Fractured Mind

Chapter 25

"Hey, man. I need you to meet me at the abandoned fairgrounds, now," Harry quickly said to him through the phone.

"That's fine, everything all good?" Peter asked.

Harry snorted, Peter was always the worrier, "yeah, I'll explain when you get here."

Peter had hung up and Harry sat down on one of the benches waiting for him to get there. Harry laughed to himself, thinking of Doc Ock.

If only he knew the truth, Harry thought to himself, shaking his head.

Nearly half an hour went by and Harry was growing impatient. He got up from the bench and walked around the abandoned area. He spotted a figure jogging up to him, and smiled as he realized it was Peter.

"What took you?" Harry called out to him. Peter was in his leather jacket, not the Spider-Man outfit Harry presumed he would be in. He felt kind of awkward in his suit.

"I took a bus. I don't swing everywhere, you know," Peter rolled his eyes at him, "so, what's up, man? You've been avoiding me for several weeks and you call me out of the blue?"

Guilt ran through him. One of the main things Harry had been feeling lately. He didn't even really think Peter had noticed, but he had been avoiding him. He decided to play it off and smiled sheepishly at him.

"Yeah, I just needed some time to think, I guess. But that's not why I called you here tonight. You'll get a kick out of this," Peter looked up in interest.

"What is it?" Peter asked him.

"Doc Ock held a meeting tonight and spoke with me in private. He saw your name on one of Spider-Man's pictures and wanted me to question you to see if you knew Spider-Man's whereabouts or who he was," Harry laughed, "I swear this guy is getting more and more desperate, it's sad really."

Peter shook his head, "why'd you call me here then? You could have just left and told him you spoke to me."

Dammit.

Peter stared at him, waiting for an answer.

"Because... I wanted to see you," he began, attempting not to show his embarrassment, "I shouldn't have been ignoring you. I understand why you don't want to be friends again," he shrugged.

He didn't want to keep pressuring Peter into being his friend again; it was childish. He had to let it go. He had to let his friend go.

Peter sighed, "Harry, it's not that I don't want to be friends with you. I do, I really do. I'm trying. I miss how things used to be between us, but I—"

Harry lowered his eyes to the ground. He was sick of the excuses; he had gotten them his entire life. If Peter didn't want to be friends with him, he should just tell him and stop trying to avoid it.

"—I think I can learn to forgive you, Harry. Forgive, but not forget."

Wait, what?

Harry felt his heart skip a beat. Peter was watching him, a calculated expression on his face. Harry didn't want to get ahead of himself, he wanted to make sure Peter was saying what he thought he was saying.

"What are you saying, Peter?"

"I'm going to tell Mary Jane about how I've been working at Oscorp. I'll tell her everything that's happened between us, and how it was the goblin who murdered those people, not you."

A smile slowly made its way across Harry's face.

"You've saved my life multiple times now, putting yours at risk. You kept my identity a secret, when you could have told my worst enemies. You could have completely destroyed my life if you wanted to. Harry, I'm sorry that I denied you my blood when you first asked. I should have told you that I was Spider-Man, and explained that we could test and experiment with my blood to see if you were compatible. But I think tonight I made that up to you," Peter's face broke into a grin.