July 31, 2024: 1:04 PM

"Spider-Man's real—" Quentin Beck apprehensively glanced over his shoulders. "Spider-Man's real name is P—" He was cut off as the screen briefly fizzled off and on. "Spider-Man's name is Peter Parker!"

Everyone in the deli-grocery gasped in surprise. They had all gathered around the TV behind the counter, anxiously listening to the shocking news that came out of nowhere. Now, plastered on the screen, was a headshot of a familiar teenager. A teenager Mr. Delmar knew so well, too well.

"Peter?" Mr. Delmar's employee said.

"He killed Mysterio?" someone from the crowd added.

"But he was such a nice kid."

"It's always the nice ones."

"This planet is filling up with psychos."

It can't be. He knew Peter, and he never found a bad bone in the kid. Sarcastic, sure. But never did he ever expect the kid to go as far as to push back against a bully. He can't have been Spider-Man, much less be the one who killed Mysterio.

-oOo-

"What the shit?" Flash Thompson said, jumping up from his couch.

He kept his eyes on the TV screen, at Peter Parker's face, who had apparently been Spider-Man all along.

"What the shit?" he said louder.

"Since when did I let you speak like that, Eugene?" his father called from the living room.

Flash ran outside his room and shook his dad on the shoulders. "What the shit?"

SMACK! He had been slapped.

-oOo-

Betty Brant double tapped her phone screen to like an Instagram post of a cute puppy. They are so adorable.

Her phone rang in her hands and a Snapchat notification popped up at the top of her screen.

She opened a picture of a ragged Flash with a red hand mark on his left cheek. The caption read, "What the shit"

Betty sighed and sent a chat reply: "What do you want?"

"Peter is spiderman and he killed mysterio"

"Go away"

She went back to scrolling on her Instagram, but her phone rang again. This time, a YouTube link had been sent to her. Betty rolled her eyes and clicked on it.

"This better be good, Flash," she muttered.

It was a minute-long clip from a news podcast called the Daily Bugle. She watched it in its entirety, and when it ended, so many things were running in her head that she wasn't able to think clearly.

Once she managed to regain her ability to move, she fumbled to hold her phone upright. She went straight to her contacts and texted Jason Ionello: "I HAVE BREAKING NEWS! MEET ME AT THE RECORDING STUDIO AT SCHOOL ASAP!"

-oOo-

Brad Davis was doing push-ups, thinking of all the ways he could steal MJ back from Peter. Suddenly, breaking news appeared on his TV screen. He was shocked at first, but he liked what he saw very much.

He promptly grabbed his phone texted MJ: "Yooo did you see the breaking news about peter?"

He waited several minutes for her to reply, but she didn't answer. He decided to send her another text.

"Peter is spiderman! I knew it all along. Dont worry mj ill be there for you if you need a shoulder to cry on"

This number has blocked you. Your messages will not be seen.

"Oh."

-oOo-

May Parker was working on her desk when Lily, her co-worker, came to her for a hug. She didn't know what to say, so she just hugged her back.

"Is everything fine, Lily?" she asked.

"Oh, May, didn't you hear the news?"

"News?" May replied, worried. "What news?"

"It's about your nephew?"

May stood up. "Oh, my…" Her hands came up to cover her mouth. "What happened to him?"

"May, you might want to sit down for this," Lily said quietly, comforting her back.

May slapped her arms away and sternly said: "Tell me, now! What happened to Peter?"

Lily opened her mouth as if to say something, but no words came out.

"Never mind. I'll see for myself." She sat back down to her chair and went to her computer. Her hands were shaking, but she typed as fast as she could.

petre parker, she Googled. Already, there were thousands of articles written about her nephew, name spelt wrong notwithstanding.

"Spider-Man Is a Menace to Society! Identity Revealed!"

"Spider-Man, a Murderer? Identity Revealed!"

"The Truth Has Come Out About Our Web-Slinging Hero, Now a Villain. Identity Revealed!"

"The Next Iron Man? More Like the Next Thanos! Spider-Man's Secret Identity Leaked!"

"Fuck," May whispered.

In front of her, Angella, her nosy deskmate, was tutting and shaking her head slowly. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

Aunt May saw red.

-oOo-

Roger Harrington, a very popular science teacher at Midtown High, most known for his completely stable mental health, was drinking at a bar. Just a few hours after his lunch. Really, he could be doing anything else if he wanted to, but it was summer. He had all the time in the world, and he had it all for himself.

No wife to share it with.

No children.

No friends.

All on his own.

Mr. Harrington shook his head and downed another shot.

He was about to go for another one, but what he saw on the bar television made the contents of his mouth projectile back into his shot glass.

"Ah, that explains everything," he said, drunkenly.