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Chapter Text

Miguel O’Hara was nothing if not prepared. He had to be, he made it his job to have backup plans for his backup plans, contingencies for any anomaly the multiverse could throw his way and every spider that came with it.

But the sight of a 14 year old Miles Morales?

He was blindsided.

Gwen was beyond nervous. Gwen felt as if the concept of nerves and anxiety had gone out, gotten itself radiated and mutated, then swung by and bit her unlucky ass, which, unfortunately for her, wasn’t entirely unprecedented. 

Escorting Miles to Miguel’s office wasn’t going to go well, she knew it wasn’t going to go well. With the news Miguel had to deliver, mixed with Miguel’s truthfully dreary personality and blunt demeanor, mixed with Miles’s own stubborn nature, she knew this wasn’t going to be easy. She knew it was going to hurt, to break the news, to explain to Miles that he had to choose the multiverse over his own father, that he had to save countless strangers over one of the few people in his family he had left. But the many outweigh the one, Miguel had driven it home over and over and over and over throughout the course of her time at the Spider Society. 

Still, she argued against him when it came to Miles. Miles, her first friend since Peter, who showed her how to have fun again, who helped her enjoy wearing the suit again, who helped her to be Gwen again, who she saw in every piece of graffiti back home, who she saw in every sunflower. She couldn’t live with herself if she didn’t fight for him, so she tried.

Once again, Miguel made it clear; emotions don’t outweigh statistics. When he had Lyla run a simulation on how many would be lost if they saved Miles’s dad…

Gwen was left speechless.

And Miguel had taken that win in the absence of her voice.

So she escorted Miles now, in an anxious buzz, not quite processing the things around her in the moment because she knew what was coming up ahead. She vaguely remembered the Go Home Machine, remembered tugging Miles along as he spent a long moment chatting with someone, too anxious to wait up on him. But if you pressed her for the details, even as it happened, she’s sure she’d draw a blank. 

Hobie sent her a Look. They knew each other well, acquainted through music and sleepovers and battle and youth, and Gwen got the feeling that, even if she had her mask on, he could read her nerves as clear as day. He gave her a quick side hug and whispered a reminder that he always had her back, then quickly returned her the personal space she always craved when nervous, before jogging ahead to catch up with Miles. Miles, who was fascinated by everything he saw along the way, who had stopped to marvel at a piece of tech on the wall, enamored with the futuristic design until Hobie told him it was an A/C unit and Miles laughed at himself. Too happy to be there to be embarrassed.

Gwen realized he would not be the same walking back down this hall.

Her breath hitched, but she forced herself to keep going.

Miguel’s office was large and intimidating by design, but Gwen was desensitized to it at this point, much like how she grew used to Miguel’s intense attitude and perpetually angry voice.

Miles, decidedly, wasn’t.

She could tell by the waver in his voice, from how his aim had been just a little off when he tossed the older spider the empanada, how quickly he switched back to english once he saw spanish lent him no favors.

She took a moment to appreciate that she still could read him so well, could pick up on his cues like that, despite their time apart. She was reminded just how much he stayed with her. How she saw bits of him in so many of the other spider people that she never let herself lose her familiarity with him in the first place.

Steps from down the hall indicated the one thing Gwen had been looking forward to about this whole ordeal, and that was seeing Miles and Peter B. reunite.

It was sweet, the second they saw each other both of them started talking at a mile a minute, intent on making up for lost time. Peter didn’t waste a second to show Mayday off to Miles, and when she crawled away he showed him all of the photos he had stored of Mayday, truly an impressive number, and Gwen wasn’t sure how he had storage in his phone for literally anything else. They hugged each other tight, and smiled, and drank in the sight of each other like there was nothing else they’d rather be doing.

But Gwen saw the tension on Peter’s face the same as Hobie saw it on her.

Miguel hopped down from his elevated panel, the one she mocked him about on more than one occasion, to interrupt the moment. He stalked towards Miles in a way she’d never seen him do to any other spider person, predatory and intense, and both her and Peter stepped back, knowing the pleasantries were officially over.

It escalated from there, just how she feared it would. Miles seemed to understand well enough, grasping the inter dimensional web as naturally as if it were just another lesson in school. Disturbed as they all had been at the idea of so much loss spread amongst them, of so many uncles and friends and loved ones slain on their own minor mistakes made so early on in their careers. It hadn’t turned into a fight, though, until it became about his dad. It wasn’t until then that Miles started fighting, pleading, struggling, making eye contact with the different spiders in the room, hoping to be understood.

Of course she understood, they all did, the wish that things would be different. But Miguel made sure they all knew better, and she saw a fair share of the crowd that had gathered look away in shame at Miles’s pleading eyes. 

When his gaze turned to her she was no different.

Miguel stepped forward, something held in his hand that Gwen almost had time to recognize before it was thrown at Miles, trapping him. Gwen’s stomach was in knots, they didn’t talk about this.

Miles opened his mouth to say something, to yell through the holo-trap, god Miguel put Miles in a trap like he was some villian , and-

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, not her full spider sense, but not too far off.

“You can’t do-” A sharp gasp, then a scream replaced whatever words Miles would have had, tearing from him loud and unexpected. Miles glitched, bright and loud and intense.

Hobie quickly shoved his way to the front, sprinting over to Miles, and Miguel took an affronted step back, wheeling on her.

“You didn’t get him a band?” He asked, snippy in a way she could tell was lined with buried worry, eyes snapping between her and Miles, brows pinched. Spiders all around her reacted, gasps and questions flying free as Miles’ body scattered and contorted so sporadically. This wasn’t normal, all of them could tell.

“Would’ve, if Parker didn’t snag the one meant for ‘im an’ slap it on Mayday.” Hobie yelled, equally tense, hands hovering around Miles through the holo-trap as Miles took a knee as his body continued to convulse.

“I didn’t know it was Miles’s, I’m so sorry-” Peter B could be heard, apologizing over and over to Miles.

“Lyla-”

“On it, boss.” The AI interrupted Miguel. “Got a band in transport already, drone should have it here in less than 15 seconds.”

“Fine.” Miguel snipped, turning his attention back to Miles.

Miles who was still glitching. 

Still screaming.

“What’s happening?” Gwen asked, hovering behind Hobie and Peter, both of which were muttering to Miles through the holo-trap, assurances and comforts that meant nothing if they couldn’t actually stop this. “Why is it still going? Miguel!” Gwen snapped her head over to him. Though her feet stayed planted, body unwilling to stray any further from her friend.

Miguel sighed, “The glitch might be fighting against itself. It’s not improbable that he is being torn between two universes at the moment.”

An uproar.

“What do you mean?”

“Two universes?”

“How is that possible?”

“Normal glitches are bad enough!”

“Where’s that fucking drone?”

“Get him out of there!”

Every spider in the room spoke up, subconsciously starting to crowd closer to both Miles and Miguel, loud and upset. Some joining in on trying to comfort Miles through the holo-trap and others demanding Miguel let the boy out as his body continued to tear into itself.

“Everybody move!” Lyla’s voice cut through the crowd, and with it the drone carrying the band finally arrived. Instantly Miguel released the holo-trap, and Peter B. took the band from the drone as he was closest to Miles, nerves keeping his mouth moving the whole time.

“Hey buddy, it’s okay. We’ve got the band here now, you’ll be just fine, okay?”

“Peter-” A gasp. “He-elp.” More screams.

“I know, I know bud, I’ve got you.” Peter said as he grabbed Miles’s hand, struggling to put the band on as the boy’s body continued to glitch around him.

“Hurry up!” Jess yelled through the newly formed silence, tense and nervous as the rest of them.

“I’m fucking trying!” Peter yelled, loud, angry and more upset then Gwen knew the man had the ability to be. He failed once more, as Miles’s hand glitched out of Peter’s hold. But for one brief moment, Miles’s body was all in one place again.

Peter seized the moment, determined to help his kid.

And finally, finally the hairs on the back of Gwen’s neck laid flat again. From the collective sigh of relief and mumbles of appreciation in the room, Gwen could guess everyone had felt the collective panic finally dissipate.

Before the moment had its time, the holo-trap was up around Miles again.

“Fuck are you doing?” Hobie shouted, standing back up again, not shy about getting into Miguel’s face. 

“We can’t have him running.” Miguel stated, cold and uncaring once again. “He needs to stay put.”

“He needs fucking medical, you twat!” Hobie shoved Miguel, hard, unafraid to instigate. Though no one was coming to Miguel’s defense at the moment, leaving him on his own.

“Lyla can scan him from inside the holo-trap, I’m not going to risk him running on us.”

Hobie’s fist clenched at his side, stance shifting to offensive. “Oi, you fucking-”

“Peter?”

A voice, young and confused and hurt sounding, came from behind Miguel and Hobie, shifting everyone’s focus back to the holo-trap.

Gwen’s breath caught in her throat.

Miles was still in the holo-trap, but he was in his old suit, his face rounder and he was so, so much smaller than he had been seconds before.

This was the Miles Gwen had left behind when she jumped back into the super collider over a year ago. Miles who had been bitten less than a week ago, who had become Spider-Man earlier that same day. 

She froze, but Peter moved as if he’d been lit on fire.

“Miles? Miles! What happened to you, are you okay? Miguel get him out of there!” Peter shouted, frantic, pressing his hands against the holo-trap. “You’re so small, kiddo, what happened?”

“What are you talking about? Peter, who are these people, where am I?” Miles asked, still sitting within the holo-trap, glancing confusedly around him at all the other spider-people. 

“I’ll tell you everything in second Miles, I promise.” Peter said before turning on Miguel. “That wasn’t a question O’Hara, I said get him out!”

Quickly others chimed in as well, urging Miguel to deactivate the holo-trap once more. Hobie quickly got back in his face, sneering at the older man.

“You heard him, yeah? Let ‘im outta there.”

Miguel remained silent and unmoving, face not betraying a thing, the tension in the room rising with his lack of reaction.

Hobie tensed, moving to pounce on Miguel before Jess held him back and took his place, angleing Miguel away from prying eyes.

“What do you think you’re doing?” She hissed, pulling him down so they were face to face.

“I can’t let an anomaly roam around our headquarters Jess, it’s procedure.”

“The hell it is. That kid’s a Spider-Man, not some anomaly. You get him out of there before I let Hobie jump your ass.”

“He’s a threat Jess.”

“Look at him and tell me you still believe that.” Jess turned them both towards the holo-trap, forcing Miguel to look at Miles.

Miles was fully focused on Peter at the moment, hanging on to his every word, and as he was distracted Miguel took a moment to look him over.

He, admittedly, was small. Miguel didn’t know how old the boy was, or what had happened to him, but it was rare to see someone so small in a spider suit, to see the baby fat still on their cheeks. Peni was around this size when he’d recruited her, through her mech more than compensated for size, and there were plenty of smaller spiders among their ranks, though that was more so due to species and genetics than it was due to age.

He’d never used the holo-cage on someone this young, he realized.

Then, Miles turned to him. Eyes wide and panicked, fists clenched near his chest as he tugged on his suit nervously, then his eyes continued scanning the room, as if looking for someone to help him.

He looked like a frightened child.

The holo-trap was gone in an instant.

Chapter Text

The same second the holo-trap was gone, Peter lunged forward, scooping Miles into his arms and cradling the boy on the floor as Miles clung onto him, burying his face in his mentor’s shoulder.

“It’s okay Miles, it’s okay, I’ve got you.” Peter assured, slightly rocking the boy back and forth in a soothing motion, one he’d often been seen using with Mayday.

Miles’s response was muffled by Peter’s shoulder, though it was the only noise in the room. All the spiders gathered watched the scene unfolding with rapt attention.

“What was that kiddo?”

“I’m sorry.” Miles said, drawing his face away from Peter’s shoulder, looking up at the man, unshed tears glistening in his eyes. Visible even in the low light of Miguel’s office.

“What? What do you have to be sorry for? Miles, bud, talk to me.”

“The collider, I-I failed, didn’t I?” Miles said, voice strained and small as he looked around at all the other spider variants in the room. “I couldn’t do it, I-I couldn’t save the multiverse.”

“No, no no no no, why would you think that? That was ages ago, you did a good job, bud. You got us all back home safe and sound, okay?” Peter assured, firmly planting one hand on Miles’s shoulder, the other cupping his face, wiping away the boy's stray tears.

“But-all these spider people, the multiverse, I-”

“Oh.” Peter said, finally understanding Miles's fear. “Oh no, this, all these guys, totally a separate situation, we’re all safe. It’s a whole different multiverse thing, I promise. You stopped Kingpin, everything’s alright, we're all safe.” Peter assured, moving his hand to the back of Miles’s head and gently running his fingers through his hair.

“He’s right Miles.” Gwen spoke up, having finally slipped out of her shock, stepping into his line of sight.

“Gwen!” Miles exclaimed, jumping up and rushing over to her, scrubbing at his cheeks on his way. “You’re here!” Miles didn’t quite smile, but something relieved broke through his demeanor, before he paused, taking in the sight of her. “How did you get taller so fast? It’s been, like, one hour, what happened?”

Gwen took a moment, looking over the boy in front of her. How he favored one leg over the other, moving carefully as if he had just come from a fight, which she supposed he must have. If he saw her just an hour ago in his memory, he’d be fresh from the fight with Kingpin, right after destroying the super collider and saving the multiverse. To her it felt a lifetime away, but for Miles, he was still likely riding off the adrenaline high of battle.

“Miles,” She paused, unsure of how she should say this. “It hasn’t been an hour, at least, not to us. It’s been over a year since we last saw each other.”

“What? No, I-” Miles froze, taking in her appearance. Her longer hair, now with pink at its tips, the slight changes to her suit, and, most obviously- and what he could admit he was slightly frustrated with- the fact she was taller than him now. Frantically, his gaze turned to Peter, who had more grays in his hair than before, but whose face looked fuller, happier, healthier, who looked better overall than when Miles had last seen him. Who had a fluffy pink bathrobe on, and a baby carrier on his chest. Then one of the spider people Miles didn’t recognize handed him an actual baby. One that shared his eye shape, his smile, a baby that looked an awful lot like the Mary Jane Miles knew from his own dimension. Peter had a baby. “Oh. Uh, I.” Miles took a breath, swallowed some of his nerves down, but he still couldn’t think of anything to say. “Oh.”

“It’s going to be okay Miles.” A new voice rang out from the crowd. “We’ll get this figured out.”

Miles turned to meet the voice he half recognized, eyes widening at who he saw.

“Peni?”

Stepping forward from the depths of the crowd came Peni Parker, the hood of her mech lifted up. Peni looked like a whole different person from the last time Miles had seen her, sounded different too, older. She was taller as well, much to his annoyance, wore a different uniform, and even SP//dr looked different, bigger and more intimidating than the version Miles had met. Unlike Peter, though, Peni looked worse for wear, harrowed in a way Miles was unfamiliar with, in a way that made him wonder what all she had been through in their time apart, scared of what all he'd missed. Still, though, she smiled at him, friendly and assuring, and Miles took comfort in the fact that that, at least, hadn’t changed. 

Finally she hopped out of her mech to stand in front of him. “I’ve already got some ideas on what we can do to fix-” A pause, as she gestured at, well, all of him. “This whole situation. Let us help you this time.” She smiled, though she didn’t move forward, seeming hesitant.

Miles didn’t mind, and he closed the gap between them for her, holding her close. “Peni you’re a life saver, thank you.”

She sagged in relief, leaning into the physical touch. Miles guessed she probably needed the hug, and resolved to do this for her more while he was still here. He could also admit that he enjoyed the hug as well, and how it helped calm his shaken nerves.

It was a lot, and Miles held his friend a little tighter.

 Peni tightened her embrace in turn. “Anything for you, Miles.”

After a moment someone Miles didn’t recognize yelled out. “Alright, enough chit chat.” Peni pulled away from the hug, and Miles followed her lead, eyes finding what was, truly, a unit of a man in a blue and red spider suit. “Lyla, pull up a scan on Morales and let’s get this thing moving.”

Miles found himself drifting closer to Peni as the man spoke. He seemed harsh and intimidating, and it reminded Miles that he wasn’t actually alone with his friends. He was surrounded by strangers, fellow Spider-Men sure, but strangers nonetheless. All of them were staring intently at him, and he felt goosebumps rise on his arms as an anxious chill ran up his spine. He felt kind of like he was at the zoo, stuck inside one of the exhibits as everyone ogled at him. He hated it.

“On it Miguel.” A hologram of a woman popped into existence next to the man who just spoke, Miles could safely guess his name was Miguel, before she popped right in front of Miles himself. Miles felt a small knot form in his stomach as he was reminded that he wasn’t just out of place, he was out of time. By a lot. He hoped he was in a different dimension, that the world hadn't moved this far ahead without him. She then popped in and out of place all around him, looking him up and down, a yellow light coming with her gaze, distracting him from his thoughts momentarily. After a few seconds a holographic screen loaded into existence next to his head, and seemed to follow him when he turned to try and look at the entries on it that were being filled out before his eyes.

“Everyone else,” Miguel barked. “Stay on standby, as of right now getting this…situation figured out is priority number one, understood?” 

Murmurs of agreement echoed throughout the room, and Miles almost felt reassured. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was a stranger to all these people and currently displaced in both time and space (seriously, why did it have to be both?", he thought he might have appreciated the gesture.

Miguel turned on him, looking him up and down, a severe expression on his face before he froze, as his eyes drifted to the readout still hovering next to Miles’s face, scanning it a million miles a second. “What happened to you?”

This threw Miles for a loop. What happened to him? He thought it was fairly obvious, but, still, if Mr. Spider-Man-Leader-guy wanted clarification, Miles wasn’t going to say no. “I think I time traveled, somehow, right?” It came out as more of a question than he had meant for it to. He would admit, in the privacy of his own mind, that Miguel intimidated him, and that he was a bit afraid to give the man the wrong answer. Kind of like getting called on in class by the meanest teacher at school, but ten times worse at least.

“Don’t play dumb with me.” Miguel barked, stepping forward to loom over Miles. His gaze hardened, voice quieting a bit. “You’re hurt.”

Ah, that. 

A murmur rose throughout the crowd, some spiders trying to angle themselves so they could see the readout Lyla had generated.

In all the commotion of coming-to in some weird glowy cage and finding out he’d been thrown forward in time, Miles had nearly forgotten what had happened right before all of this mess. Now that he gave himself time to assess his condition, he realized that he was hurting just about everywhere. Kingpin had pulled no punches, and he was pretty sure he got literally punched through a train at some point. The details were honestly fuzzy for him right now, and he realized, somewhat belatedly, that he was probably experiencing one hell of an adrenaline high at the moment.

He also realized that he hadn’t answered Miguel yet.

“Oh, uh, I just got into it with Kingpin before this, no big deal.” Miles tried to shrug him off, hyper aware of all of the eyes on him. He didn’t want Peter, Gwen or Peni to worry about what had happened to him after they left, to admit that he nearly lost the fight without them there to back him up, to admit that he wasn’t ready to be Spider-Man on his own yet. Most of all he didn’t want them to blame themselves for his condition, to view his injuries as their fault for leaving. He said he could handle it solo, and their faith that he could was the only reason he could get them to go back to their own dimensions in the first place. He didn’t want to disappoint them.

“No big deal?” Miguel asked, ice in his words. “You want to try being honest with me, Morales?” He stepped closer, still towering over Miles, gaze turning angry and cold. Miles had definitely answered wrong, then.

“I mean, I guess it was a big deal. What with the super-collider and all.” Miles could tell Miguel still didn’t like his answer, so he did what any good spider would do and stuck his foot in his mouth. “That was definitely a big deal, with the fate of the multiverse and all. Plus, you know, first big fight, so that’s important too. Not because of high stakes or whatever, that’s more like, personal stuff, you know? Something you put in a scrapbook. Plus-”

Miles was cut off as Miguel reached out, pulling down the high neck of his suit, officially out of patience. “You call this ‘no big deal’?” He asked.

Judging from the affronted noises the other spiders made around him and the way Miles saw Peter B.’s hands fly to his mouth out of the corner of his eye, Miles guessed it looked pretty bad.

A memory quickly came to mind, of Kingpin holding him up by his neck, the man’s huge fists clenched tight around Miles’s throat, cutting off his air. How Miles could do nothing to get the man off of him, super strength failing him, suspended in the air unable to breathe. How he only escaped when Kingpin was distracted by the flickering images of his wife and son that made his grip relax and bring his guard down.

Miles’s mouth was dry as he breathed out “Oh, that. Um, haha, Kingpin sure packs a punch, huh?” It came out quieter, weaker, than he wanted it to. He looked away from Miguel’s face, gaze drawn to the floor. He didn’t want to see the disappointed looks on his friends’ faces right now.

With a sigh Miguel stepped away, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Someone get him to medical.” Miguel said, gazing around the room. Peter, Gwen and Peni all stepped forward, nerves written on their faces, but Miguel held a hand out. “Not you three, I need you to stay behind to answer some questions.” His gaze lingered on them, and it looked as if they would protest until someone spoke up.

“I’ve got ‘im.” Hobie said, slinging his arm around Miles’s shoulder. “You lot get this all sorted, I can take it from here.” He didn’t wait for an answer from any of them, already steering Miles out of the room, leaving a room of confused spiders in his wake.

Miles didn’t mind being pulled away by the tall, punk looking spider. He recalled the guy standing up for him. Miles also liked that the first thing the he did was put himself between Miles and the other spiders in the room, shielding him from those countless prying eyes. He felt a little less overwhelmed by it all.

Not to mention, the guy looked badass.

Chapter Text

Hobie didn’t like this. To be fair, he didn’t like a lot of things, but leaving that kid in a room of spiders who couldn’t mind their own business for the life of them, leaving him there with Miguel? Yeah, he hated that shit. 

So, he took the kid. And, in the light of the hall, as opposed to the dim confines of Miguel’s office, he got his first good look at him.

He was small, by far the youngest Hobie had seen don a Spider-Man suit. Don’t get him wrong, he was all for teen activism and the thought of keeping someone from taking action just because they were ‘too young’ pissed him off. But Miles looked less like a teen activist/vigilante and more like a child soldier from where he was standing. The bruises and scrapes on his face were visible now, too, in the bright light of the hall they were walking through, and the nasty bruise around his neck still peeked out from the collar of his suit. Now that Miles was walking, Hobie also saw how he limped a bit, and how he kept his torso unnaturally stiff and straight as he walked, a clear sign of hurt ribs. Another interesting thing Hobie noticed about Miles was that the kid smelled like spray paint, and if anything would be good to break this awkward silence they had lapsed into after their brief introductions, that was probably his best bet.

“You some sort of street artist or somethin’?” He asked, lightly bumping Miles’s shoulder and drawing the kid’s attention away from the wild architecture that made up HQ.

“Uh, yeah. Kind of, I do graffiti sometimes.” Miles nodded, brow furrowing. “Why’d you ask?”

“You smell like it. Spray paint, I mean.”

At this Miles frowned and faced his body, giving some experimental sniffs to himself before huffing. “Guess that’s what I get for spray painting the suit.”

Hobie raises an eyebrow at that. “Spray painted? Why not just design the thing how you wanted it? Seems like less work.”

“Well, actually it-” Miles hesitated, tugging at the logo on the chest of his suit, going a bit quiet. “It’s not my suit.”

Hobie tilted his head in question. “What do you mean ‘not your suit’? You’re wearing it aren’t you?”

“It’s Peter Parker’s suit, really. His aunt May just gave it to me to use after he…” Miles trailed off. Hobie noted the touchy subject. “I just customized it. It felt wrong, you know? Replacing him like that, wearing his mask. I had to make it my own first.”

“I can respect that.” Hobie nodded. “Gotta be your own Spider-Man.”

Miles smiled at that, content under the praise. “Thanks.”

They lapsed into a more comfortable silence after that, and Hobie let himself trail behind Miles a bit as Miles once again found something to distract himself with in the futuristic headquarters. 

He took in the kid’s hand-me-down suit, mostly. If Miles didn’t tell him, Hobie didn’t think he’d ever notice the suit’s original design had been tampered with. It looked clean, and as far as first suits go, this one’s design was leagues and bounds ahead of some of the other first drafts he’d seen from other spiders. The number of modified hoodies and fabric dyed morph suits he’d seen were truly staggering. 

Though in certain spots Miles’s suit hung oddly, especially around his shoulders. As they turned a corner Hobie wound up right back next to Miles, and in the light he saw something reflect off of a piece of Miles’s suit, at the outside of his shoulder blade. He squinted to get a better look, and found the outer part a safety pin peeking out before tucking back into the fabric. Once he saw the first one it was easy to spot the others. Some at the hip of the costume, a few more on the back and by the armpits, and one or two at his knees. The way he had them pinned to fold the fabric over hid it well, especially with the single color spray paint on top, but with an odd twist to his stomach Hobie realized that the suit was much too big for Miles. That the boy had to fold it again and again just to get it to fit, and to prevent it from pooling at his feet and hanging off his shoulders, drowning him in fabric. He supposed it made sense, there’s no way Miles would have been able to fill out the suit of a full-grown Spider-Man. 

Still, it uncomfortably reminded him of a child, sneaking into their parent’s closet and trying on their clothes, pretending to be them and do the things they do. Except Miles didn’t get to pretend. He had to wear the suit and fill the role that came with it, regardless of the fact that he didn’t have time to prepare for what Peter made that suit mean, or to prepare for the onslaught of enemies who stood against it.

All too soon they arrived at Medical, and Hobie realized he’d spent a good portion of their walk over wrapped up in his own thoughts. Hobie distantly realized he recognized the person working at the moment, some variant of Spider-UK with her mask off but hijab bearing her logo still in place. He took a moment to once again be thankful he wasn’t a Spider-UK himself, despite being from London. He couldn’t help but to think of how pretentious it was to name yourself the symbol and protector of an entire nation. Still, he knew that now wasn’t the time to get into that, there were more important things than his least favorite naming conventions to deal with. Namely, the nervous and injured teen standing beside him.

“Hello, I was told to expect you two.” Spider-UK said, smiling at the pair. “Lyla sent a message ahead of time. It looks like we don’t currently have a file on hand for you, Miles, so if you could answer a few questions while you get changed into something more comfortable that’d help us to get started as soon as possible.” 

She tilted her head to a nearby dresser, and when Miles opened it he found it to be full of basic T-Shirts, tank tops, sweat pants and basketball shorts ranging from sizes fit for a literal tank to clothes that would comfortably fit a hamster. He chose a T-shirt and shorts that would probably translate to a size medium, noting that they both had some version of the spider-logo on them. He appreciated the consistency. 

“There’s a changing room through the door behind me if you’d like to use that. We can talk through the door while you change if you’re comfortable with that.”

“Fine by me.” Miles said, stepping through the door, soon followed by a “Thank you.” His parents taught him to always use his manners, after all.

Hobie took a seat off to the side, idly fidgeting with his guitar as the doctor started talking.

“Alright Miles, do you know your height, weight and blood type off the top of your head?” 

“Um…” 

“It’s okay if you don’t. We can just get your information as we need it if that’s easier.”

“No, no it’s fine. It’s just, I had a growth spurt since the whole spider-bite-thing. My blood type’s O negative though.”

“That’s fine, what you had during your last checkup is a good starting point if you know it. Age as well, while we’re at it.”

“Okay. I think I was around 5’ 6” ish and maybe 140 pounds. I’m 14.”

Hobie frowned at that. He wouldn’t be hard pressed to admit that he’d been holding out hope that the kid just had a baby face.

“Alright.” Spider-UK typed away onto her holographic keyboard as she spoke. “Do you know if you have any allergies to anything? Food or medicine?”

“No, my mom got me an allergy test when I was a kid. I’m all clear.” 

“Any pre-existing medical conditions?”

“Nope.” Miles said, popping the P. He opened the door. “Healthy as a horse.”

When he walked through the door Hobie jolted upright in his seat, body moving to help the kid but mind not knowing what to do.

Distantly, he thought to himself that Miles didn’t look healthy as shit, let alone a horse.

Without the full body suit on, the bruises and abrasions peppering Miles were unobscured. Hobie noticed a lot of damage on his hands and wrists, along with some swelling he knew to associate with broken bones or dislocation, and a lot of bruises scattered along the rest of his arms and legs, a cluster of deep discoloration on his right ankle. 

The discoloration around his neck, however, had Hobie clenching his jaw in an effort not to yell or shout or demand answers from the kid. Hobie realized with belated disgust and terror that the bruises connected into the shape of two huge hands, hands that easily dwarfed Miles, that Hobie is sure had no problem at all reaching around the entirety of the kid’s neck and squeezing . Miles had been strangled, Hobie was sure of it. He felt the urge to smash his guitar into some shit. He felt the urge to vomit.

“Alright Miles, if you could sit on the patient’s bed there I can start getting you taken care of.” The doctor said. Hobie thought she held onto her professionalism like a fucking champ, though her voice took on a more gentle note than she had before.

Miles did as she asked, and Hobie followed suit, switching chairs to one closer to Miles, not wanting to miss anything going on with the little spider. Spider-UK reached into some random drawer and pulled out a generously sized tub of bruise cream.

“This should help relieve some of the pain for you and reduce your swelling.” She explained as she began rubbing the cream onto his neck. “Your hands, however, look like they might be broken. Same with your ankle. I’ll have to get those X-rayed just to be sure. Is there anywhere else that’s giving you trouble?”

“Yeah. I think- I think Kingpin threw me around a lot. Pretty sure I banged my head.”

Spider-UK hummed, running her fingers over the back of Miles’s head. “There is some swelling here. Some blunt force head trauma. We’ll have to check for a concussion for sure, then see if there’s anything internal.”
Miles made a small, distressed noise at that. Something he definitely meant to keep to himself if the face he made was to be believed. 

Hobie couldn’t blame him, though. He was currently hating every word out of the doctor’s mouth, and she wasn’t even talking to him.

Looking between the two she smiled reassuringly. “I wouldn’t worry too much, that’s all precautionary. The fact that you’re so lucid right now is a good sign for sure, not to mention your healing factor. It’s probably been working away at the worst of it first, that’d be why it hasn’t taken care of all the small stuff. Is there anything else that has been bothering you, though?”

God, Hobie sure fucking hoped not.

Miles nodded.

Of course, no one ever cared about what Hobie wanted.

Miles worked the edge of his T-shirt, not answering, before pulling the edge of his shirt up in one swift movement without warning.

Swollen, dark, bruised ribs mocked Hobie, misshapen and mottled. Clear evidence of a beating that went too far, of a villain that pulled no punches, one that aimed to end the life of a 14 year old kid.

Nearly as bad, though, was the look on Miles’s face once he caught Hobie staring at him. He looked hesitant, almost embarrassed about god knows what. Getting hurt? Letting the villain get the upper hand? He had no idea. 

What he did know was that he was currently fuming. It pissed him off, the idea that someone would target a kid , because even with a mask it was clear Miles was young, limbs gangly and voice high, whoever did this had to have known. Kingpin had to have known he was trying to kill a kid fresh out of secondary school. It was wrong, beyond just wrong, it was unjust and unfair and against everything Hobie stood for both in and out of his uniform.

He tried to calm down, but each time he looked at Miles, at the state of him, he just got upset all over again. He didn’t need to blow up in front of the kid, but it was hard not to get angry. To not want to hop over to Miles’s dimension and wreck house, to find this Kingpin fucker and make him pay. To tear down his whole operation, burn his shit to the ground, because looking at Miles, it was all too easy to imagine what had happened to him. To see the scene play out in his mind. Miles, held up by his neck, head slammed against a wall. Body thrown around recklessly, bruising at every point of impact and breaking wherever he landed wrong. The fight only getting harder as he kept taking hit after hit, up against an opponent who was so much bigger than him because Miles was so small -

Hobie stormed out of the room.

After taking time to cool off, (ie. Break shit. ((That vase was ugly anyways. Plus it’s not like the plant was still alive. It was just a bunch of sticks in dirt, he was helping clean. Or something. Whatever.))) Hobie walked back into the room.

He quickly clocked all the changes to Miles’s appearance. He had wrappings covering both of his hands, a wrist brace on his left hand, as well as some splints on a few of his fingers. His shirt was still off, but most of his torso was now covered with a supportive brace, with ice packs wrapped over top, and his shoulder had gauze on it wrapped in a way that Hobie knew indicated it had been previously dislocated. There was an adhesive bandage on the back of his head, his neck was dressed, and there were miscellaneous bandages scattered over the rest of his body. The only good news Hobie found was that Miles’s ankle didn’t have a brace on it, meaning that, at least, wasn’t as bad as it had looked. Miles still had wrappings on it, though, so Hobie felt it wasn’t all that good of news. 

Miles wasn’t left fully covered with medical dressings, but it was a close thing. 

Hobie wondered if there was another unnecessary vase nearby. 

“Hobie, you’re back.” Spider-UK said, handing Miles his shirt back. “I wasn’t sure what to think when you rushed out like that.” She turned to him, a pointed look on her face, eyes darting to Miles. 

Ah, he’d freaked the kid out, rushing out like that. He could fix this.

With a smile on his face Hobie made his way over to Miles, who was struggling to get his shirt back on, what with all of the supplies on his hands. “Sorry about that, big man. Got myself a little worked up earlier, didn’t want to disrupt the good doctor’s work.” Miles smiled at that, still trying to secure a good grip on his T-shirt. 

“It’s okay. My mom says it’s good to know when to walk away.”

“Your mom’s a smart woman.” Hobie said, watching Miles struggle with the shirt a moment longer before he couldn’t take it anymore. “Let me get that for you, bruv.” Hobie reached forward, sliding the shirt over Miles’s head. He trusted Miles could do the rest himself, and as much as he might want to help, he knew he didn’t need to baby the kid.

“Thanks, I’m not exactly, uh, nimble at the moment.” Miles said.

“It’s all good. No problem in needin’ a bit of help.” Hobie said. “Doc, we all good here?”

“Just about, I just need to send this request through to the pharmacy.” She said. Hobie gave her a questioning look. “Nothing serious, just some anti-inflammatory medication for the ribs, shouler and ankle as well as some light level pain medication just in case Miles feels like he needs it. We already went over all the details while you had stepped out. It shouldn’t take more than a minute or two.”

Hobie nodded at that, turning his attention back to Miles. “Got you something while I was out, by the way.” He reached into his pocket, pulling out a red sports drink he’d acquired (stolen) from a vending machine down the hall. “Figured you could use a drink after the whole shit show back at Miguel’s office.”

“Sweet,” Miles said, quickly uncapping the drink and taking a large sip. “Good to know red’s still the best flavor, even in other universes.”

“Damn straight. Hows about we get you down to the cafeteria, gotta be hungry too, huh mate?”

“Sorry, I’m afraid that will have to wait.” Spider-UK interrupted. “Miguel sent me a message, asked for Miles to return to his office to answer some questions once we wrapped up over here.”

Hobie frowned at that. If they wanted his healing factor to take its full effect the kid would have to load up on calories. Nothing burned through energy reserves quite like accelerated healing, especially to the scale Miles would need in order to take care of everything that had happened to him. He could tell by the doctor’s tone that she knew that too, and she looked like she was about to say as much before Miles spoke up.

“That’s fine, Gwen and Peter and Peni are still there, right? Don’t want to keep them waiting.” Miles hopped down from the medical bed he was sitting on, almost immediately wincing as he undoubtedly jostled his ankle and a few of his other injuries. “Ah- remind me not to do that again.”

“Okay, don’t do that again.” Hobie deadpanned.

“Thanks. You’re a lifesaver.” Miles retorted, heading for the door. “Thank you for your help Doc, I appreciate it.” He waved back to Spider-UK.

“Anytime, Miles. And feel free to come back if anything’s bothering you, okay?”

“Yes ma’am!” And with that he walked through the door, Hobie close behind.

“You sure you should be walking right now?” Hobie questioned. Honestly he was wondering how responsible it was having him walk to the Medical Wing in the first place, and he didn’t feel like making the same mistake on the way back.

“I don’t see why not.” Miles shrugged. Hobie raised his eyebrows at that, indicating to Miles’s bandaged body with his head. “Or, well, I think I’ll be fine. My ankle feels better with that stuff she put on it, and she said it wasn’t really broken.”

“The fuck does ‘really broken’ mean?”

Miles made a face, and Hobie could tell that the kid knew he had slipped up. “It-uh- it means that it’s only…hairline fractures.” Miles got quiet, trailing off at the end, but Hobie still heard him loud and clear.

Super Senses: 1 Miles Morales: 0.

“Hope you at least know you sound like an idiot right now.” Hobie said, ducking into one of the nearby storage rooms.

“I think I know what I’m talking about, man. My mom’s a nurse.”

“Your mom know about all this?”

Miles didn’t answer.

“Yeah, didn’t think so.” Hobie huffed, emerging from the room he was in.

“You’ve got to be joking.” Miles deadpanned.

Hobie had emerged with a wheelchair rolling in front of him and a smug look on his face.

“It’s either this or I carry you though HQ damsel in distress style.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“You want to risk it?”

Miles huffed indignantly as he got into the wheelchair, Hobie holding it steady for him. Miles noted that the wheelchair had a spider logo on it too.

Hobie could admit that making the kid ride around in a wheelchair was a little bit unfair, and maybe if it had been any other spider person he would have left them to their own stubbornness. Miles wasn’t any other spider person, though. He was a kid who had just gotten his shit rocked, and Hobie didn’t want his hairline fracture to develop into yet another broken bone that the kid had to worry about.

Hobie’s good-natured worry didn’t stop Miles from moping, however, stubbornly keeping his eyes on his lap and ignoring Hobie’s half-assed attempts to start up a conversation.

That was until he heard voices off in the distance. Miles then looked up and realized that he didn’t recognize the area Hobie had taken him to.

“This isn’t the way to Miguel’s office.” He said flatly, craning his neck back to half heartedly glare at Hobie.

“No, but it is the way to the cafeteria.” Hobie smirked.

Miles paused at that. Food did sound amazing right now, but “Didn’t Miguel want to see us right away.”

“We’ll get something to-go.”

Miles couldn’t argue with that.

Chapter Text

Miles quickly realized a few things once he and Hobie entered the bustling cafeteria.

1. There were a lot of spiders in here
2. His body was an Eye-Spy game of injuries right now
3. People were staring at him again
4. It got real quiet, real fast

Miles tried his best to curl in on himself, to try and keep away from all the prying eyes, but his injured ribs didn’t allow him much choice but to sit up straight. The best he could do was to cross his arms over his chest, but those had bruises and bandages on them too, so it didn’t really do much to help him feel covered.

Hobie seemed determined to keep them marching ahead, dodging through the crowd and paying them no mind as he steered the two towards a burger place.

It didn’t take long for people to -at least pretend- to return to their business. Miles still felt their eyes on him, though. He heard their attempts at hushed tones too. 

“Who’s the new kid?”

“What happened to him?”

“That’s a whole ass child.”

“He looks so scared, should I go say something?”

“Poor thing can’t even walk.”

“Oh my god, look at his hands.”

Miles hated the pity that radiated off of them all. Those without their masks on looked so, so worried. He remembered seeing his parents don similar faces whenever those old pet adoption commercials came on, but he wasn’t some stray dog or something. He was Spider-Man, and Spider-Man got hurt sometimes. They were like him, they should understand, right?

Hobie still hadn’t said anything, and Miles appreciated the way he kept dodging the people who tried to approach them with some concerned remark on their lips. As they dodged their way out of the third or fourth person to approach, however, Miles couldn’t help but look back at Hobie, hoping his face conveyed his discomfort.

Hobie was already starting to get irked at everyone and their mother eying the kid. On some level he understood, Spider-Man helps people, kids in need, blah blah blah. But countless spiders all doing it like they were some sort of hive mind? Excessive was an understatement, and the fact that none of them seemed to realize they were doing it meant they were begging for a reality check.

Then the kid turned to him, eyes scrunched and eyebrows angled upwards, frowning and looking uncomfortable in a way that had Hobie reacting before he knew it.

“Oi!” He yelled to the crowd, voice carrying as he glared around at the nearby spider people. “Mind your own fucking business, yeah? Kid’s not some fucking side show to gawk at so you lot can kindly fuck off.” To bring his point home he glared daggers at the last Spider-Man who had tried questioning Miles about god-knows-what. “Got that?”

The Peter variant bobbed his head quickly. “Yeah, um, sorry about that. Just worried, you know?”

"I'm not the one you need to be apologizing to." Hobie deadpanned, holding unwavering eye contact with the man.

"Right, of course. Sorry, um…." The Peter variant seemed to realize he didn't know the kid's name halfway through speaking.

Miles took pity on the guy. He could understand where his concern was coming from. "Miles, my name is Miles."

"It's nice to meet you Miles." He smiled. "I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable. If there's anything you need just let me know, okay kiddo?"

"Sure, thanks man."

With that Hobie started wheeling them away once again, and thankfully those around him seemed to have gotten the memo, stares and murmurs lessening-though there were still a few who thought they were being sneaky about it. Hobie did appreciate those who let them cut in line to get their food, though. That shit was at least helpful.

“Hi, what can I get started for you two?” The man at the counter asked politely. 

Miles was still looking over the menu, so Hobie went ahead and placed his order. Spider-Man 2099 meal with onion rings. The burger annoyed Miguel, so Hobie always made sure to get one if he needed lunch before going to see the man.

“We’ll get that working right away.” The man said, then he turned his attention to Miles. “And for you?”

“I think I’ll get the Spider-Burger with fries, please.” Miles said.

“Perfect, any sauce with that?”

“Barbecue sauce if you have it.”

“Sure do. And what size?”

“Single.”

“Double.” Hobie cut in. Miles gave him a questioning look over his shoulder. “You need the calories, mate. Look at you.”

Miles definitely took offense to that. “I’m not that skinny.”

“Didn’t mean it that way.” Hobie said, though the kid could definitely stand to put on a few pounds. “Healing factor’s gonna take up a lot of energy, need to keep up the reserves, yeah?”

Miles considered it for a second, before conceding. “If you say so.”

The guy at the counter nodded, seeming to agree with Hobie, putting in the order.

“And a chocolate milkshake, too.” Hobie threw in.

Miles didn’t argue against it.

As the two headed back towards Miguel’s office Miles dug into his bag and grabbed a fistfull of french fries, and god, he didn’t know what their special ‘spider-seasoning’ was but it was good . He was also pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to get the biggest thing of fries he’d ever seen in his life in his meal, as well as probably another serving’s worth sitting at the bottom of the bag, but he wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. 

Speaking of which, “Hobie, I forgot to ask, how much do I owe you for the food?”

“Don’t worry about that, it’s all taken care of.”

“Come on, I mean it. I know my wallet’s kind of in a different dimension right now, but I’ll pay you back. How much was it?”

“No, Miles I meant it was actually taken care of. The food was free.”

“What?” Miles asked. “Did the worker do that? I didn’t notice.”

“The food here’s always free, man.” Hobie stated. “Miguel takes care of all that stuff. As long as you’re at HQ that’s all taken care of. It’s like a benefit for helping save the multiverse’s ass all the time.”

“Oh. Is that what all this is? A multiverse protection program?”

“Pretty much.” Hobie shrugged. “Sometimes villains get warped to the wrong dimension by mistake. We take care of that, on top of any bigger threats that come up.”

“That is so cool.” Miles said. “Am I a part of this- what do you call it?”

“Spider Society.”

“Spider Society, awesome. Am I in it? In the future? You know I did already save the multiverse, that probably looked really good on my resume.”

Hobie paused. “You definitely should be.” Miles definitely could’ve used the help, the resources. The training. The medical care. “But Miguel’s got his head stuck up his own ass. Think it’s a permanent thing.”

“Oh.” Miles sounded disappointed, but didn’t let it show for long. “Well, maybe I can convince him. You know, tell him all about how I took out Kingpin’s Super-Collider and all that.”
“Worth a shot.” Hobie shrugged. Honestly, if Miguel denied Miles access to the help the Spider Society would provide him, Hobie didn’t think he’d be interrupted from going toe-to-toe with the man again.

“How does he even afford all this though?” Miles questioned, once again taking in his crazy-cool surroundings. 

“Interdimensional trading.”

“Huh.”

After Hobie took Morales to medical and all the extra spiders finally dispersed, Miguel set about re-hashing the events of the primary Super-Collider event that took place so long ago. As he suspected, he knew all the key elements, the order of events as they pertained to the fate of the multiverse, as it related to the first spiders to ever cross between dimensions, all of the answers to the questions that were relevant to the Spider Society. Miguel quickly realized that that knowledge was almost completely irrelevant in this situation. After wasting a good 30 minutes going over information he already had in his computer and cross referencing their current accounts with those they gave when he’d first reviewed the incident with each of those involved, he realized he was getting nowhere. He needed to know about the kid they were stuck with, and where they should go from here. For the first time in a long time, the mission wasn’t relevant, so he started asking more about Miles, and less about the fight.

He had Lyla open up a new file to write everything into, and they went from there, filling out the details as they came to mind, and answering questions as they came. Apparently the kid had venom-blasts and the ability to turn invisible, as provided by Peter. He had a generally unruly fighting style, though he seemed to have foundations in boxing, according to Peni. He attended Visions academy in his freshman year, apparently he and Gwen attended classes together as she was trying to get her bearings in his dimension, which was news to him. Maybe Miguel wasn’t as thorough as he’d thought. He did know that Gwen would’ve been too old to be a freshman at the time, though just barely. He’d first met her when she’d just turned 16, still he supposed being a new freshman made for the best cover story given the situation. If Miles was a freshmen at the time, that would mean he’d have to be-

14. Peter let him know that Miles was 14 years old.

This quickly derailed Miguel’s line of thought. 

Most of the time a person got bit between the ages of 16 through 24, but he knew there were exceptions. Gwen was 15 when she was bit, though that wasn't too far off the mark. Peni had been bitten at 13, though she was 15 when she'd been allowed on the field regularly by the Web Warriors she worked with on her earth. He’d recruited her a fairly soon after that. It made Miguel wonder if Miles was a similar case, if he’d been bitten young but not entered the field until his Peter died. He wouldn’t know how much time went between those events, however, until he got the chance to talk to Miles himself.

“Lyla, where is Morales. The doctor said they left twenty minutes ago, what’s taking them so long?”

“Slow your roll big man.” Hobie’s voice rang through, cutting off the AI. “No crime in getting some grub, is there?”

Miguel sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He’d forgotten Hobie was the one who escorted Morales. Of course that’s what took them so long.

“Just get over here.” Miguel sighed, turning towards the pair. “Morales, we need to go over some-”

Hobie wheeled Miles into the light, and the words caught in Miguel’s throat. Why was the kid in a wheelchair? Could he not walk? He’d been walking the last time Miguel had seen him. The kid now had bandages and dressings all over his frame, but in the low light of his office Miguel couldn’t get a read on the nature of the injuries.

“Lyla, increase the brightness in here.” He demanded, walking closer to the two boys, the others soon following. The lights hurt his eyes, sure, but that wasn’t important right now. He needed to see what had happened to Morales.

Lyla obeyed and Miguel frowned, internally taking stock of the boy in front of him. Strangulation, dislocated shoulder, injured ankle, dislocated wrist, broken fingers, abrasions and bruises, and from what he could tell bruised or broken ribs based off of the kid’s posture. If Miguel had any say the kid wouldn’t see a patrol for another month at least.

“What happened.” Miguel meant for it to be a question, but it came out more as an order. He found he didn’t really mind. 

Miles seemed uncomfortable with Miguel’s undivided attention, and he clammed up more once he saw the crestfallen looks on his friend’s faces, their guilt written clear as day.

“I-uh, Kingpin was- it wasn’t that bad- it’s just-” Miles couldn’t seem able to find the words for it, eyes glued to his friends. To Peter, who had heartbreak and guilt etched onto his face so deep the emotions seemed permanent. “I know it looks pretty bad, but it’s not- the doctor was thorough so it looks like a lot. I mean, it kind of is, but you don't have to worry too much, I-”

Hobie had had enough. “You can read the bloody medical report, can’t you?” Hobie cut off Miles's rambling. “No need to make the kid give you the play-by-play.”

Miguel would very much like the play-by-play, actually. Part of him was tempted to demand one from Morales, but despite what some may think, he did actually pick up on social cues. Sometimes. Miguel did also try to look out for those under his care, when he had the luxury to, and that included Peter, Gwen and Peni. They were radiating regret and guilt, eyes glued to Miles as if they were taking count of every injury, every way they failed him. Peter was the worst off, and in the moment Miguel was glad Peter took some time to drop Mayday off back home. Peter looked as if he were falling apart at the seams, but trying to hide it. Miguel knew better though, saw the tremble in the man’s hands and the furrow of his brow. If Peter did hear what exactly had happened to Miles after he left his protege behind, Miguel felt the man wouldn’t be able to hold himself together at all anymore.

That didn’t mean Miguel wouldn’t try to figure it out when Peter wasn’t around, however.

“Fine.” Miguel snapped, bringing his gaze back to Miles. “Morales I-are you eating right now?”

“No?” Miles said, around a mouthful of fries.

Miguel’s mouth opened, but he couldn’t think of anything to say that would portray exactly how frustrated he was.

Hobie laughed.

Chapter Text

Miguel turned away for a moment, rubbing his temples a bit, trying to calm himself down so he wouldn’t snap at Miles for eating in his office who does that he has rules about this -

“Lay off the kid, Miguel.” Peter spoke up. “He needs to eat to heal. You know that.” Peter paused, taking in Miles’s appearance, voice breaking slightly. “He needs to heal.”

Miguel sighed, turning back to look at Miles, who was struggling to open a sauce packet with his injured hands before Hobie opened it for him.

He supposed he could make an exception. Just this once.
“Well you’ll have to multitask, then. I’m not waiting on answers any longer.” Miguel told Miles.

“I can do that.” Miles said, dipping his fries in barbecue sauce. “What do you want to know about?”

“You, Morales. What’s your story? When were you bit? How long have you been Spider-Man? Who are your villains, what’s your training? Anything and everything about your life since you became Spider-Man.”

Miles snorted at that. “Well then this won’t take very long.”

The kid didn’t seem to understand. “I’m not talking about just your time as Spider-Man. I mean everything since you were bit.” Miles didn’t seem like he was understanding Miguel’s point. Great. “Lyla, explain.”

“Easy peasy.” She said, popping up in front of Miles and loading in a timeline marker in front of him. “Your Peter died here.” A tick mark appeared on the timeline. “And here” Another tick popped up almost directly on top of the first one. “Is when Kingpin activated his collider and brought in spiders from other dimensions. This is where the collider was destroyed.” A final tick was added to a small space after the collider’s initial creation. “According to the accounts we have you had already been bit before this point, so you were bit sometime along here.” The timeline turned blue at all points before the collider incident. “So, tell me Miles. When was that?” She began jumping along the line at random points. “Was it here? Or here? All the way back here? Or-”

“Right here.” Miles pointed near the first tick on the timeline.

Lyla frowned, skipping right in front of him. “That’s the day your Peter died, Miles.”

“No” Miles’s voice took on a delicate note to it. “It was the day before.”

The room was dead silent for a moment.

Miguel noted that, though the three who were involved in the incident did seem upset by the news, they weren’t shocked by it. Not like Hobie, who was currently bending the handles on the wheelchair, seemingly without realizing he was doing it.

“You knew.” He said.

“No-I mean we had our suspicions, but we didn’t know know, I didn’t think it was this recent but-” Peter rambled.

“He was totally inexperienced. It wasn’t hard to guess.” Peni said.

“Zero skills.” Gwen added. “Absolute beginner.”

“I don’t feel like that’s a constructive comment.” Miles said.

“You got stuck to my hair.”

“Touche.”

“It does why you wanted me to mentor you so bad.” Peter cut in. “Since your Peter never got to make good on his promise.”

“What promise? Elaborate.” Miguel demanded.

“When I first met Miles, he was begging me to mentor him.” Peter said. Miles at least had the decency to look embarrassed. “Even gave me this whole guilt trip about how I was the only one who could teach him since his Spider-Man died.” Peter B. seemed to realize the nature of Miguel’s curiosity, his own tone turning confused. “You said he promised to teach you how to use your powers.”
“He died the day after you got bit.” Miguel stated, nearly accusing.

“He did!” Miles defended. “I got to talk to him before Kingpin found us. He promised to train me before the fight started up. He gave me the goober right before Kingpin-”

“You were there?” Peter asked, glued to his spot.

Miles’s mouth snapped shut. He took a long sip of his milkshake.

“You were there?” Peter rushed to Miles, suddenly urgent. “Miles, please tell me you weren’t.” Peter got to a knee, so he was eye level with Miles, and grabbed Miles’s free hand in his, pleading. “Please tell me you weren’t involved in the fight that got your Peter killed. Miles, please.” Peter’s eyes bore into Miles’s, desperate. “Tell me you didn’t have to see that.”

Miles swallowed, though there was nothing in his mouth. “I’m sorry Peter.” He didn’t know what to make of Peter reacting like this. He’d hardly had the chance to think about it, and now Peter was making it such a big deal when Miles really would’ve preferred to keep on ignoring it. Miles hadn’t even meant to be there in the first place, didn’t realize what was going on until it was all already over with. Until he was too late. “I-I didn’t realize-” His face crumpled. “I didn’t know.”

Peter reached up, wiping the few tears that slipped down Miles’s cheek. Miles hadn’t realized he was crying. “It’s not your fault, bud. I’m sorry you had to see-god, no wonder you-” Peter took a breath. “Come here.” He leaned forward, holding Miles in his arms, letting Miles cry softly into his shoulder. “It’s okay, buddy. You’re safe, it’s okay. It wasn’t your fault. I’ve got you.”

Miles stayed there for a few long moments before he finally pulled away, eyes red and puffy, but dry. “Thanks Peter.”

“Anytime, bud.” Peter smiled. “That’s what mentors are for, right?”

Miles smiled at that. “Yeah. The best.” Miles’s eyes darted between the others, and they could tell what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth.

“If you apologize I’m going to wheel you off a cliff, mate.” Hobie said.

“Seriously Miles, you’re fine.” Gwen said.

Peni nodded. “There’s no need to feel embarrassed. We understand.”

Miles smiled.

Miguel found he could do nothing but stare at the kid. He thought he’d have more questions to ask, but there really was nothing else to know, was there? He’d been bit, his Peter died, and immediately after he had Kingpin’s collider to deal with. There was no time for anything else. There was no history of Miles’s to ask about. 

Was he even technically Spider-Man at this point in his life, had he even had the chance to be seen in public?

Miguel supposed that he did have some questions, after all.

“Miles,” He said, drawing the kid’s attention. Miles’s face had cleared up, he noted, internally thankful Peter had been there. “Are you Spider-Man?” The others’ faces quickly turned irritated, and Miguel knew he had to clarify. “To your New York. Do they know about you?”

Miles shook his head, then paused as if considering. “Some people do, I think. I swung over to the collider, so I’m sure some people saw me on the way.”

“Beyond eye witnesses, does anyone know about you yet? Would anyone outside this room know your New York even has a Spider-Man?”

Miles went a little quiet, then shook his head, embarrassed. “No. They don’t.”

Miguel nodded his head, turning away. He’d thought as much. “That’s all. You’re all dismissed. Get Miles to one of the living quarters. I’ll let you know if I need anything else.” Everyone was fast to move, soon forming a semi-circle around Miles as they moved to leave. “Peni, stay behind for a moment.” He called out to the girl, and she soon broke away from the group. 

He walked her over to his desk, pulling up a few holograms on the way. “Spider Byte will be ready for you whenever you’re ready to get to work on a solution. You’ve got full access to all our facilities and I’ve set aside a workshop for you to use. Recruit anyone you need for your team on this. I want this whole thing taken care of as soon as possible.”

“Got it.” Peni said. “What about materials?”

“Anything we’ve got on site is yours to use. If you need anything specific, Lyla will arrange it for you.” Miguel said.

“Anything anything?” Peni asked, excited.

“If we can get it in any of the dimensions we have access to, it’s yours.”

“Perfect.” Peni grinned, before quickly rushing off.

Miguel was only a little concerned at what Peni was cooking up in her mind, but he trusted that her drive to help her friend would outweigh how chaotic she got when in the lab. 

He resolved to check in on her, before he got back to work.

Peter didn’t get shaken up by much anymore. He thought he’d mastered his ability to stay cool in almost any situation, he’s seen the whole range of villains, from pickpockets to master minds, and all they could think to throw at him. He’d been Spider-Man for decades, he thought he was prepared.

He’d only been a dad for about a year, though.

On some level Peter knew he thought of Miles as more than just a protege or student or whatever he’d been calling it. He often caught himself thinking of Miles, in the year they’d been apart. There wasn’t a Visions Academy in Peter’s world, so he visited Midtown’s school year calendar, keeping track of their registration dates, their breaks, even when their midterms and finals were, just so he could stay up to date with what was happening in Miles’s life, even if he was dimensions away. He frequently found himself wondering what it would be like to have Miles over for dinner, to introduce the kid to his Mary Jane, for Miles to get to meet Mayday. Whenever Mayday needed a babysitter Peter thought of how nice it would be to call on Miles. To get the kid’s favorite pizza as thanks for coming over, to come home and see Miles sleeping on the pull out couch Peter bought just for company (just for Miles), to slide the kid some extra money as he saw him out the door. He wanted to make sure the kid was taken care of, that he was eating enough, that he had time for himself outside of school and patrol, to make sure he didn’t have to worry about all the things Peter struggled with when he was balancing Spider-Man and High School.

He wanted to look out for his kid.

It was torture, getting a dimension hopping watch and learning that the only place he couldn’t go was to Miles. He remembered fighting Miguel on it so hard that Miguel had actually blocked universe 1610 from Peter’s watch, and that the only reason he didn’t fight it harder was because he’d had a sleeping Mayday strapped to his chest.

He had the others, though, and took some comfort in that. He looked out for them, and tried to trick himself into thinking it was enough.

Then he found out about Miles coming to Headquarters, and his heart swelled and shattered in one motion. He’d get to see Miles at the cost of Miguel shattering the kid’s world. 

He resolved to do his best to comfort Miles once the news was broken to him, because as much as he wished he could change it, cannon events came for them all.

He was prepared for the yelling, the crying, the fighting, for anything and everything that could and did go wrong, all the way up until Miles was 14 again.

Paternal instincts went haywire, the only thought on his mind was to get his kid out of the holo-trap. Then to comfort Miles, answer his questions, get him somewhere safe, to act, to do something.

Then Miguel pointed out Miles’s bruised neck and Peter’s lungs froze.

It was a unique kind of guilt that coursed through his veins. It wasn’t often that Peter knew what exact action he could have changed during a fight that would have spared someone, what he could have done differently to save just one more person, to keep them safe. Adrenaline always blurred the details, and he wasn't always left with clear solutions. But with Miles the answer rang loud and clear in his ears.

Peter could have stayed.

The guilt only intensified once Miles returned, with Hobie wheeling the boy in on a wheelchair, looking like a half-finished mummy costume.

Even now, walking Miles to his new room at HQ, Peter couldn’t keep his thoughts from spiraling into what-if scenarios he knew better than to think about. 

If he had stayed behind Miles wouldn’t have a scratch on him, he was sure of it. Peter would have been the one to take on Miles’s Kingpin while Miles deactivated the collider. Logically he knew if he stayed behind, then Peter wouldn’t have his family, and wouldn't be here now, but surely this could have been avoided somehow.

Peter could have stopped Kingpin before he even left, he realized. Why did he waste his time on the goons when he could have been gunning for Kingpin from the get-go? Why did he let himself get sidetracked like that? If he’d just focused, then Miles wouldn’t be here now.

What really got to him, though, was that Peter hadn’t been there after the fact. How did Miles get home, in the state he was in? How did he get treatment? Painkillers? Did he have to go through it all alone? He could see it all too clearly. Miles, hunched over a first aid kid on the bathroom floor, watching some random Youtube video about how to dress his wounds and trying to stay quiet, to not get caught. Miles, stuck up in bed for days afterwards, relying too heavily on his healing factor because he didn’t know how else he could fix what had happened to him, energy drained and body aching.

Gwen bumped into his shoulder, and Peter was soon snapped out of his thoughts. He hadn’t even realized he’d gone quiet for so long.

Gwen slowed her pace down, and Peter matched it, putting some space between them and the group.

“You doing okay?” She asked, bumping their shoulders together.

Peter sighed, something heavy and resigned. “Feel like I should be asking you that, kiddo.” He took in Gwen’s appearance, and she looked as torn up as he felt. Brows furrowed and a press to her lips that didn’t seem to be going anywhere.

“It goes both ways.” She said, casually. “You just look like shit right now.”

That startled a laugh out of Peter, and Gwen smiled up at him. “Thanks. You’re a real charmer, you know that?”

“I’ve been told.”

Peter took a pause, glancing forward to Miles again. “I just feel guilty, you know? Like, like-”

“We could’ve done something to prevent this.” Gwen interrupted.

Peter sighed. He’d been doing that a lot lately. “Yeah.” He glanced back to Gwen, saw the way she stood a bit closer to him than normal, how she wrapped her arms around her torso in a mock version of a hug. She needed comfort just as much as he did at the moment. “He’ll be okay, you know. We’ll be there for him this time.”

Gwen’s nodded, face steadied in a way Peter had often seen from her before she stepped into a fight, resolution hardening as determination set in.

“Hell yeah we will.” She said.

Peter smiled, slinging his arm over her shoulder and walking the two back to the group.

He’d be there for Miles this time around.

He wasn’t leaving his kid again.

Chapter Text

Pavitr didn’t know what to do. 

His city just underwent an attack from the Spot, his girlfriend and her dad had almost died, and in saving them both he put his entire dimension at risk.

But there was nothing he could do about any of it.

Gayatri was with her father, spending time together after the whole ordeal on the bridge. The city’s various disaster relief programs and construction companies were already working on repairing the damages done to the buildings, as well as re-housing all those who had lost their homes in the attack. As for the hole being ripped into his dimension, the best scientists the Spider Society had to offer were already all working on a solution, and practically forbid him from interfering at all.

In short, he was going a little stir-crazy. What he wouldn’t give for a distraction right now.

Almost as if summoned, Pavitr got a message on his watch.

Hobertrum:

so

know youre busy right now

but some shits going down at HQ rn with miles

figured youd like to be in the loop

Me:

OMG What happened 👀👀👀👀👀

Hobertrum:

stg its some time travel-soap opera hybrid bullshit

dramatic as hell rn

Me:

I’ll be right over 🤩

Miles was just getting settled into his room -and holy crap this place was so cool, he was afraid to touch anything- and Peni was promising to get him some stuff to decorate so it didn’t look so plain, when his spidey-senses went off.

Instinctively Miles wheeled back a bit, before he registered that his senses were going off in recognition of another spider instead of in warning of danger. Soon after, a bright orange portal opened up, and a teen with the fanciest hair Miles had ever seen jumped out, doing a flip on the way. It didn’t take much to put together that this was another Spider-Man.

“I got here as soon as I could!” The man said, and Miles noted an Indian accent. “Hobie, you have no idea how glad I am that you messaged me. I was losing my mind in Mumbattan. What’s going on?”

The new guy seemed to radiate energy and curiosity in equal measures, and Miles felt himself somewhat drawn to him. He seemed friendly and approachable, and Miles’s first impression was only solidified by Gwen and Hobie’s smiles upon seeing the newcomer.

“Take a look for yourself.” Hobie said, gesturing to Miles.

The man gasped, looking at Miles for the first time. “Oh my god, you’re so tiny! What happened? Hobie said you time traveled, that’s so crazy!”

Miles couldn’t help the infectious grin that was spreading on his face from the man's energy. He hoped the new guy and him were friends in the future. “I got thrown forward in time, I think. Last thing I remember was my fight with Kingpin, which was apparently over a year ago. It’s been weird.”

After mentioning the fight, Miles saw the new guy look him over, face freezing in place for a second as he took in Miles’s injuries. He was quick to recover, though, and didn’t make a scene out of it like all those spiders in the cafeteria had. Miles appreciated that a lot at the moment.

“So you don’t even know who I am anymore, do you?” He asked. Miles shook his head no. “My name’s Pavitr Prabhakar, I’m the Spider-Man of Earth 50101 in Mumbattan. You can call me Pav, though, if you want. All my friends do.” Pavitr smiled.

“Are friends in the future?” Miles asked. He definitely wanted to be friends with Pavitr, the guy was a walking green flag.

“We met earlier today.” Pavitr said. Miles’s face fell a bit, they hardly knew each other at all. Pavitr probably just came over to see Hobie. “You saved my girlfriend’s dad, Inspector Singh, and we fought this crazy villian too. We work really well together, I don’t see why we wouldn’t be friends.”

Pavitr beamed at miles, and Miles couldn't help but to smile back. He felt grateful the older teen was here. He could already feel the mood lifting in the room.

Hobie stepped forward, grabbing Pavitr’s shoulders and jostling the other around a bit. “Pavi here’s one of our best. Heart of gold. Man feeds stray dogs and everything.” 

“Nice.” Miles said. “I’ve always wanted a dog, but my mom would never let me.”

“My Maya Auntie wouldn’t either!” Pav said. “She says she’s allergic but I’m pretty sure she just made it up as an excuse.”

“Huh. My dad wouldn’t let me get a dog either.” Gwen said, turning to Hobie. “You?”

“Didn’t have the space for one.” Hobie supplied. 

Peter hummed. “Maybe it’s a spider thing.”

“As if you wouldn’t get Mayday a puppy the second she asked for one.” Gwen said.

“Oh, absolutely.” Peter replied.

“I’ve got a spider.” Peni offered. “He’s kind of like a pet.” She paused, hearing something the rest of them couldn’t. “Well, life partner slash psychic companion.” She amended.

Miles grimaced a bit. “That kind of seems like it's its own separate thing.” He said.

He had to fight off a yawn at the end of his sentence. The events of the day were starting to catch up to him, but he wasn’t willing to sleep just yet, even if the doctor had encouraged him to rest as much as possible. He didn’t want to miss out on any time with his friends.

“Probably.” Peni agreed. “But I feel like that’s getting a bit too off topic.”

“Ready for the rest of the tour?” Peter asked, grabbing hold of Miles’s wheelchair. 

“There’s more?” Miles asked. He thought he’d seen all the place had to offer. Pull-out couch in the living room with a holographic TV (holographic!), a kitchenette in one corner, and a door that he assumed led to a bathroom. Done and done, right?

Apparently not, because the door he thought led to the bathroom actually led him into a hall. Turns out there was a proper bedroom here, with a full sized bed and walk-in closet, a full bathroom across from that, a room Peni said a lot of people used as an office that was pre-equipped with a desk and everything, and an extra storage closet. Not only that, but the whole outer wall of the living room had a function that turned the whole thing into a ceiling-tall window. It was currently nighttime so there wasn’t much of a view, but it looked like he was way up above the ground. Mils felt like this definitely qualified as penthouse height. He didn’t even want to imagine how much a place like this would cost in Brooklyn.

“Are you sure I can stay here? For free?” Miles asked. “Hobie, you said I wasn’t even in this Spider Society thing, is this really all okay?”

“Miles, bud, you’re worrying too much.” Peter said. “Miguel’s got it all covered, you just need to settle down, okay?”

“If you say so.” Miles said, holding back another yawn.

“Why don’t you get some rest, kiddo. You definitely need it.” Peter said.

Miles nodded, finding it harder and harder to fight off his exhaustion. “That sounds good.” He said.

“I’ve got to get to the lab soon, anyways. Spider-Byte’s been waiting up on me.” Peni said, stepping out of the room. “See you later, Miles.”

“I’m gonna jet home and check in on my girls. I’ll be back soon.” Peter said, stepping out of the room and activating his watch.

Hobie threw one arm over both Gwen and Pavitr, leading them out of the room. “Come on Pavi, Gwendy and I will catch you up on everything that went down while you were away.”

“Bye guys!” Miles called out before the door closed, a chorus of final goodbyes following soon after. 

Just like that he was alone. 

He felt lucky sleep caught up to him before his thoughts did.

“Soooooo” Pavitr trailed off. “What happened? Miles looks like a baby!”

“It was weird.” Gwen said.

“Beyond weird. Miles was glitching like a madman.” Hobie said, gesturing with his hands.

Gwen frowned at the memory. “It went on for forever. Like five, ten minutes.”

Pav gasped. “No way.” He looked between the two, putting a hand on Hobie’s shoulder to steady himself. “That’s impossible.”

“We thought so too.” Gwen said. “Miguel said something about being split between two dimensions. Don’t know what he was talking about, though.”

“What? Two? What does that even mean?” Pav asked.

“Dunno, but I’m planning on finding out.” Hobie said.

Pavitr wiggled his eyebrows. “Oooooh, are you planning a secret stealth mission?”

“More or less.” Hobie smirked.

“Well I’m in.” Gwen said.

“Me too.” Pavitr nodded. “Stealth missions are always so exciting.”

“Plus you’re nosy.” Gwen said.

“Plus I’m nosy.” Pavitr echoed.

Hobie turned down a random side hall, and the other two paused.

“Where are you going?” Pav asked.

Hobie turned his head over his shoulder as he continued walking. “Got to pick up something from the pharmacy.” He said.

“What for?” Gwen asked, following along. 

“Just some stuff for Miles.” Hobie answered.

“What’s that about, by the way?” Pavitr asked. “I didn’t want to ask with Miles in the room, but he looked terrible.”

Gwen scowled a bit at that. “Miles just came from his fight with Kingpin. Right after the rest of us went back to our dimensions.” There was definitely guilt in her tone.

“Kingpin?” Pav gasped. “That guy’s intense. Miguel won’t even let me go up against him since my variant hasn’t even shown up yet. He told me most Kingpins don’t make their first appearance until a year or so after a spider debuts.” Pavitr stopped, realization shooting across his face. “How long has Miles been Spider-Man? He’s like twelve! Has he been Spider-Man since he was eleven? That’s so little!”

“First of all he’s fourteen.” Gwen said. “And no, he’s only been Spider-Man for a day.”

“You’re joking.” Pav said.

“I mean it.” Gwen said. “Literally one day.”

“What?! How does he even have villains yet, that’s crazy!” Pavitr all but shouted. He remembered not getting his first real villain until nearly a month after he first started his patrols. The public didn’t even recognize him until after he’d been patrolling regularly for two or so weeks. He still struggled with taking on multiple basic thugs at that point. For Miles to have Kingpin after him on day one was unthinkable. 

Gwen’s mouth snapped shut. She hadn’t thought about that before. “He wasn’t his world’s first Spider-Man. His Peter died right after Miles got bit.” Gwen said.

Pavitr opened his mouth, obviously about to cut in, but Hobie interrupted before he had the chance.

“So he inherited a rogues gallery full of seasoned villains.” Hobie said, frowning.

He didn’t like the picture that painted. A fully fleshed-out rogues gallery, all with years of experience in fighting against Spider-Man, now up against Miles, who has no experience under his belt whatsoever. A complete novice up against villains who have been improving their fighting style and gear specifically to go toe-to-toe Spider-Man for over a decade.

Hobie had a sinking feeling that this wasn’t the last time Miles got laid-up like this. He hated that he was already too late to help, that all those worst-case scenarios had already happened to Miles before he even knew the kid existed.

He also felt angry towards Miguel. Organizations like this never went right, not with one guy on top calling all the shots, but it wasn’t all shitty. Spiders looking out for other spiders was a concept he could get behind. As soon as it came to Miles, however, all that went out the window. Hobie genuinely couldn’t think of a person who needed the help more than the kid who got thrown into the lion’s pit on day one, and Miguel had just chosen to leave him there. Miguel had to have had a reason, as stupid as it might be, but Hobie couldn't think of any reason that would even come close to justifying leaving a kid behind like that.

“That’s….Disturbing.” Pavitr said, frowning.

“You’re telling me.” Gwen said. She was upset she hadn’t thought of that before, in retrospect it was obvious. Of course Miles didn’t get to start from zero like the rest of them. He really got a heavy helping of spider-luck.

Pavitr looked between Hobie and Gwen, both with solemn looks on their faces, and took it upon himself to bring the mood back up. “Can we get slushies before we go back to Miles’s room?”

Hobie hummed. “That actually sounds fire right now.”

“We should get one for Miles, too.” Gwen piped up.

“He likes red.” Hobie said.

“Duh, that’s the best flavor.” Pavitr said. 

They continued to chat as they walked down the hallway, appreciating how each others’ presence helped them all feel a bit better.

Chapter Text

“Oh my god.”

“This has to be illegal, that’s so cute.”

“Guys, move. I need to take a picture for Peter.” Gwen said.

The trio had been gone for a little over half an hour, and in that time Miles had completely knocked out. They let themselves into his room, and found him curled around one of the pillows on the bed like a baby koala. He apparently also raided the supply closet down the hall for all the extra pillows and blankets, because he was absolutely drowning in them, his head and arms being the only thing poking out. He snored a little bit in his sleep.

“Do we have to wake him up?” Pavitr whined.

The pharmacist told them that Miles should take the anti-inflammatory medicine as soon as possible. Surely a few hours wouldn’t hurt though, right?

“He can go right back to sleep.” Hobie said. “Best to be safe about this stuff.” He reached over, starting to shake Miles’s shoulder gently.

“No, wait, one more-” Gwen said, before Miles grunted, slowly starting to sit up before wincing.

“Wha-what’s happenin’?” He asked, voice airy and rough from sleep.

“Got you your meds, mate.” Hobie said, helping sit Miles up. “Pav, prop up some pillows for the kid, would you?” 

“Sure thing!” Pav said, immediately fluffing pillows.

Hobie shook out the dose written on the bottle and handed the pills to Miles. “These are those meds the doctor told you about. Said you should take two pills every four hours, got it?”

Miles squinted at the pills in his hand, mind foggy with sleep. “Can’t.” Miles paused, trying to find the words he needed. “Need a drink.”

Gwen stepped forward and handed Miles his slushie, though it was a little melty at that point. “Here. This is for you.”

“You’re the best.” Miles said, quickly downing his medicine before finishing off half the slushie as well. “Red’s the best.”

Miles blinked a few times, trying to wake himself up more.

“Go back to sleep, Miles.” Gwen said. “You need the rest.”

Miles frowned at her, though his eyes did droop a bit. “You’ll still be here?” He asked.

“Yeah. I’ll still be here.” She promised.

“Good. I’d-I’d miss you.” He said, sinking into the pillows, eyes slipping shut. “I like it when - when you’re…here.”

Gwen’s heart clenched a bit at that. “I like it when you’re here too, Miles.” 

Miles hummed at that, and a garble of noises that might have once been words followed, before Miles went still again, quickly back to sleep.

It was quiet in the room for a moment, then

“Why wouldn’t he miss me?” 

“Pav you’re ridiculous.” Hobie huffed.

The trio moved to the living room, turning on some baking show as background noise as they waited for morning to arrive.

Cannon events were important, but they were also fluid. It was why Miguel and other scientists in the Spider Society held out hope that they could save Earth 50101. Similar events and disasters happened all the time in their line of work. If something important was supposed to happen at a bank robbery and didn’t, there’d be another one next week where the same event could take place. A web had to be flexible to function, after all.

This is why Miguel O’Hara wasn’t entirely shocked to find that the inauguration of one Jefferson Davis of Earth 1610 had been delayed since the family had found their only son to be missing the night before. Miles had to be there for this specific cannon event, after all, and he was currently holed up on Earth 2099. Physically he was also at a point in his timeline well before this cannon event was set to take place. Miguel had noticed that the greater universal web seemed to be aware of these things, on some level. It wasn’t anything he could prove, and he hadn’t ever brought it up, but occasionally he got the feeling something grander was looking out for all of them as they protected the multiverse. He felt it as deep in his body as the air he breathed, but never for long enough to find any pattern or logic to it.

Miguel resolved to share the news with Miles’s friends the next time he saw them, but not Miles himself. At this point, Miles didn’t even know his dad was ever in danger in the first place, and the last thing Miguel needed was for Miles to try hopping dimensions in the state he was in. He needed to heal, and HQ was designed to be the best place for him to do just that.

Additionally he couldn’t exactly have Miles running around as a double anomaly, Miguel reasoned.

At least, that’s what he’d tell anyone if they were to ask.

With Earth 1610 squared away, Miguel made his way over to check in on Peni, Margo and Lyla and the progress they’d made on fixing whatever had happened to Miles. It had only been a day, but any progress at all would be music to his ears right now.

As he stepped into the lab he saw it was much more void of people than he had expected. He remembered giving Peni freedom to recruit whoever she saw fit, and they had a plethora of spiders who were at this point experts in the field of multiversal studies. Surely they were all-

Busy. Miguel remembered. They would all be busy trying to stitch Earth 50101 back together. Great.

Lyla was the first to notice him entering the room, though the other girls weren’t far behind.
“Someone looks antsy.” She said, a smug look on her face. “Couldn’t wait to check in, could you?”

Of course Lyla saw straight through him. Miguel pinched the bridge of his nose, but didn’t try arguing with her. She’d be able to see straight through it anyways.

“I’m here for an update.” Miguel said. “I need to know if you’re any closer to figuring out what happened with Morales.”

Peni stepped forward, flipping a holographic screen to face him. “We’re getting there. We’ve been running simulations all day. As far as we can tell the combating dimensions in Miles’s DNA caused his structure to seek out something to stabilize itself, which would be an energy similar to or identical to what is created by rifts in a dimension.” 

Miguel nodded, following along as Peni pulled up another diagram, numbers and equations filling the page. 

“This part’s where it gets a bit tricky. It looks as if the glitch started to sort of flip between different unique instances of Miles’s structure, like it was looking for one where he’d have had high levels of exposure to the energy it needed to stabilize.”

“Energy from a Super-Collider, for instance.” Miguel said. It wasn’t the craziest thing he’d heard of happening, but it was close.

“Exactly.” Peni said. “But we need to confirm that that’s what was happening. The multiverse works uniquely with time, so we need to make sure that those energies weren’t what affected Miles, since that would be a whole different set of problems.”

“How long will it take to confirm?” Miguel asked. Ideally he was hoping to have Morales back to normal within a week, but even he could admit that that would be asking for a lot.

“Minimum a day and a half, maximum three days.” Margo said from where she’d settled back at her desk, already running a new simulation. “We’ll let you know as soon as we’ve figured it out.”

Miguel grunted. He supposed that was as good of a turn around rate as he could hope for.

“Don’t forget to provide daily reports.” He said before turning to leave, not waiting for a response.

“Aye-aye captain manners.” Lyla quipped, going back to work herself.

Miguel, not for the first time, wondered where it was in her code all the snark came from.

Miles woke up hungry.

He was a teenage boy, so that wasn’t exactly new for him. His mom sometimes joked about him going on runs in his sleep after he’d eat a huge dinner and wake up to be equally hungry for a breakfast just as big the next morning.

Still, this hunger felt different. A little deeper, a bit sharper, as if he’d burned through absolutely everything in his system.

Miles got out of bed carefully, testing his ability to put weight on his bad ankle. To his disappointment it still hurt just as bad as it had before.

His head felt better, though, and his ribs didn’t give him anywhere near as much trouble as they had the day before. He vaguely remembered someone waking him up a few times throughout the night to give him some medicine, and he wasn’t surprised to find Hobie, Gwen and Pavitr in the living room when he stepped out. 

The three of them looked like they’d just got up recently themselves. The pullout couch still had pillows and blankets on it, and distantly Miles wondered where they’d gotten those from. He remembered grabbing all the ones in the supply closet before he fell asleep yesterday, so maybe one of them had a room at HQ too that they grabbed their sets from. He also found that they all had changed into loungewear to sleep in at some point, their suits thrown on one of the side tables.

“Good morning.” He said, stepping into the room.

“Good morning!” Pavitr answered, definitely too energetic and loud for this early on in the morning, if Hobie and Gwen’s faces were to be believed. Miles found it fitting, Pavitr seemed like a morning person to him.

“How’d you sleep? Hope we didn’t disturb you too much with the whole medicine-wake-up stuff.” Gwen said.

“Nah, you’re good. I slept like a baby.” Miles said.

Hobie snorted. “You got that right.”

Gwen and Pav laughed softly too, and Miles got the feeling he was missing out on something. He didn’t get the chance to say anything, though, because his stomach rumbled and interrupted the moment.

“Whew, been there.” Gwen said. “How about we go grab some breakfast.”

“Breakfast sounds amazing.” Miles said, quickly heading to the door. 

Hopefully they didn’t remember that stupid wheelchair from yesterday.

“Not so fast.” Hobie said. “Don’t think you’re getting away that easily.”

Dammit.

Miles smiled, exaggerated innocence plastered onto his face. “Getting away with what? I have no idea what you’re talking about. Ha.”

Hobie just raised his eyebrows, and with one pointed look to Miles’s ankle, the boy folded. 

“You’re the worst.” Mile said, deflating. “Actually the worst.”

“Somehow I can live with that.” Hobie said, going to grab the wheelchair from Miles’s room.

“This is bullying.” Miles told Gwen. “I’m being bullied right now and you’re doing nothing to help me.”

Gwen just smiled at him. “It builds character.”

“Boo, you’re the worst.” He said, turning to Pav. “You’ll help me, won’t you Pav?”

“Ha! No.” Pav answered. “I’m too smart to go up against both Hobie and Gwen. You’re on your own.” 

Miles frowned. He needed new friends.

“You also might want to get changed before we leave.” Pavitr tacked on. “There should be some clothes in your room.”

“Already on it.” Hobie said, and in a second Miles had a shirt and pants thrown at his head.

“Thanks.” Miles deadpanned, heading back to his room to change. “You’re so kind to me.”

“Anytime.” Hobie chimed.

Miles wondered where Hobie had even got the clothes from. One look into the wardrobe in his bedroom revealed a variety of clothes similar to what there was in the doctor’s office, though these clothes stayed much closer to his size. Once he got dressed he noted that Hobie had chosen an all black outfit out for Miles. He felt kind of cool.

It was almost enough to keep him from whining at Hobie for making him use that stupid wheelchair again.

Almost.

Once they got to the cafeteria the smell of food was enough for Miles to drop his pouting. At this point he was only complaining for the sake of banter, anyways.

Miles was glad to find that the entire cafeteria didn’t stop and stare at him this time around, even though he definitely didn’t recognize a good portion of the spiders that were here from the day before. A few that he did recognize, however, did point him out to the people they were near when they thought Miles wasn’t looking.

Miles was workplace gossip. Great.

He also definitely wasn’t the only one of his group to notice the not-so-subtle staring. He heard Hobie’s fists clench around the wheelchair, bending the metal of the handles.

“Fucking vultures.” Hobie muttered, wheeling Miles up to a table. “Let me know if they start acting nosy again, alright?”

“Sure thing.” Miles said. “I’m more concerned about breakfast, though.”

Hobie nodded. “You need me to wheel you around?”

“Nah, I’m good.” Miles said. Being unable to move on his own yesterday probably didn’t help any of the staring or rumor, and his fingers didn’t really protest when he gave a few experimental turns to his wheels. 

He started off in a random direction, and his friends all did the same. The cafeteria wasn’t as busy as it had been the day before around lunch, but there were still a lot of different places that were open, and he wasn’t super sure on where to go. He saw someone walk by with a plate stacked high with chocolate chip pancakes and the decision was made for him. He went in the direction he saw the other spider came from, and found a relatively short line that was going by pretty fast. It looked like it was a buffet, score.

Miles wound up behind some Spider-Man cowboy guy who was loading a plate full of scrambled eggs and bacon. As Miles grabbed a few pancakes for himself he felt the familiar buzzing in the back of his head that he always felt when he was close to a new spider. From the way the man turned to look at him, Miles could guess he felt it too.

“Howdy there young’n. Don’t reckon we’ve been introduced yet. The name’s Web-Slinger, or Patrick if you feel so inclined.” The man, Patrick, literally tipped his hat at Miles as he spoke.

“My name’s Miles. Um. Partner.” Miles stammered. 

Cowboys said partner, right? He felt like he’d heard that in movies and stuff.

Patrick laughed at that, warm and friendly. “No need for all that, now. Nothin’ worse than a city-slicker trying to go western.”

“Noted.” Miles said.

Patrick grabbed another plate and started to load that high with biscuits and gravy, and cocked an eyebrow as Miles started to wheel away. “You sure that's all you’re having to eat there, son?” He asked. 

Normally Patrick tried not to stick his nose where it didn’t belong when it came to other spiders, but three pancakes? In the state the kid was in? He’d seen Spider-Cat eat more.

Miles turned back to look at the cowboy guy. He vaguely remembered Hobie saying something about burning through calories with advanced healing.

“Oh, right.” Miles wheeled back to the line and grabbed one more pancake before heading to the table his friends were at.

Patrick sighed. Well, at least he tried.

Pavitr was the first to notice Miles approaching. “Miles! Did you find everything okay?”

“Obviously not.” Hobie said, eyeing Miles’s single plate. “What else do you want, mate? I can go grab it for you.”

“What? No, I’m good.” Miles said. “I got pancakes.”

Miles put his plate down, and looked at what the others had gotten. There was oatmeal and fruit, savory pancakes, sausage, and-

“Is that-do you have beans on toast?” Miles asked.

“Hobie.” Gwen sighed, disappointed. “We talked about this.”

“You can’t shame me on this.” Hobie said, pulling the plate closer and taking a bite as if trying to prove a point.

Pavitr cringed. “British people, man.”

“Are the beans cold?” Miles asked, taking a bite of his own pancakes. “I feel like that makes a difference.”

“Doesn’t matter. Nothing could justify that.” Gwen said. “You need help, Hobie. You can talk to us, if you need to.”

“You’re all insufferable. I don’t know why I’m friends with any of you.” Hobie said, tossing his toast back onto his plate. “You don’t see me making fun of your breakfast choices.”

“That’s because you can’t make fun of the classics.” Miles said, finishing off his first pancake.

“Back to you, actually. Where’s the rest of your food at?” Hobie asked. He sounded a little accusatory, which threw Miles off a bit.

“What do you mean?” Miles asked. 

These pancakes were huge, this definitely qualified as a big breakfast.

“I swear I remember telling you you need to eat a lot if you’re healing literally yesterday.” Hobie said.

“I know.” Miles nodded, taking another bit. “That’s why I got an extra pancake.” 

Gwen sighed, a mix of exasperated and fond. “No, Miles, you burn through a lot when you’re healing. Not to mention that that’s hardly enough food for a normal day.” 

Miles gave her a confused look. “This is a lot of food, though. My dad eats this much and he’s built like a football player.”

“Miles, look at how much the rest of us have.” Pavitr said.

Miles did look -and he’s surprised he didn’t notice it earlier (he must have been distracted by the beans)- since their table was covered in plates stacked high with bacon, fruit, bread, pretty much anything you could think to get for breakfast was already present. A spider walked past their table balancing three plates that were also absolutely full. Miles then glanced around at the other tables nearby and saw that they all looked like his friend’s table, with at least two plates per person everywhere he looked.

Miles got the feeling he was missing something.

“Being Spider-Man takes a lot of energy.” Pavitr explained. “All your powers running day to day burns though like twice as much food as a normal person. It only goes up with patrols, and healing takes even more than that. You could eat a whole cheesecake right now if you wanted to.”

“That’s crazy.” Miles said.

“I’m surprised you haven’t noticed.” Gwen said. “I remember feeling like a walking black hole when I first got bit.”

“That’s because you were building your super-powered muscles.” A new voice spoke up. Miles turned and saw an angsty looking guy who looked pretty similar to Peter B. “Name’s Ben Riley, fitness expert and guru on all things gains. Couldn’t help but overhear.” Miles noticed that the guy flexed as he was talking.

“Hey Ben.” Gwen said.

“Gwen, Hobie, Pavitr.” He nodded to them. “Who’s the new guy?”

“This is Miles.” Pavitr answered. 

“Nice to meet you, Miles.” Ben said, shaking Miles’s hand. Miles could feel the familiar buzzing in his mind as his senses acquainted him with the new spider. Ben’s face shifted a bit, and Miles knew he felt it too.  “Need any tips on getting yolked, just come to me. No offense but you look like you need ‘em.”

“Um, thanks, I think?” Miles asked. It seemed like Ben was being genuine, at least. “I don’t suppose you know anything about Spider-Man diets?”

“Oh for sure I do.” Ben pulled up a chair from a nearby unused table and sat between Miles and Gwen. “We talking macros, micros, supplements, super foods-”

“More like calorie intake.” Gwen cut in. She’d been on a few missions with Ben before and knew the man had a habit of rambling. He was aware of it, at least, and usually didn’t take offense to getting cut off. “Miles here got bit pretty recently. He’s not exactly grasping the whole ‘advanced metabolism’ part of the power set.”

“Oh, for real?” Ben asked, interest piquing. “How long are we talking? I wasn’t bit myself but I’m familiar with the whole metabolism spike that happens in the beginning. It usually plateaus out after the first few months, though. How long ago were you bit?”

“Um, a little under a week.” Miles said.

Ben did a double take at that. “A week?! You’re joking!” He all but shouted.
“Watch it.” Hobie cut in. A few people eating nearby were looking their way at Ben’s outburst.

“Sorry.” He said, significantly quieter. “Just, a week though? Singular? I know you time traveled or whatever but that’s crazy, man.”

Miles frowned at that. “Where’d you hear that from?” 

Miles wasn’t sure of how many people knew of his…predicament, but if a random passerby knew about it, then Miles got the feeling it wasn’t as private of a topic as he would have liked.

“Nobody had to tell me, I was there.” Ben said. “I was pretty far back in the crowd, though. You probably didn’t see me.”

“Oh, no, I guess I didn’t.” Miles definitely had more important things to worry about at the time than memorizing the faces of all the people who were in the crowd when he first showed up here. He was a bit relieved, though, that that part of his whole…predicament was a little more private. For now, at least.

“It’s all good, bro. Wouldn’t expect you to. I can’t even say I’m all that surprised that you got bit so recently, either. I think you’re the youngest person HQ has ever seen. Besides Mayday, of course.”

“Aww, Miles is in the same age group as Mayday. How sweet.” Pavitr teased.

“That's not what he meant and you know it.” Miles said, definitely not pouting.

“You really should have more than a couple of pancakes though.” Ben interrupted. “Honestly you could probably eat everything at the table and still be hungry again by lunch.”

Miles actually felt his jaw drop. “You’re kidding. There’s no way.”

“You’d be surprised.” Ben said.

Miles looked between his friends, half expecting them to drop some sort of punchline.

“We mean it, Miles.” Gwen said. “If you don’t get enough food your healing factor won’t work right.”

“And I wasn’t kidding about building muscles earlier, either.” Ben added. “Your body’s still adjusting to the spider bite’s effects, and that means bulking up. Plus some people grow a couple inches when they get bit, which would normally take a few months at least for a normal person. You cram months worth of growth and hitting the gym into a matter of weeks when you first get bit. Add that to you weren’t as physically developed as a lot of the rest of us to start with, then that spider bite’s probably hitting you harder to catch you up. If you don’t feed your body enough to accommodate, it’ll mess you up. ”

“So I have eat like a linebacker for a while.” Miles said.

“Two linebackers.” Gwen said. “Maybe three. You could probably cut back in a month or two.”

Miles paused, he hadn’t realized the scale that his friends had been talking about earlier. It sounded insane to him, but he guessed that being bit by a radioactive spider wasn’t exactly in the norm either. 

“Linebacker Miles.” He said. “I’ll give it a try.”

“Good.” Hobie said, sliding over a plate towards Miles. “Now get to it. 

Chapter Text

Miles could admit that he felt a lot better after he started eating more. He hadn’t realized that him feeling sluggish wasn’t all due to his injuries, but he could definitely feel the difference now.

After breakfast they went back to Miles’s room so everyone else could change back into their suits. Apparently it was encouraged for people to wear their suits at HQ since they could be called out at any time for missions while they’re here. It also helped to tell all the different variants apart from each other, which was a nice bonus.

“So, what do you want to do today, Miles?” Pavitr asked. “Normally I’d say the training area’s pretty fun -the obstacle courses are awesome- but I don’t think that’s really an option right now.”

Miles took stock of his still very much broken boy and couldn’t help but to agree.

“Well, what else is there? I’ve only really seen Miguel’s office and the medical wing.” Miles said.

“There’s tons of non-training stuff.” Gwen said. “There’s this crazy library with books from a bunch of different dimensions, we’ve got a couple of different lounges with game console and entertainment systems, there’s an open chemistry lab if you want to work on your web fluid recipe, same thing with a lab for gear and another one if you want to update your costume. Um, I think the greenhouse just reopened too.”

“Ooh, I forgot about that! They’ve got flowers from different dimensions and everything, it’s so pretty.” Pavitr said.

“Costume lab?” Miles asked.

“Yeah, you could design a whole new suit if you wanted to. There are some restrictions, though. You can’t use any of the materials or technology in your suit that doesn’t exist in your own universe.” Gwen said.

“Yeah, that’s cool. Or whatever.” Miles said.

Hobie saw straight through Miles’s attempts at a casual tone. He saw the way Miles’s eyes lit up when Gwen said he could do a new suit before Miles schooled his face. The kid couldn’t lie his way out of a paper bag. He thought back to the suit Miles was wearing when he got here. How it was hanging on by safety pins, built for an entirely different person, and how he could only spray paint it to claim it as his own. A suit made just for him probably had Miles jumping at the bit internally. 

“But the greenhouse is sooo beautiful! They have a fountain, and an interdimensional rose garden, and there’s butterflies there too. We should go, it would be so fun. We could do a photoshoot!” Pavitr said, bright and excited.

Miles deflated a bit at that, but if Hobie wasn’t looking he’s sure he would have missed it.

“That sounds fun, if that’s what you guys want to do.” Miles said.

Well, if Miles wasn’t going to speak up for himself, Hobie had no problem doing it for him.

“I could use a trip to the uniform shop, actually.” He said. “Been thinking about getting a backup vest for when this one gets busted. Might go for denim or something.”

“Oooh, denim would totally go with your suit. And we could get you new pins and patches for it too.” Pavitr said.

Hobie smiled. Pavitr was always more interested in spending time with his friends to ever care too much about what they were doing.

“I need to start thinking about designing a winter suit.” Gwen said. “My old one’s not cutting it anymore.”

“Couldn’t be me.” Pavitr smiled.

“Don’t get cocky, not all of us get the privileges of Indian weather.” Gwen said, bumping shoulders with Pavitr.

He smiled cheekily. “You can’t be upset at this face.”

Gwen pulled Pavitr’s mask over his head, a teasing smile on her face. “There. Now I won’t have a problem.”

The uniform shop was large, but not as intimidating as Miles thought it would be. There were bolts of fabric lining two of the walls, with thread and miscellaneous accent materials covering a third. Plenty of sewing machines littered the space, as well as designs and costume blueprints left at several of the work stations. In one corner there looked to be a grid built into the floor, and Miles had absolutely no idea what that had to do with sewing, but it looked cool.

There were two people in the room at the moment, one woman with black hair stationed at a sewing machine, and another red headed man who was hunched over one of the desks, sketching something out. They both looked up when the group entered the room.

The man smiled when he saw them, getting up from his desk and approaching them. 

“Pavitr, Gwen, it’s been too long since I’ve seen you in here.” He smiled at them. 

“What does that make me? Chopped liver?” Hobie asked, a coy smile on his face.

“If I didn’t see you here last week designing that new vest of yours it would.” The man said. 

“I thought you said you’d just been thinking about getting a new vest.” Gwen said, quirking an eyebrow.

“I did.” Hobie said. “Didn’t say how long I’d been thinking of it though, now did I?”

“Uh huh.” Gwen said, disbelieving. 

She knew Hobie well enough to know when he was trying to play something off. It was evident in the way he averted his eyes from her, not keeping his usual eye contact. Now she just had to figure out what he was hiding.

“You must be Miles.” The man said, turning to face him. “I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Web-Weaver, or Cooper, whichever you prefer.”

“Nice to meet you too.” Miles said casually, feeling his senses adjust to the new spider. Then, in a tone that was certainly trying to sound casual, he asked. “What all did you hear about me?”

Cooper waved his hands in front of himself, as if trying to physically dispel Miles’s worry. 

“No need to worry, it was nothing bad about you.” He said. “Everyone was just surprised to see a new itsy-bitsy-spider being wheeled around HQ. You didn’t have the most traditional entrance, you know.”

Miles did not know, and it showed on his face. “What do you mean?”

“Well,” Cooper sighed, “usually our new recruits don’t start out their tours in the medical wing, believe it or not. And they don’t show up unexpectedly, unannounced and out of the blue. We didn’t even get an email about you. I checked. They’re not typically as young as you are, either, though I can see why Miguel thought you could use the help.”

Miles opened his mouth to say something-he was a super capable Spider-Man, thank you very much, he saved the multiverse on his first day - but Cooper continued before he got the chance.

“Sorry, that came out a bit wrong. I just meant, oh how do I put this… Younger spiders usually get some special treatment here at HQ to keep you all from getting hurt like this. You could have used that already.”

“Special treatment?” Miles asked. “I don’t need to be treated with kiddie gloves.”

“I’m not saying this right.” Cooper said, turning to the other three. “One of you should explain, you know more about it than I do anyways.”

“It’s more like extra support stuff than it is babying.” Gwen said, holding up her watch. “For instance, all our watches have a vitals monitoring function that you can choose to use or not. Dispatch usually handles everything when it picks up on anyone being in danger. With people under 20, though, it also sends an alert to Miguel and Lyla so they can oversee everything and make sure we’re safe.”

“Not allowed to turn the thing off while you’re wearing the watch, though.” Hobie chipped in, sounding upset about that particular detail.

“I think it’s nice.” Pavitr said. “I always wear my watch on patrols, just in case.” Pavitr pointed out a button on the side of his watch that had a cover over top of it. “Our distress signal is different, too. On top of having one for medical and dispatch, we also have one that sends out a distress call directly to everyone at HQ at the time you press it. It’s like summoning an instant spider army.”

Miles nodded. “So you get extra emergency backup for your multiverse stuff. That’s nice.”

“It’s not just for multiverse stuff. We’re the only ones with permission to call for backup in case our universe’s villains get to be too much to handle.” Gwen said.

Miles frowned. “You’re not allowed to call for backup for other stuff?” That didn’t sound very Spider-Man-y to him.

“Don’t you worry about that. There’s a hundred different ways to get around Miguel’s rules on ‘backup-appropriate situations’.” Hobie smirked. “No one here likes to leave anyone high and dry.”

“Oh. Good.” Miles said.

“There’s some other stuff, too.” Pavitr added. “Some of the Peters are teachers, so they get together in the library sometimes to help us with homework. Plus we all get permanent room and board without having to do any of the paperwork for it. Miguel also makes sure we see Spider-Therapist once a month.”

“Who’s Spider-Therapist? That’s a terrible name.” Miles said. How did he even get that moniker? Did the guy fight crime with a chaise lounge and a notepad?

“His name’s Dr. Sims.” Gwen said. “Spider-Therapist is just a nickname. He just goes by Spider-Man in his world.”

“Don’t like how he wears a suit over his suit, though.” Hobie said. “Seems sketchy.”

“I appreciate a nice clothes-over-the-suit look.” Cooper said. “Though a whole three piece is a bit too tacky for my tastes.” Cooper turned his attention back to Miles, a soft smile on his face. “I do hope you see what I meant now. I wasn’t trying to insinuate that you were a bad Spider-Man. We’re just a bit protective of our spiderlings around here.”

“No, I get it.” Miles said. “It definitely would’ve been nice. I appreciate it.”

“Anytime. And speaking of which, what brought you all to my little workshop. I know you didn’t come just so Silk could eavesdrop on our conversation.” He said.

“Hey!” The woman spoke up, turning to glare at Cooper.

“Don’t you ‘hey’ me. Your machine has been off for the last five minutes. You’re not subtle.”

“You’re the worst.” 

“Love you too.”

“Your workshop?” Miles asked. “I’m sorry, I thought it was open to anyone, we can go.”

Cooper shook his head and got behind Miles, taking Hobie’s place and wheeling the boy further into the workshop. “Nonsense. I just mean that this is my little passion project here. I was getting sick of watching people walking around here with duct-taped together suits.”

“Web-Weaver’s a fashion designer.” Pavitr said, sounding like he was bragging on behalf of the man. “He’s super good at his job. He could make you a suit in his sleep.”

Silk chimed in, a playful smile on her face. “They’d probably look better than what he makes when he’s awake.”

Cooper rolled his eyes. “If any of you are interested in fashion, please let me know. I’m currently looking for a new assistant.” 

Silk got up from her station and made her way over to the group. “Assistant? I thought we were co-creators.”

“Cindy, I have awful news.” He said, turning towards her. “You’ve been demoted.”

“You’re such an ass.” She smiled, bumping shoulders with him. “For real, though, if you’re looking to design a new suit, run it by this guy. He’s a genius when it comes to design.”

“Cindy, you've been promoted.”

“I can’t keep working under these conditions.”

“You’ll learn to love it here.” Cooper smiled. “Surely a vest isn’t the only reason you four made your way down here though.”

“I was going to start working on a new winter suit.” Gwen said.

“Now that’s something I can work with.” Cooper smiled. “And I assume you two came to loiter around my work space?”

“Pretty much.” Pavitr said, drifting towards one of the rolling chairs in the room.

“Actually, I was thinking about designing a suit.” Miles said.

Cooper wheeled around to face him, eyes shining. “Not an update? A fully new suit?”

“From scratch.” Miles nodded.

“Design and all?”

“Yup.”

“You’re my favorite person right now.” Cooper smiled, taking Miles further into the workshop.

Chapter Text

Cooper wheeled Miles onto the odd grid in the corner of the room that he had been eying ever since he got there.

“Before we can design a suit, we need measurements. This scanner will render your measurements into a 3d model that we’ll use to make the perfect form-fitting pattern for your suit.” Cooper explained before he stepped away from Miles, leaving him alone on the machine as it lit up a soft yellow.

“Nice. How does it work?” Miles asked.

“Don’t ask me, I’ve got no clue. All this technology nonsense is not my forte, I made one of the sciencey spiders make it for me” Cooper said, inputting something into a panel on the wall. The lights changed to green, and a grid started scanning over Miles. “All I know is that it works like a fucking miracle.”

“Language.” Cindy chimed in.

“Since when did you care about what language I use?”

“Since there’s a child in the room.”

“I’m not a child.” Miles said, crossing his arms.

“Don’t move.” Cooper instructed.

“Oh really?” Cindy said. “How old are you, 12?”

“I’m 14.” Miles said.

“And that’s not child age?”

“I’m a teenager.”

“Well that’s completely different.” She said, heavy on the sarcasm.

“Aaaand done.” Cooper said, as the lights turned back off. “It’ll take a moment to process, just give me a second while I pull everything up.”

Pavitr made his way over to Miles, wheeling over from his own rolling chair, and dragged Miles to the desk he was sitting at before.

“Sooo what were you thinking of for your new suit? Do you have any ideas yet? I didn’t even know you wanted to do anything here.” Pavitr asked as he rifled through the drawers of the desk.

“I just don’t really have one at the moment. I feel like I’ve been sticking out like a sore thumb around here.” Miles said.

“Well that’s not true.” Gwen said, turning from the station she was settled at, kicking her feet up on the desk. “You had a suit when you got here. It’s probably still at the doctor’s office if that’s where you left it.”

“Let me send for it.” Cooper said. “It’ll be a good starting point for the new one. Figuring out what you liked, what you didn’t, what needs changing. Plus it will give me a feel for your personal style.” Cooper typed something into his watch and a second later got a ping on his end. “Perfect. Dr. Windsor should be down with it in a bit. Now let’s talk color scheme.”

Cooper enjoyed working with Miles, it certainly helped that he actually knew what he was talking about. Most of the Spiders at HQ were too caught up in science, math or missions to ever actually understand design or color theory or what they wanted in a suit. Sometimes they did have opinions, strong ones at that, but none of the language needed to communicate them.

Miles, to Cooper’s delight, had none of those issues. The kid was an artist, Cooper could tell from the way he held his pencil, how he sketched lightly before committing to a line, and how he twirled his pencil absentmindedly in a way that showed he was used to its familiar weight in his hand. He knew how to communicate his vision, too. It wasn’t just ‘black and red’ for the suit. It was ink black for the main suit and crimson red- maybe scarlet, as long as it was saturated with a bright hue- for the accents, with a skin tight traditional spider-suit fit, and maybe some graffiti stylization or texturing.

He could cry, the kid was so easy to work with.

It didn’t take very long for them to each start sketching out their ideas separately, resolving to compare ideas when they were done and go from there. Cooper was taking his time with it, though, waiting for the kid’s old suit to get there so he could understand Miles a bit better.

Soon the door clicked open again, and sure enough there was Dr. Windsor with a black and red suit folded neatly in her arms. Miles turned to face her and she smiled.

“Miles, how have you been? You certainly look better.” She stepped closer to him, handing the suit back to the boy.

“I feel a lot better. I’ve been eating more.” Miles said, setting the suit in his lap. 

“That certainly helps.” She said, reaching forward and running her fingers over the back of his hair. Miles tilted his head to allow her better access. “It looks like your head injury has just about cleared up. How are your ribs treating you?”

Cooper was, admittedly, eavesdropping a bit. He didn’t feel too guilty, though, once he looked around the room and saw that everyone else was doing the same. He distantly wondered if any of the various Spider-Men were any good at subtlety, and if they were, they certainly weren’t in this room.

“The medicine has helped a lot. I’m less stiff and stuff.” Miles said. “I was able to sit up on my own this morning.”

“That’s good. You’re taking it on time, right?”

“Every four hours.”

“Perfect, and I see your hands have healed up nicely.”

Miles blinked, then looked down to the pencil in his hand. “Huh, yeah. I hadn’t even noticed.” He flexed his hand into a fist a few times, then nodded his head, satisfied. “Do you think I could take off the bandages?”

“Of course.” She said, taking one of his hands in hers and quickly undoing the wrappings on most of the fingers, though the braces on a few of his fingers still remained. “The broken bones will take a bit longer to heal, but the hairline fractures never take quite as long.”

“So I’m good to draw?” Miles asked, and Cooper couldn’t have missed the way Miles’s eye lit up at the prospect of being cleared for the activity.

“As long as you take breaks, you should be fine.” She assured. Miles pumped his fist at the small victory. “What about your wrist? Is it still giving you trouble?”

Miles tried bending his left hand at the wrist a bit, but winced as soon as he started moving it. “Yeah, definitely still hurts.”

“That’s fine.” She said. “I’m assuming the ankle’s still a work in progress as well?”

“Unfortunately.”

Dr. Windsor laughed softly at that. “Don’t worry, you should be out of that chair in less than a week if you keep healing at the rate you’re going at. Is anything else bothering you at the moment?”

“No, I think I’m good.” Miles said.

Dr. Windsor nodded her head. “Well, if anything comes up don’t hesitate to reach out. My doors are always open.”

“Thank you.”

“Anytime, Miles.”

“Seriously,” He said. “I really appreciate it. Thank you.”

She smiled softly. “Of course.”

A beeping noise came from her watch, and she rolled her eyes after checking it. 

“Duty calls. Good luck on the new suit.” She said over her shoulder as she left the workspace.

“Thanks doc!” Miles called out.

Quickly all the other spiders in the room went back to what they were doing before the doctor got there. Cooper smirked when he noticed Pavitr was holding his phone upside down as he pretended to scroll on it.

“So, let’s get a look at this suit, shall we?” Cooper asked.

“Sure thing.” Miles said, laying it out on the desk in front of them.

Cooper hummed. “Not bad.”

He spread the suit out a bit more, getting rid of any wrinkles so he could get a full feel for the design. It wasn’t a bad first suit, though it wasn’t Cooper’s own personal style. He could tell Miles loved the street-art aesthetic. It felt like he actually spray painted onto the fabric itself, which was a bold statement that Cooper could appreciate, though it wouldn’t last in the long run. It was a high quality fabric though, Cooper wondered how Miles had gotten his hands on it. He also wondered if Miles would be open to using the white of the lenses in other design elements of the suit. Though if he didn’t want to, a two toned suit would be a good challenge, Cooper supposed.

He flipped the suit over to get a look at how the designs carried over to the back, before his eye caught something.

Hobie could tell the exact moment Cooper had noticed the safety pins in Miles’s suit. He’d been keeping an eye on the two for that exact reason. Cooper’s shoulders stiffened, a shocked look crossing his face. Hobie himself had felt his lungs go cold when he noticed the same thing just yesterday, felt the same morbid curiosity too, so he understood the urgency that was moving through Cooper. The man went quiet, hands flying over the suit, attention completely occupied by the new task set before him. Before Miles even had the chance to register what was happening, Cooper had already taken out a handful of the safety pins.

“What, wait-no don’t do that!” Miles said, frantic, once he finally noticed what Cooper was doing.

Hobie heard the shuffling in the room as the others turned to face the source of the commotion.

Miles tried to wrestle the suit away from Cooper, but the older man already had his hands on the suit, and pulled it away, holding it up to Miles.

“Care to explain?” Cooper asked, all playfulness having left his tone.

Cooper didn’t have the chance to take out all the safety pins, Hobie knew that for a fact, but he did take out all of the ones that were in the shoulders. 

It made sense that the design was done after Miles had folded the suit to fit him, otherwise it would have been a nightmare to get the designs to line up correctly, but because of that the original costume shone through. Everywhere that was previously folded over still had the old blue and red pattern of a traditional Spider-Man suit, and you could see just how much extra fabric there was, how much bigger it was than Miles.

Miles was quiet for a moment, before he finally found the words to answer. “It wasn’t always my suit. It was Peter’s before, I just redesigned it before I wore it out.”
Cooper’s fists clenched into the fabric. 

“You wore this? On a patrol?” Cooper’s voice sounded tense, nerves and upset hiding just under the surface.
“It wasn’t a patrol.” Miles said, and Cooper relaxed a bit. “I just needed a suit to fight Kingpin. Couldn’t go in my civvies.”
Any relief on Cooper’s face was instantly replaced by stress that was tenfold stronger, and he quickly tossed the suit to the side in an effort to keep himself from ripping it accidentally.

“That’s worse. Miles, you can’t be serious.”

Miles didn’t answer, shrinking in on himself.

Cooper’s voice raised a level. “Do you know how irresponsible that is? How dangerous? One safety pin comes out and your whole suit is compromised! It ruins your mobility, your enemy gets an easy grabbing point, it’ll limit your ability to maneuver-”
“Why do you care!? You weren’t even there!” Miles interrupted, flustered.

Cooper came to a full stop at that. He subconsciously had begun to loom over Miles as he went on without realizing. He took a stop back.

“I care.” A breath. “I care because a mistake like that could’ve changed the outcome of the fight.”

Miles glared up at Cooper. “I didn’t have a choice.”
Cooper didn’t answer, though he did soften a bit. He gestured his hand in a ‘go on’ motion.

“New York needed a Spider-Man. I couldn’t ignore my city. The multiverse. My friends. It didn’t matter what costume I was in, I couldn’t stand by and do nothing.”

Damnit. Damnit damnit damnit. Cooper took a deep breath, turning away from Miles and pacing around the room a bit. Of course. Of course the kid did it for some stupid self-imposed Spider-Man-duty reason. It just had to be some heroic shit Cooper couldn’t really get mad at him for. Of course.

Cooper buried his face into his hands, a groan slipping past his lips in place of a scream, before wheeling around to face Miles again.

“Fine! Fine, fine.” He took another breath, god knows he needed it. “Not to sound like my Aunts, but I’m not mad. Just disappointed. I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

Miles took a breath, clearly also trying to get his emotions in check as well, coming off of the defensive.

“I get it. I-it’s okay, man.” Miles wheeled back to his place at the desk. “Let’s just get back to it, okay?”

Cooper nodded, sliding some more papers over to Miles to use. “Deal.”

The two set back to sketching, staying silent as the both of them let the last of their high emotions run their course. After a while Cooper peeked over to see what Miles was working on.

“It looks like you’re bleeding from your armpits on that one.” He said.

Cooper was happy with the design he and Miles had come up with in the end. They wound up sticking to the two toned colors of his first suit, though they did play around with a few white accents in some of the designs along the way. The simple color palette just seemed to scream ‘Miles’. They added a few accents along the legs that Miles didn’t have in his first suit, and re-designed his spider logo to be more geometric and clean, something he wouldn’t have been able to do with the messy media that is spray paint on fabric. There were a few other tweaks here and there, adding thin red thread along the web pattern to help it stand out in a way that wasn’t too tacky, as well as a different shaped eye lens to go with the more angular suit, but mostly they focused on upscaling the concepts Miles had used on his first suit.

The only thing that was really left was to sew it all together, which Cooper was more than happy to handle on his own.

He waved the group goodbye as they set off to go back to Miles’s room, and set about gathering all the materials he’d need for the suit.

He’d learned that a lot of the other spiders felt a sense of tranquility when doing math or science, that it was a way to escape for them, a time where they felt in control. Cooper felt the same when sewing, it was a sort of catharsis for him, one he tried to find time for whenever he could.

So, of course, the universe had other plans.

Before he could even thread the sewing machine, Cindy had slid her seat next to him, and from the look in her eye he knew she wasn’t going to leave him alone until she got what she wanted out of him.

He sighed, turning away from his sewing machine to face her.

“Yes, Cindy?”

She had a pinched look on her face, as if she was considering what she actually wanted to say.

Finally she blurted “What was wrong with you earlier?”

Cooper sighed. He couldn’t expect any less than blunt honesty from Cindy.

“You mean with Miles?” He asked. He knew what she was talking about, of course, but he wasn’t exactly keen on re-hashing everything.

“Obviously. You almost never blow up like that. Spill.”

He really didn’t want to, but if there was anyone he trusted to talk about this sort of thing, it was Cindy.

“I don’t really know. It just felt-” He paused, trying to think of the last time he’d gotten worked up like that. The last time his heart had clenched and his senses had tingled in the back of his mind in that unique combination of instincts and panic. “It felt like, do you remember that Green Goblin variant that popped up in my universe?”

“Ugh, yeah. When Sun Spider and I came in as backup, right?”

“Yup. Do you remember, the Green Goblin had knocked down some building or billboard or something and it almost landed on you? Knocked you right out of the air.”

“I was fine. I wound up in an air pocket, got out of it pretty quick too.”

“But I didn’t know that.” Cooper frowned, recalling the incident. “I thought you were crushed and hurt, or worse. My spider-sense went crazy, and I damn near lost control on that Goblin.”

“I saw.” Cindy said. 

Cooper whipped his head around to face her. He didn’t know that.

“I didn’t catch all of it, but I got out for the tail end of the fight. I saw Sun pull you off of him.” She said.

“Right.” He said, swallowing down some leftover embarrassment. He didn’t know she’d seen him like that. “I was half out of it. There was this overwhelming urge to protect you when you were hurt, and my spider sense just made the panic stronger. It felt like I was operating off of instincts alone.”

“That makes sense.” Cindy nodded. “We’re close, our spider senses have accepted each other over time. It happens.”

“It was the same with Miles.” Cooper said, and he understood completely when Cindy’s jaw dropped in shock. 

It took time to bond with another spider like that, to go beyond just the instinctual acknowledgment of ‘there’s another spider here’ to being able to recognize that spider with your spider sense alone. For your instincts to deem another spider as important enough to care for without your own conscious thought. It usually took months of fighting side by side, countless hours spent together, sharing meals and training with each other. The fact Miles had managed that in less than a day was unheard of.

“Are you sure?” Cindy asked. “You weren’t just cranky or something?”

“I wish.” Cooper sighed. “It wasn’t as bad as it was with you, but something about him already being so beat up on top of the thought of him getting himself hurt again… I don’t know, it just set something off in me.”

“We should tell someone about this.” Cindy said, frowning.

Cooper was taken aback at that. “What? Why?”

“It could be important.” Cindy said. “We don’t know everything about our instincts yet. Spider Therapist would be dying to know about this.”

“Fine.” Cooper sighed. “If you really think it’s a good idea.”

“I do.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Cooper said, getting up to walk out with Cindy.

Miles’s suit could wait an hour or two, he reasoned.

Chapter Text

Dr. Sims had been a licensed therapist for over a decade, and had been the only Spider-Man of his world for a bit less than that. He was eternally grateful he didn’t get bit while in college, balancing residency and a hero career sounded like his own personal hell.

It didn’t take long after he was bit for him to notice some odd behavior in himself. He felt more aware of those he was close to, almost as if his Spider-Sense had extended its protection to them. He’d also found himself to be more reactive in situations where his loved ones were involved, less obligated to pull his punches, strategy flying out the window as he followed nothing but his instincts to carry him to victory. Even after the fight was over, he found his subconscious urging him towards behavior he hadn’t ever engaged in before. The desire to take whoever he knew that was involved back to his apartment just to make sure they were safe and to personally check them for injuries, even if logically he knew the paramedics would do a better job than he could. Luckily that was one instinct he never acted on, what with the whole secret identity and all. Still, the desire was there every time.

Later, when he joined the Spider-Society he found himself analyzing his behaviors once again. Over time he felt bonded to some of his long-term teammates, and more often than not he found himself in the company of at least one or two of them, despite the fact that in his own universe he’d always preferred to work in solitude. Ever since he was bit he’d become hyper aware of his surroundings and jumpier than he’d like to be at unexpected noises and bumps in the night. But those in his circle never set off those alerts, even when they definitely should have given how loud Spiders tended to be. On top of that, he never had any trouble finding them, even if there was no logic when he sought them out, as if he was simply drawn to them. 

There were a few other things as well, things he’s sure he’d have missed if it weren’t for his background in psychology. Behaviors that he’d come to understand about himself, fundamentals as to how he functioned and viewed the world, thrown out the window for seemingly no reason. Despite his belief that sharing food was unhygienic, he never hesitated to do so with the other spiders he was close to. The same went for sleep. He hated to sleep around others when they were awake, he could safely guess that it was because he felt anxious about being watched in his sleep. However, occasionally, after long days at work and even longer patrols, he would doze off around his group and never felt that same anxiety for it that he had with others. These specific changes were what brought him to look further into the topic.

He’d brought it up with the others, and found that most of them had been having similar experiences, with some variations.

A few were, on varying levels, aware of where the members of their groups were at all times, so long as they were in the same general area. Others found that they got anxious if they didn’t see or at least check in with their chosen spiders in a certain period of time. The protective streak he had noticed in himself was another common thread, though the intensity of the feeling or how it affected each individual varied a great deal.

It took him some time, and a lot of failed theories, to finally gain a general understanding of what they were all going through. To put it simply, they had all inherited spider instincts that merged with their subconscious mammal instincts in a wide variety of ways. Though they were far from understanding the effects in their entirety, it at least lent some insight as to the source of all these changes, and he was sure that with time more answers would make themselves known.

So, when Cooper and Cindy came through his door talking about new spiders and hyper-active instincts, he was more than happy to listen.

Gwen was frustrated with herself. The group of them had gone back to Miles’s room to hang out, turned on some show about animals, grabbed a few snacks and settled down in the living room area, but Gwen’s mind was still stuck in the studio.

Or maybe she was stuck a year ago.

Miles was her friend, and though she had never said it out loud, in the privacy of her mind, he was her best friend. Her first friend since Peter and the only person she’d ever prioritize over Jess’s orders. He’d helped her so much without even knowing he was doing it. He’d opened her heart up to the idea of friends, and letting herself be open with other people again, had helped her move on from her past simply by standing at her side.

But she hadn’t been there for him.

Even when she was there, for the few days she’d actually been able to physically be there with him, she didn’t pay enough attention. Didn’t notice the things that in retrospect were so obvious. Hell, she’d fought side by side with him and hadn’t even noticed that he was standing there, fighting in borrowed clothes that didn’t even fit.

She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Peter B and Peni asking if they could meet up sometime soon. It didn’t slip past her notice that the two of them weren’t there for a good deal of the revelations she’d had about Miles over the last day or two, though she was certain that they’d be just as affected by the news as she had been. She didn’t particularly want to be the one to tell them everything, but she also couldn’t stand the idea of them hearing it from anyone else. Distantly she wished, not for the first time, that Ham and Noir were around HQ more. She’d have to figure out a way to catch them up on everything too, at some point.

Once she, Peter and Peni settled on meeting up later today she tucked her phone back away and tried to shift her focus back to the boys around her.

“-simply wouldn’t have happened.”

“You’re so full of it.” Miles laughed.

“I’m serious. I’d never fold to a hippo, I’m on a different level.” Hobie assured.

“Hobie, bro, Hippos bite crocodiles in half.” Pavitr said.

“Good thing I’m twice as tough as a crocodile, then.”

“I feel like I missed a step.” Gwen said, glancing between Hobie and the completely docile looking Hippo the TV was showing. They looked kind of cute, in her opinion.

“Gwendy, you miss the whole part where the bastard went on a warpath?” Hobie asked.

“Guess so.” She shrugged. “Still don’t think you’d win in a fight though.”

“You wound me, Gwen. And here I thought I could trust you.”

“To be fair, I don’t know if any of us think you’d win that fight man.” Miles added.

“Guess I’ll just have to find one then.” Hobie said.

“Hobie, no. You’re already banned from enough zoos.” Pavitr said, eying the other teen.

“Who said I need a zoo?” Hobie said, cocking his eyebrow.

“Yeah, because there’s so many wild hippos in London.” Gwen laughed.

“Lucky for me that planes have been invented then, isn’t it.” 

“You’d go to Africa just to fight a hippo?” Miles asked.

“And do some sightseeing. Who said I can’t multitask.” Hobie said.

“You’re so full of it.” Gwen laughed.

The rest of the evening passed by in much the same fashion, full of pointless arguments and banter with no purpose other than to enjoy each other’s company.

At some point later in the day things began to wind down, and Miles was the first to tap out and head to bed fairly early in the night. Hopefully the extra rest would do him some good and help him to heal more. Gwen left to meet up with Peni and Peter while Hobie and Pavitr stuck around a bit longer. Gwen couldn’t say she wasn’t envious of the two of them.

This wasn’t going to be fun.

As soon as Peter got to HQ he could tell things were off from what they had been before. Though it didn’t seem like anything major had happened, there were a lot more hushed tones and sneaky glances his way than there were two days ago. Not for the first time he wished he could have skipped work today in order to be here. He hated being out of the loop.

It didn’t take too long for him to find Peni and Gwen already at their favorite cafe in the cafeteria, and Peter didn’t hesitate to throw himself onto the couch Peni was sitting on.

“Hey Peter.” 

“Hi Peter.” 

The girls chimed, Peni sliding him a mug once he settled down. He took a quick sip and smiled, french vanilla creamer and way too sweet. Just how he liked it. He glanced up and saw Gwen fidgeting in her seat across from him, and he figured he could do her the favor of starting what was undoubtedly going to turn into an uncomfortable conversation.

“So, what’s been going on with Miles?” Peter asked. Gwen’s face opened in surprise, and he gave her a wry grin. “Don’t look so shocked, Gwen. It’s kind of the only interesting thing going on right now.”

She smiled a bit at that. “I guess you’re right. It’s just-a lot has come to light lately, and I know you guys care about Miles just as much as I do. You deserve to know.”

“Know what?” Peni asked, setting down her drink. “Gwen, what’s got you so stressed? Did something happen?”

“No. Yes. Kind of. I mean-” Gwen took a breath, steadying herself. “It already happened. Back when we first went to 1610.”
“With Kingpin? I know, we should have been there. If I’d known he’d get that hurt-”

“No, Peter. Before that, and after, and everything. We- we didn’t do a good job protecting Miles. Ever.”

“What?” 

“Gwen, we did our best.”

“It wasn’t good enough.” Gwen snapped. They weren’t getting it, not yet. “We didn’t pay enough attention. We missed so many signs-”
“Like what?” Peni asked, leaning forward and placing her hand on Gwen’s. “Gwen, help us understand.”

“It-he- his suit didn’t even fit him.” Gwen rushed out, whispered, as if it were some terrible secret. From the way Peter and Peni recoiled, it might as well have been. “Of course it didn’t, his Peter was your size and we didn’t even think twice about it. He had it held together with safety pins. He-he fought Kingpin in that.” Her voice cracked a bit towards the end.

Peter and Peni both opened their mouths to speak, something shocked and disbelieving on the tips of their tongues, but Gwen barreled on, unable to stop herself now that she’d started. “And he must have got hurt like that again, because all of his villains are like Kingpin. They’ve all been fighting against a Spider-Man for years, an experienced, adult Spider-Man, and Miles only just learned how to spin a web. We didn’t even help him, really, we just told him to what? Get back up? Just be better? Webbed him to a chair? Didn’t even think about the situation we left him in and-” Her breath hitched, words speeding up the more she got herself worked up.

“Gwen-” Peter started, leaning forward, trying to catch her eyes. “Gwen listen-”
“We couldn't even stand up to Miguel.” She snapped, words harsh and probably louder than they should have been, but Peter didn’t take any offense. He saw the guilt in her eyes as clearly as he felt it bubbling up in himself. “That’s the whole point of the Spider Society, right? Looking out for each other? And we just left Miles behind, didn’t even think about the danger he was in. It never would have even crossed my mind if Hobie hadn’t-”

“That’s enough of that.” Peter said, sliding out of his seat to pull Gwen into a loose hug that she could wriggle out of if she wanted to. To his relief, she only seemed to cling on tighter. “There’s no point in getting worked up over the what-ifs, okay?” He looked over to Peni, the girl in much the same state as Gwen, and reached out to pull her in as well. “Both of you, listen. We did what we thought was best at the time, okay?”

“But-” Peni hiccuped.

“But now we know better.” Peter hushed. “And we can do better now, okay? No more leaving anyone behind.”

He knew what Peni wanted to say, that Gwen was painstakingly right, that they hadn’t thought anything through enough. That the guilt sitting heavy like a rock at the bottom of his stomach was well deserved, and that a better man would have known better, would have been better. Still he had to remind himself that that wasn’t what was important at the moment. Miles was safe in bed, but the girls in his arms needed him to be present right now.

He swayed back and forth with the two girls in his arms for a moment, something he’d learned to do with Mayday, and Jess’s teasing of him having more kids than Mayday rang in his ears.

“Promise?” Gwen sniffed after a moment, still clinging onto Peter.

“Promise.” He replied.

“What about Ham and Noir?” Peni asked.

“I’ll take care of telling those two. Talk it out Peter to Peter to Peter, yeah?”

Peni chuckled at that, something short and only half there, but it still rang like music to Peter’s ears.

He held onto the two girls for a few more minutes until they all had settled down, and conversation turned to lighter topics, the worry finding its way from the girls’ faces as they bantered and laughed together.

Still, in the back of his mind Peter knew he had more to do.

Someone had to knock some sense into Miguel, after all.