Spider-Man: Marvel Knight

Chapter 3-The Life of Spider-Man

   "Hey, can you drop me off by the Bugle?" Peter asked Harry. "I gotta go get my paycheck."
   "Sure, no problem," he replied. Peter was having a great time working there now. Jameson was still a pain to work with, sure, but all he had to do was take pictures of himself in a Spider-Man suit and hand them into the front desk. Harry let Peter off on the roof. "You need a ride home afterwards?" Harry asked.
   "No, I'll swing back," Peter said. "I could use some exercise."
   "Alright," his friend said. "I'll be at Oscorp if you need me."
   "Alright." Harry was about to fly off, but Peter stopped him. "Hey, Harry?"
   "Yeah, Pete?" he responded.
   Peter took off his mask. "Listen...I'm sorry about what happened back there. I didn't expect him to..."
   Harry looked at his glider, fighting back tears. He looked back at his friend. "Nothing to be sorry about, Pete," he said. "Shit happens, I guess..."
   Peter nodded and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah..."
   Harry cleared his throat. "I'll, uh, see you at the house, then."
   "Right," Peter said. "See you later." Harry turned around and headed towards the Oscorp building.
   Pete grabbed the duffle bag of civilian clothes that he kept on the roof of the Bugle. Whenever he was Spider-Man, he could change into his Peter Parker persona quickly and sneak into the Bugle like nothing ever happened.
   As he was putting on a shirt, he felt his phone buzz. It was MJ. He answered it as he sat down. "Hey, babe. What's up?"
   "We are at a Gucci outlet buying clothes," she responded. Gwen grabbed a dress and showed MJ. "Oh, that looks cute," she told her.
   Peter raised an eyebrow. He began tying his shoes. "I'm sorry...'we?'"
   "Me and Gwen," she responded.
   "Oh, that's fun," Peter said, trying to sound excited. "Where's Liz?"
   "She is currently trying on a wedding dress in the Staten Island mall. We are in the Brooklyn mall," she responded.
   Gwen took the dress and went over to MJ. "I think I'm gonna go try this one on," she said.
   "Go ahead," MJ responded. "I'll wait out here for you." Gwen smiled and went into the dressing room. MJ turned serious. "Peter, did you tell Gwen that it was okay if she didn't come tonight?"
   Peter began to put on his blazer. "That was her decision," he said. "Not mine."
   "Peter Benjamin Parker," she started. Oh boy. Middle name. "You could've told her to come with us, and you just said, 'Oh yeah, it's totally fine if you don't want to come.' Do you know how that sounds?"
   Peter went and sat on the edge of the building. "MJ, look. She didn't want to go, and I didn't want to stop her. You know what it's like to try and change Gwen's mind."
   "And you know what it's like to be alone, Peter," she said. "We all do."
   Peter sighed. Of course he wasn't going to win this argument. "Okay, I apologize. It was pretty crappy of me to do. Anything else?"
   "Yes," she said. "Try to be a little less college professor when you teach her bout her spider powers."
   "I'm a college student," he said. "I can't explain anything any other way. You of all people know that the only way I can describe things is in big words. You remember what chemistry was like with me."
   "Oh, don't remind me, tiger," she said giggling. "Don't remind me." She rubbed her head. "Listen, just...she's your friend, Peter. Treat her like a friend and not a student."
   Peter got defensive. "MJ, for almost two years, she had hid her powers from me. This was my fault. Mine! I was trying to be helpful, and as usual, I mess everything up again! She doesn't want to have them. She never wanted any part of Spiderman, and now she has everything to do with it. This is my responsibility...this is...this..." Peter began to feel himself begin cry. Tears flowed down his cheeks. MJ could hear his quiet sobs on the other side of the phone, and it broke her heart. She fought back tears just listening to him. "I'm sorry..." he said, wiping his tears away, his voice breaking. "I didn't mean to yell."
   "Peter," she said trying to bear her boyfriend's broken heart, "you have nothing to be sorry about."
   "No," Peter said, sniffling. "No, I do. I...I do. I saw him again. He set me off...tried to belittle all of us."
   MJ thought for a moment. There were a lot of "hims." Finally, she figured out who it was. "Peter, you can't keep blaming yourself for what happened back then. That was more than a year ago."
   "MJ," he said, "you have no idea what it's like living with that on your heart. I wasn't able to save Ben, I wasn't able to save Norman, I almost didn't save Kurt. I almost didn't save you and what if Gwen is next?"
   "Peter, the next time you say that, I'm slapping you." A single tear rolled down her cheek. "Gwen is the strongest girl you know, and you know that. Who protected you and Harry through high school? Who learned jujitsu just to protect you two? Me? No. I was in Europe learning how to act and dance. Gwen was the one that helped you. So I don't want to hear that ever again. Just..." She fought back more tears. "Just...just treat her like a friend and quit pushing her away."
   Peter wiped his last tear. "Did I ever tell you that you're the best damn motivational speaker I've ever met?"
   MJ smiled and let another tear fall. She was embarrassed that she was about to cry in a public mall. "That'd be a first, tiger. I love you."
   "I love you, too. Have fun shopping." He hung up and wiped the tears forming in his eyes. "Wow I'm sappy," he whispered to himself.
   MJ put her phone in her pocket. Another tear rolled down her cheek. She wiped it away quickly. Gwen walked out of the dressing room in the beautiful black dress she picked out. MJ wiped the tear from her cheek and smiled. "Oh my God, you're an angel," she told Gwen, looking at her beauty. Of course Gwen knew something was wrong.
   "You talked to him didn't you," Gwen asked her.
   MJ shook her head. "Never mind that, Gwen," she said grabbing her hand. "We need to find you some shoes now."

   Peter snuck into the Bugle as he always did. Luckily, there were no security cameras, because Jameson thought the CIA were watching them through it or something.
   Eddie was on his computer researching something as always. And, of course, he was mumbling to himself. "Morning, Eddie," Peter greeted.
   Eddie turned away from his computer. "Peter, hey. Morning...or is it afternoon?" he questioned with an awkward smile. "I've had my nose in this computer all day."
   Peter chuckled. "Still morning. What's Jameson got you working on?"
   Eddie gestured at his computer. "Well...he, uh, got me to do research on the School for the Gifted in Brooklyn."
   "Xavier's?" Peter asked. "We played them in basketball. Some strange kids, but real friendly. Why is he got you searching that?"
   Eddie chuckled. "He seems to think that it's a safe haven for mutants. I guess that's the emphasis on the 'gifted.'"
   Pete shook his head and chuckled. "Whatever drugs Jameson does, I need to try them some day."
   "Yeah," Eddie said under his breath. He noticed Peter's eyes were red. "Something wrong, Pete?" he asked, gesturing towards Peter's eyes.
   He rubbed his eyes. His tears had made his tears bloodshot. "Oh, this? No, I just haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately. You know, with college classes, jobs, and other...extracurricular activities, I just haven't been getting my full eight hours, you know..."
   Eddie nodded. "Well, you need to make sure that you do." He turned to his computer. "You might end up like me."
   Peter chuckled. "God forbid that, Eddie. See you later."
   "Bye, Pete." Peter walked to Jameson's office. Eddie kept looking at his computer. "He looks stressed, huh?"
   His pulse is low. He cried before he came in here.
   "That kid has a lot on his plate," Eddie said. "Thank God Jameson doesn't know about Pete being Spider-Man, or we'd all be in hell."
   Do you ever plan on telling him about us? Eating criminals? Or telling him the fact that we know about his identity?
   "That's a secret that we can keep. Good thing his spider sense can't pick you up."
   True that. Can we get something to eat after this?
   "Sure, parasite."
   Quit calling me that.

   Peter walked into the main office. Betty sat at her desk looking at her phone. "Morning, Betty," Peter greeted.
   Betty looked up from her phone. "Morning, Peter. Payday?"
   "Yep. How is he today?"
   Betty smirked. "Be prepared, that's all I'm telling you."
   Peter scoffed. "Oh boy..." He walked in to see Jameson. Robbie wasn't there that day. There was no holding back the J now.
   "Parker!" he exclaimed in his harsh voice. "Where the hell have you been?"
   "Sorry, Mr. Jameson," he replied, handing him an envelope of pictures. "Here's the pictures."
   "Great," Jonah said. "Mrs. Leeds will have your paycheck." Peter was ready to leave, but Jonah stopped him. "Hold up, Parker," he said. "I need to ask you something."
   Peter raised his eyebrow. "Yes, Mr. Jameson?"
   JJJ folded his hands. "The Raft got broken into today, and it was said that inmates saw Otto Octavius, your employee at Oscorp, break out a bunch of homicidal criminals."
   "Yes, sir?"
   "Now, I know that this is heavy on you, being one of the owners of Oscorp, but do you think..."
   Pete prepared himself. "Yes?"
   "Do you think, since he helped Spider-Man stop the Lizard, do you think that Spider-Man is involved."
   Peter sighed. "Mr. Jameson, can I give you my honest opinion?" he asked.
   Jameson leaned back in his chair. "It's a free country."
   "I think Otto is innocent. Those are the words from madmen that he came in, and I think that it is slander of a great man's image. I can't speak on the behalf of Spider-Man, because I know that you'll never change your attitude about him."
   Jonah grinned. "Not in a month of Mondays."
   Pete nodded. "Exactly... See you later, Mr. Jameson."
   "Whatever," he responded, lighting a cigar.
   Peter went outside the office and got his paycheck. He snuck back to the roof and changed back into his Spiderman outfit. Jameson's words bothered him. Otto would never do such a thing. Also, why would Jameson ever believe something someone like Norman said. Peter just shook his head and put on his mask. "Forget about it, Peter..."