Chapter Text
In hindsight, he should have expected this. Things like this happen constantly to and around him, so really, he's not too surprised. Maybe a bit peeved. But not surprised.
Doctor Otto Octavius has returned to the world he’d been dragged into a month ago, and he hasn't the faintest clue as to why. He hovers above the top of a building rooftop, two of his robotic limbs holds him up while the other two swirl on the air beside him.
He recalls Peter telling him about the fact he randomly “blips” to this world on the occasion, but not once had he seen it nor experienced it. Because he's never seen it happen to Peter, he hasn't been able to figure out why it's happening in the first place. And now it's happened to him and he still can’t figure it out. Well, it had been too much of a blur to see anything. One moment, he's working in his lab. The next, a large portal opened behind him and he was sucked through, getting thrown onto the rooftop he's on now.
Well, this is quite the predicament.
Time to find a Peter. Who knows how many of them could be crawling around the city?
Moving around with his metal arms is always an easy feat, reaching from building to building. He avoids the afternoon traffic this way as well as the crowds of people he'd most likely knock over because of his metal limbs.
He's not entirely sure where he'd find any Peter, but he does recall his Peter telling him about an “Avengers Tower”, whatever that means. He just has to look out for the huge, bright A on the side of a curvy building. Simple enough.
So simple, in fact, he spots the tower in the blink of an eye. He hardly has to go far to see it; it's only a tad shorter than the Empire State Building and the red eye is extraordinarily large. Whoever designed and built the tower was probably compensating for something.
Climbing the tower isn't too difficult, and pulling himself onto the rather large balcony is even less difficult. The wind up here is strong, and buffets his side, his jacket blowing in the breeze. His four extra limbs keeps him secure to the cement and metal under his feet, so he doesn't have to worry about falling. Now to find a Peter… Anyone will do, he thinks. Preferably his Peter, but with his luck, he’ll find the… other one. The one that isn't his and isn't the kid. That one is highly annoying.
He strides to a glass wall, which is obviously the way inside. He searches for a door in, pocketing his sunglasses when he can't spot a doorknob. He starts to lose his annoyance, because even his metal limbs can't find the way in. One clicks a negative to him, and he groans.
That's when movement from inside catches his attention, and when he looks down he sees not one, not two, but all three of the Peters he’d met before clamoring behind the windows. The kid breaks apart from them quickly, and his Peter is staring at him with an expression of utmost confusion- he understands that. Because he has no idea what's going on, either- while the third is just staring at him with an idiotic face of wonderment.
Okay, maybe not idiotic. Maybe he's being a little hard on this Peter. He's just curious about things.
...Too bad his curiosity can get highly annoying.
“Uh- h- hey?” he looks to his right to see the kid poking out of an opened door. Otto lowers himself to his feet, bringing his metal limbs close to himself to enter through the narrow door. The kid steps aside to let him through, but doesn't stop staring. “Uh- well. Not to be, well, rude, but, uh, how are you here?”
“Hey Ock?” his Peter says, a questioning tone in his voice. He walks up beside the kid, scratching at the side of his head. “What-”
“These are so coooll…” the third one mutters, drifting closer to Otto’s metal limbs. He opens and snaps one shut, and the Peter lets out a “woah!” as he dodged backwards.
“Hello, Peter,” he says to begin. All three of the Peters perk up. “I do believe there has been… an anomaly. As you can perfectly see.”
“Yeah, we can kind of see that, huh,” his Peter mumbles, and Otto can see the gears in his eyes beginning to turn; he's brainstorming, trying to think of reasons why Otto would be here in the first place. Good luck with that, Otto has tried and has only come up empty handed. “I thought it was only affecting us…”
“Oh, woah,” the third Peter says. “If he was dragged back here, too, could that mean that the others could be?”
“I hope not,” the kid says, and then panics for some reason, “It- it's not that I don't like the others- it's just, uh, well, it’d be messy!”
“I wholeheartedly agree with you, Peter,” Otto says, and glances around the room he's found himself in. “However, how is it that I return to my own world? It is a wonderful opportunity to see you two again, but I was in the middle of work.”
“The nanotech?” his Peter inquires, and Otto smiles at him, nodding. They’d started working on a collaboration project to create nanotech similar to this world’s, inspired by this world’s Peter’s suit. “Sorry I dropped off on you like that.” Peter scratches the back of his head sheepishly. He hadn't ever noticed this nervous tic of his, but now that he's noticed the kid and the third one do it, he's constantly seeing it.
“I do believe you owe no apology if you are unceremoniously dragged here as I was today,” Otto says dismissively.
“Uh, anyway, we get back to our worlds when another of those portals suck us in,” the third Peter interjects helpfully. He's hanging from the ceiling, holding himself very similarly to a spider. In fact, all of this third Peter’s movements are extremely reminiscent to a spider. “We just have to wait until then, basically.”
“Wonderful,” Otto says with a sigh. He should have figured. Nothing could ever be so simple for him. “So what do you do until this occurs? I can’t imagine any of you remaining still for long.”
The three Peters chuckle, and his Peter nods his head in agreement. “You know us so well, Ock,” he says. Otto can't help but smile at his Peter; he hasn't been able to admit it to himself, but he sees the younger man as a kind of son. Basically, the son he never had. They've gotten closer since the curing fiasco, and have started a handful of experimental projects along side the nanotech creation.
“We so different things,” the kid says, perking up. “Like, uh, sometimes we swing around patrolling, sometimes we have contests, sometimes we-”
“What kind of ‘contests’?” Otto asks, already fearing the answer. Three Peters left unattended? He shutters at the thought. What kind of havoc they could wreak….
“Nothing bad!” his Peter says quickly. “Just- um? Experimental things? Like who’s webs are stronger and who can hold their breath longer and- and who is the strongest.”
“...That would be interesting data,” he mutters to himself. He's been curious of the differences between the three Peters since he'd gotten back to his own world, and now his interest is further piqued. “What are the results?”
“Peter Two’s webs are the strongest-” the kid begins, pointing to Otto’s Peter. Ah, they go by numbers. Smart. That should help with any confusion- “Peter Three is the most acrobatic and can hold his breath longest-” The annoying Peter puffs his chest out proudly, and Otto’s Peter smiles at him. Interesting- “And I'm the strongest. Uh- physically.”
“What he said,” ‘Peter Three’ says very unhelpfully. “I'm just reaalllllyyyyy flexible. And good at holding my breath.”
“And how long is that time?” Otto asks.
“Well, I started before we started talking and I'm still holding it,” Peter Three replies with a prideful smirk. “And I can hold it for three hours now.”
Impressive, Otto must admit.
“Uh, so you can sit here or- or do what you want,” the kid says, and adds, “Though, people might think it's weird that you have four more limbs… not that there's anything wrong with that!”
“Don't worry, dear boy,” Otto says, brushing off his worry. He glances around once more, and then towards an elevator. “What else can be found in this building?”
All three Peters brighten, and explode into lightning fast explanation. This is going to be a long day.
…
Night has fallen over the city, and Otto stands on the balcony he entered from, holding himself up with his added limbs. It's quiet- well, as quiet as New York City can get- and he sips from a cup of hot chocolate the kid had brought him. Not his first choice of drink, but the kid had gone out of his way to get it so he had to drink it. He’d feel horrible otherwise.
The three spiders have all settled down by now, and have their own comfortable areas in the main room of the tower. His Peter had made an intricate web in one corner of the room that he lays against, able to keep himself from sticking to it. If anyone else were to touch his webbing, however, they get stuck and can't move. The kid and the third one made a rather large canopy of webbing from one wall to the other, which they both lay on each side. His Peter sometimes joins them.
He's been here a couple of days now, so he’s started to notice the details of their dynamic. His Peter is clearly the most responsible, and the other two respect his decisions and abide by the rules he sets. The other one is younger than his Peter but older than the kid, and is constantly running back and forth between the two for attention and conversation. The kid is the most coddled of the three, with the two older spiders tuned into his emotions and feelings. If the kid so much as frowns, the other two worry over him just like that.
Sometimes, at the end of the day, all three spiders huddle up into the canopy together, and appear to… cuddle, for lack of a better word. At first he'd thought the sight strange, but upon further thought, he remembers that they're all versions of the same person, and seem to have formed a sort of brotherly trio.
During these cuddle sessions, the kid is most often squished between the other two spiders, with the other one wrapped around him. His Peter is normally on his side facing them, with one arm over both of them. It's rather adorable. At one point, when he passed underneath them, Otto could hear a low, rumbling sound. At first he’d thought his ears were acting up, before he’d tracked down the sound to be from the spiders themselves.
They goddamn purr. Otto has never heard his Peter purr before. Maybe it's a reaction to being in the presence of others of his likeness. Whatever the reason, Otto has to admit it's adorable as well.
Wind brushes through his hair, and he pauses in his drinking at the faintest of a noise. He lowers the cup from his lips and turns around to face the wall of windows, handing it off to one of his robotic hands. He listens more attentively, and ah, there it is again.
A faint sniffling. As if someone is crying but trying to hide that fact.
He doesn't like the idea of any of the spiders crying. He must investigate.
He quietly renters the building, and finds two of the three spiders in the canopy above. It's the kid, and the annoying one… he frowns. Is it his Peter crying?
Following the sound of the soft sniffles, he has to wander down a few flights of stairs. Honestly, he's surprised he heard this from so far, but he's pinning that on his limbs. They can see and hear in their own ways, after all. One must have sent what they were hearing directly to his brain.
The sniffing leads to another large, empty room. The room is completely barren, until Otto spots a rather large web between two narrow walls. It takes up most of the space, but he doesn't see a spider amongst them. Instead, he sees Peter sitting curled up on the floor beneath it, his face hidden in his knees while his shoulder shakes with his teary breaths.
As Otto steps into the room, Peter looks up through blurry eyes at him. He huffs deeply, and rubs at his eyes with the back of his hand, clearing his throat. He's trying to cover up the vulnerability Otto just saw. He always has to look strong, happy. That's what he thinks. And it makes Otto’s heart ache.
Even though he has no idea what he's doing- he's never been good at comforting anyone- Otto slowly makes his way closer to his Peter. The spider sniffles again, his nose and ears red, his cheeks stained by tear tracks. Otto lowers himself to his feet, and peels his jacket from his shoulders and arms, tentacles sliding through the holes theyd dug through the leather.
“Hey- hey, Ock,” Peter stutters, clearing his throat again when his words come out stuffy and slurred.
“Hello, my dear boy,” Otto says in return, his voice hardly above a whisper. He uses his metal limb to carefully drape his jacket over Peter’s shoulders. Peter unconsciously tightly grabs a fistful of the fabric, keeping his eyes on the ground. He appears ashamed. Otto hesitantly uses the same limb to ruffle Peter’s longer hair- he'd started growing it out after they'd returned to their world the first time. Peter draws in a sharp breath and looks up at him, an expression of surprise on his face. “What ever is the matter, Peter?”
Peter draws in a deep breath, letting his eyes flutter shut. He hunches shoulders, making himself smaller.
“It- I'm fine- It's nothing,” Peter stammers, frustratedly digging the heel of his hand against his eye. “I'm- I'm sorry if I- sorry if I disturbed you.”
Otto isn't entirely sure how to proceed with this. As stated before, he isn't sure how to comfort, nor is he the best at it. He sighs, and decides to sit himself beside Peter, two of his metal limbs curling around Peter at one side gently. Peter stiffens, and turns wide, doe-caught-in-the-headlights eyes at Otto’s face. They've hugged before, and spend a lot of their time together now- Otto re-established his job and Peter works with him- but they haven't done anything similar to this before.
“You didn't disturb me, dear boy,” Otto reassures him. He looks at Peter through the corner of his eye, noticing how they’re rimmed with red. “Now tell me; what is troubling you?”
Peter lets out a shaky sigh, seeming to realize he isn't getting out of this. He shifts, scooting ever so closer to Otto’s side. Otto stays tight lipped, feeling himself stiff from this whole interaction.
The spider doesn't say anything for a whole minute, picking at his fingertips and looking everywhere but Otto. Otto himself waits patiently, because he's also afraid if he speaks it will startle the hurting spider away from him.
Finally, Peter speaks, his voice hushed and tiny, “Today… today is the day… my uncle Ben died.” He curls his knees in closer once more, snuggling further into the jacket draped over his shoulders. Otto remains silent, to allow him to continue, “I- I still see his… his face. He was- he was in- in so m- in so much pain. And- and it was my fault… He’d be so disappointed in me… I let the robber go…”
He goes back to his quiet sniffling, and Otto takes a breath to steady himself. What does he say in this situation? He has no idea what Peter’s uncle Ben would say at this moment, so he can't rightly say he’d be proud of Peter. Maybe… maybe he speaks from his heart? Of how he views Peter? That would probably be the best course of action.
“Well, Peter,” he begins, wetting his lips. He feels like… well, an octopus out of water. Time to wing it. Hopefully he will wing it well. “It is true that everyone makes mistakes… and I don't know the full story of this accident, but I know you.” Peter shakes his head, and grabs fistfuls of his hair.
“No, no, Ock. It was my fault,” he argues, and his body shakes with more, unshed tears. “I could have stopped his killer- but I- I was selfish. I was angry and I- I was so mean to him too-”
“Listen, Peter,” Otto says, resting one of his real hands on Peter's shoulder. He winces at the touch, but doesn't shake him off. “There are things everyone isn't proud of. Hell, look at me.” He huffs out a halfhearted chuckle. “I killed how many people because of my own mistake?” Peter sniffles, but says nothing, so Otto continues. He has no idea what he's doing. He's honestly just talking out of his ass at this point. “You can take the blame. I won't stop you. But at some point, you have to realize that it's okay to forgive yourself.” Peter scoffs at that, and Otto chuckles once more, “Really, Peter. You're striving to be better. You're using your powers for good. You save so many people everyday, putting yourself in danger's way numerous times.” He pauses, looking for the right words. “And I have a feeling, whoever this Uncle Ben is, that he would be proud of you. Of what you've become. I certainly am extremely proud.”
Peter looks back at him, his tears overflowing the sides of his eyes, trailing down his cheeks. His lips are quivering, and he lets out a small sob. Otto’s words seem to have been his breaking point, because he leans into the doctor’s side, burying his face into his shoulder.
Otto pauses as the spider nuzzles against him, seeking further comfort. He's not sure what to do in this situation. So… he ends up wrapping an arm across the lithe shoulders resting against him and gently holds him.
They remain that way for sometime, with Peter’s soft sobs filling the room. Otto hardly moves, keeping Peter close in his time of need.
Because sometimes, even a superhero needs comfort.