PETER PARKER

"Can I come in?" A muffled voice that belongs to Aunt May was heard after the first knocks, I lay sprawled on my bed, still donning my Spider-Man suit.

My face was smooched against the soft surface of the bed, my eyelids refused to open. I tiredly said, "No..."

But Aunt May kept insisting. "Peter, the final starts at 9, honey." The knocks continued, and I was forced to peel my eyelids open, I let out a groan. "You said you would take my car into the shop because it keeps dying, remember?"

I lazily rolled to my back and sat up. "Give me a second, Aunt May. I'm gonna get the door." I ripped the mask off my head.

Then the door handle started to jiggle and that gave me a mini heart attack. "I'm coming in, honey."

Luckily, the door was locked, so I got a bit more time to change out of my Spider-Man suit and into something else. "Peter, honey, open up. Just open up."

"Just give me a second. One second, Aunt May." I told her as I rolled over my room doing a 360 spin, I managed to get my shoe off and let it fall, unaware that it had landed on the door lock control.

"You said your final was at 9, and you're gonna take my car into the shop." She kept repeating.

I couldn't get my suit off, so I detached myself from the ceiling and fell on the bed just as the door had finished unlocking. "Wait, wait! Don't come in, I'm naked." My eyes caught the spider shoe on the floor, so I shot a web and pulled it underneath my bed covers as I tried to cover my whole body.

"What are you do...?" She trailed off as she opened the door and stopped once she looked at me still wrapped up in my bed. "Peter! For goodness's sake. You said you were-" She cut herself abruptly and gave me a confused look. "Are you all right?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I'm okay... just naked. But I'm fine."

"What happened to your face?" I mirrored her look of confusion, but then remembered yesterday's fire. "It's filthy."

"It is?"

She nodded, still frowning. "Yeah."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, I was..." I quickly thought of something. "I was cleaning the chimney."

Idiot. Idiot.

Aunt May didn't say anything for a moment, but then a thought crossed her mind. "We have no chimney."

I know. "Whaaat?"

She shook her head, dismissing the topic, luckily for me. "You're late." She pointed at me, giving me a stern look as she started to walk away. "Downstairs, now."

"Can you leave me? I'm naked here."

She grabbed the door handle and pulled it along with her, not before saying, "Alright, I'm leaving."

"Morning, I love you." I smiled at her as I watched her leave.

Before the door closed, she answered. "I love you too. Hurry up."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Jesus, that was close."

I got ready, putting on the first thing I came across, I picked up my suit and gave it a sniff. I scrunch my nose in disgust, it smelled of blood, sweat, and filth. It's been a while since I've washed it, I let out a sigh and curled the suit before stuffing it inside my worn-out JanSport bag. I made my way down the stairs and toward the kitchen, as I neared the room I caught my Aunt May whispering something on the phone. I stepped inside and once she saw me she abruptly ended the call, I frowned as I watched her nervously hide something.

"Uh, yeah! Yeah. Okay, you got it." She smiled at me, I arched an eyebrow at her before picking up a few grapes from the fridge before eating one. "Double shift on Thursday. Okay, bye."

She hung up and set the phone on the counter, she finished putting the dirty laundry into the washing machine. "Who was that?"

"Harvey." She answered nonchalantly.

I watched Aunt May act normally, I knew she knew how much I worried about her. Ever since Uncle Ben left us things have been tight around the house, she has to work double shifts in order to maintain us, and I couldn't help but feel guilty. I should be the one taking care of her, that's what Uncle Ben would want.

"Doing a double shift, huh?"

She shrugged, placing the basket filled with clean laundry on the counter. "Sometimes." I nodded. "Got nothing else to do. I like the girls. I miss Ben. Give me a little extra in the cookie jar. Heh."

I scratched the back of my head, gripping my bag with the other one. "Well, I sold another couple of photos to the Bugle, so that ought to help."

Aunt May nodded, she grabbed the basket and set it aside before continuing to fix her lunch. "Yeah, it would really help if that guy would pay you a fair wage."

I chuckled, making my way towards the laundry section. "Jameson pays me a fair wage. If it's 1961, he pays me a fair wage."

I was about to take out the suit when Aunt May called out to me, I turned to her with a frown. "Hey, wait, what are you doing? What are you doing?" She pushed me out of the small room. "No, I do the laundry."

"I'm doing my laundry." I moved my bag away, keeping it at arm's length from her.

"No," she adamantly stated, shaking her head, "I do the laundry. This is my job, I've been doing your laundry since you were 6 years old."

"Yes, I understand that." I agreed. "I'm in college now. I think it's time that I took care of my own dirty underwear."

Aunt May was livid, her face turned into a frown as she spoke to me in a stern manner. "Last time you did the laundry, you turned everything blue and red. So no, you're not doing the laundry again."

I shrugged my arms. "That was a mistake. I was washing the American flag- it won't happen again."

Aunt May was in denial. "Nobody washes the flag."

"Well, it happens that I do. I won't anymore." I shrugged, already wanting this conversation to end, so I could wash my dirty suit. "May... can I please just...?"

"No, no! This is my machine."

I blew a raspberry and started to back down. "Fine. It's just underwear."

"This is my laundry, my home, my machine." She pushed me towards the table, where my fruit loops cereal, and milk awaited me. "Now, back off. Go eat your breakfast, you're already late."

I raised my unoccupied hand as a form of surrender. "Alright, laundry sheriff.... I'll just find another time to do it."

"No, I'll do it!"

After I finished running errands and occasionally suiting up to save the day, I found myself sitting at an empty table at the Internet Café. I was emailing Jameson a few more Spider-Man pictures and also wrote to him about paying me more, I tried to sound as professional and direct as possible. I clicked send and waited a few minutes for a reply, I refreshed the inbox and noticed his reply, clearly telling me he wasn't going to pay me up.

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose, if I didn't get a decent job, I wouldn't make it into college. May can't continue to work double shifts to raise enough money to pay for my college, but it was hard getting a job that won't get me fired for disappearing too much. I'm not kidding, the thought of laying down the suit and allowing the authorities to do the saving has crossed my mind multiple times, but I couldn't do that. Something inside me didn't allow me to quit and say enough is enough, perhaps it is the moral obligation to use these powers to do good. Or maybe I loved being Spider-Man a tad bit too much. Maybe it's a bit of both.

"Norman Osborn, the legendary founder and CEO of Oscorp Industries, has died." The last words pulled me out of my head immediately, I opened my eyes and raised my head toward the TV. "The Osborn estate has confirmed. He is survived by his only son, Harry Osborn, who is the sole heir of the Oscorp Corporate Empire."

"Harry."

The news showed a picture of Harry boarding his car, my eyes observed him and noticed how much he had changed. Childhood memories invade my mind in an instant, suddenly I was seven years old and playing on the playground with Harry. I remember how devastated I was when he left. I remember I used to cry myself to sleep, but eventually the pain faded and life kept going. Harry Osborn had been my only friend, after him, there was no one.

"Osborn changed the medical professional approach to human healing and affected the lives of millions." I logged out of my email and turned off the computer, I needed to go see him. "'I started Oscorp because I looked at the world around me and said, "we can do better. We should do better." Einstein said, 'The world cannot be changed without changing our thinking.'"

The video ended, and the reporter was back. "But change isn't just a slogan. It begins with hard work. Change begins with persistence and commitment. Mr. Osborn changed the world. And now it's up to each of us to ensure that his hopes and dreams remain alive. But not today." I swung my backpack over my shoulder and stood up, pushing the chair inside before grabbing my coat and walking away. "Today is for mourning."

The trip to Oscorp was short, half of the way I was running, and the other half I took a cab. My heart was hammering against my chest, threatening to burst through my ribs from the nerves that wracked my entire body. It's been about nine or ten years since I last saw Harry, I didn't know how to approach him or what to say except for 'I'm sorry for your loss'. But I didn't want to just pay my respects, I wanted to let him know that I was going to be there for him, that if he needed me, I'll be there.

Just like he was when I lost my parents.

I entered the building, already familiar with the place, and I was now waiting in the lobby. A man told me to wait here; meanwhile, he'll go and fetch Harry for me. My eyes wandered around the expensive-looking lobby, the walls were a mixture of wood and wallpaper. The pillars were made of wood, they stick out of the wall's surface, in between every pillar there was wallpaper, and against the wall, there were floor vases.

"Peter Parker." A deep and authoritative voice pulled me out of my eye tour, my brown eyes staring at Harry's figure. "It's like seeing a ghost."

I started to walk toward him, he still remained at the top of the stairs. "Hey, Harry."

"Random." He said. He showed no signs of friendliness, only politeness, I wondered if I did right by showing up.

"What, 10 years?" I guessed, slowly making my way up the stairs toward him.

Harry shook his head as if saying 'almost'. "It's eight. But you're close. What's up?"

I scratched the back of my neck. "I, uh, saw the news, man." Harry tensed up and I tried to be careful with the words I said. "I heard about your dad and I wanted to come and... Just wanted to come and see you. Check to see how you were doing."

"I'm with some people." Harry abruptly stopped the conversation, I froze in my step. "I'm in a meeting, right now."

"I'm sorry." I immediately apologized, shaking my head as I retreated. "I... I didn't mean to intrude. I know it's been a long time. I know exactly what you're going through right now." I made it down the stairs. "And you were there for me when my parents.... Well, that's why I'm here for you."

Harry nodded. "Thank you."

I stood there just looking at him, my best friend. I wished time hadn't turned us into strangers, I wished for a lot of things, things that are unattainable, and all I'm left with is the pure melancholy of the past.

"Ah, it's good... it's good to see you, man." I breathed out as if I had just gotten it out of my chest. "I'm sorry about your dad."

With that I turned to leave, not expecting him to say anything in return. "You got your braces off." Just as I was about to open the door, Harry said something that brought a smile to my face.

A chuckle left my lips as I turned to him with a huge smile, he wore a smirk of his own. "Now there's nothing to distract from your unibrow."

"There he is." I laughed, but Harry laughed harder. "There he is."

I let go of the handle and made my way up the stairs once again, this time Harry descended as well. "You still blow-dry your hair every morning?"

"Um... you know, one of my manservants holds the hairdryer, but I worked the comb, okay?" I giggled, remembering how I used to tease him about it. "So at least I'm not completely helpless."

I brought him into a hug, Harry hugged me just as tightly. "It's good to see you too, Parker."

🅷🅾🅻🅰

🎄🎄☃️☃️

Can I be honest?

I didn't like how brief
Peter and Harry's friendship was.
I mean, it made perfect sense as
to why, but I hated how easily the
tables turned for them. Idk it just
sadden me.

What would your impression be if
Ned turned into the hobgoblin?

Stay safe mis amores ❄🤍