Heyo, what's going on with Spider-Man 4 👀
Sigh. What IS going on with Spider-Man 4. I once again had grand illusions and failed to manifest them. I really really wanted to finish this one before the actual SM4 comes out but HA. Not happening.
This is the sequel to my fic that only a few people actually read because no one reads gen fics. My SM4 takes place the spring Ned and MJ are graduating from MIT. Freshly inspired, Peter goes to Boston with tentative hopes of getting his life back but quickly discovers that since the spell that made everyone forget him, Ned and MJ both have gaping holes in their memories (Ned moreso than MJ) that have been plaguing them for the past 5/6 years resulting in a lot of doctor's appointments and brain scans for Ned. MJ can get along fine if she can ignore the nagging sense that something important is missing, that she has pictures she doesn't remember taking, and prized possessions she does remember getting. Ned has all of those problems plus holes in his memories stretching all the way back as far as he can remember, migraines, and if he focuses on the holes in his memories too much, trying to remember, he blacks out.
It's going to be a mix of Peter and MJ's POV. MJ's side is going to read more like a mystery novel centered around her and Ned's memory problems and the stranger that feels familiar to them both but doesn't exist anywhere unless he's right in front of her, so she resolves to keep him in front of her until she can puzzle this out. If only he weren't so good at disappearing... The core of it is her quote from NWH right before the spell makes her forget Peter and she's telling him to tell her everything and if he doesn't: "I’ll just figure it out. I did it before, I’ll do it again." Spoiler alert, she does it again 😏
Meanwhile Peter's POV is going to be his usual flying-by-the-seat-of-his-pants-self-sacrificing-disaster-man shtick. A very fun dichotomy imo
Here's the epilogue from Iron Impostor/Hometown Hero that kicks everything off:
Peter Parker steps off the bus onto a crowded street and curses Harley Keener's name. This is all his fault. Peter would have been fine being alone and miserable for the rest of his life. Really. He had it all planned out: work, work, work, work, work, and then, someday, die. Easy peasy. No gut-wrenching hope required. No terror that he might repeat past mistakes and somehow make everything worse. And most of all, no Boston.
But no. Harley had to root around in the open wound and start pulling things out of it while reading Peter for filth. He just had to be a good person doing his best in a shitty situation instead of someone Peter could hate without remorse. He had to remember him and remind him of everything he worked so hard to bury. He had to remind him that the ringing hollow in his core could be fixed with a simple train ride to a different city. Harley just had to make him hope again.
Here's to hoping some calamity befalls Boston before he can find Ned and MJ is this crowd. A sea monster rising out of the harbor would be ideal, but he'd settle for a foot chase after a stolen purse if that's all Boston can drum up for him.
The crowd parts, and his heart skips as he spots first Ned, and then MJ sitting together on a bench under a tree with white bark.
Typical. The only luck a Parker has ever had is the bad kind. Anything good has come from sweat and effort and failure and trying again.
Well, this is him trying again.
Palms sweating, heart thundering, Peter rehearses his opening lines as he slowly approaches the bench where Ned is showing MJ something on his phone. She laughs, and Ned grins at her—wide, surprised pleasure. Peter's heart hurts so bad he feels like dying. He knows that feeling. He knows Ned will ride it for weeks, having pulled a full laugh out of MJ. Months, even.
Before he's ready for it, Peter is stopped in front of them. MJ looks up first, and her eyes narrow with suspicion. There's not so much as a flicker of recognition. Just like last time, he's a stranger to her.
He almost backs out, turns and runs, but his nerves take over and he speaks aloud his over-rehearsed speech to his former girlfriend and best friend since kindergarten.
"Hi, my name's Peter Parker and—"
Ned looks at him then. Instead of recognition, he squints and his delighted grin falls into a grimace. His hands fly to the sides of his head, and he makes a pained sound as his eyes roll back. Then, he passes out cold.
The only luck a Parker has ever had is the bad kind.
