Nobody knows when it truly started, we’ve always helped out, however we could, whenever we could. His safety in exchange for ours wasn’t a tough price to pay, not everyone could stop buses and stop robberies in their spare time.
Maybe it started then, once he established himself as a good guy? New York has been through it, especially after the alien invasion, seeing Spidey was good, we wanted to protect that. We needed to help him. We had to protect the good he would do for us.
And once someone found out it was 15 year old Peter Parker, freshman in high school, an orphan with a busy guardian, who was also able to rescue us in what little spare time he had between homework, and a social life. Well what were we supposed to do? Not help?
At first it was a few people who’d scatter themselves around New York, they’d go in and pick up his stuff after he changed, or they'd look out for him; find where he is, or where he was going. They’d keep the secret he couldn’t.
They’d make sure the cops didn’t come until after Spidey left.
“call the cops”
“alright” *proceeds to fumble their phone for the next five minutes while Spidey webs up the last of the bad guys and swings away* “There was an attempted robbery at this convenience store”
They’d keep information about him away from that reporter that would always diss him on the news (J. John Jamestown, probably, we don’t talk about him much other than the occasional someone calming the other down because he said something triggering about Spidey)
They’d make sure he was good to go after anything too strenuous
“That looked like a lot”
The citizen waits a few seconds of the boy panting before he gets a response “It’s nothing for New York”
“Sure bro, do you need anything?”
“Nah, thanks for asking tho”
“No problem spidey”
Sometimes they’d even offer him ice for a new bruise before he made his way back to school.
“That's a nasty bruise kid, do ya want to put some ice on it?” A lady at a bus stop asks the boy who took a seat next to her.
“It’s-” the boy barely gets out before he’s interrupted
“Come here I have a cold pack” She offers
“Oh no it’s-”
“Young man I’m not taking no for an answer, not while you’re supposed to be at school” Her voice warrants no argument as she holds out the cold pack for Peter to take.
“But-” He tries once more, but again the woman gives him a stern look.
“Nope, here, at least for a few minutes before the bus comes, if my kid was skippin I wouldn’t want to know he got beat up”
“Thank you” Peter finally gives in, the woman was right, May would freak if she saw the bruise.
Or some food from a convenience store after a rescue.
“Honestly kid it’s my treat” A man argues after seeing Spiderman reason with someone not to commit suicide.
The kid looked about 18–19, they stood on the building for a few minutes, contemplating, after a few minutes the kid came to the ledge and had one foot off when Spiderman swung by bringing them back up to the roof. They stood there for about twenty minutes, arguing and leaving tears on the kid’s face once Spidey swung down, holding them and waking the kid back to their house, talking along the way.
It didn’t make the news. It wasn’t seen as something Spiderman would do. It wasn’t anything worth doing, the twenty minutes he took arguing with the kid was twenty minutes longer his patrol would be.
But that twenty minutes saved a life.
That twenty minutes would be one less funeral, one less crying mother, one less person in the hospital. And that twenty minutes was twenty minutes worth spending on someone who thought their life had no value. Their life was worth saving and Spiderman helped them realize that.
“Are you sure? I can pay for it” the Hero repeats for the tenth time, not wanting someone to spend too much on him
“I have no doubt ‘bout that but I’m feelin’ generous today” the man repeats for the tenth time, getting tired of the hero’s nagging about not spending money on him
“If you insist, thank you, I’ll make it up to you” the boy promises, like he isn’t in the business of saving lives.
“Says the hero”
Or an offer to take him back to the store because they sat and talked with him out of costume after a rescue across town and found out he had a huge project for school he needed done the next morning and he still needed a few parts
“I know a store that’s still open a few blocks away, I’ll take you”
“Are you sure? It’s getting pretty late”
“Of course, I was just gonna sit out here for another hour before going back to my apartment”
“Well-”
“Nonsense, lets go before it gets too late”
That person ended up walking with Peter to a store that was “coincidentally” halfway to his Aunt May’s place, the boy didn’t know that the persons house was over 15 blocks in the other direction but
They’d do what needed to be done.
After a while more and more people joined in helping out Spiderman, and eventually everyone knew; he was New York's best kept secret.
You wouldn’t get any info unless you proved to be kind and trustworthy either. A few times some people would try to dig up information on him, posing as someone who cares about New York’s favorite spider. We’d deal with them accordingly.
It wasn’t a hard decision to protect him either. He’d face dangerous people while we just cowered away, he’d risk his 15 year old life just for us. It makes us feel special but also surreal that this kid, literal kid, would go out of his way to defend and protect us, no matter the risk to himself.
So yeah, picking up his backpack off the street and making sure it’s on his doorstep later on wasn’t a hassle at all.
And then one day, the aliens came back, and Spidey went with Iron Man.
And he didn’t come back till after the Blip.
But then you step into that school and you see a few kids on their phones while Parker is losing his shit. You think they’re being assholes for ignoring their classmates struggles, but then you take a peek and they’re on discord calling for backup and typing out “Trigger # 50- Footloose; mentioning the movie Footloose caused Peter to-”
The student stops “Excuse me, did you need something?” the preppy girl, probably important to the students, stops her ‘update’(?) to find out who you are while other students usher Peter, who was previously shaking uncontrollably away towards another student who embraces the boy and ushers him towards another area.
“I was just checking in on-”
“Well you’ll be happy to know that the future scientists of Midtown High are very busy, some of our students are analyzing mental health and the effects of the Blip on the students around them while others are preparing new treatments for said analyzations, my name is Betty Brant, if you have anymore questions about what we are doing please step this way”
You get the message loud and clear; They’re helping Spiderman too, however they can. “Why thank you Miss Brant, I’m Dr. Gonzalez and I’m also studying the effects of the Blip, however on adults instead of teens”
So does she, you’re both helping with Blip victims. You’re both trying to help Peter.
After that day, you let the people know what’s being done at school for the boy.
A month later you walk into a completely different school. Betty shows you the updated list, they’re on #223 now (Titan; he had a panic attack when they read that chapter of Homers: The Odyssey in english class).
She explains that after Peter came back from the Blip his academic performance took a turn for the worse and Spiderman hadn’t shown his face on the street in about two weeks. Once they found out things triggering him and avoided saying or doing those things, his academic performance improved and Spiderman appearances increased to at least once a week since then.
She explained that once the discord server was made, the neuroscience kids helped out in introducing ways for them to help him come down from his panic attacks and calm him down when he was visibly overwhelmed. They’d also helped with showing the other students how to help even when his pain wasn’t visible. Of course there were some people who still didn’t know about those triggers but they’ve been slapped enough to not bring it up anymore around Peter.
Still she didn’t name-drop or say anything about how the discord began, but there were over a thousand students and a few teachers as well. You have a feeling this server was created by a this one girl, she was evidently close to Peter but you can’t squeeze a name out of Betty, who is the only student who will even speak to you (Every other student avoids eye contact and if they do speak to you it's because she nods that it’s ok)
New York isn’t necessarily different either, but when Spidey is there everyone is careful of their words and if some jackass tries to figure out some information on Queens favorite boi then the whole city is against them.
And as the discord and support grows, Peter begins improving more and more. His panic attacks are limited to twice a month, if that. Spiderman is more pumped to help his city than ever. May see’s her nephew’s grief for his late mentor fade away slowly and New York is thriving.
Doing all these things for a hero may seem futile to some but to the hero, it’s more than he can even put into words.
It’s important when Spiderman helps to make sure that their kids get home safely, and that they know they’re important, and that they are safe when they go out. It’s important when the hero could choose to do nothing but doesn’t. It’s important because while everyone is living their life, Spiderman is always going to be there to make sure everyone knows they are valued and important enough for New York’s favorite Spider to dedicate his time to protecting, defending and preserving each and every one of them