Saturday morning rolled around. Last night's patrol was relatively easygoing. Other than that one car chase, I didn't really do much. New York was mostly quiet. So, when I woke up, I didn't have much in the way of aches and pains – just the normal soreness, and that would go away soon.

I sat at my desk, looking down at a piece of notebook paper and a pen. I was friends with MJ and Ned again. And I've gotten closer with Betty than I ever did before the spell. I guess we were kind of friends during that time, but it was never to a point where we were in the same group chat, bantering with everyone else.

"Funny how things can change," I muttered to myself.

I thought about the plan again – the original one I made before I wanted to keep my distance away from MJ and Ned for their sake. A part of me was screaming inside, telling me not to go back to that plan. Memories from the time leading up to the spell flooded my mind, reminding me about how every single mistake and fuck-up led to every bad thing that happened during that time, from MJ and Ned being rejected by every single college they applied to, to villains from other dimensions wreaking havoc across New York, to Happy's apartment being destroyed…

…to Aunt May's death.

I took in a breath and I clenched my eyes shut. I felt myself start to unravel. Slowly, I breathed in and out deeply, trying to keep myself from breaking down. It was something I've always done since that fateful day.

Don't cry… Don't Cry… Don't...

I was taken out of my thoughts when I saw my phone vibrate. I took in another breath and blinked a few times. I then reached down and checked the text.

"Hey Dork."

And just like that, my mood lightened. I shook my head. If only MJ knew the kind of effect she had on me. I typed back.

"Hey MJ. What's going on?"

"Heard Ned invited you over tonight. You coming?"

"Yes." I typed it and sent it without thinking. After a few moments, I sent another message. "Matter fact, I have to give him a call. I told him I'd let him know and meet him earlier."

"Good. Because being the third wheel on Ned and Betty's date is not how I like to spend my Saturday night. Like, ugh! Can you imagine! ."

"They love each other. But if you need me to suffer with you, I suppose I can do that for you."

"Well aren't you cute."

"Oh I'm adorable."

"Whatever. I'll see you 2nite, loser!"

"Likewise."

I set the phone down for a moment. I then looked down at the piece of paper in front of me. I picked up the pen and started to make a list of sorts. Once I was done, I put my pen down and picked the phone back up before I dialed Ned's number. After some moments, he picked up.

"Hey Ned. I'm down to hang out. Where and when do you want me to meet you?"

A couple of hours later, I got ready to head out. As I was dressing, I eyed my Spider-Man suit. I remembered how Peter #2 wore his suit underneath his clothes. As I thought about it, it didn't seem like that bad of an idea. Plus, with it still being winter, it would've been easy for me to conceal with clothes fit for the season. After thinking about it, I grabbed the suit.

A few minutes later, the suit was underneath a pair of blue jeans and a black sweater over a white shirt. I made sure my webshooters were concealed underneath the sleeves of my sweater and a pair of gloves. After I put on my sneakers, I grabbed my keys and made my way out.

About thirty minutes later, I met Ned in front of a supermarket.

"What's up?" he greeted.

"I'm here," I replied. The two of us shared a simple handshake. He then looked a bit confused as he withdrew his hand. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's just… Okay, call me weird… I know we just started becoming friends very recently, but I feel like we should have our own handshake or something."

I smiled in amusement. "Really?"

"Yeah. Weird, right? But… MJ and I were talking the other day. We feel like you fit in nice with our whole group. So, maybe it's not just a coincidence?"

It wasn't. That's what I wanted to say. But I couldn't.

Not yet, a part of me thought.

Instead, I smiled wryly. "Let's be weird together, right?" I offered.

"Yeah," Ned said with a nod. "But let's go inside and get what we need."

Once we were inside, we grabbed a grocery cart and went searching. Well, Ned went searching, and I just followed him around and helped him grab stuff. We started off at the meat aisle and grabbed two whole chickens that were precut into its major portions. After that, we went to the spice aisle and grabbed the seasoning Ned needed. As I looked at some of the spices, Ned spoke.

"I'm sorry about asking about your family the other night," he apologized.

I shrugged. "Don't worry about it," I said dismissively. "You couldn't have known."

"Are you like on bad terms with your folks are something?"

I grabbed a bottle filled with peppercorns and tossed it into Ned's cart. "I almost wish." I paused for a moment. I looked at him. "I don't have much left as far as family goes. And I don't really like to dwell on it." I left out the part where I felt like a good chunk of it was my fault. "I'm just… I made some bad decisions before and I'm trying my best to pick up the pieces."

"I see," Ned said. "…I'm sorry."

"Don't be." I smiled. "My life isn't as dreary as it sounds, I promise you. GED classes are cool – it helps that my teacher is a pretty okay guy. But he's very mysterious."

"Oh really?" Ned inquired as he started to push the cart. I walked with him.

"Yeah, I don't know what it is about him, to be honest. He just gives me the impression that he's like one of those movie characters, the ones that have mundane jobs but used to be some kind of Special Forces guy in the past."

"You know, I remember a guest speaker at Midtown like that." Ned stopped briefly to grab some brown sugar. "He's this tenured professor at UMass, and he was a former Marine for a while that saw action."

"Really now?"

We continued to shop, talking about lighter subjects. We talked about food, Star Wars (which mostly consisted of me defending The Prequel Trilogy), life as a student, and, as we stepped outside once we were finished, girls.

"So, you like MJ, don't you?" Ned pried with a smirk.

We were walking down the street, heading towards the Time Square-42nd Street station. We both had bags in our hands. I decided to grab a few things for myself. As far as MJ went, I was trying my very best to lie, even though I felt my face getting warm. "Who doesn't like MJ?" I replied, trying to brush it off.

"But you LIKE her like her." He started to walk ahead of me before he turned around and faced me, walking backward. "Something about you two just click." I would have hoped so, given how long we dated. But that was another life. "You know… February is around the corner. You should ask her out to the Valentine's Day dance we're going to have at School."

"Oh, what do you think is going to happen? We'll do a slow dance, confess our love for each other, and start a whole dance number that everyone joins in on like it is High School Musical? Somehow, I don't think that'll happen."

"Well, I was kind of hoping you'd ask her out so she can actually come to the dance. She doesn't really go to these things unless someone drags her along, you know?"

"She never went to Homecoming?" I asked. I already knew the answer.

"She has, but like only once. And even then, Homecoming is different. You can go to Homecoming by yourself. Having a date is encouraged, but not required. But going to a Valentine's Day dance by yourself, though? The only thing worse than that is taking your sister as a date."

I had a snarky comment about that. It dealt with a certain region of the United States. But I didn't get a chance to say it. Just as I opened my mouth, I felt my spine tingle. There was a buzzing in my head and I felt my skin get a bit tight as the hair on my arms raised. My eyes went wide as I started to look around.

"Peter, are you okay, man?"

I didn't answer, trying my best to get a bearing of my surroundings. I looked around frantically, trying to see what stuck out. There were people walking, a couple of kids having an impromptu snowball fight, people waiting at the bus stop, a man in a suit having an argument on the phone. Everything seemed normal. So why was my senses going off?

I finally got my answer when I looked at traffic again. There was a line of three armored trucks making their way through traffic. They were all abiding the rules of traffic. However, as they cross a nearby intersection, the lead truck was plowed into by a garbage truck! Quickly after that, three black SUVs moved in. After they skidded to a stop, all of their doors and men with black suits, black ski masks, and automatic rifles poured out of the vehicles. One of the gunmen quickly opened fired in the air, causing people to scatter. Not knowing what else to do, Ned and I ducked into the nearest alleyway. We both leaned up against the wall, with me looking out towards the street as people ran for their lives.

"Two times in one week?" Ned said. "How does that even happen?"

"I don't know," I replied as I shook my head. "We must be lucky or something."

"You call this lucky?!"

"I mean, at least we didn't get grabbed or something."

And of course, that's exactly what happened.

Before any of us knew it, we were pulled through the wall we were leaning on. Both of us stumbled backward before we landed on the ground. Unfortunately, all of our groceries scattered across the floor.

"Oh great, how can this day get any worse?" he asked.

"That's a funny way to say thank you," a voice replied. I looked up to see Kitty and Craig looking down at us.

"Oh, it's you guys!" I said quickly moved to my feet and started to put my groceries back in the bag. "We have to stop meeting like this."

"Aw, I thought us meeting under the threat of gunfire is our special thing," Craig snarked. "But seriously, y'all didn't get hurt or anything, did you?"

"We're good, I think," Ned said as he started to gather up his groceries. "Fancy meeting you guys here."

"It was our day to go grocery shopping," Kitty explained. "I was hoping we didn't have to use our quick change costumes, but here we are."

"You guys think you can handle this?" I asked in earnest as I stood up.

"Did you not see what we did at St. James?" Craig pointed out.

"True." I then looked at Ned, who was gathering up the last of the groceries. "…How far are we from the subway station."

"Not that far, actually," Kitty said.

"…Can you phase Ned straight there?"

"Me?" Ned said as he quickly stood up. "What about you?"

"I'll be right behind you," I said with a smile. I then gave him my bag of groceries. "Trust me."

Ned stared at me. He then sighed as he stood up. "Okay, but only because it's you."

"Let's go," Kitty stated before she stepped up and grabbed Ned by the shoulder. "Whatever you do, don't panic."

After she said this, the two of them sunk into the ground before they disappeared completely.

"What was that about?" Craig demanded, giving me a look. "She could've taken both of you there easily."

I looked at him for a second. I then grimaced. "…Can you keep a secret?" He stared at me for few seconds. He then nodded. I removed my jacket and tossed it off to the side. I then took off my shirt, revealing the top half of Spider-Man costume. Craig stared at me dumbfounded. He then huffed out a breath.

"Wow," he said as he shook his head. "Wow, wow, wow… Just, wow." He laughed as he turned and walked away a few steps. He then looked back at me. "So, you're telling me that, this whole time, you, Peter, are freakin' Spider-Man."

"Yes," I said as removed the rest of my clothes. I pulled the collar of my costume with my left hand before I used my right hand to pull out my mask.

"And do your friends know?"

"Nope." I pulled down the mask. "Not yet. It's a long story."

It was at this point that Kitty returned, dawning her cat mask. "Okay, I'm back and… Spider-Man?!" She walked up to me. "When did you get here? And where's Peter?"

"Take a guess," Craig replied as he zipped his hoodie and brought his hood up.

Kitty stared at me for a few moments. She then tilted her head. "…You're kidding?"

"No, it really is me," I said in earnest.

"…Why didn't you help us at the theatre?"

"Because his friends don't know," Craig explained.

"But they can keep a secret."

"I'll explain everything afterwards," I cut in. "Just know that telling them I'm Spider-Man would open up a can of worms that I'm not ready to open yet." I then heard the sound of sirens and gunshots. Craig looked towards the wall. He then sighed as he reached under his hood and pulled down a ski mask.

"It's not like we got time to talk about it now, anyway," he said. "Let's just get out there and handle whatever it is that is going on."

"Okay," Kitty said. She then gave me a pointed look. "This ain't over, Peter. We WILL be talking about this when this is over."

"Of course," I said.

"Just as long as you know." She grabbed my shoulder with her right hand. Craig walked up to her and stood to her left. She grabbed his shoulder with her free hand. "Codenames from here on out. Frictor, you and Spider-Man will attack from ground level and above. I'll ambush them from below. And remember – civilians take priority over everything. Okay?"

"Got it, Shadowcat," I said as Craig nodded.

"Alright, let's do this."

We all walked forward and through the wall. Once we were all through, Kitty sunk through the ground. Craig looked at me before he pointed upward. I nodded before I quickly jumped up on the walk and quickly crawled upward. I paused for a moment to look down at Craig.

"Be careful, Frictor," I called down.

"You, too Spidey," he replied. "Let's send them packing!"

I nodded before I resumed my ascent, once I reached the roof, I quickly ran to the other edge before I jumped off.

Let the fun begin, I deadpanned internally.