Chapter Text
“Nagi, update on the mission’s status, please.”
He hears Anri’s voice coming in through their dimensional comms. They had a built-in translation function as well, which has been a huge help in navigating the New York scene on this Earth.
They detected a minor anomaly in this universe—Earth-312. Something with two Doc Ock’s almost making contact or something, he wasn’t really paying attention in the debrief. He listened to the important details:which Earth they were headed to, and the status of Spiderman in that specific universe. This mission needed to be discreet, 312-Spiderman wasn’t aware of their Spider Society, and Ego was no longer interested in recruiting new members after Nagi’s horrible initiation.
Personally, Nagi could still care less about Ego and his mission, even after working with him and this society for months, but he would continue to play along for as long as he needed to until he reached Reo.
It was easy enough, as much as Ego hated admitting it, Nagi was actually a good addition to his team. He had unique abilities that differentiated him from the others, and they made sure his power assets were put to use during these low profile missions.
He did a good job, obviously. The mission was simple enough with his invisibility, he simply snuck up behind the variant Doc Ock—a woman this time, that was new, and essentially kidnapped her to send her quickly through a portal.
There wasn’t a fight this time, nobody was alarmed of his presence, and he had the variant secured and on her way to their headquarters for relocation.
He reported this to Anri, who complimented him on his work. She asks for his status and why he has yet to return, unaware of Nagi’s hidden intentions.
“There’s something I need to handle here first. I’ll head back when I’m done.”
“But Nagi, you know Ego doesn’t like us taking longer than necessary on these trips. We don’t send you guys on these missions to sight see-“
He hangs up. He does not like being reprimanded over his choices, especially when they don’t know why he does them in the grander scheme of things.
He had been alert for any signs of Reo throughout the mission. There hasn’t been a single Mikage branded item anywhere near him from what he’s been able to see, which is a bad sign already.
The Mikage corporation was huge back on his Earth, with their mark on clothing, food, technology, and anything else you can think of.
Even while being a Japanese brand, they were popular internationally, at least from what he gathered during Reo’s business tangents.
Still, he has to make sure. Maybe Reo was just a regular guy in this world, not the heir to a multibillion dollar empire.
He walks out of the abandoned lab where he found Doc Ock. The surrounding area was far enough from the city to make Nagi groan at how much he’d have to walk. For all of the Spider Society’s grandiosity, they couldn't afford to give him a rental car, or a bike at least.
He lifts his arm band to his face and presses a button to activate his AI assistant. The arm bands didn’t originally have this feature, but Nagi took it upon himself to upgrade their mediocre design.
Jailbreaking Ego’s tech was easier than he could’ve predicted. When Nagi wanted to apply his intellect, he could actually achieve great things, Reo would always tell him that.
Once the button is pressed, a holographic figure appears from Nagi’s band.
“RE0, can you scan this world’s database for any mention of Mikage Reo, please.” He asks his AI assistant, made to be an exact replica of his boyfriend. Nagi took a lot of pride in how he perfectly managed to capture Reo’s essence, down to his asymmetrical hair length and personality.
While Nagi is proud, he can also acknowledge that this was very creepy of him, so Reo’s replica would have to be a secret for now.
“Of course, Treasure, I’ll scan any mentions for Reo on the web to see if he is a match to Reo prime.”
RE0 was so helpful, just like his own Reo. He really did an amazing job at recreating his love, he deserves a pat on the back for his skill and dedication to the creepy craft.
The hologram fades away, and Nagi places his arms into his suit pockets to continue his trek to the city. He had better luck at finding signs of the Mikage’s there rather than an abandoned dump.
He starts walking out down the gravel path, eyes focused on the city in front of him. Yeah, he was not about to walk all that.
Ego didn’t like them using the portal technology more than necessary, calling it a waste of resources and everything, but Nagi would take a scolding over the walk any day.
He inputs the new location onto his arm band, watching as the portal in front of him shows him an empty New York alley, and he steps through.
-
“Nagi, there doesn’t seem to be any result for Mikage Reo across the internet. I looked at public records from other countries as well, still no sign though.” The hologram reports, pouting as it failed to provide any useful information.
“It’s okay, RE0, record this Earth as a failure and start looking at other potential alternatives we could travel to.”
“Alright, on it!”
Well that sucks, he should have known this Earth was going to be a bust from the lack of Mikage labels around, but a little optimism never hurt anybody.
“Hey, Anri, are you there?”
Shit. He knew he should’ve charged the ear comms before he departed, but his laziness outweighed his sense of urgency at the time.
He messages Anri that he was going to be headed back soon. His ear comms must have died a while after he hung up on her, so he would just have to struggle navigating this city until he found a discreet place to teleport back.
But first, a snack.
There’s a convenience store down the street he’s walking. It looked pretty empty, which he found ideal.
The bell jingles on the door as he walks in. The clerk at the front lifts his head up to greet the person who just entered only to see nobody in front of him. The employee looks around in confusion, but he still finds no sign of anybody in the store, so he redirects his attention back toward restocking the items by the entrance.
This was not his proudest moment. Nagi had turned invisible. While he didn’t condone stealing, desperate times call for desperate measures.
To be fair, he didn’t exactly own an interdimensional card (Ego was gatekeeping his), and being a savior of the multiverse was selfless work according to Anri.
When he asked about the hourly rates, Anri and Ego looked at him like he was crazy, but somebody had to ask the hard questions.
He was essentially broke, and this wasn’t something he did often anyways so it’s totally justified in his opinion.
He finds some sandwiches toward the back of the store, and he helps himself to two of them, careful not to alert anybody of his presence. While he’s here, he might as well take a drink.
The doorbell chimes again, and Nagi looks up.
He’s chewing the final pieces of his sandwich, hidden behind some store shelves, when he spots someone that makes his heart rate spike.
It’s him, or his variant at least. He’s dressed in a nice, cream cardigan, with a simple shirt underneath, as well as some loose jeans. This Nagi variant was definitely dressed to impress, and Nagi almost tears up once he sees the reason why.
Standing next to Nagi, in all his glory, is Reo.
He’s beautiful. He always has been, but seeing him living and breathing again has Nagi appreciating his features with a renewed sense of worship.
Reo is wearing a loose, oversized shirt with a strange pattern, along with some dark and form fitting pants.
He looked great like this, full of life and smiling, holding hands with this Nagi in front of the store while they looked at the cigarettes.
Nagi wanted to throw up, he thought he was prepared for when he would finally see Reo again, but he was naive to think he would ever be ready for something as grand as this.
Slowly, he starts making his way to the front alongside them, making sure there was no risk to him being seen while he spied on their little date.
The invisibility is really coming in clutch, he had no idea how he was going to explain away the fact that there were two Nagis in the same vicinity.
‘Hey, Seishirou, I’m your long-lost twin also named Seishirou! Mind if I borrow your boyfriend for life?‘
In no universe was that going to work. Just spying on Reo would have to do for now, later he could work on finding a way to approach him. This universe was almost perfect, he just had to take care of the double Nagi problem.
He should just get rid of this Nagi.
Before he could explore that thought any further, he heard them start to talk. They’re speaking Japanese, which works great for Nagi’s eavesdropping.
“Reoo, they don’t have the mint flavor in stock! What am I going to do?” Nagi Variant whines.
God, was he this annoying with Reo back on his Earth?
Reo shakes his head fondly and ruffles Nagi's hair.
“Maybe it’s for the best, treasure, you know those things have lead in them anyway, right?”
“You promised you weren’t going to lecture me about this anymore.”
“I know, I know. I just want you to live a long and healthy life, treasure. I can’t resist trying to get you to make the right choices.”
Nagi variant rests his head on top of Reo’s as he gives him a side hug, using one arm to gently hug his waist.
“We are going to be together for a long time, Reo, remember? We promised forever.” The Nagi variant says this with so much declaration, and it makes Reo blush.
“Sei, you’re making me blush! Stop!”
“Never. Besides, Reo promised to die after me, let me vape my way into an earlier death.”
Reo rolls his eyes but he can’t resist letting a smile slip onto his face.
“Fine. Pick a damn flavor before we miss the movie.” He slaps Nagi Variant’s arm from his waist and sends him on his way to the register to pick a vape and check out.
Nagi wants to cry.
He misses this. Being around Reo, and being nurtured by him. Even if it wasn’t really Nagi himself, seeing the way Reo and his variant interacted with each other made his heart squeeze in pain.
Reo really did love him, it didn’t matter what Earth they were on, there was never one of them without the other, and that was truly beautiful to realize.
It validated the fact that he needed Reo like he needed air. When he died, it felt like his entire being got ripped in half, and now he was sure why. They were a unit, and Nagi was going to reunite with him, regardless of what he’d have to do.
He hears the Nagi variant say something to the clerk in English before he signals to Reo that he’s ready to head out.
Nagi Variant holds his hand out for Reo to hold while he uses the other to hold the door open. This Nagi was a gentleman, it would seem.
That’s good, as long as Reo was being taken care of he really couldn’t complain.
Nagi quickly slides through the door before it’s fully shut, not wanting to alert the clerk of his presence like when he entered.
He’s trailing behind him, and they don’t seem to notice they’re being followed.
Their conversation is lively and natural , and Nagi catches himself holding back laughter at some of their banter. Despite how quiet of a person Nagi was, Reo did always manage to bring out the more energetic parts of himself.
“Reooo, look, I am gonna ghost.”
Nagi can’t really see what he’s doing from this angle, but from Reo’s loud laughter and his variant’s coughing, he could guess that his smoke trick wasn’t a success.
“Dumbass! Did you even try keeping it out of your nose!” Reo is still laughing, his steps faltering a little as he pats the coughing Nagi’s back.
“No! Reo-cough, I-” more coughing, “I really do know how to do it!”
“Oh yeah? Hard to believe you’re a pro when you have smoke coming out from everywhere! Ha ha ha! You look like a train engine!”
They both laugh at that. It’s nice to see that they could be stupid together. He was like this with his Reo, too.
Being with Reo was easy, he had the ability to bring out aspects of Nagi’s personality he didn’t even know he had. The first time he laughed out loud was with Reo, the first time he smiled was after he told Reo he loved him, and the first time he cried would be when he saw the light fade from his beloved’s eyes.
His attention is back on their conversation when he hears them talk about Spider-Man, with just the mention of him being able to set off alarms in Nagi’s head.
“I mean, realistically, what could Spider-man even do against an, I don’t know, uh.. Oh! something like an alien invasion? The powers of a spider, ehh, you could only do so much.” Reo is arguing.
“Reo, the guy can climb on walls and sling-shot his way across the entire city in like seconds. What do you mean he’s lame!” Wow. This variant was actually getting passionate about this conversion topic.
“Whaaatever” Reo drawls out.
Suddenly, he points toward someone standing on the street, they seem to be asking people to buy something from them, and that gains Reo’s interest.
“Sei, look! They have candy apples! Can you buy one for me, treasure? Please?” Oh, Reo’s definitely giving him puppy eyes, he can recognize it in the time of his voice.
Nagi variant just nods his head and walks toward the salesperson to buy the requested sweet treat.
While he’s gone, Nagi takes the opportunity to get closer to Reo. He’s at a distance where he can smell his perfume, it’s different from the one his Reo used. He would always splurge on expensive fragrances, ones with ingredients and top notes you couldn’t even pronounce.
This Reo seemed to have more simple tastes. Nagi’s guessing that this Reo isn’t loaded in money like on his original Earth, he should’ve realized it sooner considering the fact that Nagi variant has been paying for everything thus far.
He soaks in as many Reo details as he can before his variant comes back with a red candy apple. He carefully unsticks it from the wrapper before handing it to Reo.
“Thank you so much, treasure!” He gives him a kiss on the cheek. He preens at the attention.
The variant points at a building across from them. “The movie theatre is inside there. Let’s use that crosswalk over there.”
Reo nods and they begin walking a little further up to reach their crosswalk. They’re taking turns biting out of the candy apple, and Nagi wanted nothing more than to be in his variant’s place right now.
He’d change his mind soon.
Everything happened so fast, he really couldn’t tell when everything went wrong.
The pedestrian signal changed, now indicating that they were allowed to cross. Reo and his variant weren’t the only ones crossing, as they were with a crowd, but it seemed like fate had a certain plan despite their circumstances.
Reo and variant Nagi were toward the back, with his variant slightly forward of Reo.
One second, Nagi is holding out the candy apple to Reo, it was his turn to take a bite, and Reo stretched out his own hand to reach the fruit. Then, they heard it, but at that point, it was too late.
Tires were screeching loudly as the car tried to break. The car had gathered too much momentum, and all Reo got to process were bright headlights.
Nagi couldn’t believe it. He lost him. He lost him again. Reo died right in front of him again, and he failed to save him. He was a failure.
Nagi was still processing what happened, but his variant was quick to jump to Reo’s side. He’s yelling for help, begging someone, anyone, to call an ambulance.
The man who ran him Reo over was still in his car, Nagi saw him shaking in his seat, airbags loose in his car.
Nagi didn’t know what was going through his head at the moment, he just knew that the man had to pay.
His cover was blown by this point, though he was still wearing his suit.
He hears confused murmurs around him, people asking what Spider-Man was doing here, and why he had a new suit. But he could care less about the witnesses right now.
He pulled the man out of the car roughly, tossing him to the road. He doesn’t give the man enough time to readjust before he starts hitting.
He’s punching the man with everything he’s got. With every hit, he feels the world slow down around him, and his mind wanders.
He lands another hit. He remembers Reo’s face as he fell from the clock tower. He lands another hit. He hears his variant, he’s wailing in pain, begging Reo to stay with him, telling him that everything was going to be alright, help was on the way.
He lands another hit. He did the same thing with his Reo, held him close as he bled out, he remembers begging him to stay strong, he was going to get him medical attention, but Reo had been gone before he could fulfill either of those promises. He continues hitting, letting out every emotion he’s stopped himself from feeling since that dreaded day.
He lands more hits, his fists feel numb at this point, and the man had stopped moving a few moments ago, but he doesn’t stop, he can’t. Not when he just saw his world get ripped away from him twice. He’s fully crying by this point, the tears bleeding through his mask.
He hears the ambulance's sirens getting closer, and he finally pulls away from beating the man to look up.
His variant’s cream cardigan was covered in blood. His wails were loud, Nagi is sure surrounding blocks could hear him. He was choking on air and coughing, similar to before, but there was nothing to laugh about this time.
Reo was still unresponsive.
Nagi finally stands up. The man is dead, he’s sure of it. He’s sure Reo is dead, too. He wanted to throw up.
Nagi activates his invisibility, looking at the scene one last time.
His variant was struggling to let Reo go, even with the paramedics urging that he let them help. He spots the candy apple on the road, beside Reo’s body. He needed to head back.
He slings himself toward a water tower, far from the scene, and far from any people. Nagi takes off his mask, as the tears and mucus were making it hard to breathe through it.
They’re making it hard for him to see. He tries typing the coordinates to head back to headquarters, but as soon as he wipes his eyes, new tears start forming.
Nagi’s hands were shaking, his whole body was shaking violently, his knees were getting weak, so he let himself collapse by the railing to cry.
His hands were covered in blood. His armband had blood on it as well, residuals from when he tried typing earlier.
He was so close. Reo was right there, within reach, happy and alive.
He let him down again, after he promised him that he would never let it happen, not while he could stop it.
It takes a long time for his body to calm down, but once his breathing starts to even and he feels himself gain strength, he starts typing the coordinates again.
The portal opens, he gets up to go through it, but not without looking at the city skyline one last time. He feels a pang of guilt hit his entire body, then walks through.
-
When he walks through the portal, he gets concerned glances directed at him. He knows he looks crazy, white suit stained red, eyes puffy, and his face splotchy, he couldn’t be bothered to care. He continues walking down the hallways, only looking at the ground.
He knew he was being heavily avoided at the moment, but that didn’t stop a brave soul from going up to him.
“Ego is asking for you. He said you have some major explaining to do.”
Nagi recognized the voice. Of course, Rin was the only person brave enough to talk to him in this state. If there were anyone who gave less of a shit then Nagi, it would be this guy.
He faces his head to make eye contact with Rin, and he gives him a small nod of acknowledgement. He redirects himself to Ego’s office, ready to face whatever he has coming his way.