Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Their Meeting
'...The traffic on these streets of Queens, New York have become more noticeable lately, huh.'
A young yet genius brown-haired teenage boy known as Peter Parker commented on his train of thought as he rested his head slightly on one of the school's bus' windows. He had his earphones on, listening to some chill indie music whenever a road trip was gonna be longer than anticipated, to do anything else really... besides of gazing over the landscapes outside "his" window and sending memes to his best friend Ned (who was literally sitting in-front of him) lost in his own little world as well.
Sighing, the brown-haired boy realized how bored he was at each passing second. Yeah, he would get bored easily if he wasn't patrolling as Spider-Man, or doing anything nerdy and goof-ish...which was exactly why he still felt kinda upset with Mr. Stark for not letting him accompany his father figure mentor on that meeting with... a wizard? If Peter recalled Mr. Stark's literal words. "You should go to that school trip instead, kiddo. There's nothing more fun than meeting a wizard who can open up portals and control time, anyways." His mentor teased a scoffing Peter while the other ruffled his hair, which did the trick for the boy to let out a small smile in defeat.
"For real Pete, this is just another business meeting with adults only. Love to steal you in if that wizard didn't already put me in his black-list at our first meet-up. Besides, talking about walking on thin ice, your Aunt May would give me more grey hairs if she found out from your homeroom teacher" His childhood idol finished explaining while patting him on the back yesterday, to console the kid after being totally rejected again! on skipping today's school trip to be on a "mission" (rather an awesome hang-out) with Mr. Stark. But the teenage boy knew that he couldn't get mad with his mentor nor say anything stubborn back...once he saw Mr. Stark give him an apologetic sad smile when he mumbled an "I understand...".
Okay to be fair,
His mentor was right about the "wizard" wanting to see only Tony Stark for reasons unknown...
And how Aunt May would kill him and later the billionaire after ranting on Mr. Stark about not noticing Peter vanishing from another school activity...
He figured that it's gonna be hard from now on trying to avoid his aunt's strict... protectiveness, ever since she found out he was Spider-Man. She recalled her literal words clearly like the palm of his hand...which it still made him low-key flinch at the memory: 'Listen up, Peter Benjamin Parker. As much as I really really want to ground you for the rest of your youth, I decided to scratch that. BUT ONLY IF you attend to all of your school's trips and any extracurricular activity you have on your electives. And then afterwards, around evening, you can be this... "Spider-Man", but i want you to know that I want you to live your high school years not just because that's what normal kids at your age do, but also because I don't want you to always be risking your life while throwing away all the treasures of your youth!'
But GOD, he wondered if being grounded for what felt like it was gonna be for his whole life was really as bad as he first thought...? Because surely as he was right now lazily counting the water drops racing each other on "his" window was making the brown-haired boy reconsider his past decisions...
Yawning, Peter raised his head from where it was resting as he stretched himself a bit while taking off his earphones. 'You know what, I might as well take a damn nap' He thought to himself...before completely pushing back the idea, as he suddenly felt his spider senses going off like crazy. 'What the- someone's in trouble?!' Peter shouted in his mind while turning his head immediately searching inside the bus for any scandal or scene coming from his classmates...
Strangely enough, nothing bad seemed to be happening where he was. All of the other teenagers were in their "normal" habitats which confused the spider-boy as he slowly turned his head towards the outside view.
'Perhaps... it's coming from outside?' He wondered as he decided to focus on his enhanced hearing...while closing his eyes...and shutting off all of the sounds around him...
«"H-Help...s-someone...p-please!!"»
There, I got it!
It sounded like a young man...crying out for help so desperately that it sender chills over Peter's skin. A part of him thought who was might be on trouble would be an elder...who forgot where he or she was...or maybe a child stuck on a swing set, but this person's cries and gasping sounds were worrying Peter a lot. So much, that the teenage boy didn't hesitate on jolting up to his feet as he grabbed Ned's shoulder to shake him back to reality.
"Ned!! I need you to lend me a hand!!"
«"P-Ple...ase...I-I c-can't...hold on...m-much longer..."»
‹'Wait please! I'm on my way!'› Peter cried out in his mind, knowing that the other probably couldn't hear him but he felt as he needed to assure that young man, who was a complete stranger to him.
"Dude, WHAT. IS. THE. PROBLEM?!" His best friend Ned finally came back to him, who seemed a bit frustrated at Peter for being attacked by surprise but later a concerned expression showed up on Ned's face, as he raised an eyebrow once he noticed how nervous and worried his spider-heroic friend looked. "Are you okay, Peter?" Ned asked Peter softer and quieter this time, which the other would brush off... If he wasn't so close on just jumping out of the window.
Instead, Peter shook his head stubbornly while he explained to his best friend what he just found out: "My spider senses suddenly went off just now and and I can still feel them tingling like crazy ever since I caught some dude's cry for help!! I think he's about to drown somewhere Ned! And—And that's exactly why I need your help on making a distraction to everybody here while I make my way out of here as Spider-Man!" He finished saying while finally catching some breath as Ned stared at him as if he was talking crazy.
"Dude, are you sure? I mean, who knows maybe... it's just a guy who choked on drinking their water bottle?" Ned replies back while scratching the back of his neck hesitating, until he recalled Peter's previous rant about him "not having the mood for this ridiculous school trip" which changed Ned's expression into a hurt one "... You're not exactly making this up so you can ditch us, right?"
A bit shocked, Peter stared at Ned with baffled eyes over his best friend's indirectness as he immediately replied back "DUDE. what the heck! I wouldn't do a dirty jerk move on you or on MJ just 'cause i'm feeling off the weather! You're both better than my stubborn ass." He commented at the end to make his best friend laugh, which he did and Peter would be doing the same if he wasn't so tense once he noticed how the young man's voice has gotten more distant for his ears to hold on to...and the wilder were his spider senses acting up.
"But this...this is serious dude and i know it's an oddly timing but- I can feel he's in danger Ned!!" Peter finished saying while clenching his hands on the bus' seat until they started going white as he looked outside desperately, which was enough to convince Ned as he sighed and held his best friend's shoulder to calm him down a bit. "Say no more dude, I have an idea on how to help you get out of here. But somehow, try to get back here in time on dropping of to the art museum, okay?"
Grabbing his backpack while taking out the small spider that would activate his Homecoming Spider-Man suit as soon as he pressed it on his chest outside, Peter nodded towards his best friend while giving him a thumbs up and flashing him a genuine smile...one that he only gave to those who he was deeply grateful for having in his life like Aunt May, Mr.Stark and to Ned. As soon as he went to pull the window's slide open, Peter waited patiently for Ned to throw him the cue...which it basically was:
"EVERYBODY LOOK!! A SPACE-SHIP COMING FROM OUR SKY ON OUR LEFT OH MY GOD!!" The one and only Ned shouted out-loud, grabbing all of their classmate's attention as they all gasped in excitement while hurrying to throw themselves at the left side of the school bus, completely distracted from Peter jumping out from the right side of the bus. Chuckling over his best friend's coolness, the brown-haired boy activated his Spider-Man suit as soon as he was outside and started swinging in the air to find out where was that young man's voice coming from. The only clues that Peter had was that the person sounded as if he was difficulty on catching his breath, as he could briefly catch the wet chocking noises making the teenage boy guess that the poor guy wasn't exactly the best swimmer around...unless...
"Karen, are there any lakes nearby that my senses could have possibly started going off from?" Peter asked his A.I, after kindly greeting her, with an idea that maybe, just maybe, someone might be drowning somewhere close by and hopefully not in a pool party at someone's backyard...
["The only lake that is near is the Meadow Lake, Peter. Do you wish to know the directions on how to get there?"]
<Meadow Lake?! That's- that's where the largest park in Queens is!! Ooh, boy.>
Gulping, he thought of the infinite possible awkward moments that he may stumble on with so many people as Spider-Man, making him kinda anxious. But then he remembered the cries of that young man ringing in his ears and with no second thought he immediately told Karen to show him how to get to Meadow Lake as soon as possible.
The first and last time Peter has ever visited the Meadow Lake was with Uncle Ben and Aunt May when he was maybe...nine years old. And yet, this place never seemed to fail on giving each welcoming visitor a very good impression with it's magnificent peaceful sights. As the teenage boy recalls his memories clearly as the huge lake's pure water, how nice it felt to see other children laughing while playing soccer and how nostalgic it was to see some attempting to catch some fishes...remembering Uncle Ben being a fisherman at heart as he also taught his nephew how to go fishing and sometimes would throw some exaggerated fishing stories here and there, nothing grotesque but...silly. Peter felt himself smiling softly behind his mask over the small yet meaningful memories he had of this place, his social anxiety completely pushed far away, until all vanished in an instant when Karen informed him that she detects something out of place at the lake's water over the South-East.
Dashing towards the lake's south-east by jumping on top of each light-post on the immense park while waving at a couple of giggling curious kids, the brown-haired boy dropped himself on the lake's shore as he squinted his eyes to try to spot anything, or rather anyone, on the water...who maybe feel from a kayak or from a fishing boat?...Frustrating enough, it seemed like there was no other living soul besides Peter himself (and well some white seagulls flying around) over this side of the lake!
'Why did he think that the person he was looking for would be in trouble at this crowded yet lovely place?'
'Perhaps he was just trying to selfishly come back to a place were he wants adored when he was younger to forget about his own current dilemmas?'
'Maybe he was just fooling himself and Ned after all...Maybe he just imagined a man's cry for help after he was wishing he could be spending his time as Spider-Man, to have all the fun in the world...'
"Dammit this doesn't make any sense. I know someone is here...somewhere! Or else my spider senses would have stopped going crazy by now..." Peter exclaimed while thinking out loud, anxiously walking in circles over the lake's shore, until in the corner of his masked eye there it was. A dark beanie, floating aimlessly on the water making Peter's eye grow wide over the realization that there really is someone drowning over here!
"Holy Shit!!" Peter shouted worriedly as he immediately ran towards the water, diving into it as he swam and swam and swam deeper into the surprisingly warm water to find the shaped figure of a young man...wearing what it seems to be three types of upper clothing for the cold...but the teenager boy didn't choose to judge the person's odd appearance instantly as he noticed how the other seemed...half-dead even though he couldn't see much the other's face in the water besides of wearing a water-proof suit. The thought of the person being completely lifeless underneath him caused Peter to choke on a sob as he whispered out an: "I got you!" and grabbed the person's arm to pull him out of the surface. There wasn't any struggle pulling and carrying the unconscious young man out of the water as Peter expected, for on his arms the poor dude's body was as light as a feather...
'Please don't be dead, please don't be dead, please don't be dead'
The teenage boy begged in his head over and over as he laid down the person's strangely cold and light body on the lake's shore, and proceeded in leaning his ear on the poor young man's chest to hear at least a single heartbeat, a small sign that there was still hope for the person beneath him to keep on living and for Peter to not have any more guilt charged nightmares tonight. By a great miracle, Peter could hear a small and weak heartbeat from the other, determining the teenage boy on giving the other a few chest compressions. But as soon as he was on the third swing, his A.I Karen finally spoke after what felt like forever since the last time Peter heard her voice inside the suit...strangely though, she sounded tensed? Afraid? He wasn't sure, for Peter could just be confusing those with his own current panic saving this stranger's life...
["Peter...I think there's something you should know...about well, this—"]
"Karen please just go and call the closest paramedics..." Peter interrupted his A.I while swallowing back the lump that was forming on his throat, as he feared that Karen intended to inform him some cruel breaking news about this person's state. "If I advance enough before the paramedics arrive here...t-then there can be a possibility that I-I can restore enough b-blood to fluid to his heart and m-maybe he'll be able to catch his breath again a-any second now—" Suddenly he flinched slightly by the change of his A.I's tone into a... frantic one?
["Peter! Wait a minute! I'm trying to inform you that my scans have detected inhuman organs on this... individual."] His A.I finished warning Peter while, what he could imagine, giving a confused frown to the who or the what that he just rescued...
"What...do you mean by inhuman?" Peter asked his A.I in double confusion and before Karen could respond to him, the teenage boy turned his head drastically at the (mysterious?) young man's direction, when he heard him coughing and wheezing while jolting his back upwards like a mummy in a blink of an eye, literally.
'Oookay, he's definitely something else' The teenage boy thought as he gently pressed his hand on the young man's back to give him some (not too strong nor rough Peter) pats while making some comforting circle so the other would relax a bit. At first the other flinched slightly when he felt touched, but after some long minutes Peter noticed how the other's shoulders began losing themselves and how the other managed to follow his breathing patterns...
And yet, the mysterious individual still didn't dare to look at Peter in the eyes, for the other kept putting his head down in what the teenager assumed was due to fear or embarrassment.
'...Now that he thought about it, he hasn't been able to look at the other's face at all ever since he got him out of the water.'
"It's okay... you're safe now... you're gonna be alright...you can trust me." Peter assured softly and as calming as possible towards the other, who paused as to process the teenage boy's friendly and gentle nature by slowly lifting his face to see who was comforting him...In which instead, he saw Peter still with his masked on that seemed to scare the other as he changed into a confused yet frightened expression while quickly moving his gaze towards his shaking knuckles and proceeding to hug his knees while rocking himself back n' forth whimpering in his panic bubble.
Though, the other's sudden breakdown wasn't what shocked Peter to begin with.
When the teenage boy locked eyes with the other, he froze in place at the realization of how oddly identical was the other's face with Peter's. The SAME pure hazelnut eyes, the SAME soft-looking curls and the ALMOST IDENTICAL SHAPE OF THE FACE FOR ODIN'S SAKE. Although he found it creepy and yet cool possibly having a doppelganger in his two-mirrored life, what surpassed all the odds was the LED light visible on the other brown-haired's temple, flashing from yellow to a panicking red... 'Wait, red?! Oh no that's not usually a good sign...'
"Karen, what's happening to him?!" Peter quietly shouted in worry towards his A.I while frowning when the other brown-haired would shake his head in panic as the teenage boy tried to reach out for him. ["It seems that the individual is going through severe panicking state once he found your Home-coming's Spider-Man's mask...'unsettling'."] Rolling his eyes over Karen's blunt response, he decided to keep persisting while trying to push back his frustration on crouching in front of someone that he has no clue on how to approach without causing any trouble.
"Yes, Karen, I can see that, but how should I approach to him?" The teenage boy asked as he felt his heart drop when he looked at the other brown-haired covering his ears while closing his eyes shut to helplessly prevent the waterfall of tears. It heavily reminded Peter of himself when he would wake up with his own horrible panic attacks after having nightmares from the ferry incident...and from feeling like he was suffocating, gasping and wheezing for air because of the vivid and permanent memories of being crushed by a dozen of fallen walls...
'Man,those nights are the worst.'
But what sucked more is that he didn't dare to wake up Aunt May afterwards so maybe he could get some comfort after fearing he was about to die...stupid and alone. That's when he would recall reminding himself that his aunt has been working extra shifts, so she definitely needed her sleep. And he would walk back to his bedroom, sometimes looking like a ghost and other times as numb-looking as a zombie, trying his best on not falling asleep again while he distracted himself on re-watching some stand-up comedies with his earphones on...It was a wonderful terrible hobby that Peter accidentally created while it lasted, and he understood that when Mr. Stark noticed his kid intern acting...distant with him whenever they spend time together on the lab after he was off from school in Tuesday's and in Friday's to stay at the Avengers' Compound on the weekends. When he was there, he couldn't exactly get away with his pretending game as his own mind betrayed him that one night when he got the same torturing nightmares and next thing Peter recalled was his mentor, Tony-freaking-Stark, wrapping his arms on his breaking body as if protecting him from the world...
He didn't remember exactly what he told his mentor, and towards this day it hasn't been brought again thankfully, for Mr. Stark to reschedule when Peter could spend more time with him while paying for some swimming lessons for him as well and teaching him how to work on his breathing in the middle of his panic attacks...He was just glad he has been able to get better.
'That night wasn't so bad, after all.'
This is why right now he called out for Karen's guidance again. Because he empathized with this mysterious-looking doppelganger stranger...
'And knows how it feels to be completely alone when it's not true.'
["I've been attempting on creating alternatives for you to approach the individual without needing to raise his stress levels any further..."]
"And?" Peter asked to his trust-worthy A.I, who was strangely being quiet at the moment. ["...But the individual is blocking me from reading his being, Peter."] Karen finally replied back sounding a bit hurt, which Peter was about to question about until the other brown-haired began stuttering out his fist words ever since he got rescued from drowning in the lake.
*"S-S-Stop...s-staring at...m-me. P-Please tell h-her t-to s-stop... i-it hurts!"* The other brown-haired cried out, afraid and in pain as he hid his head further down as if wanting to disappear from that single spot making Peter shiver slightly because 'oh the deja vu' but immediately snapped out of it as he ordered Karen to stop "whatever she was doing" and her obeying the teenage boy with no second opinion made Peter feel a bit guilty for ever doubting his A.I friend and took a mental note on apologizing to Karen later as he got an idea on how to approach to his doppelganger...
"She's...Karen is out of the picture for now." Peter announced to the the other softly while slowly moving towards his doppelganger who flinched slightly away from the teenage boy...but to shyly lift his face to throw a quiet sneeze. 'Oh...wow he looks like a cute puppy' Peter thought as he quickly shook it off his mind, for this wasn't the time to get distracted again. "Look, I-I'm sorry if my mask startled y-you...it's part of the whole 'keeping a secret heroic facade™' look...but i hope it's not too late for you to accept my kindness-" The sweet teenage boy said towards the other brown-haired while keeping his soft tone which seemed to relieve his doppelganger on letting go from hugging his knees but not enough to do eye-contact with Peter, until he snatched off his mask of course. At the corner of his eye, the other brown haired saw the mask drop on his side and shyly looking up he gasped in surprise and shock when he stared at Peter's face which made the teenage boy chuckle, "It's crazy right?! We both look almost exactly alike!" He exclaimed brightly grinning in excitement towards his doppelganger, who blinked at him in amusement as he moved his gaze slowly towards his pale knuckles again, this time as if pausing to process such moment. With the growing silence, Peter awkwardly fake coughed to grab the other brown-haired's attention again to keep distracting him from the previous breakdown.
"Well...putting the 'almost' in bold since..." The teenager boy trailed off saying for a second, as his eyes subconsciously checked the other brown-haired LED light flashing yellow and went on locking his eyes with his doppelganger again while smiling kindly, "I didn't get lucky to have some stunning freckles like you!" Peter honestly commented while taking out his hand so the other brown-haired could take it and start stretching up to be somewhere less windy...like maybe sitting at those benches that seem to give a beautiful view of the South-East side of the Meadow Lake.
As Peter's plastered kind smile softened a little when his doppelganger stared at his hand and shyly took it to get himself off the ground, he tried to look elsewhere than the teenage boy that saved his life and made his cheek flush in the same day (in which Peter swore that they turned into a faint blue which was ridiculous). Noticing this, the teenage boy decided to pretend he didn't see any reaction from the other brown-haired as he offered for them to sit down at the lake's benches to "get him all warmed up somehow" while he "explained, whenever he felt comfortable enough with him, about what happened to him so he could tell the upcoming paramedics while he rested a bit"...The last part stopping the other brown-haired from following the teenage boy's lead, who noticed the sudden change in the air thanks to his spider senses.
Turning to face his doppelganger again, Peter closed his mouth shut once he noticed the other brown-haired attempt on speaking to him...while his eyes seemed getting cloudy with a hint of the same fear from earlier...
*"I t-think...it's best to c-capitalize t-the whole word 'ALMOST'...b-because of t-two main f-factors..."* With his doppelganger's weird feeling to clarify and following his uncontrollable stuttering, they became two of the reasons why Peter raised an eyebrow at him. "And those are?" the teenage boy asked back while tilting his head...and after a pausing silence, the other brown-haired let out a big sigh before speaking again,
*"A-According to your birth's r-records, your name...is n-not C-Connor too, but Peter Benjamin Parker...a-and it's pretty c-clear that...you're a h-human when I-I, on the contrary, am a-an android...n-not from here..."*