Chapter 1
“Norman!”
At first, Norman didn’t register that somebody was calling his name. He was so used to hearing that from the goblin in his head, that he thought it was him. But then he heard Otto’s voice behind him, and that made him realize that the goblin was gone. The realization was a bit jarring.
“Norman, are you okay? Are you hurt?” Otto sounded less calm that usual, and when Norman focused on him he could see that the tip of one of his mechanical arms was missing. Otto was cured now, but did he feel that pain?
“I’m fine, Otto.” Norman stood up, aware of pain in his back and ribs, but trying to ignore it. It was better than being stabbed by his own glider, right?
“You’re bleeding!” Otto exclaimed, now close enough to put his hand on Norman’s shoulder. Norman knew that his nose and side were bleeding, but it didn’t really hurt that bad.
“Be honest,” Norman said, meeting Otto’s eyes. “What did I do?”
Otto swallowed hard, looking past Norman at the Spider-Men. “You killed Peter’s aunt.”
Norman felt dizzy. He gripped onto one of Otto’s tentacles to hold himself up, but it didn’t do much. He had killed someone…again? And now Peter had no family at all! Just a kid who Norman didn’t know at all, and had absolutely nothing against. Peter had just wanted to help, to help him of all people, and he ruined Peter’s life.
“Norman?” Otto’s hand stayed on Norman’s shoulder, and Norman was grateful for it since it was the only thing keeping him from falling.
“You know that was what the goblin did, not what you did, right? You had no control over it.”
“I should’ve prevented it. Or done something, anything at least. It’s still my fault, Otto!” Norman felt like he was crumbling, falling further and further into a hole of guilt.
“Norman, please.” Otto wrapped one of his tentacles around Norman’s back, holding him in place. “We’re being sent back now. The goblin is gone, and now we can right our wrongs. We get a do-over, a chance to make up for the bad things we did.”
“I don’t know why Peter didn’t just send me back to die,” Norman whispered. It wasn’t that he was unhappy with the new arrangement, he just didn’t understand why he shouldn’t face the real consequences of what he did. He was cheating, in a way.
“Please don’t say that.” Otto had his sunglasses off, and for once, Norman could see his eyes and see that they were full of concern. “The goblin might have deserved that fate, but you don’t.” He wrapped another tentacle around Norman and pulled him away from the shore. “Come on.”
The next thing Norman knew, he was standing in front of the Oscorp building. But he wasn’t in the past, he knew this because his nose was still bleeding. He didn’t care, though. All he wanted was to get some rest. He rushed in through the door as someone else walked out, and made a beeline for the elevator.
Unfortunately, two men were walking out, talking excitedly. These were the men who fired Norman. He surely couldn’t be caught by them. So he dashed to the stairs.
Climbing twenty flights was, believe it or not, even more tiring than fighting three Spider-Men. Norman finally got a feel of his injuries, his back must’ve been bruised and sprained in many areas, and his ribs weren’t doing too well either. He took the elevator, which was thankfully empty, probably because it was eight at night by that time, the remaining twenty flights.
Norman’s office was still there, and thankfully untouched for the most part. Papers were scattered everywhere and the place was a mess, but that was to be expected. The last time he had been there, he had been waking up on the floor with no memory of the past days. It was terrible.
He couldn’t stand to sit on the floor anymore, so he stumbled into the desk chair, leaning his head on the desk for a short nap.
He hadn’t had a night free of bad dreams since before he took the goblin serum. By then he’d gotten used to it. That’s why he thought he was dreaming when he felt a metal arm on his shoulder. He imagined how angry Otto would be after finding out every bad thing he did. He wouldn’t even blame Otto.
But then the tentacle wrapped around him, and it wasn’t tight or malicious like he imagined at all. That was how he knew he wasn’t dreaming.
“Otto?” Norman mumbled. He opened his eyes and blinked at the man beside him. “What are you doing here?”
“I had to check on you,” Otto said. He didn’t look angry at all, maybe he was even content to see Norman in one piece. “I brought this, figured you wouldn’t bother to tend to your own wounds.” His tentacle held an ice pack to Norman’s cheek, where he could only guess there was a huge bruise from Peter punching him.
“You need to take this goblin suit off,” Otto added after a minute. “It isn’t doing you any favors.”
Norman would’ve asked what he meant by that if he wasn’t so tired. He did notice that Otto’s cheeks looked more flushed than usual. He took off each piece of the suit and tossed them into the corner of the room, eventually leaving him in a light blue tank top and black shorts.
“Oh, Norman..” the look Otto was giving Norman made him worry about how bad his wounds really were.
“I feel fine,” Norman said. It was mostly true, at least if fine was in comparison to how he felt earlier.
One of Otto’s tentacles pulled open a desk drawer and found the first aid kit, then started cleaning Norman’s wounds. Norman couldn’t help but notice how thorough Otto was, firm yet careful, probably from years of practice in the lab.
“You know, when I saw that crazy man with a glider on TV, I never would’ve guessed it was you.” Otto applied a gauze to Norman’s cheek, covering a cut.
Norman squinted at him. “Is that a good thing?”
Otto backed away, examining Norman’s face, although Norman couldn’t be sure if he was looking for wounds or just looking at him.
“Of course it is.” Otto sighed, taking out another piece of gauze. “Things were really different back then, weren’t they? Back when you had just started Oscorp and I thought it was cool that I memorized the periodic table.” He chuckled as he put the gauze on Norman’s neck where he’d been injected with the cure.
“I miss those days,” Norman admitted. Sure, he couldn’t afford Prada shoes or fancy Italian dinner back then, but a lot of things were simpler. He had clear goals and a nice group of friends, including Octavius and Connors. And now? He had pumpkin bombs and a lot of enemies.
“Hey.” Otto leaned down on one knee to meet Norman’s eyes. “What’s on your mind?”
“I hurt so many people..” Norman looked past Otto at the city outside, remembering the feeling of flying on that glider amongst the tall buildings. He didn’t remember much of it, but some things were vivid. He had been so surprised to find out that in some timeline, Spider-Man killed him. Was he that bad?
“I just don’t want anyone else to suffer, because of me.” Norman felt that pain gnawing at his chest again, the same way he’d felt back at the coast when he’d finally been cured.
“They won’t, don’t worry.” Otto moved his tentacles to hover around Norman, as if he wanted to hug him with the things. Norman had to admit, he needed a hug, but not like that.
“I should go get cleaned up,” Otto said after a minute. “I’ll let you shower and change. Just don’t mess with your wounds.”
“Okay,” Norman said slowly. He really didn’t want Otto to leave so soon. “Um. Oscorp has a spare bathroom down the hall you can use.”
“Oh?” Otto turned to look down the hall. “Alright then! I really didn’t want to go back to my house…without Rosie there anymore…so that’s good. I’ll see you soon, then, Norman.” He was outside before Norman could say anything.
Norman sighed as he stood up and walked to the bathroom. It, like the office, was just how he left it. A mess, but functional.
The shower seemed to rejuvenate him a little bit, and the cold coffee he grabbed out of the mini fridge finished the job. He had changed into a t-shirt and brown slacks as he waited for Otto.
Otto came back into the room wearing a light turtleneck, thick black belt, and matching dress pants. His tentacles dripped with water, and that was when Norman fully realized that he couldn’t just get rid of them when they became inconvenient. That must’ve been really hard.
“Hey.” Otto gave a little wave, and Norman realized he must’ve been staring off into space again.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Otto asked, getting closer to Norman. “Your eyes are red,” he pointed out. As if Norman couldn’t have figured that out. Of course his eyes were red, they had been stinging since his shower, and he was sure he had eye bags darker than night. Gosh, he probably looked pathetic. If only Spidey could see him now.
“Do you need…a hug?” Otto looked down at his shoes when he said that, as if he’d never hugged anyone before. Or maybe not since Rosie.
“Yes,” Norman admitted. He nearly crashed into Otto’s arms, feeling warm for the first time that day. “I do. Thank you.”
Norman looked up to see a small smile appear on Otto’s face, his arms wrapping around Norman and holding him in a firm embrace. “There you go. You’re okay. I’ve got you.” One of Otto’s arms patten the top of Norman’s head, ruffing his hair. Norman could tell from Otto’s tiny smirk that it was on purpose. He broke into a giggle, letting his feelings boil to the surface for the first time that evening. That, unfortunately, also meant that his tears escaped. “I’m sorry for everything,” he whispered hoarsely.
“Norman.” Otto looked down to meet his eyes. He used his thumb to wipe one of the tears off of Norman’s cheek. “None of that tonight. No apologies.”
Norman sniffled and managed a smile. “Right. None of that.”
“Hey,” Otto moved his hand to wrap around Norman’s shoulders. “How about a walk?”
“In the city? At night?” Norman tried to hide the nervousness in his voice, but it was hard to.
“You’re with a man who has four high-tech weapons embedded in his spine,” Otto chuckled. “You’ll be fine.”
“And I have explosive pumpkins!” Norman wouldn’t use them, of course, but he thought it was funny how both of them had crazy destructive inventions at their fingertips.
“So you do.” Otto gave Norman a light smile. “Let’s get out of here, then. Shall we?” One of his arms was guiding Norman toward the door.