Looking the Other Way

Summary: A Spectacular Spider-Man (animated series) one-shot. With great power comes great responsibility, sure, but which one-his responsibility as a superhero or his responsibility as a friend? Peter's thoughts after the climax of "The Uncertainty Principle," one-shot.

___________________________________________________________________________________

It was easy for Peter to block out the night's events as he swung his way home from the Osborns' place, letting his mind get lost in his web-shots and straining muscles.

He lost that luxury as soon as he laid down in bed and stared up at his ceiling, where the thoughts could finally burst out of their confinement and run rampant through his brain.

Oddly, it wasn't Harry or the Goblin or Mr. Osborn whom he was having the hardest time blocking out. It was Tombstone's smirking, shockingly white face that kept resurfacing, and with it the image of his office during that first meeting weeks before.

"...All you have to remember is to look the other way on occasion. On any occasion I choose."

He quirked one eye and gave half a grin as Peter straightened up his injured body, staring right at him.

"I can't ever look the other way again."

"But I just did. Ugh!"

Peter grabbed his pillow and forced it around his head, as if to form a barrier against his unwanted thoughts. He took several deep breaths, his heart hammering as fast as when the Green Goblin—when Harry—had tried to kill him earlier that night.

It was the choice. That was what Peter's swirling thoughts kept leading back to, Mr. Osborn pleading with him to let him take care of his son, to let Harry go, to just look the other way and Peter...had agreed. Just like that, just like he had done with that burglar, once again throwing right and wrong out the window because of his own personal feelings and forgetting about all the people who might get killed—

But this wasn't the same thing! another part of his brain screamed. He wasn't letting someone go because of selfishness or greed, he was saving Harry's life! Harry couldn't go to jail, not with all of Tombstone's men whom Peter had already locked away. It would have been as good as a death sentence, for something that Harry wasn't even responsible for—sort of, at least. How could Peter possibly be willing to throw away the life of one of his best friends—

Friendship didn't have anything to do with that! But he was a superhero, damn it! Forget about Harry; what about the Green Goblin, who had nearly blown up a party full of people and nearly fried him that very night? Cops and judges weren't allowed to ignore attempted murder just because somebody they knew was the suspect. What if Harry's dad couldn't help him break free of his Globulin addiction? Or what if the split personality thing was just a permanent effect? Peter would be responsible for whatever the Harry-Goblin did, the same way he was responsible for Uncle Ben getting shot. Wouldn't he?

Peter wanted to believe he had done the right thing. That it was okay to let Harry go. But did it really just make him a hypocrite? If the Goblin had been Flash Thompson or something, would Peter have really let him go as easily as he did the guy who happened to be his best friend?

Harry.

The Green Goblin was actually Harry.

Peter suddenly froze, not even breathing, as the thought suddenly hit him with more force than it had before. Harry. His best friend. The Green Goblin. A psychotic attempted murderer. The guy he wasted time playing video games and talking about girls with, and the nutjob who made other supervillains look sane by comparison. Somehow, the same person.

"How could this even happen?!" Peter snapped, speaking to himself in barely more than a whisper. "How could—I mean, Harry of all people—almost killed Tombstone and Hammerhead—even—tried to kill me. But how—I mean, I know he had some—a few problems lately, but—but—but—?"

He trailed off, the confusion in his voice hanging in the air.

There was no way he could have seen this coming. There was no way he could have known it was this bad.

Except he knew that that was a lie, because Gwen actually had.

Okay, so she hadn't known anything about him being the Goblin. But she had known that Harry was in real trouble, that he was in over his head, and even when she had told Peter about him passing out and the Globulin Green and everything he had assumed that she was overreacting, that everything was alright. He suddenly felt like an idiot. How could he not have noticed this?! He remembered that insane look Harry had had back at his apartment, all the anger and misery and confusion that had been in his voice. That hadn't come out of nowhere, had it? Harry had been falling apart long before tonight.

And Peter had just...not noticed. Sure, Peter had always known Harry sort of had an inferiority complex, that he had some issues with his dad, but somehow he just missed it when his best friend was self-destructing right in front of his eyes? He had just been too busy, with—what? School? Work? Superheroing? Sure, that was all important, but what about his friends? If he had noticed that something was wrong with Harry, could he have prevented this from happening?

Peter turned onto his side, eyes staring blankly into the darkness. Then he sat up, chin dropping to his chest as a weary sigh escaped his throat. One hand wandered half-consciously to the framed photograph he kept by his bedside. He held it up in the dim light for a moment, staring at every line on Uncle Ben's face as if trying to discern what he would have said about this situation. With great power comes great responsibility, sure, but which responsibility did he follow when Peter Parker and Spider-Man's jobs came into conflict?

But then, his responsibility as a friend didn't have anything to do with "great power," did it? It was Peter Parker who had dropped the ball there, doing the hero thing when his friend needed him. And then Spider-Man threw his superhero responsibilities away when Harry needed a friend. Peter suddenly scoffed. Great. Irony.

"One thing's for sure, though...tonight wasn't a one-time thing. I've been looking the other way when it comes to Harry for a while now, haven't I?" he muttered, eyes dropping away from Uncle Ben's face. He carefully placed the photograph back on his nightstand, illuminating it in the moonlight, before laying back down and closing his eyes once again, mentally exhausted.

"I guess I just have to hope that this time...it'll actually do some good."