The next morning, I woke up screaming, and my family came to my room to comfort me. As usual, Tess stayed behind to talk to me.

"You good, bro?" She asked.

"Will be, when I die."

"Hey Pete, please, don't scare me. You're my big brother, I can't lose you. I know you're honestly thinking up some plan so that you can take care of the Inheritors, that you don't come out of either. I don't want to lose you, I can't accept that as an outcome. Please, just try not to do for me, please." She said, actual desperation in her voice.

"I'll try." I said, "But if it's between the multiverse and me, you have to choose the multiverse. You have to promise me that and I promise you that I will rack up powers from different places."

She looked at me, sadness and hesitation in her expression, then said. "I promise. But you better go wherever you can till you're strong enough."

I gave her a nod, then said. "I promise."

She gave me a hug, then left the room. I went to the bathroom, getting up from my bed. My body felt weird, somewhat. After doing a self evaluation, I evaluated that last night, while sleeping, my muscles became more coordinated, stronger, and I could control every separate muscle individually, without moving other muscles. I wondered if I could control my heartbeat, so I attempted to control it, and it turns out I could! I started playing a drum with my heart, and went to the bathroom to freshen up.

I looked at the mirror, and saw I was half an inch taller than I was yesterday. My facial hair was now big enough to be considered a heavy stubble beard, but it wasn't even, so I took my trimmer that Pete had but never opened as he never needed it. After trimming my facial hair, I looked at my legs, and they were each three feet long.

After I freshened up, I went downstairs to eat, then I ate, got ready to go to school, hugged Aunt May and Uncle Ben, and we headed out for school.

As we went to school, I asked Tess, "Do you have the ability to control your muscles too? I had fun drumming my heart."

"yeah, I decided to do Morse code for woohoo, then I left it to go back to the original rhythm."

We went to school in silence, each lost in our thoughts. Then we made it to school, and the first half of classes went by smoothly. When I went to lunch, everyone was there except for me and Tess.

When I arrived at the table,it was obvious something was wrong. "What's wrong, y'all?" I asked quietly.

"Gwen isn't feeling too well." MJ responded.

"Is that so, Gwen?" I went to her, my feelings and common sense both telling me to comfort her. "What's wrong, Gwen?"

She turned to look at me to respond to my question, but when she looked at me, my spider sense amped up, telling me she was a Spider Totem. My eyes widened a fraction, and hers widened comically.

As soon as I understood what was wrong, I put my food on the table next to her food, sat down next to her, and hugged her. She put her face in my chest, hugging me back, and I gave everyone a look, telling them I knew what was going on.

After a moment, Gwen said quietly, "Everything is too loud, Pete. I am hearing too much."

I felt a pang of guilt, that I was still doing feelings with them before telling them, but now wasn't the time to focus on that. Instead I rocked her softly, and said. "I know, Gwen, I know. Can you do me a favor, Gwen?"

She nodded into my chest, so I said. "Imagine a dial, ok? And this dial is at maximum setting," at that, Betty realized that Gwen was having sensory overload, so she nodded at me, as if to thank me for taking care of the problem, I didn't respond then, electing to continue with Gwen, "Now put a label on the dial, and write 'senses' on the label, got that? Now turn the dial down slowly to a lower setting, and everything will be ok, maybe not normal, but ok."

After a moment, she said, "Yeah Pete, it's much better, thank you."

"Happy to be of service." I responded, and she got out of my arms

"I'm curious, Pete, who taught you how to take care of sensory overload?" Betty asked.

At that, everyone's faces cleared, as they finally understood what was wrong. I responded, knowing that Gwen was listening, and this was the best way to tell her beforehand that Tess was a totem as well, "Well, I have them frequently, when I get stressed and such, so if no one is around, I need to take care of it myself. And Tess just had a big one on Friday."

That had the desired outcome, considering how I saw Gwen's eyes widen slightly, then go back to normal.

At this point, Tess walked into the lunchroom, and came to the table, and asked "How's it going, folks?"

"Oh we're good," I responded cheerfully, giving Tess a message with my eyes not to act rashly in any form, and she nodded, so I continued to speak, "the only slight setback is Gwen had sensory overload, a big one, judging from how she was looking, and I just took care of it."

Immediately Tess looked at Gwen, and asked her, "Gwen, you good? Those things can get real bad."

Gwen looked up from her food, looking Tess in the eye, so their Spider Sense amped up, and then she said, "Oh it's all good now, Pete took care of it, thankfully. He also told us that you had a big one too on Friday, are you ok now?"

Tess, to her credit, managed to school her surprise into a mere blink, then two, then she twirled to face me, and said, "I thought we agreed not to discuss that, you betrayed me! What type of a big brother are you?"

Got to admit, that was pretty good, blaming her surprise on me having revealed that she had overload. I assumed a playful smirk, then said "Yes, we agreed not to discuss it with each other, but I told them because it was the current topic, and you weren't here." I turned to Gwen with a playful glare, "Why did you reveal that, now she will kill me for being a bad brother, Et tu, Gwen?"

Gwen responded just as playfully, "And you just made another mistake, putting the blame on me, I won't kill you, I will humiliate you, and that's worse than dying."

"True," I responded, "but you don't have any blackmail material on me, so I'm not too worried."

"Another mistake, don't challenge your woman, you will sorely regret it." Then she punched me in the shoulder, putting her spider powers into the punch.

I felt it, so I looked at her, mock pain in my eyes, and said "Oww, that actually hurt."

Then Tess cut in, "While you can discuss who is stronger, I think it would be important to bring up the fact that Gwen called herself 'his woman'."

Gwen scrunched her eyebrows, then said, "No, I didn't."

Tess smirked, then simply said, "SEXI?"

SEXI didn't respond, just played a recording from our watches, of Gwen saying, "Another mistake, don't challenge your woman, you will sorely regret it."

Everyone laughed at that, and Gwen was so embarrassed she hid herself in my arm, making everyone laugh even more.

The rest of lunch went by smoothly, but every now and then, Gwen would not be able to lower her sandwich, and whenever that happened, I would softly put my hand on her arm, and give her a reassuring smile, then she would be able to let go of her sandwich, and I'd give her a proud smile.

The second half of classes went by smoothly, and then the time for us to take everyone to HQ came too early and too late at the same time (brain freeze).

When all of us were congregated outside on the school grounds, we all got on a bus, and started for the HQ.

All of us were joking around, but a somber mood was over our heads due to the fact that we would do the whole reveal thing in several minutes. We had just gone silent for a moment, when SEXI said, "I apologize to all of you for pulling Dad and Aunt Tess from your lousy attempts at joking, but the three of us need to discuss a matter of importance regarding us that has changed today, and must be discussed at the earliest possible time."

I had an idea of what SEXI wanted to discuss, and so did Gwen, judging from how she said, "It's ok SEXI, have your family council, must be important."

Me and Tess gave her a grateful look, and we pulled away from the rest. As soon as we were far enough, SEXI whispered, "How exactly did Mistress Stacy come across one of the spiders between yesterday and today, this could be very bad if a spider is just biting people like that!"

Tess replied in just as low of a voice, "I think I know how, SEXI. when I got bit, it was on my leg, and I saw the spider going towards Gwen's backpack, I forgot about it, and I only remembered when I saw Gwen today, sorry."

"It is alright, it happens. And I may be an almost unlimited pool of information, but I didn't even see this happening." I said.

"Pete, is there any other universe where she gets bit? If so, then please give me a run over of that universe."

I sighed, then said, "Yes there is one. That world had beautiful colors, almost like a Cotton Candy Sky, filled with color. If there was any universe I would go to for a vacation, it would be that one. The colors were all neon, and beautiful. If I could, I would make a world with those col-" Tess slapped me on the face.

"Ow, what was that for!" I said, rubbing my face. "That's gonna bruise for the next five minutes!"

"Focus! We're not discussing color here, this is important! Life and death! And you're just brain farting about neon colors." Tess said, almost glaring at me, but her eyes had worry in them too. "This isn't you, Pete. Any of you. Why are you avoiding the topic?"

I glared at Tess, then said, "I was stalling, because while the colors of that world were bright, the world itself was painful. I can't imagine how Gwen of Earth-65 survived, she went through so much

"Imagine this, Tess. I told you other superheroes would join us, right? Imagine those superheroes existed, but the events that caused them to become superheroes didn't happen, so instead became evil. Tony Stark never gets kidnapped in Afghanistan, so he becomes an evil billionaire, aiming for world dominance. Matt Murdock becomes leader of a group of ninja assassins, instead of becoming Daredevil, The Man Without Fear. Instead of Jessica Drew, there is a Jess Drew, agent of SILK, an agency that makes HYDRA look like good guys. And lastly, Cindy Moon, she doesn't spend time in the bunker, instead creating SILK."

But I wasn't finished. I shook my head, then said. "I don't know how Gwen lived in that universe. She was the only good in that universe. She was shunned, by everyone. If she was seen, she would be cussed at, threatened, and shot at. Eventually it was too much for her, and she revealed her identity, then spent a year in jail, for killing Peter Parker, her best friend." At that Tess gasped, and I nodded soberly.

"I'm not worried about the fact that I died. I have died millions of times, I have been captured, raped, killed, had limbs simply torn off of me, have been handed pain so many times that pain is just a constant within my life, and I have come to terms with that, to the point that pain is just relative, and no amount of pain will hurt me. No, what actually hurts is the pain I gave Gwen. When she told me about her new powers, I wanted to join her, and help her. I made a serum, injected it into myself, and it turned me into The Lizard, a beast, eight feet tall. I no longer thought properly, and Gwen had to put me down. When she was fighting me, she didn't know she was fighting me, until I changed back into Peter because of the amount of pain I had. And I felt relief when I died. She didn't kill Peter, she killed something that was once Peter, she killed a monster. I am happy she killed me, and I would have her do it again, the monster was too dangerous.

"Later on, she admits, that the biggest mistake of her life was ever telling me she was Spider-Woman, or whatever her name was at that point. I knew the serum wasn't perfect, I knew it could backfire, but I let my pride take over, I couldn't let my best friend outdo me. So that's Earth-65, and it's run over. Happy?" I snapped, then immediately regretted it. "Sorry I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, -"

Tess enveloped me in a hug, and I hesitantly hugged her back. "I'm sorry, Pete. I should have known that you were stalling because things weren't good, that's my fault."

"it's not your fault, I should have just gone the straight way. And the colors, Tess. I could just go there, live on an island in that universe for the rest of my life, and never get tired."

"let's go back to the rest." Tess suggested, and started walking towards the others.

When I was back, Gwen immediately gave me a hug. I hugged her back, not knowing why she hugged me, then I realized she could hear our conversation. It seemed Tess realized as well, and our faces both looked guilty and resentful.

I whispered to Gwen, "Sorry I made you listen to that, Gwen. You were never meant to learn that, and me making that serum is a regret I will never live down."

"How do you know this stuff, and how did it happen? You're the Spider-Man here, right? So why are you saying that happened? And however that happened, I am sorry I killed you. I should never have done that." Gwen asked.

"I will explain it all at the HQ, then we can finish this conversation. And it's not your fault, like I said I was relieved when I was dying." I said, attempting to ease her troubled soul.

As if it was purposeful, the bus just stopped. Me and and Gwen parted from each other, and we all got off the bus.

After we went through security, we all went up to my lab. When everyone was seated, I sat down, and with a sigh, said, "So there was an itsy bitsy spider..."

After twenty minutes and only three interruptions, all from Tess, who wanted to make sure I said everything correctly, we explained everything, except Pete actually being in another universe.

I asked, "Any questions?"

Everyone's hands shot up.

"Not surprised, Ned you first."

"No question, but your mom was an assassin, and smart as fuck, and your dad was a techie and science guy, and they made a serum that gave you powers, that's so cool bro!"

Tess said, "Yeah, we are badass people now, the coolest there is." She smirked.

I whispered to myself, "Now if only the multiverse didn't depend on me, that would be cooler."

Gwen said, "Pete, I can hear you what's that supposed to mean?"

I rolled my eyes, then said, "Ugh, another explanation due."

One explanation and ten minutes later, the whole situation with the Inheritors and the Web Of Life was explained.

I asked again, "Any questions?"

Everyone's hands shot up again.

I sighed, "Lizzy, you first."

Liz smiled sweetly, then said, "Thanks Pete. So this explains a lot, but not why you're cussing or flirting or badassing, not that I'm complaining, but there's a gap of understanding there."

Betty, MJ, Gwen, and Ned all said, "That was my question!"

I shared a look with Tess, and she gave me an encouraging nod, and I delved into the explanation that could very well cost me my life, if one of them got mad.

Five minutes later, I finished with, "So, yeah, I'm not really Pete. But I have his memories, emotions, everything about him. A whole multiverse's worth of it all. Kinda annoying, because my upbringing makes me look at things with much more decisiveness, and acceptance, while his always tries to finds the easy way, and rejects the need to change, or adapt. But we have the same behavior."

I nervously looked all of them and saw varying looks, Betty was somewhat surprised, but looked like she understood what was going on, and expected it, just not to this degree. Ned looked unsure and in shock, trying to come to terms with what I said.

Liz and Gwen looked like they were sad, but not angry or murderous. MJ looked like she was in shock.

Tess stood up, and started talking, "Ok guys, look at me. Whatever you want to think, or say, or do, don't you dare burn your emotions hurting Pete's. He is going through the same thing you guys are going through, but worse. He had friends, frienemies, siblings, parents, that he was talking to, probably a girl he loved, and it was all just ripped away from him. He didn't ask for this, but he's making the best out of this. He is putting his A+ game into this, trust me. For example, he had SEXI create these Parkerwatches for y'all, and they have defenses enough to kill a rhino, or more, I don't even know. You saw how he took care of the jerks yesterday. And when he was interacting with all of you guys, he didn't want to, respecting the fact that he wasn't the man you wanted. But Pete's feelings forced him to interact with you guys the way he did. And while he isn't Peter and I will always mourn Pete and keep a piece of him in my heart, he's better than Pete. He may not know it, or believe it, but he is. He isn't even worrying about his family, just mourning them. We were talking about it yesterday, and you know what? He didn't even mention his family until I asked him of it, and even then he was short about it. He even said he failed in fulfilling his promise to Peter that he would keep us safe, and wouldn't be surprised or mad at Pete if he left his family in retribution. In the end, what I'm trying to say is, while we may have lost Peter for good, we got a new, better, superior Peter, who isn't leaving anything for chance. Whenever we go out on patrol, he has a cloaking technology activated that makes sure that no one trace Spider-Man or Wolf Spider can be traced to us. I am not telling you to accept him as Peter, I am saying to at least accept him for who he is, the person who can't sleep properly because of his worry for y'all."

Betty spoke up, "While I will admit, I wasn't expecting such a major change, it is not that surprising. Yesterday I said something to the effect of him being Peter but not. I am honored to be a friend of both Peter, and not Peter. As Not Peter said, there is a multiversal war on the way. There is no one I know that I would trust with the whole multiverse other than him, he knows that pulling back only ends bad, and I suppose seeing billions of Peters' lives only cemented that ideal. The Peter that we knew, if he received the powers, would've let Max continue beating the shit out of him, most probably even saying something like 'If he doesn't beat me up, he will beat someone else without powers, and better someone who can take the beating then someone who can't'"

I said, "Please don't say that again, I have so many memories of saying it like that, word to word, I throw up at that idea."

Betty continued, "See, I told you, twisted yet noble logic. And ok, Pete, I won't torture you with cringy phrases Pete would say, unless you reveal something embarrassing about me that you know from your other lives. Anyways, as I was saying, Pete thought that there was a nuisance in the form of bullies, what path is the most decisive, giving him the most winning conclusion, and preferably least damage, but damage is not shied away from.

"The most decisive path was to meet them head on, but there were also several factors. The teachers, the cameras, and most importantly, the aftermath. After school, me and Ned hacked the school computers, and we found an urgent meeting for the teachers after school on 'new lab equipment' which is something we have been requesting for the past few months, making the meeting seem legit. The cameras had no evidence of the fight, in fact showing the students leaving the way they usually would, all with the same clothes they wore yesterday, even getting Pete's height correct.

"The aftermath, that was taken care of smoothly, too smooth to be Peter, that's what cemented within me that this wasn't the Pete we knew. Dancing smoothly around their attacks, letting them deal the damage to each other, proving that he had the upper hand, the experience, the upper hand. But if he only did that, rumors would start spreading that he was cowering from the fight, and he would have had to fight again today. So he dealt blows while spinning on his hand, proving that he could do this in his sleep, and still come out on top. But he needed to assert full dominance, which is what the knife and the threats served as. If it was Pete, he wouldn't get into the fight first of all, but if he did, he would make sure not even the people he was fighting got hurt, he would assure that they didn't crash into each other, which is just unnecessary and only required if one of them will get a fatal wound. All in all, I think we lucked out, getting Pete as the protector of the multiverse."

After several moments, Ned spoke up, "You said you have enhanced senses, so I'm assuming you heard mine and Betty's conversation on our way home. You heard the way I said it, so I think if I explain why it was that way, I think you'll understand my take on this situation. Yesterday, I had more fun talking to you then I have ever had talking to Pete, and when Betty mentioned that you seemed like you were not really Pete but somehow Pete at the same time, I wondered that if the change was as drastic as it could be, which it is, then would it be disrespectful towards Pete to be friends with you, and I concluded that if it was just some stupid change of perspective on Peter's part, then it would all be okay. But if it was some mind swap or something, which it is, then I would be honored to consider you a brother, as long as we have a different secret handshake, and you liked Star Wars." He finished with a smirk.

I quickly responded, "Dude, did you just ask if I liked Star Wars? I fucking love Star Wars! Where I come from, it's 2021, and so much Star Wars content comes out in between now and then, like, so much! There's even shows! Has the clone wars come out yet here?"

"Bro, how is the tech in the future? No don't tell me, I want to figure out myself. And don't spoil anything for me, I want to watch it all myself, without knowing how it ends."

"As you wish, good sir, but the tech is the same, because they don't have the geniuses this world has, like me, Stark, and Reed Richards."

"Makes sense, but that is disappointing."

"Yeah man."

I heard a throat being cleared, and me and Ned both turned around to see Tess, with a smirk on her face.

"She's just jealous, please excuse my sister's manners." I said jokingly.

"It's no problem, my younger cousins are just as annoying, I know the feeling of five year old siblings." Ned said, daring Tess to take the bait.

But she didn't, sadly. "Ha ha, very funny." She said. "if I said I'm not five, what would you have said?"

"That's right you're not five, you're five and a half." Me and Ned said at the same time, both of us emphasizing the 'and a half'

"Ayy, up top, bro!" I said to Ned, and he gave me a high five.

I turned to look at the girls, who looked, well looked everything, like every emotion there ever was, is, and will ever be.

"Girls?" I asked hesitantly.

"What do you want." MJ said sharply, and I visibly winced, and Tess looked like she was just going to explode at MJ, so first I turned to Tess, and said, "Tess, stand down. She has a right to be sharp with me. I kissed her, and she let me because she thought I was someone I no longer am, and probably never will be. I doubt I will ever return, I think we both will just die in the other's body. But I just got lost in a tangent, so let's go back to the original point. I took advantage of her, and I should not have ever done that."

"Yeah, well not your fault you got overwhelmed with a multiverse of feelings." Tess growled, but she sat back down.

I used my webs to shoot at a rolling chair, which I pulled to myself, then I sat on it, and turned to MJ. I looked her in the eye, then started speaking. "What I want, Em, is to make sure you're ok, make sure you're happy. Because even though I'm not Peter, I promised him that I would take care of his family as if they were mine, and you're his family, therefore you're mine. So tell me, Em, what's wrong, and how can I help you with that?"

MJ glared at me, "What's wrong is that you took advantage of me! What's wrong is that I loved Peter, and you're some jerk who is trying to take his position! What's wrong is that I will never see him again!" I made sure my face didn't show how much her words hurt me, but Tess was just about to get up, when I sent a 'stop' message with my hand, so she stayed put. "What's wrong is that I'm worried about Peter! What's wrong is that you're just taking his position, without so much as a thought! What's wrong is you think you can just take Pete's name, when you're not half the man he is! What-"

"You're wrong, MJ." Tess said coldly, cutting MJ off. I tried to gesture to Tess to calm down, but she just continued, "No, Pete, I am not calming down, she can't just rage at you like that, you're risking everything you have left for her and everyone else. Almost all of what you said was wrong, MJ. Pete did not take advantage of you, he has a whole multiverse of emotions towards you guys, it's a miracle he didn't just take you to the bathroom and straight up fuck you, he has so much restraint, it's admirable. Imagine that, billions of lives where he loved you, emotions that obviously come to the forefront of his mind when he sees you. If it was anyone else, they would have started to have angry sex with you now. But he's not anyone else, and he didn't take advantage of you, and he showed the most restraint anyone could ever exhibit.

"And he isn't just a jerk who is trying to take Old Peter's position. He is a man, who had a family, and lost them all, and resolved to come out of it stronger, and help who he could, not a jerk. A man, the greatest type of a man there is. And he isn't taking Pete's position, he has his own position here, the leader, the one to turn to for information, for a shoulder to cry on, for anything you need. Old Pete was just the center of the group, but Pete is the head.

"So you'll never see Old Peter again, how does that affect Pete? He won't see his family again either, he is mourning them, but he is working day in, day out, mornings, evenings, normal hours, ungodly hours, to keep us safe. You haven't seen the monster Peter can be, the menace of the night. He is so mixed up, he doesn't have a personality. The only thing that stays constant twenty four hours a day, is his insistence to keep us safe. You haven't seen him choke a man because he called me a bitch, you haven't seen shit! You haven't seen him wake up every morning, screaming his brains out because he sees dreams of us dying! You haven't noticed him gain a semblance of calm every moment he sees one of you because he is reassured that you aren't dead! You haven't noticed how he always looks at Gwen's neck every few seconds with worry, ensuring that she is ok! You haven't noticed how he looks at Liz's boobs every few seconds, almost expecting her to bleed out to death from them! I don't know what happened, but I know that I sure as hell would have killed myself if I saw so much! So what if we don't see Peter again! Even if we are feeling sad because we can't see Pete, we don't tell Pete! If there's one negative quality both Peters have, it's their bigass guilt complex!

"Trust me, MJ, if anything, Pete is overthinking about him taking Peter's position, which he isn't. You haven't seen his finger twitch every time some one call him Pete. You haven't seen his face fill with regret whenever he wrote his name on a paper, haven't seen his regret as he signed something for PI, and you sure as hell haven't had late night talks with him. I don't know him too well, honestly, but I know enough to know he deserves the best shit there is! And if you can't be that for him, then at least don't get mad at him for something he would've stopped if he could!" Teresa took a few deep breaths, almost suffocating herself with anger.

Taking advantage of the momentary silence, I quietly said, "Deep breaths Tess, no need to get angry. It's fine, she has the right to get angry, she lost the love of her life."

Taking a shaky breath, Tess asked, "Why do you have to be okay with everything bad that happens to you? Like you're being assaulted from all directions with pain, and the only good thing for you is knowing we are all alive. And when she just rages at you for doing nothing wrong, you're attempting to shrug it off while assuming a blank face. Why? Pete would never be able to take pain like this, and I'm happy you can, but why? You can just rage at the world, and you would be normal for that." Tess was on the verge of tears, clearly worried.

"Once, in my old life, I was discussing this topic with a friend who went through shit too. I said to him, 'when you go through the things we've gone through, you either go all the way down, or you become stronger because of it, and no amount of pain can bring you down.' I never knew how true that was, until I came here." I turned to MJ. "Look, Em, I know I'm not Pete, -"

"That's right" she said, cutting me off. "You sure as hell aren't Pete, so don't use his voice. I can't do this shit, don't follow me." And then she left the room.

I refused to sag under the pressure, keeping myself upright, but not sure what to do.

"You can sag, Peter. No one here is judging you, we'd all be dead from the pressure a while ago." Tess said, ever the observant one of my actions.

Almost immediately, I sagged into my chair, tension somehow leaving and entering my body at the same.

"Not to increase the tension in the room or anything, but how are you guys able to do this? Like just look at him and think, this is the All-New, All-Different, Superior Peter Parker, and not think about Peter?" Gwen asked softly. "Not that I don't think New Peter is better, it's just that Peter was the one we all knew first."

Tess spoke first, "I didn't know Peter any better than you guys did, even less probably, he was so distant, barely talking to me one-on-one, so there was never really a good old Peter to me"

Wow, Pete didn't know how much he was missing out. "But he still cared for you, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, he was nice, and good, and cared for me, but he was always studying or something, he wasn't one for family time of any sort, but I didn't realize how much I needed it till you came"

So he was like a Tony Stark in that sense, huh. Guess all young billionaires are like that.

Betty spoke up, "With all due respect to Peter, I didn't like him too much. He was very empty headed, but he had a brain to rival a computer at points. And he was, as, Tess said, distant. New Peter, however, is very smart, strategic, and while he does hide his emotions, he has them."

Ned said, "As long as we have different secret handshakes, they are different people. Plus all those points Betty and Tess brought up."

Gwen took a deep breath, then said, "Look, while I am not going to rage like MJ, it goes both ways for me, just give me a couple days to get used to the change, okay, Pete?"

"You have all the time in the world that you want, just make sure you keep this Parkerwatch on most of the times," I said, handing her a box, which she took. "I don't want to risk anything."

"How much power do those things really have, Pete?" Tess asked.

"It can turn into a super suit, with repulsors and all, so it really depends on the person, kill one or three hundred people."

Tess whistled, then said, "You told me it was enough to kill a rhino."

"I did, but I didn't specify wether that was the most it could do or not. If you're taken to a Helicarrier or Triskellion, it will automatically activate, and attack every weakness within those facilities. It will also activate if Nick Fury is around, as well as if SEXI activates it, she's connected to all of yours." I turned around to get the rest of the boxes, and as I handed Ned his, I said, "Don't you dare try to open it, you do and you're dead, like actually dead. You want to work on one, come here on the weekend, don't come on Thursday, I want to do at least some work for the company then."

"Deal." Ned said, practically giddy with excitement.

As I gave Liz hers, I realized she hadn't said a thing the whole time. Immediately I panicked, and started saying, "Oh shit, I forgot about you the whole time, damn I'm a fucking idiot, I think I deserve to get the itchy formula. I don't even know if you're angry at me or not, ugh, I am so bad. Ok you're not mad I can see the hint of a smile on your face, thank god." After I finished, I automatically shot a look at her boobs, which she unfortunately caught.

She smirked and said, "What's the matter, Petey? My boobs not good enough?" And she crossed her arms beneath them, highlighting them even more.

I groaned then said, "That's not why I do that, there is no sexual background as to why I look at them, I've felt them enough times already, but then again different Peters had different Lizs who had different boobs, so I guess haven't felt them yet." I realized what I said too late.

After a moment of silence, I said, "I think my brain farted so loud, it echoed."

And everyone exploded into laughter, and after a moment, I joined in.

After we all calmed down, Liz said, "You're free to feel my boobs again anytime, Petey. But keep in mind, mine will feel different."

I groaned again, then said, "I'm not living this one down, am I?"

All of a sudden, a recording of me started to play. I was saying, "That's not why I do that, there is no sexual background as to why I look at them, I've felt them enough times already, but then again different Peters had different Lizs who had different boobs, so I guess haven't felt them yet."

Tess smirked again, then said, "That's your answer, thank you Sexi."

"Happy to be of service, Aunt Tess."

"Sexi, did you just backstab me, you back stabbed your father? So bad." I said, shaking my head in mock disappointment.

And we all gave light laughter.

Then Gwen said, getting up from her chair and grabbing her backpack, "Ok guys while this was informative and entertaining, I have to go home and do my homework, bye guys."

I got up too, and said "yeah, we should all head out. Gwen, think about your powers, but don't let what happened to the other version of you effect your decision, but in the end, the decision is yours."

"Hey, why didn't I get such a simple lecture!?" Tess complained, in mock anger.

"Because Pete knows I will say yes, but he's not letting me make my decision until I sleep on it, I think that's why." Gwen said, then looked at me for confirmation.

"Yeah, hope I am not imposing this on you, I just want to make sure you have a chance to back out. Once you're in, there is no getting out." I said.

"You're a good man, Pete." She said, and hugged me.

Almost as if I had no brain, I hugged her back. I stopped myself from kissing her, and then she let go.

She opened the door, turned her head back, and said, "bye, Pete."

I smiled and said, "Bye, Gwen."

She smiled softly, and left.

When I turned around, everybody was smirking at me. "What's wrong, what did I do, are my legs popping out of my shirt?" I looked over my shoulder, and thankfully my legs were still inside.

"Wait, legs? What are you trying to say, why would you have legs out of your shirt?" Liz asked. Then said, "Confused, I am."

"Wait you're a Star Wars fan too? Why didn't you say so before!?" Both me and Ned said, surprised.

"Of course that's the part you'd both focus on, good job guys. You're officially hardcore fans. Yes, I like Star Wars too, is it that surprising?"

"No, you just never said it or suggested it to Peter." I said.

"Maybe I didn't like him enough to admit it." She said, smiling.

After a moment, I said, "My brain needs rewiring, or it will shortcircuit and I will brain fart."

Liz laughed, then said, "Good answer, Petey. You actually are smart, not empty-headed."

I frowned, then said, "Wait, so that was just a test?" I put on a sad face while inwardly smirking, not that they knew.

Or so I thought. "Petey, get rid of the sad face. You may have tricked everyone else, but it's obvious to me." Liz said.

I let my smirk show, then said, "You passed the test, good job!"

Everyone folded into laughter.

Then Liz said, "Wait, you guys still didn't explain that leg comment! What was that all about?"

Almost comically, me and Tess both slowly turned to look at each other, humor and horror mixed equally on our faces.

"Wait, so we really just forgot about the legs?" She asked, almost about to drop into hysterical laughter.

"It would seem so," I said, barely managing to hold my laughter in myself.

And we both exploded into hysterics.

"I'm not sure wether I should be scared for their sakes or not." Ned said to Betty.

"Me neither." Liz said, as we fell onto the floor, still laughing.

After a minute, it was too much for Liz, so she drew her itchy formula out. Immediately we sobered.

"Explain, now." Liz said sternly, looking at me.

I shrunk into myself, scared for my skin, then I started talking, "So basically, the power bump the serum gave us were spider legs."

"An you just somehow forgot to mention it?" Liz asked.

"Yeah," I said, trying to keep my self from laughter.

Then Liz started laughing, and we all exploded into hysterics again, this time Betty and Ned joined.

After we calmed down, Liz asked, "Can I see?"

Before I could respond, Tess said, "Yes, you can see your boyfriend's abs, god, can't you just say 'can I see your abs?'"

Liz reddened. "That's not what I was thinking!" She exclaimed.

Tess scoffed. "Yeah, and my name is Cindy Moon. Seriously, girl, his legs are on his back, not his abs, and you were looking in the direction of his abs."

"Ok fine, maybe I was looking at his abs, but his legs are cooler! Like, legs on your back, so cool!" Liz said, struggling to keep her dignity.

"Of course, the rock hard abs are seconded by the muscular thighs and hardass backside, totally understandable." Tess said sarcastically.

I cut in, "Hey, I'll have you know my ass is the best, biggest, sexiest there is in every universe. So either respect my ass, or don't mention it." I said, just managing to keep a straight face.

"Oh, really." Tess said, challenging me. "Sexier than even Spider-Woman's and Silk's, or not." She said, waggling her eyebrows.

"Uhh, no." I admitted defeat. "But my ass is everywhere, and theirs aren't." I said, in an attempt to regain dominance.

"True, but you can't tell me to respect your ass when mine is bigger than yours." She waited a moment to let me try to think of a comeback, and when I couldn't, she continued. "Respect your ass, my ass."

We all started laughing again.

Then Liz said, "Ok, enough. Can we see your legs now, I'm curious for real."

I smirked, then said. "Of course, Lizzy. Which ones?"

She smirked back, then said, "All of them."

We started laughing again.

Then I said. "Ok, Lizzy, you can see my muscular legs."

I took my shirt off, and Liz's eyes were glued to my abs. Chuckling, I said. "Lizzy, these aren't the real ones, wait till you see those."

I thumped my chest twice, and my suit came off, revealing my actual body. I moved my legs around for demonstration, but Liz was out of it.

Finally, Liz said. "And I thought the fake ones were hot."

We all laughed.

Then I said. "Lizzy, legs back here." And I turned around, because she obviously wasn't going to move.

After a moment, she said, "But how do they work, like through muscles or like a normal spider's legs?"

I responded. "I believe it is a combination of both."

Then I put my suit and shirt back on. Tess said, "Keep in mind, our legs are not full size yet. They are growing every day, and we aren't sure what the end product will look like."

"Fucking cool, bro." Ned said.

"Yeah man. Now let's go home."

After locking the door to my lab and going downstairs, we all said bye and headed our ways. On the way home, Tess said. "So, real long day, huh?"

I scoffed. "You can say that again."

"So, real long day, huh?" Tess deadpanned.

"Bruh, but yeah, I am relieved the day is finally over."

"I agree with you one hundred percent."

We walked the rest of the way in silence. We opened the door to our house and walked in, to see Aunt May and Uncle Ben sitting in the living room, clearly waiting for us.

"Hey guys, is everything okay?" I said, testing the waters.

"Yes it is okay, thanks to you." Uncle Ben said with curiosity, thankfulness, betrayal, and worry all mixed up into his voice.

"I'm sorry, I don't follow." I said, honestly confused, what did I do.

"What your uncle is trying to say, while we are thankful for the watches, why exactly did you think a super suit be needed on my watch!?" Aunt May said sternly, her voice rising from tension.

"It's already been activated? Are you okay? Who attacked you? SHIELD? Or HYDRA? Why didn't you tell me, Sexi?" I shot my questions fast paced, worried. Every muscle tensed, Tess besides me the same way.

"Already!? SHIELD!? HYDRA!? Pete, HYDRA existed in World War Two, is there something you aren't telling us?" Uncle Ben said.

"Who attacked you?" Almost losing my calm, nearly hyperventilating.

Seeing that I was almost having a panic attack, Aunt May said. "I am fine, Peter. Some muggers with guns cornered me in an alley, and Karen activated the suit, which took care of them. Now can you answer the questions?"

I looked at Tess, and she looked at me, and we gave a collective sigh of relief, then flopped onto the couch.

I called out to Sexi, "Sunshine, why didn't you tell me, I should have been there, or at least have known about it."

"The robbery attempt had occurred while MJ and Tess were ranting, and I didn't have an option to cut either of them off to tell you. And after the robbers were handled, Grandma told me not to tell you, she wanted to talk to you personally. I'm sorry, Dad." Her voice sounded genuinely apologetic.

"It's ok, Sexi." I said

"With all that out of the way, it's imperative that you explain everything." Uncle Ben said.

After a moment, Tess said, "Pete?"

I responded, "yeah, Tess?"

"Remember how you said the day was over?"

"I stand corrected."

"I agree with you one hundred percent."