People say having a significant other is at time's difficult.
Dating people with a split personality is also seriously difficult.
Now try dating someone who had a split personality and suddenly grew another body.
Peter Snow-Parker can vouch for that.
Snow-Parker/Frost household
Caitlin watched as her husband was currently playing with the twins by acting like a monster snatching them both up as they screamed and laughed. Luckily, their home was a soundproof condo, so they didn't have to worry about bothering the neighbors.
Peter roared at Tina as she tried to escape her father's clutches.
"That man's a moron." Frost commented as she came over with a cup a coffee in her hands.
"Yeah, but he's our moron." Caitlin reminded him.
"More yours than mine." Frost motioned as she went to sit at the table.
Caitlin sighed as she knew Frost had a point. Ever since they split bodies, Peter had no idea how he was supposed to be interacting between Caitlin and Frost as he cared and loved both of them, but he wasn't exactly the kind of guy who was expecting to be married to more than one woman.
But then, Caitlin looked over to the calendar and got just the idea she just had to run by Frost and Peter.
"So, it's Valentine's day in a few days," Caitlin mentioned as she was following Peter as he moved to the couch with Tina still wrapped around his neck. "And I had thought, if you're interested in hearing it."
Pete smiled sweetly up at her as he placed his daughter down. "I'm always interested in hear your thoughts," he assured her before turning to Tina. "Go bug your brother." She then lets her father go and ran off to do just that and Peter turned back to Caitlin. "Your ideas are generally the smartest one's around here."
"And don't you forget it." Caitlin replied snarky. "And ever since we got back after Battleworld, you and Frost haven't really...spent a lot of time together. So I was thinking that maybe…maybe I could let her have the reigns this Valentine's Day?"
Peter looked up confused and just froze in front of her.
"Would you be okay with that?" Caitlin asked hesitantly, starting to feel like this was a bad idea.
"Would you be okay with that?" Peter questioned curiously. "To be honest, Cait…I'm not exactly sure where we stand with Frost. Because she's you, she's in your body, but then like…Battleworld happens and now she's not you. She doesn't have your personality; she's not the person I got to know, but she's part of the woman I fell in love with. I was okay with the three of us considering we couldn't really do much about it, and I'm okay with the three of us, but it's still strange."
"Yes, and that's exactly why I think that you should do something with her for Valentine's Day." Caitlin explains her idea to him.
"I hear you. And that only furthers my concerns: How much are you really comfortable with regarding me and Frost? The last thing I want is for you to feel jealous of her." Peter explains to her. "Don't get me wrong: I love her. But I'm just not sure if I'm in love with her anymore. That's kind of reserved for you, you know?"
Caitlin nodded. "Well, maybe this can be one of the things you talk about when you take her out for Valentine's Day?" she asked hopefully. "If, of course, you're okay with that."
Pete sighed with a nod. "Dinner? Sure, why not." He smiled deviously. "But Valentine's Night, I'm all yours."
Caitlin pinked, grinned, and leaned forward to kiss him. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet." Peter warned her. "I still need to survive Valentine's Day with Frost without you."
"You'll do fine." Caitlin promised him. "I'll even help Frost get ready before you go."
"How does this one look?" Frost asked the mirror, poking at a sleek silver dress she had bought to expand Caitlin's wardrobe to something a bit more her taste when they were still one person.
"It's pretty…" Caitlin hedged inside as she sat down on the bed. "Very flattering. Not to be vain, But are you sure you don't want to wear something pink or red? It is Valentine's day, after all."
Frost rolled her eyes. "I don't do pink."
"Why?" Caitlin shot back. "Because you're letting society dictate what qualifies as a 'girly' color? That's not very edgy of you, Frost."
Frost glowered at her through the reflection in the wardrobe. "If you weren't watching the twins for me, I would ice you."
"Good thing I'm helping you have a magical night." Caitlin said with a smile.
"This is gonna have to do." Frost decided on the dress, grabbing a pair of heels from the closet. "Because there's no way I have time to change before our reservation starts."
She then glanced upwards in the way she sometimes did when talking to Caitlin when they still shared a body because it just felt less weird than talking to a wall or a chair, but now she could just look at her.
"Yo, what are you going to be tonight?" Frost wondered. "Like, are you going to be hanging over my shoulder, feeding me lines? Or are you just going to take a break and let me have full control over the night?"
"Peter Parker is all yours tonight." Caitlin promises. "I'm gonna be watching the kids here, and I'm pretty sure Frankie's out with Miles tonight."
"When do you think your husbands gonna learn about that?" Frost questions.
"Knowing him, give it a year or two." Caitlin said jokingly before getting serious again. "Just as long as you make sure that Peter's okay with whatever you're doing and comfortable with any decision you make. Don't go trying to make out with him if it's something he doesn't want."
"Is that something that you want?" Frost asked, surprised, as she picked sat down to put on the heels. "For me to start making moves on your man?"
"You know that you're still half his wife." Caitlin stated.
"We are officially the weirdest yet most respectful love triangle of all time," Frost grumbled as she stood up in the heels. "But I'll go easy on the seducing, I promise."
She paced off into the living room and Frost grabbed her purse and stuffing before making her way to the door. "Well, we're off," she said. "Peter's probably waiting for me."
"Have fun!" Caitlin chirped, not looking up from the twins who were on the couch.
Frost headed downstairs to find Peter was waiting in front of their car. He grinned as she held out her hands, presenting herself. "You look great, Frost," he told her. "I figured you wouldn't be a huge fan on the traditional Valentine's Day colors."
"You sound like Caity," Frost grumbled, wrinkling her nose at him. "Now are you gonna open that car door for me or what?"
Laughing, Peter bowed gallantly and swept the passenger's door open for her. "Your seat, milady."
"Why, thank you." Frost said with a fake look of shock on her face before stepping inside the car and Peter could see it's gonna be a strange night.
Fifteen minutes later, they were seated at Giovanni's, a very upscale Italian restaurant that Peter had had a reservation for ever since they survived Battleworld.
If he was being honest, he was a little disappointed he wasn't able to sit across from Caitlin, but he knew his wife was right. Giving Frost the same opportunities and experiences Caitlin had was important, considering he is married to them both in a bizarre and psychologically damaged way.
"I'm glad we decided to do this," Peter said with a smile on his face. "I know that our relationship is a little bizarre, so maybe a calm Valentine's dinner is just what the doctor ordered."
"Literally." Frost joked, putting her napkin in her lap. She was more anxious than she was willing to let on and kept having to stop herself from accidentally making it snow in the restaurant. "It seems like forever since it was just us...even when I was connected to Caity."
"Yeah, it does." Peter agrees since the last time they spent a long amount of time alone was probably a while when the kids were born, Caitlin and Frost would switch between sleeping and staying with the kids. "We should make up for that now."
Before Frost could respond, Peter's senses went off and was followed swiftly by shattering glass which made her and Peter flinch and look toward the door.
Footsteps rang through the suddenly silent restaurant, and black-clothed figured swept into the room.
"Roses are red…" Amunett Black mused. "Violets are blue. Step forward, Saul Frankel, or I'll kill all of you."
Frost exchanged wide eyed glances with Peter. Of all the nights for Amunett to show up-
Then again, this always seemed to happen. Amunett was a magnet for big moments in Frost and Caitlin's life. Frost was surprised that it hadn't been there to crash their wedding.
A stocky, bald young white man pushed back his chair and stood. "Ah!" Amunett cried, pleased. "And they save chivalry is dead. Hand over the case, love."
"You know what will happen if you take this." Saul said gravely, knuckles tightening around the handle of the briefcase he was currently holding.
Peter was half out of his seat, watching the confrontation with wide eyes. He couldn't fight them off or use his web shooters without attracting attention and he couldn't walk out without Amunett seeing him. And she couldn't see him...because she already knew who he was.
"I know what will happen to you," Amunett rejoined, voice silky as she walked closer, "if I don't."
The man lunged like he was about to run and Amunett hit him across the face with her metal-encased fist. Frost, who'd had first-hand experience with that very fist, flinched, and the man crashed into a nearby table with a tinkling of shattering glass. He lay still, and Amunett primly kneeled in front of his discarded briefcase. She opened it, revealing a piece of tech inside.
Peter stood up, reaching into his jacket pocket where he hid his removable web shooters and they placed themselves around his wrist, and nodded at Frost to follow him.
They edged around the tables so that they were blocking Amunet's exit. It also meant that the moment she stood up, she saw them.
"Darlings!" Amunett chirped, beaming at the sight of the two of them. "Long time no see. Frosty…I heard you have a couple of kids now! How positively precious. Do they have any powers?" She then looked between Frost and Peter
Frost glared at her, not replying. Not only had Amunett interrupted her and Peter's first real date since their wedding, but she hadn't even gotten any garlic bread yet.
"Amunett Black, I'm placing you under citizen arrest for robbery and aggravated assault." Peter told her.
"So official, Mr. Parker. Well, by all means, let me help you out with the first bit." Amunett cleared her throat. "I have the right to remain silent," she then leaned into whisper, "which will come in handy if you don't want me letting that little secret identity cat out of its creepy crawly bag. So why don't we just call this a warning. I'll be on my way no harm...no cowl."
"And just let you get away?" Peter questioned.
"Bloody right." Amunett said. "Don't think of coming after me, 'cause if I see you, or your onesie, or any one of your frigid or bendy or speedy superhero friends, I will hold it against all of you and tell the world your secret identities."
Peter took a step towards her, but Frost put a hand on his arm, knowing just how serious Amunet's threat are.
"That's right!" Amunett chirped. "Do send your babies my regards. I would just love to meet her someday. Ta-ta, sweethearts!"
She then skipped out of the restaurant, leaving Frost and Peter to deal with whatever pieces of their evening they had left.
"Parker luck has finally taken itself against my marriage." Peter sighed in annoyance.
"Amunett has been off the grid for so long," Frost muttered.
She was leaning against the wall in Giovannis, trying to stay out of the way of the CCPD officers that were casing the scene.
Peter had already given his statement and learned that there was no trace of Amunet, but Frost's mind was still whirring for leads.
"If she's back, it's got to be for something big and bad. And I bet you an entire basket of garlic bread that it involves that device she stole." Frost stated.
"You have a weird obsession with garlic bread." Peter commented with a sigh. "I just can't believe I let her walk out."
"We knew that Amunett knowing your secret identity wasn't going to be great for us," Frost reminded him. "But that doesn't change anything." She eyed him deliberately. "If I've learned one thing from hanging out with Ralph, it's that there is more than one way to find a missing person." She smirked. "It's a good thing you're with me tonight, handsome. If you wanna figure out a criminal's plan, I know just where we should go."
"I've got a bad feeling about this." Peter whispered in fear.
"I still think it's better if I go…" Peter hedged uncertainly as he was sitting in the Star Labs stakeout van with Frost, parked outside of one of Amunet's favorite slime holes.
"Handsome, this is a known spot where Amunett recruits most of her crew," Frost groaned, already having gone over this with him. "A high well known handsome man like you will not be able to just waltz in there. They'll smell your pocket from halfway down the street."
"Okay, but it's mostly criminals in there," Peter protested. "And you can't use your powers or she'll out our identities. It's just…it's really dangerous."
Frost narrowed her eyes. "You know what else is really dangerous?" she asked darkly. "Me. If someone knows where Amunett is headed, I can get them to talk." Peter still looked unsure, so Frost reached out and patted his arm. "Besides," she added sweetly. "If I really need you, we have our code word."
"Garlic bread," Peter sighed, relenting. "Okay, fine. Just be safe please. Caitlin will kill me if either of us end up hurt."
"No promises." Frost said as she exited the van and out into the bar.
Frost strode confidently into the bar, the techno music rattling the floor beneath her feet. Heads immediately began to turn to the leggy white haired young woman in a black leather jacket and ripped jeans.
Frost ignored the stares and strode up to the bar. "Snake-Bite, and make it heavy on the lime," she ordered, then tried not to watch the bartender to critically. Old habits die hard.
"You look familiar," the bartender mused as he set her drink in front of her.
Frost shrugged, smirking darkly. "Not surprising. I have a bit of a reputation." She took a long sip of her drink, gritting her teeth against the burn of the almost straight Canadian Whiskey. Seems the separation from Caitlin left a few more differences than she thought as she actually felt the taste. "I'm looking for Amunett Black."
The music immediately stopped, and every head in the bar turned. This time, however, it wasn't to size up her body. Amunet's name, it appeared, held a considerable amount of weight in this particular establishment.
The bartender leaned forward, muscular forearms pressing against the edge of the bar. "You don't seem like her type."
His gaze slid across the room and urged a short, beefy man over. "Got a problem, Lars?"
Frost eyed him out of the corner of her eye, catching sight of a tattoo scrawled across his neck. A scorpion. She knew that tattoo. She knew this man.
She caught him in a back alley once, harassing a girl no older than seventeen once. It was BD. (Before Deadpool)
Frost picked up a nearby bottle of liquor and smashed it over the man's head, sending him falling to the floor.
Peter was watching the security cameras in the van and was shocked, but not really surprised.
"Wow. That was brutal. Fatality!" Peter cried in the Mortal Combat voice.
Frost ignored him, letting out a huff and rolling her eyes. She turned back to Lars the Bartender. "Now do I seem like her type?"
Lars shrugged. "Seems like I need a new bouncer," he rejoined calmly, and the music started up again and everyone went back to their things. "You interested?"
"I'll keep it in mind," Frost told him with a faint grin. "But I prefer playing bartender. So as I was asking, where is Amunett ?"
Lars grabbed a napkin and tugged a pen out of his shirt pocket, spinning it between his fingertips before beginning to write something down. "Last I heard; she was heisting some specialized tech from this spot."
He slid the napkin across the bar to her. Frost picked it up and glanced down at the glass. "Your Snake-Bite needs some work," she said, and walked out without paying.
Peter was resting in the chair as Frost came back with a smile.
"Job well done." Frost said and handed the paper up above Peter.
"Nice job." Peter complimented.
She passed him the napkin and Peter peered at it and saw it was Parker Labs. "Is this…Amunett 's next target?"
Frost grinned, flicking her long hair off of her shoulder. "Let's go get her."
"Why is everyone stealing from my company?" Peter questions as he quickly made his way to the driver's seat.
Parker Industries
When Frost and Peter arrived at the company, they found Amunett was already there.
"Well, your source at the bar was right," Peter murmured. He had snuck them inside without changing into his suit and now the two of them were hiding behind a large piece of machinery, spying on Amunett . "She's here."
"What's she doing?" Frost asked curiously, watching as Amunett began handing a silver piece of technology. "I've never seen tech like that before."
"Me either," Peter murmured, lifting his chin in an attempt to see better.
"Don't you know what your own company makes?" Frost asks.
"We make an assortment of things." Peter replied. "Some things are for the cops, some for technological advancements, I can't keep my eyes open for every device being made. That's fox's job."
Frost rolled her eyes but sees he does have a valid point. Two wives, three kids, an aunt, and more, he has a lot to keep in mind.
"I bet it's connected to the first device she stole," Peter theorized, breaking Frost out of her thoughts. "We have to figure out how to stop her before things get-"
A door slammed, and Peter broke off, lifting his head again. Frost peered over their hiding spot and her eyes widened to see an intense-looking, square-jawed completely pale man laden with thick stone like skin comes swaggering into the lab.
"Just what I was looking for," Tombstone said, smirking.
"Tombstone is working with Amunet?" Peter whispered, horrified at the thought. This guy was one of the many Post-Crisis changes, not to mention also Battleworld did a bit of help.
Frost raised her eyebrows. "Well...they do have a bit of a...romantic history."
"They what?" Peter asked as he turned to her in shock.
"You're too late, Lonnie," Amunett huffed, settling the tech she'd been holding into its special case.
"Oh, Leslie," Tombstone tutted. "You know I can't let you leave with that."
"I don't think they're working together," Frost realized as Amunett picked up the case and approached Tombstone with slow, dangerous strides.
"No…" Peter murmured in agreement. "This is a gang war."
"I suppose you're here to steal what's mine," Amunett mused, striding at a leisurely pace towards Tombstone. "Typical."
"What's yours?" Lonnie repeated, scoffing. "Honey, that device belongs to me."
"Technically, it's mine." Peter mused to Frost, cussing her to lightly chuckle.
"Oh, here we go again with the possessive man routine," Amunett rejoined with a roll of her eyes and a fake smile that quickly changed to a growl. "The vinyl records were mine, Lonnie."
"Since when did you like Radiohead?!" Lonnie protested. "I had 'OK Computer' on 180 gram vinyl with a triple gatefold sleeve!"
"Overrated," Amunett coughed.
Frost and Peter exchanged looks, both of them somewhat bewildered as to what they're witnessing.
"You skipped out with my 'Straight Outta Compton' soundtrack!" Lonnie went on.
"Oh please, like you even knew who M.W.A. were before you met me."
"Security, freeze!" a new voice yelled. A young man made his way into the lab, holding a cocked gun out in front of him. "Don't anybody move."
"Isn't that Harold Hogan?" Frost asks.
"Yep." Peter confirmed as he was one of their newest guards.
"Took some doing setting up that deal," Tombstone told Amunett bitterly, mostly ignoring the shaking guard, "and you just stroll outta Giovanni's with my score?"
"Sorry not sorry," Amunett simpered.
"I said freeze!" Hogan squeaked.
"Baby," Lonnie sighed. "You know I'm not letting it go down like that."
In one fluid movement, he pulled the heaviest thing in the room and whipped it towards Amunett . It instantly flew at her and smacked the handle off her case, and ripping it from her fingers, sending it across the room. "Looks like somebody's lost their touch," Lonnie taunted, grabbing the case from the floor.
"I said put your hands in the air!" Hogan tried again.
Peter had to give it to this guy- he really didn't take no for an answer. "Note to self, give this man a raise."
"Really?" Amunett huffed. "Looks to me like somebody's lost their gym membership!" She shot out a fist and sent one of her special metal shards at Lonnie. He ducked and the case of tech fell out of his hands, skidding across the floor. Frost's eyebrows jumped, an idea presenting itself to her.
One of Amunett's shards hit a nearby stand and a gigantic solid orb rolled onto the floor. The guard screamed as it smashed into him, rolling over his legs and knocking him to the ground.
Peter flinched, already ready to get up. "No!" Frost hissed, grabbing his arm. "Amunett will not be happy if she knows you're here."
"Yeah but I-I have to do something," Peter protested and quickly sneaked around to the wall and crawled up it, trying his best to stay out of the sight of the cameras.
Frost eyed the case on the ground, and the distracted malefactors, and Peter. There would be no one to stop her.
Peter snuck over to the guard and quickly lifted the giant ball and shot a web thank the guard out from underneath it.
"You okay?" Peter asked Hogan.
"Mr. Parker?" Hogan asked in shock. "What are you doing here?"
"Wrong place, wrong time." Peter informed him. "Story of my life."
Moment later, Tombstone was taking his exit and Peter was jogging up to Frost. "Where'd they go?" he asked.
"Hm, long gone." Frost shrugged.
"What? We need to go after them, we have to get that case!" Peter stated.
Frost grinned and held up the tech she'd just stolen. "Who needs the case when you've got what's inside it?"
Peter smiled with what he saw. "Nice work."
Later on, the two arrived at Star labs to find it empty, which isn't exactly shocking considering it's Valentine's Day.
"It's getting bad out there," Peter admitted as he and Frost were listening to the police monitors and were watching Amunett and Tombstone's movements. "Their gangs are just trading attacks. It's like both sides think that the other has the second device. I even checked in with Joe, apparently Amunett and Tombstone are sticking to criminal targets."
"You know what I think?" Frost mused, looking at him contemplatively. "I think they're trying to hurt each other."
"All right," Peter accepted. "Well, until we know what they're after I guess I'll go patrolling." He gave his stitch one last rub, making a face. "I'm just worried some innocent people are gonna get caught in their crossfire while we wait for this thing to blow over."
"I don't know if it will, sexy," Frost said dubiously. "I mean, we both saw the way they were at each other's throats in the lab. That is an ex-lovers quarrel if I've ever seen one, and those don't go away so quickly."
"Yeah, but what's personal about stealing tech?" Peter questions as he picked up the piece Frost stole from the case.
"I got in touch with Cisco," Frost informed him. "Warned him about everything and he said the first item that Amunett stole is a specialized UV projector. The second item was a biome simulated storage unit. If you combine the two, you have a piece of tech that can be used to transport delicate plant-based life. Now, I have no idea why they'd be after a plant of all things, but if they are, it's probably dangerous. So I had an idea." She then reached out for the piece of tech from Peter's hands. "We give Amunett what she wants."
Peter eyed her incredulously. "I'm sorry...What?"
"We use the leverage we have, get close to Amunett , and solve this from the inside," Frost suggested. "It might just work. I mean, we've collaborated with her before, especially me."
"No," Peter dismissed immediately, taking the piece back. "That's way too dangerous. Amunett knows both of us. So we stay put."
Frost knew that look. She knew that tone. "You mean I stay put," she countered, pursing her lips at him. "Peter, is this because of the bottle thing? Or is it because it's me, and not Caitlin?"
Peter groaned, head falling backwards in the chair. "Are we really going to deal with this right now?"
"Deal with what?" Frost demanded. "Deal with the fact that I'm not Miss Perfect Moral Compass? Deal with the fact that, yeah, breaking bottles over scumbag's heads to get what I want is kind of me in a nutshell, and that you couldn't ever love somebody like that?"
"Frost, I'm okay with that part of you." Peter assured her. "I'm just...trying to figure things out, okay? This is just a little hard for me-"
"Hard for you?" Frost cried. "What do you think it's like suddenly not having to need to share every second of your life with someone else in your head? Knowing that for years you'll never fully be self-autonomous, that you'll only ever have half? And now suddenly thanks to some wizard from some alternative dimension - sorry - alternative dimensional reality, we are suddenly split. It's...scary. It's hard for us. It's hard for me that you don't look at me the same way as you used to." She grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "I need some air," she muttered, leaving Peter protesting behind her, but stopping knowing that when she gets this way she needs some space.
Frost did what it felt like she always did when she was running away from a problem: She went to Amunet.
This time, however, she came with a bit of an ulterior motive. If Peter didn't think her plan was a good idea, she'd go ahead and do it herself.
It'd probably work better without him, anyway. Frost being a bad apple was a fact easily swallowed by everyone in her life, even with her recent redemption arc.
When Frost walked into Amunett 's private lounge, she found the meta shooting metal shards at a printed picture of Tombstone. "Wow," she commented dryly. "Someone's not a fan."
Amunett peeked around a shelving unit. "Frosty!" she chirped. "How refreshing to see you without your, shall we say… worser half. And I do mean both of them, considering someone's been watching those kids. You can tell how surprised I was to learn there were now two of you."
"Hm, yeah, recent development." Frost informed her.
"However did you find your way here?" Amunett asks.
"I gave a man a few bartending tips," Frost shrugged. "And in turn he gave me a few tips of his own."
"Lars," Amunett grumbled. "I'll have to kill him." She shot out her fist. "Ladies first."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Frost cried, holding out her own hands defensively. "Wait. I know what you're after." She reached into her bag and pulled out the piece of tech that Amunett had tried to steal from Peter's business. "I want in."
Amunett wrinkled her nose at Frost suspiciously. "So let me get this straight, after all of these years of you playing hero and trading kissy faces with the Scarlet Spider, you're telling me that you're just going to bring me a stolen piece of tech? Why, exactly?"
"Rappaccini's Daughter," Frost shot back. "Super rare flower that blooms every twenty-five years, and whose pollen can be synthesized into a telepathic narcotic. If you can read minds, it'd be a lot easier to learn all the PIN numbers to big, fat bank accounts." She raised her eyebrows, waiting to see if her theory (paired with a bit of online poking around with Cisco and Patty's help) was correct.
Amunett stomped her foot, grinning. "Bravo!" she cheered, hopping into a nearby chair. "Well done! But you didn't answer the most important question:" Her arm shot out again, primed to stab Frost in a dozen places at once. "Why on this bloody blue hell should I believe you?"
"Because I want to use the pollen." Frost said sullenly.
"For...what?" Amunett asks slowly.
"Well, as you know, I happen to no longer share a body with a certain someone," Frost said. "And I've been having some...three dimensional issues of late. If I could use the pollen, I could read his mind, and find out how he actually feels about me, or whether his attention is all just…pity as of late."
Amunett dropped her arm. "Well why didn't you say so?" she chirped with a squeal. "Poor, poor Frosty, always playing the third wheel. Trust me, men are all idiots. Who needs them?"
Frost huffed appreciatively, not disagreeing.
Amunett squealed, spinning in her seat. "EEA! This could be the start of our beautiful friendship becoming what it once was!" She hopped up. "Come along. We're going flower shopping!"
Peter was currently on an inner dimensional FaceTime call with the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. back on Earth-616, thanks to some new technology given to them by Madame Web so all the Secret Warriors could stay in touch in case the others needed anything.
"I mean, when they were one person, it was easy to take a second wife, but now there's two of them. And legally, she still doesn't exist without Caitlin, meaning I'm still married to her. And I just don't really know what to do with her. I love her as much as Caitlin, but it still feels weird."
"And you called me?" Peter-616 asks with a raised brow. "The guy who's only now decided to take the next step with his wife and trying to have kids? The man who fights to keep his personal life outside of his work?"
"I just thought that you'd have some helpful advice, since you're good at working out problems like this out of all the Spider-Men in the multiverse." Peter shrugged. "It feels like we're growing apart."
Peter-616 thinks for a minute and has some words that might help. "You know, some of the Avengers had a thought almost exactly like this. The fear of growing apart like the old Avengers did. Listen, when it comes to any form of relationship, they're like a tree."
Peter raised a brow, not following.
"Bear with me for a second." Peter-616 tells him. "You start with the bark of a tree, and then the branches will grow off from the center, and they'll grow farther and farther apart from one another, but in the roots, they're always connected. Sometimes you need to tend the soil, maybe fix a few parts before they break or after, communicate, care for it, and it grows. It will always grow. It's just the matter of if you're willing to put in the work to keep it together before it rots."
"Wow. Why don't you give inspiration speeches a shot as a career?" Peter questioned.
"How do you think I became Director of Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division, or put together Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Department?" Peter-616 asked him with a raised brow.
"So, you're the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and SWORD?" Peter questioned with a raised brow.
"Story of my life." Peter-616 said just as his door opened and MJ came in.
"Hey, babe, ready to go?"
"Well, I've got Valentine's dinner to get going to. Good luck." Peter-616 said before hanging up, leaving Peter alone with his thoughts.
Before he could go too deep however, he got a silent alarm alert from one of the computers.
Frost was also dealing with a complicated romance, but surprisingly, it wasn't her own. She had, somewhat unintentionally, gotten Amunett to start waxing poetic about her old relationship with Tombstone as they walked together down the rows of flowers for sale.
"Lonnie and I were like fireworks when we were together," she went on. "We shared the same ambitions, and it ignited us both. We inspired each other. Rappaccini's Daughter was meant to be our greatest score ever."
"Even though it only blooms every 25 years?" Frost asked dubiously.
"What can I say?" Amunett shrugged. "We were optimists making plans for the future. We knew that it was set to bloom this year, and once we had our hands on its mind reading powers, no one would be able to stop us. We would run this town together." She lifted a particularly carnation from a nearby bouquet and peered at it. "I felt like I could be myself when I was with him. He's the only one who ever saw beyond all this. He saw me for me."
She waved a hand at herself, and Frost smiled faintly. She understood the feeling. Before Peter and Caitlin, she was just an icy cold and occasionally evil meta. But once they saw her potential, she started to become that person for herself and to be a good example for her half-kids.
"So what went wrong?" she asked hesitantly, thinking maybe Amunett's relationship with Tombstone would be hiding the answer to how to fix her own tensions with Peter.
"Well, as business boomed, our relationship didn't," Amunett shrugged. She bent the flower head towards the ground until the stem snapped. "Our passion wilted and died."
"The way you two were trying kill each other looked pretty passionate to me," Frost snorted.
"It's a fine line between love and hate, Frosty," Amunett sighed, handing her the broken flower stem, and keeping the decapitated head for herself.
"Thanks. Why don't you just tell him how you feel?" Frost asked, trailing her finger along the stem, and slowly freezing it. "Talk to him."
Amunett stretched a wide, forced smile on her face. Her fingers curled around the head of the flower before she crushed it and tossed it aside. "No. I'm better off without him. And when I get my hands on that flower, I'll run this town myself."
Frost, Amunett and the rest of her henchmen found the flower and just had time to set up the tech when Tombstone arrived with his own cronies. He ripped the biome straight out of Amunett's hand, and their two gangs ran into position to face off with each other.
Everyone had just opened fire when Peter dropped in from the ceiling.
"What are you doing?!" Frost demanded. "Amunett can't see you here!"
"I'm done playing her game," Peter said firmly. His gaze flitted to the warring gangs.
"How'd you know where to go?" Frost asks.
"Between the silent alarm, and the Spider-Drone following you, I put two-and-two together." Peter answered, causing Frost to look angry.
"The what?" Frost questioned.
"Relax, it doesn't do anything unless I'm constantly checking the cameras or if it spots a criminal in your area then sends an alert with its location." Peter explains to her, realizing he never really explained it to her and the first time he explains it, he wouldn't blame her for not paying attention. "They're gonna destroy each other."
"Not if they accept that they still have feelings for each other," Frost countered, letting the drone go for now. "Things were not like this when they were together."
Peter eyed the war, which was escalating with both gangs shooting and Amunett and Tombstone shouting insults at each other. "I'm gonna stop the crossfire," he muttered, before sneaking off and tying the various gang members to poles with vines, similar to his webbing.
Amunett and Tombstone were face-to-face now, tangled up in Lonnie's thick gold chains when Peter leaped in between them with his hands raise
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Peter yelled at them. "Let's not kill each other, all right? You just were happy together once, right? Why'd you break up?"
"I thought I said-" Amunett started.
"She stopped listening to me," Lonnie pouted in. "I needed her support when things went bad, not her cold shoulder."
"I got tired of him always celebrating with his posse and only coming to me to whine about his failures!" Amunett cried, whining a bit herself. "It got old!"
"Okay, see?" Peter smiled eagerly. "I mean, you guys are talking now. This is great, right?"
Amunett glared darkly at him. "As if you're one to talk," she spat. "Making Frosty feel all left out just because you won't explain how you feel. Besides...I said no onesie."
"Okay, why does everyone keep calling it that?" Peter questioned, his right eye squinting towards Tombstone, though his chest ached a little at the mention of Frost.
Amunett sent two shards of metal shooting at him, imbedding in his shoulders also pinning him to the wall. Amunett and Tombstone beamed at each other, before the expressions abruptly dropped off their faces.
"Now," Tombstone growled, retightening his hold on his chain. "Where were we?"
"I was just about to tell you I lied when I told you I liked your dog?" Amunett asked. "I'm a cat person."
"The mud mask you use at night smells rank. Real mud smells better." Tombstone shot back.
Frost darted from her hiding spot and hurried over to Peter just as he was pushing his way through the shards. "That didn't feel great," he complained as she caught at his arm to help him stay upright. "It's no use, Frost; there's no fixing them."
"I have an idea," Frost said, eyeing Rappaccini's Daughter in the center of the room. "I don't know if you're gonna like it, though. It's reckless. Caitlin would probably say no."
Peter's eyes twitched a little. "What's the plan?"
Frost took a deep breath. "Burn the flower," she said simply.
After hesitating for the briefest of moments, Peter nodded and raced off. To the backdrop of Amunett and Tombstone yelling at each other, he snapped his fingers and altered the webbing on his suit to send a tiny, controlled bolt of experimental explosive webbing at Rappaccini's Daughter's protective biome. The second the web made contact, the glass of the biome exploded, and pink smoke ballooned from the space.
Slowly, the tense power-struggle taking place between Amunett, and Tombstone relaxed. They gazed moonlit into each other's eyes.
"Did it work?" Peter wondered, wrinkling his nose.
Frost grinned. "I'd know a love-sick gaze like anywhere," she snickered. "Caity has it every time I'm mentioning you."
The metal clattered out of Amunett's hands, and suddenly, she and Tombstone were furiously making out in the middle of the greenhouse. Frost wrinkled her nose, exchanging disgusted glances with Peter.
"I can't unsee what I'm seeing," Peter muttered as the kiss became a little too heated for there to be people watching and covered his eyes. "Nope. Not helping."
Frost mimed a gag at what she was seeing and turned away. "At least it's less violent than a gang war, right?"
Peter tilted his head dubiously. "Barely." He smirked over at her. "Happy Valentine's Day, Frost."
Frost leaned in for a side hug. "Happy Valentine's Day, sexy."
Peter and Frost made it back to the condo and we're about to enter when Peter stopped her.
"Amunett said something that kind of threw me today," he admitted. "There I was, telling her and Tombstone to talk it out and be honest, when I wasn't even doing that with you." He sighed and reached out to squeeze her shoulder. "It's hard to know exactly how this all works, because I don't think anyone's ever had a relationship quite like ours before. But what I keep coming back to is this: It's not your face that makes you who you are. It's not your body. It's not even your mind. It's your actions. It's what you do, how you act. And in those respects…you and Caitlin are pretty different. And that's what I like about you. You're not the same type of girl I'm used to dating, and Caitlin is. It's like dating a bad girl and a bookworm at the same time in middle school...which I actually did."
"Who?" Frost asked.
"There was that small date with Jill Stacy." Peter confessed. "And then...the cat burglar I...dated for a small time."
"You?" Frost asks in shock.
"Yeah, you kinda remind me of her in some ways." Peter says.
"Nice." Frost said sarcastically.
"What I'm trying to say is no matter what, I'll still love you and Cait the same way as I did when you were together. It's just gonna take some getting used to you both being separate." Peter explained to her.
"Thanks, sexy." Frost said and pulled him in for a quick kiss. "That's all I needed to hear. Now, ready to finally get some time with your other wife?"
"God, a nice comfy bed is exactly what I need." Peter stated and headed inside with Frost close behind, where they were immediately met with three sleeping figures on the couch and saw the tv was still playing Back to the Future Part lll and was just up to the scene where Doc and Clara are ridding off on the hoverboard.
"Hmm, looks like they're comfortable." Frost commented.
"Yeah, they do." Peter agreed as he quickly laid a blanket over the three of them and quickly kissed Caitlin's head.
"You know...you still have me." Frost said flirtatiously. "And they look like they're not gonna wake up any time soon."
"What are you getting at, Frosty?" Peter asked in worry.
"Wait in the bedroom, I'll be right back." Frost demanded him and strolled off as Peter just does as she asks and wonders what she's planning.
Imagine the shock on his face when Frost came back into the bedroom wearing what he can only imagine is some strange sexy Spider-Man costume.
"Well? What do you think?" Frost asked as she strolled over to him and laid her hands on the bed.
"Well, it's better than some creepy Elsa thing, because that'd been a turn off." Peter said jokingly, nervousness growing inside of him.
"Just relax...tonight's gonna be a long night for the both of us." Frost dared and used her powers to freeze the door shut. "Just so we're not interrupted."
Peter then made the first move and pulled her into a kiss, which she returned hungrily.