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⋆ twenty-one ⋆
Maddy's wireless earphones are in, blasting Enemy by Imagine Dragons as loud as humanely possible and blocking out all other voices. It helps her focus while she works, projecting a hologram with her bracelet of her cure blueprints from her universe and moving it around, checking a couple of different parts before adjusting the physical cure on the table in the same way.
Ned, however, has been staring at the wristband in awe, wanting to ask about it but not daring to interrupt her at the same time. "Why don't we have anything like that in our universe?" he mutters to MJ, downcast. "It's so cool."
"We don't even have Oscorp," MJ mumbles back, still a little salty about the attitude her great-aunt gave her in front of everyone, even if it's her from a different universe. "It makes sense we don't have the inventions."
"Maybe I'll be the one to invent it. The bracelet, not Oscorp. I don't think I could handle a whole company."
"Do it. I'll be your first customer. Uh... is she okay?"
Michelle raises her voice for the last bit, directing it towards Peter 3, who can't help but stare with adoration and longing in his eyes as Maddy dances around and does a crazy imaginary guitar solo, clearly vibing with the song. His cheeks hurt from how much he's grinning, brushing off MJ's worry easily. "Yeah," he replies, voice tight. "She's great. She does that a lot."
Xara definitely notices, smiling as she watches all the others. Ned and MJ talking amongst themselves, Lily and Peter 2 working on the cure together as he quietly explains the different components to his wife, and Maddy sharing an earphone with Peter 3 as they work almost shoulder-to-shoulder.
It's nice to know all the other Peters are happy. Xara just wishes the same could be said for her Peter.
She glances over at him, seeing him deep in thought as he adjusts Flint Marko's cure, clearly not paying the same kind of attention to the others as she is. Then again, he's Spider-Man, and he has a bigger job to do than her. He can't get distracted, can't afford to have fun while they're doing things.
And maybe that's when it finally dawns on Xara. For a while, there have been doubts in their minds - especially Peter's, she's noticed - but they're wrong. Especially now that May's gone, they need each other the most. She was too worried about them being apart to realise they need to be together more than ever, and that no matter what happens, she can't let him go.
But there's no time to say it right now. Not while they've still got things to do, people to cure.
Instead, Xara moves over slowly to the other table, sitting opposite Peter 2 as Lily stops out of the room to go to the bathroom. "Hi, Peter."
He glances up in surprise, only to relax slightly. "Xara. Is everything okay?"
"Yes. No. Um... Actually, I had a question to ask you."
