Chapter Text
"Currently we're able to hear a full blown out chorus of “Dancing in my room” song, by 347aidan, which has been playing on repeat for the last 30 minutes…", 50 minutes, actually. Read ya prompt right, lady. "...and we've got internal footage uploaded by one of the hostages where we can see the Prowler perform the famous dance move… Griddy ? Is that right, Brian?" watching the live press transmission, I can only wonder one thing.
What's taking her so long to get here?
"C-can I… Stop re-recording now…?", the hostage holdin' up the phone as I told him to do asks, clearly tremblin' with both exhaustion and fear of having asked the wrong question. I cannot blame him though, cuz I'm also getting tired of puttin' up with'is act for so long.
"Whassup Miles?", uncle Aaron's voice rings on the earphones, lowering the song audio while his face shows up on screen right in front of my eyes. "She's on her way there. 'Bout 3 minutes or so."
"Finally!", I let's out an exasperated sigh while stopped the current dancing stunt. "Took'er long enough!"
"Y'know ya could've just gon'out there wit'the money for once, right man?", my uncle suggests for tha third time, raisin'an eyebrow challenging me.
"An' what fun would'it have?", I retort, hearin' ma uncle end his short call with'a mocking scuff.
"Sure man", he let's out his usual words.
"Ya can stop'it now, Jeff", I tell the civilian, who nods quickly as he puts his phone away. "T'is showtime."
So yeah, one last time.
Name's Miles Morales.
It's been about three months I've been livin' a double life as both a university freshman and my uncle's villain alter ego, The Prowler… although I'mma antihero of sorts now.
A little crazy if you ask me? Clearly. But wasn't exactly my choice to begin with, more like a luck strike actually, still deciding if good or bad - right now's fifty-fifty.
But, well, it all started on university's first day… in the most unlucky way possible.
"Late, Mr. Morales", the teacher just announced me in the most preschool way possible.
"Uhm… time's an object submitted to creative liberty, right? So…"
And my joke was welcomed with complete silence - and that weird kid that just smiles every time someone looks at him… weird.
"Even if your little lateness rendezvous' understandable in other classes, please keep in mind that I'm not here to tolerate interruptions like so. Another one and you'll be refrained from attending this class, understood?"
"Yeah…"
"Go sit down", she said, turning back to the rest of the class and resuming her introductions.
This teacher is actually 'ok' for someone that only talks about the history of liberal arts - not my actual choice for first semester subject, but it's one of the obligatory ones, so, no choice -, but she just got some kind of grudge against me since my first week.
"Man, she just hates your guts", Ganke whispered as soon as I put down my stuff.
"Tell me something I don't know yet", I mumbled, ignoring the snort he let out in response to my morning grumpiness.
"Oh, right. She's choosing the duos for this semester's papers at the end of the class", Ganke adds some seconds after, as the teacher adds topics to the board with what I imagine to be the papers' subject.
"Sure", it's the answer he gets, I'm actually a stranger in uni, not having many friends other than Ganke himself. Not cause of my lack of social skills to be fair, but actually cause most of the people here group up based on their personal tastes in this major, and most of them don't actually vibe that much with me since this' a more traditional arts university.
And graffiti's not actually that popular.
"Miles, sometimes you're too slow" Ganke pulls out a pen and starts copying the teacher notes, not bothering to look at my offended face.
"The heck, man?"
"You know Gwen Stacy is in this class, right?", Ganke looks at me with and eyebrow raised, clearly suggesting the possibility.
"Shut up", I slide through the chair, hoping my face's not as red as it feels like.
"But you guys can get paired up together…"
"There's about a hundred people in this class, Ganke. It's about 1/100 chance that happens, and with my luck? Clearly not happening", but GOD I wish it happened.
"You never know, man. Maybe you're stocking up your luck for this."
"Ganke, please stop trying to get my hopes up for nothing", I sigh, trying to keep myself from getting hyped up over nothing.
"Just sayin, man, just sayin…"
"And yeah, I told you", Ganke smiles knowingly as I got back from the improvised lucky draw the teacher made, a small paper slice in my hands with Gwen's name on it.
"Are you some kind of psychic, man?", the question slips my mouth before I registered, making my friend smiles as much as humanly possible with the suggestion.
"Should I bet on a lottery or somethin?"
"Maybe…?" I let it out, a smile just forming on my face again as I look at the name scribbled on the paper and…
"Miles?"
"Ya?", I let out, not registering the voice until her face’s right there in front of me.
And I blank.
Please don't say anything weird.
Please don't say anything weird.
"So, can I talk to you a bit?"
"S-sure!", Did I just stutter? Ganke lets out a snort as if to confirm it.
"I hate you", I mouth silently to him, trying to ignore Gwen's gaze as she watches the little scene unfold.
And as I turn back to look at her, she just turns on her feet and gestures for me to follow, which I do as she leads us out of class and into a less crowded hallway.
"So", she turns around so abruptly that I almost fall down trying not to bump into her. Imagine if it happened? She's so small that it'd hurt her for sure! She's about what? Five foot five? God, she's small. "I know you're just as tired of this class as I am, but I'm not going to take it a third time, I NEED to pass this class this semester, you hear me?", I nod as fast as I can. How could I not? I totally get her! Imagine having to repeat a class just because of attendance? They have a terrible system. If you can get the assignments done and the scores needed, it means you can work around the subject without attending all the classes right? "Here's the deal. We divide the topics between us both and I'll tell you when and where we can get together to work on the presentation, ok?", and I nod again. Great plan! We can get together and… wait. Get together? Does it mean we'll meet out class? That's it, right? So I'll get to talk to her more, and maybe we can… "Great! Give me your phone."
"What?"
"Your phone, Morales!", Act dumb Miles, she's just asking you out! Relax, it's alright. Just act dumb and…
"Who's Morales?"
NOT THAT DUMB.
"Oh God!", her eyes roll around, and she pulls out a piece of paper from her backpack, writes something down and pulls my hand to drop it there. "Here, my phone number. Send me a 'Hey' or something so we can talk about the papers… see ya!", she waves and walks away while I'm frozen in place, heart beating so loud in my ears that I can't register anything more than the feeling of the piece of paper on my hand.
So yeah, Gwen Stacy.
She's kind of my senior, actually. But she's taking the same class as I am, cause apparently she had some kind of personal problems last semester and couldn't keep up with attendance.
It all started just like any other thing in my life these past few months since I got my letter of acceptance. With my usual "being on time" problem's, I got lost in the hallways and, late as I was, didn't mind getting a map as well. And as I burst into the classroom, I went through the most "Anime"esc acrobatic act possible, tripping on my usually untied shoelace and sending my registration papers up in the air while bracing myself for the impact of my clown of a face into the floor.
"Uhm… Thanks for interrupting my self presentation, but I really think you could've made it a little less embarrassing for yourself", she said, a small grin and a raised eyebrow complementing the sarcastic tone. And while probably looking the second most dumb I have ever looked like in my life - the first one included my dumb highschooler self being rescued by a literal superhero about one year before, but yeah -, I could literally hear the chorus to "Eyes blue like the Atlantic" in my earphones as some kind of predefined soundtrack.
And I think that’s exactly when fell into her, literally into her arms.
"Is this how you feel when you fall in love?", I THOUGHT I had thought to myself before hearing a clear:
"What did you say?", as an answer.
Why do I feel this need to embarrass myself every time?
"I-I… I just asked your name, I didn't got it… obviously", I tried to get myself back together while rambling the question to her.
"Oh!", she laughed a little. Great! "My name is Gw-".
"-And ah… that concludes the presentation's", said our teacher. "You both can sit down and you, Mr…?", she continued, piercing her angry eyes into mine.
"Morales! Miles Morales, miss.", I said in an awkwardly loud voice.
"Mr. Morales. Please refrain yourself from doing this kind of presentation again, are we clear?", I nodded a 'Yes, ma'am' and got to pick up my papers as fast as I could. While lost in trying to understand that girl's name through the loud shout of the teacher.
I swear it took two weeks to understand her name wasn't actually "Gwanda".
Dumb right? What kind of name is Gwanda? Maybe South African or something.
Anyways, after that I could never keep my eyes away from her in class for more than ten minutes and soon enough Ganke, the first - and only - friend I made first day into this mess, caught up on it and started teasing me about my unassumed crush on the blonde girl with force enough to stop me from falling face first to the ground - another detail pointed out from my bother of a friend to my lack of attention self.
"So, you got'er number and instead of texting your crush as soon as you physically could, you've actually waited until you got all your classes for the day done and's calling you're uncle to tell'im about her?", uncle Aaron summed up everything from the point of my recapitulation of the day to that very moment. "Man, are you actually my nephew?", he laughed loudly, getting me even more frustrated.
"I called cause I needed help, man! Not you spitting facts in ma face", I groaned.
"Man you calling the wrong guy!", he laughed again. "I'm not married, ya dad clearly has better tips than me."
"I'm not calling my dad! You know he's gonna tell mamí, and she's gonna tell everyone she knows until even Gwen knows about it!"
"Oh, so her name's Gwen?", he laughed and I cursed myself for letting it slip, knowing my uncle's gonna tease me as much as Ganke already does.
"Uncle Aaron…!", I call out, already regretting the idea of calling him for help. “Just focus on the problem? I need help, not you making fun of me”
“Yeah, man, I got it!”, he laughs again before going back to the usual self-confident tone. “The only thing I can do’s tell you to text her already! You already got’er number, what else do you need to start making ya move?”
“... A little bit of ideas on what to text her?”, he let’s out another laugh as I talk and is soon interrupted by the sound of a beep.
“Listen man, just text her ‘Hey’ or somethin! I know’s cliche an’all but just “be yourself”, ya get me? She’s already there, ya just need to make a move for her to notice you, ‘k?”
“Ok, uncle…” another sigh comes out of me as I answer, cause I know he’s right about it.
“‘K man, gotta go now. Got some work to do”
“Yeah, call you later, uncle”
“Good, you text’er and let me know how it went, k? Bye man”, and with a beep the call ends.
Most of the idea for texting Gwen’s already here, but what about the actual words? Just a ‘Hey’, uncle Aaron? Really? As if I would just text her that…
Me
Hey
Miles here
It's been about two hours since I’ve sent the text, and still no response. Clearly not the best choice of words by far since she didn’t answer until now even though she’s been online then.
“I’m really built different… More idiot, obviously”, I mumble to myself as I make my way down the street looking for a good alleway for me to do some art.
Yeah, I make graffiti when I’m stressed. It helps my mood.
About 20 minutes after leaving the university dorms and starting to venture outside, I reached the abandoned warehouse entrance, my habitual place for the past weeks after the start of the semester. After finding a good space for painting, I place my backpack on the ground and start pulling out the spray cans. As part of the ritual since I was a teenager going around the subway with uncle Aaron, I turn up the volume of my earphones just enough for me to drown in the sound as I paint, but not loud enough that it makes me unable to hear if someone approaches unannounced. And with the full blown sound of "Start a riot?", I start painting.
Mostly the red background is done when I hear the sound of something coming from the ceiling.
“Weird…”, I let out as I see some pigeons fly away, and then with a loud bump the ceiling a purple glow breaks into the Warehouse, falling right above an iron beam on the second floor of the building. It takes less than a second before the second figure comes right after, chasing the first one and I can figure out exactly what is happening:
Ghost Spider and the Prowler are in the middle of a fight right into my warehouse hideout.
Both of them run around the space right above my head, attacking one another as they make their way back out to the ceiling of the building, all the while I run as fast as I can, grabbing my backpack on the way out, hoping to get as far as possible from the center of the current fight. And as I get past the door, some ink cans falling from my backpack as it gets caught in the way out, I can see as they both get closer to the edge of the building ceiling. Prowler dodges an elegant kick from Ghost Spider and lunges onto her neck, getting a hold of her in the fastest movement I’ve ever seen.
Frozen in place, I watch, heart on my mouth, as he pulls up her mask.
Golden strands fall around her face and the angle is just right for me to see the face I’ve gotten so familiar with looking at, drawing, and daydreaming about, for the past weeks.
And the realization suddenly hits me as hard as a train as I shout out an anguished “No!”.
Gwen Stacy is the Ghost Spider.
My scream caught the Prowler's attention for just a second too long, giving her enough time to kick him away. With a loud metal sound, probably from his armor, the Prowler hits the ground right in front of me while Gwen seems to get some distance to recover her mask, lost somewhere in the ceiling. And as I finally turn around ready to make a run back to the university…
“Miles?”, the faint voice stops me, so familiar that my heart sinks again as I turn to see his face.
“Uncle Aaron?”, I let out, making out his face through the half torn mask. “Wha-What… You're the Prowler?!”
“Ok… relax, man”, he whispers, breathing heavily. “You’re… painting?”
“Y-yeah…”, I breathe out. "I-I need to get you out of here and…", my eyes dart to the red line flowing through the sidewalk where he’s laying down. "You're-"
"Not bleeding", he cuts me with a short laugh. "Think I hit your ink cans when falling", he turns his body a bit to the side showing a bit of the cans with red ink smashed under his torso. "Now get out of here before she comes back. I'll get'er and we'll talk about it later."
"W-wait, I can't let you here and… You can't her Gwen-I mean Ghost Spider a-and…"
"Hold on, Gwen? Ghost Spider… That your girl, man?", uncle Aaron, cut me again, wide eyes as he links the information of who's the girl behind the superhero's mask. "Well that took a turn."
"Uncle, please, you guys can't…"
"Ok, ok, hear me out, man", he pulls my hand and dips it in the ink before pulling it back to his chest and using it to spread more paint over himself. "I'm not gonna hurt ya girl, got it? I'm gonna lay here and act as dead as I can so she thinks it to be so and you get the heck outta here right now! We'll talk about later, you got me?"
"But uncle-"
"Shut up and do as I say, man! I got an idea. But you need to go. Now.", he repeats and I get up as he watches with fierce eyes. "Go, man!", he repeats and I start running, hoping he really has a plan.
As soon as I get to the dorms, and pull up the window to climb in, Ganke greets me with a raised eyebrow while turning away from his computer screen.
"You're getting paint all over the place, man", he points out and I just nod absently, making my way to the shower.
I lock the door and let my body fall to the ground in pure silence.
How come I didn't notice anything? Uncle Aaron being the Prowler makes total sense!
His late night calls and absent weeks while I was growing up, the inexplicably large amount of money - no electrician work would pay that much that frequently -, the weird choices of words when talking about Ghost Spid-...
Gwen is the Ghost Spider.
The girl I've had a crush on for the last month or so has been acting as a spider superhero for the last three years.
And I had a crush on her when I was fourteen!
And she saved once when…
God how much more crazy can this get?!
And as I'm having these mental breakdowns my cellphone vibrates silently inside my hoodie pockets.
Uncle Aaron
Hey, man
Got some time tomorrow night?
We need to talk.