Copycat: Genesis -(Marvel Fem!OC)

Letting Go.

Peter still had his arms around Cat when she woke up the next morning. She stirred on the bed unsure of whether the events of the prior night were good or bad. Her eyes landed on Peter's face and found him sleeping soundly. He had purple marks on his neck and shoulders that made her grimace, she'd gone a little too far.

Cat rose slightly and she left a kiss on the bruise, she tried to be gentle, but Peter's breathing picked up after that. She waited, one of his eyes opened, and his arm moved to settle under his head to look at her in a more comfortable position. "You found a nice way to wake me up," he said in a raspy voice.

Peter moved a little and left a small kiss on her forehead, he closed his eyes and sighed blissfully. Something felt wrong in her, he looked happy and she knew part of him was hoping for more, but that was never going to happen.

"I'll make coffee," she said, trying to get out of his grasp.

Peter groaned, he wasn't ready to let go. "Let's sleep... we were up 'til three last night..." His smile widened after he said it. Peter reached for her hand and kissed the back of it.

Before she could even think of a response, an alarm went off in the kitchen. It was Peter's laptop, the report she'd been expecting to get for a whole week. Cat jumped out of the bed, ran to the kitchen, and stared at the screen in ecstasy: they'd found a match for E.D.I.T.H.

"We did it," she'd forgotten even that she was naked in the middle of the kitchen. "We need to go to the lab right now!"

"What..." he sat up, staring at her in confusion.

"C'mon!" She demanded, throwing a sweatshirt at his face.

He grabbed the fabric with annoyance and put it on, dressed up in silence while she bounced around the apartment grabbing all of her things. After five minutes, he couldn't hold back any longer.

"You do remember this could fail, right?"

Cat glanced at him over her shoulder. "It'll work. You're smart."

"That's it?"

"What do you mean?"

"You just go back without a second thought?"

Cat looked at him with a scowl. "You knew this was going to happen."

"You're happy here! You said it!"

"I don't even have a way to earn a living in this world!" She exclaimed in disbelief. "I don't have friends or family— and there is no way to commute from one universe to the other, and there shouldn't be, it's dangerous—"

"You've been here for two months and your body and mind have stayed the same, no health issues, and your powers still work—"

"Are you out of your mind?" She demanded, grabbing her already packed bag from the coffee table. "Parker—"

"Don't call me Parker."

"You're making me think last night was a mistake," Cat spoke evenly as if reprimanding a small kid. "I'm not saying this so I can run away free of guilt, if you can't handle it, then maybe you should stay here and I'll leave on my own."

Peter looked over at the bed, still undone, and he glimpsed at the suit he'd made for her, left behind in his closet. He wanted to believe that hadn't been on purpose. "I just... hate that you're going back... to a place that does nothing but hurt you."

"I wanna save the people that still make me happy in that world," she stepped forward determinately. "I do what's right no matter what it brings to me, just like you. I'm not abandoning them."

He looked down, doing his best to hide the little pout that was forming on his lips. He wasn't doing a good job. "They're waiting for you, aren't they?"

"Yes," Cat said confidently. "And I wanna go back to them."

His eyes teared up at her reply, he avoided her gaze at all costs.

"Remember what I told you when you were at my house?" She insisted in a gentler voice. "I've looked after Peter since I was fifteen. That's still true. I can't stay, this is what's best for you."

He shook his head, drying his tears and moving out of reach. "You don't know what's best for me."

"Peter..."

"No, 'cause if you knew..." he turned back around and stared at her with a fiery gaze. "Having to give you up— I didn't plan this, okay?!" Peter hated this feeling, it made him look childish and small, and so, so, pathetic. "I know you belong in a different universe, I've always known it. When I left I was just saying things to make myself feel better but then I... I got this thing working, and I forgot the rest. But I didn't want this."

Cat thought that showing an equal amount of heartbreak would only worsen his state, given that there was nothing he could do to stop her. This was a whole new level of impossible, and it was cruel that it was happening to him, out of all people.

"Peter..." she began, "you'll forget about me. I can't let anything bad happen to you... not again."

"I'm not that Peter," he muttered bitterly. "Nothing has happened to me yet."

"Exactly," she reached him in two steps and cupped his face. "Just... look somewhere else... 'cause I'm not yours to keep, Parker."

He took a deep breath, seized one of her wrists, and squeezed it though not in a painful way. "...okay," he gave in, nodding a little. "Okay."

"Thank you," she said.

He nodded again, eyes gaining a bit of determination. "Let's take you home."

***

"Okay, if this works," Parker typed into the keyboard in front of him, "it'll jumpstart as soon as it catches a signal."

Cat held onto the straps of her backpack. "I'm ready."

Peter glanced at her, he spoke plainly. "I'll go with you."

Her shoulders fell. "What?" 

"I'm not going to stay," he explained to her. "But your world has the tech that Pete used to build his beeper, I'll ask him to make a new one."

"Why would you do that?" She asked impatiently. "You're not supposed to make this a hobby!"

"Listen, you're not the boss of me, alright?" He stood to his full height. "Save your lecture 'cause I'll do whatever the hell I want and you have no say in it. Got it?" Cat opened her mouth to argue, but he kept talking. "Stand on the little platform on your right— I'm not exaggerating when I say that as soon as it catches a signal is going to drag us into the tunnel with the force of a black hole."

She scoffed but did as told anyway, now she understood how it was for Harley to deal with her when she was set on doing something stupid. "Got it," she moved. "This thing is only big enough for one of us, though."

"Don't sweat it," he typed one last thing into the computer and then made his way to her, picking up his own backpack on the way. "As long as I'm touching you, it'll drag me alone."

As soon as he locked eyes with her, he scowled. "If you try to push me out of the way, I swear I'll cling to you like a rabid raccoon."

"Hey be respectful, one of my dads is a raccoon!" She taunted him. "This is not dangerous, right? It's not going to rip you apart or take only your hand or whatever?"

He let out a chuckle, she felt lighter as soon as she heard it. "No. The point of the platform is just so the energy focuses on it and doesn't just swallow the whole station, but it's strong enough to pull us both."

Cat looked at her feet without knowing what to say, the spider-men were always too good with her. "If this works it's going to be great news for everyone."

"Says you," Peter muttered. He didn't seem to like her compliment.

There was a high-pitched noise that came from the computer, an explosion of colors surrounded Cat and Parker, and the platform opened at their feet to swallow them whole.