Dib placed a small bag of ice on the back of his sore head and winced. Lucky for him it wasn't anything serious, his head was just sore.

He stood up off of his bed and walked over to his jet black trench coat, slung over a chair adjacent to the desk. Dib then checked its pockets and pulled out his cellphone. He typed in the overly complex password and checked for any new messages.

"One missed call. Who would call me?" Dib spoke out loud to himself.

Dib listened to his voice mail but the caller had left no message and their number was blocked. He sighed and slowly placed the excessively unused phone onto the desk.

"Probably just a failed prank call," he muttered to himself.

"Director Fury, please! There has to be some way to heal my arm. Otherwise, how will I explain this to Aunt May or the kids at school?" Peter almost shouted.

Fury groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Listen, kid, I know you think that this is going to give away your secret identity but there are hundreds if not thousands of excuses for having a broken arm."

Peter shifted as a S.H.I.E.L.D. doctor finished putting his arm into a cast. He then asked politely, "All I'm asking for is something that will help it heal before school tomorrow. Please?"

"I'm sorry, but the only methods we have for doing that are untested and would probably end up turning you into the lizard like Dr. Connors. You'll just have to live with a broken arm for a week or two."

Peter hung his head down low and whispered, "He'll know for sure then."

Fury pondered for a minute then asked skeptically, "You said Venom did this, right?"

Peter looked up at Fury with some hope fluttering in his eyes. "Yes, why?"

"I think it's time that you tell me who Venom is."

All of the hope in Peter's eyes immediately vanished and he stood up uneasily. "I can handle him-"

Fury interrupted, "Getting your arm broken is not handling him. If you don't tell us who he is, countless more people could get hurt."

Peter stood his ground and protested, "And what about the guy trapped in there? Are you going to hurt him too? I can handle him Fury, even with both hands tied behind my back."

Peter then turned around and left with tears brimming in his eyes. He could only hope that Harry wasn't too far gone.

It was a grim Tuesday morning. Not a single bird was singing in the exposed tree branches. Snow covered everything from the streets to the houses to parked cars to garbage cans. All of New York was covered in a veil of white.

Zim woke up to this hideous sight and grinned insanely. Though water burned his skin the snow didn't frighten him since it was water in a solid-like form. It could only burn him if the droplets touched his skin, but with the Sun not even visible behind the grey clouds he wouldn't have to worry about melting anytime soon.

Zim grabbed a dark blue cup of goop out of his bag and walked downstairs. There he found a nervous looking Peter Parker with a cast on his left arm.

"What happened to your arm? Did you slip and fall on the ice yesterday?"

Peter turned to face Zim and replied with a strange smile on his face, "Yeah, I did. I guess it'll get me out of PE today."

Zim shrugged and went straight to eating the blue goop in a cup on the couch.

Peter poured himself a bowl of tasteless cereal and sat at the table alone. He just couldn't bring himself to take a bite; a feeling of guilt was eating him up on the inside. Regardless, Peter forced himself to shove the spoon full of cereal into his mouth, chew it, and finally swallow it. He repeated this strangely hard motion until all of the cereal was gone.

Peter then put the dishes into the sink and the feeling of guilt continued to grow. He had to tell Harry that he was Spider-Man, because if he didn't someone besides himself would get hurt.

Zim and Peter walked to school in complete silence. With Peter slowly falling behind, Zim decided to continue on ahead.

Peter noticed Mary Jane outside of the school taking a picture of the snow. He approached her and the guilt temporarily disappeared. MJ smiled and put her camera down when she saw Peter.

"Hi, Peter, you don't look very good. What happened to your arm?" she said concernedly.

Peter blushed and looked at his arm, then back at MJ. "I slipped and fell on the ice yesterday and broke my arm. I also need to tell you something really important."

"You can tell me anything."

Peter couldn't ignore the fact that she was slowly getting closer to him. He took a deep breath and said, "Harry is mad at me, MJ. He has been ever since yesterday."

MJ frowned and replied, "Why is he mad at you? You two are best friends."

"MJ, he's mad at me because I like you. I think he's jealous." By the end of his sentence Peter was staring down at his feet while blushing a bright red.

Mary Jane then grabbed Peter's right hand and said reassuringly, "Harry doesn't hate you, Peter, it is just jealousy. You just need to let things between you and him cool down. Besides, I won't start dating until after I graduate high school so I can focus on my grades."

Suddenly a fancy limousine pulled up to the school and MJ quickly let go of Peter's hand. Harry Osborn came out of the limo looking rather cross and ready to break something.

MJ looked back at Peter and said, "Good luck, Peter, and please don't sacrifice your friendship for a girl."

MJ then waved at Harry and walked into the school quickly. Peter felt the pit of guilt settle back in. Harry approached him and curiously looked down at his broken arm.

"What happened to your arm?"

Peter instantly felt like he had been run over by a bus. It was only a matter of seconds before Harry put two and two together.

"I can't tell you here. Come with me."

Peter lead Harry into the boys' bathroom and they checked the stalls to make sure no one was in there. After they were done checking they faced each other.

Harry then grabbed Peter's broken arm firmly and asked, "How did you break your arm?"

Peter shifted anxiously and replied, "I was in a fight last night."

"With who-…wait minute. Wait, no, are you…Spider-Man? I broke his same arm in a fight last night. Peter Parker are you Spider-Man?!"

The guilt was gone, but it had been replaced with fear. Fear that his best friend would hate him just like he hated Spider-Man.

Peter took a deep breath and replied with hints of fear in his voice, "Yes, Harry, I am Spider-Man."

Harry backed away and grabbed his head as if he was in severe pain. And before Peter could even blink he was covered in Venom.

"You were Ssspider-Man all along!" he hissed/yelled.

Suddenly Venom's hand took the shape of a long, narrow blade and shot right through Peter's stomach. Peter coughed up some blood into his free hand and looked down at the large, cold blade shoved through him.

Venom's face was quickly replaced by Harry's. Peter slowly blinked and Venom was gone and so was the blade. He then fell onto the hard bathroom floor and coughed up some more blood.

Harry instantly ran to him and kneeled down beside him. "Oh no, fuck! Fuck no… I'm so sorry, Peter. I'm so fucking sorry. No…"

Peter saw tears streaking Harry's face and whimpered when the pain from it all finally hit him. Harry carefully moved Peter so that he was leaning against the wall, and then looked down at Venom in his hands.

"I can keep him alive if you want, Harry," Venom whispered.

Harry nodded and looked over at his dying friend. "Peter?"

Peter coughed some more blood into his hand then replied weakly, "Yes?"

"I'm going to use Venom to keep you alive."

"What if you can't control it again?"

"If I don't you'll die!"

"Okay, just be careful."

As soon as Harry placed Venom onto his abdominal wound Peter felt a coolness from the symbiote. He also noticed that Harry was still in contact with it.

Peter smiled and said, "I'm sorry you had to find out this way."

"I'm sorry I let my emotions fuel it," Harry replied and then looked up at Peter. "I can't believe that this whole time you've been Spider-Man. This is so weird, Pete. You're my best friend and I hate Spider-Man. And now I find out that you're both the same person. It's a lot to process."

Suddenly the school bell rang and a green skinned boy burst into the bathroom.

"Zim?" Harry looked over at him then said, "Zim, go get principal Coulson. Tell him Peter is bleeding out!"

Zim looked confused, then shocked, then nodded his head and ran back out of the doors.

Peter looked over at Harry and said, "Harry, S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to come and retrieve me. If they see you with the Venom symbiote they might try to capture or harm you."

"Venom is the only thing keeping you alive right now. They can't hurt me if I'm the only thing keeping you alive."

Peter weakly sighed and sat up straighter against the wall. "Okay, but you're going to have to stay close to me so they don't separate us. You have to refuse to leave me."

Harry smiled and replied, "I would've done that anyways."

Peter and Harry both turned their heads when Zim, principal Coulson, and a couple of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents burst into the bathroom. Coulson gasped when he noticed Venom and whispered something to one of the agents then left.

Zim walked over to Peter and Harry and kneeled down next to Peter, across from Harry, with his back to the stupefied S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

"What happened to him?" Zim asked Harry.

Harry glanced over at the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents then back at Zim. "I sort of stabbed him with the symbiote."

Zim looked down at the symbiote in awe and said, "And now you're using it to keep him alive? What an interesting symbiote."

Zim slowly reached his index finger down to touch it and a thin column of the black, liquidy symbiote began to curl around his finger. It felt cool like stone and had a smooth texture.

"Where did you find this?" Zim asked curiously.

Harry sighed and surprisingly calmly said, "It's a long story, Zim. We need to get Peter out of here and to a hospital or something."

"Are you suggesting that we pick him up and carry him?"

"Well, judging by how those S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are just standing there staring at us, this is probably our only option."

Zim held Peter's legs and Harry put his arms around Peter's torso. They then steadily picked him up, walked past the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents still gawking at them, and carried him outside of the school.

The trio then found Director Fury and several more S.H.I.E.L.D. agents coming out of a fancy blue aircraft about the size of a classroom. Zim and Harry marveled at it while Peter kept breathing. Fury noticed the Venom symbiote connected to Harry's hand and Peter's abdominal wound and furiously walked over to them.

"We are not letting the symbiote on the helicarrier."

Peter opened his eyes and replied after a cough, "Then how are you going to get me onto there before I bleed out? This symbiote is the only thing keeping me alive right now, Fury. Remove it and I die."

Fury clenched his fists and growled, "Fine, but if I even suspect that that symbiote is going out of control I will personally destroy it."

He then gestured for the trio to board the aircraft and after they did, Harry and Zim sat down on a cushioned bench that lined the wall of the aircraft with Peter in their laps. All of the agents and Fury boarded the aircraft as well and they flew straight for the helicarrier.

"That was cool how you stood up to him like that even though you were severely injured," Harry said to Peter.

Peter smiled and weakly nodded. He then closed his eyes to rest.

Harry felt pitiful as he looked down at the bloodstained figure that was his friend lying on his lap. He was happy that he knew Peter was Spider-Man, but was mad at himself for causing all of this suffering for his friend. He couldn't blame the symbiote because, deep down, he really did want to hurt Peter at that moment but he didn't want to hurt him this much.

Harry cursed himself under his breath and looked over at Zim. Zim was looking around at all of the cool machinery in the aircraft like a kid in a candy shop. He giggled and glanced back down at Peter, then at Venom. This little symbiote was going to great lengths to keep Peter alive. He noticed that it was draining a bit of energy from him and using it to do this.

Harry smiled and closed his eyes as well. He knew they would reach the helicarrier soon but the energy draining was making him sleepy. The last thing he saw was the symbiote on his hand and Peter's wound.