Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or Ultimate Spider-Man, therefore nor do I own the characters used in this one-shot.
"... What?"
Amadeus looked over the screen, carefully taking in the test results. "According to the results-"
"No, do not repeat that." Scarlet Spider narrowed his eyes, refusing to believe any of it. "This has to be a mistake. Something wrong with your tech."
The genius scoffed, clicking a few buttons on the keyboard. "Nothing is wrong with my technology. I even checked everything over before we started the tests. The results are one hundred percent the truth."
Scarlet pressed his hand to his temples. "How is it that, of all people, I'm... Related, to him?" He pointed to the red clad hero on the other end of the room.
"I'm gonna try not to be offended by that." Spider-Man murmered before a huge smile broke out on his face. "This is so cool! I've always wanted a brother, and now I have a long-lost one!"
Scarlet Spider rolled his eyes, the action unseen through his mask. He visibly tensed, then scowled, when Spider-Man attempted to throw his arms around him. He managed to keep the overly enthusiastic teen from achieving his goal of a friendly hug as a growl began to rise in his throat.
"Aw, come on!" Giving up, Spider-Man dropped his arms and pouted. "You have to be at least a little excited about this!"
"Oh, yes, I'm practically overflowing with joy."
"I could do without the sarcasm."
Growling, Scarlet Spider turned and headed towards the exit.
"Hey, where you goin-"
"Out."
As the door closed, Spider-Man turned to look at Amadeus. The young genius shrugged, glancing at the door. "Maybe you should...?"
"... Talk to him? Yeah, still deciding how to approach him without setting him off."
"Just ease into the conversation. You're relatively good at speaking with others, despite your tendency to say the wrong things at the wrong time-"
"Not helping." Spider-Man crossed his arms and sighed. Amadeus only shrugged once again, transferring his attention from the hero to the screen with the results. Unsure of what else to do, Spider-Man slowly exited the room.
Scarlet Spider sat on the edge of the rooftop of a skyscraper, overlooking the city. Leaning back slightly, he sighed when a web was shot up next to him, bringing with it the last person he wanted to talk to at the moment.
Taking off his mask, Peter sat next to Scarlet, clearly lost in thought. Scarlet glanced at him briefly before looking in the other direction.
Slowly, Peter began, "So... How are you?"
Scarlet raised an eyebrow under his mask. What kind of stupid question was that? "Not great."
"Oh, uh..." The brown-haired boy trailed off, choosing his next words carefully, fully aware the conversation could go south in the blink of an eye should he say the wrong thing. "... So, Ben- I-I can still call you Ben, right?"
Scarlet thought over it a moment, responding, "Yeah, okay. But you better hurry up with whatever you want to say before I lose my patience."
Inhaling deeply, Peter looked down at the streets below, preparing for the worst of answers with this question. "Is it really so... Bad, that you're my... Brother?" He whispered the last part, aware of the other boy's discomfort with the word.
A few minutes passed, so many Peter was sure he wasn't going to answer. "Honestly, I don't know," Scarlet responded, finally. "I guess I was just, shocked...?"
"Shocked...?"
Scarlet nodded, though he kept his mouth shut, uncertain of whether to continue or not. He was still a little new with this "trust" thing, and albeit Peter being the one that opened him up to it, he was still unsure whether he could trust the boy fully with what he remembered of his past just yet.
Peter paused. "But isn't it nice knowing you have a family?"
Scarlet tensed. Wasn't it nice knowing he wasn't completely alone? Maybe, maybe not. He wasn't entirely certain yet. All his life, he never remembered his family. Who they were, what happened to them, he knew nothing about his real parents. And then his brother turns out to be this overly excited nerd he could barely stand a majority of the time. But, still, he had a family. Wasn't that a good thing?
Relaxing a little, Scarlet turned his head so Peter was visible in his peripheral vision. "I don't know yet."
The hero nodded slightly, reaching out his hand to give the other reassurance before stopping, retracting his hand before making contact. He pulled his mask over his face, slowly standing up. "I understand. Things like this can take time to get used to. I'll... Leave you to your thinking now. Bye, Ben." With that, Spider-Man leaped off the skyscraper, swinging through the streets.
Scarlet Spider watched him go, whispering, "Goodbye... Brother."