Man in a Can: Tony Stark (PTSD Recovery)

Chapter Eighteen: Multiverse... Miles??

NOTE: Multiverse Peters
Peter 1/Tom: The Peter that has been in this book
Peter (amazing): amazing spider-man/Andrew Garfield
Peter (original): Tobey Maguire
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   Dr. Strange stroked his beard. "How is this even possible? That spell worked."
Miles looked at him in awe.
"You just gonna stare, or are you going to give me an explanation?" Stephen huffed.
"I, uh-," Miles fiddled his thumbs. "I'm sorry. It's just that you're dead in my universe. So is my Peter Parker. This is just so... weird to me."
Peter looked down at the floor guiltily. "This is all my fault."
"Well, you're not wrong." Stephen meditated.
"Come on, give him a break," Yelena said, braiding Bucky's hair. "He didn't mean to nearly end the world."
"There's gotta be something we can do." Kate spun an arrow on her finger. "You guys unblipped the snap, for crying out loud. This will be easy!"
"That was a bunch of ties raveled up in a big knot. That was hard enough to unfuck. But that was just in our universe. Our timeline. This? This isn't just our world at stake." Natasha put her face in her hand.
"We can't let the portals keep opening randomly. The worlds will continue to bleed together until it's one big shitshow," Peter Parker (amazing Spider-Man) said, falling out of a portal. "Our worlds are separate for a reason."
"I've done a lot of studying since the last time we met," Peter (original) said, dusting off his suit after climbing through his own portal. "If we don't stop this, our realities will collide. Your timeline will unravel. Everything that was supposed to happen before you guys got lucky and made all these changes will happen. Natasha will be dead. Mr. Stark will be dead. Peter 1 will be forgotten by everyone again."
"And if Thanos comes from one of the millions of other possibilities in the multiverse, half the world will be blipped again." Stephen ran a hand through his hair, stressed.
"And this time, it won't just be half of our world. It will be half of everyone's world." Tony took a sip from his beer. "I hate to be the party pooper, but we're royally fucked."
"And you're dead." Peter (Tom) crossed his arms. "Stephen knew you had to die to save ours. But we managed to finesse reality. Who's to say that the chances in a million he saw were only for us? How do we know he wasn't seeing into other multiverses?"
"I mean, in the main timeline, Tony is dead. Peter was a cishet. Steve went back in time to live his life with Peggy. Natasha made a sacrifice that was never undone. I've seen it. We're all just a side multiverse, and we all think our reality is the reality. The whole thing is a fuckin trip, dude!" Miles sat on an empty bed.
"This is heavy," Peter (original) replied.
"Why is everything so heavy where you're from?" Peter (amazing) cried.
"It's a figure of speech!"
"From Back to the Future! Pop culture!" Peter (tom) sighed. "Come on man, what's next? Are you going to tell me you didn't know Darth Vader was Luke's father?!"
"He's WHAT??" Bucky yelped.
"Dude, we literally watched it together." Sam rolled his eyes.
"He's just being dramatic." Steve gave Bucky a side glance.
"Dramatic? At least I didn't leave you for some girl stuck in the past, leaving the only other person who knows that time and loves me very dearly, just because I want to fuck with the space-time continuum for my own personal desires!"
"I didn't do that!"
"I'm sure at least three versions of you in the multiverse did!"
"Jesus Christ-" Steve stood defiantly.
"Don't say the lord's name in vain!"
   "That Steve wasn't me!" He did miss Peggy, but he understood that what happened in the past should stay in 5e past. Especially when it came to messing with time. And besides, he couldn't fathom leaving Bucky behind.
   Bucky narrowed his eyes. "We will talk about this later." He couldn't explain why hearing how Steve went back in another universe hurt his feelings. He knew it wasn't his Steve, but part of him still felt abandoned.
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   Peter(1) showed Miles his web shooters. "Did you know one of the other guys has webs actually come out of his wrists?"
   "Dude, how does that even work? That's so cool!"
   "I know! Makes me wonder if it comes out of other places, though."
   Miles made a face. "Ew, probably. That guy must go through a lot of socks."
   Peter gagged. "Gross, man. But.. that's actually a good point."
   Miles fiddled with one of the empty test tubes. "Are you any good with girls?"
Peter shrugged. "I don't know. I'd like to think I understand them, but I never seem to get it right. I get so awkward and-"
"Nervous?"
"Yeah.. what about you?"
"All the time. There's this girl; she's like us. Different universe. Her name is Gwen. She's so cool. I really like her. But it's hard trying to navigate with a different world thing, you know?"
"Multiverses are weird. But I kinda like them. Science-wise, I can't even explain how insane they are."
Miles nodded. "Definitely trippy. What about you? Who's your Gwen?"
Peter looked off at the wall. "Her, I mean their, name is MJ. One of my best friends. We were dating for a while. But then I fucked up the whole multiverse rift trying to get the civilians to forget I was Spiderman. It was ruining my whole image, everyone thought I was the bad guy. Everyone's memory got erased.
"For a while, no one remembered me. It was the worst. But I managed to make Dr. Strange remember after months of trying. He ended up figuring out how to fix the spell."
"Hella lucky for you, bro. I know one of the other guys that wasn't so lucky there."
"The Peter like me? Dude, I'm so glad I'm not him. No Aunt May, no Tony. No friends. MJ is having a hard time taking it all in. They're busy with college and doesn't know how we should approach sparking the relationship again. Or if we even should."
"Give MJ time, man. I'm sure you guys will figure something out."
Peter hugged a knee to his chest. "What about guys?"
"What about them?"
"Do you like them?" Peter blushed.
"A couple. I've never been good with them, though. You?"
"I've had so many gay crushes, it's not even funny." Peter chuckled nervously.
Miles smiled. "That's gay."
"I've never kissed one, so it's only half gay."
"That's surprising. You're kinda cute, in a dorky way."
Peter blushed harder, looking at the ground. "Thanks."
"Can I kiss you? For scientific purposes, obviously."
"Y-yeah."
Miles leaned in, kissing Peter.
Peter could smell the cologne, it was definitely a different experience than kissing Shuri or MJ. But it was also very similar.
Miles broke the kiss, a pleasant look on his face.
"You know, in high school, science experiments usually had three trials."
Miles chuckled, kissing Peter again.
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Peter sat with MJ on the roof, Ned and Miles building a LEGO city in Peter's room of the Avengers mansion.
"Spill," MJ said.
"How do you even know I have something to say??"
   "Peter, you're terrible at keeping secrets."
   Peter made a face. "Am not."
   "Are too"
   "Dee-Two."
   MJ tried not to smile but failed.
   "It's us. About us, I mean."
   "Okay?"
   "I kissed Miles. And I feel bad not telling you, even though we're not like, together."
   "I'm not mad or anything. But thanks for telling me."
   "I miss being more than friends sometimes," Peter admitted.
   "Me too. I think we can still make it work with college if you would like to try."
   Peter rubbed the back of his hand absentmindedly. "About that."
   "College?"
   "Sorta. I just, I got nervous when we got into school. And I love being with you, but I was kinda relieved you wanted to settle into our new lives first?"
   "I'm listening," MJ looked a bit crestfallen.
   "Not because I don't want to be with you. It's just, you know, nerve-racking. Getting older. I mean, everyone else I know in my classes have had so much experience with relationships. I've only really had this one."
   "It's okay, I get it. I felt the same way when I was with Shuri." MJ said.
   "And there's expectations."
   "Do you feel like I have too high of expectations?"
"Well, you can be hard to read. But I mean, everyone else has started regularly having sex. I avoided even a relationship before I transitioned. Especially before top surgery. But now it's like, I don't know. I never experienced it as a vulva-owner. So I feel like I'd suck at giving anything to someone who has those parts."
   "I'm experienced, I would be more than willing to teach different techniques."
   "Well, it's also now. Now that I have bottom surgery. I've never, like. Done anything. With dicks. Other people to me, me to them. You know? And I can't really get naturally hard the same way cis guys do. It makes me a bit self-conscious."
   "The reason I chose to date you is because you're you. All your faults, or imperfections, however you see them. What makes you different isn't bad. I just see you. I'm ace, and I feel sex-neutral, so I'd never pressure you into doing more than you're comfortable with."
   Peter gave a small smile. "I really, really care about you, MJ. I want to make this relationship work. As more than a friendship. And if it doesn't, I won't ever stop being friends with you."
   MJ looked over at Peter. She stuck out her pinky.
   Peter chuckled, sealing a pinky promise.
   "Can I ask you something?"
   "Anything," Peter replied.
   "Can you start using they/them pronouns for me more often?"
   "Absolutely."
   "Don't get too weird though, you can still call me your girlfriend." MJ pushed her elbow into his side playfully.
   Peter smiled. "Well now I've got to tell Ned that I have the most awesome girlfriend, and that they make me very happy."
   MJ chuckled, leaning their head on Peter's shoulder. "Don't get too mushy, Lover-Boy."
Peter laughed. "Alright."
"I was thinking about Shuri, though."
"Yeah?"
"How would you feel about exploring a polyamorous relationship with us?"
Peter looked into the distance, choosing his words carefully. "I think we all have a solid relationship with each other. In duos. But also as a friend group. I wouldn't be against giving it a try."
"If it doesn't work?"
"Poly relationships aren't for everyone. I think we're all mature enough to understand that it wouldn't fail because of us is a toxic person. We would definitely be able to save the friendship if we find it didn't work out for us."
MJ smiled. "So.. can I tell her?"
"That I have two girlfr-, two girls partners now?"
"Yes."
"You'd be a lot less awkward at that news than me," Peter laughed.
MJ squeezed his hand. "Love you."
"Love you too."