Chapter 3

                                    

                                          
Back at it with another chapter :) I got super busy the past two days doing things but I've basically almost finished the whole story, I just have a few touch-ups and added scenes to get through in chapter 5, but it's on schedule! Hopefully y'all like what I have planned. Anyways here's chapter 3
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Peter shot a web to the top of the nearest building, watching as it connected before allowing his momentum to swing him in a graceful arc to the top, before he let go of his web and was falling again. He shot another web and repeated the process, swinging through the city and scanning the ground for any indication of crime that he could stop. He almost found himself asking Karen if there was any activity before catching himself, remembering that he no longer had the Stark suit and was stuck with his new, handmade one. He was rather proud of his development in stitching skills, but he really did miss Karen. He missed all interactions with people who really knew him. Making new friends was so much effort and they'd never be like Ned or MJ anyways, so why even bother.
Every time he saw them in the coffee shop he had the urge to say something, to end the loneliness that pervaded his thoughts and the pang in his heart every time he saw them. 
But every time, he stopped himself- though he'd made a promise that he would come find them and tell them, he'd made that promise to his Ned and MJ. They were still Ned and MJ, now, but in forgetting Peter Parker, they were no longer his. He had no right to use his knowledge of their likes and dislikes (things he'd grown to learn about them) to get close to them again. It felt too much like manipulation. Why insert himself into their life if they were happy and safe without him?
There was still a part of him, deep inside, that desperately hoped that they'd find out, on their own. If they approached him, realizing something was missing, and realizing it was him, maybe then he'd be worthy of their interactions. But even he realized how unlikely that was, and if they were content without him in their life then he would just have to live with that. He would do anything for the people he loved, even if he had to love them silently and without their knowledge. Peter sighed, swinging his way to the top of a low-rise building to perch on it. There was no use following this train of thought again. He always reached the same conclusion. He stared down at the streets, partially hidden in the shadows of the building but close enough that he could discern the faces of the people on the street below him. The sound of their conversations carried up to him, a jumble of not-quite-discernable noises; it was only if he focused that he could figure out what they were saying. Sometimes he'd sit there for hours and just... listen. Even if the voices weren't talking to him, it was the closest he'd come to familiar, friendly conversations in a while. 
He was still sitting there, legs swinging mindlessly over the edge, when his spidey sense began to tingle. Peter's eyes narrowed immediately, senses going on high alert and muscles tensing, but he forced himself to relax and continue his leg swinging to maintain a front of unbotheredness while scanning his surroundings. His spidey sense was screaming at him... but not in the way it usually did, such as when he was about to get hit by a car or shot or stabbed or get a building collapsed on him. No, his senses were tingling in the way that they did when someone was watching him- a way he hadn't felt in a long time, not since the forgetting spell. His eyes scanned the people below him, searching... searching... until they landed on a pair looking right back at him. Peter almost jerked back in surprise. Most of the time, it wasn't that odd to have people look at Spider-Man. But this wasn't any normal civilian. Looking up at him from the street, making direct eye contact with him, was Dr. Strange.
Peter's heart clenched and his breathing picked up without his accord. Calm down, Peter. He berated himself. You're dressed in the Spider-Man suit, it's not that unusual that another superhero would come seek you out. You fought with him on Titan. The thoughts flashed through his head, unbidden. Wait, does he even remember Titan? I was unmasked for part of it, and he wouldn't remember Peter Parker, but he should remember Spider-Man. Jameson certainly did. That train of thought was cut off as Dr. Strange started to float his way up to the rooftop that Peter was on. He stood up to greet the sorcerer, heart hammering in his chest.