The days dragged on a little bit after the night we had shared our somewhat complicated story with Ned Leeds, who thankfully, took the whole thing quite smoothly. He was like a child in a candy store, wanting more, wanting every little detail that we could provide for him. Even when the night was over, the end of the story already told, he came back the following day, and the one after that with many more questions. Can you summon an army of spiders? Do you lay eggs? Do the visions show the future or snippets of the past? Do you think you could predict my future? The questions were never-ending, but it was quite nice to have one more person we didn't have to lie to now.
With the weather changing in the city, things stayed mostly the same. I hadn't really spoken much to Peter about my theories about his best friend, it was something he was pretending wasn't remotely possible. Although our important conversation hadn't really occurred, he was always dodging that subject with how crazy it had been the night Delmar's Sandwiches shop had been ruined with some high powered weapon in the hands of some thugs. It was an issue that wasn't on my mind with my own mountain of homework and assignments that needed to be perfect to bring my grades back up. With my own stressful life, my journal was always the very last thing that I read over before my lamp was switched off and my head hit the pillow. The visions had calmed down, the pain nothing but a memory now but the things that flashed behind my eyelids always swirled around in my mind. I was struggling quietly to figure out what each scene represented, what it could mean in the likelihood that it played out in my life. Nothing had cleared though, the only snippet that seemed to make much sense was the green hand, something I had labeled with Green Goblin and his broken son left to clean up the mess. Sadly, the hours spent staring down at my scribbled words had proved nothing. Until something clicked in my mind one night before bed. Something that seemed so obvious now.
"Pete, hey." My boyfriend was giving me a sheepish smile, looking a little tired from staying out late and most likely doing Spidey things last night. Right now, we were wearing the Midtown matching gym clothing and waiting for the coach to start class. I had managed to drag him away from Ned and Harry, needing a little second of privacy. "I think I figured out one of my visions."
That grabbed his attention, "Really? Which one?"
I glanced over my shoulder, noticing Ned watching us, a little bummed out he wasn't being called over for a super secret conversation. Nobody else was paying us any attention, everyone standing around and chatting mindlessly. "Well, I'm not completely sure because these things can be so vague, but the red horns." I paused, letting him catch on. He wasn't spending every night staring at the clues, which meant it could have slipped his mind. "Who do we know that wears horns?"
Peter gave me a little look, "Um. I had a really long night and my mind is lagging. A little hint, please?"
"Come on, somebody who used to run around Hell's Kitchen and fight against bad guys in the dark hours of the nighttime." I hinted quietly, a little excitement in my voice. Peter's eyes snapped open with my words, already I could see that familiar intrigue.
He moved in closer. "You're having visions about Daredevil? That's so cool."
The whistle from Coach Wilson sounded and the chorus of groans sounded through the gym. I was giving him a little smile, quite pleased that something had finally clicked into place again. Although, the vision was vague, only showing red horns, it could only be him. It was still a mystery though since the city hadn't seen or heard from the Devil of Hell's Kitchen in weeks, many claimed he had gone underground, but it was the only lead I had right now, and a shaky lead was better than no lead at all.
After a long and rather outdated video featuring Captain America himself about our upcoming fitness challenge, we were paired into twos and set out across the gym to work through stations. With Mary Jane as my partner, we went through the stations half attempting to make an effort, even with our shameless fits of giggling and complaining, we were doing better than Michelle Jones, who was reading a book the entire time.
"Are you busy tonight?" Mary Jane randomly asked, positioning her hands on her hips and watching me stretch out my limbs. "I know Gwen's got a family thing but Liz Allan's having a party, something for the musical kids, but it could be pretty fun."
Mary Jane had been spending quite a bit of time with the senior with long hours at rehearsal. It seemed my pretty redhead friend was spending more time with her than me lately. Although, that wasn't the heaviest burden to carry with my own secrets. Suddenly, with her pleading eyes, I felt guilty about not trying to spend more time with her. "Yeah, sure. I've got a date with Pete, but we can push it to the weekend. He won't mind. I mean, I always have the worst luck at parties, but if you're needing a date, I'll be your wing-woman."
"Great." She gave me that stunning smile, pushing some hair from her eyes. Suddenly, with her bubbly attitude I was remembering a conversation from weeks ago about her family not supporting her dreams and how there had been such sorrow in her eyes. It was in that very moment that I wished our lives could be a little more simple.
Reaching for her hand, I sent her an encouraging smile. "I'm always here if you need me." I noted seriously, "Well, most of the time. I'm working on that."
Before she could even reply, a new voice sounded out through the gym, loud and clear like church bells. "Peter knows Spider-Man!" The entire group of us were turning around and spying Ned Leeds, who looked mildly proud of himself. A panic flared in my chest with the words while Peter was scurrying to his feet. He found me in the crowd quickly, something flashing in his eyes before trying to undo the damage that Liz Allan had been witness to. When the slight slip was covered up lamely, Flash joining in to taunt Peter some more and Liz actually inviting him to her party too, the coach was blowing another whistle and gym class was over.
***
Mary Jane's older sister dropped us off at Liz Allan's house that night while reminding us that if we needed a ride home early, just to call her. The Allan house was a nice house in the suburbs, clean and decked out with party essentials including a DJ, where Flash was doing his thing and hyping up the kids invited. We had been here for nearly an hour and Peter hadn't showed, making my mind fill with questions. Usually, when he flacked out on plans, it had something to do with Spider-Man and I just hoped he wasn't in trouble.
"Well, it looks like Harry's a no show." Mary Jane mentioned as another song blared from the speakers, my attention getting lost in the crowd of kids dancing and drinking. I caught sight of her shoving away her phone and taking a sip of warm soda. Thankfully, we weren't having a repeat of our last party. "He bailed with a text message. Classic."
My gaze narrowed across at her, "Did he mention why?" I knew asking vague questions about her boyfriend wouldn't seem too strange, she would most likely put it down to me being nosy, so there wasn't any harm in getting information that could answer a few of my theories.
"Not really, he said something came up." Her answer didn't help my own questions, but it was somewhat interesting that Harry Osborn, king of parties, had bailed on short notice. If there was one thing he loved more than his money, it was partying. Before I could even blurt out more questions, my attention fell upon Ned and Peter, who had finally arrived.
When I was able to snake away from Mary Jane, who was chatting with a few tech guys from the musical, I found the boys bickering about something. "Spider-Man isn't a party trick, okay? Look, I'm just going to be myself. I don't really need more attention or popularity. Let's just forget about bringing out Spidey."
"What are we talking about?" I greeted them both, giving Ned Leeds's hat a little tap which resulted in a wide smile from him. "I heard the magic words. What are you two planning?" It was no surprise that they were scheming, most likely Ned's doing because he was always a little too excited about being friends with a hero.
Peter was already sending me a little look but Ned jumped in before he could even open his mouth and explain. "Peter's gonna' bring out the Spider. He's gonna' swoop in, greet everybody and mention how close we all are. It's going to be great and then, we'll be really cool." Ned blurted out and a frown was already growing on my face.
"Wait, are you serious?" There was a tone of judgement in my voice, one that my boyfriend had already picked up on. "Come on, that's stupid. You can't use the suit to showcase some poor attempt at becoming popular. Pete, you know that's a terrible idea. Since when did you even care about being popular?"
Like clock work, Flash Thompson hollered cheerfully. "Penis Parker, what's up? Oh, hey, where's your pal Spider-Man? I thought you invited him." A few laughs went through the crowd with Flash's mocking tone and how he blew a horn sound to get more attention. "That's not Spider-Man. That's just Ned in a red shirt."
I was already rolling my eyes, knowing Flash was just being a jerk tonight. With Gwen not around to shut up his teasing or remind him that he wasn't a total bully anymore, a few old habits shined bright tonight. "Come on, he's just being...well, Flash. Let it go." My hand was reaching for his Peter's wrist, wanting to comfort him but he was shrugging away from my touch. There was an unfamiliar flare in his eyes and I knew something stupid was coming.
Peter started moving towards the nearest exit without a comment, his jawline ticking. I went after him, hurrying through the crowd of kids partying. Ned was calling out our names, but over the loud chants of Penis Parker, his voice faded away. Outside we stood in a darkened corner of the backyard that separated the neighbouring house from this one. He was already looking up towards the roof, a place nobody would see him change. "You are not seriously doing this, right? Come on, this has to be the stupidest plan ever."
"Almost as stupid as you faking a robbery to get my attention?" Peter snapped back with and that set my irritation very quickly.
My arms crossed over my chest, "That was different." Already, he was scaling up the wall without a second glance down at me. A sigh sounded from my lips, knowing he didn't think a harmful display of Spider-Man was such a mistake. He had Ned Leeds in his head, reminding him that his social status sucked and he would doing almost anything to impress others tonight. "When this fails, a big fat told you so, will be waiting!" I shouted up at him, watching as he disappeared into the night.
When I turned around, ready to join Mary Jane inside again, something flashed on the backs of my eyelids. My hand snapped out to steady myself against the fence, a strange sensation nibbling at my mind. A vision played out in my mind, something that was brand new. Lights flooded an empty street in the city. A restaurant with tinted windows and a neon sign labelling the place Royal Dragon. When my mind finally cleared, a smile was growing on my lips. It was another piece of the puzzle that would soon unravel, whether I liked it or not.
- author's ramblings -
Sorry for the late update, but I needed to watch the movie and I just wasn't in the mood but here it is finally and it's kind of sucky, but oh well. A few things were mentioned that come into play next chapter which will be really fun and if you're familiar with the Netflix Marvel universe, you'll be really happy (even though my timeline is off like always whoops). A huge shout out to rebellionofhope who put together the graphic above, it's honestly wonderful, so thank you!! Anyway, the chapter sucked and that's all I have to say, so I'm outta' here, leave your thoughts x
- tinkertaydust