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It had taken him a while to realize it, but deep down Miles always knew he liked guys too. He thought that maybe, in the beginning, it had just been admiration he’d feel when looking at the other guys in his classes, wishing he could style his hair like that, or carry himself with such confidence, or dress like that.
But the more he found himself looking at the other guys, the harder it became to ignore the thoughts in the back of his head pointing out how nice that one guy’s smile was, or, hey, he’s kinda cute, or the butterflies that came with making eye contact with them.
It wasn’t all that surprising when he realized that he was into both girls and guys.
One day it kinda just clicked in his head, his eyes widening as a “Damn, that makes sense.” left his lips in realization, before he shrugged and went back to the drawing he was currently working on.
It’s not like it changed much. Sure, it was another thing he hid from his parents in fear of being disowned even though he knew deep down that neither his dad nor mama cared about that type of thing. They only cared that he was happy and being treated properly by whomever he fell in love with.
Which is another reason why he hid his new boyfriend from them. From everyone. Because deep down he knows that he isn’t exactly being treated the way he should be, but there’s nothing he can do about it. Because not only does Seb, his boyfriend, claim that every time he hurts him is an accident, but he also knows that Miles is Spider-Man.
So it doesn’t matter if Seb hits Miles again, because if Miles tries to leave him, all he has to do is tell his parents and all of New York that their Spider-Man is a fifteen-year-old boy from Brooklyn named Miles Morales and his life would be over.
So Miles stays, under the threat of having his identity revealed that Sebastian holds over his head.
Seb wasn’t violent from the get-go, if Miles had known he’d turn out this way he wouldn’t have started dating him. No, Seb was so nice in the beginning that it was easy for Miles to ignore the small signs he began to show a couple of weeks into their relationship.
They met in one of his classes, having been seated beside each other. Miles remembered thinking how funny he was, always mumbling little comments under his breath whenever there was an opportunity to make a joke about a video they were watching, or something the teacher would say, or when the ‘know it all’ of the class would answer the question asked with an air of superiority around them.
He was confident, popular, and he wasn’t afraid to express his clear interest in Miles, telling him that he thinks some of the things Miles does is cute, like when his nose would crinkle up when he’d laugh at his jokes, how he’d bop his head to the music he listened to, the way his eyes were always big with curiosity when learning something new or being told an interesting story.
So yeah, Miles found himself developing a crush on the boy who shamelessly flirted with him for two months until, eventually, he asked Miles out on a date. It wasn’t anywhere fancy, just a simple little shawarma joint near the school.
It became their spot, they would go every Tuesday night for dinner and even when Miles tried telling him that he doesn’t have the money to be able to get Shawarma every night, Seb would insist on paying.
It had been good, really good for the first couple of weeks into their relationship. But as soon as Seb started realizing that Miles’ life doesn’t revolve around him, he began getting upset, complaining that Miles doesn’t spend enough time with him and that he feels like he’s keeping secrets about what he’s really doing at night. Miles knew he couldn’t just outright tell him that he was out swinging around the city during the nights or whenever they aren’t together.
So it had been an honest mistake when he climbed in through his childhood bedroom window only to freeze when he saw Seb staring at him from where he was scrolling through his phone laying on Miles’ bed. Yeah, that was how Seb found out.
That’s when the manipulation started. Seb knew that he had full control over Miles as long as he reminded him of the huge secret he was keeping for him, and how easily he could slip up and tell his parents.
Then the hitting started.
At first, it had been “an accident”.
Seb was growing increasingly mad that Miles had priorities outside of their relationship, like keeping New York as safe as he could to his ability. When Miles canceled another one of their Shawarma dinners to stop an unexpected crime, he came back to his dorm to see Seb pacing the room angrily, waiting for Miles to get there.
Ganke wasn’t there, probably out hanging with his friends and so that left Miles alone with a fuming boyfriend.
Seb had yelled and thrown a few things during his rant about how Miles needs to get his priorities straight which… seemed a little unfair… and when Miles finally argued back, defending himself and saying that he has a life and responsibilities outside of their relationship, he remembers the way Seb's face had gone scarily cold.
Now, Miles' spidey senses had warned him, but he still hadn’t been expecting the harsh knuckles of Sebs' hand to make contact with his face as he suddenly backhanded him.
Miles had been stunned into silence, his hand holding his throbbing cheek as he stared at Seb in bewilderment, stepping back.
Seb seemed to have realized then that he’d just hit his own boyfriend. He scrambled to apologize and tried wrapping Miles in his arms only for the boy to cower away as if he were about to be hit again.
That was the first time he outright blackmailed Miles into staying with him.
“You know the secret that I’m keeping for you, and I can’t promise I can keep it forever if you decide to leave me. You know it was a mistake, Miles. I was upset! Try telling me you haven’t done things you regret when you’re upset!” He’d tried to rationalize.
Miles’ stomach sank like an endless black hole as he realized right then and there what he’d gotten himself into by being with Seb. He wasn’t a stupid boy. He knew that abusers always blamed the first strike as an accident, promising not to do it again only to break that promise instantly after.
But he couldn’t risk his secret getting out. So he only nodded his head and accepted the apology with dread settling heavily in his stomach.
And of course, the cycle continued. Only he hadn’t expected anyone to notice that things had changed with Miles.
He especially hadn’t expected Miguel O’Hara to notice, or care.
“¿Dónde demonios está este niño?” Miguel grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation as he leaned against the wall of the training room, watching as the other teens practiced with Jess, just like Miles was supposed to be doing too, but there had been no sign of the kid.
This was the third time this week that Miles has either missed training completely, or been nearly an hour late, and it was beginning to grate on Miguel’s nerves. If the kid wasn’t gonna take this job seriously, he shouldn’t have it.
He was just about to open a portal to Miles’ dimension and drag the teenager to training himself when suddenly, the door to the room opened and one tired-looking Miles Morales was walking in, his shoulders hunched inward and face missing its usual energized grin.
“Morales.” he barked from across the room. The boy raised his eyes from the ground to look at Miguel, making the bags under them all the more visible.
“Hm?” he grunted and Miguel's brows furrowed.
“You’re late. Again.” he chastised.
“Sorry,” was all he got in return and that really had Miguel scratching the back of his neck. No excuse, no elaborate story as to how he ended up being late, no witty comeback, just defeat. Strange.
Miguel sighed, “Well, get in there. You still have two hours left.” he waved a dismissive hand toward where the others were training. Miles nodded and shed his jacket, dropping it to the ground and webbing himself into the action.
Miguel watched the boy closely, he knew something was off. He assumes it has something to do with the high-class school he’s in. He’s always complaining about it, so maybe he’s just being overworked with that and his patrols combined? Miguel was sure that’s all it is. But then why does something feel off?
Miguel eventually switched out with Jess halfway, taking over so that she could get back to her dimension and be a mother to her baby. Miguel knew he could be hard on the kids, but he also knew that he had to be in order for them to get better and be prepared for the harsh reality of the real world.
It felt oddly silent without Miles throwing out witty remarks, joking amongst the others, and taking jabs at Miguel. The others tried getting him to join in on their jokes but all they could get out of him was a half smile that instantly dropped when he thought no one was looking. Miguel thought nothing of it. It was fine.
Except it wasn’t. He didn’t even mean to do it, but he continued to keep a close eye on Miles.
He hadn’t even realized he was doing it, but every time the kid showed up to the training sessions, or for a mission to capture an anomaly, he was watching his mannerisms, the way he held himself, his attitude. All of it was off. He was missing the spark that he always carried with him.
Miles would show up, do what he was supposed to do, and then leave. Sometimes he’d give some sort of excuse like he has a paper due, or he has to go have dinner with his parents, or sometimes he’d give no excuse at all and just leave without a goodbye.
“Miguel!” Jess’s voice snapped him back to the present, he’d been watching Miles pick at his food at the end of the table. It was a rare day that the others managed to convince Miles to stay and grab some grub in the cafeteria before heading back to their dimensions.
“Hm? What?” he blinked, looking away from Miles to look at Jess who was looking him over with her brows furrowed in concern.
“You zoned out, you never do that.” she pointed out and he shrugged, saying nothing in response because what could he say to that? He huffed a quiet laugh as he watched Hobie stick his wet finger in Gwens' ear, making her groan in annoyance and slap it away.
He watched the way the other three messed around with each other, cracking jokes and laughing shamelessly, all while Miles kept his head down and continued to poke at his noodles in the tray in front of him. He looked so damn tired.
“What’s with you and Morales, Miguel?” Jess questioned accusingly, making Miguel raise a questioning brow and look at her.
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t act like you haven’t been stalking the kid like a vulture for the past month, O’Hara. You refuse to take your eyes off of him whenever he’s here. So spill,” she said expectantly, dropping her fork onto her tray and crossing her arms. Miguel should’ve known that she would’ve noticed, she always does.
“Don’t you think Morales has been acting… off?” he said, glancing back over to the boy who was seemingly reading something on his phone, brows pinched together in stress as he chewed at the inside of his cheek.
“In what way?” Jess questioned, also turning her eyes onto the boy.
“He’s… distant.” Miguel shrugged.
“Well we did send the entirety of the Spider Society after him, it’s understandable that he’s not our biggest fan…” she tried to say but Miguel was shaking his head.
“But he was fine, Jess. Then it’s like overnight he completely changed. He stopped joking around, stopped trying to get on my nerves, stopped smiling. When’s the last time you’ve seen him smile, like really smile?” Miguel asked her. He watched the cogs turn in her brain as she tried to recall the last time Miles had laughed. The last time she could think of was weeks ago.
“Damn,” her brows raised in realization.
“That’s exactly what I mean. I’m sure he’s just tired with having to worry about school and being Spider-Man but I can’t help but…” he trailed off.
“Worry?” Jess finished for him and he groaned lowly, sighing in defeat.
“Yeah.”
“Well, why don’t you talk to him? Maybe he can ease your stress if you just talk to him about it?” she suggested with a shrug.
“ Me? Talk to him? Yeah, that would be interesting.” he scoffed.
“You’d be surprised. Teenagers are stubborn. Sometimes they need someone to reach out to them first before they’ll ever admit they need help. And that someone can be anyone.” she shrugged, moving to stand up and grabbing her tray. “Just try?” she said, patting his shoulder encouragingly before walking away.
Her words weighed on him heavily, throughout the rest of lunch. Miguel was trying to conjure up a conversation in his head as he ate the last of his burger, but every time it would sound awkward and strained.
Suddenly, Miles was standing up from the table, pocketing his phone and grabbing his tray, mumbling something about a missing assignment to the others before he began to walk away. Miguel watched as the boy threw out his barely eaten lunch, typed the coordinates into his watch, and disappeared through the portal.
Miguel would talk to him next time.
‘Next time’ was the next day. Miguel was alerted of an anomaly and he quickly pinged Hobie and Miles to hop on. Despite being late or absent from training, Miles still arrived to missions right away, very rarely being late.
Miles showed up, looking a little like he’d just crawled out of bed which was odd considering it was 4 pm on a Saturday in his universe. Miguel eyed the teenager for a moment before they were off to the universe that had alerted him of an anomaly.
Miles had definitely just climbed out of bed if the sluggish movements and late reaction times were any sign. Miguel, more times than once, felt his heart leap into his throat when Miles came too close to being clawed apart by The Lizard anomaly that they were currently trying to contain. Multiple times, Miguel had to jump in and save the kid from losing his head to a dangerous swipe of talons.
By the end, Miguel was agitated. Because why the hell is the kid so messy today? It nearly cost him his life seven different times. If Miguel knew any better, it was almost as if the kid was purposely throwing himself headfirst into danger.
As he sent the anomaly to containment, he turned to Miles who was already typing in the coordinates to his own dimension. “Morales,” he said and watched as the boy's slumped shoulders drew up to his neck.
“Yes?” he looked over his shoulder to Miguel.
“I want to speak to you in my office,” he said before stepping through the portal that opened up straight to his office. He walked over to his desk and urged his talons to retreat, the fight was over and he wasn’t trying to trigger the kid in any way when he probably already thought he was in trouble, which he is.
Miles stepped through the portal that remained open to his office and Miguel turned displeased eyes on him, but the teenager wasn’t even looking at him, instead, his eyes were downcast to his shoes.
“You look tired.” Miguel pointed out unhelpfully. Miles shrugged.
“Been busy,” he offered as a very vague explanation, reaching up to roughly rub at his eye with a fist. As he did this, Miguel caught a glimpse of bruises around his wrist, just barely peeking out from the sleeve of his suit. His eyes narrowed.
“Take a break, kid.” he sighed, hands on his hips.
“What?” Miles questioned as he finally raised his eyes to meet Miguels.
“You’re obviously exhausted and I cannot have you putting yourself at risk like you did today. Your dimension will be fine without Spider-Man for a couple of days while you regain your strength and get some damn sleep.” He wasn’t asking, he was telling. “You’re still welcome to come train and hang around here, but you won’t be assigned any missions until I see fit,” he said. Miles looked like he wanted to argue but there was something else that Miguel could see in his eyes. Relief.
“Okay,” he said instead. Miguel wasn’t gonna lie and say he wasn’t surprised that it was that easy. But he also wasn’t a fool, and he knew that the kid wasn’t going to completely lay off patrolling. Spider-Man is incapable of taking a vacation. He only hopes that the kid at least tries to take care of himself.
“Okay,” Miguel echoed. “You can go,” he nodded to the door and Miles nodded, turning on his heel and leaving. Miguel hoped that Miles would listen, but he had witnessed firsthand just how stubborn he is, so he doesn’t have too high of expectations.
Miguel sees Miles once or twice a week instead of three to five after that. Miguel will spot him walking around HQ, making his way to the training rooms even though he isn’t scheduled to train with the others that day. He would watch through the security footage as Miles trains alone. His brows would pinch together in concern as he watches the teenager take his pent-up anger out on a punching bag until the bag is flying across the room and sand is spilling out of it. It’s the most emotion he’s seen on the kid since he changed into this… quiet and reserved teen. And he’s only showing it because he thinks no one can see him.
Miguel can't get rid of the uneasy feeling in his gut every time he sees Miles. There’s something the kid isn’t telling him, and Miguel has an idea of what it is.
At first, he truly believed it had to do with school and patrol, but as he continued to observe and watch the kid, he picked up on more and more things each time.
Miles would be hanging out with the other three in the break room they had claimed as their own months ago. Miguel would be passing by and just manage to catch a glimpse of Hobie raising his hand to clap Miles on the shoulder, only for the boy to flinch as if Hobie had been moving to hit him.
He rarely smiled anymore, and when he did, it lacked the genuineness and Miguel could see just how much Miles wished it was real. He could see it in his eyes, the longing to laugh for real for once, begging to just give in and allow himself to enjoy himself for once. But there was something preventing him from doing so.
Miles carries himself as if he’s got an entire building on his shoulders. Something is weighing him down so much mentally, that it's showing physically. It shows in the way Miles' shoulders remain curled in as if to protect his heart, his fists remain balled up, his eyes flick around to make sure he’s aware of every single thing surrounding him, constantly looking at any exits to the room he’s in at the time, brows permanently pinched together in distress, chewing on his cheek or lip or nails.
Miguel knew that none of this was normal. Every sign Miles was showing, pointed to signs that he was being hurt.
Miguel’s first thoughts were his parents, but then he was reminded of the lengths Miles went through just to save his dad's life and the way he gushes about how much he loves his mom, despite the embarrassment she puts him through sometimes.
So not his parents. Another family member? A friend? A girlfriend? A teacher? An Employer?
Miguel was making his way back to his office, coffee cup clutched in his hands as his thoughts ran rampant in his head. He almost missed the small figure curled up in a small dark sensory room to his right. His brows furrowed as he stopped in his tracks and stepped back until he could peek into the small room, eyes narrowing in on the curled-up figure.
“Miles?” he called out in confusion. There was no answer and Miguel realized then that the teenager was sleeping. His head was cushioned on his backpack that he sometimes brings when he wants to study in HQ, and his knees were curled to his chest, wearing regular clothing which made him look smaller than he was with the way they swallowed him.
He wondered what Miles was doing here but the question was easily answered. He was in one of the many sensory rooms that they kept in HQ for whenever your spidey senses were dialed to 11 and sent you into an overload. The rooms completely blocked out any sound coming from outside, it was dark (almost pitch black) and the carpets varied from being fluffy to silky (depending on what you preferred when in an overload).
Miguel felt bad to disrupt the kid if he was having an overload, but he needed to make sure he was okay. He pushed the door the rest of the way open and quietly stepped inside, turning the lights to the dimmest setting so that he could at least see Miles.
“Morales? Everything alright?” he asked again as he crouched down in front of him. The kid remained blissfully unaware of Miguel's presence so the man reached out slowly and touched his shoulder to shake him awake, only for the kid's eyes to suddenly shoot open and his arms flew up over his head as if to protect himself as he jolted awake.
“Relax, it’s just me, kid.” Miguel soothed. He watched then, as Miles lowered his arms to reveal the giant bruise around one of his doe eyes, fresh, swelling. Miguel could feel his claws making an appearance at the sight and he cursed under his breath.
“¿Qué es esto? I thought you were taking a break from patrolling?” he questioned, making sure to keep his movement minuscule as he gestured with his hand at the black eye. Miles swallowed audibly in the too silent room and his eyes refused to meet Miguels.
“There was an emergency,” he lied. Miguel knew it was a lie.
“I’m not stupid, kid. These aren’t the kind of injuries you get from robbers and criminals on the streets.” Miguel narrowed his eyes as he gestured to his face and the bruises that he spotted multiple times around his wrists. Miles quickly tugged the sleeves of his jacket down to conceal them.
Miles stubbornly kept his eyes glued to Miguel’s chest, refusing to meet his, and ever so often they flicked toward the door, looking a second away from jumping up and fleeing. Miguel would let him, he wasn’t about to have a repeat of the last time he tried keeping the kid somewhere he didn’t want to be.
“Miles,” he said and the boy's eyes flit up to meet his before going back down. “Who's doing it.” he demanded, not asked. This time Miles' eyes meet his and they stay there, he looks like a deer caught in headlights.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” he said, voice wobbling just slightly. Miguel can see so many emotions in his honey eyes. Fear for one, fear of his secret getting out but at the same time, his eyes were crying for help. Screaming for someone to notice that he’s been crying for help for so long.
“Who is hurting you.” Miguel specified even though he knew that Miles knew damn well what he meant. Miles looked as if he was about to spill every single thing he’d been hiding behind guarded eyes for a month now when suddenly his eyes went hard and the defensive walls went back up, Miguel could almost swear his eyes dulled a little.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m fine.” he said, brows setting in determination. Miguel raised a brow in clear disbelief.
“Miles–”
“Why would you care anyways? It’s not like you weren’t against killing me if it meant keeping the spider-verse safe less than a year ago.” He bit back venomously, which, fair. But he had already admitted that he’d been wrong and that what he did was a huge mistake. He knows that Miles doesn’t owe him any kind of forgiveness. All he could do is do better, and he likes to think he’s been doing alright.
Miles sat up and quickly grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. Miguel stood up as he did and he let the kid bump into his shoulder as he walked past him toward the door.
“Where are you going?” Miguel pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation as he followed the kid out of the room, holding his coffee in a tight grip.
“I have somewhere I need to be,” Miles mumbled as he continued to walk away. Miguel groaned in frustration and caught up to the kid quickly, reaching out his free hand to grab his wrist. Miles quickly spun around, yanking his wrist from his grip, eyes wide with barely concealed fear.
“If you aren’t going to tell me, tell someone. That shit will eat you alive until you’re nothing but a shell of who you were, and kid… you’re getting pretty damn close to becoming that shell. I don’t know about everyone else, but I, for one, don’t want to see that happen to you despite what you may think.” Miguel told him, eyes hard. Miles' eyes softened, just slightly, and the kid looked like nothing more than that, a kid. But it was gone as quickly as it came.
“There isn’t anything I need to tell anyone! Just leave me alone.” he shouted before a portal to his dimension was opening up and swallowing him, closing just as fast as it had opened, leaving Miguel clutching his coffee in a clawed grip, dread settling heavily in his gut. He may not have a spidey sense but he had a bad feeling about this.
He only pondered the idea for a moment longer before he was groaning in frustration and tossing his coffee into a nearby garbage bin and typing in the coordinates to Earth-1610 and opening the portal. He was standing on a wet rooftop in Brooklyn less than a second later, rain pelting down on his suit.
He was disoriented for a moment before he spotted a head of dark curls climbing through the window of the building across from the one he was on. Miguel crouched low on the rooftop across from Miles' room, watching as the boy dropped his bag onto his bed and pulled his phone from his pocket, wincing as he saw the time displayed on the lock screen. Suddenly, his phone was ringing and Miguel could hear the way his heart skipped a beat.
He listened as Miles answered the call and was immediately met with a furious voice on the other end. Miguel could barely make out what the voice was saying, but he was able to narrow it down to another guy.
Miles repeatedly apologized and pleaded with the other person. “No, no, wait. Please, don’t tell them. I’m sorry, I know. I didn’t realize what time it was, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. Okay… see you in ten. Okay, love you too, bye.” was all he managed to hear. He watched as Miles hung up and tucked his phone in his pocket, looking damn near close to tears and Miguel was reminded that he did find Miles in the sensory room so he was obviously already not feeling well, his senses were probably dialed pretty high still.
He watched as Miles sighed before making his way back out of his window and climbing down the fire escape. Miguel continued to follow him as he walked down the streets, hood covering his head and hands tucked into his pockets, constantly looking around as if he was expecting Miguel to pop out of nowhere and drag him back to HQ to finish their conversation.
But Miguel remained out of sight.
He watched as Miles slowed down as he approached a building that read ‘Shawarma’ on the sign. Another teenage boy was waiting outside of it, leaning against the brick wall with too much swagger, smoking a cigarette as he waited.
Miguel watched as the boy seemed to notice Miles, quickly taking another drag off of his cigarette before tossing it down and grinding it under his shoe. He met Miles in the middle and blew the smoke into the kid's face, making him grimace and try to turn away from it. They exchanged some words that Miguel couldn’t hear before the other boy was grabbing Miles' wrist and roughly pulling him to the door of the building. The bruises on his wrist.
So the abuser was a boy Miles’ age. Someone from his school maybe? A friend?
‘Shawarma’ was obviously a food place, Miguel could tell by the tables inside and the menu above the counter that Miles and the other boy were standing at. Miguel watched as the other boy had his narrowed eyes on Miles, watching as he smiled at the older boy taking their order, a sneer curling at his lip.
Miguel tensed when the boy suddenly said something to the guy behind the counter, waving a dismissive hand before grabbing Miles' wrist and yanking him away from the counter and toward the door of the store. Miles looked very confused, and afraid as he allowed himself to be dragged despite being able to bench press a car.
Miguel watched as the boy dragged Miles to the closest alleyway, pulling him into it before spinning him around and slamming him into the wall. Despite Miles’ growth spurt that comes with being bit by the spider, this boy still towered over Miles by a few inches. Miles cowered away as the boy crowded him against the wall, anger evident on his face.
“I don’t know what you mean, Seb. He was just taking our order.” Miles said.
“Which is exactly why there was no reason for you to be batting your lashes and giving ‘fuck me’ eyes to him, but apparently it doesn’t matter that he was “just taking our order” when you clearly want him more than you want me!” Seb shouted, smashing his fist into the bricks beside Miles’ head, making him flinch and cower.
“All I did was smile!” Miles argued although it lacked its bite. Suddenly, Miguel's talons were unsheathing completely at the sound and sight of the other boy swinging suddenly and back handing Miles across the face, splitting his lip as he did.
It took everything in Miguel to not pounce on the abuser the moment his hand made contact with Miles’ face. He watched as he continued to smack Miles around and yell at him, calling him various degrading names that explained the confidence Miles had been lacking as of recently.
Then, suddenly, the boy was grabbing Miles by the neck and kissing him.
Oh.
A boyfriend.
Miguel wasn’t gonna lie and say he had expected that. But all it did was make him even more furious about the situation. This boy was supposed to love Miles and provide a safe, happy space for him, and yet here he is, smacking him around like he’s just some sort of punching bag for him to take his anger out on and not a human being.
Miles pulled away from the kiss, wincing as the other boy irritated the cut on his lip. Anger flashed across Sebs’ eyes at the rejection before he was digging his fingers into Miles' hair and yanking, making the other teen cry out and reach up to try to dislodge his fingers.
“Remember, I know your secret. If you wanna fuck around, fine. But remember how quickly I can ruin your life by telling your poor “Mami” that her son is gallivanting around New York at night trying to play hero. You need me. So don’t make me mad.” he growled a low threat and Miles nodded as best to his ability. Seb let go of his hair and Miles straightened up, tears sitting in the corners of his eyes as he avoided eye contact with his boyfriend.
“I’ll walk you home, but you’re not patrolling tonight. If I hear any news that Spider-Man was out tonight, I'll tell the whole world who he is.” he threatened one final time before he was grabbing Miles’ hand in his own and pulling him out of the alley.
Miguel's blood pumping was the only thing he could hear as he tried to register everything he’d just heard and seen. This is what Miles has been going through for the past month and no one has known. It made something in Miguel's heart twist painfully, his gut churning.
He quickly followed the two, jumping from rooftop to rooftop and keeping low as he did. If he hadn’t seen the display of abuse earlier, Miguel would look at the two of them and think they were just a regular couple you pass by on the streets, if you ignore the black eye and split lip Miles was sporting. It made him sick.
He watched as they got to Miles’ apartment building and exchanged goodbyes, Miles keeping his head low as Seb reminded him that he knew Miles’ secret for the tenth time that night. It explained why Miles hadn’t left him, but he doesn’t understand why he didn’t tell one of them that he needed help. They would’ve made sure he was dealt with and his secret stayed that, a secret.
Seb watched as Miles climbed his fire escape and through his window, closing it behind him. Only then, did Seb begin walking away, hands stuffed into his pockets and looking way too pleased with himself as he walked down the sidewalk. Not for long.
Miguel deactivated his suit, revealing his gray sweater and black sweatpants underneath. He pulled his hood up over his head and climbed down the fire escape of the building he was on, dropping down onto the sidewalk across from where the teenager was walking on the other side.
He waited until the road was clear before he was crossing and following a good distance behind the teen. His heart was thrumming with adrenaline, claws itching to get ahold of the piece of shit.
He didn’t realize when his steps turned into strides, and before he knew it, he was wrapping an arm around the teen's chest and covering his mouth with his other hand to muffle the shout of alarm as Miguel suddenly jumped up to the closest rooftop, clawing his way up and bringing the teen with him.
When they landed, Miguel released the teenager and with a shove, sent him sprawling to the concrete ground of the rooftop, slick from rain.
“What the fuck?!” Seb cursed as he scrambled to his feet, spinning around to look at Miguel with wide eyes.
“So you like to hit your boyfriend, hm?” Miguel said from where he was standing at the ledge, hands tucked into his pockets and face shadowed by his hood, although he was sure the red of his irises could very possibly be visible.
“Who the fuck are you?” the kid demanded, squaring his shoulders and spitting on the ground in an act of toughness when really, all it did was make Miguel want to laugh.
“Doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are to break up with Morales and keep your mouth shut about this “secret” you claim to know about.” Miguel said simply, shrugging. The teenager laughed in disbelief, sauntering up to Miguel.
“What are you gonna do if I don’t?” he challenged, raising his chin to try and seem level with the older man even when there was a foot difference in their height. Miguel raised a brow as he stared the teenager down. He saw the moment the idea became a decision in the little shits head and sidestepped the shove that the teenager had intended to send Miguel over the ledge of the rooftop.
The teenager tripped over himself when his shove met air instead of a body and he cried out as he stumbled forward and over the ledge. Miguel debated letting him fall the rest of the way down, technically it wouldn’t have been his fault, but he knew that he couldn’t.
So with a huff he shot out a vibrant orange web and wrapped it around the teenager's wrist, yanking him to a stop and quite possibly dislocating his shoulder during the process if his scream told him anything. Miguel peered over the ledge, activating his suit and allowing his hood to fall away and mask to cover his face.
“Here’s what I’m gonna do,” he began, meeting the terrified eyes of the teenager dangling a good 30 feet away from the ground, legs kicking frantically. “I can either let go of this web here and I’m sure you know what happens then, or, you can swear to never set your eyes on Miles again and keep your mouth shut. You’ll drop out of the school, move out of Brooklyn, and cut all ties with Morales. And trust me, I’ll know if you try pulling any shit, and I won’t be as merciful as I have been so far.” He told him, making sure it was very clear what he was saying.
“So, what’s it gonna be?” he said and just to scare it into him a little more, he allowed the web to slip through his fingers an inch, making the teenager scream.
“The second one! P-Please! I’ll leave, I’ll never see him again!” The teenager pleaded.
“And?” Miguel said expectantly.
“A-And I won’t say anything about his secret!” he finished frantically. Miguel nodded and released the web, allowing it to slip through his fingers as the teenager fell the rest of the distance, screaming all the way down until Miguel gripped the web just before he touched the ground, allowing him to land roughly, but alive.
When the teenager looked back up, the masked man was gone.
Miguel climbed through the cramped window, stepping into the childish room quietly. He had deactivated his suit so he was in his sweater and sweatpants. Miles’ room was empty and he could hear that the rest of the house was too, except for the bathroom.
He stepped around the mess of the bedroom and opened the door, following the sound of running water.
He came to a stop outside of the bathroom door that was open a crack. He gently nudged it open and saw that Miles was looking at himself in the mirror, dabbing at the blood on his lip from the cut. His eyes widened the moment they locked on his through the mirror and he quickly spun around in surprise.
“Miguel! This is just from another villain of the week, y’know. Not a big deal.” He spluttered an excuse, gesturing to his lip and bruised cheek. “Doesn’t even hurt, so don’t worry, if you were worried that is–”
“Kid,” Miguel cut him off. Miles looked at him awkwardly, still holding the bloody rag in his hands. “He’s gonna leave you alone from now on. You won’t see him again,” he told him and watched as Miles’ eyes widened in alarm.
“Did you kill him?!” he spluttered, not even attempting to play dumb this time.
“Almost, but no. He’s fine. Maybe a dislocated shoulder, possibly a broken leg. But alive, unfortunately.” He muttered the last part, shrugging. “I had a feeling you wouldn’t appreciate it if I killed him so he’s fine.”
“Holy shit,” Miles breathed, dropping the rag into the sink and burying his fingers into his hair as he pushed past Miguel, making his way to his room. Miguel followed behind, listening as the kid mumbled under his breath, verging on a panic attack.
“Kid–”
“I couldn’t tell anyone!” suddenly Miles spun around as he stood in the middle of his room, eyes finally looking like his, finally holding some emotion to them other than sheer exhaustion. “He knows I’m Spider-Man a-and he keeps threatening to tell my parents and the world and I just can’t risk it–”
“I know, kid. I dealt with all of that.” Miguel cut him off gently, “I know you were scared, but you should’ve trusted that we could’ve helped, and we would’ve made sure he doesn’t tell your parents or the world, which, they wouldn’t have believed anyway, by the way. Do you know how many people claim they know someone is Spider-Man, the world isn’t gonna believe some random teenage boy claiming his boyfriend is Spider-Man.” Miguel told him and Miles flushed.
“That… yeah, that’s true, I guess. I never really thought about it that way… I guess I just didn’t want to risk it.” he said, sounding oh so defeated as his shoulders slumped.
“He won’t bother you anymore, kid. I promise. You’re okay,” Miguel said, eyes softer than Miles has ever seen them before. And that was enough to send the boy over the edge. Suddenly Miguel was having the wind knocked out of him as Miles wrapped his arms around him, sobbing wholeheartedly into his chest. Miguel’s eyes were wide, unsure how to comfort him, so all he did was gently wrap them around Miles in return, allowing the kid to sob his heart out.
An hour later, Miles' lip was cleaned up and he was clutching an ice pack to his eye as he sat on the couch in the breakroom with Peter, Gwen, Hobie, Pav, and Miguel. All of them crammed onto the couch except for Miguel who stood behind it as they watched a movie playing on the big TV.
Well… watching isn’t really how he’d put it. More like, a movie was playing in the background while Miles, Gwen, Hobie, and Pav laughed and threw popcorn at each other, trying to catch the pieces in their mouths while Miguel and Peter watched in amusement, Mayday babbling and giggling as she watched the teenagers.
For the first time in a month, there was life in Miles' eyes again.