Author's Note: PLEASE READ THIS! This story may not be your cup of tea and while I want you guys to give it a chance. It's only fair that I give you warnings since the summary has too little character limit.

First, this is a Gwen/Peter fic. I love Emma Stone. I love their relationship on screen. I wish TASM could have done better because there are so many badass moments and characters but wasted because of sloppy plotline and corporate deals.

Harry Osborn and Mary Jane here. And so will Ned Leeds and Michele Jones. I have special plans for each of them but unfortunately, it's down the lines and I'm trying to put this story as short and sweet as possible.

Will there be Irondad? Yes. Does Ben Parker still become relevant in Peter's development character? Absolutely. Will the building relationship between the two be long and tedious and won't get right to the fun stuff immediately like the rest of your fics? Err... yeah...

Lastly, in this fic we respect all three spider-men and what they represent to bring us the Peter Parker and Spider-Man we know and love today in the big screen

Anyway, now that's out of the way so I'll just have fun with this fic and hope you guys have fun as well

Let's take it from the top.

Are you guys ready?

Here goes.

You already know who I am.

Okay, maybe you generally know who I am. But you don't know this me, specifically. Considering all those multiverses, I applaud you for not losing track of all the me s. But for story-sake, let's put things simply and call this universe Earth-42.

Why 42? You might ask.

Because I've read once that the number represents chance, fate, and randomness. In other words, the small but incredibly significant events in life that gave us alternate universes. Of life that could have been and chances never taken.

Or I could just be a fan of Douglas Adam, either is valid.

So let's start our intro; my name is Peter Parker.

I was born, raised, and still living in Queens. Parents? Yeah, no. Still an orphan. I only have vague memories of the first six years with them, but my brain decided it's perfectly fine to remember the last time I saw them in perfect detail. It had been just like any other day, my dad and I were playing hide and seek in the backyard. I was living the life of a 6-year-old. With all the joy and none of the hardship. I was none the wiser that that day would be any different; that it would be the last time I saw my parents.

I was particularly mischief that day, and decided to hide in my father's study, knowing he was strick on letting me inside and touching his stuff without him. I thought it'd be the last place he would try to search for me. I knew I was going to get in trouble by the end of the day, and you might be wondering why I did it. The same reason why any children do anything? Because they're little asses, that's why. Me not excluded. Even though I knew I'd get grounded and would most probably have no TV for the rest of the day, and end up crying until dinner. I'd still do it for no other reason than I can. But when I opened the door and found the room ransacked, I became confused. It didn't occur to me then that someone broke into our house. All I knew was that my Dad is the most pristine people I knew (him being a scientist and all) and he would never let it drag into this state. So I called out to my dad, and I witnessed him rendered speechless.

He called out to my mom, and after one look at the scene, they made eye contact and stuck in a wordless conversation. Next thing I knew, they searched out the surviving documents in the office, even from hidden ones, wipe out any records before they start packing our bags next.

It was a predicament and I didn't know what was happening. I just followed their example.

By the end of the day, I was at my aunt and uncle's house. They sent me upstairs to unpack my stuff but I was a curious little shit. I knew something was wrong so I lurk upstairs and tried to hear as much of the conversation as I could. A lot of good that did, Dad didn't say anything much other than they might "go into hiding" and to "take care of Peter" while they're at it. I didn't know what's so bad about going away that Aunt May had to cry for them.

They called me downstairs before they leave, and both of them gave me a hug of a lifetime. "Stay with Aunt May and Uncle Ben for a little while."

Somehow, I knew his 'little while' wasn't the same for mine, "I want to go with you."

He didn't answer, just kissed my forehead in return like it was the last thing he'll do to me. Mom couldn't hide her tears as Dad dragged her away to the door.

Dad's last words for me is "Be good."

Funny how that's what I'll always be trying to do, Pops.

It was still hard for me to understand why they were so gloomy about leaving. As far as I was concern, this was just some kind of advance hide-and-seek. Mom and Dad were disappearing, and if I can't be with them then I would need a longer time to search for him on the other side of the world. It was only when their airplane crashed made it into the news did it finally dawned; they were never coming back.

The funeral was short and no bodies were buried. I didn't cry back then because some childish, naive part of me believed that one day I would go downstairs and would find them waiting for me by the door, bringing me home.

Right, enough for the sad childhood backstory. Let's get into my second pair of parents. Benjamin and May Parker. The sweetest and kindest people you'll ever meet. I wish I was just glorifying them, but that's no joke, it's a fact of life. One time, I had a call at 6 am in the morning from my Aunt, asking me how to catch a squirrel. Apparently, she found one having a pull-tab can stuck on its leg, it couldn't walk or climb very well and she's been chasing it for TWO HOURS just so the little creature can get help. I tried calling Animal Control, but squirrels are out of their jurisdiction so I went to find my aunt and lured the squirrel with a few nuts under my sleeve.

I wished that was the strangest story, but no, that's my everyday life even before the Spider Bite.

If you think Aunt May is an angel, you're right, but she's no pushover. Because let me tell you, anyone who messes her and her family, she'd give the same type of hard ass as divine punishment. One time, she brought out a fully inflated tire for laying their hands on me. And let me tell you those things are a lot heavier than they look.

Compared to May, Uncle Ben is tame. Heck, I'm pretty sure Ben is half her impulse control. But I wouldn't lie that he has been my role model. He'd be the Wise Old Man that every hero has and teaches you about life. He's the best uncle to ever dad.

My dad used to tell me he worked as a military officer before retiring, telling me stories of how Uncle Ben has always been a hero since he never made fun of his "nerdy" projects even as the other kids make fun of him. "There were times I thought of giving up science just so the bullying stop," he would say, "But Ben would always encourage my work and let me lecture him for hours despite barely knowing anything that I'm saying."

To Dad's eyes, Uncle Ben was probably a hero.

I can understand how he could be patient with me when I'm in one of my rambles, he already has experience.

The only thing I found lacking was the zero dad jokes he made. Imagine a childhood without a single "Hey, Hungry, I'm Uncle." I felt rob, I tell you, rob!

Anyway, you can probably imagine what kind of childhood I had. It may not be perfect, but I never felt less than loved. My parents may be gone but I never felt abandoned, not with them with me.

But of course in the life of Peter Parker, nothing good stays with me.

And it all started early in my sophomore year when it happened; the spider bite.

My best friend, Harry Osborn, put it in a good word to his dad and managed to snag a field trip for our class to visit one of the most top-notch laboratories in the Genetic Research Institute. I mean, they have the most advanced electron microscope in the eastern seaboard! How could anyone not be excited? It's unreal. Despite being part of Midtown School of Science , not a lot of people in my class can appreciate the inner-working of the world. I was pretty sure Harry did it for me though because I was over the moon when I heard about the trip.

Harry is that sort of kid; the kind who would use his money and connection just to be well-liked. Most of the kids in Midtown love him for it. It would have been great if life was cheesy enough that you don't need money to have a content life with true friendship. Well, those people don't know High School. They either like you or don't care enough and make your life a living hell. I should know, I'm living in mine as the personal punching bag of quarterback star, Flash Thompson. The people aren't going to side someone like Nerdy Parker, the teacher's pet. Harry might have been given the same treatment if he didn't do what he did; it wasn't a matter of friendship, it was for survival.

Good God, I talk like I'm giving an instructional survival video. I'm pretty sure there's already a 90s show for that.

Anyway, that's briefly what my high school is like. It's not the best, but it could be worse. I had the luck of getting on swell with Harry after weeks of awkwardness with each other. He wasn't what I had expected him for being the heir of billions of dollars worth Company. I admit I had been convinced those types of rich kids would be snobbish and arrogant, but Harry is far more uncomfortable with the attention despite the one seeking it.

One time, when I had to write an essay on the Great Gatsby, at some point I mixed up the word Gatsby for Harry. In a way, they were similar in how they hide in their pile of wealth and how awkward they are in dealing with friendship that doesn't involve being bought for. I mentioned to Mary-Jane, my childhood friend and next-door neighbor, how I was the Nick to his Gatsby. And she laughed at my comparison while pointing out Nick was a bit gay for Gatsby, and I was like "What? No. I would notice if he was gay."

Which he wasn't!

I may have denied her a bit too strongly because she's been low-key shipping me with Harry ever since.

Be as it may, even if Nick was gay that doesn't mean I am one, right?

Right?

Putting my sexuality aside, there's a reason I know I don't have a crush on one of the only two people that makes high school bearable.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, spider bite.

So, a spider got lost. It bit me. Huge fever then voila; a man with spider-power.

The end.

What? What else am I supposed to tell you? You should know about the spider bite story by now, otherwise, you wouldn't have come reading this.

But if you must know the details. Here's how it happened; the class was guided by one of the leading scientists of genealogy and neogenic, Dr. Connors (and no, Harry, I did not squeal). He looked just like how the Science magazine portrayed him; pleasant demeanor, a white lab coat on, sandy blond hair, no right arm, and would smiled engagingly to the audience.

"Cross-species genetics is the newest appliances of neogenic where we take one genetic trait of one species and integrate them into another. If done right, we could do imaginable things; curing any genetic diseases like Down Syndrome or Parkinson disease. If you want a more fantastical example we might one day make gills so we could breathe underwater without aid, creating a unicorn..." The class laughed at his joke, and here, he chuckled as he looked down at his absent arm, "... or using a lizard's regenerative gene to grow another arm. Recently, there has been a breakthrough in the genealogy community thanks to the introduction of the CRISPR-Cas system, can anybody tell me what that is?"

Two hands shot out from the crowds, my eyes wander and caught the sparkling blue eyes of Gwen Stacy. There was something about her that every time I see her face, my lips would twitch up, my eyes focused on her like with a wide aperture lens as the world turns into a blur, and background noises become static noises instead as the orchestra singing from the heavens.

"...ter...Pete... Peter! " I came back down to Earth after a hard pinch from my freckled friend. Dr. Connors was looking at me expectantly and there were quite a few giggling heard from behind me. I realized I had been staring off for a while, probably like a lovestruck idiot that I am, and blushed from making a fool of myself.

"Would you like to answer the question?" He prompted.

"Err, okay, so, so CRISPR is a DNA sequence within the genome used to archive the DNA sequences of bacteriophage so the body will know how to fight back if it gets attack by the same virus by cutting away the bad DNA using the enzyme called Cas9. CRISPR-Cas is essentially using that same enzyme but is programmed as a cut-and-copy machine to cut and add any DNA sequences we want to us like say… animal DNA, am I right?"

Dr. Connor's eyes shone admiringly, and I couldn't help the pride that gushed inside my chest. "Top notch answer, Mr…"

"Parker, Peter Parker."

That's when the weirdest… okay, not the weirdest, but the peculiar thing happened. His grin fell, and his eyes widen slightly. Not many noticed, but being an overachiever, I was at the front of the class so I got a full view of the Doctor. It took him a full three seconds to gain his bearing and continue his tour like nothing happened.

Harry elbowed me on the side. I turned, he glanced at Gwen and mockingly mouthed the word, "Smooth."

Feeling embarrassed, I elbowed him back, "Shut up."

The tour went on until we reach the collections of spiders of different species. Some of the girls and guys decided to stand back from the creepy-crawlies skittering in their cage. Dr. Connors boasted how they have the largest and diverse collection of spiders and using their gene, are trying to create what they dub "Super Spider." As part of the school paper, it was my job to take pictures but I must have irritated Flash during the trip because he and his cronies wouldn't stop pushing me from behind. Seeing as this wasn't the worst he'd done, it was easier to ignore him.

"Knock it off, Flash!" Harry tiredly chastised, already familiar with the same old song.

Flash predictably snorted, "Whatcha gonna do about it, Osborn? Cry home to your daddy and fire my dad? Hah, I wish."

"Excuse me, gentlemen!" Dr. Connors spoke up sternly, "Is there something you'd like to say to the rest of the class?"

"No, Sir."

He nodded but didn't break eye contact with us, "Alright then, as I was saying. These three engineered Super Spider has been the most successful. There's Theriididae-15 , a radiation-based gene engineering. It didn't do much other than weird coloring and longer life while the other spiders died. It's a hit or miss with these things. We've been using this little fella's genome for all the other basis of gene-editing of the other spiders.

"Next there's Lychosidae-67 . We basically tried mashing up all the other genes into this one tiny guy. There are other successful specimens but their life-expectancy got shorten. Moving on, the last is–oh."

"What's wrong, Doctor Connors?" Gwen asked.

"It's gone… probably somebody moved it for an experiment, but I didn't hear it was going to be tested today."

"What was the Spider?"

"Oh, you kids would love this. See, we've been experimenting spider to carry not only other types of spider-genes but other genetic sequences from other animals. Unfortunately, though some undergo significant changes, their based genome is too far apart, making each and every spider become sterile."

The class laughed until Dr. Connors held up his finger to shush them. "All of them, but one; Salticidae-42, which we inserted the human gene inside him."

"Wait," Harry voiced out, glee lacing his tone, "Are you saying the human gene was the only thing that kept it horny?"

Connors lips twitched up, "If you like."

And the whole class burst out into laughter again. I mean, technically you can still have libido but Harry makes it a funny point.

We spend some time examining and taking notes of the spiders on all sides. I was too busy gawking over something a lot more interesting though; something… or someone more blonde and prettier, who is intently examining them.

Harry had been insistent I started talking to her, but it was easier said than done. She probably doesn't think I exist in the same plane of existence as her. My best friend rolled his eyes and pushed me hard enough that I might have knocked down a million-dollar worth of specimen.

"Wow, there, don't get too excited."

I turned and was greeted by the smiling sight of her, and oh God, Kami, Budha, Jesus, what do I say?

"My friend, MJ, thinks they're disgusting," I blurted out, then just as quickly shut my mouth.

"Excuse me?"

From the corner of my eyes, I could tell Harry was slapping his face. And frankly? Mood. Not only did I mess up my opening, but I also had to bring out another girl's name. Unless, MJ is a neutral-gendered name, in which case, I still messed up.

"But she loves it! And, and I don't get that, y'know? Like why does she loves something disgusting? Is, is that a girl thing or…?"

"What, so you think only boys can get down and dirty and love it?"

"Err, no? No! What I meant to say was…"

Harry was already swishing his hand back and forth around his neck and mouthing the word "Abort, abort!"

But then a chuckling sound cut the tension, "Relax, I was just messing with you."

"Oh, OH!"

"To answer your question; I wouldn't know since that's your friend's preference. But for me, there's just something fascinating how animals act so unlike humans. Don't you think so, Peter?"

I breathed a huge sigh of relief and not being a complete fool in front of her before it hit me.

"You know my name?"

"Of course I do, Peter Parker, right? Or don't you know your own name?" She smiled teasingly, and my heart soared at the fact Gwen Stacy is teasing me.

"No, of course I know my own name. I just didn't think you know my name not like how I know your name. But of course you know my name, you're brilliant."

There was a call for the group to move onto the next department, and Gwen looked up at me, apologetically said, "I better go to my group, see ya."

"See ya... Gwen," but she was already gone for her to hear me, but it didn't stop me smiling wistfully at her back. I didn't even notice Harry sidling next to me, too busy enraptured by the fantasy of us holding hands, going to the dance, kissing by the moonlight, propose to her at dinner, and then making my speech at our wedding of how my entire life started to change because of a spider.

The latter became less of a fantasy than I imagined it.

"Nice job, Slick. Remind me the next time I pick up girls to embarrass myself first."

"You don't need to, your hair is already an embarrassment."

"Oi, lay off the perm, man. It's innocent!"

Later on, I split away from my group to go to the bathroom, and this is when things got interesting for me.

As soon as I was done with my business, my Parker Luck driving me lost in one of the most high-tech security buildings. In a Sunday morning cartoon show, this is the part where the character would go snooping around and causing trouble unintentionally. Maybe even get dragged out by security for some misunderstanding. But I told myself; I'm not going to be that character, not this time. So I stayed clear anything that screams "Official" or "Off-limits."

Trouble came to me, nonetheless, when I had slammed against a woman after turning a corner. What's worse, she was carrying a lot of papers and a box of stuff and I had gone and scattered them on the ground.

"Oh, my God, I'm so sorry, Miss." She didn't say anything, she crouched and was hastily putting everything back in prim and proper order with scary precision. The lady looked like she was in a hurry despite the calm mask she had. I crouched and helped her along, grabbing a loose petri dish before tightening it for her.

"Don't!" She snatched it and put it—not back on the box—within the inside pocket of her beige blazer.

I was afraid of touching anything else that might trigger her, so I just stayed. Waiting for the likelihood of her needing help, which by the looks of things, she doesn't.

Once done, she up and left, leaving Peter dumbfounded on the ground. But then he noticed the fallen ID card and quickly tried to catch up to her.

"Hey, Miss, Lady, Miss Roymand!"

The woman stopped short then turned sharply back at me. "Oh good, you drop this. I didn't think you wanted to lose something this important." In my hand was an Oscorp Employee ID card with her face, a barcode below, and the name "NATALYA CHARLOTTE ROYMAND" written on it.

She took it quite more gently than I expected, seeing as she had been in a hurry and all, I thought she would snatch it from me.

"Thank you," she said. Her voice sweet yet direct.

"Your welcome, err, so, you don't happen to know where I can go back to my group from my school, would you?"

"I'm surprised you're here at all considering you're in the restriction section."

"Dammit, I was avoiding those!"

The darkly red-haired woman must have taken pity. She showed me the quickest path back to my school field trip group but didn't stay to lead me there. Nonetheless, I shrugged our meeting off my mind and skip back to my class. Unknown of the spider piggy-backing my neck until it bit me by the end of the tour.

Most of you would think that's how my hero persona is born, which is a big fat no.

This is my power origin story.

My hero origin story on the other hand…

...is a different chapter.

Disclaimer and acknowledgment: The squirrel scene is based on a true story from TikTok by Lama_Mama Please check her out because not only is she hilarious but she's an awesome person too. Her mother is an angel and became an inspiration for my Aunt May. And the '42' comment was from an interview I read, can't remember from which site.

MiniDP: Now you're just trying too hard.

Me: In what respect? Gwen and Peter bonding? Or 'Natalya' sloppy work? Do you think I don't know that? I'm trying my best here!

MiniDP: Charlotte? Really? You have to put it there?

Me: Come on! Charlotte! As in the Mama Spider! It's poetic. She basically gives birth to another spider in the scene!

MiniDP: And you said 'The End' but went on with the Spider Bite Explanation anyway just to show Peter poorly executed flirting and Osborn basically a cheerleader?

Me: I... I... I...

MiniDP: Oh, Honey... are you sure you want to post this?

Me: *Cries while mouse hovers the post button* shut up!