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Not even Stark technology could contain the spark of curiosity bouncing around the lab between the three Spider-Men. It was enough energy to make Electro jealous. What was amazing about it all wasn’t just their similarities, but their differences.
Peter—Peter 3—paused his work for a beat.
“I have another question for you guys, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” Peters answered. They spoke totally in synch—that would take some time for them to get used to.
“I was just wondering. Are you guys…have you ever—I’m not sure how to ask this,” he said, shaking his head as if trying to shake the words out. “Has it just been MJ in the picture, or has there ever been…anyone else?”
The other two Peters looked to each other, trying to avoid another verbal traffic jam. It was the older Peter—Peter 2—who took the lead.
“Not really,” he answered. “There were a few rough patches, times when other women came in and out of my life. But no one like MJ, nothing ever that serious.”
“Yeah, same with me,” Peter 1 added. “I mean—it’s not exactly like I’ve had much time, being in high school still and all. But yeah. It’s just been MJ pretty much.”
Peter 3 nodded along with their answers, fidgeting with vials and bottles to disguise nervousness as busyness. "Cool, so just—just girls then?”
He looked up to gauge their response and was met with a brief moment of stillness quieting the chaos of the lab.
“Yeah.”
“Just women, yes,” Peter 2 affirmed.
“Wait, so are you saying…are you gay?”
“Uh, yes? Well, no. I mean, not gay gay. I suppose it’s kind of an umbrella term these days and I certainly, uh, fall under that umbrella. What I’m trying to say is: yes, I like men. And women. Bisexual is the word I would use. I like that word.”
The older man moved closer to give the other Peter a firm squeeze on the shoulder. “That’s great, man. Thank you for sharing that with us.”
It was so painfully earnest that the third Peter couldn’t help his smile that lit up in response. This was a whole new brand of self-acceptance.
“There actually was one time, sophomore year, Ned and I went to this party and—"
“Shut up, Peter,” Ned piped up from another room. Even without a super tingle, he could tell where that story was going.
“Shutting up.”
“It’s not like I’m opposed,” Peter 2 said. “It just hasn’t, I don’t know, come up I guess.”
“Yeah, no, I totally get that. Totally. It’s not like I got any—" Peter gestured wildly to the whole youth pastor situation. “Raging homosexual vibes or anything. I was just curious how sexuality worked across different realities. That’s all.”
“New name,” the youngest of them said, already smiling. “Bi-derman.” He was a bit too proud. “We need a way to keep ourselves straight—well, not straight, I just mean we need a way to keep track of who’s who.”
“No, it was very funny. I get it,” Peter said, only somewhat convincingly hiding his amusement.
“Spider-ILikeMen?”
“And women!” Peter 2 interjected.
“Can we—can we not?”
“Bi-derman it is.”