Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a perfectly normal Tuesday and everything was fine. Totally fine. Peachy, even.

Peter has also started lying to himself with the hopes of his life improving.

See, Doctor Strange can do some really cool, reality-altering magic stuff, and Peter figures they're on a basically-friends basis after working together to destroy that giant purple guy that died, like, twice? It was confusing. But after Quentin somehow leaked his identity, and also didn't die that first time (which was becoming a trend that Peter was not fond of), shit hit the proverbial fan. Sure, he still had his best friend, an awesome girlfriend, and his Aunt May was still super supportive, despite whatever is going on with her and Happy... he could get through it. He could deal with everything.

He's lying to himself again. This sucks. Majorly.

So maybe he made a few... rash decisions, but he's not perfect! That doesn't mean the spell had to totally backfire, not only unaffecting literally everyone, but also causing him to lose first-name status with Doctor Strange (a small part of him was relieved because it had been really  weird to call him Stephen). And, as if his life couldn't get any worse, there was suddenly some green guy flying around on an honest-to-god hoverboard , saying he's Peter's nemesis, even though Peter is pretty freaking sure they've never met before.

His arms are starting to get tired from swinging around the large bridge, hurriedly trying to make sure everyone evacuates the area and no ones left behind in the cars. This guy, he keeps laughing like Peter were the funniest thing he's ever seen, and he's really not living for the green-demon look the guys sporting.

"Seriously, man, I don't know you !" Peter yelled, voice a bit hoarse and maybe he lets a bit of his frustration leak through, sue him, he's kind of stressed. If he can just stay in one spot for long enough, he can get the Iron Spider suit prepped to wear, but this guy is barely letting him drag his toes against the concrete.

"I'm no idiot, Parker!" The guy yells. "I don't know what trick you're trying to pull, but it's not going to work!"

His mask slides off his head as he glares down at Peter, and yeah, that's some blonde guy that Peter doesn't know, but jeez, his skin-

"Hey, are you okay? Do you, uh, need to go to the hospital? Like, actually?" Peter wasn't used to bad guys that were probably bad guys because of, well, health things? Whatever he had going on.

Suddenly, a metal orb rolls itself next to Peter's feet, and he yelps as it suddenly goes off, leaving a ringing in his ears. It takes a few seconds for the world to fade back in, auditory-wise, but he can hear the hoverboard-demon-guy laughing his head off. Peter shakes his head, readying himself for more fighting. Get it together, Pete, he tells himself, not only is he unwell, he's mentally unwell, and also from another dimension.

People scream as he swings by, landing on top of a car. He doesn't really have the time to apologize to whoever owns it, because he's webbing another bomb and throwing it right back at the flying dude as fast as he can. He can feel the bridge shaking under his feet, and he really wishes he could just throw on a spider-suit, just any spider-suit at this point really, because he's not enjoying dancing around in his sweaty street-clothes.

The hoverboard suddenly ripples around itself, twisting along with it's rider as he flips around, twisting as he throws gadgets around the bridge. Cars explode, the sound thundering around both of them, and shrapnel from a van nearby get blasted towards Peter. He flips out of it's course, back arching only slightly uncomfortably, and he quickly swivels to catch the flying debris with his webs before they can hit any civilians that are for some reason filming instead of running??

"Get out of here!" He yells, voice breaking. One girl just makes eye contact before lifting her phone a bit higher. Peter grunts as he throws the debris into the water below them, only to be hit in the face by another part of a car. He smacks across the pavement a few times, skipping like a rock over water, before sliding to a stop on the middle line of the highway. Apparently he landed too close for comfort and the last few bystanders start to sprint away from the wreckage. The sick-looking dude just comes to hover above him, grinning down at Peter like he absolutely despised the guy. His face wavers, though, as he gets close enough to see Peter's face.

"What did you do?" He asks, confusion evident, and Peter takes the moment to grab onto his hoverboard with his webs and throws it to the side. The guy is ready for it, though, and as Peter starts to jerk the board to the side, the guy jumps off, looking like he's trying to do a flip like Peter but it's very. Well. He certainly turns his body around in an approximate circular shape. He kicks Peter in the ribs, somehow controlling his hoverboard without being on it so it comes back closer, blades jutting out from the sides. He's pinned under the hard boot of someone he doesn't know but definitely, definitely wants to kill him.

"Please," he breathes out, because he may be a superhero but he's also still a teenager scared out of his mind, and he really doesn't want to die, not now. The sick-looking dude just tilts his head, a sneer morphing his features.

"I don't understand what's going on," the guy said, and Peter has a feeling he's gonna start monologuing. "But I know you're Peter Parker, or at least some version of him, which is good enough for me."

"Who are you?" Peter chokes out. The guy's face twists into something dark, something that has been built up for years.

"I was a man," he said, "I was someone who called you a friend, Parker, but now? That man is dead. He's dead by your hands. And I am the Green Goblin."

His mouth forms a jagged smile, all teeth and even a bit of gum, and Peter's trying really hard to come up with a retort to such a lame name, but before his mind can start turning gears again, the Green Goblin is opening his mouth to speak, and the weight of his boot is getting heavier and heavier, and oh god yeah that is the feeling of something slowly breaking-

Suddenly, something hits the Goblin in the side, sending him flying through the air, straight over the side of the bridge. It looked like the door of a taxi, going by the bright yellow flash, but he can't be sure. Nervously, he stands, and after a second the hoverboard - maybe a glider, on closer inspection - flies off to where the Goblin had fallen.

Peter takes a second to breathe deeply, see if the guy actually broke some of his ribs. Definitely some bruising, but as long as he isn't running the risk of puncturing his internal organs, he considers it a win.

Distantly, another bomb goes off, and Peter grabs at his pocket, where the folded up piece of the Iron Spider suit laid dormant. He only just gets it around his wrist when a sudden THWANG of metal against concrete distracts him. There's smoke billowing down the road, wrecked cars piled this way and that between him and the cloud. Another BANG shakes the area, and Peter hauls himself to action, climbing on top of a nearby car to try and see what's emerging. Please not another bad guy, please not another bad guy…

The steps are slow but heavy. Whatever, whoever it is, he has a feeling that they won’t be as nice as Goblin-dude.

Suddenly, out of the smoke, a huge metal arm crashes into the concrete, cracking the road around it. He will admit it. He jumped. Then another came down in front of it, pulling something- someone- behind it.

A man appeared out of the smoke, tattered trench coat waving in the breeze behind him. He looked like he walked out of a steampunk movie from the 2000s. Early 2000s. Like, way early 2000s.

“Um-” Peter’s voice wobbled a bit, so he swallowed and tried to talk a bit louder. “U-uh, hey, uh, guy!”

The man seemed to… smile? The arms stopped moving him forward, and oh my god he wasn’t even using his legs he had four giant robot arms moving him around instead that’s so cool and he swayed slightly in the wind, staring at Peter. Or, it felt like it, because the guy had sunglasses on. Then, he heard his voice echo down to him.

“Hello, Peter.”

As soon as Peter had the Iron Spider suit on, two gigantic metal arms crashed into him, throwing him off the car and skidding on the pavement. He quickly flipped up into the air, though, and twisted to get a better look at the man. He was just smiling up at Peter, and jesus christ he was getting really tired of these evil dudes just smiling at him. Why couldn’t people be like the Vulture and just, like, glower?  Oh god. He’s thinking fondly of the Vulture . Who may also be around???

The two arms that tried to gut punch him into oblivion flew back around the trench coat man, curling around like snakes, before impaling themselves on cars and throwing them up at him. Peter quickly latched on to the railing of the bridge with a web and swung himself down underneath, touching the water with his feet. He popped up from the other side, easily landing in a crouch, and shot webs rapidly at one of the arms, causing it to shake it’s claw back and forth like a head. The man dropped to the ground, all three arms moving closer to the man and sizing him up. They opened their claws fully, looking like the world’s angriest trio of robot snakes.

“Aw, geez.”

“Peter,” The man called out, voice still as nonchalant as when he first said hello. He calmly strode forward on his own as the arms seemed to only grow more agitated, the one Peter webbed up tearing through his webbing. At that, Peter gulped. The man spread his arms out. “Let’s have a chat.”

“Uh, no thanks!” He called out. Two of the arms dove straight into the pavement in front of the man, ripping out a huge chunk before hurling it at Peter. He easily dodged it, the debris breaking a part of the fence and hitting the water with a loud splash. “I’m good, four-armed guy!”

Peter’s own spider legs branched out of his back, tip-tapping the ground as they helped him maneuver around faster. Maybe if he can get behind the guy, he can see how these giant arms worked. Though, as he moved, he saw the man’s smile drop. He almost got… disturbed, Peter wanted to say.

“Karen,” Peter called, nimbly picking his way through the barrage of metal arms and thrown objects, “You picking up anything? Anything, uh, useful?”

“He’s using technology that hasn’t been invented,” Karen's voice replied, as calm and soothing as ever. Though, the news she brought was arguably the opposite. “My scans show there is a lot of heat building around his abdomen, and his spinal structure is abnormal.”

“Okay. Yeah. Okay.” Peter swung closer, squinting his eyes reflexively to try and see at the man’s spine. However, he’s met with an angry glare as trench coat guy turns around, arms flying out towards Peter. He can’t maneuver very well while in the air with minimal objects to web onto, but he does his best swinging from one arm to another. They keep coming back, though, no matter how hard he kicks the stupid things or webs them to the ground or cars, and it’s starting to get ridiculous.

Frustration leads to sloppiness, proven true by the cold metal that clamps down around his neck, almost choking him. He struggles in the air, but another arm clamps around his legs, leaving him clawing at the metal binding him. He feels the wind rush past his face as two arms fly past him, just barely missing his sides, snapping the legs off his back like they were twigs. C'mon, man.

He can hear the metal appendages crushing his spider-legs, which majorly sucks because that was Tony's idea, and also hard to rebuild. The man looks downright hateful as he makes sure the legs are just scrap, then brings the arms away from the mess. They bring the man closer to Peter, still holding him aloft, an angry look now on his face. Now they’re both upset. Great.

“I thought my actions would at least partly redeem my crimes, but that wasn’t enough for you, was it?” The arm slightly tightens around his throat. Peter wants to say something, like what?  or why do strangers keep blaming me for their problems?  but all that comes out is more of a strangled gurgle. “I lose my dreams, my Rosie,” his voice breaks on the name, “and when I may finally rest, you take me to this place? And you mock me with this !?”

He shakes Peter around for emphasis, making him uncomfortably knock his head on the metal. A strangled sound escapes him, and he’s brought down face to face with the stranger. “Answer me. Answer me, Peter .”

All he can do is wheeze, with how tight the arm is clamped down, and the man loosens his hold, just enough for Peter to breathe properly and also maybe speak clearly.

“Look, man,” he gets out, exhaustion starting to hit, “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know who that other guy was, and I’m really sorry about your dreams and your- uh- your wife. But I- I’ve never met you before.”

As he speaks, the man’s face changes, slipping to what may be surprise and then to neutrality. His hair hits his face with the wind, and Peter wishes he would take his sunglasses off so he could read this guy better.

It’s quiet between them before the man breaks it, uttering, “Take off your mask.”

Peter’s eyes widen. “You don’t know what I look like?”

“Maybe,” he says, “Take it off. Recall it. However your metal suit works.”

The choice of words confuses Peter, but he relents, the mask folding to his collar. Now he can really see the guy’s reaction - shock.

He takes off his glasses with one of his hands - the human hands - and holds them at his side, eyes darting all over Peter’s face as if he’s trying to memorize it. “Good lord.”

Suddenly, the arms drop Peter, and he only staggers a little bit when he hits the ground. The feeling was starting to leave his legs, there. The man takes a few steps back, hand on his forehead. He looks crazed. “Um, are- are you okay, arm guy?”

He laughs at that, a sad, strained laugh. He meets Peter’s eyes, and this guy is probably a villain but jeez, he just feels bad for him with that resigned bitterness there.

“You aren’t my   Peter Parker,” he said, the arms curling around him once more, claws closed and waving slightly as they listen to his words. “No. No, of course not. I should have known…”

“Uh, sir?” Peter said, stepping closer. He kept most of the suit on, just in case, but he puts his hands up in what he hopes is a placating gesture. “Listen. I think I know what happened, and, uh, I’m trying to fix it. It’s kind of my fault, anyway-”

At the admission, one of the arms opens, slamming into him and causing him to thud his head painfully on the road. He nearly chokes on his spit, and he hears the guy arguing with… the arm? Maybe they’re AI.

The guys suddenly quiet though, as if he’s listening. “Yes… he did just say it was his fault. That he caused it…” He meets Peter’s eyes, and the man looks murderous. “He was the one who stopped me.”

The arm around him is seemingly trying to grind him into the ground, but Peter fights back as much as he can, heels scraping the pavement. “S-Sir! Tell it to stop! Please!”

“I was so close to death. To being free.” He had a far away look in his eyes, and Peter figured, well, I guess I have to find a way to defeat this jerk, too, when he suddenly shakes his head and claws at his hair, the arms rapidly becoming more distressed. “No! No, he’s just a child. So young. He said he’s fixing it. I can’t listen to you… not again.”

The arm around him seems to push him down harder before slowly pulling away, like one last painful threat. Peter shakily stands, watching the man as he mumbled to himself about how they- the arms?- had to listen to him. “Sir?”

He looked up, the arms turning and following his movements. Creepy. “Are you gonna try and kill me again?”

He had the decency to look apologetic, and the arms calmed around him. “No. No, I won’t. You… are a good man, Peter.”

He inwardly swelled at the praise from a parent-aged adult, and he cleared his throat, hesitantly walking towards him. “Look. I’m really, really sorry I brought you here. I really didn’t mean it. Me and Doctor Strange, we were trying to do this magic spell thing to make people forget I was Spider-Man, right?”

The guy looked super confused, but Peter trudged on. “I, uh, kind of messed it up. Totally my fault. And we may or may not have opened rifts to parallel dimensions, and, like, sucked people in here from other universes.”

The man nodded, one of the arms gingerly placing the sunglasses back onto his face, as if they’ve done the move a hundred times before. “So, the multiple worlds theory. It’s correct.”

“Yeah.”

He looked out over New York. A small crowd of people were beginning to gather at either end of the bridge, now that the sounds of fighting had stopped, but Peter had the feeling the man wasn’t paying them any attention.

“Rosie,” He whispered. “She could be here.”

“Mister Arms, I know what you’re thinking,” Peter stepped in front of the man, trying to distract him from the view of the city. The arms opened up their claws and moved them in circles, but they otherwise stayed put. The look on the man’s face was pained, grieving. What had he lost to make him into this ? “I’ve lost a lot of people. People I love. But your wife, Rosie, she’s not here. Not your Rosie, anyway. I’m sorry for your loss, sir, really, but. Yeah.”

One of the arms honest to god hissed at him, but calmed down when the man just sighed and rubbed at his forehead. “I know, Peter.” His voice was so soft and broken, Peter couldn’t help but feel empathetic.

“But I’m going to get you back home. I promise.” Peter said, straightening up and trying to put on a reassuring face. He didn’t know if it was working, but it made the man smile a bit, so he considered it a win. “But I may be able to do it faster if you work with me.”

The man did smile then, nostalgic but still sad. “I told Peter that I would not die a monster,” he said, placing a warm hand on Peter’s shoulder, “and I will make good on that promise.”

Peter beamed at him because it sounded a lot like a yes. He stuck his hand out between them and said, “I’m Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man.”

The man grasps his hand firmly, shaking it like how Uncle Ben used to. “Otto Octavius,” he says, and looks at Peter over the edge of his sunglasses. “But the newspaper calls me ‘Doctor Octopus’”.

Chapter Text

Eat her.

“No.”

Eat him.

“No.”

Eat them. Definitely eat them.

Eddie looked over his shoulder to see two people loudly talking to each other, laughing obnoxiously. They were definitely in their early 20s, if that. “Jesus. For the last time, no .”

BUT IT DOES NOT MATTER, EDDIE! Venom bellowed in his head, loud enough for Eddie to reflexively scrunch up his shoulders. He could feel Venom angrily swirling around his chest, hunger and frustration building up in them. Not our universe. No repercussions.

“There’s always repercussions,” He mumbles as he walks out of the bus terminal, entering the bustling streets of a mostly-familiar New York City. “Besides, you remember what we said.”

Only bad guys, Venom grumbles in their mind, and Eddie pats his chest, right where he knows Venom likes to sit. The symbiote preens a bit under the affection but continues their pouting, which makes Eddie huff a small laugh. But Eddieeee…

“I’ll get you some fancy chocolate,” Eddie concedes, and he feels Venom’s happiness at that. It warms his chest for multiple reasons. “But we gotta find this Parker kid ASAP.”

Eddie takes no breaks, Venom states as he curls around one of Eddie’s hands, holding him as Eddie shoves his hands into his pockets so no one sees. Except on the bus. Then it is up to me to research.

Eddie sighs as Venom pulls up the memory of Eddie snoring at the back of a dingy bus, Venom scrolling through Eddie’s phone while also keeping themselves hidden from the surrounding passengers. “And I appreciate you doing that, Vee, but all we really managed to do was figure out what kind of spider Spider-Man isn’t.”

Yes, Venom relents, We have learned much. Such as he isn’t a spider alien.

“And thank god we got that out of the way,” Eddie snarks. “See what else you can find. I’ll take us to a place I know. Or, well, a place that might be there.” He knows Venom is curious about this Peter Parker kid, because he doesn’t say a thing as he carefully slides Eddie’s phone from his back pocket into his hoodie. They keep their hold on Eddie’s hand and uses another strand of themselves to swipe through the phone, scrolling through website after website. Eddie has no idea how his data is working when they’re in a parallel universe, but he’s not going to complain.

He shifts into investigative-journalist mode. Honestly, he thought they had somehow been kidnapped at first, but Venom had quickly assured him that no, they weren’t kidnapped, but they had been… moved. Another universe, they had explained. How Venom could tell so easily, he doesn’t know, but Eddie figured it had something to do with the whole millenia-old-alien thing. It was easy to put together from there that the superhero kid on the TV most likely was either involved with what may have brought them to this new universe, or knew something about it. Since some asshole leaked the kid’s real identity (he’s literally a highschooler, like. A tiny kid ), it was relatively easy to find out what else they needed - where he lived. Which just so happened to be Eddie’s old stomping ground. He wonders if there’s an alternate version of himself walking around.

Venom hums in their mind, acknowledging the thought, before going back to doing whatever he does to get information from Eddie’s phone. The streets around them are relatively close to what Eddie remembers of New York, though some stores are different from their world. People mill about them, talking about their lives and whispering about villains.

Bad guys, Venom says, interest piqued at the sound of a girl loudly telling her friend about what sounds like a guy made of sand. We could eat them.

“They’re probably superpowered,” Eddie says, pulling his phone from his pocket to see what Venom had open. Surprisingly, it was relevant - a website for some highschool that had a picture of Spider-Man’s smiling face on it. “I don’t think they’d taste very good.”

Hmmm. Not the sandy guy. Maybe there is one that tastes like lobster. We like lobster.

“Not chicken?” Eddie smirked to himself as he looked at the school’s website. Seemed like it was one for smart kids. Good for Spider-Man. Venom, however, made his distaste known through their bond.

NO! No more chicken! It has been ruined for us… Venom hissed out the last sentence, rolling in Eddie’s chest in offense. Eddie just bit his lip to stop himself from laughing. He could feel Venom’s pout. You are a bitch.

“Hey, I’m sorry.”

No you are not!

“I am! I am.”

Venom growled in their mind, but it was half hearted, and Eddie could feel Venom curling around the hand still in his pocket. He rubbed his thumb over a strand, and he could feel Venom do his not-quite-purr-but-still-cute noise.

They come up to what looks a lot like the chocolatier store Eddie remembered being in this area of NYC, though the name is slightly different and the brand colours are changed. Parallel universes and all that. Venom peers out from under his collar, eyes barely noticeable from under his sweater. Eddie can feel the curiosity leaking from the symbiote.

Smells… fancy. His hunger leaks into Eddie, and he licks his lips. Jesus, he is hungry.

“It is fancy.” Eddie says, stepping in through the doors. Not many people are inside, and Eddie sighs a bit in relief to have a break from the crowds. “Hey. We can mix and match.”

There’s a case divided into sections, each one filled with different chocolate balls of different flavours. On either end is a place to grab bags, and Venom moves their arm to grab at them.

“Don’t go too wild,” Eddie mumbles, knowing that Venom probably won’t listen. Their dark inkiness slithers down Eddie’s arm, melding with his tattoos. Eddie can’t help but smile a bit, feeling the symbiote’s excitement as if it were his own.

Will be good, Venom promises, his presence soft in Eddie’s mind. Mostly.

Eddie’s thankful he’d set up his cards to work on his phone.

“Come on, pick up, pick up please…” Peter paces on a rooftop, phone nestled between his face and shoulder as he runs his hands through his hair over and over. Close by, Otto watches, hands in his pockets, extra arms tilting and looking around, acting as his extra eyes. The young Peter had been trying to call someone for awhile, but whoever it was refused to answer. Eventually, he gave an irritated huff and pulled the phone away from his ear, his other hand now rubbing at his face.

“Everything alright?” He called over, his arms tilting their claws to the side in sync. Peter looked over, his shoulder slumped and looking like he was holding himself back from crying. A pang of worry went through Otto.

Peter looked over the view of New York. They were standing on a relatively tall building, so most people wouldn’t spot them from below. Peter’s had to deal with way too much attention recently.

“I’m fine.” Peter said, thankful his voice doesn’t waver. “I’m trying to call Dr. Strange, but he’s not responding to me, and I don’t know how else to reach him, or- or who else to call…” How’s he going to fix this? He’s just waiting for the Green Goblin to come back, or for some other guys to show up, too, and just make his day worse. He sensed more than heard Otto walk up behind him, placing a steady hand on his shoulder.

“It’ll be alright,” He said. He really didn’t know how to comfort the kid. He hadn’t known his own Peter that well, and this one was a teenaged version of the young adult he had fought. He was better equipped to fix robots and mathematical equations, not try and make a kid feel better. “Is there… anyone else we could contact?”

Peter’s eyebrows scrunched up as he thought, lightly tapping his phone against his thigh. “Well, I could call Ned or MJ, but I don’t know where we’d go. My apartment could probably fit the two of us, but I’m scared of people seeing me go in and, like, doxxing me.”

“Doxxing?” Otto echoed, not really familiar with the word. Peter looked up at him.

“They’ll post my address online, and everyone would be able to just come to my house and, like, harass me. Or worse,” Peter looked at his feet, anxiety starting to swell in him. “It’s happened to a lot of people.”

Otto bit his cheek, concern building in him. This kid is, what, 15? 16? Why would someone do that to him? Or anyone ? Well, okay, he would probably understand if the person actually deserved it. Like a kidnapper or a murderer.

Otto’s eyes slid to the sprawling city below them. It looked so much different than his own, somehow, despite being built quite the same. It made him homesick, nostalgic for different times. Older times. When he was happier. When these arms did not weigh him down.

He could feel their offense, the whirring mechanics against his spine and piercing through his nerves. One clicked at him, opening its claws in such a way the tap-tap-tap of the metal almost sounded like a language.

“I’m sorry,” Peter said, crouching along the edge of the building. One of the arms teetered out and hovered close to his back. 

“For what?” 

“Bringing you into this,” Peter said. Otto distantly thought that maybe the kid was much too close to the edge than he should be. “I shouldn’t have been so selfish. It’s sort of my fault that Beck was able to do what he did.”

The arm gently took hold of the collar of Peter’s suit, carefully pulling him back from the edge. He looked up at Otto with wide eyes.

“You’re not to blame for another man’s actions,” Otto said, and Peter blinked owlishly at him. “From what I know about you, Peter, since we’ve met just a bit ago, you probably did what you thought was right, and if someone took advantage of that, you shouldn’t feel the need to take responsibility.”

The metal arm let go of Peter when Otto felt he was an acceptable distance from the edge of the building. To be fair, he had only moved him a few inches, but he felt a bit of relief at the space. “You don’t really know what happened, though,” Peter said, sounding a bit miserable. “Maybe I really did bring it all on myself.”

“You know, I blamed Spider-Man for causing my downfall myself.” Otto admitted, looking away from Peter. He didn’t want to see the kids face when he reminds them both that he’s still a villain. “He tried to stop my project’s exhibition when it was overloading, and I resisted. But in reality, what happened was my fault. I didn’t stop when I should have.”

He felt Peter’s hand on his arm, and he looked down at the boy from the corner of his sunglasses. He had a somber expression on his face. “When he tried to shut down my collider, Peter, it was because he was doing the right thing. I did villainous things due to it in a way, I suppose, but not in one where Spider-Man was to blame.”

Peter gave him a sad smile, and the arms curved around him curiously. “I think you’re a good guy, Dr. Octavius.”

“Please,” Otto said, “You can just call me Otto.”

“Okay, Otto,” Peter said, and the smile finally reached his eyes. “Do you, uhm, want to get something to eat?”

Otto felt himself give the boy a smile in return. “Certainly.”

The sky is starting to darken, the bright lights of New York flickering on as it gets later and later. The smog smells similar to that of San Francisco, but Venom is still enamored with the giant billboards casting lights on to Times Square. People mill about, encircling them, ignoring them. Venom peaks out from Eddie’s neck, misty eyes taking everything in.

Eddie, Venom whispers in their mind, there is a man made of squares up there.

Eddie turns his head to one of the large billboards, where it looks like a character from a game has appeared. He definitely recognizes it, though he can’t remember the name. “Yeah. There’s always something eye-catching on these.” He sees a few young people point up at the billboard excitedly before the video fades to something else.

Interesting. Then, We have had bad luck looking for the Spider.

Eddie huffs, a slight twinge of anxiety starting in his chest at the thought. “Yeah, I know. But I wanna keep a low profile.”

You are just a little bitch. It would be easier if we were… higher.

Eddie rubs at his forehead, but he knows Venom is right. As nice as it is to walk around New York, Peter - Spider-Man - will probably be trying to keep a low profile while he can, and Eddie really doesn’t want to creepily wait outside of the kid’s school or his apartment. He’s itching to get back, but he’s not really at that level of desperation yet. It’s not like he’s alone, here.

Yes. Not alone. Venom ripples with pleasure. We will get home. Together.

“Together,” Eddie breathes, and it brings a warmness to his chest he’s not yet used to. The symbiote curls around his hands, darkness tangling between his fingers. Eddie smiles and brings a hand up to his mouth, giving the blackness a soft kiss. Venom’s giddiness at the affection travels through their bond, making Eddie feel lighter.

Their joy is short lived, however, as suddenly the billboards all flicker and power down, encasing Times Square in darkness. Some people scream, but mostly the crowd stands still, gazing upward in trepidation. Seems like they’re used to things going wrong. Venom moves inside Eddie, tense.

What is happening, Eddie? Venom asks, and Eddie looks between all the billboards quickly, already moving himself away from the large crowd.

“I don’t know, buddy,” He says, voice a hoarse whisper. Flashes of light appear in the sky, pure electricity licking the shadows of the city, and the entire block loses power. This time, more people scream, and some even start to run. “I have a bad feeling.”

Everyone has a bad feeling. They are screaming and running.

“I meant we might have to do some… lethal protecting.”

Venom perks up at that, excitement starting to flow through them. Really, Eddie!? Will we? Will we??

“Geez, settle down.” The electricity is getting larger, and definitely closer. The entire crowd is running now, though some people seem to stay close, filming or just wanting to see what happens. “I said might. Though it’s looking to be more of a will.”

YES!! Venom roars in their mind, and Eddie can feel them rippling just under his skin, ready to envelop him. We will be GREAT, Eddie! HEROES! The BEST HEROES!

They finally get to see the cause of the electricity outburst - a glowing blue man in some kind of suit. He’s huffing and puffing, electricity crackling off of him like a live tesla coil, and he keeps ripping out wiring from the ground and buildings. Eddie doesn’t like the look of it.

“SPIDER-MAN!” He bellows, throwing a giant piece of metal he just ripped out of who-knows-where. “Where are you!”

“What do these guys have against Spider-Man?” Eddie mumbles. “He’s a kid.”

Eddie, Venom slithered his way across Eddie’s shoulders and forearms, We protect children.

“I know where you’re going,” Eddie sighed. It was just them standing in the middle of Times Square now, the civilians all having run. The living battery stared them down, almost curious. Eddie rolled his shoulders back, feeling his bones move around Venom’s presence. “Well. If we’re lucky, it’ll go better than with Cletus.”

Do not remind us.

Eddie huffed a bit at that. “Mask.”

Venom enveloped Eddie, the process familiar and comforting now. He blinked a few times, and then he was seeing through Venom’s eyes instead of his own, everything sharper and colourful. “Copy.”

“What the hell?” The electrical guy yelled, before his face contorted into a snarl and electricity crackled between his fingers. Venom roared at him, leaping into the air and latching onto a nearby building, pushing against the surface as he jumped closer and closer to the blue man.

It’s like he’s a rejected blue man group member, Eddie said, picturing the performers in his mind for Venom to understand the reference. They laughed.

“He was not good enough to be a blue man.” Venom’s tongue licked across his teeth as he got behind the stranger. He was turning to get his eyes on Venom again, but they were faster. “Silly lightning man! We will eat his head.”

They leapt, soaring at him, but when they got within a few inches of him, the air suddenly sparked, and a large wave of electricity washed over Venom, making them roar and their form ripple, spiking painfully away from Eddie. They flew backwards in the air before catching themselves, claws gouging the concrete beneath them.

“That hurt!” Venom snarled. The man smiled cruelly at them. He raised a fist to the sky, more electricity shooting up into the sky.

“Even a monster like you can’t touch me,” He said, “You can’t hurt Electro!”

“Stupid name.” They circled the man, staying away from metal and other things conductive. “I will think of a better one. Like Smurf. You are blue and small!” Venom smiled, more of his mouth showing. “Much funnier. We like it more.”

I don’t think this is what we should be focusing on, Eddie chastised in their mindspace, We need to take him down. There are tons of people around.

Venom looked around the area. The electricity flickering around them was hitting the buildings, causing sparks to fly. There were still some people outside, too, watching everything unfold and trying to film it. Venom snarled and twisted his tongue in the air as they tried to think. 

The guy - Electro - fires off more blasts of electricity, causing a pole behind them to explode as they jump out of the way. They start to run around him, staying away from civilians but also trying to buy time. A few bolts hit too close, and parts of Venom ebb off, retreating into Eddie to regenerate before returning. They can’t play the defensive game forever.

He shoots at one of the giant billboards - the one with the game guy on it earlier - it shudders before beginning to fall, sparks flying off it. There’s a few startled screams as people who were hiding near it started to run out of the way - right into the open. Venom growls as they leap forward, grabbing two people with their hands and grabbing another three with extra strands of themself. Their feet crunch craters into the street as they run, the bystanders screaming in their arms. Electro is getting higher and higher in the sky - that could be bad.

As they get everyone out of the way, Eddie has an idea, immediately passing it over to Venom in their mind. They make a chattering noise with their teeth.

“We must ground him.” They can feel Eddie’s amusement.

Venom roars, dropping everyone onto the ground when Eddie deems it safe, and they jump onto the nearest skyscraper, hauling themselves higher and higher into the sky, until they were level with Electro. They could hear the energy crackling around them, loud enough that it drowned out whatever Electro was saying, but they really didn’t care about that. They jumped from building to building as Electro shot at them, bright lights burning into Venom and casting great shadows against the buildings. Up here, they could see far into New York, could see the distance Electro’s bolts covered whenever he didn’t quite control them. At this rate, it doesn’t matter if the people around Times Square are evacuated, the electricity will start hitting ground miles around them.

Distract him, Eddie suggested, and Venom hummed. He grabbed onto a sign attached to the side of the building and ripped it off. Not like that!

“Not our universe. Who cares.” Venom trilled smugly, before throwing the debris like a frisbee. They could see Electro’s eyes widen, and move as fast as he could out of the way, Electricity moving over buildings around him to keep him aloft.

As soon as the piece of board is past him, Electro tries to refocus on Venom, only to see him inches away from his face.

They collide, toppling back down to the concrete. The impact is jarring, but not painful, Venom keeping Eddie’s body safe. They roll over one another as Venom and Electro wrestle, before a large bolt of electricity crashes through Venom, shaking both Eddie and the symbiote themself. They roar, head arching back as their form temporarily shakes apart. The heat is worse than fire, but it’s so quick that it doesn’t have the same lasting damage. As soon as parts of Venom are burned up, they’re regenerated. Electro sneers, and electrocutes them again. They writhe in pain.

As Electro stands over Venom, he seems like he’s about to gloat, smugness radiating from him. Venom snarls. As Electro readies to shock them again, Venom reaches out and grabs him by the face. The yell he lets out is muffled, and the energy his very flesh lets out burns Venom, but they both endure. They lift him easily - he weighs so little - and throw him into a large store with colourful circles outside it, each marked an ‘m’. Eddie registers what Venom just did a few seconds after.

Oh my god. The M&M store.

“THEY ARE GROSS EDDIE!! We are doing New York a favour.”

They follow Electro in, electricity bouncing everywhere in the smaller space. He tries to maneuver through the store, but Venom is fast and also uncaring for extensive damage. Their large body crashes into giant tubes of M&M’s, scattering them around the store. The electronics shake and convulse as Electro feeds off them, more electricity licking the walls. The bolts hitting them are painful, enough that Venom’s face is in a permanent snarl, but they charge at Electro despite.

When they start to get too close, they veer, skirting around Electro and toward the giant M&M statue. Electro unleashes another surge of electricity around him in preparation, but Venom’s already out of range for it, though it does cause sparks to fly out of some machines nearby. He grabs the bottom of the M&M statue, heaving it up with both arms, a heavy grunt escaping him that transforms into a roar. He spins it around in a circle before heaving the statue, pinning Electro against it and crashing through the wall of the store. Venom howled, hundreds of fallen M&Ms scattered at their feet.

“WE ARE VICTORIOUS! Victorious against the small blue man!” Venom pumped his fists into the air, tongue snaking out and tasting the air. The guy did seem knocked out with the giant green M&M statue crushing him, bits of electricity sneaking out from underneath but slowly dying out. Eddie doesn’t think he can ever turn off the spark. Venom leaps next to the head and brings up the statue.

There he is. There’s some off-colour blood leaking out his mouth, and he’s blinking blearily up at the sky. Venom slams the top of the statue down onto him a few more times. That’s a bit overkill.

“He is too staticky to eat. Unfortunately.” Venom’s voice seems to curl around last word, dropping the statue with a finality before looking around at the destruction. People look at them fearfully, so they move slowly. He can feel Eddie’s nervousness at Venom peeling away, so they stay in control, looking for a good way to escape. Suddenly, they hear the thumping of metal coming closer.

“Woah, did you just destroy the M&M store?” A young sounding voice calls down to them. Venom looks up, seeing Spider-Man standing sideways on a building above them, and a- holy shit that’s a guy with four metal arms. “Dude, that’s a major tourist attraction. Where are people gonna go now? The ghostbusters building?”

“Spider-Man,” Venom purred, and they noticed the boy getting more tense as they spoke, “We have been looking for you.”

“Of course you have. Why wouldn’t you?” He muttered, shaking his head. His suit looked brighter than on the TV. “Listen, man, I’m getting tired of fighting strangers.”

Works for us. 

As Venom opens his maw to talk, a gob of web is shot directly into his mouth, tasting of chemicals. Venom leans back, scratching at the webbing now covering his mouth and parts of his eyes. It’s sticky and invasive and bad, and he smashes the statue in half with his foot. Spider-Man swings past him as the man thunders down the side of the building, arms cracking the windows. 

As Venom rips the web out, he roars, spit flying and teeth on display. Spider-Man’s eyes widen at that, comical with the suit, and shoots more webs at his hands. Venom sneers at the feeling, and throws their fists at the ground, cracking it. Bud, they think we’re bad guys.

“NO SHIT!” Venom yells, and suddenly one of those metal arms is hitting his head, clamping down and holding him against the concrete. Venom roars and twists his tongue around the claw, tensing his muscle around the appendage. The man appears above them, using two of his other legs to hold him up.

“What kind of creature are you?” The man - more like an octopus, really - peers down at them, dislike and curiosity mixing together. Venom feels hate burning up from within; he looks much like the scientists that tortured him in the LIFE labs.

“We…” Venom curls his tongue around the claw’s joint and rips, tearing the limb in half, electricity spouting out from the broken edge. As they toss the broken half onto the ground, it writhes before falling still. “...are VENOM.”

They get back onto their feet, tongue still curled out of their mouth, as the octopus man staggers away on his three remaining legs. He senses too late the body coming towards them, and gets kicked in the head by a flying child. “‘We’? Are you, like, a hivemind?”

Venom snarls, starting to get annoyed, but Eddie tries his best to calm him. He’s just a kid. He’s probably being hunted down by a bunch of other people. He’s just scared.

“IT IS STILL ANNOYING!” Venom growled, and Spider-Man looks confused as he swings around, staying out of Venom’s arm length.

“That doesn’t really answer my question!” The kid calls out, and Venom just bares his teeth.

They shoot out tendrils of themselves, grabbing onto debris nearby, swirling them around before throwing them in different directions, trying to predict Spider-Man’s movements. The octopus man is still teetering from losing a functioning arm, though the broken one still wobbles around with some pathetic life left, and the thumps of metal against street are a percussive accompaniment to the game of tag they and Spider-Man have begun.

They start to lead Venom out of Times Square, the two of them going higher and higher up the buildings, causing Venom to follow. Eddie resolutely does not pay attention to the heights they’re achieving. Tell them we’re not enemies!

“They want to FIGHT, Eddie!” Venom growls out. The octopus man looks curiously at them as they speak, and they glower at him as they keep up the chase. “He started it.”

Jesus christ, just STOP! Eddie yells, causing Venom to scrape across the building as they skid to a stop. Venom comfortably hangs from a hand, looking at their reflection in the glass. God. We don’t fight kids, Vee.

“He started it.” Venom pouted, eyes narrowing. Eddie just huffs, and Venom can taste the displeasure. They roll their jaw around. “Fine. We will stop.”

Thank you, Eddie says, relief evident. Ahead of them, Spider-Man and the octopus man have stopped, watching the two of them. The guy with Spider-Man will probably not be happy about them breaking his arm, but that doesn’t really matter. Probably won’t ever see him again, anyway. We just have to talk.

Venom kept pouting, but he was listening, which was something. Before Eddie could continue, though, a burst of light came up in the reflection of the building's windows. Eyes widening, Venom looked behind them, towards Times Square. The same arcs of light from Electro were sparking up again. They had caught Spider-Man and octopus guy’s attention as well. What the hell?

“Good question.” Venom leaped off the building, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, as he went back to the large pavilion. “I should have eaten him!”

For once, I’m inclined to agree.

Soon, Venom sensed two other presences, and glancing behind them they could see Spider-Man slinging from his webs, quickly gaining on them. Close by was the octopus man, doing relatively well for someone who just lost a leg. Then again, he did have five more.

“Spider-Man,” Venom growled, “Don’t get in our way.”

“What is that? Were you fighting whoever was causing that?” Spider-Man’s voice really did sound childish when he was yelling, high pitched the way only a teenager’s voice can be.

“Obviously!” Venom bit out. They were getting frustrated. “Eddie. He is stupid. We can find another way home.”

“Hey!” 

Hey, be nice.

“Who do you keep talking to?” Peter asked. They were getting to Times Square. Soon they’ll be able to see the blue guy’s stupid little head again. Venom salivated at the thought of eating it, even if they knew it would taste bad.

“Ourselves.”

“Well, that’s confusing.”

“You don’t want to kill Spider-Man?” The octopus guy asked. Venom let out a frustrated, animalistic noise.

“NO! The humans here are worse than ours, Eddie.”

“Is your name Eddie, or Venom?”

“We are Venom! Together! Shut up!”

“If you don’t want to kill Spider-Man, why did you attack him?”

“HE attacked US!” They spat, skidding to a stop on a rooftop overlooking Times Square. They got there in time to see Electro free himself from debris, electricity snaking across the ground, more active due to his anger. “We were HELPING! HE-” Venom pointed a sharp claw down at Electro, “-was ATTACKING! WE STOPPED HIM! WE ARE A HERO!” Venom moved his finger to point at Spider-Man. “SCREW YOU!”

“Hey, man,” Spider-Man said weakly, putting his hands up. The octopus came to stand at Spider-Man’s side, arms folded and looking displeased. Venom snarled, tongue flashing out.

Let me out, buddy, Eddie said gently, let me try and help. 

Small parts of Venom broke out and waved in the wind, small tendrils soon brought back into the larger being. Eventually Venom made a grating noise at the back of their throat. “Fine.”

The symbiote melded back into Eddie’s skin, settling around his heart and shoulders. Eddie took in a deep breath as he met the eyes of their two new acquaintances. “Hi.”

“Oh my god,” Spider-Man breathed. “Holy shit.”

“You must be Eddie,” the other man said. Eddie put up his hands in a non-threatening gesture.

“I’m Eddie, the other guy was Venom. But also we- like, both of us- are Venom. Um. We’re good guys. Sorry about the confusion.” He sputtered out, trying to get to the point quickly. “I just wanna say, nice to meet you guys. We’re just trying to get back home. To our dimension.”

“You already know you’re in a different universe?” Spider-Man said, tilting his head slightly to the side. Jesus, he looks like a dog. Venom ripples around his shoulders.

“Yeah. Vee could tell,” Eddie explains. “We were trying to find you. We saw you on the news when we first got, uh, transported here? We figured you might know what’s happening.”

Spider-Man nods, then shrugs. “Well, I may have caused it. But we’re working on it.” He glances up at the other man, who gives him a small smile.

“Cool. Vee, please stop sulking.” Eddie shrugs his shoulders, trying to get Venom to feel a bit better. They really hate miscommunication, especially with their history with Eddie. Neither of them want to go back to that. “We’re on the same page again.”

“You’re talking to the other being?” The man said, and Eddie met his gaze. 

“Yeah. Hey. Sorry about your arm.” 

We are not sorry.

“He doesn’t need to know that,” Eddie mutters under his breath. Venom snickers in their mind.

The man remains unphased. “I can fix it.”

Eddie bites his lip. “Cool.”

They stop talking for a moment, all four of them stewing in the silence. Awkward.

“I’m Peter! Parker. Uh. Spider-Man, too.” Spider-Man pipes up, sticking a hand out. Eddie shakes it.

“Nice to meet you. Who’s your, uh…” He looks at the man again. He’s unnerved by his stance, the remaining arms seeming to leer at him. “...friend?”

“Otto Octavius.” He says. He doesn’t move to shake Eddie’s hand. Venom moves Eddie's hand to pat Peter on the shoulder.

“Friendly,” Eddie mumbles. Suddenly, the hair on the back of his neck stands up. “Wait.”

He turns to look at Times Square, where a crazy electricity guy was previously standing in. It’s now empty, just shadows edging along the buildings. “Ah, shit.”

Dumbass.

“You forgot too, shut up.”

“Where did they go?” Peter asked, peering out over the pavilion. “They were shooting lightning out their butt. How’d we lose them?”

“You didn’t.” A voice echoed up.

Ascending in front of them, electricity licking up the building as Electro is brought up in front of them, energy sparking off him. He looks pissed, blood dried on his face. “Spider-Man.”

“You don’t wanna be friends, do you?” Peter whines. Otto takes a defensive stance in front of the kid, and Eddie finds himself doing the same, Venom leaking out from his skin and enveloping him into their large form.

“I’ll finish you once and for all.” His eyes roved over the trio. "All of you."

Chapter Text

Fun fact: Being thrown through a wall wasn’t fun. In fact, it was extremely painful.

This was not news for Peter. He’s been thrown through walls before, crushed under the weight of an entire building, shot, and aggressively nut tapped by Flash. It’s not really something he thinks about, though; Oh man, remember when you got thrown through a wall, Peter? Those were fun times.

This has to take the cake, though, for moments he’s been thrown through drywall. This time he manages to break through three walls in a row, and get glass embedded into his back. He skips across the floor like a rock on water before sliding to a stop in the middle of a small restaurant. A waitor screams at his arrival, while a few other staff members start to escort people out. Some nice person tries to help him up, but he points at the exit, too busy coughing to say any clear words. There’s gonna be dust in his chest for weeks.

Whoever they are, they grab the hand of what may be their date and rush out. Tendrils of lightning are starting to leak into the holes that his body made, and a shudder goes up his spine. He’s really not up for this. Outside, he can hear Venom’s roar, and the fact that it mingles a bit with Eddie’s voice is worrisome.

Electro steps into the now-deserted room, the crackling coming from him so loud that it hurts Peter’s ears. This was, decidedly, not going well.

He wasn’t sure how long they were fighting for - only that when Electro appeared at the rooftop and uttered his very vague-but-still-unnerving threat, Venom had immediately jumped onto him unhinged his jaw like a snake. They both tumbled down to the middle of Times Square after that, with Peter right on his heels, swinging down as fast as he could. He hasn’t seen Dr. Octavius around, and while that’s a bit annoying, Peter understands - the guy has four giant metal arms. Well, three now, but still. If he was a giant conductor, Peter wouldn’t wanna get near the electric guy either. He just hoped Dr. Octavius was trying to help in a different way.

Now, as Electro stalks ever closer, Peter frantically tries to web at his arms, or somethng around him, so that he doesn’t get fried. Electro flings an arm out in front of him, his whole arm looking tense, and slender bolts of lightning arc towards Peter. He screams out in pain, his throat scratched from overuse. He manages to slide his fingers around the leg of a chair, and throws the object at Electro’s head. He ducks, but it gives Peter enough time to get back on his feet and within punching range.

Hitting Electro was like touching a live wire - it stung, and he could feel slight aftershocks ringing through his fingers, but it doesn’t stop him from swinging a left hook and catching him in the jaw. When Electro tries to grab at him with a whole hand - which would probably be very bad for Peter’s health - he flips out of range, wrists flicking into a familiar position, two fingers pressing down on the release gadget for his webshooters. Except the only thing that that emerges from his wrists are sparks.

“What-?” Peter mutters, before a table slams him in the face. He can feel something in his nose break, and a fresh flow of blood come leaking into his mouth. The taste is bitter on his tongue.

“I finally have you where I want you,” Electro seethes. He’s stalking towards Peter, who’s eyes flutter around the room, trying to formulate a plan.

“You wanted to bring me to a restaurant? I’m flattered, but you’re a bit too old for me.” His voice is a bit raspy, but an idea is coming together - and the sleek black inching out from behind Electro is a welcome sign they’re no longer alone.

“I’m gonna show you what happens when you steal my spotlight,” Electro spits - actually spits, it’s tinged blue and looking staticky - “You gave me hope, only to take it away!”

“Geez, man. I think you need therapy,” Peter inches backwards, grabbing onto a bar stool. “Or maybe a hollywood contract. You got the mindset for it.”

Electro snarls, and shoots out more electricity towards Peter - but he’s already in the air, hands pushing himself up on top of the barstool, and as the light flickers out, he flips, grabbing onto the edge of the barstool and hurling it towards Electro. As that’s sailing through the air and Electro is dodging, there’s another chair, and another, and then he finally gets his hands on what he was building up to - a bunch of cutlery.

A bundle of forks and knives fly haphazardly through the air, hitting more or less on target. There’s two in his right arm and one in his left, and Peter feels guilty about drawing blood, but he isn’t sure how else to weaken him. As Electro tries to fire more energy at Peter, extra lightning tears out from where the metal cutlery is embedded into him, causing the bolts to fire randomly out of him. Electro cries out, and just as the room lights up with his power, an inky darkness envelopes it - Venom has come out of hiding.

“You are a very sad man.” Venom’s voice echoes out, deep and unnerving. His eyes and teeth fade in from the shadows, and his hulking form brushes the ceiling of the room. He snaps his teeth and his tongue lolls out of his mouth. “Preying on a child. We will make sure the world forgets you.”

That lights a fire under Electro’s ass, apparently, because his eyes start to glow and more lightning arcs out from him. “I’ll kill you, first!” He yells, and as Venom throws their massive body toward Electro, he rips out a knife that was in his arm, blood spurting out after it, and stabs Venom’s chest with it. It doesn’t go in far, but it makes contact, which is enough - a fresh current of electricity burns through the connection so fast that the metal starts to turn orange with heat. The pained howl Venom lets out is gut-wrenching, and Peter is jumping in faster than he can process what’s happening.

He slings himself onto Electro, and ignores his Spidey-sense telling him off! Get off! Get off NOW! and clamps his legs around Electro’s back, holds his throat and head tightly. It does the trick; Electro gasps out as his breathing starts to get cut off, and stops electrocuting Venom. They fall to the floor, giant mass rippling and losing definition. They’re still enveloping Eddie, but they’re gonna need a quick breather.

Peter can feel his skin starting to burn and singe where he’s touching Electro, but he just grips tighter as Electro spins around, trying to get the boy off. Eventually he yells out of frustration, and Peter feels the man’s skin heat up even more under him, charging.

Whatever he’s getting ready to do, it may just kill Peter, and gravely injure Venom. He doesn’t know how much time he has, definitely not enough to form a plan, but he’s thinking as hard as he can and he-

“SPIDER-MAN!” Otto’s voice rings out. “OUT OF THE WAY!”

Peter throws himself off Electro, smoke lightly wafting off him, and just as his back’s slamming into the ground a gunshot rings through the restaurant.

Electro staggers back, blood pouring out from his shoulder, and he looks up blindly. Peter turns to where Dr. Octavius’s voice had come from, and the man stands in the doorway to the restaurant, arms circling him, a pistol in his hand.

“Where did you get a GUN!?” Peter yells. Otto doesn’t answer. He just shoots Electro in his other shoulder. “STOP SHOOTING HIM!!”

Electro bares his teeth, either not feeling the pain of two gun wounds or ignoring them, and shoots electricity at the other man. The bolts dance around the room sporadically, and Otto isn’t fast enough to get away - he cries out as he’s hit by two thick bolts, body spasming and his arms twitching and shuddering around him.

Peter staggers to his feet, anger building up in him. He’s going to take Electro down, no matter how long it takes him.

Suddenly, Venom leers up behind Electro, and before either of them can react, he’s opening his maw and biting Electro’s head clean off. 

Peter screeches.

Electro doesn’t bleed so much as he turns into a tesla coil. Sharp electricity shoots out of his neck, leaks out of his wounds, and Peter can see it burn off huge chunks of Venom as he swiftly devours the rest of the man’s body, leaving nothing but a pool of off-colour blood and twitching blackness. Venom shakes his head, limbs absolutely trembling, before slipping back fully into Eddie, who staggers slightly. His hair’s sticking out every which-way, and his fingers are twitching rapidly. The older man shakes his body and lets out a disgruntled noise.

“That was unpleasant.” He said. Peter gaped.

“You ate him.” He breathed. Eddie looked up at the kid.

“Uh. Yeah. We do that sometimes. We try not to, but, I mean, we made a deal recently, and…” He’s still feeling scrambled from the pure electricity they just digested, so he’s not really in the best state to explain the grey morality that they have When he takes a step towards Peter, though, the kid takes a shaky step back. Eddie bites his lip and shoves his hands into his pockets, then stuffs them into the back of his jeans, then runs them through his hair. He has too much energy. Peter’s looking at them with such fear, such distrust, it… he feels guilty. They feel guilty.

Venom rumbles around Eddie’s lungs, bothered but too strained to appear again. The whole battle was painful and exhausting, and while the electricity gives Eddie an extra jump, it seems to be unnerving Venom.

Peter suddenly turns and sprints over to where Otto lies on the ground, groaning. The arms are starting to wake up, twitching against the hardwood floors before lifting and spinning their claws. Two of them open up and small, red pinprick lights light up Peter’s face. They seem to watch him, before one of them moves slowly to Peter’s shoulder and brings him closer to Otto’s body. 

Peter crouches down, about to check the man’s vitals when he sees Dr. Octavius move his head and try to pull himself up. Peter quickly slings one of Otto’s arms around his shoulders and helps him up. The extra arms watch on, and when Otto’s on his feet again, one of them moves Peter’s hair out of his face. Peter gives a nervous laugh and a weak smile to the claw.

Eddie awkwardly stands back, shoes getting stained with the blood on the floor. They look back at Eddie, and he can see Otto start to look around for Electro. Peter fidgets. “Venom…”

“We ate him,” Eddie cuts Peter off. Otto raises his eyebrows. “We… couldn’t think of another way to deal with him. So. Yeah.”

Otto watches him silently, and Venom moves around Eddie’s shoulders, just under the skin, anxiousness slowly turning into aggression in the symbiote. Eddie rubs at one of his shoulders, trying to calm them.

“Alright.” Dr. Octavius eventually says. As they all stand in place, he gestures for Eddie to come closer.

Peter has large parts of raw skin showing, the suit being burned off and the smell of cooked flesh in the air. The area around Otto’s metal belt is a gnarly red, and a new spiral of electrical burn sprouts from the right side of his chest. The only one unwounded is Eddie, but he still looks frazzled. Peter nervously looks between Otto and Eddie.

“You ate him.” He says again. Eddie sighs and rubs his face.

“You’re gonna have to move past that, kid,” He grunts. Peter blinks owlishly at him.

“I think I’m in shock.”

“Definitely,” Otto says, a hand coming up to rest on a part of Peter’s shoulder that isn’t injured. “We need to get your wounds treated.”

The kid nods and casts a fearful look to Eddie. Dr. Octavius draws his attention by lightly shaking his shoulder, remaining claws circling around the group, watching. “We need to go somewhere safe. Not a rooftop.”

Peter looks hesitant, but nods. “Alright,” He says, “But I can’t go home. I can’t put Aunt May in danger.”

Eddie shoves his hands into his hoodie pocket, fingers twitching before Venom envelopes them in an alien hold. It’s comforting. “Where the hell do we go, then?”

Peter’s eyes light up. “I have an idea.”

The room is cold and smells terrible, layers and layers of spray paint caking the walls, painted over a hundred times over the years. Weak lights flicker overhead, and a few tattered desks fill the room along with two ratty couches and a shitty fridge. It’s a work in progress.

In the middle of the room, MJ stands with her arms folded, Ned practically bouncing from excitement next to her. Her face remains passive, but there’s a quirk in her eyebrow that tells Peter she’s worried about his sorry state.

He steps into the room with Eddie supporting some of his weight - whatever Electro did was sticking around. He waves weakly to his best friend and girlfriend, which only Ned returns.

“Oh wow, Peter, is that the guy with metal arms? I’ve been watching the news all day , you’ve gotta fill me in dude!” Ned is getting up close and personal, looking over Eddie with wide eyes. Peter just grunts as a rough step irritates his bruised ribs. Suddenly, Ned looks a lot more concerned. “Man, are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine,” He huffs, sitting down on one of the couches. He’s thankful that MJ pitched the idea of safe-houses to him when she did (which was basically as soon as they got back to New York), otherwise he’d have no idea where to hide away from the city. “I just need to get patched up and take a nap.”

“You’re bleeding everywhere,” MJ deadpans, already retrieving a small medkit. It clicks open and she starts unravelling a wad of gauze. “What even happened to your phone? You're lucky I answer telemarketer calls or else I wouldn’t have met you here.”

“Fought a guy named Electro. He was electric. Please tell you can connect the dots,” Peter wheezed, exhaustion starting to really hit him. 

MJ grunted, but her hands were gentle as she patched up the electrical wounds. While she worked, Ned’s eyes wandered over to Eddie, who stood a bit away with his arms crossed. He was looking to the side, muttering to himself. Kind of a weirdo.

Light on his feet, Ned inched around behind Eddie. If this was the metal arm guy, he just had to get a look at the technology there. How did they retract back into his back? Getting close, he slowly poked his finger into Eddie’s back. Strange, it felt like a regular back-

“HOLY SHIT!” Ned yelled as a set of razor-sharp teeth almost bit off his finger. Out of the man’s back an inky black head formed, white eyes narrowed and teeth bared. It growled, and Eddie swung around on his feet, facing Ned; the second head kept glaring down at Ned, morphing along Eddie’s body so that it hovered in the same space. “What the HELL IS THAT!?”

“Vee I said- jesus fucking christ,” Eddie grumbled, swatting at the head with his hand. “Vee” just hissed at Ned before slithering up Eddie’s chest to sway at his shoulder.

“He was sneaking up on us.” Eddie just gave Vee a withering glare. At that, the head seemed to pout before melting back into Eddie’s shoulder. Ned continued to stare up at him, face utterly terrified.

“You’re not the arms guy.” Ned meekly said. Eddie just huffed a laugh and rolled back his shoulders. Under his skin, Ned could see some veins darken briefly, as if the inky head was moving around him.

“No, I’m not.” MJ has paused treating Peter’s wounds to look at Eddie, suspicion in her gaze. Above them, a distant thudding starts, slowly getting louder. “He has to take the long way down.”

The thundering starts to shake the walls, and Ned takes a step away from Eddie. “I’ll let him introduce himself,” Eddie smirks a bit.

Crawling out from an abandoned elevator shaft is Otto, three robotic arms carefully scouring their way down and through the opening. His trenchcoat is singed at the edges, and bright red stains the glossy metal of his belt. He carries the fourth claw in his hands, freshly retrieved from Times Square, and the arm it was torn from circles around Otto’s shoulders, almost eager to get it’s head back. The claws bring him to the middle of the room, small craters left in his wake, before they lightly bring him to his feet. 

Otto looks over the group, meeting MJ’s surprised face and giving Ned’s terrified one a small smile. “Hello… other teenagers.”

“Dr. Octavius,” Peter says weakly with a smile, “You found your hand.”

“Yes, thankfully. I was starting to get worried that the police would have confiscated it,” He rumbles. Ned is suddenly in front of him, eyes roving the ever-twisting claws, practically glowing.

“These are amazing! ” He gasps. As a claw closes and moves closer to him, he runs an appreciative hand over it. The claw clicks appreciatively. “Did you make these yourself? Are they sentient? What are they made of? Can you-” He cuts himself off, meeting Otto’s gaze. He steps back tentatively. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Otto says, readjusting his arms so he can hold onto the broken claw better. “It’s quite nice to hear someone be appreciative of my work.” He moves his gaze from Ned to MJ, who’s resumed treating Peter but is still giving him a wary look. “Introductions. I’m Dr. Otto Octavius. This is…” One of his claws gestures to Eddie, who scratches at his neck.

“Oh.” He clears his throat, and with a roll of his shoulder, Venom materializes next to him, teeth glistening in the light. “I’m Eddie. Eddie Brock, I mean. This is Venom,” he gestures to the floating head next to him, and at the indication their maw opens just enough for their tongue to slightly dangle. “But us, both of us, are also Venom. It’s kinda complicated, we-”

“Are the LETHAL PROTECTOR! ” Venom roars, their head waving in the air excitedly. “ We protect the innocent. Eat the bad guys. ” Eddie coughed into his fist. “ Some bad guys,” Venom corrected himself.

“I was going to say symbiotic , bud.” He said, but the words were fond rather than annoyed. Venom made a sound like a bass-boosted purr and nuzzled their head against Eddie’s chin.

“You’re weird.” MJ stated. Her eyes darted around the room. “This is very weird.”

“They’re okay, MJ.” Peter said, laying his hand on top of MJ’s. She looked up to meet his eyes, and some of the tenseness left her shoulders at the soft smile he gave her. “I’m okay, too. Safe the important supplies for Dr. Octavius.”

“I’ve gone through worse,” Otto said, laying the claw on one of the desks. “You’re the hero; you need to be in tip-top shape. I’ll be fine.”

“You got electrocuted, ” Peter said, incredulous. “With four giant metal arms on your back. I don’t know how you’re alive. ”

“I’ve been electrocuted before,” Otto said, voice calm. “If anything, I just disproved the ‘third time’s the charm’ saying.”

Peter stood at that, grunting slightly but walking over to Otto’s side, MJ following close behind. Ned and Eddie carefully stood to the side, not interrupting. 

“How are you okay with that?!” Peter exclaimed. “You could’ve died. Doesn’t that bother you?”

Dr. Octavius looked up at him, eyes hidden behind those stupid sunglasses. “No, it doesn’t.”

Peter’s shoulders rose and fell frantically, and he slammed a fist on the desk. The broken claw rattled, and Otto stood, shadow looming over Peter, but he wasn’t scared. “You should care. What would’ve happened if that killed you? If anything here kills you? Back home, who would be wondering where you’ve gone?”

“No one would, boy.” Otto sneered. The three functioning arms circled around him, staring down at Peter with their beady red lights. MJ grabbed onto Peter’s shoulders, face fierce. Peter wasn’t scared. He wasn’t.

“You’re Peter Parker,” Peter says, voice firm. “What about him ?”

Otto barks out a cold laugh, and strokes the broken arm as it slowly lays on the desk in front of him. “He thinks I’m dead. As I should be.”

Peter blinks at him, and Otto slumps into his chair. One of his other arms opens it’s claws up and looks down at it’s broken brethren. A wicked blade shoots out of it, and starts to cut out broken and torn pieces.

“Wow, this is a lot of fun. Bundle of laughs. Anyone against us doing a food run?” Eddie broke the silence, Venom no longer a head but still visibly running along Eddie’s arms and shoulders. “We just ate, but Vee has that kind of appetite you can never quite quench.”

“Can I come?” Ned asks with wide eyes. “I’ve never met a real alien before.”

“Sure, whatever, I just wanna get the hell outta here.” He dips his fingers into the black mass that is Venom running along him. “What d’you want, sweetheart?”

Venom briefly forms a small face, just to rumble out a “McDonald’s.” before slipping fully back into Eddie. He claps a hand on Ned’s shoulder and steers him out. He turns to say something to the other three, but is silenced by the judging glare MJ is sending him and instead gives a sheepish shrug.

Peter is silently watching Otto as he tries to repair what he can of his arm, and MJ tugs at his shoulder. “You need to get the rest of your burns bandaged,” She softly tells him. “You’re still bleeding.”

“So is he,” Peter stubbornly says. Otto’s hand stutters a bit, but he continues working.

“Peter,” Otto sighs, “Get bandaged up.”

“Not unless you do, too.” Peter balls his hands into fists at his side, and Otto sighs again, rubbing at his forehead with a hand not holding onto dented metal.

“I need to fix what our new little alien friend broke,” Otto said, annoyance leaking into his voice. Peter bites his cheek and shoots a web at the arm, stopping Otto from being able to reach it. He turns sharply to Peter, anger clear on his face. Peter stares back.

“Oh god.” MJ mutters. “I’m gonna go see if I can catch up with Ned.”

She turns briskly away and speed walks out of the room, not wanting to be around in case there’s a fight between supers. She’s seen them up close. Not interested.

“ Why do you insist on getting your webs stuck in my business?” Otto sneered. Peter hunched his shoulders up.

“We said we’d work together on this, to get you and everyone else home. How are we supposed to do that if you’re letting yourself get hurt?”

“Unlike you , I have nothing to return to,” Bitterness tinged the doctor’s voice, and as he stood up, Peter took a step back. “I have no loved ones, no job, no home, nothing. I was meant to die along with my collider, abandoned at the bottom of the east river. But then, somehow, I’m brought here . Do you think I wanted this?”

“Of course not, no one would!” Peter said, his voice raising, “But you’re still a person, aren’t you? You’re still helping me, even though you don’t have to, and you’ve already saved my life, so maybe I care about your wellbeing, okay? Maybe I don’t want you to get hurt, because I’m pretty sure we’re at the point of being friends now!”

“We’re not friends , Parker,” and doesn’t that just sting, the amount of venom Otto pushed into those words. “You wouldn’t care about me if you knew what I’ve done.”

“I think I would! We’re teaming up with a guy we just watched eat another guy! Alive! In front of us!!” Peter took a step forward now, leaning into Otto’s space. “Maybe I’d understand if you told me what you did.”

Otto frowned deeply and turned around, staring at the webbing encasing his broken arm. “I won’t.”

Peter threw his hands up, exasperated. Jesus christ, and he thought other teenagers were bad.

He webbed the medkit and brought it over to him, grabbing Otto’s trenchcoat and moving it out of the way. He started to roughly pull out gauze and some a small bottle of water. It was half-empty already, but he could work with that. Otto hissed as the water splashed onto the raw burns, new and old mingling together.

“What are you doing ?” Otto demanded. Peter didn’t spare him a glance, only continuing to clean the wounds he could reach.

“Bandaging your burns.” He glanced up at the older man. “Since you won’t do it yourself, I will.”

Otto looked unimpressed, but sat down at the desk and begrudgingly let Peter bandage him. His hands were shaky, but he was trying to lay the gauze down well so he had to go slower than he’d like. After a few minutes and only a few centimeters properly bandaged, a metal claw gently nudged Peter’s hands away and continued where he left off. Peter looked up, confused, and saw Otto with his face in his hand, looking exhausted.

“What happened to you?” Peter asked, almost hesitant. Otto just heaved a sigh, like the burdens of the whole world were on his shoulders. He moved his hand so it cupped his chin, eyes far away.

“I flew too close to the sun, so to speak,” He started. “I wanted to create a new energy source, one that was renewable and non-polluting. It was my life’s work. But I…” The claws not preoccupied opened their claws and whirred at him. “...I miscalculated.”

He met Peter’s curious gaze, and there was such sadness there, the little Peter could see of his eyes from the side of his face, it made his heart clench.

“My collider, it used a very rare resource, one which my backer’s managed to procure. I only had a small portion of it, but that was all I needed. The power it generated, it was that like the sun.” His hand not holding his face was held open in front of him, “The power of the sun, in my own hand.” He clenched it into a fist, slightly shaking from the aggression. Peter sat on the desk next to the broken arm, careful of his own injuries.

“It overloaded, destroyed the entire lab. People died. My wife, Rosie…” Peter couldn’t see his eyes anymore, but the sharp intake of breath was telling enough. “I watched her die. As if that wasn’t enough, the metal of my extra arms were fused to my spine. The inhibitor chip I had installed to keep the AI of the arms from influencing me was burnt out.”

He looked up at Peter, meeting his worried look. “You can connect the dots, can’t you, Spider-boy?”

“They influenced you, didn’t they?” Peter tilted his head to the arms that surrounded them both. “They manipulated you.”

“Ah, but I can’t blame them fully. I still created their AI, I still chose to do as they suggested,” He looked over at the claw closest to him. “I don’t even know what my goal was, in the end. All I knew was that I was angry. Angry at the world for taking my love away from me, for cursing my invention to fail twice over.”

“Twice?” Peter echoed. Otto rubbed at his chin before setting both his arms down on the desk.

“I robbed a bank, set to rebuild my collider. I made it larger that second time, stole the rest of my power source from my funder. The only thing he asked in exchange was that I bring in Spider-Man so he could kill him. I obliged, obviously.” He glanced at Peter before looking away. “I nearly killed every person on the subway. Injured many. I would have killed Spider-Man myself if that’s what my funder asked. He almost did ask for it.”

“But you knew it was Peter Parker under the mask,” Peter said. “How?”

“In the end, Spider-Man stopped me from destroying the city with my second collider.” He met Peter’s gaze, now. “He took off his mask and said to me, ‘Dr. Octavius, I need to stop it. Please tell me how.’ And there, under the mask, was the young man that I had sat down with for a few hours and talked about fusion theory. Young Peter Parker who was failing university because he kept falling asleep in class.” He smiled at that, bittersweet. “He told me the same words I had told him when we met. The poor boy, I had kidnapped his girlfriend and held her hostage. She would have died if not for him.”

“But the collider,” Peter said, leaning forward. “How did you stop it?”

“I pulled the blasted thing into the river.” Otto said, eyes not straying from Peter’s. The connection was tense. “I drowned it, along with almost drowning myself.”

The arms quietly deposited the medkit on top of the desk, everything neatly put away and Otto’s burns treated. Peter blinked at him. “And you say you’re a villain?”

“Of course I am, Peter,” Otto sighed. “I caused the death of innocents. Injured many more.”

“And that’s not okay, I’m not saying it is. But you stopped thousands more innocent people from dying. That’s a good thing.” Peter gave a half-hearted shrug. “You had to choose between something you created and the wellbeing of everyone around you, and I think you made the right choice. Besides, were you even fully aware of your actions? You were just through something really traumatic, and then you had giant metal arms in your head trying to tell you to do bad stuff. I think it could’ve been way worse.”

Otto watched him, the arms swaying around them. When one of them bumped into Peter’s shoulder, he gave it a tentative pat. Octavius gave a small smile. “You really are the same no matter what universe it is, aren’t you?”

Peter looked back at him, eyes wide. “I mean, I hope there isn’t an evil version of me. That would suck.” Otto laughed at that, and hesitantly ruffled the boy’s hair. It was already mussed up, but Peter still huffed and tried to fix it.

“I think you’re a good guy, Dr. Octavius,” Peter said, smiling tiredly at him. “You’ve just made a lot of mistakes. I know a lot of good people who’ve done the same thing. I’ve fought beside them.”

“I thank you for the reassurance, Peter,” Otto said softly. “But now, let’s finish getting you patched up. I seem to be taken care of, so there’s no reason for you not to be.”

Peter hummed and leaned on the heels of his hands. He knew he’d be alright by tomorrow, what with his speedy healing, but it still helped to have wounds properly taken care of. The extra arms opened the medkit back up for Otto, gently handing him the supplies he gestures for. It’s a companionable quiet between them, Otto continuing where MJ had left off.

Now, with everything calming down, Peter felt his eyelids get heavy. He blinked a few times before a yawn escaped him, but he didn’t want to fall asleep yet. He hadn’t eaten anything since early in the morning, and he knew better than to run off an empty stomach. As he struggles to stay awake, he glances down at Otto, hunched over as his hands expertly wind gauze around Peter’s torso. There’s branches of scar tissue skittering across his neck, ending just under his jaw, usually hidden by the layers of clothing he wore, but now on display. Electrical burns. Lichtenberg scars. I’ve been electrocuted before.

“Are we friends, Dr. Octavius?” Peter quietly asks. Otto’s hands still against his sternum, where the burns arc up toward his chest. He can see Otto swallow.

“Would you like to be, Peter?” He softly responds.

Peter knows that, after a few days, max, he’ll never see this man again. When he leaves, Peter has no idea if he’ll go back to his old ways, or if he’ll do good. He’s smart, a genius, and Peter remembers the last genius he had grown attached to. He had listened as his heart had slowly stopped beating.

“I would like it a lot,” He utters. Otto pats his upper arm, drawing the boy’s gaze.

“You’re a very strong man, Peter.” Otto gives him a gentle smile. “You’ve lost so much, and yet you continue to strive to do such good for this cruel world.”

“How do you know?” Peter asks. Otto’s smile grows sad.

“I can see the grief there. I admire your ability to grow despite it.”

Peter sniffs and breaks eye contact, and Otto finishes bandaging his chest. He pats Peter firmly on the shoulder.

“You should rest,” he prompts softly.

“I should be awake when MJ gets back.” He blushes a bit and stutters out, “A-and Ned and Venom.”

Otto chuckles. “She’s your girlfriend, isn’t she?”

“Yeah,” Peter says. He smiles. “She is. Somehow.”

“Don’t say somehow, now, I saw how protective she got of you.” He guided Peter to the couch where had sat earlier. “Love is a precious thing. Don’t be ashamed of it.”

“I-I wouldn’t call it love , Dr. Octavius-” Peter spluttered. Otto just shook his head and sat next to him, his weight with the arms causing it to dip.

“What would you call it, then?” He smiled knowingly at Peter as he fumbled for words. “You’re a kind soul, and she’s fiery. Determined. You make a good match, I can tell.”

Peter felt flustered, unsure what to say in this conversation. He’s never talked about his love life with a parent-aged adult! The only other time he had a conversation romance-related, it was when he was asking his Aunt what the hell was going on between her and Happy, and even then he had left pretty soon after.

“She is really great,” Peter mumbled, fidgeting with the lint of the couch. “She’s funny, but in a dark kind of way, and she’s really smart, and…” Peter looks to the side, face warming up a bit. “Sorry.”

“No, no, don’t be.” Dr. Octavius’s voice is kind, but still a bit awkward. “You talking about her like that, it’s sweet.”

Peter can’t help but yawn, and smile a bit at Otto. “Thank you for helping me, again, Dr. Octavius,”

“Please, Peter,” The man rests a hand on Peter’s shoulder, and the boy leans farther into the stiff pillows, bones weary. “Just call me Otto.”

“Okay,” He says, “Thank you, Otto. I mean it.”

Peter’s asleep by the time Ned, MJ and Eddie come back with food, walking into a quiet room with Otto working silently on his broken arm, somehow procuring a soldering iron and ripping most of the webbing off of the ruined metal. MJ and Ned sit on either side of Peter, and he immediately nestles in closer to MJ, something that she smiles at.

The two kids are sharing fries while Venom loiters around Octavius, the symbiote manifesting his usual head and digging into their own bag of food while Eddie picks at his. Otto glances up at him from the corner of his eye before continuing his work.

“You know, this is strictly professional, right?” Eddie hums, slowly working on a burger. Otto stops his soldering to glance up at him again.

“What do you mean?”

“Soon, we’ll be getting home. We won’t see these kids again.” Vee seemed to get tired of Eddie’s procrastination and stole the burger from the man’s hand. “So you shouldn’t let yourself get attached.”

Otto frowns deeply at him, resolutely turning back and continuing. “I’m not.”

“It’s okay, man,” Eddie says, voice a bit quieter now. “I’m doing it too.”

Otto sighs and looks over his shoulder to where Ned and MJ quietly talk amongst themselves, careful to not wake Peter. They’re flicking soggy looking fries at each other and smiling. “God knows that Ned kid is funny as hell. Real sharp, too. MJ would make a fine journalist one day.”

“And Peter?” Otto questions, looking at Eddie from the side of his eye. Eddie shrugs, Venom bringing their head up with the motion, white eyes curiously glancing at their host.

“He’s a good kid,” Eddie answers. “But I think he likes you better.”

Otto taps his finger against the desk. “You’re a strange man, Eddie.”

“I have to be, don’t I? My life is pretty strange.” Venom bobs his head under Eddie’s chin, making that same gurgling purr from before as they move along the man’s jawline. Otto hums. “You’re a strange man, too.”

Otto smirks a bit. A claw swirls around Octavius and opens up it’s claw, red eye examining Venom. They bristle like an annoyed cat and bare their teeth at it. Eddie runs his hand along Venom’s darkness and the symbiote settles quickly. “Can’t a man enjoy his last days in peace?”

“Humans have such curious views of death, ” Venom rumbles, staring down the claw that is now starting to slowly inch away. “ Does this look like the end to you, cephalopod man? Or are you too afraid to see what the world has for you next?”

Otto is quiet, the quiet murmurs of the two teenagers and the low hum of electricity the only thing between the three. Eventually Otto turns off his solder, and an arm opens up to extend smaller, more delicate claws. Octavius slides off his sunglasses so he can guide the wiring better. “Did you bring enough food for Peter?”

A sad bag of fries and a chicken nugget box are dropped on the desk next to him, and he gives it a judging look before turning it to Eddie. Venom salivates next to the man, head bobbing slightly. How Otto has gotten used to things like this so fast, he will never know. “What’s this?”

“ Your food.” Eddie says this as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Aren’t you hungry?”

Otto grabs a few small fries absentmindedly. “Peter needs to eat.”

“And his friends are taking care of that.” Eddie nudges Otto’s arm, and the man reluctantly eats the few fries he had. “Us morally-grey guys gotta look out for each other.”

“Hm.”

“And I don’t mean that in the, uh, the way where we betray the good guys at the last minute or something, you know, I don’t wanna get the wrong point across,” Eddie stumbles, and Venom snaps their maw open and closed.

“You’re a loser, Eddie.”

“Thank you for your stellar advice, bud. Really appreciate it.”

“Eddie,” Otto starts, before taking another fry because holy shit he did not realize how hungry he really was, “I… acknowledge your sentiment.”

Eddie just nods. “Great.”

“This conversation is making me uncomfortable.”

“Glad it’s not just us.”

“But, just to be clear…” Otto looked at Eddie and gave him a small, forced smile. “If we were in the same universe naturally, I would enjoy having a cup of coffee with you.”

Eddie snorted. “Like… a date?”

“Oh, lord, no,” Otto said, face screwing up in distaste. Eddie laughed, Venom’s constant grin seemingly only growing wider. “Jesus.”

“Yeah, don’t think Vee would like that.” The symbiote in question swings his tongue in the air. “But a coffee between friends? I would like that too.”

The conversation is cut off as MJ and Ned beckon Eddie, leaving Otto to his work. He tries to keep the noise to a minimum. The quiet laughter, though belonging to near-strangers…

It’s nice.