Chapter Text
It was like waking from a dream- having just been somewhere that was familiar and known, and suddenly he was elsewhere.
This city, that looked and smelled and sounded like his own, but that he instinctively knew was not.
His clothes, the same as ever, but slightly dirtied and his shirt slightly ripped.
And, within his line of vision, only two people that he recognised- his boyfriend, Michael, and Rich.
He pushed himself to his feet, dusting himself off and ignoring the way his muscles burned in protest at the movement.
He made his way over to Michael, who was sitting up, just as Rich reached them.
“What happened?” Michael asked, but before Jeremy could reply, a boy he’d never seen before in his life had approached them.
“Are you guys okay?”
“Yes,” Jeremy immediately said, before he was drowned out by Michael’s resounding, “No.”
“Let me help, okay? Where are you from? Who are you? I’m Peter, by the way. Parker. Peter Parker.”
Michael took a sharp intake of breath. “Peter Parker? Like, the comic book character?”
Jeremy shot his boyfriend a warning look, but the damage was already done.
“Comic book character? What even… oh god. Oh god, oh god.” Peter had taken a couple of steps back, running his hands through his hair. “You’re from another universe. Oh god. ”
“Another… another univerthe?” Rich’s lisp made Jeremy wince slightly, more out of sympathy for the short boy rather than actual aversion to it.
“Look, lets just all calm down,” Michael said, holding up his hands, somehow becoming the voice of reason. “How about we just start with introductions? I’m Michael, Michael Mell.”
“Jeremy Heere,” Jeremy said, and Michael stifled a laugh at his name. Jeremy shot him a glare.
“Rich Goranthki,” Rich announced, struggling to fight back his very noticeable lisp.
“You guys are… oh god. You’d better come with me. Mr Stark might be able to help.”
“As in, Tony Stark? Like, the Tony Stark?” Michael was having a very noticeable fanboy moment.
“Who else?” Peter shot him a smile. “Come on, we can go to my apartment and you can have something to eat while I call him.”
Jeremy exchanged a glance with Michael.
“Alright.” Jeremy turned to check on Rich, and saw him staring off into the distance, looking almost… lonely?
“Rich? You coming?”
“Yeah! Yeah, I’m coming,” he said quickly, seeming as if he’d been jerked out of a daze.
The three boys began to follow Peter who led them across the street and into an apartment block- His was on the third floor, and as they entered he called out, “May?”
There was no answer, which meant that this ‘May’ wasn’t home.
Jeremy was cultured in superheroes, sure, but not that cultured. He was sure Michael would know who May was, though.
The three trailed in, and Peter gestured towards the kitchen. “Help yourselves, I’ve got biscuits and chips and stuff.”
Jeremy trailed after Michael and Rich, but while they began to prepare themselves a fair amount of food, Jeremy just took a few chocolate biscuits, then sat down at the counter, nibbling on them.
“Not that hungry?” Michael’s voice was sympathetic, and for a moment Jeremy could almost imagine that his boyfriend wasn’t feeling as terrible or out of place as he was.
“Mr Stark’s on his way.” Peter appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. “He’ll be able to sort this out, I’m sure.”
Peter didn’t sound that sure, but Jeremy tried to ignore it.
“Earlier you said “You guys are…” and then you sorta trailed off. You know us? Like, how we know you?” Jeremy found it kind of weird to think about.
“Yeah, sorta. You said you know me from a comic, right? Well, you guys are from a book… and a musical.” Peter awkwardly trailed off.
“I always knew Jeremy could sing,” Michael joked, but it didn’t exactly dispel the awkwardness.
Before the silence could stretch out too much, there was a knock at the door.
“Oh! That’ll be Mr Stark.” Peter trotted over to the door and opened it.
“Hey, kid. What did you say was happening again?”