Peter Parker

I guess this was inevitable. I just didn't think it would happen so soon, or happen in the way that it did. One moment, Ned, Craig, and I were hanging out in Central Park, passing the time until our appointment at Dapper Dan's. The next moment, there was a portal to The Inner Sanctum opening up behind us. There was only one person I know who would reach out to us.

That person was Doctor Stephen Strange.

So, I wasn't too surprised when I saw him waiting for us when the three of walked in. He wasn't alone, however. He was with Wong and two other people I didn't know. One of them was a girl who looked no older than me, dressed in a blue jean jacket over a grey shirt and a pair of black jean pants with matching Vans. The other was a white-haired woman in a purple outfit with shoulder pads. She had the most intense stare on her face.

I looked over my shoulder as the portal closed.

"So this is Spider-Man," the white-haired woman stated. I looked back at her, my eyes wide. "I have to say, he's not who I expected."

"I get that a lot," I replied sheepishly.

"Looks can be deceiving, can they?" Doctor Strange spoke up as he walked up to me. "Underneath that suit… or those suits of yours… is a kid who barely looks like he could be in college. And yet not only are you one of the most powerful superheroes in New York, you're also a lot more familiar with me than I remembered." He raised his eyebrows. "Right, Peter Parker?"

My mouth went ajar. I didn't expect to hear my name out of his mouth. Did he remember me all this time?

"Dude," Ned said as he suddenly looked at me from my peripheral. "I thought you said he didn't remember you?"

"Oh, he doesn't," Wong stated. "It's a long story – one regarding a spell that I warned him not to cast!" He gave Dr. Strange a pointed glare.

"A'ight, before we get into all that, I got a couple of questions," Craig spoke up. I looked at him. I almost forgot he was there. "First off, Doc…"

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" Strange asked in irritation.

Craig rolled his eyes. "Sorry." His apology was far from sincere. "First off, Doctor, why are we here? Second of all, who're the girl and the woman?"

"We probably should have started with introductions," Wong pointed out.

Strange paused for a moment. He then sighed. "My apologies." He cleared his throat. He beckoned towards the others. "Anyway, this is America Chavez…"

"Hello," she greeted with a wave. Craig, Ned, and I waved back.

"You may or may not know Wong."

"A pleasure," Wong said with a slight bow. I didn't know if I was supposed to bow back before I saw Craig do it. Ned and I quickly followed suit.

"And this is Clea."

"Pleased to meet you three," Clea stated stoically.

"The pleasure is all ours," I replied. I beckoned towards Craig. "This is Craig." I beckoned towards Ned. "And this is Ned."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Strange!" Ned spoke up enthusiastically. "I'm a huge fan of yours and –"

"Ay yo, Ned," Craig interrupted. "We're not here to be star struck."

Ned cleared his throat. "Sorry."

"It's all good." Craig brought his attention back to Stephen. "Why are we here?"

"So I could reconnect with Peter," Stephen replied. He started to pace as he held his hands together behind his bag. "See, I've been having a rather hectic last several days, dealing with quite a few universes. As a matter of fact, if I have a nickel for every universe I spent significant time in, well…" He paused in his pacing as he looked up in thought. "…I'd probably have about thirty five cents, which isn't a lot, but it's pretty weird it happened as many times as it did." He shook his head as he continued to pace, doing a 180. "Anyway, after dealing with The Scarlet Witch, Clea met me, and she took me along to help her save another universe. I stopped by a few other universes along the way. One of them was pretty similar to our own… except that universe's version of you was a little… bloodthirsty. He wore a black suit just like the one you've been wearing lately. He went after criminals and law enforcement agents alike. Apparently, a cop killed his girlfriend. I was able to talk him down from his ways and put him in a universe where he could have a fresh start."

I pressed my lips together. It reminded me of the nightmare I had. A part of me wanted to say I wouldn't even go far off the deep end like that, but considering that I almost killed Green Goblin for killing Aunt May and went Bryan Mills on six members of The Friends of Humanity because one of them busted open MJ's lip… well…

"Before that, though, he and I had a very interesting conversation. Once I was done with him, I made it a point to seek you out once Clea and I handled things. So, now that we're here, I have to ask." Stephen stopped in front of me. "What happened with The Spell?"

I frowned. "…It's a long story."

Stephen raised his eyebrows. "We have time."

I looked at Ned. Ned nodded. I looked at Craig. Craig looked off to the side in thought before he eventually nodded. I looked at Doctor Strange and sighed.

"It started in Italy," I began.

I went into detail about everything, from meeting Mysterio all the way down to the fight at The Statue of Liberty. During this, America looked a bit saddened, Wong looked at me with a look of concern, and even Clea's expression softened a bit.

"…Dude," America whispered out. "…How are you still functioning?"

I smiled slightly. "Let's just say I got a very good support system," I replied.

"Thank the heavens for that," Wong chimed in. "I've seen some of the fiercest warriors put an end to their own lives over lesser things."

"So he's been told," Craig replied.

Stephen Strange stared at me for a few seconds, causing me to look back at him. After some seconds, he shook his head slightly. "So you changed the spell six times," he said.

"I did," I admitted sheepishly.

Slowly he turned away as he started to pace again. "Did I not warn you?"

"…Um…"

"Be honest with me, Peter." He stopped in his tracks and gave me a small frown. "These last several days, I've been learning a bit about myself and learning to take criticism. If there's anything I did wrong, I'd like to know. So, I'll ask you again. Did I not warn you?"

I paused for a moment. I then shook my head slowly. "…You didn't."

Wong's eyes went wide briefly before he rolled them in annoyance. Clea turned her head and gave Strange a glare. Strange sighed. "Clea is glaring at me right now, isn't she?"

"She's glaring at you hard, bruh," Craig confirmed.

"I'm surprise your head is not exploding," Ned added.

"Wong rolled his eyes at you, too," I finished.

Stephen nodded. "Look, Peter, had this been months ago, I probably would have been berating you – yelling at you even," he began. "However, I'm in a different place now. I'm able to recognize when I'm culpable in a situation."

I frowned. "You were only trying to help."

"That still doesn't change the fact that I should've taken time fully explain things to you." He frowned. "I might have saved you a lot of grief along the way. So, with that, I must say, I'm truly sorry for my hand in what you've been through."

I stared at him for some seconds. I could see the remorse in his face. I could tell it was bugging him. I felt sorry for him, really. In all honesty, I never held any resentment towards him. Granted, I did agree that he probably should've spent a little more time explaining things. I wasn't well-versed in magic. I couldn't tell you the difference between a wizard and sorcerer. I couldn't even pull a rabbit out of a hat. But, he was trying his very best to help. And, in hindsight, there was a lot of ways I could've handled the Mysterio situation better. Besides, what's done is done, and I had absolutely no intention or desire to try and go back to change things.

"We're good, Doctor Strange," I replied. I smiled slightly. "We are good."

"Stephen," he corrected gently. "Given the circumstances, I think it's only right we're on first name basis."

At that, Craig scoffed. "But you and I are not?"

Stephen turned and glared at Craig. "Well, maybe if you didn't call me Doc all the time, I'd let you use my first name."

"And maybe I'll call you Doctor when you take back what you said about The Miami Heat!"

Stephen took in a deep breath, then let it out. "Looks like we're at an impasse."

"And it looks like we're about late for brunch," Wong spoke up. He then looked at Craig, Ned, and I. "Are you three joining us?"

I thought about it for a moment. "I could eat," I said. I glanced at Ned before I looked back on Wong. "Plus, I do need to speak to you guys regarding a matter anyway."

Craig took time to pull out his cellphone and check the time. "As long you can drop the three of us off at Dapper Dan's in about two and a half hours, I'm with it," he stated as he put his phone away.

"Then let us eat," Clea spoke up. "We can get to know each other."

And eat we did. As we ate, we discussed what was going on with our lives. I was saddened to hear about what happened to Wanda, but glad that America and Stephen survived that situation okay. I also couldn't help but feel both sorry for America – at this very moment, as far as she knows, she's the only member of her family left from the entire multiverse. And speaking of that, Ned, Craig, and I were shocked out to find out that every dream we dreamed was glimpse of a life of our respective variants.

"…So there is a universe where a version of me who lost their MJ," I said somberly. "That nightmare…" I sighed. I looked at Stephen. "How far gone was I?"

"Very far gone," Stephen replied. "Your friends – the X-Men and… The American Idiots, you call yourselves?" I nodded. "You guys fell apart. Craig did everything he could to bring you back from the edge, but with the crackdown on Anti-Accords vigilantes ramping up, he died trying to elude capture. Carmilla went nuts because of that and basically had the Bronx under siege every night until she was captured and institutionalized by SHIELD. Scott, Joanna, and Kitty was forced to flee to Genosha, and Ned and Betty… well, they stuck by you. But, they were forced to go underground because of it."

"That's crazy," Craig commented. He then tilted his head briefly. "But it's not too unbelievable, I don't think." He looked at me. "No offense, but we all know you'd start dropping people if someone so much as even graze MJ wrong."

"No offense taken," I replied with a shake of my head. "I just hope it never comes to that."

"I'm sure you'll make sure that won't happen," Clea stated as she sipped from her champagne glass. She then gave America a pointed glare when girl tried to reach for the champagne bottle. After America chuckled and pulled her hand away, she then looked back at me and gave me a surprisingly warm smile. "But I think we speak for everyone when I say we're happy that you're on your feet."

"Indeed," Stephen said with a nod. "But, I still feel like I owe you one. So, if there's anything you need…"

Ned cleared his throat. I looked at him, and tilted his head towards Stephen. Realizing what he wanted me to do, I looked back at Stephen.

"Um, there is one thing," I stated. "As I told you during my story, Ned has an affinity for magic. And I was wondering if you and Wong can take him underneath your wings."

"Is that all?" Stephen replied with a scoff. He gave me a dismissive wave. "Consider that a freebie." He looked at Ned. "We'll keep in touch. I take it you have no plans to move to Kamar-Taj. So, we'll have to work out a schedule. I hope you're ready to work hard, because you'll be under the tutelage of two of the most accomplished sorcerers on this planet."

"One of them is very humble, too," America deadpanned, causing Clea and Craig to chuckle. Stephen tried to give America a halfhearted glare, but he couldn't hold back his smirk of amusement as America gave him a cheeky smile.

Ned nodded enthusiastically. "I'm looking forward to it!" he exclaimed. "Thank you very much!"

"Don't thank me yet," Stephen replied with a chuckle of amusement "But, I'd like to see what you can do."

We continued to eat and exchange stories. Then about thirty minutes before our appointment, Craig, Ned, and I had to bid our farewells. Clea was kind enough to summon a portal that led right outside of the front door of Dapper Dan's. The three of us waved at the others as the portal closed.

"So that went very well," I said, ignoring the people that were gawking at us.

"Yeah, it did," Ned agreed joyously. "This summer is going to be awesome!"

"Yup… especially since it'll be the last summer until we hit college," Craig added. He paused as he furrowed up his eyebrows. "We still need to talk about that." He then shook his head dismissively. "But for now, we're here to get suited up." He beckoned towards the door. "Shall we?"

I smiled. At that very moment, I was happy. For a while, the Valentine's Day Dance was on the backburner for The American Idiots. A lot of it had to do with Justin Hammer and Scorpion. A little yet not insignificant part of it had to do with me opening up to MJ, Ned, and Betty about The Spell. With those issues resolved – even if temporarily as far as Hammer goes – I was free to be a teenager getting ready for a dance at Midtown High School. And I wasn't going to alone. With me, I was going with the love of my life, a man who has been like a brother to me since my first year of high school, an aspiring journalist who was always in my corner, and a pair of vigilantes – one a ninja and a former football player turned robber of drug traffickers – who basically adopted me as their little brother.

"Let's do it," I answered.