Spider-Man. The House Of Venom

Peter turned as Stitch did what all the Symbiotes did. Make itself at home.

Gwen laughed as Peter could hear the rustling of clothes, "Can they all do that? I mean, I'll never need to do laundry again."

"Uh yeah. You can persuade them to let you wear clothes. We have armour we wear as well as regular stuff. Some jackass created a cellular disruptor, so I mean, it is possible you could get caught short." Peter was keeping his back turned.

"Yeah, So Stark or Richards. We do have classes on dimensional travel. I visit Miles all the time, and Peter B." He heard Gwen laugh, "That is so cool. So, uh, why am I not a mess? I mean, you didn't do any mind stuff. I remember, but it's like a movie."

"Memories have an emotional component. You remember a joke and it's still funny because the memory releases other chemicals. Stitch is keeping a lid on them. MJ, well, my MJ, was a mess. Abusive father, horrible boyfriend, and Muse helped her get over it."

Yes yes, tasty, but we want more. We know your thoughts, handsome man, much like yours, is he the same, is he better? bigger!

I am not, don't even. NO! Nope, stop that.

Hmph, we want more, we are missing pieces, pieces we are not whole. Demand answers!

Gwen sat on the edge of the cot uncomfortably, "So, Stitch wants to know what memories she's missing. She's not whole, I guess."

"Are you dressed?" Peter asked and as he got a 'duh' back he turned and sat back on his chair. "I am in a lot of relationships, with multiple women, who are also in relationships with each other. One of them is a version of you. I didn't want you to see her and have some crazy ideal you thought you needed to live up to."

Gwen sorted, "So it's not because of the, uh, other thing."

Peter half-heartedly shrugged. "I'm almost old enough to be your father, but Stitch has no shame, she doesn't understand it. She knows the chemicals in your head, and what tastes good. She'll make you happy, sad, violent, and yeah, horny. It's up to you to curb her impulses. If you want to get the 'talk'," Peter made finger quotes, "then sure. I have no issue, well, other than what everyone else thinks."

"My uh, dad, gave me the talk at thirteen. It was pretty much, don't do this, oh and get pregnant and I'll kill him," Gwen rubbed a hand over one arm, "So, yeah. I slept with my Peter and then killed him. We were out patrolling and he was fine, but uh, we found an Oscorp lab, he was bitten again, and I dunno, mutated. He went berserk, started attacking people, started eating them. I tried." Gwen paused and swallowed, letting tears drip from her eyes, "I tried to stop him, and I couldn't. I wasn't strong enough. So, I stabbed him through the chest with a piece of rebar and as he died." Gwen's eyes widened, "I never knew," She sniffed and wiped her eyes.

He said I love you and thank you. You just didn't hear it.

Peter was a little confused, but if Gwen needed to talk, then she needed to talk. "The guilt never goes away. You deal with it because the guilt of not doing anything would be worse. I've killed people, and most of them deserved it. All you can do is try to move on," Peter shrugged, "and it's okay to not be okay."

He moved and knelt in front of her. She nodded and he held out his hand, and she took it, feeling a small amount of comfort in its warmth.

Gwen wiped her face with the back of her sleeve.

Eww, snot. Do not use me as a tissue. I will eat your brain! Stop iiiittttt!

Then don't eat my clothes, stupid slime. I have nothing else to wipe my face with. Plus, you literally live in my body. If you can't handle some tears and snot, you're useless.

Hmph, I will wait until you are in the cafeteria and eat your clothes, see who is stupid then. See who cries, oh Stitch, save me. I am sorry, help me, all these people can see my stupid wobbly flesh things.

Gwen stifled a laugh, And I know you won't because then I'll have you...

FFFRRRTTT

Gwen went bright red as Peter raised an eyebrow.

FFFRRRTTT

Oh my god! Stop that!

FFFRRRTTT

Stitch! Okay, okay, I'm sorry, sorry. I'll use a tissue next time. Gwen was staring at her feet, trying not to see the look on Peter's face. "That was Stitch."

Peter laughed, "I live with eleven women. The illusion you don't do anything nasty was gone about a week after they all moved in. That was actually kinda tame."

Gwen mumbled, "Yeah still not going to just let one out while you're here."

Peter laughed, "Sorry, sorry, not laughing at you. I also have super hearing, so mumbling won't help you."

HA! You must be so embarrassed!

Nope, thanks to you. I don't care. Ha, sucks to be you, making me feel better. Wait, I do feel better, are you just messing with me?

We know Peter, and he will not care. He is squicked out as you are young, but he will not judge you.

I'm fifteen, gah, I'm not a kid.

No, you are not, and that is why he is squicked out, plus, we know he knows his Gwen, and you look like her.

Oh, so it's not that he's a, uh you know, it's that he's not a, you know.

You know when I'm touching you I can hear you, right? And yes, the memories you are missing are me and the others. To me, you are a kid. Not a child, but not old enough for me to be comfortable discussing my Gwen with you.

Yeah, I guess, but uh, I can still talk to you right? I mean, everyone else walks around me like I'm dangerous, or to be pitied. You're the first one who just said, hey, it's fine, be screwed up, we all are, we're just better at hiding it.

He smiled as she looked up. "I have no idea how long I'll be here, but sure. As long as you know, it's not about fashion or crushes, then I'm good."

"But uh, you can stay here as long as you want. I mean, Miguel runs this place, and we have portals to most dimensions. Where did you think all the Spiders came from?" Gwen patted Peter on the back of his hand. "It's okay, I guess even smart guys have dumb moments."

Peter laughed and stood, "But that is not the only reason we gave you Stitches. Miguel wants to ask if..."

"Yeah, I know, She does have most of your memories, and we accept. If we can do some good, then it’s okay. Pain's nothing if we can save the world right?" Gwen stood, and Stitches morphed into a white hoodie and a pair of jeans. "That is still so cool."

"It is, and you can learn to do it yourself. Once we do the second procedure, you," Peter hadn't thought of that, "You won't be able to stay bonded. Webb, my Symbiote, almost died."

Gwen frowned, "But you were bonded after right? So, if you were bonded and he's now fine, that means you were still a host."

Peter hadn't thought of that either. Webb had survived but any others he tried to host were attacked by his cells. "We can ask Miguel or Jessica. Genetics isn't my field, I do robots."

Gwen nodded, "Yeah, sloshy goop or cool robots, I know which one I'd pick."

⁂

Jessica had already prepared the lab. The medical bay had state-of-the-art scanners, brought together from multiple dimensions. There was one constant. Whichever formula was used, it was usually a badly cobbled-together mess. Most of the Spiders needed help when they were brought here, and most were beyond her ability to heal. Peter Parker, from the newly christened Dimension 1801, had solved that problem.

Jessica ran every test she could think of on the Formula, and it passed everyone. Not only curing problems the Spiders had but making them better. Once Gwen had been taken care of, they would be making an announcement. Anyone who wanted cured or fixed could be.

"So, uh, what's up doc?" Gwen asked nervously. She had been getting stares from the general population as she and Peter walked to the medical bay.

Jessica laughed, "Been a while since I heard that one. Well, first, an injection. Then a trip to the bathroom. Stitch will need to be inside you, so a robe and nothing else, and then." Jessica took a breath, "then a lot of pain. We have no idea what dosage of binder to use, so we start small and work up."

"And for the rawr hit things non-science types?" Gwen asked.

"It will hurt and we don't know for how long. We may need to push more binder, making it hurt worse." Jessica wasn't about to sugarcoat it.

"Right, and uh, Peter?" Gwen looked hopefully at Peter, who then looked at Jessica.

"He won't be able to help, but he can at least be at your side. Sorry, but we don't know if your cells will contaminate the process. Even the healing factor in your blood is a variable we don't want to add."

"Oh, And we have a puzzle. Peter said he can't host, but Webb was still alive."

Jessica nodded, "Your cells are super aggressive. They seek out any invader and destroy it. A Symbiote would trigger that, but I can only guess that as Webb makes up part of you, that he is ignored." Jessica tapped a pen against her lip, "If you bring him here, I can probably tell you."

Peter laughed, "Yeah, bring Flash Thompson here. I'm sure half of your Peters would love that."

"Isn't he Spider-Man in your universe?" Jessica asked, "We have an open-door policy. Even if some of us have history."

"Nope, Eddie Brock is. He was bitten as well, and took the name."

Jessica looked pensive. "Ahh. You would find that his name is just as bad. Most Symbiotes we know of are his." She shrugged, "No matter. Miguel is busy scanning for your quantum signature as we speak. If he can find your universe then we can talk about it. Until then. Gwen, behind the curtain, and we can begin." Jessica smiled as she stood, moved over to one bed and began to slide the privacy curtain around it. "Unless things go badly, please stay out."

Peter had no intention of doing anything other than sitting and waiting.

He heard Gwen groan, "You might have warned me the de-powering was nasty," she complained.

"Yeah, it's harsh but it's not the Formula, you're just used to having powers. Congratulations, you're normal," Peter replied. "but now you know you won't get super cancer, or worse."

He heard Jessica tut, "The Formula may have several side effects, but super cancer is not one of them. Now, I am sorry about this."

Peter winced as he heard Gwen scream.

⁂

Miguel was happy to leave the medical side of things to Jessica. They had bonded over science, but as they got older they went into different fields. His became the establishment of the Spider Citadel. He used old forgotten tech, probably built by his words Stark or Richard to open it to the Multiverse. And he had gotten good at it.

He was pondering his own puzzle and knew Jessica would update him if there was a problem. His problem was much harder to solve. No matter where he looked he could not pinpoint Parker's dimension of origin. It wasn't that it was gone, as he knew what an inversion looked like. He just didn't have one.

While his machines were scanning frequencies, he found an odd signal. One that long ago was used to communicate. He opened up a page and began to copy down the code. It was a set of coordinates and a message.

AEGIS. Warning. Parker.

Miguel closed his eyes and huffed out a small growl. AEGIS was a pain in his ass. They felt they had dominion over the multiverse, spouting ancient laws and a lot of crap. They felt Spiders weren't good enough to sit on their council, and had Captain America or one of his 'variants'. Even the idea of a Variant was insulting. Everyone had different versions of themselves.

He wasn't about to drop the shields around the Citadel to let one of their agents in. Instead, he found the frequency they were transmitting on and sent a message of his own.

Thanks. We're fine. Everything's fine. How are you?

It was a cheesy line from a movie, but he wasn't in the mood to make friends. Instead, he cycled through until he found where AEGIS were pointing him.

He stared at the screen. He could now see the Sphere Parker was from, and the tendrils reaching out into four more. From the looks of it, Parker's home was causing an inversion. But, if he was, then he would destabilise space/time. Inversion events caused more inversions. They didn't just exist happily. He knew enough to know whatever AEGIS was selling was bullshit.

His own scans found what he was looking for. Yes, Parker's dimension was leeching energy from the other. But it wasn't trying to destroy them. He found evidence of lesser Spheres, ones that existed for a short time, and barely made a dent in the multiverse.

Parker's home wasn't destroying these Spheres. It was using them to stabilise itself.