"You are incredibly stupid, Andrew Harrison," Violet practically growled at him.
Andrew looked down towards the floor as he shut the door to the guest house. Even though his sister stood almost half a foot shorter than him, the look she gave him when she was disappointed made him feel much smaller.
"Look, I-"
"You are endangering our lives spending time with him," Violet spoke rapidly, pacing back and forth throughout the room.
"I think you're exaggerating a bit..."
Violet glared daggers at him.
"Certain events still need to happen! We can't do anything until we ensure that you and I will be born. Which means Mom and Dad need to get together. They won't get together if Gwen is still in the picture. And I know it sucks, but Harry needs a reason to murder Gwen. Why would you tell Da- Peter that you would help cure Harry? You know you can't change that part of the timeline." Violet fought to control her voice.
Andrew sat down on the couch and let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding in. "I know I can't actually help cure him."
"Then what's the point of all this?" Violet asked, throwing her hands up in the air.
"I don't want anyone else to die. This isn't... easy for me," Andrew said. "I understand what has to happen, Vi. It's just that, I want him to-"
"-like you? Is that what this is about?" Violet had relaxed a bit, sitting on the couch opposite from him.
"I failed Dad so many times. Too many times."
"You don't have anything to feel guilty for, Andrew."
"I know," Andrew nodded, "but I have a second chance. I don't have to kill anybody this time around. And what I'm doing, helping Peter, you don't have to worry. I'm not going to mess anything up."
"You don't know that," Violet groaned. "We need to be more careful okay?"
Andrew drew his eyebrows together. "What do you mean 'we'?"
Violet bit her bottom lip and stayed silent.
"Vi?"
"Okay, look. I realize now it was a mistake. I thought someone was breaking into the mansion and I followed them and I ended up running into Harry." Violet stood up and started pacing again. "We ended up talking a bit," she admitted.
"Wait- someone broke in? What happened?"
Violet told the story about the woman in black. Finding out it was Felicia, and about staying with Harry for the next couple hours.
Andrew pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Let me get this straight, you just chewed me out for spending time with Peter, and you did the exact same thing with Harry?"
"You didn't see him though! I couldn't just leave him like that. He had just found out he was dying," she explained.
"Peter's uncle died recently, and he blames himself for Gwen's father dying," Andrew bit back.
"Okay, okay." Violet drummed a finger thoughtfully on her chin. "We just can't have any more contact with them until Mom and Dad get together."
"No," Andrew shook his head.
"What do you mean 'no'?" Violet crossed her arms.
"I mean that I'm going through with what I told Peter I was going to do. We don't have to cut them out of our lives. And I'm not going to," Andrew said with finality. He also thought it was better not to mention that he didn't want to cut Gwen out either.
"You're going to mess everything up," she moved towards the front door, "and then you're going to have to be the one to put things back on track."
Andrew shrugged. "If it comes to that, I will."
Violet shook her head and left without another word. Andrew decided to get some real sleep that didn't involve sitting upright in a chair all night.
The next couple days were spent in stony silence. Violet was gone most of the day, but at night she would come home just to sleep. On the second day, Violet had left before Andrew had even woken up. This suited Andrew just fine, because he had woken up to a text from Gwen, asking him if he would like to grab some coffee with her, which he eagerly replied to.
It was almost noon when Andrew met up with Gwen at a small cafe about a block away from the Korean Restaurant he accidentally met her in last time.
"Andrew, hey!" Gwen waved when she saw Andrew approaching. She was wearing a simple grey cardigan and, despite the warm weather, had a white polka dot scarf wrapped around her neck.
"Gwen, nice to see you again," he smiled.
Gwen took a quick look around the cafe. "This place is pretty packed. Do you just want to buy our coffees and walk around?"
"Yeah, sounds good," Andrew shrugged. He ordered himself a coffee and couldn't help but laugh when Gwen put her order in.
"What?" she tilted her head to the side and pressed her lips together to hold back a smile.
"Six sugars? Really?"
Gwen narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't knock it if you haven't tried it."
They both grabbed their coffees and headed out into the city.
"Here, try some, I haven't sipped it yet," Gwen held her cup out to him.
Andrew quirked an eyebrow. "Are you sure you want my germs on your cup?"
"Germs I can handle," she rolled her eyes.
Andrew took a sip and wrinkled his nose. "This tastes like a liquid cavity," he laughed, handing it back to her.
"You really don't like it?" her eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"Nah. My brother would have liked it though, he lived off of sugar," Andrew paused. The memory of his brother hit him like a brick. It wasn't like Violet and he had forgotten about him, but it was easier not to talk about it. How everyone they loved all died within minutes. Harry and Felicia had been the worst, actually seeing them die. At least they didn't have to see their father or brother perish.
"Would have?" Gwen asked quietly.
"My uh- my whole family other than my sister Violet, they're all gone." Murdered, more like it. His brother, father, Aunt May, even his grandparents were killed. His mother... there was nothing left of her in Scarlet. "I don't like to talk about it," he shook his head because she could ask the question he saw forming on her face.
"I'm sorry to hear that. I lost my father," she said.
Andrew nodded solemnly. They walked quietly for another minute or two. Dead relatives were definitely a conversation killer.
His phone buzzed and he suppressed a groan as he took it out; he did not want to deal with Violet's disapproving lectures at this moment. When he saw Peter was calling he basically sighed in relief.
"One second," Andrew said to Gwen as he answered his phone. "Hey, Peter." Gwen threw him a questioning glance, but then seemed preoccupied by peeling the top layer off the foam coffee cup.
"Hey! I think now is a good time to go pay a visit to Harry. I'm free for the next couple of hours while my aunt is at work, and I asked him to come meet me at my house." Peter sounded both excited and nervous at the same time.
"Yeah, sure," Andrew answered. He was bummed out that he was going to have to cut having coffee with Gwen short, but he had made a promise to help Peter.
"Cool. I'll leave the suit in my garage. I'll text you when you should come introduce yourself, maybe you can swing in through a window or something?"
Andrew chuckled. "A window? I'll just knock on the front door." Gwen arched an eyebrow at him, opened her mouth as if she were going to say something, then decided not to and went back to peeling her cup.
"That's not nearly as cool," Peter complained. "As long as you demonstrate something that proves your powers..."
"Don't worry, I'll think of something. Be there soon."
"Okay. Also, Harry said he'd be here in like twenty minutes, so..."
"I'll hurry," Andrew said before hanging up.
"Do I want to know why Peter wants you to sneak in through the window?" Gwen gave him a questioning smirk.
"I- what- no!" Andrew threw a scandalized look at her. "There's something I need to uh- it's nothing like what you think- I just have to-"
Gwen put her hand on his arm to stop him. "I'm just messing with you. Both you and Peter are so funny when you can't stop rambling."
Andrew tried not to frown when she took her hand off of his arm. "I have to go. Shoot me a text next time you want to grab some coffee. Or anything really. It doesn't have to be coffee." Andrew started backing up the other way, the way towards Peter's house. "Maybe lunch or something."
"Maybe," Gwen smiled.
Andrew decided to ignore the way her smile made him feel.
It took roughly ten minutes for Andrew to get to Peter's house. He slipped into the garage, and saw the plastic bag on top of the tool bench. Andrew shook his head; if anyone else had decided to go into this garage for any reason they would most likely be able to tell what suit was in the plastic bag without opening it. Then again, he was the only one other than Peter that ever went into this garage.
He quickly took off his shirt and pants and slipped the suit on over his boxers. It was a little tight on him, with him being a couple inches taller than Peter was, but it would work for the short amount of time he was going to be in it. He put his pants, shirt, and hoodie on over the suit, so the neighbors wouldn't see him leaving the garage and waited for Peter's text. There were two empty Snicker's wrappers on the floor, and Andrew kicked at them with his foot.
Fifteen minutes later Peter texted him to come into his house. Andrew put the mask on with his hood over it and knocked on Peter's front door. This felt so surreal for him.
Peter was quick to answer the door. "Hey, uh, Spider-man, come in."
Andrew rolled his eyes under the mask as he walked through the doorway. He quickly took the hoodie off. Peter showed him to the living room, which was basically the first room the small hallway led to. It might not look good on Peter's part if 'Spider-Man' knew his way around his house.
Harry's eyebrows shot up as Andrew walked into the living room. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was wearing a loose fitting black shirt. Andrew tried to not let his eyes linger on the green tinted sores that were already starting to fester on his skin.
"You don't know Spider-Man, yet you can get him to make house calls?" Harry turned to Peter, his tone was teasing, yet his body language showed differently.
"If people knew that he knew me, his life would be in danger," Andrew said, plopping down on the couch. "They could hurt him to find out information about me, or they could ask him to request a 'house call' with me, which is by far much worse."
Harry narrowed his eyes, but uncrossed his arms and relaxed a little.
"So did Peter tell you why we're all here today?" Harry asked, sitting in the chair opposite from the couch. Peter sat in the other chair next to Harry.
"You want my blood."
Harry smiled and nodded at Peter before turning back towards Andrew. "I need it. This disease that killed my father, it's affecting me much quicker than it did him. If I could self heal, it would save my life. I refuse to go out like he did."
"I'm sorry to hear that this is happening to you; Peter told me as much as he could. There's only one thing, Mr. Osborn."
"What's that?" Harry asked apprehensively.
"Peter and I talked about the risks of what could happen if I gave you my blood-"
"-I don't care about the risks. You can't just deny me this in fear for my health, I'm already dying," Harry ground out, leaning forward.
Andrew waited a few seconds before starting again. Peter was nervously biting on his bottom lip. "I never said I wasn't going to give you my blood."
Harry raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "Really?"
"Yes, but we have to test it first. We need to make sure it's not going to kill you, or worse. We want to be thorough, make sure we are compatible, and then we can give you my blood."
Harry began anxiously bouncing one of his legs, seemingly without notice.
"It's the best we can do, Har. It would kill me if something happened to you because of something we could have prevented," Peter said.
"Right," Harry said the word slowly, "Pete, can you get me a glass of water?"
"Uh yeah- sure Har," Peter practically jumped up from his chair. Andrew rolled his eyes again, pre-goblin Harry could be so dramatic.
As soon as Peter left the room, Harry turned towards Andrew and spoke quickly. "Look, I know Peter told you to test everything first because he cares about my health and everything, but I can handle it. We don't need to wait."
"I'm not going to be responsible for killing you," Andrew said.
Harry glared at him. "I'm already dying."
"My blood could do even more damage." Andrew stood up, his voice became low and serious. "Your friend tracked me down and made me promise to do whatever I could to save you. I told him I would. He just wants you safe. You should show him a little more gratitude."
Harry stood up, and looked as if he were about to argue back. He opened his mouth and closed it, and comprehension seemed to dawn on his face. Harry gave the smallest nod to Andrew, looking like he'd rather die. Andrew smirked under the mask knowing that that small gesture was rare coming from Harry Osborn, and he was the one that got him to realize that they were right.
Peter came into the room again, lightening the tone of the room immediately. "Here, Har," Peter passed him the glass of water. He looked between them, and Andrew sat back down on the couch as Peter took his previous spot.
"Thanks," Harry said. His hand was shaking badly as he sipped the water. Just as he went to sit down as well, the glass slipped right from his hand.
Andrew quickly flung out a small strand of webbing and caught the glass, pulling it right into his hand. Harry looked genuinely shocked.
"You alright?" Andrew asked him, setting the unbroken glass onto the coffee table.
"Uh- yeah, I-" Harry sat down, "-it's getting worse. But, I understand that you two want to be able to test everything first."
"It'll be fine. We will figure this out," Peter gestured to Andrew.
"I didn't say thanks for what you did, Pete. It means a lot to me, and you know I don't say things like this often," Harry laughed unhumorously, "but you really are my best friend. Setting this up for me, I owe you one."
Peter sniffed and rolled his eyes. "You don't owe me anything Harry."
Harry looked at Andrew again and then to Peter.
Andrew cleared his throat and got up from the coach. He could tell they wanted to talk more privately, so he found a way to excuse himself for a few minutes. "You mind if I grab myself a drink, Peter?"
"Sure, yeah go right ahead." Peter gestured towards the kitchen. "Sorry for the limited choices," he added.
Andrew opened up the fridge. Milk, cranberry juice, and Dr. Pepper. He grabbed the Dr. Pepper, pulling up the mask just enough, and took a couple sips before pulling the mask back down. He could hear the other two talking to each other in low voices, but tuned them out for now.
Violet didn't know what she was talking about. Sure, they had to be careful about what they did or said up until a certain point, but it wasn't like he was stupid. He knew that there were some events that had to happen in order for Peter and Mary Jane to still get together. They were going to need Stryker to come to them in order to destroy him before he took their family to that island; their mother, Harry, Felicia.
He couldn't help wanting to spend time with these people before everything went to hell. Peter and Harry were still friends, Gwen was alive, and Mary Jane was happy and living her life. He wasn't too sure about Felicia, as Violet was the only one of them who had any kind of visual on her since they came to this time. If Violet wanted to spend most of her time cooped up in the Osborn guesthouse, then that was on her.
Andrew took another quick sip of Dr. Pepper. It seemed Peter and Harry were talking louder again, so he decided he'd pop back in there in a minute. They would discuss when they could work on the blood cure, and then he would go. Not before leaving Peter's suit in the garage, that it.
"I can't believe this. This is- I don't even know what- unbelievable!" Andrew heard Harry practically shout from the living room. He made sure the mask was covering his face again before he entered the room before-
Harry was standing near the edge of the room with both hands on his head. His eyes were wide and mouth open in disbelief, but when he noticed Andrew had entered the room, his mouth snapped shut. Harry was the least concerning thing to Andrew at this time though, because Peter was crawling on the ceiling!
No, no, no! This was NOT good at all. This never happened in the original timeline. Harry was not supposed to find out about Peter this way.
"What?" was all that Andrew managed to get out of his mouth. Peter jumped to the floor, smiling sheepishly at Andrew.
"I- I had to tell him. He's my best friend," Peter shrugged. Andrew was glad to see that Peter at least had the decency to look guilty.
"There are no secrets between us," Harry smirked at Andrew. "You can't blame him for wanting to tell his best friend. It is interesting to know that there are two of you."
Andrew didn't respond to Harry. Instead he looked towards Peter, the angry expression unseen behind his mask. "What was the point of me doing this if you were just going to go and tell him anyways? You wanted to protect your identity."
"I know," Peter agreed. "It was a kind of spur of the moment thing."
"So," Harry drawled, looking towards Andrew, "do I get to know who you are too?"
"No." Peter and Andrew answered at the same time.
Peter was supposed to keep his identity a secret! It was the main factor as to why Harry felt so betrayed by him and killed Gwen. Harry might not even become the Goblin now.
Andrew paused. Harry might not even become the goblin. It wasn't like that was a bad thing. Maybe he hadn't messed up quite as bad as he thought. Maybe he could prevent all the bad things that happened to them, and find a way for Peter and Mary Jane to meet. Maybe he could save Gwen.
"Well, I'm going to need your number at least. I can get ahold of you two when the labs at Osborn are unoccupied." Harry held his phone out to Andrew, who quickly punched in his number and gave it back.
"If my blood doesn't work, we can always use his as a back-up," Peter said to Harry. "That was the original plan."
"Better odds for me, I suppose." Harry said, keeping his eyes on Peter. "Thank you for being honest with me."
"Of course, Har," Peter grinned. "Just... you can't tell anyone else."
"I'm not an idiot," sniffed Harry.
Andrew shuffled awkwardly. Violet was going to be so mad at him when she found out what happened today. He was going to have to explain to her how this could be a good thing though, if it works out in their favor.
"Well, it was good to see you again, Peter. Nice to meet you, Mr. Osborn." Andrew said as he made his way towards the front door, pulling his hoodie back on.
"Any friend of Peter's is a friend of mine. Call me Harry."
Andrew nodded once before leaving.
He had to figure out this mess before there was a chance that he and his sister were erased from existence.