Fact or Fiction
“Hey, Stevie?” Bucky yelled into the apartment from the kitchen, staring at the article on his phone. ‘American Monument Destroyed in Spiderman Fight’.
“Hm?” the blonde poked his head around the wall.
“Y’know Tony’s not-kid? The Spider-kid?”
Steve raised an eyebrow. “What about him?”
Bucky held up his phone. “This is the second time in about as many days that he’s been in the news and the uh… court of public opinion is not good. Maybe we should check in on him?”
Steve nodded. “That's a good idea, but… I don't…” a crease appeared between his eyebrows. “Do we know who he is?”
It was Bucky’s turn to look confused. “Yeah. His name is Peter Parker. You know that.”
Steve shook his head, “No I don’t. I’ve never met a ‘Peter Parker’.”
Bucky was really confused now. Steve had had an eidetic memory since Project: Rebirth. He didn’t forget people. That was Bucky’s area of expertise. “What do you remember about Spiderman?” he asked carefully, leaning against the countertop.
Steve dropped onto one of the stools across from Bucky. “Stark brought him to the airport to fight us after the Accords debacle. He’s from Queens. He’s young; a high school type of young. He ended up with Tony in space but was taken in the blip. He helped in that last fight. That's about it,” he recited all the memories he had of the spider hero.
Bucky sighed and ran his flesh hand over his face. “Okay. Okay.” There was silence while anxiety bubbled under Steve’s skin and the gears turned in Bucky’s brain, trying to figure out where to go from there. “So you don’t remember Parker at Tony’s funeral? Or any of the holiday parties? Or any of Fury’s bullshit with him?”
Steve shook his head. Bucky turned his back and grabbed a magnet off the fridge, the kind you found in airports and small touristy shops, this one advertising itself as being from Italy. “Who gave us this?”
Steve felt like the answer was on the tip of his tongue, but had no clue. “From context clues, I’m assuming Parker, but I have no actual memory of getting it.”
“Shit,” Bucky swore. He needed to figure out how much was missing from Steve’s memory. The ‘why’ could come later. “Okay, uh… Lets play fact or fiction.” It was something he and Steve did sometimes when Bucky thought he’d acquired some memories and was unsure about the authenticity.
“Sure,” Steve agreed, a bit apprehensive. “Is there somewhere I should start, or…”
“Just start throwing shit out,” Bucky suggested.
“So Peter Parker is Spiderman?” he started.
“Truth.”
“He was close with Tony.”
“Truth.”
“He’s been in the news once this week.”
“Twice,” Bucky corrected. “Once today,” he flashed the article from before, then went to pull up the other articles from earlier that week. “Once then he was…” he trailed off when the article wasn’t there. None of the hundreds of articles advertising Spiderman’s secret identity were there.
“What?” Steve asked, catching on to the pause in Bucky’s entire figure. “What is it, Buck?”
“It's not here,” Bucky whispered. Was it possible that he was the one misremembering? But no because he was so sure of the fact that Peter Parker was Spiderman. The kid gave them magnets and built little Lego figures of the Avengers and cried his eyes out at Tony’s funeral. So he was sure that he was remembering right. That wasn’t something you just imagined.
“You okay?” Steve asked when the silence stretched on too long.
Bucky fixed him with a serious look. “I don’t think this is just a you problem. We need to talk to Strange.”
Bucky was turning off the oven and grabbing his coat before Steve had even registered what he’d said. “Come on. Now.”
Steve scrambled to grab his own coat, mask, and shoes and followed Bucky out the door. It was cold outside, being mid-December. Steve slipped his hand into Bucky’s gloved one as they walked.
“What do you think is happening?” he asked.
Bucky shrugged. “Whatever it is, I think it isn’t just you.”
“Points for being cryptic,” Steve said like the little shit he was. “You wanna elaborate or what?”
“Oh fuck you. I just mean that whatever's happening with the whole Spiderkid thing goes deeper than just you forgetting a name.”
Steve nodded and they fell into silence for a while, entering the subway. “Can you tell me more about Parker?” Steve finally asked.
Bucky smiled softly at the role reversal. “Yeah, ‘course. Um… Tony used to claim Parker worked for Stark Industries as an intern. He still helps Pepper out a bit, I think.”
Steve nodded along as Bucky spoke, trying to get Bucky’s memories to fit into his own.
“For Halloween, Parker brought a couple friends. I think their names were Ned Leeds and MJ. He and Happy are close, I think. Happy’s dating his aunt, so… He and Shurri get along like a house on fire. It was kinda scary when they really got going. All the kids disappeared into the lab about an hour in and we didn’t see them until T’Challa and Pepper dragged them out.
“He swings by whenever he goes somewhere. He gives me magnets. Puts ’em on my arm, not that vibranium is magnetic. I’m still not quite sure how he gets them to stick. He’s given you some postcards that are on the wall in the office.”
Steve had wallpapered the wall of their office with postcards. The oldest were from Bucky when he was trying to recover his memories on his own. Now they were from all of Steve’s friends. Natasha, Sam, Tony, and Peter had supplied the majority.
They got off the train and walked their way through the city towards Bleecker Street.
“I just thought of something,” Steve said. “Why didn’t we call anyone else to make sure they didn’t remember Parker before going straight to Strange?”
Bucky mentally face-palmed. “Because neither of us thought of that. Too late now.”
Steve laughed softly. “Guess we’re great at jumping to extremes.”
“Eh,” Bucky said. “Strange is two birds, one stone. He should know Parker and if he doesn’t, he can figure out why y’all don't.”
Steve squeezed the hand in his a bit tighter.
177A Bleecker Street was an imposing building. Bucky knocked, the sound loud and sharp. The door seemed to open on its own, revealing an icy interior.
“What the fuck?” Bucky mumbled, creeping through the door, Steve right behind him.
“Hello?” Steve called out. “Strange?”
“Ah, Rogers, Barnes,” the Doctor said, appearing at the stairs. “Mind the ice, and come in.”
The two stepped fully inside, the door shutting itself behind them.
“Why the ice?” Steve asked, taking in Strange’s attire. He wore his usual cape over a hoodie and winter jacket.
The sorcerer descended the stairs and led them into a less snowy side room. “Wong didn’t secure the spells around one of the portals so the blizzard from Siberia made it into the Sanctorum. We’re working on cleanup, but things have been hectic the past few days.”
Bucky and Steve settled on the couch as the Doctor took an armchair. “I’m assuming you’re not here for light conversation, so what did you want to talk about?” Strange asked.
“Do you remember a Peter Parker?” Bucky cut to the chase.
Dr Strange considered for a second before shaking his head, “No, I can’t say I do.”
A mix of relief and concern swirled through the two soldiers. “Well I’ll be damned,” Bucky said. “Okay, so… you should. Remember him, that is.”
Strange raised an eyebrow so Bucky kept talking. “Steve doesn’t remember him either and the news is all funky, but I know for a fact that both of you know Peter Parker. He’s Spiderman. And both of you know, knew, that.”
“The news?”
“Spiderman’s secret identity was front page news just a few days ago, but now those articles don’t exist,” Bucky said.
Steve spoke up, “That's why we’re here. Whatever's happening seems more in your range.”
Strange nodded and looked considering. “I think I might have an idea of what happened. But it's just a theory.”
“What is it?” Steve insisted he tell.
“So there's this spell. We try to use it sparingly, but… well…” Strange shrugged. “Basically it makes people forget things. If this whole outing of secret identities thing happened, there is a chance Spiderman came to me. But I don’t know why we would forget the person and not the hero.”
“So you’re saying,” Bucky began, “That you might have used a spell to make everyone forget about Peter Parker?”
Strange nodded.
“So why do I remember him?”
Strange shrugged. “Matters of the mind like that are not my area of expertise. That would be Wanda’s, but I think after Westview it is best to leave her be. At least for now.”
“Wait,” Steve interrupted. “What I’m understanding is that the whole world has forgotten Peter Parker.” Both Bucky and Strange nodded. “So there is a 17 year old kid out there with no one who knows who he really is?”
“Shit,” Bucky swore, standing up. “We need to find him.”
Steve nodded and stood. “Where would we even find him, though.”
“Not to interrupt or sound calloused, but, you guys got this?” Strange said. “‘Cause I feel like I caused this, and if that's the case, I don’t know if he’ll want to see me.”
Both soldiers nodded. “We’re good,” Steve said, turning to follow Bucky out. “Wait,” he spun back to Strange. “Would you have a way of tracking him down?”
Strange nodded and a sound like sparklers showed a portal to a quaint apartment. “He should be through there.”
Bucky stepped through the portal and Steve nodded. “Thanks, Strange,” and followed after.