Is it Impossible?
Earth-616, 07.12.2024
“A black coffee? No sugar, no milk?”
Her voice is smooth, warm, and familiar. The way she talks to him makes it feel like they know each other. Like they were friends. She knows how he drinks his coffee, as they made it together at home once, asking how he liked to drink his coffee. And then they would talk about how she liked her coffee, and now she mocks him that he drinks his coffee all black, because coffee with milk tasted better.
“Right? Peter Parker?”
She looks up at him, putting her hair back behind her ears. As usual, she was wearing her work uniform, but today she had her hair open. Usually, it was put back in a low ponytail, but today her wavy hair is open. Peter liked her hair open; she looked pretty. Not that she didn’t look pretty with a ponytail, MJ did.
“Yes, that’s correct.” Peter stumbles over the words and his face gets hot.
It became a small Routine to visit MJ once a week. Seeing her made Peter feel a little better after a rough week, even though she didn’t remember him. Now he was just Peter Parker, the weird boy stating his full name while ordering his coffee.
The first time seeing her, and Ned, made him realize that he couldn’t tell them. They got injured because of him, they could have died because of him, and Peter will never forgive himself if that happens, so the best option is to take space, looking from afar.
MJ smiles at him, and he can’t help but melt a little at the sight.
"Alright, Mr. Parker.”
It doesn’t take her long to finish the coffee, and Peter wishes it would take her forever to make that stupid coffee. He wanted to see her longer than those few minutes, but he knew he couldn’t. This is what he got, and Peter should be happy that she still took those Saturday shifts.
“Here you go.”
When he reaches for the cup, their hands brush against each other, and Peter can’t help but feel a little explosion going through his Body. MJ smiles at him, awkwardly letting go of the cup.
“Have a great Day, Peter Parker.”
MJ gave him a little wave, and he just nodded.
“Thank you, Michelle. Really, I mean for the coffee.”
She raises an eyebrow at him.
“That’s what I do, Parker. See you next week.”
Peter blushes, rushing out of the store.
She knew he visited the store every week.
Earth-1610, The Present.
Peter feels like dying when he wakes up. His Body aches and tells him that he is almost completely healed. Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he makes his way to the bathroom. The Room he was sleeping in, was almost empty, only some people were still lying around.
The warm socks keep his feet warm, and he hopes that no one takes his stuff, while he brushes his teeth and changes back into the clothes he bought yesterday.
He walks up to one of the sinks, splattering some cold water on his face. Next to him is a young mother, dressing her son for the day. Peter gave her a gentle smile when they share eye contact, starting to brush his teeth.
“Nice to see you awake! Almost thought you were knocked out cold!”
Peter looked at her through the mirror. The small brown-haired boy nods.
“Yes, Mommy was really worried about you! But I told her, you are just a heavy sleeper, like me.”
Peter spits out his toothpaste.
“Oh yes, I’m sorry for worrying you, Ma’am! I was really exhausted, had to catch up to some sleep.”
The Black-haired woman just shakes her head, having a frown on her face.
“Must’ve been hard for you on the streets. I’m sorry you here, you can’t be older than 15, boy.”
He feels the hit creeping up his Face and ears.
“I’m 17!”
She just raises an eyebrow at him, but a smile makes it across her face when she sees the flustered look he gave her.
“Then you got a hell of a baby face, dear.”
Peter ends up eating with the mother and her small boy. Kate (the mother) talks a little about how they ended up here, after the blip happened, having no home and no support because her husband remarried a new woman, while she was blipped. Peter was angry at the Man, but Kate kept repeating that she was happy that he found someone during this hard time of his life. The Boy, Isaac, didn’t seem bothered not being at home, telling him about all the nice people he had met here.
“I was blipped too. When I came back, everything was different for us,” Peter tells her. “It was a challenging time for everyone, my aunt and I had to move to a different Apartment. My childhood home was just gone and for me, it felt like I only left for a couple of minutes.” His Voice gets smaller.
“You must’ve felt awful, Peter.”
He nods.
“Well, it wasn’t easy for you either.”
Peter and Kate were silent through the rest of the dinner, and Peter wonders what is going through her head.
Not far from where Peter was staying the Night, a brown-haired woman is walking up and down the kitchen.
“Pick up that damn phone, or I swear to god, I'm going to skin you alive-”
“Okay! Calm Down May-”
She gaps angrily.
"What did you just say-"
“I'm sorry! Okay? I'm sorry! What's wrong? I know I’m a famous, hot millionaire, but why are you calling me at 2 am?”
Mays's mouth feels dry all of a sudden, not knowing how to bring the words out into the open.
"You won't believe me, Tony, it's impossible. It's probably just a prank, and I’m panicking over nothing right now, but I can't- It must be him, somehow, I can feel it and I know I must sound crazy but-"
“May what happened? Are you okay?”
“Tony, I’m- I don’t know what to do…”
“Okay, Calm down, okay? Deep breaths.”
“Is Pepper with you?”
“Yes?”
“Check the news, please."
“Okay….?”
“Just do it, please?”
“Okay, what exactly am I looking for?”
“Spider-Man.”
“May, what?”
“Spider-man is back.”
“But that’s impossible.”
“What if it's not?”
The air is cold, and he hides his face in his new scarf, which he got as a gift from Kate, after giving her the sleeping bag for Isaac.
Snow is falling from the sky as he makes his way through the city. Today's mission is to visit the library to see if he got any more information about the last Peter Parker. Maybe he could find something that could bring him to May. He knew she made the Foundation, but he couldn't find a location in the paper and Kate hadn't known.
The blonde guy at the reception disappeared and was replaced with an old woman with glasses and pink lipstick. She seemed rather annoyed at him for asking so many questions, but to his relief, she got him a map showing him where the nearest local library was.
At first, Peter was confused, this didn't seem like the New York he knew, but then it clicked, it was a mirrored version of his New York.
Well, that explained why he didn't find Mr. Strange yesterday.
His feet are frozen and soaked. Peter wishes that he could swing instead, but his web shooters are all empty, and for the first time he is kinda jealous of Peter 2 for being able to make it inside his own body. He takes a turn left, seeing the old brownish building.
When he enters the library, he chooses one of the computers in the back.
First, he doesn't really know what he looks for, but he starts by entering his full name.
Not many pages open, but one seems more interesting than the others.
“Peter Benjamin Parker wins the decathlon with his team by answering the last question correctly.”
His eyes fly around the article, stopping when he sees the picture. There they are. Ned and MJ laughing with him. His eyes get teary. The Picture was taken a little before the blip and furious he clicks on print. After having nothing but his Suits, he feels relieved to have something that reminded him of home. Peter searches for articles about his school, finding articles about MJs Talent for drawing or Ned making a Robot in Science class. He lands on one, with his face. But Peter's face drops instantly when he sees the name.
"Peter Benjamin Parker, dying in a tragic accident.”
He scrolls, searching for the people who blipped. Ned and MJ did, May didn't.
He doesn't know what to feel. This Peter survived the snap, spending his time with May.
After googling around, he found May's workplace and hoped it was up-to-date. Here he even found some Pictures of older Peter going to college and him helping out at the homeless center. It was crazy seeing himself as a 22-year-old man.
Peter shakes his head, this wasn't his life. He would go to May, getting her to help him find Strange.
What could go wrong, right?