Absolute Spider-man

"What the hell is going on?" were the words Peter muttered as he opened the blinds of his window, letting the sunlight flood into the room. He sat back down on the bed and ran a hand through his hair. None of it made any sense. In his previous life, he hadn't exactly been the biggest Marvel fan, nor did he know everything about the comics or shows, but he was pretty sure Peter Parker didn't have any siblings. Well... after the Clone Saga, he supposedly developed a brotherly relationship with his clones, and then that character named Teresa showed up, claiming to be his secret sister.

"Wait," Peter said, halting his train of thought.

Kaine, Ben, Teresa, Peter ran their names through his memory again, comparing them with the names of the clones and the probably fake sister, only to feel more confused.

"What the hell is going on with this world?" Peter said, rubbing his face with one hand. At this moment, three people who weren't even supposed to exist—or at least not be part of his life at this stage—were now his older siblings. He could find them in almost all of his memories. His head was spinning. How did this happen? More importantly, how did he end up in this body?

But if that was different in this world, what else might be?

Quickly following the body's memories, he found the cellphone on the nightstand next to the bed. Once he turned it on, a flood of notifications and messages appeared. He ignored them for now and went straight to the browser.

The first person he searched for was the one who supposedly sparked Marvel's popularity peak.

Tony Stark. The results weren't all that surprising—scandals everywhere, his Iron Man suit trial, a few articles about his heroic feats. Peter wasn't shocked that Tony was already Iron Man—it helped him figure out where in the timeline he was.

He continued his search. Next was good ol' Cap, Steve Rogers. Skipping several WWII-related articles, it seemed Steve had already been thawed and active for a while. Peter found a bunch of articles about him attending political or veterans' events, but nothing heroic. If he remembered the movies right, Steve worked missions for SHIELD after being unfrozen, so it made sense that none of that would be public.

Though, there was a fan club ad for the Avengers, which helped—he now knew they had already formed. The problem was, he didn't know their lineup yet.

He avoided searching names like Natasha Romanoff or Clint Barton. Something deep inside warned him that if he looked them up, a SWAT team might burst through his door.

He searched for Thor, and found nothing notable beyond a subreddit dedicated to theorizing his location based on lightning storms.

A quick search of Bruce Banner revealed old articles about his gamma radiation research and all things Hulk. The most recent news was that he had disappeared nearly four years ago. A chill ran down Peter's spine, and he silently prayed that it was just because Bruce was hiding—not because the Planet Hulk event was unfolding.

That last thought gave Peter pause.

"If Hulk's disappearance is related to the Planet Hulk events, then…"

Without wasting time, he quickly typed a series of names.

Charles Xavier was first. Boom. A flood of articles: his fight for mutant rights, books he had written on the mutant gene, how he and his team helped prevent global incidents like the Cuban missile crisis.

He moved on to Reed Richards, and once again, it didn't disappoint. Articles about his space radiation research, his space voyage funded by Doom Industries, even sensational headlines about his marriage to former child-star-turned-scientist Sue Storm.

"Former child star?" Peter muttered aloud, but decided to let it go for now—he was already too overwhelmed.

He searched Namor and Black Bolt, and while there wasn't much, he did learn that both the Inhumans and the Atlanteans were already widely known in this world.

With a sigh, he decided to stop searching names and instead checked out local news articles. He found some interesting stuff—for instance, Danny Rand, the presumed-dead heir to Rand Enterprises, had recently returned to New York.

There were also speculations about Wilson Fisk possibly running for mayor in the upcoming elections.

The more Peter read, the clearer and sharper his thoughts and memories became, like a mental map that had previously been blank now slowly coming together like a puzzle.

For once, he felt lucky—he had retained the original Peter's intelligence. Genius-level intelligence.

In just minutes, and after skimming several articles, his previously blank mental board was filled, and he could now give a general verdict of where he'd landed.

This world seemed to be some kind of weird amalgamation of movie, show, and comic elements all rolled into one.

With another tired sigh, he ran his hand down his face again. Even though he'd reached that conclusion, he still had no idea what parts of this reality were canon and which weren't. To make things even weirder, he apparently wasn't an only child here—he was the youngest of four siblings.

Before he could delve deeper into his thoughts, the bedroom door opened again. Turning around, Peter saw that this time, it wasn't a grumpy Kaine on the other side. His heart skipped a beat.

There stood a girl his age, with red hair tied in a loose ponytail, wearing a Catholic school uniform and holding a laundry basket filled with clean clothes.

Instantly, a name popped into his head: Mary Jane Watson.

"Oh good, you're up," Mary Jane said as she entered the room. With complete naturalness, she walked up to Peter and planted a quick kiss on his lips before heading to the wardrobe and starting to put clothes away.

During the short interaction, Peter could only stare at her like she had suddenly grown a second head.

"What are you still doing sitting there? Hurry up and shower before Benny and Trish wake up or you'll run out of hot water," Mary Jane said, half-commanding, still not looking back at him.

"Yes, ma'am," Peter replied reflexively, which finally made the redhead turn toward him with an annoyed look.

"Hey, I told you to stop calling me ma'am," Mary Jane said, throwing a shirt at him, which Peter caught effortlessly.

Ignoring her words, Peter practically sprinted out of bed and left the room. Instinctively, he moved through the house, even though he'd never been there before, and found the bathroom. Once inside, he locked the door.

"Shit! Shit, shit, shit! Double shit!" Peter exclaimed, staring into the mirror. "What the hell happened?"

He spoke in frustration. Just when he thought he had begun to understand his new reality, this happened and hit him like a truck. And that's when the memories hit him again—specifically, those about Mary Jane.

They had been neighbors since they were kids and had basically known each other their whole lives. His earliest memory of her was meeting her when they were four years old. They became friends quickly after Peter saved her from a stray dog. They had gone to the same schools and been in the same classes ever since, spending more time at Peter's house than her own. Most of his memories of Mary Jane's house were full of yelling and her drunk father.

One day, when they were thirteen, MJ had snuck into his room and crawled into bed with him while he was asleep. In the morning, he noticed a bruise on her face. They never talked about it, but from that moment on, Mary Jane had basically moved into Peter's house.

"Alright, I need to go through these memories carefully. Getting caught off guard like this is getting annoying," Peter muttered, staring into the mirror. He turned on the faucet, splashed water on his face, and drank from his hands. He hadn't realized how thirsty he was until now. After a minute of just staring at himself in the mirror, someone knocked on the door.

"I don't hear the shower. Be quick or you'll miss the field trip," came Mary Jane's voice from the other side of the door.

"Field trip?" Peter asked, digging through his memories until he quickly found what he was looking for: today, his science class was going on a field trip to Oscorp Industries, courtesy of one of the student's fathers and, apparently, Peter's best friend—Harry Osborn.

Which meant…

Today was the day he'd get his powers.

"Don't tell me you forgot—you've been talking about this all month," said Mary Jane from outside.

"Yeah, sorry, I just didn't hear you right. I'm coming out now," Peter replied, trying to sound casual and hide that anything was wrong.

No response came immediately. She was probably weighing his words. But after a moment, he finally got a reply.

"Alright, but hurry up. I don't want to hear you whining all month about how you missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because you were stuck in the bathroom."

Peter heard her footsteps walk away.

He sighed again and decided that for now, it was best to just take the shower as instructed.

He showered quickly and then went to his room to get dressed.

"Well, at least one constant remains—this Peter's still a nerd," Peter said, looking at the clothes in his wardrobe: comic book shirts, anime shirts, shirts with math or chemistry formulas. He decided to keep it simple for now—plain black t-shirt, jeans, and black military-style boots. Not that he had much choice; his shoe collection was made up entirely of military boots in different colors. Something else to investigate in his memories.

Once dressed, he left the room. By instinct, he grabbed one of the skateboards hanging on the wall and the dark red jacket behind the door. He moved through the house like he'd lived there his whole life, and before he realized it, he was already in the kitchen.

There was a large dining table, big enough for everyone in the house. Already seated was an older man with a steaming mug of coffee. Peter walked in, trying to look as natural as possible.

"Good morning," he said as he entered the room.

"Good morning, Peter," said May, smiling as she set a plate of toast and eggs in front of the man.

For a moment, Peter froze at the sight of them. He had expected to find the classic elderly versions of Ben and May. Instead, he found that Aunt May looked exactly like Marisa Tomei's MCU version, and his uncle looked exactly like Mel Gibson.

"Honestly, I was expecting Tom Hanks," Peter thought, looking at his supposed aunt and uncle.

"Finally awake. You're usually the first one down here," said Ben, taking a sip of his coffee. "For a second, I thought that redhead finally wore you out."

"Don't be rude, Ben. Peter probably stayed up late out of excitement for today's field trip. You know how excited he's been," said May, returning with another plate of toast and eggs. "What are you standing there for, honey? Eat something or you'll be late."

"That's what I've been telling him," said Mary Jane as she entered the kitchen and sat down at the plate.

"I'm not that hungry," Peter replied simply. He wasn't sure if sitting at a table full of people he was apparently close to—but had only just met—was a good idea in his current state.

"Since when are you not hungry?" Ben joked, glancing up from his food.

"I'll grab something on the way. I just want to be the first one there," Peter corrected himself. This whole pretending-to-be-himself thing was exhausting.

"You and your science stuff. I honestly don't get it, but if it makes you happy..." said Ben, reaching into his pocket. Of all the things Peter expected, what he didn't expect was a thick wad of $100 bills. Ben pulled out three and set them on the table.

"Here. For breakfast and lunch. And treat a girl or two on the way, yeah?" Ben said, winking. Out of the corner of his eye, Peter noticed Mary Jane frown and glare at Ben. Not wanting things to escalate, Peter quickly snatched the bills.

"Thanks, Uncle Ben," Peter said simply, turning to leave.

"Remember, you've got work at the garage after school today," Aunt May called out from the kitchen.

"Got it. Love you guys," Peter said, almost out of habit.

And just like that, he walked out of the house, heading toward his next stop: Midtown High School.

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Thanks for reading, and thanks to Prateek_Raj_Dangi and V_ADAPT. 

If anyone has any thoughts or comments, I'd love to hear them.