Chapter Text
When Spiderman's identity was revealed, my entire life changed.
My family lived right next to May Parker's, so when she took Peter in, I became his first friend after the accident. I'd spend many nights at his place, and he'd spend many nights at mine. Peter had moved across the city when he came to live with May so he lost touch with many of his original friends.
When we both got accepted to Midtown High, Peter became fast friends with Ned, so Ned joined our little group. Eventually Peter and MJ happened, so our little trio turned into a quartet.
I was the first one who found out about Peter being Spiderman. After he was bitten by the spider, he and I were doing homework in his bedroom and suddenly Peter couldn't drop his pencil. I tried to pry it off of his hand but I couldn't. He and I were the first to know, and I was the one who helped make his first costume. (The one he made was so lame compared to the one that I made). Between the two of us, I'm the chemistry wiz, so I'm also the one who makes his web fluid.
Peter told me about his plan on our trip to Europe. My heart broke a little because I'd had a massive crush on him, but I was supportive as he started dating MJ. Meanwhile, he will never know my true feelings for him. I'd rather stay friends than lose him.
When Mysterio unmasked Peter, all of us struggled with the new reality. However, it was the hardest for me. I was the quietest of the group. In fact if I hadn't made friends with Peter early on, I'm not sure if I would've been able to make friends at Midtown. I liked to be the wallflower, to be invisible when I wasn't with Peter. The center of attention was for other people.
When the news broke, MJ was a bad ass like usual and wouldn't really let us see how much it fazed her. She used humour and her walls to deal with all the attention.
Ned was annoyed and anxious about suddenly finding himself in the media, but after a little while he found it slightly cool, but mostly found it annoying.
Peter struggled a lot with how much it impacted everyone. He wanted to change it, but he stayed strong and did his best. He supported everyone as all his loved ones supported him.
I however didn't handle it well at all. I liked to be a nobody. Having entire news sections dedicated to my mental stability because of being best friends with a so called murderer. It wasn't easy. I only used to have anxiety attacks once in a while, but it was turning into a near daily thing.
I constantly had this breathing issue where it never felt like I could get enough oxygen. Most times it was minor and just disconcerting, but sometimes it would get so bad it would turn into a panic attack and make me feel like I was about to die.
My friends supported me as best they could, but they were facing it themselves, so they could only handle so much of my burden while struggling with their own.
It got to the point where I couldn't leave my apartment except to go to school and to Peter's. Eventually my parents suggested that I get out of the city for a few weeks and drive down to an Aunt's cabin to clear my head. My teachers were more than accommodating to give me my school work and let me email in my assignments and tests. Being a teacher's pet has its perks.
That was how I came to be where I am today, drinking a cup of tea, wearing an oversized sweater I'd stolen from Peter, leggings, large cozy socks, and doing schoolwork on the porch, looking out over the trees. I was the picture of comfort.
A soft sound of wind chimes joined the sound of leaves rustling and birds chirping. I put down my pencil and grabbed my phone. Ned was sending me a video chat request.
I glanced at the little picture of me in the corner of the screen. My hair was in a messy bun and I hadn't done any makeup since I got here, but they've seen worse.
"Hey Ned!" I greeted.
"Hi y/n." Ned smiled, with slightly less enthusiasm than me. "How's the wilderness treating you?"
"Oh Ned it's fantastic, all of you should get out of the city for a while. It's done wonders for me. I haven't had an anxiety attack since I got here! Well that's a lie, I had one but it was on the first day and I haven't had any since then."
"That's really great y/n." Ned had a look of hesitation and regret on his face.
"What? What's wrong?"
"It's just," Ned hesitated.
"Spit it out."
"Well,"
"Ned, do I need to call MJ to find out what's going on?"
"PeterwenttoDoctorStrangeforaspellanditwenthaywiresonowvillainsfromotherdimensionsarecomingthroughandsomeotherspidermentoo." Ned seemed to word vomit. He spoke so fast, I could barely understand a word he said.
"Peter did what? You're going to have to repeat that slower for me to understand."
Ned took a deep breath.
"Peter went to Doctor Strange for a spell and it went haywire so now villains from other dimensions are coming through and some other Spidermen too."
I blinked as it all sank in.
"Hold up, so there are now multiple Spidermen in New York and more bad guys too?"
"Yeah." Ned's eyes lit up, "Oh! And I can also do magic like Doctor Strange! I was able to open portals!"
"Please don't tell me it was your portals that brought these people here."
"What? No! It was Doctor Strange who did that. He brought the people from their dimensions to our dimension, and I just found them in our dimension."
I rubbed the back of my neck.
"I've seen a lot of crazy stuff, but this is intense. How many bad guys and Spidermen are here now?"
"Uh, there are five villains, and they are so awesome! There is this guy with four metal tentacle things, and there is a sand dude, oh and a dinosaur, and-"
"How many Spidermen came through?" I interrupted him, because this was my big question.
"Oh, right, two. Two more Peter Parkers."
"Hold up, they aren't just two other guys with Spiderman's powers, they are named Peter too? Are they identical to our Peter? How do you tell them apart?"
"Yeah, it's very confusing, let me tell you. But no, they don't look identical. They aren't even the same ages! One looks like he's closer to 40, one looks like he's closer to 30. I don't actually know how old they are. Maybe 28 and 36? I haven't the faintest clue."
"Wow. Old guys as Spiderman. I can't picture that."
"It was really crazy to see for sure."
"So, do you guys want me to come back?"
"Well, we don't want to force you to if you need more time out on your own, but yeah, it would be nice if you were here."
"OK." I looked around at my peace and quiet. I took a deep breath. "Alright, of course I'll come."
Ned grinned.
"Great! Do you want me to portal you now?"
"What?"
"You know, since I can make portals, I can teleport you over here!"
"Oh of course. Right. It's a lot to process. Um, can you give me like an hour? I should pack my stuff and tidy up a bit."
"Sure! I'll give you a call in an hour and then portal you here."
"Wait, what about my car? I can't just leave it here!"
"I'll portal you back after this is all figured out and you can drive your car back."
"That'll work. Thanks Ned."
"It'll be good to have you back y/n. We missed you."
"I missed you too, buddy. I missed you too."
"See you in an hour!"
"Bye!" I ended the call.
I sat back in my chair, nothing felt real at the moment, like I was in shock or something.
A few moments passed and I realized I had so much to do in the next hour. So grabbing my school stuff and tea, I headed back inside.