Chapter 5
Scott and Stiles sat in silence on opposite sides of the bathroom floor. Scott was leaning against the tub, still dripping with water as he had previously been standing fully clothed underneath the running water and Stiles was leaning against a skinny door. (He was pretty sure that it held towels, but it wasn’t really the time to check and see. God, he could use a shower though.)
After the incident with the girl- Wanda, that’s what the robot had called her- Scott was understandably losing his shit. However, Scott losing his shit led to him unconsciously wolfing out and being unable to control his shifts, which is something that hasn’t happened since…well, since the ritual. But that was different, right?
He took in a deep breath, tapping his fingers along his knees and stared down at his sock covered feet. This was so fucked up. Not even just ending up in a different universe, their entire lives were so fucked up.
“This is so fucked up.”
Scott looked up at his words and Stiles was relieved to see his brown irises. His best friend looked sullen and it was only further emphasized by the fact that he was soaking wet. “Yeah.” His voice was barely above a whisper. “How…how did she know?”
This is what Stiles has been trying to figure out as well. How did Wanda know Allison’s name? He couldn’t find much fault in Scott’s reaction, it was a startling question. Allison was already a sensitive topic, but to be asked who she was by someone that they had just met, in a whole different world? What the fuck.
“They probably think I’m a monster.” Stiles didn’t have a moment to answer Scott’s previous question, his best friend curling in on himself at his own words.
“Hey,” He scooched over to sit closer to him, uncaring of the damp floor, “I sincerely doubt that.”
“They don’t have wolves here, they probably think I can’t control it or that I’m gonna like, lose my shit- which I already did!- and go crazy on the-”
Stiles held up a hand, silencing his ramble, “Dude, you’re spiraling worse than I do.” He put his hand on Scott’s shoulder, looking him seriously in the eye. “They’re not going to think you’re a monster. What happened was completely out of pocket and they seem smart enough to recognize that. At least, well, at least probably Tony, we haven’t really talked to the rest of them.”
“What about Steve?”
“He seemed so sure that he knew what you were, I feel like he’d get there but not all the way, ya know?”
This gets a small laugh at Scott, which is what he was going for.
“Besides, if they did think that, I would handle it.” He cracked his knuckles before miming throwing a punch.
“Thanks, man.” Scott said earnestly and he knew that his thanks was for more than Stiles’ stupid jokes.
They resolved into silence once more, except instead of sitting on opposite sides of the bathroom, they were shoulder to shoulder and both their heads were resting against the side of the luxurious bathtub. As weird and freaky and confusing as this whole situation was, Stiles was grateful that he had Scott by his side. They’ve been through so much together, what’s one more thing?
“Do you think our parents are freaking out?” Scott asked.
“Oh, they’re most definitely losing their shit.” Stiles nodded, “If they noticed we’re gone.”
“What do you mean ‘if’?” His voice was incredulous, as if the thought of Melissa McCall and Noah Stilinski not noticing their apparent disappearance was ridiculous. (It absolutely was.)
“Not in that way,” He said, “I just think…well, what if when they figure out how to get us back, they can send us to the same moment that we got…I don’t know, transported? So, even if my dad and your mom did realize that we were gone, we would be back immediately after we left.”
Scott’s furrowed eyebrows and confused expression had Stiles rewording his thoughts, “Like, say we got taken at like midnight, maybe they can send us back at 12:05 on the same night so it’ll be like we never left.”
“Oh.”
“I don’t know, it’s just a thought. The idea of having extra time just seems appealing.” Stiles shrugged, fiddling with his fingers.
“Extra time?”
“Y’know, to figure things out.”
“Like the deadpool.” Scott said offhandedly, staring at the wall. Stiles knew that the list was messing with his best friend’s head a lot more than he was letting off.
“Yeah, among other things.” He didn’t feel the need to further his explanation until Scott turned his body to level with him, his face curious.
“What other things?” He asked.
He took a deep breath, matching Scott’s stance, “The deadpool is definitely high on my list, for obvious reasons. Maybe if my idea pans out, we can get ahead of what’s going on before things get, um, worse. We could figure out who the Benefactor is, Kate and the Berserkers, honestly maybe we can even figure out what the fuck is going on with Derek,” They both winced at the mention of their friend’s name.
“And maybe,” Stiles pursed his lips, calculating his next words very carefully, “Maybe we can figure out what’s going on with you.”
At this, Scott straightened up, “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Scotty,” He breathed, “I saw the way you were staring in the mirror last night, I’ve seen that look before. I…I know what you’re feeling and,” He paused, scratching the side of his head. This was a lot harder to get out than he thought it would. “I’m feeling it too.”
His words hung in the air and he wasn’t sure if he should feel regret for saying them, no matter how true they were. They were both being plagued by the darkness. The weight that Deaton had warned them about had lessened after they saved Malia, to the point that Stiles had foolishly believed he wouldn’t have to think much about it again. That wasn’t the case. They had only been in this New York for less than two days but Stiles recognized the familiar tug of the darkness since they got here and he knew that Scott had felt it too.
“I can’t do this again,” Scott whispered. Stiles winced at the broken tone but he understood what he was meaning. After the ritual, everything went downhill. Shipwreck after shipwreck, loss after loss. He couldn’t do it either.
Stiles stayed silent, unsure of what to say. Instead, he wrapped his arm around Scott in a tight side-hug and the two sat there. What could he say that could possibly make things better? We’ll get through this? Everything will be okay? Don’t worry? Worrying was what was keeping them alive.
“I think I’m gonna take a shower.” Scott said after a heavy moment. Stiles didn’t miss how he hastily wiped the tears from his face. “You probably should too, you smell like dirt,” He sniffed the air. “And smoke.”
Stiles pushed at his best friend’s shoulder, “Stop smelling me, you freak.” He scoffed, rolling his eyes. “I’m gonna take a shower but not because you said I should, but because I want to try out the rich people shampoo and conditioner.”
He stood up, cracking his knuckles before extending a hand towards Scott. His face was softer now, despite his previous sarcastic comments, “How are you feeling?” About the Wanda thing went unsaid.
Scott accepted his hand, pulling himself up, “I don’t know.” He shrugged, staring at himself in the mirror. “Like you said, this is so fucked up.”
“Yes, I am generally correct.” Stiles nodded. “I’m sorry, man.”
Scott offered him a soft smile, nodding in gratitude. “Meet you in the hallway in 20?”
A smile spread across his face at his words, “Of course, this place isn’t going to explore itself.”
-
Peter was…overwhelmed, to say the least. Between being blown up, Scott literally wolfing out, and Doctor Strange showing up out of the blue, his mind was absolutely spinning. Thank god it was spring break because if he had homework to do on top of all of this, he would be losing his mind.
More so than usual, he supposed.
He rubbed his eyes, pacing back and forth in his room. Chaos magic, that’s what Stephen had called it. He had admitted that he didn’t know much about it in general, but that it was powerful beyond what anyone could imagine. Peter figured that it made sense that magic that strong would be capable of multiversal travel, the real question was who had manipulated chaos magic in order to make that happen.
He wasn’t the only one asking this question.
“Earth has not seen magic like this before.” Strange said, “Not since-”
“Don’t say it.” Clint groaned, a hand to his head. “Please don’t say it.”
Stephen looked at him with both a sympathetic and annoyed expression, “Since Loki.”
“Well, Thor did say that he was reformed. And he helped Bruce and Thor in space.” Steve nodded along.
“Didn’t you say he tried to get the upper hand on Point Break? Doesn’t sound too reformed to me.” Tony scoffed.
“He came through in the end,” Bruce shrugged, “Especially when we were dealing with…you know.”
Peter tensed at the mention of Thanos, his fist clenching at his side. He didn’t like thinking about space anymore.
“He is unfortunately the only other person who may truly know what chaos magic is capable of.” Stephen said, crossing his arms. “Wong and I only know what the Ancient One has taught us and it isn’t much. The only source we have is the Book of the Damned and that’s locked up tight.”
Why couldn’t think ever be simple? Why couldn’t the Scott and Stiles situation be easy? Now they had to bring Thor and Loki here.
Don’t get him wrong, Peter admires Thor, loves him even. He only met Loki once after the battle but it was very brief as Tony had dragged him away before he could really say much. But branching out to more of their allies just made Peter realize that this situation was a lot bigger than they had originally thought. And big situations lead to big bad guys which leads to big fights and big destruction and-
Peter fell backwards onto his bed with a frustrated groan. His thoughts were getting away from him. He needed to do something. Get his mind off of things. Normally, whenever things were getting a bit too much, he would go patrol. Sometimes in Queens, sometimes Brooklyn, wherever the night took him. Except, there was no way in hell that Mr. Stark would let him go patrolling right now.
As much as he appreciated the newfound…whatever it was that Mr. Stark had begun showing him after the whole Vulture ordeal, sometimes he didn’t know if he was reading too much into it. Sure, he had a bedroom at the Compound and at the Tower and Mr. Stark offered to keep him every other weekend but that was probably normal for other internships right? Mr. Stark liked Spider-Man so keeping Peter close was a necessary evil.
“I can’t stay here.” He stood up, looking at himself in the mirror. Being alone right now was going to make him spiral and he did not have the mental capacity to deal with that at the moment.
It was only 11 and it was spring break, there was no reason why he needed to go to bed. “Hey FRIDAY, are Scott and Stiles awake?”
“Good evening, Peter. Mr. McCall and Mr. Stilinski are indeed awake and currently in the indoor recreational center. Would you like me to notify them that you will be joining them?”
He smiled at her offer, “No thank you, I’m sure they won’t mind anyways.” Hopefully not, Peter needed a distraction.
He ventured out of his room after pulling on his shoes. The rec center wasn't too far from the living area of the compound and it generally went unused compared to the gym and the training room. Peter himself only used it once when Shuri had visited and they had run an experiment on how many laps he could run if he didn’t eat for a day. (Tony was not happy.)
As he got closer to the entrance, he could hear muffled laughter through the double doors. What could possibly be so funny about turf and soccer nets? Peter wasn’t sure but he was eager to find out.
“Peter, hey!” Scott exclaimed, waving to him enthusiastically. Him and Stiles were standing in the middle of the turf field, panting and holding lacrosse sticks. Peter noticed how Scott looked a lot better than he had only a few hours ago, the pained expression now replaced with a bright grin.
Stiles squinted his eyes at him, “FRIDAY tell you we were in here?” He questioned.
Peter laughed sheepishly. Damn, he was being read like a book by this kid. First the “Spider-Guy” thing and now this? “Uh yeah, I hope you don’t mind.”
“I do mind. Using an AI to spy on us? Frankly, Peter, I feel like my rights have been violated.” Stiles grinned at him.
“Don’t listen to him,” Scott hit him with the stick, “He’s a doofus.”
“Don’t hit me!” Stiles smacked him back and went in for another hit only for the stick to be caught mid-air. “I hate you.”
“Yeah okay,” Scott rolled his eyes, “You ever played lacrosse before?”
Peter shrugged, “Only whenever the unit comes up in gym. You guys, like, play play?”
This gained a laugh from both boys and Peter cracked a smile, “Yeah, we play for the school. First-line.” At Scott’s grin, Peter could infer that that was a good thing. He wasn’t exactly sure what “first-line” meant.
“You’re only first-line because of your little…wolf voodoo shit. I’m first-line from grit and determination, my sheer athletic ability. I’m a powerhouse, actually.” Stiles dropped his lacrosse stick and made a dramatic show of flexing.
“You cried when Coach had us run laps.”
Peter laughed loudly, covering his mouth to stifle it when Stiles sent him a dirty look, “I did not cry, there may have been tears but they were happy tears. I love running. So much.”
“He’s a terrible runner.” Scott told Peter. “We did cross country and he didn’t even run the actual courses.”
“We did cross country against our will, why would I actually try?” Stiles rolled his eyes, “Enough about me. You wanna play lacrosse with us, Pete?”
This was exactly the perfect distraction he needed. “Fuck yes.”
Peter was being serious when he said that he only ever played lacrosse when Coach Wilson covered it in P.E and even then, he was fairly sure that it wasn’t an actual good representation of the game. For example, Scott and Stiles explained that the sticks they were using were for offensive attack and defense and goalies used different sticks. When they had scrimmaged in class, everyone used the same short stick, regardless of their position. Not to mention that apparently a lot of gear went into this sport, none of which happened to be provided at both Midtown and at the Compound.
“Make sure your top hand is up a little higher when you’re catching,” Stiles said, “You get better control.”
He nodded, raising his hand up higher. Peter felt a tickle on the back of his neck and he raised the lacrosse stick up, catching the ball that Scott sent his way. A grin spread across his face as he realized that he actually caught it and he turned, lobbing it towards Stiles with renewed exhilaration.
“Good throw Peter!” Scott cheered.
“I genuinely feel like I’m at an unfair disadvantage.” Stiles pouted, spinning his lacrosse stick with the ball still inside. “No wolf powers or spider powers!”
“I can’t help it, it’s a part of me.” Peter shrugged, “Can’t exactly turn it on and off.”
“See! I can’t either!”
Stiles squinted at both of them, “I’m pretty sure it’s the same thing as using steroids. Illegal and you guys shouldn’t be allowed to play.”
“Technically, we’re not playing in a professional setting.” Peter shrugged, “So I don’t think you have a case against us.”
He didn’t receive an answer, instead Stiles turned around and began walking farther down the turf field, still cradling the lacrosse ball. He made it down about halfway before he suddenly spun around and launched the ball straight at Scott’s face without any warning. Peter’s eyes widened and he moved to stop it only for Scott to catch the ball right in front of his nose.
“Do you have a sixth sense too?” He asked at the same moment that Scott called Stiles an “absolute asshole.”
“I wouldn’t call it that,” Scott shrugged, “I just have enhanced reflexes I guess. They’re very handy.”
“You said “too”, does that mean you have a sixth sense?” Stiles questioned.
“Uh yeah, I call it my spidey sense.”
Stiles pursed his lips, “Yeah, that’s enough for me. I need to stop playing lacrosse with people who have literal superpowers.” He dropped his lacrosse stick unceremoniously. “Was there any leftover pizza?”
“Hmm, probably. No one really had an appetite after Doctor Strange stopped by.” At the sorcerer’s mention, Peter had both their full attention.
“He was here? Did he have any good news?” Scott asked hopefully and Peter felt like shit to have to break the actual news.
“Oh, I thought maybe Mr. Stark or Captain Rogers told you…” He trailed off, trying to find the right words. “You know how Mr. Stark said that there was something that FRIDAY’s sensors couldn’t identify?” At their silent affirmation, he continued, “Doctor Strange said it was something called chaos magic.”
He let the words sit for a moment and he could feel the disappointment radiating off of both of them. Peter could understand it, this whole situation kind of sucked major ass.
“What does that even mean?” Stiles asked, his tone exasperated.
“Mr. Strange doesn’t even really know,” He explained. “I think Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner are trying to contact Thor and Loki, I think they might know a little bit more about it.”
“You’re shitting me,” Stiles deadpanned, both him and Scott having identical shocked expressions. “Please tell me you’re not talking about actual fucking Norse gods.”
Oh yeah, Peter should have realized that their world probably didn’t have to deal with Thor and Loki making a surprise appearance in New Mexico out of nowhere. They probably have never dealt with aliens and gods.
“My bad,” He smiled sheepishly, “I am talking about actual fucking Norse gods.”
Scott fell into a seated position where he was standing, holding his head in his hands, “What the fuck is going on?” He whispered before looking up at Peter through slitted fingers, “Thor and Loki?”
“Yeah, Thor and Loki.” Part of him was glad that they were focusing on the godly aspect of Peter’s explanation versus the fact that they were nowhere closer to figuring out how to get them home.
“This is my cue to tap out officially,” Stiles announced, clapping his hands together. “I’m gonna go eat cold pizza and consider whether or not this is actually a dream.”
Scott threw the lacrosse ball at him, “Not funny.”
“Yeah, whatever. Catch you guys later.” Stiles threw a peace sign at him before turning a middle finger to Scott, and just like that, he was gone.
“Sorry for kind of dumping that on you guys.” Peter said softly, taking a seat across from Scott.
“Honestly, I think we both appreciate you being upfront about it. It’s better than being kept in the dark.” Scott replied. “Plus, I don’t know how you could really sugarcoat that.”
“That’s true. This situation kinda blows.”
“It could be worse. We’ve dealt with worse.” Peter didn’t know if Scott’s words were an invitation for him to ask questions, so instead he opted to ask about something else,
“Hey, how did you end up being, uh-” Was he supposed to call him by the government term? A werewolf? That felt weird, what if he preferred something different? He didn’t want to be rude.
“A werewolf?” Scott laughed at the expression on Peter’s face. “I got bit. By a werewolf.”
“Oh no way! That’s how I got my powers too. Except, obviously it wasn’t a werewolf, it was a spider! Well, a radioactive one but ya know, a bite is a bite.”
“Oh, no shit?” Scott sat up straighter, looking at Peter with a thoughtful look. “I think our powers are actually pretty similar. Minus the whole werewolf aspect, I guess.”
“I was thinking that too!” Peter nodded excitedly. “Enhanced senses, you have enhanced reflexes and I have my spider sense, do you heal fast?” He was tapping his fingers as he listed them out, counting the similarities.
“Yeah, that and I can run pretty fast. I’m also pretty strong too.”
“Sick, me too!” He grinned brightly, adding two more digits. “How much can you lift?”
“I haven’t really gotten around to testing that out,” Scott shrugged, “I wanna say I can lift a lot. Oh! I can shapeshift too.”
“With the claws and like, your eyes?” Peter thought back to just a few hours ago, when they had all witnessed Scott’s semi-transformation.
“Well, that’s kind of a part of it. I don’t really know how to explain it, Stiles is better at all that than I am.”
Peter nodded thoughtfully, trying to picture it in any way. He wanted to ask more of the questions he had about what he had witnessed in the kitchen. Like whether or not Scott had full control over his shapeshifting or if it was similar to the Hulk (he had a feeling he would probably need to explain the Hulk in general.) but the more he thought of questions, the more he considered the circumstances for why Scott wolfed out in the first place.
“Oh, um,” He started off slowly, “I’m sorry for what happened earlier with…with Wanda and what she said. I don’t really know what that name means to you and I’m sure she doesn’t either but really shouldn’t have brought it up.”
Scott stayed silent, as if he were weighing Peter’s words. “How did she know her name?” He asked quietly.
“Truthfully, I have no idea.” Peter bit his lip. “She has these, well, she’s telepathic. It doesn’t really matter though because she doesn’t get into people’s heads like. Well, not anymore at least.”
“Oh.” Came Scott’s short response.
Honestly, Peter was genuinely curious as to who Allison was as well and why her name garnered such an emotional reaction from both Scott and Stiles. However, as much as he wanted a real explanation, he was also capable of reading between the lines.
“Hey,” Peter nudged him with his foot, “Can we play more lacrosse?”