made_up_names | Stiles & Peter PSL

[ Snow used to be a fun thing. A pretty layer of white softening up the edges of the city for at least a little while. He and Aunt May would celebrate the first decent storm of the season with hot chocolate and bagels from that one great deli that Uncle Ben had loved. And as Spider-Man? Swinging in the snow had been exhilarating, bracing.

But that had assumed a warm apartment (however humble) and family to go home to. Before having to struggle through the snow AND New York's streets on a bike while also not totally upending the food delivery he was doing. That last patch of ice had been rude in the extreme. Also the slush. And the traffic light pole. Yep, that had been a failure from start to finish. The only good thing had been his spider senses deciding to at least rescue the food, albeit at the cost of Peter's dignity.

Right. Coffee. Coffee before he dies of frostbite AND embarrassment

Peter trudges into his usual haunt (there's an apt word) red-faced and shivering, but glad to have the heat. Is MJ working today? Maybe, but he doesn't see her behind the counter. That's ... fine, he probably needs to stop staring at her anyway. The last thing he wants to to come off like an actual creep. He gets the plainest, blackest coffee he can and huddles into the corner booth to defrost. And since he's here ...

By the time Stiles comes in, he's fully engrossed in his GED study guide, dutifully scribbling notes as sips at the last cooling remains of his coffee. (Can he afford a second cup? No. Does he desperately want one? Oh yeah.) ]

[It's not that Stiles's life has ever really been what you'd call fair, but it's still incredibly unfair even for his life that literally not even five days after being brought back from the Wild Hunt, a giant purple alien with the powers of a god snaps him out of existence again. He and his dad return to a house that was sold off three years ago, a new sheriff in Beacon Hills, and a pack that's 90% grown up and moved on without him. And although the pack reassures him that he always has a place with them, he just - he doesn't fight nearly as much as he guesses he probably should've when his dad announces that they're packing up and moving across the country to live with a cousin on his mom's side.

Midtown High isn't the kind of school he'd really choose for himself, given that he's never really been the one with the major interest in STEM, but the cousin has an in that gets him a spot and Lydia tells him that he'd be an idiot to refuse. If nothing else, it'll look good on his college applications, which are going to be even more important now that all of his plans to arrange things to stay together with the pack were blown to smithereens. The transition is rough, and for once in his life, he mostly just keeps his head down and does the work and tries not to make waves. The first time he really, seriously considers reaching out to a classmate is when the news breaks about Peter Parker being Spider-Man, because a) from what he knows of Spider-Man and the less he knows of Peter Parker, he's like 90% sure that the idea that he murdered Mysterio is bullshit and b) he was never a superhero, but he kind of relates? He spent a good portion of his past couple years stopping disasters from happening. And if he's right about the Mysterio thing, he's also had someone completely twist his actions around to make him look like the bad guy.

And then overnight, the story disappears. Peter Parker disappears, along with every piece of physical evidence of his existence, and Stiles spends a good hour having a panic attack in the school bathroom once he realizes this because no, no, this cannot be happening again. Then he calls his dad to confirm he still knows who Stiles is, then he gets to work finding Peter Parker because the Wild Hunt usually works fast. It's not as easy as he hopes because - well, he doesn't know Peter Parker that well. They've talked a couple times in passing, but Stiles hasn't really been looking for friends. He knows that Peter was friends with MJ and Ned, though, and he knows if his friends all forgot who he was - again - he would probably have still kept an eye on them, so he finds out where MJ works and starts stopping by whenever he can.

It takes long enough that he would be sure Peter's a goner if it wasn't for the news stories about Spider-Man still, but eventually it pays off because he finds Peter tucked away in a booth with a book. Before he can ask himself how he's supposed to start this conversation, he forces himself to just walk up and stop in front of Peter's table.] Hey. Uh, it's Peter, right? Peter Parker?

[ That's - his name? Someone calling his name?

Okay, it's not like his name is UNCOMMON, and he has been hanging around this place long enough that he is something of a regular. But his head still snaps up in surprise at being recognized by ...

Wait, who is that? DOES he know this guy? Started with an S, didn't it? (He's cute too, some entirely irrelevant part of his brain informs him. Cute guys doubly don't wander up to him.)

It doesn't really matter. No one remembers him - no exceptions - so whoever this is can't possibly recognize Peter specifically, right? ]

Um - yeah. But you've probably got the wrong guy.

Uh, no, pretty sure I don't. [He seats himself at Peter's booth, leaning in and lowering his voice because what he's about to talk about, they're not going to want overheard.] I know we didn't really know each other that well, but I remember who you are and I've seen this happen before. Someone being erased from existence like they were never there.

[ That's ALSO not something Peter expected this guy to say. Like. Holy shit. That's a thing to lead with. (So it has to be true, right? But how, and Strange had been SO SURE about the spell being absolute--)

Peter shifts back a bit, closing the GED book he was working out of. ]

Look, man, I really don't know what you're talking about.

[ But there's a telltale waver in his voice. ]

[Okay, so he gets that this is gonna be a shock, but honestly, Stiles isn't really sure why Peter's denying this. If it was him - and it has been him - and someone somehow said hey, I remember you, he wouldn't have been playing the I don't know what you're talking about game.

Obviously, Peter isn't okay because he's being targeted by the Wild Hunt, but is he... okay?] Okay, so there's this thing called the Wild Hunt, and they target people by erasing all traces of them existing before they erase the person themself. I think that might be happening to you.

[ You know what? THAT he believes. At least - he believes it in the sense that he knows that it can't be true, because he KNOWS what happened.

Peter being Peter, the truth just pops right out. ]

Dude, it can't be that. I got that spell cast on purpose.

[ Annnnnnnd then his brain catches up. ]

Also, what? Wait, WHAT?

You... did it on purpose?

[Okay, so this whole time, Stiles has been under the impression that he's on a rescue mission, and also he's kind of been having horrifying flashbacks to his own experience with the Wild Hunt, the gut punch of realizing that no one remembered him and the struggle of fighting to remember himself in the Wild Hunt's terrifying alternate dimension. So he's struggling really hard to understand what Peter just told him.] Why would you...?

Well I didn't go to a Wild Hunt and ask them to do it. Or anything like that.

[ This is a conversation he never thought he'd have to have. Hell. Even leaving out the Wild Hunt part of it.

He glances around the coffee shop, which is thankfully deserted at the moment. ]

Why don't you um. Tell me what YOU mean and then we can circle back.

I thought you were being erased from existence. Because I've seen it happen before. And it's terrifying.

I, uh. I don't really know where to go from here now. [Seeing as how Peter is... he did it on purpose? He'd say therefore Peter is fine but he's pretty sure no one who gets themselves erased from the world is fine.]

[ Well. To be fair? If there were side effects like this, Peter sure wouldn't have known them, and Strange wouldn't have had time to explain. Maybe he is at risk of just - what, being erased completely?

He can't fully suppress a shiver. ]

What happened last time?

[Well, he guesses he kind of. Has to explain it now, seeing as how he started this thing.] It didn't, uh, it didn't hurt or anything, it's just - things started disappearing. Records of your existence. And then people would start forgetting you, and when no one remembered who you are, the Wild Hunt would show up and take you.

[ So Peter's about, what. At the end of that? On purpose? The question being if this thing can still hurt him or not. ]

You knew someone that happened to?

I, uh. [He thought he was prepared to talk about this when he came here, but he also thought it would be necessary for saving Peter's life. Now he's... not really sure what's happening, and it's starting to feel like there's something constricting his breath just talking about this.] Yeah. I did.

[ Past tense AND a miserable face, huh. Peter's expression softens. ]

Someone you were close to, huh.

Something like that.

[He swallows. Clears his throat. Tries to change the subject because this was supposed to be about Peter, not him:] So, uh - what happened with you?

[ Right, him. Oof. Where does he start?

... That raises a question, doesn't it. ]

I'm definitely going to answer that but um. How do you know me? Do you remember - um - a big mess recently?

I kinda knew you from Midtown, but you mean the whole... media circus thing, I remember that, too. [He's just not going to say the specifics out loud, out of politeness.]

[ Peter REALLY appreciates that, Stiles. And he gets your meaning immediately. Which raises more questions, but first-- ]

-- Yeah, we were in AP classes together, right? I mean, as much as I could concentrate on class and. Stuff.

Yeah, a couple. I didn't really... make a lot of friends there, so I don't think we talked much. [Much more of this conversation is now based on lightly stepping around some serious bullshit than he was thinking, so this is fun.]

Yeah, no, I. I was busy too.

[ Peter gulps in a breath. ]

I was trying to undo that. My name getting out. I mean, if it was just me? I could have coped with that. But MJ and Ned were getting dragged in too.

Was this the only way? [He doesn't mean to sound judgy - he hopes he doesn't sound judgy - he's just kind of still horrified by the concept of doing this to yourself intentionally.]

[ Peter winces a little anyway. ]

At first? Probably not. I kind of - I mean, it had been months of that stuff, I wasn't thinking straight.

... I asked for too many modifications. It caused a ton of problems. And to fix them, Strange had to recast it flat. No exceptions.

Wow. Okay. [This absolutely did not go the way Stiles expected it to. He doesn't really know much about the Strange Peter's talking about - the sorcerer guy, he thinks? In another life, he probably would've been absolutely crazy about superheroes, but after Scott was bit by a feral werewolf, he thinks some of the charm went away.] I don't... really know why I would be the exception, then.

I don't know either, man. No offense, but you really didn't make my short list.

[ A beat. And something more vulnerable softens his face. ]

I'm glad you do remember, though. That somebody does.

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