It's been years. It's been years since you've seen these familiar streets of Queens. You went out of state for school and haven't looked back. You Skyped your family but chose to just stay close to school. You loved your family, they're your family, but being on your own, there's nothing like that. It's empowering, especially after feeling so small in a city like Queens. But, it's been long enough and you've graduated. It's time to come home and figure out what your next step is.

It's your first week home and you'd be lying if you said you hadn't missed your home city. The sounds are all the same, the smells, the people. Everything is just the same as when you left it. Nothing just went on pause while you were gone. You left and life here went on. Life goes on whether you're here or not. And you realized that more than ever when you were walking towards Delmar's and spotted a familiar brown-haired boy exiting the shop.

A white plastic bag was held in his hand and a backpack clung to his shoulders, a camera with NIKON neatly labeled across the strap dangled from his neck. He looked up and saw you walking towards him, your steps becoming slower as your pulse raced. His eyes widened and anxiety flooded him. He looks amazing, happy despite the touch of panic he's gaining with every step you take towards him. And for these few moments it takes you to approach him, you almost forget what he did to you.

Peter swallows and debates on just rushing off. It wouldn't be the first time he'd have rushed off without an explanation and Queens is big, he could not run into you again. But, then again, he has no idea why you're back or how long you're staying. And, he'd be lying if he said he hasn't fought the urge to call you every single night since the last time you two talked just over four years ago.

"Peter?" Your voice is gentle just as he remembers it.

"Uh...h-hey, y/n." Peter looks down to his shoes and back to you. "How're you?"

"Good, good. You?" You ask, watching him and his nervous ticks, surprised he's not grown out of them.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm great." Peter nods quickly, the corners of his mouth trying to pull into a smile.

"That's good." You send him a soft smile.

You wish you could have stayed in the state of forgetting of his existence for a little bit. It's been nice forgetting everything he put you through. This boy who held your heart, this boy who you swore could never hurt a fly, ripped your heart out without a second thought. Being away, it allowed you to move on and just forget that there ever was a pretty curly-haired boy named Peter Parker who liked to put together computers and dumpster dive for parts. You liked that sense of not remembering him. But, he's in front of you and your heart aches.

"I-uh," You go to stutter and Peter's face contorts in guilt. "I should go."

Peter hangs his head, fiddling with the strap of his camera. He didn't want to break your heart. He never wanted that. You're right about Peter, he doesn't want to hurt anyone. He sets out to do the exact opposite even. But, then there's you. While you were forgetting about him, he's been remembering your tear stained cheeks and bloodshot eyes, lips quivering and questioning what his reasoning was.

"Wait." Peter squeaks, his fingertips brushing against the exposed skin of your arm as you were going to walk past him. "Um, we should, ya know, catch up...if you want."

It's been years.

"Yeah, okay." You agree figuring nothing bad could come from this, nothing worse than what's been done years ago.

"Really?" Peter smiles, a genuine smile but it soon falls. "I dunno if you want to but...we could just meet at the coffee shop around the block or not," Peter rushes the last few words. "A park, wherever you want..." Peter trails off leaving it up to you to pick the place.

"Coffee shop is fine."

"Cool," Peter's cheeks turn a vibrant red and you can't help but shake your head. It seems the only thing different about him is that he just looks a little older. "I'll see you then."

"Peter?" You start before he walks away, his brows raising. "What time? Day?" You laugh softly, knowing Peter is just happy you agreed.

Peter winces, realizing he lacked on every detail. "I can text you?" He asks.

"Okay." You nod, the two of you swapping phones and putting in your information.

"If-If you're not busy tonight, maybe around eight?" Peter looks up through his lashes and looks back to your phone.

"I'll be there." You state, taking your phone back and giving Peter his, the screen cracked as it always was back then.

"Awesome." Peter grins.

"Bye, Peter." You nod, a soft smile on display before you start walking away.

You're not quite sure why you agreed. Well, you do. It might have happened four years ago but you never got proper closure. You saw him and it was like you needed someone to slap you and remind you exactly what he did, what he said because if not, you'd fall back into old ways if he let you. No matter how much time seems to pass, you miss him like crazy. You love forgetting his existence but now that you're aware of it, you're gonna face him head-on. You're gonna tell him everything you felt when he broke up with you, everything you wanted to say when you were too broken to do it. He deserves to know what he did to you.

Both unfortunately and fortunately, eight came around rather quick. You made your way to the coffee shop that you and Peter once called yours. Study sessions with books, papers, and notebooks covering two tables with highlighters and pens decorating the open pages. Studying was never supposed to be fun but you never minded when it was with Peter, not to mention, you're pretty sure he's part of how you ended up with decent study habits. But, that coffee shop hasn't been yours in years so it should feel different, but it doesn't. You walk in and Peter is seated in the seats you once claimed as yours and there's two coffees sitting in front of him, ready for you. That's not really what catches you off guard, not completely. He's early. Peter's always late.

"Hey." You greet, taking a seat.

"H-hey." Peter gives you a timid smile. "Got you a coffee."

"Thanks." You side smile, taking the warm cup into your hands.

"You still order the same thing right? If not I can always get you a new one if you want." Peter offers quickly.

"It's the same." You nod, holding the side smile while you take a sip.

"Awesome." Peter's timid smile sends butterflies through your stomach and you want to curse yourself. "Uh, so, a-are you in school still?"

"I just graduated." You give him a proud smile, taking a sip of your coffee. "You?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going for another few years."

"Not surprised." You chuckle.

"You're not?" Peter asks, surprise evident.

You shake your head. "When you were around, you were always buried in your school stuff. You're a genius. It's only fair you'd be in school longer."

Peter licks his lips, shaking his head. The first part of your sentence was an intentional jab. He could feel the venom in your words, the snark and the hurt. He wishes he could say it wasn't like that but it was. Peter was rarely around. And as time went by, he disappeared more and more. It is his fault and he deserves the jab.

"I'm sorry." Peter says softly.

You let out a sigh. "Okay." You play with the sleeve of your coffee, avoiding his eyes.

"Y-you didn't deserve that." Peter bites the inside of his cheek.

"Nope." You agree. "But, you basically shunned me anyway. You didn't even have the decency to text me and tell me we were done. Radio silence was how you did it." Years of pent-up anger and heartache spill from your lips.

"I-I-I tried to explain." Peter starts, his head trying to come with anything to say. "I just didn't know how to tell you."

"Oh? You didn't? Telling you didn't love me after months and months and months of saying you did didn't get the point across? And you only told me that after I confronted you. We were friends first. As a friend, you owed me more than that. Peter, you're full of shit." You call his bluff and his cheeks shoot red with his ears.

Peter hates thinking about it all because he hurt you. He didn't have it in him to tell you he was Spider-Man. There were a million reasons he was afraid to tell you. He didn't want you to leave because of it but, more than that, he didn't want you to stay because of it. Peter knew you better than anyone so he knew you wouldn't stay because you'd be dating Spider-Man but you'd stay out of guilt. Guilt would eat at you when he's hurt and you wouldn't be there. You'd feel the need to put him back together and he didn't want that. He didn't want you to deal with guilt. And, he didn't want you in any danger.

The more you knew about him, the more you were with him, the riskier it got. Villains got bigger and stronger and it would only be a matter of time before one of them went after someone he loved. So, he ignored you until you confronted him just a week before graduation. He'd told he didn't love you and it was a lie, he just didn't know how else to get you to move on from him, to keep you safe.

You shake your head, realizing that maybe it was wrong to still be upset with him. Maybe it was time you just let it go even if he did warp how you trusted people and allowed people in. It only takes one person to change how you feel about letting people in with relationships. Peter is that person. You want to let it go because it seems petty to still be holding onto it but you also want to just scream at him because it's his fault you couldn't trust like you used to and he hurt you.

"Okay, sorry." You run a hand through your hair. "You hurt me and it sucked."

"I really didn't want to hurt you." Peter's voice is weak and etched in guilt and regret.

"But you did."

"I know." Peter nods, his curls falling onto his forehead. "That's...that's why I wanted to catch up." You raise a brow, waiting for him to continue. "Wanted to try and explain."

"I'm listening."

Peter looks around the coffee shop taking in the five other people sitting about the shop. "Can we go somewhere?"

"Really?" Annoyance seeps in your voice.

"I can't tell you here." Peter whispers.

"Sure." You roll your eyes and stand up.

Peter follows suit, grabbing his coffee. The two of you exit the shop and start walking down the sidewalk. The air is stiff and awkward between the two of you. You want him to just rip the band-aid off. He needs to just get it over with but he seems to have not changed at all in the years you haven't seen him which just means he'll stall. He'll stall on talking because his mind is always running a mile a minute, trying to form the perfect phrasing and wording.

"Okay," Peter takes in a deep breath, looking over to you. "It's going to sound crazy but you can't tell anyone and I'm telling you because you deserve better than how I treated you." Peter rambles.

"I don't owe you anything." You remark.

"You have to promise you won't tell anyone." Peter states, his voice not even pleading, just stern.

"Fine, whatever." You nod your head.

"Back then, I lied when I told you I didn't love you. You needed to move on from me- I needed to protect you from me." Peter rushes his words.

"Protect me from you?" You scoff. "Yeah, alright."

"I-uh, I am....uh, I'm Spider-Man and villains, they don't care who they have to hurt to get to me and I was afraid that one would find out about you and come after you. I was afraid that you'd get hurt because of me. Or that you'd stay because you'd worry about me. I needed you to just....move on." Peter's words fall from his mouth like a rushing waterfall while you stop dead in your tracks.

"I'm sorry. What?"

Peter turns to face you. "I'm...Spider-Man?" Peter says lowly, his head slightly bowed.

Everything starts to come together like a giant puzzle. His random disappearances, him bailing on you, the bruises, his incredible strength, even him being able to just know when something was wrong. But, that all just raised more questions.

"So...your solution was to hurt me to protect me?"

Peter groans, running his hands over his face. "Okay, it was shitty. But, hurting you like that was better than watching someone kill you."

"You should have told me."

"I know." Peter agrees.

"You suck."

"I know." Peter agrees again. "I'm sorry."

"You should be because now what?"

"What?" Peter's brows furrow.

"Cool, I got an explanation and everything but now what?"

"I-I don't know."

He's right. He was right for not telling you. Sure, now you have closure but he's right about you being worried. He told you he didn't love you to protect you from things he's facing. That just means he's out risking his own life and you're just supposed to be okay with that? Not worry if he's gotten home alright? Of course you've been upset with him and you hate that he's skewed your trust but you'd be lying if you said you didn't care about him.

"Do you love me?" You ask bluntly.

Peter shrugs. "It's been four years."

"That's not an answer." You counter.

"Maybe. I think so." Peter admits, dodging your eyes.

"Is that why you told me? Be honest, Peter."

Peter sakes his head. "I don't know. I know I told you because you deserved to know but I don't know if that's the only reason."

"So, what do you want from me?"

"Want from you?"

"Mhm. You want something. Everyone wants something."

"I guess...." Peter pauses for a moment. "I just miss you and wanted to talk."

"Well, you got what you wanted." You cross your arms and Peter nods shamefully. "But, you can keep talking if you tell me about your alter ego. I'm gonna worry about you so you might as well start talking."

"Really?" Peter asks, brows raised in disbelief.

"Yeah, I'm curious."

"Does, uh, does that mean we can work on the friends thing?" Peter asks. "If you want, of course. You were always a good friend before we dated and even while we were together and I regret it all so much and I just want my friend back if that's even possible-"

"We'll see. You start explaining and let me sleep on it." You give him a gentle smile.

"Okay," Peter gives you the same smile before the two of you start your walk again, deciding to make your way to Peter's while he started his whispered explanation. "So, I got bit by this radioactive spider..."