PROLOGUE
↳ the beginning

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Maia Parker was only fourteen. She was an odd fourteen year old with an even odder seventeen year old brother. What a commination. An english student, moved up several years due to her intelligence and Peter, a seventeen year old, clearly overworked and relying on the coffee that Maia made.

It was chaos.

But she had her books and overanalysed pieces of paper scattered on her walls, which was good enough.

One day, some point in her overworked life, Maia got bitten by a radioactive spider. She didn't question anything until one day she tried opening the door and her hand got stuck.

"Peter?" She called out, almost hesitantly.

Peter, who had been searching for something, came rushing to where she was. "Maia?"

"Would it be crazy if I told you my hand was stuck on the door?" Maia gritted out. She could hear Peter cuss and from that day forth, Maia May Parker had a grudge against Peter Benjamin Parker for cursing her with the powers of a bloody stupid spider. She hated spiders, the irony was just so clear! It didn't take long until Peter's recklessness practically forced the two of them to act in a way in which they could help society. He became Spider-man. He became a hero, but Maia didn't.

She became a menace and she didn't know why.

She did exactly the same thing as Peter, she helped people, but no matter what she was always the masked terroriser. She was labelled a villain and a fear mongered woman, while her older brother was labelled a hero. She was made to hid away while her brother was made to shine.

"It's not fair!" Maia pointed out, exclaiming it one night at Peter who didn't have anything to say. "Society is sucking on your dick yet because I don't have one I'm some stupid menace!"

"It's not gendered!" Peter argued, huffing. "They don't even know you're a girl!"

Maia laughed. "They can tell with my tits! It's pretty obvious."

"Mai, you can't expect them to love you immediately." Peter tried to assure. "You shouldn't expect them to love you when you're mysteriously crawling and swinging around everywhere."

"'Spider-man saves the day again!'" Maia rolled her eyes. "They loved you immediately! Peter, please just acknowledge for once in your life the fact that society will never put you down because of your gender! Because you're a man you're loved and because I'm a woman I'm just a bitch!"

Peter didn't ever respond.

A few months later, Peter got in an argument with Uncle Ben. Maia didn't remember much of it, mainly since she was in her bedroom when she heard all the yelling. Aunt May wasn't yelling much, though Uncle Ben was. It wasn't nice at all. But Maia had to leave her room that day, something told her to. It just felt right.

The moment she walked out the room she heard glass shatter and all she saw was Peter walking away in a huff. For a moment, Aunt May and Uncle Ben were in shock, looking down at the shattered glass on the floor. They didn't even expect Maia to be awake.

"I'll go get him." She offered, softly with a strained smile, going to the shoe rack and putting on her shoes.

"Absolutely not, young lady." Uncle Ben scoffed and Maia frowned at him. "You'll stay here with your Aunt while I go and get your brother."

Maia huffed, "he clearly doesn't want to see you. I'll knock some sense into him."

"No you are staying here."

"Ben..." Aunt May started. "Peter clearly isn't in the right state, Mai will be fine. Promise me, darling?"

Maia nodded at her aunt. "I'll just go to the shops. He's probably there. If not I'll come back quickly and you can look."

Uncle Ben sighed. "You promise to be safe kiddo?"

Maia nodded. "I promise. See you later."

Maia had never expected that day to be the last day she'd ever see Peter Parker. She just remembered seeing him in the street, exiting the shop just as she predicted, exclaiming his name and then a gunshot.

He collapsed to the floor after a moment of shock, a hand shakily going to his stomach where blood was gushing out. People ran in the streets, typically away from where Peter was but one person ran towards him.

Maia.

Maia ran to him.

"Peter!" She cried out, dropping to her knees. There she was on the floor sobbing, trying to hold her hands over the gunshot wound on his stomach. She couldn't breathe properly, her heart was hammering in her chest and she was shaking like mad.

"Mai," Peter whispered. "Mai, calm down."

"I-I can't." Maia sobbed. "Peter! Keep your eyes open! Please!" His eyes were already drifting closed and Maia immediately shook him awake. He coughed, blood dripping down his lips and Maia felt as though she was dying. She looked around, seeing people on the streets, all motionless at the little girl who was covered in her brother's own blood. "Somebody call an ambulance!"

"Hang on Miss!"

"Please just hurry!" She screamed out again, bringing Peter closer to her chest, kissing his head while sobbing. "Please someone just help!"

Someone did call an ambulance, but it was too late.

He died in her arms.

The paramedics didn't even try. They pronounced him, Peter Benjamin Parker, dead at the scene.

Peter died that night on the cold streets. He died in Maia's sobbing embrace.

Now, in an alternate reality, it wasn't Peter who died. In one, it was Uncle Ben who died and Peter was still alive and he didn't become Spider-man until after that. In a different reality, Maia wasn't the same as she was here. Maia was a normal, ordinary English student who's death would come months later.

But in this reality, Peter had been Spider-man for a year. He had the responsibility of being a hero for a year, all on his shoulders. Peter Benjamin Parker had died that night and Maia May Parker felt helpless.

The world only knew Peter Benjamin Parker had died. It's what he would've wanted. Aunt May and Uncle Ben didn't know that the friendly neighbourhood Spider-man was buried in the same grave as their awkwardly geeky nephew.

Maia didn't tell them. The only person who should've was dead. His secret would now die with her.

At fifteen, Maia had gone into counselling, the trauma of watching her brother die staying with her for all her time. She'd wake up screaming, May and Ben rushing in and immediately comforting her, whispering it was all some bad dream.

But it wasn't a dream.

Newspapers had flashed on Spider-man's disappearance. He had been gone for too long. No one was protecting the city all because their hero was gone. It was a silent tragedy, no one knew where Spider-man was and now the city needed him more than ever.

So Maia gave them their Spider-man.

She pretended to be the hero.

They believed in him, not her, but she could at least be useful, even if she was being perceived as a man.

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OK SO HERE'S A QUICK EXPLANATION :
in this reality, instead of uncle ben dying like how he did in TASM, peter dies.

Peter had also been spider-man for a year or so before his death, which differs to other storylines, however since this story is a divergence into the multiverse, anything's possible.

In addition, this realities Peter Parker is played by Andrew Garfield, solely for the fact he is the source of my hope for men.

the adoration i hold for that man.

anways, his spider-universe is practically the same to maia's, however obviously he dies ( sorry about the imagery of andrew garfield dying ) and maia instead takes up the position of being spider-man so that no one works out peter was spider-man.

sorry for the angst

you'll see peters and maia interactions later on

they're swag

very swag