its drab, run-down look. This was definitely not the best part of the neighborhood. Peter pointed his hand up in the air and shot a web at the roof of the building before pulling it tight, allowing it for him to propel himself in the air enough for him to land on the wall of the building. He crawled stealthily, the place was completely dark and his Spider-Sense was quiet. He didn't think that there was anyone there. But he would look for clues.

He used his sticky fingers against the glass of the window to open it. Luckily, it was unlocked. He crawled into the room and onto the ceiling, his eyes surveying the room below. It was completely empty of everything except dust. He sighed and let himself drop onto the floor on his feet and made his way for the door and out into the hall.

The next room was the same, empty except for a good amount of dust bunnies and some dead roaches on the floor. Peter shivered at the sight.

But the last room, the one at the end of the hall, had a desk and a couple of chairs. He walked in, trying to side-step around the dead roaches on the floor of this room as well. He searched the desk drawers first. All of them were empty. He was starting to get really frustrated when something on the floor caught his eye. He crouched down and saw a piece of thick, creme paper stuck underneath the foot of the desk. With one hand, he lifted the side of the desk a couple of inches and pulled the paper out.

It was an invitation, but it wasn't addressed to anyone in particular.

Lincoln Charity Auction Ball

Mandarin Oriental Hotel

August 14, 2017

8:00 PM

The ball was in three days. And something told him that the Big Man was going to be there. And Spider-Man was going to be waiting for him.

…..

Mary Jane looked out at the city skyline, her eyes scanning the buildings for any sign of him. Her heart had been hammering in her chest long before she made her way up here and the length of time hadn't changed the pace of it much. In fact, every time she caught movement out of the corner of her eye - whether it be a bird or a pedestrian on the street below - her heart would leap up to her throat.

She checked her phone for the tenth time.

8:01 PM.

He was officially late.

"Don't panic over a minute, Mary Jane," She muttered to herself as she leaned heavily against the parapet, "He's a busy guy."

It was all over the news that Spider-Man was spotted web-slinging through the skies last night, so she took it that he got his freedom back to him and was no longer grounded. But would he be too busy to come see her? Did he even want to see her? His last words to her about fate were so ominous that Mary Jane was starting to second guess herself.

Or perhaps… did he even know about her request for him to meet her tonight? Did Mr. Stark decide that she was just a silly girl that was overstepping her reach for trying to get in touch with a guy who fought with the Avengers? Who took down the Vulture?

Was she being silly?

Never before in her life had she doubted herself like this. Her parents did that enough for her. But when it came to Spider-Man? Something about him made her weak in the knees. She always craved his presence. His upbeat attitude was just that infectious. He helped her to forget why she had even been upset that first night when she met him. And again, he put her at ease after the fight with the Sandman… after her dad had hit her.

She sighed. She would be disappointed if he didn't show up but she resolved herself to understand. He was probably taking down a drug lord or rescuing a cat from a tree. The image of the last one made her smile, because she could totally see him doing that unironically. That was just the sort of hero he was.

His words from the alleyway came back to her. She had asked him why he does what he does, and his answer had been simple: Responsibility.

She checked her phone again.

8:02 PM

"So…" A voice piped up from behind her, which caused her to nearly jump out of her skin. She whirled on the heels of her feet, facing the brick wall of the building… and there he was - propped up against the wall with his arms crossed across his chest. He was no longer wearing that homemade suit and was now back in the one he had been wearing the night that she met him. He was here! He came! "You create your own fate, huh?"

Again, how was it that his emotions were able to be so blatantly clear despite his mask? It was clear to Mary Jane that he was both disapproving and amused. She hoped that the latter won out over the disapproval in the end.

Mary Jane bolstered her confidence and leaned back against the roof's barrier with a smug grin. She jutted her chin out at him. "You got a problem with that, Spider?"

He let out a bit of a chuckle, much to her triumph. "Not at all. It just makes you sound a bit like Doctor Fate, is all."

Her brows furrowed with a confused smile on her face. "Who's Doctor Fate?"

His hand went to his chest as though he had been wounded. "What? You don't know who Doctor Fate is?"

She let out a laugh at his antics and shook her head. "No. Am I supposed to know? Is he an Avenger or something?"

Spider-Man was shaking his head in dismay. "I can't believe this. Doctor Fate is a comic book hero," He spoke animatedly with his hands. "In one of his iterations on Smallville, he has a power of seeing everyone's fate but his own. So, he has to create it. Kinda a cool concept except I like the comic book version of him better."

Mary Jane stared at him for the longest moment, before… "Oh my- You're a total nerd!"

"Wha-? No, I'm not!"

She was nodding vigorously. "You are. You totally are."

Spider-Man made a sputtering noise as he waved his hand at her. "Isn't it kinda my job to study this sort of thing? What if I meet some sort of wizard someday? I need to be prepared."

Mary Jane snorted. "A wizard? Seriously?"

He was so adorable.

Spider-Man nodded, completely serious. "We used to think aliens weren't a thing, either. Then, bam. The attack on New York."

This sombered her a bit as memories from that day came flooding back… The fear that she had of the aliens, afraid that they would make their way to Brooklyn to come and find her. She shuddered and turned her back to look out at the city landscape. She heard Spider-Man's footsteps approach until he was standing right beside her, his elbows resting on the ledge.

She peaked over at him. "Did you have your powers back then? During the battle?"

The thought seemed to take him aback. "You think if I did, I could have stayed away from the fight?"

Mary Jane sputtered and rolled her eyes at him. "Please, you would have been what? Only Eleven? Twelve? Thirteen at the time of the battle?"

His head turned sharply to look at her. "What makes you think that I am in my teens?"

She turned fully to face him, her elbow resting on the ledge. "Well, am I wrong?"

It took a long moment for him to answer. So long that she thought that he was trying to find a way to politely change the topic. Until… "No. You're not wrong."

She grinned at him triumphantly and faced back to look at the city. "Of course, if I was wrong and you were actually in your 40s, then we would have bigger problems. Like the fact you would be a grown man hanging out on a rooftop with a sixteen year old girl."

Spider-Man let out a noise that was a mixture between a scoff and a bemused laugh.

"Besides… you totally gave it away when you told me that you were grounded," She bit her lip and surveyed him. "I take it you're not grounded anymore?"

He hummed and Mary Jane wasn't sure what that meant. He saw her confusion and set out to clarify. "I'm allowed out now but they told me that I can only web-sling, so that the criminals on the streets will be too intimidated again to start their crime waves. But I've been banned from fighting crime until further notice."

His voice sounded very disgruntled at this and Mary Jane could understand how frustrating that must be for him. "So, what? You see someone getting mugged on the streets and you're supposed to just ignore it?"

The idea of it all sounded so wrong. It went against everything that she knew Spider-Man stood for.

He groaned and rubbed his hand down his masked head. "I already know that it's going to be a rule that I'm going to have to break. Multiple times. I just hope that Tony doesn't take my suit away again…"

He said the last part mostly to himself but Mary Jane heard him anyway. She chose not to comment on it. She had already poked around too much in his business already by discussing his age. She didn't want him to regret meeting her tonight. But she could add yet another thing that she knew to be true about Spider-Man. He wore his heart on his sleeve.

Suddenly, the blaring sirens of multiple cop cars a few blocks over cut through the air. Spider-Man whirled, on high alert, then turned back to her.

"I have to go!" He said in a rushed manner.

He started to turn away from her but before he could get away, she grabbed his wrist. "Wait!"

Then, she wrapped her arms around him, tight. Wishing that she could keep him here with her despite her earlier words of him not ignoring those in need. Wishing that he didn't have to leave so soon.

"Be safe." She whispered to him and then somehow, she found the strength to release him.

"I will." He promised before he jumped up on the ledge and jumped out in the air, shooting out a web in the process. She watched him go until she could no longer see him. She never had a chance to confirm with him on when she could see him again. She sighed. She was back to square one. But hopefully, this time, he didn't want to leave their next meeting to 'fate' like he believed previously and he would instead come find her.

Something on the ground suddenly caught her eye. It was a thick piece of paper on the ground where Spider-Man previously stood. She frowned. Did he drop it?

Taking a step forward, she bent and picked the paper up and read it.

Lincoln Charity Auction Ball

Mandarin Oriental Hotel

August 14, 2017

8:00 PM

The ball was in two days. Excitement flared in her chest. Because she knew deep in her gut that Spider-Man was going to be at this ball. And there, she could set up the next meeting following when she ran into him at the ball.

All that Mary Jane Waston knew in that moment was that she was going to find a way into that ball and find him. She didn't really trust him yet to seek her out on his own.

"Because I make my own fate."

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