#doc ock x enby oc

[angelsarenamederika]

“—memories and not yours?”

He realizes then that the monotonous drone in his ears has been Ezra talking.

He turns. “Could you repeat that?”

He expects fury at the fact he wasn’t paying attention. They had sworn at him for less; bullshit. Instead, they tap their cigarette above their thigh and smear the ash in with their opposite hand. Their jeans are streaked with soot, burn holes scattered across their knees.

“Where’d you go just now?” They inhale, exhale a steam of smoke out the side of their mouth. “You did it earlier too,”

///

Till Human Voices Wake Us, and We Drown is a long-form, multi-chapter fanfic that focuses on Dr. Otto Octavius after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home and how he reckons with everything he left behind.

Chapter Six: Stopped to Get Myself a Map is now available on AO3.

[angelsarenamederika]

They’re quiet for another long moment, hands flexing on their forearms, then: “The same could be said about me. I disgust people. But you haven’t said anything, most folks do by now.”

“It’s none of my business.”

“No?”

“No.”

They unwind their arms. There’s an edge in their tone—bracing for impact. “How do you see me?”

He retracts the actuators and turns to face them. He starts at the crown of their head: long, dark hair shot through with silver, brightest at their temples. Thin, pointed eyebrows, the tail missing on the right. The bridge of their nose veers heavily to the left. Their eyes are sunken in their sockets, as though Ezra’s been left to gaze out at him from the end of some darkened, dank, tunnel. The hollows of their cheeks teeter past attractive to worryingly thin, although the shadow cast by a few days’ stubble might be exaggerating this.

“You present androgynously; as neither a man nor a woman. I’ll continue using neutral pronouns and language for you until instructed otherwise. I see you as neither a woman nor a man.”

They stare at him.

“Is that alright? Should I use different language?”

“No, that’s, fuck. That’s fine. Perfect, actually.” They let out a relieved, breathless chuckle and it’s the first time he’s ever heard them genuinely laugh. “But do you have any idea how fucking rare all of what you just said is?”

He offers them a commiserate smile. “I can guess.”

Till Human Voices Wake Us, and We Drown is a long-form, multi-chapter fanfic that focuses on Dr. Otto Octavius after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home and how he reckons with everything he left behind.

Chapter Five: A Liminal Place in Time is now available on AO3.

[angelsarenamederika]

Otto’s breath whistles in his throat as he staggers back, he’s got three of the actuators circled around himself in the Sisyphean task of keeping her at arm's length but each time he grabs her arm or elbow or ankle, she flashes forward, free again. He risks a glance backwards—dark soil, tufts of grass—he’s nearly at the wall. He reaches for the roof with the forth actuator and that’s when she strikes him in the head, again, and a singular moment of distraction is all she needs to reach past his defenses and plant a hand on his chest. He feels the crinkle of paper against his sternum then a flash fills his vision and he’s empty handed.

“No, no ,” he hisses, “shit—” he swings around and the yard is empty, the rooftop bare—but there, on his left. She’s hurtling down Washington Ave, heading back to Wallabout.

He can’t keep up with her on foot, that becomes immediately apparent after no more than three blocks; his breath coming in harsh gasps and he scrambles up the nearest building and keeps pace with her there, out of sight. She thinks she’s left him behind. She slows as they spill out onto Flushing Ave, the distance between her leaps getting shorter and shorter as her light dims. Surely that ability is no different from any other muscle; it must tire. She can only go so far for so long. No different than his inability to run more than three blocks.

///

Till Human Voices Wake Us, and We Drown is a long-form, multi-chapter fanfic that focuses on Dr. Otto Octavius after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home and how he reckons with everything he left behind.

Chapter Seven: Irrelevant is now available on AO3.

[angelsarenamederika]

“When we were kids, he’d have fights with Norman, then come over to my house and tell me everything that happened and his stories always ended the same—he just wanted to know why . Why Norman’d said what he said, done what he’d done and this morning, he just wanted to know why he couldn’t stay at the manor. He just wants the truth, like if he can understand how his dad’s mind works that’ll fix everything. Only,” Peter pulls in a long breath and leans back in his seat, crossing his arms, “Norman’s truth is that he’s a—not a, the danger to Harry and Harry can’t comprehend that so Norman has to be lying…I just don’t know what I can say to make him realize he doesn’t need Norman…that he’s enough on his own.”

That settles in the air between them and Otto studies Peter: his distant gaze, the heavy crease of his brow, the crow’s feet and smile lines starting to pull at the corners of his eyes, the stained skin underneath from countless sleepless nights and Otto straightens in his chair, pulled upright by the realization this isn’t his Peter. His had been scarcely more than a boy; this is a grown man with decades worth of experience, more grown than he had even originally thought.

///

Till Human Voices Wake Us, and We Drown is a long-form, multi-chapter fanfic that focuses on Dr. Otto Octavius after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home and how he reckons with everything he left behind.

Chapter Eight: Truth and Other Revelations is now available on AO3.

[angelsarenamederika]

“Is that where you’ve been?” Ezra asks.

Otto pulls himself from his thoughts, “What?”

“Is that where you’ve been for the last twenty years? I assume you haven’t been renting with a freelance journalist all this time.”

“I haven’t, no—I haven’t been anywhere.” He hasn’t had to tell anyone yet. Those he might have had reason to—Mary Jane had had Peter or had come to her own conclusions through Harry’s reappearance. Ms. Negative had assumed the truth, all he had done was confirm it. Only. That's not quite true. He glances at Ezra, at their taunt expression, he told them somewhere in time. They’ve just forgotten. He’s surprised by the ease with which it finally comes—it isn’t delivered softly, as though he’s breaking the loss of a relative to an aggrieved family member. His voice is flat. A statement of fact as plain as death itself. “I died.”

Till Human Voices Wake Us, and We Drown is a long-form, multi-chapter fanfic that focuses on Dr. Otto Octavius after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home and how he reckons with everything he left behind.

Chapter Four is now available on AO3.

[angelsarenamederika]

“Otto?” They croak.

He stops. 

They continue, “You alright?

”That startles an answer out of him, “I’m—fine,”

“You sure?”

This is marginally easier to answer, “Yes,”

“Good,” they drag their feet in and push themself upright, “good,” and they stand, only to sway and collapse again. He lurches forward, catching them around the shoulders, and lowers them to the ground.

They’re only a few years younger than him. Mid fifties. Fine lines surround their eyes and mouth, their noise and chin are pointed in the way that only comes from age. Sparse stubble covers their cheeks and defines the sharp angle of their jaw. They lift a hand as he helps them sit up—they’re wearing some kind of full body suit not entirely unlike Peter’s except that it’s dark green, teetering on black in places—and reach for the collar of his shirt.

“When did you have time to change—” their gaze flicks to his face and they stiffen, straining against his grasp. “Otto,” they continue and he’s amazed by just how much meaning a stranger can imbue into his name; the guarded fear now in their voice, “do you know who I am?”

“No,” he says, “I can’t say I do,”

Till Human Voices Wake Us, and We Drown is a long form, multi-chapter fanfic that focuses on Dr. Otto Octavius after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home and how he reckons with everything he left behind.

Chapter Three is now available on AO3.