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"NO WAY!! YOU ACTUALLY PLANNED THIS OUT?!"
Peter 1 & 3 beamed as they were now currently outside in Otto's backyard, where 3 large baskets stood on the cement as empty plastic egg and candy bag wrappers littered the porch. Confetti eggs were sitting comfortably in Peter 2's arms as he laid them out on the tables.
"I helped..but Otto was the brains behind this. He thought you guys would enjoy a little hunt." Peter 2 chuckled as his brother's cheered, truly looking like beaming kids as they kept demanding if there was a golden prize. "You'd be surprised what could fit in a giant golden egg. I wonder who will find it…”
Peter 1 & 3 cheered as they went up to tackle their older counterpart in a hug, essentially all of them falling onto the grass. The laughter that emitted from the fellow Peters made Otto's heart flutter.
"Otto! Thank you thank you thank you!" Otto found himself with now an armful filled with Peter 1 & 3, who were essentially trying to climb him at this point. Otto tried not to laugh as their hair started tickling his neck from the hugs.
"You didn't have to do this," Peter 1 mumbled as he was the last one in the embrace. "I really..really appreciate it man."
"Thought you three could use a break," Otto chuckled, grabbing the youngest spider in his arms and having Larry boop his nose. "Now, go on and Peter 2 will countdown! There's at least..oh..I don't know...my boy! How many eggs did we fill and hide around the yard?" He set the youngest down, Petey running at full energy towards his basket.
"Hmm, I'd say, around 200? That was alot of eggs you bought," Peter 2 chuckled at their expressions. "You guys ready?"
"Wait, you aren't gonna join us?" Peter 3 frowned, the youngest Peter raising a curious brow. "Come on man, don't even use the excuse you're too old to hunt for eggs."
Peter 2 shrugged. "Neh...it's not my thing anymore. I'd rather see the look on your guys faces when you find the golden egg though." The oldest suddenly blew a whistle he brought practically out of thin air.
"READY SET GO!!”
Childish laughter and yells filled the yard as the Peters began to find and fight for eggs, Otto bringing a lonely basket that was left on the table.
"There's no rule in the Easter handbook that says an age limit," Otto frowned at Peter's downcast expression, the younger man finding his shoes to be very entertaining. "Oh my boy, what's wrong?"
Peter 2 sighed, looking at Otto with very tired eyes as he sat on a nearby beach chair, Otto sitting on the other.
"I feel like you know already." He said quietly.
"I have a prediction, but I don't want to invade on your privacy. If you don't want to egg hunt, no one's forcing you," He rubbed a soothing hand on Peter's shoulders, feeling how tense his kid was. "Well, good thing I prefilled a basket with eggs and goodies. I think you deserve to at least have sweets. Let me go grab it and update me on how many eggs they need to find, okay?" When Otto tried to stand, he found that his coat sleeve was currently being tugged a little harsh.
When he looked down, all he saw was wet baby blue eyes and furrowed brows.
"Peter?"
"I wasn't much of a downer back then, was I?" Peter 2 tried to sniff quietly. "Im sorry, you even knew I didn’t really want to egg hunt. And and- ugh im sorry Otto im not ungrateful I promise-
"Why don't you come inside with me?" Otto gently nudged Peter through the sliding door, shouting to the other peters they will be out in a while. When he closed the glass door, Peter 2 was now on the verge of tears.
"Can you believe that? It's almost been 22 years, I should be over this by now? Right? Isn't that how it's supposed to go?" Peter let out an involuntary whimper, his cheeks immediately heating and his eyes burning a bit more.
Again, he doesn't know how many times he's actually broke down in front of Otto throughout the life he barely remembers, but it’s still embarrassing because he’s not used to breaking down in front of anybody, really. He began to wetly hiccup.
"Oh, Pikkolo, please don't cry." Otto gathered him in a tight hug, hearing the soft sniffs as he saw Peter trying to contain himself. "I know how important this holiday was to you and your Uncle. I really do."
"It was the last one we celebrated before he passed. I just miss him so so much, Otto."
"Believe it or not, there's no amount of years that can pass by that stops you from missing your parents," Otto gently carded through Peter's short hair. "I miss my mother quite all the time. I would be lying if I said a few tears were never shed."
"So it really never goes away..." Peter confirmed, sounding small. Otto felt his heart snap a little. "And then it happens to everybody. It's gonna happen to you too." He meant to whisper that a bit more quietly.
Otto sighed gently. “Everybody dies, Peter. And quite frankly, I'm not that old. I at least, have a couple decades or so with me. Nobody can get rid of me that easily,” Otto said in a teasing tone, Peter's wet giggles giving the older scientist a chance to breathe in relief. "There we go, it's okay son. It is."
"I'm sorry. Jeez, I don’t know why I’m crying so much.I feel ridiculous."
"There's nothing to be sorry for, if you need to cry, it's okay to cry," Otto gently cupped Peter 2's face, rubbing the tears off with his thumb.
“Peter, we make most of the time we have with our loved ones. That's why everyday..when I wake up, I'm grateful and blessed to be put in a timeline where my Peter Parker can make a choice to egg hunt in my backyard or not." Otto smiled, his eyes a little wet too.
Peter was definitely not holding back more tears. "You have a theme of giving super motivational speeches around holidays," Peter chuckled, rubbing his eyes with his fist. "What's up with that?"
"I don't know, I guess it's my specialty," Otto chuckled back, breaking the hug as he patted Peter on the head. "Now, let me go get that basket-
As he tried to leave to his room, he felt another harsh tug on his coat.
"Actually...I want to go egg hunting," Peter 2 meekly said, his cheeks flushing once again. Otto wasn’t sure if it was because Peter looked too small again, gripping his sweater like that. "But..you gotta come hunt with us. You have to endure finding random pennies I hid in the eggs too."
"Ah, so I did teach you well," Otto laughed as he gave a side hug Peter, leading him back outside as they gathered a couple more baskets. "How many do you think are left?"
"Oh, I bet they found them all already, look, their baskets are full already!" Peter sighed playfully, trying to hide the not so disappointment in his voice.
"Hmm, eyes deceive alot sometimes, Peter." Otto just winked at Peter, the young man made a questioning noise before noticing another piece of paper suddenly in Ottos hand. Flo also placed a bunny ear headband on Ottos head.
"Otto..what did you do?"
***
"YOU HID 300 MORE EGGS??!”
"I sure did, arrest me for doing too much," Otto cackled at the looks of the Peters faces, ranging from concerned to very excited. "And Peter 2 doesn't even know where they are cause I hid them myself."
The youngest peters oohed , their hands shaking from excitement as Peter 2 just had his jaw dropped on the floor.
"So..more golden eggs?"
"Maybe," Otto shrugged, already running to get the eggs. "Let's just say you guys haven't even tapped into the 300 extra! Noobs!"
"HEYY!!"
More laughter and shouts were the backyard's tunes as the boys and Otto kept egg searching. Otto couldn't help but feel like he was touching the sky when he would just see how perked up and happy the kids looked, as they always should have had the chance to.
Otto eventually found enough for his own quota for the day, wanting to save the rest for the boys. A couple times he did have break apart a playful tackle session over a couple eggs, and maybe receive the occasional tattle from every Peter of , "he stole my egg! I saw it first!" Or "he cracked the egg on my head super hard!"
Like they haven't gone through bullet wounds the past week Otto shuttered at the memory.
Otto was just chilling on the beach chair, absorbing the sun with his eyes closed as he heard some giggles approaching.
How the hell do they do it when they patrol?
Next thing he knew, confetti covered his head as he felt 3 bodies tackle him, his actuators squeaking with delight as they tried playing around too. They mostly just went in protective mode and tried to get the peters off of their Father, but ended up poking the boys’ sides, causing all of them to cackle and snort as they slid off Otto.
The scientist eventually opened his eyes, sitting up from his interrupted sun nap as he looked down at the grass, seeing the peters look at them with..candy crumb filled smiles. Huh, he must have been asleep longer than he should.
"Uh oh, someone ate himself into a sweet tooth coma."
Otto cooed as he picked up the youngest who was currently snoozing on the grass, holding him bridal style as he wiped the chocolate off the boy's face. "I thought he'd be the most awakes out of both of you, huh."
"Why!? Cause we're older?" Peter 2 & 3 squinted pal fully, their pouted lips making Otto laugh way harder than it should have.
"No, because the Easter bunny said so," Otto shook his head playfully as an actuator opened the slide door. "Come on boys, I ordered some pizza earlier. It should be cooled off by now and hopefully awake your little brother..."
Otto turned around to see the Peters still laying down, hands over their forehead.
"Cant...move...too tired. Walking quota reached for today."
"Oh doc, I think I ate too much chocolate. I cant budge!"
Otto rolled his eyes with a fond smile. "Y'know, all you had to say was please," he gently had Flo and Moe pick up his super lazy older children off the ground, them tiredly wooing as they headed inside.
After they finished eating their pizza, they soon joined Otto on the couch with him, Peter 2 & 3 on each side of him as Otto held the youngest, still sleeping. Otto soon felt warm weight on each of his shoulders.
"G'night, Doc. Thanks for everything today...victory was definitely mine."
"Night dad. I love you."
Otto felt his breath hitch, the overwhelming emotions enough to spring heat into his eyes and warmth to his heart.
He each gave them a kiss on the forehead, grateful he in fact, lived in the best timeline he could ask for.