Chapter Text
When he was 15, Pavitr Prabhakar’s life was simple.
He’d wake up and do his fifteen minute workout, something he was rather proud of, as not many other kids his age had a proper workout routine, and grab some breakfast with his Maya Auntie.
She would usually have something prepared for him by the time he woke up, but if she didn’t, he would make something himself for the both of them.
Afterwards, he’d pack his bag for school, maneuver through the many winding streets of Mumbatton, narrowly dodging traffic and other objects, until he arrived at school. He’d spend his day there, and even though he practically breezed through the classes, he tried his best to be present either way.
After school, he would go back home, do his homework with a warm cup of Chai on his desk, occasionally he would hang out with some of his friends until nightfall, and then lay down in his wonderfully soft bed for a peaceful night’s rest.
It was simple, it was easy, it was perfect. But most of all, it was everything Pavitr ever needed. And his Oh-So-Great days didn’t look like they were going to change anytime soon.
..Until the day he was bitten by a radioactive spider.
Pavitr didn’t think much about it, really. One day, he’d reached into the cabinet where his Auntie stored the Chai leaves and spices, when he felt a tiny prick on his forearm. He’d quickly retracted his hand, looking for the cause, but found nothing.
He assumed there was just a splinter in the wood that was poking out, and the boy continued to gather the needed ingredients without giving it so much as a second thought.
..The next day, when he woke up, reaching for the alarm clock on his nightstand to turn it off and accidentally bringing the alarm clock and, frankly, almost the whole table with him back into the bed- he definitely gave it more than a second thought.
The only reason he even knew it was a spider that bit him was because when he came stumbling out of his room that morning, his perfect hair messed up in his struggle to get out of his far-too-small clothes, he spotted his aunt calmly escorting a tiny arachnid in a glass cup outside from the same cabinet he got bit in.
And five months since that day, he was Mumbatton’s one and only Spiderman.
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Pavitr wouldn’t say he was great at handling surprises.
He opened the door to his family’s apartment, humming a tune and slinging his backpack over a chair in the dining room before preparing himself a hot cup of Chai like he always did.
After he poured the water and strained the leaves into the drink, sprinkling in spices as he walked gracefully over to his room, he opened the door like he would any other day.
..and, surprisingly, found two teenagers standing in the middle of it.
One of them - a girl - had a white outfit on with pink accents. She was wearing a mask that instantly registered in Pavitr’s mind as strikingly similar to his own, and had blonde hair that swept over one side of her head.
She was leaning against his bed, and was half-way through saying something when he opened the door, and was now staring at Pavitr with wide eyes.
“Hah!” Laughed the other, drawing Pavitr’s attention to a much taller and darker themed boy in comparison to the white-and-pink colored girl. He nudged her, looking in between the two. “Ey, what happened to ‘A quick re-con mission’, eh?”
He had a very thick British accent, something that triggered imaginary alarm bells in Pav’s mind. And not to mention a much.. darker theme to him. He wore a black denim vest littered with pins and buttons, and was holding that same Spider mask that the other girl had.
And, even though he didn’t know these two, even though they were breaking into his house, Pavitr didn’t seem threatened at all. There was something so strangely familiar about these two, and it wasn’t just the mask. Usually whenever a villain or evil being rose up, he’d just... Know . It was a strange sixth sense that he never put a label on.
But now, staring at these two other Spider-men - Spider-people? This was all so new - his sixth sense was definitely going off, but not in a bad way?
“Uh,” Pavitr started, eyes flicking in between the two as his usually quick brain was sluggish to register the intruders. “.. Namaste? Er - hello?” he corrected himself, realizing that the two did not look like they were from around here.
The girl quickly composed herself, laughing and tossing a glare at her dark companion before turning to Pavitr.
“Uh- Hello! Sorry, you weren’t supposed to come home for another thirty minutes.”
“Oh.” was all Pavitr could say, looking in between the two with wide eyes. “..Sorry?” He tilted his head strangely, squinting at her.
Apparently, the taller teen found this funny, as he barked out a laugh and shook his head, muttering something in that British accent of his that Pavitr couldn’t make out. The girl ignored him, though. “Oh, don’t worry about it- these AI systems are all wonky, anyways.” She smiled, but quickly frowned down at the watch on her wrist as it.. Made an unhappy noise? What?
Pavitr blinked at her, unable to process exactly what was going on. His brain was still on the “Opening the door and seeing two complete strangers in his very, very personal space” part.
“Right! Uh, my name’s Gwen stacy.” She said with a smile, and beckoned to her companion. “This is-”
“‘Obie brown, that’d be Spider-punk to you, bruv.” He finished for her.
Pavitr blinked at the taller boy and wow, when he says tall he means tall- He’s got to have at least a good ten inches height difference, and Pavitr considered himself a pretty average height.
Gwen seemed mildly annoyed at being cut off, but recovered quickly, putting her hands on her hips. “Hobie here and I here were sent from- well, uh.. Do you believe in multiple universes?” She asked awkwardly.
“Uh,” Pav looked between her and the other boy- Hobie?- for a moment. “Wow, uh - I guess I do now?” A smile bubbled up on his face and he chuckled, earning a smile from the girl in front of him as well.
“Good, because I’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”
“Oh!” He glanced down at his cup, then up at her. "..would you two like a cup of chai?”
–––––––––––
“A lot” didn’t even begin to cover everything that Gwen and Hobie had told Pavitr about other dimensions, about the Spider society, and about how it all worked.
Hobie wasn’t much help explaining it, but Pavitr did enjoy listening to his rants about fascists and how the government was a lie, among other things. He was really smart, for somebody who claims to have never gone to school. He could read people just about as well as Pavitr could, and the punk was far more clever than anyone else he'd met.
To be honest, Pavitr loved Hobie. They both hated the British government, Pavitr found his crazy, radiant and random style intoxicating to be around, and Hobie even enjoyed hanging out with him in Pav’s dimension, writing songs and staying over for dinner with him and his auntie.
Eventually, having Hobie be around him - on missions, at his dimension, at HOBIE’S dimension - seemed almost normal. He was always there for Pavitr whenever he was needed, and they were the best duo in the whole Spiderverse.
“Oy, Pav!”
Pavitr instantly turned around from where he was walking in the Lobby. Already grinning widely at Hobie as he approached him, Pavitr laughed as the taller boy instantly dove in to head-lock him, and he ducked under Hobie’s arm, yelping and trying to escape the older teen’s grasp before he was eventually trapped and subjected to his terrible hair-ruffling.
He pulled away from Hobie with a shout, laughing as he tried to fix his hair.
“Oi! Grown a couple inches since I saw ya last, eh?” Hobie teased, hitting Pavitr on the back playfully with a smug grin, making the boy pout.
“You are SO RUDE. I’m not that short!” he protested.
“Yes, you are.”
“You’re the worst.”
“Sure, love.” He said, looking away briefly, and Pavitr snatched the opportunity to take in the punk’s facial features.
His face . Pav was always strangely aware of how attractive Hobie was, how his piercings only added to his cool vibe, how he was so amazingly confident in himself and his abilities. It was intoxicating to be around him, and Pavitr found himself striving to be the best he could for no real reason whenever Hobie was around.
“Why are you still here if you think you’re so much better than all of us?” Pavitr had once asked, shifting in his seat to tilt his head at the taller boy, who was writing down words on a scrap of paper on Pavitr’s bed.
Hobie shrugged, looking away from his paper for a moment to sit up straight. “Not all’a ya. Just most. ‘Sides,'s less fun running a one-person band, innit?” He’d reasoned, looking over at Pavitr with that same smug smile. “Plus, what kinda plank would I be if I left you ‘n Gwendny all alone?” He grinned playfully, tossing a piece of crumpled paper at Pavitr’s head and looking away.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He quipped back with a laugh, dodging the paper easily and picking it up.
Uncrumpling it, Pavitr realized it was a Lyric sheet, and he spread it out on the desk in front of him.
“Come out of it, darlin'.” Hobie rolled his eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “We all know soft blokes like yourself would stay with Miguel and the others if I started my own thing.”
Pavitr sat up all too slowly, still processing what the punk meant.
“Hobie, I’d follow you wherever you went, you’re my best friend! I don’t care what Miguel thinks, you’re way cooler than him.”
Pavitr bit his lip cautiously, rolling the words around on his tongue for a moment before speaking.
“..And, you’re way more important to me than anybody else back at HQ.”
And then, in a moment of what felt like magic, Hobie tilted his head slightly, and Pavitr saw those deep brown eyes, with his wild, dark hair, and smiled in a way that stunned the short boy speechless.
He’d never seen the punk express so much in a simple motion before, but suddenly it was so hard to look away from his shining eyes and toothy grin, his shiny piercings and fierce hair.
Hobie eventually spoke up, never having looked away from the paper he was writing on, “Hah!” He’d grinned. “You make me sound like some sort’a saint, love. You’ve gotta be off your trolley.” And he kept writing like it was nothing.
Pavitr laughed it off, made some lame excuse about it being late and how they should get some rest, Hobie having slept on the floor (something about how growing up where Hobie had, beds just didn’t give him enough support) along with Pavitr himself sleeping in his bed, desperately tried to calm his racing heart.
When Hobie suddenly shifted in his blankets on Pavitr's floor nearly ten minutes later, he must have thought the boy was asleep when he spoke.
"..You mean a lot to me too, sunshine."
He never really did unpack all the thoughts that ran through his head that night, did he?
“Oy, mate!”
He supposed that right now wasn't the best time for stuff like that, anyways.
Hobie’s hand suddenly shaking Pavitr’s shoulder slightly snapped him out of his thoughts, and he looked up at the punk with a smile, blinking at him. "Hmm?"
The punk rolled his eyes, playfully scoffing. “You need to stop spacin’ out, yeah? Miguel’ll catch ya’ one day and he’ll go mental.”
Pav chuckled, shrugging him off. “Well, he’d have to go through you first, wouldn’t he?” He joked, looking up at him with his famous puppy eye and making Hobie roll his eyes, flick a strand of Pavitr’s hair fondly, and pull his hand away to rest on his own hip.
“Anyways, speakin’ of Miguel, he wants HQ to be aware of a certain announcement coming’ out soon. Seems to be important.”
“Oh? Why are you telling me specifically?”
He already knew why.
“See, I’ve got this riot I’m headin’ off to right now, ‘figured you could just fill me in on the details later, yeah?" Hobie said, looking over at him with a look that Pavitr knew meant he was asking.
He didn’t have to ask, it was never a question.
But he just grinned widely. “Of course! Stay safe, chhaila!” exclaimed Pavitr, nudging him on the shoulder and feeling warm when Hobie smiled back.
“Knew I could count on you, bruv!” Hobie praised, clapping Pavitr on the back and tapping his watch to create an orange portal behind him.
He couldn’t stop smiling as he watched Hobie waltz away through the portal, staring at him even after it closed.
Okay, so, Pavitr liked Hobie a normal amount. They were best friends! The greatest Spider-duo out there! It was Hobie and Pav, not to be separated. So what if Pavir enjoyed being around him, everybody enjoyed being around Hobie!
It’s not like he was in love with him or anything.
Now that would be another thing.
If Pavitr was in love with him, that would complicate everything. Suddenly, Hobie slinging his arm around Pavitr’s shoulders during a movie night would be more distracting than it already is. It would mean that the late nights spent together weren't just normal friend things. He would pay too much attention to the secret handshakes, too much attention to the nicknames, the lingering touches - It would all be different.
Different, because I would be in love with him.
Different, because Hobie would never love somebody like me.
The thing that snapped him out of his trance was a loud beeping, one all too familiar with all of Miguel’s announcements, coming from both his watch and every other watch from the Spider-people around him, until a hologram of the man himself appeared as a hologram above his wrist.
“Good afternoon, Spider Society." He spoke after a moment, and Pavitr leaned against a wall while he listened.
“I’m here to inform those who do not already know of an anomaly that has run amok in HQ.”
What?
An anomaly?
Pavitr chuckled to himself, rolling his eyes. Oh boy, the worst place a Green Goblin or Dr. Oct variant could be put in was HQ. With an uncountable amount of spider-people everywhere at pretty much all times? He was guessing this wouldn’t be much to tell Hobie about-
“However, this anomaly is unlike any we’ve seen before.”
..Huh?
“It does not take form as any of the canon villains, but instead as a virus much like the common cold.”
… What?
“Its origin is unknown, but we believe that it is easily treatable. Our scientist spiders are working out the details, but we have three patients that were infected in quarantine right now being examined.”
Pav winced, feeling bad for whatever poor souls had to be subjected to quarantine from their dimensions for an undefined amount of time, and also thanking the heavens he wasn't the one there.
“They have reported that finding the cure is simple enough, but due to the variations in symptoms, you will have to report directly to the team if you find yourself with the virus. We are unsure how quickly it spreads, or how it works, so until we can figure it out, we need every Spiderman to stay in their own dimension.”
Almost immediately after Miguel said that, Spider-people all around him began to back away from each other, quickly summoning portals to their own worlds and hopping through them. Others scoffed at the ones that left, seeming to wave off the “virus” as something not worth worrying about.
Pavitr wasn’t sure how to feel about it, but he still had to tell Hobie about this afterwards, and he didn’t plan on getting stuck with the other spiders down at medical, so he went to dial Mumbatton's number.
“For the time being, we’ve named the virus Hanahaki disease. The infection was only reported in sector 5-A, 4-B, and 5-C, so they should be extra aware of the-”
That was the last thing he heard before he disappeared through the portal and the rest of the message was swept away in the loud rumblings of the dimensional tunnel.
..Suddenly it felt a little bit more important than “just another anomaly”.
––––––––––
After pacing in his room for twenty minutes, Pavitr concluded that he should probably go tell Hobie about it directly. After all, he would probably plan on going back to HQ after his concert, expecting Pav to be there to fill him in and that would not be good for the punk’s chances of staying un-infected.
Pavitr loved him like a brother, but Hobie’s apartment was the farthest thing from “clean” he'd ever seen.
He had guitars scattered across the walls in his apartment’s living room, hung up either from the strap or on secure stands, and Pavitr wondered if he’d ever used any of them or if they just hung up for decoration. Trash (which included canned food, paper plates, and wrecked protest signs amongst other things) was thrown anywhere it could be placed, along with several trash bags filled to the brim and placed in the corners of the living room.
Pavitr has, quite literally, begged Hobie to let him clean the punk’s apartment, but Hobie always turned him down, followed up with some speech about ‘conforming to a proper lifestyle’ or something.
Generally, Pavitr tried to stay out of the punk’s area as much as he could, instead offering his own place to hang out whenever they ended up needing a place to stay for the night. But today it seemed unavoidable.
Pavitr was standing in the middle of the punk's living room, looking distastefully around, when he heard the door creak open and somebody take two footsteps before halting in place.
“Wh- oh, ‘ey Pav.”
Speak of the devil.
“Hobie!” Pavitr turned around to find the punk halfway through the door, a mild look of confusion on his face visible for just a split second before it molded back to its normal unreadable state.
He was wearing his usual black vest, stained with what looked like half-dried paint. Pav gave him a questioning look, but Hobie didn’t seem to pay him any mind, shuffling into the room and walking into the kitchen area to scrounge the cabinets.
“What’re you doin’ here, Sunshine?” Hobie asked, still searching for something.
Pavitr took a deep breath, only now realizing that his lungs were beginning to itch with something he didn't recognize, but he continued to speak. “I came to tell you about the announcement Miguel made!”
“Eh? What'a 'bout it?” The punk grabbed a Granola bar wrapper, frowned at it, and then tossed it onto the floor before continuing to scrounge around for a snack.
“It’s just, uh, it’s kinda.. A lot more important than you thought it was?”
“Oh?”
Pavitr stepped closer to Hobie and over a can of paint, wrinkling his nose at the misplacement of it. “Apparently, an anomaly got loose in HQ?”
Hobie turned to stared at him for a moment, and then burst out in laughter.
“Hey, Bevakoof -'' He crossed his arms, glaring at the taller boy. “This is serious, dude!”
“Pav, love, pardon me,” Hobie managed. “But why would one anomaly be a huge deal for a whole building full’a Spider-people?”
“Well- it’s not- it’s not a normal one, Hobie. It’s like..” He paused, glancing away. “Like, a virus or something.”
“A virus?” Hobie continued his fruitless search of a snack, now having gone through two different cabinets and starting on his third.
“Yeah! Miguel said it was really bad, we’re not supposed to leave our home dimensions until they can figure it out.”
Hobie paused, then raised an eyebrow at Pavitr before speaking. “What’re you doin’ here then?”
Pavitr frowned and gave Hobie a look that read isn't-it-obvious? before answering. "..Telling you? So that you don’t get infected by accident?”
“Y’know, I probably could’a figured that out myself, mate.” Hobie chuckled, holding up his watch as an example. “I’m not gonna catch somethin’ the minute I step foot in HQ, Pav.”
“You could, though!” He protested, crossing his arms.
“Mm, Did you?”
That broke Pavitr’s rhythm. “Well, no, but that doesn’t mean -”
But Hobie was already waving him off, making the shorter boy’s words fall flat on his tongue. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll stay away from HQ. Thanks, mate.”
Pavitr sighed, rolling his eyes. “Eeshvar, you’re gonna kill me one day.”
He saw Hobie grin, but the taller boy made no further comment, instead rummaging around in the cupboard for a moment or two and finally pulling out some food in the form of a granola bar.
“So, you stickin’ around, or headin’ back to your own place?” Hobie asked unexpectedly, taking a bite out of the bar and leaning over the counter to look at Pavitr.
He paused to think. Well, on one hand, he hasn’t had any good time to hang out with Hobie in a while. But on the other, It would be bad if he actually did catch the disease, and started spreading it around in Hobie’s dimension.
“Uh- well, I guess I should.”
Hobie looked at him with an expression Pavitr couldn’t read. “Shame, I just heard a new restaurant opened up downtown.”
Pavitr raised an eyebrow at this, frowning. “What about it?”
“Claims to be authentic Indian food.”
Hobie’s eyes slipped back to Pavitr’s, and he could clearly see the playful smirk working its way up Hobie’s face.
“No,” Pavitr said with a laugh, eyes going wide. “In this British nightmare? No way - take me to this imposter restaurant right now."
Hobie laughed as well, standing up and slinging his guitar back over his shoulder.
————————
The rest of the day was spent web-slinging around Hobie’s universe, stopping at some terrible fast-food place which Pavitr refused to eat at, dangle some criminals from street lamps to “Teach them a lesson” (Pavitr did not approve, but he didn't say anything because Hobie seemed to enjoy it), and then just hang out around his apartment again.
He made some curry from what he could find in Hobie’s cabinets, and they joked around and talked while they ate.
Currently, Pavitr was sitting at Hobie’s desk in his room, which was littered with denim fabric scraps, and was doing his homework.
Hobie had ever-so-graciously cleaned a space for the short boy to work without being disturbed by the trash, and was now laying on his bed on the opposite wall, plucking notes on his guitar.
Chemistry. Pavitr hated chemistry. No matter how much he wished he was great at every school topic, the complexity of it just never stuck with him long enough to be helpful.
Pavitr exhaled heavily, leaning back in his chair and looking up.
Why did he have to be great at everything except the one thing that was worth most of his grade?
He spared a glance at Hobie, who had his eyes closed and was still somehow playing the most beautiful tune Pavitr had ever heard.
He was sitting up in his bed and leaning against the headboard. His vest was half-way down his shoulders, resting at his elbows and putting emphasis on the punk's skinny arms. His long legs crossed, he was wearing mismatched socks in red and purple color. Compared to Pavitr, he was a stick.
Upsettingly, that also meant he was at least a foot taller than Pav, and he did not forget to remind the boy of that at all times. And that didn't help, because every damn time he does it, he leans over Pavitr and all his piercings seemed to catch the light, and he would place his hand on Pav's shoulder, and he always smiled so smugly, and the punk never failed to make Pavitr's face heat up with how close he gets -
He looked away, deciding that thinking about Hobie wasn't the best idea right now. He should be thinking about his homework.
Or, maybe, the pounding headache that has been gnawing away at Pavitr's patience.
Not only was the homework not making sense, it was also getting really stuffy in Hobie’s room. Terrible ventilation, probably, and he would’ve scolded Hobie for not properly maintaining his vent system if he could even catch his breath right now.
On any other day, he probably would have pushed through it and just kept working. He had work to do and not much time to do it, the ventilation problems obviously weren’t that bad if Hobie didn’t mention or have issues with them.
But Pavitr gripped the table, squeezing his eyes shut as his head suddenly whirled and something rose in his throat.
“Pav?” He heard Hobie ask, and the shorter boy realized he had stopped strumming his guitar quite a while ago. “Y’alright?”
“Yep!” He choked out, standing up and pushing the chair away from him. “I’ll, uh, be right back.”
Hobie made a soft hum of acknowledgement, going back to his guitar to play a few tunes, but Pavitr could feel the punk’s eyes on him even as he left the room.
In spite of his best efforts, he was only able to walk out the door and halfway down the hallway before he doubled over, heaved once, and threw up.
Coughing and hacking, he emptied his stomach onto the floor and could finally breathe again.
For a few seconds, he just stood there breathing heavily, pressing his eyes shut and leaning against the wall. His headache never excused itself and god, he didn’t even want to look at the mess he made.
Okay, nothing bad- Just had some bad food. That does not mean I’m sick. Just.. one of Hobie’s ingredients must have gone bad. Yeah. That’s it.
Ignoring how his first thought was to make sure Hobie wasn't feeling sick as well, Pavitr stepped into the bathroom and turned on the sink, cupping his hands together to gather some water, and took a sip. Instantly he felt much better, taking deep breaths and trying to calm his racing mind.
He tried to stand up straight and Yeeshu, his head hurts, no head should be allowed to hurt this goddamn much-
He eventually managed to hold himself up against the sink, and rubbed his eyes in pain. God, he was starting to feel lightheaded, too.
Eventually, after a few minutes of Pavitr leaning against the sink and taking occasional sips of water, he decided that he should probably clean up the vomit before Hobie realized how long he was gone.
But, turning around and looking for it, Pavitr was surprised to see.. Flowers?
On the floor, right outside the bathroom in the same spot he could have sworn he just threw up, a small cluster of dark blue roses sat. Pavitr could clearly see blood speckling the petals, but was more focused on the existence of said petals.
He was pretty sure he hadn’t choked up flowers of all things just a few minutes ago.
He pushed out the distant echo of Miguel's voice in his head, saying something about Hanahaki disease, and instead chose to stumble over to the patch of flowers on the floor and stare at them for a moment.
He was fine. It was fine.
Pavitr scooped up the flowers and quickly shoved them into a trash bin, reluctantly grabbing a few pieces of garbage around Hobie’s floor to cover them up.
“Okay! Completely fine, I’m fine, everything’s fine,” Pavitr forced himself to smile, even though his head was pounding and he could still feel that aching feeling in his chest.
And it was fine when Pavitr went back and told Hobie he just needed to stretch his legs. It was fine when Hobie shrugged him off and they drifted off into the average flow of a casual hang-out night.
It was all fine. Hobie probably didn’t need to know about the whole flower thing. And, hey, when was the last time he cleaned his apartment, anyways? There was no way he would clean it again for no apparent reason.
He decided that he was safe for now, wrapping up that thought in a neat bow and pushing it as far away from him as he could.
“So, wait,” Pavitr paused, turning around in his chair to stare at Hobie. “We don’t usually sleep at your place, am I sleeping on the bed or the floor?”
Hobie paused, clicking his tongue and glancing between the shorter boy and his bed. After a second, he frowned.
“Eh, I’d have to clean some spot on the floor if you did,” He spoke, placing his guitar next to him as he leaned against the headboard of the bed. “Y’can sleep with me, love.”
He doesn’t know why, but Pavitr’s breath caught in his throat for a split second.
Why? sharing beds was… a normal thing to do. Between two friends. Two best friends.
He swallowed something rising in his throat and nodded.
“Sure, dude!” Pavitr said, standing up and stretching. He yawned, reaching down and bringing his shirt over his head, neatly folding it, and then placing it on top of his homework.
“You’re tired now?” Hobie asked, surprised as Pavitr jumped into the bed, steadying himself as the mattress shook. “ ‘S like, what, eight PM?”
“Yeah! I told you I usually wake up at seven for school, but now I’ve got to head over to my dimension AND get ready on top of that, so I’ve got to get up even earlier."
“ Woe is the life of Pavitr Prabhakar,” Hobie lamented, throwing his hand up to his face in dramatic effect.” - who needs to get up thirty minutes earlier to be on time to his stupid school - ”
Pavitr promptly hit him with a pillow.
“Chup rahen!”
Hobie laughed, and reached over his desk to turn off the only lamplight in the room.
Everything was going to be fine.