Chapter Text
“Are you sure you’re alright, May?”
“Peter, I’m fine,” his aunt assured him. “Anna will look after me while you’re at work, and you already missed presenting this thing once already. Now go out there and change the world; you’re already running late as it is!”
“Yes ma’am,” Peter responded. “I’ll do my best.”
“You’re going to crush it, Tiger,” M.J. said with a smile, leaning in and planting a kiss on his lips. “Now get going!”
She then opened the door for him, and he finally stepped out. M.J. watched as he hurried down the steps, the pep in his step finally appearing to be returning.
“He seems to be doing better,” M.J.’s aunt observed after she shut the door to the Parker residence.
“Yeah, he does,” Mary Jane observed.
“It’s good to finally see him excited about something again,” May remarked. “Ever since he moved back in last week, he’s just been buzzing around trying to take care of me. I didn’t think he’d ever go back to work!”
“Oh, he couldn’t keep away,” Anna said. “He’s a scientist, through and through. I guess Mary Jane will probably be the first to hear about it though; aren’t the two of you meeting tonight?”
“Yep, but don’t worry,” she assured the older women. “Knowing Peter, he’ll get around to telling everyone he can about it if it goes well. Anyway, I guess I better get going too.”
“Oh, that’s right, I forgot your play was finally starting back up!” May exclaimed.
“In a couple of days, yeah,” M.J. replied. “It’ll be good to at least get practice in though. I’ll see you guys later!”
M.J. then stepped out the door, having just made it to the sidewalk when her aunt came out behind her.
“Mary Jane, wait,” the woman said as she approached her. “I wanted to say something.”
“What is it, Aunt Anna?” Mary Jane inquired.
Her aunt hesitated, her mouth opening but no words coming out at first. Eventually, she managed to speak:
“That day or so that you were... that you were out there with him... that was the hardest time of my life. I was so afraid that I might lose you. But now, having had some time to process it, I see now just how much you wanted to be there for him, and how you didn’t let anything stop you. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I am so, so proud of you. You’ve grown so much from the teenage partier without a care in the world to a loyal and loving woman. Peter is a very blessed man that you’re in his life, my dear.”
“Thanks, Aunt Anna,” Mary Jane replied, embracing her aunt in a strong hug. “That... that means a lot.”
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“... and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the future of clean, cheap, sustainable energy.”
The board then burst into applause, even standing to their feet. Frankly, it was a far better reception to his solar energy project than he could have ever dreamed of, and it kind of threw him off a bit. He expressed his gratitude to them as they each shook his hands, with a couple of them even telling him that this new technology “would be what leads mankind into the future.” Once that was done, he reassembled his supplies and headed back towards his lab space, running into Debra Whitman in the hallway.
“I passed by some of the board earlier,” she said. “They seemed pretty pleased, so I’m guessing that means your presentation went well?”
“It did,” Peter assured her. “I have to admit though, the whole thing was still kind of bittersweet, since, you know...”
“Yeah,” Deb replied. “I’m guessing you’re planning on coming to the funeral on Thursday?”
“I am,” Peter confirmed. “It’ll still be strange though, knowing what we knew about him.”
“Especially you,” Deb said.
“We do have quite a strange history,” Peter acknowledged. “He definitely made some mistakes, but he proved over and over again that his heart was mostly in the right place, and he did save yours and Mary Jane’s life. On top of everything else, I’ll always be grateful for that.”
“Me too,” Deb said. “In a way, I think making the antidote kind of ended up being my way of honoring him.”
“How are you holding up after everything?” Peter inquired.
“Oh, about as well as anyone could, I guess,” she said. “It’s always weird when so many changes happen around you so suddenly, but at the same time, you, Mary Jane... you helped me find a courage I never even knew I had. As rough as everything’s been, I’m glad for that.”
“Me too,” Peter nodded. She definitely sounded honest, but it was hard not to notice something different about her, particularly in her face. Before the Goblin’s attack on the city, there had been an innocence to her, a naive sweetness that was now gone and replaced by something... rougher, something that was hard to perceive on the outside, but little things in her eyes and overall expression told him everything he needed to know.
“Well, I guess I better get back to it,” Peter said, not wanting to stick around and dwell too much on the matter.”
“Right, of course!” Deb replied, promptly excusing herself. Peter then made his way back to the lab, where he pulled out his phone. He found Johnny Storm’s contact, pulling it up so that he might text him to express his gratitude for offering to cover patrol in the city for him today after they’d finally gotten back into town a couple of days ago. However, it seemed his ears must have been burning, as his phone suddenly showed that Johnny was calling for him.
“Hello?” he answered.
“Peter, you better get here, now,” Johnny replied.
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Swinging in through an open window in the Baxter Building, Peter hurried over to where he knew the Four had been treating Harry, hoping to undo everything the Goblin had done to his mind. The last update he’d heard was that significant progress had been made, and his friend was likely to be back to normal soon, but he’d been growing erratic within the last half hour. It was especially concerning that it was enough for Peter to get a call, the thought only fueling his worry even more.
Hearing voices, Peter finally entered the room, observing as Reed was trying to talk to Harry, who appeared to be having none of it as he kept trying to get past the man.
“What’s going on?” Peter inquired, drawing the attention of the room, including Harry. With the way blocking him now distracted, the younger Osborn stormed over to Peter, grabbing at him.
“HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!?” he yelled. There was an intense look in his eyes, but Peter could tell immediately that it wasn’t a look of insanity, but rather unbridled anger. The Four came over, presumably to subdue Harry, but Peter motioned for them to stop, his friend pushing him away.
“Take off that thing,” his best friend said, gesturing towards his mask. “I want to speak to the real you.”
Complying, Peter pulled his mask back, letting it hang from the back of his neck as he revealed his face and looked his friend in the eye.
“So, you do remember?” he said.
“Oh yeah,” Harry assured him. “I remember everything: all the torture, the injections, the shocks...”
Every one of his best friend’s words seemed to break off a piece of his heart.
“Harry... I’m sorry. I should have protected you; I should have been honest with you about who I really am.”
“You think that’s what this is really about?” Harry questioned as his eyes narrowed, seemingly baffled by Peter’s conclusion. “Pete, I’m not mad that you didn’t tell me you’re Spider-Man, and you weren’t the one to do all those terrible things to me. But you knew, you KNEW that my dad was the Green Goblin, that he was a troubled man who needed help, just like I did, and you didn’t say ANYTHING TO ME!!”
Peter swallowed nervously as his mind tried to concoct something to reply with, only for it to come up empty. Instead, all he could do was watch as his friend’s expression turned from one of anger to one of pleading.
“Where... where is my dad? They wouldn’t tell me where he is, so I’m asking, I’m begging you, Pete: please, tell me what happened to him...”
Peter again swallowed as he fought to get the words out.
“Harry...”
“No...” his best friend replied, clearly beginning to comprehend the truth.
“Your dad’s gone, Harry; I’m so sorry.”
“NOO!!” Harry cried out, collapsing to his knees, covering his face as he screamed in anguish. Peter tried to come down to him to comfort him, but as soon as he tried to put a hand on his friend’s shoulder, Harry jerked back.
“Get away from me!!” he shouted, his narrowed eyes still filled with tears. “I could have helped him! I could have saved him if I’d just known, but you just had to keep it to yourself because only Spider-Man knows what’s best!”
“That’s not true, Harry!” Peter tried to insist, but Harry would hear none of it, getting up and starting for the exit to the room. Peter tried to grab hold of him, only for Harry to jerk away again.
“Leave me alone!” his friend shouted. “I don’t want to see you ever again, do you understand!?”
With that, Harry stormed out, leaving Peter only to contemplate what had just happened.
“I’m sorry,” Reed spoke up from behind him. “We were actually planning on releasing him today anyway, but then he...”
“It’s okay,” Peter said, sniffing back tears before turning to them. “Thank you for helping him.”
With that, he slipped his mask on and leapt out an open window, ignoring Johnny calling out to him as he swung off.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Coming up to the Bugle memorial, Peter stopped in front of it, observing the many names listed. He recognized almost all of them, but several stood out from the rest: Betty Brant, Ned Leeds, Glory Grant, Ben Urich, Robbie Robertson... he could still picture every one of their faces, imagine the conversations we would have with each of them...
It didn’t take long before he was joined by the other Bugle man who was mourning them, as Jonah came up beside him. The two men didn’t speak for several seconds before Peter finally broke the ice first:
“I still can’t believe they’re all gone. It still feels like we should be able to just walk in there and hear Robbie give some sage advice or hear Betty greet us by saying something nice.”
When Jonah didn’t reply, only continuing to stare at the memorial, Peter decided it would be wise to leave the man to reflect privately. He started to walk away.
“Peter.”
Stopping in his tracks, he turned back to face Jonah.
“Did you ever hear about how my wife died?”
“No sir,” Peter replied. “I do remember it was when you guys were about my age, shortly after John was born.”
Though Jonah continued to stare at the memorial, he continued nonetheless.
“I was a young hotshot reporter determined to make a name for himself, so I went for where I thought I could do just that at the time: the local gangs. I thought exposing their activities would not only help my community but fast forward my career significantly. I thought I’d taken all the right precautions to keep her safe from any reprisals, but one day, we were walking along the sidewalk in our neighborhood, when a car pulled up beside us. The passenger window rolled down, and a man in a black mask pulled out a gun and shot her twice in the chest before driving off. She died in my arms, and they never found the criminal.”
“I’m sorry,” Peter said, admittedly taken aback by the weighty nature of the story. “I can’t imagine how hard that must have been.”
“From that day on, I made it my mission to wage a war against anyone who hid behind a mask,” Jonah continued. “To me, those people were cowards or attention seekers at best, and criminals and murderers at worst.”
He then turned to face Peter.
“So, when you came on the scene, I treated you just like I would any other masked vigilante. No matter how many people you put away or lives you saved, I held onto that distrust, because I couldn’t imagine Spider-Man not having an ulterior motive, just waiting to pull the rug out from the city that trusted him. But now, after everything that’s happened... I see now. The mask wasn’t just about you, was it? It was to protect the people you cared about, to prevent monsters like the Goblin from coming after the people you loved, like they came after my Angela.”
Peter nodded.
“Some good that did recently though.”
Jonah sighed, briefly closing his eyes as he shook his head.
“All those names on there, there’s a lot I wish I would have said to each of them,” he said. “I don’t want to make that mistake with you, Peter. I wish to ask your forgiveness for how I treated you, both in and out of costume. I let my anger and hatred cloud my judgment; I guess I was afraid that, if I let go of it, in a way, it was like letting go of Angela. That probably sounds crazy to you.”
“No, it doesn’t,” he said. “And yeah, a lot of what you said and printed hurt, but eventually, I learned how to let it go. I will admit though, the Scorpion thing still hurts a little, in more ways than one.”
“I was a fool for every thinking that was a good idea,” Jonah replied. “Honestly, if you wanted me to turn myself in today...”
“Ah, it’s okay,” Peter said. “Your face when I had to rescue you from him was more than enough payback for me.”
Jonah again shook his head, letting out a huff.
“I wish I could share in your optimism.”
“That’s funny,” Peter replied, “because I don’t feel too optimistic right now.”
“We’ll move forward,” Jonah assured him. “Robbie always used to say that life always goes on...”
“... it’s just up to us whether we go with it or get dragged along by it,” Peter finished. “Robbie always did have a way with words.”
“I like to think there was something to them,” Jonah replied.
“Yeah,” Peter said.
Jonah then extended his hand for Peter to shake, a gesture that was reciprocated before the former walked off.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“Peter?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, M.J,” he apologized. “I just...”
“I know,” she replied. “You were worried about Harry. I am too.”
“It’s not just Harry, it’s everyone,” Peter clarified. “I let everyone down: Harry lost his father, May lost her legs, Jonah lost the Bugle, you almost...”
“I know,” she said. “And it was scary, but...”
“You DON’T know, M.J,” he said. “It’s my job to protect everyone, to save them all, and I failed. I just... I don’t know how to move on from that.”
His girlfriend then placed her fingers against his cheek, directing his face so that his eyes met hers.
“By doing it one day at a time.”
Peter glanced down. He knew that she was right, but it just felt so impossible right now. Even the things he should have felt good about that day, like his project getting approved and finally reconciling with Jonah after all these years, all felt hollow and layered with reminders of his recent failures.
“Come here,” M.J. said, taking him by the hand. They then strayed off the walking path in Central Park, making their way to a more private area in one of the wooded sections. She then took out her phone, pulling up the same song she had playing on the stereo system they’d danced to on his birthday. She then took his hands, placing them against her waist before throwing her arms over his shoulders. Slowly, they began swaying to the peaceful song, gazing into each other’s eyes.
“You know,” Mary Jane spoke up, “you talked about what you saw when you looked at me. I’d like to return the favor.”
“Okay,” Peter replied, playing along. “What do you see?”
“I see a man who carried the weight of the world on his shoulders,” she began. “Someone who tries to take on more than he should sometimes, but it’s only because of all the love he has in his heart. I see someone who cares more about others than I ever would have thought possible, and who would take all the pain in the world if it meant others didn’t have to deal with any. But, more than anything, I see a man who always keeps fighting and never gives up, no matter what he faces. I see someone who, if he’s honest, deep down knows that he’ll be okay in the end, because he has to be.”
Peter could feel the light smile form on his face, and he pulled her close, shutting his eyes. Her grip on him tightened significantly as he did so, and it became clear to him that some of the things she’d just told him, especially the last part, were likely the same things she’d been telling herself. She was hurting a great deal too, just like Jonah and Harry. It was then that he realized that he had to be willing to look past his own pain and focus on how he could help others in dealing with their own as well... because that was the only way himself, Mary Jane and anyone else would ever be able to move on.
Planting a kiss on the side of his girlfriend’s head, Peter continued to hold her close as they swayed along even long after the music had faded.