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Miles leans against the faded blue mailbox, that sits on the corner of Aberly Street, taking a well-deserved break. He’d spent the day living up to the friendly neighborhood aspect of his name by helping out around the city. He’d helped catch a balloon that flew loose from a kid’s sticky grasp, carried groceries for a woman who lived five blocks from Food Tiger and aided a group of burly warehouse workers in unloading boxes from their truck.
As he shifts his body to a more comfortable stance, Miles spies a sticker that someone has put up on the mailbox’s side. He crouches to inspect it and finds that the piece is made up of jagged red lines that crisscross the paper and are intercepted by a series of grey ones that seemingly blur the image. It’s good, draws his eye, and it stirs up something inside his chest.
Miles considers taking a picture to promote it on Spider-Man’s Twitter, but before he can, he feels a gentle tap on his shoulder. Miles turns and looks up into the face of a woman. She's wearing a full face of make-up and she’s biting her bottom lip which is slathered in a bright red. The second their gazes connect, her face smooths over, but when Miles rises to his feet, out the corner of his eye, he spies her gripping the edge of her pencil skirt.
She’s skittish and the last thing Miles wants are skittish civilians.
“Good afternoon ma’am,” he says, making sure to use his deep voice (squeaky voices do not calm skittish citizens).
“Good afternoon,” she says and her hands dart to fiddle with the curls of her afro. She clears her throat and adds, “my name is Marlene.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Miles accompanies his sentence with an exaggerated bow. When he straightens Marlene’s hand has left her hair and the hints of a smile manifest themselves in the corners of her lips.
“Now, how is it that Spider-Man can be of service to you on this fine afternoon?”
“Actually,” she says, “ I’m here on behalf of my daughter, Ashanti.”
Marlene takes a step to the side and, for a second, Miles spots a small figure who has attached themselves to Marlene’s leg, someone who must be Ashanti. Miles is barely able to get in a glance, Ashanti follows her mother’s movements and, therefore, stays hidden behind her skirt.
Marlene ducks her head and when she finally does raise it she’s biting her lip again. A bit of her lipstick smears on her front teeth.
“I’m sorry,” she says, “really. The last thing I wanted to do was waste your time. I know you must be busy.”
Marlene stretches an arm behind her to probably rest on a hand on her daughter’s back. Miles watches as Marlene’s shoulders shift away from him and for a second he’s able to catch another glimpse of Ashanti. She’s staring up at him with big black eyes that could hold the universe inside them. Miles doesn’t want to let this woman and her daughter go just yet. He throws up an arm to catch Marlene’s shoulder.
“Wait a second!” he says.
Marlene pauses and Miles is happy to see that Ashanti has not yet readjusted herself to hide behind her mom. Miles can still see her and he takes it as a promising sign.
Marlene blinks at Miles and he rushes to say, “what is it that your daughter wants?”
Marlene gives a little laugh, it’s airy and thin. She shakes her head and says, “she wanted to say hello.”
“Well,” Miles says, “ I’d be happy to oblige”.
Marlene nods and Miles takes this as permission to approach her daughter
Miles releases Marlene and crouches so that he can be level with Ashanti. Those beautiful eyes of hers fall to the ground, almost immediately. Despite her shyness, Miles can clearly see that Ashanti’s a big fan of his. Her hair is bunched up into one big poof-ball that's secured by black and red baubles. She’s wearing a hoodie that bears his emblem right over the front and her black leggings are accented by stretches of bright red. Her sneakers are all white and fresh enough to make Miles wish he had a pair for himself.
Miles ditches his deep voice and replaces it with one that’s as soft as he can get it.
“Hi there,” he says.
Ashanti’s eyes lift and she squeaks out a, “hi.”
“I like your shoes,” Miles offers.
She’s holding his gaze now and her voice gains a little strength as she says, “I picked ‘em out myself.”
“You’re kidding.”
Ashanti shakes her head emphatically and let’s go of her mother’s skirt to tug at her leggings. The fabric only raises a couple of inches, but it’s enough to embolden Ashanti to stick out her foot for Miles to admire, and admire he does.
He gushes over her footwear, which really isn’t all that hard to do.
When Ashanti’s satisfied, she pulls her leg back in, but she doesn’t go back to her mom. Instead, she keeps staring at Miles and he scrambles to find more to talk about. He’s usually good with kids, but that’s when he’s Miles Morales, not Spider-Man.
Ashanti comes to his rescue with a quiet question. She opens her mouth and in a mousy voice, she asks, “do you think I could be a superhero?”
Miles is thrown by the question, but thankfully Ashanti didn’t seem affected by his silence. She just stares at him with those deep eyes and patiently waits for Miles to gather himself.
Miles finally does manage to get a grip. He encloses Ashanti’s hands with his own which are about twice as large.
“Ashanti, anyone can wear the mask and I mean anyone.”
Ashanti’s eyes widen and she nods as if Miles is telling her the meaning of life.
“Every single time you choose to do the right thing, you’re being a hero. Do you do the right thing, Ashanti?”
“I try my best,” Ashanti says.
“Well that’s all it takes.”
Miles releases one of her hands in order to raise his own for a high five.
“See, you’re already a hero!”
Ashanti stares at Miles’ open palm and it reaches a point where it begins to get awkward. Miles is considering retracting the gesture when Ashanti moves into action. She bypasses his hand completely and instead, practically tackles him.
Miles takes a moment to steady himself and then wraps both his hands around Ashanti. She squeezes Miles closer and her arms are practically wrangling his neck, but he doesn’t mind.
When Ashanti finally releases him, it’s with a smile that stretches across her face and shows off all of her teeth.
“Thanks, Spider-Man.”
Ashanti rushes all the syllables to his name and it comes out all sloppy, but it’s still the sweetest thing that Miles has ever heard.
“Hey kid, anytime.”
He’s about to rise to his feet when he hears a tentative, “excuse me.”
Miles turns his gaze from Ashanti to her mother who is stooped over, with her phone in hand.
“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I was wondering if maybe I’d be able to get a picture of the two of you?”
“Oh yeah, sure, it’d be my pleasure!” Miles says.
He turns to Ashanti, “would you like a picture with me?”
Her eyes light up and she doesn’t hesitate to shake her head up and down with fervor.
Miles shifts so that all his weight rests on one knee and he turns to whisper in Ashanti’s ear, “do you know how to thwip?”
“Yes,” she whispers back.
“How ‘bout we both pull one for the camera?”
“Okay,” she whispers back.
“We’re ready!” Miles calls to Marlene.
Marlene bends down to one knee and as she does Ashanti looks down at her hands and clumsily folds her middle and ring finger down to her palm. She looks to Miles for confirmation and Miles gives an affirmative nod.
Ashanti looks back to the camera and extends her hands with an enthusiasm that Miles never would have guessed her to have just minutes ago. Miles extends his own arms to join her in the iconic Spider-Man pose.
When Marlene finally lowers her phone, Miles turns back to Ashanti and holds out his pinky.
“Okay Ashanti, I want you to make me a promise. Do you think you can do that for me?”
“I can,” Ashanti says and she latches her own tiny pinky to his.
“I want you to promise me that you’ll never forget that you already have what it takes to be a hero.”
Miles lifts his other hand from the ground and points right to where Ashanti’s heart is. Her head dips to stare at it.
“It’s right here, that’s all you need to be a hero, okay? It’s heart. Do you think you can remember that?”
Ashanti says, “yes I can!” and yanks Miles pinky down so ferociously he’s almost thrown off balance.
When they break the shake, Miles winks at Ashanti who struggles to mimic the gesture. He has to restrain himself from laughing. Miles nods to Marlene who mouths a thank you. Then he extends an arm, presses a finger to his web shooter and lets his web carry him off into the sky.
As he rockets upward, Miles waves down at the ground below and it warms his heart to see Ashanti in her mother’s arms, both of them returning the gesture.
With people like Ashanti existing in the world, Miles had hope that the future might just turn out okay. All it took was a couple of heroes with big hearts to save the world.