ON HOLD
#𝟏 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫-𝐌𝐚𝐧
"Witnesses have made statements of seeing you with the wanted vigilante Spider-Man, so what we would like to know is whether or not these allegations are true."
"Half the city of New York has been seen with Spid...
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God. The way the air feels against my suit as I swing from building to building is enlightening. The sense of freedom never changes, no matter what's going on in the world. My only consistent form of escape is by being New York's Amazing Spider-Man, and even that is a rollercoaster of weird. I mean, giant lizards and my old best-friend turning into a goblin was.. horrible frankly. But now there's this big bald guy that's got a target on my ass every street I turn.
He sees the red and blue and it's like another episode of Cops since, ya know, half of the city is controlled by him. I tried making fun of him. I tried hitting the weak spots. And truthfully, just being completely honest here, he beat my ass. No, not some gun induced high-speed chase, but a literal ninja came out of the sewers and started practicing taekwondo on me. Except, he wasn't practicing, he was winning people. In my years as Spider-Man I've come across some crazy frickin villains, but this empire controlled by Mr. Wilson Fisk is another type of crazy. The dude has ninjas up his sleeve.
Typically, I don't care to take a good beating. But now I've got somebody else to worry about. If you asked me a week ago, "Hey Pete? Are there any people in your life?" I would've said no in an instant. I would've gladly said no because I don't want to have to have standards by any means. No, "Hey, when will you be home?" or "Spidey-poo, I miss you!" bullshit.
But when MJ came to me and asked what the hell we could do about her entire life being on the front lines of newspapers, I thought, "What could it hurt?".
The answer is simply; my sanity. If she's home, I don't walk around the apartment naked anymore. If she's home, I don't take my mask off and practice my ninja ass-kicking skills in the middle of the living room. If she's home, I'm in my hole of a room or out waiting for her to fall asleep. And then you may be wondering, "Why not just tell her who you are?"
Because I like the drama and I like the suspense. I'm waiting for her to come across me one day, completely out of my control, and realize that I'm the guy from the market that she blushed so furiously over. I want her to realize that I'm the one who picked out my groceries and I'm the one who she'll turn to when she needs help.
I want her to realize that not only am I a better person under the mask, but I'm also safer to be around. And then, hold on with me here folks, you may be wondering, "Pete, do you have a crush on her?" and the simple answer is no. No, I do not have some love-sick teenage boy crush on MJ.
However, she's the closest thing I've had to a friend since my old pal practically pushed my girlfriend to her death. Since she's moved into my apartment, I'm finding myself to want to run in her room and tell her the crazy as hell things that have been going on. I want to watch her face as I tell the stories of crime-fighting and ass-kicking humor. And I want to make myself feel better about taking her in and rendering her my responsibility. She's a grown woman, she can handle herself. And she proved that during the helicopter fight with Fisk the other day. But that doesn't mean I don't want to protect her too.
