THE TWENTY-EIGHT-YEAR-OLD walked through the locker room in the gymnasium of his alma mater. He ran his fingers along one locker, where he pulled off the sticker with the initials of a previous owner. Underneath it...were the initials CLM '16 carved in the section.
The man smiled as he looked at the etchings. Suddenly, there were footsteps behind him.
"Reliving the glory days?"
Carlos looked back and saw Jean, his fiancé. She had a grin and was out of her usual police uniform. He chuckled and sat down on the bench nearby.
"I remember sneaking into this locker room before each game to see you," Jean added as she paced around.
"Probably why we always won." Carlos, the former star wide receiver, replied. "You were like our lucky charm."
Jean chuckled. Carlos smirked.
"Well...at least my lucky charm." He clarified.
Jean smiled. Moments later, a 7-year-old boy ran into the locker room. He called out to his dad.
"Papa!"
Carlos grinned and grabbed his son, Fabian, lifting him as he stood up.
"And now I got another lucky charm with me." He said, kissing him on the cheek.
Jean kept smiling as she looked at her fiancé and son. There was a moment of quiet before she spoke.
"You nervous?"
"Who? Me?" Carlos asked, glancing at his son. "Never."
Jean nodded and looked down. He continued.
"I've had expectations put on me before. During high school...college...my time in South America...it's something I'm used to at this point." Carlos paused. "But I must admit, with how things are now...it's gonna be new territory."
Carlos put his son down and took a breath. The boy went over to his mom as his father sat back down. He kept speaking.
"Everybody in this city expects me to be something. They expect me to be the icon Spider-Man was. I don't want to fail them."
Ups! Tento obrázek porušuje naše pokyny k obsahu. Před publikováním ho, prosím, buď odstraň, nebo nahraď jiným.
The man remembered the first appearance of Spider-Man. He was finishing high school, and he found him remarkable. He idolized him. Then there were the years without Spider-Man during the blip, a period where the world was in mourning and trauma, and he believed he could help the world somehow, and he did so by joining the army.
During those years overseas, he ended up getting his powers. Now, with Spider-Man gone again, he felt he could use this opportunity to do some good in the city like he once did, especially with the rising crime rates and the appearance of new foes.
