Chapter Text
"Listen, Dr. Richards-"
"You can call me Reed."
"Mr. Fantastic."
Peter had never been good with calling people by their first names, it was even harder when that 'people' was someone who was significantly cooler than he was.
"Look- Mr. Fantastic," Spider-Man continued "I haven't even shared my secret identity with you, it just doesn't feel right to me to call you 'Reed'"Mr. Fantastic sighed as Spider-Man spoke, it didn't matter right now, he'd try again later to get the Meta-Human to stay and eat something substantial for dinner, but he knew it was highly unlikely. But for now, he would thank him for his help on his most recent machine-
It was supposed to be something to help him travel across the multiverse- they'd sent Galactus through a portal and according to the Human Torch and Silver Surfer, he was the only one in existence- which meant some other poor universe would have to deal with the world eating destroyer and friends.
"Did you make sure that the Pym Particles are placed in their proper canisters- and gave each of the generators a coolant?" Spider-Man asked, shifting his body to hang over the machine with a strain of spider silk.
"Yeah, Ben helped me with that, he installed some kind of stabilizer too, I'd have to check the notes to see what kind specifically though." Reed notes, flipping through notes on a clipboard as Spider-Man landed on the machine. "Be careful with that, touch it wrong and you might end up at Knowhere."
"I'm careful, you're not the only one with a doctorates in Physics, Mr. Fantastic."
"I know, Dr. Spider-Man." Reed retorted, watching the lenses on Spider-Man's costume squint and shift with soft mechanical whirs. "What? Don't like it?"
"I don't know..." Spider-Man hummed, jumping off the machine as he opened one of the panels "what is the issue anyways? This looks like it has the Richards seal of approval- it should be running fine."
"the power source isn't efficient enough- even with an arc reactor there is so much heat escaping the machine-"
"that anyone inside turns into fried spider." Spider-Man finished, nodding to himself as he looked at the clipboard Mr. Fantastic was looking over, "Maybe we make part of the coolant a vacuum. Like what they do for those fancy water bottles." he suggests, waiting for Reed's answer as he thought.
"No, I don't think that would work. We'd just create a pop can. I would prefer to keep explosives out of my lab- I was thinking we exchanged the copper wire for gold since it has better insulation and transfers electricity better." Reed thought again, this time longer, while Spider-Man filled the space with a squinting stare."This seems like the kind of questions you should be asking the other Spider-Man..." Spider-Man comments "Kid-Arachnid, Spider-Kid, etcetera."
"Does 'Kid Arachnid' have a degree in Physics?"
"No, but he does have a built in taser." Reed shook his head dismissively "Come on, Doc. He's got what it takes, and he's just as smart as the original. How about this-" Spider-Man starts, looking back at the machine "Why don't we get it running so we can run a diagnostic, that way I can work on this while stuffing my face with Invisible Woman's cooking. I can smell her making something that makes me hungry- besides, you owe me lunch from that one time."
"That 'One Time'?" Reed asks with a laugh "okay, fine, lets get it running and then we can go and see what Sue is making." Reed was quite happy with this outcome, there was more than one time he'd spotted Spider-Man hiding under a bus stop with a hot dog in hand on a rainy day. He felt bad that he didn't have any place to go- or at least he didn't think he had any place to go.
Mr. Fantastic walked towards a control panel, pressing buttons, pulling levers and inputting data as Spider-Man hung over it, observing it.
"Hey Reed?" Spider-Man asks, looking up at the doctor.
"Yeah?"
"Is it supposed to be making bubbles?"
Before Reed was able to respond, Spider-Man was gone in a flash of light and tiny black dots forming along the edges of the machine.
"Oh shit, I vaporized Spider-Man!"