Disclaimers:
All Spider-Man and all its related characters belongs to Marvel Entertainment, which is owned by Walt Disney Company, and the Sam Raimi Original Trilogy belongs to Sony Pictures Entertainment. No infringement of these copyrights are intended, and not authorized by copyright holders.
She looks at me everyday. Mary Jane Watson. The Spectacular Spinneret. The girl I love.
Hanging on one of the rooftops of Manhattan was a perfume billboard ad, and the model in that perfume was the face of one particular beautiful young redhead that was smiling cordially at the crowded roads of Bleecker Street.
Oh boy, it's still crazy to think we were both bitten by that spider and be given these amazing powers. The same powers we would use to help people.
Looking at that exact billboard from that same street below was a young brunette boy, now around his 20s, as he was riding on his rusty moped. He was sporting a casual blue jeans and black jumper with grey vest, along with a red helmet that had a pizza company logo sticking on the front.
Though, as more time moved on, I was left with being the only one to lead a life of responsibility, a life she left behind not too long ago.
Ever since Mary Jane decided to retire her Spinneret persona almost a year ago to dedicate her time to her acting career and personal life, the young man couldn't help but feel a little lost without his partner by his side, but he respected her decision to lead only one life.
Who am I? I'm Spider-Man, given a job to do. And I'm Peter Parker, and I, too, have a job.
In his case, on the other hand, his choice of trying to lead a double life by himself - as both Peter Parker and Spider-Man - it became too much to balance, making him miss out on some important deadlines, even more so when it had to shout out his name.
"Parker! Parker!"
Peter quickly turned his attention away from the billboard, looking in front to see that he was about to crash into his boss, Mr. Aziz, who was standing in front of his pizza shop.
"Stop! Stop!" Mr. Aziz exclaimed with his arms out.
Peter quickly stopped on a screeching halt, nearly knocking himself off the moped's seat.
"Always late, man. Always late," Mr. Aziz scolded Peter for his delayed arrival.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Aziz," Peter apologized. "There was a... disturbance."
In a way, Peter was not wrong about encountering a disturbance along the way. Earlier, an arcade robbery on the lower west side occurred just as he was finishing up his crime-fighting patrol. Had not been for that poorly timed robbery, Peter probably wouldn't been late.
"Disturbance? Always a disturbance with you. C'mon," Mr. Aziz then dragged Peter into his pizza shop. "Twenty-one minutes ago, in comes order: Harmattan, Burton & Smith, eight extra-large deep-dish pizzas. In eight minutes, I am defaulting on Joe's twenty-nine minutes guarantee. Then, not only am I receiving no money for these pizzas, but I will lose the customer forever to Pizza Yurt.
"Look, you are my only hope, alright? You have to make it in time," Mr. Aziz exclaimed, as he placed a stacked of pizzas on the counter. "Peter, you're a nice guy. But you're just not dependable. This is your last chance. You have to go forty-two blocks in seven and half minutes, or your ass is fired."
Peter looked frozen when he saw the amount of pizzas that were stacked in front of him.
"GOOOOOO!" Mr. Aziz echo'ed his word in a hilarious, yet impatient tone.
Already rushing through the typical Manhattan traffic, Peter tried his best navigating his moped through the tight spaces in between the cars while speeding along as he was on a seven-minute time limit to get the ordered pizzas to the customer.
In the midst of his tight speeding, one random driver just parked by the street curb and opened his car door without looking back to see Peter's about to crash into him. Sensing danger up ahead, he used his fast reflexes to swerve out of the way at the last possible second, though in the process, he bumped into the side of a neighboring car, leaving a tiny dint on it.
"What are you, stupid?!"
Ignoring that driver's rude remark, Peter quickly recovered his balance on the moped and kept pushing forward through in a desperate attempt to ride out of that tight space as fast as he could.
Little did he realized, the traffic lights were about to turn red just ahead, leading him to almost crash head first into a public bus that just drove from the right intersection, forcing Peter to make divert from his path to avoid being road-killed.
Stopping at a random side curb, Peter looked up to see the street clock, and minute hand was just about three minutes on the mark.
As a last-ditch effort to get the deliveries on time, Peter dismounted himself from his moped, grabbed the pizzas and made a run for a nearby alleyway to switch to a fast alternative.
Unknown to him, a random bystander took notice of where Peter was heading to. Before he could check further in, Peter, now in his Spider-Man suit, web-swinging out of that same alleyway with the stack of pizzas in his one hand.
"Whoa! He stole that guy's pizza!" The bystander exclaimed, who gotten the wrong idea of what just occurred before his eyes.
Spider-Man, while in the midst to web-swinging throughout the city skyline to reach to his destination, noticed a couple of young kids sprinting for their ball that was bouncing towards the crossroads. When he looked ahead, he realized they didn't seem to notice a large truck was driving towards the same crossroads.
Letting his sense of responsibility took control of his priories, Spider-Man threw the stack of pizzas to the side and made a dive towards the crossroads, swinging in at the last possible moment to grab the kids with his arms from the incoming truck.
After getting the kids out of harm's way, Spider-Man had them placed down safely on a street walk. "Remember, kids, don't play in the streets," He said, as he gave a cute pat on one of the kids' hair.
The kids nodded in unison. "Yes, Mr. Spider-Man."
Spider-Man gave a two-finger salute. "See ya," He then leaped away from the scene and tried to find the stack of pizzas he threw off to the side.
After a few moments of looking for them, Spider-Man found them laying on a skyscraper's railings, where a random guy was struggling to remove the zip-ties that held the stacks together. Trying to resume back to his rush hour delivery, he swiped the pizzas back into his hand and managed to make it to the side of the building, where he was supposed to deliver to a customer inside.
Noticing the random guy somehow managed to sneak out a single slice of pizza and about to eat it, Spider-Man snatched it back with his webs, making him bite himself his own hands.
The guy just grumbled to himself for not getting his free piece.
Back in his casual clothes, Peter was so in a desperate rush to get the stacks of pizzas at the near-end of the thirty-minute mark, that he used a ventilation shaft as a short to the main lobby of the building, where the customer, who happened to be the main receptionist, was stationed at.
Upon exiting to the janitor's closet, Peter was struggling to get out of the closed-in space with the stack of pizzas in hand.
After managing to make it out to the main lobby, Peter accidentally knocked over some janitor's brooms along the way.
Realizing how he had made a mess of things, Peter just put the pizzas to the side and tried to get all back into the closet, but in an effort to pick up the few that dropped, a bunch more started to fall on his face. Already feeling so done with all the unnecessary fiddling with the brooms, Peter just grabbed all of them at once, and with one quick swing, shoved it all into the closet and quickly shut the door.
Ignoring the dead cold look the receptionist was giving him, he walked to the receptionist and casually placed the pizzas on her desk counter, as if the last minute never happened. "Pizza time," Peter announced his arrival with a forced, awkward smile, so forced it matched his level of happiness, which was currently at a low.
The receptionist turned behind to the clock, seeing the minute hand already passed by the 30 minutes mark she was promised. She stared right back at Peter with the exact cold look, shaking her head. "You're late. I'm not paying for those."
His smile turned to a frown lip. Giving a slight peek at the clock behind her, Peter realized he was late on the deliveries again. With a defeated look spread across his face, Peter just removed the zip ties that was holding the stack of pizzas together and just walked out of the building in disappointment.
Another delayed delivery... again.
The news about the late deliveries already reached to Mr. Aziz by the time Peter arrived back to the pizza place, and was clearly not looking too happy when he was confronting his pizza boy about it.
"Joe's thirty-minute guarantee is a promise, man," Mr. Aziz berated Peter for his poor performance once more. "I know, to you, Parker, a promise means nothing. But to me, it's serious."
"It's serious to me too, Mr. Aziz," Peter also expressed his own self-disappointment.
"You're fired. Go," Mr. Aziz gestured his shoulder for Peter to leave his pizza place.
"Please, I need this job," Peter begged.
"You're fired," Mr. Aziz reaffirmed.
"Look, give me another chance," Peter tried pleading even more.
Without a single word back, Mr. Aziz walked up close and personal. Peter's eyes brightened up, hoping he was giving him another chance, but instead, the Joe's Pizzas sticker was ripped from his helmet, reiterating Mr. Aziz's final point that he's not coming back.
Peter was left with a sullen look when Mr. Aziz turned away from his now-ex-employee. There's nothing he could do, except leaving the Pizza place and make a stop for another job.
"You're fired."
Peter Parker was sitting in the office of his other boss with attitude, J. Jonah Jameson, the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Bugle.
"Parker, hello, you're fired," Jonah repeated, as he was holding the freelance photographer's portfolio as he was sticking his signature cigar in his mouth.
Peter quirked his eyebrows in confusion. "Why?"
"Dogs catching Frisbees?" Jonah questioned, feeling baffled by the photos inside Peter's portfolio, which consisted of the typical Manhattan landscapes and activities, but no photos of Spider-Man or even the nearly-a-year-long absent Spinneret. "Pigeons in the park? A couple geezers playing chess?"
Betty walked into Jonah's office, needing to inform him of something. "Boss -"
"Not now," Jonah cut her off, gesturing to Betty to leave his office.
"I was thinking the Bugle could show another side of New York for a change," Peter said.
Before Jonah would retort, his most trusted editor, Robbie Robertson, walked into his office. "We got six minutes to deadline, Jonah," He informed. "We need page one."
"Parker, I didn't pay you to be a sensitive artiste. I pay you because -" Before he could continue, Jonah got interrupted by Betty's reappearance. "Still not now!" He shouted, his secretary walked out again in frustration, before looking back at Peter. "I pay you because those wall-crawling psychos, Spider-Man and Spinneret, will pose for you."
"Spider-Man won't let me take any more pictures and there hasn't been any sightings of Spinneret for months," Peter explained. "You turned the whole city against them."
Jonah gave a prideful smirk upon hearing those words. "A fact I'm very proud of. Now get your pretty little portfolio off my desk before I go into a diabetic coma," His intercom then started buzzing on his desk, prompting him to answer it by reflex.
"It's your wife, she said she lost her cheque book," Betty's voice was heard from the intercom.
"Thanks for the good news," Jonah replied nonchalantly, not giving a single care, before cutting off the intercom.
"Please, isn't there any of these shots you can use? I need the money," Peter begged to the Editor-In-Chief.
"Aww... " Jonah replied with a lack of empathy in his voice, clearly being sarcastic about the poor photographer's words. He then saw his secretary walked back into his office once more. "Miss Brant. Get me a violin," He boasted, making her leave again.
"Five minutes to deadline, Jonah," Robbie reminded again.
"Run a picture of a rancid chicken," Jonah said. "Here's the headline: "Food Poisoning Scare Sweeps City"."
Hoffman entered into Jonah's eye view from the side. "Some food got poisoned?"
"I'm a little nauseous, yeah," Jonah said.
Peter reluctantly gave in and handed his latest photo of Spider-Man. "All right, Mr. Jameson."
Jonah examined the photo he was given. "It stinks," He shrugged, before passing the photo to his trusted editor. "Robbie, there's your page one. "Lone Masked Menace Terrorizes Town"."
"I told you, he's not a menace," Robbie tried to convince J.J again. He then lifted his hand up before Jonah could argue back. "I'll take care of it," He left the office with the photo.
Jonah grabbed an empty voucher for Peter to pass on to his secretary. "I'll give you 150."
"300," Peter demanded in a swiftly manner.
Jonah looked back up, dumbfounded by such a 'steep' demand, at least by his own standards. "That's outrageous. Done. Give this to the girl," He said, passing the written voucher to Peter. "Thank you. Bye-bye."
After departing from Jonah's office, Peter walked up to the Jonah's secretary, greeting her as he was handing the voucher. "Hi."
"Hey, Pete," Betty greeted the young photographer, as she took Jonah's voucher off his hand. The moment she looked at it, her mouth dropped. "Oh, I don't think this covers the advance I gave you a couple weeks ago."
Peter frowned and lowered his head, just found out he had forgotten the fact he still owed her interest he hadn't paid back yet. "Oh, right."
"Sorry," Betty apologized, noticing how downhearted Peter looked. "Hey, chin up, okay?" She reassured him with a smile.
After Betty walked past him into Jonah's office again, Peter smiled a bit when he heard those words, at least glad to have little reassurance.
After departing from the Bugle, Peter was already arriving late to the campus grounds of Empire State University.
He gathered his college books and notes from his moped, and went off in a panicking rush as he tried to navigate left and right through a crowded area of students that were walking along his pathway to the science building, desperate to making it in time for his class.
Much to his typical Parker Luck, Peter reached to a major roadblock when he bumped into one of the students by the shoulder, making him dropped his college books and written papers, spreading them about on the ground.
"Watch it, jerk!"
Ignoring that student's scolding comment, Peter bent down and tried to gather up all his dropped belonging as fast as he could, but he kept being smacked in the face a couple of times by passing-by students, making him feel irritated by their lack of consent for someone who's tired and desperately in a hurry for his class.
After finally having all of his books and papers safely in his hands, Peter quickly got up and resumed his path, only to bump head into the last person he wanted to meet outside of his class. "Dr. Connors. Sorry."
"Where were you headed, Parker?" Dr. Connors asked, wondering why his student would be here at this time after missing out his required attendance yet again.
"To your class," Peter said, like as if it was the most obvious answer ever.
"My class is over," Dr. Connors pointed out, nodding his head to iterate the fact he's currently right in front of him. "See me standing here?"
Peter lowered his head in shame and embarrassment, knowing he just missed, yet again, another class. "I'm sorry. I'm trying. I wanna be here."
"Then be here," Dr. Connors egged on. "Look at you, Peter. Your grades have been steadily declining. You're late for class. You always appear exhausted. Your paper on fusion is still overdue."
"I know," Peter said excitedly. He already got someone in mind to write about for his fusion research paper, which can hopefully be his great chance to redeem himself for the lost attendance. "I'm planning to write it on Dr. Otto Octavius."
"Planning is not a major at this university," Dr Connors said, walking off. Before he walked any further, he stopped in his tracks and turned back to his student. "Octavius is a friend of mine. Better do your research, Parker. Get it done, or I'm failing you."
After Peter nodded in full understanding, his one-armed teacher then turned away and continued walking in the opposite direction.
Words: 2838
A/N: Hello again, my Fellow Readers and Spidey-Fans, and a Happy Late 2024.
After a year long wait, I finally got Spider-Man 2 Making Your Vows, just in time for the film's 20th anniversary.
As some of you already noticed from Peter's introduction of this 2nd parter of the fanfic, Mary Jane's currently on break from her superhero duties. As for why, don't worry, there's a whole plot (and another character related to her) planned for why that was intended this way, and she'll be back in her suit eventually down the road.
Unfortunately, my current draft for Spider-Man 2 is still not finished yet. The only reason I have this first complete chapter out now is just to reassure you readers that I'm still alive and I'm not going anywhere till I truly finish this fanfic, no matter what.
With that being said, any constructive criticisms and comments would be greatly appreciated. I hope you all enjoy reading this chapter. Can't wait to explore more of this familiar, yet branched reality.
Reviews:
Rivet94: Thanks, it's great to hear that my writing's slowly getting better, though I feel I got a lot more to go before it's good by beginner's standards.
CT311998: Cheers, again, for your kind words. And yes, it'll be exactly what you said will happen in the next chapter.
Bountyhunter1977: Appreciated your review.
And funny that you mention it, asides from Insomniac Spider-Man FanFic I'm planning to do after this Universe, I also got other fandoms that I want to try out in the future. Currently, they're just in their pre-written stage when I'm in the mood.
LukeSkywalker2567: All good.
While I think I'm like the last person to ask for advice, compared to other experienced writers on this site, I'm willing to offer any I can if you need it.
DCDGojira: Thank, man.
Spider-Reader: Oh yeh, for sure.
As for my take on the Spider-Man 3 storyline, while the amnesia plot will still be in play unfortunately, I'll try my best to make sure Harry still isn't that far behind, in terms of presences throughout the whole story. After all, he's still just as important in this universe as our favorite Spider-Couple.
Commander 117: Appreciated
As for why I excluded the final swing, to be honest, I felt doing an epic final swing was not something I'm capable of expressing in words, at least on the same level as its on-screen counterpart, hence why I decided to end the first movie with the two finally realizing their love for each other. So, yeh, sorry about that.
Dragonwarrior06: It's great hearing a review from you again.
Your thoughtful suggestions really helped me find ways to improving this fanfic. Though, one thing I can say, I'm already dead-set on how I wanted this fanfic to end, so any story ideas (asides from improving my writing) wouldn't work without reworking some bits that may complicate it, but I'm willing to hear them out if they can offer some help to how I can achieve that ending.
Nonetheless, thank you again for commenting on my Making Your Vows fanfic.