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So, here he was stuck in another reality. Peter thought he had seen it all when he got to meet two other versions of himself, but he never really expected to have their positions be reversed.

In fact, Peter had Strange cast that second spell specifically to prevent anything like this from happening. He did it to protect the stability of the multiverse, to keep everything as it was and where it should be. He did it to save everything. If he thought about the hypothetical truth that everything he did that day was for nothing, that he sacrificed so much only for it to fail— well, he couldn't think about that. For his own sanity, he needed to try and focus on the ways he could begin to fix things. Again.

But as stressed as he was, Peter also felt like there was a certain weight that had been lifted off his shoulders. Getting pulled into another reality felt almost like a reset button was hit. He was in a place where none of his past mistakes seemed to matter. His loneliness, his pain, his fear and bitterness— they were all an entire universe away. Peter was very good at running when things got hard, even if he was stubborn when faced with admitting it. To him, distance was the best thing for everyone around him who mattered. They were better off without him, and he didn't have to face the crushing heartbreak it all brought him.

Still— there were certain behaviors that were so strongly ingrained in him that they were now habits. Protective measures that probably didn't need to exist, because he was so afraid of more bad things happening. That's how he found himself wearing his mask in the kitchen of the Baxter Building as he was grabbing himself a glass of water. And maybe a snack.

He knew that it looked stupid, wearing his mask with a t-shirt and sweatpants. Every time he scampered into one of the shared rooms the Fantastic 4 were kind enough to be letting him use, he tried to do it when no one else was around. And he always tiptoed or wall-crawled back into his assigned room to eat on his bed. Solitude was safe— that's what Peter learned. He tried to take up as little space as possible, to not be a bother to anyone, to decrease the likelihood that he would form any sort of attachment.

For two days, Peter interacted with the other occupants of the building as little as possible. But as he was staring into the open fridge, tapping an anxious finger against the door as he battled his decision paralysis regarding a midnight snack, he could hear someone entering the room and knew that he couldn't run away this time.

“I think you’re the first person I’ve ever heard say that. Besides my wife, maybe.” The admission came easy, since Marc was comfortable talking to this kid, but he realized that mentioning he had a wife would bring up a lot more questions that he wasn’t sure he had the answers to. Thankfully the Spider-Man bomb helped Marc breeze right through his own sensitive topic as he raised his eyebrows at Peter.

As much as that bit of information was to process, Marc couldn’t help the slight smile that spread across his face once he started to piece everything together. Of course that was how he ran into Jake. It still made him feel sick to know that Jake was killing someone while they stumbled into each other, but he’d save the explanation of their servitude to Khonshu for later. That was a little heavy for right now.

“I— We appreciate it. It definitely clears a few things up for me, at least.” He couldn’t help the snort he let out when Peter suggested he shows him the ropes. It was rare that someone got a genuine laugh out of Marc, but that definitely did it. Even if it was in a slight self-deprecating way, he still smiled as he shook his head. “I’ve got about twelve years of rops under my belt, kid. But the offer is nice. Our boss tends to like it when we work alone most of the time.”

Marc didn’t mean to push Peter away, even if he was subconsciously doing just that. It was hard to believe that this kid genuinely wanted to spend more time with someone like him.

“I went to a science and technology high school and I still somehow was bullied for being the way I am.” What Peter didn’t mention was that he didn’t get to graduate from said school, but that wasn’t really relevant at the moment. “I think I would have felt a little less alone if I had known someone like Steven when I was a kid.”

Peter smiled, lips pulling into a straight line as he nodded. “Right, right— of course. I didn’t mean to say that you didn’t know what you were doing. Your twelve beats my five by a lot.” He chuckled awkwardly, rubbing a hand over his arm. That spider bit him before he had even turned 15, so being Spider-Man felt like his entire life at this point. Everything before that felt like someone else, like he had been living in someone else’s skin.

Truth be told, Johnny was excited that there was finally some action that was reason enough for Reed to let them out into the world again. He needed to work on containing that excitement so people didn’t automatically assume that he was happy that people had died, because he wasn’t. Still, he couldn’t hold back a slight smirk as he listened to the brunette boy speak. “Don’t worry, you’ve got Johnny Storm and the Fantastic Four on the case. And yes, that’s the full team name. Don’t let any of them tell you otherwise.”

“The whole thing is wild to me. Where I’m from, once you’re gone, you’re gone.” Gone like her Peter, all too soon. “I guess I also shouldn’t think too hard about it.”

“Okay or not, we need to look into seeing if there’s any side-effects from this.” Something has left Carol unsettled. “Not thinking about it could screw us over down the line.”