Setting Up

The girls had teased him a little when he returned but Walt surprised them. "Sorry about that. It was a shitty thing to do after you were both nice enough to invite me along. Even though it made me a bit uncomfortable I want you both to know I really... enjoyed that and... you both looked fantastic in everything I saw."

Gwen and Jubilee both were surprised. Neither had been expecting that! They both thought about through the rest of the shopping trip. Granted Walt hadn't said "Sexy" but it was implied by the type of shop it had been and the pieces they'd picked out. He'd said he'd liked them, they both looked fantastic, he'd complimented their bodies earlier as well... and most importantly he had said he'd enjoyed it.

He'd enjoyed having to look at them. Looking at them in risqué clothes, swim and underwear! Enjoyed looking at their bodies, which he liked, wearing skimpy things!

The three of them spent the rest of the shopping trip blushing quite a bit.

They decided to spend the day finishing putting their temporary headquarters together. They all unpacked and cleaned. Walt and Gwen moved furniture around together. With their strength and coordination it was easy.

While the mansion wasn't quite the splendor of it's past Walt found he liked it better this way. Who needed fancy junk on the walls when they were half living plant? So the furniture was a mishmash of old things they'd found in storage and some new. It better reflected the diversity of the people who had, and currently were, staying there. It resembled a kids tree house if it were a mansion instead... and the tree had grown around it instead of the house being built in it.

Jubilee and Walt had teamed up to make dinner. "You know," she said looking around. "It's still familiar yet so different now... but I like it better this way! Less... stuffy!"

Walt laughed and nodded preping ingredients for Jubilee. "I agree... but let's not tell Chuck." He winked.

Jubilee laughed too. "Agreed! The old mansion was halfway between museum and hightech. It was home for a longtime but it wasn't... comfortable like this is, I guess. I always felt just a bit like some of us didn't belong." She shrugged. "This place is too mixed up to care! It's fun and funky. I like it. Hey I never asked. Why do you call him Chuck and not Charles or Xavier? I know Wolvie does it because... well, because he's Wolvie. But you don't say it to be a smart ass."

Walt chuckled. "Back home one of my best friends is a "Charles" who I call Chuck. I guess I wanted to be friends with yall and the first place to start was with Chuck. Simple as that, Jubes." He started passing her ingredients and cutting up more.

She laughed. "You give everybody nicknames? And that's kinda a lot hey!"

Walt grinned. "I'm hungry plus Logan's coming over with Shogo, right? We're going to need extra. And I don't give everyone nicknames. Only folks I'm friends with and not all of them. Some names are hard to alter or once you start using them it's hard to think of them as anything else. It varies from person to person. Logan's always been Logan to me. I riff off his handle sometimes, like Wolvermean, but not his name. Now that we know his real name is something else... it's hard not to think of him as "Logan", you know?"

"You talking about me behind my back, bub?" Came a familiar voice.

Walt smirked. "Only cause I didn't notice you there, big guy. Sorry I overlooked your presence. It was a small mistake on my part. I hope you won't get short tempered with me."

Jubilee laughed as Logan came in with Shogo. Walt took over the stir-fry so Jubilee could go to her son. "Hardy har har," said Logan. "Another wise ass comedian in my life returns. Better watch it with the size jokes." He pointed at Walt.

Walt shrugged. "If you can't take the heat in the kitchen I can stop cooking you up this delicious meat and get you a cold beer instead?"

Logan grunted but cracked a smile. "I knew there was a good reason I always gave you a pass instead of cutting you down to size, Slim. Where's the beer? I'll get it myself. "

Walt pointed with his lips towards the fridge. "Help yourself. Infact grab me one too and then get over. You're a fair hand at cutting up stuff so man the cutting board."

Jubilee laughed as the boys bantered with one another back and forth. She and Gwen played with Shogo and then fed and put him down for a nap.

They enjoyed dinner and then Walt and Gwen returned to 65 for a bit to patrol. They foiled a car robbery, helped out a kid stuck in a tree and now were trying to get a cat home.

"You have a away with animals," Gwenom said looking at the happy cat in Walt's arms. "She didn't like me at all!"

Walt was pretty sure the cat didn't like the Symbiote but he wasn't going to point that out. "What can I say? I've got a way with pussy." He winked as Gwenom groaned but she was smiling.

"Next you'll be telling me it's all in how you handle it?" Gwen joked and Walt nodded.

"True enough," he laughed and nodded. "They each like something different though so you have to be careful. Some like stroking, some want to be petted, others enjoy being teased over and over-"

"Walt!" Gwen said but this time she was laughing outloud.

Walt grinned. "Hey, I'm just talking about pussy cats... but I probably shouldn't... pussy usually don't like it if you kiss and tell." He winked again as Gwen continued laughing and pointed. "This street here?"

Gwen nodded and pointed. "Yeah. Should be... one of those on the left."

After returning the cat to her home the owner, a nice older lady, thanked them. She apologized that she was unaware it was Halloween and didn't have any candy but told them she thought their costumes were interesting. Walt and Gwen spent some time trying to untangle the confusion and were only partially successful... but were treated to pie which was an odd but nice way to end the day.

Walt sighed hanging out on the rooftop near Gwen's after stopping for coffee. "I'm not sure that lady should be living alone... but that pie was pretty good. Maybe I should quit my job... become a hero full time?"

Gwen smirked. "If it's all about the reward is it still "heroic"? Also how would that work? "It's Pie-Man! He fights crime... for pie!"

Walt threw his hands up. "Fine! All excellent points. You got me. I won't quit my day job."

Gwen smiled. "Good. Speaking of dayjobs your coffee's probably cool enough to drink now, Mr Stark." Gwen sipped from the straw of her iced frothy concoction.

Walt nodded. "Thanks for the reminder." He took the lid off his black Stark Bucks coffee and took a sip... then spit it back out.

"What's wrong?" Gwen asked. "Poison or-"

"Vile," Walt said. "That's the worst cup of coffee I've ever had in my life! This universe's Tony sells this stuff and people drink it? That's criminal! Tony Stark of 65... you are now my nemesis! You and your crap coffee!"

Gwen laughed. "That's hilarious! I wish I'd recorded that! Here," she said holding out her cup. "Mine tastes good."

Walt shook his head. "Yeah because there's what... 6 or 7 things in there that arent coffee?"

Gwen started counting. "Yeah... hey, good memory! You could get a job working there if everything else doesn't work out."

Walt made a disgusted face at his cup of swill. "Couldn't pay me enough... I'm not kidding. Stark Bucks is now my sworn enemy!"

Gwen shook her head. "It's your own fault... noone orders a plain black coffee at Stark Bucks. You're supposed to have a long complicated custom order."

Walt shook his head. "But I only ever order black coffee."

Gwen rollled her eyes. "Walt only old people drink... oh, sorry. I forget sometimes."

Walt shook his head smiling. "It's fine, Gwen. I am old."

Gwen nodded. "Sometimes you act like my dad or older... and other times you're so "youthful" it's hard to think of you as old... is it like that in your world too? It must be hard..."

Walt nodded and sat. "It is sometimes. I can follow along with stuff but the latest trends and what's "cool" often elude me. At best I come off as "classic" or "timeless" and at worst I'm "uncool" and "out of touch". Even peoples priorities and sensibilities are sometimes a bit baffling... might be one way I connect to people from the other realities so much? Because we're both kind of strangers there."

Gwen sat next to him. "What's it actually like there? If... if I decided I wanted to go with you... what would my life be like?"

Walt sighed looking into the cup of disapointing vile, swill. "Honestly... I'd love it if you did... but I don't know if you'd like it, Gwen..." he touched her collar. "I wouldn't treat you any differently than I do now... a lot of my employees, friends and family are from other worlds like you."

Gwen smiled. "That doesn't sound so bad."

Walt smiled sadly. "It's super interesting. But that world... to many folks there you wouldn't be seen as a person. Just property. My property. The only rights and protections you'd have would be as my legal property as your owner. Wouldn't matter if it was you or Jubes or Logan or Tony or some random person I picked up off the street. Even little Shogo... you'd be my possessions. "Things" in the eyes of the law."

Gwen was shocked. "You're saying it's a "slave" world? That people own other people as a regular occurrence and practice?"

Walt shook his head. "No. Not regular... common. It's the standard. You're not even recognized as persons except by individuals. In the eyes of the law your "characters" not "people". There are still folks that choose not to own characters and some who still can't afford them but they're a vastly shrinking minority. And even if they don't own any they're still going to be seeing characters working everywhere or out with their owners. I saw a Peter Parker stocking shelves not long ago. I have one that works at my company for me. I can't "pay" him for his work but he has a lovely little home with the Gwen Stacy from his world. They work together and I give them "credits" they can use to exchange with the company to buy them things on their behalf-"

Gwen had raised her hand. "Sorry... I... need a moment to process."

Walt nodded. "Sure, Gwen. Whatever you need."

They sat listening to the night. It was quiet a longtime before Gwen finally broke it.

"Your family," she said. "They... actually seemed happy. Was that artificial or... are they?"

Walt smiled. "Thank you, Gwen. That's nice to hear. The truth is there's technology that can force compliance. That could, as you said, change perceptions mentally to an "artifical" state. Hell you'd be amazed at some of the body modifications that are available... but no. I don't force people that way, and I say people because of my personal views, I love them. They're my precious family... even the ones that are a pain sometimes! I wouldn't change them or force them on that way. There... was an incident a while back. One of my characters hurt one of the others..."

Walt shares the story of Mystique and her attack on Tsuyu and his solution. He even explained Villain-anon when Gwen asked about it. He thought Gwen would be more upset but hearing him explain his side of things and thinking she slowly stops frowning and even smiles a bit.

Gwen nodded. "You know... I'm glad you told me... that's not so bad."

Walt blinked. "You are? Why? That's pretty awful if you ask me."

Gwen smiled, stood and stretched. "That's why. If you had done it and enjoyed it it would be different. But it's obvious you hated doing that. It was likely the best call you could make in a tough situation but you did it for good reasons... and it still hurt you to do it. That makes you a good person, Walt. You did that because you cared for your friend... and you cared enough to make the best decision you could for a "not friend". I don't know what I would have done in that situation... but I'd hope I could make a decision half as decent and caring as the one you did."

Walt stares at Gwen. "Ok... I'll be honest. I did not expect that response... but thank you, Gwen. That-" he sighed and smiled slightly. "That means a lot to me... to hear you say that. Thank you."

Gwen smiled and patted his shoulder. "And that's why... you're a good man, Walter Stark. You may not be perfect but you're a good man... that's enough for me... for tonight." She quickly bent down and kissed his cheek. "Let's take you back. We got a lot of catching up to do tomorrow!"

Gwen had brought Walter back to the 616 verse before heading back to her 65 and home. She was just getting home when her phone rang.

She smiled and picked it up. "Hey dad! What's up?"

She listened to her dad tell her the good news about the hospital and then his visitor. Her father was pretty vague about the mans identity on the phone but she could tell. She knew it could only be Walt.

She listened to her father explain the generous opportunity and how he wanted to make use of it. How she was inspiring him now. Her and this other person. To make a difference. Gwen was crying into the tissues through out. They had a good talk.

Hanging up the phone after telling her father she'd be out of town for awhile she sighed. She got up, stretched... and then did a happy dance! "That's it! This calls for ice-cream!"

She danced her way into the kitchen pulling out a spoon and a icecream container from the freezer. She laughed happily. "He's exactly who I thought he was! That's why he'd been keeping his distance! He's being more honest though so somethings changed..." she started eating ice-cream directly from the half empty carton.

"He's not going to make the first move though..." she shoveled another spoonful into her mouth. "He wants to but he won't. No... can't! It's his damn morals. Unlike Jubes he "owns" me so he'd see it as taking advantage if he makes the first move!" Gwen grinned and licked the spoon. "But that's fine too... I can make the first move. He wants me to! Be bold Gwen Stacy!" (*BoLd*)

She goes out to the living room and lies down on the couch. She's decided to finish off the rest of the carton... the rules are out the window tonight! She needed to make up a "hunting" strategy...

"Wait... something I said earlier," Gwen thought outloud to herself. Her eyes open wide. "That's his problem with Jubilee!" She smacked her forehead. "Wow... guy's totally cock blocking himself!" She sighed. "He would! Dumb ass... that means though that Jubilee's got as good a shot at him as I do though... maybe even better, depending..."

Gwen started eating more ice-cream thinking about that. Did she want Jubilee to go after him? Did she want her to succeed?

She shrugged. "It's not like he doesn't have a gaggle of girls at home sharing him... no not just sharing him. They actually love the guy and he loves them! That's his other hang up! That's what's changed! The other ladies have told him to be more open with us... probably told him they "invited" us already! Now that it's been cleared by them he feels he can proceed. One of them must have given him some nudging earlier too! Thanks, ladies! Detective Stacy is on the case... and Spider-Woman always catches her suspect... eventually!"

[Walter Stark Penny Polendina F.R.I.D.A.Y Neopolitan Pyrrha Nikos Nora Valkyrie Yang Xiao Long Blake Belladonna Kali Belladonna Sienna Khan Willow Schnee Glynda Goodwitch Zwei Ahnassi Lifts-Her-Tail Senko Sayoko Shinozaki Roberta Cisneros Haruna Sasha Blouse Ilulu Raven Manami Aiba Tsuyu Asui Haruhime Sanjouno The Baroness Demona Mystique Pirotess Lydia Aela the Huntress Serana Mission Vao Curie Ada PAM KL-E-O Merida and Gwenom

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Coming Soon]