Somewhere to Belong

Summary:

Peter Parker was no stranger to strange situations. At this point his normal was abnormal. So when he woke up one day and realized he was in a different universe, he decided it might as well let it happen. What he didn’t expect was the family he found along the way.

Notes:

This fic was written for Terrasilvershade as part of a Secret Santa gift exchange run on the Deadclaws Ficcord server. Happy holidays, Terra!!

Thank you to xenanigans and EthanTheAnnus for being my betas on this fic. Additional thanks Ethan for all your work putting this together, and to X for betaing despite having little to know context about the source material!

Note: if anyone who reads this thinks that there is something I haven’t tagged for that I should have PLEASE let me know so that I can adjust the tags on here!

Somewhere to Belong

Peter Parker was no stranger to strange situations. At this point his normal was abnormal. So when he woke up one day and realized he was in a different universe, he decided it might as well let it happen. Over the years he had lost everything and everyone he loved. In the grand scheme of everything, traveling to a new universe was in its own way a blessing. He was still alone in the world, unrecognizable to everyone, even himself. But this world had never heard of Tony Stark or the Avengers. As best as he could understand, this universe was independent of literally anyone he had ever known. He did not have to experience looking into the face of the people who he loved and seeing no recognition in their eyes. In this world, he could be anyone.

Things were difficult, of course; there was no questioning that. The world he had stumbled into was very much different from his own. Luckily, he’d been holding his backpack when he fell into the dimensional portal, and so he had all of his emergency supplies. He was able to locate a library with free wifi, and, after a few small adjustments, he was able to connect his laptop to the network. No one could ever claim that Peter was not resourceful.

Spider-Man would typically fight crime rather than commit it, but given that all the information hidden within the identity he was forging for himself via the government servers he had hacked was all more or less accurate to his life history, it was not so much creating a fake identity as providing a correction to missing records. Really, he was doing the government a favor by filling in the gaps.

—

Laura was not sure how long she had been in the void. Time moved differently there, slipping and sliding in ways that she had never been able to wrap her head around. She barely remembered when and why the TVA had pruned her and destroyed her timeline. She had no universe to which she could return, but she hated the thought of staying in the Void in the aftermath of their attack on Cassandra’s base. So, when the offer came to join the universe in which Logan and Wade lived, she jumped on the chance.

Admittedly, living in a one-bedroom apartment with three other people was not the easiest experience of her life, but it was far from the worst. She had been offered a place at the X-Men Mansion, as had Logan and Wade, but spending even a brief amount of time there had been like a lance in the heart for Logan. In the year since she and Logan had joined this universe, they had visited the Mansion exactly once; the resulting panic attack had been so horrible that Laura and Wade promised Logan that he never had to return until he was ready, and if he was never ready that would be accepted.

The mansion was a strange place for Laura, as was this entire time period. She was an experiment, so she did not have a true birthdate, but the year in which she was originally created in her timeline had been 2018. So not only was this a whole new world because of slipping across universes, it was also a world that she had only ever experienced as a small child, and one kept under heavy restrictions at that. The mansion was only a distant, fond memory for those in her world, an idealized place. Actually, being there while it was filled with life, with mutants living openly and even thriving was amazing for her. But it also hurt in ways she struggled to articulate. So, she only spent a few days a week there, the rest of the time staying with Logan, Wade, and Althea.

[Sorry not sorry readers, hate to interrupt, Deadpool here. This exposition is getting to be a little dry, so I just wanted to speed through it so that we can get to the good stuff. What the author is trying to get at is that about a year after the events of what one reviewer who writes for Vulture described as  “[not] a particularly good movie [but] it’s so determined to beat you down with its incessant irreverence that you might find yourself submitting to it” Logan, Laura, and I moved out of Blind Al’s place and got our own apartment. I went back to working as a mercenary, and Logan opened a bakery. Laura is going to college and living in the dorms, but she still comes home on weekends for Sunday night dinners with the fam. Ok, you good? You caught up now? Back to Peter’s POV for now.]

Peter grunted as he received a particularly strong blow to his stomach and fell to the ground. He was not normally one to get into fights while outside of the suit, but he was not about to waste time changing into a new outfit when someone was getting assaulted.^[1] He sprung back up, ready to re-engage but, much to Peter’s surprise, his attacker was already on the ground alongside his friend. The girl they had dragged into the alley before Peter could stop them was now being comforted by another, whose knuckles looked bloody.

“Are you alright?” Peter asked her cautiously, aware that he needed to seem as unthreatening as possible. “You’re Gwen, right? We’re in the same physics lab.” She nodded, still holding onto the other woman. “And you’re Laura.”

“Yep,” Laura replied. “And you’re Peter. Now that we’ve all established that we know each other, shall we get out of this alley before these creeps wake up?”

“Yeah, sure, of course,” Peter replied hastily, picking up his backpack. He winced as he realized that he was bleeding slightly — the strong blow to his stomach appeared to have included something sharp. Hastily, he zipped up his hoodie before either woman could notice the blood. It would heal fast anyway.

“Gwen, are you alright to get home?” Laura asked, softly.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Gwen replied shakily. “It’s only two blocks from here.”

“Do you mind if Peter and I walk you anyway? Just to be sure.” Laura’s tone was open and earnest. And Gwen hesitated for only a moment before nodding.

As they walked, a large part of Peter wished that Laura had not implied that he would go with the two of them. Laura could clearly handle herself, and while Peter was a quick healer, he still needed to bandage his wound before it would start healing properly.

It felt like forever until Gwen had unlocked the door to heer building and they had waved her inside. The moment that Gwen locked the door behind her and started to walk up the stairs to her apartment Laura whirled around to look at Peteer.

“You’re hurt. Let me see.”

“I’m not—” Peter’s protests were cut off as Laura reached for his hand that was holding his side and pulled it away, showing that it was red with blood.

“How far away is your apartment?” she demanded.

“Um, about two stops on the train? I don’t usually stay on campus this late; I’m a bit far—”

“You’re coming home with me, then.” She placed his hand back over where it had been pressed to his side. “Keep pressure on that. My dorm is a bit far but my parents^[2] are only just around the corner from here.”

Peter was slightly bewildered as Laura grabbed his other arm and started pulling him down the street. It was half past midnight, and he barely knew Laura, and now he was about to meet her parents while sporting a stab wound? Part of him wanted to protest, but that part was also suffering from blood loss, so he figured this might as well be happening.

—

Logan and Wade were fucking on the couch. The couch was not surprised by this treatment, as ever since Laura had moved to live in the dorms, couch fucking had become quite the regular occurrence. Truly, the couch was almost a more frequent fuck zone than the bed, and that was saying something. The couch took it as a point of pride that it was provided such an honor. Currently Wade was tied up, as he often was, with a gag in his mouth and a plug in his ass while Logan rode him within an inch of his life.

Both men were equipped with superhuman stamina, and they had truly only just gotten started, so it was a surprise to them both when the door slammed open, and Laura shouted that she was home. The living room was only separated from the front hall by a thin curtain, and they knew from experience that they had about thirty seconds before the curtain was swished open.

In tonight’s case, however, they were given an entire minute and a half. Laura was slower than usual, seeing as how she was supporting Peter, who was rapidly losing blood. Or they would have been given that long, had Logan not scented the blood in the air and pulled himself off of Wade in mere seconds from the door opening. He spared a moment to put on a bathrobe and unleash his claws to slice open the bonds holding Wade captive. The claws were still out when he pulled open the curtains and skidded into the front hall to see Laura and Peter. His eyes scanned over Laura quickly. Upon evaluating that she was physically unharmed, he turned to Peter and his imminent blood loss.

“Another stray, huh?” Logan asked wryly. “Where’d you find this one?” He gently led Peter into the living room. Wade had vanished, but there was a blanket thrown over the couch to artfully hide some of the stains. Logan grimaced as he realized that slick and lube were still dripping down his legs. He would have to get himself a towel once he confirmed that Laura’s latest friend wasn’t about to die on the sex couch.^[3]

“‘I’m Peter. Peter Parker.”

“SPIDER-MAN?”

Wade had returned, wearing sweatpants and an ugly Christmas sweater which featured a Deadpool mask in a Santa hat along with text that read  THE OTHER JOLLY GUY IN A RED SUIT WITH A LAP WORTH SITTING ON.

Logan, who had just managed to get Peter’s shirt off and was tending to the wound, frowned as Peter sat up, suddenly much more alert. While he still had his suit from his original universe, and had even sewn himself a new one, he had yet to embrace his identity of Spider-Man in this universe. Everything still felt too new, and from what he had read in the news, the general attitude around mutants and superheroes and villains in this universe was different from back home. He had only been here for a year, and did not want to make too many waves.

“Who are you?” Peter asked with narrowed eyes. Still, he let himself be pushed back down onto the couch as Logan and Laura worked together to clean and patch up his wounds.

“Oooooh multiversal traveler, interesting. You can tell when I break the fourth wall, can’t you?” Wade winked at the camera that doesn’t exist because this is a fanfic not a movie. Peter shook his head like he was trying to get water out of his ears.

“Is everything you say always so confusing?”

“That’s just Wade, he’s like that.” Laura replied dismissively.

“So, you’re the one who sacrificed yourself, yes?” Wade asked, leaning over the couch. “Not like, died, obviously, but you made the world forget about— you…” he trailed off before looking up at Logan. “Peanut, we got a new kid!”

“I’m sorry, what?” Peter asked, confused. Logan simply chuckled as he began to neatly stitch Peter up.  “No, not negotiable. No, Peter, not negotiable, I said! COME ON, dinner’s almost ready and Logan always cooks for a regiment anyways.”

“I feel like that dialogue was left over from an earlier version of this fic; it’s half past midnight, who is having dinner right now?” Peter murmured.

“No one appreciates me around here!” Wade replied dramatically. “I’m going to bed while the scene changes!”

—

Soon after Logan finished dressing Peter’s wounds, the young man fell into a steady sleep on the couch.^[4] The young man looked too skinny and had a distressingly familiar look in his eyes — the look of someone who had lost everything, who had made it out of a horrible situation and almost regretted that he had. Logan knew that look, because it was the same one he saw in the mirror when he got up to brush his teeth in the morning.

Things had undoubtedly improved for him since he had hopped across universes. Now he had a family again, had a community again. And yet a large part of Logan felt like he did not deserve it. A soft hand touched his shoulder, and Logan looked up to see Laura looking at him with a sad and devastatingly knowing expression in her eyes. She, too, had lost her universe before being sent to the void.

[Deadpool here again. This is getting angsty, and the author — the author would like Deadpool to stop interrupting and let them get to the comfort part of the hurt/comfort fic — alright, alright, have it your way.]

Logan stood up slowly with a stretch. “I’m assuming that you are staying here for the night, yes? It’s late.”

“Yeah, I assumed that would be alright. Sorry to interrupt your plans for the evening by bringing a bloody stranger to your door,” Laura laughed.

“Don’t worry about it. Definitely not the weirdest thing to happen in our lives. How about I make us some hot chocolate before bed?” Logan asked as he tightened his robe and started to make his way to the kitchen.

“Sounds perfect.” Laura hesitated for a moment, looking back at Peter, but he looked like he needed the sleep, and so she decided to let him rest for now.

“So, what does the other guy look like?” Logan asked as he grabbed a carton of milk from the fridge.

“What makes you think there was another guy?” Laura replied casually, grabbing a couple mugs^[5] from the cabinet.

“Well, the fact that you brought home one of your classmates covered in blood and you weren’t acting as though you were on bad terms with each other. I figured there had to be at least another one or people involved. Do I need to provide any alibis?” Logan tutted, pouring the milk into a saucepan.

“That’s not necessary. We knocked them out, but they were still breathing when we left. They were attempting to attack Gwen; Peter and I stopped them. Gwen’s pretty shaken up, but we’re all alive,” Laura shrugged, grabbing the cocoa powder, cinnamon, cardamom, and sugar from the pantry, placing it on the counter next to the stove.

“As long as you’re alright.” Logan looked at her out of the corner of his eye while he whisked together the ingredients.

“Of course I am, why wouldn’t I be?” Laura’s tone was slightly defensive, and she had crossed her arms, glaring at the floor. Logan hummed slightly as he looked back down at the slowly simmering chocolate.

“You just seem a little more stressed than usual. Did something else happen beyond the fight?”

Laura breathed out heavily before adjusting her stance into something less outwardly caustic. “Not exactly. I just… I am worried for Gwen. She’s been stressed out enough this semester, and this is just another thing to add to the list. If Peter hadn’t been injured, or hadn’t been in the fight at all, I would have stayed with Gwen instead of bringing him here.”

“Did Peter do something else?” Logan asked with narrowed eyes. “How well do you know him? I don’t know that you’ve mentioned him before.”

“He’s in a few of my classes. Mostly keeps to himself. More than anything he seems… lonely. I don’t know that he really has many people in his life besides coworkers and classmates. I certainly never see him socializing with anyone.” Laura took the offered mug of hot chocolate and the two of them sipped quietly. Neither was unaccustomed to silence, and thus it was a comfortable one.

A silence broken, as it often was, by Wade entering the room. “Am I missing family bonding time? Ooo hot chocolate! Is there any left for me?” Logan smiled fondly before handing Wade the mug in his hand. Laura had already grabbed another mug, this one with the words “embrace the mess” written in a sprawling script.

“So,” Wade took a long sip of what had previously been Logan’s hot chocolate. “We’re having Peter over for Christmas, yeah?”

—

Peter Parker was no stranger to strange situations. His abnormal normal was not something that most other people could even fathom, let alone cope with. Whenever something good happened in his life, he was left with the sick feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Or at least, that is how things had been for him in the past. But somehow in the past few weeks he had gone from nearly bleeding out on a couch to being absorbed into a family that was as absurd as it was wonderful. He had been a lonely student, adrift in a new world, and now, for the first time in a long time, he had somewhere to go home, somewhere he finally felt like he belonged.

—

[Awww it’s that sweet! Don’t you just love the found family vibes? The author almost completely forgot that this was supposed to be a holiday fic, so I, Deadpool, feel honor-bound to inform you that we had a lovely Christmas, and we hope that those of you who celebrate will have one as well!]

^[1] Wow, that was one time! And No Good Deed was only a teaser for the second movie, like, is it even canon???

^[2] She means us! This was written as a poolverine prompt after all. Happy holidays, Terra! —Deadpool

^[3] The couch appreciated this. Logan and Wade could get rough in their efforts to spice up their sex life, and so the couch was not unused to bloodstains, but it preferred to avoid any that weren’t from Logan or Wade. It was the principle of the thing.

^[4] The couch was incredibly disappointed that there was now an actual teenager sleeping on it rather than two older men fucking on it like they were teenagers. But, to be honest, it’s a couch, so the author isn’t quite sure why they are allowing it so much narrative voice anyway.

^[5] Laura’s favorite had a black and white tarot card featuring a skeleton hand giving the middle finger and the text “The Zero of Fucks”. Logan’s was a plain white mug with the text “Due to unfortunate circumstances, I am awake.”