Blood by My Hand

A/N: *does the ‘I’ve Got Reviews’ dance* Alex-A lot of it’s already written, as you know, but I’ll look into trying to put in more of Peter. It’s just easier to write villains for some reason.
Vampirezdarkgurl-It’s my favorite slash pairing (next to MichaelxJason, but that’s another thing all together…) and I’m glad you’re enjoying it.

Upstairs, Norman went through the motions of cleaning up. Otto knew the goblin could see in the dark, so one tentacle reached for the light switch. "Would you mind?" Otto asked first.

"No, by all means."

The light went out and the cameras became four red points of light in the darkness. They got Otto a glass of water while he sat back down at the table. "I probably would have punished him for trying to escape..."

"Thank you for not hurting him." He scrubbed the dishes, his mind not on his hands. "I'm trying to earn his trust for us."

A shrug. "I know, but I wasn't raised to tolerate that sort of thing." He drank from the glass.

"Neither was I, but the relationship I had with my father is not what I want for Peter."

Otto shook his head, chuckling slightly. "I'm so glad that drunken bastard's dead..."

Norman wiped the plates dry and put them away. "Know what you mean."

The doctor was beginning to feel more at ease and open with Norman. "Did you know I was a fat adolescent?" He'd probably let his father get to him a little too much on that one, but now that he was... what he was... he was glad he'd gotten into shape.

"Wouldn't know it to see you now." He raised an eyebrow at Otto, asking if he were finished with that glass.

"My mother was a large woman... My father never let us hear the end of it..." He passed the empty glass to Norman.

He rinsed it and put it in the drainer, unwilling to be idle. "Unfortunate."

Otto nodded, done talking for now. He was torn between going to look into the web solution and trying to initiate something with Norman. The web solution was starting to win out, though. It would be more productive, at any rate.

Norman moved around the kitchen restlessly, finding small things to clean. When he noticed a stain on his shirt, he pulled it off over his head. "I'm going to do laundry. If you have anything?" So much energy, so little outlet.

Otto chuckled and stood up. "Bored?"

"Just restless." He smiled over his shoulder, shrugging.

"Hm. Might have a project you could assist me with if you're interested. It's more out of personal curiosity than anything else, but it could be useful... If I can find the resources I'd need..." He trailed off, thinking about that last bit.

"Which?" That did catch his interest.

"I want to look into the web solution and see if I can find a way to accelerate the degradation process."

"Melt the stuff out from under him, so to speak?"

Otto smiled, "So to speak, yes. Just in case."

"It's a little early to predict my failure, isn't it?"

"I simply like to be prepared, when I can, and as I said, it's mostly personal curiosity."

Norman nodded. "All right. The formula's sure to be fascinating, either way."

"First thing's first, though..." Otto needed to find another pair of glasses, preferably before the sun came up. He though he remembered coming across a pair in the front hall closet while he was searching for camera bits. That's where he headed, tentacles sneaking occasional peeks at Norman as they slithered through the air.

Norman always knew when he was being watched. He followed Otto, tossing the balled-up shirt from hand to hand. "I think if you give the boy another week or two, he might work with you on the project."

"Figure out a way to dissolve his own webbing?" Otto sounded skeptical. "And besides, I wouldn't want him to know I have it... Or maybe I'm just paranoid." He smirked over his shoulder at Osborn.

"Being paranoid suits you."

"Good to know..." He opened the closet, leaning over slightly to search the lower half while his tentacles searched the upper half.

Norman reached past him to pull the black shades off a center shelf, and tapped Otto on the back with them.

Otto turned around and let out a single, short laugh as he took them. "Thanks," he mumble, not putting them on just then, though. He could actually see all right as long as there was a little light, so he wouldn't really need them until morning. Instead, he pocketed them and headed for the stairs.

"If I had my lab, I could get us a copy of Parker's notes," Norman muttered. That was the worst loss, he thought.

"We'll make due with what we have," Otto shrugged, looking at Norman sideways. "Shouldn't be too hard."

Norman followed Otto upstairs, stretching. The sun was just beginning to set when they reached the lab and he paused a moment outside the door, looking through the hall windows.

Otto watched him stretch through one of the red glowing eyes. Strong and flexible, almost cat-like, and still prodding for a higher place on Otto's list of priorities. There were weeks ahead with nothing to do, so it wasn't like he was pressed for time... There was a pause, and then Otto grabbed Norman with the tentacles, pressing him back against the wall. He'd make it a quick one, and then he could get back to work without any distractions.

Norman laughed, wrapping his hands around the actuators. "Initiative. Wonderful." Otto put a finger to Norman's lips to silence him. The finger was quickly replaced by Otto's lips. Two claws took hold of Norman's wrists and pinned them to the wall. Putting his weight on them, Norman wrapped his legs around Otto's waist, returning the kissed ferociously.

Otto chuckled. "Good boy," he murmured teasingly against the other man's lips. A free tentacle pulled the curtains on the windows. Without the ever increasing light shining through the windows, they could technically do it in the hall, and Otto didn't really have a problem with that. Norman bit Otto's lip, his teeth merely human at the moment. His strong legs tightened, pulling Otto against him. Grinding his hips against Norman's, Otto moved down to sucking and biting the other man's neck. His fingers traced the strong lines of Norman's sides and back, what he felt making him hard. Not particularly in the mood to drag this out, the doctor used the tentacles to slip free of Norman's grip and strip off the rest of the other man's clothing.

He tugged experimentally against the actuators holding his wrists, grinning like a wolf. "All business?"

Otto put his finger against Norman's lips again. "I thought it was understood that this meant no talking." As Otto spoke, the two free tentacles stripped off their owner's pants.

He sucked on the finger, agile tongue twisting around it. Norman reached out to snare Otto with his legs again. 'Get over here' needed no words. Two claws gripped Norman's hips, pulling his back away from the wall, though the claws remained around Norman's wrists. There was no preamble. Otto was ready, and he only took long enough to slightly reposition Norman before pressing into him. Norman took it silently, with just a hissed breath as he was breached. The grin remained.

Otto leered at him, basking in the illusion of helplessness. He knew Norman was far from helpless, but it was fun to pretend. His fingers ghosted over the other man's chest as he fucked him deep and hard, the claws drawing little beads of blood from Norman's hips.

Norman knew he could turn the tables, or at least level the field. But he chose not to. He strained against the claws, rocking against Otto. The scientist's hands slid up to Norman's neck, up either side of his head, and then he took his mouth with a crushing kiss. Norman's tongue invaded his mouth, taking control of the kiss even as he rode Otto.

Upon breaking the kiss, Otto pounded Norman faster, shaking his head and shoulder blades against the wall. One of the doctor's hands wrapped around his partner's cock, squeezing slightly.

He broke his silence and moaned, shuddering as Otto fucked him against the wall. "Good god, Otto...."

Grinning teasingly, Otto slowed his pace again. "What did we say about talking?" He was testing how much dominance Norman was willing to surrender.

"You're talking."

Otto raised an eyebrow. "Do you want me to finish this or not?"

Norman mock-scowled. "You wouldn't."

Otto grinned. "I would."

Norman tightened his legs around him, locking them together. "Harder." Otto only gave him the raised eyebrow look again. Norman bared his teeth in frustration.

He returned to pounding Osborn against the wall again, the hand still on his cock beginning to stroke and massage. He was getting close to the edge.

His spine arched, hands clenched in the actuators' grip. "Yesss...." he hissed, perilously close himself.

Otto smiled and shook his head, but finished off anyway. This little quickie had already gone on longer than he intended. His eyes closed and his head tilted forward, a moan escaping his vocal chords as he pressed in and held. The claws tightened on Norman's wrists and hips.

Norman tightened around him, climaxing at the pulsing warmth inside him and the sharp metal. He howled his release and finally relaxed in Otto's grip.

Otto withdrew when Norman finished, licking drops of his partner's seed from his hand and fingers. The claws had left red marks around Norman's wrists.

He let him go, leaning against the wall, staring at him with dark eyes. "Mine."

Otto smirked at him. "You're frustrating, you know that?" His tone was more affectionate than anything else, though.

"I do try." He pushed off the wall, trailing his fingers under Otto's chin as he strode into the lab, leaving his clothes where they'd fallen.

Again, Otto shook his head at the other man, amused, and grabbed his own pants with a tentacle as he followed him into the lab. It was small, bare minimum type stuff, but Otto couldn't complain. It was a matter of being resourceful. At the door he stepped back into his clothing, and then went to a table where he'd left the web-shooters and extra cartridges. The remains of the upgrade project were still strewn about that table as well, bits of wire, plastic, and circuitry.

Norman pulled up a stool beside the table, clearly ready to work. Just as clearly not intending to get dressed. He was more than comfortable in his own skin. As much as Otto responded to this, one would think he didn't notice at all. He went about clearing the remains of his last project from the table, business-like, professional, almost but not quite formal. Norman didn't seem to care. He picked up the tools and began picking apart one of the web-shooters.

Otto gathered some materials he needed for the tests he wanted to run on the web fluid. Taking a stool across from Osborn, he settled into the rhythm of work. He didn't bother with small talk, keeping any conversation on the task at hand.

They worked well together, almost an intuitive cooperation. "Our boy's a genius," Norman murmured at one point, bent over a microscope.

Though Otto was impressed himself, he remained somewhat skeptical. "Do you really think he did this all by himself?" The boy showed a particular amount of promise, but Otto liked proof.

"No, but I think the vital steps are all his. I wonder if he did this before or after the incident with my spider."

"Would he have had a reason to make it before?" Though Otto knew he himself didn't always have a reason for some of the things he did, other than that he just could.

Norman shrugged. "If he were merely interested in continuing his father, perhaps. The spider-web resemblance could just be a coincidence."

"The only way to know would be to ask him..." And it was evident in Otto's voice that he didn't yet trust the boy enough to let him know they were doing this.

"I'll try to be subtle." The smile Norman gave him suggested he understood the distrust.

A small smile twitched briefly at one corner of Otto's mouth before a tentacle caught sight of a clock. "Speaking of the boy," the glowing eye stayed fixed on the clock, but Otto's human eyes remained on Norman, "We won't gain his favor by starving him."

Norman nearly made a comment, but then he saw the clock as well, and his eyebrows went up. It had been more than twelve hours. They'd worked all night, and far into the next day. "I suppose not."

"It's easy to get lost in a project," Otto shrugged.

"I don't usually get this lost."

"Welcome to my world," Otto responded with a half smile. "Unless you want to keep working on this yourself, I'm going to put it away, eat, and then sleep for a couple of hours." Even though he'd pulled all-nighters more than once while working at Oscorp, he was still mostly human.

Norman nodded. "There are instant dinners in the fridge. Make three? I'll be down there shortly." Otto turned to the door, one of the metal snakes briefly caressing Norman's calf as he walked out and made his way downstairs. Norman smiled after him.... and decided not to keep working. He followed Otto down, picking up his clothes and catching him at the bottom of the steps to kiss his cheek as he passed him.

His heart seemed to twitch a little in his chest and Otto blinked a couple times, pausing. Then he mentally shook it off and continued into the kitchen, getting the food out of the freezer.

Norman took himself into a bathroom to get dressed, and to shower and shave. He was, along with all of his other foibles, a meticulous man.

Otto was a more internal person, and right now he was more hungry than anything else. As he listened to the hum of the microwave, he wondered if Norman was expecting him to go down and get Peter. Though he'd admit the kid's intelligence was above average, he didn't particularly feel like interacting with him more than he had to.

But when Norman returned, the first thing he did was head down the steps to the basement and opened the heavy door. Peter was actually sitting on the bed, curled up against the wall, reading his chemistry text book. His eyes flicked up at the sound of the door, but he didn't speak. "Homework?" Norman asked, standing just inside the door with his hands in his pockets.

"Not really. Just bored..."

"You enjoy chemistry?"

"Yeah." He closed the book the book but kept it in his lap, one finger keeping his place.

"I always loved acids, myself. Such enlightening reactions."

Peter eyed him for a minute, his expression almost unreadable, showing just a touch of distrust and apprehension. "Did you only come down here to chitchat?"

"No. We're eating, thought you might be hungry." He tipped his head towards the door.

The boy nodded and stood up, walking past Norman and up the stairs without a word. It was one of the many things that been circling in his head for the past hour. Norman followed him up, laying one hand on his shoulder as they reached the kitchen. His muscles tensed. With a look back at Norman, he shrugged it off and sat down as three tentacles put the food on the table. What did that freak think he was up to? But at least they hadn't hurt him. Yet.

Osborn sat down with his own plate, brushing briefly against Otto as he did so. "I'm sorry there was no breakfast. We got caught up in something."

Though Otto was more reserved than usual in front of the boy, a tentacle drifting near the floor brushed against Norman's foot. The action was only about half subconscious.

Another shrug as he started eating. "I only woke up a couple hours ago anyway." Peter was debating asking about the pictures.

Norman nodded. "Nothing wrong with getting some extra sleep." He didn't want to push the boy, merely make conversation. "I am sorry about the accommodations, though. Is there anything I can get for you?"

Peter picked at his food silently for a minute before looking at Norman. "Where are the pictures?"

He didn't even bother to lie. "I took them. That's your old life."

"I want them back."

"You'll get them back," he said calmly, eating.

They weren't his! He had no right to take them! But Peter knew Norman wouldn't respond to that. "When?" There was a thin layer of frost on his tone, though.

"When you earn them."

"What?" A mix incredulity and indignation now, but only to hide his fear. He didn't want to think about what a psycho like Norman would want him to do. After all, only a few months ago, this man had threatened to beat him to death.

Norman gave him a patient look. "I'm not asking you to kill, or steal, or do anything like that," he said. Unspoken was 'yet.' "Cooperate, and I'll give them back."

"Why do you think you can do this?" He was struggling to keep calm, keep from yelling, but it was getting harder.

"Because you don't listen."

"I have a life. Why do you think you can just pick me up out of it and drag me out here?"

"Because it's important that you leave that life behind, Peter."

"You have no right to keep me here."

"I have every right."

Peter wanted to scream, wanted to throw Norman against a wall. Instead he got up and headed for the basement stairs.

"We made you, Peter. In a way, Otto and I are your parents."

Peter stood at the top of the stairs and looked back at them, glaring. "You're both insane." He disappeared down the stairs. If they weren't going to let him go, it didn't mean he had to talk to them. Or look at them. Or maybe he could even go on a hunger strike or something, or...

Norman let him go, only following to lock him in. Once he was sure Norman was gone, Peter screamed and hurled his backpack against the door, letting the contents spew across the floor. He just wanted to go home! And his aunt was probably worried sick... God, he just wanted to go home!

Norman just sighed as he reached the top of the stairs again. "At least he didn't try to escape tonight."

"How long until he gives in, do you think?" Otto asked.

"I don't know. When I can have a long conversation without it coming to him storming off or shutting down, we'll be close."

"Soon hopefully..." Otto paused to drink from his glass. "People are going to come looking eventually." Though it had only been about two days, this looked like it could take while.

"Well, they're not going to come here." Norman sat back down to finish his dinner, though it had gone cold.

Otto smirked at him, referring to the food. "You could always just give it a little zap..."

He poked at it. "Not really hungry."

"So I'm the only one in the house still eating, hm?" Even as Otto spoke, a metallic limb deposited his empty plate in the sink. He'd been eating while Norman and Peter were arguing, watching with the actuators.

"Mm." Norman left the table and his plate and headed for the stairs.

Otto contemplated Norman as he left the room, wondering if something was wrong, but too tired to ask. If anything was wrong, he figured Norman could handle it. What Otto wanted at the moment was a shower, so that's what he went upstairs to do. Norman was up there in his room with the door open, leaning against the window and staring out. Otto had to pass the door to get to the room he'd claimed, and he paused at it, watching Norman. Not like it was his business, but he couldn't help being curious. It was the same curiosity that had put him in this field. "Something on your mind?"

"I'm a lousy father," he said in a low voice.

Oh... "Well, you were busy..."

"I forgot to feed him."

"Teenagers don't wake up until noon, anyway." Otto didn't really know how to handle these sorts of situations, but he was doing the best he could. "Once he's compliant enough, we can allow him more freedom. He'll be able to take care of it himself..." A shrug.

Norman just shook his head. "I'm beginning to think this may be a mistake."

"Well, you do have a tendency to... rush things? It's barely been two days..."

"He's too smart for the life he was living. He should know this."

"Well, to be fair..." Otto took a couple of steps into the room. "We've both done some... unscrupulous things. Even though they had to be done, it would be hard for him to see past that, no matter how smart he is. The boy's probably never even cheated on a test..."

"What provokes someone to be that self-destructively integral?"

Otto came up beside Norman and a tentacle twisted around the other man's shoulders. The man in the center of the metal snakes gave a short laugh. "Psychology's not exactly my strong point. Perhaps it comes from being picked on in school, or maybe it's because of his parents' deaths, either an attempt to gain their approval or to fill some sort of void..."

He sighed, leaning against the tentacle. "I don't know how to reach someone like him."

"Hm." The tentacle gave him a light squeeze. "You're intelligent. You'll figure it out." He'd been looking out the window, but now he looked at Norman. "I don't think you've slept since we've been here, have you?"

"A few hours."

"You could sleep on it, let your subconscious kick it around for a while," Otto suggested. "I'll wake you up for dinner. Or you could sleep through dinner and I'll deal with the boy."

"Be nice to him?" he requested.

"Of course," he assured, smiling. "You rest." Norman nodded and pulled Otto close for a brief kiss. When it broke, Otto stroked Norman's cheek a little bit with the tips of his fingers before turning for the door. He still needed that shower.

"When this is over, I want to be able to let him go. And know that he'll come back."

A glowing red eye appeared looking back over Otto's shoulder. "High hopes, but I'm sure we'll figure it out. Everything's going to be fine." And with that, he disappeared down the hall. Even Norman had a biological son at one point. Otto hadn't even done that. He got into the shower wondering how he was going to pull this off, but he'd do it for Norman. Then again, it wasn't like he had to speak, and maybe the boy would be silent as well.

Norman remained at the window a while longer, before shrugging and creeping into the bed. Sleep. To sleep would be a good idea.