Queens.
Bant and Gwen navigated the streets with practiced ease, the layout carved into their very DNA.
Before long, the two spotted a house.
"This feels a lot newer than the house in my universe. Is this really Peter's place?" Gwen asked, puzzled. "I mean, could the address have changed just because we're in a different universe?"
The house in front of them wasn't exactly luxurious, but it looked quite new. It was hard for Gwen to reconcile this with her memories of the Parkers' struggling financial situation.
Bant nodded in agreement.
"Definitely not the classic model, but the Peter in this universe is pretty different anyway."
He walked up to the porch and rang the doorbell.
A moment later, a gray-haired woman opened the door, looking at Bant and Gwen in surprise.
Both of them had changed into casual clothes, looking no different from your average high schoolers.
"Can I help you?"
"Hello, I'm Gwen..."
Halfway through her sentence, Gwen's voice suddenly caught in her throat.
Crap!
She had rushed over here on impulse, never expecting Aunt May to be the one opening the door. This was going to be really hard to explain!
Gwen's face contorted into a weird expression. She clearly realized that in this parallel universe, Aunt May might just happen to know her, which would make things incredibly awkward to explain.
At that thought, her expression became completely abstract, and another syllable escaped her throat, sounding exactly like a rooster.
"...dar."
Aunt May: ???
Where did this chicken come from?
"Uh, my name is Gwen... dar..."
That's a strange-sounding name, Aunt May thought, glancing at Gwen.
Out of politeness, she naturally kept that thought to herself. Meanwhile, Gwen kept frantically signaling Bant out of the corner of her eye, warning him to watch his words and absolutely not let anything slip.
As a result, both Bant and Aunt May watched as Gwen furiously blinked and winked. She was squeezing her eyelids so hard a fly could get caught and crushed in them.
Such a cute kid, too bad she's not all there in the head.
Aunt May sighed sympathetically.
"What are you doing?" Bant rolled his eyes at her, then turned to Aunt May. "Aunt May, we're here to see Peter."
He already knew the situation in this universe, so unlike Gwen, he wasn't sweating the details.
"We come from different universes. She's Gwen Stacy, I'm Bant Parker, and we're both Spider-Man."
As he spoke, Bant raised a hand and shot a web straight at Gwen's head.
"Ow!" Gwen yelped, glaring at him. "Why do you keep shooting me?!"
"It's a pain to clean off the floor," Bant replied matter-of-factly.
"Bullshit! It dissolves in two hours anyway!" Gwen snapped, angrily tearing the white webbing out of her hair.
Like getting it in my hair is any easier to clean!
"And why did you just blurt everything out? We can't let Aunt May know about this stuff. Peter would freak."
"Don't worry, I've known for a while now," Aunt May chimed in.
Watching Bant and Gwen bicker, Aunt May's expression was a bit stiff, unsure of how to react.
While she had long known her nephew was Spider-Man, the whole parallel universe thing was a bit too much for her to wrap her head around.
And Bant Parker...
She glanced at Bant, who shared her last name, and stepped aside to let them in.
"Why don't you come inside first."
Since this concerned Peter, Aunt May didn't want to discuss it out on the doorstep.
The three of them stepped inside. Gwen asked in surprise, "I can't believe you actually know Peter is Spider-Man! Did he tell you himself?"
Then she began to second-guess herself. If Aunt May knew about Peter's identity, should she come clean to her dad too?
Gwen felt incredibly torn. Her father had always branded her as a villain threatening the city, and was thoroughly convinced that Spider-Woman was the one who killed Peter.
She was terrified of what choice her dad would make if she revealed her identity to him.
Would he accept her? Or would he turn against his own daughter and arrest her?
Gwen looked at Aunt May. If possible, she desperately wanted to know how Peter and Aunt May had handled this situation in this universe.
Aunt May had them sit down on the couch and poured them both a cup of tea before answering, "He didn't want to tell me. I figured it out myself."
Aunt May chuckled as she said it. "How could I not recognize my own nephew?"
"My dad can't recognize me," Gwen mumbled, shrinking into herself. She cupped the tea mug in both hands, looking like a forsaken puppy.
It wouldn't have bothered her as much if she didn't have a comparison, but seeing Aunt May now only made Gwen resent her own father even more.
It was bad enough that he couldn't recognize his own daughter, but he actually treated her like a murderer. Every time they met, he'd pull an instant quick-draw with zero hesitation. Who could handle that?
Fortunately, she remembered that she had a mission to complete right now. She couldn't possibly tell Aunt May that Peter was dead.
Even if it was a Peter from another universe.
"So, where is Peter?"
"He hasn't lived with me for a long time," Aunt May said wistfully. "He moved out after he graduated from college, and bought a new house after he married Mary Jane. But don't worry, I already gave him a call."
Hearing Aunt May mention Mary Jane, Bant still felt a little weird.
But he knew better than anyone that individuals across different universes were fundamentally different.
They might share the same name and a similar face, but beyond that, they were entirely their own persons.
Across countless universes, there were Mary Janes who deeply loved Peter, and there were also manipulative, two-faced Mary Janes.
If you were to compare them genetically, the Mary Jane in this universe and the one in his would have less in common than a pair of fraternal twins.
While Bant was lost in thought, Aunt May fixed her gaze on him and finally asked the question that had been bothering her the most.
"You said your last name is Parker... how does that work?"
"In my universe, I'm the kid you and Uncle Ben adopted," Bant explained. "I was taken in just a little bit before Peter. Before I could even get used to calling you Mom and Dad, Peter led me astray."
He went on to share a bit more about his timeline. Hearing that Uncle Ben was alive and well in his universe, Aunt May couldn't help but tear up.
Gwen gave him a light, envious kick and said, "And here you were saying Peter had the perfect life in this universe. You're even more ridiculous than he is."
Who would have thought that the teenager standing in front of them was actually the richest person in all of America.
Bant shrugged. He got to where he was today entirely through his own hard work, alright?!
Right, you crappy little watch?
Crappy little watch: ...
See? Even the crappy little watch has no objections.
/-\
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