(3rd Person POV)
"I'm Miles Morales, this is Gwen Stacy," the kid said, pointing to the girl next to him.
"Hey I'm Ben Reilly," the blond guy said.
"Mattie Franklin," the short haired gal with spider legs on her suit.
"Michael Bingham," the other dude with a bright blue and red suit.
"I am Noir. Wherever I go, the wind follows." That was the guy in a black trench coat.
"Hi, I'm Peni Parker. This is my robot best friend, my father built him," a small girl said.
"Oh I guess we're doing introductions. I'm Tom," the nervous guy said. He had a british accent.
"Ok well I guess that answers that question," Peter muttered. "Um, why are you guys here?"
There was a sizzling noise behind the group, and they all turned towards it. It was an orange circle, and coming through it a man with a red cape and a necklace around his neck.
"They're here because they fell through a portal and can't get back to their worlds," the man said simply. The group parted like the red sea, letting the man inside of the building. Tom looked a little pale at the sight of the man.
"Wait are you saying there's a multiverse?" Peter asked excitedly. "Because I thought that was just theoretical, I mean that completely changes how we understand the initial singularity, we're talking about an internal inflation system and how does that even work with all the quantum- it's insane-" Peter said really quickly, laughing a bit.
Everyone in the room stared at him. Eliza awed, "I. Love. You. So. Much."
Peter blushed and shuffled his feet, grinning at the floor.
The strange man rolled his eyes and waved a hand, causing the Avenger's dining table to disappear and become a makeshift hologram. There were many different pictures, of the ten of them, and a long golden string in the middle.
"Currently, all we know is that somehow the multiverse got messed up, causing all the spider... people? I don't know what you guys call yourself, to be scattered across both the timeline and collection of observable universes."
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but who are you mister?" Miles asked.
"Doctor," he corrected.
"Mr. Doctor?" Eliza asked.
"It's Strange."
"Maybe, but who are we to judge?" Miles said.
Tom snorted and everyone looked at him. He cleared his throat, "Sorry, continue."
"Anyways, Peni Parker. You are from the year 3135. Noir, 1933. Miles Morales, Earth 1610. Gwen Stacy, Earth 65. Mattie Franklin, the third Spider Woman. Ben Reilly, Scarlet Spider. Michael Bingham, Blood Spider. Tom Holland, Earth 19999. Eliza Porter, Earth 616. Peter Parker, Earth 616. We are all on Earth 616 presently."
"Wow."
"We need to get you all back as fast as possible, before all reality collapses. All of you have to stay apart from each other, unless you want to stay in this alternate universe for the rest of your lives," Doctor Strange said.
"I have a question," Peter said.
"Please ask," Doctor strange said sarcastically.
"Um, why does he look exactly like me?" Peter pointed at Tom.
"Because I'm an actor," Tom said. "In my world, you all are fictional characters. Most of you are just in comics."
"Flattering," Mattie rolled her eyes.
"Wait so you play me? Like in a movie?" Peter asked.
"Yeah, basically."
"Creepy," Eliza said. "Did this thing happen in your world?"
Tom shook his head.
"We don't have time for this, you all need to be separated immediately," Doctor Strange said impatiently.
"Wait, all of us? Like Peter and I too?" Eliza asked.
"Yes."
"Why?" A voice said from behind them. They all turned to see Tony Stark, with a baby blanket in his hand.
"Robert?" Tom asked, confused.
"Who?"
"Right, Tony. Never mind."
Tony looked at him skeptically and then faced the rest of the group, stepping down from the threshold.
"Right, ok then. Might have to tell Pepper It'll be a few minutes, just forgot Morgana's blanket. You," he pointed at Doctor Strange, "are trespassing."
"I don't care that I'm trespassing right now, that's the least of our worries," he looked back down at the golden string.
"Yeah no shit Sherlock," Tony narrowed his eyes.
"Anyhow, you all need to find isolate yourselves from each other before all reality morphs together," he repeated. "Mr. Holland you have no superpowers so I guess you can do whatever you want, just be cautious and stay close by." Tom nodded. "The rest of you I assume all live in New York in your worlds, so just go to where your houses while my colleague and I figure out how to return you to your rightful places in time, and space. Remember, stay apart from each other."
Then he just opened a portal in the kitchen, walked through, and was gone. As if he hadn't been there in the first place.
"You heard the wizard man, go to your separate homes, he'll call you when you're needed," Mr. Stark said.
Mattie, Ben, Michael, Peni, Noir, Miles, and Gwen nodded, then walked out of the front door. Morgan was sitting in the back of the Stark's car in her seat, crying. Pepper was trying to calm her down, but stopped when she saw seven people dressed in weird costumes walk past. Morgan immediately stopped crying, and just stared at them.
Later in her life, Tony and Pepper realized that their daughter was fascinated by the world of superheroes, and even built herself an iron suit in secret. Tony of course eventually found out and added about three thousand safety procedures to it, but let her fly around sometimes.
Back in the Avenger's building, Tom was shuffling back and forth on his feet while the other three argued.
"Um, guys," Tom spoke up. They all focused on him. "I don't really have a place in New York, I live in London."
"That explains the fancy accent," Tony said. "I guess you could stay here, maybe Peter's room since he doesn't use it that much."
"Sure," Peter said. For some reason, even though they looked identical, Peter felt like Tom was someone he should respect, and that they could be friends. Although this situation was very odd and probably wouldn't have any time to hang out with one another.
"Why are there two Peters?" Bucky's scared voice made them all look up at him. He was standing at living room entrance.
"I'm Tom," he raised a hand.
"Ok too much weird shit goes on around here. Just thought I'd say that," he then slowly backed away.
"Wow, Bucky is so much different than I thought he would be," Tom muttered.
"Listen kids. I know that it's going to be hard, but for the long run you need to do this. Even though a wizard with a magic necklace just came in here and told you so, you need to," Tony said.
"But Mr. Stark-" Peter started.
"Na-ah!" Tony cut him off and pointed a finger at him. "Underoos, you gotta listen to me or this Avenger thing isn't gonna work out."
Peter face heated up from embarrassment. Tony turned to Eliza, who was mumbling random things, her eyes darting around the room.
"Hey kid? You good?"
Eliza snapped out of her thoughts, "Sorry. Yeah no no no, I'm good."
Peter knew what she was doing. She was trying to figure out a way to get around the problem. She always did that when there was a sudden complication or drawback from her just going along with a day. But sometimes, there was no way to fix it, and she would end up having an anxiety attack.
Take for example when she first got her powers, and freaked out because she was stuck to the ceiling and didn't know what to do. Or at Liz's party when there were too many people and the exits just disappeared in her mind, and there was no way to escape.
Peter strutted the few feet between them and grabbed her face in his hands, her soft cheeks fitting perfectly in his palms. She stared into his warm chocolate colored eyes, and instantly calmed down, her once fast paced silent panting stopped, and a new feeling took its place, a good one.
"Hey," he said.
"H-hi," she turned her head a little to look at Tony, but he was writing on a piece of paper. Peter put his fingertips on her chin and imposed her to look at him.
"Focus on me alright? I'll see you in a bit, it'll be okay," he reassured her.
Peter didn't know how these random strangers that were apparently from different universes and times were going to get back to their own homes, but he hoped it would be in a few days. Mostly he was convincing himself rather than Eliza that it really was going to be okay.
He kissed the tip of her nose and let go, stepping back a bit. She smiled and muttered, "Dammit you're good at that."
"I know," he smirked. She glared, then quickly kissed him on the cheek.
"I love you," she whispered in his ear, which made chills run down the back of his neck.
"Love you too," he beamed down at her.
"I'll see you in a few days. or weeks. or months, I don't really know- the point is I'll see you soon when this is all over-"
Peter impulsively crushed his lips against her own, stopping the words from floating out of her mouth. She was a little startled, but then smiled into it.
She pulled away and Peter pouted from the lack of her lips touching his, she laughed.
"Hopefully I'll see you in a couple days okay?" she said. He nodded and sighed.
----------------------------------------
June 10th, 2 weeks later
Eliza basically disappeared from her school and the city. She couldn't chance running into any of the other spider people, or Peter. She told her teachers that she was in the hospital for the flu, so she still got her homework to do. The homework was the easiest part of this whole situation, because she already knew all the stuff her classes were teaching.
Whenever she was watching tv in the living room and Spiderman came up on the news, she would start to tear up and turn it off quickly.
The part that she was most upset about besides not being able to see her best friend and boyfriend, was that because Mr. Harrington thought she was in the hospital, she couldn't go on their class trip to Europe.
She was fighting with Steve in the training room, practicing her hand to hand combat. It was important for distracting herself while also strengthening her muscles. Although she had learned from her past mistakes, and Steve monitored her training to make sure she wasn't pushing herself too hard like last time.
"Keep your feet grounded," Steve grunted while continuing to fight.
Eliza threw a punch at his arm, then chest, then core. But Steve wasn't moving. It really didn't help that he was a super solider, but whatever. She dodged all his punches, then swept his leg unexpectedly, catching him off guard.
Steve fell on his back and tried to get back up.
She laughed, "You're an old man papà."
"Yeah, yeah."
Because she had two dads, she referred to Steve as papà, and Bucky as dad. It was a surprise to them at first, because neither of them had ever been fathers, but it made them feel special and loved, so she just continued calling them that.
Steve got back up and into fighting position, along with Eliza. She kept her eyes on him as he counted down from three. When he got down to one though, her eyes wandered to a figure a few feet away, watching them fight in awe, a smile on his face. A familiar smile.
"Peter?" she whispered.
She got distracted and left her guard down, henceforth getting punched in the face by Steve accidentally. A small crack sounded in the room, and out of instinct her hands went up to hold her nose.
"Ouch," she said quietly.
"Oh my goodness, Eliza I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-" Steve said.
"No it's fine. I left my guard down," she assured him. Her eyes wandered back to where she thought Peter was, but he was right in front of her.
"Are you okay darling? Is your nose broken? I can help you," he said. He had an accent.
"Oh."
She hadn't seen Tom around at all, he was always in his room or somewhere else where she wasn't.
"Ok, lean forward and only breath through your mouth, I'll get you some ice. Can you stand?" he asked.
She responded by standing up and following him to the bathroom. Sitting down on the toilet, she sighed and watched Tom scramble around trying to find a bag of ice. She pointed to a mini fridge that held bags of ice for this exact purpose and he smiled at her gratefully.
He grabbed one bag and carefully set it on her nose, crouching down a bit. He lifted it slightly to inspect the nose, which was very crooked.
"Remember to lean forward," he reminded her. She bended forwards and he handed the bag off to her so she could hold it herself.
"Wow, you know a lot about this stuff huh?" she asked, trying to make conversation.
"Yeah, I've broken my nose like three times." he laughed, then winced.
"Oof."
He raised an eyebrow at her and snorted.
"You just look so much like him," she mumbled.
"Sorry love."
She laughed, "It's alright, s'not your fault. There are some differences. You look a little older, but that's not saying much because he does kind of look twelve."
"Ouch," he put a hand to his heart dramatically. "Well yeah I did turn I think twenty three last week."
Eliza raised her eyebrows, "You did? Well why didn't you say anything?!? I would have thrown you a party or something."
"No, it's alright. How's your nose?" he asked.
"Oh it'll be fine. Probably heal by tomorrow morning," she shrugged.
Tom nodded, "Right, forgot about the super healing."
There was a comfortable silence while Eliza finished icing her nose and Tom made a makeshift little cast for it. It was completely unnecessary, but she was still grateful.
They moved to the kitchen to get some food. Eliza asked, "You want some coffee?"
"I drink tea darling," he smiled.
"Why? It's just flavored water."
"So is coffee," he pointed out. "But no, if I didn't drink tea, that would be treason in London."
"You know I have a friend who's from there. His name is Theodore. He's all fancy, it's weird."
"I'm not fancy, I just like tea," he said.
"Oh well, what kind of tea would you like darling?" she mocked.
He laughed, "What kind do you have?"
"Only peppermint. That's the only kind Peter and I like, except for green tea. But we don't have any," she said.
"Alright then, peppermint it is," he said.
She boiled some water on the stove and poured it into two cups, then put the tea bags in and handed one to him. It tasted like flavored water, that's it.
"Ooo this is good, did your parents teach you how to make tea?" he asked, taking a sip.
"Well considering my dad put a bullet in my mom's head and she's dead and he's in prison, no. Wanda taught me," she said.
Tom almost choked on his tea, and his face heated up in embarrassment. "Oh goodness, love I'm so sorry. I forgot about that part."
"It's alright, relax- wait what do you mean 'forgot about that part'?" she asked.
"Well technically you are a fictional character," he said as politely as possible.
"Oh yeahhh, that's cool. I've always wanted to be a fictional character, you know with Harry Potter and stuff," she took a sip of her tea.
"Well no, that's a different fictional universe. Although things are a lot different here I must say."
"Really? How so?"
"Well there was this big purple guy that had a nut sack for a chin- wait no I can't give you any spoilers, I'm really bad a keeping secrets-" he started. Eliza looked at him like he was crazy.
"A big purple guy that had a nut sack for a chin?" she laughed.
"Well yeah, and the infinity stones, wiping out half the universe, Tony Stark dying?" he said. "But Tony Stark is alive..."
"Yeah he's alive- wait a minute did you say wiping out half the universe?" she asked.
Tom was still thinking, muttering things. "Hold on, what year is it?"
"2019."
"Ok, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you and Peter get dusted away. Then five years later, the Avengers collect all the infinity stones and Professor Hulk snaps everyone back. Then Tony Stark snaps away Thanos's army, which kills him. Then there's a funeral, and you and Peter have to deal with the grief of losing him. Then you go to a class trip to Europe- and Mysterio?" he rambled.
"Hold on, what the fuck are you talking about? Who's Thanos? Who's Mysterio? Who's Professor Hulk? Do you mean the class trip to Europe that Peter's going on a few weeks?" she asked.
"What if this dimension thing stopped all that from happening? What if Thanos never happened and all the infinity stones are still out there? Eliza you're in 2019! Not 2023! Do you think this changes the movies too? I mean when I get back- dammit I wish Lilah was here."
"Who's Lilah?"
"uM, sh-she's um. Sh-she plays y-you?" he stuttered.
"She plays me? Like in the movies?"
"Y-yeah," he blushed.
"Is she your girlfriend?" she smiled.
"No," he sighed. "She's um, no she isn't my girlfriend."
"do yOu liKe hEr???"
"No pfft-"
"And you said nO. You know, like a liar," she smirked.
Tom sighed and tried changing the subject, "Don't you turn seventeen in like two days?"
"Oh yeah," she frowned. Peter and her were going to go to the bookstore again for her birthday, also to check in on Hannah and Charlotte.
"Hey woah woah, you good? It's like a wave of sadness just hit you in the face," he said.
"No yeah, I'm good."
Bucky walked into the room with his phone in hand, "Um Eliza? My friend wants to talk to you."
Eliza looked at him confusedly, "Who is it?"
"Her name is Shuri, she's your age and she's from Wakanda," he informed.
Her eyes widened, "No way. You mean Wakanda Wakanda? They have like the world's strongest metal, that's so cool."
Bucky passed the phone to her, and up on the screen was a girl who had space buns in her hair and a wide smile on her lips.
"H-hi, I'm Eliza."
"Hey, I'm Shuri. White wolf over there told me you like technology and stuff. You're Spiderwoman, right? I've heard about you on the American news, you're pretty badass." she said, impressed.
"Yeah," she smiled, "thanks. I was actually thinking about making something for my best friend for his birthday in August, or when I see him again. It's a pair of glasses, but with with an A.I. built into them-" she said.
"Are you talking about EDITH?" Tom asked.
Eliza squinted her eyes at him, "That's what Mr. Stark and I were thinking of calling the A.I., yes. How'd you know?"
"No reason," he said quickly.
"Anyways, Mr. Stark invited me to go to his cabin up by the lake to work on it next week. I'd love to have your input," she said to Shuri.
"Sounds awesome. What's your best friends name?" she asked.
"Um, h-his name is Peter."
"Cool. I think it would be cool if you engraved something in the glasses, I don't know maybe an inside joke," she suggested.
"That sounds awesome. It would most likely be a vine though," she said.
"weLL sUrE hOpE iT iS," Shuri said.
Eliza's mouth dropped, "Ok I officially love you."
"You too Spidergirl. Alright, got any design ideas for the glasses?"
"Uh yeah- let me go to the lab, hold on a second," Eliza ran to the lab to find the blueprints. Shuri saw the lab in the back round and snickered. Eliza looked up, "What's so funny?"
"Your lab is so tiny! I've got to show you mine!" she exclaimed.
They worked together on making an outline for the glasses about two hours, until Bucky's phone was dying and Shuri got a message from her brother.
One of the balls on her bracelet rolled into her palm and projected a crystal clear image of the King of Wakanda.
"That is a beautiful man," Eliza said.
"Shut up he's the ugliest human alive." Shuri said, glaring at her new friend. "Question, have you ever tried using Bucky's arm as a magnet board? I never got the chance to try."
Eliza laughed so hard that she fell off her chair and onto the floor, "N-no I haven't," she managed to say in between laughs.
"Hmm, you should try."
"Hey I need your number," she said.
"Right, I'll give it to white wolf to give to you."
"Talk to you later!"
"Byeeee," she smiled at the screen. They hung up and Eliza worked a little more on the glasses, until she fell asleep on the floor.