Eren Parker and Cindy Moon were seen walking together, holding hands, and laughing as they strolled through the night city. They were on their way to a double date with Flash Thompson and Gwen Stacy who had heard about Eren's return from 'studying abroad'. Unlike most times, Eren was genuinely excited for the night since he and Flash Thompson seemingly put everything behind them.
"Who would've thought I'd be willingly going on a double date that involved Flash of all people? Life sure is a rollercoaster, huh?" Eren told his partner, smiling down at her as he held her hand and she leaned her head on his arm.
"Yeah, almost three years ago you two used to look at each other like you wanted to kill each other. " Cindy giggled as she thought about the past. It seemed like Eren and Flash really were able to put the past behind them. It was difficult to do, but Eren was really trying his best to be a better person. He wanted to do what Spider-Man would do and Flash also seemed to have done a lot of growing up.
"If it wasn't for Gwen, he'd probably still be a piece of shit. He told me that he didn't realize how shitty he was until she came along and basically dissected his whole personality. I guess sometimes all a person needs is someone to love them for them to finally change..." Eren thought about himself as he said this. He remembered when his mother died and he felt alone until Harry and Cindy made it known that they were there for him and they weren't going away.
'I guess Flash and I are the same in that regard.'
"Good for him." Cindy smiled as she said this. "People deserve second chances, right? Sometimes, at least."
"Yeah, I agree."
The two continued walking until they found themselves in front of a sports bar, spotting Gwen and Flash already waiting for them inside a booth. Eren and Cindy walked inside, immediately making eye contact with the other two who began waving them over.
"Hey, guys!" Gwen said excitedly as Eren and Cindy sat down across from her and Flash.
"Hey."
"What's up?"
"Eren Parker. Been a while, man." Flash said, looking Eren up and down as if he were studying him. "You look almost exactly the same."
Eren didn't realize it, but everyone did in fact look a little bit older since the last time he'd seen all of them. Flash was even starting to grow a beard whereas Eren was still struggling to grow more than five hairs.
"What can I say?" Eren shrugged. "I just have good genes."
"So how was Kenya?" Gwen asked, referring to the fact that Harry and Cindy said Eren was studying abroad there when he was really lost in time.
"It was cool, I met a lot of cool people there. I got to meet my family too. It was a great learning experience too." He lied.
"That's so cool. I'm glad you got to learn about your heritage. You know, I have some family in Sweden? I want to visit there one day." Gwen told him.
"Really? That's cool, you for sure should. I know Cindy and I are planning a trip to Korea in the future. It'll be fun." This was something that Eren and Cindy had planned, however, Eren also knew that he would have to change the entire course of history for that to happen.
"Oh, nice. Have you been there before?" Gwen asked as she looked at Cindy.
"Yeah, I've gone like three times. I loved it there. I miss my cousins a lot too, they're all around my age."
As the three of them conversed, Flash was staring at Eren intensely with a complementary bread roll in his hand. Eren noticed his gaze as soon as it started and he was immediately wondering what the hell the guy was planning. This whole date wasn't in any other Eren's memories, so he couldn't really predict what Flash was about to do, but he had a good guess.
Just a few moments later, Flash threw the piece of bread at Eren's face, hitting him in the temple and compelling everyone to look at him with confused glares. 'Shit!' he thought to himself, realizing he really messed up. "Why... did you just throw bread at me?" Eren asked him.
"I told you he isn't Spider-Man dummy!" Gwen punched Flash in the arm, revealing the whole reason why he threw the bread. He wanted to see if Eren would dodge it as Spider-Man does.
"What?" Eren asked plainly, acting oblivious.
Gwen sighed and rolled her eyes. "Flash thinks you're Spider-Man."
'This again?' Cindy thought, remembering this exact thing happening with Lily and Harry.
"Huh... why?" Eren acted as if this was the dumbest thing he'd ever heard of in his life, despite it being very true.
"Because you're best friends with Harry Osborn, the New Goblin, and you disappeared at the exact same time and returned at the exact same time. Kinda sus..." Flash was eyeballing Eren intensely as he said this, bringing Eren to laugh.
"If I was Spider-Man, I would have webbed you to a building by the time we were ten years old." Eren said through his laughter. "That's a funny theory though. I wish it was true."
"Have you at least met him before? Since you're close with Harry?" Flash really wanted to meet Spider-Man, so he thought maybe if Eren knew him, there was a chance that he could get that wish.
"I haven't. Harry hasn't let us meet either of the two heroes. In fact, ever since Harry started doing hero stuff, we've been seeing him less and less. There's a reason why he and Lily aren't here right now." Eren was getting really good at lying after having to do so every day since his return. Lying about this was nothing in comparison.
"Oh, how are they? Harry and Lily?" Gwen asked.
"They're fine. Again, Harry has been a bit distant from all of us, but I think those two are still good." Eren told her.
"It must be tough being the girlfriend of a superhero." Gwen said to everyone at the table, thinking about how Lily must be feeling at the moment.
Everyone nodded in agreeance. Cindy, however, wanted to get in on this lying stuff that Eren was on while also changing the subject. She hugged Eren, leaning her head on his shoulder. "That's why I love having such an ordinary man. No drama or anything. You know, Eren and I moved in with each other?"
"Oh, sounds fun. How is that?" Gwen seemed very invested, propping her chin in her hands as she said this.
"It's great. It's almost like we're a married couple." Cindy said this with a smile, compelling Eren to smile too.
"Yeah. It's pretty fun. I never would've thought I'd be living with the girl of my dreams at age nineteen." Eren didn't realize it, but this was a slipup. Based on the timeline, he should be almost halfway through his twentieth year.
"You aren't twenty yet?" Flash asked.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I am twenty." Eren laughed it off. "Yeah, yeah. Sometimes I still feel seventeen to be honest." Luckily no one really thought much of his slip-up, it didn't seem too odd to anyone.
The four of them continued their double date and overall things went well. The four of them had grown a lot closer afterward, including Eren and Flash as their past was starting to finally get put behind them, despite Flash pelting the undercover hero with a piece of bread.
Just as they were doing upon their arrival, Cindy and Eren walked home together, holding hands. They could easily swing home and arrive there in minutes, but they enjoyed pretending to be normal every once in a while. Besides, they both wanted to take life slowly due to the impending doom waiting for them.
Once the two of them had arrived at their apartment, they immediately began smooching passionately at the door, caressing each other's bodies as that urge they get when they were around each other was once again building up within them.
They didn't even bother turning on the lights as they continued pulling each other over toward the bed, using their senses to avoid running into anything. Cindy then pushed Eren backward onto their tiny bed before getting on top of him as she began lifting off her shirt.
However... the two of them would be interrupted by something. Or rather, someone.
"Ahem..." A voice familiar to Eren could be heard clearing his throat, surprising both of the two spiders and causing them to jolt. Eren shot a web at the light switch, revealing Nick Fury, or at least some strange holographic version of him, sitting at their small table.
"Good Evening Mr. Parker. Ms. Moon." Nick Fury greeted them both as if he weren't interrupting them. "I see you two might be a little busy, so I'll get to the point. I would like to invite you both to join the Avengers."
"Like... THE Avengers? With Iron Man and Thor?" Cindy asked, feeling a little bit excited by the offer.
"Yes. We are currently dealing with a threat off-world from a man calling himself Thanos. We may need your help to stop him and his army." Nick Fury gave a low detailed explanation, but it was far more complicated than that. "With Franklin Richards gone, we can no longer rely on our initial plan to get him to just simply erase Thanos from existence. We need fighters. We need heroes."
Cindy was ready to accept the deal, however, Eren already knew how this would go if they helped. "No. We need to stay here to protect our city. They have no one left but us."
"How can you protect your city if there will be no city to protect, Mr. Parker?" Fury asked him, basically referring to the fact that Thanos could destroy the entire planet in an instant with just a fraction of his power.
"I believe in you guys. You don't need me. Besides, Reed and Valeria are two of the smartest people alive. They'll get Franklin back soon enough. I need to stay, and so does Silk." Eren was not going to budge. If he left now, the Green Goblin would return and kill millions. This was only a small fraction of the problems that would arise if he left.
Nick Fury looked at the two spiders with a frown, glaring at them for a few seconds without saying a word. "So be it. You can reach me from this device if you change your mind. That is all. Fury out."
Fury's hologram disappeared, prompting Cindy to look at Eren with a confused expression. "Would joining them harm the future?" she asked.
Eren nodded.
"I see... I guess having those memories are good for something." Cindy said quietly. She didn't like the idea of Eren having so much knowledge of the future, knowing how much responsibility he was carrying on his back, and how much he was hurting at every waking moment of every day.
She wanted to tell him all about how she knows that something is off, how she could sense his anguish. She wanted to let him confide in her. She truly wanted to be there for him...
But she knew that even if she asked, even if she confronted him, he would lie and tell her that everything was going to be okay as he always does.
And so, she once again opted to continue to play the oblivious role, continuing to lie to herself.