Moose

“No. Absolutely not.” There was only one of Sirius’ friends who could ever say no to him, and it was Remus Lupin. He’d always been able to draw a clear line in the sand to stop whatever it was Sirius was scheming about.

“Aw, c’mon Moony it’s just a bit of fun. Besides, Snivellus deserves it.” Sirius groans as he flops on his bed face up, staring at the canopy above his bed.

“Look, I am not a fan of Snape much like you lot but sometimes you need to learn to take a step back. You see the people he hangs out with now? They’re all bound to be dark wizards in the future, they meddle with dark magic, and I don’t want anyone getting hurt.” Remus states, putting his foot down firmly and wanting Sirius to know where he stood on the whole prank.

“It’s just a little humiliation in class, that’s all! He’ll get over it.” Sirius insists, propping himself up on his elbows to look over at his stubborn friend.

“Fine! Do it but I’m not helping you. So don’t come crying to me when he fights back.” Remus concedes, throwing his hands up in the air before grabbing his bag and throwing it over his shoulder.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to study with y/n in the library.” Remus continues, heading to the dorm door and exiting loudly, ignoring the roll of Sirius’ eyes as he walks past him.

The next day, Sirius had snuck down to the potions classroom to switch one of the ingredients used in the potion for something else. Just by glancing at Slughorn’s desk, Sirius saw that they were going to be learning how to make a draught of peace so he grabbed the small bottle of powdered moonstone on Snape's usual desk and mixed in a little bit of another ingredient he knew wasn’t needed for the potion. He didn’t know what reaction it would cause nor did he particularly care. He just wanted to humiliate Snape and if that meant he got his potion all over him or a look of disappointment from Slughorn. When he’d mixed the two powders together he returned it to the desk Snape usually sat at before leaving the room again and heading to breakfast, unable to wipe the shit-eating grin off his face.

“The look on Snivellus’ face is going to be golden.” Peter sniggers when he sees Sirius approaching the three, sitting himself down next to James who claps him on the back.

“No one saw you, right?” James questions quietly. He had been keeping an eye on all the teachers who sat at the staff table at the front of the Great Hall, but he hadn’t been keeping an eye on students coming and going. He had no clue if any students had slipped out of the hall and made their way down to the dungeons and saw Sirius.

“Nope. I mean no one walked in while I was in the room. They couldn’t have seen me going in and out considering you lent me the invisibility cloak.” Sirius jokes, grabbing a slice of toast and tossing it at James’ forehead, laughing as it bounces off harmlessly. Remus, having had enough of Sirius and the prank gets up and leaves the Great Hall, hoping to locate you before potions class.

“Hello, love.” Remus says, snaking his arms around your waist, making you jump slightly before you turn to face him, a large grin on your face.

“Hello, Rem.” You greet happily, leaning up to press a quick kiss on his lips.

“You ready for potions?” Remus asks, stepping away from the embrace and offering you his hand, tugging you down to the dungeons as students begin to head to their morning classes. You follow the trickle of students heading to the potions classroom and since you had no set seating plan, so you and Remus unknowingly sat at Snape’s desk, just finding the closest available seats, and planting yourself in them. Sirius noticed your choice of seat and sniggered to himself. He hadn’t told Remus what class he was planning on pranking Snape in, nor did he know the exact details. He only let Sirius say that he was planning on humiliating Snape somehow in a class and shut him down. If anything, Sirius figured it would be funny, a way for Remus to learn to listen to him. It was harmless.

“Okay Remus, let’s make the best draught of peace potion Slughorn will ever see.” You start as soon as Professor Slughorn has finished his lecture on how to correctly make the potion. You flip open your potion’s textbook to the correct page and shed your robes, rolling your sleeves up as you lay your robe on the stool. Remus laughs and nods, beginning to prep the ingredients. Everything goes smoothly at first until Remus glances at the textbook as you stir the potion.

“Hey, we don’t have enough Valerian root. I’ll grab us some more, you keep going.” Remus says, pushing his stool back as you nod and reach out to grab the syrup of hellebore, dropping small droplets into the potion and watching carefully. To your shock, the potion started bubbling violently due to the extra ingredient mixed into the powdered moonstone causing a reaction and as you looked at the textbook to inspect what you might’ve done wrong, your cauldron exploded, and the potion splashed all over you and the table. A chorus of laughter rippled across the classroom after a brief silence.

“Class, quieten down! Oh, dear miss l/n. I don’t know what went wrong there but I think it’s best you go and get yourself cleaned up.” Slughorn quietens the class with ease before speaking gently to you. You nod stoically and glance across the room at where Remus was standing, Valerian root in hand as he noticed the shining tears in your eyes. You gather your belongings and dart out of the room. Remus looked over at his friends and saw Sirius sitting in shock about the result the prank had. Remus stormed over to the desk as the rest of the class began to chatter about what happened again.

“What the bloody hell was that?!” Remus demands, slamming his hands on Sirius’ desk and glaring at him.

“You and y/n sat in Snapes spot. I thought it would be funny to let it play out. I swear Moony I didn’t know the ingredients were going to react like that.” Sirius insists, his eyes wide and pleading as Remus narrows his eyes in his obvious anger.

“If that hurt her, I swear…” Remus seethes, jaw tensed, and teeth gritted.

“Alright class, I think we should wrap up today’s lesson.” The second those words left Slughorn’s mouth, Remus grabbed his stuff and was out of the room in a flash, immediately disregarding any other classes, prioritising you instantly. Remus went to your dorm and knocked on the door, frowning when he heard no response or any signs of life inside the room. He then racked his brain for where you could be. He knew he could go and get the Marauders Map he just didn’t want to waste time when he could be with you right now. Suddenly, he knew exactly where you would be and he stormed through the castle and headed towards the Black Lake, finding your favourite secluded spot, and spotting you sitting underneath the large oak tree, your back pressed against the trunk as you sobbed. You had changed into fresh clothes and had your knees pulled up against your chest and your face buried in your knees, but Remus could tell you were crying from your shaking shoulders.

“y/n?” Remus calls out cautiously, approaching slowly and easing himself down next to you.

“Did you know?” Your small voice says moments after Remus has sat down, making him tilt his head and look at you.

“Did I know what?” He asks, watching as you lift your face to look at him, tear streaks staining your cheeks.

“Did you know about the potion? You moved away seconds before the potion exploded. Did you know?” You say, your voice shaking and filled with betrayal as Remus shakes his head.

“No. No, I swear to you I didn’t know. Sirius mentioned wanting to prank Snape and I didn’t realise he’d try it so soon. I didn’t know any details of the prank. You have to believe me.” Remus croaks, his throat tightening as tears well in his own eyes. He didn’t blame you for figuring he had something to do with it. He did move away at a perfectly convenient time. To his joy you nod your head and move closer to him, wrapping your arms around his middle and burying yourself in his side.

“I believe you.” You whisper, looking up at Remus who nods tearfully before pressing a kiss to the top of your head.

“I’m sorry. I should’ve figured he was going to do something.” Remus apologises, hugging you close as one hand messes with the baby hairs at the nape of your neck.

“You didn’t know. Like you said, it was a prank intended for Snape how were we supposed to know?” You say, resting your head on Remus’ chest and staring out across the Black Lake.

“Sirius should consider himself lucky it’s not anywhere near a full moon because if it was, I’m fairly sure I would’ve punched him.” Remus muses, smiling slightly when he hears a slight chuckle escape your lips.

“I’ll be sure to let him know that when I next see him.” You reply, tightening your grip on Remus ever so slightly.

“Can we stay out here for a while? I don’t really want to face anyone right now.” You say, looking back up at Remus as he nods.

“Of course, we can, love. We’ll stay out here as long as you need. If anyone tries to disturb us, I’m sure a quick hex will drive them away.” Remus says as you giggle, shaking your head at his comment about hexing people.

“I don’t think hexing anyone will go down well with any professors Rem.” You say, pressing a quick kiss to Remus’ cheek.

“I’ll come up with something to get myself out of it. McGonagall and Dumbledore have a soft spot for me.” Remus brags, poking at your side and laughing as you squirm. You both quieten down after laughing and watch the lake, enjoying the peace and quiet. Remus was still unbelievably pissed off at Sirius for not saying anything when you and him sat in Snape's spot and let you put the tampered ingredient into the potion but he was mostly glad you were unharmed. You were embarrassed yes but you knew Remus was willing to fight anyone who poked fun at you for the incident. He knew the moment you guys went back into the castle, Sirius would be on his hands and knees begging for you to forgive him for his stupidity and you’d simply laugh and tell him that everything was okay. He knew everything that would be happening when you both went back into Hogwarts, but he didn’t want to dwell on that or the events that lead you to now. He just wanted to enjoy the feeling of you cuddled up in his arms in the bright summer sun, a light breeze blowing causing the leaves of the trees to rustle quietly as the water of the lake lapped at the shore. Remus relished moments like this. He hated that a backfired prank was the reason you were out here, but he was glad you were okay and that you knew that Remus wouldn’t allow students to pick on you for what happened.

When you woke up this morning, you hadn’t expected to become a victim to one of Sirius’ pranks, but you knew he never meant any harm. You were embarrassed but he could’ve easily done something much worse than an exploding potion, so you were just grateful you only received a bruised ego. Looking back on the prank you could see why Sirius did it. You were sure if you could’ve seen yourself covered in potion from an outside perspective, you would’ve found it hilarious, so you held no grudge against Sirius for his prank. You were grateful you had a wonderful boyfriend like Remus who wasted no time making sure you were okay and being willing to hide away from everything until you felt ready to face the school again.

“I know I’m going to forgive Sirius for the prank when he inevitably begs for it but what do you reckon, I hold it over him for a while? Make him buy us a shit ton of chocolate from Honeydukes or something?” You ponder aloud, making Remus laugh heartily and press a kiss to the top of your head.

“Peter Benjamin Parker, where on earth were you?” May’s voice severs the silence as she emerges from the living room, watching with folded arms as you and Peter stood frozen in the hallway at being caught.

“I’m sorry Aunt May I was-”

“At y/n’s. Why didn’t you let me know? I’ve been up all night worried sick.” May scolds, lifting a hand to rub at her temple as both you and Peter exchange a look where you silently tell him to console his aunt.

“I am sorry Aunt May. It’s not an excuse but I was so tired I fell asleep so fast I completely forgot to let you know. It won’t happen again.” Peter apologises, crossing to his aunt and gently placing his hands on her shoulders. You watched as the tension in May’s shoulders released itself as she looked up at Peter, her eyes soft despite the stern expression she was fighting to keep on her face.

“You’re lucky I love you, Peter.” She says, her voice now gentle as she pulls Peter into a hug.

“I love you too May.” You hear Peter say quietly before pulling away.

“You should go and sort yourself out for school.” May says as Peter relinquishes his hold on her as Peter nods at her words.

“Here, take my bag so you know what stuff you need for classes.” You say quickly, holding your bag out towards him. You knew it was probably best if his Spider-Man suit was in his own bag rather than yours and you also knew he didn’t want May to know about his vigilante side, so he needed a moment to transfer the suit from your bag to his. Thankfully, Peter understands what you’re hinting at and takes your bag with a smile before retreating up to his room.

“Honestly, that boy is so forgetful. He’d forget his own head if it wasn’t attached to his body.” May says as you laugh, nodding at her words.

“He’s lucky he has us to remind him of things. But I am sorry I didn’t tell him to let you know he was at mine last night. It completely slipped my mind.” You say, taking the time to apologise to her for not telling Peter to let her know he was spending the night at yours.

“Don’t worry sweetheart, you probably assumed I knew.” May says dismissively, waving a hand to show you she didn’t mind anymore. You knew Peter had May wrapped around his little finger, but you still struggled to believe he could get out of punishments that easily. You knew if you did the same thing Peter did, your parents would’ve grounded you. Before you could say anything else, Peter bounds into the room with a large grin, handing your bag back to you before he crosses to May, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

“We’re off now, I’ll see you after school.” Peter says, taking your hand in his and tugging you towards the door as you throw a hurried goodbye over your shoulder before the door closed behind you.

“You’ve never been this keen to go to school Peter, what’s up?” You ask as you walk hand in hand to school.

“The sooner we get to school, the sooner it’s over. And the sooner it’s over, the sooner I can look for Connors again.” Peter’s words had your eyes wide and fearful again just like they were last night.

“Pete, you were banged up pretty bad last night. Are you sure you’re okay to fight him so soon after?” You question nervously, glancing over him as he looks back at you, his expression soft.

“I’m fine. You patched me up and along with my fast healing, I’m feeling good as new. Connors needs to be stopped and the sooner that happens the better.” Peter assures, rubbing his thumb along your knuckles as your hands swing slightly in the air between the two of you. You nod at Peter’s words, not knowing how to continue the conversation.

“I know you’re worried and I understand why. But I have to fix this problem I caused. I’ll be careful I promise.” Peter continues when he notices you’re not going to reply to him. He didn’t care that you remained silent, he knew you were scared, and he couldn’t blame you. It only gave him more determination to deal with Connors quicker. When you arrive at school, you head to your lockers before heading to class. The day drags on forever and as you head with Peter to your lockers to sort out books to take home, you feel the building shake and all the students fall silent. You notice Peter’s whole body stiffen as a roar shatters the silence.

“y/n, run.” He says lowly as all the other students start running in the opposite direction when Connors comes bursting through the wall. Peter ushers you to follow the other students while he turns to take on the humanoid lizard. As you turn the corner you glance behind you to see Peter charging at Connors and distracting him from all the evacuating students.

“y/n, come on!” You hear as you start to evacuate. Gwen grabs your hand and hauls you along with her, both of you exiting the building and joining the gathered students.

“Where’s Peter?” Gwen asks, looking around as you mimic her actions, acting as if you were looking for your boyfriend when in reality, you knew he was inside facing off against Connors.

“He’s still inside.” You mutter, not having to fake your worry as you glance towards the entrance to the school.

“I’m calling the police.” Gwen says, pulling her phone out of her pocket and dialling 911 as you drop your bag to the floor, running into the building while ignoring Gwen calling after you. You follow the trail of destruction as you search for your boyfriend and his opponent. As you pass a trophy cabinet you snatch one of the trophies as a means to defend yourself if necessary.

You reach a corridor and when you open the door, you see Connors pinning Peter against the wall, his large hand covering Peter’s face as he struggles. Without thinking, you swing the trophy at Connors’ head, distracting him from Peter as he turns to face you, dropping Peter to the floor. You held the trophy up defensively, but you knew there wasn’t much you could do if he tried to attack you. As Connors stalked towards you, Peter leapt to his feet, webbing Connors, and cocooning him in the webs tightly, immobilising him before he webbed the trophy, pulling you closer. He took the trophy from your hands and threw it at the window, the glass shattering upon the impact. He then pulled you close by grabbing your waist.

“I’m gonna throw you out the window now.” He says quickly.

“What?” You barely got a chance to process his words before he threw you out the window, webbing you as you fell and attaching it to the wall, leaving you hanging by the web with no way to get down. You heard a cacophony of sirens approaching and you hoped to god a police officer would find you and help you down. You hung there for about five minutes before someone found you.

“y/n?” You couldn’t turn to face the owner of the voice, but you knew it was your dad. He began shouting orders at his fellow officers to help get you down. Once your feet reached the floor, your dad pulled you into a tight hug.

“Are you okay?” He asks, pulling away to check you over.

“I’m fine dad. Spider-Man saved me.” You say, smiling to try and convince your dad you were okay.

“Go and find Lexi, we’re going to sweep the school.” He says, gently ushering you back towards where the students were still gathered. You head over to the students and quickly locate your sister who was standing by one of the police cars.

“Lexi, are you okay?” You ask, giving her a hug as she returns it tightly.

“I’m fine, I got out when we saw everyone else running. I couldn’t find you, or Peter, or Lily and I was so worried.” She rambles worriedly, eyes darting around, and you knew she was looking for Peter.

“I don’t know where Peter is but try not to worry, okay? He’s an idiot but he knows how to keep himself safe. Let’s try to find Lily to make sure she’s okay.” You say, the two of you surveying the sea of students until Lexi tugs you suddenly in a random direction, pulling you towards her friend.

“Are you okay, Lily?” You ask, watching as the two friends embrace upon reaching each other. Lily ignored your question, but you couldn’t be mad, both her and Lexi’s priority were making sure the other was okay. Watching them now, you could see what Peter meant by Lexi having a crush on Lily and it was clear that the feelings were reciprocated. When they pulled away from the embrace, both of them had a light blush covering their cheeks but despite that, held each other’s hand.

“I’m going to look for Peter or Gwen, you two stay here and look out for each other.” You say, backing away from your sister and her crush before turning around to look for Gwen. Before you located Gwen, your phone started to ring and you dug your phone out of your pocket, quickly answering when you saw Peter’s name flashing across your screen.

“Peter, are you okay?” You ask the second the phone reaches your ear, fear clutching at your chest as you await a response.

“I’m fine. I’m just in the sewers tracking Connors. I have to ask you something. At your summer internship at Oscorp, did you learn anything about running serums and making antidotes? We need to cure Doctor Connors.” Peter asks, making you nod your head before realising he can’t see you.

“Yeah, I can make one.” You say, moving away from the crowd so you could speak to him without anyone overhearing.

“Okay, go to Oscorp and access the cross-species file. It’ll be a blue serum. The file number is 12389.” Peter explains carefully.

“Right, I’ll do that. Be careful, Pete.” You say before hanging up and immediately sought out your bag, scooping it up while keeping an eye out for Gwen, hoping she wouldn’t see you and heading away from the school. You went to the nearest subway station and boarded the train that stopped nearest to Oscorp. You felt like an impatient commuter with the way you were tapping your foot restlessly and glancing at the tracks in front of you as if that was going to cause a train to miraculously appear in front of you. Eventually, a train pulls up and you practically leap onto it, ignoring the grumbles of businessmen. You chose to remain standing, ready to jump off the train the moment it arrived at the correct station. As the train chugged along, you dug through your bag and found your old Oscorp ID from your internship. You’d forgotten to take it out after summer ended so it remained buried in the depths of your bag, and you could only hope it would be accepted because it was your only hope of getting into the labs so you could find what you needed to help Peter. When you arrived at the station you needed to get off at, you got off the train the second the doors opened, and you walked as fast as humanly possible to Oscorp. You thanked every star in the sky when your Oscorp ID was accepted, and you were able to find the cross-species files. You find the blue serum Peter had told you to find and you brought it into the room that contained the device you needed to create an antidote. You put the serum into the device and start it up. You watch the countdown anxiously as the device whirs. You begin to pace just before your phone starts ringing. You pull it out of your pocket and answer the call when you see Peter’s name once more.

“Where are you?” You hear the moment the phone reaches your ear.

“In Oscorp?” You reply, confused as to why he was asking when he was the one who told you to head there in the first place.

“You have to get out right now.” He says quickly. You could hear cars honking and the bustle of people on his end, so you knew he wasn’t in the sewers anymore.

“The antidote is being made I can’t just-”

“No, listen to me. Connors is on his way. He’s on his way to you right now because he wants the disbursement device. He’s going to turn the whole city into lizards.” Peter explains, fighting to keep his voice level as he talks.

“There’s eight minutes left.” You reply after glancing at the timer, knowing someone had to be able to pick up the antidote when it was done.

“You’re going to wait those eight minutes after what I just told you? No, y/n you need to get out of there. I’m being serious.” Peter says firmly down the phone as you look around, your eyes landing on the emergency evacuation pull station.

“I’m going to get everyone out.” You say quickly, ignoring Peter’s yells of protest as you move the phone away from your ear and hanging up the call. You crossed to the pull station and activated the alarm. You winced at the high-pitched alarm as it activated, and you stepped back as you saw all the employees evacuating. You let out a small sigh of relief knowing that if they aren’t in the building, Connors won’t hurt them.

As the timer nears one minute before the antidote is ready, a large rumble shakes the building, making the lights flicker. Knowing it’s Connors coming in search of the disbursement device, you grab a small blowtorch and stand on a stool, holding it under a smoke detector so it will set off the fire alarm and close the heavy fire doors, hopefully slowing Connors’ journey. As the device creating the antidote announces that it's only one minute before the antidote is ready, you hear Connors smashing through the large metal door and you immediately search for a place to hide after grabbing the disbursement device. You chose to hide in one of the large cupboards where the canisters of gases were stored. The entrance had a grate on it, meaning you could see Connors’ large form passing by as you fought to keep your breaths steady as he moved around the space, growling as he went. You clung to the disbursement device, trembling, and squeezing your eyes shut as you prayed Connors would move on. Suddenly, Connors appears in front of the grate, snarling and pulling the grate away as you scream, relinquishing your hold on the device to grab anything you could use to defend yourself. Connors was only interested in the device and snatched it the moment your hands left it before turning and retreating, leaving you terrified. When you get the strength to move from your spot, you stick your head out and look around to see if Connors was still around. As you look around, the device announces that the antidote is complete.

“You couldn’t have finished like a minute earlier, could you?” You grumble angrily as you snatch the vial from the device. You decide the best course of action is to get the hell out of Oscorp and to call Peter to let him know what happened. As you come out of the building, you stop when you see a police car.

“Dad?” You say when you see your dad climbing out of the car, body armour on and gun in hand as he crosses to you.

“I have to take this to Spider-Man.” You say as he grabs your arms gently, tugging you towards the police car.

“No. I will take it to Spider-Man. You get in the car.” Your dad asserts, moving you to where his partner is stood and taking the antidote from your hand. Your dad’s partner, Officer Nick Russell gently rested a hand on your shoulder, keeping you from running off.

“Come on y/n.” Nick says gently, opening the door for you as you glance from the door to your dad.

“Be careful.” You say, watching as your dad nods and gestures for you to go with Nick. You climb into the car, settling in your seat as Nick climbs into the driver’s seat.

“Try not to worry too much kid. Your dad is the toughest son of a bitch I’ve ever met, and I may not be the biggest Spider-Man fan but I’m sure he’ll look out for your dad too. He’ll be home before you know it.” Nick says as he drives the car away from Oscorp, glancing at you through the rear-view mirror. Your dad had known Nick for years since they joined the academy long before you were born. They’d always been partners since joining the police force after graduating from the academy. You couldn’t find the right words to reply to Nick, so you stared out the window silently, seeing everyone else evacuating the area. The drive to your house remained silent other than the rumble of the car engine until the car finally pulled up outside your house. As you got out of the car both your mum and Lexi came sprinting out, trapping you in a hug.

“y/n, we’ve been so worried. Where were you? Are you hurt?” Your mum questions, pulling away and studying your face intensely. You felt your heart break at the worry in her eyes. You opened your mouth to respond but your voice cracked, and tears dribbled down your cheeks, the near-death experience finally settling in. Your mum immediately brings you back into her arms, shushing you gently as you clung to her.

“She was in Oscorp when the Lizard got there. Sounds like she was trying to help Spider-Man from what she said.” Nick explains as you begin to calm down, leaning against his car as he talks.

“Trying to help Spider-Man? Sweetheart, what were you thinking?” Your mum scolds as you loosen your grip on her so she can pull away and look you in the eye.

“I just wanted to help him.” You murmur, shrugging to try to downplay your actions.

“y/n, I’m sure Spider-Man knows what he’s doing. I appreciate that you wanted to help but let’s leave the helping to the guy with powers.” Your mum says, squeezing your shoulders slightly to get her point across. You nod at her words, but you also knew that without your help Peter would probably be in a whole heap of trouble.

“I’m going to go back and help in the city. Take care m/n. You should be far enough away from anything but keep an eye on the news.” Nick says, getting back into his car and driving off to help the other police officers in the city. When Nick has driven off, your mum wraps an arm around your shoulder and leads you back into the house with Lexi hot on your heels.

“I’ll make some hot chocolate.” Lexi says as your mum leads you to the living room, sitting you down on the sofa, grabbing a blanket, and pulling it over you. Your mum settles down next to you and rubs a hand over your back.

“I’m not mad at you, y/n. It’s just scary to hear that your daughter risked her life to try and help a superpowered vigilante.” Your mum says after a brief silence.

“I’m sorry.” You apologise, fiddling with the corner of the blanket. Before your mum could reply, Lexi enters the room and silently hands you a mug of hot chocolate as you thank her quietly. The three of you sit in silence, watching the news of the fight between Spider-Man and the giant lizard. The tension in the room was obvious as the news reporters talked about the destruction. At some point, the news coverage showed a shower of blue particles raining over the city as they reported that anyone who had been turned into a giant lizard was now back to being a human once more. You let out a small sigh of relief as you tugged the blanket closer around your shoulders. Peter did it. You knew he would. With the tension about whether your family needed to evacuate or not gone, you dug your phone out of your pocket and was just about to stand up to go to your room to call Peter when the doorbell rang, followed by a knock on the door. You knew it wasn’t Peter, he gave up on going to the front door since he gained the ability to crawl up walls. It also wasn’t your dad; he had a key and could quite easily let himself in. You approached the door cautiously and opened it, relaxing visibly when you saw Nick on the other side. However, while you relaxed, you noticed the forlorn expression on Nick’s face along with tear tracks down his cheeks.

“Nick, what’s wrong? Here, come in.” Your mum says, appearing behind you and gesturing for Nick to come into the house. You follow him through to the living room after you close the front door. You had a horrible feeling gnawing away at your stomach as you thought about what could be wrong. Nick gestured for the three of you to sit down as he remained standing.

“I just received word from some officers helping out near Oscorp that… that f/n was killed in the line of duty. I came straight here the moment I got the news.” Nick explains carefully, more tears rolling down his cheeks as he watches the three of you process the news. You immediately grab your mum and sister into a hug, holding them both tightly as they cry. You allow a few tears to roll down your cheeks, but you did your best to keep them in to be strong for your family. You let your family cling to you as they cried, knowing they needed all the comfort they could get. Nick didn’t leave until you all calmed down enough but before he left, he made sure to make you aware that he was always available to help if you needed him. All you could think about as you heard the door slam behind Nick, was how much you wanted Peter. But you knew Peter was possibly injured and needed to rest after fighting Connors not once but twice in one day. You helped your mum and sister to their rooms and told them to try and get some rest before retreating to your own room for the rest of the night.

A week or so passes before your dad’s funeral and you hadn’t seen Peter since Connors attacked the school. You reached out to May to invite both her and Peter to your dad’s funeral. When you arrived at the funeral you saw May and approached her, being brought into a hug as soon as you reached her.

“I’m so sorry for your loss sweetheart.” She whispers, rubbing a hand up and down your back as you nod against her shoulder before pulling away, fighting the urge to glance around for Peter.

“I don’t know where Peter is. He disappeared not long before we were meant to head here together. I’ll be having a stern word with him when I next see him.” May continues apologetically, grabbing your hands in hers as she talks. You nodded at her words but when you heard the faint sounds of sirens in the distance you instantly knew why Peter wasn’t here. He was doing his job. Protecting the people of New York City. The funeral went by just how you expected. You kept your arms wrapped around Lexi for the whole service, making sure she was okay and giving her the comfort she needed. After the service was over, you encouraged Lexi to head home to change and then go to Lily’s. You didn’t want her to be stuck in sadness forever, so you needed her to get out and be with people she loves to distract herself at least a little. After Lexi had changed, you sent her off with a hug and made her promise to call you if she needed anything. Then you turned to your mum, looping your arm with hers.

“Come on mum, you should get some rest. I know it’s been a hard day.” You whisper reassuringly as you help her up the stairs and into her bedroom. You helped your mum change into pyjamas and get into bed before drawing the curtains and crossing to the bed, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. You mingled in the doorway until you knew she was asleep and once you knew she was, you closed the door gently and moved to your room. You changed into some comfy clothes consisting of Peter’s sweatpants and an old t-shirt of his that he had left in your cupboard as well as the fluffiest socks you could find. You sat on your bed with your back against the headboard, arms wrapped around yourself as you finally let your walls down and allowed the tears that you’d been holding in for the past week to roll down your cheeks. You’d been putting on a brave face for the sake of your sister and mum, wanting them to have someone they could rely on but in being so desperate to support your family. You neglected to take care of yourself and instead chose to bottle your feelings up. The tears rolled down your cheeks as you stared blankly at the wall in front of you. You felt numb and felt like you couldn’t move even if you tried. As you cried, you failed to hear the familiar sound of your window opening and Peter climbing in, calling out to you worriedly as he closed the window again. You weren’t aware of his presence until his concerned face, which was now sporting a bruise on his jaw, appeared in your line of sight, shaking you out of your daze slightly.

“Peter?” Your cracked voice manages to say. Peter chose not to respond, instead kicking his shoes off and climbing onto the bed next to you, wrapping you up in his arms and holding you close as you continued to cry.

“I know. I’ve got you. I’m right here baby.” Peter whispers, pressing kisses to your temple and running a hand through your hair as he continues to hold you close. He continues to whisper words of reassurance and comfort as he hugs you. He also couldn’t help but feel guilty for not being at the funeral. All he could think about was how you potentially wouldn’t be in this state if he had been with you at the funeral like he should’ve been in the first place. Peter didn’t let go of you until you were calm and ready for him to let go. Even as you began to calm down, you snuggled closer to Peter, embracing his warmth as his familiar scent filled your nostrils.

“I’m so sorry y/n/n. I should’ve been there with you. I’m so sorry.” Peter keeps apologising, caressing your hair softly.

“Don’t apologise Pete. You were doing your job. I can’t blame you for that.” You mumble tiredly, curling further into him. The crying having exhausted you.

“I didn’t think. I heard the sirens and just went to help. I’m sorry.” Peter continues to apologise, nuzzling his nose in your hair.

“Stop apologising. It’s okay.” You say, lifting your head from his chest to look him in the eye. Peter lifted his hand and gently wiped your tears away with his thumb. He saw your expression shift into one of concern.

“You’re hurt.” You say worriedly, lifting your hand to inspect his bruise but he was quick to catch your wrist, bringing your palm to his lips and pressing a soft kiss there instead.

“Don’t worry about me, sweetheart. I’m okay. My priority is you right now. I let you down earlier and I’m going to make it up to you.” Peter says, moving to hold your hand and gently rubbing his thumb along your knuckles.

“You made it up to me the moment you crawled through the window. I just wanted you.” You say, gently removing your hand from his grip and snuggling back into his side again. The two of you sit in a comfortable silence, your head resting on Peter’s chest, listening to his steady heartbeat as he continued to run his hand through your hair.

“He knew I was Spider-Man.” Peter manages to say after a few minutes of silence.

“What?” You ask, turning to look up at him.

“Your dad. He knew I was Spider-Man.” Peter elaborates, studying your expression carefully as you process his words.

“How?” You question, confusion written all across your face. Peter took a deep breath before explaining.

“The officer.” The concerned expression and tone from Curt Connors after he’d turned back into a human had Peter leaping to his feet. Running across the Oscorp roof to where your dad had saved his life just moments prior before handing him the antidote. His expression shifted to one of horror when he saw your dad lying on the floor bleeding out. Peter ran over to your dad’s side, ignoring the pain shooting through the bullet wound in his thigh as he fell on his knees.

“d/n? Hey, we did it. We cured them.” Peter says, helping your dad sit up when he notices him trying to do so.

“Look, help is on the way. Just stay with me, alright?” Peter continues, glancing around as if it would summon some first responders.

“Peter, you can’t be here when they arrive.” Your dad manages to force out, holding Peter’s discarded mask out towards him.

“I’m not just going to leave you.” Peter protests, shaking his head.

“I was wrong about you Peter. Even after I figured out you were Spider-Man. I was wrong to think you were dangerous.” Your dad says, his breathing laboured as he presses a hand to his wound.

“You… you knew I was Spider-Man?” Peter asks, confused.

“I figured it out. The guys you caught when you first started appearing matched the description of the guy who shot your uncle. Also, you were very defensive at dinner when I talked about him. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. I guess it’s dying with me.” Your dad chuckles, wincing when it hurts too much.

“You’re not dying, okay? You’ll get help and you’ll be home before you know it.” Peter says firmly, biting back the tears that were threatening to build in his eyes.

“I want you to promise me something, Peter.” Your dad says, glancing up at Peter.

“Yeah, anything.” Peter says quickly, nodding as he talks.

“Promise me you’ll look after my family. Make sure they’re safe and protected. Especially y/n, she’s too selfless for her own good and I know she’ll want to help you more than anything. I trust you to keep my family safe, son.” Your dad says, making Peter shocked. He was sure any sane person would tell him to stay away from their family, but your dad was insisting he continued to look out for them.

“Yeah, I can do that.” Peter nods, allowing the tears to now build in his eyes.

“Good. Thank you. I never got a chance to say it to you until now but I’m glad you’re the guy my y/n fell in love with. She got very lucky with you, and I know you’ll be there for her when she needs you.” Your dad manages to force out, his breaths becoming slower, and Peter could hear his heartbeat slowing too.

“I’m the lucky one.” Peter says with a small smile. A smile that dropped the moment he realised your dad was no longer breathing, nor his heart beating. Peter listened in a torturous silence for a breath or beat of the heart he knew deep down wasn’t going to happen. Peter gently took the mask from your dad’s limp hand and pulled it over his head. He then forced himself to his feet and crossed to the edge of the Oscorp roof, gazing out across the city as the blue particles rained down over the city. He gazed at the skyline before he decided to scale down the building and head home with tears in his eyes.

When Peter had finished explaining everything, he saw your eyes fill with tears again and he wasted no time bringing you back into his arms.

“I should’ve been able to save him. I let you down.” Peter says, resting his chin on top of your head as he clenches his jaw, willing himself not to cry.

“You can’t be expected to save everyone, Pete. You’re one guy. It’s not your fault and I don’t blame you.” You say reassuringly, linking Peter’s right hand with your left one and squeezing tight. You knew Peter would blame himself for this forever, but you would do everything you could to alleviate his guilt.

“If I had been a little quicker-”

“You were fighting a giant lizard. Dad almost certainly knew what he was getting himself into when he took that antidote from me and took it up to you. Please don’t blame yourself. There’s no way you can realistically save everyone.” You say, your voice thick with tears but you didn’t care.

“Please Peter. I’m begging you to stop blaming yourself for something that was out of your control.” You continue, feeling Peter nod against the top of your head, squeezing your hand gently. Peter heard you yawn slightly before hugging him tighter and he knew the emotions and the day had worn you out.

“Do you want anything before you go to sleep?” Peter asks quietly, stroking your hair gently with his free hand as he spoke.

“No, I just want you.” You reply tiredly, burying your face in his chest as Peter gently eases his hand from your grip to grab the nearest blanket, laying it over you gently as you begin to doze off. Finally feeling the comfort you had been craving after losing your dad.

Peter didn’t allow himself to fall asleep. He lay caressing your hair, occasionally moving his hand to massage your head and listening to your steady breaths as you slept to ensure you were alive. He was petrified that if he closed his eyes something would happen to you too. He promised your father he was going to look after you and he’d die a hundred times over before he let one hair on your head even be ruffled by someone who might want to hurt you.

Neither you nor Peter would’ve guessed that the discoveries you made on the subway all that time ago would’ve led to Peter becoming the protector of the city after having fought a giant humanoid lizard. Those discoveries also changed your relationship slightly, nothing drastic but you both knew things wouldn’t be the same going forward after Peter began donning the Spider-Man suit. All you could do was be there for each other and support each other when times get tough.

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“I’m more concerned about how screwed we are because you’re the one with powers.” Peter fires back, laughing as your jaw drops in mock offence.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.” You say, snatching the milk from his grasp and returning it to the fridge.

“Do you know where Doctor Connors is?” Peter asks, glancing over at you as you return to the table.

“No, I lost him in the sewers last night.” You mutter, a serious silence falling over the two of you as you recall last night’s events and how you had crawled into your bedroom window rather loudly which Peter then investigated, finding you half dead with gashes all over your body.

“You’re feeling okay to go into school after what happened yesterday?” Peter asks quietly and you could hear the worry in his voice.

“I’m fine Pete. I started feeling better after I was all patched up. A perk to this whole spider bite business is I have enhanced healing abilities. Not that I’ve been wanting to test them out like that.” You say, assuring your brother that you’re fine and feeling better after last night. Peter just nods at your words and continues to eat his breakfast. When you both finish breakfast you put your bowls away and grab your bags so you can head to school. You meet up with Gwen along the way, with you teasing her and Peter for being so hopelessly in love. The school day passed painfully slowly and at the end of the day, you were ready to drop.

“Honestly, going to school feels like a job. They should be paying us for this.” You joke as you walk along the corridors, laughing along with Peter and Gwen after having met up with them after class. Just before Gwen could respond as you reach your lockers, the building shook, stopping everyone in their tracks. Your senses were screaming at you that there was danger, and you knew it was Connors.

“Peter, take Gwen and run.” You say quickly and lowly, only wanting Peter to hear you. Gwen didn’t know about your hero alter-ego and for now, she didn’t need to. It kept her safe to not know about it. You see Peter nod and take Gwen’s hand, bolting down the corridor with the rest of the students as Connors comes bursting through the doors, growling as he sees you. As the students clear the corridor you run towards Connors, dodging under his claws, and leading him away from where everyone else was. You needed to find a place where you could get into your suit to keep your identity secret. You already had your web-shooters on, you just couldn’t risk using them without the suit on. Connors was unbelievably strong, smashing you through walls and doors with ease until you end up in one of the science labs where Connors throws you into one of the equipment cupboards. You use the time to get into your suit as quickly as possible, just as your spider senses warn you that Connors threw a chemical concoction at you which blows up just as you move out of the way. You wait for the dust to clear as Connors rambles about how he wants to cure every one of humanity and turn them into lizards.

“You talk too much doc, has anyone ever told you that?” You joke as you leap out of the cupboard, now in your Spider-Woman suit as you land on one of the tables. Connors growls lowly at your words as you fire your webs at the lights, pulling them down on his head.

“You have a nasty habit of meddling in affairs you know nothing about.” Connors says before he lunges at you which you dodge with ease.

“I don’t know. I don’t really want to be a lizard if we’re being honest and I’m sure everyone else feels the same as me. Don’t you think being a lizard is rather impractical?” You continue, dodging and attacking the giant lizard while he smashes through walls trying to attack you. Connors managed to get some good hits on you as you hear the sound of police sirens grow louder.

“Someone’s in trouble.” You say in a singsong voice as Connors snorts angrily, baring his sharp teeth. He grabs you in his hand, claws digging into your shoulder as you wince before he throws you through the wall into the library. When you get up Connors is nowhere to be seen. Not willing to lose him now you head in the direction of his growls and stomps, following them to the bathroom where there was a large hole in the floor leading down into the sewers. You jump into the hole and start walking through the sewers. To your shock, your phone rings and you pull it out of your bag. Seeing Peter’s name flashing across the screen you pull your mask off and answer the call.

“Are you okay? Where are you?” Peter’s worried voice says the second the phone reaches your ear.

“I’m okay, a little banged up, but I’ll live. I’m in the sewers tracking him. Look I need your help with something. We need to create an antidote for Connors, you could do that right?” You say hurriedly as you walk, eyes constantly roaming the walls in case Connors is hiding somewhere.

“I’d have to go to Oscorp but yeah I can do it.” Peter says, his words calming you slightly.

“Okay, okay can you do that please?” You ask. Your senses on high alert as you speak.

“Yeah, I’ll go right now. Be safe.” Peter says quickly before hanging up. You eventually hear the distant sound of music and follow it to a makeshift lab in the sewers. Your eyes roam over everything, looking at the equipment Connors has gathered with Connors nowhere to be found. You notice a computer on the desk as a lizard crawls across it. You see the video it’s displaying and reach out to hit the space bar, watching the video carefully as it starts to play. As the Doctor Connors in the video explains how he wanted to fix humans weaknesses you wander around the lab noticing another screen that displays a human turning into a giant lizard and then a plan to disperse the lizard gas across the city from a tower you recognised instantly and had your heart running at a hundred miles an hour.

“Oscorp.”

You rush through the sewers, finding a manhole cover that will take you up to the streets of Manhattan and crawl out of it after returning your mask to your face, swiftly dodging a taxi before returning the manhole cover to its place. You grab your phone and dial Peter’s number, begging him quietly to pick up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Peter, where are you?” You say quickly, anxiously pacing along the pavement.

“I’m in Oscorp, you said you needed-”

“Yeah, I know what I said you have to get out. Right now.” You say, your breath becoming quicker as fear takes hold.

“The antidote is being made right now.” Peter protests.

“No Peter, Connors is on his way to Oscorp right now. He wants the disbursement device, so he can turn everyone into lizards.” You force out, needing Peter to just listen to you.

“The antidote has a few minutes left.” Peter argues making you groan angrily. Why was he so damn stubborn?

“So you’re going to wait there with the knowledge Connors is on his way? I don’t think so. Get your ass out of there right now Peter I swear to god.” You demand, your voice raising but you didn’t care.

“I’m gonna get everyone out.” Peter says quickly before he hangs up on you, making you grit your teeth angrily.

“You’re an asshole.” You mutter at your phone before shoving it in your small suit pocket. Leaping up and shooting webs at the building nearby to swing from. As you swing around the buildings, heading for Oscorp you hear the whir of a helicopter and a bright light shines on you as you swing.

“Stand down now, we have you surrounded.” You hear the voice of Police Chief Stacy boom from the helicopter. As you swing, multiple police officers shoot electric bullets at you, each of them missing their mark but as you swing around a building you are momentarily blinded by the bright light from the helicopter, giving an officer a free shot. You wince and tense as the electrical currents run through you as you lose your grip on your web, falling onto a taxi, leaving you barely conscious. You could feel the police handcuffing you and sitting you up as your energy came back to you. You waited until you felt a hand gripping your mask and ripping it off your head before you acted. Snapping your handcuffs and sweeping Stacy’s feet out from underneath him before attacking the other officers, knocking them down and taking their weapons while keeping your face as obscured as possible. When you’ve knocked out most of the officers you freeze when you hear a gun cock behind you and a torch shine on you.

“Turn around.” Captain Stacy demands and you do as he wishes, watching as he falters upon seeing your face.

“y/n? y/n Parker? You’re Peter’s sister, right?” He questions as you stand up from your crouched position.

“Doctor Connors is on his way to Oscorp right now and Peter’s there. You have to let me go.” You plead, tears welling in your eyes at the thought of your brother in such danger. You slowly approach Captain Stacy, maintaining eye contact as he keeps his gun trained on you. You crouch down and pick up your mask, putting it on before darting off, jumping off the same taxi you landed on, and firing your web at the nearest building. You heard Captain Stacy calling out to someone to hold their fire, but they didn’t listen, and you cry out in pain as a bullet hits your leg as you land on the top of the building. But you couldn’t stop now. You had to get to Oscorp. The more you climbed, the harder it became. Your leg was in agony, and you had no clear shot of Oscorp. After dragging yourself to the top of yet another building, you looked up to see all the cranes moving to give you something to swing from so you could reach Oscorp. You glance down at all the people evacuating the area and shoot a web over your injury, hoping it will help at least a little bit. You back up to the other end of the building before running to jump and shot your web, but the closest crane was still too far for your web to reach but as you fell you managed to grab onto a piece of metal hanging from a closer crane as when you looked to the operator, you recognised him as the guy from the bridge, you saved his son the first night Connors was spotted as the Lizard. You thanked him silently with a nod before leaping off, shooting your web, and swinging from the next crane. You continue this until you land on the side of the Oscorp building. You then fire two webs higher up on the building and use them as means to slingshot yourself higher until you reach the top. You could see Connors right at the top of the spire and you knew he was activating his serum, so you were pressed for time. You slingshot your way to the top and kicked him away from the device, needing him to be as far away from it as possible so you could deactivate it. Turns out, when someone is desperate, they put up one hell of a fight. You noticed that a lot of canisters he threw at you were liquid nitrogen and you quickly figured they could work in your favour but every time you tried to get near one, Connors would knock you away. When you were knocked down for what felt like the hundredth time Connors grabs you, wrapping his tail around your neck and gripping your wrists, and smashing your web-shooters. Grabbing your wrists in one large hand, he uses his other to pull the mask off your head, chuckling lowly when he sees your face as you fight for breath.

“Poor y/n Parker. No mother. No father. No uncle. All alone.” Connors snarls as his tail constricts your throat tighter.

“She’s not alone.” Connors turns around with a growl, seeing both Peter and Captain Stacy stood side by side.

“Peter Parker.” Connors growls, his sharp teeth gleaming in the moonlight as he roars. Captain Stacy lifts his gun and fires it at the liquid nitrogen tank near you. Using the distraction to your advantage, you yank your hands free and hold the pipe spewing liquid nitrogen in Connors’ face causing his grip on your throat to loosen and you land on the ground. When he swings his tail at you to attack you hold the pipe up, watching as the liquid nitrogen freezes his tail right off. You continue the assault as Captain Stacy fires shell after shell at Connors. When you heard the disbursement device announcing there were forty-five seconds left until it would fire Connors’ lizard serum you acted quickly, throwing the pipe into the hole filled with liquid nitrogen containers and kicking Connors back into it as Captain Stacy continues to shoot.

“Here. Take this and go.” You look over to see Peter holding out the antidote towards you.

“We’ve got this y/n. you need to go.” Captain Stacy says, his gun trained on where Connors was. You nod hurriedly and begin climbing up the spire, going as fast as your body will allow. When you reach the top, you start opening the device so you can swap the serum with the antidote but as you do that, the spire starts to shake, and you look down to see Connors crawling up as fast as he can. The second you can, you remove the serum and replace it with the antidote just as Connors grabs your foot, pulling you down as you grip onto the small walkway. You watch tensely as the device fires, hoping that this works. You flinch slightly at the large flashes before watching a blue cloud of gas rain down over the city. Connors loses his grip on your leg and falls; you climb back onto the spire. Just before you could start your climb down the spire starts to fall, leaving you no choice but to jump off. You almost fall off the building before someone catches you and you look up to see Connors gripping onto your wrist tightly, pulling you up as he continues to transform back into a human. When he’s finally hauled you onto the safety of the roof you turn to look at him, struggling with what to say. Before you could say anything, Connors’ eyes widen in shock and realisation.

“Peter…”

Hearing Connors’ concern when he spoke had you up on your feet in seconds, running over to where you last saw Peter and Captain Stacy.

“Peter! Peter, where are-” You stop in your tracks when you see Peter on the floor, blood pooling from his chest. You slowly approach him, kneeling by his side and gently pulling him into your arms, apologising quietly when he winces. The smell of his blood was overwhelming, making you want to throw up and you could taste the iron on your lips.

“Connors, is he…?”

“All cured. No more lizard people.” You say, fighting to keep a smile on your face for Peter’s sake.

“Look, we’ve got to get you help.” You say quickly, looking down at Peter’s injuries.

“No. y/n, I’m not going to make it. You should focus on getting out of here.” Peter manages to say as tears build in your eyes.

“Shut up. You are not dying, okay? We’re going to get you to an ambulance, and they’ll patch you up because god knows I’m hopeless at it.” You attempt to joke, a weak laugh escaping both yours and Peter’s lips.

“I don’t think there’s much even trained professionals could do about this. I look worse than you did.” Peter’s attempted humour made you frown, tears now rolling down your cheeks. You glance down to your gloved hands which were now coated in his blood, the dark red of his blood contrasting the bright red of your suit.

“Don’t say that. Please.” You whimper. The crushing reality of your brother’s injuries setting in as the tears flow.

“You saved the city, y/n. You’ve proved to everyone that the city needs you. You have to keep going. Don’t let this stop you, okay? But don’t let Spider-Woman take over. You still need to be y/n.” Peter says, his voice weak yet comforting as he speaks.

“I can’t do this without you. I can’t lose you, Peter.” You say quietly, hating yourself for sounding so weak in front of him.

“Hey, you stopped needing me a long time ago. The spider bite only proved it. You don’t need your big brother anymore.” Peter mutters, his face drained of colour, and you could hear his heartbeat getting slower and fainter.

“No. I don’t care how old I am or whether I have superpowers or not. I’m always going to need my brother and that’s why you have to stay awake. Can you do that for me, Pete?” You plead, shaking Peter ever so slightly in an effort to keep him conscious.

“I don’t say it enough, but I love you so much y/n/n. Don’t forget that.” Peter forces out, his breaths small and weak.

“I love you too Pete. I love you so much.” You whisper, looking up at the stars in the sky in a vain attempt to stop your tears from falling. The second your ears couldn’t pick up Peter’s weak heartbeat your head snapped to look at him once more. You carefully lifted him closer to your head, your ear hovering over his mouth as you anxiously awaited a breath you knew was never going to come.

“Peter? Hey, come on wake up. Please wake up. I won’t even be mad if you’re pranking me right now. I just need you to open your eyes and wake up. Just open your eyes that’s all you have to do and then I’ll stop bothering you. It’s easy, I know you can do it. Please, Peter?” You beg, resting your forehead against his cold temple as you continue to sob and beg him to wake up.

“y/n, you need to get out of here.” You hear Captain Stacy’s voice as he approaches you, but you make no effort to move, only clutching Peter closer to your chest protectively.

“I’m not leaving him.” You state, barely shifting your gaze to look at the police captain.

“I know you don’t want to, but you have to. The rest of the police will be up here soon enough, and you can’t be here.” Captain Stacy insists, holding your mask out towards you.

“I can’t.” You insist, finally looking up at him, your teary eyes meeting his gentle ones.

“This is for your own safety. I know you don’t want to leave him. I can’t imagine how hard this is for you, but you need to listen to me. I’m going to call people up to take care of this and you need to get home. I saw that Connors broke your web shooter things so I’m willing to drive you home so I can give the news to your aunt as well. Have you got a change of clothes? I guess your aunt doesn’t know about this superhero stuff.” Captain Stacy says firmly yet gently. His heart was breaking, not only for you but for his daughter. He hardly got to know Peter in the time he was dating Gwen, but he knew they loved each other.

“I uh… I have clothes in my backpack, but I left it in the sewers you’d have to drive me to the manhole I came out of first. I also think we should pick up Gwen too. She deserves to know about Peter.” You say, your voice thick with tears as Captain Stacy nods.

“Okay, we can do that. Now, I’m going to call my men up here. I’ll make sure they bring along some paramedics or something so Peter is dealt with accordingly, okay?” Captain Stacy says, his voice never wavering or straying from the gentle tone.

“I’m not leaving until I know Peter’s in good hands.” You assert, taking the mask from Captain Stacy and glancing from the mask to Peter as Captain Stacy moved away to contact his officers. Your shoulders sank as the realisation that this was all your fault sank in. if you had just dealt with Connors without getting Peter involved this wouldn’t have happened.

You’re snapped out of your thoughts by the sound of police and paramedics making their way up the stairs, so you press a quick, gentle kiss to Peter’s forehead before pulling your mask on. You looked up when the door to the roof opened and saw a team of police officers followed by a small handful of paramedics enter. The police surveyed the area, some of them even pointed their guns at you and demanded you move away from Peter, growing enraged when you didn’t move, only staring them down from behind the mask. Captain Stacy had to step in quickly, telling his men to lower their weapons and to leave you be before waving the paramedics over.

“Sorry about this but we do need to take him.” The paramedic who approaches you and kneels by your side says. Her voice was soft and gentle as you nod slightly.

“Take care of him. Please.” You whisper, hesitantly allowing the paramedics to take Peter from your arms, laying him on a stretcher and covering him carefully with a white sheet as you watch them take him away. You heard one of the paramedics muttering under their breath about how Peter was ‘just a kid’ and how he was distraught on behalf of Peter’s family. You knew the comment was a one-off and they didn’t know you were actually Peter’s family but that didn’t stop the comment from being a stab to the heart.

“Your job here is done Spider-Woman. You can go now.” One of the police officers said, his distaste for you obvious in his voice. You clenched your hands into fists and turned away, walking over to the edge of the building, and surveying the city. You heard Captain Stacy approach you and he told you quietly to wait for him in the location he told you and that he’d pick you up in his car and take you to where your bag was before picking up Gwen and taking you home. You nod and bid him goodbye before you start scaling down the building after having no other way to get down without your web-shooters. Once you reach the ground you climb up the nearest building and jump from roof to roof until you reach the location Captain Stacy to wait at. You linger in the alleyway, noticing how quiet it is because of the evacuation that happened, and you could only hope it would stay this quiet for a bit longer. Soon enough a police car pulls up and when you see Captain Stacy you don’t hesitate to get into the car.

“Okay, where are we going?” He asks as you close the door. You tell him which manhole you came out of when you came to stop Connors. Once he arrives you quickly remove the cover, dropping down and scooping up your bag and changing back into your clothes and shoving your suit back into the bag, and zipping it up. You then climb back out of the manhole and replace the cover before climbing back into the car. Captain Stacy pulls up outside where he lives and calls Gwen to get her to come down. As you wait, you wipe your eyes and your cheeks to hopefully rid them of tears, but you knew it wasn’t worth it because you’d be sobbing again soon enough.

“Hey, dad, where are we- y/n, what happened?” Gwen says, getting into the back of the car with you when she notices the blood and cuts on your face.

“Let’s just get her home, okay? We can talk more there.” Captain Stacy says quickly, starting the drive to your house. The silence was excruciating. You knew Gwen was worried. You could hear her quick heartbeat despite the calm expression she was fighting to keep on her face.

When the car eventually pulls up outside of your house you grab your bag and hesitantly get out. Captain Stacy encourages you to go to the door first, both him and Gwen following behind as you unlock the door and walk in.

“y/n, where have you been? I’ve been worried sick about you and Peter. Where is that brother of yours? Is he with Gwen?” Your aunt May says, hurrying over to the door when she notices you. She pulls you into a hug which you accept, burying your face in her shoulder as you hold back tears.

“Oh, can I help you?” May then says, noticing Captain Stacy and Gwen over your shoulder as you continue to cling to her.

“I think we should have this discussion in the living room if you don’t mind.” Captain Stacy says gently, gesturing towards the living room and you watch as Aunt May nods walking into the living room with you, Gwen, and Captain Stacy following close behind. You sit in between Aunt May and Gwen as Captain Stacy remains standing in the middle of the room. Everything Captain Stacy said rattled around your head, a horrible confirmation that what happened wasn’t some horrific nightmare. You clutched Aunt May’s hand as she cried, moving to pull her into a hug as you both cried. You opened the embrace up to Gwen as well and the three of you cry in each other’s arms. It took minutes that felt more like hours for the three of you to recover enough to move or speak. Gwen pulled away from the hug first, turning to her father with tear-stained cheeks.

“I’m spending the night here. I can’t leave May and y/n like this.” Gwen says, her voice cracking and thick with tears. Captain Stacy sighs heavily but nods before turning to look at you.

“y/n, can I speak to you in private?” Captain Stacy asks, and you nod standing up and leading Captain Stacy out onto the porch. It wasn’t practical to stand outside in the cold but there was less of a chance of Aunt May or Gwen overhearing you if you were outside rather than inside.

“I need you to promise me something. I need you to promise me that you’ll keep Gwen out of all this hero business. I know she’s your friend but I’m asking you to keep her separate from your superhero life. Keeping this a secret will keep her safe can you promise me that?” Captain Stacy says, seriousness clear in his voice.

“Promise me, y/n.” Captain Stacy repeats when he notices your obvious hesitance. You understood where Captain Stacy was coming from, he wanted to keep his daughter and his family safe, and just knowing you was a danger. Eventually, you nod. It was a small movement, you were sure Captain Stacy would’ve missed it if he wasn’t staring down at you intensely. Seemingly satisfied, Captain Stacy backs off and heads inside with you so he can say goodbye to Gwen. Once Captain Stacy is gone you turn to Aunt May, taking her hand and sitting down next to her once more.

“You should go to bed Aunt May.” You say gently, helping her to her feet and leading her to her bedroom when she nods. You say goodnight to May, biting back more tears as you close her bedroom door before retreating to your own. You enter your room, walking a couple of steps before collapsing to your knees and curling up by your bed as tears roll down your cheeks. You pull your bag off your shoulder and open it carefully. You pull your Spider-Woman suit out and stare at it in your hands, shame flowing through you as you stare at the symbol on the middle of the chest. Spider-Woman was supposed to save everyone, but you couldn’t save the life of someone so important to you.

“y/n, are you okay?” Upon hearing Gwen’s voice coming from behind your door you hurriedly shove the suit back into your bag, tossing it aside as Gwen comes in.

“Sorry, am I being too loud?” You apologise, wiping at your cheeks with your hoodie sleeve.

“No, you’re fine. I just wanted to check on you. Especially after my dad wanted to talk to you in private. What did he say? You looked pretty shaken after you came back in.” Gwen asks gently, placing a hand on your shoulder and rubbing soothing circles as you shake your head.

“I can’t say. He made me promise.” You whisper, leaning into Gwen’s touch slightly and allowing her to wrap her arms around you.

“Please tell me. We can deal with whatever it is together.” Gwen pleads, holding you close as you move to hug her back.

“Your dad will kill me.” You mumble against her shoulder, a single tear rolling down your cheek.

“He can’t kill you if he doesn’t know. I’m a pretty good secret keeper.” Gwen says reassuringly. You bit your lip nervously as you pulled away. Gwen was unknowingly willing to put herself in danger. As you thought about it, your hand hovering near the bag, you realised Gwen deserved to know the truth about Peter’s death.

“Your dad wasn’t exactly honest about how Peter died…” You mumble, unzipping your bag.

“Not exactly honest? What do yo-” You cut Gwen off by pulling your suit out of the bag and placing it on your lap, even pulling your web-shooters out for good measure.

“Peter wasn’t caught in the crossfire when Connors was travelling to Oscorp. Connors killed him at Oscorp, and it was my fault.” You say eyes fixed on the suit as you talk, willing the tears to not fall.

“It’s not your fault.” Gwen starts, reaching out to embrace you again, only stopping when you move away, shaking your head.

“It is. I shouldn’t have told him about the spider bite. He wouldn’t be dead if I just kept my mouth shut and now, I’ve put you in danger too.” You say, snatching the suit and web-shooters shoving them back in your bag before tucking the bag under your bed. You didn’t fully think about telling the truth about Peter’s death to Gwen through and now you’ve put another person in danger because of your recklessness.

“Look, you should just go to bed.” You quickly say, standing up and moving further away from Gwen. You notice Gwen open her mouth to respond but quickly closed it, nodding, and turning around to leave.

“Okay, I’ll go to bed. You should do the same. You know where to find me if you need me.” Gwen says softly before leaving your room, closing the door behind her. You grab your first aid kit out of your wardrobe and spend some time cleaning and patching up your wounds before you flop backward on your bed. You stare up at the ceiling for a while before you figure you should try to get some sleep. Every time you closed your eyes you see Peter’s dead body, his blood staining your hands. You resorted to staying awake, eventually climbing out of your window, and crawling over to the roof covering the porch. You sit with your back against the house, knees tucked up to your chest as you stare up at the stars. You remained on the roof the whole night, watching the sunrise with teary eyes. You only moved from your spot on the roof when you heard movement coming from inside the house, crawling back in through your window. You then change into some clean clothes, chucking your dirty ones in your wash basket before you hear May calling you for breakfast. You wanted to wallow in your grief and failure, but you also didn’t want May to worry so you forced yourself downstairs, sitting down at the table as May places some food down in front of you. Gwen enters the room not long after you started eating and joins you at the table. You could tell from her expression that she wanted to ask you some questions or just enquire further into your secret life.

“y/n, I have to run to the shops. Is there anything you need?” May questions, placing a gentle hand on your own. You shook your head, a weak smile on your face in an attempt to convince May you’ll be okay while she’s gone. You watch as May exits the house, closing the door behind her as you stand up and move to put your plate away. You heard Gwen following behind and you moved quicker, darting into your room, and locking the door behind you.

“Seriously y/n? You can’t just shut me out.” Gwen says from behind the door as you crouch down by your bed and pull your bag out from underneath it. You pull out your web-shooters and place them on your desk as Gwen continues to knock.

“Go home, Gwen. I’m sure your dad won’t like you hanging around me much longer.” You say, your attention fully on your web-shooters as you open your drawer filled with spare parts out. You heard Gwen huff and leave but deep down you knew she wasn’t just gone. She wouldn’t stop trying to get through to you.

When the day of Peter’s funeral came you felt like you were at your breaking point. It was a small service, only a handful of people came. You and May obviously attended along with Gwen and her family. Harry Osborn, Peter’s best friend growing up managed to attend too. The rest of the attendees were friends of May’s. People that had known you and Peter growing up. Some people from school attempted to come but you knew they were all the same people who bullied him and would make up some stupid story about how much they loved him now that he’s gone. The second you caught wind of those people planning to attend you shut them down, angry tears streaming down your face as you scolded them for pretending to care now that he’s dead. During the actual service, you bit your lip as the tears never seemed to slow. Aunt May had her arm around your shoulder for the whole service and you remained leant into her side. You and Gwen were the two people who did eulogies for Peter and neither of you made it through without tears pouring down your cheeks. By the end of the service, you felt like you had cried enough to fill several swimming pools. As people started to leave you and May made sure to thank those who came and as someone was walking away you heard them mutter to their husband.

“I wonder if that Spider-Woman could’ve stopped the Lizard sooner. That way Peter might still be alive.” Those words struck your heart. Was there a way you could’ve stopped Connors sooner? You’re shaken out of your thoughts by Aunt May wrapping an arm around your shoulder.

“We should head home.”

Over the days after the funeral you found yourself adapting your daily schedule. You would go to school during the day. You made sure to distance yourself from everyone. Most people put it up to grief and tried to approach you, but you barely engaged with them, so they soon gave up trying altogether. Except Gwen. You had to avoid her as much as possible. You’d leave the cafeteria when she came in or you’d walk the other way if you saw her in the corridors. When school was over you would rush home so you could say goodbye to Aunt May before her night shift and when she was gone, you’d change into your Spider-Woman suit and start patrol. You had made a completely new suit to try and combat any bad memories the previous one held. It didn’t work but you needed a suit, so you suffered through it. Those words whispered at the funeral still echoed in your head so you made a vow to patrol all night long so you could be there to stop anything before it got any worse. If nights were quiet you would sit on top of the Empire State Building, remembering how Peter told you it would be his thinking spot if he had your powers. You’d remain out on patrol until the sun started to rise, swinging home, and using the time between then and school to do any homework you had. Rinse and repeat cycle. Weekends were obviously different but not too different. You just patrolled longer and again; any extra time was for finishing homework. You had completely closed yourself off to the world. You didn’t feel like y/n Parker anymore. You had done what Peter told you not to do. You let Spider-Woman take over.

For a few weeks, you were able to do this schedule. Yes, you were exhausted, overworked and at your wits end but you’d take this over someone else losing their life because of your failures as a protector. Because of your enhanced abilities, you could go a lot longer than others without sleep, that’s why you were able to patrol all night and still be able to attend school during the day. One weekend when you were patrolling you suddenly became really dizzy, your ears were ringing, and your exhaustion was at an all-time high. You landed on the first roof you found, intending to sit down and rest for a moment but the second your feet met the roof the ground quickly came rushing up to meet you. Your world growing dark in an instant.

You came to slightly when you felt someone shaking you. Their voice was a faint echo, and your vision was still dark. You felt yourself being pulled to your feet as the voice kept speaking to you. You couldn’t respond or do anything else than try to support your weight. If you were more conscious you would’ve gotten yourself out of the situation because you didn’t know who this person was, and they could easily unmask you and expose your identity to the world. Your senses, however dull and weak they might be right now, were telling you this person was trustworthy. You allowed this person to lead you into their flat and the second you reached a bed you passed out once more.

The second time you came around you were much more aware. You jolted up the second you realised you didn’t recognise where you were. Panic seizing you when you then realised you didn’t have your mask on.

“You’re awake.” Your eyes snapped to the only other person in this room. Heart pounding when your eyes locked with Gwen’s. You scrambled to get out of the bed, your head immediately spinning at the sudden movement as you grab the bedside table to steady yourself.

“Hey, it’s okay. You need to rest. When’s the last time you slept?” Gwen says as she gently pushes you back so you’re sitting on the bed. When you remain silent at her question she frowns slightly.

“y/n. When is the last time you properly slept?” She repeats. Gwen already had a feeling she knew what the answer was, but she wanted confirmation from you first.

“How long has it been since…” You start, trailing off when you see Gwen’s expression shift at the realisation.

“Right you’re resting some more now.” Gwen says, sitting down next to you on the bed.

“I can’t. I’m supposed to be patrolling right now.” You say, attempting to get up once more, being stopped by Gwen placing her hand on your shoulder.

“The city can go one day without you. After all you do for us, you deserve a day to rest.” Gwen says softly. You wanted to argue but knowing you wouldn’t win you sighed heavily and flopped back on the bed, pulling the duvet over you. Gwen remained in the room with you, wanting to keep a close eye on you. Her worry for you was reaching intense levels and she needed to make sure you were taking care of yourself. You were asleep for about fifteen minutes before you sat bolt upright, gasping for air as tears rolled down your cheeks. Gwen was by your side in a second, sitting beside you with worried eyes.

“I should go, Gwen. I’m really not going to get any sleep, but I appreciate the help.” You say, pushing the duvet off you and grabbing your mask from the bedside table before crossing to the window.

“y/n, please talk to me. You’re killing yourself by not sleeping. If you really didn’t need the sleep, I wouldn’t have found you passed out on the roof. I know it’s tough without Peter but-”

“Tough? This is more than tough. Every single day is agony and I have to live with the knowledge that it was my fault. I killed him. If I could go back to that day and be the one killed, I’d switch places with him in a heartbeat. I’d give up everything if it meant I got Peter back. The only way I can escape the constant pity stares and whispers is by being Spider-Woman. Everyone thinks Spider-Woman is strong, that she’s never experienced loss, but she has. I lost my parents, and then I lost Uncle Ben and then I lost Peter. Uncle Ben and Peter? Both of their deaths are on me. That’s why I patrol all night every night. I don’t want someone suffering like I am. Do you know what my biology teacher said the other day? She said that despite everything that happened, Doctor Connors was a brilliant man. She said that right in front of me. If he was such a brilliant man, why did he turn himself into a giant lizard and kill my brother? It’s like she didn’t even care that I was in the room. Sometimes I wish Connors didn’t help me when the spire collapsed. I don’t know how to be there for Aunt May. I’m letting her down Gwen. I don’t know how I’m supposed to be me anymore. I feel like I died up on that roof with Peter.” You rant, pacing the room as your gloved hands tangled in your hair in your frustration as tears rolled down your cheeks. Gwen watched your whole tangent carefully. She knew you were hiding just how distraught you really were, but she didn’t realise you had this much bottled up inside. When you cease your pacing, stopping in the middle of the room with your chest rising and falling deeply with each breath, Gwen finally gets the courage to approach you. She gently moves your hands away from their place rooted in your hair before pulling you into a tight hug as you sob. Each broken cry breaking her heart further.

“That’s it. Cry as much as you need.” Gwen whispers reassuringly, tears pricking her own eyes as you bury your face in her shoulder. You and Gwen remain stood in the middle of her room crying until she moves to sit you both down on her bed once more.

“I miss him so much. I miss him so much it hurts.” You whimper, hating how weak and childish you sounded.

“I know. I know. I miss him too.” Gwen replies, her voice gentle and soothing as she speaks.

“I want you to listen to me now, okay? I know the pain you’re feeling is very different to mine. He’s your brother and he died right in front of you I can’t imagine the heartache this is bringing you, but you can’t go around blaming yourself for something you had no control over. Peter clearly knew what he was doing when he came to help you. He knew the risks and he wanted to protect you just as much as you wanted to protect him, and I know he’d hate that you’re blaming yourself for this. You’re putting too much pressure on yourself as Spider-Woman. You need to remember how to be you again. Okay, maybe the city needs Spider-Woman. But me and May? We need y/n Parker more. You’re not going to like this idea, but I think you should take a break from your hero duties to rest up and spend time with May. You’re going to let me help you. We’re going to work together from now on. I won’t get involved in any of the fights and stuff unless I really think you need my help. I can help you balance y/n and Spider-Woman and I mean a healthy balance. Please y/n, I know you’re worried I’ll be in danger, but I don’t care. I want to help.” Gwen says, pulling away and holding you at arm’s length to look you in the eyes properly. She could see the hesitation and fear in your eyes. What had happened had scarred you deeply and she wanted to do her best to help you through it.

“Okay. You can help but you have to promise you’ll stay away from me when I’m in the suit. Unless you’re in danger and I need to help you.” You say, nodding slightly at what Gwen said and seeing the small smile crossing her face.

“I should get going. I’m long overdue a talk with Aunt May. Thank you, Gwen. For helping me. You did a lot more than move my sorry ass off that roof and I don’t think I’ll be able to thank you enough.” You say, standing up carefully and taking your mask in your hands from where it had been abandoned on the floor.

“Promise me you’ll get some rest. No Spider-Woman patrols for at least the next few nights.” Gwen says, getting up and pulling you into a hug.

“Promise.” You assure with a smile. You pull your mask over your head and go to open Gwen’s window. As you start to climb onto the fire escape Gwen’s bedroom door opens and upon seeing Captain Stacy you move fast, scrambling out of the window and jumping over the fire escape railing to swing away.

“Gwen, would you care to explain why Spider-Woman was in here?” Captain Stacy questions, his face straight and serious as he approaches his daughter.

“I think you’re seeing things dad I think I’d know if Spider-Woman was in my room.” Gwen responds, trying to see if she can confuse her dad.

“I know Spider-Woman when I see her. Why was she in your room Gwen?” He demands, his voice rising slightly.

“Why’d you tell y/n to leave me alone?” Gwen counters, watching as her father’s eyes grow wider at the realisation that she knows.

“It was for your own safety Gwen-”

“I think I’m perfectly capable of making decisions regarding my own safety thank you very much.” Gwen cuts her father off, crossing her arms as she stares at him.

“I’m sure Peter thought he could make that kind of choice too and look where he ended up. That girl brings nothing but death and destruction I don’t want you around her.” Captain Stacy says, pointing towards the window you had just crawled out of.

“You are not seriously blaming y/n for what happened to Peter. She saved the city that night. Do you know how distraught she is that Peter died? She’s been overworking herself because she doesn’t want anyone else in the city experiencing the loss she has. People like you, blaming her for what happened to Peter are the reason I found her passed out on the roof. She was working so hard because she blamed herself and probably because of those horrible news articles about her. She does so much for the city. No one asked her to use her powers to keep the city safe she chose to do it. Imagine if she stood by and watched when Connors went crazy and tried to turn everyone into lizards? You’re being way too harsh on someone who helps you a lot more than you care to admit.” Gwen says sternly, stepping closer to her dad as she speaks.

“No. Don’t say anything, just get out.” Gwen says when she notices her dad open his mouth to speak. She watches as he closes his mouth and huffs in annoyance before turning on his heel and exiting her room.

Meanwhile, you had just reached your house. May had gone to work when you left for patrol but now judging by the lights being on inside, she was back. You snuck in through your window, getting changed out of your suit and into some normal clothes as quietly as possible before grabbing your house keys and sneaking back out the window so come in through the front door. You wanted May to think you’d been out.

“Hey May!” You call out as you enter the house, seeing her in the kitchen and walking into the room, and greeting her with a hug.

“Where were you, huh? I tried calling but you left your phone in your room.” May questions, a raised eyebrow as she looks at you.

“I went to Gwen’s. Sorry I completely forgot my phone. I didn’t mean to worry you.” You apologise, pulling away from her embrace.

“You’re hanging out with Gwen again? That’s so good sweetie.” Aunt May says, a huge smile on her face.

“Yeah, she uh… she helped me put everything into perspective. I can’t believe I forgot how smart she is. I missed talking to her.” You reply, thinking back to when you were at her house and the things she said.

“I know everything has been hard for you recently. I’m sorry I haven’t been there for you enough.” Aunt May says, a frown crossing her face as you move to grab her hand that was resting on the counter.

“Hey, don’t say that. You weren’t at fault at all. I’m the one who locked myself away. If anything I should be apologising to you. I’m not the only one who lost someone that night.” You say softly, turning May so she’ll face you.

“I’m going to be here for you more May, I promise. I just didn’t know how to handle everything; it was too much.” You continue, your sorrow evident on your face as May shakes her head lightly.

“Honey, everyone deals with grief differently. I can’t fault you for grieving this way. It seems to me that you’re working on yourself now which makes me happy, but you don’t need to rush healing. It’s a process. You’re not expected to be okay so soon after losing someone close to you.” May says reassuringly, bringing you in for another hug.

“You and Gwen are just filled to the brim of what to say, aren’t you?” You say, a slight teasing tone to your voice as you pull away.

“Maybe it’ll rub off on you one day.” May replies with a chuckle.

“I know this might kill the mood a little, but I wanted to ask you something. I thought of it on the way back from Gwen’s. I was wondering if you’re not busy if you wanted to sit and chat? About Peter and maybe even Uncle Ben? I’ve tried so hard to avoid thinking about Peter or talking about him and I think that’s a reason as to why I hid away so much. I couldn’t stand the thought that he was really gone.” You say, tears springing to your eyes as you talk, you even looked away from your aunt’s soft eyes in favour of looking at the counter instead. You only looked at May when she gently took your face in her hands and made you look at her.

“Of course, we can. Go and sit in the living room I just want to grab something first.” She says softly, her smile reassuring as you nod. You head into the living room and sit on the sofa, leaning back into the plush pillows as Aunt May returns with a book in her hands.

“These are pictures Ben, and I took of you and Peter growing up since the day we took you in.” May says as she sits beside you, placing the photo album in her lap as your eyes widen slightly. You watch as she opens the album, pointing at a picture of Peter when he was about five years old, a year after your parents had left you in the care of your aunt and uncle.

“This was from Peter’s first day at school. You didn’t want him to go, bless you. I had to distract you long enough for Ben to sneak out the door with Peter. You were devastated when you realised, he was gone.” May said with a smile on her face at the memory. You had always adored your older brother and looked up to him and that day years ago was just proof of your love and adoration.

“How long was I upset for?” You question, your eyes flicking from that photo to the one underneath. A photo clearly taken when Peter had gotten back from school as you were giving him the biggest hug you could as he hugged you back.

“Not too long, you calmed down when I explained that he would be back. I may have also been a little lenient with giving you a few extra snacks.” She says, her last sentence making you laugh.

“Food was always the way to my heart.” You joke, leaning your head on your aunt’s shoulder as she presses a kiss to the top of your head. You spend most of the day going through the album with May. Listening intently to every story she told about each picture. Being able to talk freely about Peter and reminisce on the good times you had with him eased your heartache a little. You still couldn’t help but feel the burden of guilt for what happened to him, but you did your best to push it aside for the sake of attempting to heal and process your grief properly. Like Aunt May said, healing was a process, and you shouldn’t be expected to just be okay after losing someone so close to your heart. You were grateful you had people to help you through it, but you knew you had to help them in return, and if that meant taking a step back from your hero responsibilities you’d do it, albeit reluctantly and after a lot of convincing from a certain Gwen Stacy. As May pointed out another photo and began explaining what Uncle Ben had done to elicit such a reaction from you and Peter you felt something stirring within you, it wasn’t your spider-sense it was just a rush of emotions. You couldn’t tell what it could be. Love for those around you? Hope for a better tomorrow? You just couldn’t tell. All you did know is you didn’t want the feeling to end as you remained curled up at your aunt’s side.

“Peter?” You whisper to yourself, tears springing to your eyes as you back away from the roof’s edge, not wanting to be spotted by any passers-by if this is how they treat their… Spider-Man? You were Spider-Woman in your universe, so it was weird to imagine Peter being the one the spider decided to bite and take on the masked vigilante mantle. You could only guess he called himself ‘Spider-Man’ because that’s what he told you he would’ve called himself if he were the one bitten. The boy in the picture wasn’t your Peter, not your brother who you lost years ago but you still felt that sisterly urge to check on him. To make sure he was okay and to protect him from whatever was happening. Glancing around this different New York you realised you had no clue where to even start looking for him, this New York didn’t even have a giant looming Oscorp tower like yours. Taking a deep breath, you figure Queens would be a good place to start. Given that you were raised there you could only assume this universe’s Peter would’ve been too.

“Oh, Pete. You were right, the multiverse is real.” You mutter to yourself as you swing, thinking of how overjoyed he’d be if he were in your place right now. You land on another block of flats, keeping your eyes open for any sign of Spider-Man. You felt so lost in this city you called home. It was so familiar yet so foreign at the same time and you didn’t know what to do. You sat down on the roof, tugging your mask off your head, and watching the sun as it dipped over the city’s skyline, hoping the coming darkness would give you a bit more cover to swing around, looking for this universes Peter.

When the darkness had fallen over the city, you stood up, glancing in the direction you usually swung in when heading home back in your universe and just as you pulled your mask on and prepared yourself to swing away, a golden spark appeared beside you. You whipped around, staring at where the sparks came from cautiously, fingers itching to fire your web-shooters if needed. The golden sparks appeared again, this time becoming a circle and opening up some sort of portal where you see two people on the other side. Curiously, you approached the portal.

“Peter! Peter come on!” You hear the two yell and upon hearing Peter’s name you leapt through, knowing these guys were your best bet at finding Peter Parker. You knew the second you jumped through the portal that the boy and girl in the room were expecting their Peter and not you, but you held up your hands to show you weren’t a threat when the girl scrambled to grab something to use as a weapon.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m not here to hurt you. I’m looking for Peter Parker.” You say calmly, trying to keep the peace before pulling your mask off, watching as the two process what you just said.

“You’re… a Spider-Woman?” The boy forces out, confusion written all across his face as you look around the house, you’re now in.

“Yeah, I’m y/n Parker. Nice to meet you.” You say with a smile, hoping that the reveal of your name will encourage them to trust you.

“Parker? Are you married to Peter in your universe or something?” The boy questions, raising an eyebrow as he glances at his friend who is now holding a bread roll, looking like she’s ready to throw it at a moment’s notice.

“No. I’m his sister. In my universe at least because judging by your reaction I don’t exist here.” You say, noticing their increased confusion when you explain your relationship to Peter.

“I just kinda ended up here and my spider-sense was telling me that your Peter needed help.” You continue, explaining how you ended up in this universe.

“We don’t know where Peter is. He gave us this box and then took all the bad guys to try and help them. He wants to give them a second chance. We haven’t heard from him since.” The girl explains, worry clear in her voice as she glances at the table where a box rests, a button on the top, and a glowing orb in the middle.

“So, who are you guys? You’re Peter’s friends?” You ask, approaching the table and inspecting the box.

“I’m MJ, I’m Peter’s girlfriend. This is Ned, he’s Peter’s best friend.” The girl says, introducing herself and her friend as she puts the bread roll down. You smile, glad the Peter in this universe has people he can go to when things get too much.

“Nice to meet you guys. So, these bad guys. Who are they?” You ask, smoothly changing the subject to the villains MJ had mentioned.

“There was an octopus guy, an electric guy, a sand guy, a lizard guy and a goblin guy. Are any of them from your universe?” Ned says, listing off the villains. Neither him or MJ noticing your breath hitching in your throat at the mention of the Lizard.

“Uh, maybe? I fought a lizard guy before. So unless he exists in other universes, he could be mine.” You mumble, fighting the shiver that ran down your spine.

“Sorry, but do you have a bathroom I could use? It’s been a long day so I could use a freshen up.” You ask, wanting to escape the uncomfortable environment for a second and collect your thoughts.

“Uh yeah, it’s just upstairs, first door on your right.” Ned says, gesturing towards the stairs behind him. You thank him with a nod. As you head towards the stairs, an old lady emerges from one of the rooms downstairs and notices you, her eyes wide as she stares at you.

“Ned?” The lady calls nervously, causing Ned to come over to you, glancing between the two of you.

“I’ll explain everything to her. You can head upstairs.” Ned says, walking over to the woman. You nod, heading up the stairs and entering the bathroom, locking the door behind you. You rest your hands on the sink, staring at yourself in the mirror as you take slow deep breaths to calm your racing heart. Why did he have to be here too? Of all people, why him? You bite the inside of your cheek as you feel the tears building.

“Goddamn it.” You whisper, squeezing your eyes shut as a lone tear escapes and rolls down your cheek. As you begin to compose yourself, splashing some water on your face you stiffen suddenly, feeling the presence of another person entering the house. You wipe the water from your face and unlock the door, cautiously making your way down the stairs, straining your ears to hear what’s going on just in case you need to rush in and protect Peter’s friends.

“It’s okay. It’s okay I’m a nice guy!” You hear someone yelling when you hear Ned’s grandmother screaming. You gently move Ned’s grandma out of the way and take her place, ready to fight until you catch sight of a Spider-Man suit. One very similar to yours. When the person rips his mask off, your jaw drops, tears welling in your eyes once more.

“y/n? What are you doing here? Where did you get that suit?” A tear rolled down your cheek as you realised this wasn’t your Peter. You knew there was no way it could be him; your Peter was never bitten by the spider; he never donned a suit like that. But why did this Peter in front of you have to look just like him? Who did you annoy so badly in a past life meaning you got tortured like this in your current one?

“Are you guys from the same universe?” MJ questions, having noticed your reactions to each other.

“Similar ones clearly, but not the same. Peter wasn’t Spider-Man in my universe. He never got bitten.” You reply, forcing yourself to look away from the soft eyes of your brother.

“I could say the same for you.” Peter scoffs. You wanted nothing more than to hug him, to squeeze him tight, and apologise for what you did but seeing him alive and breathing in front of you was enough to make your head spin. You grab the nearest chair and sit down, resting your elbows on the table and burying your face in your hands.

“You okay y/n?” You hear Ned ask, worry evident in his tone.

“Yeah, just tired and overwhelmed.” You mumble, looking up and smiling at him to try not to worry him too much.

“You’re sure he’s Peter Parker?” MJ whispers lowly to you, the bread roll now back in her hand again as she stares at Peter.

“Yeah, he is. There’s no point asking for ID or anything because if he’s anything like me he won’t be carrying anything like that around with him.” You say, wiping your eyes quickly and nodding at MJ.

“Defeats the whole anonymous superhero thing.” Peter finishes. You weren’t looking at him, but you could tell he was smiling at what you said. Even from a different universe, he was still your Peter, the bond was still there.

“Okay, we need to find the real Peter.” Ned says. While he and MJ then shift their focus to finding their Peter, you get the courage to glance over at your brother. He was glancing around the house, probably processing the fact that multidimensional travel was real. You took a shuddering breath to compose yourself before hearing the sound of those golden sparks again and another presence setting your sense off. Looking at Peter you knew he’d sensed it too and the two of you approached it, standing behind MJ and Ned, ready to protect them if needed. You all watch as a man steps through the portal.

“Great it’s just some guy.” Ned says, glancing over at MJ. Despite his appearance, just being dressed in normal clothes your sense was telling you otherwise. The guy looked over at you and Peter and his expression shifted to one of confusion.

“They’re not your friend.” He says, pointing at you and Peter. Suddenly, you grabbed Ned and MJ and hauled them out of the way as Peter and the other guy fire webs at each other.

“You’re Spider-Man too?” You ask, stepping away from Ned and MJ.

“Yeah, I am.” He replies.

“So you’re also Peter Parker?” MJ asks, receiving a nod from the older Peter.

“Oh great this isn’t going to get confusing at all.” You grumble, rubbing your temple.

“Okay, our Peter can be Peter One, the older Peter can be Peter Two and your brother can be Peter Three. y/n, you’re just y/n.” MJ says, quickly figuring out a system to stop everyone from getting confused.

“Brother?” You hear Peter Two ask, looking from you to your Peter.

“Yeah, in my universe, he’s my brother and I was the one who got bitten.” You explain, grabbing a bread roll from the basket and taking a bite.

“And in mine, she’s my sister but I got bitten. Very similar universes.” Peter Three continues. You watch as Peter Two tears up slightly, making you worry.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” You question instantly, abandoning the roll on the table and crossing to Peter Two. Worry surging through you.

“Nothing. It’s just… I always wanted a sister. I’m glad a couple of versions of me got one.” He says, a single tear making its way down his cheek. His words made your heart melt, but they also made your stomach twist in remembrance of how you let him down in your universe.

“Hey, while we’re all here I can be your sister too. After all I am Peter Parker’s sister, and you are Peter Parker are you not?” You say with a smile. You couldn’t explain it, but your sisterly urges were kicking in with all the Peter’s. You wanted to keep them all safe. Your words elicit a laugh from Peter Two as he nods.

“Okay as much as this is sweet, I’m really worried about our Peter. He just lost May and-”

“He just lost May?” All three of you interrupt MJ as you exchange sad looks. Losing your Aunt May is something you could never dare to imagine and to hear it happened to the Peter of this universe shattered your heart further than you thought possible.

“We’re pretty much all he’s got left.” MJ continues, gesturing between her and Ned, and you nod.

“Okay, does he have somewhere he likes to go to get away from everything? I like to sit on the top of the Chrysler Building.” Peter Two says, looking at MJ and Ned before looking at Peter Three.

“Empire State Building. Better view.” Peter Three shrugs while you bite back tears. Of course, his building of choice was the Empire State Building.

“What about you, y/n?” Ned asks, eyes gleaming with curiosity as he asks.

“Oh uh… Empire State. I used to like just sitting on any old building, but Peter made fun of me, saying that if he were Spider-Man he’d sit on the Empire State Building. I only started doing it…” You trail off, remembering how you only started sitting on that building after you lost Peter.

“Doing it when?” Peter Two presses gently, pushing you out of your thoughts as you force a smile to your face.

“When I got sick of hearing the same damn complaint about my building choices. You’re pretty annoying when you want to be, so I just gave in.” You say, laughing slightly in an attempt to lessen your pain.

“Well I was right, wasn’t I? Empire State has a sweet view.” Peter Three replies, seemingly fooled by your lies as he chuckles lightly to himself.

“I got it! I know exactly where Peter is.” MJ says suddenly, pulling you out of the conversation that was just being held.

“Okay, let’s go find Peter One then.” You say. You were prepared to swing to Midtown Tech when MJ revealed where Peter would be, but Ned conjured another portal directly to where you needed to go. The five of you step through the portal, watching as it closes behind you.

“Magic being real here will never not freak me out.” You mutter, hearing Peter Three laugh as you look over at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Sorry, it’s just, I know my y/n would say the exact same thing.” He says a fond smile on his face at the thought of you back in his universe.

“Well, I hope when you tell her about all this you tell her how much of a badass, she is in another universe. Although I’m sure she’s a badass there too.” You say, scaling the school's tower while MJ and Ned go to comfort their Peter.

“I doubt she’ll pay attention to much else other than you being Spider-Woman in your world.” Peter Three chuckles.

“Yeah, that sounds like me.” You say, your eyes not leaving the three friends on the rooftop below you. The sight below you reminded you of how you broke down after losing Peter. Aunt May and Gwen had held you tight as you all cried in each other’s arms, devastated by the loss you suffered that night.

“Peter, there’s some people here to see you.” Upon hearing MJ’s words, all three of you on the tower perked up. You watch as Peter One stands up, looking up at the three of you as you jump down expertly, landing in front of him and each of you holding your hands up as a sign of peace.

“I’m sorry about May.” Peter Two says gently.

“Yeah, I know how you feel.” Peter Three starts, speaking slowly and carefully to his young counterpart.

“No, you don’t know how it feels so please don’t say that.” Peter One demands, holding his hand up as Peter Three apologises, tears shining in both of their eyes.

“She’s gone and it’s all my fault. She died for nothing. I’m sending you guys home. Those villains are from your worlds so if you kill them that’s on you. I’m done.” Peter One says, reaching out for the box that’s in MJ’s hand, turning to face her when she moves her hand away, not allowing Peter to take the box from her.

“My Uncle Ben was killed. It was my fault.” Peter Two says, tears welling up in his eyes at the memories.

“I lost… I lost Gwen. My um... she was my MJ. I couldn’t save her. I’m never gonna be able to forgive myself for that. But I carried on, tried to um… tried to keep going tried to keep being that friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man because I know that’s what she would’ve wanted. But at some point, I stopped pulling my punches. I got rageful. I got bitter. I just don’t want you to end up like… like me.” Peter Three says, choking on his words as he speaks. His speech made tears roll down your cheeks.

“I uh… I lost you, Peter. And I can’t forgive myself at all for it. I let you get too close, and it cost you your life and I live with that every day. You may have been the older brother, but I was the one with powers, so it was my job to protect you and I let you down. I never wanted to touch this damn suit again after losing you. But I could always hear your voice in the back of my head, telling me to protect the people that need to be protected. So I kept pushing because that’s what you would’ve wanted me to do and it’s so hard because I want nothing more than for that day to have been a nightmare. I don’t want you to give up now. I know how rough it feels, and I want to take that pain away from you, but I can’t. Just please don’t give up now.” You say, tears flowing down your cheeks uncontrollably as you open up about your loss and as you spoke you noticed Peter Three turn to look at you while Peter Two wrapped an arm around your shoulder and pulled you into his side, allowing you to cry into his shoulder. After a minute of silence, you pulled away from Peter Two, sensing he had more to say to Peter One.

“The night Ben died. I hunted down the man who I thought did it. I wanted him dead. I got what I wanted… it didn’t make it better. Took me a long time to… learn to get through that darkness.” Peter Two says. Despite your tears you couldn’t help but admire this Peter, he was much older than the rest of you and clearly carried a lot of wisdom with how long he’s been Spider-Man.

“I wanna kill him. I wanna tear him apart. I can still her voice in my head… even after she was hurt, she said to me that we did the right thing. She told me that with great power.”

“Comes great responsibility.” Peter Two finishes, all three of you recognising the words spoken by your Uncle Ben before he died.

“Wait, what? How did you know that?” Peter One questioned, confused by how you all knew what he was talking about.

“Uncle Ben said it.” Peter Three says.

“The day he died.” You continue tearfully, glancing from Peter to Peter.

“Maybe she didn’t die for nothing Peter.” Peter Two finishes. All six of you gathered glance between each other before you, Peter Two and Peter Three get the courage to jump down to be at Peter One’s level.

“We’re gonna work through this together, okay? So, what’s the plan Peter One? MJ said something about giving those guys a second chance.” You ask, wiping the remainder of your tears away as you address him.

“I have the broken cures; we can fix them and then lure them out someplace where people won’t get hurt.” Peter One says, and you all nod in agreement and follow Peter One, MJ, and Ned to Midtown Tech’s lab. You watch as Peter One tips the cures out onto one of the desks.

“Okay, I think I can fix Marko’s and Dillon’s. That leaves Connors and…” Peter One says, moving the cures for Marko and Dillon, whoever they were, to one side.

“I got Connors. I’ve cured him once before I can do it again.” Peter Three says as he tugs a lab coat on. You grit your teeth at the mention of Curt Connors.

“Connors is the only one I’ve fought. I can help with his cure.” You say reluctantly. You had cured him back in your world so you could only hope Peter Three’s cure was the same as yours.

“I’ve been thinking about how to cure Dr. Osbourn for a while. I can do that. Gotta cure everyone.” Peter Two says, inspecting the vials that Peter One had before everyone moves to separate stations to start working on the cures. Working alongside Peter Three reminded you of when you made the cure for the Lizard back in your world, you didn’t need to communicate vocally you just knew what the other needed when they needed it. It was weird how your sibling bond could span across the universes. As you worked, you felt Peter Three’s sad eyes watching you. You knew he wanted to ask you about what happened to him in your universe about how he died but you couldn’t bear it. How would you even go about telling someone how they died?

“I’m just gonna step outside for a minute.” You say suddenly, pushing your stool back and standing up, retreating the room as you feel everyone watching you. As the whole situation sunk in you found it harder and harder to be in Peter Three’s presence. At first you could pretend he was your Peter, but when he mentioned losing Gwen you hit your breaking point. Gwen was alive in your universe, just without her Peter and you hated that it was your fault that Peter was gone. As you walked along the corridor, you had planned to go up to the roof, to sit up there and watch the stars as you had done every night since losing your brother. Instead your back met the lockers with a bang and you slid down until you met the floor. You brought your knees up to your chest, wrapping your arms around them as you cried. You wanted to go home, to be in the comfort of Aunt May and Gwen, the only people you have left but at the same time, you didn’t want to lose Peter again. You cry until you physically couldn’t anymore. As you wipe your eyes you felt the presence of Peter Three, making you turn your back to him slightly, wiping at your eyes hurriedly.

“Not now Peter.” You mumble, clearing your throat to try to sound like you hadn’t just been sobbing your heart out but you knew he probably heard you anyway. You heard Peter sit down next to you, leaving you a bit of space but also sitting close enough to provide comfort should you need it.

“I figured I should check up on you. What you said up on the roof…” Peter trails off, tears springing to your eyes once more. When Peter heard you explaining how you lost him in your universe, everything clicked into place. He now understood why you teared up upon seeing him when he arrived at Ned’s house. He understood why you sat on the Empire State Building despite you saying you were perfectly happy sitting on any roof in New York. You were doing it because that’s where your Peter would’ve gone if he possessed the powers you did. It was a way for you to be close to him even after he was gone.

“It was Connors… I should’ve stopped him sooner. I stopped paying attention to you for one second and then he… there was so much blood, and I didn’t know what to do. When you died, I just sat there holding you, begging you to wake up.” Your voice broke, a fresh stream of tears working their way down your cheeks.

“I’m so sorry.” Peter says softly, his gaze gentle as he watches you wipe your eyes.

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for. It was my fault.” You manage to say. Clearing your throat with a small cough.

“It wasn’t your fault. I may not be your Peter, but I know he wouldn’t want you to blame yourself for what happened.” Peter says, hating seeing you so broken. In his world you were the one holding him together but, in your world, you didn’t have him. He didn’t know if you had anyone to lean on for support the same way he did.

“Can…? Can I pretend you’re my Peter for a minute? I’ve been wanting to say something to him for a while and well… you look just like him.” You say shyly, your gaze moving to your hands as you fiddle with your fingers.

“Of course you can.” Peter says, a kind smile on his face as he shuffles around to face you properly.

“Peter. I’m so sorry for what happened to you. I shouldn’t have let you come with me. I should’ve protected you like you did for me growing up. I let you down and I’m just so sorry. I miss you so much. I wish you were still here with me. I need you.” You say, letting your feelings pour out as the tears never seem to slow. Seeing the amount you were crying was the final straw for Peter’s brotherly instincts which he had pushed aside with the knowledge you weren’t his sister. The brotherly instincts clawed their way out of his heart and encouraged him to wrap his arms around you, pulling you in close for a hug, resting his chin on the top of your head as you cry into his chest. You had missed Peter’s hugs so much, you never thought you’d experience the comfort and warmth his hugs provided ever again. You clung tightly to him, sobbing.

“That’s it. Let it all out.” Peter whispers soothingly, rubbing a hand up and down your back, helping you slow your sobs and help you calm down.

“Sorry. I just needed to say that.” You say quietly, pulling away from Peter’s embrace slightly.

“No, it’s okay. Don’t apologise.” Peter says softly, smiling gently at you to assure you it was fine.

“Can I say something now?” Peter asks, rubbing a hand up and down your arm. He watches you carefully as you nod slightly.

“Okay. I need you to listen carefully to this. I forgive you. I don’t blame you for what happened to me. Not one bit. But if you insist that you’re at fault I have to tell you that I forgive you. I know you did your best and I just want you to know I’m proud of you. I’m so proud of everything you’ve done since I died and even everything before that. Even before that spider bit you. You kept pushing on after I died and kept protecting the city. You’re a hero and I’m so proud that I can look at you and say that’s my sister.” Peter’s words had your bottom lip trembling as you smile with teary eyes.

“Thank you.” You force out, your voice thick with tears as you wrap your arms around him for a hug he accepts instantly.

“You’re welcome y/n/n.” Peter replies, squeezing you tight before releasing you. You smiled at the familiar nickname, it being nice to hear it in your brother’s voice one more time.

“Wait… the cure. We need to finish the cure.” You say suddenly, reality crushing you in a second as you leap to your feet, wiping at your eyes.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. I finished it before I came out to check on you. You left not long before we finished it. I told Peter Two to come get us when they’re all done.” Peter says, getting up on his feet and smiling down at you to keep you calm as he explains everything.

“Oh… okay.” You say, leaning back against the locker, resting your head back so you were gazing up at the ceiling.

“So… I’m sorry if this is too personal but, do you have a Ned and MJ in your world? You know, people who know you’re Spider-Woman.” Peter asks awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. His curiosity and brotherly worry was getting the best of him, he didn’t want you to be alone.

“Up until you died it was just you, but I told Gwen after I lost you. I owed it to her to tell her the truth about how her boyfriend died. She’s one of my closest friends.” You say, not being able to look Peter in the eyes as you admit that his lost love was still alive in your universe and that she had lost him, just like he had lost her in his universe.

“Gwen’s in your universe? And she’s, okay?” You hear Peter’s trembling voice, making you nod.

“She misses you like crazy, but she’s alive.” You admit, finally getting the courage to look at Peter to see him nodding, a mix of relief and sadness clear in his body language at the knowledge Gwen is alive somewhere.

“Sorry to interrupt anything but we’ve finished the cures.” You both whip around to see Peter Two stood in the corridor, goggles on the top of his head as he looks between you and Peter Three. The two of you nod, heading back into the lab where Peter One is putting the cures all together with Ned and MJ watching him carefully.

“Okay, so now that we’re all ready all we gotta do is lure them somewhere.” You start, picking up one of the cures and inspecting it before putting it back down.

“And try to cure these guys while they try to kill us and then send them home.” Peter Three continues, making you snigger.

“Using a magic box?” Peter Two finishes, all three of you then looking at Peter One for confirmation.

“That’s the plan.” He confirms, nodding as he fiddles with the cure in his hand.

“So what, are you gonna go into battle dressed as a cool youth pastor or do you got your suit?” Peter Three questions, turning to face Peter Two who you had completely forgotten was just in regular clothes as opposed to his Spider-Man suit like the rest of you. You watch as he tugs down the collar of his shirt, revealing his suit underneath.

“Here’s your web cartridges.” Ned says quickly, handing Peter a couple of vials of web fluid.

“What’s that?” Peter Two asks, looking at the vials curiously.

“Oh, it’s just web fluid for my web-shooters. Why?” Peter One says as you raise an eyebrow at Peter Two’s question. Peter Two then holds his arm out, the web shooting from his wrist with no web shooter making you all exclaim loudly.

“That came out of you!” Ned exclaims, eyes wide in awe and shock.

“Yeah. You can’t do that, huh?” Peter Two questions, looking at you as you shake your head.

“How on earth does that even…?” Peter Three asks, leaning towards Peter Two in an attempt to look at his wrists.

“Okay, we’re getting side-tracked so where can we go that could result in no civilian casualties?” You wonder, wracking your brain for any place in New York you could lure a bunch of dangerous villains to that would mean no innocent people get hurt.

“I know just the place. I just don’t know how we’re going to get there” Peter One says, surveying everyone gathered.

“I can portal us there. I’m magic now.” Ned says simply, taking Peter One aback as he stares at his best friend.

“Yeah, he is. We saw it.” MJ assures, you and the other two Peter’s nodding in agreement.

“Wait really?” Peter questions excitedly.

“Dude, I got Doctor Strange magic.” Ned replies, a huge grin on his face as he explains the magic he wields. You had no idea who Doctor Strange was, but he had some cool magic powers if his magic was like Ned’s.

“And I promise I won’t turn into a supervillain and try to kill you.” Ned then says sincerely, earning a clap on the back from Peter Three as you raise an eyebrow at what caused him to say that.

“I told him about what happened to my best friend in my world. I think it shook him a little bit.” Peter Two mutters in your ear.

“I’m guessing he turned into a supervillain and tried to kill you?” You reply, glancing up at him as he nods at your words.

“Okay Ned, can you portal us to the Statue of Liberty?” Peter One asks, all attention falling back on Ned as he nods, holding his hands out in front of him and circling his right hand while muttering ‘Statue of Liberty’. As Ned works on opening a portal, you and Peter Two and Three grab the cures between you, with Peter One grabbing the box, discussing the plan of hiding them until the villains arrive so you can get the jump on them while telling MJ and Ned to stay behind so the box can be passed through to them so it can be kept safe during the battle. Soon enough, Ned manages to open the portal and you jump through, landing on some scaffolding surrounding the large statue. You look up, wondering what they were doing to the statue, and to your surprise, you see a large shield with a star in the middle of it in the statue's hand as opposed to a torch.

“The hell?” You question, webbing your way up the scaffolding to get a better look at the shield.

“Oh yeah, they’ve added the shield in honour of Captain America. Kinda weird, huh?” Peter One says, landing beside you on the scaffolding, watching you grow more confused.

“Who the hell is Captain America?” You ask, leaning against the large shield as you look at Peter One whose mouth was open in shock that you didn’t know who he was.

“y/n! You need to web that cure up!” You hear Peter Two yell, making you aware you held the cure for Norman Osbourn in your hand still.

“Okay, after we cure these guys, you’re telling me who Captain America is.” You say with a smile, shooting a web to the scaffolding and lowering yourself down to where you needed to plant the cure. Once it was in place you joined Peter Two and Three while Peter One called the Daily Bugle so he could get the message out to the bad guys, so they’d come here in search of the box.

“I can’t believe Jameson exists here too. Here I was hoping he didn’t.” You say, leaning back against the railing and listening intently to Peter One talking to the head of the Daily Bugle as the other two Peter’s laugh at your words.

“He’s certainly something.” Peter Two says, chuckling lightly to himself.

“Okay, look alive these guys could arrive at any second.” Peter One says, swinging to sit on the top of the Statue of Liberty to keep an eye out for any of the villains. A silence falls over the four of you as you watch the city skyline.

“You know, Max was the sweetest guy ever. Before he fell into a vat of electric eels.” Peter Three says, gazing out across the city. He had told you that the electric guy was from his universe. The octopus guy, the goblin guy, and the sand guy were from Peter Two’s universe. You just didn’t know which Lizard was in this universe.

“That’ll do it.” You mumble, watching the lights of a boat as it floats on the water.

“Ooh, there it goes.” You turn around to see Peter Two leaning backward over the railing.

“You okay?” Peter Three asks as you wonder what the hell is going on and why Peter Two is leaning on the railing like that.

“It’s just… my back. It’s kind of stiff from all the swinging, I guess.” Peter Two explains, glancing over at the pair of you as he attempts to crack his back on the railing.

“Oh yeah no, I got a middle back thing too.” Peter Three says, making you groan.

“Are you telling me I have back pain to look forward to? Man if the spider bite came with terms and conditions maybe I would’ve said no.” You joke, receiving a gentle shove from Peter Three and a glare from Peter Two as you laugh.

“You want me to crack it?” Peter Three offers and you watch as Peter Three helps Peter Two with his back problems and to your surprise, what he did seemed to work. Peter Two thanked Peter Three as they moved away from each other.

“God this is so cool. I always wanted brothers.” Peter Three says, a large grin on his face.

“Ouch. Am I really that bad?” You say in mock offence.

“No. No, you’re great. I just thought having a brother would be cool too.” Peter Three says quickly and defensively.

“Peter. I was joking.” You say, shrugging as you look around at all the Peter’s. Seeing three different versions of your brother was both comforting and weird.

“So you could like make your own web fluid in your body?” Peter Three says, switching the subject quickly as he looks at Peter Two in awe.

“I’d rather not talk about this. Are you teasing me?” Peter Two asks, looking at Peter Three with a confused expression.

“No, he’s not teasing you!” Peter One calls down from his perch atop the statue's head.

“It’s just that we can’t do that so we’re just kinda curious about how your web situation works.” You finish for the other two Peter’s wanting to clear the air and make sure Peter Two is aware that you’re all just curious.

“If it’s personal, I don’t want to pry. I just think it’s cool.” Peter Three adds, not wanting Peter Two to be uncomfortable with the question.

“I wish I could tell you, but I don’t just do it. It’s like you don’t do breathing it just happens.” Peter Two tries to explain, not knowing how else to explain it to three other spider people who don’t possess that same ability.

“Does it just come out of your wrists or-”

“Don’t even think about finishing that question Peter One, we’re not prying any further.” You shout up to the youngest of the Peter’s while the other two Peter’s laugh behind you.

“Yeah, you’re definitely y/n.” Peter Three says from behind you, making you roll your eyes despite the fact you had your back to him.

“Just the wrists.” Peter Two says, answering Peter One’s question. Shrugging as he speaks.

“What are some of the craziest villains you guys have fought?” Peter One then asks, changing the subject to something you might approve of a bit more.

“Seems you’ve met some of them.” Peter Two jokes as you all laugh, thinking of the villains you fought and how interesting they might be.

“That’s a good question.” Peter Three ponders.

“I fought an alien made of black goo once.” Peter Two says, thinking back to when he fought it.

“Oh, no way! I fought an alien too. On Earth and in space.” Peter One says, sharing his story.

“I’m sorry, what? You fought an alien in space?” You say, looking up at him as he nods.

“I wanna fight an alien.” Peter Three says with a pout.

“I’m still on the fact you fought an alien in space.” Peter Two says to Peter One, all of you shocked he’s fought an alien let alone an alien in space.

“I’m lame.” Peter Three grumbles, making you turn around to face him quickly.

“Peter Parker, you take that back. You’re not lame.” You say, putting a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it slightly to emphasise your point.

“I mean well… I fought a Russian guy in a rhinoceros machine.” Peter Three starts, looking at you three, almost as if he was looking for approval.

“That’s cool! Hey, I haven’t fought an alien or anything either. My coolest villain is probably a scorpion guy.” You say with a shrug, wanting to convince your brother that he’s still an amazing Spider-Man regardless of whether he’s fought an alien or not.

“You’re amazing, just let that sink in, okay? You are amazing.” Peter Two joins in, helping bring a smile back to Peter Three’s face.

“I needed to hear that. Thank you.” He says before you all fall quiet, your spider senses going off and letting you know that they’re coming.

“Alright, guys focus up. Can you feel that?” Peter One asks, all of you straightening up and looking out onto the horizon in search for the villains.

“Yeah…” Peter Two mutters and you all reach out for your masks, grabbing them and pulling them over your head. The dark night sky flashed with lighting, telling you the electric guy had just shown up. You hear him talking to Peter One, so you fling a web out and try to catch him off guard to give Peter One some time to get the box to MJ and Ned. This electric guy, Max, was a lot stronger than you anticipated. He grabs you with some volts of electricity and tossed you aside like you were nothing, sending you crashing into the scaffolding. You sit up quickly, scrambling back to your feet.

“I need Max’s cure!”

“Lizard guy is here I need his cure!” Peter Two and Three yell, trying to keep the villains at bay as you scramble to get a cure. As you reach Max’s cure, it being the closest one to you, you turn around to see Peter One in Marko’s large, sandy fist.

“Peter!” You cry, firing your webs at him to try to pull him out of his grasp but Marko knew what you were doing, growing a second giant hand and picking off your web, using it as means to throw you further away, so you won’t bother him anymore.

“Damn Marko what did I do to you?” You say to yourself as you get up again, brushing the sand off you, and as you come closer to the battle again all three Peter’s fly into the scaffolding. You quickly clamber up to where they all are, tugging your mask off as they all yell at each other.

“All of you stop it, listen to Peter One!” Peter One says as you help him to his feet, apologising quietly when he groans in pain.

“We’re clearly not very good at this!” Peter One yells over the swirling of sand and crackling of electricity.

“I know, I know, we suck.” Peter Three comments.

“I don’t know how to work as a team.” You add, being Spider-Woman was pretty much a solo gig, you never expected to be working alongside anyone.

“Me neither.” Peter Two says.

“Okay, well I do. Not to brag or anything but I will. I was in the Avengers.” Peter One says, making you confused about where he was going with this because you had no clue who the Avengers were.

“The Avengers? That’s great! What is that?” Peter Two says, clearly just as confused as you are about who the Avengers are.

“Wait you guys don’t have the Avengers?” Peter One asks, glancing at Peter Two and Three. He’d already figured you didn’t have the Avengers in your world because of your reaction to the shield on the statue but he figured the others must know who the Avengers are.

“Is that a band? Are you in a band?” Peter Three asks, excited and curious at the thought of Peter One being in a band.

“No, it’s not a band. The Avengers are Earth’s mightiest heroes.” Peter One tries to explain.

“Peter, no offence but how is this helping?!” You yell, nerves eating away at you knowing you’re surrounded by villains that are out for blood.

“Okay, it’s not important. All we gotta do is focus. Trust your tingle and co-ordinate our attacks.” Peter One says, all of you following along with nods.

“Let’s pick one target.” Peter Two continues, everything starting to click in place for all of you.

“We take them off the board one at a time.” Peter Three says finally, everyone connecting the dots.

“Now you got it. Peter One, Peter Two, Peter Three. y/n… well you’re just y/n.” Peter One says, making sure the Peter’s were clear on what number they were before you leap into battle once more.

“Let’s do this guys!” Peter One says, getting ready to head back into the fight.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!” Peter Three yells, grabbing you all and looking at you at arm’s length.

“I love you guys.” He then says, looking at you all with eyes full of nothing but adoration, bringing a smile to your face.

“Thank you.” Peter One and Two say, clearly not knowing how to respond.

“I love you too Peter. Now let’s cure some ass.” You say, making his smile widen before you all pull your masks on, running to the end of the scaffolding. You all leap off before firing your webs, swinging around the structure. Even sometimes relying on each other before you all land on the head of the Statue of Liberty, staring down the villains. Max was glowing with electricity, Marko had formed his face in the sand he had gathered and was staring you down while Connors leaped up to join the two, roaring as you stare at each other. In a split second, you all leaped at each other. With you guys outnumbering the villains, you were able to be a worthwhile distraction, annoying the bad guys enough to get them off someone else’s tail.

“Okay, we’re curing Marko first. I’ll lead him inside the statue.” Peter Two says, darting into the scaffolding with Marko hot on his heels.

“I’ll get the cure. Peter One and Peter Three, keep those other two busy.” You say, using your webs to pull you towards the scaffolding so you can find the cure quickly. You search for the cure, running past all the others until you find Marko’s cure. You snatch it from the web, leaping back out of the scaffolding and swinging around to be ready to give it to Peter Two.

“I don’t think so.” Max’s voice booms as he attacks you with more lighting, knocking you aside and the cure slipping from your hand.

“No!” You shout, watching it tumble down the structure. You stagger to your feet, knowing you have to get back down there otherwise something bad could happen to Peter Two.

“Hey, Max! I missed you, man!” You hear Peter Three yell, pulling Max’s attention away from you so you leap into action. Latching onto the Statue of Liberty and crawling down it, hearing Peter Two and Marko inside.

“Guys! I’m at the top! I need the cure!” You hear Peter Two yelling desperately before he falls quiet. You drop down to the bottom of the statue and scoop up the cure, climbing back up.

“Peter Three, catch!” You yell, tossing him the cure which he catches, knowing it would be quicker for him to take it up since he was already swinging around unlike you. Knowing Peter Three might need a distraction in order to get the cure to Peter Two. You emerge from the scaffolding, webbing Max’s arm and pulling him away from Peter One, seeing he’s now picking on him. As you distract Max, Peter Three manages to throw Marko’s cure to Peter One after Lizard had him pinned down. Peter One then turns the cure on and chucked it into the statue's crown, right into Peter Two’s outstretched hand as he activates it. Curing Flint Marko of his sandy state.

“Okay, who’s next?” You say, knowing there are three cures but only two people present to cure.

“Max. He’s way more powerful than I remember him being, we have to take him down.” Peter Three says, and all attention turns to Max.

“We need to get the arc reactor off him. That’s what’s giving him all his power.” Peter One says, noticing the reactor on his chest.

“Okay, Peter Two you go right. Peter Three, go left. y/n, you know what to do.” Peter on says. You all then leap into action but even against the four of you, Max holds his own brilliantly well, shocking you all back and even trapping Peter Three, causing him to drop the cure. As you try to sneak up and get it while Peter One and Two distract him, he still noticed you, blasting you back until you slammed against the statue.

“I don’t think so. I rather like this new strength of mine.” Max boasts, attacking Peter Two as both he and Peter Three cry out in pain. You notice Peter One running to the portal Ned and MJ were at and then you saw why he was doing that. Lizard was approaching the portal and had clear intentions of making Ned and MJ his next victims. You were frozen. You didn’t know what to do. Everyone needed your help, but you were just one person.

“y/n, go help Peter One! We got this!” You look over at Peter Three after hearing his strained voice.

“Listen to your brothers! We’ll be fine! Protect Ned and MJ!” Peter Two shouts just after you open your mouth to reply. You wanted to help them but they were telling you to help the other Peter so you nodded, jumping down to the level the portal was on and getting to the portal as quickly as you could. Peter One had shoved Connors into the wall and was yelling at Ned and MJ to run as you jumped through. With both you and Peter One trusting each other and your spider-sense, you were able to web Connors up.

“This should slow him down, get Ned and MJ to safety, or help the other Peters.” You command, staring down the large reptile as he claws at the webs you fired at him.

“But-”

“No but’s, Peter. I’m not letting him hurt anyone. I’ll hold him off.” You say, knowing that with the amount he’s ripping at the webs it’ll be a matter of moments before he breaks free again. You hear Peter One retreating, just in time as Connors rips the last of his webbing off, snarling at you.

“You’re not Peter Parker.” He growls, yellow eyes staring at you intensely.

“And you’re not my Curt Connors.” You fire back, readying yourself for him to launch at you. He slams into you, pushing the both of you out of the portal as you manoeuvre yourself around to kick him away. The second he’s back up on his feet Connors resumes his chasing of Ned and MJ after having noticed Ned desperately trying to open another portal. You use your webs to fling a broken piece of scaffolding at Connors, smacking him on the back of the head as he roars in pain. In a panic, Ned manages to open a portal to the ocean, sending Connors rushing back as you cling to the scaffolding above to prevent the same thing from happening to you. When Connors forces himself to his feet once more, his gaze was no longer on Ned and MJ, but Peter Three who was in conversation with who you could only assume was a cured Max Dillon judging by the lack of lightning.

“Parker.” Connors growls menacingly before pouncing. Everything slowed down. No. Not again. This wasn’t happening again. You fire your webs at the scaffolding using them to slingshot yourself towards Peter Three, shoving him aside as Connors claws come into contact with your side, slashing your skin with ease as you fall to the ground with a pained grunt.

“MJ, quick!” You yell to the girl, noticing she has Connors’ cure in her hand. She throws it expertly and you use your webs to bring it closer quicker, holding it up before Connors can bite down on you. The bottle releases green gas which causes Connors to stumble backward, beginning his transformation back into a human.

“y/n, why did you do that?” Peter Three says, crawling over to you, tears springing to his eyes at the sight of you bleeding.

“I couldn’t lose you too.” You manage to say, pressing one hand to your wound while the other pulls your mask off.

“I could’ve handled it.” Peter insists, teeth gritted as you wince in pain.

“Well, I handled it. It’s done now. Go check if the other Peter’s need help.” You say, attempting to sit up a little, stopping when the pain increases.

“Just stay put, okay? I’ll come and get you in a bit.” Peter says before webbing his way up the scaffolding to join the others.

“There’s a girl Spider-Man?” You hear Max exclaim, looking over at him with a small smile.

“Hi. Yeah, I’m Spider-Woman.” You say, waving slightly as you prop yourself up against the cool scaffolding. You hear Max hum in what you could only assume was some form of approval before it falls silent again.

“Can the Spider-Man come out to play?” You hear a sinister voice call out before you start hearing explosions. You crane your neck to see what’s going on and you see the octopus guy grabbing the glider of the goblin guy with one of his tentacles. You tried to force yourself to your feet when you realised, he had the box in his hand, unsuccessfully falling back to the ground which a painful cry. You watch in fear until you saw the cloaked guy pull the box back into his grasp. But then you sensed something dangerous, making your breath hitch and your body tense.

“Strange no!” You hear Peter One yell before a bomb went off, shaking the whole scaffolding, even removing the shield from the statue's hand, sending it plummeting down. You web Max and Connors, sticking yourself to the statue and holding on tight to your web.

“Hold on guys.” You say, fighting to ignore the pain shooting through your side and the blood pouring down your side. You gritted your teeth as you held on, you almost wanted to cry.

“y/n, hang on!” You hear Peter Two yell before he lands next to you on the statue.

“Peter…” You say, trailing off when you realise you don’t know what to say and that most of your remaining energy is being spent on keeping the two safe.

“I got them, it’s okay. You get yourself down safely.” Peter Two says, taking the web from you and along with the octopus guy, help to lower Max and Connors to safety. You notice the cure for the goblin still hanging up where you webbed it and so you crawl up the statue to it, tugging it into your grasp. You crawl over to some of the scaffolding that was somehow still standing after the shield fell and hauled yourself onto it, moving over to where you can see Peter One facing off with the goblin. Your heart was in your throat when you saw Peter beating down on the goblin relentlessly. This wasn’t what Peter was like, you may have only met this Peter today, but you knew he wasn’t like this. you understood his desire to kill the man who took his Aunt May away from him, but you didn’t want him to become a murderer. You see Peter Two leap over onto the shield with Peter One while Peter Three went in search of the cure.

“Pete! Catch!” The familiar nickname slipped past your lips and Peter Three immediately knew you were calling him. He looked up and saw you throwing the cure and he caught it, giving you a quick worried look before running back to the shield. The second you saw the goblin plunge a knife into Peter Two’s back you started climbing down to the ground level. You didn’t save one Peter to potentially lose another. When your feet met the floor, you started making your way over to the shield, past Ned, and MJ who you made sure were okay as you passed them. You clamber over the banister ignoring the searing pain. Your only concern was getting to Peter Two who already had Peter Three kneeling by his side.

“Are you okay?” You question, fear running through your veins as you attempt to crouch beside him.

“I’ve been stabbed before it’s fine. Are you okay?” Peter Two asks, being helped up by Peter Three as he speaks.

“I’ll… be okay. He got me good, but I’ll be okay soon enough.” You say, your hand resting protectively on your wound. You could see the worry on both Peter’s faces, but they opted not to push you any further.

“What is going on?” You then say, noticing the purple cracks appearing in the sky with glowing silhouettes in as everything rumbles.

“I don’t know. Honestly, I thought I was just dying but if you’re seeing it…” Peter Two replies.

“I could also be dying so who knows if this is real.” You counter, your eyes fixed on the sky.

“Well I’m not dying and I’m telling you I see it too. Also, stop talking like you are going to die. You’re both fine. No one’s dying.” Peter Three says, his arm wrapped around Peter Two as he holds him up. You turn around to see Peter talking to the caped man, you recall hearing him shout ‘Strange’ so you could only assume that was his name. You didn’t know what they were talking about but before long Peter One swings down and lands in front of you.

“I think this is it. I think you’re about to go home.” Peter One says, speaking quickly and almost tripping over his words. At what he said, your heart dropped.

“I just wanted to say thank you. I uh… I don’t know how to put it. I…”

“Peter.” You cut him off with a teary smile.

“We know.” Peter Three continues.

“It’s what we do.” Peter Two finishes, all of you smiling at the youngest Spider-Man.

“You’re right it is what we do. Oh, I gotta go find Ned and MJ.” Peter One rambles, turning around before quickly turning back, quickly pulling you all into a tight hug.

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I’ll… see you I guess.” He says, after pulling away. All four of you exchange a smile before Peter One swings away to talk to Ned and MJ.

“You two are in so much pain, huh?” Peter Three whispers, knowing that from the force of the hug you just shared your wounds were probably hurting a lot more.

“I am.” Peter Two replies while you watch Peter One land in front of his friends, tears pooling in your eyes.

“I’m not ready to go.” You admit. Not looking back at the two Peter’s but you knew they heard you.

“How come?” You hear Peter Three ask quietly.

“Because I can’t say goodbye to you again. It’ll hurt too much. I just got my second chance to save you but I’m still losing you anyway.” You cry, tears coming down your cheeks for what felt like the hundredth time.

“Hey, you’re not losing me. I’ll always be with you. If you’re sat on top of the Empire State Building, I’m sat up there with you. If you work on your web-shooters, I’m working right alongside you. Just because I’m not alive in your world anymore it doesn’t mean I’m gone. I promise you; you’ll never be alone. Okay?” Peter Three says softly, moving away from Peter Two and placing a hand on your shoulder. You let him turn you around to face him, your gaze fixed on the floor for a moment before you get the courage to look up at him, seeing his sad but gentle smile.

“Okay.” You reply, trying to match his smile as best you can.

“I’m gonna miss you guys so much.” You then say, moving across to pull both Peter Two and Three into a hug, each of you being careful of yours and Peter Two’s injuries.

“We’re gonna miss you too y/n. So, so much.” You hear Peter Two whisper as you all pull away, feeling the tingling sensation that brought you to this universe. Just before the golden glow swallowed you whole you waved a final goodbye to your brothers.

Looking around you could see you were perched on the same building you were on when you were first dragged into Peter One’s universe, but you didn’t know how much time had passed. It had only been a day or so in Peter One’s universe, but you didn’t know how time across the multiverse works. But judging by the fact you arrived back on the roof you left on, you assumed you got sent back to the moment you left in the first place. You figure the best thing to do is swing home and patch yourself up before going to visit Peter’s grave. You pull your mask on, leap off the building, and swing back home. Upon arriving home you sneak in through your window, trying to be as quiet as possible as you ease the suit off, wincing as you see the injury properly. You web your cupboard open and pull the first aid kit to you. Upon inspecting the wounds you figured you wouldn’t need stitches; you just needed to clean and bandage them. You do exactly that, hissing quietly as you clean the cuts. Once you’ve cleaned the cuts you cover them with some gauze before bandaging it up, making sure it’s tight. You then change into some clean clothes, shoving your suit in the bottom of your cupboard where May won’t find it.

“y/n, is that you?” You hear your aunt's voice, high and hopeful as you scramble to shove the first aid kit in the cupboard and shut the door before she comes in.

“Just give me a minute!” You call, shutting your cupboard and tugging a hoodie on before opening your bedroom door.

“Hey, Aunt May.” You say, your smile dropping when you see the tears in her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” You ask, leaving your room to stand in the corridor with her, shutting your door behind you.

“You were missing for a whole day. Where were you? No one knew where you were.” May sniffles, tears rolling down her cheeks. Your heart plummets at her words, you thought it was okay. You thought no time had passed while you were in Peter One’s universe. You hug your aunt instantly, squeezing her tight despite the flaring pain in your side.

“I’m so sorry. I won’t do it again I promise.” You whisper, biting back tears as May clings to you.

“I thought I lost you too.” You hear Aunt May say quietly making you shake your head against her shoulder.

“No. No, you didn’t lose me and you’re not going to lose me. I’m right here, see? I’m sorry I scared you but I’m back now and I promise I’ll tell you where I’m going whenever I go out.” You say, pulling away so you can look your aunt in the eyes. You watch as she nods, seemingly satisfied by your words.

“I know you’re probably really mad at me, and rightly so. But can I go visit Peter? We can discuss my punishment when I’m back.” You ask. You knew it was a long shot, figuring May would be fuming and wouldn’t want you leaving the house for months.

“Of course, you can visit him, sweetheart. I won’t stop you from doing that. Do you want me to come with you?” She replies, her reply taking you aback. You weren’t expecting her to say yes. When it sunk in what she asked you shook your head.

“I think I can do it alone.” You say, watching as she smiles tearily. Since Peter died, you weren’t able to visit his grave alone because of how badly you broke down, so you always had either Aunt May or Gwen by your side, holding you close as you cried.

“I’ll be here when you get back. And yes, we will discuss some form of punishment when you’re back.” May says, wiping at her eyes as a light sternness slips into her tone. You nod, tight-lipped as you move through the house to grab your coat and pull your shoes on. You bid goodbye to May with a hug and a promise that you won’t be out long before you start the walk to the cemetery, listening to the hustle and bustle of New York as you walk. Before long you arrive at the cemetery, making your way to where Peter was buried. You stop momentarily at your Uncle Ben’s grave, eyes scanning the words written on it and having a moment of silence before moving on to Peter’s grave. Arriving at Peter’s grave you sit beside it, rearranging the flowers on the headstone as you glance around, making sure no one’s nearby.

“I’ll tell you later.” Peter replies, guiding you into the flow of the people heading home from a day at work. You navigate your way towards the subway station, heading down the stairs and towards the platform you need to get home. As you wait for the train, you notice the colour draining from Peter’s face slightly.

“Pete, are you feeling, okay?” You ask softly, worry crossing your face as you lift your hand to check his temperature.

“I’m fine.” Peter insists, grabbing your wrist and moving his face away from your hand. Before you can reply and press any further the train pulls up at the platform. The two of you board the emptiest carriage and sit down, with Peter lying down and resting his head in your lap with a cheeky smile.

“You’re not feeling okay, are you?” You ask, pushing his hair back with a gentle smile.

“Probably just coming down with something small, I don’t know. It’ll be fine by tomorrow.” He says, taking your hand in his and kissing your knuckles softly as you laugh.

“Alright, have a nap now while you’re lying here. I’ll wake you up just before our station.” You whisper, leaning down towards Peter so you can press a kiss on his forehead. Peter nods slightly and closes his eyes, drifting off almost instantly, comforted by the feeling of your hand in his. You glance around the rest of the carriage, surveying who else is in the carriage with you. Upon seeing that everyone else in the carriage with you were in conversation with each other, you feel more at ease to let your head rest on your chin and close your eyes to rest for a moment.

You were jerked awake when you felt Peter fly up from his place on your lap. You open your eyes and look up to see Peter stuck on the ceiling, a beer bottle by your feet. You stood up cautiously, eyes wide with shock along with everyone else’s as Peter drops down, falling down on his back and sitting up suddenly, looking just as confused as everyone else. You all turn to see a girl holding the end of her shirt, complaining about how she was drenched in beer.

“Oh god, I’m sorry.” Peter says, getting up and resting his hand on her shoulder in some form of consolation. As he goes to move his hand you watch as his hand remains stuck to her shirt.

“Hey, let go.” One of the guys says aggressively, approaching Peter who keeps wiggling his hand in an attempt to loosen whatever grip he has on it.

“I’m trying it’s just stuck.” Peter says, and you could tell from the desperation in his voice, he was speaking the truth. The guy then suddenly shoves Peter away from the girl, who stumbles grabbing the pole in the middle of the carriage before realising he still had the girl’s shirt stuck to his hand. Peter turns around quickly, a slight blush covering his cheeks in embarrassment.

“Peter, what’s going on?” You question, approaching him and noticing the shirt still stuck to his hand as he clings to the pole. You notice his left hand gripping the pole and he once more wiggles his hand to get free. You go to try and help him pry his hand off the pole, confused as to what was going on.

“I don’t know I just- move!” Peter stiffens suddenly, moving you out of the way as the man who pushed him now charges at him. You watch in shock as Peter expertly manoeuvres around the pole, knocking the man down onto the empty chairs. You watch as Peter apologises, before another man, a friend of the one who’s currently on his ass you assume, charges at Peter. Yielding nothing more than the same result of his friend, ending up on the floor when Peter kicks him in the face before ending up on his back, left hand still stuck to the pole.

The next guy tries to take advantage of the fact Peter was on the floor but was swiftly met with a kick to the chest which knocked him and the guy behind him over. Peter leapt to his feet, locking eyes with the last guy left standing who then looked down and saw Peter’s skateboard on the floor.

“Not my board please.” Peter begs, watching with sad eyes as the guy picks up his skateboard and swings it at him, causing Peter to instantly bring his arm up as the board smashes against it. You watch as one of the guys Peter had previously knocked down attempts yet another swing at him but receives yet another kick as Peter flips around the pole, accidentally uprooting it from its place in the carriage and smacks one of his assailants in the face, followed by him whipping around and knocking two more in the face, leaving everyone who tried to attack Peter on the floor, either knocked out or groaning in pain.

“Alright, okay. We’re getting off at the next stop.” You say as Peter finally drops the pole, confusion written all over his face as you shed your coat, handing it to the girl whose shirt was now lying ripped on the floor. You pick up Peter’s bag and broken skateboard, not trusting Peter to not get stuck to them. When the train finally pulls up at the next station you push Peter off, following close behind, keeping a close eye on Peter as you walk.

“Now would be a pretty good idea to start explaining what the hell happened to you.” You say as you exit the subway station, shivering as the cold night air hits your thin hoodie.

“I don’t know. That guy put a beer bottle on my head and then attacked me like it was my fault!” Peter defends, arms waving wildly as you dodge them, not wanting to get stuck to your boyfriend’s weirdly sticky hands.

“That doesn’t explain you sticking to every single thing you touched. Or you warning me to move out of the way of an attack you had your back to. Or hell the fact you broke your skateboard and pulled a pole up from the carriage and those things are screwed in tight.” You counter, wrapping your arms around you to fight off the biting cold as you walk.

“I have no clue what’s happening to me. But I do know I’m starving right now.” Peter’s sudden subject change had you turning to look up at him, confused.

“Pete… are you positive you’re feeling, okay?” You ask, noticing the sweat clinging to his forehead and the lack of colour in his usually rosy cheeks.

“Just hungry.” He insists, not wanting you to worry but he could tell it was too late judging by your soft eyes, the worry seeping out from behind them despite your wishes.

“You better not be lying to me Parker.” You whisper, looking away to fight the tears building.

“I’ll take some paracetamol or something when I’m back home. Promise.” Peter says gently, wanting to take your hand in his but not trusting himself to not end up stuck to you and god knows how he’d explain that situation to anyone who wasn’t you. Peter also didn’t like the idea of potentially being taken away and experimented on because of these weird goings on surrounding him.

“If anything happens to you tonight you tell me. I don’t care what the time is you tell me. Call, text I don’t care I just need to know.” You say, your voice trembling slightly as you worry for your boyfriend’s health. You had noticed that you were approaching your house so instinctively slowed your pace, something you had always done as an excuse to spend at least a minute more with Peter.

“I promise you I’ll call or text if anything happens during the night. I’ll have something to eat and take some medicine and I’m sure I’ll be feeling better in no time but on the off chance something happens, you’ll be the first one I’ll call.” Peter says, his voice quiet as you stop in front of your front door. He watches as you nod, the movement so small he might’ve missed it if he wasn’t watching you intently.

“So… can I kiss you goodbye or will we get stuck?” You ask, a small smile crossing your face.

“Well we’ll just have to find out, won’t we?” Peter replies, leaning forward to press a kiss on your cheek, sighing in relief when you both move apart, clearly not stuck.

“As much as I’d love to kiss you properly right now. If I’m sick, I don’t want to risk giving it to you.” Peter says when he notices you frown jokingly. You suddenly grab the collar of his jacket and pull him closer, pressing your lips against his.

“I don’t care if I get sick.” You mutter against his lips, pulling apart enough to speak but not enough to put a lot of distance between the two of you.

“You can’t blame me now if you end up ill at all. This was your own doing.” Peter teases, pulling away as you both wear a large grin on your faces.

“I can accept that.” You reply, laughing slightly at Peter’s words.

“I should probably head home. I could eat a horse right now.” Peter mumbles, his stomach growling in approval as you nod.

“Take care of yourself, okay?” You say, relief setting in a little when Peter nods.

“Of course. I love you.” Peter says, stealing another kiss before stepping back.

“I love you too.” You say with a smile before watching Peter leave and walk down the street, making his own way home.

“Finally, I thought you two were never going to stop kissing.” You flinch and turn around to see your sister Lexi, with the door wide open as she laughs at your expression.

“How much of that did you see?” You question, cheeks flushing red as you barge past her and into the house.

“Me and mum were watching the last minute or so. I wanted to end my misery and open the door, but mum told me to let you say goodbye. Honestly you act like Peter’s going to war every time you say goodbye. He lives less than five minutes away and you see him every day.” Lexi teases, making you roll your eyes as you head towards the kitchen with her following behind.

“You’ll understand when you fall in love.” You say over your shoulder, sniggering to yourself when you hear Lexi fake gag at your words.

“I never want to fall in love if it means I end up like that.” You hear her call after you making you laugh fully as you enter the kitchen, greeting your mum with a hug.

“Apparently you and Lexi spied on me and Peter.” You say after releasing your mum from the hug, raising an eyebrow as your mum smiles guiltily.

“I couldn’t help it. You two are so cute.” She gushes, making you smile bashfully. You try to change the subject to what was for dinner, but your mum was painfully nosey, trying to find out what happened between the two of you. You managed to get her off your back, by saying that you didn’t know what Peter wanted to see you for. It was the truth, he still hadn’t told you about why he was in Oscorp in the first place, but you figured it wasn’t worth pressing him until he felt better, and besides, your mum didn’t need to know Peter was in Oscorp because you knew she’d take it to May and Ben, and you didn’t want Peter getting in trouble. The reminder that Peter had visited Oscorp for unknown reasons had your stomach turning again and you wanted dinner over and done with so you could retreat to your room and see if Peter was okay.

Once you’d had dinner, the entire meal consisting of your mum and sister making fun of you for taking so long to say goodnight to Peter but the second you finished you took your chance to run and get away from the embarrassment your family could bring. The moment you reached your room you pulled your phone out of your pocket, hoping you don’t find a message from Peter saying he’s feeling worse. You let out a slight sigh when you find your phone screen empty. You send a quick text to Peter, making sure he remembers to message you in the event he feels worse during the night or if something happens. When the message is sent you feel exhaustion wash over you so you get ready for bed, climbing into your bed and burying yourself under your covers, falling asleep hoping and praying Peter would be okay. When you woke up at your alarm, flinching at the sunlight seeping from behind your curtains, you instinctively turn off your alarm clock before grabbing your phone. You opened your eyes slightly to check your phone screen, becoming alert when you see Peter’s name followed by a text.

“Pete, I need to get up. I’ll be back in a few alright?” You whisper to him, pressing a kiss to his nose as he smiles slightly, opening his eyes sleepily. You manage to wiggle out of his grasp but not before pressing a second kiss to the top of his head.

“Ten minutes, don’t move.” You say, climbing out of bed and heading into the kitchen where you get started on making breakfast for Peter. You put bacon and eggs into a pan and start cooking them while putting bread in the toaster. You hum to yourself as you cook the food, thinking about the present you got for him, hoping he’d like it. You knew that no matter how much he tried to hide it from you, he still missed Gwen. His birthday was always tough for him since Gwen died and you understood completely. He lost his first love in horrific circumstances. You had first met Peter in a university class the two of you shared because in a last-minute rush you had forgotten a pen to take notes and since Peter was the closest person to you at the time you had tapped him on the shoulder and asked if he had a pen you could borrow. At first, Peter was quiet, he would only talk to you if you spoke to him first but over time he opened up. It wasn’t until the two of you became official that he told you about Gwen and the fact he was Spider-Man. You remember holding Peter as he cried, begging you not to get involved with any fights he may face. You agreed to Peter’s terms. As much as it kills you to let him go out and fight criminals you knew that he was more than capable of doing that and if you were out there with him it just gave him an extra thing to worry about during a fight.

You jump out of your thoughts when the toaster pops, revealing perfect golden toast and you turn the hob off, satisfied with how the bacon and eggs are cooked and start plating everything up, spreading butter on the toast and putting it alongside the bacon and eggs before pouring a glass of juice. You grab a tray and put the plate and glass on it, grabbing some cutlery and adding it on the tray too before picking it up and carrying it to your shared room. As you walk into the room you can see Peter has dozed off again, bringing a soft smile to your face. You walk over to the bed, placing the tray on your bedside table before perching on the edge of the bed, running a hand through Peter's hair to gently rouse him. It took a minute but eventually, Peter opened his eyes once again and smiled when you locked eyes.

“I smell bacon.” He says, tiredness still evident in his voice as he sits up.

“You’re correct. It’s not much but I wanted to make you a little breakfast in bed. You know because you’re the birthday boy and it’s my job to spoil you today.” You say, picking up the tray and handing it to Peter who places it on his lap and starts digging into his breakfast. You move to sit next to him, resting your back against the headboard as he eats.

“This is really good! Want some?” Peter praises, gesturing to his plate as he looks at you.

“No thanks, Peter. It’s your birthday breakfast, I’ll make something for myself in a bit.” You say, shaking your head as Peter rolls his eyes.

“Come on, you know you wanna. Besides, you can’t say no because it’s my birthday.” Peter says teasingly, getting some bacon and eggs on his fork and holding it up towards you with a cheeky grin.

“Okay but only because it’s your birthday.” You reply, moving closer to take a bite of the food.

“Good right?” He asks, his brown eyes lit up as he grins.

“Pete, I made the food surely I shouldn’t be praising my own cooking abilities.” You say, laughing as Peter gasps in mock offence.

“Well if you won’t compliment your cooking, I’ll have to do it myself. This is delicious, thank you so much beautiful.” Peter says, inching closer before pressing a quick kiss to your lips before returning to his meal. Once he finishes his breakfast you take the tray and tell him to get ready for the day. You wash the dirty dishes, cutlery, and glass and as you wipe down the tray over the sink you feel two hands rest on your hips and a gentle kiss being pressed on your shoulder.

“Hello, mister.” You say, looking over your shoulder and smiling when you lock eyes with Peter who rests his chin on your shoulder, occasionally pressing little kisses on your shoulder. His hair was damp, a clear sign he’d had a quick shower before getting ready for the day ahead.

“Go wait in the living room. I need to get changed.” You say, putting the tray down and turning to face Peter. You watch as he leaves the kitchen and heads to the living room while you go to shower and get dressed. Once you’re ready, you head into the living room and take Peter's hand in yours, attempting to tug him to his feet with a smile.

“Let’s go for a walk, go to that café you like.” You say, laughing as Peter dramatically flops against the sofa in mock protest.

“Come on bug boy.” You continue, you notice Peter's eyes flash with reminiscence, and although he smiles and gets to his feet you see the sadness he’s tucking away behind his eyes. He was thinking of Gwen. You slipped up and called him a nickname Gwen had called him and now he was upset. You’d done the one thing you didn’t want to do on his birthday.

“Are we going?” Peter asks, making you look to him, nodding quickly.

“Yeah, let me just get my shoes on, sorry.” You say, walking past him to put your shoes on, then grabbing your keys.

“Shall we?” You ask, gesturing with your keys towards the door.

“We shall.” Peter replies, the two of you exiting the flat and heading down to the exit. You step into the bustling streets of New York and if instinctual, Peter grabs your hand in his, holding on tight so you don’t lose each other. You didn’t really have a plan on where you wanted to go other than Peter's favourite café so that’s where you went. You enter the small building, welcomed by the smell of coffee and pastries. You tell Peter to wait while you order two hot chocolates and two pastries to go and once you pay and receive your drinks and food you join Peter and the two of you head out of the café to continue your walk. You walk to a nearby park and sit on a bench, watching the people walking past as you eat.

“We should probably swing by and see May after this.” You say, breaking the comfortable silence after you took a sip of your hot chocolate.

“I take it you don’t mean literally swing by?” Peter questions jokingly, raising an eyebrow as he looks over at you.

“Of course, I don’t. You’d give poor May a heart attack.” You say, shoving his shoulder as you both laugh.

“We’ll finish our drinks and then go and see her.” Peter says as you nod in confirmation. You always tried to make sure Peter sees his aunt as possible, especially since he had moved out and he owed it to her to visit every so often. When the two of you finish your drinks, you chuck the rubbish in the nearest bin and start the walk to May’s house.

“It’ll make her happy to see you, Pete, we haven’t stopped by in a while.” You say, manoeuvring through the sea of people with Peter stuck to your side like glue.

“She’ll be happier to see you.” Peter replies, glancing over at you momentarily with a small grin before suddenly tugging you out of the way of a businessman who was speed walking down the street, phone held up to his ear in one hand and a large coffee in the other.

“Maybe we should’ve swung.” You mutter, cursing lightly when you get jostled by another person storming past. Eventually, the two of you make it to May’s house and knock on the door.

“Peter!” May exclaims happily when she opens the door, throwing her arms around her nephew and pulling him into a tight hug as you watch with a smile.

“Hi, Aunt May.” Peter says, reciprocating the hug.

“y/n, it’s good to see you, sweetheart.” May says, releasing Peter and moving to hug you.

“It’s good to see you too, May.” You reply, squeezing her tight before letting go. You then all go into the house and sit in the kitchen.

“I didn’t know if you were going to come by today but on the off chance, you did. I got some cake and a present for you, Peter.” May says, opening a cupboard and pulling out a tin with a small cake inside it before hurrying off to her room and coming back with a neatly wrapped present and place both on the counter in front of Peter.

“May… you really didn’t have to do this.” Peter starts, glancing from the cake and present to his aunt.

“I’ve been getting you birthday presents since you were born, I’m not going to stop now. You’re my boy Peter.” May says with a smile which Peter mirrors, clearing his throat so he doesn’t choke up at her words. You watch as Peter opens the present, revealing a new case for his camera. You see Peter's eyes light up at the sight as he leaps to his feet, wrapping his arms around his aunt and pressing a kiss to her cheek.

“Thank you so much!” He exclaims, practically bouncing off the walls in joy.

“You’re welcome, Peter.” May says as Peter releases her from the hug and moves to sit next to you again.

“That'll keep that camera of yours safe. God knows how it's still standing.” You tease as you admire the case, knowing Peter has dropped his camera too many times for it to be functional anymore but by some miracle, it hardly looks like it’s been dropped as many times as it has. May then gets some candles and puts them on the cake, lighting them before you and her sing happy birthday to Peter as he smiles, taking your hand in his. When you finish singing, he blows out the candles as you and May clap.

“What did you wish for?” You ask, resting your head on his shoulder as he laughs.

“I can’t tell you otherwise it won’t come true.” He replies, kissing the top of your head and you groan and pull away. You help May cut the cake, putting the slices on plates, and handing them out along with forks. The cake was delicious, May had made it herself. She told you that every year since her and Ben took him in, she would make Peter a cake for his birthday. You thought it was so sweet that May did that for Peter, she clearly loved and cared for him so much and it made you happy to know Peter has such a wonderful mother figure in his life.

You spend the majority of the day with May, enjoying her company and listening to her tell stories about Peters childhood, much to his embarrassment. As the sun starts to begin its descent you decide to head home. The streets were not as busy as they were earlier but there was still a fair few people around. You make it home relatively quick and upon Peter's request, you order a pizza for dinner, neither of you being in the mood to cook something. You sit on the sofa as you share a pizza, conversing quietly while the tv blares in the background. When the pizza has been eaten and the box thrown away you get the courage to give Peter his present.

“Stay put I’ve got a present for you.” You say, getting up from the sofa and heading to your room to find the present you got Peter. When you reach the room, you dig the box out of your bedside table drawer before returning to the living room. You sit beside Peter and hand the present to him. Nerves eat away at your stomach as Peter opens the present, revealing the dog tags on a chain. You saw Peter open his mouth to say something, but he stopped when he noticed the engraving on one of the tags. You’d taken them somewhere to get Gwen’s initials engraved on one side and his on the other.

“I thought it would be nice for you to have a way to keep her close. I know how much you miss her and… god I’m sorry it seemed like a good idea at the time…” You start, your voice becoming quieter when you noticed Peter hadn’t said anything and was just staring at the engraving. Without thinking you get up and dart out of the flat, your feet taking you up to the roof of the building. You sit down on the edge of the roof, legs dangling down as you watch the hustle and bustle of the nightlife of New York City. There was something peaceful about being above it all, watching it without having to get involved. You wondered if Peter did things like this on patrol or if he was too busy to get a break. You bit back tears as you thought about Peter. You’d messed up twice and ruined his birthday for him and you couldn’t forgive yourself. It was the first birthday you celebrated since getting together and you wanted everything to be perfect for him. You hug your arms around your waist in a vain attempt to block out the chilling wind blowing past.

“Figured you would’ve come up here.” Peter's gentle voice makes you jump which makes Peter fire a web from his web shooter and pull you away from the edge of the roof. You scramble to your feet and look at Peter with wide eyes. You didn’t know if you would’ve fallen or not but knowing Peter wasn’t willing to let there be even the slimmest chance of you falling made your heart flutter.

“Peter, I’m so sorry. I should’ve thought the present through a little bit more. I-” You’re cut off by Peter pulling you into one of the tightest hugs you’ve ever been trapped in.

“Stop apologising. I love it.” Peter whispers, running a hand through your hair to calm you.

“You do?” You ask, pulling away slightly to look up at him, your eyes shining with unfallen tears in the city lights.

“Of course I do. You didn’t have to get me something to remember Gwen by, but you did. You were thinking about a way to help me heal and keep Gwen with me. You’ve always been there for me when I needed you and you care so much. And I love you for that.” Peter’s words make your heart stop as you look up at him.

“You… love me?” You question, tears springing to your eyes again as Peter nods, his small smile growing.

“How could I not? I know Gwen would’ve wanted me to move on and she’d be so happy seeing that I fell in love with someone as beautiful and caring as you.” He says, leaning forward so your foreheads are resting against each other’s, both of you smiling as you look into each other’s eyes.

“I love you too, Pete.” You say, leaning in and connecting your lips. Neither you nor Peter had the courage to say those three words before now but neither of you could deny the pure love you felt being with the other.

“I was thinking.” Peter says when the two of you pull apart for air, but still maintaining a close distance.

“A dangerous habit of yours.” You tease, laughing slightly as Peter pouts jokingly, receiving a kiss on the end of his nose to change his pout into a smile.

“As I was saying. I was thinking, when you first left the flat, I noticed there were two dog tags, and only one of them was engraved. I’m going to find a place and get your initials on the other one.” Peter says and, at that moment, you notice he’s wearing the dog tags, he really did like the present.

“My initials?” You question.

“Yes, yours. Gwen was my first love. But that doesn’t change how I feel about you. You deserve an engraving on one of these too.” Peter says, holding the dog tags loosely between his fingers before dropping them again and reconnecting your lips once more. This time, when you pull apart you both wordlessly decide to head back into the flat to get out of the cold.