Fractured Mind

Chapter 14

Peter slowly shut the bedroom door behind him.

Mary Jane didn't take her eyes off of the suit. A thousand things raced through Peter's mind. He felt panic and relief at the same time. He didn't make a move towards his girlfriend; he wanted her to get her thoughts in order before he said anything.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Mary Jane spoke.

"I am... confused," she looked up at him.

"Well, I think the Spider-Man suit laying across our bed kind of gives it away," Peter let out a nervous laugh and ran his hand through his hair.

"So that's the real suit then?" she asked in a shaky but curious voice.

"Yup," he made the "p" pop.

"Okay," she said as she moved the suit and sat down on the bed. She took the mask in her hands and stared at it.

"Does that bother you?" Peter asked.

She shook her head, "I can get over the fact that you're Spider-Man, Peter, but what I can't figure out is why have you stopped?"

Peter walked over and ruffled up her hair, earning a miffed look from Mary Jane. "So, you can get over the fact that I am basically a human-spider mutant, but you're confused about why I stopped being Spider-Man?"

"Well, yeah. My aunt always—" she paused and looked away from Peter for a moment, "—she always spoke highly of him. About Spider-Man. How he was the best thing that ever happened to this city. People always looked up to him. And then I find out that you— you're Spider-Man, and it doesn't make sense to me. Why would you, Peter Parker, the best person that I have ever known, give up something that helped people so much?" she asked, looking into his eyes.

"Not everyone thinks that greatly of Spider-Man, you know," he whispered as he intertwined her fingers with his.

"What do you mean?"

"You've read what the papers said, right? About... Gwen?" He was surprised to find that he could actually say her name without flinching. More relief swept through him.

"You actually care about what the paper says about you?" She raised an eyebrow at him, "everyone knows that Spider-Man had nothing to do with what happened, Peter. Ever since then, there have been paper after paper talking about how the city needs Spider-Man." She shook her head, "and this whole time you've just been in this house, sulking."

Peter quickly looked up at her, "I'm not sulking. I just— I gave up being Spider-Man."

"But why? It can't have been just because of a newspaper."

Peter took his hand out of hers and stood up from the bed.

"It's because— because I blame myself for what happened. The night that Gwen Stacy died, a part of me died too."

Mary Jane nodded to him, "what happened that night Peter?"

He shook his head at her, "I can't, MJ."

"You can trust me. You said you would tell me everything. I won't judge you, I just want to understand you better," she hopped off the bed and walked up to Peter, rubbing his arm.

He sighed and turned to her, "Gwen and I, we had just finished off Electro—or so I thought because apparently he's still alive—when Harry showed up."

"Harry. Harry Osborn?" Mary Jane questioned.

"Mhm. Except, he had changed. He wasn't Harry anymore. He was something much worse. And it took me until very recently to find out what exactly had happened to him," he shuddered.