Work Text:
This wasn't how heroes' stories were supposed to end. Miles had seen enough movies, heard enough fairy tales, to know that.
The hero was supposed to get the girl. They were supposed to die happy, as the victor. Maybe a little broken, but they always won in the end.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
"No, this is all wrong." He thought as he dropped down beside his mentor, his knees pressing into the shards of broken glass across the floor.
Of course they were in a church. A cathedral.
The stained glass reflected blue and red across the wooden boards tainted in blood.
Poetic in a way.
He tried to keep his voice calm, "Pete! Stay with me, man."
His hands hovered over the suit, not knowing what to do. What could he possibly do?
This was all wrong.
He had just shown him the ring. He found it in a pawn shop and said it was absolutely perfect. It was modest, but special. Miles told him that MJ was going to love it.
That was supposed to be when they would go to a church.
He was going to propose in the house he grew up in. It was going to be cheesy and stupid and perfect.
They would be watching an old movie and eating takeout and he would wait until she was distracted before getting off the couch to kneel beside her.
He deserved that.
He didn't deserve this.
"Pete, come on."
No longer caring about if someone saw, Miles tugged off the mask. His stomach dropped.
Peter was gasping for air, his face bruised and bloody and so tired.
Too tired for someone so young.
"Stay with me, okay? Everything's gonna be okay." He tried to sound confident, but the way his eyes watered beneath his mask made his voice wobble.
"Miles."
He looked up to meet his eyes.
"It's okay."
No, no it wasn't. Because Miles knew what he meant. He wasn't agreeing with his promise that he was gonna be okay.
He was saying that everything else would be okay no matter what.
He was wrong.
"Pete-"
"No-" he paused, face pinching in pain as he inhaled a wheezy breath, "no, listen."
Miles was surprised when the older man lifted a heavy hand, setting it on the back of his neck to pull his face closer. Miles didn't resist, feeling the intimacy of the moment when Peter pressed their foreheads together.
"I'm proud of you."
He wasn't supposed to be the one who was upset, but Miles couldn't hold in the sob that made his body shake.
"It's alright."
He tried to calm himself, but the sound of Peter's slurred voice, the hand almost limp against his neck, it was too much.
His mentor. His friend.
"I can't do this," he cried, gasping as he pulled off his own mask to wipe his eyes. Peter let him sit up, moving his hand.
"I can't-"
"Yes, you can."
"No! I can't do this! I can't be Spider-Man without you!"
Peter's breath rattled loudly. Painfully.
"You already did."
"I lost Phin-"
"Wasn't your fault-"
"The city needs you, Pete. I need you!"
He looked so broken. Miles felt broken.
"You're gonna do a great job. The city is lucky to have a Spider-Man like you."
"Peter-"
"You can do it, I know you can."
His lip quivered as Peter patted his shoulder tenderly.
"Can you do something for me?"
"Of course."
"Tell MJ that I love her. And...tell her I'm sorry."
"Pete-"
"It's alright, Miles."
His eyes, suddenly unfocused and glazed, drifted to the rafters above. Miles looked up to see the hole they had crashed through before, revealing the city's darkened night sky above. Almost in awe, Miles watched as a few snowflakes fell from the opening. The first snow of winter.
He looked down, feeling tears fall again as he watched Peter close his eyes, taking a final shallow breath before a look of peace settled over his face.
Finally, he could rest.
******************************
Miles felt the cold of that winter in his bones. It felt like the coldest he had ever lived through.
It wasn't right.
It wasn't supposed to happen like that.
He had watched so many good people end up without the ending they deserved.
Phin, despite her own sins.
His father, for trying to be a hero.
And now Peter.
MJ paid the price too. She stood, dressed in her nicest clothes when they buried him next to Ben and May.
Peter Benjamin Parker
Being good is not a trait, it's a choice, and everyone deserves a second chance.
Nobody else would know.
No one knew that Peter Parker was a hero. JJJ still ranted about Spider-Man, making theories on where the original had run off to.
No one knew the sacrifices that he made.
No one else knew about a young man from Queens, poor and dorky and unlucky, who gave up everything to be the hero.
And no one ever would.
But Miles and MJ knew, and they weren't going to let his legacy end like this.
Spider-Man would live on.
The End