Spider-Man: Duty and Loss Chapter 37: Talk

"What?" Peter replied dumbly to the kind old man next to him. Giving a small smirk at the reaction he once again motioned to their surroundings. "I said, You seem troubled kid, what with you standing in the rain like this."

Peter's brain, which was still recovering from a dark place didn't know what to say. The old man that was standing next to him, didn't move or say a word as Peter got his thoughts straight. Scrambling to think of something to say, a strange feeling came over him as he looked at the person next to him.

He didn't know why, but he felt the need to let bare his pains, his worries, to tell someone else how useless he was, how he had failed everyone that ever got close to him. "Yeah I am troubled." It came out as a whisper as he turned his eyes to the small lake that was near the bench. Watching the water he felt his eyes drawn into it as he talked to the man.

Without him realizing it, he started to speak out. He started off slow before; it started to come out like a waterfall. He didn't say anything important, like how he was Spider-Man or other secret like that, but he did talk about losing some people close to him, and how it was his fault. Peter wasn't sure how long he was there and talked, but it wasn't a short time.

"So you came out into the rain and just stood here?" The voice had a small hint of humor behind it and the question made him blank once again. "I-i-it wasn't raining when I got here." Not knowing why he had to justify himself to the man, he answered defensively.

"Well it doesn't matter anyway." Brushing the subject to the side he motioned towards the bench that had been Peter's home for the last year. "Let's sit down; my old legs can't handle too much exertion these days." Peter gave a small nod as he helped the man to the seat.

In his late 70's at a guess, the man looked pretty frail as he made his way over. Peter wanted to take the umbrella from his hand to save him some stress but he refused. "I'm not that useless kid. Let old people have their moments." Something about his chipper voice and tone brought a small smile to Peter's face.

Finally getting to the bench and sitting down, making sure not to sit on any of the chipped parts, the rain started to lessen. They both sat there for a while not saying a word. Peter would every now and then glance at the old man to his side, but his focus was on the area around them. His old eyes glittering as he looked around.

Finally he spoke up. "Life's beautiful you know." Peter gave a muted nod as he looked around; his eyes were still a bit glassy as he thought about his own life. First it was his parents, then Uncle Ben, then those he cared about, and finally even Aunt May. Now possibly it was the 2 new people in his life.

He really wanted to say that, "No, life isn't beautiful", but he didn't want to sound rude. So that was all he would do, nod and agree with whatever he says, even if he thought different. Turning his eyes to look at the kid next to him, he took notice of the kid's eyes. He shook his head as he saw how dim they were. "I can see you disagree." Peter looked up shocked at the statement and came face to face with the man's piercing eyes. He looked into them and knew he wasn't fooling anyone.

The area turned quiet again as Peter didn't say a word. "You know..." Peter turned to him again, but the man was once again staring at the area around him. "…We all have our bad days. Days that we wished never happened. Maybe even days where we blame ourselves."

The man took a small break as he looked at the clouds above; they were starting to clear up. "We have days that we wish we could do over, days that change our lives for better or worse…" He gave a small smile as he stared at the sky. "When I was younger I wanted to open a comic studio." Peter raised an eye brow. "What type of comics?"

The man gave a chuckle. "Superhero comics, I always loved the stories of people like Captain America, the things he did in the war. I wanted children to dream and grow up aspiring to be like heroes." Peter gave a sad smile as he thought of his hero life. What would children think if they knew their heroes were like him? A danger to all those he held close.

But Peter did pick up something he said. "Used to? Why didn't you?" The old man next to him turned back and gave him a smile. "Ohh I did open a studio, a really good one actually. Comics used to fly off our shelves whenever we released one!" Peter could sense a 'but' coming. "Why did you stop?"

The old man was enthused as he talked about his comic studio, his bright attitude told of how much he loved his studio. Hearing the question he raised a hand to his chin and rubbed it once. "Well, I loved telling stories, getting the kids excited about the heroes, but it was missing something. It took me a while to figure it out though. I was already too old by the time I figured it out and already handed the studio off to others."

Lowering his hand down to his heart he spoke sincerely. "It was missing the heart." Peter couldn't understand where he was going and the man picked up on this. "Our stories had heroes that saved the princess, saved the day, the world even. They were perfect; they were heroes to look up to." Suddenly he raised his hand from his chest and looked Peter right in the eye. "But you know what a real hero is, I only realized 5 years ago."

Peter shook his head, bringing another smile to his face. "A real hero is just like you and me." Pointing between the two, the man sported a wider smile. Peter froze at his words. "They're human just like us, they make mistakes like us. They have troubles like us." Calming down somewhat the man once again looked at the sky that was almost clear.

"I saw the first hero of the new age, Spider-man, swinging through the street one day. I saw him help an old lady cross the road." Happiness was radiating from his eyes. "I looked at him, the powers he wielded and realized; it didn't matter what powers he had." He looked back at Peter. "Anyone could be under the mask and have that power; it's what they do with their power that truly makes them a hero."

Peter looked at the piercing eyes looking into his soul and could have sworn that this random person knew his secret identity, but that was impossible. It only lasted for a second, before the man turned back to looking at the sky.

Before Peter could speak, the man spoke once again. "I used to have an old friend that died a few years back. Mugging gone wrong, terrible thing really. But he always had a saying, 'With great power comes great responsibility'. Quoted the thing every other day."

By this point Peter's breath had caught in his throat. "And it is a great saying to live by, but…" He gave a knowing smirk to Peter. "…There are some things you can't be responsible for. Somethings that couldn't be helped, loved ones that had to pass."

The old man slowly lowered the umbrella as the rain had stopped and packed it away, giving it a shake or two to get rid of the rain droplets. Peter was dazed as he thought over the man's words, to pull him out of it; the man gave him a small tap on the shoulders.

"You can't help everyone. Death comes for us all in the end, even someone like me will pass someday." He gave a sad smile as he said his words before motioning to their surroundings. Peter followed his hand and looked at the area around him. It didn't look like it had changed at all from before, but something was different. The color of the grass seemed a bit greener, the air in his lungs a bit colder.

"So before something like that happens, deal with your demons, accept the past and the uncertainty of the future. And finally…" Peter looked up into his eyes that had started to turn from blue to gold. "…Enjoy life, take in its beauty. There is so much beauty out there; all you have to do is look."

The darkness in his mind cleared as if it had been smoothed and cleansed by the words. A small amount of acceptance came to him as he stared at the clearing skies. His shoulders felt lighter as he continued to stare and think of the words just said.

In almost a whisper he spoke to the random man next to him. "Thank you." The old man gave a chuckle and waved off the words, preparing to leave. Just before he left Peter spoke up. "What do you want to do these days, Mr.?" He put his umbrella away as he spoke, his back turned.

"Oh, I didn't say my name? Well I like to be called Stan mostly, these days anyway. I want to help those who need it, no matter what it is. Something I learned from a certain wall crawling hero." He once again gave that knowing smirk and started to walk away. Peter's eyes tracked the man as he walked away.

Just as the man was 10 meters away his body started to fade out of existence and in the next second it was like he was never there. Everything on him disappeared as well. Peter seeing this sprang to his feet with a shocked look.

He stared dumbfounded at the spot for a good minute before he shook his head and gave a small smile. Looking at the sky above, he gave a small nod and whispered a quiet "Thank you."

Chapter end