Chapter Text
Ever since the incident at Toby’s the other day, Toby had been practically going out of his way to avoid Ranboo. Thing was, Ranboo didn’t understand why. Did he go too far with the light touching the other day?
He would ask Toby what he did wrong, even apologize profusely. But he’s barely been able to even catch a glance at the boy. Every class, Toby arrives right as the bell rings, out the door as quickly as possible. Not giving Ranboo a second to even utter a word in his direction.
He tried texting him, but all of his messages were left on read or undelivered. All calls went straight to voicemail.
It had been three days straight of this behavior and with each passing second, Ranboo was growing more and more anxious. He just couldn’t get the thought that he did something horribly wrong out of his mind.
The dread was eating him alive.
He tried confronting Tommy about it, one day in between classes, to see if Toby had said anything to him. But all he got in return was an angry huff and a roll of the eyes before Tommy pushed past him, going on with his day.
It was sickening. He just met this boy and had already majorly fu- screwed something up between them. The worst part was the feeling of unknowing and uncertainty as to what it was he did. Every passing minute, a new scenario of what he did wrong would cloud his mind.
He couldn't focus in his classes.
He couldn’t sleep at night.
And worst of all, he couldn’t concentrate when in battles with villains.
He would try to keep dodging the attacks that were swung at him, but after each avoidance, he grew more and more fatigued. His mind was still in a worrying state, getting worse as more seconds passed. Even while fighting this creature, all he could think about wasn’t his next move but in fact about Toby.
He was too slow and missed dodging a punch to his side.
He had messed up. But how? He just wishes Toby would talk to him so he could try and make things better.
Another missed dodge, he fell against the stone wall.
Maybe Toby just doesn’t want him in his life anymore. That's fine. He could live with that, he’s been living with his parents leaving for God knows how many years now. What’s one more person?
The creature lifted its arm, bringing it down in one fellow swoop. Once again he was too slow to dodge. The claw collided with his chest leaving a burning sensation as he fell to the ground, clutching his chest.
He pulled his hand away, holding it up to his eye level, and sure enough, it was covered in blood.
His cough felt like a whole new kick to his gut.
His vision was getting blurry. He needed to escape quickly.
With his remaining strength, he used his webs to briefly blind the creature just long enough so he could swing away.
He needed help. But due to his injured state, there’s no way he could make it to a proper medical place before passing out from blood loss.
There was only one place he could go.
***
There was a knock at Toby’s window. He ignored it at first, it wasn’t uncommon for birds or stones to hit his window.
A second knock. Toby let out a sigh, still ignoring it.
Third and fourth. Toby threw his switch down with a groan, heading to his window to see what was making the noise.
He was expecting to see a bird or a bunch of stones. Even a neighbor that got locked out of their place. It’s happened before.
But what he wasn’t expecting to see is… well, Spider-man.
Spider-man holding himself up against the railing, head hung low. He still had his mask on, covering what Toby assumed was a face of pain.
“What the shit,” Toby began to speak, lifting the window. Not to let Spider-man in but he took it as an invitation. He very ungracefully tumbled through the window, barely avoiding crashing into Toby by mere inches.
With his back now pressed against the ground, Toby was able to see- or assume- exactly why Spider-man had shown up. On his chest were two very deep cuts. Like he had lost a fight with a really big, angry, bear.
“Please,” he mumbled, his voice shallow and breathy. His arms were draped over his face, blocking the light, as his chest slowly rose and fell.
“Yeah, shit, ok hold on.” Toby quickly spoke before hurrying out of the room and towards the bathroom. His family had a well-stocked first aid kit there that Toby could use to, hopefully, patch Spider-man up.
He grabbed the kit from under the sink before running back to his room, locking the door behind him.
Spider-man had propped himself up against the foot of Toby’s bed. His mask was pulled up just past his nose, allowing more air to enter his lungs, his chest heaving heavily. His suit was unzipped from the back, hanging loosely on his shoulders.
Toby approached him carefully as if he was a scared puppy that might bite.
“I’m gonna…” Toby trailed off as he pulled down the suit, tying the arms around Spider-man’s waist so it wouldn’t slip down further.
The cuts didn’t look quite as bad as Toby had initially thought. As he started cleaning the dried blood surrounding them, they started looking even better. Sure they were still extremely deep, needing a few stitches for certain. But the cut was clean like it had been done in one swift movement. According to the few medical shows Toby’s seen, that’s a good thing.
He finished cleaning the wounds, tossing the bloodied gauze into a plastic bag. “Why didn’t you go to the hospital?” Toby asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. He pinched the smaller one of the cuts close.
Spider-man winced, “They ask too many questions.”
Fair, he supposes any hospital would ask tons of questions, even try and get him to reveal his identity, in exchange for medical attention. But how’d he know to come to Toby? There’s no way that that one encounter at the library was enough to deem Toby as a trustworthy person.
“How’d you even find me?” Toby asked, grabbing a good handle of butterfly bandaids and starting to apply them to the smaller sections of the smaller cut.
“A friend.” He lied, though Toby couldn’t tell. He just hummed in response, continuing to apply the last few bandaids to the smaller cut. He then laid a few layers of gauze over top, securing them with medical tape.
Toby took a deep breath, getting ready to move to the bigger one. He started with pinching the ends, holding them together with the butterfly bandaids. But as he got closer to the middle of the cut, it became too wide to push together.
“You need stitches,” Toby commented with a sigh. He’s done all he could do. There’s no way he could give Spider proper stitches, he’d have to go to the hospital for that.
“Ok, go ahead.” Spider-man breathed, obviously not understanding what Toby was implying.
“I’m not giving you fucking stitches!” Toby exclaimed, starring Spider-man dead in his eyes. Or at least where he thinks his eyes would be. “ That’s practically begging to get an infection! Plus I don’t even know how to do stitches properly.” Toby continued, crossing his arms as if that would further his point.
“So am I just going to bleed out then?”
The answer was yes. Well technically no, but also yes. Toby didn’t trust his medical skills enough to give stitches so he instead just covered the wound with many layers of gauze. Using the medical tape to hold them in place as well. It was the best he could do.
Toby told Spider-man he’d have to change the bandages at least three times a day if not more, before packaging the kit back up and returning it back to its rightful place.
He expected Spider-man to have left while he was gone, but to his surprise, he was still in the same spot that Toby had left him. His suit properly zipped up was the only difference.
Toby slowly walked towards him, taking a seat on the ground in front of Spider-man. He kept his hands folded in his lap, not sure if he should say something or try and comfort Spidey.
Not that it seemed he needed comforting. But surely anyone who was almost clawed to death would need some sort of comforting. So with a deep breath, Toby lifted his hand and placed it on Spider-man’s cheek.
“Can I give you something as a ‘thank you’ for fixing me up?” Spider-man finally spoke, avoiding eye contact and focussing his gaze on the ground.
“Like what?” Toby questioned, his thumb rubbing circles on Spider-man’s cheek.
“Like this,” he said before leaning in and placing a small kiss on Toby’s lips. It only lasted a second before Toby had pulled away, startled. “Was that ok?” Spider-man hesitated to ask, worried about what the other’s answer might be.
“Yeah… yeah that was ok,” Toby whispered, his face flushing as he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. He never expected the thanks Spider-man would give him would have been a kiss. But don’t get him wrong, he wasn’t complaining. Just a bit shocked, surprised is all.
Toby breathed, his lips doing a once-over of Spider-man’s still partially masked face. He licked his lips, “Do you trust me?” Toby whispered his question, his hands creeping up to cup Spider-man’s face.
Spider-man took a deep breath before nodding. He let his hands find their way to Toby’s neck, gently rubbing circles with the tips of his thumbs. “Of course I trust you,” He whispered as if it was a secret only Toby got to hear. Which technically it was. Everything he and Toby have done together would end up being just a little secret between the two of them
Toby’s hands trailed up to the edge of the spider-man mask, slowly pulling it up and off his head. He was a bit surprised when two familiar grey, blue eyes met his. But yet for some reason, somewhere isn’t he back if his mind he kind of knew it would be Ranboo under that mask.
Toby’s eyes fluttered shut as he leaned all the way in, connecting his and Ranboo’s lips once again. Only this time there was no mask in between them. No piece of fabric getting in the way of truly kissing him. Ranboo’s lips were a bit chapped, probably from the recent cold weather, but yet it was sort of comforting in a way. The fact that a seemingly perfect being had imperfections. Toby swears he could kiss his lips for hours and not get tired of them. Every second felt like he was walking on clouds.
A slight smile grew on Ranboo’s lips as his thumb tugged at Toby’s bottom lip, allowing him to press harder and deepen their kiss. His hands now gripping at Toby’s jaw, scared that if he let go he would disappear. Toby’s fingers were playing with the back of Ranboo’s hair, giving little tugs and scratches, loving the faint sounds Ranboo made in return.
They kissed for what felt like hours before the sound of distant police sirens caught both of their attentions. They broke away, Toby not daring to move away from the taller, opting to rest his head in the crook of Ranboo’s neck; giving light kisses to his neck.
“I really fucking hate those sirens.” Toby giggled, not moving from his spot close to Ranboo. It was comforting, safe, warm. He moved closer, practically sitting in the taller’s lap now, not that he seemed to mind.
Ranboo wrapped his arms gently around Toby, burying his face in his brunette hair, giving little kisses to the top of his head. The room went silent with the exception of the humming and honking of the distant cars.
“I’m sorry for ignoring you, by the way,” Toby spoke once the silence was growing too loud. He removed himself from Ranboo’s lap, situating himself so he was leaning against his side. “I just realized I really liked you and didn’t know how to handle that properly. I’m bad when it comes to feelings.” He laughed to try and cover up his embarrassment, gaze fixed on the ground.
“I’m not the greatest either,” Ranboo smiled, bumping his head against Toby’s.
Toby grabbed his hand, folding it in his own. “We could figure it out together?” Toby whispered before bringing Ranboo’s hand to his lips for a light kiss. His eyes finding Ranboo’s in a hopeful stare.
“That would be…” Ranboo trailed off, his expression going from one of happiness to sorrow. He let out a sigh, “dangerous.” He finished.
Toby didn’t need him to explain any further what he meant. If word got out that Spider-man had someone of interest in his life… Toby didn’t want to think of the horrible things that could happen.
But he wanted to be with Ranboo , not Spider-man. No one knows- apart from Toby now- his true identity. So what's the harm? They could even keep it a secret between the two of them to ensure that no unwanted ears catch wind of it.
He pleaded this to Ranboo, desperation coating his words, he would argue any and every point Ranboo threw at him. Beside, he practically destroyed that robot in the library, he’s basically a superhero himself now.
Ranboo just sighed with a smile and shake of his head, spoke;
“You’re lucky I like you.”