Work Text:
Rio Morales had a very keen eye for fine details.
It was a skill she had to have as a nurse. The smallest difference could mean the life or death of a patient.
Which is why she was so baffled by how she missed the now seemingly so obvious signs.
How her son’s unexplained disappearances seemed to strangely coincide with Spider-Man’s sightings.
Or how Miles always seemed to end up in his room just a few minutes before Jeff came home to talk about how Spider-Man helped the police take down a supervillain.
Of course, these were nothing but suspicions.
But soon, the evidence became too much to just wave away.
When the girl, Gwen told them Miles went missing, Rio’s first action was to go to the last place she talked with her little boy.
She immediately recognised Miles’ backpack on the fire escape.
Rio hurried up the stairs, and rushed to the fire escape, only to find Miles’ discarded clothing all over the catwalks.
It was there when something broke in Rio. Up until now, the knowledge of the fact that her son was missing didn’t really sink in, but now, seeing the last remnants of her son brought her to tears. She clutched Miles’s sweater, holding it close to her chest while she sobbed, mourning her lost son.
——————
One month later
“Jeff, dinner’s almost ready, can you set the table?”
Rio turned the stove off, and she poured half of the saucer pan’s content into a serving bowl.
She followed the recipe very closely. A family specialty.
The serving size was for three people.
Out of the three plates, only two were filled.
They ate in silence.
Jeff buried himself in his work. Which there was much more of, with the absence of Spider-Man.
Jeff didn’t seem to connect the dots.
But Rio was terrified that she did.