Work Text:
December, 2014
“Nice of you to join us,” Uncle Ben says with a blank expression on his face as Peter freezes at the front door.
He slowly looks up from the ground, to see his Uncle standing in the doorway close to him, his Aunt peeking from behind with a concerned look on her face.
“Uncle Ben. Aunt May. What- What are you doing up?” Peter stutters, trying to stay calm.
“Oh, nothing really. Got any calls recently?” He replies, his face remaining completely unreadable.
“Uh- No not today,” Peter says as he grabs his phone out of his pocket. “Oh. Damn. You know- you know what? I think it died. I forgot to charge it last-”
He gets cut off by a chain of text alerts on his phone, from his best friend, Ned.
‘Dude’
‘guess what’
‘Ok im just gonna say it’
I just got a new lego set for us to build-’
Peter looks back up, his eyes meeting his uncle’s. He can see Ben’s expression shift as his jaw clenches and breath deepens. I’m fucking dead, Peter thinks as his eyes widen.
“What were you saying? Oh yeah. Something about your phone being dead?” Ben says with an obviously fake calm tone.
Shit shit shit, “Uh-” He pauses, forgetting every word he knows.
“Does our conversation from last night ring a bell?” Uncle Ben says, with a sharp edge. Peter opens his mouth to reply but before he can, Ben continues, “Your Aunt May- my wife had to walk all the way home from the subway because someone forgot to get her from work.”
“Crap- I- I totally forgot. I am so sorry. I-”
“Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to May.”
Peter looks away from Ben, locking eyes with his Aunt May, her face still frozen in worry. “May, I am so-”
“It’s fine, Pete. Really. I made it home just fine,” she cuts him off, speaking with a soft but unwavering voice.
“No, May it’s not! You could have been hurt, or worse,” Ben snaps, still looking at Peter.
“I just lost track of time. I- I didn’t realize how late it was,” Peter says. It wasn’t a lie, he did lose track of time but he wasn’t going to say, ‘I lost track of time because I was in this abandoned warehouse testing these new spider powers that I got on the Oscorp trip two days ago after I so graciously got distracted looking at these weird spiders, while the rest of the class kept moving, leaving me to get bit by a loose spider and spending fifteen minutes looking for the class while wondering why my neck hurt.’ That probably would sound too crazy for a moment like this.
“EARTH TO PETER,” Ben shouts, bringing him back into reality. “That’s all you have to say? What is going on with you? You’ve been acting weird for a few days now.”
“I just- It won't happen again.”
“Seriously Ben, it’s fine. He’s a teenager, he shouldn’t have to walk me home anyway.” May says, still keeping her voice as calm as possible.
“May, I am not letting you walk alone at night. Especially in this area.” he says as he shifts his focus back to Peter, “I thought I raised you better than this. But you are just like your father.”
“What?” Peter snaps, as he quickly shifts to anger. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“He was just as irresponsible as you- He abandoned his family!”
“HE FUCKING DIED!” Peter shouted, his hands shaking as they formed into fists.
“ON A PLANE THAT HE ONLY BOUGHT A ONE WAY TICKET FOR! AFTER DROPPING YOU OFF WITH ALL OF YOUR STUFF- HE WAS LEAVING YOU! THEY BOTH WERE!” Ben shouted, every muscle in his body shaking with rage.
Peter froze for a second before turning around and storming out of the house, slamming the apartment door on his way. As he stormed out of the apartment building, his new heightened senses allowed him to hear his uncle’s rage turn into regret. But he didn’t care.
-
Peter didn’t know where he was going, he was just going. He couldn’t stand to be in that apartment anymore. He just needed time to think, to calm down.
He found himself walking into a convenience store, looking down all of the isles of snacks. Ever since the bite, he’s been a lot hungrier and now that he was finally calming down, he was starting to feel it. Peter decided to grab a bag of chips and a soda. He paid and started walking outside, but as he opened the door, the back of his neck started tingling, which was weird so he looked up from the ground anxiously.
Peter found himself standing face to face with a man that looked really stupid in his stereotypical thief wardrobe consisting of a ski mask, a black turtleneck, black pants and black shoes.
“Move,” the thief said, as he pointed a gun to Peter’s head, shoving him back inside the store. He probably should think of a better name than the thief.
Peter stumbles backwards, the feeling in his neck spread through his spine. ‘Shit. Shit. Ohh- is it some sort of danger sense? Cool. I wonder if- focus Peter, focus. The thief- I mean-What should I call him? The thief is a dumb name- Dan? Yeah that works. Dan is pointing a gun at my head, I need to focus, this is what I have been training for since- well since yesterday,’ Peter thinks as he slowly starts shifting into a better fighting stance.
Dan then moved his focus to the cashier, who was actively reaching for the phone to call the police. As he did that, Peter took his chance and moved, tripping Dan in the process, “Oh, sorry man! I totally didn’t mean for you to fall on your face like that,” he says sarcastically as he looks up at the cashier, “Call the police.”
Peter leaned down and grabbed the ski mask from Dan’s head, letting out a slightly forced laugh, “God- No wonder you had a mask on, you can have it back,” then Peter dropped the mask on the ground.
He sprinted out of the door as Dan got up, his focus now entirely on Peter. He growled as he started chasing Peter down the street.
-
As soon as Ben watched Peter slam the door, he realized what he just said, all of his anger immediately slipped away.
“God I- I didn’t-” He whispers as eyes begin glossing over with tears.
“Honey-” May says, wrapping her arms around him.
“I- I can’t let him go out there alone this time of night. It’s not safe.” He said, removing himself from May’s reach and grabbing his coat from the rack. “I’m going to go after him and make sure he’s okay.”
“Be careful,” May said as she got his keys and handed them to him.
He raced out of the apartment, trying to catch up to Peter. He knew that he couldn’t have gotten far but with it being as late as it was, anything could happen. He couldn’t waste anymore time.
-
After several minutes, he spotted Peter down the street. He didn’t want to approach him quite yet because he knew his nephew needed time alone but that didn’t mean he was going to let Peter out of his sight.
He came to a stop when he saw Peter walk into a convenience store, there was no reason for him to go in. He didn't want to scare or anger Peter. Well, any more than he had already. As he stood there waiting for Peter to leave the store, he started thinking back on the argument. ‘Why did I say that?’ He thought, hoping he could apologize soon.
His thoughts were quickly interrupted when he spotted a man, putting on a ski mask and removing a gun from his pants. The man took a deep breath and walked toward the store. Ben panicked as he saw the man pull the gun to Peter’s head, shoving him deeper into the store. He decided to get closer and pulled out his phone to call 9-1-1. Before he could call, he saw Peter trip the man, say something that Ben couldn’t understand, throw the guy's mask on the floor, and sprinting out, in Ben’s direction. The man got up immediately, seeming to forget his original mission and chasing Peter down the street in a fit of rage.
Not even a second later, Ben finds himself running towards them, trying to help Peter. As he reached his nephew, he saw Peter’s eyes widen as his fake confidence turned to fear. Ben saw as the armed guy raised his gun, utilizing Peter's moment of distraction. Ben dove past Peter just as a bullet was fired through the air, piercing through his chest as he fell to the floor.
The edge of his vision began to blur and fade as he heard the sound of sirens growing in the distance. Everything was fading into darkness as he watched the man run out of sight.
-
As soon as Peter saw Uncle Ben, he froze. ‘No no no no- He- He can't be here. No this isn’t happening.’ A gun fired as Ben dove behind Peter. He could hear someone fall to the ground but- it’s not Ben. It couldn't be Ben. Peter needed to turn around and stop the man but his body wouldn't let him. He knew this was where he was going to die, because he couldn't turn around, or move. Then he started to hear sirens in the distance, followed by quick footsteps getting softer. His heightened senses allowed him to hear the man running down the street and away from him and his Uncle.
Peter couldn’t stop shaking, his body locked him in the same position until he finally heard his uncle’s voice, barely a whisper, but it pierced his ears like a scream, “Pete-”
Peter slowly turned around, his body shaking more than ever as he fell to the ground beside his uncle.
“Ben? Ben- No please- PLEASE!” he shouted as he choked on tears.
“Peter, look at me. I- I am so-sorry about tonight.”
“No Ben please, you’re gonna be- be fine. Uncle Ben you’re- you’re gonna be-” Petter cried.
“I am proud of you. I- I saw you keep that man from hurting the cashier-” Ben said, trying to hide his pain from Peter.
Peter’s whole world shattered as Ben continued to talk. Like it were his last words. But Peter knew it couldn’t b-, because he could hear the sirens getting louder. ‘They’re almost here.’ he thought as he heard Ben whisper something about power and responsibility.
He tried to listen, tried to focus, but everything was getting louder, he could hear Ben’s slowing heartbeat, the sounds of birds and insects, and the people in their homes watching television. He could taste the iron in the air as blood puddled on the ground. But the Sirens- the sirens were engulfing him as they screamed in his ears. He could see the dust in the air as his glazed eyes looked down at his uncle, now motionless.
There were people running towards him, pulling him away from his uncle but he couldn't leave. He couldn’t abandon his uncle, not like his parents left all of them. Not like he left his Aunt when she got off work, or both his Aunt and uncle after the argument. It was his fault. All of this was his fault.
A blood curdling scream left his mouth as he was pulled from his uncle, before everything blurred and his body gave up the fight. He felt as people placed him in an ambulance. He could hear the muffled sounds of talking, probably to him but he wasn’t listening, because Ben was dead.
Ben was dead- and Peter killed him.