#project: galatea | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

giuliettagaltieri · 1 year ago

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Project: Pandora

Pairing: Miguel O'Hara x Synthezoid!Reader

Synopsis: You are experiencing things for the first time and you can't wait to explore what the multiverse has to offer, but for now, you'll start with a messy college dorm room.

Warning: Children having made to witness premarital hand holding and flirting of excruciatingly emotionally constipated adults.

Word Count: 2174

2 of 3

“This is…” Your face twists, trying to find the right word. “Odd.”

You lift your arm, the blanket that Miguel draped on you falls from your shoulder and you watch as goosebumps litter your skin.

Avenger Peter, MJ, and Ned simultaneously inhale sharply through their nose. The ceiling, the cereal box, and fork suddenly looked too interesting.

Miguel clears his throat and reaches to wrap you tightly with the blanket again.

“That’s the result of adrenaline reflex.” Miguel grumbles, turning his eyes to the carpeted floor, away from you and the lamp that illuminated the living room and dining area. “And can you be more careful? Gravity applies to your clothes now.”

“I know, Miguel.” You glare at him as you sink on the couch beside him. You don’t need him to discuss physiology and physics with you. “I just need time to get used to it all.”

He keeps his mouth shut, his eyes softening as he memorizes every curve of your frowning brows.

“So uhm, you feel fine?” MJ cuts the tension. “No trouble breathing? No pain?”

You laugh softly. “What does pain feel anyway?”

Obviously, you know it in theory and experienced it quite a lot emotionally but you never really felt physical pain.

A sharp pinch on your thigh makes you yelp and jump like a startled cat.

The culprit beside you has his eyes deadpanned but the slight curve on his lips told you he enjoyed it way too much.

“Asshole!” You gave Miguel a stink eye, rubbing your poor thigh.

“That’s pain.” Miguel grins at you.

You throw a playful punch on his shoulder but a strange pop has your eyes doubling in size.

“Did I just break a finger?” You almost scream but Miguel keeps the shit eating grin and just grabs your hand, he clicks his tongue multiple times and your heart hammers on your chest. They spent months perfecting your body, the least you could do is take care of it. You watch Miguel lift your hand to his face and brushes your knuckles on his lips.

“Looks like a serious fracture, we might need to amputate it.” You hated how he could make you feel stuff by just altering the timbre of his voice despite uttering such baseless barbaric statement. “You just cracked a knuckle, firefly, stop worrying. If you feel any discomfort anywhere though, you tell me.”

MJ picks at the loose thread on her sweater as her eyes darted between you and Miguel. “They definitely need to go get a room.” She whispers under her breath.

“Agreed.”

Whispered back the two teens beside her.

A loud grumble suddenly travels to their ears. They turn and see you looking at your stomach, your eyes wide, looking absolutely embarrassed. “Uhm, I’m hungry?” Rather than say it, you sound like you are asking for confirmation, which is fair.

Peter immediately snatches his phone to order food.

Ned smiles at you understandingly, you must have been hungry the entire time but did not recognize the feeling. “How about water? Does your mouth feel dry?” Checking your electrolyte level slipped their mind due to multiple reasons, they were marveling at you after taking your vital signs and range of motion.

Miguel reaches and pulls you to him. He brushes his thumb on your lip, his eyes following his movements carefully. “Yeah, she could use a glass of water.” He slips his hand under the blanket to pull your arm and you are about to protest when he pinches your skin again but you choose to stay quiet as he did it gently.

“Is it tented?” Ned asks while rolling a stress ball atop the table.

Miguel meets your eyes and returns your arm inside the blanket. Your body goes hot when he flashes you his sharp canine as he grins. “Nah, perfectly supple and elastic.” The grin gets wider. “We might need to check her temperature again though. She’s running a bit warm.”

You are not stupid. Theoretically, you know how the normal body responds to external stimuli. Miguel holds back another smart comment when you harshly pull your arm from him, too flushed to even bite a retort back.

Ned and MJ watched the exchange with narrowed judging eyes. Watching old people flirt made them a bit queasy.

The next minutes were spent with them telling you about the project and how Dr. Strange aligned your neurons. You wanted to thank the man but they tell you that he has been busy for a week now, trying to ward off an intergalactic entity. Miguel just had to roll his eyes at the mention of the Doctor’s name. Him helping Peter almost break the multiverse was not appreciated by Miguel.

You walk around the apartment as you listen to them talk, mainly to Miguel now, as you let your hands wander on every object you can find, taking in every texture that you come across.

The carpet on your feet was a nice feeling and you are glad you refused the slippers that Ned kindly offered for you to wear.

You see a pile of old books on a corner and you bend down to swipe at the thin layer of dust sitting atop it. You smile so brightly, seeing the mark your finger left. Then you see the coat of dust on your finger tip, the dirt clinging to your skin didn’t feel pleasant at all.

Just in front of your 3D printer, you refuse to call it casket, lies the messy work table of Peter Parker. You wander to it and you read the tiny sticky notes that are stuck on the wall in front of the desk. Some are newly placed, some a bit older, their edges starting to peel off.

You tilt your head to the side as you realize that they’re a bunch of ideas for his suit upgrades.

“What a clever kid.” You whisper. You smile when you see a tiny error on a formula, creating a cascade of errors on the other notes.

You grab a sticky note and you uncap a ballpen, it took you a while to figure out how to hold it and your handwriting was messy but you managed to correct his error.

The bubble wrap in the corner became the next center of your attention.

Miguel was in the middle of telling the teens about your code when you wander on the couch again. He glances at you for a while and goes back to ignoring you when you place a hand on his enormous arm and rub. He really bulked up, didn’t he?

“Unstable molecules feel weird.” You wiggle your fingers right in front of Miguel’s face, cutting his geek talk. “Feels like this.”

He raises a brow. “Tingly?” He retracts the fabric from his fingertips and lets it rest on his suit. “Huh, guess so. But it’s quite comfortable inside.”

You nod and make a beeline towards the dining table where the teens are.

“Can I?” You ask while pointing to MJ’s sleeve.

“Sure.” She shrugs and offers you her arm as she turns to listen to Miguel trying to explain advanced computer science to them.

You pinch the fabric and smile at the softness of it.

“What’s this material called? I want to wear it everyday, it feels so cozy.”

“It’s uh, cashmere. Pe-Peter got it for me last Christmas.” She briefly points at Peter before using the same hand to cover a cough.

You glance at Peter, who was also listening to Miguel, though his ears looked a bit redder, you can tell despite the dimness of the room.

Ned soon notices you looking at the stress ball resting a couple inches away from his fingers.

“You wanna hold it?” He offers you the toy.

“That’s a stress ball, right?” You take it and squeeze hard. “What’s so relaxing about this?” You raise a brow as the toy only strained your hand.

“You’re just not stressed enough to need it yet.” Miguel sighs. He knows that your muscles would need endurance training but of course he had to taunt you just a bit.

You sassily put a hand on your hip, making a big deal out of everything that Miguel says is almost a habit to you. “And you probably need a truckload of this judging by how you look.”

The kids near you almost scratched the table cloth with their hands that are resting on it by how hard they were trying to keep a straight face.

They mustn’t laugh. Peter can’t lose his place in the Society. Peter can’t lose his place in the Society!

A knock from the front door keeps Miguel from throwing something just as insulting to you.

“I’ll get it!” Peter volunteers, too happy with the opportunity to get away.

Miguel grumbles to himself, shaking his head.

You smile a little too sweetly at Miguel before turning to Peter who is carrying a bunch of plastic bags that are all hanging on different fingers instead of being all carried by a finger or two, like how they should be?

“Whatever is in those boxes, I want them.” You laugh.

Ned gets up to grab a clean spoon for you, seeing as you won’t be able to use the chopstick just yet.

“I don’t know if you’d like this but I figured that you’d need the carbs and manageable food for now.” Peter says, scratching the back of his head and pushes a steaming hot bowl of congee to you.

“Thank you, Peter.” It smells divine! And you appreciate the soft food, you should give your stomach something easy to digest for the meantime.

Your curiosity is piqued and you open a box before you. “Oh, look at this, Miggy.” You turn to Miguel who is already heading to where you are standing. “Fried rice.” You thank Ned when he hands you a spoon. “You used to make this when you were particularly lazy.”

He hums. “I don’t cook anymore.”

Peter asks you two to join them at the table and you do.

“They didn’t have empanadas- uh…I heard you liked them!” Peter starts to sweat under Miguel’s stern gaze. “But uh, they have fried dumplings. In-in case you wanna try some.” He pushes the box to Miguel.

You scoop a spoonful of congee to your mouth, after being reminded by Miguel to blow on your food. You hated how he made you feel like a toddler just now. But you forget that you were pissed just a second ago when the rice porridge lands on your waiting tongue and you almost melt at the flavor. In fact, it looks like you actually are. They all watch you close your eyes, still chewing, and collapse on the chair dramatically.

“It’s so unfair that you all get to eat these for years, especially Miguel.” You pat Miguel’s shoulder when he curses at you in Spanish. “It’s okay, Miggy. You aged like fine wine, don’t get worked up.”

You take another spoonful, ignoring Miguel’s incomprehensible expression.

The night ends with you listening to Peter trying to explain or defend himself from Miguel’s accusations for the whole multiverse disturbance thing.

You were biased, of course.

It is pretty normal to take his side. Peter’s side.

But nevertheless, you and Miguel thanked the three of them, even Dr. Strange. Through a portal. Made of magic. Wasn’t weird at all.

When Miguel told them that he’ll be taking you with him to the HQ, they didn’t really go against it, a knowing smile plastered on their faces when Miguel says that the tech there is better in monitoring your state.

“I will definitely visit.” You say as you release MJ from your embrace and move to hug Ned who is tearing up a bit. “I’ll come so often that you’ll be sick of me.”

Lastly, there’s Peter. You hug the kid tightly. “Thank you for taking the time to bring me back to him.”

He hugs you back, just as tight. “I should be the one thanking you.” He could only wish that Tony was there to witness everything.

“He’s proud of you, I just know it.”

You return to Miguel’s side and you smile at them one last time before turning to step into the portal.

“Wait!” Peter yells.

Miguel raises a brow at him, his large hand encasing yours in a gentle hold.

“Uhm.” Peter’s eyes darted from you to Miguel and back again.

“Spit it out, kid.” Miguel snaps.

Peter crosses his arms, awkwardly.

“I know you two are-are excited and y-you miss each other so much.” He stutters out. “But it’s probably not a good idea to—” He grimaces, as if saying it is physically hurting him. “—you know.”

His hands flew everywhere, making you and Miguel look at each other, silently asking if the other is picking up what the hell the kid’s saying.

Peter sighs, defeated. “You shouldn’t…test her body’s limitations in one night-”

“Yeah, we get it.” Miguel says quickly while he pushes your confused ass to the portal.

Project: Galatea • Project: Pandora • Project: Eros

#miguel o'hara x reader #miguel o'hara x you #miguel o'hara #spiderman 2099 #spiderman across the spider verse #atsv #project: galatea

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giuliettagaltieri · 1 year ago

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Project: Galatea

Pairing: Miguel O'Hara x AI!reader

Synopsis: Allowing you sentiency made things more complicated between you and Miguel. But Peter Parker from Earth-199999 decides to take on an unfinished impossible project of his late mentor, and possibly bring you and Miguel back together.

Warning: Questionable nerd writing, spiderverse context, angst

Word Count: 6218

1 of 3

You are one of Miguel O’Hara’s greatest regrets.

You were created as an artificially intelligent system and with the advancements brought by the time Miguel created you, he was able to make you connect, bond, and feel. He was lax with your restrictions. Thinking of you as a companion than a holographic computer system.

He gave you a name that is not patterned to your system, it was just a name he gave you as he thought it suited your features that was just generated by the programming. He wanted your appearance to be something that is yours, and not something that he created based on what he preferred.

You usually sat on Miguel’s shoulders before he even became Spiderman, working as a bioengineer at Alchemax. He knows it’s late when you start yawning and you lean on him for a nap, kind of like how someone would put their phone on a power saving mode.

“Miggy, let’s sleep?” You often say as you plop yourself atop his hair.

He just chuckles as he works on his suit, getting tired of the easily ripped fabric of his previous gear, he decided to create one that is made of unstable molecules. “You can go offline. I’ll have to finish this.”

“’M not sleeping if you’re staying up.” You huff. “Come on, you can work on that tomorrow.” You fly in front of him and cross your arms.

He notes how your halo is a bit dimmer. “Alright.” He often wondered if you can really get sleepy. You are created through codes and though it is evident that you can have emotions, you can’t possess qualities the same as a real person would.

Your wings flutter excitedly as you flap them so you can perch yourself back on his head.

It was a little inside joke between you. You are the rational voice when he is about to do something stupid. An angel on his shoulder. Your sudden appearance would often startle his enemies and wonder what the fuck you are and you would simply smile, point at Miguel and say, “I’m his conscience.”

Your halo and wings often glowed in the softest hue of pink and white. Their hue depends on your mood.

Miguel yawns as he enters his bathroom. You shriek and shield your eyes when he lifts his shirt up to strip.

“You pervert!” You stomp your heel on his forehead and even though he can’t feel it, your annoyance was enough to amuse him, Miguel’s laugh was muffled by his toothbrush.

You often sit on the faucet as you wait for him to finish his shower.

“What does a shower feel like?” You muse, your chin resting on your hand while your elbow is perched on your thigh.

“Uh…wet?”

You roll your eyes at his response. You look away from him when he comes out of the shower, a towel wrapped around his waist.

“It’s refreshing, I guess.” Miguel shrugs as he scoops your light projected body on his large hand.

Your tiny hands hold his thumb for balance, not that you need it but you felt the need to anyway.

“Go offline now, firefly. See you in the morning.”

“Don’t forget to buy groceries tomorrow.” You say before flickering. “Goodnight, Miggy.” And you disappear.

“Goodnight, Y/N.” He smiles.

On Sundays, you both share lazy mornings. He would often walk around his apartment in nothing but his boxers and you eventually get used to it. You would sit on his shoulders as he attempted to cook for himself.

“No, it should be three tablespoons of soy sauce, not teaspoons.” You would correct him every now and then and he would just switch the utensil, knowing that you have unlimited access to the recipes online.

You would lie on your stomach on the throw pillow he would put on his lap as you watched a movie. “She easily could have transferred the data and he won’t have to go through all that.” You would comment now and then as your tiny feet sway in the air. “But that’s fine, I guess, he looks hot fighting the bad guys.”

Miguel would jostle the pillow and you would dramatically roll as you struggled not to fall off, it was probably because of the spatial awareness he gave you.

You would often sulk when he goes on dates. Not responding when he asks you how to tie the piece of fabric that should be his tie. He often found you sitting on top of the bookshelf, your knees tucked to your chest as you drew shapes on the dust covered surface, the shapes not really being made, reminding you that you are only a projection, a hologram, an artificial being, someone who can’t be with Miguel.

“Oh, come one, firefly.” Miguel would sigh as he watched the soft glow behind the books. “It’s only a date.” But you don’t reply.

When he comes home, earlier than he should have been, he’s a little disappointed when you don’t greet him.

“Y/N? Where are you?” He calls as he looks around his apartment. His hands are already loosening his tie. “Come on, I didn’t even kiss her.”

Miguel chuckles lightly as he sees your head pop out from behind the picture frame containing a silly photo of the two of you. “You didn’t?” You ask.

“Nah, her breath stinks of onions.” Miguel throws his coat on the sofa and he collapses next to it.

You giggle and you fly to him, landing on his chest, laying down on your stomach once more as your hands support your cheeks. “Yeah? You didn’t like her?” You ask a little excitedly.

Miguel shakes his head as he keeps his eyes on you. He smiles when you cheer out of happiness.

He would also have fun watching you play dress up in front of his holographic tablet. He’s in his bed, just lounging and you’re on his abdomen, swiping the screen to find a new dress to wear. Miguel glances at the clock on his nightstand. You’ve been at it for hours.

“I like this one, what do you think, Miggy?”

The man turns to look at you, only for his spit to go down the wrong tube, making him hack. “What the hell is that?”

You look at the white skin tight dress that covers your tiny holographic body. “A dress?”

Miguel frowns at you. “Says who?”

A cute brow is raised at him. “Calvin Klein.”

He clicks his tongue. “It looks like underwear. The fuck would you choose such an old brand for?”

You scoff and continue to scroll to look for something else. “It’s a classic.”

“Well, I don’t like it.”

Then it happens one day.

You are helping Miguel battle Mysterio when he meets her. He caught her just before she fell to her death.

Next thing you knew, they were going on dates.

“Yeah, I know. I’ll deal with the symbiote sighting tomorrow evening.” He says hurriedly as he makes his way to his front door but you land on the doorknob and you look at him angrily.

“You can’t choose a girl over an entire city!” You say sternly as you place your hands on your hips.

Miguel raises a brow and smirks down at you. “What an exaggeration. Are you jealous?”

Your frown deepens. “Miguel, you can’t seriously go on a date when Carnage is at large!”

He straightens up and looks at you, annoyed. “If I wear the mask all the time, I’ll go mad. Just let me be Miguel O’Hara for tonight.”

Miguel does not return to his apartment that night.

And you don’t respond to his calls for a week.

“You’re such an inconvenience, Y/N.” He quips. “I made you so you can help me with my work.” He says as he looks around for the villain that was wreaking havoc in the city. “Stop sulking and do your job!”

You would reluctantly pop out and help him, only speaking when needed, giving him the information that he needs and nothing more.

It was difficult for you to watch Miguel slowly fall in love with her, and even more so when he loses her.

He became sad and angry, very angry.

“Miguel? You need to rest.” You say softly as you watch him perfecting an experiment. You peer on his work and your eyes widen when you see a powerful focused energy hovering on Miguel’s work table.

You immediately fly to his face. “Are you mad? Do you realize what you are doing?” He turns to the other screen but you follow him around. “You can’t tamper with time and space like that.”

All lights suddenly go off and Miguel exhales deeply through his nose, his eyes full of rage as he glares at you. “Power it back on.” His voice is low and it was the first time you have ever felt fear because of him but you stand your ground.

The man does not falter with his disapproving look on you but you refuse to power his computers back to life. You won’t just stand around and let him interfere with the natural order.

“My name is Miguel O’Hara and I am authorizing a shutdown sequence.” He says and you frantically look around as a bright red screen flashes behind you.

“Miguel, don’t do this!” You cry to him, your eyes begging as you press your tiny hands on his cheeks but his eyes remain cold as he stares at the screen.

“Commence shut down of the Intelligent Digital Assistance System. Project name: Galatea.” Miguel looks at your pleading eyes. “For good.”

He watches your eyes fill with sadness before your form flickers just like how it used to whenever you whisper ‘Goodnight.’ And he watches the pixelated tear roll down your cheek before you disintegrate into a million tiny pieces.

The events that followed after his decisions of tampering with the fragility of the multiverse was his punishment.

There was no undoing it all.

He wished he just listened to you when you tried to stop him. It wouldn’t have come to all of this.

Now, he dedicates his life to protecting what else is left. Trying to keep the multiverse intact to prevent the same mistake from happening.

And Lyrate Lifeform Approximation was created, or Lyla.

Miguel made her different from you. Lyla is created to be more objective, more functional, with just a right amount of spunk for a bit of personality.

The Spider Society was then formed. A strike force dedicated to keep the multiverse from tearing apart.

In there, he found a sense of sympathy. The people in there suffered just like him. A lot of spider-people were in pain. But not all of them knew how to follow orders. Not thinking about the consequences of their actions. Never willing to sacrifice a portion of themselves for the greater good.

Like Miles Morales.

Or Peter Parker of Earth-199999.

They both came around eventually, after a couple or more heart attacks from Miguel.

Peter Parker was trying to learn from Spider-Byte and how future tech works. He was given a specific holographic screen in the corner and he’s been trying to pick it apart for hours.

“Wow, Ned’s not gonna believe this.” He whispers as his eyes dart from one file to the other, being connected like faint orange lines.

“Hold on, what’s this?” Peter mumbles as he taps on a tiny file that is placed separate, somewhere isolated, forgotten.

“Can I?” Peter scratches his jaw. “Should I?” He shrugs before opening the file. He rolls his chair backward as the tiny file explodes to the most intricate coding he has ever seen. He saw something like this before. When he studied Tony’s AIs. Or at least what was left of them.

He clicks on a file, one of the millions. A large ‘RESTRICTED’ was flashed on the screen in bold red letters. He tries again and the same word is flashed. He tries again and again until he sees Miguel O’Hara himself in front of a mirror and a miniature angel on Miguel’s hand.

“You like it?” Miguel asked.

The holographic angel nods excitedly, pure joy evident in her eyes. She twirls around in front of the mirror, inspecting her wings and adoring her tiny halo.

“Miggy, it’s perfect!” You fly up to kiss his cheek. The connection between you was impossible to miss.

And the screen goes blank.

“Are you kidding me?” Peter grasps his hair as he jumps around in excitement. Peter squints his eyes to read the file name. “Galatea.”

“Greek mythology Galatea?” Spider-Byte wonders behind Peter.

Peter flinches, his sidersense clouded with the amount of enthusiasm being contained in his body. “I-I don’t know. I don’t know yet. It’s-”

“That’s the file name of my older sister, Y/N.” Lyla suddenly pops out between them.

“Lyla, you know her?” Peter asks, not being able to hide his eagerness. “Is she an AI like you?”

Spider-Byte and Peter look at her in anticipation. “I’m not sure if I should talk about her.” She looks skeptical before she breaks into a wide grin. “Well, there’s no order for me not to so I suppose I can.”

Two sets of eyes follow Lyla around as she glitches towards Peter’s screen and she pops up a photo of you sitting on Miguel’s head as the two of you wore similar aviators.

“She’s Miguel’s first AI companion. Way before the Spider Society was even created, before he was even Spiderman, I think.” Lyla rubs her chin as she opens her own tiny screens. “Though, I’m not sure. Miguel replays their videos together in the dark when he thinks he’s alone but I can’t really find most of her files.”

“It was compressed there.” Peter points at the screen, trying not to get distracted from what Lyla just told them. “Did she get corrupted by a virus?” His thoughts wandered to the articles he read about Ultron.

“No. She uhm.” The small screen Lyla created vanished, making her glowing face look a bit dimmer. “Her program was shut down.”

Spider-Byte glanced at the screen that has you and Miguel in it. “Why shut down a working program?”

Lyla glances at your face on the screen. “She was created differently. More empathetic and subjective. For some reason, she was sentient.”

Peter gawks at her and he shares a look with Spider-Byte. “Was that even a possibility?” Spider-Byte asks.

Shrugging, Lyla gives them a tight-lipped smile. “Well, it happened, didn’t it?”

“She was sentient but she was shut down?” Peter asks incredulously. “Did she go rogue or something?”

Lyla shakes her head no. “She was the total embodiment of those wings and halo.”

“Then why was her program shut down?” Peter asked, his face twisted in pure confusion and disbelief.

Lyla doesn’t respond and turns to your picture with Miguel and your matching smiles.

Spider-Byte sighs. “They got too attached, didn’t they? Her and Miguel?”

Peter frowns at her question but remembers Wanda and Vision J.A.R.V.I.S.

An impossible idea pops in Peter’s head. It’s irrational, risky, and impulsive but those are just some of the qualities Peter got from his mentor.

“Do you think Miguel would give her codes to me?” Peter blurts.

Lyla and Spider-Byte looks at him as if he just asked if he could go break a canon.

“Absolutely not.” Was Miguel’s response to Peter when he finally asked the bigboss for your codes.

Peter curses under his breath. He even had to ask MJ and Ned to help him create a presentation as to why Miguel should give your codes to him.

“Oh, come on. I rehearsed that speech for a week!”

“She holds classified information. I can’t just give a copy of her to you.” Miguel says as he taps on his holographic screen.

“Not a copy. The original code.” Peter says more seriously. “Protocols and memory.”

Miguel pauses and glowers at Peter from his shoulders. The look was enough to make Peter second guess himself but his resolve comes back, stronger than ever.

“I’m trying to bring her back to you.” Peter says loudly.

This catches Miguel’s attention and he turns to look at Peter from above the platform in his office.

“Elaborate.” Miguel looks at Peter with a blank expression.

Peter pumps his fist secretly and clears his throat before speaking.

“I am currently studying bioorganics and I’m trying to complete an unfinished project of my mentor, Mr. Stark. He created a synthetic body that is not made of vibranium but something that is made of organic materials. You know, like a real person.”

Miguel looks at the screen next to him which is flashing Peter’s proposal. “And you want Y/N to bring life to that thing?”

“Well, it won’t be easy without the mind stone but I heard she’s quite sentient.” Peter explains while gesturing with his hand way too much, clearly nervous. “That is also assuming that her operational matrix adapts to the organic body.”

“What if you fail? I’ll lose all her data.” Miguel says, a threatening tone clearly heard in his voice.

“Last time her file was opened was years ago.” Peter quickly shut his mouth when Miguel throws him a dangerous look. “What I’m trying to say is, this is a chance. You could potentially see her again, this time, with a physical body.”

Miguel heaves a sigh and chooses to glare at the walls instead.

“I know something painful must have happened for you to shut down her program like that. But it doesn’t feel right to trap a sentient being in a set of codes.” Peter frowns at his feet and grumbles the next words. “Come on man, I’m trying to give you a chance to apologize to her, face to face.”

Silence fills the entire room.

Peter is waiting for Miguel to yell again but he is taken aback when he looks up to see a defeated and longing look plastered on Miguel’s face.

“Just…” Miguel pauses, it was difficult for him and Peter can see it. “Don’t destroy her code.”

“Thank you, Mr. O’Hara. You won’t regret it!” He beams at Miguel.

“I sure hope not.” Miguel turns to his screens to resume his work. “And Mr. O’Hara was my father. You can call me Miguel.”

Peter wasted no time and started working on the project right away when he got back to Earth-199999.

It was difficult, trying to follow Bruce and Tony’s work. Especially when the body is more susceptible and reactive. You even had the anatomy of a real person, inside and out.

The project was something that Peter cannot do on his own. He needed his friends and MJ and Ned were more than willing to help. Both were hesitant with the thought of literally bringing an AI to life, considering what happened before in Sokovia. They did not know you, MJ and Ned, they were wary as they should be with all the risks they were about to make.

Peter had to turn your code upside down, in and out, trying to look for glitches or any malicious intent but found none.

The three of them are taken by surprise as to what your synthetic body could do.

It was MJ who noticed first. You have a lymphatic system.

By next week, Ned finds out that you have a fully functional endocrine system.

There was always something in you that they discover for the first time when they delve deeper. Which makes it difficult for them to make real progress. Just as they thought they made a breakthrough, your synthetic body just shows another ability that blurs the line between you and humanity.

“You need to stop looking at her like a robot.” Miguel tells him one day as Peter seeks any advice from him, considering that he did work in Alchemax as a bioengineer. “Treat her like how you would treat a human.”

That was when Peter decided that just him and his friends can’t do it alone. They were only college students!

This project calls for someone who has a doctorate in medicine and knows the human body like the back of their hand.

It was difficult for them to get Stephen Strange to have a look at the setbacks they encountered in your body. But when given the right information and told what he wanted to hear, Stephen was already opening a portal to Peter’s dorm room.

“I’ll tell you what’s the problem.” Stephen says. “Some of her neurons are meeting in a terminal. Electrical impulses can’t get through, causing circuit failures.”

Peter squints on the holographic screen that Stephen zoomed in. “Yeah. That’s where the mind stone is supposed to be.”

“But the AI has an awakened consciousness, she won’t be needing it.” Stephen mutters more to himself. “And the mind stone's already gone.”

Ned walks over to look at the screen, a cup of hot chocolate in his hands. “But you’ll be able to redirect them, won’t you?”

Stephen does not respond, only staring intently at the holographic form of your shell.

MJ glances at the anxious look on Peter’s face as he awaits Stephen’s answer. When silence still follows, MJ rolls her eyes.

“Don’t get your hopes up too much, Ned.” She sighs, making Stephen narrow his eyes. “There could be a thousand neu-”

“A trillion.” Strange emphasizes.

“A trillion neurons to redirect. He might be a neurosurgeon but he is not a miracle worker.”

Ned sucks in a breath and raises his cup to his lips and sips quietly, eyes wide, awaiting Stephen’s response.

Stephen suddenly rips off the sling ring and slips it somewhere in his robes. Peter takes a step back, almost getting hit by Stephen dramatically taking off his cape. “I’m about to become your deus ex machina.”

MJ snatches a piece of bread sitting on Peter’s dining table and takes a bite, sending a wink to Peter.

“Stark really outdid himself.” Stephen marvels at your intricate anatomical structure. “The shell does mimic the human body, the nerves, fiber, and vessels.” Stephen squints at something and hums. “But there’s the issue of physiology.”

Peter looks at the metallic casket and to Stephen. “What about physiology?”

Stephen points at the left side of your pelvis. “That’s an ovary.” He drags his finger on the screen to point at the right side. “There’s another one here.”

Peter could only look at Stephen. Waiting for him to confirm what was running in Peter’s head.

Surely Tony did not think that far ahead to give you that ability. That is ethically ambiguous.

“It is possible that it is not functional.” Stephen rubs his jaw. “Perhaps we could think of it as a vestigial organ for now.”

Peter simply nods, following Stephen as he zooms in on your lumbar spine.

“She has a functional endocrine system.” Ned recalls, making Stephen whip towards him. “I ran a noninvasive test and I detected traces of estrogen, progesterone, and FSH.”

Stephen runs a hand on his face. “And hCG?”

Ned ponders for a moment. “Yeah, human chorionic gonadotropin was also there.”

MJ clutches her bread a little too tight. “She is capable of gestation?” Her voice came out as a shaky whisper.

All eyes turn to Stephen who shakes his head. “That is ridiculous!” He chuckles dryly. “That shouldn’t be possible.” He stares at the holographic image of the synthetic shell. “Was Stark trying to play God?” His voice was starting to raise, his fist clenching.

“Whoa, I’m sure that’s not it.” Peter raises a hand nervously as he gulps.

Strange points at the casket. “You realize you’ll be bringing a being to life that isn’t supposed to exist.”

“She has a name!” MJ interjects.

“You understand that you are overstepping your mortal bounds.” Stephen continues.

Peter looks at Stephen, shocked. “Please, sir! I-I only want to finish this project for Mr. Stark.” He points at your holographic body. “And set her free from her digital prison. We are about to give her a chance to live, like really live.”

Stephen glances at your metallic casket warily.

“She’s not a villain.” Peter says more calmly. “I checked her code a thousand times.”

Stephen shakes his head.

“I can’t believe I’m about to take part in a project that is the peak of Stark’s god complex.”

Peter grins.

The chance of meeting you does not seem so impossible anymore.

Miguel watches Peter Parker of Earth-199999 with a sharp glare.

The “project” that the kid told him about has been going on for six months but he has been given zero updates regarding your progress.

His jaw tightens when he catches the kid stealing a glance at him from across the cafeteria in HQ before ducking his head again.

“Why don’t you go ask him what’s wrong?” Peter B says blankly at Miguel as he stuffed his mouth with fries. “Kid’s been doing that for the past hour.”

Miguel scoffs. “If he has something to say, he will be the one to approach me.”

For the past months, Miguel has been dropping hints to Avenger Peter, the nickname seems to really make the kid happy so the entire Spider Society just rolled with it. Miguel made sure to assign him on missions that might aid his project. The kid can be dense sometimes in picking up indirect messages but Miguel does it anyway, almost sighing out a breath of relief when he watches Peter’s eyes glimmer with realization.

“Whope- Okay! I gotta run. See you around, Miguel.” Peter B snatches his drink and clumsily leaves.

Miguel glares at the man’s retreating form before he hears his name being called.

“What?” Miguel spits.

“Uh, is this a bad time?”

Miguel looks to his side and narrows his eyes at Avenger Peter. Finally, he mustered the courage.

“What is it?” Miguel straightens, his enormous arms crossing in his chest, looking a bit threatening.

Peter looks at the empty seat in front of Miguel, he’s not sure if it’s rude to just sit there without being invited to but he does it anyway.

“It’s about Y/N.” Peter whispers rather too loudly, basically defeating its purpose.

Miguel’s eyes flickered with fury, making Peter swallow harshly, trying to choose his words very carefully.

“I know I really took my time with the project but the good news is that we successfully transferred her code to the shell.”

Oftentimes, Miguel would pitch in sarcastic comments but he can feel the weight in Peter’s words that he finds himself closely listening, trying to take in every detail that Peter shares.

“We managed to synthesize her code and reprogrammed her synapses to sync and adapt to the body.” Peter heaves a breath. “But the thing is, we can’t get to wake her up.”

The crushing feeling of losing someone again was not easy for Miguel to ignore but he nodded at Peter’s words.

“Did you try amping the power source?” Miguel suggests.

Peter nods slowly. “Yes. We tried from nuclear fission to the arc reactor.” Peter leans back on the cafeteria bench, looking too nonchalant despite the shadiness of his words, Miguel won’t be surprised if one day he finds out that the kid’s locked up in prison for conducting mad experiments. “I was thinking of contacting Thor but I really didn’t know how.”

Miguel masks the disappointment in his eyes with a stern look. “Did you make sure that you got all her system matrix properly embedded in the body?”

“Definitely!” Peter nods. “It’s like she’s far away, dreaming. She’s there but she’s also not. Y/N’s shutting us out.”

A pindrop silence befalls them.

“What did you say?” Miguel says sharply to Peter as he leans slightly forward.

The kid unconsciously leans backward. “Y/N’s…shutting us out?”

It all clicks in Miguel’s head.

“She needs me.”

Peter’s eyes widened at his bluntness. “Huh?”

“I designed her program to only respond to me. I shut off her system. Of course. Her protocol does not recognize you.”

Slowly, Peter catches up, his eyes widening in barely contained excitement. “Is she programmed to activate upon voice command?”

Miguel rises to his feet, quickly making his way out of the cafeteria while Peter giddily follows, the largest smile plastered on his face.

“I’m certain I can get her to respond.” Miguel mutters as he taps into his multiverse gizmo.

The familiar building up sound of the portal fills the air and soon enough a cluster of patterns and colors emerge right in front of them.

With purpose in his steps, Miguel crosses the portal headed to Earth-199999, to you.

Peter’s room was nothing short of underwhelming compared to the building they just stepped out of but Miguel can see the traces of genius scattered around the room.

On top of a desk, piled notes for astrophysical physics. Next to the kitchen sink, a perpetual motion machine that is made of the most tedious house materials. In a corner, a phone is being charged and is hanging by the charger cord.

The lights suddenly power off, coating the room in darkness. “I know you’re sensitive to lights.” Peter shrugs, to which Miguel only nods.

“Stop right there!”

Miguel turns to see a girl threatening him with a piece of…toast? And another kid who is doing a very poor karate stance.

“No, MJ, Ned. It’s fine, he’s here to help Y/N.” Peter raises his hands and steps in between Miguel and the other kids.

“Where is she?” Miguel asks.

The kid trying to do the karate stance points to the corner of the room that is covered by a screen.

Miguel easily slips past them, he didn’t even have to try.

He ignored the calls as his feet just led him to where you are. He didn’t know what he should be expecting to see. But he knew it wasn’t the metallic casket.

“She’s in there.” Peter stands next to him. “It’s powered enough and it should activate when you power her system on.” Miguel can only nod at Peter’s words. “We don’t have a hypothesis yet as to what would happen when she rises. But we could probably expect that she would manifest signs similar to someone who just woke up from cryosleep. Orthostatic hypotension could also be a possibility-”

Peter pauses when he feels MJ’s hand on his shoulder. MJ nods to Miguel’s pained expression.

The time they spent on your project was enough to drive them nuts and they are dying to see you but looking at Miguel’s face, they know they might never fully understand the longing he feels.

Peter does not know what happened between you two but he can ask another day. He watches how Miguel’s fingers carefully brush the metallic casket. If Peter didn’t know better, he would have been greatly disturbed with the amount of vulnerability the man is showing.

“Well, we’re gonna step out for a bit as you wake her up.” Peter says with a softer smile gracing his lips. “And I really appreciate the hints you drop every now and then.”

MJ smiles at Peter and she interlaces their hands together. Ned nods at the two and follows them out.

The soft footsteps soon fade and the sound of the door locking into place reaches Miguel’s ears.

A quiet buzzing was audible from the box that contained you. It must have been the energy they tried to power you with. But it was endearing to him in some way that only he could wake you.

There were only a few times where a man of such stature as Miguel O’Hara was brought to his knees. This was one of them. His knees hit the cheap fabric of the carpet and his weight bears on his skin. Miguel lay his hand flat on the cool surface of the metallic box. And he leans his forehead to it.

With his voice hoarse, he whispers your name. He swallows the rest of the words. He does not know why. He cannot wait a second longer to see you but the fear grips him hard, just like how it did for years.

It was a cruel terror but his desire to see your face again overpowers any fear.

“My name is Miguel O’Hara and I am authorizing a startup sequence.”

Miguel grits his teeth when he does not hear the same beeping sounds that precedent your arrival. His forehead creasing at the memory of you begging him not to lock you away. He did not deserve you, not after what he did. But Miguel O’Hara is a selfish man and he would stop at nothing to have you back.

“Commence booting of the Intelligent Digital Assistance System. Project name: Galatea.” He sucks in a breath, this time, meaning the next words with all honesty. “For good.”

Silence has never been louder. It clogged the room, suffocating him.

“Please, wake up.” He brushes his lips on the freezing cold case.

A hiss is released by the contraption and Miguel’s eyes widen as he steps back to see you better. But as more hissing sound came, vapor flooded the area where the metallic flaps were slowly opening.

Then a hand grasped on the opened flaps, then came distressed gasping.

“Y/N!” Miguel didn’t know what he was doing, his body was acting on its own as he hopped inside the casket to help you sit up.

Your hair covers your face and Miguel reaches to brush them to the side, his large calloused hand rubs on your bare back to soothe you. It felt unreal to finally have you in his grasp, hearing you, seeing you.

You whimper in pain when a particular cough rasped on your throat.

“Hey, take it easy.” Miguel whispers as he crouches down so he can see you eye to eye. “Breathe.”

And when you look up to him with your eyes heavy with exhaustion, Miguel halts his movements as he feels himself being caught up in a temporal illusion.

Time, space, everything felt irrelevant the moment your eyes met his.

“M-Miggy?” You whisper.

Miguel breaks into a disbelieving smile.

He watches your moonlight bathed face contort to confusion. You raise your delicate fingers, reaching out to his face but stopping just before your skin touches. You hesitate, not sure if what you see before you is truly the man you loved.

The tips of your fingers brush on his cheek so softly, he almost doesn’t feel it and you let them run across his warm skin so you can cup his cheek.

Your chapped lips break to the smile he missed and loved so ardently.

He closes his eyes as he lets your fingers dance on his skin. He holds in a breath when your fingertips smooth out the crease on his forehead and his much larger hand captures your wrist.

For so long, he wanted to apologize. He did, countless of times, in the darkness and silence of his room, to a photo of you. His apologies only floating in the air, unheard.

“What I did to you was wrong. Everyday, I regret it. I promised you happiness when I created your code but I upset you and I have no right to be hurting in the way that I am. I was so stupid for shutting your system down when you were only looking out for me.”

The moonlight bathed you, making you glow, an ethereal sight to behold.

“I wasn’t ready to say goodbye when you shut down my program.” You say as you place your hands on his shoulders. “But there is nothing you can ever do to make me stay mad at you.”

He was about to protest when you hushed him.

“I know.” You smile at him tenderly. “You don’t have to say anything else. I know.”

Miguel could feel his chest tightening. The complexity of the quantum physics, he has no trouble understanding, but what you do to him, he is easily lost. “I don’t deserve you, firefly.”

You nod. “No, you don’t.” You yawn before flashing him a sleepy smile. “But I’ll stay with you anyway.”

He chuckles, eyes boring into yours.

You are as stubborn as he remembers you to be.

Your breath mixes together as you let yourselves draw to each other.

His arm slips to your waist, pulling you flush to him.

“Pervert, I’m not decent.” You mumble against his lips. “I have so many questions.”

“Save them for later.” Miguel captures your lips in his. You let out the deepest breath you have taken and you let him mold your lips together. “I screwed up.” He slots your bottom lip between his and he nibbles. “But I could spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”

You hum, amused. “Are you sure about that?” He kissed your shoulder. “I can be quite a handful.”

The corner of Miguel’s lips tugs upwards. “Believe me, I know.”

A teasing smile creeps on your lips and the half-lidded eyes that you are giving him are making him feel fuzzy, it was like you were never apart.

“You are so in love with me.” You press the tip of your finger to his chest, teasingly accusing him.

He shakes his head as he laughs.

“Always have been.”

Project: Galatea • Project: Pandora • Project: Eros

Ficart created by @tired-lime

#miguel o'hara x reader #Miguel O'Hara x you #Miguel O'Hara #Spiderman 2099 x reader #Spiderman 2099 #spiderman across the spider verse #ATSV #Miguel O'Hara x reader #miguel o'hara fanfiction

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