Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The bell rings, signaling the end of another school week. Peter’s up and out of his chair as quickly as possible, putting as much distance between him and Flash as he can. He meets up with Ned in the hallway. His friend looks apologetic, and starts talking as soon as Peter reaches him.

“My mom just texted me and apparently we’re going to Washington for the weekend which means we can’t build the 20th Anniversary Lego:Star Wars Snowspeeder . I’m so sorry! I know we’ve been trying to do this for a month now but my parents never tell me our plans until it’s too late!”

“Woah, Ned, it’s fine!” They stop at their lockers, where Peter puts his Chemistry textbook into his bag, “I can just go to the compound this weekend and we can build the Snowspeeder next weekend. It’s only got three hundred pieces, right, so by then I might be able to get that new TIE Fighter and we can build that too. Plus, we get next Friday off, we we can hang out even more.”

His friend calms down and they walk toward the exit, talking about homework and making plans for next weekend. They part ways with their handshake and a wave, Peter heading to an alley so he can change into his suit and swing home. He calls Mr. Stark and asks if he can come to the compound tonight and stay for the weekend. Mr. Stark says that as long as May’s okay with it, he can absolutely come over. 

He doesn’t think it’ll take much convincing for Aunt May to let him stay at the Avengers compound, seeing as he was originally going to stay over with Ned anyway. Unsurprisingly, when he asks over dinner, she says it’s a wonderful idea. She’s probably just glad that he won’t be able to get into dangerous Spider-Man related situations since he won’t be in the city. He doesn’t tell her about all the times that he’s almost (accidentally) exploded his lab. And yes, it’s his lab. Mr. Stark gave him one after he started coming around the compound more often. 

Peter is just starting to dig into dessert, store bought cherry pie, when everything in their apartment starts shaking. His Spidey sense tell him to duck as a series of kitchen knives fly in the direction of his bedroom. The lights start to flicker and thunder rumbles in the distance. Aunt May stares at him with wide, scared eyes. 

There’s a strange blue light emanating from Peter’s bedroom, the door only half open. As he moves toward it, his Spidey sense doesn’t tell him there isn’t any danger, so he moves closer. May follows slightly behind when he doesn’t tell her not to. He pushes the door open and what the hell is that ? May voices the thought for him. 

In the middle of the room is a big, blue, glowing thing. Maybe a portal of some sort, though it doesn’t look like anything Dr. Strange could make. Whatever it is, it’s completely trashing his bedroom. Papers and posters are being blown around, and the hamper of dirty laundry has been overturned, the clothes within it being thrown about the room. 

Then, just as quickly as it appeared, the thing just disappears. Of course, not until it spits out a boy . 

The boy is wearing an oversized grey suit. He looks to be about Peter’s own age of seventeen. 

He looks around the room with a confused scowl before his eyes finally land on Peter and his Aunt. The boy sighs, “Shit.” 

…

Peter takes the boy—“My name’s Five.”—to the compound. He’s not supposed to bring other people (with the exceptions of Ned, MJ, and May), but when the boy starts pacing and muttering about alternate universes, Peter decides Tony Stark and Bruce Banner are his best bet, and if need be, they can contact Dr. Strange. 

He tells the Five as much, to which he’s hit with a question he’s never been asked before, “Who are they?” 

It takes some sorting out and talking as Happy drives them to the compound, but eventually they piece together that Five is from an alternate Universe where the Avengers don’t exist. A universe that Five needs to get to quickly, because he needs to stop the apocalypse, which is apparently supposed to happen in two weeks. Five explains that it probably won’t happen in this universe (he starts writing calculations all over the car, much to Happy’s disapproval), which Peter is thankful for. Peter explains who the Avengers are to a somewhat skeptical Five, who only starts to believe him when he shows him articles written about the Avengers and videos of them fighting aliens. 

Peter gets a little distracted watching Five. The other boy is watching a video of the Avengers fighting robots in Sokovia, and Peter can’t help but find the little pinch of Five’s eyebrows sort of adorable. Peter doesn’t forget how he felt when Five was writing things all over the car. Five is an adorable genius. What’s not to like? 

Soon enough, they’re at the compound. The step into the elevator, where Friday greets Peter and “Peter’s Guest.” Happy doesn’t follow them. 

Friday takes them to Tony’s lab, where they find Tony, asleep, and surrounded by holograms with a bunch of Avengers’ suit updates. 

“This is Iron Man?” Five asks. Peter can’t tell if he’s unimpressed or just asking. 

“Yeah. He probably hasn’t slept in two days,” Peter makes his way over to the man, thinks for a moment, then flicks him in the head. “Mr. Stark?” 

Mr. Stark grumbles, arm reaching out to flick Peter back. Peter jumps out of the way, laughing. Slowly, Mr. Stark raises his head. He rubs a hand down his cheek, which leaves a big grease stain down the side of his face. 

“Didn’t think you were coming ‘til seven,” Mr. Stark says. 

“We’re late, Mr. Stark,” Peter grins, “It’s seven-thirty.” 

“Oh,” then his eyes widen, “Wait, we? ” 

“Right! Mr. Stark, this is Five. Five, meet Mr. Stark,” he gestures between the two, then explains, “Five fell out of his universe and into my bedroom earlier and now he needs to get back so he can stop the apocalypse.” 

Mr. Stark doesn’t say anything for a moment. He eyes Five, who is scrutinizing the lab intently. Finally, Mr. Stark swipes his hand through the air and the holograms disappear. 

“Okay,” he says to Five, “Can you tell me what happened?” 

It takes a while, but by the end of the story, Peter really wants to hug Five. Apparently, Five can travel through space and time because he has superpowers. The boy had accidentally travelled into the future when he was thirteen, only to discover that everyone on earth had died. He was hired by something called the Commission, who would help him get back to his time if he worked for them for five years. He managed to figure it out on his own four years after his accidental travel into the future. Or so he thought. He’d managed to go back in time, and stay the same age that he was (17) instead of reverting to his thirteen year old body again, but he’d also ended up in a different universe. 

“And you have no idea how to get back?” Mr. Stark asks.

“No,” Five says, “But I’m sure I could figure it out.”

“We can help!” Peter jumps excitedly. 

“I-” Five cocks his head, “Thanks.” 

Chapter Text

Five’s mind is reeling. He can universe hop . He also somehow ended up in the universe of one of the most adorable boys he’s ever met. And no, he doesn’t feel that way just because he’s been almost completely alone for four years. What’s better, Peter is smart. Like, as smart as Five himself. 

As Five and the genius billionaire—call me Tony—try to figure out how to get Five back to his universe, Peter keeps up and even contributes his own ideas. It wasn’t that surprising when Five found out that Peter is also a superhero (by choice?) named Spider-Man. 

At ten, Five realizes he’s hungry. Tony is falling asleep where he stands, and Peter is tinkering away at something or other that’s supposed to help him navigate the multiverse. 

“Peter,” Five says, startling the other boy, “Could we eat something?” 

“Oh! Yeah, of course! Is Chinese good? We can finish this tomorrow!”

“Perfect.” 

Peter jabs Tony in the ribs to keep him awake and orders him to go to bed. They all step in to the elevator and go up a floor. Five finds himself in what looks like living quarters. There’s a massive kitchen and an even bigger living room, a large flat screen hanging from the wall. There are also lots of hallways, all lined with doors that Five suspects are bedrooms. Peter pushes Tony down one of the hallways and doesn’t take his eyes off of the man until Tony disappears into a room. 

“This is where most of the Avengers live,” Peter explains, “Though most of them live in other places and just show up here whenever.”

Peter pulls a takeout menu off of the fridge. “We can call and order it now and I’ll send one of Mr. Stark’s suits to go pick it up so we’ll get it faster.” 

Five orders potstickers. Peter orders chow mein. While they wait for one of the Iron Man suits to pick up the food, they chat. Five finds himself opening up to Peter about his family. He talks about how Luther and Diego always fight, how he thinks there might be something between Allison and Luther. He tells Peter about how Klaus started using drugs and drinking, about how Ben is always so sad, so devastated and in so much agony after he uses his abilities. He talks about how Vanya, poor little Vanya, always gets left out, and how horrible, how awful Reginald Hargreeves is. 

In return, Peter tells Five about how his parents died when he was young, and how his aunt and uncle raised him. He tells Five about how he got his powers, and how he wasn’t able to save his uncle. Peter talks about meeting Tony Stark for the first time and how he fought some of the Avengers in Germany (“Everything’s fine now, they made up.”) He also tells Five about his friends, Ned and MJ, and about fighting the Vulture, who turned out to be his homecoming date’s dad. 

Eventually, their food arrives, carried in bags by a suit of red and gold. Five asks if it’s actually made of iron (“wouldn’t it be heavy?”) Peter explains that the first suit Tony ever made was made of Iron, because that’s all that Tony had access to, but his new models are made of things like gold-titanium alloy, nickel-titanium alloy, and more recently, nanobots. 

The potstickers are just as good as Five remembers them being in his universe. In fact, most everyday things are the same. Their histories are the same too, only diverging at the start of World War Two, with Hydra and Captain America. The coffee that Tony’s machine makes is better than any coffee Five has ever tasted, though.

“There are a lot of empty rooms that you can stay in,” Peter says when they’ve finished eating. He leads Five down the same hallway that Tony went down and gives Five a room. Peter points out his own room, which is situated right beside Five’s. 

“Thanks, Peter,” Five says.

“It’s no problem, Five,” Peter smiles, “We’ll contact Dr. Strange tomorrow, he might be able to help.”

Peter gives a little wave before disappearing into his own room. Five steps into the guest room he’s been given and is completely blown away. The far wall is completely made of glass, and the lights outside make it so Five can see the river that flows behind the compound. The bed is huge, covered in soft sheets and way too many pillows. To one side is a bathroom, which Five enters to find an unopened toothbrush and toothpaste sitting on the counter. He contemplates for a second and decides to take a shower before going to bed. The shower is supplied with unused soaps and shampoos, which Five is grateful for. The apocalypse and then time traveling constantly for the Commission definitely didn’t do anything good for his hygiene. 

  The bed is too soft, Five finds. Like he’s laying on a marshmallow and he’ll sink into the floor any second. That’s what he gets for staying in shitty motels for the past few years. He ends up pulling a pillow and blanket to the floor, hoping that he wakes up before anyone comes in to find him. 

He thanks every deity that he doesn’t believe in (ie. every single one) that he does, in fact, wake up before anyone else. He throws the blanket and pillow back onto the bed and creeps out to the kitchen. 

“Who the hell are you,” somebody growls. Only Five’s training and experience with the Commision keep him from reacting. Five doesn’t know if he imagines the impressed look of the person sitting at the table that he and Peter had eaten on last night. 

“I could ask you the same thing,” Five responds, equally aggressive. 

“I’m not the one who shouldn’t be here,” the woman challenges. 

“Don’t worry Nat,” Five does jump when Peter arrives because what the fuck? Peter’s crawling on the ceiling. “Meet Five. Mr. Stark and I are helping him.”

This woman must be the Black Widow then. Peter spoke fondly of her last night. The woman simply shrugs, grabbing her mug of coffee and gliding out of the room. 

They eat breakfast, Tony joining them halfway through, before heading back down to the lab. As it turns out, Dr. Strange is unavailable. Apparently, he and his other wizard friends (because apparently there are a lot of wizards) are currently occupied with trying to save the known universe. Tony and Peter don’t even look mildly concerned. 

The work in the lab for most of the day. Even when they take breaks from trying to solve Five’s problem, they stay in the lab. Peter shows Five how he makes his web fluid. They make some special arrows for the superhero named Hawkeye. Tony even lets them tinker with an old Iron Man suit. 

In three days, they make very little headway, even after Bruce Banner comes to help. Five has no idea how he got here, which complicates things immensely, and Peter has to go to school on Monday, so he can only help afterwards. Five is disappointed that he doesn’t get to spend his days with Peter. Finally, though, on the fifth day (ha) of Five being stuck in this universe, Tony jumps up, gasping loudly.

“Thor,” he says. It takes Five a minute to remember that Thor is somebody who actually exists and not just a Norse myth. 

“Mr. Stark?” Peter asks. Five realized earlier that Peter only calls Tony “Mr. Stark” and not his first name to mess with him. 

“Thor might be able to help,” Tony say, “Or he can bring Loki. The green asshole knows how to use magic.”

“It’s called, seidr, Mr. Stark,” Peter grins, “And Loki’s nice, now that that Thanos guy isn’t controlling him.” 

“Why’d I ever let you become friends with him?” Tony groans, but he barely tries to suppress his smile. Peter’s own smile only grows, and Five tries not to swoon. 

Shit. Five thinks. He’s falling for Peter.

Chapter Text

Loki loves chocolate ice cream. Specifically, the special Hulk themed Ben and Jerry’s flavour. So, Peter and Five fill him and Thor in while they sit on roof of the compound. Bruce also joins them, cuddling up against Thor with a cup of tea. Pepper (and Peter, if he’s being honest) is forcing Tony to take a nap

“Time travel, spacial jumping, and now universe hopping,” Loki says, “Interesting.” 

“Can you help?” Peter asks hopefully. Not that he wants Five gone. In fact, all Peter wants is to ask Five to stay, because damn, Peter might be a little in love. He knows he can’t do that, though. Five has to go home to his family. He has to save his own world. 

“Of course I can help,” Loki says, “Why did you not contact me sooner?” 

They end up back in the lab. Loki adds his knowledge of seidr to their calculations, improving them greatly. Peter loves the look of fascination on Five’s face as Loki demonstrates some magic. 

At the end of the day, over dinner, Loki tells them that he can teach Five how to bring himself back to his universe without any outside help. 

“How long will that take?” Five asks.

“A day or so,” Loki tells him, “But that way, you’ll be able to return here whenever you like.”

Peter doesn’t know what gave Loki the idea that Five would ever want to come back, but all Five says is, “Thank you.” 

Going to school on Thursday is hellish. All Peter wants is to be spending the day with Five, since it’s probably going to be their last day together. Both Ned and MJ notice how off Peter is. Flash doesn’t but Peter’s used to it. 

“We still on for Friday, Peter?” Ned asks. Peter knows his friend is just trying to distract him, but he’s grateful nonetheless. 

“Yeah,” he tries to sound enthusiastic, but he knows he’s not fooling Ned “I picked up the TIE Fighter Lego set Yesterday. You can come by at one.”

He gets to the compound Thursday afternoon, preparing to say goodbye. He’s not ready to, of course, but he knows he has to. It’s been a week, but Peter feels like he’s known Five for years (and he also wants to strangle Reginald Hargreeves with his taser webs). 

Peter does want to get back to his usual patrolling schedule, though. Spending so much time at the compound really infringed on his hero-ing, and people would eventually start to notice Spider-Man’s absence. As he walks to the lab, Peter let’s his mind start to imagine what it would be like if Five starting going on patrols with him. Peter could make a mask and a suit for him and they could save people together, Five teleporting around while Peter swung. Or maybe Five would wrap his arms around Peter and they would swing together. 

“Hey, Peter,” he looks up to see that he’s arrived in the lab and Five is waving at him. 

“Hey!” Peter waves back. Loki’s there too, but he seems to be occupied with something. He’s facing the opposite direction, his green magic floating around him ominously. “What’s going on?”

“I figured out how to travel to different universes,” Five says. Peter’s heart sinks and he casts his eyes downward. “But, we don’t know how to get to my universe. Loki’s trying to figure it out.”

Peter’s eyes shoot up to meet Five’s. He really shouldn’t feel so happy that he gets to spend more time with Five, but he doesn't really care. Five smiles brightly at him, which means Five at least feels somewhat the same. 

“How long do you think it’ll take?” Peter asks.

“He’s been like this for the last hour. I described my universe as best I could but this could still take a while.”

“Good,” Mr. Stark has just entered the lab, “We can have dinner. Bucky and Cap made lasagna.”

Five looks skeptical. “They’re the super soldiers from thirties and forties, right?”

“Yeah, but don’t worry,” Peter says, “They’re actually great at making food.”

Introducing Five to Steve and Bucky is fun, because they’ve all been in the 1940s at some point in their lives. Five had already met Natasha, the first morning he’d been here, then again a few times for meals. He’d also gotten along well with Bruce, and of course, with Mr. Stark. 

After dinner (and dessert—ice cream), Mr. Stark has to fly to Germany with Pepper for some Stark Industries business, and Steve and Bucky retire to their room, leaving Five and Peter alone. Peter asks FRIDAY if Loki is done yet, but apparently Loki’s still sitting doing his magical thing. 

They migrate to Peter’s bedroom, where they’ve been hanging out a lot. For the past few days, Peter has always had to leave so he could go back to his apartment in Queens (“being late for school sucks”), but because there isn’t any school this Friday, he’s staying the night. 

They end up talking about their days. Apparently, Five and Loki started working pretty early in the morning. Five eventually got it, but he ended up in some random universe and Loki had to go get him. Five reassured Peter that even if he’d gotten it on his first try, he would’ve come back to say goodbye. Five got a strange look on his face, so Peter changed the subject, telling Five about his own day.

He’d had a math test, which he’d forgotten about, but he’s pretty confident he got all the questions right anyway. There was a pop quiz in his English class, and the only question Peter thinks he got wrong was about Hamlet or something. He moves on to lunch, and by the end of his story he has to stop Five from spacial jumping into Flash’s house and strangling the guy. Five does end up spacial jumping, but upon realizing Peter’s still clinging to him, just brings them to the compound roof. 

It’s actually pretty nice, Peter notices. The sky is clear and the sun is setting, casting shades of pink, purple, and orange down onto the Earth. Peter also notices that he’s still hugging Five tightly, and quickly lets go. Five spacial jumps away, and for a second Peter thinks he’s scared Five off. Luckily, the other boy comes back, this time with a blanket in his harms. He lays it out on the roof for them to sit on.

“In the apocalypse,” Five starts. He’s sitting with his legs crossed, a little hunched in on himself, “I hated sunsets. They always meant I was about to get a lot colder.”

“And now?”

Five sits up straighter and smiles at him, “I don’t mind them.”

“I’m gonna miss you,” Peter blurts. Five looks startled, and Peter curses his traitorous mouth.

“I’m going to miss you, too, Peter,” Five admits. Huh. 

Later that night, Peter lays in bed, unable to sleep. It hurts that he’ll probably never see Five again. Why would Five ever come back here, when he has a family (no matter how dysfunctional) that he needs to help and take care of? 

Friday alerts Peter and Five that Loki found Five’s universe while they’re in the middle of eating breakfast. They make their way down to the lab, where Loki is waiting for them. Loki looks like shit, and after waving his and over Five, promptly collapses onto the couch that Mr. Stark keeps in the corner. 

The other Avengers that Five had met during his stay come down to say goodbye, all trickling in and out over the course of ten minutes. Eventually, it’s just Peter and Five. Thor had lifted Loki up and brought him to somewhere that he could comfortably rest. 

“I guess you have to go stop the apocalypse, then,” Peter says. 

“I guess so,” Five replies, stepping forward. Only then does Peter notice how close they’ve been standing together. He meets Five’s eyes and god does he want to kiss him. He doesn’t though, and after a moment, Five steps backwards. 

“Bye, Five,” Peter says.

“Bye.” 

Then Five is gone in a flash of blue light. He isn’t crying, but Peter lets out an anguished sob. He should’ve said something. It’s too late now though. He turns around, walking towards the door with heavy steps.

“Wait!” Peter jumps. It shouldn’t be possible to startle him, he has his Spidey-sense, after all, but he jumps, then whips around to face the voice.

“Five?” Peter’s brows furrow, “What are you-”

“I forgot something,” Five says. Peter doesn’t remember Five appearing with anything other than the clothes on his back, so he doesn’t know what the other boy could have forgotten. Unless he wants his old clothes back, but Five looks good in the clothes that Mr. Stark gave him (and Peter’s blue hoodie). 

“What did you for-” Peter is cut off once again as Five spacial jumps, appearing right in front of Peter, his face just inches away. 

“Can I kiss you?” Five breathes. Peter’s heart stops for a second, then starts beating faster than he thought was possible. He can’t say anything, can’t respond, so he just nods.

Kissing Five is… he can’t even describe it. It’s different than the time he kissed MJ, which only happened because Abe dared them to. It’s different than kissing Ned, which only happened because neither of them had had their first kiss yet, and they thought, might as well! 

When they finally pull away from each other, panting slightly, their eyes meet and Peter just knows. Knows that Five feels the same way. Knows that they’ll see each other again. Knows that he is wholly in love with Five Hargreeves. Peter grins. Five pecks him on the lips one more time before stepping away.

“I’ll be back,” Five says, “Once I stop the apocalypse. We can go on a date.”

“Yeah,” Peter feels like he’s floating, “That would be amazing .” 

Chapter Text

If Five thought his family was a dumpster fire before he disappeared, they’re a fucking trainwreck now. They have questions, of course, but he already misses Peter. As he makes himself a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich, he wishes he’d remembered to make them with Peter before he left. Peter would have loved it. 

He somehow ended up appearing before they ‘scattered’ Reginald’s ashes, so he has to watch Luther and Diego go at it, just like old times. Klaus is high, of course, but Five doesn’t really care. As long as he’s not, you know, dying. Vanya is sad, and Five wishes he had time to sit down and talk with her more, but he really doesn’t want the world to end. Allison is sad too. She misses her daughter. Who wouldn’t? And Ben. Ben’s dead. Five knew that before he came back, of course, but it doesn’t hurt any less, coming back to everyone except Ben. 

Stopping the apocalypse proves to be rather difficult. It takes a lot longer than he first anticipated. Through it all, he doesn’t stop thinking about Peter. And talking about Peter to Dolores, of course. The sooner he stops the end of the world, the sooner he can go on a date with Peter. He’s still surprised that Peter agreed, but now that he looks back on all the time that they spent together, he realizes there isn’t really any reason for him to be surprised. 

He wears his old uniforms most of the time, simply because the only other clothes he has are the things that Tony got him. He also still has one of Peter’s hoodies, the blue one, and though he won’t admit it, he sleeps in it every night.

His siblings, it seems, don’t like listening to a seventeen year old. Little do they know how much the apocalypse aged him (even if it wasn’t physically). Despite that, and the constant interfering of the Commision, Five makes slow progress, unraveling the mystery of the apocalypse one step at a time.

Things become infinitely weirder when Klaus suddenly appears in the living room wearing bloodied clothes and an even bloodier soldier at his side. They find out that Klaus had accidentally time travelled to the Vietnam War, where he had stayed for ten months. After mom saves the other soldier’s life, they find out that his name is Dave, and he’s the love of Klaus’ life. Seeing Klaus and Dave interact makes Five miss Peter even more.

Everything comes to head when Luther locks Vanya in some weird prison cell that Reginald just happens to have in their fucking basement. 

Five gets to the party late, of course. The Commision held him up a little. Then Hazel shot the Handler between the eyes and ran away with that woman from the donut shop (Agnes?), leaving Five to deal with Cha-Cha. The woman just sighed and left, so Five came back to the house.

Pandemonium. That’s how Five would describe it. Vanya’s locked up, pounding on the glass and sobbing. Luther’s blocking the way, his huge frame preventing anyone from passing. Allison’s crying, unable to yell at Luther like she wants to. Luckily for her, Diego and Klaus are doing all the yelling for her. Dave, who is supposed to still be in bed recovering is watching on, clearly confused (and very angry at Luther). 

Klaus tries to push past Luther, shoving as hard as he can. Luther pushes back, harder than necessary, and Klaus goes flying . Allison starts waving her arms around, trying to get everyone to stop. Diego starts shouting even louder, going in for a punch as Klaus sits up from the floor, slightly dazed. 

“Everybody stop! ” It isn’t Five that says it, though he was about to. It’s Ben. Because suddenly Ben has appeared, glowing blue, anger evident.

“Ben?” Luther whispers. It’s enough of a distraction for Klaus and Diego to dart past Luther and to the door. Five spacial jumps over to help them get the door open, and soon, Vanya is falling into Five’s waiting arms. 

The apocalypse doesn’t happen. The Commision doesn’t come after them, but Five will later find out from Cha Cha that some wizard from an alternate universe (calling themselves the Sorcerer Supreme) told the Commision to back off or there would be serious consequences. 

The day after the apocalypse was supposed to happen, Five wants to go visit Peter, but he knows he needs to stay with his family. They need to set up a system to help train Vanya, and Klaus asked for help with becoming completely sober (there’re still drugs and alcohol in a warzone). Dave, who really is a blessing, helps them all sort some of their shit out. Apparently, having an outsider’s point of view is actually pretty great. 

It’s not until the next day that Five goes to visit Peter. He tells his family that he’s going to explore a little, now that he’s back, see what the city looks like now, and all that. 

It’s a weekday, so Peter’s at school. It’s early enough that school hasn’t started yet, but late enough that Peter’s already on his way there. Five jumps to Peter’s school (he knows which one it is because Peter told him a lot about it) and walks in. He finds the office easily enough, and lies easily enough too. 

He steps into Peter’s first class of the day with a little ‘visitor’ sticker on his hoodie. Or well, Peter’s hoodie. The same blue one he’s had since he accidentally arrived in Peter’s universe. 

He hands the teacher a note that tells her he’s visiting from another school because he’s thinking of transferring to Midtown. The teacher points him to a desk. It’s exactly where he wants to go, for sitting at the desk beside it sits Peter Parker, staring wide eyed and excited as Five makes his way toward him. 

“What are you doing here?” Peter asks, a beautiful smile adorning his face. 

“You didn’t think I’d just ditch you, right?” The look on Peter’s face makes Five’s heart ache. Shit. Okay. “I’d never do that, Peter. Promise.” 

The person in the office gave Five a temporary schedule that he could follow, but considering a lot of his classes aren’t with Peter and that’s stupid, he elects to ignore the schedule. In second period, he meets Peter’s friend MJ, and in third period, Ned. Ned is clearly an amazing friend, because as they’re entering the cafeteria for lunch, he subtly pulls Five off to the side to give him a very polite shovel talk. 

Peter has decathlon practice after school, but he’s hungry (“it’s my Spider-Man metabolism’s fault!”) so Five jumps over to some bodega (“the best sandwiches in Queens!”) to get Peter a snack. 

When he gets back to the school, pushing through the doors into the auditorium, the decathlon practice is only just beginning. There are two tables set up on a stage, each with two students sitting at them. Peter and Ned are at one table, and MJ is standing behind a podium, down on the floor. She has notecards in her hands, and seems to be quizzing the people on the stage. The girl at the second table seems incredibly annoyed at the boy sitting beside her. The teacher looks tired, grading some papers in the corner of the room.

“Incorrect,” MJ calls. The girl at the table scowls at the boy beside her.

“Flash, I told you not to answer unless you were sure,” she grumbles. A little louder, she adds, “Can we trade partners now?” 

“Sure, Betty,” MJ tells the girl. She gets this look on her face, eyeing Five, who is standing near the doors, Peter’s sandwich in hand. 

“Ned, go sit with Betty,” MJ says. The other boy, Flash, gets up from the table in a huff and Ned happily takes his place, leaving the seat next to Peter open. 

“I knew the answer,” Flash mutters as he sits down with the rest of the team, “I was just testing to see if MJ knew it.”

“Five,” MJ calls, “Do you want to be Peter’s partner?”

Now, Five isn’t really one for competitions of knowledge. He knows he’s smarter than a lot of people. But the way that Peter is looking at him, excited and almost challenging, well, Five can’t say no.

“Okay,” he walks up to the stage, “Can Peter have his sandwich though?”

“Sure,” MJ nods. She shuffles the notecards in her hands. Five makes his way to the stage, sitting down next to Peter. He hands the sandwich to Peter, who accepts it with a smile and a thank you. 

“I’ll be right back,” the teacher stands, papers in hand, “I’m going to bring these to my classroom. I trust that you have everything under control, Michelle.” 

“We’re good, Mr. Harrington,” MJ tells the teacher. 

“What kind of a name is Five?” Flash shouts out once Mr. Harrington has left.

“The kind of name for the fifth kid in the family,” Five responds, “Obviously.”

Flash opens and closes his mouth about a dozen times. Finally, he snaps it shut and doesn’t say anything. 

“Alright, ready?” MJ pulls a card from her deck.

“Yep!” Ned calls. 

“Great. Who killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand?”

Five hit the makeshift buzzer (a piece of paper in the middle of the table with a circle drawn onto it) so quickly it flew off of the table. 

“It was m-” he catches himself. That would have been bad. He’d almost said ‘it was me.’ Technically, at least in his universe, it was. “Gavrilo Princip.” 

“Correct.” 

They move on to the next question. Peter and Five end up winning, but only by one point, and only because Five knew that “ I will speak to him like a saucy lackey and under that habit play the knave with him.” is a line in the Shakespeare play As You Like It, said by the character named Rosalind. When asked (by Flash) why he knows that, Five just shrugs, his lips tugging up into a smirk. 

Peter and Five leave together. Peter surprises Five by confidently reaching out and grabbing his hand to hold. 

“So,” Peter says, “Are you going to take me on that date now?”

“Do you like marshmallows?” 

Chapter Text

They’re laying on Peter’s bed together. It’s been weeks since their first date, and though Five still spends time with his family, reforging bonds and trying not to kill each other, he visits Peter every chance he can get. Peter suspects that Five not only gets lots of chances, but that he makes sure of it.

“How’s your family?” Peter asks. It’s Saturday, but May has to work, and Mr. Stark is in New Zealand with Pepper for important Stark Industries business.

“They’re good,” Five says, running his fingers through Peter’s hair. Peter snuggles in closer. “Klaus is done with the worst of withdrawal. He’s really making progress. His boyfriend helps.”

“Dave, right? The soldier from the sixties?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s so cool,” Peter says.

“You know not one, but two guys from the forties, Peter,” Five says.

“You know them too, Five. You’ve met them. Speaking of, can I meet your family?” Peter asks. When Five doesn’t respond, he adds, “It’s okay if you’re not ready yet.”

“No,” Five says, “I want them to know about you. It’s just… well they don’t even know that other universes exist. Much less that I can travel between them.”

Peter notices Five is tense. His boyfriend is good at hiding it, but Peter can tell. Five’s hand has stalled, fingers resting in Peter’s hair, and his shoulders are stiff. 

They’ve had this conversation before. Five has met all of the Avengers (he gets along well with Wanda and Pietro) by now. He also met May again, without randomly appearing in her home, and is friends with Ned and MJ. Peter, on the other hand, hasn’t met Five’s family, despite his boyfriend talking (read: complaining, whining) about them all the time. 

“Do you want to get sandwiches?” Peter asks abruptly. Five instantly relaxes. 

“Delmar’s again?” 

“Yeah,” Peter grins, already sitting up, “Let’s go!”

Peter orders his usual, number 5 with pickles, smushed down real flat. Peter finds it funny that his favourite has the same name as his boyfriend. Five always rolls his eyes when Peter brings it up.

Five gets the number four, no tomato. He and Peter go to Delmar’s so often that Mr. Delmar knows Five’s usual now too. It makes Peter happy. Five is well and truly a part of his life. He doesn’t know how he got so lucky. 

As usual, Peter grabs on to Five and swings them up to the roof of his apartment building, where they sit to eat their sandwiches, legs dangling over the edge of the building. Five eats his like he thinks it might disappear if he blinks, but Peter is the one that accidentally drops pickles onto the sidewalk below. A man squawks angrily at them when one lands on his head. 

“I want you to meet them,” Five says out of nowhere, when their conversation about using web fluid for medical purposes lulls. 

“Who?” Peter asks. 

“My family, you dingus,” Five takes a bite of his sandwich, meaning Peter has to say something. 

“Um… really?” 

“Yes, really,” Five shakes his head, but there’s a fondness in his eyes, “I’m just scared.”

Holy shit. Five admitting he’s scared? “Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?” And okay, Peter will neither confirm nor deny that he gets a rush every time he gets to call Five his boyfriend out loud. 

“I’m serious!” Five laughs, “They treat me like a kid enough as it is! I can already hear Luther saying ‘Dating someone from another Universe is a bad idea. You’ll get stuck there one day!’ and I just want to hit something!” his arms flail around wildly.

“Well, I mean, you kind of are a kid,” Peter says. This conversation sounds familiar. Peter imagines Ned’s face and remembers jumping on the bed of a hotel room. Ah. Right.

“Yeah, but I’m not a normal kid, Peter,” Five sighs, “Normal teenagers don’t live through the apocalypse and then become time traveling assassins.”

“Fair point,” but Peter can’t get Five saying he’s scared out of his head, “Are you scared that you’re going to get stuck here, like you did when you time travelled?”

Five is silent for a long time, plucking at a thread in the sleeve of his (Peter’s) hoodie and staring at his hands. He bites his lip and looks into Peter’s eyes, “I’m scared that I’m accidentally going to get you stuck in my universe. That you won’t ever be able to come back to your family.”

“Oh.”

“It’s dumb, because I know that won’t happen,” Five says, eyes dropping back to his hands. He huffs, then meets Peter’s eyes again and smiles, “I’m too smart for that to happen.”

Peter can tell that Five is deflecting, but he lets him for the time being. “You’re right. You won’t let that happen.” 

Five doesn’t say anything else, so they make their way back to Peter’s place. Peter has the great idea to bake cookies, and Five helps until he almost puts a half cup of salt into the bowl. Peter quickly rights the mistake, pouring the salt back into the container and instead putting sugar into the bowl. He then exiles Five to the kitchen table with a mug of coffee. 

Peter whirls around the small kitchen, grabbing ingredients, mixing bowls, and trying to see if he can stick to non-stick pans. He knows Five is watching him do this, all while they make conversation. Peter rambles on about school and catches Five smiling at him out of the corner of his eye. He grins and lets Five mix in the chocolate chips.

“Are you free again tomorrow?” Five asks. The cookies are in the oven and Peter is doing the dishes.

“Uh? Yeah?” Peter says, “I might go on patrol or something but I’m done my homework and stuff.”

“You should meet my family tomorrow, then,” Five says. Peter lets the spoon he’s cleaning drop to the bottom of the sink. 

“Tomorrow?” His voice goes up an octave as he says it. That’s too soon! He needs time to prepare. This is his boyfriend’s family. What if they don’t like him!

“You did say you wanted to meet them,” Five points out.

“I- I did,” Peter can’t argue with that logic. 

“They’ll love you,” Five says, “Klaus will probably hug you the moment you walk through the door.”

“Okay,” Peter says, “Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’m sick of being afraid,” Five says, “Let’s just make sure we tell Loki and Dr. Strange about the fact that we’re going, yeah?”

“Sounds good,” Peter smiles dopily.