stark, peter parker

xvi. this is the worst secret lair ever

peter rocked back on his heels, standing inside doctor strange's sanctum. "well," he said, "i, umm... really appreciate you doing this for me, sir.

stephen strange shook his head. "don't mention it. and don't call me 'sir'." he smiled.

peter let out a nervous laugh. "right. sorry."

"you ready?"

he nodded. "i'm ready."

strange folded his hands. "nice knowing you, spider-man." he unfolded his hands, drawing mystical shaped in the air.

peter's brows furrowed as he registered strange's words. "wait, excuse me?"

he didn't look up from the spell. "the entire world is about to forget that peter parker is spider-man. including me."

"everyone?" peter repeated. "can't some people still know?"

strange shook his head. "that's not how the spell works and it's very difficult and dangerous to change it mid-casting."

peter's eyes widened as he thought about it. "so my girlfriend is just gonna forget about everything we've been through? i mean, is she even gonna be my girlfriend?"

strange remained focused on the spell. "that depends. was she your girlfriend just because you're spider-man, or..."

"i mean, i don't know." peter said. "i really hope not. but the only reason we met was because she and mr stark were recruiting me, so if she never knew, then we may not have met, and.."

strange sighed. "alright. fine." he swung his hand, causing his circular spell to lower as he began casting a new one. "everyone in the world is gonna forget you're spider-man, except your girlfriend."

peter smiled. "thank you so much...." his eyes then widened. "oh, my god. ned. ned!"

"what is a ned?"

"he's my best friend, so it's really important to me that ned knows..."

strange reluctantly began to draw third spell. "okay. let's not change the parameters of the spell anymore while i'm casting it."

peter nodded. "okay, i'm done. i swear i'm done." he thought for a moment. "but my aunt may should really know."

strange drew another circle. "peter, stop tampering with the spell."

"once she found out that i was spider-man, it was really messy, and i don't think that i can go through with that again. so, my aunt may?" peter rambled.

"yes!"

he sighed. "oh, thank you." he thought for another moment. "happy?"

"no." strange shook his head. "i am annoyed."

peter shook his own head. "no, it's a nickname. harold 'happy' hogan. he used to work for tony stark...."

the runes that strange are holding begin to shake. "could you.... you just stop talking?!"

suddenly, the runes break and spread through the room. the blue gleam, first only merely coating the vault's walls, now seems to be consuming its entirety.

"basically, everyone... who knew that i was spider-man before... should still know!" peter shouts over the noise.

the spinning room circles obliterate the whole thing, leaving only strange and peter spinning in the middle. now all that is surrounding them is a blue-purple void. strange starts pulling the circles together with great effort. as they start to come together, the room starts to return as well. with a blood-curdling scream, strange finally puts the spell together and closes it. it's now locked in an orange, pentagon cube.