There's nothing like deciding you hate a plotline in your own fic and having to go back and re-outline a bunch of stuff. I'm so sorry to myself.

One thing I decided was that 2lian would get his own little "My Name Is" introductions, and also that the only people who get to swear are Daniel (Emily's brother) and Eve (Noah's best friend.)

Everyone else is a "main character" and has to censor themselves lol.


"My name is Julian Carver, now known as 2lian, and for as long as I can remember, I thought my destiny was to open a door into the multiverse. However, another Julian beat me to the punch. Now my destiny is to pick up the pieces of my life and do better for my own dimension and for my newfound family."

What 2lian hadn't mentioned over the phone was that when Noah had returned to his own dimension the first thing he had done was throw his arms around 2lian in thanks. They'd hugged for an awkwardly long time, and then 2lian had started a pot of coffee while Noah chattered to himself.

"I've missed you," Noah whispered, flooded with relief at the appearance of his brothers' apparitions.

"You were only gone a week, ya big softie," Micah teased.

"We missed you too," Tristen said hastily after that.

"So how was the other dimension?" Micah asked.

"Bizarre. Their technology is way more advanced than ours… I have some of their nano clothes or whatever."

"Nanogarments?" 2lian interrupted, not even pretending to care that his houseguest was talking to people who weren't there. He talked to himself too, sometimes.

"Yeah, that! My hoodie is a nanogarment that Emily's brother gave me." Noah took off his jacket and handed it to an overeager 2lian, knowing he wasn't going to get it back.

"Replacing us already?" Micah asked.

"It's not like that," Noah promised, while 2lian set to work in the background.

"I could strip this for parts! Reverse engineering nanotech for our generation! This breakthrough is almost bigger than the multiverse!" Truly, this breakthrough was why they had a multiverse. An exchange of information, a brain trust...

"That's great, Doctor Starbucks, but we kind of want to hear more about the multiverse," Micah said, already fed up with 2lian.

"You know he can't hear you," Noah reminded.

"Yeah. That's stupid. Tell your new friend that your original friends are trying to talk."

"I'm not replacing anyone I just have more friends now. Hey, 2lian, can I call you 2lian?"

"I mean… I guess that's what people call me now, so yes."

"Anyway, 2lian, the voices in my head are getting pretty insistent that I go home so I'm gonna call my friend Eve and go but you can keep the jacket and I went ahead and wrote down my phone number, so we're good, right?"

"Yeah, we're good. I'd want to go home too if I were you. We can talk more some other time or whatever. I have a lot of work to do…" 2lian chose to get lost in his own world, taking apart the nanogarment, instead of focusing on how he had no real home to return to. This apartment was a place but the family he'd lost had been his home.

Noah glanced once more at the cramped apartment and the lonely scientist who was stuck in his own head. He really was determined to help the guy, he'd talk to Isaiah about it later. But right now he was overdue for a reunion.

"That guy has a couple of screws loose," Micah commented when they exited the apartment.

"Oh hush," Tristen said, "he's clearly lonelier than we've ever had to be, what with all our ancestors to keep us company."

"Oh, Great Uncle Lester wanted to know when you were going to ask Eve out," Micah said.

"Today, if it's convenient."

"If it's convenient, I've heard that one before. We're practically the kings of convenience..."

"Micah, I love you and I've missed you, but please for once in your afterlife shut up."

Tristen snickered at that and both ghosts vanished as Noah went off to meet his Eve.

Eve threw her arms around him as soon as he was in hugging range.

"Oh my god, Noah, I thought you were dead. I thought you were worse than dead because at least if you were dead you could come back as a ghost, you completely vanished! You're not allowed to do that to me! Or to Isaiah! You asshole!"

Noah hugged back just as tightly and tried not to sob. It was so good to be back, with his brothers and with Eve.

"I know, I'm so sorry, I'm the worst…"

"You really are," Eve agreed, pulling away and studying him.

"So what happened? Why'd you vanish?"

"It's… It's so complicated, Eevee, it would take a long time to explain."

Eve crossed her arms, "You were gone for a week, Noah. Complicated isn't good enough anymore. We'll be in traffic for a while, you'll have time to explain."

"I haven't been gone a whole week."

"Noah."

"Right, sorry…" He got in the car and took a deep breath

"Okay, yeah, I'll explain everything, but promise me you'll just… Hear me out, okay?"

"Yeah, obviously." Eve started driving and Noah attempted to start from the beginning.

"You know how we're always making fun of that weird little vigilante?"

"Yeah?"

"That guy is me. I'm the Shadow-Spider. I got my powers in the plane crash."

"I thought you got the ghost thing in the plane crash."

"That's part of my powers."

Eve was frowning but she had to admit that made sense.

"A little less than a week ago I was out on patrol as Shadow-Spider and I was alerted to something strange and potentially dangerous- a doorway to another dimension. I never intended to get sucked in, but that's a hazard of the job."

Eve scoffed then, "It shouldn't be."

"You believe me?"

"Of course I do! You're my best friend and until just now I had no reason to think you'd lie to me."

"I didn't really lie to you," Noah said meekly.

"Sure, Noah. You just trashed the Shadow-Spider with me without ever mentioning that you were the person we were shit-talking."

"Yeah… I should have said something a long time ago. I'm so sorry, Eve."

"Does Isaiah know?"

"Yeah, he helped me form my secret identity. He doesn't know about the ghosts, though."

"Wow. You're really keeping secrets from everyone who matters to you, huh?"

"I wouldn't put it like that…" Noah said, feeling helpless.

"Of course you wouldn't. Listen, Noah, it's whatever. It's great you're helping people. I'm still upset you didn't tell me and I'm going to need some time to process, okay?"

"Take as much time as you need."

"I just want you to be completely honest with me from now on."

"Okay."

"Promise?"

"I promise." And he intended to keep that promise, but not right now. Right now he couldn't find the words to tell her he was in love with her. Right now he kept that bit of honesty back while she processed his other confession.

Things were going a bit smoother for Emily and Julian. The following Saturday, after they'd gotten settled back into a low-stakes, chill universe, they went out for a low-stakes, chill lunch. Emily had chosen a lunch date because she wanted it to still be light out when the date ended. Plus she had plans that night with Shores, who was on standby in case she needed him to call her with a sudden emergency so she could get out of the date. She'd grown to like and trust Julian but she recognized that he could still be dangerous and she was glad her best friend was only one text or phone call away.

Julian knew that Emily didn't owe him anything. He'd prepared himself for the possibility of the date ending early. He'd told himself that if things went south he wasn't going to keep pursuing her in any capacity. He really liked her and he wasn't going to do anything to intentionally make her uncomfortable. He'd already messed up with the whole multiverse thing, stressing her out and making her relive her worst memories. If she wanted to pretend to have an emergency so that she didn't have to formally reject him, so be it.

They'd also set some ground rules, planning on avoiding topics such as the multiverse, heroism, and nanotech. Julian wasn't exactly sure what they'd talk about other than those three things but he'd figure it out.

They met at a nearby smoothie cafe. Julian was wearing black jeans, his leather jacket, and a dark red button-up. Emily was wearing a nice sleeveless light blue top and blue jeans. Julian had never seen her without a hoodie and he was a little surprised and impressed by how defined and muscular her arms were.

"Have you ever thought about getting a tattoo?" He blurted, though he had been planning on saying something about how nice she looked.

Emily laughed, "Yeah, I've thought about it. My brother has a bunch of tattoos."

"Then I'm surprised you don't have one already. Especially since you and your friend seem like the type to do a stick and poke out of boredom."

Emily rolled her eyes, "Oh my gosh, I tell you one dangerous thing I did as a teenager and now you think I'm a punk."

"You do listen to Imagine Dragons."

"Do you think Imagine Dragons is a punk band?"

"They aren't?"

Emily laughed again.

"Maybe I'm more punk than you."

"I'm okay with that. I like punk girls."

"I hate to disappoint you, but Daniel is more of a punk girl than me.. I don't know a lot of hot topics."

Julian blinked at her, not getting the joke. Emily let out a tiny little sigh and shifted the topic.

"What about you? Any tattoos or dream tattoos?"

"I've thought about getting my parents' names across my back, but I've never gone through with it."

"Aww, that's sweet."

"Anyway… Now that I've taken us on a tattoo tangent, I just have to say… Thank you for going on this date with me. I think you look really nice. All the time, obviously, but definitely right now…"

Emily blushed, "Thank you… I'm really happy to be here."

Julian felt like he was going to swoon. He felt so incredibly lucky to be here with Emily.

"Do you think your brother will like me?"

"If you ever met Daniel he would love you. He's such a… Person."

"What?" Julian blinked in confusion.

"I mean, people person. Extrovert. He adores people and he adores being a person. He's the coolest." Emily talked reverently about her older brother.

"I hope I get to meet him then. I bet he isn't cooler than you, though."

"You'd lose that bet. A lot of people are cooler than me. You haven't properly met Shores yet, either."

"Do you think he'd like me?"

"I don't know, he's going through some stuff right now. I'm gonna hang out with him later today, see if I can figure out what's going on. And maybe once I make sure he's okay we can set something up for you to meet him."

"And go on that double date?"

"Let's get through this date first, okay? Also, I need to meet Basil first, I think. I don't want our first meeting to be on a double date because then there's double pressure for the date to go well for everyone."

"That makes sense." Their food arrived at the table. Julian had almost forgotten that they'd ordered, and the next few minutes were mostly focused on eating their sandwiches and drinking their smoothies. Emily felt a little awkward and Julian was tripping over his words but they were becoming more and more comfortable with each other. They weren't talking about the things they'd talked about at length over the comm device but they had reached that common ground once more, talking about baseball and English class and the other little things that mattered to them.

It was a little chilly at the end of the date when Julian offered to walk her back to her dorm. Emily rubbed her arms, regretting the tank top.

"Do you want my jacket?"

"Oh, sure, thank you."

"You can keep it this time," Julian said casually as he handed it over.

"This time?"

"Last time I gave you my jacket, you gave it back."

"I figured you'd want me to. Anyway, last time you gave me your jacket I gave it to Noah because he was in his supersuit and I wasn't gonna let him walk around like that."

"I guess the date's officially over, then, if you're mentioning heroism and the multiverse."

"Sorry," Emily said sheepishly.

"It's okay. First dates have to end, so that second dates can happen, right?" This was it, their future hung in the balance.

Emily ran her fingers over Julian's jacket, thoughtful.

"Sure, yeah. That'd be good..."

"Can I say something about the multiverse now that the date is over?"

"Go ahead."

"I think it's really impressive that you were able to reopen the door to the multiverse in a handful of days, considering it took me my whole life to open it the first time."

"Oh, uh, thank you. But I was just following your lead. You left me a good foundation to build on. You should be proud of your life's work."

"I am," Julian promised, "And I'm glad that in a way, it led me to you. You're really amazing, Emily. I hope you'll help me reach my next breakthrough."

"Let's just focus on college for now," Emily said, still uncomfortable with the word breakthrough, "I'll see you in class on Monday, and uh, maybe we can discuss our next date then."

They stopped outside of her dorm, staring at each other for a moment before parting ways. Both had briefly thought about kissing the other and both had decided they were too unprepared for that.

When Emily was back in her room she called Shores, reaching his voicemail, and so she just sent him a text to make sure he knew she was okay and that the date had gone fine. They were going to hang out later today and Emily was determined to find out where his head was at.

Shores really wasn't sure where his head was at. His brain and his body were tired, for good reason, since he hadn't slept well since his espionage escapade on Wednesday. His thoughts flitted through emotions at break-neck speeds, first guilt, then worry, anger, fear, sadness, shame, and right back to anger. He was angry at Emily for hiding things from him and he was mad at himself for sticking his nose in business that had nothing to do with him.

And now he had all this information, all these blueprints and plans, and he felt too sick with guilt and anger to do anything with it. He could dig a scalpel into his brain and give himself an upgrade but how would that really fix his problems? It wouldn't repair the wounded trust between him and Emily, perhaps that trust could never be repaired now that it had been broken on both sides.

"I just need to talk to her, put it all on the table…"

His phone rang and for a moment he thought he'd manifested his best friend. Instead, it was the other person he desperately needed to talk to.

"Basil, hey! I'm glad you called."

"Are you okay? You sound exhausted. Are you coming down with something? I can be there in an hour if need be."

"As much as I appreciate your concern and would love to see you, I promise I'm just really tired. I've been having a hard time sleeping since Wednesday, I've been having second thoughts about things."

"Like us?" Basil sounded nervous.

"No, not us. Our partnership is one of the few things I'm sure about. But the nanotech, the stolen nanotech ideas… It's all too much. I'm not a nanotech kind of person and I certainly shouldn't be trying to mess with my brain, or my father's technology, or Robert Allen's technology- it's all too much. It's giving me the heebie-jeebies."

"Then don't worry about it, water under the bridge. I haven't started adapting the robo tentacles yet, I wasn't really sure how I was going to do that, anyway. So we'll go back to the drawing board, right?"

"Ideally, I'd talk to my dad about it, but I don't want him taking them away from me. But I have friends in high, science-y places." Well, he had employees in high places, but he didn't want to sound like an Osborn right now.

"Great, so you'll talk to them, figure out how to use the tech, and then we'll turn our focus to the mystery." Now Basil sounded more at ease, but Shores had a pit in his stomach.

"I did maybe sort of find a clue to your mystery?"

"Oh, wow, really? What did you find?"

"I uncovered the identity of the Spiderling."

"No way, that's amazing! Shores, you're incredible."

Now Shores wanted to weep. He hadn't felt incredible in a long time and he definitely didn't feel incredible now. He felt betrayed and traitorous at the same time.

Basil heard the sharp inhale and understood that his partner was in despair.

"How bad is it, dear?"

"It's Emily. She has this whole double life that she never told me about. My best friend spent years hiding her identity from me. And now I'm sneaking around behind her back like some kind of supervillain! I'm not supposed to be a supervillain, Baz, I'm not supposed to be anything! I'm not incredible, I'm not even a good friend anymore." Shores was exhausted and teetering on the edge of a panic attack.

"Oh dear, oh dear… Shores, listen to me, okay? Just breathe. We messed up and did something we shouldn't have but you're not a supervillain. You're just a lovely guy who made a mistake. And Emily will understand. Maybe you could talk to her."

"I can't, I can't, she'll hate me… I feel nauseous with guilt and I can't sleep and it's all just driving me insane." The panic was ramping up now, and Basil was getting very worried about his partner.

"Honey, are you sure you don't want me to come there? I could be there in an hour, traffic permitting."

Shores nearly stopped breathing at that but in a good way this time. There was something so warm, affectionate, and sensual about the way Baz said, "Honey."

"Yes, please," Shores mumbled, "I'm hanging out with Emily later and… It might help if you were there."

Basil wasn't sure that checked out, since the relationship between Shores and Emily seemed strained at best right now, adding another person didn't seem like the best idea, but Basil would do anything for Shores.

"I can stay on the phone with you until I get to campus, would that help as well?"

"Yes," Shores sounded as grateful as he felt. He was so overwhelmed and unsure of things right now, but he believed that he and Basil could figure things out together.

"Bring the robo tentacles," Shores said, "and tomorrow or the next day I'll get to work."

"I will, but don't worry about those right now. Our priority is to work through your guilt and anxiety. Everything is going to be okay, Shores, I promise." Shores wanted to believe that more than anything, but he knew that disaster was inevitable, and he was not ready to face it.

At some point Emily called and then texted when he didn't answer the call, to say that her date had gone well. That made him feel a bit better. He still loved his best friend, he still wanted things to be okay between them. But right now, as he waited for Basil to arrive and tried not to break down further, he couldn't help wondering how long they had been drifting apart. Emily had been hiding Spiderling for 5 years. Had their friendship begun to deteriorate then? Or maybe when he'd started college a year before her, maybe that had been the turning point? What had he done or not done that had made Emily start keeping secrets from him? And was he any better, now that he had secrets of his own?

Basil arrived a little bit more than an hour later. He'd never been in this position before, having to comfort a distraught lover. His relationship experience wasn't zero but it was limited. Shores was the first person he'd ever been serious about, the first person he'd call honey and dear, the first person he'd drive an hour just to see. He didn't know what he was supposed to do so he did the first thing he could think about, and showed up at the dorm with flowers and food. The flowers were cheesy, sentimental crap, the food was because he was worried his anxious partner had been too guilt-ridden to eat much since Wednesday.

He knocked on the door and a few moments later Shores appeared.

"You look awful," Basil said in surprise.

"Thanks," Shores muttered and then, "Did you bring me flowers?"

"Uh, yes. I wanted to cheer you up. And I also brought you food."

"Oh, thank you." Shores took the flowers and then the food and let Basil into his small dorm room.

"You can sit down anywhere," Shores said, gesturing with the daffodils.

"What kind of flowers are these?" Shores asked as he filled a reusable water bottle with water and used it as a vase.

"Uh, daffodils."

"Oh, nice." Shores brought out his phone and searched for something, breaking out into a grin a moment later, "Do you know the symbolism of daffodils?"

"No…?" Now Basil felt a little stupid. As a designer who studied colors and patterns he should know the meaning of different flowers. What if it was something embarrassing or lewd?

"New beginnings." Shores tiptoed to steal a kiss.

Basil smiled as well, "Here's to new beginnings, then. For us, for you."

"Yeah… I've been so anxious that things were changing for the worse, but they're just changing. You're right, I just need to talk to her and come clean. If things are different now then they're different but we'll navigate that together. Thanks for the flowers, Baz."

"You're welcome, dear. Do you want me to stay while you talk to Emily? Because it might make her uncomfortable, to spring all of this on her at once."

"Right, good call… I think, no. If you stay for a while before I meet with her, and help me get my head on my shoulders then… Yeah. I think I should be okay. Thank you for coming. I appreciate you more than you know."

"I know. I really care about you. I have since… Well, one week ago."

Shores laughed, "This really is such a new beginning. I forgot how fast it's moving…"

"You don't think it's moving too fast, do you?"

"No, I'm happy with you. I'm happy with us. I guess we'll see what happens next, though. Maybe slow down a little bit…"

Basil nodded, "Sounds good."

"Maybe I'll learn how to drive so that you don't have to do all the heavy lifting."

Basil laughed a little, "You're worth it, I promise."

They spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the food Basil had brought and watching dumb internet drama videos until it was time for Basil to go home and Shores to meet with Emily at a nearby arcade. He was nervous to own up to his actions, but Emily was his best friend. They both deserved to know the truth, right? Surely she'd be just as relieved to own up to him…

"Hey, are you okay? I feel like I haven't been able to reach you all day, I was almost worried you weren't gonna show up."

"Sorry, Em, I've just… Dealing with things, you know?" He had a hard time getting his words to come out straight.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Do you want to talk about it?"

Here it was, here was his chance to come clean and move on. So why was he hesitating? Why was he so afraid of just talking to his best friend?

"No, not yet. But I will, eventually, I just need to figure some things out first, okay?"

"Yeah, take your time. I've really missed having you in my corner. I want my best friend back."

Something inside Shores hardened at that. He was in her corner. He was the one with the secrets, the one with the problems. Emily didn't even allude to having anything going on in her own life that she needed to talk about. She missed having her best friend. It seemed like she couldn't imagine a world where that dynamic was changing, where he wasn't always following her. Where he wasn't always player two.

He hung around her, feeling hollow until Emily stepped away to deal with a text from Dani. He wondered if her brother knew all about her secret life. He wondered if he was the only one she'd kept in the dark. He was really, really starting to hate the Spiderling.

Emily stepped away to check her messages and was reminded by Daniel that she hadn't gotten to the bottom of the minor mystery of who had been in the lab the other day. The multiverse and her date had been more pressing matters, but she assured him that she'd check into it after she got back from hanging out with Shores.

Shores wished he hadn't sent Basil home. He wanted to curl up in his partner's arms and vent about how far he and Emily had drifted.

Instead, he paced the room, muttering to himself.

"I'm clearly not the main character, but I'm not your sidekick… I will not be your sidekick."

He grabbed the robotic tentacles and opened his window. He knew he wasn't going to sleep much that night, so he might as well get some practice in. Things were changing, for better or worse. Emily wasn't who he thought she was, and he wasn't who she expected him to be. And they could never go back to that.


This is not the end.