Note: Hey everyone! Sorry for the long wait. These chapters keep getting longer as we get closer to the end of the sports festival.
I'm actually not sure what kind of response this particular chapter is going to get... I expect that its probably gonna get its fair share of criticism... Because I gave my version of Peter a backstory. Its something that I was on the fence about doing but he's a main character so... yeah.
This version of Peter was never meant to fit the cookie cutter style mold that everyone has seen before time and time again. I know I sound like a broken record at this point, but I still get a review every now and again about people telling me I'm writing him wrong. And while I really do try to take everyone's opinion into consideration (and will continue to do so), there are some things I can't allow myself to budge on for the sake of the story I want to put out.
So that's all I have to say... I worked super hard on this chapter so I hope there are some who like it. I'll leave those with skepticism about deviation from the norm with a shortened quote from Stan Lee himself...
"The greatest thing about Spider-Man's costume, is that he's completely covered... Any kid can imagine he's Spider-Man... He can belong to any race... It wasn't done on purpose, it was done accidentally. But I think its one of the best things we did - making him so that he can be anybody under that costume."
@SulliMike23: This is definitely a fight I want to get right! Excited to write it! stay tuned!!!
@DrCoogans: I'm stoked that you like this story enough to reread it!!! Especially the early chapters that aren't that great. Thank you for always being so supportive!!! :)
@abijayks: I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. The fight scene from the last chapter was something that I'm actually not super proud of so I might give Momo amd Katsuki a rematch later on. But I'm super excited to get started on the internships and reveal who's gonna be Peter's mentor. It was originally going to be Endeavor, but I decided to go in a different direction and I really think it's gonna pay off. I already have something funny to add for the sushi dinner. I saw it on an Instagram reel from a dude that I think makes absolutely fantastic content. Good to hear from you again!
@spider of the leaf: Hey! No worries I was able to piece together what you're saying! I've actually thought about doing that for one of the previews. If I ever decide to make Her Friendly Neighborhood Hero Academia Abridged thats the direction I'm going haha! Glad to hear from you again!
@El-lector327: Hey thanks!! I'm glad to hear some love for the ship!!! Sometimes I wish I got more feedback on it but from what I can tell people seem to like it. When I started to write the chapter, I gave serious consideration to having her win, but this gives her good opportunity to grow further. Hope you enjoy the chapter!!
@Hairypen: I'll be honest, I love Bakugo's designs, his quirk, and how he uses his powers... but it stops there for so many people because I think Horikoshi made him a bit too irredeemable without sufficient consequences.
For example, People love Vegeta. He killed nearly every member of the original Dragon Ball cast and was quite honestly a bastard... but he always got absolutely wrecked and humbled until he was properly redeemed in the eyes of the fans.
By the way, I haven't ever been to Brazil, but I have met so many people from there through the sport of soccer and I have to say, every single one of them are the nicest and most respectable people I've had the pleasure to be around. Much love from America to you and your beautiful country! Super glad you enjoy the Peter Momo moments! That makes my day! Glad to have you following along:)
@w0: He's gonna give him a hell of a fight that's for sure!
@MalignantSilhouette: I don't think you understand how much I appreciate and respect your review. If I'm being completely honest, I don't like the way I wrote that fight. I kind of struggled with it. The last thing I wanted to do was nerf Bakugo, but I also didn't want Momo to get rag dolled, and I also already had decided how I wanted this particular chapter to go and I had to use her fight to set it up. I agree with all of those points you made, and I'm definitely still learning how to write as this story goes on. I'm definitely either going to rewrite that fight eventually or give them a rematch in the future. Another thing I appreciate about your review is the kind words at the end. I found a lot of motivation in them and I'm really glad to have you following along! :)
@CRUDEN: That red headed bastard had the one piece this whole time!!! That must be why its taking Luffy so long to find it haha. I actually laughed out loud when I read your comment, I totally didn't even think of that when I was writing it. I'm glad you liked Momo's fight. I've been rereading it and to be honest I think I could have done better, so they'll probably get a rematch at some point. Hope you like the chapter!!
@wizardwolf 1020: You're entirely entitled to that opinion, and while I respect it, hopefully I can change your mind. Or at the very least, make this one an exception.
@daniel.santiago.4545: They are gonna fight like hell thats for sure!!! Hope you enjoy the chapter!!
@katana12: We'll see... but its a good possibility he does ;)
Also to whoever wrote the guest review that said this fic was fire and maybe the best one they've seen, thank you so much! I wish I could give you a proper shout out! That made my day!
I appreciate all you guys so much!! Thanks for being so patient as I learn how to write this story better. I feel like I'm improving and hopefully the story reflects that.
I do not own any of the characters depicted in this story...
"Well, are you going to introduce yourself or should I?..."
"O-oh right! Sorry... Hi. I'm Peter Parker... Nice to meet you guys."
"I guess that just leaves me. Hi, I'm Momo Yaoyorozu."
"Hero team Yaoyorozu and Parker... WINNERS!"
"I told you I'd keep you safe."
"There's a cafe down the street, would you care to join me?"
"Your body is covered in scars according to reports from Recovery Girl's examination..."
"You'd train with me?! Are you sure I wouldn't hinder you?"
"Congratulations... Spider-Man..."
"You really are full of surprises aren't you?"
"You're stuck with me Peter Parker... You better get used to it... because I'm not going anywhere."
"You really do know how to make a girl want to throw herself at you, you know that?"
"When we get to the cafe later... I think there's something that we need to talk about..."
'...I'LL SHOW THESE PEOPLE WHAT KIND OF HERO I'LL BECOME... ONE THAT NEVER GIVES UP WHENEVER THINGS SEEM HOPELESS... AND ALWAYS FINDS A WAY TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!'
...
Peter's narration: [My life... Has changed so much... I ... Have changed even more...]
The hum of an air conditioner and slight buzz of fluorescent lighting were the only sounds that filled the waiting room... Peter Parker sat alone in a folding chair. Facing away from the entrance, his tongue shifted uncomfortably in his mouth as he stared intensely at the wall with a furrowed brow. His hands were clasped together between his knees as he leaned forward.
The young man was filled with an uncountable amount of emotions... But at this particular moment in time, the two things he felt the most were...
Frustration... And pressure...
"MOMO YAOYOROZU IS KO'D!! KATSUKI BAKUGO WILL MOVE ON TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH!!!"
That phrase echoed loudly in his brain.
His body had yet to stop shaking since those words had come from Midnight's mouth...
The battles inside the ring weren't the only fights he found himself in today... And they had taken their toll on him... Outside forces continued to pile onto the load he bore on his back... All the stress he had put on himself to succeed in the festival... All the responsibility of helping his best friend begin to work through his deep seeded trauma, and then standing up to the man who had caused it all... Doing his absolute damnedest to show mercy to those who were less than deserving of it... The task of restoring Momo's confidence that he took upon himself to carry out...
Even though these were all things he would do time and time again with absolutely no regret... It was all added pressure...
And now... Winning this next match wasn't optional... It didn't matter if All Might himself walked out of the opposing tunnel and stared him down from the other side of the ring... He had to win... He would not be beaten in front of her by the person who tried so hard to toy with her, brutalize her, and rip away her regained self confidence.
But perhaps what felt the heaviest to him... Was a promise he had made to one of the most important people in his life... Mere moments before her spirit moved on from this world...
One last challenge from his old life... The most important one of all... The reason he came to this country in the first place...
This tournament and how he performed in it, played a key role in fulfilling that promise. In many ways, this could be seen as his starting line.
He carried his pent up emotions and the weight of his pledge the only way he ever knew how to... Quietly and alone... Until finally, the sight of Katsuki Bakugo holding up Momo Yaoyorozu by her hair, created flames of anger that swallowed up the powder keg of bottled up emotions he kept hidden inside. The dam had broken... And he found it all but impossible to calm himself and ignore that immense weight on his shoulders any longer.
He continued to tremble in both frustration and stress as he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let out a very shaky exhale. He began to force his mind to think of what brought him peace...
Only one problem... She was unconscious in the infirmary...
30 minutes ago:
Class 1A watched from the railing as their vice rep collapsed to the ground and her staff rolled out of her hand. She fought with every ounce of strength in her body until it finally gave out. Disappointment and dejection spread across their faces.
Midnight stared solemnly at the girl she had taken a special interest in and took up her microphone. She tried her best to remain impartial as she announced the young lady's defeat. "MOMO YAOYOROZU IS KO'D!! KATSUKI BAKUGO WILL MOVE ON TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH!!!"
"... She was... So close..." Uraraka said sadly, pity filled her voice.
"I've never seen her fight like that before... Not even against me..." Kirishima said lowly.
Jiro hung her head as she gripped the safety rail tightly. Mina forced herself to remain composed as she placed a hand on the punk rock girl's back.
"He was trying to hurt her..."
They all turned to see Izuku Midoriya staring down at the blonde, thoroughly intimidated. The green haired boy knew the hot head better than anyone else in the stands.
"What do you mean? *Ribbit"
"She had the nerve to stand up for herself... And challenged him... He most likely could have won sooner... Or at the very least, changed the course of the battle had he actually used his quirk more than he did... But he wanted to cause as much physical harm to her with his own hands as possible..." He said at a volume that was barely audible.
Shoto, however, heard every word... He did his best to keep his anger in check. "Why?!... Why would he screw around in the semi finals?! Is he really that sadistic?!"
Midoriya's gaze didn't leave the blonde. "Because he was trying to send a message... To Parker..."
Everyone's eyes turned to where Peter was standing... Only to find him already gone...
[Not everyone is cut out to face some of the things life can throw your way... And still smile afterwards...]
He opened his eyes... Still jittery from the enormous mixture of feelings being tornadically tossed back and forth inside of him. This whole day had been nothing short of an emotional rollercoaster... And she had been there by his side through every bit of it, keeping him strong... Effortlessly... Without even knowing it.
Her presence alone brought him a feeling of peace he hadn't felt in such a long time.
His eyes mindlessly traveled over the divots of the cinder block wall in front of him... But all he could see was her unconscious form...
Moments after Midnight's ruling:
Peter ran through the halls with only her in his thoughts. He navigated the twists, turns, and stairs that led down to the tunnels and only skidded to a stop when he reached the pair of robots that carried the unconscious Momo Yaoyorozu on a stretcher. She was breathing comfortably.
He knew she would be alright after she got a little bit of rest and some food... But he had to see for himself that she was okay...
He walked in stride with the stretcher all the way back to the infirmary. His eyes never left her closed ones as they finally made it to their destination. He entered to find Recovery Girl waiting beside a medical bed with a pained expression on her face. Seeing that she had no other work to do... She had watched the match. She quickly gathered herself and her remarkable bedside manner began to shine.
"I had a feeling you'd be with her..."
Peter didn't reply... He just continued to stare at the girl on the stretcher as the bots brought her beside the school nurse. Carefully, he picked her up and moved her to the bed beside them. The old lady's eyes fell on the bruises around her ribs. She looked back up at the young man to find him doing the same...
His demeanor bothered her. It was very unlike him to be so quiet... At least, to her it was...
"They aren't broken..." She tried to offer him reassurance as she pulled the covers up to Momo's shoulders.
No response.
"I may not like it... Not one bit... But I suppose it is the nature of these matches." She sighed and shook her head.
She watched as he shifted his eyes to her and finally broke his silence. "I've been in a lot of fights in my life... Some out of self defense... Most in the defense of others..." He said lowly, "I can tell when someone is going out of their way to harm their opponent..."
She caught a glimpse of the boys frustration and stepped away from the girl. She approached him...
"Peter... Come here."
It was the first time she had referred to him by his first name. It managed to grab his attention as he knelt down in front of the short elderly woman. She placed her hands on his forearm that rested on his bent knee.
"I know you are upset... I can see it written all over your face... But you must calm yourself. I will make sure that she will be just fine."
His eyes drifted to the bed.
"Look at me."
His eyes returned to her.
"I care deeply for all of you students... But I've grown to have quite a soft spot for her... And you... You are good, Mr. Parker... Don't let this dim the brightness you bring to everyone else's day... She wouldn't want that." She said as she grabbed one of his hands in her own.
For a brief moment, he couldn't tell if the wise old woman was referring to Momo... Or his Aunt May.
"I promise that I will make sure that she is up and around in time to watch your fight... But in the meantime, I think you should go to your waiting room and try to settle yourself down without all the noise of the stadium there to distract you. I'm sure I don't need to remind you that you're about to have the entire world watching you very closely..."
He nodded slowly. His eyes once again drifted to the bed. "Can I borrow a pen and a piece of paper?"
She shuffled over to her desk, grabbed the items he requested, and handed them over to him. He pressed the sheet of paper against the wall and began to scribble down a message. Once he finished writing, he folded the paper a few times, his gaze never leaving her as he made each crease. He walked over to the bed, placed the note in her palm, and gently closed her hand.
He looked over at the school nurse who nodded at him. "I hate to tell you this Mrs. Chiyo... But I'm about to put one last person on that table of your's today..."
She would have chuckled if she didn't know that he was being completely serious.
"I don't have any other choice but to win..."
[To truly know me... You would have to know where I came from... The life I've lived... The struggles I've fought through... The challenges I've overcame... The times I've failed... And the people who shaped me into the person sitting in this waiting room...]
Finally the young man stood up from his chair. He began to pace around the room in a desperate attempt to get his body to cease it's restless tremoring. He knew it wouldn't be long until Cementoss would finish the stage where the tournament would finally be decided, and a champion, at last crowned... But he was still unable to settle himself down into a condition that was suitable for combat... And he was running out of time.
Bakugo was waiting... And after his failed attempt to toy with Momo, he was sure to enter this fight with a much different mindset. He will not have forgotten what happened the last time he took the webslinger lightly...
The frustration wasn't the problem for Peter. Unlike his opponent, he was able to use his anger as a source of fuel, rather then let it consume him and become a liability in a fight... The real issues were the burdens he had put on himself.
Maybe it was because this match had become so personal. Maybe it was because he knew he was one win away from starting his hero journey off in a way that would've made his lost loved ones proud... Perhaps it was both of those things... Whatever the case, he couldn't shake the pressure off the way he had time after time today.
He stopped pacing as he faced the same wall he had stared at for so long... He had one last thing he could try to lift the weight off of him... The very thing that helped settle him down before the festival started... He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He tapped and swiped the screen a few times before a voice came through the speakers of the device.
"Peter, I know this isn't the way you wanted to hear this, but the doctor informed me today that I don't have a lot of time left... He's giving me to the end of the week at most. I know you're busy with school and wherever you are always disappearing off to... But I just need you to know some things that I hope you will always remember throughout your life..."
The voice of May Parker lived on through the miracle of modern technology, bringing back memories of his old life that shaped the very foundation of his being... The young man stood as he began to look back at those moments... Completely unaware that the door behind him had opened just before he hit play...
[I remember that day so clearly... The very first time life punched me in the gut...]
A black station wagon slowly turned onto Ingram Street, in Forrest Hills, Queens. Rain pelted the window, as a little boy in the back seat watched the droplets race down to the bottom of the glass... A suitcase packed for three short days rested in the trunk. It had grown dark. The street lights gave an orangish glow to the inside of the vehicle.
He fidgeted with his fingers as his anxiety grew with each passing second. He had never spent a night away from home before.
The man driving the car glanced up at the rear view mirror... The little boy had not yet learned how to disguise his emotions. "Almost there bud, are you doing okay?"
The child pried his attention away from the window and looked up at the mirror to see the eyes of his father, Richard Parker, looking at him with a hint of sadness. The man hated to leave his son, but he and his wife were set to fly out of the country early in the morning for work.
"Yeah... I'm okay."
His mother, Mary, turned and poked her head around the head rest of her seat. "Remember, we're only going to be gone for a couple of days and then we'll be right back to pick you up, okay?"
"Okay." He responded innocently as the vehicle came to a stop. He turned his attention back to the window, where he saw his aunt and uncle waiting outside on the porch, both smiling warmly at the people in the car.
[Those couple of days quickly turned into weeks... But I never gave up hope that my parents would come back for me... Until one day, I walked into the living room and saw my aunt sobbing on my uncle's shoulder... I remember seeing tears stain my uncle's face as he tried to console her... That was the day my hope of ever seeing my mom and dad again died...]
[Every single aspect of my life changed after that... I had to sleep in a new bedroom... Learn a new address and phone number... I even had to start going to a different school...]
"Class we have a new student joining us today! This is Peter!" His new teacher, Mrs. Allen, announced to the room full of strangers... He couldn't stop his body from trembling... This was by far the most nervous he had ever been in his entire life so far.
All he wanted to do was go home and escape the eyes that were all fixed on him.
He remembered what his uncle said to him before he was dropped off in front of the building he desperately didn't want to go inside of...
"Be brave Pete. You'll be okay..."
With the words of Ben Parker in mind, he summoned up enough courage to speak... Though he would soon wish that he didn't...
"H-hello... M-my name's... Peter... Nice to meet you." His voice had a shaky unsureness to it.
"Does anyone have any questions for Peter?" Mrs. Allen asked her students.
A blonde headed boy suddenly raised his hand.
The woman pointed at him, "Eugene?"
[Hi Flash...]
"What's your quirk like?" He asked as the rest of the children awaited his response.
"O-oh... I-I don't have one yet..." He admitted quietly. Six years old was considered extremely late to develop a quirk...
"Oh, so you're just a loser..."
[Ahh yes, the good ol' American public school system... A truly "flawless" environment...]
As the teacher scolded the young man for his rude remark, Peter slumped his shoulders and made his way to the only empty desk in the room... In the very back right corner of the class, where he disappeared from the eyes of his peers... Until they needed someone to make a punchline out of...
He only had the chance to speak fourteen words, yet it was clear to him that he wouldn't be making any friends anytime soon...
[Interestingly enough, my next pediatric check up provided a spark of hope... Kind of... One would imagine that after life kicks you in the nads so many times, you'd be in store for a little bit of good luck for once...]
Peter and May sat quietly in a room at the Pediatrician's office. The knot in the little boy's stomach was nearly unbearable... Like practically every single other child his age, he had a dream of becoming a pro hero one day... And that tiny flame of hope he had managed to hold onto throughout all the hardship of his very young life, was either about to be kindled... Or completely extinguished.
He glanced up at his aunt as his feet swung back and forth in the air... She looked down at him with a comforting smile as she placed her hand on the top of his head and tussled his brown hair. May Parker had taken on the maternal role to the little boy in a brilliant stride. He had taught her a brand new meaning of the word "love"...
At the mere age of six years old, he had been through more hurt than most had in a lifetime... Yet he remained such a sweet, kind, gentle kid, who always found a way to smile at her. She couldn't help but pity him...
Though on the outside, she kept a positive demeanor... On the inside, she was filled with even more anxiety than he was... The entire Parker family line... Was quirkless...
[How "fortunate"...]
The odds were extremely against him...
[Naturally...]
May didn't know if she could handle seeing what was left of his hopes, dreams, and happiness crumble before her eyes... Not a second time. She continued to put on a brave face for the sake of them both.
Suddenly the doctor opened the door and stepped into the room. "Knock knock..." She said with a smile as the two in the room sprung to attention.
The woman took a seat on the stool in front of May and Peter and began to flip through the charts on her clip board. After carefully reading a few things she pulled out an x-ray of the boy's foot.
"Well... I hope you're ready for some good news!"
[If only you knew, Doc...]
May's eyes lit up and she looked down at Peter, who managed to crack a smile.
"You, kiddo, are a very special case... Quite frankly, I've never seen anything like ya..." She began to explain as she held up the picture of the bones in his foot. She pointed at the boy's pinky toe. "As you can see, you clearly only have one joint in your pinky toe... And all your blood work contained certain complexities that would indicate that you, in fact, do have a quirk."
May was absolutely floored... Her moment of sheer disbelief quickly transformed into silent relief... But something was still... Odd...
Why hadn't Peter ever shown any signs of possessing a power? Usually the absolute latest that kids manifest quirks was at the age of four...
"I can tell you both have some questions."
"Yeah we're just a little confused... Why isn't he been able to use his powers yet?" May asked on behalf of the boy.
"Well, like I said, Peter is an extremely rare exception to the four year rule... Only a few hundred people in the world have shared his experience. From what I have gathered, there could be three possible reasons for his quirk not presenting itself yet... The first, and most likely, is that he could just be a late bloomer..."
[Dear God nobody tell Shoto...]
"The second, could be that his quirk is so powerful that his body just isn't able to handle it yet..."
The boy's eyes widened... Could a power like that really be inside of him?...
"Or, it could mean that he just hasn't figured out how to activate it yet."
[Spoiler alert. It was actually all three...]
They left the doctors office with a sense of optimism... The young man still had the dream... But sooner or later, almost every child who shared in this particular fantasy... Would eventually be forced to accept the fact that it just wasn't meant to be...
Over the next several months, the boy tried tirelessly to bring out his latent abilities... Only to fail... Over... And over... And over... And over again... Until one day, after several months turned into a couple of years, he became so frustrated with his failures... That he gave up entirely.
The young boy silently cried himself to sleep that night after painfully conceding in his fight... Reluctantly binding his fate to a quirkless life.
[When your greatest dream is taken from you, typically you are left with two options... You can give up on finding happiness... Or you can try to replace it with something else that, if you're lucky, brings you just as much joy. I don't know what gave my nine year old self the will to choose the second option... Maybe I was just so desperate to change the way my life was going... To find something to save my smile... Even if I didn't know it at the time. I found my escape in the world of books and science... But even though I had found something else to make me happy... It came with it's own fair share of... Challenges...]
Time seemed to drag by at the pace of a snail as the boy continued to try to adapt to living a quirkless life. Eventually, he stopped thinking about the dormant power hidden away inside of him all together. Before long, he had reached his adolescent years. As the boy's body grew, so did his love for learning.
It took virtually no time for him to shoot up to the top of every single one of his classes. He spent practically all of his time alone with his nose in a book, constantly expanding his mind and learning new skills... At the ripe age of thirteen, he had already become fluent in five different languages, become proficient in the world of robotics, scored at least 250 on every IQ test he had ever taken, built his own computer, developed a near perfect understanding of theoretical physics, cellular biology, and engineering, and got himself banned from the science fair on account of the fact that he always won first place.
He was a child protege that slipped through the cracks unnoticed due to his reserved and reclusive nature... He was not even close to being challenged by the public school system and hadn't been for quite some time. He grew bored. Bored of attending a place that offered him absolutely nothing but eight grueling hours of being tormented and ridiculed by his "peers", leaving him rather jaded to the concept of school.
By the time he had reached high school, he started to cut class more often than he attended them, opting to spend his time hidden away in the frequently empty school library or some other secluded location. On the occasions that he did grace a teacher with his presence, it was a coin flip of whether or not he slept the entire time or just fell into an hour long daydream.
At first, his teachers tried to make an example of him by calling on him to answer a question when he obviously wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention... He found it pretty annoying to be honest... All it took was one look at whatever was written on the board and a request to repeat whatever the hell was just asked of him for the boy to effortlessly give a flawless answer, thus leaving the teacher frazzled. What could they really do anyway? It didn't matter if he paid attention or even bothered to show up... He aced every single test and homework assignment with a perfect score... He was a genius.
And like most geniuses... He was... Underappreciated...
[Ahhh... Good ol' Midtown High... I'd be lying if I said I missed it...]
The young man opened his locker, unzipped his backpack, and began to unload the contents. Just as he shut the door and slung his bag over his shoulders, he heard an unwelcome voice that sounded like it was approaching fast, call out to him...
"PARKER!!"
'Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope nope...' he thought to himself as he turned away and began to walk swiftly in the opposite direction.
Suddenly his backpack was latched onto and he was thrown violently against the lockers. He quickly found himself surrounded by three large boys... The one who had just slung him around like a human kettle bell was none other than Flash Thompson...
[Eugene Thompson... Otherwise known as "Flash"... He could make tangible plasma with his hands, and when he learned at a young age that getting hit by the fourth state of matter really fucking hurt... The power went straight to his head.]
A swarm of students gathered around to see the show. Among them was a beautiful and brilliant blonde headed girl by the name of Gwen Stacy. She had taken a secret interest in the boy who was currently the victim of the raging levels of swirling testosterone coming from the three brutes who blocked his escape. She had nearly every class with him, and had formed a habit of silently seeking him out whenever he didn't show up. She grimaced at his usual predicament... She hated watching this sort of thing happen to him nearly every day.
"What do you want Flash?" He said in a tired tone. He really wasn't in the mood for whatever stupid bullshit was about to happen to him.
The pissed off teen glared at him and gave him a hard shove. The back of his head slammed against the metal doors of the lockers and he winced from the pain. "I want you to explain why the fuck you weren't in second period today with my homework you were supposed to do!"
'Shit...'
[Why yes, that is one of those cliché "Bully free zone" posters on the wall beside me.]
He looked at the three guys in front of him. On both sides of Flash were his two biggest lackeys. The one on the left cracked his knuckles. The one on the right spit tobacco juice into a plastic bottle that he had nearly filled to the brim.
The boy couldn't help it as his mouth naturally dug the hole he found himself in even deeper...
"Oh yeah, English class with Mr. Nantz... Turns out I had better things to do..."
"Listen here you god damn waste of space! I'm one missing homework assignment away from failing that class and having to retake it in summer school!"
"Sorry, I must've missed the part where that's my problem."
Flash glared at him. "Wrong fucking answer you little shit... Riley... Spitter." He held out his hand as the boy smirked and handed him the bottle he had been spitting in for the past couple of days... He unscrewed the lid...
The crowd was a mixed bag... Some wretched at what they realized was about to happen... Others laughed heartlessly as if what they were witnessing was just some big joke. Gwen, however, stood in complete shock and disbelief at how someone could display such sociopathic behavior.
'Oh no.. no fucking way! This is not happening!' Peter mentally decided and tried to make a break for it. His escape, unfortunately, was thwarted by Riley's shape shifting quirk. His left hand took the shape of a giant hammer and swung directly into his stomach, causing him to fall to his knees in pain.
"Hold him still." Flash commanded as the other two grabbed his arms, stood him up, and held him in place.
He took a few steps towards the boy who had become his personal favorite punching bag and dumped the... Contents... of the bottle on top of his head.
Peter shut his eyes as tightly as possible as he felt the thick viscous liquid and soggy wads of shredded tobacco move through his hair and down his face.
[I don't have a lot of regrets in my life... But wearing a white shirt that day is definitely one of them.]
After being covered in the unspeakable... The bottle bounced off his head and hit the ground in front of him.
"If I say you're gonna do my fucking homework, then you'll do my fucking homework."
The two large teens let go of him and Flash shoved the poor kid against the locker one last time for good measure before making his exit... Leaving Peter more angry... And humiliated than ever before. He swiped the spit from his closed eyelids and whipped his hands one good time, speckling the floor with the dark brown liquid. He didn't have to push past the sizable crowd... They all moved out of his way of their own volition... He reeked.
Gwen watched in silent pity as he quickly walked past the "audience" and made his way into the boys bathroom.
He looked at himself in the mirror as he did what he could to clean himself up, using the thin paper towels and low pressure sink. The longer he looked at himself, the angrier he got. In that moment, a fire lit inside of him. He decided that this was the absolute last time someone would ever do something like that to him and face no repercussions.
He would build his body into a weapon... And defend himself...
[Anger is a rather fascinating emotion... When handled improperly or left to rear it's ugly head freely, problems are never too far behind... But when it is harnessed and handled by someone with a high level of emotional awareness, it can be one of the strongest sources of motivation found in this world...]
Time marched forward and the boy never forgot the silent promise he made to himself in front of the bathroom mirror. He used every bit of his knowledge of the human body as a guide on his journey towards physical self improvement. Everything at his disposal was used as a tool. Internet videos, health text books, his unreal grasp on the subject of physics... But perhaps his most important assets were... His aunt and uncle.
May and Ben Parker... Two of the most generous and good hearted individuals to ever walk the Earth... At least, as far as Peter was concerned. They were two people who never had any kids of their own, yet after "unfortunate" circumstances caused them to take on the parental responsibilities of their nephew, they more than rose to the challenge. They were naturals... And they played the biggest part in molding him into who he was... And the hero he would someday become.
At the beginning of his journey to transform his body, he had done one of the smartest things a person could do in any unfamiliar situation...
He asked for help...
Around a week after the... "Dip spit incident"... Peter found himself sitting at the small dining room table, quietly listening to the clicks of metal utensils against porcelain as the small family enjoyed yet another delicious home cooked dinner courtesy of Aunt May. He was more quiet than usual as he polished of the last bit of food left on his plate. He had something he wanted to ask, but he didn't really want to explain his reason for why... And he was never really comfortable with the task of asking people to do things for him.
Out of the corner of his eye, his uncle noticed the young man staring down at his empty plate in what seemed to be a moment of deep thought. The man put down his fork and started a conversation that would forever alter the brown haired teen's life.
"Something on your mind Pete?" He asked as he wiped his mouth with his napkin.
His aunt turned to him and cocked her head to the side. She had hardly touched her food... Lately she hadn't been feeling... Normal, but much to her nature, she kept an unbothered demeanor and carried on as if everything was perfectly fine.
He suddenly found himself the center of their attention. After a brief moment of internal debate, he decided to try to navigate the conversation he'd wanted to have with them for a few days now.
"U-uhh, actually y-yeah... I kinda want to get in shape... B-but I don't have any money for a gym membership..."
May was honestly pretty relieved to hear this... Peter was starting to leave his room less and less as of late. He was practically a shut-in. She often worried about him... He never seemed to be able to make any friends and his smile was beginning to seem completely fabricated. The only places he ever went were school and the library... And he always seemed to deflect any conversation about his day. She couldn't help but hope that maybe this was a sign that something was causing him to want to come out of his shell a little...
A sly grin spread across her face... Or someone...
"Well, well, well... What's her name Peter?" She teased the boy.
"Whaddya mean?" He said genuinely confused until the realization hit him like a ton of bricks when her grin deepened. "...oh... Oh! N-no it's not because of a girl... I was just getting a head start on some homework for health class and noticed I was... U-uh below the curve... When it comes to muscular development... I-I guess I'm just feeling a little self conscious... I don't really exercise... I just wanted to maybe try to change that..." He said as convincingly as humanly possible. 'Please buy that...'
May looked over to her husband who seemed to be trying to trying to figure out if he was hearing things. It was definitely out of left field... And he hated to hear that his nephew was starting to feel insecure in his own skin... Puberty was a hard time for a young man.
Suddenly he got an idea of pure parental genius... He glanced at his wife who seemed to be waiting for his response. "Well Pete, I'll make you a deal... I'll toss some cash your way for a gym membership... If you start helping me out with the handiwork around the house from now on." He glanced at the boy with a smile. "Every young man should know how to fix things."
It sounded fair enough to him. Besides, he already built a functional robotic manipulator... How hard could fixing things around the house be?
"O-okay! Thanks!"
May smiled and decided to offer some help of her own. "You know... If you really wanna see some results fast, I could help you clean up your diet... As long as you're willing to learn how to cook..." She winked at her husband. "Besides, if you wanna impress a girl, a man who can cook is definitely points in your favor." She smirked again.
Peter shook his head... "Still no girl Aunt May... But yeah I'd be willing to learn.." he managed to give an authentic smile as he put more food on his plate.
His aunt and uncle spent the rest of the night teasing him about a girl who didn't exist in his world... Yet.
[It truly is amazing what exercise can do...]
Day after day the boy pushed himself tirelessly to become stronger... And a power that remained hidden away from the world... Waited to rise to the surface.
"The second, could be that his quirk is so powerful that his body just isn't able to handle it yet..."
With time, the once scrawny young man managed to completely transform himself. He had bulked up rather significantly. He felt... Different. His mental health had improved slightly, his mind was sharper than ever before, and despite the bullying and alienation, for the first time in his life... He felt... A semblance of confidence.. Though admittedly, he had to wrestle with the world more often than not to keep that particular feeling alive...
He honestly didn't expect to see such drastic results in a considerably short amount of time... But he looked and felt like he was a different person.
Yet, he remained invisible to those around him... It wasn't as if he minded though. Why should he try to fit in and socialize with those who clearly didn't care about him? He remained his regular reclusive self, until one day... It happened...
[I'll never forget what happened to me that day... The feeling of disbelief and confusion, quickly followed by pure uncontrollable excitement... Finally... I had a quirk.]
Hidden away from the rest of the student body, Peter Parker sat in the floor alone in the back corner of the library. A few months ago, he had noticed Gwen following him wherever he went on the occasions that he decided not to attend class, silently keeping her distance in an attempt to be discreet. It wasn't as if she was stalking him... she just seemed curious...
He found it to be... Strange...
Why on earth would anyone want to follow him of all people around everywhere that he went? He just couldn't comprehend why she wouldn't leave him alone... All he knew was that, when people paid no attention to him, his life at school was a lot easier... So he began to change up his hiding spots, finding different places in the same rooms to disappear into... And even a few new spots to vanish in all together.
[Shoto might not be the sharpest knife in the crayon box... But he is right about one thing... I am pretty dense when it comes to girls.]
It seemed to do the trick. He hadn't seen a trace of her in about two weeks now.
He continued to sit in his secluded spot with a book about the history and nature of quirks. It was actually a pretty famous collection of information, even considered to be humanity's greatest tool in understanding superpowers. The book held the answers to nearly every mystery that surrounded quirks... How they came to be, how they worked, classifications, how they impacted some of the most important things about society as a whole...
He found it funny that for so much knowledge to be bound between two covers, nobody knew who wrote it, as the author chose to remain anonymous...
Needless to say, he was very excited to get his hands on it...
But he couldn't focus... He had been stuck on the same page for nearly half an hour.
He felt... Uncomfortable. He was no stranger to feeling worn out and sore after a workout, but this was a new feeling entirely... It was almost like something was pent up inside of him. His arms burned like hell, which was strange considering the fact that today was a leg day... He marked his page and sat the book down on the ground next to him. He spread his arms out by his side and shook them rapidly. He looked down at his aching hands and stinging wrists. His fingers felt strange... Almost like some of them were trying to close on their own. He began to wiggle and move them at random until his ring and middle fingers on his right hand pressed against his palm...
*Thwip
His eyes shot wide open as his jaw dropped... A strand of what appeared to be thick, strong webbing had shot from his wrist and attached itself to the wall in front of him... He blinked in astonishment at the sight and as he removed it, he quickly discovered that there was so much more to come in terms of surprises... He leaned back in shock as his hand rested on top of the book he had sat down. He felt a tightness in the center of his back, and as he leaned forward... The cover seemed to be glued to his hand.
He tried to shake it loose but it didn't budge. The pages and back cover just dangled freely in the air, while the front cover remained stuck to his open palm and fingertips. He quickly drew the correlation between the unexpected surprise and the tightness in his back. He relaxed the group of muscles and the book fell prey to the law of gravity, falling to the ground with a thud.
His heart raced and his breathing accelerated to a rapid pace... And then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of something hidden away in the bookshelf beside him... A spider...
He hopped to his feet and quickly hunted for every single book the school had that contained knowledge about the eight-legged insects. He made his way back to his hideaway and grabbed his backpack. He picked up the book on quirks and stuffed it into his bag along with the four others he had just found... Then quickly ran out of the room.
[After that day something inside of me reignited... I became obsessed with finding out everything I could about my power... And it wasn't long before I realized that there was still much more to it than I had originally thought... My dream of becoming a hero was resurrected...]
Day after day, Peter spent every spare second finding out everything there was to know about his quirk... And the correlation that was drawn between his power and arachnids... was dead on. He filled numerous notebooks with detailed notes on everything he learned.
His research between their similarities had revealed two more abilities that his quirk granted him...
Spiders are covered in tiny hairs, called trichobothria, that detect micro shifts and vibrations in the environment... Granting them with a sort of "sixth sense" to danger...
With further study of his quirk, he discovered his "Spidey Sense". An incredibly powerful ability that, when faced with malicious intent or mortal danger, a tingling sensation could be felt in the base of his skull... And as long as he remained in complete focus, the world around him slowed down significantly, allowing him to feel the vibrations in the air. This facet of his quirk absolutely entranced his brain. So much of it was still unknown to him, and perhaps the biggest mystery was it's inconsistency... He eventually came to the conclusion that it would take many years to harness it's full capabilities and be able to rely on it without fail...
Some spiders are rumored to be able to lift up to 170 times their body weight.
While he wasn't able to find any concrete evidence of this, he definitely had super strength. He figured that little tid bit of information out when he kept accidentally ripping doors off their hinges...
[Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a hiding spot for a classroom door without drawing attention to yourself?!]
...And by the fact that his body had more definition than ever before. He actually smiled at his reflection in his bedroom mirror for the first time in ages...
With a perfect mixture of his newfound knowledge from his books, his extremely high intelligence, his sheer determination, his new muscles and incredible athletic abilities... It wasn't long before he had a firm handle on his extremely high powered quirk.
He couldn't help but to wonder to himself... Just how strong was he?
[I wasted no time in finding the answer to that question... In the following months, I would cast my books aside for the time being... And explore the new reality I now lived in...]
The old adage, "practice makes perfect" had stood the test of time... And would continue to do so for as long as humanity existed on earth... It was something his uncle told him over and over again. Peter took it to heart and was forced to remind himself of this proverb while trying to master the art of putting his powers to use in the real world.
The boy was nothing if not driven... He gritted his teeth through the pain and failures, refusing to ever give up on his dream again... And before he knew it, the entire city of New York had become his playground... Wall crawling, web swinging, free running, aerial acrobatics, and super strength became second nature to him... Soon enough, using his power was as effortless as walking and breathing.
He never would've pegged himself as an adrenaline junkie... But he couldn't surpress the indescribable feeling he got from jumping off the top of a sky scraper... There was nothing in this world that compared... Each acrobatic flip performed at death defying heights shot pure ecstasy through his veins. He loved it. He had never felt so alive. He couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face as he cut through the air like a knife.
The feeling never dulled... In fact, it intensified... And a reckless nature that would become a rather famous trait of his, was engraved permanently into his personality.
Something clicked inside of him... He felt a sense of purpose as he swung discreetly around the Big Apple... But he couldn't help but feel like there was more that he was meant to do with his gift... A feeling that burned inside of him every single time he heard the sound of sirens in the distance...
The heart of a hero began to thump loudly in his chest...
He wanted to save people.
[The hell I put my body through to master the art of web slinging... Was absolutely nothing compared to what it took to hone my combat skills... And to be quite honest... I should absolutely not be alive right now.]
During the earlier days when the profession of heroes emerged, New York City had, what some would refer to as, an infestation of vigilantes. Individuals who found the shortcomings of the NYPD to be unacceptable, decided to take matters into their own hands and filled each borough... Only adding to the seemingly endless chaos brought about by the increasing number of citizens developing super powers.
With time and strict government intervention, the number of unlicensed enforcers of justice began to decrease. Some hung up their masks and capes of their own volition... A few tried to go legit and attempted to obtain a hero license, but most of those who chose that path either failed or resigned after disagreeing with America's broken pro hero system (crooked officials and over government regulation being the main culprits)... But the leading cause for the disappearance of vigilantes in NYC... Was death...
Most cases of vigilante deaths in America were due to one of three main causes...
About 32% died in situations where they tried to bite off way more than they could ever hope to chew...
A rough estimate of 17% perished as a result of either themselves, or a villain they were fighting, not having the slightest bit of control of their quirk.
[One of the most important things that anyone with cooking experience knows, is that a dull knife... Is exponentially more dangerous than a sharp one... Quirks are no different... When people who have little to no control of their powers decide to try to use them in a fight... An almost infinite amount of unpredictable things can happen... And things are nearly always bound to go sideways fast.]
But an absolutey gut wrenching 48% met their death after their arrest... When they were thrown into prison along side the ones they had a hand in putting there...
The other 3% fell under the category of "other"... Those who died of their injuries in hospital care... Those who fell prey to the bounties put on their heads by members of the criminal underworld... The ones who took one wrong step and fell from nightmarish heights... Things of that horrific nature.
All of these deaths shared two things in common... Those who perished weren't knowledgeable enough about their quirk... And hadn't practiced using them properly enough...
Peter Parker however, was a different story... But the boy was quick to learn that even with a strong quirk, a heroic heart, and a currently unreliable danger sensing ability... The reckless decision to take up the role of a renegade crime fighter was still very dangerous.
[I can't really explain why I did what I did at first... My feet always had a habit of moving on their own. I guess I just couldn't stand the thought of sitting around and doing nothing until I was old enough to apply for a license... Not when I knew I could stop people from dying... Not when I could give some kid the life I was robbed of, and make sure their parents got home safe...]
He knew the risks going in... He had more than enough time to contemplate the ins and outs of how to become a successful vigilante during the hours he spent daydreaming during school. And after cobbling together a makeshift suit to disguise himself, he took to the rooftops and began his work...
After his first several outings, he faced the risks of what he was doing immediately. He had managed to stay alive, but not without his fair share of close calls and dances with death... And if it weren't for his extensive knowledge of first aid, and the occasional help from his Spidey Sense, he might not have made it some nights.
At first, he would often find himself back in his room, stitching himself up with a needle and his uncle's fishing line, or digging out a bullet from his body with forceps. It was excruciatingly painful, but the look on the faces of the ones he saved gave him all the strength he needed to push through that pain. As the number of scars on his body increased... So did his victories. They say the fastest way to learning a new skill is through experience...
And after being shot, stabbed, cut, beaten, bruised, and bloodied... He began to steadily improve... And eventually grew into the combat savant his classmates at UA had come to know...
[In America, as well as most of the world... Quirks, heroes, villains, and vigilantes were all seen and discussed as political subjects... And like all political issues... People formed their own opinions on them...]
Glimpses became whispers... Whispers became rumors... And soon those rumors of a mysterious individual, cloaked in red, began to spread like wildfire... A vigilante had returned to the alleyways of NYC, after an absence lasting over a century. Try as they might... The NYPD and it's force of pro heroes could never catch the young man. He was smart. He tended to stay far away from crowded areas and remained in the shadows... His quirk made him far too allusive to be ran down. He even invented a voice modulator into his mask so that his anonymous tips to the police were completely untraceable...
And his reclusive habits allowed Peter to remain quirkless in the eyes of everyone around him...
[I never needed recognition to do what I felt was right... May and Ben really were wonderful teachers of that lesson...]
As the rumors circulated, some vehemently expressed condemnation for the young man's actions... While others became loyal fans...
It took no time for word to spread throughout Midtown High...
"Dude I'm telling you... He's real. And he's the coolest guy to ever put on a mask in this city!" Flash said to one of his cronies as he leaned back against his locker.
"I don't know man... It all sounds like something straight out of a comic book or a movie to me..." The large boy in a blue and yellow letter jacket responded skeptically.
Peter couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he took a couple of books from his locker on the opposite wall. He had become well versed in the art of eavesdropping ever since he put on said mask.
"He's got a point. Nobody has even been able to give a clear description of what he looks like, much less get a picture of the guy." Riley argued as the hallway continued to bustle with life.
"You're making my point for me! Literally everyone has a camera in their pocket nowadays. The fact that nobody's been able to take a picture of him is fucking crazy!"
"Or it could just mean he doesn't exist and someone just made it all up." Riley snickered.
Flash folded his arms as he looked at the long haired teen. "You're gonna sit here and tell me it's a coincidence that in every single place a criminal is found mysteriously unconscious, every damn surveillance camera in the area has gone down before it can record anything... And stays down for exactly two hours before magically working again?!"
"That is a little strange... But if this dude existed, there's no way he wouldn't have been caught by now. This city has pros everywhere."
"And yet, bad guys still escape all the time." Flash countered. "I'm telling you, if this guy ever decides to go straight edge, he'll be the biggest hero in all of New York, and I'll be the first one in line for his merch while you idiots are too late to hop on the bandwagon."
Peter had to admit that he found the irony of this entire situation laughably amusing. Flash had made it more than clear that he felt superior to him. He was hands down the biggest asshole the young man had ever met, and never failed to go out of his way to make his life a living hell... Yet here he was, unknowingly acting like his biggest cheerleader.
He shook his head as he shut his locker with a shit eating grin. "God, what a tool..." Peter said under his breath to himself.
"What the fuck did you just say Parker?!"
[Heh heh... I said the quiet part out loud there, didn't I?]
Another crowd began to gather around the students once again... It had been quite some time since they had gotten to see a show... Among them, as usual, was Gwen Stacy, who desperately hoped the brown headed boy wasn't about to be humiliated like last time. Just as the image of tobacco juice running down his face entered her mind... Something unthinkable brought her out of her thoughts.
"I said..." He turned around slowly as his backpack hit the floor. "You're a fucking tool... Eugene."
The crowd shared a collective sense of complete disbelief, gasping as their eyes widened at the stone cold face of Peter Parker. If there were two sure fire ways to piss off Midtown high's most terrifying individual... It was to insult him... Or to call him by his actual name. Peter did both without a trace of a stutter.
"Oh... You're fucking DEAD!!!" He shouted as he threw a punch as hard as he could at Peter's face...
Flash's eyes widened to match the rest of the crowd...
Peter had caught his fist squarely in the palm of his hand and held it in place, mere inches from his nose.
[Even after all the bullshit Flash had put me through over the years, I had no intention of physically harming him... I never even thought of activating my quirk... But that wasn't gonna stop me from sending a message to him and everyone else in that hallway.]
"You know what Flash? I've noticed something... Every single person you've ever physically victimized has been much smaller and weaker than you... Until now." Peter said calmly as he started to bend the boy's wrist back towards his forearm, causing him to yelp and drop to his knees. "I think that if you had ever been in a real fight... Then maybe you wouldn't be so eager for another..."
Peter released his hold on the blonde, who fell to his back, clutching his aching wrist with his other hand. Suddenly the bottom of Peter's shoe pressed against his face just enough to keep him from raising back up from the ground.
"I'm only going to say this one time. I hope for your sake, you listen to every word... You're never going to push me around again. Stay the hell away from me. I hope you enjoy these short four years where you think you're the greatest thing on earth, because once they're gone, you'll find out just how big of a loser you actually are. Now, you got anything to say about that?"
Flash shook his head silently from underneath his foot.
Gwen and the rest of the students were absolutely floored. Of all the things that could have happened... None of them had seen this outcome as a possibility.
Peter turned to the long haired boy who was having trouble keeping his jaw off the ground. "What about you, Riley? Got any more spit to pour on my head?" He hissed sharply before turning to the other larger boy beside him. "Keith, you gonna dunk my face into another urine soaked toilet? You're more than welcome to try... No?... Good choice."
He turned to look at the awestruck crowd in front of him. "Honestly you're all just as bad. For years you've sat and laughed as these three douchebags terrorized anyone in this school who dared to be the slightest bit different. You can all stay the hell away from me..."
"THAT'S ENOUGH!!!" The crowd felt their hearts stop and opened up to reveal Principal Morita glaring at the young man with his foot in the face of Eugene Thompson... "YOU FOUR BOYS! IN MY OFFICE!!! NOW!!!"
As Peter walked through the crowd in the direction of the principal's office, Gwen's gaze followed him as she cocked her head to the side.
A smile slowly appeared on her face.
[I was suspended for two weeks from school, but I got off extremely easy compared to Flash and his friends. I didn't learn until later that a girl had apparently stepped forward and told Morita all about my "history" with Eugene Thompson. All three of those guys were kicked off of every sports team they had a spot on, were sentenced to summer school, and were even removed from every class we shared together. Flash never spoke another word to me. Everything was starting to look up right?... Unfortunately... That's not how my life worked... Fortune never smiled on me for too long before my wings were clipped... But this time... The fall hurt so much more than I could have ever imagined...]
The young man sat on one of the benches outside of Principal Morita's office with his hands in his jacket pocket. He silently glared at the ground in front of him until he heard the door beside him open up as his uncle stepped out.
The man looked at Peter and sighed as he fished around in his pockets for his keys. "Come on, let's go." He said quietly. His voice carried a hidden message that said the car ride home would be the setting for a long talk they were about to have.
As they walked out the front doors of the school, Peter immediately spotted the muted yellow vehicle that his uncle had owned ever since he was a small child. They both opened the doors and entered the vehicle. The engine turned over... And they drove out of the parking lot.
The silence was absolutely deafening. Each second felt like a lifetime as the boy began to fidget with his hands. He always tried to do everything he could to make sure his aunt and uncle never had to worry about him. They were all he had in the world... He hated to disappoint them in any way, shape, or form... He couldn't take the quiet anymore. He had to say something.
"Uncle Ben, I-"
His uncle held up his hand that was free from the steering wheel, signaling for him to stop his statement. "Not yet." He interrupted.
Peter turned his head to notice a worry in his eyes that remained focused on the road. It was instantly clear to him that whatever talk he was about to get, had to do with a lot more than what just happened at school. He sunk into his seat as a feeling of dread crept its way inside of him.
After a while they turned onto Ingram Street... But they passed their house... Peter looked at Ben in silent confusion but remained quiet as instructed. As the minutes continued to pass, the car pulled into an old drive-in diner they used to go to as a family on the weekends when he was a little kid. Ben put the car in park, rolled down his window, and turned off the engine. A middle aged woman took a final drag off of her cigarette before flicking it to the ground and walking over to the driver's side of the vehicle. She pulled out a pen and notepad.
"What can I get you boys?" She said in a scratchy voice as she smiled.
"Two cheese burgers, an order of onion rings, an order of fries, and two large root beers please."
"Sounds good. We'll have that right out to ya." She said before hurrying into the building.
Ben turned to Peter, "There's a few things I want to talk to you about Pete..." He said in his thick New York accent.
Peter sighed and Ben started their conversation in a way the boy didn't expect.
"I know you're at the age where you're probably sick and tired of being asked this question over and over... But I'd like you to humor me for a second... What do you want to do with your life Peter?" He asked in an odd tone as he leaned back and hunted for something in the back seat.
He blinked in surprise. "I haven't really given it that much thought... But I'll probably try to find something in the field of science..." He responded in an unconvincing manner.
"You sure about that?" Ben said as he tossed the object he was looking for into the boy's lap.
Peter recognized it immediately and his eyes went wide as his heart dropped into his stomach.
'Oh..Shit...' he thought to himself as he stared at the backpack that contained all his first aid supplies and vigilante costume...
"You know you need a license to do what you're doing right?"
"How did you find this?"
"Seems like kind of an unnecessary question now doesn't it? But if you must know, I found it after I saw this on your desk..." He reached down into the space between his seat and the door and tossed one of his quirk analysis notebooks on top of the bag in the boy's lap. "How long?" He asked without needing an explanation of what he meant.
"Long enough." The boy answered him lowly. "Does May know?"
"If she did, you'd already be six feet under kid." He actually managed to chuckle. He turned to look at the boy...
In that moment, Ben saw a spark of happiness beginning to leave the young man's eyes.
What Peter didn't know, was that amongst his uncle's feelings of profound worry and fear for his safety... Was a sense of pride. He had read that notebook he found... And was completely blown away. Even though the thought of his nephew going out and risking his life terrified him, from what he could tell, his quirk was incredibly strong... And the boy knew how to use it.
Ben Parker somehow understood deep in his heart that this world needed Peter's power in ways he could never comprehend... This was what he was destined for. The first Parker to develop a quirk... It seemed like fate. This conversation... Was never meant to take anything away from him... It was to put him on the right path...
"So you really don't know what you want to be when you grow up, huh?" The man rubbed his chin.
The boy remained silent as he shook his head. In all honesty he knew exactly what he wanted to do... But he thought that now wasn't the best time to say it after being caught breaking more than a few laws...
"Look at me Pete."
He turned his head to see his uncle's face showing an expression he didn't expect.
"One of the biggest lessons your aunt and I want to make sure you learn, is that helping someone whenever you are able to... Is the most important thing we can do with our lives... Especially in these times we live in today where so many unforseen things can happen... Each one of us is born with an opportunity... A chance to live our life in a way that leaves the world better than we found it after we're gone... You know... You have an incredible power that can be used to help a lot of people who need it... Each day you wake up in the morning is an opportunity to use that power for the good of everyone around you... I think... If it's what you wanted... You could become an incredible hero someday..."
Peter never knew how much he needed to hear those words as his eyes began to well up with unshed tears. He felt his uncle's calloused hand rest on his shoulder.
"But you have to do it the right way son... What you're doing is dangerous... And illegal. There's plenty of heroes that work hard every day to keep us all safe. They can manage until you are able to get a license... And your aunt and I will do everything we can to help you on your way."
[Ben... You'll never know just how much you changed my life... I'm so very grateful for you in so many ways...]
The lady came back with a box of food and collected the payment. Ben earned a wide smile from her as she saw the amount he tipped. She placed the cash in her pocket and thanked him as she made her way back inside the small building.
The two dug into their food as Ben steered the conversation back to the reason the young man was in his car at two o'clock in the afternoon instead of in one of his classes.
"So... Two weeks suspension... and you didn't even throw a single punch, huh? Seems like a bit of an overreaction if you ask me... Unless you've been getting into more trouble than you'd lead me to believe..." He said as he took a bite of his burger.
"Nah, this is the first time... But, ya know... Zero tolerance fighting policies and all..."
"Things have changed so much since I was your age..." He shook his head in between bites. "You're a good kid Pete, I have a hard time believing that this little altercation came suddenly out of nowhere... Wanna tell me about it?"
Peter sighed, and after a brief period of silence, he told a very watered down version of his history with Flash. He left out the parts that would have most likely caused his uncle to drive back to the school in a fit of anger... He just wanted to put it all behind him at this point.
"I'm proud of you..." The man said after silently taking in his nephew's words.
"What do you mean?"
"It sounds to me like you really could have laid that kid out of you wanted to... You have more than enough power to have wore him out worse than my old work boots... But even after all the things he did to you... you didn't."
Peter remained silent as he waited for him to continue.
"I'm no hero, Pete... I don't have powers... I'm just a man. I don't claim to know everything in the world. But if you want to be a hero... There is one thing I can tell you... The most important thing anyone in your shoes has to remember... Is that..."
"With great power... Comes great responsibility."[With great power... Comes great responsibility.]
Ben didn't realize just how impactful his words he had just spoke were.
The two finished their meal and drove home with a freshly cleared air between them. Upon their arrival, Peter opened the door and started to get out of the car, but was suddenly stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
"Listen Pete, your aunt isn't feeling well... She's already in bed for the night... She actually had me call and make her a doctors appointment for tomorrow..."
Peter's brow furrowed. "That's not like her..." He said lowly as concern filled his heart. He noticed the serious expression on his uncle's face.
"...No..." He quietly agreed. "No it isn't... But hopefully after tomorrow, things will get better for her."
The boy nodded in silence before they got out of the car and made their way into the house and up the stairs.
"Hey... One more thing..." The man said quietly as his nephew opened the door to his room. "They switched my schedule around at work again... so I'm gonna be working nights for a while... Think you can handle dinner for yourself until your aunt feels better?"
"Y-yeah... No problem." He assured him.
"Alright then... I'm gonna go try to get some sleep before I leave for work tonight..." He said as he walked towards his own bedroom where his wife slept soundly. Before he reached for the knob he stopped and turned around to face the boy.
"No matter what you decide to do with your future... I can't wait to see what you do with the gifts you've been given... So I'm going to hold onto this..." he said as he raised and lowered the backpack that contained his homemade suit. "But I need you to promise me that all the sneaking out is going to stop until then... Can you do that?" He said with a stern expression.
"Yeah... I promise." He said as his uncle smiled and nodded before heading into his room.
As Ben closed the door behind him, May began to stir. "What di-" she was interrupted by a violent fit of coughing, "What did the school want?" She managed to ask in a weak voice.
Ben kicked his shoes off and laid down in bed beside her. He lightly kissed the side of her head. "We'll talk about it tomorrow... Get some rest..."
The next day, May's appointment ended with more questions than answers. As she listed her symptoms to her doctor, she immediately began to take a series of blood samples from her, followed by some other strange tests. The furrowed brow of her physician carried an ominous sense of foreboding along with it. She was sent home after being prescribed some medication that would supposedly help with some of her ailments, and was assured that the moment her test results and blood work came back, she would receive a phone call and they would go from there.
She had a history of battling with medical issues in the past, so this wasn't anything she hadn't dealt with before... And after taking the medicine she was prescribed, she tried to carry on once again as if nothing was bothering her... But she was finding it more and more challenging to ignore the effects of whatever was causing her to feel so awful... Regardless, for the sake of her nephew, she continued to try to put on a brave face.
A brave face that only faltered once... After a knock came at the door two days later...
[May was never one to let anyone know that something was wrong... She didn't like for people to worry about her. As far as I knew, her doctor's appointment, and the medicine they gave her, were all she needed to go back to feeling like her old self... Come to think of it, my blatant disregard for seeking medical attention is definitely is a habit I picked up from her...]
[Three short days into my suspension from school... The floor beneath my feet collapsed out from under me... And a pain that I hadn't felt since I was six years old filled my heart.]
It was highly unusual for Ben to get home from work so late, especially when traffic was considerably light compared to the norm that New Yorkers were accustomed to. Peter sat on the couch as he silently watched his aunt grow more and more anxious. Even though he didn't show it on the outside, he was fighting to keep the pit in his stomach from consuming him.
*Knock *knock *knock —"NYPD. Open up."—
Peter's heart stopped. For a split second he thought that they were finally here to take him into custody... But then... A hauntingly familiar feeling rushed back to him as his aunt's eyes met with his own, and they both shot up out of their seats and hurried to the door.
They weren't there for him... Though he quickly wished that they were...
His aunt opened the door to find Captain George Stacy on the other side. The man had a look of dread and sympathy as he removed his cap. He hated this part of his job... Next to losing a loved one of his own, there was no feeling that was as bitter and horrible than having to break this kind of news to people who were just trying to live quiet, peaceful lives.
One would think that after so many years of active duty in the NYPD, one would start to grow numb to this sort of thing, and though some officers did... George Stacy was never able to let himself slip into that sort of person... For he knew that if he lost his compassion for people, he couldn't be the father his kids deserved. The burden of being the one to watch as people's lives suddenly and irreversibly crashed into the ground... would never get easier for him.
"May Parker?"
"Y-yes?" She barely managed to utter as her body began to shake.
Peter froze in place as he waited for the sky to shatter. His breathing began to shake like his aunt's body.
"Ma'am... There's no easy way for me to say this... And there's no way I could ever word it in a way that would lessen the pain... But early this morning... You're husband was killed by a well known criminal by the name of Dennis Carradine." He took out a photograph of the man as May slapped a hand over her mouth. She shook violently as tears poured down her face and over her hand.
Peter... Just stood there... His body being pulled in two different directions between horrifically crippling despair... And a rage that just might cause someone with a less than pure heart to kill a man.
"Please understand that I know the last last thing you want is to answer any questions right now... But there's an investigation in progress. We are in dire need of any information we can get to bring this monster in. He has escaped our officers four times already and is an expert at disappearing. I need to know if your husband had any prior connection with the man... Has he mentioned him?... Has he been in your house?... Any phone calls between the two of them? Anything like that?" He held up the picture.
May couldn't formulate words. All she could do was look at the picture of a man who had just taken everything from her. She shook her head as the tears continued to flow down her cheeks.
Peter stared at the picture... He now had a face to put with the name of the bastard who had just murdered the man who had become a father to him.
Captain Stacy couldn't bring himself to ask any more questions... He left the two there to mourn after giving them his personal phone number with a promise to do whatever he could for them should they ever need anything and his sincerest condolences... As the door closed behind him, May Parker finally let out a scream of anguish that snapped Peter's heart into pieces as she fell to her knees.
[In that moment... Something inside of me... Broke... I wanted to catch the man who had torn our lives apart with everything in my soul... but as I held May on the floor of the living room, it was clear to me that I was needed here at home, and I couldn't afford to leave her side for the time being... But I never forgave... And I never forgot...]
[I honestly didn't think it was possible for things to get any worse than they already were.. but then, a couple weeks later... May got a phone call.]
The grieving process both May and Peter were doing their best to navigate, was unfairly brought to a hault, and replaced with a dark cloud of impending loss that slowly moved towards them...
Her test results revealed that she had an incredibly rare heart disease... That hardly anyone survived from. There was so little known about it, that the very few treatments for said disease were purely experimental and only worked if caught in the earliest stages of its development... May had passed those stages where she could have been saved months ago...
Her blood cells were being destroyed as they passed through the heart... Eventually, her organs would begin to shut down from an insufficient amount of blood... and she would die.
Bad things can happen to the best people...
She was promptly hospitalized and, true to her nature, had volunteered to undergo testing to hopefully help find cures and treatments for this disease so that future victims might one day be saved.
Even though she didn't have a quirk... When staring into the face of death... She acted like a hero.
She would spend the rest of her ever shortening life waiting for the inevitable... And worrying about what would become of Peter... Her last remaining family member...
The young man in question spent every spare second of each day by her side... In a desperate attempt to cling onto and savor each moment of time he had left with the person who had taken on the role of his mom. He would have stayed with her for the entire twenty four hours each day afforded him, had it not been for May's persistent insisting that he attended school each day... And got a good night's sleep in his own bed at night... And as the old saying in the Parker household went, "May will always get her way..."
Little did the boy know that those times she had sent him to live his life at school and sleep at home, were the times she used to be human... And let her emotions out. It was her way of protecting him. She didn't want him to see her suffer. She wanted to give him something other than memories of her sobbing after she was gone.
But vengeance... Had taken a strong hold of his heart... And the news of his aunt's limited time left on earth... Was gasoline that was thrown onto an already uncontrollable fire. He couldn't take out his frustration on a sickness... But he sure as hell could on a man... A man who robbed him of the chance to continue to live with a single family member after her time was up...
He had refrained from joining into the search for Carradine, that had by now, gone ice cold once again... But now that May was bound to a hospital bed, and was limiting the time he could see her... He had decided that he had waited more than long enough.
The thought of the man walking around free of punishment poisoned his every thought until he could no longer focus on anything but his face. He soon became convinced of the idea that, the sooner he caught that murderer, the sooner he could go back to his life... And focus completely on being with May.
Fueled by a lust for revenge, and the image of his devastated aunt... Peter opened his bedroom window. He stood on his roof and pulled his voice changing mask down over his face and a red hood over top his head. He tightened his fist as he held up a printed out picture from a wanted poster he had found online. His blood boiled at the sight.
'Sorry Uncle Ben... But I don't think I'll ever be able to let this go...' He thought to himself as he jumped off the roof.
The ruthless manhunt for Dennis Carradine... Was on.
[To this day... My promise I made to my uncle... Was the only one I failed to keep.]
[My first two weeks of searching led me in circles. It wasn't until I started "combing" my way through bigger crime organizations that I started to get somewhere. My findings led me to the south Bronx where I confronted a man who was known for being the biggest buyer of stolen vehicles in the New York area... I found my uncle's car on blocks outside. It had been stripped for parts. After a bit of "persuasion" he decided to "cooperate" with my search... And told me where I could find my target...]
A rough looking man with a black hood pulled over his long sandy blonde hair, walked silently through an alley that led to an abandoned warehouse. His footsteps were masked by the rain falling around him as his eyes darted from side to side. He had made this walk to this specific location numerous times, but this time... Something felt off. His head remained on a swivel as his mind started to itch with growing paranoia.
Normally when he felt this way, he would cut his losses and get out of dodge, but he couldn't afford to do that tonight. He had stolen dozens of cars, robbed more than a handful of businesses, and even killed three people who some very scary people wanted dead... It was time to collect his payment. He approached the door to the warehouse. As he reached for the handle, the sound of a chip of concrete falling to the ground made him spin around and survey his surroundings.
His eyes quickly scanned in every direction... Only to find nothing once again. He shook his head as he tried to compose himself. Yet he couldn't escape the feeling of eyes watching his every move. He opened the door and slipped inside the warehouse... Never catching sight of the hooded figure watching him from the rooftops.
The man walked into the center of the massive room. All the machinery had been removed and scrapped long ago, leaving only a few tables with trash strewn about on top of them. He looked around to find the only source of light to be what little came through the old, filthy, broken down windows high up on the walls and one lone lightbulb... Leaving much of the room covered in shadows.
"Benny!! Get your ass out here and give me my damn money!" The man yelled.
No response... Benny had already been knocked unconscious and left webbed to the roof of a nearby building.
"Come on man, don't fuck with me!! Where the hell are you?!"
/ "Dennis Carradine..." / A deep robbotic-like voice from Peter's mask called to him from an untraceable location amongst the darkness.
Fear wasn't a strong enough word to describe what had gripped the man's heart.
/ "Wanted for multiple counts of grand theft auto... Armed robbery... Aggravated assault... Domestic violence... And murder." /
The voice bounced around to different locations of the room. Peter could practically smell the terror flowing from his prey as his mask continued to throw his voice while he watched from the corner of the ceiling.
The man had absolutely had enough of this waking nightmare scenario as he activated his quirk, and his right index finger turned into the barrel of a firearm. He fired a shot at the last location the voice had came from.
/ "Strike one." /
He fired again...
/ "Getting colder."/ Came the words from the complete opposite side of the room.
Another shot...
/ "You really must be scared... I can see your hands shaking from here... You're a coward. Now that you're faced with the same fear you caused so many others... You can't help but tremble like a child." /
He took a few shaky steps backwards before turning and sprinting towards the nearest door that led outside. He jerked at the door handle, but it didn't move an inch. Peter had sealed the exits.
/ "Like I said... You're a coward." /
The man continued to try each door... But it was useless... He was trapped. Just as he began to step away from a thick metal door, he felt someone latch onto the back of his head and slam his face into it. Before he could make sense of what had happened, he was thrown across one of the tables in the room. His body shattered the old glass bottles as he tumbled over the wooden surface.
He tried to take cover and rolled underneath the table... But before he could activate his quirk again, the table was thrown against the wall. He was kicked through the air and his body wrapped backwards around a concrete support beam. He fell back to the ground but was immediately picked up and slammed against the pillar.
He finally was able to lay eyes on his assailant.
"W-who are you?!" He said through the excruciating pain he found himself in.
His only response was a fist crashing into his face over and over again.
He screamed out in anguish as he was helpless pummeled against the concrete...
And then he had the nerve to beg for mercy.
Peter stopped his onslaught and ripped his mask off seeing that the man's eyes were swollen to the point that he most likely couldn't see two feet in front of his own face. He couldn't keep his composure.
"WHAT ABOUT MY UNCLE?! WHAT ABOUT ALL THE OTHER PEOPLE YOU KILLED?! I BET THEY BEGGED FOR THEIR LIVES TOO!!! DID YOU LISTEN TO THEM?!?!" The boy barked with his own natural voice. He pulled the man back and shoved him violently back to the concrete beam, causing it to crack from the impact. Dust fell from the rafters as a deafening silence filled the warehouse.
The image of his aunt sobbing on the ground burned in his mind. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH PAIN YOU'VE CAUSED?! YOUR VICTIMS HAD LIVES OF THEIR OWN!!! THEY HAD PEOPLE WHO CARED ABOUT THEM!!! FAMILIES!!! CHILDREN!!! FRIENDS!!! THEIR LIVES MATTERED TO SO MANY PEOPLE AND BROUGHT THEM SO MUCH HAPPINESS!! AND YOU TOOK IT AWAY FROM THEM!!!!" Peter screamed at a volume louder than he thought possible for vocal chords to produce as he shook with rage and tears streamed down his face.
The man was barely clinging to consciousness as blood trickled from his nose and mouth.
Peter swung his fist into his gut so hard the man convulsed and vomited.
"WHY SHOULD I SHOW YOU MERCY?!"
He was dangerously close to letting hatred consume him entirely... Until the man said something through his pain and fear that Peter didn't expect to hear in that moment...
"... I-I d-didn't know that h-heroes were allowed to k-kill people..."
Peter could tell the man wasn't trying to be a smartass... He was genuinely terrified and struggling to face, what he was convinced, was about to be his own death.
Peter's eyes widened as he continued to shake... And suddenly... Words from the person who he was trying to avenge replaced the image of his aunt in his mind...
"I'm proud of you..."
"It sounds to me like you really could have laid that kid out of you wanted to... You have more than enough power to have worn him out worse than my old work boots... But even after all the things he did to you... you didn't."
"...The most important thing anyone in your shoes has to remember... Is that... With great power... Comes great responsibility."
All the hatred stored up inside him washed away and was promptly replaced by a guilt and shame. He failed again... It became clear to him that... This... What he was doing... Why he was doing it... Would have disappointed his uncle more than anything else he could have ever done...
In that moment, as he held Carradine up by his shirt collar, he realized that it didn't matter if the man went behind bars... Or even died on the cold floor of the building he stood in... The damage was done. Ben was gone. Nothing he did would ever bring him back.
[This is how I learned that vengeance is a hollow feeling... The only good that came from this... Was that I would one day pass on this knowledge to my best friend...]
Peter released the man and he slid down to the floor, heaving heavily as his shoulders rose and fell with each shaky breath. He wiped the tears from his eyes...
"I never had any intention of killing you... You're going away for a long time... You can come with me willingly... Or I can drag you outta here by force. Choice is yours." He said lowly. The man barely managed to hold up his wrist... Peter tied bound his hands with webs and drug him out into the rain.
[Dennis Carradine was found in that very alley along side Benny... He was taken into custody and given life in prison... I don't know what caused him to remain silent... Maybe my words put things into perspective for him... Maybe the feelings he felt when he thought he was about to die gave him the ability to realize how his victims felt. Whatever it was... He never answered a single question about the vigilante who managed to catch him...]
[After that night... I put my costume away for good and resumed my life as normal... I went to school... Visited May... And actually slept for a change... Well.. when I could manage to anyway. But after I hung up the mask... I immediately felt like I was missing a huge part of myself. It became painfully obvious to me that I couldn't go back to a normal life... Not after getting the smallest taste of what living my dream would be like...]
Peter sat up on his roof in the middle of the night staring off blankly into the sky. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't sleep. He knew what caused his insomnia...but there was nothing he could do about it. He was stuck in limbo... And every siren blaring in the distance taunted him mercilessly. It was so frustrating.
After a couple weeks of resting, he found it harder and harder to keep himself in his room at night... Quite honestly, the only thing that did, was the fact that he couldn't bring himself to break the promise he made to his uncle again.
"...you have to do it the right way son... What you're doing is dangerous... And illegal. There's plenty of heroes that work hard every day to keep us all safe. They can manage until you are able to get a license..."
The pros might be able to manage... But could he? He had felt the rush of saving people... Of fighting criminals... Of the wind in his face during a free fall. He couldn't just go back to his old routine of boring monotony. Perhaps the most borderline infuriating thing about the whole situation was that there was only one barrier standing in his way. An obstacle he had absolutely no control over... Time.
He had done his research in the throes of his desperation... There wasn't a single hero program in all of America that accepted applicants who were under the age of eighteen... But that didn't matter to him... Because the one place he felt called to... Was in Japan... The greatest hero school in the world.
UA High School...
[Some people would call my desire to attend UA delusional, an utterly laughable fantasy, an unattainable goal... But those people didn't understand something about me... I had a reckless nature to charge towards any challenge head on... And I had nothing left to lose anymore... I guess that's why I did what I did that night... Soon there wouldn't be anything left for me in New York anyway. I had waited long enough to pursue my dream...]
That night on his roof, as he continued to stare up at the stars, he couldn't help but picture just how many people were out there slipping through the fingertips of the heroes trying to save them. How many would cry for help and receive none?... How many people would receive the same news he and his aunt did in the morning that someone they cared about... Wasn't coming home?... It was maddening... But it drove him to do something that would, once again, completely change the direction of his story...
Peter realized something.
"...your aunt and I will do everything we can to help you on your way."
Nobody was going to be there help him do this... If he wanted something in this world, the only person he could count on anymore... Was himself. Just like when he had inadvertently brought out his quirk... It only happened after he put in the work to prepare his body. He stood up and climbed back inside through his window. The young man marched over to his computer and pulled up the UA High school website.
To his dismay... There were no current openings for the hero course classes. His eyes fell in disappointment, but just as he was about to turn off the monitor, he noticed that it still gave him an option to take the written portion of the entrance exam...
He filled out all of his personal and contact information... He took the test... And passed it... He had no way of knowing just how rare it was to earn a perfect score like he had done...
He also had no way of knowing that on the other side of the world... A certain white haired animal was immediately alerted of the boys test results, printed out his application, and filed it separate from the mountain of others who's scores paled in comparison. Nezu sipped his tea and began to compose an email in response...
*Ding / *Ding
A chime from his phone and computer simultaneously arrived. Peter just expected it to be an auto response email that was sent to everyone after completing the exam... But as he opened the email, his eyes widened in surprise.
Dear Mr. Parker,
Hello young man. I am Principal Nezu and I am in charge of everything that goes on within the walls of UA High School. I was thoroughly impressed with your score on the written portion of our entrance exam. While you may have noticed that there are currently no openings for the hero course classes, I would be remissed if I didn't reach out to tell you that we here at UA take great pride in our reputation as the greatest hero school in the world. With said reputation comes competition. It is our duty to make sure that we produce the finest heroes the world has ever seen.
Only forty young students are admitted into the hero course each year. Our students should be well aware that in order to thrive in this world, hard work is unavoidable, and nothing is handed to them. Just because there are no spots available at present, does not mean you cannot earn one for yourself.
I would like to formally invite you to Japan to take the practical portion of the entrance exam in full view of our faculty here in Musutafu. If you should score high enough among our current hero course students, we will hold a meeting to further discuss your addition to UA High.
All expenses will be paid for. The test will take place at your earliest convenience. All you are required to provide is a valid visa and identification.
Please do keep in touch. I await your response with great patience.
Sincerely,
Principal Nezu
[I spent what felt like hours rereading the message over and over again... It felt like if I were to blink, it would disappear. But it was real. I had an opportunity right in front of me... In the most trying moments of my entire life... I had a slight flicker of hope to hold onto...]
[Days continued to pass by at a pace that was both confusingly fast and slow at the same time... Until one day, I was on my way out of school... And time seemed to speed up a little too quickly.]
Peter pushed the doors of the school open. Ever since May's hospitalization, looking at his phone caused him great distress. Each text message and phone call he received, he instinctively braced himself for the worst. Every alert from the device caused a horrible feeling of anxiety that instantly came and went at a jarring speed... Eventually, for the sake of his mental health, he stopped looking at it altogether unless absolutely necessary... But during his chemistry class, he felt the device vibrate multiple times before it stopped suddenly...
He spent the remainder of the school day trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his heart... But now he couldn't push it aside any longer. He took out his phone and looked at the screen...
1 unanswered voicemail: Aunt May
He blinked... She hardly ever left voicemails. Usually she just called until he picked up the phone. He took a deep breath and hit play as he held the device up to his ear...
...
One week... Maybe less...
Who was he kidding... It was probably going to be less... It seemed like she was growing weaker by the day. The color was beginning to leave her face and eyes... And all the testing on her body was leaving her completely exhausted... It definitely was eating up what time she had left a lot faster. There wasn't any way she'd last a week at this point. He popped in some ear buds and started his walk to the hospital. On the way, he listened to the voicemail over and over again. He could tell she was trying to sound as healthy as possible... And she was doing surprisingly well at it all things considered. He continued to listen as he engraved her voice in his mind and heart.
As he got onto the subway, he continued to rewind and replay the message... He began to fixate on a certain sentence...
"...I know you're busy with school and wherever you are always disappearing off to..."
That was an odd choice of words... And the tone of her voice made it even stranger... Like she had an idea of what was going on in the dead of his nights.
"...wherever you are always disappearing off to..."
Did she know?... She couldn't know... She would have stopped him if she did... Even if she didn't know, she obviously wondered about it...
He sighed to himself... She deserved to know... Even if he didn't tell her every single detail, he owed her an explanation and an apology. He couldn't go through life knowing he kept it from her... And he figured she would be able to rest easier knowing his days of disappearing to unknown locations to unlawfully risk his life were behind him.
He reached the hospital and made his way to her room. He had become familiar with the faces of the nurses. They were always so kind to him and often gave him a smile and wave hello as he passed by. Some even went as far as having small talk with him when he would get up to stretch his legs as May tried to rest... But today, those smiles seemed to be forced. He silently entered the room to see her open her eyes from her nap.
"Hey Peter... What brings you here?" She managed to crack a weak smile.
"Hey May..."
A tear fell down his cheek as he managed a single chuckle.
[May... I don't even have the words to describe how important you we-... Are... To me. You saved me from falling into dark places more times than I could ever count. You're the reason I still smile... You're the reason I'm me... You're my hero. You always were. And you always will be.]
The first hour of his visit included a lot of unbreakable silence. What were you supposed to say to someone who knew they were going to die?... Both of them sat there, quietly knowing that the medical staff had grossly overestimated just how long she had left. May continued to put on a brave face and weak smile. One of her kidneys had already completely shut down... Her second wouldn't be far behind, followed by her liver. Her lungs weren't taking in air the way they used to. She could feel her body beginning the process of... Just... Stopping.
But she used all of her strength to be present and awake for a visit with the young man who she had helped raise with her late husband.
After a while, Peter finally broke the silence that lingered between them.
"I got your message..."
She offered a sad smile from her bed. "Yeah..."
"Are you scared?"
Her answer surprised him a little, "Of dying... No..." Her head turned and she looked up into the florescent lights on the ceiling, "I remember something my mother told me when it was her time to go... She took my hand, looked at me with a loving smile, and told me not to fear death. It's only natural. It doesn't hurt. And as long as you do right by those around you, it isn't the end of your story... If you leave those you care about with enough wisdom and love... You live on through them... And become a part of their story..."
He couldn't stop a few tears from escaping his eyes. He wiped them away quickly before she could see.
She continued amongst his silence "No... I'm not afraid to die. I'm afraid of what my passing means for you." She turned to look at him again. "You've been dealt a very rough hand of cards to play with Peter... But here you are... Still at the table, waiting to see what comes next. You're so strong and brave. You've lived through so much unfairness and were forced to grow up so much faster than anyone ever should... I don't want my passing to be what finally takes your smile away for good."
He broke. Tears started to stream down his face. He had to say something. He refused to let her lay and wait for death without knowing what was in his future. He would not let a mystery of what would happen to him be in her mind when her time came... And he sure as hell wouldn't let her feel guilty for leaving him so soon when it wasn't even her fault.
"It won't." He said as he stood up and walked over to the bed. He grabbed her hand and through his tears he continued. "I swear it won't. May... You have always been everything to me. I know you better than I knew my own mother! There's not going to be a single day that goes by where I don't miss you and uncle Ben. You two did so much for me! And even though I'll always wish you guys were still here, I'm going to be okay..." He said as he tried to control his volume.
He knelt down beside the bed. May reached up, wiped the tears from his eyes, and let her hand rest against his cheek. "I-I don't want you to worry about me... There's something I need to tell you... And I hope you can forgive me..." He said as her touch gave him the strength needed to compose himself.
"I got my quirk May... And it's incredible." He shot a web and zipped his backpack to his hand. Her eyes widened at the sight. "I trained myself how to use it... And when I got good enough, I started to sneak out and do hero work without a license. I... I just couldn't ignore the urge to help..." He opened his bag and tossed a copy of The Daily Bugle onto the bed.
"SPIDER VIGILANTE STRIKES AGAIN! Two more car thieves are taken into custody and off the streets of NYC."
"I am unofficially responsible for nearly eighty people sitting in jail right now. Muggers, car thieves, abusers, drug dealers, murderers... I stopped them. I saved people... I even got the guy who killed Ben... I couldn't let it go. They weren't going to catch him... But I did!"
His aunt just stared at the newspaper in silence before looking up at him with a blank expression.
"The day before your appointment. The day I got suspended from school, Ben picked me up and took me to the drive-in. He found my bag with my costume in it and all my notes I had taken on my powers. He told me what I was doing was wrong but for the right reasons, and made me promise to stop until I got a license... I broke it, and hunted down his killer anyway. I'm sorry May. I'm so sorry. But I couldn't just sit there." More tears fell down his cheeks as he started to shakily dig his phone from his pocket.
Before he could pull his phone out, she grabbed his hand and spoke.
"Peter... Calm down. I already knew what was going on... For the most part..." She admitted.
He stared at her in disbelief. He knew she knew something... But for her to know most of it was never a possibility in his mind. He finally realized what had happened. "H-he told you didn't he?"
She offered a weak smile, "You better believe it. He knew better than to keep it from me. Relationships are built on trust and honesty Peter, don't ever forget that when you meet the right person... You'll thank me someday."
He was thrown into a state of pure confusion...If Ben told her... Then why did she wait this long to confront him about it? Why did she insist on sending him home each night? It didn't make any sense to him.
"I-I don't understand... I-If you knew what was going on... Why didn't you say anything? W-Why did you let me go home at night instead of being here with you, if you knew what I've been doing?"
She tightened her hold on his hand slightly. She sighed. "Because I'm not going to be here much longer Peter... You're young. You're going to make mistakes... And you're going to have to learn from them yourself without anyone to help guide you..."
He sighed. Even in her bedridden condition... She was still doing everything she knew to do to take care of him... Though he still had no idea just how much she had done to help prepare him to face the challenges of the world alone.
"I forgive you Peter... But I can't say that I approve of what you're doing... You should know that your uncle was right. I know it's hard to wait for the things you want most in the world, but there is a good reason for you to. You need a license." She said firmly.
"I know... I know he was right... But May, I can't wait. I've been sitting around waiting for things to happen for too long... I'm not gonna do it anymore." He matched her firmness. Her face fell into a sadness that only a parent who couldn't protect their child could feel.
He pulled his phone from his pocket and opened his email from UA. "Because I don't have to..." He handed her the device as she raised her bed upwards with the remote beside her.
He watched as her eyes widened they darted from left to right, scanning the screen in sheer disbelief.
Her eyes shot up to him. "UA?!..." She was unable to say in a volume louder than a whisper as tears of pride fell down her face.
"I'm done breaking promises May... I don't care what I have to do. I'll take that damn test as many times as I have to. I will get into UA. I will get my license. I'm going to be a hero... And I'm going to do it the right way. Just like he wanted me to... And I promise... When I do... I'll make sure I do everything in my power to make sure nobody ever has to hurt the way we did that morning."
May was silent until she finally found the words to speak. "You've grown up... So much. It feels like just yesterday that I watched you from the kitchen window playing hero in the back yard... But when I look at you now, I see someone with such a bright future standing in front of them. Someone who was meant to change the world. You're the first Parker to have a quirk... I don't think that's a coincidence. I can see it in your eyes. You're going to be a wonderful hero. I know you can do it..." She offered him encouragement as she felt herself weaken further... But she still had one last act of kindness to offer.
"Do you have a plan?"
The boy shook his head. "Not really to be honest... I didn't expect to get that email... I just took the written exam to maybe get put on some sort of waiting list..."
To his surprise, she smiled. "It's funny how some things just come together... How the stars just seem to align when something is meant to be..."
"What do you mean?"
Her smile widened. "There's one last thing your uncle and I can help you with..."
He furrowed his brow and cocked his head to the side. They lived an extremely frugal lifestyle and did a balancing act on the poverty line for as long as he could remember... But it sounded like she was going to give him money. There's no way he could accept anything more from her...
"May... You guys have already giv-" he started to say before she interrupted him.
"It's your money Peter, not ours..."
"W-what do you mean? I-I don't have an-"
"It's from your parents... They both had life insurance policies... When me and your uncle became your legal guardians, we put that money into a trust fund in your name. By now... With the interest.. It should be more than enough to give you the opportunity to start your life wherever you want..."
[They did everything for me... They sacrificed so much for the sake of giving me the life I dreamt of... I sat there with May for hours... Thanking her for everything over and over again... Talking about everything we had been through together... Good times... Hard times... And everything in between... Until night fell over the city. She insisted that I go home and rest up for a test I had the next day in math class. I think she knew. No matter how far medical science progresses, I think the person on the hospital bed will always know before anyone else that their time is up... Everything inside me told me to refuse and stay there with her, but when I looked into her eyes, I understood. She didn't want me to see her light go out. She wanted me to remember her as she was... And that night... After I left ... With a sense of relief knowing that I was going to be okay... She slipped into a calm sleep... One that she never woke up from... Finally free of the pain she was in.]
Present Day, Musutafu Japan, before the voicemail was played...
A pair of eyelids pried themselves open, revealing two onyx irises to the world once again. Momo blinked a few times in quick succession as she tried to readjust herself to a state of consciousness. She groaned as she tried to sit up straight, but stopped halfway through as her eyes shot wide open at the aching pain in her ribs. The events of her match replayed in her mind.
She was so close... Ways she could have done things differently started to fill her mind.
She sighed. She thought she had come so far... But she grossly miscalculated how many lipids she was burning through. It was so hard to focus on so many different things at such a fast pace... She might have improved, but she still had a lot to learn... And a long way to go...
She slowly laid back down and suddenly felt something in her hand. There was a piece of paper sticking out from between her thumb and index finger...
She immediately knew who had put it there as she quickly unfolded the note and began to read.
I know you're sitting there wondering what you could have done differently to win your fight, but try not to be so rough on yourself. You hold yourself to such a high standard, and while it's one of the things I personally admire most about you, I think you should take your own advice and allow yourself to make mistakes. I know it's so much easier said than done. You and I both know I'm terrible at it. But maybe we can help each other be better at it together.
You did amazing today.
Peter
"Oh good, you're awake!" Recovery Girl said with a relieved smile.
Momo raised up through the pain and quickly stuffed the note into her pocket. She looked up to see the three members of Team YaoyoRomance with expressions of relief on their faces.
"If I had to tell these three one more time that you were going to be just fine, it was going to take a year off my life... At my age you can't afford to lose that much time." She said exasperatedly as she carried a bento box to the girl on the bed.
Jiro was quick to come to her side. "How're ya feeling girly?"
Before the girl could offer a response, her stomach answered for her with a loud rumble, causing her to flush with embarrassment.
"Woah... That hungry huh?" The purple haired musician said with raised eyebrows.
"I. Am. Absolutely. Starving." Momo confirmed as she dug into her food at a rapid pace.
"Uh... We can go get you more if you want..." Her best friend said in amazement as she watched Momo speed eat. She had already put away half the food she was given.
It appeared that after sharing so many meals with her crush, she was starting to pick up some of his habits when it came to food. "Oh n-no, this is more than enough. I'm done fighting for the day so I'll be okay. Thanks though." She said covering her mouth with her free hand.
Shoto walked over and started to reach out to grab a small bite from her tray but quickly recoiled as he saw her eyes shoot towards him with a flaming glare.
He dropped his head in disappointment before she rolled her eyes and tossed him a ball of takoyaki, which he gladly popped into his mouth. "Thanks!"
Jiro and Mina shook their heads as Momo chuckled at his antics. "Well just don't forget, you promised to take me and Peter out for sushi later."
He held up his phone, "My sister told me to let her know when to pick us up."
Suddenly a realization hit her like a ton of bricks.
"Wait... How long was I out?! Peter's fight hasn't started yet has it?! Where is he?!"
"He came in with the robots that brought you here... I don't think I've ever seen him so upset... I sent him to his waiting room t-Hey! What are you doing?! Come back here!! You need to rest!!!" The old lady called out to the pony tailed girl that bolted out the door.
—"Sorry Mrs. Suzenji!!"—
The school nurse sighed. "Nope. I just can't be mad at her..."
The other three in the room blinked at one another before bolting off behind her.
"Wait for us!!!" Mina yelled. Leaving the old woman silently shaking her head. "Teenagers... Always unable to sit still..."
Momo ran until she reached Peter's waiting room. She was absolutely winded but she didn't have time to care. She had no idea how much time he had before the final match... He had worked so hard. Her heart was overflowing with pride. This was his moment... And she wanted to be a part of it. She wouldn't be stopped from showing him her unconditional support, like he always did for her.
She pushed the door open to see him staring at the wall shaking as he laid down his phone on the table beside him. The others ran up behind her but slowed down when they noticed the frozen state she was in. Mina started to complain about forcing her to run so hard, but Momo covered her mouth as all four of them suddenly heard a woman's voice fill the air...
She pushed the door the rest of the way open carefully so that it didn't make a sound.
What they heard in that moment, provided them with a much deeper understanding of who Peter Parker was as a person... And as an aspiring hero.
"Peter, I know this isn't the way you wanted to hear this, but the doctor informed me today that I don't have a lot of time left... He's giving me until the end of the week at most. I know you're busy with school and wherever you are always disappearing off to... But I just need you to know some things that I hope you will always remember throughout your life... And that is that I'm so proud of you.."
Peter felt his breathing become more relaxed...
"I'm so, so very proud of the man you are becoming. No matter where you find yourself in this world, I know that you will accomplish great things. This world you live in can be very difficult... But it is when things are at their hardest, that the world needs a light of kindness to shine its brightest..."
His heart rate began to fall back into a normal pace...
"Always do your best to be that light Peter. Always make time to help those who need it most..."
He felt the weight on his shoulders beginning to lighten...
"You're uncle and I were so fortunate to get to watch you grow up. Never forget that you're never alone..."
A pair of arms wrapped around him from behind... Then another... And another... A warm left palm was placed on his shoulder... He felt tears soaking into his shirt from those who clutched onto him.
The weight was gone...
"We will always love you. I'll see you when you visit after school today sweetie. Goodbye dear..."
...
[Goodbye May...]