The month of March passed without incident. I kept being Spider-Man, kept stopping crime, kept doing what I did. My popularity was slowly climbing toward Iron Man levels. People loved me on Twitter — my snappy comebacks were the talk of the week, and kids at school would repeat them whenever they got the chance.
There was one thing worth noting, though: reports from New Mexico about something that had levelled an entire town in a single afternoon. I saw it on the news — lightning and fire. Thor had arrived.
I asked Agent David about it, and he refused to elaborate, stating, "It's classified, kid. Mind your own business. Get back to work — I want—" I tuned him out after that.
But yeah, Thor was here. Which meant the Avengers would soon be assembling, and I knew it would be soon.
And now it was April. Despite being a superhero with over a million followers across Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, I was still required to attend school. I hated this place sometimes.
I walked into school on Monday morning, sighing in irritation. I saw Harry and Flash talking to a couple of cheerleaders, while Liz and MJ glared at them from across the hall.
Did I mention Liz and MJ had finally broken up with those morons? No? Well, they had — and the day they did, I actually shouted in joy in the middle of the cafeteria. People gave me strange looks, but I didn't care.
"Look at those two," Liz hissed, glaring at Flash. "Going after the first piece of meat that bats its eyes at them."
"Forget it, Liz," MJ sighed, closing her locker. "They aren't worth it."
"That they aren't," Felicia said, arriving beside the girls. Over the past month, after Liz and MJ had dumped those two idiots, Felicia had decided to actually try making friends. It had been surprisingly easy with Liz — all it took was talking fashion and publicly roasting Flash a couple of times.
"Hey, girls," I waved.
"Hey, Pete," MJ smiled.
"What do you want, Parker?" Liz snorted. Yep, she still didn't like me. Go figure.
"Just saying hello to my amazing girlfriend," I said, turning to Felicia and planting a kiss on her cheek. "Everything good, Kitten?"
"Just perfect, Tiger," Felicia smiled. "Liz and MJ were just planning to get back at their exes later by pouring itching powder down their pants."
"Hey! We told you that in confidence!" Liz yelled.
"Relax, Liz — any plan to ruin Osborn's and Flash's day is one I'm fully behind. Need help?"
Liz raised an eyebrow. "You want to help?"
I nodded. "Yeah. I could whip up some extra-strength itching powder if you want. Actually, I could make it airborne — like a spray, absorbed through the skin, can't be washed off—" I let my brain wander into the logistics.
"Peter? Peter? Are you okay?" MJ asked, looking concerned.
"He's fine," Felicia said. "Relax, Red. When he gets fixated on a new project he tends to zone out."
"Does he do that often?" Liz asked.
"You have no idea," Felicia groaned. "One night we were having a really lovely moment on top of the Empire State Building and he just switched off. Right there."
"Wait — on top of the Empire State Building?" MJ asked suspiciously.
"Ah, Mum got us passes. Very exclusive kind," Felicia quickly improvised. "So...yeah."
"Huh, cool!" Liz perked up. "Think your mum could get us some passes?"
"It's kind of a one-time deal. I'll ask her," Felicia promised.
"I've got it!" I suddenly burst out, startling the girls. I immediately took out my notepad and started scribbling formulas. "Liz — are you serious about making them itch?"
"You bet I am," she said, peering curiously at the equations running across the page.
"Then Osborn and Flash better brace themselves!" I grinned. "I'll have this done by lunch. See you girls then!" I took off at a jog toward first-period Chemistry.
"Felicia," Liz said slowly, watching me go, "sometimes I totally envy you having such a dedicated guy. But other times...he's just a nerd."
"Yeah, tell me about it," Felicia grinned. "But he's my nerd."
At lunch, I presented the finished product and sat down with the girls. Felicia kissed me on the cheek. "Hey, Tiger. What have you got there?"
I held up a small spray bottle with a grin. "Behold. The itching spray — twice as potent and three times harder to wash off. Perfect for ruining an ex's day, or dealing with bullies."
Liz raised an eyebrow, looking genuinely impressed. "Wow. Fast work."
"Always," I said proudly.
"So when are you two going after them?" Felicia asked.
"We don't know," MJ shrugged. "Honestly, it might not be worth the hassle."
"Yes it is!" Liz snapped, eyes fixed on Flash flirting with a blonde cheerleader who looked remarkably like her. "It's absolutely worth it."
"Sigh — fine, but we can't do it today. We have the Spanish assignment to finish with Jean," MJ said.
"Oh — right, I forgot about that," Liz sighed. "Fine, we'll make their lives miserable tomorrow."
"You might want to go further than itching powder," Felicia shrugged. "It's not exactly devastating."
"What would you do?" Liz asked.
"You mean what would I do if Peter ever cheated on me?" Felicia asked. Liz nodded. Felicia smiled. "He wouldn't."
"Why do you say that?" MJ asked.
"Simple," I replied, looking up. "I'm just that good."
Felicia rolled her eyes. "No — it's because if he did, I'd tell the whole world his secret." She smiled sweetly.
My eyes went wide. "Are you — holy hell, you're serious. Everything?"
Felicia nodded. "Everything."
I swallowed. "Damn, Kitten. That's cold."
"Yep. So don't even think about it," she kissed my cheek. "You're all mine."
"Wait, wait, wait — what secret? What could Parker possibly be hiding?" Liz asked.
"That's the point of a secret, Liz," I told her, rolling my eyes.
"He's right," Felicia smiled. "So until he does something I can't forgive, my lips are sealed."
Liz groaned. "Ugh, I hate you both sometimes. So bloody perfect."
"Thank you," Felicia and I said together. MJ laughed while Liz grumbled.
After school, Liz, MJ, Felicia, and I all piled into Liz's car. She had gotten it for her birthday and had been showing it off at every opportunity.
We arrived at MJ's place and climbed out. "So are you guys coming in?" MJ asked.
"No, Aunt May and Uncle Ben are expecting me," I said. "I figured Felicia could come meet them."
"Bringing a girl home already, Parker?" Liz raised an eyebrow. "Sure you're not moving too fast?"
"What are you talking about? They met her months ago," Felicia chuckled.
"What?!" MJ and Liz both yelped.
"Yeah — around January, I think. Right, Kitten?" I asked.
"That's right," Felicia confirmed.
"Oh my God," Liz's eyes went wide, then she smirked. "When's the wedding?"
Felicia and I both went red. "Don't you two have somewhere to be?" I stammered.
"Come on, Liz," MJ said with a teasing smile.
"But MJ! I want to tease them some more!"
"I never said we weren't going to," MJ said. "Let's give them five minutes first. Besides, we really do need to finish this project before Jean gets here."
Liz rolled her eyes. "Fine. Stupid Spanish report. See you later, you two! Parker — try not to get her pregnant!"
Felicia sighed. "God, she's a lot."
I chuckled. "Yeah. Come on, let's go." We walked to my place. I unlocked it with my spare key and let Felicia in.
She looked around and found the house empty. "Tiger, did your aunt and uncle go somewhere?"
"Yeah — upstate for a friend's wedding," I said, dropping my bag and guiding Felicia toward the couch.
Felicia's surprise turned quickly to something warmer. The scent of maple syrup drifted through the air. "Well then, Mr. Parker. Do you have any plans?"
"Just the one, Ms. Hardy," I leaned in and whispered. "Making sure you go home covered in hickeys."
"Sounds fun," Felicia grinned. "Let me get us started." She grabbed my jacket collar and pulled me down.
We didn't get very far.
"Peter! We need your help!" MJ's voice came bursting through the front door.
Felicia and I looked up. MJ and Liz came rushing in, supporting another girl between them — a teenager with short red hair, hunched over and clutching her head in pain.
"What's going—Peter!" MJ shrieked, noticing the state of us. "What are you doing?!"
I scowled. "Trying to make out with my girlfriend." I glared at her.
"Trying being the operative word," Felicia sighed, straightening her blouse. "Why are you here?"
"We need your help," Liz said, holding the girl steady. "Jean just suddenly got this terrible headache and it won't stop. We don't know what to do!"
I raised an eyebrow. "Have you called an ambulance?"
"No — something's wrong, Peter," MJ pleaded. "She says she's hearing voices in her head, and...things started to move."
"Move? Move how?" I asked.
"They started levitating!" Liz said, voice pitching upward. "On their own! I think she's possessed or something!"
"We came to you because you're the smartest person we know," MJ explained. "We figured you'd have more experience with this kind of thing — you know, hanging around the Fantastic Four and all."
I nodded slowly and looked at the girl. She was whimpering, clutching her head. Just then I noticed a set of candlesticks on the table across the room slowly rising into the air. A telekinetic. A mutant. Was she —
Holy hell.
"MJ, what's her full name?" I asked quietly.
"Jean Grey, I think," MJ replied.
"Oh, hell," I breathed. I looked at the girl again — red hair, slight frame, green eyes. This was Jean Grey. In my house. And she was manifesting her powers right now.
I couldn't let her read my mind. That would be a disaster. She would know everything. I needed to suppress her powers — but how? I couldn't knock her unconscious; too many questions. I needed to block whatever was happening.
Physics suggested her telepathy operated via some form of brain wave emission. Maybe microwaves. I needed to contain those waves, stop them from broadcasting outward.
Magneto had some kind of special helmet to block Xavier from reading his mind. Aluminium! There had to be a reason conspiracy theorists on the internet wore tin foil hats — right?
"Peter! Are you going to help her or not?!" Liz asked.
"Of course I am. Set her down — there, on the lounger."
The girls helped Jean into the chair and stepped back. I sprinted into the kitchen and rummaged through the cupboards until I found a roll of aluminium foil. I tore off a large sheet, crumpled it roughly into shape, and ran back.
"What are you going to do with that?" MJ asked.
"This," I said, pressing the foil carefully over Jean's head, covering it completely.
Jean's eyes slowly began to clear. Her breathing steadied. She blinked and looked up. "T-thank you."
I let out a long breath. "No problem."
Jean's gaze drifted downward and her cheeks went crimson. I blinked. "Jean? You all right? You've gone red."
"That's because a shirtless boy is currently leaning over her with his trousers half-undone," Felicia supplied dryly.
I looked down. I had apparently forgotten to put my shirt back on in all the chaos. "Oh. Whoops." I quickly did up my jeans and grabbed my shirt.
"Oh, and I was just starting to enjoy the view," Liz grumbled.
"Hands off, Allen — he's mine," Felicia smirked.
I turned back to Jean. "Are you still okay? Can you still hear our thoughts?"
Jean and the others all looked startled.
"W-what do you mean?" Jean asked. "Read our minds?"
"Yeah — those voices you were hearing? Those were our thoughts. You're a telepath, Jean."
"What?!" Jean cried.
"What?!" echoed Liz, MJ, and Felicia.
"Yep," I nodded. "But...where are you from? How did you end up here with them?"
"What do you mean, Peter? She goes to school with us!" MJ cried.
"She does?" I said, genuinely surprised.
"Yeah," Jean said quietly, dropping her head. "I get that a lot. People tend to overlook me."
I quickly skimmed through Peter's memories and, sure enough, Jean had been in a few of his classes freshman year — but she'd eventually moved to different classes and he had never made any effort to speak to her. Brilliant, Peter. Thanks for being such a reclusive loner.
Something about Jean struck me as off, though. The Jean Grey I knew from the source material was always so bold — confident, proud, assured. But this girl was small, barely five feet tall, with her shoulders hunched inward as though she was trying to take up as little space as possible. She reminded me of a baby bird trying to fold in its wings, not a Phoenix waiting to burn.
I sighed. "I'm sorry about that, Jean. I'm useless at social situations."
"Can we please get back to the psychic thing?!" Liz yelled. "Because I am seriously freaking out right now!"
"Yeah — Tiger, what exactly do you mean by telepath?" Felicia asked.
"She can read minds and move things with her thoughts," I said simply. "Either that, or she'd developed cosmic-level powers — in which case there'd be nothing any of us could do."
"So she's...a mutant?" Liz asked. The scent of lemons — the smell of fear — quietly filled the room.
"I'm a mutant?" Jean asked, her voice small.
"Yeah," I said. "And so am I." I looked at MJ and Liz. "My mutation just happens to be in my brain — makes me significantly smarter than average. Felicia's a mutant too; her hair grows almost silver-white. MJ's a mutant — redheads carry a rare genetic variant. Basically, we're all mutants in some way. Jean's mutation just happens to be a bit more...dramatic."
"But that doesn't make you any less human, Jean," I added. "Got that?"
Jean looked at me with wide eyes and slowly nodded.
"Good," I said. "Now — let's see what you can do." I grinned.
"What?" Jean blinked.
"Your powers. I want to see what you can do! But first—" I stopped myself. "Actually, I should build you a proper dampener first. You can't walk around with tin foil on your head forever. Come with me."
I led them downstairs to my basement lab. It was modest compared to the Baxter Building — a better PC, some scientific equipment, and a few pieces of Spider-tech tucked under the floorboards — but it would do.
I sat down at the workstation and began assembling something small and practical.
"Is this your lab?" Jean asked, looking around in amazement.
"Yep," I said.
"I didn't know you had one down here, Tiger," Felicia said, sounding slightly wounded.
"I barely use it any more, Kitten. Not since I got the Baxter Building."
"You actually work for the Fantastic Four?! That is so cool!" Jean said, eyes wide.
"Thanks," I chuckled.
"Even at home you're a nerd," Liz huffed, dropping onto the spare bed.
"What did you expect? Peter is a nerd," MJ giggled.
"P-Peter," Jean said carefully, "do you think you can figure out what's happening to me?"
"Well, I'm not exactly sure yet," I replied, threading insulated wire through a hair band. "You can move things with your mind — somehow your brain can interact directly with the physical world. I don't fully understand the mechanism, but it likely has something to do with energy waves, since that's the only model that makes any sense."
"So what are you making?" Felicia asked.
I smiled. "Wait and watch."
Fifteen minutes later, I stood up and held out the finished headband — a simple band fitted with fine wiring and a small battery. "Here. This should help keep your powers in check."
Jean gulped, looking at it. "W-will it work?"
I shrugged. "Honestly, no idea. But let's find out." I reached over and pulled the foil hat off.
Jean squeezed her eyes shut as the voices hit her — then she slipped the headband on, and the tension in her face slowly dissolved.
"I — I think it's working," she said quietly.
All of us let out a collective breath.
"Right," I said. "Now — grab your things. I know just the place to start your training."
It took a while to convince Jean it needed to happen, but she eventually agreed. Liz was scared though too proud to show it. MJ agreed immediately. Felicia didn't want to leave me alone with three girls, which was very on-brand for her.
We made our way to the abandoned trainyard. I pushed the doors open and we all walked in.
"Ugh, I hate this place," Liz grumbled. "Worst make-out spot in the borough."
"Agreed," MJ said darkly, apparently recalling a particular incident involving Harry.
"Alright," I said, spotting an empty tin can in the corner. "Perfect." I picked it up and placed it in the centre of the room. "Jean, stand in front. Everyone else, step back."
The girls moved away as Jean and I stood facing the can.
"You want me to move it? With my mind?" Jean gulped.
"Yeah."
"I — I don't know if I can—"
"Yes, you can," I told her. "I know you can."
"But the voices—"
"Won't bother you if you don't let them. Your brain is a muscle — you control it, not the other way around." I paused. "And if you do accidentally read something from my head...just let me explain before you go running for the hills, alright?"
Jean blinked. "What?"
"We all have secrets, Jean," I said simply.
She swallowed. "O-okay. I'll try." She touched the headband and slowly removed it, wincing as the voices flooded back.
I couldn't help it — my mind immediately drifted to what Jean would one day become. The Phoenix. Jean looked at me with a confused expression. "What was that?"
"I can explain. What did you pick up?"
"...Nothing, really. It was too jumbled to make sense."
I blinked. I tried again, deliberately: Jean, you're extremely attractive.
Jean immediately blushed. "Y-you just said I'm hot."
I nodded slowly. Then I thought, deliberately and clearly: Jean, you will one day become the Phoenix.
"I didn't catch that one," she said, frowning. "It felt like static."
She couldn't read my knowledge of the future. Only surface thoughts and guesses made it through. Whatever force had placed me in Peter's body had apparently thought to lock that particular door. "Okay. We can work with that. For now — let's focus on your control."
"Right," Jean said, squaring her shoulders.
"Focus on me, Jean. Focus on the sound of my voice and block everything else out."
She squinted. "I can't—"
"Yes, you can!" I raised my voice slightly. "Listen to me. Your powers are like a speaker turned to full volume with every voice in the city pouring through it. Imagine a dial — a great big dial. Now turn it down. Slowly."
Jean's face scrunched with effort. I drew on the image from an old show I'd once seen — a boy drowning in the voices inside his own head, learning to turn down the noise. I hoped the same principle would work here.
"It's going down," she said, almost to herself.
"Good. Keep it going. Turn it down until there's silence."
A minute later, she opened her eyes and looked at me. "They're — they're gone."
I grinned. "Excellent. Hold that image in your head. Any time they come back, you can do that yourself."
"Holy hell, did you see that?" MJ whispered.
"How did he even know how to do that?" Liz asked, narrowing her eyes.
"I have absolutely no idea," Felicia muttered.
"Alright, Jean — now. I want you to focus on that tin can. You can move it. Your mind can reach out and touch it, if you let it."
Jean looked at me with awe-filled eyes, then turned to the can. She focused hard, pouring everything into it. I could feel her determination radiating off her. The scent of mint. And then—
The tin can wobbled.
"Oh my GOD!" Jean spun toward me, eyes huge. "Did you see that?!"
"Oh my God, Jean, that was incredible!" Liz sprinted over, the other girls close behind. "Do it again! Do it again!"
Jean turned back, grinning now, and made the can wobble again. The girls cheered. Liz immediately challenged her to actually lift it, and Jean was more than willing to try.
While the others gathered around Jean, Felicia stepped close and nudged me. I turned to meet her gaze — quiet, searching.
"What is it?" I asked softly.
"Nothing," she said, and slipped her arms around me, hugging me tightly.
"Kitten. Tell me."
"It's just...you seem so at ease with her already," she murmured. "You just met this girl and you're already acting like her best friend."
I smiled, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "You're adorable when you're jealous."
"I am not jealous!" Felicia hissed.
"Of course not," I said gently. "She reminds me of me, that's all. Of when I first got my powers, and had no one to help me. I suppose I just...felt like I had to."
And honestly, there was more to it than that. I knew what Jean Grey could become — what she could do if she lost control of herself. The Phoenix was not something the world was ready for. If someone didn't help her build that foundation now, the consequences could be catastrophic. I needed to make sure she never lost herself to the dark side of her power.
"Damn," Felicia said, half-sarcastic and half-genuine. "Still a Boy Scout." But she was smiling as she pressed her face into my chest.
I smiled too.
We walked back to Jean and the others, Felicia's hand wrapped firmly in mine.
"Alright, Jean. You're doing brilliantly," I said.
"This is incredible, Peter — thank you so much!" Jean beamed, staring at the tin can now hovering a few inches off the ground.
"Don't thank me, Birdie. This is all you," I shrugged. "But I think you need proper guidance going forward. Someone with real expertise."
Jean and the others looked at me curiously.
"Who?" Jean asked.
I took out my phone, opened a search, and held up the screen. "His name is Charles Xavier. He's the world's foremost authority on mutant biology. I think it's time we gave him a call."