Chapter Text
Matt stared down at the news report on his phone, every new paper had something to do with him, and a lot of them were bad.
‘Spider-Menace!! The truth behind Spider-Cement!!’
‘Captain Steve is attacked by Spider-Man?!?!?!’
‘Captain Steve expected to make full recovery after violent attack!!!:))’
Gus snatched the phone out of Matt’s hand before he could continue scrolling down,
“This is all a load of crap you know that?” Gus sternly spoke,
Matt looked up at him solemnly, his motivation withered with each new paper that was published, it didn’t help that a lot of them were under Gus’ name, despite the fact he made it clear he didn’t think of Spider-Cement as some horrible villain the news tended to twist his writings and opinions up a little bit, to make it more newsworthy, to get people more engaged and to get people to gossip, the entire thing was draining, Steve had been in the hospital for months now, he was conscious at least, but he didn’t seem to remember what happened that night, he didn’t remember that Matt was Spider-Man either, which he supposed was for the better given that it might have caused his brother to reveal his identity to staff,
“Matt, it’s not your fault.” Gus reached out across the lunch table and gripped his hand,
“I know,” Matt sighed
Although it was weird now that Gus knew his identity it was also comforting. He didn’t change his attitude towards him much, there’s some extra teasings here and there, some slip-ups when they’re out in public and he’s certainly gotten more protective but who could blame him? If Matt found out Gus was a superhero fighting dangerous villains he’d get way protective, like never leave his side kind of protective, as if he wasn’t like that already. Gus frowned but handed him his phone, Matt stuffed it in his pocket and opened up his journal instead, he’d been sketching down ‘The Purple Devil’, she was his main enemy, and he needed to know about her. Her abilities, when she normally attacked and where, her weaknesses, all that good stuff. Though he had decent handwriting his notes weren’t exactly the neatest….
“Still trying to figure out when she’ll next strike?”
“Yeah, I track down every time she attacks but it never makes any sense, there’s no pattern to it, no logic behind it! Like she just terrorizes people whenever she feels like it!” Matt ranted,
Gus offered a reassuring smile,
“You’ll figure it out,”
“Sure hope so,” Matt muttered under his breath, letting out a groan of annoyance,
Suddenly Matt’s journal was snatched from beneath him, the girl behind it? Boscha. Matt jumped and tried to snatch it back from her, Boscha only chuckled and waved it up in the air while shifting her eyes to look at it,
“Dude, your down soo bad.” Boscha mocked him,
Matt cringed and out of embarrassment his cheeks reddened,
“I do NOT like..her!” Matt struggled to get his stuff back, he acted as if he would throw up if he used Bria’s name,
“Don’t be so shy loser, who wouldn’t like her, she’s so much cooler than Spider-Menace!” Boscha seemed proud of herself
“What?” Gus and Matt both paused to say in unison
Boscha flipped through the pages,
“Give it back Asshole!” Matt demanded,
“Ew, you obsessed with superheroes and villains or something?” Boscha casually ripped out a page, tore it in half, and shoved it at Matt who fell back into his chair, Gus was on his feet now,
“And apparently Augustus,” Boscha smirked as she showed them both drawings he’d made of Gus, said boy snatched the journal from her and gave her a stern ‘get lost’ look, Boscha laughed and walked off, Gus handed the journal back to Matt who scowled as he watched her walk off,
“I hate her.” He mumbled,
Gus shot her a glance before she disappeared into a hallway,
“Me too,” he muttered,
“You okay?” Gus looked down at the papers on the floor, he bent down to pick them up and Matt didn’t notice him looking until the last minute, Gus looked down at the paper in his hands, holding them together to form a full picture, he went quiet and his eyes widened slightly, Matt sighed and assumed the worst,
“No good?”
“Are you kidding me?” Gus looked up at him, he broke out into a smile,
“This is amazing!” Gus was grinning now. Matt looked up at him in surprise, a smile attempted to form but confusion overwhelmed him and instead, he half-smiled,
“You think so?”
“I KNOW so! You’re great at drawing Matty,” Gus handed him the two halves of paper, Matt delicately slid the papers inside his journal just to shove it into his backpack and zip it up, hugging it close to him as he looked up at his friend,
“Thanks..” Matt smiled genuinely,
“Sure!” Gus beamed,
Just then the bell rang, Matt jumped to his feet and Gus swiftly packed everything up, Matt walked Gus to class per usual and then headed to his, he risked being late every single time but it wasn’t like he cared too much for chemistry. Gus practically skipped down the hallway as he and Matt talked on the way to his classroom, anytime someone gave him a weird look Matt scowled at them which tended to quickly get across his message. Gus was bubbly and fun and energetic and although Matt wasn’t quite like his friend personality wise that’s part of what made them such a good duo. Once they arrived at Gus’ classroom his friend did a very dramatic bow that made Matt stifle down a laugh before he was rushed into the classroom by Willow who had been awaiting his arrival, feeling satisfied Matt subconsciously smiled and walked off to head to class, he felt relatively happy and calm around this time of the school day, that was, until Boscha showed up beside him.
“Hey, nerd!” Boscha greeted him with a sly smile
Matt groaned and picked up his walking pace, Boscha matched his speed immediately, stopping him in front of some lockers,
“Your dad never teach you respect?” She snapped,
“My DAD, hasn’t taught me shit,” Matt replied, he laughed at his traumatic unfunny joke,
“Okay, daddy issues. I have a question.”
Matt raised an eyebrow,
“I saw those drawings, what do you know about Bria?” She questioned him,
Ahhh. Boscha must know her girlfriend's secret identity, and she’s probably wondering if HE knows, Matt smiled and decided to entertain this,
“I know that she’s The Purple Devil,” Matt flexed his hand as he pretended to analyze his nails,
“Why? Jealous I found out before you did?”
Boscha slammed a fist into a locker door, Matt looked her up and down, the girl takes things wayy too personally.
“Jealous? Of you?” Boscha backed up off the locker and shook her fist slightly,
“Why would I be jealous of a low-life, homosexual asshole, disgusting waste of space human being who can’t hold a friendship to save his LIFE.”
“Damn,” Matt admitted aloud,
“Since when were you so mean?” Matt mocked,
Boscha scoffed and rolled her eyes,
“Also I can totally hold friendships. I’m amazing at making friends!” Matt fake bragged,
Boscha snorted,
“Amazing at making them disappear maybe! A word of advice, stick to what your best at, being the last resort.” Boscha whipped her ponytail in his face as she walked off,
Damn. Matt clenched a hand to his heart as he grasped the clothing of his T-shirt in a fist full. He let out a sigh and continued to class, Boscha was stupid. This school was stupid. A small spike shot up in front of Matt startling him, rather than worried he was annoyed, he rolled his eyes and walked off to head to class. Until he was stopped, again..
“Why aren’t you in class?” Some random ass teacher approached him,
“I’m headed to class right now,” Matt tried to walk off,
“Yeah right. To the principal's office!” The teacher scoffed, stepping in front of him,
Matt grumbled a word or two under his breath as he walked off and toward the office,
“What was that?” The teacher asked in a stern voice,
Matt turned around and flashed a fake grin,
“Nothing!” He said quickly as he scurried off. Once he was far enough to be out of sight he made a turn away from the office, he walked down the hallway that Gus was in, slipped his hood on, and ever so casually pulled down on a nearby fire alarm, chaos began to unfold, students rushed out of classrooms and teachers failed to keep them in order, Matt stood outside of his friend’s classroom, once he saw him he tugged on his cardigan and pulled him to the side,
“Matt? What are you doing in this hallway?” Gus’ face went from confused to stern,
Matt only smiled,
“We’re leaving, surprise!”
“Tell me you didn’t pull the fire alarm, AGAIN?”
….
“Would you believe me if I said no-?”
Gus gave him a look of disappointment, but eventually, he chuckled,
“Alright, let’s go.”
-
Matt lay on a pillow on Gus’ lap in his bedroom, his dad wasn’t home so he was finally at peace, no school, no dad, just Gus. Perfect. Besides the thought that Boscha may have been right about him.
“Augustus.” Matt shifted on the pillow slightly,
Gus turned off his phone to look at him,
“What’s up?”
“Am I bad at making friends?”
Gus considered his question for a moment,
“I don’t think so,” he sounded sure of himself as he spoke,
“Really?” Matt looked up at him,
“Really.” Gus began to play with his bangs as he spoke,
“Why do you ask?” Gus questioned, glancing into his eyes,
Matt’s eyes locked on his friends, he swallowed,
“Something Boscha said..that’s all.”
Gus nodded understandably, but he noticeably took a quiet deep breath in and out,
“Don’t let her get to your head,” He offered a soft smile as he twisted a piece of his hair in his finger, Matt tried to smile as well,
“Yeah, I know.”
Just then Matt’s phone rang, he groaned thinking it was his dad but when he saw who was calling he sat up and answered immediately, Gus watched him cautiously, there were some murmurs before the conversation ended with Matt saying he’d be right there, Gus gave him a confused look,
“I need to go to the hospital,” Matt stated as he scurried for a bag and threw in some random supplies,
“I’m coming with you,” Gus sat up quickly,
Matt looked at him a moment as he continued throwing whatever was necessary into his bag, he just nodded, there was no point in trying to convince him to stay here.
“Let’s go.”
-
By the time Matt and Gus got there, the hospital was chaotic, per usual. But today particularly there was a lot of commotion, and Gus didn’t feel good about it at all. Something was off and he didn’t know what. Matt seemed anxious, but Gus wasn’t sure what was happening or what to do, just that Matt had gotten a call and now they were here. They walked into an elevator and went to Steve’s room on the second floor. Before Matt could even touch the handle a nurse approached and rushed them backwards. A few doctors ran into the room and Matt looked dazed, Gus tried to get his attention but his eyes didn’t pull away from that door, they were sitting right outside his door on a bench. Gus hugged his friend close, Matt leaned into his touch as they waited anxiously for an update or even for an answer, neither of them knew what was happening, or what was going to happen. They sat there silently for a solid ten minutes before Matt finally had enough, he jumped up and ran into the room, Gus chased after him. Steve lay still on the bed, doctors gathered around him, it looked as if they were performing an emergency procedure, but neither of them saw much before being rushed out again. Gus was easily pushed out of the room but Matt put up a fight, they had two people attempt to calm him down and get him to exit the room, Gus watched in horror as his friend screamed and cried, once they got him out they locked the door and Matt collapsed to the floor, Gus came to his side and Matt attacked him in a hug. They sat there on the floor as Matt sobbed in his arms. Gus offered soothing words as he hugged him tight. Another ten minutes passed and Matt was pacing holes into the floor, Gus noticed small spikes beginning to form where he walked, eventually he stepped on one slightly, jumping back and looking at the floor as he went, he made them disappear with a practiced ease and went back to stress pacing. A doctor left the room and approached them, Gus stood up and held Matt's hand as they awaited the news,
“We’re sorry.” Was all the doctor said as he looked to the ground,
“He’s gone.”
Matt looked starstruck, Gus held him closer as he looked to the doctor,
“I don’t understand…he was on life support, he was expected to make a full recovery.” Gus’ voice cracked as he went,
The doctor looked at him anxiously,
“We think someone might’ve purposely pulled his plug.”
“What?!” Matt snapped out of his trance, he seemed to slip into Gus’ arms, as if he were about to pass out, Gus cautiously led him over to a bench and they sat down together,
“I’ll give you both some time to process.” The doctor skittered off,
“First day on the job much?” Matt spoke sarcastically even through his tears and voice cracks,
“Who would do this?” Gus thought aloud,
Matt sniffled and sat up, wiping at his tears with his wrists he stood up and turned to Gus. He didn’t know how to describe how his friend looked right now, his eyes flashed an orange color, and he looked as if ready to murder or break down crying, a spike shot up from beneath Gus, breaking the bench in half, he hurried up and looked over at Matt, his friend wiped a single tear from his face, and Gus realized within an instant that the spike was no accident,
“We’re going to find out.”