OOO

Harry slid into the plastic booth next to Ozzy, setting down his tray before starting in on his fries. “You know,” he said as he drenched a few more in ketchup, “I think I’m going about this the wrong way.”

“Damn it Harry,” Dori grumbled before taking a long sip of Dr. Pepper. “You have got to stop obsessing over this! So Peter went to a movie with her – so what? Relax.”

“See, I’ve been trying to keep her away from him,” he went on obliviously. “What I should be doing is finding him somebody better who can take her place. You know. Someone smarter, prettier…”

“Good luck with that,” Ozzy scoffed.

“Why the laughing” Dori demanded sharply. “What, you don’t think there are girls smart enough for him?”

“No. I’ve seen the chick in question though and let me tell you…” He whistled. “Gonna have a hard time topping that one, pal, especially if your brother’s into redheads.”

Harry scowled. “She’s not that pretty.”

“Yeah, maybe if you’re dead. She’s got legs from here to New Jersey, decent rack and that hair of hers…”

“I’m going to punch you.” Dori threw a wadded up napkin at his forehead. “Or better yet, wait until you’re not looking backstage and go after you with your own power tools.”

“I think we’re losing sight of the real issue you,” Harry said, wiping his mouth after taking a bit of his burger. “And that is finding a chick we can set my brother up with. Who’s not an actress. Or a prim donna of any kind. Somebody smart, intelligent, hopefully his own age, without a tremendous ego.”

“Don’t know what to tell you if your looking for all that. Not gonna find it at our school. Everybody thinks they’re fantastic.”

“Uh, excuse me. I don’t think, I know,” Ozzy smirked.

“Yeah, whatever. Really, though, Harry, I’m getting tired of hearing about this. Peter found a girl who happens to get on your nerves a bit. Get over it for his sake. For the sake of your relationship. Believe me, if he figures out what you’re doing, he’s not going to appreciate your attempts to break up his relationship. Let it end on it’s own and he’ll be single again soon enough. Meanwhile, don’t you have practice you need to get to?”

“Fine.” He finished the last of his drink. “I should probably hurry to get there anyway. We’re supposed to be getting fitted for costumes today.”

“Exciting.” Ozzy laughed. “Say, what are you doing this weekend? A bunch of us were thinking up a time to see a movie. You think you’d like to come along?”

“Much as I’d love to, I’m gonna have to take a rain check.” He tossed the trash from his tray into the trashcan behind them. “I’ve got a ton of practice plus that fair thing I’m supposed to be going to.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right. The World Unity Fair. I forgot about that one.”

“How could you forget about it?” Dori quirked an eyebrow at him. “The posters have been everywhere. Oblivious, much?”

“Maybe we’ll be going to that instead.”

“Might run into you there, then. Anyway, I’ve got to run. See you guys in school.”

“Bye!” Dori gave him a half-wave.

“Later.”

They watched him leave through the large glass windows of the hamburger joint. As he walked down the street, Dori turned to Ozzy with a grin.

“You know, Harry’s my friend and I love him to death,” she said, “but somebody really needs to quit kidding himself.”

“Oh, shush, you. Leave the boy be.” Ozzy smirked. “He’ll figure things out soon enough.”

OOO

When Otto finally came home that night, he found Rosie at the kitchen table, her head down and her shoulders wrapped in a scarf, still sleeping.

“Otto?” The sound of the door roused her and she lifted her head.

“What are you still doing up?” He demanded sharply, then recoiled when he saw the hurt look on her face. Sighing, he hung up his jacket, then came over to her and rubbed her shoulders. “I’m sorry, dear. It’s been a long day. I didn’t mean to snap.”

“What’s wrong? Did something malfunction at work?”

“It’s… it’s nothing, really. I’ve had a few deadlines I’m struggling to meet. It will be alright.”

“Anything I could help you with?” She stood and adjusted her wrap. “You know I’m willing, if it’s something I can do.”

“No!” He added, too quickly, then shook his head. “No. I have it under control.”

She sighed and touched his cheek. “You look stressed dear. Too stressed. Come on upstairs. You can take your suit off and relax while I draw you a nice hot bath before you get to sleep.”

For a moment, he looked as though he’d refuse. Then his shoulders sagged and he gave her a small yet sad smile. “Alright dear.”

“You’ll see.” She kissed him. “A good night’s sleep and everything will look better on the morrow.”

It wouldn’t, he knew, but he couldn’t bear to tell her. As he got ready for bed and soaked in the sub – complete with sandalwood candles lit alongside it – he wondered what he would think of him if she knew. He was disgusted and horrified enough with himself. For her to know – kind, peaceful Rosie to realize her husband was making weapons that would be used for… well, whatever madmen used weapons for which, he was sure, was no good whatever – for her to know that would destroy them, he was sure. It was a betrayal of every principle he had, of every ethic about science he’d ever formed and held to up until then.

He put on the flannel pajamas she had set out for him before stepping quietly into their room. Without saying anything, she pulled the sheets aside and looked as if expecting him to slide in next to her.

“Not just yet, dear.” He went to the door. “I’m going to go check on Harry before I get to sleep. Make sure he’s alright.”

“That’s sweet.” She beamed. “But that’s why I married you. Hurry back though; the bed is cold without you.”

He made his way down the hall, opening Harry’s door just a crack so that he could see inside. Harry was there, sleeping quietly under a mound of blankets and pillows, breathing softly. Candles, art supplies and scripts were scattered about, but the boy slept peacefully in the midst of all of the mess.

This was why, he reminded himself. His son. His son, his family, everything he held dear – that was why he had to pretend that he didn’t know what the inevitable consequences of what he was doing would be. They would be consequences that happened to other people. Not to his family, not to the children he loved, not to the wife he cared for, not to his life.

“Sleep well, Harry,” he whispered, reaffirmed, however slightly, in his decision to accede to Norman Osborn’s requests.

Let him have the sleepless nights while Rosalie and Harry and Peter slept on, unknowing. It was what a good father, a good husband was supposed to do. The burden was his to bear and nobody else’s, no matter how it rotted him from within to hold the secret he was keeping and do the deeds he was doing.

He was not a bad man, he told himself. He was simply taking care of his responsibilities.

OOO

“Picking me up again?” Peter got into the car with his mother. “Is something going on?”

“Your father’s been a bit tired lately,” she informed him. “Might want to give him a little space when you get home. He’s had a short fuse the last few days. But I wanted to pick you up from school,” she told him. “Gives me more time with you.”

“Oh. Well… okay. Oh! I got an A on my stats test.” He fished a paper out of his bag and held it up. “So that’s good. My grades have been pretty decent this semester but I’m still trying to stay ahead of the game.”

“Good. You know, we’re very proud of you and it’s I’m sure your father will be happy to know that you’ve been working hard and not getting distracted by video games or anything else.”

“Well, not distracted too much,” he admitted. “Maybe a little.”

“That’s alright.” She patted his shoulder. “A little fun never hurt anybody. There’s more to life than getting grades.”

“Yeah… but if I want to get into a good grad school, the grades will help.” He looked out the window. “And then I can get my masters and then a PhD and then I can go and work with dad!” He looked back at Rosie. “You think he’ll hire me? I mean, will people say that it’s, you know, nepotism or something? Because I really wanna work with him.”

“No guarantees. After all, he works for Mr. Osborn now. It would be up to him whether or not to hire you.” Peter fell silent and after a moment or two, Rosie glanced over at him with an odd look. “Peter? Is something wrong?”

“No.”

She sighed. “That’s the same response I get from your father. I might not be able to work anything out of him but I would hope that you would be willing to confide in me. Is something the matter? I’ve noticed you’ve been a lot less excited about Mr. Osborn. You were so excited to meet him and then you suddenly grew distant and disinterred.”

He shrugged. “He’s not who I thought he was,” Peter said softly.

“Oh?” Rosie quirked an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”

“Just… I don’t like him, much. Not really.” He looked at her with a pained expression. “I’m sorry mom. I wanted…” He trailed off and looked out the window again.

“What did you want?” She pried gently. “Peter… if he said something to you, it’s alright. You can tell me.”

“He’s dad’s employer.”

“Well that doesn’t give him the right to be rude to you. Or to do anything else you find uncomfortable. This isn’t like you Peter, to go from so excited to so upset.”

“Yeah… but… I promised.”

She frowned. “What did you promise? To whom?”

“I… I can’t say.”

Rosie nodded and saw a gas stop ahead. She pulled into to parking lot and looked at Peter. “Peter? Did he hurt you in any way? If he did, it doesn’t matter that he’s your father’s boss. We need to know.”

Peter shook his head ‘no.’ “He didn’t… it’s nothing like… I want to tell you, but I promised!” He looked at her. “I can’t.”

“Peter…” She took his hand. “Peter, if it hurts you that much to keep a secret – is it a secret you should be keeping?”

“You have to promise not to tell that I told!” He burst out. “I didn’t want to be quiet about it, but Harry said that you guys would get upset and we’d get into trouble…”

“Harry?” She frowned. “Did he ask you to keep the secret?”

Peter hesitated. Then he nodded. “Yeah. I told him it would be okay. That he could tell you. But he didn’t want you to know. I told him you needed to but he make me swear not to tell…”

“Peter, I promise you and Harry that whatever it is, I won’t be upset about it.”

He focused his attention on the glove box in front of him, as if trying to block out the rest of the world around him. “Mr. Osborn is Harry’s father. Like, his birth father. And he knows about Harry.”

“I see,” she whispered. “And how does Harry feel about this?”

“It’s why he didn’t want to move here. And he was really upset that I like Mr. Osborn so much. But I didn’t know. Like I told him, I wouldn’t have thought so much of him if I had known.”

“Did he say something to Harry?”

“Yeah. I don’t know what exactly. Something about Harry being worthless, that he didn’t want him.”

“Well, then, Mr. Osborn is not what we thought he was either.” Rosie had a stony expression on her face. “And I don’t blame either you or Harry for being afraid to come forward – but I’m glad you did. You do know that Harry doesn’t have to go back to that life, right? That Mr. Osborn can’t hurt him again?”

“I told him that. But he’s afraid about dad and his job. And I don’t think he wants to go over to the penthouse again. Says it has too many bad memories for him.”

“I understand. He won’t have to. You do know, though, that I will have to talk to Harry about this?”

“I figured,” Peter whispered. “He’s going to be mad at me.”

“He might be. Sometimes people get upset when you do things that will be good for them in the long run – that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t help them. In fact, it takes more courage to help somebody who doesn’t want to be helped. It isn’t easy; but it’s what was right. Seeing Mr. Osborn again after so long was probably very traumatic for Harry and he shouldn’t feel as though he needs to put up with seeing him and being insulted and pressured by him for our sakes. His emotional well-being matters too and, if I know your father, he won’t want to be part of anything that could hurt you boys.”

“Are you going to tell dad?”

“Probably,” she admitted. “When the time is right. I’ll talk to Harry first so that he can get comfortable with the idea, understand that he isn’t the on who’s done wrong here. And I won’t do anything until after the fair, probably, or else your father’s blood pressure might go through the roof. Are you alright with that?”

“Yeah.” He nodded finally. “It hurt to keep it inside. And Harry… I think Harry thinks things are his fault, sometimes, when they aren’t.”

She nodded in agreement. “Osborn hurt him deeply as a child,” she agreed. “It’s pure cruelty for a child to be told that they’re worthless and unlovable. He had no right to tell Harry that when he was little and no right to reiterate it now. Harry’s always had… difficulty… accepting affection. Now that I know about his father, perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“I hope he won’t be too mad at me.” Peter frowned. “But I thought you should know.”

“You did the right thing, Peter,” she assured him again as they pulled out onto the road. “And I don’t think he’ll be mad at you for long. He loves you very much, Peter, and I doubt anything will ever change that.”

He hoped she was right. And as for his own situation… he was still worried over what Harry had warned about getting put in a lab. Nothing bad had happened from the bite – it hadn’t hurt him, not really – so he figured it was safe to keep that a secret at least for the time being.

OOO

A/N: In honor of Otto (albeit a very different Otto) turning into Doc Ock in Spectacular Spider-Man this morning – I give you this. Hope you enjoyed and I will have the next chapter up after school is done burying me under piles of work! Next time – Goblin time. And maybe Spidey time too. :)