Flower Child (Peter Parker, MCU)

When in Doubt, There's Always Witchcraft

man at the garden — Kendrick Lamar

Fall always took forever in New York. Or at least, that's what Peter thought. Most other places saw the seasons begin to change in September — leaves yellowing, the air getting just a touch cooler until dropping drastically. It all seemed to happen for everyone rather quickly, except in New York. However, like clockwork, when October arrived, so did everything else all at once.

The crispness of the air filled Peter's nostrils around October the second, and after a three-day stretch of rain, he began to see more leaves on the ground than on the trees. Said trees began to burst forth with their impressive oranges and reds and yellows, coloring the concrete jungle with lush strokes. It was his absolute favorite time of year.

And this year was miserable. The staring hardly died down over the school year, even if the whispers lessened. Peter supposed that everyone had been suspecting he would leap out of his desk and web everybody up, or murder someone else (even though he'd never done it in the first place), or crawl all over the walls and ceilings in the school. And when he didn't, when he behaved as he always had at school (awkward, hard-working and polite), it dialed back the interest a little.

But only a little. He was still known everywhere he went. Even if they weren't talking about him, their eyes bore holes into all sides of his body, making him uncomfortable in his own skin. And it wasn't even just in school either. It was truly everywhere he went.

Lila insisted on taking him to different parks on their weekends, just to walk and reconnect with grass every once in a while. She made him feel the most normal, the most content, even after several months of unwanted attention. She would bring fresh baked goods and prepared foods with her, and the two would find secluded spaces to eat and enjoy each other in peace. Since Lila wasn't at the flower shop very often anymore, she'd taken to FaceTiming her cousin Claire, who would teach Lila how to bake all the things she ate when she'd visited Paris. Peter was her biggest test subject on those days.

And just when those moments started to make him forget about everything that had transpired in the summer, some random person would always stand over their picnic and ask to talk to Peter, or would shout as they passed some insult or other to Spider Man. He didn't understand how people could hold onto things for so long, especially as more and more about Mysterio came to light. Over the last month and a half, it had been announced in several news outlets that Mysterio had been involved with the attack, not just fighting off drones. Peter wished the details would come to light a lot faster, for he felt like that would at least get half of New York off of his back.

He had J. Jonah Jameson to thank for that, mostly. It seemed he made it his personal mission to paint Peter as a menace to society, and a danger to the people. His drastic, doom-and-gloom outlook had soared in popularity since exposing Peter's identity, and it just egged on the vitriol. He was grateful his friends hadn't been covered much on that show at all, they all dealt with enough.

As if all of this wasn't stressful enough, there was still active planning for Peter's future. His transcripts, essays, grades and all were picture perfect. May had cried several tears seeing all his paperwork in front of her, both proud of all the accomplishments he'd had in school and also in disbelief that Peter was getting ready to leave her.

"It's only Boston, May," Peter assured her after he'd submitted his final application. "It's a three-hour train ride up the coast, you'll love it."

"Yeah, well, I was willing to accept Yonkers as far enough away. This is like a whole other country." Peter couldn't help but smile and hug his aunt when she asked.

Little did he know that Yonkers was even further than he should have hoped. The trail of disappointment started on a Saturday evening. Peter had just changed into his pajamas after seeing Lila for an afternoon, and had sat down to work on a history essay when May burst through the door. She frantically waved a letter in her hand, panting. "First one's here!"