Chapter Two
“Is there any reason for your tardiness this time,” The teacher looked up from her book, unamused. “Peter Parker?”
…
Peter? Parker?
I’m Spider-Man?
I stood there, unblinking and my mouth slightly open. I heard more laughter, but I couldn’t care less.
Before losing more control of the classroom, the teacher exhaled and tapped her desk with a metal ruler. The sharp clang quelled the crowd. “Go take a seat.” She turned to face the blondie. “And you, Gwen? Do you have an explanation?”
I nearly stopped dead in my tracks, but I forced my legs to keep moving to one of the two empty desks. Gwen? Gwen Stacy? As in Gwen, Spider-Man’s love interest? That Gwen? I was ready to fall over any second now, but I managed to all but collapse into the seat.
Gwen shrugged. “Felt like it.”
Another exhale and order to go to her seat.
Once the teacher resumed her lesson, I placed my head down on the desk and did my best to not yell in joy, anger, or even both. What the hell was I doing here? Sure, it’s fun and all to be in a world where superheroes exist, but as Peter Parker? Fighting crime while broke wasn’t appealing at all, not to mention death, tragedy - all that good stuff. And if I’m supposed to be Spider-Man, why the hell did I physically feel weak? Didn’t Spider-Man have super strength as one of his powers? And why-
“Hey,” My head jerked up, and my eyes met Gwen’s.
“What’s going on?” She whispered. “And don’t even try acting like everything’s okay.” She added fiercely.
I tried my best to flash a charming smile. “Everything’s-”
“Peter,” Gwen interrupted. “You’re sitting in my seat.”
I looked down at the desk, and sure enough, there was an open notebook with Gwen’s name scrawled on top.
“And you almost left your glasses in the bathroom. And you stood up there while saying absolutely nothing to Ms. Marie!” She raised her voice to a loud whisper. Classmates nearby glanced at us, but Gwen’s gaze didn’t budge.
Guess my smile wasn’t convincing?
I wracked my brain to find an excuse, but nothing came up. Gwen’s furrowed brow and soul-piercing stare wasn’t exactly helping. Neither was the fact that, y’know-
- She was Gwen Stacy!
- or the fact that I was Peter freaking Parker!
RRRRRRINGGGGG!
Old reliable.
Gwen grumbled. “You’re lucky I have band practice.” Hell yeah I was. I silently handed her things and she did the same for me. “And don’t think I’m dropping this conversation, Pete.” She jabbed my chest with a finger. “We’re talking after dinner. Get home safe.”
I watched her leave with some satisfaction before getting up and leaving the classroom. I needed a moment for myself - to clear my head and plan out this new life. But first, I had to figure out how I was gonna get home.
My steps slowed down as I saw three figures chucking a football at each other in the middle of the hallway.
Annnnnnd, now there was one more thing to cross off my checklist. I rolled my eyes internally before realizing Gwen left already.
Shit.
“Check this out.” I didn’t get to even look up at Ned and his goons when a football slammed right into my gut, knocking the wind out of me and my ass to the ground. I barely registered my school supplies spilling over everywhere over my wheezing.
“And down goes ‘Pathetic Parker. Nice one!’” They snickered and high-fived each other. I winced at the sound of tearing papers. My papers. And of course there were conveniently no teachers to be found.
“Try catching the ball next time, Parker.” A paper ball hit the back of my head as the trio kicked my pens around while leaving the area.
I gritted my teeth and slowly stood up. Just another reason for me to get home quick and figure all this shit out.
~o~
Thank God Google Maps was a thing. “I’m home?” I hesitated before slowly creaking the door open and stepping in.
“Anyone home?”
“In the kitchen, Peter!” I walked through the hallway and followed the sweet, milky aroma of chocolate.
“Hey… Aunt May.” I nervously said. It wasn’t normal to say, but I wasn’t going to be sticking around in the kitchen for long. I had work to do. “I’m heading to my room.” I called out.
“That’s fine! Just make sure to get cleaned up by six.”
I hummed in response. I walked down the hall to find two doors and a bathroom at the end. I chuckled to myself. It wasn’t that hard to find Peter’s- or rather, my room. Besides Peter’s name being written on the door’s sign, the door itself was stained with various splashes of color - chemicals, maybe?
I pushed the door open and took a step inside. The room wasn’t big, but Peter made the most of the space. The lab equipment sprawling all over a desk immediately caught my eye. And to my surprise, I recognized them all - beakers, hotplates, a SEM, etc.
I prodded at the incredibly complicated-looking microscope, and somehow, I understood the inner workings of all these tools - the raw wiring, metal plates, and detectors - and how they worked with each other. Not bad for a supposed genius, eh?
But back to the important stuff. I grabbed a blank piece of paper, cleared a small space on my desk, and pulled up a chair.
Let’s start with what I know. Judging by my general weak constitution and lack of Spidey Sense - as demonstrated with the football hitting my chest -, I’m likely a pre-Spider-Man Peter Parker. And I was a regular victim of Ned Leeds. Unlucky.
Silver lining - Gwen fucking Stacy was my close friend?
That’s all I really knew about my current situation. And about Spider-Man and Marvel in general? Not much, it turned out. I was never a big comic guy. Sure, I watched a decent amount of the Marvel movies and all the Spider-Man movies - including the Spider Verse ones! -, but that was about it.
I flipped open the laptop next to me. I might not know a lot right now, but I could figure some stuff out on the internet. Like the fact that there was no Iron Man or the fact that Captain America wasn’t Steve Rogers but Samantha Wilson?
“What about…” Just out of curiosity, I typed in Spider-Man. And Spider-Woman popped up with her sleek hooded suit lined with purple and white.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. I knew exactly which world this was. How could I not? It was the Spider-Gwen universe, the one mentioned in the Spiderverse movie! Which meant… the Peter Parker of this universe never gets his powers and instead, turns into the Lizard and dies by Gwen’s hands. Not that great of a discovery.
…
Fuck that. I wasn’t gonna be a side character destined for death just so the main character could go through some character development. But if I wanted to avoid my fate or in general, avoid getting killed in the crossfire, I needed strength.
Hold on. Strength was important, but so what if I was strong enough to keep myself and my family safe? None of that mattered if we were living paycheck to paycheck. For now, my priority was money, unless there was a way to gain money and strength?
If a lightbulb could pop up on top of my head in all of its shining glory, it most certainly would at this moment. The Tobey Maguire Peter Parker fought in cage matches to get some money. What if I did the same? Or better yet, what if I stole from criminals? Something like Robin Hood - stealing from the rich and corrupt and giving it back to the poor (the poor being me!). But still, that required some degree of strength.
Right now, Peter Parker’s greatest strength was his mind, so there was a decent chance I could become something like Iron Man. And no ordinary bodyguard would be able to stand up to Iron Man. It was a long shot, and I definitely wouldn’t be figuring out the workings of the arc reactor, but maybe I could start small…
The webbing! I jumped forward in my seat. Spider-Man’s webs were artificially made by Peter himself. I might not have super strength, but I could still swing around the city.
My mind raced with possibilities. Since I was still on this Spider-Man train of thought, why not go further? Could I somehow stick to a wall by condensing the gecko’s mechanics of Van der Waals forces into an invention?
“No, no, no, no,” I muttered as I fell back into my seat. Who was I kidding? I didn’t have an ounce of strength or fighting training. Some webs and gecko boots wouldn’t be anything without the superhuman instincts and strength…
But what about the lizard formula? In order for Peter to turn into the Lizard and get killed in the universe, he had to have the formula!
I stood up slowly. Did Peter even have the formula at this time? I looked around the room again for potential hiding spots and I fell upon the freezer. I opened it, and sure enough, a vial of bright green liquid sat there in the middle. Without hesitation, I slammed the door shut. No way in hell was I touching that!
But if I could fix it… That thought dangled right in front of me.
“Peter?” A voice called out. “Are you ready for dinner?”
I froze. “Almost ready!”
~o~
“I’m doing okay, Mr. Stacy.” I smiled nervously. I had no clue we were gonna be eating with Gwen and her dad. I thought Aunt May would be taking us out for dinner! Were Peter and Gwen that close in this universe? It was almost as if Gwen was replacing Mary Jane. Speaking of, I haven’t seen the redhead at all…
“Well, don’t just stand out there.” He joked “Come inside! The food is going to get cold.” His broad shoulder squeezed through the door frame, compared to my skinny frame which slipped in. Another reminder to start working out, eh? Even if I eventually fix the Lizard formula, it would only be beneficial to be stronger then.
“We brought some salad and breadsticks this time.” Aunt May piped in. “I thought it would be fitting, considering the pasta you made for us.”
I walked through the kitchen as the adults continued their chatter. The rays of luminescence peeked through the shades, lighting up the thin bursts of flowers and candles alongside the deep mahogany cabinets. Several bottles of spices and various spoons were still laid out next to the sink. There weren’t many pictures hanging from the walls, but they were all of Gwen and Peter. Even though it was my first time here, some small, small part of me whispered -
- home.
“Hey Pete. Come here.” Gwen waved me over to the circular table. It was already set, and a big bowl of pasta and sauce sat in the middle. I tentatively sat next to her.
“Are you feeling okay? No offense, but you were acting a little weird in class. Was it Ned? It was Ned, wasn’t it?” She studied my face.
“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry about me. I was just thinking about something.” I shrugged. “And Ned’s Ned. Nothing that can be done with that. How was band practice?” Internally, I begged for her to take the bait. There really wasn’t any explanation I could come up with for acting like an idiot.
She raised an eyebrow. “Nice try, but you’re not changing the subject that easily.”
“Sorry Gwen, but we are going to have to change the subject. It’s dinnertime!” Mr. Stacy chuckled while setting down the bowl of salad and breadsticks. He and Aunt May took their seats as Gwen shot me a dirty glare.
“Peter, you want to lead us in prayer?” Everyone’s eyes turned to me. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
“S-sure…” I cleared my throat. “We’re Catholic, right?”
Gwen raised her other eyebrow. “Last time I checked, yeah.”
I laughed sheepishly and fidgeted nervously in my seat. “Just making sure. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit-”
“Amen.” We chorused.
“Thank you, God, for…” For placing me in an alternate universe where I was set to die? For not giving me powers to protect myself with? I was never a religious person in the first place, but there was usually always something to be thankful for. Not a good sign when I can’t find much.
“For providing us with our food today…” What else?
“For the roof over our heads…” I looked around the room and the blonde hair - the same blond hair that I couldn’t help but notice when I first met Gwen - caught my eye. Yeah, my situation sucked, but at the very least I had someone that could count on.
“And for the people I’m sitting next to right now.” The people I wanted to protect. Especially Gwen.
“Amen.” I finished.
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