Spider-Man: Sandstorm

Chapter 2: Back to Basics pt. 1

Peter walks down a corridor of his apartment building leading to his apartment. He gets his key out and places it in the lock. He fidgets with the key while simultaneously turning the knob left and right until the door opens with a loud creak. He steps inside and locks the door behind him.
   
      He has a one bedroom apartment, about as small as they come. "Good to be home," he says while he throws his keys on his messy disjointed bedside desk, "Aunt May's living room is bigger than this place." There's a small fridge along the side of the wall, connected to a small burnt stove and a pantry. He walks over and turns on the stove to get a kettle going. He then turns around and walks to his desk. It's as messy as can be, with loose motherboards, wires, chemicals, and a notepad with decent sketches of spider costume ideas. There's framed pictures along the backside of the desk. One of himself and Mary Jane in a photobooth, another with him and Mary Jane, but that one has a third person. Someone tall and lanky, with a long face to go with his long nose.
   
    Peter picks it up and looks at it, "Too bad me and Harry don't talk as much anymore," he says while reminiscing, "but after everything that happened with his..." he pauses, and thinks, but the thought is almost too painful to think of. "I understand."
   
    He puts the photo back down and looks at another, this one of him, he looks younger, happier, less tired, the person in that photo doesn't keep the weight of the world on their shoulders. Alongside him there's two other people, an older woman with gray hair, and an older man with gray hair. He sits in his chair in front of the desk and talks to the photo.
  
     "Uncle Ben... I know you told me that with great power comes great responsibility but... I stopped Fisk today. I feel like I've done everything I can for the people around me... but even then," he looks down at his lap, unable to look at Ben while he says this, then he lets out a sigh, "it's probably best if I tell you in person, I need to get that box out to the Bugle."
   
     Peter opens a drawer in his desk and pulls out a small black box, there's a small lock on the front. He rummages through the inside of the drawer some more and pulls out the key, he unlocks the box and slowly opens it. Inside the box are at least a hundred polaroids, and they're all of Spider-Man. Most of them are of him stopping low level thugs.

      Too bad I sold all the good ones to the Bugle already, he thinks to himself, but good thing I took all these extra just in case, and I'm pretty sure somewhere in here I haaave...
    
     He looks through the photos. Under the photos of Spider-Man and the thugs are specific photos of Spider-Man fighting a man in green and purple. They're kept tight around a rubber band and they take up most of the box.
   
    He sets those aside and looks through more pictures of Spider-Man vs thugs. Then he finally lands upon the ones he was looking for. "Aha!" he says, taking the pictures out, "good ol' Spidey vs. ol' Willy Fisk! During winter no less, keeps it authentic." He squints and analyzes the photo. "Huh," he says, "this is from years ago. Looks like I was only Spider-Man for two years at the time. Feels like a lifetime ago."

       He sets the pictures on his desk and goes to put the ones of the thugs back, but then he notices one more sitting at the bottom of the box. He stares at it, his eyes growing large.  He reaches in and holds it up. It's a picture of a young woman. Her hair is white blonde, and she's wearing a black headband. She's smiling in the picture, wearing a black top and a green sweater. In the top corner of the photo there's something written in black marker. It reads: "I will love ya forever!! XOXO--- Gwen <3."

       Peter's eyes swell up as he continues to eye the picture, after a long time he puts it back in the box along with the others. He hastily shuts the box, locks it and shoves it back into the drawer. He grabs the photos of Fisk off his desk and puts them in his satchel. He then puts his coat and shoes on. As he's getting ready to leave, the stove shoots flames then sputters. It then turns off, leaving only the noise of the gas shooting out. He runs over and turns it off angrily.
        
         Great, he thinks, just great, now I gotta get that fixed too, as if I don't have enough money problems. He stomps out into the corridor and locks his apartment door. I'll just get something after I visit the Bugle.