Disclaimers:

Spider-Man and all its related characters belongs to Marvel Entertainment, which is owned by Walt Disney Company, and the Sam Raimi Original Trilogy belongs to Sony Pictures Entertainment. No infringement of these copyrights are intended, and not authorized by copyright holders.

While Harry was out during an ungodly hour, probably still upsettingly frustrated with Mary Jane's refusal to answer back his calls, Peter and Gwen were sitting by the main table alone in the loft, the former was going over his science notes he needed for his next class while the latter's preparing anxiously for her upcoming Oxford scholarship exam.

As the two best friends were in the middle of their studies, they turned their heads towards the kitchen counter when the telephone suddenly started ringing.

"I'll get it," Gwen placed down her books and got up from her chair before grabbing the telephone from its base. "Hello, this is Gwen speaking," After a noticeable silence, she offered the phone to her best friend. "Peter? It's for you."

Peter stopped what he was doing and got up from his chair to walk towards the blonde, grabbing the phone from her. "Hello?"

"Is this Peter Parker?" Someone asked from the phone.

"Yeah?" Peter said, sounding a little anxious from a seemingly stranger's call.

"This is Dr. Bromwell from Queens General Hospital," He introduced himself to the young boy. "I'm calling to inform you that your aunt's suffered an accident in her home and is currently in our medical care."

"What?!" Peter exclaimed, catching the blonde off-guard by his loud surprised voice. "What happened?" His tone lowered, but not to the point of not able to hear the seriousness in his voice.

"We're currently treating her as we speak and we thought it's best we inform you since you're her only closest relative," Dr. Bromwell explained.

Peter nodded. "Thank you, Dr. Bromwell. I'll get there as soon as I can," He then placed the phone down after ending the call.

"Peter? What was that call about?" Gwen asked, though scared of what terrible news that gotten her best friend over the edge.

Peter turned to her with a focused, yet worried look. "Aunt May was admitted to Queens General," He answered both bluntly and horrifiedly.

Gwen covered her mouth in shock. "Oh my god. Is she okay?"

Peter shook his head. "I don't know. They said something about an accident happened at our home. They didn't explain what, but said I need to be there."

Gwen placed her hand on Peter's shoulders, knowing what he must need to do. "Just go. I'll call the others to be there for you tomorrow."

Peter appreciated her words. He then quickly ran to his room upstairs, changing into his Spider-Man suit before jumping out of the balcony to swing his way to Queens.

After a rushed swing to the rooftop of Queens General Hospital, Peter hastily changed into his casual clothes and sprinted his way down from the emergency exit. As he was navigating through the crowded corridor, he hoped Aunt May's still okay while at the same time desperate to know how she was hurt to begin with.

When Peter heard someone's screaming in despair from inside one of the rooms, he immediately recognized it. He quickly budged his way in, seeing the Doctors and Nurses struggling to calm her down. "Aunt May. Is she gonna be okay? What happened?!"

"Yes, she will be okay," One of the nurses reassured. She then turned to Peter and push him out of the room to allow for her co-workers to operate on her without distractions. "Sir, you gotta have to leave."

"What happened?!" Peter asked repeatedly and loudly again.

"Those eyes! Those horrible yellow eyes!" Aunt May blurted out in her frightened cry.

Though Peter only got the few glimpses of May when he was shoved outside of the hospital room, he managed to catch on to her last words. After being left with a moment by himself, Peter came to a horrified conclusion when he realized there's only one thing who matched the description of Aunt May's attacker.

"He knows... he knows who I am," Peter muttered to himself. He closed his eyes as the look of dismay slowly spread across his face, imagining the face of the Green Goblin laughing menacingly as he standing over the bodies of his loved ones, as if he was already claiming his inevitable victory over the Web-Slinger.

Peter felt himself trembling to the floor as he slammed his hands over his disgruntled face. "I'm so sorry," He weeped silently, ignoring all the loud, grumbling voices from all the hospital staff and patients around him.

Eventually, after Aunt May was finally calmed down and resting peacefully, Peter was allowed back into the room and remained by her side for the remainder of the night. When it was already morning, he heard a knock on the door. Peter stood up and saw Mary Jane with flowers in her hands outside. He opened the door to allow her in.

"Is she gonna be okay?" MJ asked.

"She's gonna be fine. She's been sleeping all day," Peter said. "Thanks for coming."

"Of course," MJ nodded, appreciating his words. She then turned with sympathetic eyes as she looked to see Aunt May still sleeping comfortably in her hospital bed.

"How are you?" Peter asked the redhead, making her turned her head back to him. "I mean, are you feeling okay about the other night?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," MJ said in reassurance. "I just felt bad for leaving Aunt May."

"Have you talked to Harry?"

"He called me, I haven't call him back. The fact is... " MJ paused as she placed the flowers on to the side. "... I'm in love with somebody else."

"You are?" Peter asked curiously.

"At least I think I am," MJ said vaguely.

Unknown to the two, Aunt May was awaken enough to subtly overhear their conversation as she was slowly opening her eyes.

"It's not the time to talk about it," MJ tried to wave it off, assuming Peter would think it's a ridiculous thought.

"No, no, go on," Peter urged with a cheeky smile. "Would I know his name, this guy?"

MJ let out a shy giggle. "You'll think I'm a stupid little girl with a crush."

"Trust me."

"It's funny. He saved my life twice, and... well, let's just say I'm a bit jealous I never get to see his face," MJ said vaguely.

Peter couldn't help but let out a teasing grin, as he already knew who she was talking about. "Oh. Him," He said, as he and the redhead sat down on two sofas that were adjacent to each other.

MJ gave a light smack on his shoulder when she noticed Peter's chuckle. "You're laughing at me," She said, as she couldn't resist smiling at his antics.

"No, I understand. He's extremely cool."

"But do you think it's true, all the terrible things they say about him?"

Peter shook his head. "No, not Spider-Man, not a chance in the world. I do know him a little bit," He said, MJ's curious eyes turned to focus. "I'm sort of his unofficial photographer."

"And what about the other girl you mentioned that was also with him that night?" MJ inquired, feeling curious about what's his opinion on her alter ego. She already heard a couple of news articles about Spider-Man and Spinneret and that they were given a bad rep by the Bugle, but she wanted to hear it from someone who actually had a honest interaction with her hero, to learn about him personally without any slander or bias.

"Yeah. I mean, I never got to meet her myself, but from what Spider-Man told me, she's quite... spectacular," Peter said, now feeling a bit timid about bringing up this other girl he was driven crazy about in front of another girl he was falling in love with.

MJ felt a little blush from the nice compliment Peter relayed from Spider-Man about her double life. Not wanting to allow herself to look embarrassed in front of this... cute nerd, she quickly asked another question. "Has he ever mentioned me?"

Peter nodded his head. "Yeah."

"What he say?" MJ asked with excited eyes.

"Uh... he said, uh, he ask me what I thought about you," Peter answered nervously.

MJ's eyes then softened a little as she was anticipating for his next words. "And what did you say?"

"I said, uh, Spider-Man, I said, uh, the great thing about MJ is, when you look in her eyes... and she's looking back in yours... everything... feels... not quite normal. Because you feel stronger and weaker at the same time. You feel excited, and at the same time, terrified."

Peter started to feel himself overflowing with confidence with each word he spoke.

"The truth is... you don't know what you feel... except you know what kind of man you want to be. It's as if you've... reached the unreachable... and you weren't ready for it."

After hearing those words actually spoken from Peter's heart, MJ couldn't help but feel some happy tears swimming inside her eyes. "You... you said that?" She asked softly.

Suddenly, all of the confidence Peter built up just faded away as he was looking away from her eyes shyly. "Yeah, something like that," Peter just nodded a little as he swallowed a nervous lump in his throat, now feeling a little embarrassed for unintentionally expressed his deepened, yet vague love for her.

Much to his surprise, MJ reached out her hand and held his, making him stared into her crying eyes. Peter couldn't shake this weird feeling that was drawing him into the redhead. For some reason, this doesn't feel too different from his experiences with Spinneret, matter of fact, it's almost like they're somehow exact.

Unknown to him, Mary Jane was also starting to experience that same feeling, drawing her into this cute nerd. She slowly leaned in, almost instinctually going for his lips. Peter, while a bit lost, couldn't help but do the same.

Unexpectedly interrupting their intimate moment, Gwen and Harry walked into the hospital room, the latter was holding beautiful flowers, which was clearly meant for MJ, in his hand.

Peter and Mary Jane were snapped out of their romantic trance when they heard their friends walking in on them. They quickly withdrew their hands and distanced themselves.

Gwen let out a shocked, yet mildly happy grin when she realized she just stumbled upon their moment. Harry, on the other hand, was very distraught when he saw what it looked like Peter and MJ were about to kiss one another. If it weren't for the fact he was clearly upset at the revelation, Gwen would've squealed in excitement to see her two best friends almost confessing their true love.

Having no idea how to respond back, all Peter could let out was a soft voice. "Hey... "

Feeling hurt by the fact the 'the girl of his life' chosen Peter, his best friend of all people, over himself, Harry just walked out of the hospital room in bitter anger, leaving all three of his 'friends' alone by themselves.

Words: 1850

A/N: Just so close, yet so far... again.

Peter and MJ couldn't fight their feelings for any longer, even Aunt May already got the idea about what's going on between the two lovebirds that didn't acknowledge their love for each other... at least, not yet. Poor Harry though. Little did they realize, this relationship between the three is just the start of the journey that would shape this universe as they know it. Whether it will lead to the original ending we all already witnessed or diverge into a totally different ending, that's still in the air for them.

Anyway, better get ready, readers, because the next two chapters will be the final climax of the first movie. Can't wait for it in the coming weeks.

With that said, any constructive criticisms and comments would be greatly appreciated. I hope you enjoy reading this chapter.

Reviews:

DCDGojira: Thx for your kind words, as always.

Commander 117: Appreciated the review.

As for the challenge, while it's very interesting for any experienced fanfic writers that would be intrigued enough to try, for newbies like me, I think it's just a bit ambitious and just overwhelming. When it comes to writing, I prefer doing my stories so at my own pace without the need to meet the other's requirements. It just helps ensures me that I can get the best out of my level. As I said before in previous chapter, I'll happily decline the offer to participate.