Spider-Man and The Esper

97. Take Care

The week was nearly over as the last thing Fubuki expected to see when her doorbell rang was Michael, standing there in a suit and carrying a bouquet of flowers. She blinked at him dumbly from the front step. “Michael?” she asked hesitantly because her husband was dead. Could it be another version?

“Hey, Fubuki,” he said, his voice wavering in a way that made him sound just as nervous as she was. “I was hoping I could, um, come in?”

“Of… of course!” Fubuki stammered. “Come in! I’ll just… find a vase or something.” She stepped back from the door and hurried to rummage around in the hall closet, hiding her face.

“So, how have you been?” she asked, unable to bear the hesitant stumbling noises of Michael trying to shut the front door. 

“Fine, fine,” Michael said. “Just…. Working, you know. Same old same old in the other universe.”

Fubuki pulled back with a pile of blankets in her arms and eyed Michael wryly. “I have always wondered if there was a universe where you survived and now your living proof.” she said. 

“Yeah I have a hard time believing it either. Anyway not that kind of work, other work!” Michael stammered. “Just like normal, human work… you know?” He hunched his shoulders, glancing away and avoiding Fubuki’s gaze. “Actually… I guess I haven’t been doing much of anything lately.”

“Nothing exciting?” Fubuki asked, feeling oddly driven to continue such an awkward conversation. She stuffed the blankets on the floor and reached for the vases balanced behind them. 

“Well, I did get teleported here in this universe for a couple days by Madame Web and I had to see how you were doing before I notified my girlfriends Psykos and Fubuki that it would be ok to let them know before anything.” Michael commented as he froze in place, ‘Crap I think said too much too quickly.’

Fubuki dropped the vase. It fell straight into the pile of blankets, tilting at an odd angle instead of smashing all over the floor, as she whipped around to stare at Michael. “Girlfriends? Psykos is in a relationship with you and the other me?” She squinted at him, searching her gaze for any sign of laughter, or delusion, or… anything. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” Michael confirmed as he clears her throat. “And I just wanted to see how you were holding up after the other me died saving everyone from Carnage in your universe.” He held out the flowers with a nervous air.

He was serious, Fubuki realized. As serious as the day he’d told her his past of how he became Spider-man, and as nervous as he’d been on their wedding day. The vulnerability in his eyes made her ache.

Slowly, she picked the vase up off the floor and held it out to him. “I've been doing well here. The flowers are lovely.” she smiled. “Would you like to… stay for dinner? I just put a frozen pizza in the oven, so it’s not very good,” she said apologetically. 

The relief in Michael’s eyes as he lowered the flowers into the vase was palpable. “I love pizza,” he said fervently.

Fubuki chuckled, "Just like my Michael. Pepperoni and-"

"Sausage were always our favorite toppings." Michael finished her sentence for her making her lightly laugh in amusement.

Moments have passed as they were talking about each other's journeys as Fubuki was explaining hers when her Michael had died.