This was an anonymous request. ...don't even ask
Peter flopped onto his bed at the end of a day which felt like it had lasted for years. He'd been to May's grave again, laid some flowers. There were already some there. It was good to see that people remembered her.
He'd been going back and forth from the library, revising. Some colleges had already started but if he got a good enough result they might let him join late. He'd also stopped for coffee on the way home. He'd meant to stay in the shop and read but he couldn't bear seeing MJ not seeing him, and when Ned had come in he'd left in a hurry. He needed to see them, to know they were okay and he'd made the right choice, but he couldn't stand spending too much time around them but not with them.
He'd thought about trying again, starting afresh. He could become a regular, sit next to Ned one day and strike up a conversation, flirt with MJ, befriend them both again. He'd even fantasised about getting into MIT with them and sharing a dorm, relearning their sibling-like dynamics. But even looking at them talk made a stabbing pain shoot through his chest. How could he join their conversations and play a stranger?
He sighed and sat up, looking around his room. Bare walls, plain sheets, grey view from the window. Books on the empty desk, minifigure on the empty shelf. He wondered if Ned had noticed it was missing.
He needed to get a plant or something.
Actually, he needed to get a job. The rent would be due soon, and he couldn't keep living off his university fund forever. He would get a job, earn money, go to college. Get a plant. He could build a new life for himself.
He took out his phone, meaning to look for job vacancies in the area. Maybe the coffee shop MJ worked at was hiring? It would be less weird for a fellow employee to get to know her, right?
Instead, the phone opened onto the contacts app. Peter's breath caught as he scrolled through the list of his classmates, friends and family. He still had Tony's number saved. May. Happy.
He could still call any of them. But anyone who picked up wouldn't have a clue who he was.
Peter closed his phone again, all his resolution gone. It was pointless. He had no family, no friends. Nobody to turn to, nowhere to go. The only reason the authorities hadn't put him in the system yet was because all records of Peter Parker had been wiped by the spell. Everything he'd spent his life doing so far, gone.
All of the years, all of his tears, meaningless. All of his promises, void.
The phone began to ring.
Peter didn't bother to answer it. It would be a prank call, or a scam. Maybe his landlord, but he wasn't in the mood right now. Nobody else knew his number anymore.
The phone stopped ringing. Then it started again.
Peter frowned, and picked it up to see the caller. His mind went quiet as he saw the name.
Flash Thompson calling...
Swallowing hard, Peter accepted the call and raised the phone hesitantly to his ear. He knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't help himself. Every time he saw somebody he knew, this hope rose inside him. And every time the spark of recognition failed to appear in their eyes, it crushed him a little more.
He was just setting himself up for disappointment. But still, he answered.
"Hello?"
"Peter?"
"Y-yes?"
"Did you forget?"
Peter heart almost leapt out of his chest. It couldn't be. Could it? Was it possible that Flash really remembered him? Why Flash, of all people?
"Forget what?"
"Our deal! You said you would swing me to school all week! Jeez, Parker, I've been waiting for almost an hour!"
Peter didn't realise he was crying until he found he couldn't reply.
"F-flash. I... Can we meet up? I need to talk to you." His voice broke on the last word.
"...Are you okay, Peter?"
"A lot has happened."
"I'm free to meet up after school, okay?"
"Okay. See you then."
Peter let Flash hang up.
He dropped the phone onto his bed, hardly able to believe what had just happened. Flash had remembered that stupid bargain. Flash had remembered.