Film to Pen: An Experiment in Fan-Fiction (Spider-Man AU) Chapter Ten with Epilogue

 This is it, the end of my little experiment. It may not have gotten many views. Ah well what's a blog if you don't use it. Enjoy! P.S. a picture from chapter nine I forgot to upload. It was an early sketch before the whole story was flushed out.

Chapter 10

Over the next week nothing happened and everything changed. The Smiths were given custody of a little month old baby and since we had always insisted we wanted to stay together Beni was sent to the Garcias with me. I secretly wished the Smiths choked on all the stinky diapers. On Wednesday a car wreck orphaned three siblings which the Garcias immediately said they would take in. Making things much more full. Wanda who had been there temporarily the longest was relocated to, get this, the Tiptons. The nice old couple that I dropped the stucco piece on the husband's head. I'm sure they'd prefer Wanda's quieter ways. Friday was the end of the school year. Hey and I had little time to talk, but when I thanked him on the way to school for the last day he nodded like he understood. Probably since the only thing on the news was the Sandman hijacking the GMA performance. They even found old footage of him on the America's Star contest. It was really cringey and obvious why he was kicked out in the first tryout. At lunch once Hey suggested," Next year, you should try out for the school paper. If that folder you made is anything to go by I think you'd be a great investigative reporter. I was considering joining too, writing a hobby column on my robotics. We could work together. It might be fun,".

"You know maybe I will," I said back, then quickly changing the subject.

When school went out for the summer Beni and I had to go back to the center for a meeting to discuss any day camps or such (The ones they always try and have for the system kids. Usually cheap affairs, but bonus: free food) we'd want to sign up for. There I was sitting with the scratchy chair digging into my back again. Bored almost into a stupor when I hear a voice. It's muffled by the hallways but I get up to follow it anyway. "I'm going to get a drink,". I say to Beni who doesn't look up from his phone and grunts acknowledgment. As I get closer I catch pieces of conversation, "And I realize you mean to be sincere. I'm not doubting your being honest. It's just not how things work around here. We have procedures,".

I don't recognize the first voice, but when I hear the second one say, "I get that. But I have their birth certificates right here can't we start with that and go from there?". I rush blindly down the hall crushing the tall man in a fierce hug. "You came back, what changed your mind?" I ask looking up at him.

"You know," he says pulling me back to look at me with the same blue eyes flecked with yellow, "Somebody told me once that just because things don't work out doesn't mean you quit hoping for change. And sometimes you realize you need to make change too,". I can hardly feel my face, I'm so flushed with emotion, but I know my smile is a mile long.

Epilogue

And that's the story of how I discovered my dad was Spider-Man, ended up in foster care, grew into my own spider abilities, and got out of foster care to live in the apartment above my dad's camera and old photo restoration shop which he bought with the money from selling the land Aunt May's house was on. I think they built a Quasarbucks there.

I glance back over what I wrote on the laptop where I'm writing my story down to email Hey as he requested. Deleting the last line as irrelevant I can hear dad yelling at Beni's phone game upstairs. They were a bit shaky at first but half a year later, and quite a few hours of gaming later, they really get along. They're both pretty similar actually, super smart yet willing to waste time on pointless games they can never seem to master. I'm down in the shop manning the front desk. Next to the register is my old sock monkey, Stinky. Apparently dad salvaged him and some other more important things (Like our birth certificates. Which did help alot with the reinstatement process) from the wreckage of the house. I like working the register, it's the quietest place to write and hardly anybody shops here. Dad says it helps to not be very busy so nobody notices how often it's closed while he fights crime. Smiling at the screen I think everything has worked out so well, no loose ends untied. Just as the thought crosses my mind the door jangles to announce a customer. I look up to see a slim figure walk in with bright red curls.

The End?