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It was hot out. But it wasn’t anything hot enough, to have Sio, short for Sionnach, take off his varsity jacket. He walked to school holding his, bag over his shoulder. There had been an uprise in crime recentley. Everything from robberies to homicides, Sio wasn’t scared though only a bit worried. Sio, walked to school as their black heeled boots, made an odd sound on the pavement. Sio, had always hated sounds he couldn’t identify, or sounds he didn’t know how they were being made. He looked down at his boots, his skort, skirt with shorts attached to it, and high-knee socks coming into view as he did. They realized the reason there was such an odd noise, was because their boots were dirty with mud. “Huh, how did I not notice that before? Well, I’ll clean them later.” Sio, shrugged continuing his walk to school. He had gotten up fairly early, waking up before his mother. That he was relieved for.
Sio, walked for a bit longer before beginning to walk towards the schools now visible entrance. The area was sandy, with rocks scattering it. The school wasn’t very well kept, but he never really complained too much. Sio, saw something shiny on the ground. They got on his knees, next to a rock with a hole next to it. The the rock was some kind of cover for the holes entrance. Sio, didn’t pay much mind to it and grabbed the shiny bottle cap that was on the ground. They felt something crawl on his leg. So, Sio looked down at his thigh and saw a spider that was about 2 inches. Before, Sio could yell the spider bit them. He immediately swatted the spider off of them, and ran to get into class before they were late. Little did, Sio know, that, that day would change the course of their history, forever.
In class, Sio kept drawing quick sketches of the damn spider that bit them that morning. They had put a bandaid over the bite, not thinking much else of it. Once his 4th period was over, he quickly headed towards the cafeteria. Where his friends, and one of their boyfriends, were sitting and talking already. This usual happened as, Sio would often take the longer route since they always packed their own lunch. Sio, saw their friend, Alla wave him over, yelling at him to hurry up. Sio, jogged over dodging everyone who was standing and walking with, much more ease then he ever used to. He sat in the seat in-between, his boyfriend Kaino, and his friend Alla. “How have you been, Sio?” Alla asked before stuffing her face, with the schools sorry excuse of a cheeseburger. “I’ve been doing good! How have you all been?” Sio, responded opening a pack of mini donuts, and beginning to quietly eat them. “I’ve been doing alright” Kaino, said shrugging drinking from his monster can. “My days been going great! Kaylie, asked me out today!” Said, Sio’s other friend Nyla. “Really? That’s great, Nyla!” Sio, responded after swallowing the donut they had chewed. Alla’s, muffled ‘Woo’ could be heard, before she started almost choking on the chunk of the burger she had taken a bite of. “Jeez, Alla! Cool it, you’re gonna die!” Sio, said laughing handing, Alla her soda. “I’m hungry okay!” Alla, replied laughing along with, Sio. Nyla, and all their other friends started laughing as well, mimicking and playfully mocking, Alla. Kaino, stayed silent for the most part, aside from the slight laughing along that could be heard.
After lunch had ended, Sio and Alla said their goodbye’s to the rest of the group, as they walked to their 6th period. “Was it just me, or was Kaino kind of quiet?” Alla, said to Sio as they walked down the halls “Yeah, he was but it could just be an off day. I know it is for me, so far.” He laughed a bit, Alla laughing along with him. “Tell me about it!” Alla, laughed shaking her head, as they entered their science class.
The day had ended, and Sio had messaged their friends that he was out of school. He began to walk home, he thought about that spider interaction he had earlier. It was odd to, Sio, but then again many normal things were weird to him. So he just shrugged and kept walking on home. They felt their phone buzz in their varsity jackets pocket, he grabbed it and looked to see what it was. It was a text message from, Kaino it read ‘Home! Love you<3’, Sio, smiled and replied with ‘Alright! I’ll message you when I’m home! I love you too<3’, before continuing their walk home.
Sio, crossed the street on the red light, he was about halfway home. He had been walking particularly slow, he was supposed to go to tutoring today but decided not to. He didn’t actually need it, he knew how to do the homework he just didn’t want to. So he decided he’d suck it up and do it at home, no matter how boring and lame it was. He was listening to music, as he walked home. They decided it would probably be best to get home quickly. So he started running, as he was running he noticed he was running faster than usual. They had made it to their house within a minute, even when he was only half way home. They shook their head and shrugged ‘It’s most likely nothing’ he thought walking inside, closing and locking the front door behind them.
Sio, walked upstairs and dropped his bag on his bed. He sat on his bed next to the bag and began to dig through it, getting their school laptop out and opening it. He signed into his account and began his homework. He was singing along to the songs that came on from their playlist. He did his work quickly, being able to think clearly even if today was a bit stressful on, Sio.
Sio’s, phone vibrated as he was almost finished, with his homework. Sio, had assumed it was one of his other friends or maybe his other boyfriend, Kyle. So, he didn’t think anything of it. “I’ll look at it after I’m done with this assignment”, Sio, said shrugging and starting on his homework again, even though something felt, off. He continued to shrug the tingling feeling off until it suddenly stopped. It only took about 2 minutes to finish, so once he was done he closed his laptop and put it back in his bag after turning the assignment in. He quickly grabbed his phone and saw the message. It was from, Kaino. It read, ‘Dear, Sio, I love you. I always will, and I need you to move on in this life without me. I can’t deal with this anymore. I can’t deal with my dad, my mother, my brother, school, my mental health, I can’t deal with it anymore. I can’t deal with anything, I’m done with this. You and Kyle were the only things, keeping me from passing on. But I’m here to say, you two won’t have to worry about doing that anymore. I have decided to take my own life, so you two can live yours happily without me ruining it. I love you, please never forget that’. Sent, two minutes ago.
Sionnach, froze in horror reading the message, once more, twice more, over and over looking for something he read wrong. But he didn’t read anything wrong. Tears started to run down his face as he suddenly got a text from, Kyle. Sionnach, didn’t want to know, Kyle anymore. So he sent him a text reading ‘I can’t do this anymore, we’re over’. Before blocking, Kyle on everything. Kyle, had moved to another country a year ago so there was no way, Kyle could contact, Sio.
Sio, curled into a ball on his bed, and began to sob hysterically. It was Friday that day, so no one would be seeing him like this for about three days. Sio's mind kept repeating, sent two minutes ago. If he would've just listened to the tingle, the sense something was wrong. He could've save, Kaino. But he didn't, and now, Kaino was gone. That's why the tingle had suddenly disappeared. It was because, Kaino had died without anyone to save him. Sio, stopped weeping after he heard a knock on their window.
He quickly stopped sobbing, and shuffled to the window. There was a spiderman? Or Spiderwoman technically. Her mask was white, and she had a white hood with pink on the inside. Sio, opened his window, his eyes were red and puffy, he gained his composure once more and gained the strength to speak. “Hello? Who are you?”, Sio asked looking up at the person, standing on his window sill. “I’m Gwen Stacy, I was sent to help you with your spidey-powers.” She said in a welcoming tone. “Spidey-powers?” Sio, asked tilting their head slightly. “Yeah! You got bit by a radioactive spider, kid. You’re one of us now.”
Sio, seemed happy but then their smile faltered. “But what about my mom? She’s very strict and I’m not sure if-” Gwen cut Sio off before he could continue. “Don’t worry about it! You can do anything when your a spider-person.” She said happily, grabbing, Sio’s hand and swinging from building to building before swinging them both into a portal, that closed behind them once they entered. “Jeez! Warn me before ya start swinging me all over the place!” Sio, laughed looking around. It looked like a training place of some sort.
Gwen, laughed along as well taking her mask off. “I like how your suit looks! Very interesting.” Gwen, said smiling. Sio, looked at themself and the suit they were now suddenly wearing. “Yo! This looks cool as hell!” Sio, said twirling around a bit. “It really does! And don’t worry you can snap in and out of that thing, and be in your other outfit” Gwen, explained showing off herself as a example for being able to change in and out of the suits.
“Let’s start off by, walking and running on wall!” Gwen said, giving an example by just walking up one of the walls. Sio, nodded and hesitantly walked up the wall. He soon got a bit more used to it, catching on to the whole thing easily. “Wow! You’ve already got this in the bag. I see you’re a fast learner!” Gwen, said walking back down to the ground. “Yeah, I usually do!” Sio, replied simply falling back and twisting his body so they’d land on their feet. “Alright, let’s see if you can keep up!” Gwen, said before running in a different direction, and parkouring all over the place. “Hey! You got a headstart!” Sio, laughed in reply running after, Gwen ending up running and parkouring beside her within about a minute and a half. “Wow, you’re quick, Sio!” Gwen, complimented, Sionnach. Another portal appeared, before Gwen motioned, Sio to follow her into it. Sio, complied and jumped into the portal after her.
Gwen, lead, Sio to what seemed to be a hangout area. It was clean but still full of stuff, like art supplies, books, a tv, and more. “Hey guys! I want you to meet someone!” Gwen, said pulling, Sio to stand beside her, before introducing him for him “This is, Sionnach or Sio! He is a new spider-man!” Gwen, said wrapping her arm around, Sio’s shoulder and pulling him closer. Gwen, pointed to a guy sitting between the two others in the room. He had wicks, and his colors seemed to change. He resembled some kind of comic book to, Sio. “That’s, Hobie!” She said, introducing him to Sio. “Sup” Hobie, said waving slightly. “And Pavitr, but you can call him, Pav.” Gwen, said pointing to the person on our left of, Hobie. “Hi! Nice to meet you!” Pav, said waving a bit more excitedly then Hobie did. Sio, quietly waved back. “And last but not least, Miles!” Gwen, said pointing to the guy on our right of, Hobie. He just lightly smiled and waved normally and said, “Nice to meet you, Sio!” Sio, for once felt unjudged and safe in a place, where he felt he could be himself.
“Why don’t you show them what you look like, Sio?” Gwen, said sitting on the couch acrossed from where the other three were sitting, motioning for, Sionnach to sit next to her. Sio, walked around and sat next to, Gwen and hesitantly took of his mask. “You look cool, mate, I like the eyeshadow.” Hobie, complimented non-chalantly. “Ooo yeah! I personally like the little shine the most!” Pav, commented smiling brightly and welcomingly. “Thanks! I really like how it looks too! It’s the most proud I’ve been with a makeup look like this!” Sio, replied smiling. Sio, finally felt more at ease in this place. Him and the others started chatting away, cracking jokes, and overall getting more comfortable in eachothers company.
Sionnach, was finally apart of something. Something big, and happy. Something that felt like family. A better family then he had ever known. He hoped one day he could open up to these people fully. But obviously now isn’t the time just yet. They had just met these people afterall. But Sionnach felt safe. For once in his life, Sionnach, was home.