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“Oh no,” Yelena says in her thick accent. “That is not good.”
Kate’s head turned to see what she was looking at. “Oh. Peter, look away!”
But it was too late. Even from the diner across the street, he could still see everything she was doing at the coffee shop. He could still see every movement. He could still see Ned, reading a book. Something Mj probably recommended to him.
Something she probably recommended to both of them before they forgot he existed.
The diner mug in his hands was warm but it didn't help the sickening feeling in his stomach.
“Peter Parker!” Yelena snapped her fingers in his face and he flinched. “Focus up.”
He grimaced and turned to look away from the window. He made note not to sit on this side of the diner next time. He sipped his hot cocoa slowly.
“So, back to my story,” Kate said, easily slipping into a narrative about some tracksuit men that Peter didn’t particularly care about.
Meeting Kate Bishop was a complete accident. And not in an I wish I never met them! way, more of a she shot an arrow into my leg and then took me back to her apartment way. It just so happened that Yelena was planning a surprise visit on the same evening.
So the very unlikely friendship of one forgotten boy, one scary ex-assassin, and one soon-to-be Hawkeye 2.0.
Peter loved them, as much as he could after everything. He just wished Mj and Ned could meet them too.
“Y’know I have a strange feeling you aren’t listening,” Kate said, tilting his head.
“That’s because he’s not,” Yelena agreed. “He’s been staring at the table thinking of his ex-girlfriend the entire lunch.”
Peter blushed, “no ‘m not.”
“Tell that to the hot cocoa you’ve hardly drank from.” She pointed at his mug.
His grip tightened around it as he brought it to his lips, as if to prove a point. He set it down harder than necessary. “Guys it’s fine, really.”
They both looked at him scrutinizingly.
It had been almost two months since they forgot him. Valentines was upcoming, and Peter would be spending it with his two platonic female friends. Instead of his beautiful, loving, dorky girlfriend.
He fought the urge to drop his head onto the table and scream.
“Do you think it would help if you finally told her?” Kate offered, with a hopeful smile.
Yelena’s eyes widened, “Kate Bishop, that is an awful idea! She will think he’s insane.”
“If they met and fell in love the first time, who’s to say it can’t happen again!”
His ears grew hot, and he shook his head. “I think I should leave her alone. Really, it would only make things worse. I’d just end up embarrassing myself.”
“No, no, no,” Kate said, shaking her head in unison with his. “Don’t let Lena get into your head. You can’t let this go to waste, Peter!”
He almost yelled well. I already did that when I broke time but he managed not to.
“I made sure everyone forgot about me the first time for a reason, guys. It would be insane to try and undo it.”
Kate drummed her fingers on the table. “Actually….”
“No!” Yelena startled. “We are not calling Clint Barton.”
“How did you even know I was gonna say that?”
“I can practically hear your train of thoughts, Bishop.”
“Hang on, hang on,” Peter interrupted, holding his hands up. “What are you guys saying?”
Yelena’s face fell into a hard glare at Kate. She grinned wickedly. “You knew Clint, didn’t you? I can totally call him. Maybe we can get him to remember you.”
Peter immediately started shaking his head. “No, god no. That’s crazy. I barely even- we met like once, and he didn’t even meet me. Peter. He knows who Spider-Man is.”
As if she was turning it into a challenge, she held up her phone, dialed his number, and stared into Peter’s wide eyes.
Yelena drawled, “this is idiotic.”
She put him on speaker. Peter covered his face with his hands.
“Kate? What do you want?”
Kate immediately huffed. “Okay. First of all, that is a very rude way to answer your phone. Second of all, this could be very important!”
“Who died?” He deadpanned.
“My best friend’s soul,” she said, almost too serious for Peter’s liking.
There was a beat of silence. And then: “I’m going to hang up if you don’t make this worth my while, Kate.”
“Okay, okay!” She took a deep breath. “Do you know Tony Stark’s kid?”
Peter internally screamed.
“What? Morgan?”
He was going to kill himself.
“No, no, no. Spider-Man.”
“Spider-Man is a kid?!”
“Oh my god, Kate Bishop, give me the phone,” Yelena said, snatching it off the table and taking it off speaker. “Hello Barton.”
Peter, glad for his enhanced senses, could still hear him. “Yelena? What the hell is going on?”
“Spider-Man’s name is Peter Parker and he was Tony Stark’s son before he died,” she explained. “But none of you remember that because he sacrificed his identity to save New York, almost destroying the world.”
Kate and Peter’s jaws both dropped.
“Why would you explain it like that?!” Kate whispered.
Peter swallowed. “Jesus Christ,” he mumbled.
He covered his face again as silence filled their table. He willed Clint to respond. To give him something.
“Are you guys high again?”
“Barton just give me confirmation that you understood what I said.”
“I- you sound insane. But I mean… I guess that could make sense.”
Peter scrubbed his face. He was glad Clint was an Avenger they were calling, and not some random civilian. If any normal person got this call they would think it was some kind of prank. But of course, in the day and age where they could be attacked by aliens from outer space, how crazy is it that a kid could be wiped from everyone’s memory.
It was Peter’s turn to snatch the phone.
“Peter-!”
“Hello?”
“Hi? Who is it now?”
He screwed his eyes shut. “I’m uh- I’m Peter.”
~
“Who are you, kid?” Someone asked him.
Peter lifted his head from his knees, sat in a chair on Mr Stark’s porch. Because Mr Stark lived for five years without him and had a fucking Lake House and a daughter and-
“I’m uh- I’m Peter,” he stuttered out, blinking rapidly as he realized he was speaking with Clint Barton. Or: fucking Hawkeye.
He nodded slowly and a smirk found his face. “Peter huh? I think I might need more to go off than that.”
He blushed and ducked his head. “Right, uh, Spider-Man? Ring any bells?”
Clint’s eyes widened, and he opened his mouth. Then he closed it. Then: “you? But you’re so young.”
“Yeah, well. We don’t exactly get to choose the life we live, do we?”
Clint cocked his head. And then he turned to gaze at the water, where Tony’s old arc reactor floated, watched by the eyes of those he loved. Proof that Tony Stark has a heart flooded everyone's ears, eyes, and souls.
“Yeah. I guess you’re right, kid.”
~
“Oh my god. We met at the funeral.”
It was as if someone punched him in the chest. The strange feeling. To be loved is to be known, meant something else to Peter.
“You- you remember me?”
“Yeah,” he choked out, sounding more shocked than Peter. “How- you’ve been alone all this time? Fuck.”
Peter laughed wetly. He could feel Kate and Yelena staring at him. “Yeah. Pretty much.”
“God. Can I help you, kid?”
Peter wasn’t going to die alone. Well, at least not with just Kate Bishop and Yelena Belova at his side.
Clint, not waiting for a response: “I’ll fly out to New York this week. Keep in touch with Bishop and Yelena.”
The line went dead before Peter could release a sob or even a fucking thank you. He dropped the table on the table, narrowly missing his mug of hot cocoa.
Kate breathed out a laugh. “Holy shit.”
And then Yelena: “it’s that easy, huh?”
He nodded slowly. His eyes found the cafe across the street again. “Yeah. That easy.”
—
“Oh my god if he doesn’t just walk inside in the next five seconds I am going to push him in myself.”
Peter swung his head around to see Yelena and Kate camping out on a bench a few yards from the cafe. He stood, like an idiot, in front of the closed door. He stepped out of the way multiple times, for people coming and going.
He heard Yelena and Kate begin to giggle. “I forgot about his super hearing.”
He rolled his eyes and pushed the door open. He found his feet moving without him thinking, carrying him all the way to the counter.
Mj was there, in all her glory. Her gorgeous chocolate brown curls were pulled into a bun on top of her head, and she had a bored look on. She wore the necklace Peter gave her, and the scar on her forehead was barely noticeable anymore.
She looked up at him, and Peter swore he was dreaming.
Her bored expression faded into a look of surprise. And then she smirked. “Hi. Peter Parker, right?”
He huffed a shocked laugh. “Yeah, yeah. That’s me.”
She raised an eyebrow, that ever-knowing, contemplative look still on her face. The face he had always loved.
“Well. Would you like a coffee, Mr Parker?”
“Actually?” He swallowed. “I’d like to… I’d like to talk to you, Michelle.”