Everything was warm. A kind, comforting warmth that flooded through me, a mixture of emotions and feelings. There was a sound too, the soft sound of distant laughter.

It brought with it a nice sensation. But slowly the sensation faded and the sound grew more distant, replaced by an uncertainty, a mixture of anxiety and hope. As the last remnants of laughter faded the sound of distant cars within a bustling city picked up, slowly building before I finally opened my eyes.

I sat up, blinking through wetness. For a moment I was filled with confusion, then I glanced around, the memories slowly coming back to me, along with the dull aches of my body.

“Crap” I muttered, hanging my head. I still couldn’t believe that was real.

The talk with everybody last night had really been something.

Everyone had been crying. Mostly Big Sis, Aunty, Quinten, Maria, and me. Sofia had been a bit pissed that I’d told Eric before everyone else. That’d been kind of funny. But the whole thing had been draining, especially after Yerin had left. And considering how little I actually discussed anything, there was probably a lot more talking to be done.

The bed creaked loudly as I slumped back into bed and sighed. I’d really told everyone. It seemed like the right thing to do beforehand, but now a part of me was starting to regret it. What if this made things worse?

What if there was some kind of mind reading meta out in the streets of New York? That'd probably be bad for every hero with a secret identity, but still, everyone close to me knew now. I'd thought the risk would be worth it, but maybe not.

Eh, I was probably just overthinking things. At least this was better than lying. Probably.

I stood up and stretched, yawning loudly as I cracked my back. I ran a hand through my hair and rolled my shoulders, wincing as I grabbed at my side. With a few breaths the pain faded, and I walked slowly towards the window.

I drew them back with a hand, looking down into the street below, then up to the sky. It was about midday, maybe one, and the streets were as busy as usual this time right before schools broke for summer.

“Guess all my summer plans are out the window now” I mumbled, staring blankly out at the street. “…probably a good thing.”

I drew the curtain back and stepped back into the room, webbing a t-shirt over to me. I pulled it on and stepped it toward the door. Hesitantly, I cracked the door open and peered into the main room, spotting Aunty and Big Sis.

They sat, talking for a few seconds, the expressions on their faces serious. I watched them, my heart hearting slightly at the sight of Aunty’s saddened expression.

It had to be hard on her, suddenly finding out now, after all these years, that Uncle Jamie's death could've been avoided. I didn't know if I could face her. I went to pull the door back, but it creaked loudly, and they both looked over to me.

“M-morning” I muttered, stepping out into the main room. “Or afternoon”

“Afternoon” Big Sis said forcing a smile. They both watched me as I awkwardly made my way over to the kitchen and pulled out a bowl for cereal, before rifling around the kitchen for cornflakes.

“You sleep well?” Aunty asked.

“Uh… yeah, yeah” I said, looking back to them. “You sleep well?”

“Not really, no” she chuckled awkwardly. I froze, my heart sinking slightly.

“But that’s ok. I mean… I- it wasn’t your fault, Lucas. With Jamie. I realised I didn’t say that yesterday”

“I… thanks” I muttered, my voice catching slightly.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have- you just woke up. We can talk about this more when you’re ready to”

“It’s fine” I muttered, pulling the milk out the fridge. Suddenly there was a loud bang and Sofia emerged from the hallway into the main room.

“Afternoon everyone”

“Sofia?!” Big Sis said confused. “I thought you left for school? Why’re you here?”

“I couldn’t miss this for school” Sofia said, stepping out of the hallway as she tapped away at her phone.

“You can’t just skip school Sof” I said.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“You’re skipping school”

"I’m graduating in like four days. I don’t even have anymore lessons” I added.

“Yeah, yeah. Question, how’d you get your powers?”

“Uh... a bug bite, I think. That was the theory at least”

“Seriously? Ok, uh… you said you knew the other Spider-Man? Do you know who he is?"

“I... can’t answer that”

“Ok, do you have your old costume and those web-shooter things?”

“I don’t use web-shooters and why all the questions. You’re not putting this online are you?”

“What? No, I’m not stupid.” she said. “Ok, next question I-”

“Sof, I don’t think now’s the time for all of this. He just woke up” Big Sis said.

“Fine. Sorry for trying to be interesting. I’ll let the princess wake up first” she responded, slumping into one of the bean bags as she carried on tapping away at her phone.

I flipped her off as she and she gave me the middle finger back, not looking up from her phone.

"Sorry about them" Big Sis said to Aunty, as shook her head looking between both of us. I chuckled to myself as I poured the milk over my cereal. At least things between Sofia and I hadn’t changed. I set the milk down and turned to put in away when a sudden pain shot through my side again.

"Ow" I muttered, catching myself on the counter.

“You, ok?” Big Sis asked.

“Yeah, just a few aching pains here and there”

“Well take it easy, you don’t want to hurt yourself again”

“I know, I know” I said.

I took a seat at the kitchen table and grabbed a spoon, digging into my cereal. As I ate my mind drifted to the strange feelings of hope and anxiety in my stomach. I was going to be Spider-Man, or at least one of the Spider people. It was kind of cool. And weird.

This whole situation felt weirdly uplifting in a way. I’d never really felt this positive about the future before. Never seen such promise. It was good. Mostly. Scary too, knowing that with so much potential, so much more could go wrong. For a moment the feeling of quitting while I was ahead flitted through my mind.

I clenched and unclenched my fist, staring at some of the smaller scars on my hands, then felt at my chest, the scar from the robot samurai still tender. They’d fade eventually. But I’d remember them. If I ever got too mixed up with my own thoughts, I’d try to remember why I’d got these in the first place.

I ate another spoonful from my bowl and glanced to Sofia who chuckled at her screen then glanced to me. I furrowed my brow.

“What’s so funny?”

“Uh… nothing, nothing”

“Nothing? Really?”

“Well, I researched it and you were only around for like two weeks” she chuckled. “I had to go down an entire rabbit hole just to find you”

“Well… whatever” I said scoffing.

“Sofia, stop messing with Lucas” Big Sis said.

“Sorry, sorry” Sofia said. “I just thought he did more, but the new spider people have a ton more stuff about them online. I mean even the clone you mentioned yesterday has more stuff online”

“Yeah, yeah. Well, you probably see me on TV soon”

“Soon?” Big Sis said.

“After I’ve healed” I said. “I’m not stupid.”

“Ok” Big Sis said, narrowing her eyes. “Good”

“Wait, so, what happens now?” Sofia said.

“Hm?”

“I mean, being Spider-Man. How does it work? Do you hand in a job application to the current one?” Sofia said.

“No, I have his number, I just…” I frowned and sat up. Wait, was his phone number still the same? I hadn’t exactly called Peter in a while. And even if it was, would he even let me be Spider-Man again?

I know he said I could call whenever but people’s minds changed all the time. Now that I really understood what the job entailed, I knew he really had every right to be angry at me.

“Crap” I muttered.

“What’s wrong?” Sofia said.

“I have to call someone real quick” I said standing.

“Wait, you mean the actual Spider-Man?”

“Yeah”

“You’re not calling him to start doing superhero stuff right now?” Big Sis said, alarmed.

“No… no”

“That didn’t sound very persuasive” Big Sis said.

“Sorry, no- I just need to talk to him” I said. I threw my door open and webbed my phone to me quickly dialling Peter. The others watched me for a few seconds as I paced by my door. I closed it with a web and wiped the sweat from my palms on my top. It didn't help, my thoughts starting to race as I started to consider that I'd just confessed to being a superhero for literally no reason at all.

I needed to calm down. I leapt up to the ceiling landing, in the corner of my room as I tried to steady my breathing.

“It’s gonna be fine” I muttered to myself. “Just fine”

I waited a few more seconds, the dial tone dragging on for eternity before it finally stopped. I held my breath for a moment, waiting.

“Lucas?” a voice finally said on the other end of the line.

“H-hey Peter… could we... talk?”

“Sure. You doing ok?”

“I’m fine I just… is there somewhere we can meet?”

-

The streets of Brooklyn were busy, bustling with people going about their days. I moved through the crowd, wearing a baggy hoodie and cargo pants, hands thrust deep into my pockets as I shuffled along, trying desperately to steady my breathing. I was nervous. More so than I thought I’d be. All the memories of seeing Peter struggle on TV against villains, of the guilt I’d felt then, piled along with the guilt I felt now that I understood things even more were swirling up in my gut again.

I could remember the first time we’d met properly, the small conversation that we’d had on our way to hell, right before Ricardo had ruined everything. I remembered when he’d seen me, right after Amy’s funeral, and the promise I’d practically forced him to make.

It all felt so twisted now, so wrong. But it was in the past and I couldn’t change it. I needed to look forward, apologise and try to forgive myself. I slowed as I neared the location Peter had given me, still nervous.

I stopped outside the diner, took a deep breath to calm myself then entered. I looked around for a few seconds almost frantic, before spotting Peter. He sat in the corner grinning at me. I felt my fears fade slightly and smiled back, making my way over to the table.

“It’s... been a while man” I said.

“Yeah, glad to see you’re doing better”

“Thanks for saving me. Seriously”

“No problem. So, why the face to face? Is this about the alternate dimension thing?”

“Kind of. We... need to talk”

“About?”

“I know this is probably a lot and there’s no good way to say this but… I want back in”

“You sure?” he said, eyes growing wide.

“Yeah” I nodded firmly. “I’ve put a lot of thought into it”

Peter’s grin grew.

“You wanna see our HQ?”