Eight years ago…
It's lunchtime for Peter Parker, Harry Osborn, and Noah Monroe in high school. The trio were like three peas in a pod and were completely inseparable. Peter noticed Mary Jane sitting over with the new girl. She and her family had just moved here, so they transferred their daughter to the same school. Her long dark hair dropped over her shoulders, smooth as silk. She wore a cream-colored long-sleeve shirt with a pair of black shorts. Her high-top sneakers were pretty adorable when looking at her full body. The curves in her smooth thighs were to fall head over heels over.
"The new girl, what was her name again?" Peter asked.
"Emma Aoki," Noah answered while eating his sandwich.
"Oh, does someone got a crush?" Harry teased.
Noah scoffed in response. "Hardly. She and I are in the same art class. I admit that she's pretty but also an absolute pain. She bad-mouthed my sketches. Said it lacked depth in the portrayed emotion."
"What does that mean?" Peter asked.
"I don't know. How am I supposed to put emotion on the Black Panther." Noah argued back, the negative remark left a dark cloud over his head.
Harry noticed MJ waving at them. From the looks of it she's inviting them to their table, "Hey buds, take a look." Peter and Noah turned over to MJ's invitation. Peter ogled at the sight of sitting near MJ, but Noah looked glum.
"Oh, c'mon, buddy, let's go eat with the girls." Harry hauled Noah off his seat.
"Fine," Noah reluctantly complied while dragging his lunch over to the girl's table.
The three took their seats at the table to meet. Peter, the lucky nerd sat next to MJ while Noah had to sit next to Emma.
"Hey boys!" Mary smiled.
"Hey MJ, who's your new friend?" Harry asked.
"This is Emma Aoki." Mary introduced her.
"Hello." Emma waved.
Noah remained silent as the three took their seats.
"This is our buddy, Noah Monroe. This Harry Osborn, and I'm Peter Parker." Peter introduced his quiet friend, "So MJ, how's your article for the school paper going?" Peter asked.
"It's doing great, It took some strings to pull, but I found out they're cutting the funds from the robotics club for our sports center." Mary spilled the beans, and Noah's glum expression quickly snapped to shock.
"They did what?!" Noah jumped out of his seat.
"Seriously? That's what got you riled up?" Noah looked over to who said that. Emma spoke her mind.
"You already dissed on my Black Panther sketch, you don't get a say about this." Noah hissed.
"I'm sorry what? I was trying to help you." Emma stood from her seat.
"Help me? How can anyone give Black Panther emotion? He's wearing a panther mask without features!" Noah explained
"It's not what's in his face!" Emma backfired.
"So explain how you can give a faceless hero emotion!" Noah threw back.
"Why don't you ask your friends in the robotics club!" Emma struck a low blow.
"Oh, now that's crossing the line missy!" Noah raised his tone.
MJ, Peter, and Harry just sat on the other side of the table and watched the two rabble everything out.
"I get the feeling these two are meant for each other." Harry whispered.
"Oh yeah." MJ quietly agreed.
Peter on the other hand was curious about something else, "I never saw Noah argue like this. It's different."
"It is actually," Harry added.
Emma and Noah continued their arguing until the lunch bell rang.
Eventually, the clock struck 3 o'clock, and the students of Midtown High were finished for the day, but Noah and Peter had to stay late due to the Robotics club. He asked the teacher why the funding was cut for the sports, but their teacher kept quiet. Despite their cut, Noah and Peter resumed crafting their lego RC cars.
Peter and Noah's skillset in robotics were evenly matched. They both were at the top of their club in middle school, but as always no one could tell who would win. Some days Noah has the upper hand, and others it's Peter. Their teacher and the rest of the older students can tell these two freshmen love competing with each other. Some students keep scoring on how many times they win. So far Peter is up top.
Using their newly built RC cars built with legos and a remote power source, they began to race, Peter's robot so far was fast, but Noah's car was picking up speed. Noah's RC car crossed the finish line with a little delayed boost.
"Aha yes, I did it!" Noah shrieked in joy, "How many does that make?"
"Looks like you both are neck and neck. You and Peter both have twenty-five wins. So who's gonna win the next race?" one of the older students marked their tally.
After the club, Noah bid Peter farewell and returned home. Noah sat quietly in the subway on his way home. A sudden tingle in his mind started spiking in the back of his head. Giving him a massive headache as quickly as it left. Shaking off the sudden ache he reached his exit.
Arriving in Greenwich, Noah made his way home on foot. Passing the honking cars and awful hot dog stands, Noah passed an alley. At the corner of his eyes he noticed a couple of older guys harassing someone.
"Oh, daddy's girl huh? Well, your daddy is the reason I'm out of work, and I'm gonna send him a message with a whole lot of blood on your face." One of the guys snickered at the girl.
Noah was about to disregard the mugging for a moment, but something in him grew fast. A sudden surge of energy flowed in his blood. He tightened his fist and ran over to the two big guys.
"Hey you two," The two thugs looked over to see Noah Monroe, a scrawny teenage boy. "I've been meaning to get something off my chest. Can you guys help?"
"Who the hell are-" The first thug couldn't finish that sentence because of the hard flying fist planted in his face.
This sudden strength he had felt amazing he managed to knock the first guy out easily. The second guy unfortunately was much harder. He got the drop on Noah, beat him to the ground, and got him to spit blood from his mouth. While getting beaten down, Noah spotted a nearby glass bottle rolling his way and smacked him in the face with it. He went out cold instantly.
He was running on so much adrenaline he forgot that they were mugging some girl. Noah turned around to find it was the last girl he wanted to save, "Emma?"
"Noah… What… How did you do that?" Emma stood from her timid posture before. Her eyes showed genuine shock to what she saw.
"What do you mean? I just kicked their asses! I just-" Noah felt a sense trigger in his mind that one of them was getting back up, so he gave him another quick punch to knock him out for good.
"WHOO!" Noah cheered.
Emma looked at Noah shocked that he beat up two grown men. The guy who was riled up about his simple robotics club could unleash a lot of pent-up rage. She actually chuckled with a nice smile. Though the rush of what just happened is still causing her to shake in her knees and elbows.
"Well… Thanks for that, Noah." Emma looked at the two goons, "And I'm sorry for your club's funding."
Hearing Emma's apology gave Noah a moment of pause to let his adrenaline drain from his system, "Thank you, it's okay, and I'm sorry for yelling at you at lunch."
"Yeah me too." Emma looked at him from top to bottom, "Where do you live?"
"I live with a foster family down the block," Noah explained as they stepped out of the alley.
"Oh, you know my apartment isn't far from here. Wanna walk with me?" Emma offered.
"Yeah, I'd be happy to." Noah accepted.
The walk to Noah's foster home was quiet for both of them. The atmosphere they gave off between themselves was warm and tense, "So…" Noah tried to break the silence, "What did you mean about emotional depth? In my sketch."
"Well you were drawing Black Panther on a pile of defeated bad guys, the look on their faces didn't look very convincing," Emma explained.
"Oh, that's what you meant." Noah laughed.
The two loosened up in their company as they resumed their walk. Eventually, they arrived at Emma's home, "Well here's your stop, thanks for the advice on my art." Noah praised, a little blushed.
Emma blushed even deeper; she could feel her face starting to warm up, "Yeah… Ugh…" Emma was speechless, so quick as a flash she just lunged for Noah with a hug. Now it was Noah's turn for his face to light up in heat, "Thanks for that… for earlier." Emma was very shaken today. Noah could feel it. The feel of her body was shivering all over. Noah did everything in his power to breathe out the excitement. A girl was hugging him, and her tits were so soft.
"Absolute heaven," Noah thought, blushing like crazy over feeling Emma's chest.
"Umm, sorry about that. I-I'll see ya." Emma dashed away from him in complete embarrassment.
Later as night fell over New York, a few hours passed since Noah returned home. Heading up to the roof, Noah pulled out his journal, "This is Noah Monroe, entry log number one: today I had a sudden urge of adrenaline burst through me. I beat down two grown guys trying to mess with the new girl, Emma Aoki. My foster sister, Allison, reminded me at this point in my age I'd be reaching puberty, but what's happening to me is completely different. A few weeks ago, I discovered my senses became sharper. Last week I noticed my muscle mass was increased to the level of an athlete. I checked my wounds from fighting today, and they seem to be healing faster than normal. And to top all these anomalies, last night I woke up on the ceiling of my room. These changes in my body can only be described in one word "Superhuman". Which has also affected my attitude as well. Normally I'd never rush into a fight but now it felt amazing to beat up scumbags."
Putting away his journal, Noah went over to the roof's edge, knelt in a running position, and after a mental countdown he dashed over to the wall of the next building. The discovery he made was unbelievable. Noah is sticking to the wall of the next building without hesitation. Continuing on with the test he crawled further up the building till he reached the top. The test was a marvelous success, now all that was left was to get back down, and for the fun of it, he just hopped off the roof and landed safely down. The levels of excitement was astounding, Noah could barely keep the smile off his face, "I CAN ACTUALLY CRAWL ON WALLS. WHOOOO!" Noah cheered as loud as he could. Didn't give a damn to whoever was annoyed by his outburst.
Today…
A month has passed since Noah hung up his suit, and now he and Emma are at the hospital about to welcome their newborn twins into the world. Hours have passed and Emma is still in labor, the cramps were unbearable, "Noah I hate you for putting me in this."
"You can do this, Emma." Noah was beside her.
"Fuck you Noah!" Emma screamed.
Emma cutched Noah's hand as tighty as it could. For any soon to be father in this position it would hurt like hell. Fortunately for Noah his superhuman endurance kept his hand from hurting too much.
"I am gonna fucking kill you for this, Noah!" Emma screamed in absolute pain.
"Just let it out Emma… Just let it all out." Noah said, as calmly as he could. Knowing he means that literally and figuratively.
The pain in Emma's words constantly spewing from her mouth was bearable, as much as her grip on Noah's hand. Luckily she lowered her tension after their kids were finally in the world.
"Congradulations, you've given birth to a beautiful baby boy and girl." the doctor said as the nurses held the newborn babies infront of them.
Both were able to breathe out their tension. Emma has brought new life into the world which is a beautiful thing. Yet the realization he's the father of the twins scares him more than anything. Even the intimidation from Hammerhead doesn't compare to this. The best part is that it feels amazing all the same.
"Noah…" Emma said between rapid breaths, "We did it."
"So…" Noah wiped a bang of hair from her sweaty forehead, "Do you remember the names we were gonna give them?"
"Oh I remember, Anna Monroe, and Josh Monroe." Emma was starting to breathe easier.
After spending some time alone for the next few moments, a group surprised the young parents with a few lead balloons and smiling faces. Peter, and May were both there to celebrate.
"Hey guys!" Peter cheered with his hands up.
"Buddy, just in time! Anna, Josh, this is your Uncle Peter." Noah introduced his kids.
"May, so good to see you again." Emma sighed.
"Oh let me hug you all." May gave Emma and the twins a light hug and kissed their cheeks, "Well aren't these two just adorable." May cooed over the twins. She took her hand and both twins gripped the tip of her two fingers.
"Hey Pete, where's MJ?" Noah asked seeing her nowhere in sight.
"Oh she's busy with a case for the Bugle." Peter explained.
"Is that her words or yours?" Emma asked.
"I don't know, she said she'd be here some other time. May got the message." Peter looked at the ground in defeat.
"I'm sorry." May looked down.
"Don't be I can't be mad at that girl for following her passion." Noah said.
After a while of enjoying their time with the babies, the staff had to take the twins for special care, and to give Emma some rest. While she slept, Noah felt a presence on their way and he could tell they were not fond of what's happening. Behind him, a man and woman in slick business suits arrived.
"Noah, so good to see you." Emma's father, Morgan Aoki greeted Noah in his false attitude. He and his wife hated him to the core.
"Sweetheart." Emma's mom, Ashley Aoki whispered to her sleeping daughter.
"It's nice to see you guys here." Noah tried to put on a happy face. He knew they hated him but it's nice when they try to be empathetic.
"We just wanted to give you guys some good news." Every time Morgan has 'good news' it's always terrible news.
"And that is?" Noah asked in slight fear.
"We heard you took a position at Octavius Industries, its nice to know you're putting that robotics degree to good work, instead of wasting your talents there and at the FEAST shelter. Oscorp is offering you a position in their Robotics division." And there's the hidden knife under their sleeves.
Emma's parents have been loyal partners with Norman Osborn. Knowing his past, Noah wouldn't be caught dead in an Oscorp position.
"No offense but I told the person who offered me that job to shove it up his ass. No chance in hell I'd ever work for Oscorp." Noah broke his happy facade.
"Except this offer isn't about you. Our daughter needs all the help she can get. Especially with our new grandchildren." Ashley hissed.
"We're alright on cash thank you very much." Noah rebounded.
"You should reconsider. In one month tops, you'll be begging for our offer." Morgan gleamed.
"Let me make this clear: I'd rather die than ever work at that shithole." Noah was close to raising his voice but Emma was still asleep beside him.
"Very well then, just know we offered you a way out." Morgan smiled devilishly.
Emma slowly gathered her senses and was barely awake to notice her parents.
"Hey sweetheart!" Ash cooed at Emma.
"Hey Emma, where's our grandkids?" Morgan asked.
Emma looked over to see Noah leaving the room.
Making his way to the waiting room, he found May and Peter in the waiting room. Going over to pour some coffee, Peter came over to consult his best friend.
"I saw her parents, you guys okay?" Peter asked. He knows all too well about Emm's parents.
"I'm okay, I just needed to walk away from them. Give them some private time." Noah covered himself. Making his way to sit with May, Noah and Peter sat in good company.
"And in other news, New York's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has done it again, he's rounded up another illegal drug operation in Harlem. Still no sign of our "Unfriendly Neighborhood Arachnid" our reports suggest he's hung up the suit and has left the life of crime." The news report then moved on to less interesting stories.
"I swear whoever that guy is… I always didn't like his style but it doesn't feel like he's really gone for good." Peter confessed.
Noah looked at his best friend, unaware the newly retired Arachnid was sitting right beside him, "Well he may have been a guy in a mask, but like you and I, he has a life. For all we know he could be one of the patients or doctors here in this entire hospital. I'm sure the same could be said for Spider-Man. Right?" Noah took a sip of his coffee.
"Yeah… Agreed," Peter replied.
"Hey, I heard Fisk is close to getting arrested, you hear about that?" Noah asked.
"Only from what the news has given. If you ask me it could be a few more months till they draw out the warrant." Peter explained. Doing his best not to spill any news he learned as Spider-Man from Yuri.
"Attention, could Noah Monroe meet with Dr. Leeds at the maternity ward." A nurse spoke over the intercom.
"Let's go check to see what's going on." Peter picked his friend up from his glooming vibe.
"You're right." Noah smiled and went over to the maternity ward.
Crossing the halls to reach their destination, Noah and Peter arrived and found Dr. Leeds.
"Noah Monroe?" The doctor pointed at either of the two.
"Me." Noah raised his hand.
"Oh okay, I just want you to know, you're family will be ready to check out after the expected time, but there's this one anomaly I found in both your newborn's blood samples. Whatever it is, it doesn't seem to be critical but I'd be careful." The doctor showed Noah the results and found something awful.
"You don't think they're in trouble do you?" Noah hid his shock.
"No, nothing seems to be any problem but once they're safe to leave to return home, we'd like you to keep a close eye on them." The doctor explained.
"Thanks, doctor. Could I get a copy of these results?" Noah requested.
"Sure." The doctor left to make Noah a copy.
"Everything okay Noah?" Peter asked.
"It's okay, it's an anomaly, probably nothing." Noah kept his intense paranoia in check, astoundingly great.
Deep down he feared for what could be happening, but now is not the time to lose all calm, "I'm going to go check in with Emma."
Back in Emma's room, her parents were still with her giving her all the love any distant relationship can give each other.
"We love you Emma." Morgan praised.
"We'll come back to check on you in the morning." Ashley assured their daughter.
They both took their departure and bumped into the last person they wanted to be with.
"Noah." Emma's father acknowledged.
"Morgan…" Noah whispered shortly after, "Mr. and Mrs. Douche." Noah acknowledged under his breath when they left the vicinity. Noah then turned to his wife. "So did they try to convince you to leave me again?"
"No, but I could tell they were implying it." Emma said.
"How many times has that been?" Noah asked.
"Too many to count." Emma chuckled.
"Your parents are assholes… No offense," Noah said.
"None taken. They are assholes." Emma smiled.
"To think you said yes to my proposal even after your father didn't give me his blessing."
"Because they're assholes." Emma reminded her husband.
They both laughed at recounting their relationship with her parents. "Speaking of parents, are you ever gonna go talk to your Mom and Dad?"
Noah's happy expression then turned to a more saddened one. "I have nothing to say to those pieces of shit."
Emma's face turned down just as fast after hearing that. She took Noah's hand and looked deep into his eyes, "Sweetheart, son of a bitch, you really need to watch your language." Emma managed to turn her husband's frown upside down and get him to laugh. In return, she laughed with him again, "Okay, but seriously Noah, I know you have a lot of emotional baggage when it comes to your parents-"
"Baggage? They always put science first, me second. I practically spent most of my childhood alone or with the nannies they hired."
"And do you remember how many nannies I had in my childhood?" Emma returned, "I'm not saying you should forgive them. If I were in your shoes I'd feel the same way, but sometimes the only way to make things right is to face your demons head on. That's how I said yes to you that day even without my fathers blessing."
"You're right… Still I can't say I can do that right away. They left a deep scar in my life." Noah kissed Emma's knuckle, "So how long till you and the kids are discharged?"
"A couple of days from now, hey have you spoke to that one girl back at the foster care? You always saw her as your older sister, what was her name?" Emma asked at the tip of her tongue.
"Allison Murphy? Haven't seen her in years, but I know she won't be the worst thing to find around the corner. Doubt she knows we're married. Let alone being parents." Noah reminded himself of the older girl she grew up with. The big sister of the foster group, and she's been off the radar for years.
Two days later, Emma and the kids were finally discharged. After so many days in the hospital Noah and Emma were finally glad to be back home with their new family.
"We're home, this is where we live." Noah praised as he held the door open for Emma and their newborn twins.
Taking a deep breath of relief, Emma can finally relax knowing her time at the hospital is over. Nothing more now but to enjoy their time as a family.
"Where's the wine?" Emma asked. After nine months of pregnancy, Emma really needed a drink.
"Umm… are you sure that's a good idea?" Noah questioned as he tended to the kids.
"The kids are asleep and this whole week alone was a pain to go through so I think I'd like a glass or six, maybe eight." Emma did not change her mind.
Noah rolled his eyes. "Okay fine, but only one glass, and don't drink near the babies."
"Don't worry I won't. I'll get you some water too." Emma assured.
"No, whiskey." Noah requested.
"Oh, that's my big bear." Emma gleamed as she went over to the kitchen.
Noah laid his twins in their cribs, giving them both a kiss on the forehead. Meeting Emma on the couch having a glass of wine with a shot of whiskey on the table. However, Noah ignored the shot and just took the entire bottle.
"To the perils of parenthood." Noah raised the whiskey bottle.
"Cheers." Emma clinked her wine glass with his and both took a much needed drink.
I hope everyone enjoyed chapter 3 of the Arachnid, please leave a review and tell me what you think.
