Chances

The moment of revenge had come. After months of wondering who the murderer of Norman Osborn was, Harry's answer was just a few steps away. Spider-Man was tied up on the chaiselongue in the grand living room of the Osborn mansion. A giddy feeling spread within his stomach. 

Harry picked up a silver dagger from the small table next to him. His gaze landed on the photo frame, showing a younger version of him and Norman. Norman's arm was wrapped around Harry's shoulder and both were smiling into the camera. It was one of the rare moments where Norman Osborn's smile had been genuine, where it had reached the sharp eyes and made the stressed face of the businessman look younger, more relaxed. 

"I'll avenge you, Dad. I'll make you proud", Harry whispered and examined the dagger. 

Harry ran his fingers over the handle and the petals that were artfully carved into the silver. Then he ran a finger along the blade, checking its sharpness. 

He approached the chaiselongue and took in the image of Spider-Man being tied up in his living room. His eyes trailed over the cuts in the goddamn suit and a slight smile graced Harry's lips at the knowledge of what was about to happen. 

"I wish I could cause you the pain you caused me", he said and his finger tightened their grip around the dagger. "I wish I could make you suffer like you made me suffer. Sadly, your death will arrive quicker than you deserve." 

Harry's heart was beating so quickly that he thought it would jump out of his chest. With shaky fingers he grabbed the fabric of that damn mask that haunted his mind in his dreams as well as in every second he was awake. 

He slowly removed the mask and the oxygen left his lungs. His heart skipped a beat and his eyes widened. 

"Pete." 

His voice was less than a whisper. Harry stumbled backwards, his eyes fixed on the face he woke up to every morning and fell asleep next to every night. He took in the lips he had felt moving softly against his so many times, took in those beautiful blue eyes he loved to get lost in. 

Harry shook his head. This couldn't be. The face underneath that disgusting mask couldn't be his favourite face on this godforsaken planet. It couldn't be the face of the man he loved so deeply. 

"Harry", Peter said, his voice soft and gentle. 

"You ... you killed my father", Harry said, his voice rising as the reality of the situation started to hit him, following by a rising level of anger. 

Peter shook his head and freed himself from the chaiselongue. He slowly approached Harry as if he was a scared animal. "Please, Harry, let me explain." 

That was when Harry lost it. 

"Let you explain?", he shouted. "You killed my father! You robbed me of the only family I had. You destroyed me! You pretended to care about me, for fuck's sake, to love me and yet you lied into my face every damn second!" 

Peter's face fell and his shoulders slumped. His brows furrowed and the corners of his mouth sank, his lips quivering. "Pretended to love you?", he whispered and his eyes turned a little glassy. "Is that truly what you think?"

But Harry didn't want to hear that. He didn't want to hear Peter's lies anymore. "Stop it with your lies! When were you going to tell me, huh? When?" 

"I ... I wanted to tell you." Peter's voice was shaky. "But you were hurting so much after your father's death. I couldn't look into those suffering eyes and tell you that I witnessed his death."

Peter reached out and tried to take Harry's hand but Harry pulled away. "You mean that you caused his death!" 

Peter shook his head, his eyes filled with tears by now. "I didn't kill him, Harry. You have to believe me. It was a horrible accident. His glider-" 

"An accident?", Harry yelled and raised the dagger. His fingers gripped the handle so tightly that his knuckles turned white. "So what are you trying to tell me, that he was colleteral damage or something?" 

Tears streamed down Peter's face as he shook his head. "It wasn't like that, I swear. Please, Harry ... listen to me. I love you, I-" 

Harry's free hand connected with the soft skin of Peter's cheek. "Don't you dare say those three words." 

Peter didn't fight back. He just flinched and let out a sob. That coward didn't even have the guts to fight back.

"You don't deserve to cry", Harry spat and slapped him again. "You don't get to cry."

"Harry, please ..."

"Get out, Peter. I don't want to ever see you again. You're lucky you once meant something to me because that's the only reason you're leaving this house alive."

Peter opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again. Instead, he just nodded and looked at Harry for a moment. He approached the door with slumped shoulders where he turned around once more. "I'm sorry, Harry." 

Once the door was closed, Harry sank onto the chaiselongue and buried his hands in his hair. The tears finally welled up in his eyes and streamed down his face. Choked sobs escaped his throat and wrecked his body. 

It had been Peter. Peter who had been his closest friend for years, who was his goddamn boyfriend, who meant the world to him. And Peter had lied him in the face over and over again. Peter had taken his heart, ripped it out of his chest, stomped on it and broke it into pieces, glued it back together and shoved it inside his chest again only to rip it out again and tear it to shreds now. 

Harry grabbed an open bottle of whiskey from nearby and emptied it. He welcomed the burning feeling in his throat as if it could overshadow the gaping hole in his chest. His hands trembled and his chest tightened. It was all too much. 

The world around him started spinning and the sense of reality escaped his grip. His blurry gaze fell upon the dagger on the floor. Would he have been able to kill Peter? 

A mad laugh echoed from the high walls of the living room and rang in Harry's ears. The hairs on his neck stood up and a shiver ran down his spine. He knew that laugh. 

"Hello?", he called. Nothing. "Who is it?" 

Harry got up from the chaiselongue and picked up the dagger as he slowly approached the voice's direction. 

"Son. I'm here." 

Harry stopped in his tracks and found himself standing in front of a mirror. But instead of his reflection, his father was staring back at him. 

This couldn't be. His father was dead. But as he blinked and opened his eyes, the image of his father in his business attire was still there.

"Dad?", Harry whispered. He shouldn't be talking to his dead father. He was going crazy. "I thought you were ..." 

“No, I’m alive in you, Harry. Now it’s your turn. You swore to make Spider-Man pay. Now make him pay.”

"But Pete's my boyfriend." After all, Harry still had feelings for Peter. He still hoped he'd wake up in the comfort of Peter's arms and that all this was just a nightmare.

"And I'm your father." Norman's stern tone didn't leave room for arguments. The same tone Harry had to hear every time he disappointed his father which happend quite often. "You’re weak. You were always weak. And you’ll be weak until you take control. You’re a disappointment, a disgrace. Now you know the truth about Peter. Be strong, Harry. Avenge me. Make him pay for what he did to you.”

Harry shook his head, tears streamed down his face. He wanted his father to get out of his head. He couldn’t take it anymore.

“Avenge me!”, his father screamed.

“No!”, Harry yelled back and threw the dagger at the mirror to make his father disappear.

The mirror shattered into pieces and revealed a dark corridor of which Harry didn't know it existed. Carefully, he entered the corridor and followed the massive stone walls deeper into the heart of the mansion. 

Finally, he saw light. As Harry entered the chamber, he wished he wouldn't have done it. The green mask with the twisted face was in it. Next to it was Oscorp's glider. 

Harry shook his head. This couldn't be. He stumbled backwards right into a shelf made of glass. Orange balls dropped from it. He remembered the day of Oscorp's Unity Festival when he was standing on the balcony and such a thing exploded next to him, vaporizing the board members. Harry would recognize them everywhere. 

He was standing in the Green Goblin's headqaurters. In his father's headquarters. His father was a murderer who killed the board. Who almost got him killed. His father was the Green Goblin. 

Harry's whole world had crumbled into dust within minutes.