“Now where have I heard that one before?” Mary Jane chuckled ruefully with a nudge of her elbow against Peter Two, who couldn’t help but blush. “Well, how was she anyway? Did it seem like Michelle was doing okay?”

“Y-Yeah, I think so, but I didn’t actually get to talk to her. Like I said, I got distracted. There was someone else there.”

Peter Three winced in anticipation. “Oof, not an ex, I hope. You know you can’t trust that Liz Allan girl. Selling you out to the tabloids as soon the world saw your face is 100% not rebound material.”

“No, no, it wasn’t even anybody I knew before,” Peter admitted. “Actually, I think it was somebody you guys knew. There was a long line, he was in front of me and I happened to see the game he was playing on his phone. It’s a hidden object game where you look for clues to solve parts of an overarching mystery and—well, never mind that part. I had already played the scene he was on and he couldn’t find a couple of the clues so I pointed them out. After that he wanted my help with the next few puzzles.”

“And being the gold-hearted giver that you always are, you couldn’t say no?” Peter Three predicted.

Normally Peter One would have taken that as a compliment but his smile was more like a grimace. “Yeah, well, I sat with him, just talking and playing. We even joined each other’s in-game teams so we could gift each other advantages. It was all fine and normal, it was fun! I haven’t had that much fun with anybody but you guys since…since Ned.”

“Peter, if you feel like you’re ‘replacing’ Ned, please don’t,” Two chided gently. “You’re allowed to make new friends while you’re still figuring out how to talk to him.”

“That’s exactly what I was trying to tell myself but…then MJ called out the guy’s order.” He fidgeted, glancing meaningfully between his brothers. “Harry Osborn.”

Peter Two stiffened, Mary Jane lost a bit of color in her face and Peter Three shot upright on his cot. “What?”

“Yeah. Apparently he exists in my universe too. When I heard his name, I had no idea what to think.” Lips pursing, Peter One shook his head in frustration. “I-I kind of still don’t. He seems nice but I don’t exactly have the best track record, trusting ‘nice’ people. It just seems like none of us can make a good friend, a real friend without it getting ruined. Just look at Mysterio—and what about everything the Harry Osborns did in your worlds? I couldn’t just sit with that and pretend to stay cool so while he was up at the counter getting his drink, I booked it outta there.”

“You ditched him?” Mary Jane couldn’t help but sound a little dismayed.

“I know, not my proudest moment. Now he’s messaging me in the team group chat asking what happened and I have no idea what to say. How can I talk to him again? This guy who supposedly called himself your best friend, he tried to kill you both!”

“Yeah, but…I don’t know, maybe this one could be different?” Peter Three suggested tentatively. Peter One could only sigh.

“Come on, we’re three-for-three on being Spider-Man. Who’s to say Harry Osborn wouldn’t be three-for-three on betraying us if I let him get anywhere near me?”

Peter Two shared an unreadable glance with his MJ before shaking his head. “What do you want us to say, Peter?”

“Well, would you trust him?”

“You know I can’t really answer that. We only know the Harry from our worlds and neither of them was this one. I don’t know what it means that you crossed paths with him, Pete, but…if he’s nice, if you think you might make good friends, you could give it a shot. I regret what happened between me and my world’s Harry every day. For all we know, this could be the universe where Peter Parker and Harry Osborn become friends and stay friends.”

“But what if it isn’t? What if he’s exactly the same?”

“We’re all Peter Parker, we’re all Spider-Man,” Peter Three allowed, “but are we all exactly alike?”

“…No.”

“Right. Brown eyes, brown eyes, blue eyes. Curly hair, straight hair, short hair. You wouldn’t jump to judge Peter Parker’s books by their covers when we don’t even have the same covers.”

“I’m one of the multiverse’s MJs just as much as Michelle is,” Mary Jane added, “and our lives couldn’t be more different if we tried. The fact that you started with a Ned Leeds as your best friend and not a Harry at all means that this Harry’s relationship with Peter Parker has already diverged from the others. So why don’t you want to give it a try?”

Peter One swayed uncertainly, unable to quite meet their eyes. “I guess I just…don’t want to get hurt again…”

“That’s the risk we take with every relationship,” Peter Two murmured, MJ snuggling deeper into his side.

“That’s the risk I took when I told you guys I loved you,” Three concurred, a small, rueful laugh escaping him. “All you said back then was ‘Thank you’ and yet look at us now!”

“If you genuinely don’t want to talk to him again, you don’t have to. But we don’t want you to miss out on something that could be good because of our pasts. We want better things for you.”

Peter One found himself hard-pressed to swallow the tightness that surfaced in his throat. That sentiment seemed to be a multiversal constant.

I just wanted to be like you.

And I wanted you to be better.