saudade

Peter was in a bind. On the one hand, he missed the affection Harry gave him. He was desperate for restoring their relationship. He missed the relationship like it was before. On the other hand, Peter didn’t want to pretend like everything was fine between them. It was unfair towards Harry and when he gets his memories back, it would make everything worse.

But Harry needed him as a boyfriend right now. What was the right thing to do? Peter didn’t know. If he was more distant towards Harry, it would make his condition worse, especially after the nightmare he had a few nights ago. If he continued playing his role, it would have serious consequences once Harry gets his memories back.

The only thing Peter knew was that he had to talk with Harry about Norman and how he died. He planned to do it after the celebration. Spider-Man was honoured with the key to the city and today was the day of the ceremony. Nevertheless, Peter was nervous about both receiving the key and talking to Harry.

“Are you ready?”, Harry called from above and ran down the stairs. “It will be so fun. I love festivals. At least I think so. Bernard said festivals are fun.”

“You’ll have a lot of fun for sure.” Peter smiled at the sight of Harry who was so excited and carefree today. He seemed to have processed the nightmare very well and Peter was glad for it. Harry deserved to be happy. He deserved to be free of his demons.

As they arrived at the festival, Peter was overwhelmed. Hundreds or even thousands of people were there. Children wore Spider-Man costumes. There were blue and red balloons everywhere and a huge music band was playing. All for him. Peter couldn’t process it.

“Oh my god, Pete, there is cotton candy!”, Harry exclaimed and pointed at the sells stand.

“Let’s get you some, then”, Peter said and took him to the stand where a huge queue was already standing.

“It tastes good, right?”

“You’ll see”, Peter responded but as the queue had to part to let through the musicians, Harry and Peter were divided as well.

Peter used it as a chance to sneak away. He knew it wasn’t the best idea since he didn’t really know how independent Harry already was, but he had to put on the suit.

Tonight, Harry will learn the truth so it’s one last lie, he reminded himself.

“People of New York, I am here today because I fell 62 stories, and someone caught me. Someone who never asks for anything in return. Someone who doesn’t even want us to know who he is”, Gwen explained and opened the ceremony.

It was time for Peter to get on a building so he can swing right onto the stage.

“So, I ask you: When you’re dropping without a parachute or your store’s being robbed or your house is on fire, who is it that breaks your fall, puts out the flames and saves your children?”, Gwen continued with her speech.

“Spider-Man!”, the crowd cheered.

Peter swallowed. His heart was beating way to fast, and his hands were sweating in an unnormal amount.

“Then let’s hear it for your one and only friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man!”

The crowd escalated.

Peter knew there was no going back now so he put on his mask and swung onto the stage while he gave high fives to people in the crowd. As he entered the stage, he was hanging upside down by a thread. “Hey, guys.” To Peter’s surprise, his voice sounded confident.

“Kiss him!”, the crowd demanded of Gwen.

It would help his image, but he was in love with Harry. But counted their relationship as a real relationship? After all, Harry didn’t remember what happened between them. Theoretically, he was a free man, and it was just one kiss for the show so why bother?

“Go ahead”, he told her.

“Really?”, Gwen asked in surprise.

“Yeah, they’ll love it.”

So, Gwen carefully grabbed his mask and revealed his mouth. Then she kissed him.

It was a shy kiss, but it felt good. A little tingle spread in Peter’s stomach which was the sign for him to end the kiss. He went too far. What has he been thinking?

He was betraying Harry.

The kiss was over, and Peter adjusted his mask.

A wave of sand swept over the crowd. What the hell? So much sand? Peter knew something must be wrong. “I’m sorry, but I have to go now”, Peter muttered and swung behind the wave of sand that disappeared behind a building.

The wave of sand disappeared into a money transporter of the authorities. Seconds later, the transporter crashed into a taxi. Peter didn’t hesitate and jumped onto the roof of the transporter. He crawled forwards and found a whole. A man was standing inside and tampered with the money. Peter jumped inside. “Jigs up.”

The man turned around. “I don’t wanna hurt you. Leave now.”

Peter laughed. “I guess you haven’t heard. I’m the sheriff around these parts.”

The man wanted to punch him, but Peter got away in time. Peter punched his opponent in the stomach, but his fist didn’t bounce off. It was sucked into the body. And it wasn’t a normal human body. The body consisted of sand.

Who the hell was he dealing with?

A solid sand fist punched Peter out of the transporter. To catch himself Peter shot his webs at the transporter, but it wasn’t enough. With the help of the piece that broke out of the vehicle as he was kicked out, Peter could keep track of the sandy criminal because he used it as a glider.

Peter shot some webs in the direction of his opponent. When he hit his target, the webs caused holes in his opponent’s chest. He jumped onto the roof of the transporter and kicked him in the legs, causing the legs combust into a heap of sand.

The sandman threw Peter into a bus driving next to them. Peter swung on the other side of the transporter to hide but his opponent discovered him and punched him through the vehicle’s wall right into the inside.

“Help me!”, someone yelled.

Peter looked around and found a mountain of sand in the cab. He reached in and pulled a man out of it. Another one followed.

Then Peter saw what was about to happen. He tried everything to prevent it, but it happened too fast. At least he saved the men by catapulting them out of the vehicle with his webs.

The transporter crashed into another one with full speed, causing him to turn over. Peter felt sick as he crawled out of the transporter. His opponent was nowhere to be seen.

Peter to a break on a rooftop to clean his suit from the sand inside before he went back to the festival.

“Peter, where were you? I couldn’t find you anywhere”, Harry said and pulled him into a tight hug. Was Peter just imagining things or was Harry actually scared? “I’m sorry I left you alone, Harry. Now I’m here. Everything’s fine, okay?”

Harry nodded and buried his face in Peter’s shoulder. “Where have you been?”

“I was looking for you, but I couldn’t find you”, Peter lied and bit his lip. He was sick of lying to Harry.

“For a few moments, I didn’t know where I was. It was terrifying.”

Peter gently stroked Harry’s back. “You’ll be fine.”

“Did you see this flying sand?”, Harry asked. “How are such things possible?”

“I have no idea”, Peter admitted. “How did you like the festival?”

“It was fun, and the cotton candy was delicious.” Peter couldn’t suppress a smile. “But it would’ve been much more fun if we didn’t get separated”, Harry added.

“I’m sorry, love.”

“It’s not your fault, Pete. Can we go home? It was a bit much for my brain today.”

“Of course”, Peter assured him, “I’ll call a taxi.”

After they arrived at the Osborn mansion and had dinner, Peter wanted to tell Harry the truth.

“Harry, I- I need to talk to you.”

“Go ahead. What’s wrong?”

“It’s about your father.”

“My father?”, Harry repeated.

“To be exact, it’s about how he died.”

“Pete, please, not tonight, okay? I’ve had a nice day and I don’t wanna talk about how my father died before I go to sleep”, Harry said, the fear in his voice couldn’t be overheard.

“I understand you, but you need to know what happened. I don’t know if I’m courageous enough to tell you later”, Peter admitted.

Harry took a deep breath. “Okay. Go ahead.”

“Thank you, Harry.”

Peter closed his eyes and took a deep breath to prepare himself for what might happen when Harry knows the truth. Just as Peter opened his mouth to start explaining, Bernard entered the room. In his hand, there was a telephone.

“I’m sorry to interrupt you but there is a call for you, Peter.”

“For me?”, Peter asked in surprise. “Can I call back later?”

“It’s fine. Answer the call”, Harry said.

“You sure?”

Harry nodded.

So, Peter took the telephone. “Parker.”

“This is Detective Neil Garrett from the 32^nd precinct. I’m calling on behalf of Captain Stacy. He would like you to come down to the station.”

“Why? Did something happen?”

“It’s about the murder of your uncle”, the detective told him.