⋆ twenty-three ⋆
"What, are you crazy?! You're gonna get yourself killed!"
"Alex, I did not admit to you that I'm Spider-Woman for you to yell at me over the phone every time I go into action," Xara mutters into the phone, pulling it away for a moment to swallow some more painkillers. The shooting pains were starting up again and she had to force them away. After all, this is the worst time to be injured.
"As your best friend of nearly eighteen years, I'm allowed to yell at you! And I'll be telling MJ to yell at you after you guys get into MIT, too! Xar, baby, these are actual villains! They're not the muggers and serial killers you guys usually go after. And it's bad enough that you didn't reply to any of my messages all night! You could have already been dead!"
"I'm not dead. Hate to break it to you."
"But you could still die."
"Not planning on it."
"I'm going to have a serious conversation with that Peter Parker. I swear, at first I was all for you guys being together but now I'm having regrets. He throws you into danger like it's nobody's business. I mean, he's literally live with the Daily Bugle to lure the bad guys towards you!"
"He is not-"
Xara cuts herself off when Peter casts a momentary glance towards her, offering a comforting smile instead, before hissing into the phone. "He's not doing anything, Alex! This is my choice. What's it going to take for anyone around me to let me make my own decisions?"
"You can't make your own decisions if you're just going to go around doing stupid shit," Alexandros snaps. It's not often that Xara sees him so riled up, but she's not about to back down.
"Then let me do my stupid shit and learn from it. Hell, even if I die, at least I die doing the stupid shit I wanted to do! I'm hanging up. I have bad guys to stop."
"I'm going to call Peter."
"You'd better not."
"I am."
"Damn it, Alex! Call him and I swear I'm gonna do something to you! His aunt just died, and we're fighting people from other universes, and if you call my boyfriend to have a go at him for letting me make my own choices then we are genuinely done. I'm hanging up."
She does, knowing he was about to speak but not particularly caring. It doesn't matter, anyway; she meant every word. Peter quickly rose to being one of the people she cares about most in this entire world, and she'd be damned if anything happened to him.
There's a throat cleared, and she turns, giving an awkward chuckle when she notices Lily and Madison looking at her, done with the explanation of how the hoverboard works. "Sorry. My friend, he gets a little..."
"Same, don't worry about it," Lily says after a moment, allowing herself a little eye roll. "When JJ found out about Peter being Spider-Man - accidentally, by the way - it became a whole deal. I don't think he fully trusts him even now."
"How did he find out?"
The older woman at least has the decency to look a little sheepish. "He walked in on us making out. Peter was in his suit."
Maddy and Xara stare at her, eyes wide.
It's Madison that clears her throat, bouncing off her perch against the construction railing and holding something out to the two. "Anyway. Here. Earpieces."
"When did you even have time to make these?"
"I'm a multitasker." She flicks some of her curls over her shoulder dramatically, waggling her eyebrows with a laugh. It's when she hears Peter 3 laugh down below, talking to the other Peters, that a smile forms on her lips unknowingly.
Lily definitely notices, a smile forming on her own. "Boyfriend?"
"He's not my boyfriend," the scientist is quick to refute, only for the tips of her ears to redden a little. "Best friends. Kinda."
"Yeah, what's the big deal with that?" Xara interjects, having been curious about it this entire time. "I mean, I thought you were dating. You guys were talking all super cute, and he was basically crying about you before you showed up. Quicker to tears than my Peter, definitely."
"Oh. Well... it's kind of a long story?"
"We have time."
Madison hesitates. "His ex died while he was Spider-Man-ing and he couldn't save her. Left ten years of guilt that I didn't want to make him relive. It already took effort to get him to be friends, and I didn't want to force him to get over her quickly either just because he was with me. Okay, that didn't take as long as I thought it would."
"That's admirable," Lily tells her after a moment. Maddy's gaze darts to her in surprise at the compliment. "I pushed Peter into trying to date his ex right after she kissed my brother, who just passed away. We ended up dating instead. Life just... fucks you over sometimes, I guess." She clears her throat. "Sorry, if you don't mind my asking... how did you die?"
"It started from when I was involved in an Oscorp accident-"
Liliana can't help but throw her hands in the air incredulously. "Great, good to know Oscorp is incompetent in every universe. Never mind; I think I'd rather not know."
"It still feels weird as hell that you're here when you're my boss back home."
"Trust me, I'm getting annoyed with constantly being recognised."
"I didn't recognise you," Xara chirps happily, overjoyed that they're finally starting to get along despite all technically dating the same person. "Although maybe I've seen you in my universe and not remembered. Maybe you have a different face. Maybe even a different personality. It could happen."
"Like how I have a different surname, age and entire life," Maddy can't help but mumble, sourly remembering the moment she was told she was a grant-aunt. "My niece is still in elementary school in my universe. It feels weird to know that she had a kid in this one."
"What about you?" Lily questions. "In this universe, how was your life like?"
"Oh, I still never married and lived alone till I became senile. I think I live with that girl and her family now. Michelle. Or, the other me does. I wouldn't want to."
"Hey, she's nice. She's a really great person. She's sweet and caring. She's pessimistic sometimes, but that's okay," Xara defends, strongly protective of the girl she once hated. She then turns to Lily. "How did you meet your Peter?"
"We've known each other for over 30 years," Lily recalls. "He was my brother's best friend."
"That's so cute!"
"How did you meet yours?"
"Oh, I called him a serial killer after stalking him at night before forcing him to let me join him on patrol for a summer so I could write news articles. Also I had an obsessive crush on his alter ego."
"...Oh."
Maddy gives a chill shrug. "No, that's pretty fair."
"What about you?"
"Invented special glasses to find out who Spider-Man was. Went on the streets yelling for Peter Parker before telling him I knew he was Spider-Man and basically forcing him to let me help over hot chocolate and scribbled notebook drawings."
"It's nice to know that I'm the only one with a sane love story."
Xara leans forward in her seat, where she's perched on one of the steel bars. "I have a question then. Because you're the only one actually married to their Peter. How... How did you solve stuff? Like, problems and disagreements, miscommunications. Because we have different views on certain things, like all this. And I'm worried that..."
She trails off, not wanting to hear the thought being said out loud. And I'm worried we'll break up because of it. She won't let it happen. She refuses to.
Lily, however, can read it on Xara's face. They may not be the same person like the Peters, but they've all been in love with a Peter Parker. And Lily Osborn knows exactly what that does to you.
"He did the same with me," Lily admits after a moment, voice quieter as she glances at her Peter out of the corner of her eye, chatting with the other two. "He tried to break up with me because he was Spider-Man and didn't want me getting hurt. He... couldn't lose someone like he lost Harry again. There was one time particularly when we were a bit older that I got mugged and threatened because someone once saw Spider-Man saving me and assumed we were linked somehow."
"Really? What happened?"
"I kicked him in the balls. The criminal, not Peter. He came to save me, and while I could fight, I wasn't the most amazing at defending myself against someone that had a knife. We had a fight that night, when Mayday was sleeping. But in the end, the thing is... people make their own decisions in life. Sometimes you can compromise, but other times you'll have to give in. You have to respect other people's choices as much as they have to respect yours."
"But what if our choices are so vastly different?" Maddy finally says, in the same position, with every word hitting home. "What if we can't explain what we want to each other in a way they'll understand?"
Lily hesitates. "I was pretty bad at communicating. But being patient with the other is a start. Learning to separate your problems from the person you love stops you from growing to hate them over pointless things. Taking a deep breath and thinking about the issue, what it must be like for them, the reasons behind the things that happened. We get angry without realising that sometimes the other person does things in your favour."
A smile forms on her lips, remembering something fondly. "Aunt May - my Aunt May - she said something to me once. She said, 'It's not you two against each other, but both of you against the problem'. So lay it all out there. Talk to each other wholly and honestly. The solution will find its way eventually."
It's only then that she finally lets out an aggravated groan, burying her face in her hands. "Great. Now I'm really ancient."
That finally pushes the other girls start laughing, the three seeming to bond over something: Peter Parker.
Peter 3 is the one to call out to the girls, their attention having been grabbed by the sudden noise emanating from above. "What are you guys laughing about?"
Xara is the one to grin, yelling back down, "You first!"
Peter 3's smile fades, a little pout forming on his lips. Peter 1 smiles, calling out, "We were talking about aliens we've fought! What about you guys?"
"Ability to communicate in relationships!"
The boys are quiet for a moment. Silence drops in the night air. Then Peter 2 gives a little chuckle, knowing it was no doubt Lily giving the speech from the three of them. "We are definitely completely different species."
"I mean, I guess some people in your conversation should have listened to ours," Maddy interjects as the Spider-Men head over to be closer, giving a pointed look to Peter 3. "Because we were super bad at that."
Peter 3 sheepishly nods in agreement. "Yeah, the worst."
Peter 1 is the one that glances between the two, something not exactly clicking. "I thought you guys didn't date."
"No, yeah, we didn't. Well. It's complicated."
Maddy adds on, "We knew we liked each other, but...."
She trails off, the rest of the sentence dangling in the air helplessly before Peter 2 finishes, "Circumstances?"
"Yeah. That."
"Is dating really that hard as adults?" Xara can't help but ask, suddenly dreading the day she turns eighteen next July. If now is hard then she doesn't dare to think about adulthood, let alone long-distance.
"Was it easy for you?"
"To admit a crush, no. But when people said we shouldn't date, we kinda just went 'fuck it all' and did it anyway."
"In that case, yeah. Adult dating is very different."
Peter 1's lips purse. He exchanges a slightly uneasy glance with Xara. "Great. I guess that's something to look forward to."
It's only then that he seems to shift, glancing out towards the blinking lights of the city in the distance. Xara instantly becomes wary, knowing exactly how the Peter Tingle works by this point. "All right guys, focus up. You feel that?"
Lightning suddenly shoots through the sky, the clouds dark and thunderous. Xara gulps nervously, not sure how she'll end up looking by the end of this battle seeing how the last one went. Even then, a part of her can't help but feel glad she didn't tell Peter about her injuries. Otherwise he'd just focus on her, and they'd get distracted.
"No, but I damn well see it," Madison quips, seeing the figures flying towards them in the distance. "I should be concerned about the fact we're about to fight some guys - one of which kinda killed me, by the way - on the Statue of Liberty... but man, this is going to be fun."
Lily's quick to cast a glance in her direction, sure she misheard her. Because if she didn't, then Lily Osborn may be the only one here with any value for her life. "Excuse me?"
Under Liliana's penetrating gaze, Maddy can't help but shiver, suddenly at somewhat of a loss for words. "No, I mean, like, because it's a master battle. Have you played a video game before?"
Even then, Xara hisses over, "She's terrifying," knowing for a fact that Lily can still hear them before giving a cheeky smile.
"Agreed."
"But Doc," Peter 1 calls back to her, getting into one of his battle poses. (Xara likes to call them 'stupid poses', claiming that anyone without his enhanced reflexes and invulnerability would be breaking their legs doing it.) "I appreciate that you're super smart and have a PhD and all, but should you even be here if you don't have defences?"
That's when the wicked smirk slowly grows on her lips, seeing Max appear in front of the Peters, electricity dancing over his body. "Oh, honey... I don't need one."
Then she leaps into battle, her entire body lighting up in flames.
Xara flinches at the sight of fire, a momentary flash of her mom appearing behind her eyelids, but even then there's something about it that makes her stare in shock. Madison. On fire. Sure, she's seen some crazy things in this universe, but considering she's been talking casually to a woman who 1. died, 2. tried breaking her mom out of jail, and 3. can casually light herself on fire without burning any of her clothes, it's a lot to process.
Then something else replays in her mind, unable to stop herself quietly muttering, "She called him honey. I don't think I'm okay with that. Go to your own Peter."
"What's up, Peter?" Max Dillon calls out to Peter 1, channelling more electricity than before with help of the arc reactor he stole from Happy's apartment. "How you like the new-new?" He eyes the magic relic in Peter's hand. "Look, you give it to me, I'm gonna destroy it. But I'll let you live. Don't make me a murderer, Peter."
Then suddenly Maddy's jumped onto him, the electricity not burning her any more than the flames already coating her body, forming a protective barrier. He's caught off-guard, dropping a little in the sky, before recognising her face in shock. "I think you're already one, dude."
"Madison?"
"Hey, Max! I missed you, man! Not really."
He growls, trying to shoot a lightning bolt at her, but she jumps off and flies in the air pretty easily, playing an elaborate game of cat and mouse. It gets even easier when Peter 3 joins the fray, alarming Max further, as the two swing/fly around as if it's fun. It gives Peter 1 just enough time to toss the relic through the air and into the portal leading to Ned and MJ back in the school.
A roar emanates from nearby, the Lizard beginning to crawl up the infrastructure before grasping onto Peter 2's leg, who's in the middle of swinging. Caught, he tries kicking him off to no avail, yelling to the others, "Just FYI, Lizard-guy's here too! Guys, comm-check, hello?"
Both Peter 2 and 3 yell through the comms for the cure, Peter 1 torn between them both, before Xara seems to swing out of nowhere and kick the Lizard off Peter 2. He breathes a momentary sigh of relief, watching as she shoots a couple of webs to stick him to the pipes.
It doesn't stay for much longer, his claws sharp enough to tear through. Xara can't help her surprise. "What? These are my new webs. They should be stronger!"
"He's sorta strong too, in case you didn't realise!" Peter 2 yells back, the two working together to disorient him.
As Maddy gets knocked back by an explosion near her, it's only then that she realises Lily's frozen in place, still almost in hiding. "Why are you just standing there?!"
It's then that she sees the flicker of uncertainty in Lily's eyes as she glances back at the contraption in hand. "I don't know how to fly a hoverboard!" she shouts back. "Even with your explanation! It might be surprising, but I've never done it before!"
"Do you know how to ride a skateboard?!"
It dawns on her instantly.
Lily Osborn is one of those people that anyone else would kill to be. It's what stops them from seeing her true self, all her flaws, and her inability to do certain things. She'd never been able to make proper friends. She struggled with self-worth and opening up to people. She wasn't good at admitting her true feelings.
But one thing that Lily Osborn excels at... is skateboarding.
She tried to teach Peter how to skateboard when they were younger, constantly going to the park by her bakery. She still goes to that same park with Mayday to skateboard every weekend. Even after all this time, the skill is still there.
"Yeah!"
"Then do it! But in the sky!"
Still slightly hesitant, Lily steps onto the hoverboard, only to very nearly trip over. But then Madison's explanation from earlier comes back. She twists her ankles, locking her feet in, putting the glove on to control the cloaking device. Leans forward. Moves forward. Leans back. Moves back. Just like a skateboard.
She's got this.
A sudden flare of pride and confidence shoots through her as she flies through the sky, tilting the board up before crashing straight into the unsuspecting Electro. "Looks like we're going to need to save our boys' asses!"
Xara can't help her scoff. "Hell yeah!"
"We can still hear you!" Peter 3 quips through the comms before instantly getting busy again, dodging an electricity blast. "Woah! Come on, Max!"
"Yeah, come on, Max!" Maddy echoes, facing off against him and shooting a fireball, which he dodges before returning one.
Max Dillon just sneers in disgust. Any of the friendly fire they had going on back in their universe is completely gone. "I'm not playing around with little girls like you."
"Boo, you whore. You're not even that much older than me. Unless... do the ten years where you existed as just pure energy count? If they do then yeah, you're ancient. Peter, get the cure!"
"Which one?!" comes the return from all three, all occupied.
"I don't know, whichever one! How are six superheroes struggling against two baddies?!"
"Make that three, doc!" Peter 1 yells when sand starts swirling around near him, catching him off-guard at the sight of Flint Marko. Huge. Peter didn't even know he could do that. "Flint, we want to get you home, but we need to help you first!"
If Marko can even hear him over the rushing wind, he doesn't address it, bellowing, "Where's the box, Peter?"
"We can help everyone!"
"I don't care!"
On the other side of the construction, Xara accidentally bangs her leg against one of the crane-like pillars, hissing in pain. Lizard seems to advance, the girl hurriedly trying to crawl back as he growls, "I'm going to kill you!"
Glancing over the edge, the plan of action comes too quickly, Xara's eyes widening. She momentarily turns back to the Lizard. "Compelling argument, but have you considered this?"
She sticks her middle finger up, long enough to confuse him before she plunges herself right off the pillar. He swipes at her, barely missing part of her nanotech suit, before she shoots a web and swings right over again.
This time she comes up from behind, kicking him off the edge with all the energy she can muster, using the four extra spider legs that emerge from her suit to stop herself from tumbling after him.
"I need the Lizard cure too, guys!"
"No one is available to help right now, dude!!"
"I'm kinda stuck too!" Peter 1 yells, in Sandman's tightening grip, with no number of webs helping him slide out. "Doc, is there something you can do with Flint?"
Madison very nearby tumbles straight through a metal pole in her dodging, trying to find where the others put Max's cure herself. "Who?!"
"The sand one!!"
"No!"
"Why not?!"
"Dude, have you never studied science?! Sand's primary constituent is silica, which is already oxidised-"
"There's no time for a science lesson!!"
"Sand can't burn!"
"Kinetic sand!" Xara suddenly yells, an idea springing to mind. She has no time to think about whether it's clever or not, deciding to swing by and punch Max solidly in the face. "Hey, sparks! Anyone ever told you that you're ugly?"
It's an absolute lie, of course. If anyone truly asked Xara, she'd end up giving a goofy look and launching into the older-man-crushes she has on actors or singers, putting him solidly in the category. That is, if he wasn't trying to destroy them. But right now, it's unimportant, putting her directly in his line of angry sight.
He shoots an electric beam at her, but she's expecting it, positioning herself just at the perfect point before dodging. It hits the crane, breaking it and leaving it to begin falling. It goes straight through Flint Marko's arm, making him inadvertently let go of Peter 1.
Lily takes the moment to fly down hurriedly, pulling the Lizard down and positioning him on the ground perfectly to get caught under the broken crane's jib.
Xara sighs in relief, seeing her boyfriend free again, but she quickly gets distracted by the very angry Electro still targeting her after her comment. It doesn't bode well. "Okay, dude, I'm sorry!"
Back on the ground, Flint is slowly pulling the sand together to form himself again, angrier than ever as it forms some kind of tornado around the Statue of Liberty. The Lizard is starting to get free, no longer scratching at the crane but trying to lift it off of him.
"Shit!"