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When the world was finally relatively in one piece and yet, all three Spider-Men were still together, the first one to break the silence was Spider-Man three.
“We can’t all be named ‘Peter Parker’.”
“What?” Spider-Man one and two said simultaneously, glancing at the tallest Spider-Man. They didn’t even look at each other for the accidental twin speak and Spider-Man two spoke again.
“You are too calm about this. Why are we still here?”
“Maybe the wizard messed something up, I don’t know,” Spider-Man three shrugged. “But we’re here still and until we get back home, we cannot all be named Peter.”
“Well, I should get it because this is my world,” Spider-Man one insisted suddenly, choosing to ignore the life-shattering event that previously occurred in favor of a stupid argument with himself from different universes. “I’m the primary Peter.”
“Now, hold on a second,” Spider-Man two placed his hand on Spider-Man one’s shoulder. “I am obviously the oldest here, I get the name privileges. I’m Peter.”
“This isn’t even your world! For all you know, you are like four hours old.”
“Hey, hey, hey,” Spider-Man three broke up the frankly idiotic argument. “I have a compromise. What if none of us are named Peter?”
The other two Spider-Men started at him.
Spider-Man one spoke up. “Like, we have different names?”
“You can’t tell me that you haven’t wanted a different name before.”
“I’ve always liked the name Tobey,” Spider-Man two mused out loud and Spider-Man three grinned brightly, dust and blood covering the normally joyful look.
“Perfect! You can be Tobey and I can be…” He thought about it for a second before snapping his fingers. “Andrew! I knew someone named Andrew,”
The Spider-Men now respectively named Tobey and Andrew stared at the final Spider-Man, the one of this original world and who previously thought that he would be completely alone after that spell finally finished. But he wasn’t alone, not anymore because two older and more experienced Spider-Men were there and they were smiling softly at him.
“I do like the name Tom.”
“Tom, Tobey, and Andrew Parker,” Andrew’s grin grew brighter if possible; he slung his arms over the other two and pulled them close as they watching the sun slowly rise over the horizon. “I should have chosen a ‘T’ name.”
“So, does no one get Peter?” Tom suddenly said, staring at up at the other two.
“Peter can be our middle names.”
“All of our middle names are Peter?” Tobey snorted. “I do not know how we are the same person.”
“Just think of it,” Andrew brought the two others even closer into a mock hug. “Andrew, Tobey, and Tom Peter Parker. We can start over but we can all still do what we love.”
“Being Spider-Man,” Tom smiled slightly, shaking his head. “We can still help people.”
“And we’ll do it together,” Tobey promised, glancing around Andrew to look at the youngest reassuringly. “We’re gonna figure this out, Pe- Tom.”
“We’ll do that later,” Andrew, however, decided. “Spider metabolism is both a blessing and a curse and I want donuts. And coffee.”
“We don’t have any money.”
“We’re Spider-Men! We’ll be fine.”
“Last one there is the worst Spider-Man!” Without any other warning, Tom suddenly took off, sprinting away from the other two and webbing to a nearby jack, swinging away. Startling, Andrew and Tobey quickly took off after the youngest who was giggling like a kid again. “Catch up, guys!”
“It’s not fair, Tobey has real webs!”
“And you still haven’t told us if it comes out of everywhere or just your wrists.”
“I don’t want to know and frankly, I don't think you do either!”
And as the sun slowly rose over a world that remembered Spider-Man but not Peter Parker, three people in blue and red spandex flipped and flew over New York City.
Today, they will eat donuts and grieve.
Tomorrow, they will start a new life and play as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Men again.
