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“—and he even said I could fly the helicopter—“ Peter and Gwen listened as Harry talked about his weekend plans. Apparently, Norman Osborn had thought it was finally time to spend some quality time with his son. About 16 years late. Not that Peter was concerned; he was happy for Harry.
Gwen looked over at him; a bit skeptical. “You sure he isn’t just dragging you to some old, rich people event? Like golf?”
Harry shrugged, “I don’t care what we’re doing—” Peter cut him off by grabbing the back of his shirt; keeping him from walking into traffic. The three teens waited for the lights to change before continuing. “I’m just happy to spend some actual time with him…”
They talked as they made their way to the park. Soon, Gwen had hopped on a bus home, and after that; Harry was picked up by his dad. Peter stared up at the midday sky; it was cloudy with a depressing gray and it would definitely rain later. He could smell it.
Peter looked around one last time before slinking off into an alleyway. He crouched behind a dumpster; trash and garbage crushed under his feet and he felt something wrapped around his ankle, more trash perhaps, but he paid little attention to them. He dug around for a bit until he found his gloves, boots, mask, and web-shooters. He went to pull his shoes off when he noticed something on his leg.
Thick, black slime wrapped around his leg; like a mummified hand crawling out of its grave.
It only took Peter a moment to realize what he was looking at. And panicked.
He kicked hard enough to dislodge both the symbiote and his shoe. He jumped backwards and landed upside down on the wall opposite the alien gunk; letting out a low hiss. Grate, his gear was behind it.
Strangely, it didn’t try to move closer; it just writhed in place. Part of it rose up and twisted together to form a familiar and unwelcomed face. ‘A new trick it got from another host?’
The form of its face was dripping into itself; probably unstable without a host. It bared its teeth and lashed its tongue like a snake. It stared at him for a few more moments before It open and closed its ”mouth” repeatedly; garbled sounds escaping it, until it managed something understandable.
“H…p…Hel..p”
‘Help? This thing needs help? MY HELP?!’ It came to him. It seeked him out. Peter wonders if he should believe it. It had the chance to bond with him a second ago, and he knew it didn’t even want to bond with him. Peter glared at the goop as it continued to repeat the word “Help”; speech vaguely improving. ‘It…must be desperate…’
Hesitantly, he retched out a shaky hand. Just to hear what it wanted, and if it tried anything funny, he could easily get it back off. Milky white eyes widened, looking between the offered hand and Peter’s stern glare. It waited a second before its viscous form crawled closer. Inky black tentacles slither over his hand and seeped into his skin.
‘We need your help.’
It spoke in his head; voice laced with poison. Peter leaped off the wall and retrieved his belongings. “Bit of context would be nice.”
The symbiote hissed. ‘Eddie. We need to find Eddie.’
Peter froze mid change. It wants his help? To find Eddie? After everything it's done to them!? He was angry. “Why should I help you? Why my help? Why not highjack some poor pedestrian?!” Not that he wanted anyone to be this thing’s victim.
A quick, sharp pain ran through his body and he fell to the ground. ‘We know; you’ll do anything to help those you care about. Anything…’
Peter sighed; it was right, and he did want Eddie to get better. He wanted his brother back…“Hay, wait! Didn’t I gene cleanser you? You shouldn’t even be able to bond with Eddie anymore?!”
‘Ah, you see, Spider, we’ve evolved, and adapted. We are able to overcome any challenges. Given enough time.‘
Peter pulled his mask over his face and began to scale the wall. Scowling to the voice in his head. “Why do you want Eddie anyway? Gonna make him hurt more of our friends?”
The symbiote was quiet, thinking about what to say next. Spider-Man swung up to a higher building and sat on the edge; watching cars drive below. It was a brief moment of silence. ‘…Because we care about him. We care so deeply for him, and we NEVER got to tell him that before YOU ripped us apart…’
Spider-Man slammed his first down, hard enough to crack the cement. “Why should I believe you, huh?! You manipulated me and almost cost me my friendships! You made me think you wanted to help me! Why should I help you with anything?!”
‘Spider, we love him!’
“And I loved him! He was the closest thing I had to a sibling AND one of my closest friends! He protected me when I couldn’t protect myself and I tried to help him anytime I could, but I couldn’t apologize for all shit I messed up because YOU took him away!” He was yelling now; voice hurting as his throat closed up and tears stained his mask. He was glad he chose such a tall building now; nobody could hear him up here. Except the alien in his head. He lay down on his back and wiped the tears under his mask. ‘God, I’m pathetic.’
‘You really are…’
He stayed there for a few minutes. The rain smelled closer and the sky was darkening by the minute. He should head home soon, but he didn’t want the symbiote near his aunt.
‘How bout this: you get us back to Eddie, and we will not hurt you or your loved ones ever again. Deal, Parker?’ It purred.
He thought for a minute; maybe if he did reunite the two, he could reconnect with Eddie. It was worth a shot. Spider-Man sighed; standing up. “You also can’t take control of my body or mess with my emotions.”
The symbiote growl, the sound resonating in his skull. ‘FINE!’
Spider-Man sat perched like a gargoyle on the high fence of Ravencroft; the atmospheric sound of distant thunder roared around them. The building was a lot scarier in person, especially at night. He was pretty sure vampires used to live here.
‘What are we waiting for? He's right there!’
The symbiote demanded; its inky form extended from his shoulder to form into a vague hand shape and pointed to a window. With his enhanced vision; though he was sure the bite should have made his vision worse; he could see the familiar face of Eddie Brock. He had an annoyed look on his face as he interacted with a person with red hair.
With a “thwip” of his web-shooters he leapt off the fence.
Away from Ravencroft.
‘Where are you going?!’
Spider-Man spoke sternly, “We have to wait.” He swung a few more blocks and landed on another building. “We need an opportunity to sneak in. If we just break in, we risk everyone escaping. There are a LOT of dangerous people there.”
‘It would be easier…’
Peter found his backpack and changed back into his normal clothes; raindrop falling and making him shiver. “…no it wouldn’t.”
‘…you know, deep down, a part of him DID still care about you. The part he tried so hard to bury wanted to rid you of your powers BEFORE killing you instead.~’ The alien purred, clearly trying to guilt trip him into rushing in stupid.
“That’s nice!” He cheered in a slight mock; hoping on a bus.
The bus ride home was surprisingly quiet. Peter softly hummed to himself, watching the raindrops run down the window. He had a feeling the next while would feel long with the symbiote yelling at him, or maybe he had made a mistake in trusting it. Maybe they would kill him once he reunited it with Eddie. Maybe it was just wishful thinking that he could help him.
When he got home the first thing Peter did was fall directly onto his bed. His Bestest friend. Feels softer every time he comes home.
He turned at the sound of the door opening, and Aunt May walked in. Her voice was soft but slightly hurt. “Oh Peter, is something wrong? You ran up so fast you didn’t say hello.” She sat on the edge of the bed.
“Ah, sorry Aunt May. Guess I’m just tired. How was your day?” He sat up, rubbing the back of his neck, awkwardly.
Her expression changed to that of concern and sadness. “Peter, did something happen? You look like you’ve been crying.”
He thought he cleaned his face enough, could he not feel more tears with the rain? “I-I uh…I” he tried to speak but his throat was closing up again. More tears bubble at the corner of his eye.
“Oh…” She pulled him into a tight hug; running her fingers through his hair. “It’s alright. You don’t have to tell me right now if you don’t want to, but you shouldn’t keep things that are bothering you bottled up.” She murmured while her nephew sobbed silently into her shoulder.
They stayed like that form a while; even long after Peter ran out of tears and his breathing sputtered out into slow, uneven breaths. Soon, they parted, and May headed for the door.
“…It’s about Eddie…” Peter said softly before she left. She sat back and clasped one of his hands in both of hers. “I’ve been thinking about Eddie recently and… I miss him…”
“Oh Peter, it’ll be alright. He is in therapy, remember?” He hoped that was true; Aunt May didn’t know everything that happened, all she was that Eddie had some problems and that he and Peter had a fight and got hurt. Her eyes widened with an idea and she smiled. “Oh I know! How about, when Eddie gets back and he’s had time to readjust, we throw him a party! We can bake a cake and everything!”
It sounded like a good idea. “That sounds amazing!” He smiled.
”Wonderful! Now, I have to go to the bank and run some errands, will you be alright for a few hours?” Peter nodded and May ruffled his hair before leaving.
‘She really cares about you. Both of you.’
Peter lay down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. “Of course she does! She has kinda been my mom for almost fourteen years…. I never knew my real mom…” his voice trailed off into a murmur.
‘Mom?’
“You know, a parent. Someone who takes care of you before you're old enough to take care of yourself. Someone who’s supposed to love their whole life…” Peter turned to look at the photo of him and Uuncle Ben on his nightstand. “Does your species not have those?”
The symbiote growl ‘Our kind becomes independent near immediately after spawning! We do not require “parents”.’
Peter just rolled his eyes, “yeah, I can tell by the way you act.” He was met with another growl in response.
Almost an hour later, Peter jumped out of bed and stretched; a satisfying crack from his arms, back, and neck. He quickly changed into his costume.
‘Are you going out again?’
“Um, yeah?” He looked at the. Alarm clock, it read only 6:47. It was dark out, but not too late. “S’not like I have anything else to do. Aunt May out, Gwen wants alone time, Harry’s… with his dad, Liz has cheer practice, and Mj’s with Glory.” He crawled out the window and onto the cold, wet roof, ready to take off. “Besides, there’s this weird guy in a green bodysuit who’s ass I need to kick. I'm sure you’ll love him! I sure don’t!”