Hey everyone before we get started thank you all to those who have come and taken a peek at this. This fanfic wouldn't be possible if it wasnt for ShadowSpider17 who's works inspired me and I highly recommend going and reading those for your self. further more if you wanna support me and give me suggestions and such please hop over to my discord here at ( discord gg xFungcGKeF ) sorry i have to break it apart like that but ya know Fanfiction does not like links. just put a period before the gg and a slash after where the spaces are.

Chapter 2

I Don't Care Anymore

Often the question most often asked is "do you have enhanced senses like most heroes seem to have"? The answer is no. However, what is a problem is when your spider sense activates in your sleep and tries to have you swing at the loud noise that is your alarm clock and end up on the ground…being me is fun. Standing up and stretching the pain is gone. At Least for now that is. I reach under and pull out my web shooters clipping them into place. It's funny I still haven't found a way to make them more compact but at the same time the familiar lock on my wrist is comforting.

Though that might be the trauma from the symbiote. Yeah. Definitely the trauma. I lift up my suit and sigh. The high power spray from Bench still has it soaked….I guess it's a good thing I made a spare one after my fight with Goblin. It's slimed in design but it'll work for now. At Least till repairs are made. After getting dressed I tapped the answering machine again.

"You have two messages." Huh. Who called this early?

"Good Morning Peter. I know you'll be up bright and early and I want you to know how proud I am." Aunt May's voice comes. "It seems like just yesterday you were starting high school but now here we are. College. At Empire State University. Ben would be proud of you son. Call me and let me know how your day goes. I love you."

Blinking keeps the tears from filling my eyes. What else would I do without that woman.

"Next message." Oh yeah there's another one.

"Hello? Uh….Peter? It's Doctor Conners. I wanna say thank you again for talking to Empire State University about rehiring me and my wife. It's been a godsend. Yes Florida was good but…New York City is our home. Infact I wanna ask you if you wanna take up a position as my lab assistant. Just like Eddie was. I would have offered it to him again but….you know. He's at Ravencroft trying to get help. Swing by after classes today and we'll discuss things."

My eyes are wide as I stare at it. Did- Did I just hear that right? Lab Assistant?! For Doctor Conners?!

"Yaaaaaaaaaa hoooooooo!" I hear the yelp jump from my throat before I can stop it and my feet launching themselves up onto the ceiling before jumping back down. I quickly sped up getting ready and smirked as I ran down the street. Today felt like a day for Peter Parker. Not Spider-man. So that meant the subway all the way. To Empire State University.

God I'm so lucky to be here on scholarship…and some payment from a certain secret organization for my efforts in the whole Galactus situation. I'm not gonna bore you with that whole mess again. Where was I again? Oh right on my way to Empire State University. Am I nervous? You better bet my web shooters I am. Especially when it came into sight. Looking down at my schedule I smiled nervously at it. The sudden rush of nervousness told me all I needed to know. This was gonna be an entire different ballgame than Midtown.

"You can do this Peter….you can do this Peter." I whispered under my breath to myself. Funny this is the same thing I did when I first tried to webswing. I guess it's because of the same expectation of something strange and different. It naturally makes people nervous. Wow there Pete, getting too philosophical. I chuckle to myself, probably making a few people think I am insane, as I step off the subway and head to the university.

"Hey Petey" A voice startled me as I spun my head to see who the voice came from. Standing there was the brown hair and eyed ex of mine. Elizabeth "Liz" Allen.

"L-Liz?" I feel the stutter come out. "I um….hi?" She giggles and all I can think is WHAT IS GOING ON?!

"Yes "Liz"." Liz giggled a bit more. "How have you been Petey?" All I could do was stare dumbfounded by the fact she was even talking to me. "Petey?...I guess it is a bit weird seeing how we ended up."

"Yeah….more or less." I admitted as I gazed at her. "You didn't even speak to me last year."

"I was upset Petey…I will never lie to you, I loved you at that time Petey." I felt my heart clench at the guilt especially with what happened. "But." My heart unclenched a bit. "It wasn't your fault for what your heart wanted. It took me half the year to figure that out…but I couldn't just come back and act like we were friends again.. More so out of personal embarrassment for how I treated you."

"How YOU treated me? What about how I treated you? You didn't deserve what I did." I asked her incredulously.

"I think I just went over how that isn't actually your fault Petey." She has that sly grin she has when she says something and knows she's right and I'm not…I miss it….love it… and wont lie, I hate it. "Besides, I kinda had an idea it was gonna happen."

"You what?"

"Petey you couldn't remove your eyes from Gwen at our Valentine's Day dinner that everyone showed up for." She raised her eyebrow at me as if to challenge me to say I wasn't. "Like I said, I understand now."

"Wow….Liz…thanks." I feel the pull at the corner of my mouth to smile. "So…..You came to ESU?"

"Nice slide off that topic Parker." Liz jokes. "Yeah, I'm actually going for a degree in psychology."

"Miss "In Crowd" Liz Allen is getting a degree….for psychology?" We had started walking towards the building as we talked as if it was natural. Whiiiiiich she proceeded to slug me in the shoulder for.

"Yes psychology asshole." Liz grinned though at me. "I wanna help people like Mark."

"He's still having problems since the whole Molten Man situation?" She nods at my question somberly.

"I think he'll get better but knowing that there is something in him that can't be under his control…Petey… He's started to scratch at his skin thinking he can dig it out of him." Liz looks over at him. I grit my teeth and sigh. Another life torn asunder by Normon Osborn.

"I promise you Liz while I'm helping Doctor Conners I'm going to try and in my spare time work on a cure for him."

"You didn't hear the news did you?" Liz shook her head at me, confusing me completely. "Whatever they did to him, although it can be activated without his control, it can't be removed. They said it had activated some kind of ….oh what did they say…..like something is asleep." She looked at me expectedly.

"Uh….oh…um…Dormant."

"Yes! That's it. It activated some kind of dormant gene in him." Liz looked around before leaning closer and whispering. "It was the x-gene Petey."

"The x-gene?" I was surprised. I had been researching it for a while after the upsurge with people with mutant abilities. It was something that was rooted in the very core of their DNA and if anything interfered with it potentially they could die."So…it's permanent ... and genetic." I looked into her eyes and saw she had understood that implication already.

"Yeah. They said this may have happened eventually or if he had been in a similar body stressing occurrence." Liz looked down as she leaned against the wall next to me.

"Maybe I could still find some way to repress it for him. It's a triggered occasion so maybe if I could find a way to essentially cause it to loop back on itself and cancel itself out…like the human body does to remain in homeostasis then potentially I could-" I caught her eyes and smile. "What?"

"Nothing." She giggled. "I just forgot how you sounded when you enter Nerd Mode." I scowled at her playfully. "Listen Peter..thank you. If you do find out or need anything from me let me know."

"Does uh…this means we are uh?..." I asked. As much as It would be cool to give our relationship another try…a part of me was happy just being separate.

"No!" Liz shook her head. "Petey as much as you are a good guy I…I just can't see myself with you like that again..But..I was hoping we could still be friends."

"Liz, you took the words out of my mouth. I think we were just two entirely different people….who can hang out."

"Like you and Harry were?" I scowled again. "Still haven't spoken to each other yet?" I shook my head. "Hey, keep your head up. You never know what might happen." She looked at her phone and jumped from the wall. "Oh no! I gotta go Petey! You still got my number?"

"As long as it hasn't changed in two years."

"Good, ThankYouTextMeLatterGottaGoBye!" She rambled off to me before running to class. I simply chuckled and shook my head as I glanced down at my phone. I had another thirty minutes till class. I had scheduled them accordingly so I could get here on time and even stop a few crimes when on the way in the morning. Plus….if this assistant position pays good…I might be able to get a small apartment near campus to shorten that time even more. Aunt May is already spending more time with Anna Watson since Mary Jane left. So it's not really great coming to a big place all alone like I had been this past month or so. I was about to turn around when a feeling came to me and I ducked as a football bounces off the wall I was standing next to. I instantly knew who it was.

I turned and glared seeing the man who had tortured me for freaking years because he finally was someone. I glared and stood up.

"Flash."

"Puny Parker." Eugine smirked….er right ehem Flash smirked at me with that same cockiness. Man everytime I think he's learned something or has changed he just swings back into how he was. I'm about sick of it. "Seeing you here is just an added bonus. I might not got any lockers to shove you in but I can make do."

"This isn't junior year anymore Flash." I glare. "Besides, if that's your best throwing arm then maybe they should resend that scholarship." He growled and approached me pushing me against the wall.

"Yeah and what are you gonna do about it Parker." I glare and then look around for a moment and see a crowd has started to form around us. The temptation to use my strength and pound him into the ground grows. Then I breath.

"You want to know something Eugene?" I pulled the hand off me and pushed Flash back a few feet, maybe using a bit of spider strength but who would blame me. "We've done this song and dance since what? After we were out of nursery school?" I dusted myself off and picked back up my bag I had put down during my conversation with Liz again. "It's been almost ten years, Eugene. What makes this even more pathetic is that you like Spider-man and yet you act like nothing more than a bullying thug who even at one point used to steal my lunch money. Grow up. I have." I start walking around but pause to look around and see the looks on everyone's faces.

Randy Robertson, the son of Robbie Robertson, my Editor-in-Chief at the Bugle, gave a look of contemplation but when he caught my eye seemed to smile at me. Our relationship had grown since we were little to the point I think he grew up sooner than all of us. His buddy Kenny Kong looked down and from the look on his on and off girlfriend Gloria he must have seemed in major contemplation because she seemed worried for him. The only one who seemed steamed by my words to someone "popular" was Sally, Randy's girlfriend. She never did like when I bit back against them.

I looked at Eugene now and saw he was stunned, his mouth hanging comedically down. "I don't care anymore either way Eugene…Just hoping you'd finally prove you were a good person." I turned and froze as I came face to face with two individuals. Harry Osborn. And Gwen Stacy. We stared at each other for a moment before I shifted my bag on my shoulder and brushed past them thinking I wasn't ready or willing to get in this scenario right after that confrontation.

I was glad when I slid into an open desk in my first class and sighed for a bit and took out my notebook and textbook. I knew it was probably just the first day of getting things organized but just in case I figured I'd get it set up. I sighed a bit before looking out, seeing a girl with quite large brown hair that reached a bit past her shoulders. She looked up and around kinda lost and I caught a glimpse of her eyes. Blueish Gray. Almost like an iceberg, which is a perfect comparison because they just hit me like one. She was in a pair of dark gray jeans with a white belt, a pink top with blue jacket and a necklace that seemed just perfect on her. I stood before I knew it and came toward her.

"Hey do you need a hand?" I asked, causing her to jump as she looked back at me. Once again those eyes…..they froze me for a moment as she peered up at me.

"Yeah that'd be so awesome. I'm looking for this class." She handed me her schedule and I had to pull my eyes from her face to look at it. Stop staring Pete, I yelled at myself.

"Okay lets see here ... .Ah you wouldn't believe this but that's actually right here." I threw a thumb back to the classroom I had walked out of. "You're into Computer Science?"

"Oh thank god, yeah I am..I'm actually majoring in it." She smiled, god I hope she doesn't realize it made my breath hitch. "Oh god i've been so rude." She stuck a hand out towards me. "My name is Katherine Pryde, but everybody just calls me Kitty."

"Nice to meet you Kitty, My name is Peter Parker."

"Peter Parker? You mean the photographer that keeps grabbing those unbelievable good photos of Spider-man?!" She jumped up in surprise.

"The one and the same."

"That's incredible!" Kitty grinned at me.

"Thanks…I might actually have some of the latest ones on me if you wanna see after class." I asked sheepishly.

"Thanks Peter Parker, I'm looking forward to it. Maybe we can grab lunch when we do."

"Sounds amazing." Kitty's nose did an adorable little twitch.

"Please ..it sounds "Spectacular"." She joked and walked in, ironically taking the seat next to where my stuff was.

"It sure does to me." I feel a grin on my face and walk in as other students start entering.