𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄; peter parker

ᴛᴡᴇʟᴠᴇ

THE NEWLY FORMED QUARTET WERE clueless. They didn't know what was going on, or when things had suddenly begun to change, or how to approach the surfacing problems all by themselves. The multiverse wasn't supposed to exist, but it did. Most people would be elated to find out about the intriguing discovery, but not the odd collection of people standing in the Leeds' open dining room. They didn't know what to do.

They couldn't just drag other people into the mess; it wouldn't help at all. All they had to do was try and contact Maelyn's brother to see what the next step of their ever-changing plan was, which proved to be a bit easier said than done. Ned wasn't any Doctor Strange, he was just a normal teenager from Queens. He didn't know how to find his best friend through magical portals, even if he knew how to generate them, so when the four saw a random man step through the sparking circle, they weren't very surprised.

"Do you think he's okay?" Maelyn whispered to Peter as they subtly shuffled closer to each other, watching intently as Ned fought to create another portal in front of both him and MJ. Peter glanced down at her with a reassuring smile before slinging an arm across her shoulders.

"He's Spider-Man, of course he's okay." He heartened whilst his fingers traced small circles on the skin of her bicep. She managed a small smile as she looked up into his deep, chocolate irises before Ned and MJ's cheers pulled them out of their trance.

The four of them stood silently as the hesitant man slowly walked through the magic opening, looking around the room and ignoring its many inhabitants. Maelyn sighed and unnoticeably lowered her head, squeezing her eyes tightly shut as the thoughts of her brother sitting somewhere in the darkness alone flooded her mind. Meanwhile, the light circles being drawn on her arm froze in place as Peter stared worriedly at the guy.

"Great, it's just some random guy." Ned acknowledged with a disbelieving smile, turning to MJ for confirmation. She didn't look back, however, as her suspicious glare on the man stayed in place.

"Hello. I hope it's okay, I just came through this uh-" Just like what Maelyn had done earlier, he turned around to point at the portal he had just snuck through, but to his luck, it had already diminished. He squinted his eyes with confusion as he spun back around. "It just closed."

"You're Peter?" MJ guessed with an accusing finger pointed in his direction. She had caught onto the strange pattern almost instantly, knowing that her boyfriend wouldn't be the Peter Parker that stepped through the portal that last time. Even if she wished upon it with her whole heart, she knew it wouldn't come true.

"Yeah. Peter Parker." He told them all without removing eye-contact from MJ's face. The two people closest to him, Ned and MJ, looked familiar. He couldn't place his finger on exactly where he had either met them or seen them, but he definitely knew he recognised them. "I've seen you two." He paused and tilted his head as a new presence walked into the room, one he wasn't complaining about being there.

Ned's grandma, for the third time that same night, had made her way back into the dining room upon hearing the sound of another visitor's voice. She cracked a grin and flirtingly waved in the eldest man's direction, turning around to retreat to her bedroom yet again after waiting for a wave in response.