Chapter Text
Fun fact: Being thrown through a wall wasn’t fun. In fact, it was extremely painful.
This was not news for Peter. He’s been thrown through walls before, crushed under the weight of an entire building, shot, and aggressively nut tapped by Flash. It’s not really something he thinks about, though; Oh man, remember when you got thrown through a wall, Peter? Those were fun times.
This has to take the cake, though, for moments he’s been thrown through drywall. This time he manages to break through three walls in a row, and get glass embedded into his back. He skips across the floor like a rock on water before sliding to a stop in the middle of a small restaurant. A waitor screams at his arrival, while a few other staff members start to escort people out. Some nice person tries to help him up, but he points at the exit, too busy coughing to say any clear words. There’s gonna be dust in his chest for weeks.
Whoever they are, they grab the hand of what may be their date and rush out. Tendrils of lightning are starting to leak into the holes that his body made, and a shudder goes up his spine. He’s really not up for this. Outside, he can hear Venom’s roar, and the fact that it mingles a bit with Eddie’s voice is worrisome.
Electro steps into the now-deserted room, the crackling coming from him so loud that it hurts Peter’s ears. This was, decidedly, not going well.
He wasn’t sure how long they were fighting for - only that when Electro appeared at the rooftop and uttered his very vague-but-still-unnerving threat, Venom had immediately jumped onto him unhinged his jaw like a snake. They both tumbled down to the middle of Times Square after that, with Peter right on his heels, swinging down as fast as he could. He hasn’t seen Dr. Octavius around, and while that’s a bit annoying, Peter understands - the guy has four giant metal arms. Well, three now, but still. If he was a giant conductor, Peter wouldn’t wanna get near the electric guy either. He just hoped Dr. Octavius was trying to help in a different way.
Now, as Electro stalks ever closer, Peter frantically tries to web at his arms, or somethng around him, so that he doesn’t get fried. Electro flings an arm out in front of him, his whole arm looking tense, and slender bolts of lightning arc towards Peter. He screams out in pain, his throat scratched from overuse. He manages to slide his fingers around the leg of a chair, and throws the object at Electro’s head. He ducks, but it gives Peter enough time to get back on his feet and within punching range.
Hitting Electro was like touching a live wire - it stung, and he could feel slight aftershocks ringing through his fingers, but it doesn’t stop him from swinging a left hook and catching him in the jaw. When Electro tries to grab at him with a whole hand - which would probably be very bad for Peter’s health - he flips out of range, wrists flicking into a familiar position, two fingers pressing down on the release gadget for his webshooters. Except the only thing that that emerges from his wrists are sparks.
“What-?” Peter mutters, before a table slams him in the face. He can feel something in his nose break, and a fresh flow of blood come leaking into his mouth. The taste is bitter on his tongue.
“I finally have you where I want you,” Electro seethes. He’s stalking towards Peter, who’s eyes flutter around the room, trying to formulate a plan.
“You wanted to bring me to a restaurant? I’m flattered, but you’re a bit too old for me.” His voice is a bit raspy, but an idea is coming together - and the sleek black inching out from behind Electro is a welcome sign they’re no longer alone.
“I’m gonna show you what happens when you steal my spotlight,” Electro spits - actually spits, it’s tinged blue and looking staticky - “You gave me hope, only to take it away!”
“Geez, man. I think you need therapy,” Peter inches backwards, grabbing onto a bar stool. “Or maybe a hollywood contract. You got the mindset for it.”
Electro snarls, and shoots out more electricity towards Peter - but he’s already in the air, hands pushing himself up on top of the barstool, and as the light flickers out, he flips, grabbing onto the edge of the barstool and hurling it towards Electro. As that’s sailing through the air and Electro is dodging, there’s another chair, and another, and then he finally gets his hands on what he was building up to - a bunch of cutlery.
A bundle of forks and knives fly haphazardly through the air, hitting more or less on target. There’s two in his right arm and one in his left, and Peter feels guilty about drawing blood, but he isn’t sure how else to weaken him. As Electro tries to fire more energy at Peter, extra lightning tears out from where the metal cutlery is embedded into him, causing the bolts to fire randomly out of him. Electro cries out, and just as the room lights up with his power, an inky darkness envelopes it - Venom has come out of hiding.
“You are a very sad man.” Venom’s voice echoes out, deep and unnerving. His eyes and teeth fade in from the shadows, and his hulking form brushes the ceiling of the room. He snaps his teeth and his tongue lolls out of his mouth. “Preying on a child. We will make sure the world forgets you.”
That lights a fire under Electro’s ass, apparently, because his eyes start to glow and more lightning arcs out from him. “I’ll kill you, first!” He yells, and as Venom throws their massive body toward Electro, he rips out a knife that was in his arm, blood spurting out after it, and stabs Venom’s chest with it. It doesn’t go in far, but it makes contact, which is enough - a fresh current of electricity burns through the connection so fast that the metal starts to turn orange with heat. The pained howl Venom lets out is gut-wrenching, and Peter is jumping in faster than he can process what’s happening.
He slings himself onto Electro, and ignores his Spidey-sense telling him off! Get off! Get off NOW! and clamps his legs around Electro’s back, holds his throat and head tightly. It does the trick; Electro gasps out as his breathing starts to get cut off, and stops electrocuting Venom. They fall to the floor, giant mass rippling and losing definition. They’re still enveloping Eddie, but they’re gonna need a quick breather.
Peter can feel his skin starting to burn and singe where he’s touching Electro, but he just grips tighter as Electro spins around, trying to get the boy off. Eventually he yells out of frustration, and Peter feels the man’s skin heat up even more under him, charging.
Whatever he’s getting ready to do, it may just kill Peter, and gravely injure Venom. He doesn’t know how much time he has, definitely not enough to form a plan, but he’s thinking as hard as he can and he-
“SPIDER-MAN!” Otto’s voice rings out. “OUT OF THE WAY!”
Peter throws himself off Electro, smoke lightly wafting off him, and just as his back’s slamming into the ground a gunshot rings through the restaurant.
Electro staggers back, blood pouring out from his shoulder, and he looks up blindly. Peter turns to where Dr. Octavius’s voice had come from, and the man stands in the doorway to the restaurant, arms circling him, a pistol in his hand.
“Where did you get a GUN!?” Peter yells. Otto doesn’t answer. He just shoots Electro in his other shoulder. “STOP SHOOTING HIM!!”
Electro bares his teeth, either not feeling the pain of two gun wounds or ignoring them, and shoots electricity at the other man. The bolts dance around the room sporadically, and Otto isn’t fast enough to get away - he cries out as he’s hit by two thick bolts, body spasming and his arms twitching and shuddering around him.
Peter staggers to his feet, anger building up in him. He’s going to take Electro down, no matter how long it takes him.
Suddenly, Venom leers up behind Electro, and before either of them can react, he’s opening his maw and biting Electro’s head clean off.
Peter screeches.
Electro doesn’t bleed so much as he turns into a tesla coil. Sharp electricity shoots out of his neck, leaks out of his wounds, and Peter can see it burn off huge chunks of Venom as he swiftly devours the rest of the man’s body, leaving nothing but a pool of off-colour blood and twitching blackness. Venom shakes his head, limbs absolutely trembling, before slipping back fully into Eddie, who staggers slightly. His hair’s sticking out every which-way, and his fingers are twitching rapidly. The older man shakes his body and lets out a disgruntled noise.
“That was unpleasant.” He said. Peter gaped.
“You ate him.” He breathed. Eddie looked up at the kid.
“Uh. Yeah. We do that sometimes. We try not to, but, I mean, we made a deal recently, and…” He’s still feeling scrambled from the pure electricity they just digested, so he’s not really in the best state to explain the grey morality that they have When he takes a step towards Peter, though, the kid takes a shaky step back. Eddie bites his lip and shoves his hands into his pockets, then stuffs them into the back of his jeans, then runs them through his hair. He has too much energy. Peter’s looking at them with such fear, such distrust, it… he feels guilty. They feel guilty.
Venom rumbles around Eddie’s lungs, bothered but too strained to appear again. The whole battle was painful and exhausting, and while the electricity gives Eddie an extra jump, it seems to be unnerving Venom.
Peter suddenly turns and sprints over to where Otto lies on the ground, groaning. The arms are starting to wake up, twitching against the hardwood floors before lifting and spinning their claws. Two of them open up and small, red pinprick lights light up Peter’s face. They seem to watch him, before one of them moves slowly to Peter’s shoulder and brings him closer to Otto’s body.
Peter crouches down, about to check the man’s vitals when he sees Dr. Octavius move his head and try to pull himself up. Peter quickly slings one of Otto’s arms around his shoulders and helps him up. The extra arms watch on, and when Otto’s on his feet again, one of them moves Peter’s hair out of his face. Peter gives a nervous laugh and a weak smile to the claw.
Eddie awkwardly stands back, shoes getting stained with the blood on the floor. They look back at Eddie, and he can see Otto start to look around for Electro. Peter fidgets. “Venom…”
“We ate him,” Eddie cuts Peter off. Otto raises his eyebrows. “We… couldn’t think of another way to deal with him. So. Yeah.”
Otto watches him silently, and Venom moves around Eddie’s shoulders, just under the skin, anxiousness slowly turning into aggression in the symbiote. Eddie rubs at one of his shoulders, trying to calm them.
“Alright.” Dr. Octavius eventually says. As they all stand in place, he gestures for Eddie to come closer.
Peter has large parts of raw skin showing, the suit being burned off and the smell of cooked flesh in the air. The area around Otto’s metal belt is a gnarly red, and a new spiral of electrical burn sprouts from the right side of his chest. The only one unwounded is Eddie, but he still looks frazzled. Peter nervously looks between Otto and Eddie.
“You ate him.” He says again. Eddie sighs and rubs his face.
“You’re gonna have to move past that, kid,” He grunts. Peter blinks owlishly at him.
“I think I’m in shock.”
“Definitely,” Otto says, a hand coming up to rest on a part of Peter’s shoulder that isn’t injured. “We need to get your wounds treated.”
The kid nods and casts a fearful look to Eddie. Dr. Octavius draws his attention by lightly shaking his shoulder, remaining claws circling around the group, watching. “We need to go somewhere safe. Not a rooftop.”
Peter looks hesitant, but nods. “Alright,” He says, “But I can’t go home. I can’t put Aunt May in danger.”
Eddie shoves his hands into his hoodie pocket, fingers twitching before Venom envelopes them in an alien hold. It’s comforting. “Where the hell do we go, then?”
Peter’s eyes light up. “I have an idea.”
The room is cold and smells terrible, layers and layers of spray paint caking the walls, painted over a hundred times over the years. Weak lights flicker overhead, and a few tattered desks fill the room along with two ratty couches and a shitty fridge. It’s a work in progress.
In the middle of the room, MJ stands with her arms folded, Ned practically bouncing from excitement next to her. Her face remains passive, but there’s a quirk in her eyebrow that tells Peter she’s worried about his sorry state.
He steps into the room with Eddie supporting some of his weight - whatever Electro did was sticking around. He waves weakly to his best friend and girlfriend, which only Ned returns.
“Oh wow, Peter, is that the guy with metal arms? I’ve been watching the news all day , you’ve gotta fill me in dude!” Ned is getting up close and personal, looking over Eddie with wide eyes. Peter just grunts as a rough step irritates his bruised ribs. Suddenly, Ned looks a lot more concerned. “Man, are you alright?”
“I’ll be fine,” He huffs, sitting down on one of the couches. He’s thankful that MJ pitched the idea of safe-houses to him when she did (which was basically as soon as they got back to New York), otherwise he’d have no idea where to hide away from the city. “I just need to get patched up and take a nap.”
“You’re bleeding everywhere,” MJ deadpans, already retrieving a small medkit. It clicks open and she starts unravelling a wad of gauze. “What even happened to your phone? You're lucky I answer telemarketer calls or else I wouldn’t have met you here.”
“Fought a guy named Electro. He was electric. Please tell you can connect the dots,” Peter wheezed, exhaustion starting to really hit him.
MJ grunted, but her hands were gentle as she patched up the electrical wounds. While she worked, Ned’s eyes wandered over to Eddie, who stood a bit away with his arms crossed. He was looking to the side, muttering to himself. Kind of a weirdo.
Light on his feet, Ned inched around behind Eddie. If this was the metal arm guy, he just had to get a look at the technology there. How did they retract back into his back? Getting close, he slowly poked his finger into Eddie’s back. Strange, it felt like a regular back-
“HOLY SHIT!” Ned yelled as a set of razor-sharp teeth almost bit off his finger. Out of the man’s back an inky black head formed, white eyes narrowed and teeth bared. It growled, and Eddie swung around on his feet, facing Ned; the second head kept glaring down at Ned, morphing along Eddie’s body so that it hovered in the same space. “What the HELL IS THAT!?”
“Vee I said- jesus fucking christ,” Eddie grumbled, swatting at the head with his hand. “Vee” just hissed at Ned before slithering up Eddie’s chest to sway at his shoulder.
“He was sneaking up on us.” Eddie just gave Vee a withering glare. At that, the head seemed to pout before melting back into Eddie’s shoulder. Ned continued to stare up at him, face utterly terrified.
“You’re not the arms guy.” Ned meekly said. Eddie just huffed a laugh and rolled back his shoulders. Under his skin, Ned could see some veins darken briefly, as if the inky head was moving around him.
“No, I’m not.” MJ has paused treating Peter’s wounds to look at Eddie, suspicion in her gaze. Above them, a distant thudding starts, slowly getting louder. “He has to take the long way down.”
The thundering starts to shake the walls, and Ned takes a step away from Eddie. “I’ll let him introduce himself,” Eddie smirks a bit.
Crawling out from an abandoned elevator shaft is Otto, three robotic arms carefully scouring their way down and through the opening. His trenchcoat is singed at the edges, and bright red stains the glossy metal of his belt. He carries the fourth claw in his hands, freshly retrieved from Times Square, and the arm it was torn from circles around Otto’s shoulders, almost eager to get it’s head back. The claws bring him to the middle of the room, small craters left in his wake, before they lightly bring him to his feet.
Otto looks over the group, meeting MJ’s surprised face and giving Ned’s terrified one a small smile. “Hello… other teenagers.”
“Dr. Octavius,” Peter says weakly with a smile, “You found your hand.”
“Yes, thankfully. I was starting to get worried that the police would have confiscated it,” He rumbles. Ned is suddenly in front of him, eyes roving the ever-twisting claws, practically glowing.
“These are amazing! ” He gasps. As a claw closes and moves closer to him, he runs an appreciative hand over it. The claw clicks appreciatively. “Did you make these yourself? Are they sentient? What are they made of? Can you-” He cuts himself off, meeting Otto’s gaze. He steps back tentatively. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Otto says, readjusting his arms so he can hold onto the broken claw better. “It’s quite nice to hear someone be appreciative of my work.” He moves his gaze from Ned to MJ, who’s resumed treating Peter but is still giving him a wary look. “Introductions. I’m Dr. Otto Octavius. This is…” One of his claws gestures to Eddie, who scratches at his neck.
“Oh.” He clears his throat, and with a roll of his shoulder, Venom materializes next to him, teeth glistening in the light. “I’m Eddie. Eddie Brock, I mean. This is Venom,” he gestures to the floating head next to him, and at the indication their maw opens just enough for their tongue to slightly dangle. “But us, both of us, are also Venom. It’s kinda complicated, we-”
“Are the LETHAL PROTECTOR! ” Venom roars, their head waving in the air excitedly. “ We protect the innocent. Eat the bad guys. ” Eddie coughed into his fist. “ Some bad guys,” Venom corrected himself.
“I was going to say symbiotic , bud.” He said, but the words were fond rather than annoyed. Venom made a sound like a bass-boosted purr and nuzzled their head against Eddie’s chin.
“You’re weird.” MJ stated. Her eyes darted around the room. “This is very weird.”
“They’re okay, MJ.” Peter said, laying his hand on top of MJ’s. She looked up to meet his eyes, and some of the tenseness left her shoulders at the soft smile he gave her. “I’m okay, too. Safe the important supplies for Dr. Octavius.”
“I’ve gone through worse,” Otto said, laying the claw on one of the desks. “You’re the hero; you need to be in tip-top shape. I’ll be fine.”
“You got electrocuted, ” Peter said, incredulous. “With four giant metal arms on your back. I don’t know how you’re alive. ”
“I’ve been electrocuted before,” Otto said, voice calm. “If anything, I just disproved the ‘third time’s the charm’ saying.”
Peter stood at that, grunting slightly but walking over to Otto’s side, MJ following close behind. Ned and Eddie carefully stood to the side, not interrupting.
“How are you okay with that?!” Peter exclaimed. “You could’ve died. Doesn’t that bother you?”
Dr. Octavius looked up at him, eyes hidden behind those stupid sunglasses. “No, it doesn’t.”
Peter’s shoulders rose and fell frantically, and he slammed a fist on the desk. The broken claw rattled, and Otto stood, shadow looming over Peter, but he wasn’t scared. “You should care. What would’ve happened if that killed you? If anything here kills you? Back home, who would be wondering where you’ve gone?”
“No one would, boy.” Otto sneered. The three functioning arms circled around him, staring down at Peter with their beady red lights. MJ grabbed onto Peter’s shoulders, face fierce. Peter wasn’t scared. He wasn’t.
“You’re Peter Parker,” Peter says, voice firm. “What about him ?”
Otto barks out a cold laugh, and strokes the broken arm as it slowly lays on the desk in front of him. “He thinks I’m dead. As I should be.”
Peter blinks at him, and Otto slumps into his chair. One of his other arms opens it’s claws up and looks down at it’s broken brethren. A wicked blade shoots out of it, and starts to cut out broken and torn pieces.
“Wow, this is a lot of fun. Bundle of laughs. Anyone against us doing a food run?” Eddie broke the silence, Venom no longer a head but still visibly running along Eddie’s arms and shoulders. “We just ate, but Vee has that kind of appetite you can never quite quench.”
“Can I come?” Ned asks with wide eyes. “I’ve never met a real alien before.”
“Sure, whatever, I just wanna get the hell outta here.” He dips his fingers into the black mass that is Venom running along him. “What d’you want, sweetheart?”
Venom briefly forms a small face, just to rumble out a “McDonald’s.” before slipping fully back into Eddie. He claps a hand on Ned’s shoulder and steers him out. He turns to say something to the other three, but is silenced by the judging glare MJ is sending him and instead gives a sheepish shrug.
Peter is silently watching Otto as he tries to repair what he can of his arm, and MJ tugs at his shoulder. “You need to get the rest of your burns bandaged,” She softly tells him. “You’re still bleeding.”
“So is he,” Peter stubbornly says. Otto’s hand stutters a bit, but he continues working.
“Peter,” Otto sighs, “Get bandaged up.”
“Not unless you do, too.” Peter balls his hands into fists at his side, and Otto sighs again, rubbing at his forehead with a hand not holding onto dented metal.
“I need to fix what our new little alien friend broke,” Otto said, annoyance leaking into his voice. Peter bites his cheek and shoots a web at the arm, stopping Otto from being able to reach it. He turns sharply to Peter, anger clear on his face. Peter stares back.
“Oh god.” MJ mutters. “I’m gonna go see if I can catch up with Ned.”
She turns briskly away and speed walks out of the room, not wanting to be around in case there’s a fight between supers. She’s seen them up close. Not interested.
“ Why do you insist on getting your webs stuck in my business?” Otto sneered. Peter hunched his shoulders up.
“We said we’d work together on this, to get you and everyone else home. How are we supposed to do that if you’re letting yourself get hurt?”
“Unlike you , I have nothing to return to,” Bitterness tinged the doctor’s voice, and as he stood up, Peter took a step back. “I have no loved ones, no job, no home, nothing. I was meant to die along with my collider, abandoned at the bottom of the east river. But then, somehow, I’m brought here . Do you think I wanted this?”
“Of course not, no one would!” Peter said, his voice raising, “But you’re still a person, aren’t you? You’re still helping me, even though you don’t have to, and you’ve already saved my life, so maybe I care about your wellbeing, okay? Maybe I don’t want you to get hurt, because I’m pretty sure we’re at the point of being friends now!”
“We’re not friends , Parker,” and doesn’t that just sting, the amount of venom Otto pushed into those words. “You wouldn’t care about me if you knew what I’ve done.”
“I think I would! We’re teaming up with a guy we just watched eat another guy! Alive! In front of us!!” Peter took a step forward now, leaning into Otto’s space. “Maybe I’d understand if you told me what you did.”
Otto frowned deeply and turned around, staring at the webbing encasing his broken arm. “I won’t.”
Peter threw his hands up, exasperated. Jesus christ, and he thought other teenagers were bad.
He webbed the medkit and brought it over to him, grabbing Otto’s trenchcoat and moving it out of the way. He started to roughly pull out gauze and some a small bottle of water. It was half-empty already, but he could work with that. Otto hissed as the water splashed onto the raw burns, new and old mingling together.
“What are you doing ?” Otto demanded. Peter didn’t spare him a glance, only continuing to clean the wounds he could reach.
“Bandaging your burns.” He glanced up at the older man. “Since you won’t do it yourself, I will.”
Otto looked unimpressed, but sat down at the desk and begrudgingly let Peter bandage him. His hands were shaky, but he was trying to lay the gauze down well so he had to go slower than he’d like. After a few minutes and only a few centimeters properly bandaged, a metal claw gently nudged Peter’s hands away and continued where he left off. Peter looked up, confused, and saw Otto with his face in his hand, looking exhausted.
“What happened to you?” Peter asked, almost hesitant. Otto just heaved a sigh, like the burdens of the whole world were on his shoulders. He moved his hand so it cupped his chin, eyes far away.
“I flew too close to the sun, so to speak,” He started. “I wanted to create a new energy source, one that was renewable and non-polluting. It was my life’s work. But I…” The claws not preoccupied opened their claws and whirred at him. “...I miscalculated.”
He met Peter’s curious gaze, and there was such sadness there, the little Peter could see of his eyes from the side of his face, it made his heart clench.
“My collider, it used a very rare resource, one which my backer’s managed to procure. I only had a small portion of it, but that was all I needed. The power it generated, it was that like the sun.” His hand not holding his face was held open in front of him, “The power of the sun, in my own hand.” He clenched it into a fist, slightly shaking from the aggression. Peter sat on the desk next to the broken arm, careful of his own injuries.
“It overloaded, destroyed the entire lab. People died. My wife, Rosie…” Peter couldn’t see his eyes anymore, but the sharp intake of breath was telling enough. “I watched her die. As if that wasn’t enough, the metal of my extra arms were fused to my spine. The inhibitor chip I had installed to keep the AI of the arms from influencing me was burnt out.”
He looked up at Peter, meeting his worried look. “You can connect the dots, can’t you, Spider-boy?”
“They influenced you, didn’t they?” Peter tilted his head to the arms that surrounded them both. “They manipulated you.”
“Ah, but I can’t blame them fully. I still created their AI, I still chose to do as they suggested,” He looked over at the claw closest to him. “I don’t even know what my goal was, in the end. All I knew was that I was angry. Angry at the world for taking my love away from me, for cursing my invention to fail twice over.”
“Twice?” Peter echoed. Otto rubbed at his chin before setting both his arms down on the desk.
“I robbed a bank, set to rebuild my collider. I made it larger that second time, stole the rest of my power source from my funder. The only thing he asked in exchange was that I bring in Spider-Man so he could kill him. I obliged, obviously.” He glanced at Peter before looking away. “I nearly killed every person on the subway. Injured many. I would have killed Spider-Man myself if that’s what my funder asked. He almost did ask for it.”
“But you knew it was Peter Parker under the mask,” Peter said. “How?”
“In the end, Spider-Man stopped me from destroying the city with my second collider.” He met Peter’s gaze, now. “He took off his mask and said to me, ‘Dr. Octavius, I need to stop it. Please tell me how.’ And there, under the mask, was the young man that I had sat down with for a few hours and talked about fusion theory. Young Peter Parker who was failing university because he kept falling asleep in class.” He smiled at that, bittersweet. “He told me the same words I had told him when we met. The poor boy, I had kidnapped his girlfriend and held her hostage. She would have died if not for him.”
“But the collider,” Peter said, leaning forward. “How did you stop it?”
“I pulled the blasted thing into the river.” Otto said, eyes not straying from Peter’s. The connection was tense. “I drowned it, along with almost drowning myself.”
The arms quietly deposited the medkit on top of the desk, everything neatly put away and Otto’s burns treated. Peter blinked at him. “And you say you’re a villain?”
“Of course I am, Peter,” Otto sighed. “I caused the death of innocents. Injured many more.”
“And that’s not okay, I’m not saying it is. But you stopped thousands more innocent people from dying. That’s a good thing.” Peter gave a half-hearted shrug. “You had to choose between something you created and the wellbeing of everyone around you, and I think you made the right choice. Besides, were you even fully aware of your actions? You were just through something really traumatic, and then you had giant metal arms in your head trying to tell you to do bad stuff. I think it could’ve been way worse.”
Otto watched him, the arms swaying around them. When one of them bumped into Peter’s shoulder, he gave it a tentative pat. Octavius gave a small smile. “You really are the same no matter what universe it is, aren’t you?”
Peter looked back at him, eyes wide. “I mean, I hope there isn’t an evil version of me. That would suck.” Otto laughed at that, and hesitantly ruffled the boy’s hair. It was already mussed up, but Peter still huffed and tried to fix it.
“I think you’re a good guy, Dr. Octavius,” Peter said, smiling tiredly at him. “You’ve just made a lot of mistakes. I know a lot of good people who’ve done the same thing. I’ve fought beside them.”
“I thank you for the reassurance, Peter,” Otto said softly. “But now, let’s finish getting you patched up. I seem to be taken care of, so there’s no reason for you not to be.”
Peter hummed and leaned on the heels of his hands. He knew he’d be alright by tomorrow, what with his speedy healing, but it still helped to have wounds properly taken care of. The extra arms opened the medkit back up for Otto, gently handing him the supplies he gestures for. It’s a companionable quiet between them, Otto continuing where MJ had left off.
Now, with everything calming down, Peter felt his eyelids get heavy. He blinked a few times before a yawn escaped him, but he didn’t want to fall asleep yet. He hadn’t eaten anything since early in the morning, and he knew better than to run off an empty stomach. As he struggles to stay awake, he glances down at Otto, hunched over as his hands expertly wind gauze around Peter’s torso. There’s branches of scar tissue skittering across his neck, ending just under his jaw, usually hidden by the layers of clothing he wore, but now on display. Electrical burns. Lichtenberg scars. I’ve been electrocuted before.
“Are we friends, Dr. Octavius?” Peter quietly asks. Otto’s hands still against his sternum, where the burns arc up toward his chest. He can see Otto swallow.
“Would you like to be, Peter?” He softly responds.
Peter knows that, after a few days, max, he’ll never see this man again. When he leaves, Peter has no idea if he’ll go back to his old ways, or if he’ll do good. He’s smart, a genius, and Peter remembers the last genius he had grown attached to. He had listened as his heart had slowly stopped beating.
“I would like it a lot,” He utters. Otto pats his upper arm, drawing the boy’s gaze.
“You’re a very strong man, Peter.” Otto gives him a gentle smile. “You’ve lost so much, and yet you continue to strive to do such good for this cruel world.”
“How do you know?” Peter asks. Otto’s smile grows sad.
“I can see the grief there. I admire your ability to grow despite it.”
Peter sniffs and breaks eye contact, and Otto finishes bandaging his chest. He pats Peter firmly on the shoulder.
“You should rest,” he prompts softly.
“I should be awake when MJ gets back.” He blushes a bit and stutters out, “A-and Ned and Venom.”
Otto chuckles. “She’s your girlfriend, isn’t she?”
“Yeah,” Peter says. He smiles. “She is. Somehow.”
“Don’t say somehow, now, I saw how protective she got of you.” He guided Peter to the couch where had sat earlier. “Love is a precious thing. Don’t be ashamed of it.”
“I-I wouldn’t call it love , Dr. Octavius-” Peter spluttered. Otto just shook his head and sat next to him, his weight with the arms causing it to dip.
“What would you call it, then?” He smiled knowingly at Peter as he fumbled for words. “You’re a kind soul, and she’s fiery. Determined. You make a good match, I can tell.”
Peter felt flustered, unsure what to say in this conversation. He’s never talked about his love life with a parent-aged adult! The only other time he had a conversation romance-related, it was when he was asking his Aunt what the hell was going on between her and Happy, and even then he had left pretty soon after.
“She is really great,” Peter mumbled, fidgeting with the lint of the couch. “She’s funny, but in a dark kind of way, and she’s really smart, and…” Peter looks to the side, face warming up a bit. “Sorry.”
“No, no, don’t be.” Dr. Octavius’s voice is kind, but still a bit awkward. “You talking about her like that, it’s sweet.”
Peter can’t help but yawn, and smile a bit at Otto. “Thank you for helping me, again, Dr. Octavius,”
“Please, Peter,” The man rests a hand on Peter’s shoulder, and the boy leans farther into the stiff pillows, bones weary. “Just call me Otto.”
“Okay,” He says, “Thank you, Otto. I mean it.”
Peter’s asleep by the time Ned, MJ and Eddie come back with food, walking into a quiet room with Otto working silently on his broken arm, somehow procuring a soldering iron and ripping most of the webbing off of the ruined metal. MJ and Ned sit on either side of Peter, and he immediately nestles in closer to MJ, something that she smiles at.
The two kids are sharing fries while Venom loiters around Octavius, the symbiote manifesting his usual head and digging into their own bag of food while Eddie picks at his. Otto glances up at him from the corner of his eye before continuing his work.
“You know, this is strictly professional, right?” Eddie hums, slowly working on a burger. Otto stops his soldering to glance up at him again.
“What do you mean?”
“Soon, we’ll be getting home. We won’t see these kids again.” Vee seemed to get tired of Eddie’s procrastination and stole the burger from the man’s hand. “So you shouldn’t let yourself get attached.”
Otto frowns deeply at him, resolutely turning back and continuing. “I’m not.”
“It’s okay, man,” Eddie says, voice a bit quieter now. “I’m doing it too.”
Otto sighs and looks over his shoulder to where Ned and MJ quietly talk amongst themselves, careful to not wake Peter. They’re flicking soggy looking fries at each other and smiling. “God knows that Ned kid is funny as hell. Real sharp, too. MJ would make a fine journalist one day.”
“And Peter?” Otto questions, looking at Eddie from the side of his eye. Eddie shrugs, Venom bringing their head up with the motion, white eyes curiously glancing at their host.
“He’s a good kid,” Eddie answers. “But I think he likes you better.”
Otto taps his finger against the desk. “You’re a strange man, Eddie.”
“I have to be, don’t I? My life is pretty strange.” Venom bobs his head under Eddie’s chin, making that same gurgling purr from before as they move along the man’s jawline. Otto hums. “You’re a strange man, too.”
Otto smirks a bit. A claw swirls around Octavius and opens up it’s claw, red eye examining Venom. They bristle like an annoyed cat and bare their teeth at it. Eddie runs his hand along Venom’s darkness and the symbiote settles quickly. “Can’t a man enjoy his last days in peace?”
“Humans have such curious views of death, ” Venom rumbles, staring down the claw that is now starting to slowly inch away. “ Does this look like the end to you, cephalopod man? Or are you too afraid to see what the world has for you next?”
Otto is quiet, the quiet murmurs of the two teenagers and the low hum of electricity the only thing between the three. Eventually Otto turns off his solder, and an arm opens up to extend smaller, more delicate claws. Octavius slides off his sunglasses so he can guide the wiring better. “Did you bring enough food for Peter?”
A sad bag of fries and a chicken nugget box are dropped on the desk next to him, and he gives it a judging look before turning it to Eddie. Venom salivates next to the man, head bobbing slightly. How Otto has gotten used to things like this so fast, he will never know. “What’s this?”
“ Your food.” Eddie says this as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Aren’t you hungry?”
Otto grabs a few small fries absentmindedly. “Peter needs to eat.”
“And his friends are taking care of that.” Eddie nudges Otto’s arm, and the man reluctantly eats the few fries he had. “Us morally-grey guys gotta look out for each other.”
“Hm.”
“And I don’t mean that in the, uh, the way where we betray the good guys at the last minute or something, you know, I don’t wanna get the wrong point across,” Eddie stumbles, and Venom snaps their maw open and closed.
“You’re a loser, Eddie.”
“Thank you for your stellar advice, bud. Really appreciate it.”
“Eddie,” Otto starts, before taking another fry because holy shit he did not realize how hungry he really was, “I… acknowledge your sentiment.”
Eddie just nods. “Great.”
“This conversation is making me uncomfortable.”
“Glad it’s not just us.”
“But, just to be clear…” Otto looked at Eddie and gave him a small, forced smile. “If we were in the same universe naturally, I would enjoy having a cup of coffee with you.”
Eddie snorted. “Like… a date?”
“Oh, lord, no,” Otto said, face screwing up in distaste. Eddie laughed, Venom’s constant grin seemingly only growing wider. “Jesus.”
“Yeah, don’t think Vee would like that.” The symbiote in question swings his tongue in the air. “But a coffee between friends? I would like that too.”
The conversation is cut off as MJ and Ned beckon Eddie, leaving Otto to his work. He tries to keep the noise to a minimum. The quiet laughter, though belonging to near-strangers…
It’s nice.