What Awaits Them
There was a blur of curly brown hair and then someone was barreling into him, crushing him into a hug. His arms immediately went up to return the hug and he inhaled MJ’s scent. “Don’t ever do that again.” She muttered into his chest, the words muffled by the fabric of his tee-shirt. He only held her tighter, knowing nothing he could say would make this any better. He wouldn’t promise her he would never do it again because Peter knew full well that if it ever came to be a choice between saving his friends or himself, he would always choose them. Every time. Without fail.
Then Tony was there, and Peter 2, and Gwen, and Happy, and Pepper, and Peter 3, and Ned and they were all hugging him and telling him it was over, all of it was over. Peter swallowed hard. He might have lost Aunt May, but he still had so many people who cared about him. He wasn’t alone in this world after all.
The cops stayed swarmed in Stark Industries for weeks. They investigated the Sanctum and took Wong in for questioning along with the interns a few times before they finally believed that Strange had been acting completely alone. They turned Peter’s apartment upside down- luckily Peter had had enough of a warning to get everything that could incriminate him as Spider-Man out before they showed up. The police found the warehouse and ripped it apart too, finding an entire room with a spiderweb like configuration of notes and pictures regarding Christine, connected together by golden twine.
All of that evidence piled together was enough for the police to reopen an investigation on Christine’s disappearance, so at least some good would come of all of this. Christine’s parents wrote Peter a letter, thanking him for bringing attention back to get. It was incredibly sweet and brought Peter nearly to tears.
Once no new information about Strange had come out for a week straight, Tony decided it was finally safe for Ned and MJ’s families to come home. Even after they returned, Ned and MJ spent the vast majority of their time either in Peter’s apartment or at SI. They spent three more weeks trying to get into contact with Wanda, without success. Eventually they gave up after Tony took a trip to Sokovia and found that she was no longer occupying that little cabin in the valley.
When Tony returned he said the cabin had been stripped of every sign that someone had ever lived there. Peter found himself wondering what that meant. Was Strange dead? Was Wanda dead? He didn’t particularly like the idea of either of them being dead, but he had to admit that Strange being dead would certainly make everything a lot easier for them all. He was disgusted with himself, easier? This was someone’s life, and he was concerned about what was easier?
The winter gave way to spring and Peter finally stopped being the talk of the school. People moved on as his appearances in the news faded to mere memory. Flash had gone quiet. Not only had he stopped harassing Peter, but he’d also stopped answering questions in class, dropped out of the debate team and could hardly ever be found with his boisterous group of friends. Peter was glad for it, he didn’t think he’d be able to handle Flash’s taunting on top of everything else.
Tony was the first reality jumper to return home. In late March he sat Peter aside and said, “Listen, Peter, I’ve loved being here, I really have. And I hate to go. But it’s time. It isn’t looking like Strange will be coming back any time soon. You really don’t have any need for me here anymore. I need to get back to my reality, to Morgan and Pepper.”
Peter nodded. He was sad, of course he was, but he understood. Tony had a whole other life that he’d been away from for months just to help Peter out. It was high time he returned. “Thank you for everything you’ve done to help me. But I think it’s definitely time for you to get home to your family, your life.” Peter hugged Tony tight. It had been nice having the closest thing to a father he had ever had back, but he’d always known it was going to be temporary. Tony was always going to have to leave eventually.
“Listen, if anything happens, and I mean anything. You call me and I’ll come right back. Okay?” Tony said, his voice serious. He pressed something small- the size of a quarter into Peter’s hand. Peter held it up to get a good look at it. “I designed it. It should be able to allow you to communicate with me from our separate realities. You can record messages to send me, or you can call if it’s urgent.” He smiled sadly. “I’m going to miss you kid.”
“I’ll miss you too.” Peter said, looking at his mentor. They were the same height now, he no longer had to look up to meet his eyes. The man was worn down, his eyes tired but alight with that patented Tony Stark glint that meant his mind was always working.
“You should visit sometime. Maybe over the summer after you’ve finished with high school and everything has settled down. Ned and MJ could come with you if you want. I’m sure Pepper would love the company and Morgan has always wanted an older brother. She likes our reality’s version of you, but you’re so busy. She hardly gets to see you anymore.”
Peter smiled. “I’d like that.” He crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall, watching as Tony fiddled with his own like quarter sized reality device. “Tell Pepper I’m sorry for keeping you away for so long.”
Tony laughed as a shimmering portal formed in the space between them. “She’ll have been glad to be rid of me. It was probably like a nice vacation for her, having me away for all of these months.”
Peter scoffed, he knew Pepper too well to believe any of that. More likely that she would have missed him terribly all this time and worried for his safety. “Goodbye, Tony.” He said softly as Tony approached the portal.
Tony paused just before stepping through. “Goodbye Peter.” Then he was gone and so was the portal and Peter was left staring at the spot where he had just been.
Peter 2 was the next to go. Mary Jane had just entered her third trimester and still there had been no word from Strange or Wanda. It was beginning to look like all of this was really over. Unlike the private goodbye he had shared with Tony. Peter 2 announced it to all of them at once. Peter 3 clutched Peter 2 for what felt like forever. When they pulled apart Peter saw that Peter 3 was crying. He felt a little choked up himself. Peter 2 was like a brother to him.
But Peter 2’s time here was drawing to a close and Mary Jane was waiting for him. Peter hugged him too before he went and wished him, Mary Jane and their unborn baby well. Peter 2 was gone an hour later.
Three weeks later when Gwen and Peter 3 sat Peter down on the couch, Peter was sure he knew what that meant. Surely they wouldn’t be returning to their own separate realities, and Peter knew Gwen had no desire to go back to her reality. So they must be going back to Peter 3’s then. He was ready for it. He was ready for their departure.
“You’re leaving, aren’t you?” Peter asked, his voice was solemn. He had resigned himself to this fact weeks ago. He stared at his hands, clasped in his lap and bounced his knee anxiously. he didn’t want to see the guilt in their faces as they told him they were moving on from this world. But when several beats passed and neither of them spoke, Peter looked up again. He found that they were both smiling sheepishly.
“Actually.” Gwen began, her grin widening and making her eyes crinkle at the corners. “We were thinking… I can’t very well go back to my reality with all of the heat on me at the moment. And Peter was declared dead there. Lots of people saw his body. We would have to stay in hiding if we went there.”
“And it’s a similar problem in my reality.” Peter 3 said, his smile just as wide as Gwen’s. “There would be far too many questions if Gwen just showed up alive and well. Especially after there were so many people at her funeral and her death got national coverage. And neither of us really want to leave you here. And this reality is pretty great. So, if it’s alright with you. We were hoping you would let us stay here?”
Peter laughed, actually laughed. It was such a relief to hear that they weren’t going to be leaving him. “Yes! Of course, I would love that more than you can possibly know.” He exclaimed, rushing forward to hug them both. When he backed away he asked, “How will this work though? I mean don’t you have people back home who are missing you?”
“Not so much anymore.” Gwen said, her voice slightly bitter.
Peter 3 picked up on her shift in tone and was quick to jump in to change the focus. “I already went back to my reality a few weeks ago and explained everything to May. She took some convincing but I got her to come around to the idea of me living in a different reality, a long as I visit her every once in a while. I faked Spider-Man’s death in a robbery gone wrong and then told everyone else that I was going to study abroad in England. It wasn’t to hard.” He laughed. “Especially since I don’t have all that many friends.”
Gwen hit him playfully before turning back to Peter. “We can get our own place of course, we don’t want to overstay our welcome any longer.”
Peter was quick to protest. “No, no, you don’t have to do that. Unless you want your own place of course. But I love having you here. And I have the space.”
“I was hoping you would say that.” Peter 3 said. “The apartments we were looking at were really expensive.” They all laughed for a moment before Peter 3 continued. “I’ve enrolled in school, and I’ll be finishing out the year with you at Midtown High. Happy pulled some strings and got me into MIT, so I can go with the rest of you. And Happy agreed to be my legal guardian. Pepper had FRIDAY hack some databases and now there are documents in them all saying that my name is Peter Hogan and Happy is my biological father. There is no name in the mother spot on my birth certificate. Everything is all set.”
“Wow. You guys really have it all figured out.” Peter said, grinning at his friends. “I can’t believe you’re willing to redo your senior year.”
Peter 3 shrugged. “It’s only 2 months. It’ll be nothing. And in any case, I didn’t mind high school that much. And now I have a second chance to be valedictorian.”
“Keep dreaming.” Gwen said, rolling her eyes. “Peter 1 is going to be valedictorian, I’ll be second, then MJ, then Ned and then maybe you if you can get above Flash.”
“I’m not letting Flash get a higher class ranking than me in any reality.” Peter 3 scoffed.
Gwen said, “Well then you’d better get working.”
“I don’t know.” Peter replied. “He’s hardly been showing up to school. I doubt his grades are where they used to be.”
“True.” Gwen said with a nod. “I wonder what’s up with him.”
Peter shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’m sure not complaining.”
Before Peter knew it June had arrived and they were nearing graduation. After school one day he and Ned decided it was time to visit the Sanctum. They hadn’t dared even walk by it since everything that had happened. But Ned had declared that it was time to return the slingring to its rightful home.
When they entered, they were glad to find there was no snow in it this time. They weren’t exactly dressed for snow with their shorts and t-shirts. Wong strode down to them the moment they entered. His expression was weary and not very welcoming. He was not trusting of any unannounced visitors after all of the police and press that had been at the Sanctum’s door almost daily.
“Peter. Ned.” he greeted lamely. He sighed, resigned to whatever was to come. “What can I do for you?”
Ned stuttered out, “I stole this a while back and I thought it was probably time to return it to you.”
“Why would you steal a slingring?” Wong asked, his face scrunched up in confusion.
“I used it to open a few portals.” He said with a shrug.
Wong raised his eyebrows, the only sign of surprise he would show. “And you were successful in opening these portals?” Ned nodded. “Well this is just incredible. Very few people have the predisposition for sorcery. It is a coveted practice, mastered by very few. You know what, you can keep it. And if you’re interesting in exploring your gifts further, I would be willing to mentor you in the mystic arts.”
Ned opened his mouth, then closed it again, like a gaping fish. “I- I don’t know. I mean, thank you so much for the offer. But I’ve got school and then I’m off to MIT and I don’t really see myself having all that much time in there for magic.”
“Yes, of course. School is very important, I understand.” Wong said, nodding contemplatively.
Peter, however, did not understand. He turned to Ned and gripped his shoulders. “Dude! You can’t be serious. You’re really passing up on the opportunity to study magic. Magic! Magic is awesome. And you wouldn’t just be the guy in the chair anymore, you’d be able to fight aliens and evil guys in suits with me!”
Ned seemed to be grasping the words he was saying, but not as quickly as Peter would have liked him to. “I guess that would be pretty cool.”
“It would be the coolest. You could be the next Doctor Strange. Minus the evil part.” Peter said.
“I mean, I suppose I would have a little bit of time between graduation and the start of college.” Ned said slowly. “But I don’t want to be like the other Peter’s best friends. When they both got powers they tried to kill their Peters. Peter 3’s best friend killed Gwen and Peter 2’s best friend died after trying to kill him. I don’t want that to happen to us.”
Peter’s heart lurched at Ned’s concern. “Ned. Don’t worry about that. It isn’t going to happen with us. Those guys were both Harry Osbornes, Norman’s son. Crazy was kind of in their genes. I know you would never do any of the things they did. I trust you.”
Ned still seemed hesitant.
“Well listen. You don’t have to decide now. I’ll let you think about it and the offer will stay open.”
Ned nodded. “Thank you. I’ll let you know as soon as I decide.”
That night MJ had convinced her parents to let her sleep over at Peter’s house, under the guise that they were finishing up a big project. Peter 3 and Gwen were out spidering for the night, leaving the apartment to Peter and MJ. They ordered takeout and then settled in the sitting room for a movie. The movie was great, but both of them had already seen it and it was late. It wasn’t long before MJ fell asleep, curled into Peter’s side.
He delighted in the feeling of having her so close. He thought back to months ago when she hadn’t even been able to remember who he was, how he had lost hope that any of this would ever be possible again. Content with the world, he soon joined her in sleep.
At lunch the next day MJ announced that a new article had come out about them. Peter groaned and rolled his eyes, sliding closer so he could read over her shoulder. Gwen, Peter 3 and Ned all tried to squeeze in too, but gave up when they all nearly fell to the ground. They opted to just have MJ read it aloud instead.
“Okay, it’s really about Midtown High, but it has all of our names in it. Here we go, ‘Midtown High’s impression academic achievements in recent years have gotten it onto the radar of parents throughout New York City. Their decathlon team has won nationals for nine years running, their band has played at a football game between the Cowboys and Patriots, and they’ve even been able to partake in field trips across the ocean to Europe. Well funded by Stark Industries, starting at the beginning of the blip, this school has become a well rounded force knocking out all competing schools in the city and most in the state. Most impressive, six students in their graduating class have committed to attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a prestigious school with a seven percent acceptance rate.
“The first student, Michelle Jones-Watson, has attended Midtown High for four years, prior and post blip. She is currently ranked number three in her class and was granted the title of captain of the decathlon team this year. The second student is Ned Leeds who is just below Michelle, with the fourth place ranking. He is also a member of the decathlon team and was awarded the superlative of nicest classmate. He also blipped and attended Midtown High for four years non-consecutively.
“Eugene Thompson, known by classmates as Flash is the third student from Midtown-’ Yeah I am not reading his bit. He is so arrogant. He commented for this. Anyway, ah here’s you Peter. The fourth student is a name well known throughout the country by now. Peter Parker, normal teen caught up in a battle against Sorcerer and Doctor, Stephen Strange. By now everyone knows that he held the leading internship with Stark himself at Stark Industries, but what people don’t know is that Peter excels in the classroom too. Graduating as valedictorian of his class, he is also a vital member of the decathlon team. Despite some spotty attendance as a result of the Internship, Peter has succeeded in maintaining a near perfect GPA throughout his four years.
“These last two students are a bit more of a mystery. Peter Hogan, son of Stark Industries head of security, Harold Hogan and Gwen Stacy are recent transfers to the school, drawn in by the idea of a fresh start there. Sources say that Peter Hogan did not blip, while all of his friends did. He was forced to live through five years without them and when they returned, they were five years younger than he was and their friendship died. Having lived all of his life with his mother, he decided it was time to come to New York to live with his father. He has not yet established a ranking for himself at Midtown High, but at his previous school he was top of the class. Gwen Stacy did blip, and her parents didn’t. She returned to a world post blip in which her parents had passed on. She moved to Queens to live with Peter Parker, under the legal guardianship of May Rielly Parker who was an old friend of her mother.’ Wow they really gave you a whole backstory.” MJ finished with a scoff.
Gwen looked extremely uncomfortable. “It’s the story Peter and I fabricated for our records. You know, so there would be a little something about us, and we wouldn’t be these nonexistent people. I have no idea how the author got to them though. They were meant to be very secure.”
“I bet it was Flash.” Peter 3 said, glaring over at the empty seat that Flash used to occupy every day. “We know he contributed to the article and he’s obsessed with tormenting us all, it wouldn’t surprise me if he hired a private investigator to look into us.”
“I hope he didn’t hire a private investigator, that would be an absolute nightmare if we had one tailing us. They would for sure figure out that we were Spider… people.” Peter replied, glancing around the room to make sure no one was watching them at this very moment. Luckily they seemed to be in the clear.
Just then, a voice came over the cafeteria’s announcement system. “Michelle Jones-Watson, Ned Leeds, Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy and Peter Hogan, please report to the principal’s office immediately. I repeat, Michelle Jones-Watson, Ned Leeds, Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy and Peter Hogan, please report to the principal’s office immediately.”
The five of them looked between one another in confusion before they stood in unison and hesitantly made their way to the principal’s office, having no idea what it was that awaited them there.