The Weight of Us ｡ Peter Parker [3]

27 - London Bridge

Clouds dotted the horizon through the jet's windows and countryside slowly turned from green fields that stretched on forever to towns littered with civilisation. Within minutes we would cross the English Channel, the waters swelling with our greatest fears and we'd have to face Mysterio in order to correct a wrong before half of Europe perished. 

Harry sat next to me silently, his hands laid flat out over his kneecaps. His knuckles were tinted with a strange greenish colour, something I had never noticed before. Even if his days as a villain were long over, the Green Goblin serum drained from his body, scars still lingered. I wondered if he hated his green flesh.

Behind us Happy was giving Peter a much needed pep-talk while they fiddled around with a new suit. Cindy hovered over their shoulders, making snide remarks about the designs (apparently webbing was the only suitable option for a Spiderling) and Elliott stared moodily out the window, her jawline set in jarring line. She had kicked forward my chest, the heavy metal clanking to the flooring. Harry had managed to steal T.A.D.A.S.H.I. from right under my parents' noses back in New York. 

"I'll never forgive myself, you know," Harry said quietly, eyes glued to the ugly patterned carpet of the private jet. 

My chin jerked upwards, forgetting about the green tinge as guilt almost shallowed me whole. Harry Osborn was far too observant. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare." 

He gave a knowing tilt of his head and stretched out his long fingers, watching as his white skin pulled at the oddly coloured areas. His scars were only noticed if somebody stared too long, or cared enough to gawk at him. "I'm not even sure you remember that night," He paused, turning his eyes to my face. Nothing slipped, so he continued. "I'm not even sure if I truly remember, everything's like a giant shattered mirror. I do remember waking up in the hospital alone. One of the nurses told me what happened. I had never felt so alone in my entire life."

"Harry—"

He shook his head, hopelessly defeated. He'd been carrying this burden for many years. "Gwen died because of me, you don't have to try to deny it. She died because I was angry, and all I wanted was to live up to Norman's legacy, but I went the wrong way about it. I got my best friend killed because I was selfish and stupid." He reached to place his hand over my own, something kinder about his eyes now. "She'd forgive me, I know that. Just like Colton would forgive you about being in the car that night."

Years may have passed, Harry Osborn a man now, but he'd always carry the guilt of the one night that his worst fears had overcome him. "Please tell me Mysterio didn't play mind tricks on you too."

"Nah, I've got a pretty firm grip on doing that myself," Harry said, chuckling darkly to himself. His fingers pressed harder against the veins on my wrist. "The point I'm trying to make, is we all make mistakes, even perfect Spider-Man, even you, but we've got to move on. We can't let those mistakes define our entire existences."

Before I could even open my mouth, Elliott dropped into the seat opposite us. She pointed at us quickly, eyes narrowed. "Let's cut the doom and gloom, kids. Jesus, it's like you were all born on The CW or something." A loud huff sounded from her parted lips and she rested calmly against the headrest. "You know, maybe it's the spy in me, but you all get pretty damn mushy with emotions and all that. It's weird."

"It's not weird if you attended Midtown High," Cindy giggled, coming to stand behind us. Her limbs were wrapped in an impressive new suit made of black and white and red. She looked ready for battle. "It was something in the water, trust me."

Elliott nodded like this was the most obvious answer. "How'd you not get swallowed up with melodrama and angsty schoolyard bits?" 

Cindy shrugged, scooping dark locks behind her ears and twisting the red face mask that only covered the lower half of her face. "I was kind of kidnapped by this whacked guy who locked me away in this bunker for a while. He was harmless in theory, his ideas of training me and keeping me save just not very ideal. So, you know, I didn't graduate from Midtown, hence not being wrapped up in the angsty stuff."