Chapter Text
Spiderman doesn’t chicken out. He’s an unstoppable, crimefighting, superpowered force of justice that always, always gets back up. No matter how many punches have been thrown at him, not matter how bruised and battered his body feels, no matter how many times villains ridicule his diminished stature he never. Ever. Runs. Away. Dangling in front of danger’s jaws by a single thread is his whole trademark after all. As the new certified Spiderman and son of Rio and Jefferson Davis he has to carry on both legacies. No Running Away. Take That Leap of Faith. Tell His Parents That He’s Spiderman. Tell his parents that he’s Spiderman???
“Ganke…I can’t do it” he whispers with a desperate, pleading edge to his voice. His roommate barely looks up to the webcam as he refines his quantum entanglement thesis.
“You’re Spiderman. I’m sure you can handle it or New York is doomed.” Miles blinks.
“What? I’m not going up against some bad guy I’m talking about telling my parents that…telling my cop dad who has a very clear anti-vigilantism stance and my nurse mum who frets over every little scratch on me that I’m Spiderman. The new superhero who throws himself into burning buildings and uses his body to stop buses full of children from toppling off bridges!”
“Yeah, I saw on the news. That was pretty awesome.” Miles feels slightly bummed at that statement – it was super awesome. The hardest part was acting chill once he put the bus to rest like he wasn’t about to start whooping from the thrill of succeeding.
When they first met, Ganke was mostly indifferent to him, but from his wall of Spiderman merch Miles decided that 1. That guy totally suffered from spidermania and 2. was clearly the best person to help cover him up. Thankfully no regrets there. Well, maybe Miles regrets letting his roommate find out how much of a goof Spiderman really is because he missed those slightly star struck eyes and those shy but enthusiastic agreements whenever Miles asked him to help him cover his absence from classes. Now they’re back to treating each other like regular roommates except one could turn invisible and climb walls.
Flash-forward a couple more months and they’ve developed an unbreakable bond that’s slowly turning itself into a ride or die pact (except for those few days leading up to exam deadlines in which it’s every man for themselves. Sometimes school systems shared those eerie resemblances to post-apocalyptic wastelands where some nights you would walk around at 2am to try relax your nerves except then you find that some people bypassed the library security to huddle around computers wrapped in blankets and feverishly whisper memorised lines or formulas over and over again. Miles just tried to avoid that entire area in general the next few nights). End point: Ganke was his best friend. They confided everything to each other. He’d seen Miles emotionally vulnerable and injured many times over before and…never pushed for any information. Just offered his presence and whatever comforting words he could think of.
“You should tell them. So they aren’t completely blindsided if anything happens to you…or them.” Ganke stops typing for a second, a rare occasion, and actually looks at him. “Like… that time I almost got kidnapped but you warned me directly before the guy arrived at school. We had gone over procedures so I immediately and almost instinctively knew how to deal with it. Then you beat the guy up in the security guard’s office which I’m still certain was also part of your plan…?” Miles shrugs but his blink-and-you’d-miss self-satisfied expression gives it away. Ganke grins at him and they both share a quiet laugh at the memory.
“Yeah… I’ll tell them before dinner. Thanks Ganke.”
“No problem bro.”
“And wish me luck!” Ganke snorts.
“Yeah of course. Did that spider somehow give you a bad luck modifier because your life is a mess and a half. It’s super awesome though. Okay, now stop distracting me I have to finish my thesis. Bye.” And the feed abruptly cuts off. Ah Ganke. Even with a villain outside your door you’d still be more worried about your schoolwork. Miles lets himself stew in his bedroom for a while, trying to drag out the sun slowly going down.
He ends up pacing restlessly around his bedroom, his clock’s hands ticking sending vibrations into the air that Miles’ is pretty sure he can feel on his skin. Either that clock has problems or his nerves are sending his enhanced senses skyrocketing and it feels like he’s in a hyperreality. Are the walls really closing in or was he just pacing so fast the room feels smaller? He’d spent the last few hours frantically running through every possible response over and over. Talking with Ganke had helped clear his head on the decision a lot but, eurgh, no no no nono
“no no no no. I can’t do this. I can’t do this. I can do it! I can do it! Oh……he’s going to be so mad…”
Miles’ mother was called into another late-night shift so his dad was the one handling the food tonight. When he’d told Miles he’d begged to UberEat their dinner instead, which consequently launched his dad into a tirade of those possibly shady restaurants not having good hygiene regulations, “how are you supposed to know if they’re good if we can’t even see the state of the place?”. Miles tried to defend by telling him that he hasn’t even tried it yet but then his dad emphasised that this was a family dinner, and there was nothing more wonderful than having a homecooked meal and sealed the argument.
It wasn’t that his dad doesn’t try it’s just that his talents weren’t really in the kitchen. Or maybe anywhere near food creation. There was always something…off about whatever he put in front of them. It was kind of okay sometimes? But then the fact that the food usually tasted like he’d put an extra secret ingredient in there always freaked Miles out a little. There was currently noise coming from the kitchen that had a lot of clanking and other sounds that he wasn’t sure was supposed to be involved in making a normal dinner. With 2 major hurdles to look forward to tonight his pacing quickened and his voice became more erratic.
“I am grounded. I am so grounded. He’s going to be worried out of his mind and Spiderman is going to be grounded. I am Spiderman being grounded. But he’s so busy with patrols normally there’s no other time! But I also can’t tell this sh*t straight to his face! He’ll fall into shock or something. No…I have to go tell him. You can do this Miles Morales. Just tell your cop dad who hates Spiderman that “Spiderman’s my secret identity. I love being Spiderman!” He’s going to be so disappointed that it’s me. I always meet him on patrols as Spiderman but it’s different because I try to deepen my voice to seem cooler. What am I thinking? He’s never gonna accept me as a superhero. He’s gonna take my suit away. At least I have Ganke, we’re best friends. Aunt May can make another sui- Ugh! I’m spiralling! This is the result of having all this crushing pressure on a teenage superhero!”
Jefferson Davis slowly walked up to his son’s bedroom while the soup was warming up to gently remind him that dinner was going to be served soon and that he should start cleaning up the dining table. But when he got to the door it sounded like his son was having an argument with someone whilst walking around his bedroom at what, in his opinion, seemed to be quite an impressive pace. The parts of the sentences were slipping in and out of his hearing especially with how frantically he spoke, (Jefferson wasn’t going to admit that maybe cooking shouldn’t sound so disruptive to his hearing ability halfway across a house) and the fragments didn’t make sense to him at all.
“I am…he’s so busy….can’t tell…. straight to his face! …no….have to go tell him…Telling…Spiderman that….Spiderman’s my secret… I love…Spiderman! He’s going… so disappointed that it’s me….lways meet him on patrols… because I try to….my voice to seem cooler…. I thinking? He’s never gonna accept me... At least…we’re best friends….can make… Ugh! I’m spiralling! This is…result of… crushing…on a teenage superhero!”
The door slams open and Miles nearly runs into the frozen statue that is his dad. Fear is immediately evident in his eyes as the possibility that his dad heard everything that he just said in his bedroom becomes extremely likely. Jefferson forces himself to relax his shoulders and puts a smile on his face, pretending that he didn’t hear what seemed to be a…confession of love. His mind dove into abrupt chaos the moment he generated the conclusion, but the one still clear-headed policeman trained portion of his brain barely gets the “Uh, Miles, just wanted to gently remind you that dinner is going to be served soon and that you should start cleaning up the dining table.” past his stiff lips.
Miles blinks owlishly at him, (Oh Rio, what have I done to deserve such a beautiful boy) and his face seems to contort into ones of his typical half-grins except his nervousness jumps out at him. “Yeah..p. Yeah sure of course.” Jefferson watches his son almost sprint to the kitchen while he’s left there to try to readjust to this new universe he’s just stepped into. Distantly he hears “Aw, Dad what is this! It doesn’t smell right-“ and his feet automatically take him away, a defence premade and already on the tip of his tongue. For a few minutes he can pretend that he’s still living within his old, familiar schedule.
Dinner is thankfully normal for the most part. Miles is certainly more fidgety with his food than normal and Jefferson doesn’t want to think about the two reasons why that could be. Just as they’re nearly finished their meal, silverware clinking together in the silence, because Jefferson Davis believes that “Miles, family dinner should be filled with family talk. Not being distracted by the latest reality show they have airing.”, Miles finally speaks up about something other than the food.
“Hey… Dad… about the new Spiderman…do you really disprove of him?” They should have chosen to watch that reality show instead. He sighs, “Miles, this again?” like his mind isn’t currently suffering a meltdown.
“I just think…that maybe you have a slightly unfounded bias against the guy- he’s a superhero who’s always looking out for the city…” Miles trails off. Normally Jefferson is quick to fire back the same old argument: Having an unregulated superhuman declaring themselves to be on the side of the people whilst always skirting around the laws that were made for the people will someday lead them into a path that’s too dependent on these spandex clad vigilante idols to save the day, rather than the day to day hardworking policeman who are specifically trained to handle these situations. And with these heroes having no face, they get to run away at super speeds from personally following through with their jobs.
The New Spiderman is much worse at this than his predecessor, thinking that every bad guy no matter how petty needs to be strung up with a note attached to their body somewhere that reads “From your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man!” in scrawling handwriting. An Anonymous tip is left, a squad car dispatched, half an hour wasted trying to cut a purse snatcher out of annoyingly sticky threads – No, Jefferson Davis has a very founded bias against Spiderman. This is what he would normally reply with. The last hour or so was decidedly slightly not normal. Instead he says,
“You… really seem to like that Spiderman.” Miles turns his eyes down and mumbles something like “yeah he’sareallygreatguy…”
“But have you met him? Personally?” Miles seems immediately uncomfortable and makes some non-committal noises. “Speak up Miles I can’t hear you.”
“Yeahh? Kind of..?” He probably noticed the surprise in his eyes and hurriedly goes on, “I just see him sometimes on patrols, it’s, not really that close.”
Jefferson lets out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding. ‘So it was only that Miles has a crush on the superhero then no…weird secret relationship that he was keeping from him. Which was great! The universe wasn’t broken after all. Hold on…didn’t Miles say that they were best friends earlier? Was that only an exaggeration? Wait was it an admiring crush you get for your favourite idols or a crush crush? Did this mean that his son was gay? Or should he say homosexual? The thought had not even occurred to him. But then there was that girl he liked in year 5…bisexual?? The supportive parent part of his brain prepared his speech if Miles came out to him in the future. No, no leave that for later. Miles said something about telling Spiderman? Telling Spiderman he loved him???’
Jefferson’s mind was turning into a storm and he didn’t notice the deep frown forming on his face in concentration or how Miles paled and trailed off in the middle of his sentence of “-how good Spiderman is, trust me dad”. Instead, the only phrase that stood out to him in the middle of the thundering noise in his head was “What if Spiderman rejects Miles?” His mind is frantically running through all the possible responses over and over and one of them is Spiderman saying in that overly forced deep voice of his “Sorry Miles. You’re just way below the league of a cool superhero like me.” And Miles is crying into his arms “Even though I’m a Straight A Student and a wonderful person I’ll never be as great as that cool superhero Spiderman.” and he was powerless to fix his broken heart and-
“I believe…” Jefferson spoke with careful deliberation, standing up. “That this dinner is finished.” He goes pick up his half full plate and heads back into the kitchen to search for the aspirin. He misses the utterly terrified look on Miles shoots at him as he watches his dad snail-pacingly prepare himself for a long, long rest. And possibly for some future confrontation.
Later that night Miles texts his roommate:
[i chickened out]
[i tried to bring up the topic of Spiderman but my dad hates spiderman and he kept on frowning and keeping quiet and i was too terrified to continue]
[he looked like he wanted to murder spiderman if he was right in front of him]
[Bro if I were you I probably wouldn’t continue either honestly]
[Nothing in life is more terrifying than the power of parental punishment]
[Too bad @ tonight You can just try again tomorrow]
[yeah..]
[i just hope that my dad’s hatred towards spiderman will die down if i talk enough about how he’s actually a really good and cool person!!]
[So leaving out the story of how Spiderman tried to rescue a cat from the tree by webbing it to a branch and then trying to rip the branch off but instead you nearly bring half the tree down?]
[…]
[no one wants to hear that story.]