𝚊𝚋𝚜𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎
(𝚟) 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚊𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚋𝚢𝚎

He was in the almost the exact same spot he'd been just ten seconds ago, but something felt different, off. In the stairwell he was running up, trying to beat Lilah to Anabel's apartment. Tom peered over the edge of the railing.

"Lilah?" he called out.

There was no answer. Silence.

He remembered the orange portal, almost exactly like what he'd seen in the movies when Doctor Strange would use his sling ring to make the portals. But he'd fell through it. His heart was beating out of his chest, thundering against his ribcage.

He sprinted down the stairs looking for Lilah, see if she'd gone through a portal too. But he got to the ground floor, and she hadn't been anywhere. Tom ran a hand through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck. His eyes were wide with fear, panicked.

A voice sounded from beside him. "What earth is this?"

Tom whirled to see a young girl, who looked to be about fourteen years old. She had short blond hair and was wearing almost the exact same costume that Lilah wore for Spiderwoman.

"I-I don't know," he said.

She was a lot calmer than him, her arms crossed, her expression sort of bored. "Do you know anyone by the name of Miles Morales? Or Peni Parker? Noir?"

"Yeah—but only from the movie."

The girl's brows lifted. "The movie?"

"The Spiderverse movie."

She scoffed and began to walk out of the building. "We have to find them—my friends. Right now."

"Wait, what's your name?" Tom asked.

"Gwen."

---

Apparently this had happened to their little group before, because they knew exactly what to do. But because this was a completely different earth for them, they said they needed to find someone who knew all of them, and the only person that came to his mind was Doctor Strange. Tom said as much to all of them, and they completely ignored him. Said he was too inexperienced.

He was very much offended, because Lilah had forced him to read enough of the comics to know almost exactly what to do in this situation.

He just never thought he'd need to know that information.

Peni suggested they go to someone else more reliable than a wizard, someone who was well known on this earth.

And after looking around the city, seeing the posters of Captain America, seeing the news of Tony Stark's retirement—not death—everyone agreed to go to the Avengers for help.

It was a lot different than what the movies had perceived the Marvel universe to be. A lot more peaceful. No Thanos, no snap, and a lot less death.

Tom and the rest of the people who came to this earth all went around asking civilians where the Avengers building was. Several people looked scared of the group, but some were most likely used to seeing a gaggle of unusual people and just pointed north, up state.

A flying pride flag and the giant Avengers 'A' came into view.

Tom gawked at the size of the building, at the many sports car parked in the front lot, at all the windows and people they could see inside. The front door was just closing, and a little ways off he could see a car driving away.

Gwen and Miles were already leading the rest of the group towards the door while he hung back a little. He felt very intimidated by all these people who had superpowers, while he was just . . . there. And no one knew why.

About half way to the door, they saw three people who also had some versions of spider suits on, walking down the driveway.

They came to the conclusion that all of their different dimensions were colliding with each other, and they had to figure out why. Tom just thought the world was ending and they were all going to die.

He stood near the back of the group while Miles rang the doorbell to the Avengers compound. Tom almost choked on air when he saw who answered the door.

It was Lilah. But . . . not Lilah. Younger, a tad bit shorter.

And next to her was him. Except not him. It was Peter Parker.

In unison, both Eliza and Peter asked: "Who the hell are you guys?"

Miles, Gwen, Noir, Peni, and the three other spider-people all introduced themselves until there was a quiet silence. Waiting for him, he realized.

"Oh—um, I guess we're doing introductions. I-I'm Tom," he said.

Peter blinked. "Well I guess that answers that question," he muttered. "Why are you guys here?"

Then that noise again. The last one he'd heard before falling within the hole and into this . . . otherworld. It was Doctor Strange. As simple as that. Tom paled at the sight of the man.

"They're here because they fell through a portal and can't get back to their worlds," he said plainly, walking to the front door. Their group parted like the red sea, and followed him into the Avengers building. Tom slowly went after them, confused by the entire situation.

They all gathered around the kitchen, the dining table

Peter spoke up excitedly, "Wait are you saying there's a multiverse? Because I thought that was just theoretical, I mean that completely changes how we understand the initial singularity, we're talking about an internal inflation system and how does that even work with all the quantum- it's insane-" he said really quickly, laughing a bit.

Everyone stared at him, mostly in surprise. Tom's gaze fell to Eliza when she awed, "I. love. you. so. much."

Heat rose to Peter's cheeks as he grinned at the floor, shuffling his feet. Zendaya had been wrong. What he'd just witnessed—that was the definition of made for each other. Soulmates, if there ever were any.

Doctor Strange rolled his eyes at the pair of teenagers and waved a hand. A hologram, made of just his gold magic, covered the dining table. Ten profiles appeared above the table, one for each of them, and a gold string connecting them all together.

"Currently, all we know is that somehow the multiverse got messed up, causing all the spider... people? I don't know what you guys call yourself, to be scattered across both the timeline and collection of observable universes—" Doctor Strange started, but he was cut off by Miles.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but who are you mister?" Miles asked.

"Doctor," he corrected.

"Mister Doctor?" Eliza asked.

"It's Strange."

"Maybe, but who are we to judge?" Miles said.

Tom snorted at their conversation. Exactly as it'd been in the movie. He looked up when silence fell over the room. They were all staring at him. "Sorry, continue," he cleared his throat.

"Anyways, Peni Parker. You are from the year 3135. Noir, 1933. Miles Morales, Earth 1610. Gwen Stacy, Earth 65. Mattie Franklin, the third Spider Woman. Ben Reilly, Scarlet Spider. Michael Bingham, Blood Spider. Tom Holland, Earth 19999. Eliza Porter, Earth 616. Peter Parker, Earth 616. We are all on Earth 616 presently."

"This is heavy Doc," Eliza said. Peter sniggered.

"Don't call me that," Doctor Strange threw her a sharp look. "We need to get you all back as fast as possible, before all reality collapses. All of you have to stay apart from each other, unless you want to stay in this alternate universe for the rest of your lives."

"I have a question," Peter said.

"Please ask," Stephen responded sarcastically.

"W-why does he look exactly like me?" he asked, nodding to Tom.

Tom answered for him. "Well, in my world all of you guys are all fictional. I'm just an actor."

"Wait so you play me? Like in a movie?" Peter asked and Tom nodded. "Creepy. So did this thing happen in your world too, or did you just fall through a portal randomly?"

He was about to answer, but Stephen cut into their conversation. "We don't have time for this. All of you need to be separated immediately."

"All of us?" Eliza questioned. "Peter and I too?"

"Yes that is what I meant by all of you."

"Why?" Someone asked from behind all of them. They turned.

Tom's brows knitted together. "Robert?"

Robert made a face. "Who?"

Realization washed over him. "Right, Tony Stark. Sorry," he murmured.

Tony moved around him and towards Stephen. "I might have to tell Pepper I'll be there in a bit, just had to grab Morgan's blanket. You," he pointed to Doctor Strange, "are trespassing."

"I don't care that I'm trespassing right now, that is the least of our worries," he gazed back down at the golden string.

"Yeah no shit Sherlock," Tony narrowed his eyes. Tom reined in the urge to burst out laughing and turned to his right, expecting to see Lilah there—but she wasn't. She was always at his side, he realized. Always beside him to laugh at his jokes, make her own comments about how he needed to fix his hair, but then just end up doing it for him.

He was brought out of his thoughts by someone saying his name.

"—and Mr. Holland, you are not a major threat to this reality morphing situation, so just stay close by while the other isolate themselves." Tom nodded. The rest of Stephen's words were all muffled as he dived back deep into his own thinking, wondering what the hell Lilah was doing. If she had at all noticed if he was gone or if she was absolutely losing her mind.

When Tom blinked, everyone else except for Eliza, Peter, and Tony were gone. Gone their separate ways apparently. The three of them were arguing, something about can't having to be away from each other.

"Um, guys?" They all turned to him again. "I don't really have anywhere to go in New York, I live in London."

"Well that explains the fancy accent," Tony said. It was super weird. Almost the exact same thing Robert had said when he first met him. "I guess you could stay here because the kid never uses his room. Always in the other one's."

"We have names, Mr. Stark," Eliza said.

"Whatever." His gaze softened, but just a little bit. Probably only as much as he'd let it. "Even though a wizard with a magic necklace just came in here and told you so, you need to."

"But Mr. Stark—" Peter started.

"Na-ah!" Tony cut him off and pointed a finger at him. "Underoos, you gotta listen to me or this Avenger thing isn't gonna work out."

Was he just now becoming an Avenger? Tom thought about it, and realized this timeline was completely off. Peter and Eliza became Avengers on that spaceship in Infinity War. And technically, they were still just dust at this point in time.

"Why are there two Peters?"

Tom spun around when he heard the voice. Sebastian—but with longer hair—stood in the living room entrance, his eyes wide with fear.

"I'm Tom," he raised a hand.

"Way too much weird shit goes on around here," Bucky muttered, turning back around. He called out, "Steve guess what? Our daughter's boyfriend has a doppelganger come check it out!"

Daughter?

"Hey kid, you alright?" Tony asked Eliza. Tom looked to her. Her bright blue eyes were darting all around the room, until she seemed to snap out of it.

"Sorry—yeah yeah yeah, no. I'm good," she said.

He heard Peter sigh a little through his nose and step the distance between him and Eliza, taking her face in his hands. A couple inches taller than himself, Tom realized.

Eliza seemed to calm down immediately when Peter talked to her, muttering a few things he couldn't hear. He kissed the tip of her nose and stepped back, smiling at her.

Eliza said, "Dammit you're good at that."

Peter smirked. "I know."

She glared at him, but kissed his cheek and whispered something in his ear. They exchanged a few other words until Peter pressed his lips to hers, and they both fell silent.

Something in his chest strained—hurt at the sight of them. It was like looking in a mirror, but without Lilah alongside him.

Peter left just a few minutes later, and Eliza showed Tom to his room. He quickly thanked her as she left the room, offering her a tight-lipped smile. He surveyed the room, the astray pictures that were left on Peter's dresser, and the Spiderman suit that hung on the back of the door.

His lips parted at the sight of it.

Just like his was, but after glimpsing at the wires and little heat warmers inside, he knew it was the real thing.

Tom shook his head and sat down on the edge of the bed, even though he knew no sleep would be occurring on his part tonight. Most likely not for any of them.

His thoughts again went to Lilah. If she had figured out he was missing, she was probably freaking the fuck out.

He just wondered when he could go back home to her.

⋆·˚ ༘ *🗡* ༘˚·⋆

Lilah most definitely was freaking the fuck out.

She'd tumbled into Anabel's apartment eight hours before, about twenty minutes after Tom disappeared. Those twenty minutes were spent scouring the entire apartment building looking for him.

No crying—she hadn't let herself get to that point yet.

Zendaya and Anabel had been very confused when she showed up on the doorstep, out of breath. They must've thought she'd just been out running a lion or something.

Currently, Lilah was sitting by an outlet while her phone charged, waiting for a phone call from him. This was either the worst way to pull a prank on her—she would be divorcing him for that—or he was actually gone. Forever.

Anabel, standing in the kitchen of her apartment with Daya, raised her brows at Lilah and turned to the curly haired girl. "Why is she freaking out like this? He's only been gone a few hours."

Daya slung an arm around Anabel's shoulder. She was nearly a head taller than her, so she had to crouch down a little. "Because . . . because he balances her," Daya said. "If he falls off, or tilts one way, she sinks down completely. And vice versa. They built a system of balancing each other—when one of them pushes the other away, it just means they need to be pulled back in. So they follow through."

Anabel thought about her words. "Seems like it wouldn't work for anybody else."

"Yeah it's way too complicated for me," Daya chuckled. "But I guess they make it work."

"Until now."

She sighed. "Until now."

"We can go to the police tomorrow," Anabel suggested. She hesitated to add, "If Lilah wants to."

Daya smiled down at her and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Progress, my love. Progress."

⋆·˚ ༘ *🕸* ༘˚·⋆ 

Things got boring really quick.

Being on another earth wasn't as excited as it should've been.

After being there for two weeks, Tom had already explored the entire building thrice, made three friends, and watched a shit load of tv with them—Sam, Wanda, and Natasha. And Bucky, although he spent most of his time with Steve.

But when his new friends were all doing their own thing, training and exercising themselves stupid, Tom decided to watch them. Specifically Eliza.

She was absolutely amazing in the ring, her hand-to-hand combat form was perfect, and the muscles in her arms flickered whenever she threw a punch at Steve. The entire time she was in there with him, her face was a mask of concentration, her body flying and stepping here and there, like the entire thing was a dance to her.

"Keep your feet grounded," Tom heard Steve grunt at her from his place at the doorway.

He caught a hint of a smirk on Eliza's lips as she threw a punch to his arm, chest, core, and then quickly dropped down and sweeped Steve's legs unexpectedly. A small gasp escaped Tom's lips when Steve fell to the ground on his back and failed to get back up.

"You're an old man, Papá," Eliza said, her grin almost feline.

"Yeah, yeah," Steve growled, holding a hand up for her to grab.

Tom watched in awe, smiling, as they both got back into their stances and Steve counted down from three, getting ready to begin again. He saw Eliza's gaze go behind Steve's shoulder, though. To him.

"Peter?" she whispered. When Tom blinked a loud crack sounded in the room, and Eliza's hands went up to her nose. "Ouch," she murmured.

"Oh shi— Eliza, I didn't mean to—" Steve rambled on as Tom ran up to the ring to help her.

"No, It's fine, I left my guard down," she said, waving him off.

Tom put a hand on her back. "Are you okay? Is your nose broken? I can help you—" Her expression seemed to fall when she heard his voice, his accent. "Alright, you need to keep leaning forward and only breathe through your mouth while I get you some ice. Can you stand?"

She just responded by getting up and walking over to the bathroom, to their left. While she sat down on the toilet seat and leaned forward, he scrambled to get a bag of ice for her. Eliza pointed to a small mini-fridge under the sink. He gave her a grateful smile and grabbed the bag of ice. However he could help.

Tom handed it to her, and she set it down gently on her nose. He lifted it only slightly so he could inspect her nose, and cringed at the crookedness. "Just remember to lean forward," he reminded her.

She chuckled, "You sure know a lot about this stuff, huh."

"Yeah . . . I've broken my nose like three times," he said, wincing at the memories. Once while filming, another while trying to do a backflip, and the other when Harrison punched him in the nose. On accident, of course. But that was also the last time they ever sparred together. 

"Oof," Eliza said. He raised a brow at her and snorted. "I just got a little distracted. You look so much like him."

"Sorry."

She laughed, "It's alright. Not your fault. You do look a little older than him, though. But that's not saying much because he does look twelve."

He put a hand to his heart. "Ouch. I turned twenty-three last week, so don't think so quick about that."

It was true, his birthday was last week. Lilah had started planning for it about a day after his twenty-second. Because although she wasn't a big fan of her own birthday for . . . reasons, she loved celebrating his. Tom wondered what she did last week without him. If she even did anything at all.

"What?" Eliza exclaimed. "Are you kidding? I could've done something for you!"

"No no, It's totally fine." Wouldn't have been the same, is what he couldn't bring himself to say. "How's your nose?" he asked her.

"Oh, it'll be alright. Probably heal by tomorrow morning," she said, shrugging.

Tom nodded slowly. "Super healing, I forgot."

A comfortable silence fell over the two as Eliza finished icing her nose and Tom made a small makeshift cast for it. They started to move to the kitchen.

"Do you want some coffee?" Eliza asked, getting two mugs out of the cupboard while he sat down at a stool by the counter.

His lips tugged to the side. "I drink tea, darling."

Her nose scrunched up. "Why? It's just flavored water."

"So is coffee," he pointed out. "I drink tea because if I didn't, it would treason in London."

Eliza threw a smile over her shoulder. "You know I have a friend from there, his name is Theodore. He's all fancy, it's weird."

"I'm not fancy, I just like tea," he said.

"Okay, what kind of tea would you like, darling?" she said, sketching a small bow.

He laughed, "What kind do you guys have?"

"Only peppermint, currently. It's the only kind Peter and I like. Except for green tea, but Mr. Stark forgot to go to the store," she said.

"Peppermint it is."

Tom studied Eliza as she boiled the water, dropped two tea bags in their mugs, and slowly walked it over. He took a tiny sip. "Oh, this is really good. Did your parents teach you how to make tea?" he asked her, taking another sip.

"Well considering my dad put a bullet in my mom's head and she's dead and he's in prison, no. Wanda taught me," she said plainly.

He choked on his tea, color staining his cheeks. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry. I-I forgot about that part."

Eliza's brows furrowed. "What do you mean: forgot about that part?"

He set down his mug on the counter. "Well on my earth, you're a fictional character."

"Oh yeahhh, that's super cool. I've always wanted to be a fictional character, you know with Harry Potter and stuff," she said, plopping down on the stool next to him.

"Well no, that's a different fictional universe. Although things are a lot different here, I must say."

"Really? How so?"

"Well there was this big purple guy that had a nut sack for a chin—wait no I can't give you any spoilers, I'm really bad a keeping secrets—" he started. Eliza looked at him like he was crazy.

"A big purple guy that had a nut sack for a chin?" she laughed.

"Well yeah, and the infinity stones, wiping out half the universe, Tony Stark dying?" he said. "But Tony Stark is alive . . . "

"Yeah he's alive—wait a minute. Did you say wiping out half the universe?" she asked.

Tom was still thinking, muttering things. "Hold on, what year is it?"

"2019."

"Okay, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you and Peter get dusted away. Then five years later, the Avengers collect all the infinity stones and Professor Hulk snaps everyone back. Then Tony Stark snaps away Thanos's army, which kills him. Then there's a funeral, and you and Peter have to deal with the grief of losing him. Then you go to a class trip to Europe—and Mysterio?" he rambled.

"The fuck are you talking about—who's Thanos? Who's Mysterio? Who's Professor Hulk? Do you mean the class trip to Europe that Peter's going on a few weeks?" she said quickly.

Tom's eyes went all over the place as he thought. Lilah would've known all about the multiverse. How come she hadn't dropped into a portal, too?

"What if this dimension thing stopped all that from happening? What if Thanos never happened and all the infinity stones are still out there? Eliza you're in 2019! Not 2023! Do you think this changes the movies too? I mean when I get back—dammit I wish Lilah was here," he sighed and shook his head.

"Who's Lilah?" Eliza questioned, raising a brow at him.

His head snapped up to look at her. "Um, she—uh. Sh-she plays you?"

"Plays me? Like in the movies?"

"Y-yeah," he stuttered, trying not to blush.

She smiled. "Is she your girlfriend?"

"N-no. No she's not my girlfriend." Not technically a lie.

Eliza smirked at him and took a sip of her tea. "dO yOu LiKe hEr???"

"What? No." He made a face and shook his head.

"Liar."

Tom sighed and tried to change the subject. Away from Lilah. "Don't you turn seventeen in like two days?"

"Oh yeah," she frowned.

"Woah, it's like a wave of sadness just smacked you in the face—what just happened?" he said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeahyeahyeah, I'm good," she cleared her throat.

Thumping footsteps sounded from the hallway, and Bucky came walking into the kitchen, a phone in his hand. "Hey Eliza? My friend wants to talk to you."

She narrowed her eyes. "Who is it?"

"Her name is Shuri, she's from Wakanda," Bucky said. Tom's eyes widened, but a bright smile grew on Eliza's lips.

"Do you mean Wakanda Wakanda? They house the world's strongest metal—that's so cool!"

Bucky passed the phone to her, and Tom watched as the two girls introduced themselves to each other. One thing Eliza said caught his attention.

"I was thinking about making something for my best friend for his birthday in August, or when I see him again. It's a pair of glasses, but with with an A.I. built into them—" she said.

"Are you talking about Edith?" Tom asked.

She turned to him. "Yeah, that's what Mr. Stark and I were thinking about calling it. How'd you know?"

"No reason," he said quickly.

Shuri and Eliza continued to talk together, venturing to the latter's room for some more privacy.

Tom sighed as he recalled their conversation. He'd looked into Eliza's eyes. They were different that Lilah's.

Lilah's were bright the last time he'd seen them. Bright, full of love and laughter—but there was a certain factor that he couldn't name that hadn't been in Eliza's. One that made Lilah seem older, just as mature as Eliza was, which wasn't very—but brimming with a warmth and weakness that hit him in the chest like a steel ball.

He just hoped he'd be able to see them again. See her again.

a/n- haha i love connecting my books together