𝕚𝕥𝕤𝕪 𝕓𝕚𝕥𝕤𝕪 𝕤𝕡𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕣.

Shit. What was happening? One moment he’d been trying to figure out how to eat with the T-rex suit on, the next moment – he was tossing the entire turkey into his very dinosaur shaped mouth.

In fact– it wasn’t him. It was Venom, in T-rex form, black and goopey, and he was going to town. 

Roaring and stomping through the hall, Venom paused before someone who looked like she had cinnamon buns pasted to her head. 

No! Eddie yelled. Not that one! Don’t eat that one!

“Hungry,” Venom grumbled. “You must feed us.”

standing by the drinks table, peter sipped at a glass of water. he had a pounding headache for reasons he wasn’t quite sure of. when a figure approached that looked as if it were eyeing his wig -- or was it his real hair now? uh... he wasn’t sure. -- as if it were food or something, he gives them an annoyed look as he places his cup down on the table. “i don’t need to do anything.” he scoffs. “feed yourself, you’re perfectly capable.” he added as his hand moved to grab his blaster, pointing it at the other. “i’ll use this on you if i have to.”

riri scoffed, turning her head back to the secret project she was working on. “i’m just going to pretend you didn’t say that.” she shook her head before putting her tools down and lifting the magnifying goggles from her eyes, placing them at the brim of her head. “in what world do the facts not matter, peter? just because we are at a serious disadvantage, and yes statistically speaking the odds aren’t stacked in our favor, doesn’t mean we still can’t beat this guy.”

“ri, i was being sarcastic,” peter replies as he turned in his chair to look at her. “facts always matter, of course, i just...” he trailed off, sighing and shaking his head. “i don’t know. i have a bad habit of trying to make jokes when i feel tense and this whole situation is tense and stressful. what’re you doing?” he asked, wheeling himself over towards her to take a peek at her work. “you need any help?”

This was insane. Gwen had known these people must have needed a lot of help if they were reaching out across dimensions, but she had never expected to walk into shifting realities and masked dictatorship. She particularly wasn’t impressed with the fact her powers hadn’t been the same since her arrival. She was out of breath, weak, and don’t even get her started on her reaction time. “Pete! Hey, Peter!” She changed names, unsure of where they really stood on using nicknames. Gwen caught up to him in the academy hallway, still trying to shake off the association with her own Peter. “Hey, are your powers on the blink too?”

@thwipswebs​

retrieving one of his books from his locker, peter stashed it under his arm before closing it. he was about to head in the direction of his next class when he heard his name being called out, and he turned to look at who had been trying to get his attention. seeing gwen, he gave her a small smile. it was something to adjust to, knowing that the gwen he’d known was dead and all, but he knew it was the same for her as well. “yeah, ‘cause of the power dampeners. they took my suit and my webshooters too.” he replied with a small sigh. “it sucks, but... not much we can do about it right this second, y’know? soon, maybe. who knows?” he shrugged his shoulders. “you okay?”

“i’ve been across the whole-ass galaxy and there ain’t nobody who uses fruit as money.” quill grinned. “tradin’ shit instead a’usin’ units, sure, but places like that ain’t got huge expensive buildin’s. they do have crazy leaders, though. nobody’s gonna take my jacket without a fight.”

“how do you really know, though? surely you could’ve missed a planet.” peter replies, shrugging his shoulders as he looked over at the other. at this point, he was only entertaining the idea to mess with the other. “i guess you’ll have a fight then. part of me wants to tell you to go ahead and do it ‘cause it might be funny, but then again, who knows the extremes this guy will go to so...” he trailed off, shrugging his shoulders. “doom is crazy, sure, but he’s also in a position of power, and all of us with powers have almost nothing anymore thanks to the power dampeners. until we have some sort of plan for what to do, just listen to what he says. we might not like it, but i highly doubt you want this guy to kick your ass or throw you in a dungeon.”

“Who?” Johnny lifts his head, and pulling away from where his body was leaning against the counter. It doesn’t take long to see a large gun in the stranger’s hands through the window of the cafe — betting that it was some type of BOT. The blonde turns to look at his best friend moving to head into the back out of sight. “I don’t get paid enough for this.” He grumbles to himself, and plops down in a chair against one of the walls. [ @thwipswebs ]

“nobody gets paid enough for any of this,” peter replies as he glanced from the bot and then back to his work, which, at the moment was just packaging cookies. “just be glad it’s not coming in here.” he commented as he closed the package and putting a label on it before moving to the back, taking a seat across from his friend. until the door chimed to signal that someone had entered, peter knew they were fine in here. “you okay, johnny?” he asked, raising a brow. 

“are you hurt?” she wondered, stopping to look him over. “i hate to break it to you, but i’ve only got one hello kitty band-aid left. think they have some of those around here?” mj had stopped to sit on a bench, draping her legs over peter’s lap. “i might need those painkillers myself. i think this guy might give me a real headache.” mj sighed. she still missed new york, but she doubted they would ever go back. “with this whole red ban, i guess that means your suit has to go into retirement.”

“nah, just have a bit of a headache,” peter explained as he opened the lid to the pill bottle and let a few of the pills spill into his hand. he pops one in his mouth and dumps the rest back into the bottle before taking a swig of water to help it go down. “probably no hello kitty ones. i feel like it’s either normal band-aids, or band-aids with his face on them. everything’s so... doomy.” he shrugged, chuckling as he held the bottle out to his girlfriend. “suit’s already in retirement, babe. even if i wanted to wear it or change it so i could wear it, i don’t have it. they took all that stuff away -- ‘cept captain america. only he’s captain latveria now.” he shuddered. “what about your hair? i mean, it’s red. are you gonna have to change your hair?”

“I think ‘don’t provoke it’ is a good warning for anyone. Especially Kaine. He’s a good kid, but he is kinda stabby.” Ben tried to avoid staring at the Doombot waiting patiently in line (Could they even drink coffee? What was it doing here?), focusing on pouring steamed milk in the shape of Doom’s face. Latverian latte art, an important skill to master. He really didn’t want to get shot for making a bad coffee. “I think i was mostly worried about not getting eaten,” he said,” so this is definitely an upgrade.” He passed the finished drink to the waiting customer and turned to face Peter, stealing a handful of stray sprinkles from the counter. “Gotta admit, I didn’t expect Doombots to be so basic. Pumpkin spice lattes, really?”

“good point,” peter replied, nodding his head. “only ‘kinda’ stabby? i feel like that’s gotta be an understatement. note to self: try to keep kaine from sharp and pointy objects.” he says, only half joking as he laughs softly. “i mean, i can’t blame you there. it’s nice to have the internet again.” he didn’t mind working either. he’d been working for the bugle for a while before this, though, being a photographer was very different from baking stuff and decorating them. “maybe it’s a reflection of doom himself,” he jokes, chuckling. “and hey! what’re you doing with my sprinkles, you sprinkle thief?” he says as he picks up a handful and throws it at his brother playfully.

“You’re gonna need to try a hell of a lot harder than that t’trick me, kiddo.”

“you think i’m lying?” he replied, gasping dramatically as he mocked being offended. “i’m hurt. i am, really.” he added, his hand moving to his chest for a moment. “okay, maybe i was joking. but honestly i wouldn’t put anything past doom at this point. i mean, he banned the color red for no reason. guy’s weird.” peter shrugged.

“i mean, if you think about it, isn’t all of this a really weird opportunity?” peter replied, shrugging his shoulders. “i figure it could be worse than drawing doom’s face on cookies. sorry -- doomkies. sucks that our powers are limited, if not gone, but there’s nothing we can do about it. at least right now.” he mumbles the last part, just in case anyone -- namely a doombot or anyone that would tattle -- wasn’t around. “what do you think?” he asks, raising a brow.

“i’d say ‘don’t provoke it’, but i feel like that’s a warning that would be more applicable to kaine,” peter replied, his gaze flicking from the doombot that had entered the cafe and then back to his brother. “i love the guy, though. don’t get me wrong. he told me he’d stab anyone who came at me with bad intentions,” he laughs softly as he continues decorating donuts. “didn’t encourage him on stabbing, of course, but...” he trailed off, shrugging his shoulders. “betchya you never thought you’d be a doomista making pumpkin spice lattes back when we were dealing with dinosaurs and the humid jungle.”

peter groaned in response, his head falling back and hitting the back of the couch. “my brain is broken right now, har. i can’t be creative.” he said. god, this was a mess. he didn’t even know where to start. first there was the whole nightmare thing that he really wasn’t over yet, and now finding out the world minus latveria was gone? well, it was a lot to take in. after his first shift at the cafe, he was pretty exhausted. not to say he didn’t like the job, it was kind of fun, but... “i miss new york. is that weird? i mean, it was... full of crime and kind of dirty sometimes, and sure i was being framed for murder, but... it was home.” he sighed.

This was embarrassing — and a reminder of just how dangerous Johnny’s abilities can be. Fire was destructive, but he never wanted to use it for that purpose. He learned how to control it immediately, growing up thinking that moments like these were far behind him. Now, what Johnny doesn’t tell anyone is how exhausting it can be sometimes. He has to be mindful every minute of each day about what’s flammable versus what isn’t. He was so used to doing this that it was almost normal to assess a room walking into it before interacting with anything. His body was naturally hotter than everyone else’s.  He looks up thankful for his best friend helping out out the flames. “PETE.” He says choked up a little, after the nightmare Johnny is glad that the spider was still here.

“It was an accident. I did it while I was sleeping.” He bends down, sitting on the ground as he lets Sandwich crawl over him. “Hey, buddy. Oh —“ His arms wrap around the dog as he just holds him for a moment, something soothing as his eyes look over at Peter. “I had this vivid nightmare where someone killed YOU, my family, and everyone else I CARE ABOUT. It felt so real, the pain, the bl —“ He doesn’t finish it, and instead turns to look at the dog for a moment. “I’m okay, thanks.” He says scratching behind his ears before moving to stand up again.

peter frowns as he listens to johnny speak. he doesn’t give much detail about the nightmare -- and peter can’t really blame him for that --, but from what he says it was, he could tell it would’ve been horrible to have to experience. it concerns him even more that somehow they both had had nightmares on the same night. maybe a coincidence, maybe not, he wasn’t entirely sure. it was hard to tell, but he wasn’t focused on that right now. “i’m sorry, johnny. i had a nightmare too, actually, so i... kinda know how you feel. only mine had to do with mysterio. it just... it felt so real, you know? like there was a second when i woke up that i thought it might’ve actually happened. was it like that for you too?” he asks, raising a brow. “it’s-- it’s okay if you aren’t okay, you know. i get it.” he said, as he pulled his mask off and stashed it in the pocket of his pj pants. “this is weird, don’t you think? us both having nightmares on the same night? and mj -- mj had one too. something’s going on, i’m just not sure what,”

There was a moment where Kaine feels bad for asking, knowing that it was probably a difficult subject, but he does want to know more about THEIR uncle. He may not have much life experience, but if anything that he does know means anything — the clone doesn’t think any of what happened is Peter’s fault. “Thank you for sharing that with me. You were young. I don’t know anything about being a kid, but you can’t blame yourself. Uncle Ben sounds like a good man that really cared about his family. IS IT OKAY to call him that?” The clone asks as his curious eyes keep an eye on his older brother. There’s a laugh only lasting for a moment, but fades thinking about the amount of criminals that Peter has faced. How dare they try to fight him! “It would be worth it if you’re safe, but I’ll try not to stab too many people.”

peter smiles softly over at kaine, nodding his head slowly to his response. “yeah, i guess you’ve got a point there. i guess i beat myself up too much over it, reliving that day in my head over and over again. but then again, who doesn’t beat themselves up over the past these days?” he laughs dryly. “he was. he would’ve loved you guys -- you and ben. he always wanted to be helping people, in whatever way he could. i try to... make him proud. do his memory justice, you know? in what i do everyday as spider-man.” he sighed, though he quickly perks back up at kaine’s question. “yeah, of course. i’m sure may won’t mind you calling her ‘aunt’, either. i think, in her mind, anything’s better than ‘mrs. parker’. she’s said that makes her feel old.” he chuckled. “thanks, kaine. yeah, we can try punching before we jump to stabbing. at least they’ll be relatively okay after a punch. and hey, who knows, maybe the world would get lucky and they’d learn their lesson. probably not, but it doesn’t hurt to try to be optimistic sometimes.”

she felt so defeated. it wasn’t the first time she’d had a nightmare. normally, she’d just curl up closer to peter and everything was okay. this time, however, she couldn’t shake this feeling. when she heard peter’s voice, tears were already threatening to spill over. as he wrapped his arms around her, mj started to cry again. “dogs are good at that y’know? sensing things.” her voice cracked as she spoke. “i had a nightmare. it felt so real. my mom and my sister–they were there. i couldn’t save them. and you–you were there.” she held tighter to him, thinking about those five years–those dark five years without peter. she never thought she’d see him again, but he was here. he was okay. “you were fine, and then all of the sudden you were dying. i couldn’t do anything. you wouldn’t wake up and–” she sighed, finally pulling away and reaching up to hold peter’s face in her hands. “i knew when i woke up, that there’s nothing i can do to bring back my mom and my sister. but you, peter, i can’t lose you again. i love you so much, and i–i think about how dark my world was without you. i’m so scared to lose you again.”

“yeah, they are,” he replied, pressing a kiss to her head as he smiled softly, nodding his head. the smile quickly fades as she explained she’d had a nightmare. he knew all too well what that was like, and he hated that one of the people he loved the most had to deal with them too. but, at the same time, he unfortunately knew there wasn’t much he could do about it except comfort her. “i’m sorry, mj,” he frowned. “i know-- i understand. not exactly, but... i know how it feels. nightmares are the worst, especially when they’re so lifelike. but it’s okay -- we’re okay. i’m here.” he tried to his best to reassure her. “you won’t lose me. i promise. not without a fight, okay? you’re stuck with me, mj. i’m not goin’ anywhere.” peter said, leaning in to her touch and resting his forehead against hers. “you wanna go back to bed now? we can talk more about it there, if you want. we don’t have to go back to sleep yet, not if you don’t want to. either way, i’m here for you, mj. i always will be, okay?”

“Yeah… I met a couple of the others. Who knew that you’d be cloned so often? Don’t go around giving away your DNA now, it’s not a good idea.” At the smile dropping off Peter’s face, Tony’s own dad tingle or whatever the hell it was went off. Something was wrong. And worse, there was something that Peter hadn’t told him about. 

“Uh… sounds familiar. FRI?”

“Quentin Beck was former Stark Industries employee, boss. R&D department. The last project he worked on was holographic technology, later incorporated into the binary augmented retro-framing project,” FRIDAY said.

“Oh, him. He left, didn’t he? After that huge ass quarrel about potentially weaponising his stuff.” Tony shook his head. Listening with growing concern about Peter’s recap of the shit that had apparently gone down after he’d died, he couldn’t help rage from seeping into his face. Even when Peter had turned his back, Tony could practically hear the tears in his voice. 

God, he wished he’d punched the guy in the face when he had the chance.

“No,” he said, pushing the glasses back to Peter. “No. Kid. Just…”

So many things to say, but really, all he wanted to do was to pull him into a hug. Shit, this was exactly why he’d tried to keep Peter away from super-heroing and all that. This was the very thing he’d feared when he thought about leaving a legacy to the kid - that his curse, his mistakes, his monsters would descend on him. 

“Shit,” he whispered, feeling guilt knife through him. “I’m sorry, son. But if there’s anyone to blame, it’s not you– it’s me. I’m the one that Beck had issues with. I’m the one who put you in this spot. Not you. Me.”

peter laughed softly at the whole ‘being cloned’ thing. “yeah, i’ll keep that in mind. i like ben and kaine though. it’s... it’s nice to have brothers. it’s more complicated than that, obviously, but we’ve kinda just simplified it into saying we’re brothers.” he explained with a shrug of his shoulders.

“no, dad, no, i--,” he stammered, shaking his head. “he might’ve had issues with you, but his actions because of that are on him. not you. it’s not like you held his hand and forced him to do all of that shit. he was a messed up guy. the shit he was doing with the drones? that attack he had planned in london would’ve cost so many lives. but he didn’t care. all he cared about was being a hero. the problem is, he was good at hiding his true intentions. who he really was. and he fooled me.” peter sniffled. “he knew how much you meant to me. and he exploited that.” he added, before he paused for a moment. tears streaked his cheeks and he moved to pull tony into a tight hug.

“thank you. for everything. nothing that happened is your fault, please know that,”