#i hope i don't bug anyone with too frequent updates

[localwebslingers]

Malfunctioning weapon was definitely still on the table with that description. If the guy using it didn't seem familiar than it could have been stolen. Easily. Instability as the creator wasn't exactly a stretch either, and working something that may be highly experimental and maybe even unstable for the first time in a fight against Spider-Man? That would cause more than a few malfunctions and issues. Bugs that hadn't been found and fixed, at best.

As far as Peter was concerned, that meant either a malfunction had caused this, or the weapon interacting with the tech that Harry had like the cloaking device had. That was still a starting point at least, which was a lot better than working with nothing.

Peter turned back around to look at Harry and nodded slightly. Not easy felt like a drastic understatement, both when he thought he'd lost his friend the first time and then again for the state they were in now. He paused and blinked at the difference he caught, "Three of us?" it was nice that somewhere it sounded like Harry had been able to be around, ahve people there for him, but.. Peter shook his head a little, "...I don't know an MJ, never heard of them. I mean, maybe my Harry met them while he was at school or when he was traveling around after, but I haven't."

But then, Peter had really only had Harry as a friend, even when he wasn't there. When he was still traveling, or at a different school, that was still who Peter's friend was. No one else wanted to be, no one else gave him much of the time of day. But Harry Osborn? Who came over to hang out or invited him to the Osborn residence? The person who was there for him besides his aunt and uncle to help him through loosing his parents?

That was his friend, and at one point that was enough...

He found himself cracking another small smile, "...for what it's worth you're not doing a bad job at blending in. Pull up a hood on a jacket you'd look like anyone else just trying to get from A to B and not be bothered." the smile faultered a little and Peter nodded slightly, "Yeah it's...yeah, that's a good way to put it." he was still holding on to the shallow hope that this Harry hadn't reached the same point of despiration that his had.

That maybe, maybe, things were better somewhere else, for both of them.

"...it's not exactly Oscorp's level of resources." he said finally, "But, if you want somewhere safe to go with a decent lab, I'm enrolled at ESU...assuming you have that back home too. Labs are updated, a lot of special focus in different scientific fields of study, and no one will think twice about two guys being in there at weird hours. We'd just look like two grad students working on a thesis project." it was about as private as Peter could think of that he knew was going to be safe enough to frequent. It was still a university lab, but it was better than the shed behind May's house that was severly lacking in anything other than the components for more web fluid.

"...what do you say? Sound alright to you?"

\\ @inhcritance \\

The possibility that the weapon leveled against him had been malfunctioning was a very, very real one.

"He didn't seem like the most stable, most intelligent person." Harry admitted. "So either he was going through a very dark patch, or he didn't make it himself... and if it's the former, malfunctions are far from out of the question." He added. Both were concerning options, for all that the first, well. Who was Harry to speak about desperation, about acting in ways nobody would recognize him from.

It still didn't particularly make him feel better. Not when staying here was dangerous, and not when his disappearance could have been noticed... and the only soul who had seen him disappear, beside the Other Guy, was Spider-Man. And he didn't doubt that the vigilante would not move a hand to help one of his enemies.

It didn't escape him either how Peter had hesitated to approach, and Harry had forced himself to keep his body language calm. Not too open, he was still cautious, but enough to try and have it be helpful, as he wondered just what detail he was missing to have Peter be this wary around him. Even when he'd believed him to be his friend.

He got a piece of the story soon afterwards: childhood friends but years of separation, and then a week before things went wrong. Yet another thread of a tapestry that looked familiar and yet shifted enough to feel eerily wrong. And yet, if it had been so many years... had it been a matter of health as well?

"It must not have been easy." He settled for, because he didn't know if pity or compassion would be well received. "I too was away for a while, but it was less than two years. Not counting that, it's always been the three of us." He added, yet another small prod at the situation. "Peter, MJ and I."

Because he hadn't found about any MJ working for the Bugle, while he'd been looking into Peter, and that worried him. Because Peter was the one Harry would go to for scientific issues, and because he'd expect MJ would see through him far more easily, but she was still his best friend as well.

Moreover, the thought that he wouldn't be recognized easily was reassuring, more than he'd expected.

"Admittedly, I don't look like this most of the time." He conceded, almost joking. "I tend to dress much better when I want to be seen in public, or when at Oscorp." He shrugged. "But I was trying to be a bit more inconspicuous." He added, before turning to seriousness again. "I know what you mean, anyway. There are small differences, but they're far smaller than I'd have expected."

And wasn't that uncanny.

[redstainedsocks]

So, life has dealt me some weird stuff lately. But my most recent biggest fandom projects are completed, my studies are on hold for at least another week, and Kit-spiration has returned from its vacation!

So prepare for a bit of a splurge of content while I have the time. I've got three pieces previously written that I want to finish editing and post, and three others I want to write, and then after that... we'll see if we can't get this storyline moving, I guess!