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sixteen

"A bakery? I know you couldn't join the army, but why happened to Oscorp?"

"Oh, it was corrupt so I destroyed it. Turns out someone had been sabotaging all projects for a while now, including your own. And... Dad's. Had a whole secret underground organisation hiding under Oscorp and created illegal nuclear weaponry, and embezzled for the money. Killed quite a few people in the process. But he's behind bars now, don't worry."

If the concept of multiverses wasn't too much to process, that definitely was.

Octavius blinks, hardly managing to process, before deciding to skip past that little revelation. "...Okay. Good. But how is everything else? How's Peter?"

"He's good. He has a tech company called Parker Industries. Doing super well, super popular. Busy a lot, but then again, who isn't."

"Oh, yeah? Did he ever end up with that girl he liked?"

While Otto's remembering days of teaching him to recite poetry for MJ, Lily's grin only grows at the surprising plot twist in their lives, managing to bite a bit of it back without looking insane.

"Well, actually, that was another whole mess. Basically she liked my brother instead even though they'd broken up, and after Harry died, things didn't exactly work out between them. But then again, without that happening, I'd never have married him."

It takes a moment, but Octavius can't help his surprised laugh. "No. You married Peter?"

"You're officially talking to Liliana Parker," she announces, leaning back in her seat proudly. "We have a daughter and a dog and everything."

"A daughter? Should I feel honoured by any naming choices?"

"Definitely. We called her Octavius Parker. Of course not, Otto!" And before long, the two of them are laughing hard at the thought, and it feels so normal, so natural. Like things are back to how they were supposed to be all along.

Max and Flint glance up from their own conversation, the former with the cure charging up on his chest that Peter had given a while ago. After a couple of seconds, one of the lights go green.

"Hang on a second." He interrupts, Lily and Octavius turning to him. He doesn't even bother hiding his eavesdropping. "So what you're telling me is that Lily Osborn, the boss of Oscorp, married Spider-Man in your world?"

"Different universes," she reminds him, nodding over towards the other room. "In this one, he's a socially awkward teenager dating a socially awkward female version of himself. What about you, who ended up with him in yours?"

Max shrugs, although he seems detached for a moment, clearly remembering something. "Don't know if they were together, but there was definitely someone. Madison Kennedy. Doctor Madison Kennedy, in fact. She died trying to stop me."

"If you're alive, couldn't she be?" Marko questions from the couch.

"I don't think it works like that."

Otto's voice is solemn. "Do you regret it?"

Max sighs, then shrugs. "Sometimes. It's easy to be controlled by anger."

Norman walks in, only for Lily to immediately turn her head away, sucking in a sharp breath. He definitely notices, seeming a little upset before going back to Dum-E and holding something up. Octavius lights up at the sight of it. "Your cure. You made it." The smile forms on his lips. "How does it feel, Norman? You're about to become whole again. No more darker half. Just you."

"Just me." At the strange tone to his voice, Lily glances at him (and realises he's standing a lot closer to her than she'd thought), but he seems fine. Relieved, if anything.