Well if it's going to be the last update of 2021 then it should be the first update of 2022, too. I don't know if we'll keep up the momentum from here, I've been playing around with the outline of the next few chapters and I have some things to work out.
A couple of things to note about the story! One, I'm sorry that Noah (Shadow-Spider) didn't get a lot to do while he was in Emily's dimension, but his role in this story isn't over yet. He'll have more to do after this chapter and chapter ten. Two, Imagine Dragons is my comfort music lol idc if it's unpopular or overplayed every character has their own specific Imagine Dragons song and that's 100% on purpose.
"Okay, it's basically all in order," Emily told Noah, feeling more awkward around him when her brother wasn't around.
"It's ready? I get to go home?" Noah, who had seemed pretty stoic when they'd first met, was almost reduced to tears now.
"Yep, you finally get to go home," Emily offered him what she hoped was a comforting smile.
"I'm sorry it took so long," Emily added after a moment. It had been five full days since he'd landed in this dimension and Emily had hoped to get this cleared up over the weekend. But the instructions had been pure nonsense to her until she started relying on Julian to talk her through it. She knew that he was having trouble in the other dimension, trying to help 2lian, but the multiversal shenanigans had to end today. Both Julian and Noah had to come home or the whole thing was a bust.
"It's okay, I'm just happy to go home. I'm sorry I couldn't help more. I know we didn't exactly get along, but you'll always have a friend in another dimension."
"Thanks, Noah. It's my fault we didn't get along at first. I'm not really great at the whole friendship thing and I was uh… Kind of mad about the whole ghost thing."
"Yeah, I don't make many friends with the whole ghost thing. Or the Shadow-Spider thing. It's hard, hiding so many things from Eve…" Emily had a feeling that he was talking about more than just his secret identity.
"I get that. Once we get you and Julian home, I'm going to tell Shores that I'm Spiderling."
"And are you going to tell Julian you like him?"
"I- uh- what?" That took Emily by surprise.
"I mean, he obviously likes you. If you like him back then you should tell him."
"I don't know why that would fall on me, I mean, anyone can make the first move but if he likes me he should be the one to say it because I don't know how I feel yet."
"That's fair," Noah nodded solemnly, thoughtfully.
"Why? Are you thinking about talking to Eve?"
Noah blushed now.
"I might be thinking about it."
"Maybe you should go for it."
"Honestly, it scares me too…"
"I don't know how Shores went on one hike and came back with a partner. It can't be that easy, can it?"
"Maybe we should have asked him for advice before he ran off," Noah commented.
"Well, there will be plenty of time for me to ask him for advice once you're home. You're on your own, though."
"It's fine, he doesn't like me anyway. Don't try to argue that he does. I know he doesn't and I don't need your best friend to like me."
"He's shy," Emily said with an awkward shrug.
"It's okay. I think he would get along with Eve, though. Eve gets along with everyone."
"She sounds really nice, Noah. I hope things work out for you two."
"Thanks, I hope so too."
"Anyways, I'm going to call Julian to make sure we're synced up, then I'll give you the comm device so that when you're back in your dimension we can communicate with you. It's very important that you keep an eye on that universe's Julian, also known as 2lian. He really needs a friend, and possibly a visit from some ghosts."
Noah nodded seriously and gave Emily a thumbs up.
"I'll make sure he's taken care of. I'm a superhero, it's my job to help people."
"It's also your job to make sure that no one makes a multiversal jump again until it's safer. No more blind leaps of faith."
"Blind leaps of faith are kind of what we do, Emily," Noah pointed out.
"Yeah but… We're still just kids. Maybe we could chill for a bit. Help the people who are in our respective dimensions instead of trying to do something dangerous." She was so scared of losing someone else, and she didn't have any ghosts to tell her that everything was going to be okay.
So Noah stepped up, pulling Emily into a hug, surprising them both.
"It's going to be okay. It's almost over, I'm almost home. You deserve a break, a chance to just be a college student and hang out with your support system. I'll make sure 2lian doesn't attempt another jump. I'm sure you'll be able to keep Julian in check. We've got this."
"We've got this," she repeated when the hug was over, "It's going to be okay. I'm going to call Julian."
Julian was giving 2lian a similar pep talk.
"Your multiverse doorway is promising and I really believe that we can use it to get me home but after that, both of us need to hold off on making more jumps before we've done more research, okay?"
2lian looked wary, tugging on his hair.
"I know, I'm asking a lot, but we're going to be in communication. You can call me to ask about anything, multiverse or otherwise. Listen," Julian got serious now, "I know we've both lost a lot and sometimes it feels like we're alone but we're not alone. We have each other now, nothing is going to change that. So I want you to call me before you make another jump. I need you to call me before you do anything dangerous."
"You'll do the same?" 2lian asked.
"Of course. C'mere." Julian pulled 2lian into a hug and they held onto each other for dear life.
"Noah will be here soon. You can count on him too, okay? You can call me anytime but you can also call him. I'm leaving you with comm device 3. I'll have comm device 1 and Noah will have comm device 2 and when I get back to my dimension Emily will have comm device 4." Julian hadn't told 2lian much about Emily, just that she was a friend. He wanted to ask her out of course but that would happen in his own dimension and wasn't exactly something 2lian needed to worry about. 2lian seemed married to the multiverse, and possibly also to coffee.
"Oh! I want you to have one of my shirts. I washed it for you." 2lian tossed him a shirt that said "Cereal Killer" and had a picture of cereal and milk on it.
"Thanks. I'd give you my jacket if it was in this dimension…"
"You've done enough for me," 2lian promised, adding, "I hope I see you again."
"Maybe you will, one day when it's safer to make a jump."
Emily called just then.
"Are you guys ready?" He asked into the comm device.
"Yep. I'm calling to make sure we're synced up and that you have the coordinates but then I'm going to give Noah the comm device so he can make the jump."
"Perfect! 2lian and I have said our goodbyes and such, so I guess… I'll see you in a few minutes." Julian couldn't hide his blush when he thought about seeing Emily again.
"See you in a few minutes," she agreed.
"Are you ready?" 2lian asked, putting on his safety glasses and stepping back. He gingerly held the comm device in one hand and the key to the multiverse in the other.
"Are the coordinates set?"
"Yep. You'll call me when you get there, right?"
"Yeah. Make sure Noah is in one piece okay? Help him get home and stuff? You've got to be there for each other."
"Got it." If 2lian was nervous about letting someone else into his life, he didn't show it.
"You want some music, to play you out?"
Julian laughed.
"Yeah, that'd be nice. Gimme some Imagine Dragons."
2lian hit play on Warriors and then they counted down together. When they hit one, Julian squeezed his eyes closed. He didn't open them again until he felt six arms wrap around him from the side.
"It worked! You're back, you're safe!" Emily looked like she was going to cry. They were both so relieved to see each other.
"I need to call 2lian," he realized immediately.
"I hope Noah made it back okay."
"Me too, uh, let me call them and then we can talk?"
"I'll be right here." Emily stood back and took in his appearance. He was wearing a punny t-shirt over the button-up nanogarment he'd been wearing when he left, though the shirt now featured a different pattern. When he was done with the call she would give him his jacket, backpack, and sketchbook, but contacting the other dimension was far more important.
2lian picked up right away and Warriors was still playing in the background.
"Your Spider friend made it! He seems to be in one piece but I'm making him some coffee while he calls his friend Eve? Anyway, we're gonna exchange numbers now and do the whole leaning on each other thing when he's gotten a chance to go home and sleep in his own bed."
Julian let out a sigh of relief and gave Emily a thumbs up.
"I'm so glad everything is okay over there. I made it back to Emily. I'm gonna miss you, man, but I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed too."
"Just don't forget about me."
"I could never, I'm always one call away."
"You're my best friend," 2lian said quietly. Julian's heart panged.
"Yeah… I feel the same. I'm glad we found each other. We're going to be okay. Call any time."
"I will. I've uh, I've got to check on the coffee and Noah. I'll let you get back to your reality."
"We'll talk soon," Julian promised, before 2lian hung up. Then he was alone, in his universe, with Emily.
"Is everything okay?" Emily asked.
"Yeah, they're alright." Julian took a deep breath, "Can I hug you again? It just feels really good to be home."
Emily nodded and they melted together once more. Hugging her felt safe and natural like he was meant to hold and be held by her, the extra arms probably helped with that. Finally, though, she pulled away.
"You should probably… Deke's probably worried."
"Oh yeah, Deke… I forgot about him." She laughed and he wanted to swoon.
"It'll be nice to get back to my room and get back to classes and stuff but, well… I don't want everything to get back to normal."
"Me neither," Emily said instantly.
"Oh yeah?" His heart was beating fast.
"Yeah. I want to slow down. I don't want to keep putting myself and the people I care about in danger."
"Am I one of the people you care about?"
Emily thought about it for a moment and nodded.
"I care about you too," Julian blurted.
"I know, I saw your sketchbook."
He blushed, "Ah, yeah… About that… Would you, uh, would you want to go out with me sometime?"
Emily had guessed this was coming. Noah and Daniel and Shores had all told her that this was coming. She still had to think about it when he asked.
"I, uh…" Her face was bright red.
He took a step back, "It's okay, Emily, you can just forget about it."
"Wait, Julian." She held out her hand to him.
"Yeah?"
"What… What would we do, on our date?
"I'd take you to dinner, or to lunch or something. It could be a double date with your best friend and his partner if that would make you more comfortable."
"I don't know if meeting Shores' new partner, under those circumstances, would make me feel comfortable."
"Just the two of us, then, out for your preferred meal, and then maybe we'd watch a movie or go for a walk or get ice cream. Something fun and simple. I wouldn't want our first date to be unnecessarily complicated. Then, if we went on more dates they'd become more and more personalized as we got to know each other."
"That sounds nice. Low-stakes."
"Well, we wanted to keep things chill, right?"
"Chill as in easygoing and not chill as in Netflix and chill, right?" Emily asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Right." Julian was so red now.
"Perfect. Let me get back to you about what time works best with my schedule, but I think that sounds fun."
Julian really hadn't thought he would get that far so he was a little stunned and confused when she smiled at him and then walked away. But he definitely wasn't complaining about suddenly having one very good reason to stay in this dimension.
