While I waited, I did different things around the house. I showered, brushed my teeth, and the like. I cleaned up around the apartment. I made breakfast and ate. I washed dishes. I checked my bruises, which were already fading away – I figured they'd be gone by tonight and the pain in my back and ribs would be gone by tomorrow morning. All the while, I mentally prepared myself to not flake and to accept every bit of the consequences of my actions.

It's the mature thing to do, right?

Unfortunately, I finished everything a bit early. By the time it was done, it was a few minutes past noon. I wanted to pass the time, but I was not in the mood to do anything but just wait. So, three o'clock approached at a snail's pace.

Mercilessly, or perhaps mercifully, I heard a knock on the door. I checked the time.

Three o'clock on the dot.

With a sigh, I stood up and looked down at my clothes. I was dressed in a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. I was decent enough, I supposed. So, I walked up to the door and checked the peephole. There was Ned, there was Betty, and there was MJ.

Let's get this over with, I thought to myself.

I unlocked the door and opened it. "Hey guys," I greeted. I stepped aside. "Welcome to my humble abode." I deadpanned that last part. They walked in and looked around. I closed the door then walked over to the fridge.

"Wow… quite the place you have here," Betty remarked politely. I looked at her and gave her a slight glare. I knew she was just trying to be nice. She always made it a point not to be judgmental. However…

"I believe Craig would call that cap," I deadpanned.

"Okay, since she won't say it, I will," MJ interjected. "Peter, this place is barely a step up from a prison and right on par with the cheapest of college dorms."

Betty glared at MJ. "Michelle…."

"No, she's right," I interjected. "To be honest, I kind of hate this place."

"Then why live here?" Ned said as he walked around the place a little bit.

"Well, the rent is cheap, the walls are thick enough where I don't hear the neighbors most of the time, the people in this building tend to mind their own business, the A/C is surprisingly passable and I have yet to have a pest problem." I opened the fridge and looked inside of it. "Anyway, y'all want anything to drink? I got water, a Red Bull, a Monster, a Rockstar, some Celsius, Bang, Reign…"

"Wow, quite the selection, loser," MJ commented dryly. "Do you have any cocaine? I figured that'd be the next logical step." Without missing a beat, I reached inside of the fridge, grabbed a can of Cocaine energy drink, pulled it out, and tossed it towards MJ. MJ caught it with one hand and looked down at the can. She then looked back at me with a narrow-eyed glare. "You're not cute."

"I'm adorable."

She flipped me off with her freehand as she stuck her tongue out at me. I smirked in response. She cracked open the can and took a sip. She grimaced. "I'm reminded why I prefer tea."

"How are you holding up?" Betty asked. "I heard things were rather rough for you last night."

"Yeah, they were." I reached in and grabbed a bottle of water. After I pulled it out, I closed the fridge. I looked at the three of them, who were looking back at me in concern. I sighed. It was time to stop beating around the bush. "Guys, please sit on the bed."

They all looked at me funny, but slowly complied, taking a seat on my bed. I sighed before opened my bottle and took a long sip. After that, I closed the bottle back up and put it back in the fridge. I closed the fridge and walked over to my closet. I reached inside of it and grabbed by webshooters before I put them on. I took in a breath. I then bent my knees before I jumped up in the air. I cartwheeled in the air before I landed on the ceiling in all fours. As I crawled over to them, Betty looked like her jaw was going to go through the floor and her eyes were going to increase a thousand times in size. Ned and MJ, however, only looked mildly surprised. I shot a strand of webbing onto the ceiling before I lowered myself, hanging from the strand.

"You…" Betty began before she trailed off, still at a loss for words. "You… you…" She swallowed. "You're Spider-Man?!"

"In the flesh," I confirmed.

"So… you… all this time…?" Betty trailed off as she looked back and forth between MJ and Ned. "Why aren't you guys as shocked as I am?"

"…We were about 75 percent sure he was Spider-Man," MJ replied.

"We're more surprised he came out and told us," Ned added.

I tilted my head. "How'd you guys figure?" I inquired. I was curious.

"Well, you suck at hiding your bruises and your limping," MJ began.

"Every single injury you get is consistent with the stuff Spider-Man went through," Ned chimed in.

"There was that time when we tried to see American Idiot the first time and you said something was wrong right before the gunmen rushed in."

"Also, right before you got shot, you had Kitty take me to the Subway station when I'm pretty sure she could have taken both of us."

"Speaking of getting shot, you got shot in the exact same place Spider-Man got shot that day, according to the dash cam footage released by the NYPD."

"And you yourself said you heal fast."

"Also, you and Spider-Man sound exactly the same," MJ concluded.

Betty was quiet for a few moments. She then looked down at the floor. "Am I stupid?" she asked out loud, though I was pretty sure she was asking herself more than she was asking anyone else in the room. "I'm stupid, aren't I?"

"You're not, Sweetie," Ned assured her as he wrapped her left arm around before he placed a kiss on her temple. "We just have been around him longer than you have." He then looked up at me. "I'm glad you finally told us."

"I wish I could say the same thing," I replied glumly. "Because this wasn't the main thing I wanted to tell you." I dropped from the ceiling, turned in the air, and landed on my feet. "You all might hate me for this."

"So we were told by MJ," Betty said. She looked up from the floor and at me. "What could be so major that you being Spider-Man would be the second biggest news today?"

I paused for a moment before I swallowed the lump in my throat. "…Um… Do you guys believe in magic?"

"Are you talking like wizardry, sorcery, and the like?" MJ inquired.

"…Yes."

"I mean, considering what we've seen happen on this planet, I think it'd be pretty weird not to at least believe in the possibility of magic being real," Betty pointed out.

"Plus I'm pretty sure my Lola knows magic," Ned added.

I nodded a few times. "Okay, now that we have that established…"

I explained to them everything – every single last detail. I made sure to not skimp on anything. I didn't exaggerate, I didn't downplay. I wanted them to know all of the facts so they could judge for themselves. All throughout it all, they were quiet and unmoving in their expressions as they took it all in. As I talked it about it, I felt like someone took a hundred pounds of steel off my chest and replaced it with two hundred pounds of the same material. While I was happy to finally tell my friends the truth, I was more than afraid with how they would look at me now.

Once I was done, I waited for their reaction.

"…Dude," Ned said.

"I know," I replied. "I know, I know, I know, I know…"

"…Peter," Betty whispered out. "Peter I…" She went quiet as she lowered her head into her hands.

MJ, however, didn't do anything at first. I looked at her, waiting to see what she would say. She looked at me with that nigh-trademark glare of hers. I steeled myself, expecting to get yelled at, insulted, belittled… everything under the sun. And honestly, I deserved it. But I didn't get that. Instead, she quietly stood up and gave me one last look before she walked out the door. I wished she did just yell at me for however long she wanted to, because seeing her walk out was painful. I wanted to stop her, I really did. But, something told me that it would have been a bad idea.

"…I'm going to keep her company," Betty said as she stood up and walked towards the door.

"I'll come with you," Ned said as he stood up.

"No, you stay here. Peter needs a friend." Betty looked straight at me with a look of sympathy in her eyes. "…I better see you at work tomorrow, okay? I may not be as observant as these two, but I will track you down if I have to, okay?"

"Okay," I said quietly.

Betty offered me up a smile. "I'll see you tomorrow."

With that, she walked out of the door to find MJ. Once the door was closed, I walked up to it and locked it. I then turned around and leaned back against it. I looked at Ned and smiled.

"She's quite the catch, dude," I complimented.

"Thanks," Ned replied. "She's an angel." He sat back down on the bed. "…Are you okay?"

At this, I scoffed. "Am I okay? I literally just dropped a Death Star sized bombshell on your lap, but you're asking me if I'm okay?"

"Dude, I'm not the one whose love of his life just walked out of the room without saying a word."

I took in a breath as I nodded. "Touché, Ned." I walked over and sat next to him on the bed. "Touché." I looked at him. "No, I'm not okay. Last night, I got my behind handed to me by Scorpion and saw Frictor get injured to the point that he had to be hospitalized in Harlem." Ned's eyes went wide as he opened his mouth, but I quickly continued. "It's in a place unknown to the public, so the government can't find him. Anyway, I'm pretty sure if Shadowcat and Cyclops didn't show up, Frictor might've been dead or worse."

"Cyclops?" Ned asked. "It's that who that 1930's mobster looking guy was?"

"Yeah," I confirmed. "That's Scott."

"You don't say." Despite this, Ned couldn't help but smirk. "Dude was badass last night."

I was given pause. I then tilted my head in acknowledgment. "You're right, he was." I smiled briefly before I continued. "But, back on topic… I'm pretty sure I would have been a lot more okay if MJ just yelled at me for hours on end. But that…" I sighed. "That hurts. That hurts a lot. I feel like I screwed everything up."

"…I mean, technically you did… but I don't think it's the worst thing in the world," Ned offered.

"What do you mean?" I inquired. I was confused.

"Like… look. We both know that MJ is like… the most upfront when it comes to saying how she feels, right?"

"Right."

"And so, if she didn't say anything… she's probably just trying to process it all. And… don't get me wrong. She is definitely mad at you and she probably will yell at you once she has her feelings sorted out but… there's still a huge chance that things aren't over between you and her. If they were, she would have told you right there and then. But she didn't so… I guess what I'm trying to say is… give her time."

I took a moment to digest what he said. I then nodded slowly before smiled slightly. "Thanks, Ned. I really appreciate it."

"No problem, dude."

I sighed before I looked forward at the door. "…Why aren't you mad at me?"

"Oh, I am very mad at you," Ned corrected with a humorless laugh. "You have no idea how weird it is to know that my best bud – the closest thing I've ever had to a brother and the missing piece of our power trio – had our memories wiped, and didn't even tell us. It's like… ever since you rejoined and reformed our trio and kinda made it into a quartet, I just… I felt like you were important to us somehow and I just felt like there were gaps in my memory and…" Ned paused took a deep breath. "What I'm saying is… I'm mad you didn't tell us early on when you should have. And you were wrong for that… but… I at least feel a bit better that you didn't do it because you grew tired of us, you know?"

"…I'm sorry Ned," I said in an earnest quiet tone.

"Just don't keep these secrets anymore, okay? I kinda need you to be open if I'm going to be your guy in the chair again."

I stood up. "Excuse me?!" I exclaimed. "Ned I can't – "

"Yes you can," Ned replied as he stood up. "Look, dude, I understand you don't want me to be put in danger, but Justin Hammer is the reason why my best bud and one of my new friends almost ended up on a t-shirt. Fuck that guy!"

I couldn't help but burst out laughing. I found the way he said that last part funny, but I also laughed because of the modicum of relief in my chest. Ned still had my back. So, as I laughed, I pulled him into a tight hug, just remembering not to hold him too tight. Much to my relief and joy, he returned the hug with the same intensity.

"Well, welcome back, dude," I finally said after getting over my laughing fit.

"It feels good to be back… for the first time…" Ned trailed off. "Yeah, let's go with that."

We hung out for a little bit longer, with me mostly answering the questions he had for me about life pre-Spell. During that time, I almost forgot MJ walking out of the door.

Almost.

But when Ned left, telling me he'll see me tomorrow as he does so, and I closed the door behind him, it all came rushing back to me. I shook my head and walked over to my bed before I sat down. A part of me was afraid that that was going to be the last time I saw her. If it was, I couldn't blame her. Intentions never excuse anyone from consequences – that was what my aunt told me. Then again, maybe Ned was right and I just needed to give MJ time. I debated it in my head before deciding that the best thing I could do was just wait.

I decided I needed a nap – just enough so I can sleep this day off like a hangover.

Not that I ever been drunk before. Probably for the best.

I was about to lie down when I phone vibrated on my nightstand. I reached over and picked it up, looking at the screen.

Scott Summers.

I immediately answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey Peter," Scott greeted. "Are you okay?"

"…I am, and I'm not." I took in a breath. "I take it you heard about what happened today?"

"Yeah. Betty called me and told me everything. According to her, I'm the only adult that she knows for sure is in your life."

I thought about it for a moment. I then rolled my eyes at the truth of that statement. "…She's right." I sighed. "Ned decided to be my guy in the chair again, and he and Betty are still my friends. But… MJ… I'm trying to give her time, but I'm afraid that she'll never want anything to do with me again."

"Hmmmm…" Scott went quiet for a bit. "Are you doing anything tonight?"

"I can't say that I am, especially since you got me on the reserve list."

"Are you hungry?"

I paused for a moment as I focused on my body for a bit. "…Starving, actually."

"Well, I'm about to order some Thai food. If you want, I can have Kitty pick you up and we can talk over dinner. What do you say?"

It was such a hard choice to make. It was either go to dinner and have Scott and Kitty deal with my depressed self, or stay here in this lonely apartment that I barely even consider home and risk the temptation of banging my head against the wall until I knock myself unconscious.

"Okay. Just tell me when I need to be ready."

Like I said – hard choice.