✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧
"WE'RE COVERING THE first day of senior year for Midtown High's most famous students, Peter Parker and (Y/N) Schmidt," Betty spoke to a camera with a microphone in hand, giving her back to the rest of the crowd that was waiting for them to arrive in front of the school building. "Go get them, tiger! Or should I say 'spider'?"
"The crowd has continued to grow here all morning long at the Midtown School of Science. . ." a female reporter announced. "The crowd seems evenly decided between supporters of Spider-Man and Blue Dame and protestors."
Peter and (Y/N) tried to walk through the entrance of the school but the immense crowd of people waiting for them in the front were blocking the space, and they had to hold onto each other's hands to not loose the other amongst the people and lower their heads.
Ned and MJ were following behind the couple, sharing a worried glance when they spotted the waves of people in the entrance holding posters of their friends. Peter's grip on (Y/N)'s hand tightened as they got deeper into the crowd and people began to yell at the two.
(Y/N)! (Y/N)! (Y/N)! We love you!" a man yelled and showed his shirt with her face on it, proud of what he was doing. "(Y/N), are you gonna have his spider-babies?"
(Y/N) ignored the man's yells and missed the dirty look Peter flashed him because of the question, it all seemed to be getting worse by every passing day.
"(Y/N), you don't belong here. You know that you're murderers, right?" another person exclaimed.
"Murderers! Mysterio forever!"
"Do a flip!"
"Hey, let's see you and (Y/N) kiss!"
"Back off!" Ned snapped at the man, and several people turned their attention to him. When MJ took notice of what was happening, she spared one last look to the couple before joining Ned outside.
"Yeah, if I hear one more disgusting phrase coming from your mouth, I won't hesitate to kick your ass," MJ crossed her arms.
"Who are you?"
"MJ and Ned Leeds, Blue Dame and Spider-Man's — ," Ned spoke up but someone else drowned his words down.
"I'm Peter Parker and (Y/N) Schmidt's best friends," Flash interrupted, earning glares from the other two. "You come at my friends, you come at Flash Thompson. If you wanna read about our inspiring friendship, you can now in my new book, Flashpoint. One spider, two hearts, a million crazy-ass memories."
(Y/N) and Peter were stopped by the staircase that led to the school by two police officers, who were guarding the area and scanned Peter from head to toe with a metal detector wand.
"Go," one officer said politely to Peter after he was done with the metal detector wand, but he stopped in his tracks when the other police men were taking their sweet time in (Y/N), eyeing her carefully.
Once Peter and (Y/N) were finally able to enter the school building, they climbed up the stairs of the place they already knew but a look of confusion fixed itself on (Y/N)'s face when she saw Mr. Dell, Mr. Harrington and Coach Wilson waiting for the two of them at the top of the staircase.
The nervous looks on the teachers' faces were extremely obvious, though the effort to hide it could be seen in their eyes. (Y/N) glanced at Peter from the corner of her eye as Mr. Dell stepped forward. "Peter, (Y/N), we would love to welcome you back at Midtown High, where we shape heroes."
Mr. Harrington gestured to the mural behind him that had several drawings, pictures and even the yellow blazers that they had wore for the Academic Decathlon back in sophomore year.
"Or murderers," Coach Wilson pointed out and (Y/N) lowered her head at that statement.
"Stop it." Mr. Dell shook his head.
"It's an honor to serve you, sir," Mr. Harrington bowed at the two, but he was staring at Peter directly when he said that, and (Y/N) understood right away. Peter caught onto this and grabbed her hand once again, easing her thoughts away.
"It's not. Mysterio was right."
"Stop. That's all," Mr. Harrington cut him off. "Some students put this together for you."
"No, you did that," Coach Wilson confessed.
"I helped a little bit."
"And I tried to stop you so many times, but you powered through. He did all of that," Coach Wilson continued, growing annoyed by this.
"I hope you have time to stop and check it out," even though Mr. Harrington was trying to be nice, (Y/N) could see how he was eyeing her like a ticking bomb.
"Feel free to walk or swing through the hallway. Or crawl on the ceiling to avoid everybody," Mr. Dell made gestures with his hands to add effect to his words, offering an awkward smile.
"We all know you can do it," Mr. Harrington nodded in agreement.
"Okay. . ." (Y/N) trailed off, offering a short nod in her teachers' directions.
"I'm just gonna. . ." Peter tried to say something too but his words died out on his throat, walking side by side with (Y/N) through the hallway.
"I know what you did."
"Stop it. You're embarrassing yourself."
(Y/N) swallowed deeply when she saw the enormous crowd of students blocking the rest of the hallway, all lifting their phones in the air to get a clear shot at them as they walked by without a word.
(Y/N) counted her head to stop herself from snapping and pushing everyone out of the way with her powers, fixing her eyes on the floor to avoid the camera flashes.
✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧
THE SUN'S BRIGHT rays of light were blocked by the newspaper that (Y/N) had in her hands, lifting it in the air as she laid in the floor of the school's rooftop with Peter right beside her, using their backpacks to rest their heads.
"Can we just stay up here all day?" Peter suggested. "It is so crazy down there."
(Y/N) continued reading the newspaper until she read something that caught her eye. "Wait, hear what I found," she cleared her throat to read out loud. "'Some suggest that Parker's powers include the male spider's ability to hypnotize females, which he used to put Schmidt under his spell and into his cult of personality.'"
"Stop. Stop," Peter pleaded but laughed nonetheless, finding the article ridiculous.
"Yes, my Spider-Lord. Finally have another loving nickname to call you," (Y/N) joked and they shared a laugh as she continued scanning the page. "But it's wrong, though."
"How so?" Peter shifted in his spot to look at her completely, resting his head on his forearm.
"Because I'm the witch in the relationship and I put the spell on you first, bug boy," (Y/N) winked, rolling her head to look at him in the eye.
Peter's cheeks grew warm at her words and it was still surprising to him how he'd known her for a long time, but always managed to get him all flustered. The couple stared into each other's eyes and began to lean forward, their lips inches apart but didn't get the chance to connect.
"All right, enough of the lovey dovey stuff, you two, it is making me physically gag," MJ announced as she opened the door that led to the roof, making them jump from surprise.
"Finally, some privacy," Ned continued, climbing up the ladder too and stepping into the roof. "It is so crazy down there."
Ned removed his backpack and placed it on the ground as Peter and (Y/N) sat up from the floor, all while MJ joined them with her own backpack already on the floor.
"So I was thinking. . . when we get into MIT, we should live together," Ned explained.
"Yeah, for sure," Peter said and (Y/N) hummed in agreement to his words.
"Yeah, I'd love that," MJ nodded too.
Ned opened his laptop and flipped it for the others to show the MIT website with an image of a group of teenagers laughing as they played in campus. "This is gonna be us."
"Yes, but take out the Frisbee," (Y/N) scrunched her nose, fiddling with her fingers out of nervousness. The subject of college was still something uneasy, and all those talks about it were driving her insane.
"And the smiling," MJ agreed, propping her arm on (Y/N)'s shoulder to get comfortable.
"MIT's obviously the dream, but if we watch up our backup schools, then either way, we'll all be together in Boston," Peter continued. "New school, new town. (Y/N) and I can do our superhero duties. I mean, they have crime in Boston, right?"
"Yes," MJ confirmed.
"Yeah, wicked crime."
"It'll be like a fresh start," Peter told the three.
(Y/N) seemed to like the idea of it, reassuring herself that it could be an option for her, she then noticed MJ's discomfort and turned to her. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know," MJ confessed. "I just feel like, if you don't — if you expect disappointment, then you can never really get disappointed."
"It's gonna be okay. A fresh new start, where we're all together," (Y/N) commented, using a hand to grab MJ's.
"Yeah. No, you're right. Fresh start," MJ nodded slowly, fighting back a grin.
Ned and Peter placed their hands on top of theirs, four different hands all clasped together. "Fresh start."
✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧
THE LETTERS ARRIVED the following week that had been filled with several rejections from all the college options (Y/N) had applied too, all giving her the same disappointing news. In this routine, May would come home from work and check the mail, handing each of them their respective letters.
"Last one," she announced, holding two identical envelopes.
(Y/N) was drinking her regular coffee in the morning and lazily used blue mist to stack the lego bricks of the Death Star along with DUM-E and Peter, who sat across from her at the table, eating his cereal.
"MIT?" Peter questioned with a mouthful of cereal, and DUM-E moved over at the same time, accidentally knocking down the entire Death Star, making (Y/N) wince.
Peter and (Y/N) rushed directly at the coffee shop where MJ worked at to open the letters together just like they had planned. People were still eyeing them with weird looks, but the excitement about knowing what the letter said distracted (Y/N) completely.
The doorbell rang when the couple walked into the coffee shop and this alerted MJ, who looked up at the sound and locked eyes with (Y/N) as she showed her the letter in her hand. MJ took this as a sign to grab her own and back away from the counter to join Ned on one of the tables.
"Okay," MJ said, taking a deep breath. "Ready?"
"Jones," the owner of the shop called out. "I told you to take down the Halloween decorations."
"Actually, that was Sasha, so — "
"Enough attitude. Just do it."
MJ took a second to respond. "On it."
"I feel like I'm gonna puke," Ned confessed with his letter in his hands, staring down at it.
"Don't, because he will just make me clean it," MJ protested, leaning forward on the table.
"This is our only shot," Ned said. "It's here or nowhere."
"Hey. Come on," Peter gave him a look because of his negative thoughts.
"Okay, enough positive attitude," (Y/N) spoke besides Peter, looking up to her friends and boyfriend. "You all ready?"
"Yeah," they all nodded at the same time, the nerves evident in their tone.
"Okay, on three," MJ glanced at her friends. "One. . .two. . .three."
(Y/N) carefully opened the envelope up and unfolded the paper, reading through the lines patiently in order to not miss a single detail written on the letter. She felt a lump in the bottom of her throat when she read the final sentence, and looked up to see how the expressions on Peter, Ned and MJ's faces dropped.
MJ shook her head when she met (Y/N)'s questioning eyes, muttering a "No."
Peter noticed this and stared back at his own paper, looking back at (Y/N) and Ned that haven't said their answers. "No. You?"
Ned lowered his head and his shoulders dropped when he turned to face his friends breathing out his reply. "No."
"(Y/N)?"
(Y/N) haven't noticed that her hands were slightly shaking as she held onto the letter, clearing her throat to speak up. "'In light of recent controversy, we are unable to consider your application and endanger the lives of other students in our campus.'"
Peter dropped his letter in the table and reached forward to grab (Y/N)'s hand and rub her back soothingly. "This is so not fair. I mean, this is so not fair. I didn't do anything wrong. You guys definitely didn't do anything wrong."
"Expect disappointment and you will never get disappointed," MJ recited her words from the other day.
"No sleep till," The door of the coffee shop opened and Flash came in, wearing a maroon MIT hoodie as he yelled and whooped in celebration. "Boston."
He noticed that the quartet was giving him solemn looks and he frowned. "You guys didn't get in?"
"Yeah, because we're actually friends with Spider-Man and Blue Dame," Ned commented.
"Uh, yeah. I better get going," Flash stuttered out his words. "There's a mixer for new admissions and — Sorry, guys." He walked out of the shop without another word and didn't look back.
"Jones, what are you doing?" the boss yelled out from behind the shop. "Get back to work."
"Yeah, I'm coming. You know what?" MJ responded and grabbed her letter once again before ripping it in half. "I wouldn't change a thing I did." She offered a thin smile before whirling on her heel to get behind the counter.
"Me neither," Ned agreed and ripped his own letter apart. "Although I do need to show this letter to my parents."
Ned grabbed his backpack and the teared sheet of paper before he walked out of the shop, leaving (Y/N) and Peter alone in their thoughts. She leaned forward and pressed a small kiss in his cheek, making him smile softly at the action.
"It's gonna be okay," (Y/N) said. "We'll figure out what to do."
"I know, but it's unfair. Especially what they said about you," Peter replied, his grip on her hand growing tight. "I wish they could understand."
"It doesn't matter, it's in the past," (Y/N) wanted to act like those words on the letter didn't affect her, but Peter saw right through her.
"You can tell me, you know?" Peter caressed his thumb over her hand soothingly. "It's okay if you're frustrated or angry. I get it."
"No, it's not that," (Y/N) shook her head. "I'll tell you whenever I do, but I don't feel anything at the moment."
Peter took in her words and he couldn't help but feel guilty about what she had to go through because of something she couldn't control. (Y/N) was one of the people he mostly cared about in the world, and he would do anything to make her feel happy and safe at the same time.
When she noticed his silence, (Y/N) took this as her cue to leave and grab her stuff. "I'll tell May the news, and then I'll go to the store. You're coming?"
A thought ran through Peter's head, and he noticed he'd been drifting off her words. "No, you go ahead."
If (Y/N) had dared to look behind her shoulder one last time, she would've noticed the way Peter eyed the decorations dangling in the ceiling of the shop, resembling a certain person.
✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧
PETER WALKED ALONG the street where the person he needed lived, every now and then reading the paper that had the address written on it to confirm that he was in the right place. When he recognized the building, he advanced towards it and hesitantly knocked on the door before it widely opened with the slightest touch.
A cold breeze was what Peter was received with, squinting his eyes at the sight that surprised him. Snow and frost covered the entire place, from the walls, furniture and floor up to the main staircase. Two people were gently scrapping the snow off the floor and placed it into buckets.
Peter cleared his throat and the two people stopped their actions to look at him. "Hi. Hi? I'm — "
An orange portal formed in the middle of the room and a man walked out of it with a puffy jacket with the hood over his head. "The most famous person in the world. I know." He removed the hood of the jacket and placed his stuff in the floor. "Wong. Try not to slip. We don't have liability insurance."
"Is all this for a holiday party?" Peter asked as he walked deeper into the building, clasping his hands together to keep them warm.
"No," Wong began. "One of the rotunda gateways connects to Siberia. A blizzard blasted through."
A familiar person hovered in the air above the main staircase and Peter could easily recognize him, the red cape blowing back with ease. "Because someone forgot to cast a monthly maintenance spell to keep the seals tight."
Stephen Strange lowered down and nearly slipped when his feet hit the snowy ground. He held a cup of coffee in hand and a marine blue jacket covered him completely.
"That's right, he did, because he forgot I now have higher duties," Wong snapped.
"Higher duties?" Stephen inquired.
"The Sorcerer Supreme has higher duties, yes."
"Wait, I thought you were the Sorcerer Supreme," Peter frowned with his eyes fixed on Stephen.
"No, he got it on a technicality 'cause I blipped for five years," Stephen explained and drank from his coffee mug.
"Congratulations," Peter awkwardly said.
"If I'd been here, then — "
"You'd burn the place down," Wong cut Stephen up before walking away. "You two, no one said stop shoveling."
"So, Peter, to what do I owe the pleasure? Is (Y/N) deciding to finally talk to me?" Stephen questioned and began to walk away towards the fireplace with a hand on his hip.
Peter wanted to point out that it was the other way around but decided not to since it wasn't his place to. He followed after Stephen and nearly slipped on the snow too. "Right. I'm really sorry to bother you, sir."
"Please. We saved half the universe together," Stephen waved a hand and a fire lit up in the chimney. "I think we're beyond you calling me 'sir'."
"Okay, Stephen," Peter nodded.
"That feels weird, but I'll allow it."
"When. . .When Mysterio revealed my identity, my entire life got screwed up and I was wondering — " Peter ranted. "I mean, I don't really know if this would actually work, but I was wondering if. . .maybe you could go back in time and make it so he never did?"
"Peter, we tampered with the stability of space-time to resurrect countless lives. You wanna go it again now just 'cause yours got messy?"
"It's not about me," Peter commented. "This is really hurting a lot of people. My Aunt May, Happy, my best friends, my girlfriend, their futures are ruined just because they know me, and they've done nothing wrong."
"I am so sorry. . .but even if I wanted to. . .I don't have the Time Stone anymore."
"That's right," Peter nodded slowly, his shoulders dropping from his words. "I'm really sorry if I wasted your time."
"You didn't."
"Just forget about it."
Wong groaned and came back into the room. "Oh, he will. He's very good at forgetting things."
Something clicked inside Stephen's head and he pointed at his direction with widened eyes. "Wong, you've actually generated a good idea."
"What?"
"The Runes of Kof-Kol."
"The Runes of Kof-Kol?" Peter repeated with a questioning tone, not knowing what he was referring too but nodded nonetheless.
"It's just a standard spell of forgetting. Won't turn back time, but people will forget you were ever Spider-Man."
"Seriously?"
"No, not seriously," Wong interrupted loudly. "That spell travels the dark borders between known and unknown reality. It's too dangerous. We can't risk it especially when we have to deal with her — "
"We've used it for a lot less," Stephen stopped him from saying anything more. "Do you remember the full moon party at Kamar-Taj?"
"No."
"Exactly," Stephen proved his point and Wong stayed silent, his gaze telling the others what he thought about this plan, an angry look forming in his features. "Come on, Wong. Hasn't he been through enough?"
Wong didn't reply and an orange portal formed right behind him, a green scenery receiving him as he took one step back to get in the place. "Just leave me out of this."
"Fine."
"Fine."
When the portal disappeared, Stephen gave Peter a smirk and a mischievous look, guiding him down to the basement of the Sanctum and took him to the lowest level, where there was no snow but it felt cold nonetheless.
Peter looked around as he stood across from Stephen and a small rock floated in between the two men. "So, what is this place?"
"The Sanctum's built at the intersection of cosmic energy currents," Stephen explained as he poured a golden powder into the rock table. "We weren't the first to seek them out. Some of these walls are thousands of years old. And they shot an episode of The Equalizer here in the '80s."
"Well, I. . .really appreciate you doing this for me, sir," Peter cleared his throat.
"Don't mention it," Stephen poured an orange liquid into a bowl in the rock table and lifted his arm to expand the string of the pouring liquid. "And don't call me 'sir'."
"Right, sorry."
"You ready?"
"I'm ready."
Stephen crossed his arms in a V-motion and his fingers formed a sign in them. "Nice knowing you, Spider-Man." He formed an orange ring and twisted it in his hands.
Peter frowned at his words and took a step forward to him. "Wait, excuse me?"
Stephen held a palm open and pulled a string of orange light of the shield he had in his hand, lifting it above his head to form a ring to begin the spell. "The entire world's about to forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. Including me."
"Everyone?" Peter muttered. A ring of runes appeared and he had to duck out of the way to avoid passing through them to get close to Stephen. "Can't some people still know?"
"That's not how the spell works. And it's very difficult and dangerous to change it mid-casting."
"So (Y/N)'s gonna forget about everything we've been through? Is she even gonna be my girlfriend?" Peter panicked.
Stephen pretended not to act slightly worried about her and didn't lower the arm that formed the runes in the air. "It depends. Was she your girlfriend just 'cause you were Spider-Man?"
"I don't know. I really hope not."
"All right, fine," Stephen dropped his hand and the ring of runes disappeared as he clasped his hands together. "Everyone's gonna forget you're Spider-Man except your girlfriend."
"Thank you so much," Peter breathed out before another thought came to his head. "Oh, my God. Ned. MJ."
"What is a Ned and MJ?"
"They're my best friends, so it's important to me that they know."
Stephen sighed and his patience was running thin, dropping the hand one more time and drop the ring of runes in the air as the ground below glowed in a light shade of orange before it died out. "Okay, let's not change the parameters of this spell any more while I'm casting it."
"Okay, I'm done. I swear, I'm done. I'm done," Peter confirmed before he cut in again. "But my Aunt May should really know."
"Peter, stop tampering with the spell."
"When she found out I was Spider-Man, it was really messy. I don't think I could go through that again," Peter explained and he gulped at the silence from the man before him. "So my Aunt May?"
"Yes," Stephen answered with an annoyed tone as he formed one more ring of runes around them.
"Thank you. Happy?"
"No, I'm annoyed."
"No, it's a nickname. Harold 'Happy' Hogan. He used to work with Tony Stark but then he was — "
Stephen held onto the orange string with care and the rings of runes began to tighten and surround them completely. "Would you just stop talking?"
The rings of runes broke free and a orange shimmer blew through the entire place, and when Stephen thought it was over, something else happened. He and Peter were slowly lifted off the ground while the ground and the walls around them began to disappear and reveal a purple cloud behind them as the entire place shook.
"Basically, everyone that knew I was Spider-Man before should still know!" Peter exclaimed.
The orange rings went loose and spun all around them as it tore down more of the Sanctum and revealed the purple and blue void. Stephen looked up to see it with clear eyes, and he swore he heard a faint roar in the distance.
The floor underneath Peter had completely disappeared and Stephen raised his arms in the air to pull the rings back in and return the room into its origin from. An orange three dimensional figure floated in the middle of the rock table and Peter's feet hit the ground with a thud.
"Did it work?" he asked carefully.
"No," Stephen snapped. "You changed my spell six times."
"Five times."
"You changed my spell. You don't do that. I told you. And that is why," Stephen pointed at the hovering figure. "That spell was out of control. If I hadn't shut it down, something catastrophic could have happened."
"Stephen, listen, I am so — "
"Call me 'sir'."
Peter swallowed. "Sorry, sir."
"After everything we've been through, someone I always forget you're just kids," Stephen pressed his hand to his forehead. "Look, Parker, the problem is not Mysterio. It's you trying to live two different lives. And the longer you do that, the more dangerous it becomes. Believe me. I'm so sorry about you and your friends not getting into college, but if they rejected you and you tried to convince them to reconsider, there's nothing else you can do."
"When you say 'convince them', you mean, I could have called them?" Peter paused.
"Yeah."
"I can do that?"
"You haven't called the. . .?"
"Well, I mean, I got their letter. I assumed that was — "
"I'm sorry," Stephen moved the rock table out of the way to walk closer to Peter and stare down at him with an incredulous look. "Are you telling me that you didn't even think to plead your case with them first before you asked me to brainwash the entire world?"
"Well, I mean, when you put it like that — "
The door of the Sanctum was slammed in his face after that, leaving him in the outside. Stephen kicked him out right at that moment, and Peter groaned at this and buried his face in his hands.
"(Y/N)'s gonna kill me."
okay, so for next chapter, i'll be alternating the story a little bit, so please bare with me and don't criticize me.
-see you soon, bex