Forgotten Spider
Several weeks later I was in my room, realizing that ET had taken pictures of us with Otto. I developed them myself from the phone, framing the best one next to one of me and mom. We peered out the window, watching the sun setting. I’d still refused to move out of the house I grew up in.
After everyone was sent home, ET had thrown up a shield, a nest over us. We hadn’t moved from it until sunrise, partially from exhaustion and more so from the crushing sadness. I refused to leave my room for days after Otto was sucked back. ET was the one who even got us home.
One thing that was weird, nobody was talking about Peter being Spider-Man. I was assured by my parasite that the reason we still knew was because they were extra-planar and could coalesce the knowledge from there. But the world forgetting meant the spell had worked from this end.
We spent several afternoons just researching the Otto Octavius from here. He had been a physicist here too, and had met mom at college. His patents actually had to do with AI which was not off brand. We even went to his grave, talking to him for hours about everything we wished we could have done. It became a ritual to do that at least once a week.
Today though we were stalking young Peter. We knew he was in an apartment, and that nobody else seemed to remember him. A large chocolate coffee was in our hand, drinking from it as we tailed him.
Our round glasses were perched on our head, eyes flashing to keep tabs from blocks away. ET had done a wardrobe change after the whole fiasco. There was now a thick band across our lower torso, still a pale mint in color. Our black hue was deepening to a wine purple as well. We still had the waxing and waning circle on our chest, not for the moon but for our energy. I tried explaining that advertising to everyone our power level was beyond stupid but nobody saw anything but a moon. There was also the situation where sometimes we had eight appendages now, more octopus-like tentacles ripping from our back when the suit covered us. ET had assured me it was an evolutionary advantage and not because we both missed him.
ET’s preferred form seemed to be a hoodie, which was fine, but it got hot. We had the hood down, sucking down more coffee, watching Peter stand in front of the store we’d left earlier this morning. We had found MJ and Ned easily enough, confirming nobody even knew who Peter Parker was. Our morning routine even included stopping by that cafe for coffee, and sometimes pastries, to keep tabs on those two.
When he left we approached from outside his periphery. Once he turned down an alley, we reached out a hand to touch his shoulder which earned us a kick right in the chest. ET was laughing as I fell on my ass, having crushed the empty cup in my hand.
“What the hell, Parker,” I ground out, standing, listening to the raucous chuckle in my head.
“Galen?” He stared at me, eyes huge. “You, how, you aren’t, how do you,”
“ET isn’t affected by Strange’s mind magic,” I offered, watching relief wash over him.
“I just, nobody else remembers,” Parker looked away, ET moved forward and we hugged him.
“We know,” Our voice was deep, melodic. “Do you want to get breakfast, we can catch up.” We felt him nod into our shoulder so we turned and started walking. The great thing was there was a diner everywhere, but Parker picked one which was several blocks away, almost across town.
Which was easy for us because we decided to go up.
“Your suit changed,” Parker remarked as we landed in an alley and both our suits retracted.
“Yeah,” I said, not looking at him. “We didn’t want to forget him.”
This place already knew him, which meant he must come here often. We sat in a corner, neither of us even looking at a menu before ordering half of it. I got a sidelong glance from the waitress but she just shrugged, smiling at Parker.
I ate like my life depended on it, which ET’s did so we ate a lot. I’d gone to six funerals since that day, for all my friends at the theater. We also got a job working on sound at a recording studio, on track to become the sound engineer once we graduated. If nothing else, we kept busy.
“So, are we friends?” Parker asked as we both cleaned off our plates. I looked at him over the glasses that at some point had fallen over my eyes. He looked at them with blatant recognition.
“You caused my dad to be sent back to a universe where he may have died,” We growled, the waitress pausing for a moment at the counter. “But at the same time, without you, we never would have even known he existed.” I still relished how people underestimated me, often even confused what I was.
“Uh, that… that’s definitely true, but you didn’t answer the question,” Parker had on an old pair of Stark’s glasses too. It was funny really how we both missed father figures we barely knew.
“We can be friends,” ET’s voice shone through making Parker squint. “Until we aren’t.”
“Just vague enough to make no sense,” Parker mused, resting his face on a fist.
“Friends until we need to be enemies,” I supplied, earning a head tilt.
“Why would we need to be?” Parker sounded hesitant to even ask.
“It’s part of the universal truth,” ET had a habit of making us sound husky, leaning into the nonbinary. “One Spider-person and one Projection, or symbiote, to keep them in check.”
“You changed your name to Projection?” Parker asked and we smiled broadly. Of course he focused on that and ignored the rest of what we said. ET was purring against my organs, which had become less uncomfortable. They were very proud of the new name.
“A Projection of solace, of help,” We shrugged, a small tendril of ET meshing back into my leg from depositing cash to pay the bill over our slip by the counter. “We will protect and watch out for people. And take down the worst of them.”
“It sounds like you’re a hero,” Parker mused, drinking his milkshake while wiggling his eyebrows.
“Maybe so,” We turned towards the window looking out at the New York street. “We will honor our father, and his wishes for us to be better than him, but if the chance arises to go back to him, or bring him here, we will take it.”
“You mean magic?” Peter choked, fear and apprehension covering his face. “No, you can’t do that.”
“We will do what we want, Parker,” We snarled, ET flaring under our skin, making our eyes glow. “Your indecision brought them all here, and you will have to accept the consequences, more than just the ones which personally affect you. We had a father, for the first time in our life we finally knew him, and that is a strong emotion evoked, one not easily sequestered. If we could have him back, don’t underestimate what we would do for that to happen, Peter.”
He swallowed audibly, staring at us as we turned to face him again.
“But this is far off,” Our voice was cheery and he looked concerned at the change. “First we both need to finish school, then we can worry about who is the better.”
We stood to leave but Parker froze, looking around for the waitress.
“We have to pay!” Parker said, watching me continue walking towards the door.
“Oh your friend already did, honey,” The waitress was one of those classic American types. ET was smitten with her, and commented on how juicy her liver was, both the ones in the back and in her body.
“Good bye, Peter Parker,” We smiled tightly at his agape expression. In a breath we were swallowed by the new pinot noir of our body, that thick mint band riding low. There was other detailing on our face, those unruly tentacles squirming from our back. We stayed tall and lean, a body with no gender.
With a wave we leapt up to a roof, heading in the direction of the sun, back home.