The next morning, Peter Parker stood in front of Joline Wang's door, holding the now cleaned up tray. It was just time for breakfast, and it seemed like Joline was already awake based on her footsteps (thank you super hearing!).
Peter gulped and knocked on the door, hearing a soft "Coming!" from the inside and waited. Joline opened the door, and after seeing his face she smiled.
"Peter! Well this is new, come in, come in!" She opened the door wider and motioned for him to go in.
"I'm just here to return the tray-- the lasagna was delicious by the way. Thank you again!" He passed the tray to her, making her laugh. He didn't really want to come in, not wanting to disturb her privacy.
Joline had none of that. She took the tray and went inside to put it somewhere, then came back to the door.
"Why don't we have breakfast together? I cooked more than I intended. There's too much bacon, egg, and toast now." Joline offered.
"Oh no, it's okay, I--" He tried to reject, making Joline sigh and cross her arms as she analyzed him intently. Peter felt like she was looking into his soul.
"Can I tell you the truth, Peter?" She started.
"...Sure?"
"I noticed that you have been living alone, and based on the... 'messy' looking apartment of yours that I glimpsed yesterday, you're not used to doing stuff on your own." She concluded. How was she so spot on?
"The thing is... You don't have to do it alone. I can help you with your stuff if you want. I have been living alone too these few years, and I could give some pointers."
She had been living alone? She looked around the same age as him! Is she also...
"First thing that I could teach you is cooking simple recipes you can try." She offered.
He stared into her eyes intently. There were no ill intentions-- if there were, his Spidey-senses would pick it up before he could spell Avengers.
"Alright, fine." He gave in, holding both of his hands off in the air in surrender. Joline gave a silent whoop that made him chuckle.
"Nice. So come on in, sunshine!"
Peter walked inside and let Joline close the door. The apartment looked comfortable and well furnished. Peter wonders how? Their building wasn't really nice. As if to answer his question, Joline smiled as she patted the red sofa-- She must've really liked red.
"I saved a lot and researched a lot of stuff on 'How to Make My Cheap Apartment Look Better'... And voila! My humble abode." Joline sighed contently, fawning over a lamp stool, making Peter shook his head.
"The internet is wonderful. You can search anything from it and find tons of stuff." She left the lamp stool and went to the kitchen, making him follow along.
"You can even get the number of Nick Fury too, apparently. Isn't that cool?" She giggled, "But Nick Fury isn't that dumb, so I doubt it's his number anyways."
Peter looked away in shame by that, remembering the MIT admissions incident a few months ago. He cringed at how dumb he was. Well in the end he decided to not go to MIT since it was in Massachusets, but having his best friend and ex-girlfriend not remember him was even worse than not getting to MIT.
"Well, anyways!" Joline clapped her hands, as if to clean them from flour. She then went to get two new plates and set them up in the dining table, along with the plate of bacon, eggs, and toast.
"You can cook bacon first, it leaves enough fat that can act as an oil when you cook eggs. For my toast, I usually butter them both sides and sprinkle some sugar to make it sweet. It caramelizes when you pan fry them-- No oil, it's better than using a toaster. Or if you're not feeling for some sweet sugary toast, you can trade the sugar up with oregano, then fry it. I don't really like garlic but if you want you can add that too. You get a toasty garlic bread like this!" She pointed to the garlic bread toast, but there was no garlic in it.
"Looks amazing!" Peter gasped as he took in the food in the table. "You like cooking, huh?" He tried to ask, wanting to quench his curiosity.
"Yep," Joline said, popping the p, "Makes me forget about my misery in life." She softly chuckled with a sad smile.
Peter sighed at that, remembering his own miseries.
"Well off with the negativity, let's eat?" Joline sat down in one of the chairs, making Peter follow with a smile.
The breakfast was absolutely delicious! Joline was an amazing cook. He had never tasted such an elite french toast like that before. Even the normal eggs were seasoned to perfection.
As he helped Joline wash the dishes he couldn't help but ask.
"Are you a chef? Or want to be one. Your cooking is great, feels like it could be in a five star restaurant." Peter complimented.
"Aww, thanks." Joline cooed, heart warming. "No, it's just a hobby, sadly."
"Ah, I see..." He trailed off, not wanting to pry.
"Did you get blipped, Peter?" Joline asked, voice softer than her usual tone.
Peter stopped washing the dishes at that, and memories when he fought Thanos came back, and how he was in the arms of Mr. Stark, seeing his distraught face. He remembered waking up in an unknown planet that was said to be Titan, where the Guardians and Doctor Strange was also there. He also remembered how he got to the big fight when Strange opened the portal to the Avengers Compound, saying "It's time."
And also when... When Tony died.
Noticing his distraught, Joline stopped drying the plate and put it down, patting Peter in the back.
"Hey, are you okay?" She asked softly.
No, he answered honestly. It seemed like he had said it out loud. Joline patted his back in circles.
"I'm sorry I asked. It must've been a hard time for you." She apologized.
"No, it's okay. I've just been going through a lot lately and it reminded me of some things."
Tony died.
The Mysterio thing happened.
May also died.
Three Spider-Men!
The Multiverse is real.
Nobody remembers him anymore.
Not Ned, and not even MJ.
Nobody remembers him anymore.
"I didn't get blipped, you know? So I had to watch and go through those five years. But it must've been hard for you and those people to 'wake up' after five years to see so much change." Joline sighed.
"Yeah... It was an experience." He muttered.
"Isn't it weird how people came back older than they were? I was thirteen before the blip happened. Now I'm eighteen and about to start college!" She tried to turn the topic around.
"College?" He blink, resuming to work on washing the dishes.
"I'm a future ESU student! How about you? Are you in college?" She asked back, curious.
"Nah, I haven't got accepted yet-- to MIT. I don't think I'll go there as well-- It's far from New York." He admitted.
"What do you want to major in?"
"Biochemistry and bioengineering, I guess."
"ESU has great biochemistry and bioengineering programs too. If you want, they're opening admissions again in January after Winter break." Joline explained.
Feeling dumb, Peter asked, "What's ESU?"
"Empire State University. It's pretty close from here, actually. just an hour of train ride since they're a little bit outside of New York. Quite a large campus!" Joline giggled, "Their motto is also Excelsior! Isn't that neat?"
"Sounds neat. What do you major in?"
"Engineering. I want to be like Tony Stark." She admitted proudly. "But MIT is a bit far so ESU could still do. I'm sure he would say something like the place you study doesn't matter as long as you do good."
"Yeah, he's like that in a way..."
They eventually finished cleaning up. Peter was away in his thoughts as he recounted a few moments of his life the past year. He'd been through a lot. But he took a glance at a now sullen Joline. She looked sad in a way. Maybe talking about this relived the memories of the past for her too.
She remained pretty tight lipped about her past, even though she tried to ask him about his. Peter didn't mind because Joline probably meant well. She was genuine. While he was an open book. She was probably just curious.
His sense tell him that there was more to Joline that meets the eye.
He noticed how her smile turned from happy to sad in a second, and how she quickly got together and masked it all.
She was like him, in a way.
Lonely, alone.
"Thank you for breakfast, Joline. It was delicious as always." He says.
"You're welcome, Peter. Thank you for putting up with me... I'm sorry." She apologized.
"Don't apologize. You're just being who you are." He gave an assuring smile, making her smile as well.
"Thanks, Peter. You're really nice." They both smiled at each other in content.
"Hate to break it to you but I have to go back and unpack," He chuckled.
"You mean, finally unpack?" She giggled.
"Yeah, more or less." He smiled softly.
"If you need help, I'm always here?" She offered.
"I know, but this is something I have to do myself." He said honestly. Joline nodded in understanding. They both reached the door and Joline opened it for him.
"Good luck, Peter." She offered honestly.
"Thanks, Joline."
He went out of her unit and went to his. Joline's eyes met his as he stopped in front of his door, breathing in anticipation. With a little wave good bye, Peter finally went inside his apartment and did what he had been holding off these past few days,
Facing his past.
