Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Mmmm.” You hummed as you slurped up the noodles in the steaming ceramic bowl in front of you. You chewed for a moment, relishing the flavors and spices that were lovingly cooked into the soup before swallowing your bite. You let out a satisfied sigh.

The old woman behind the counter of the foodstand watched you closely, a satisfied smile resting on her face and the wrinkles around the corner of her eyes becoming more apparent as she continued to watch you eat.

“Mm, how do you do it Ms. Chunhua.” Was all you groaned out before continuing to stuff your face using the chopsticks provided.

The old lady chuckled, wagging a finger in your direction. “Love, that is all it need honey.”

It was the middle of the night and you decided to swing by to your favorite street vendor in Chinatown when your stomach started grumbling, as well as providing a perfect excuse to visit and catch up with Ms. Chunhua. You’re thankful that the lady doesn’t close up her noodle cart until very late in the night, otherwise you wouldn’t know what you would do without her.

Most likely starve.

You had only managed to happen to know about the vendor in the first place when saving Ms. Chunhua from a mugging from a couple of petty muggers. You remembered the way you had swung down into Chinatown for a routine patrol, when quick movement down near the street had caught your eye. Multiple dark figures were running down the street away from a street food vendor, and your instincts had been screaming at you to follow them.

You grunted as you landed at the opening of the alleyway in a crouch, listening for any sound. You had just been tailing them, had been basically right at their heels before they turned into this dark alleyway. They couldn’t have disappeared this quickly.

Your eyes narrowed, standing up from your crouch. You slowly walked into the alleyway, raising a hand to turn on your night vision coded into your mask. You saw nothing in the dead end alleyway, the only thing of note was a couple of trash cans and a single dumpster. You stopped your walking, wracking your brain on how they could’ve disappeared at a dead end. The brick wall at the end of the alleyway was way too high and basically impossible to climb up with no items nearby to use as leverage.

You tilted your head, lifting a hand up to activate your heat vision.

“Hm.” You muttered out loud. You let out a loud irritated sigh, turning around to slowly saunter out the alleyway. “Oh well.”

You turned around the corner, leaning against the front of a closed store and raised a hand. You shot out a web at a building across the street, but made no move. Detaching from the web, you crossed your arms and settled yourself against the wall.

Not even five minutes later you heard harsh whispering coming from within the alleyway, before the sound of quick steps reached your ears next. The running was getting closer and you got off from the wall, rolling your shoulders in preparation.

In a flash, as if you had just teleported, you appeared at the mouth of the alleyway.

“Shit!”

“Hi, were you just on your way out?” You asked the stunned group of three in front of you, who had stopped their running at the sight of you. One of them was clutching a backpack in their hands. “Oh, that won’t do. No no.”

You shot a web at the bag, which quickly stuck onto the backpack. You tugged the web towards you, and the backpack shot out of their hands and into your own.

“I told you we wouldn’t lose her, you idiot!” The figure farthest in the back smacked the back of their companion’s head standing at the front. “Fuckin’ great. We’re fucked now.”

The third person, who was standing next to the figure who had just gotten their head smacked and had just been carrying the bag, scratched their head.

“Uhm, sorry?”

“... That won’t cut it.”

You walked away from the alleyway five minutes later, leaving the three smugglers webbed up against the front of the closed up shop that you were just leaning against earlier. A sticky note was stuck on the forehead of one of the smugglers, which you had lovingly written a note for the authorities to find later.

You slung the backpack over your shoulder, one hand gripping the strap and the other shooting out webs to swing yourself back to the scene of the crime. Its red neon sign caught your eye and you quickly swung down to the ground, landing a few feet away from it.

“Uh, hello?” You cautiously walk up to the empty food cart, the red light from the sign the only source of light. You looked around for the vendor, walking right up to the front of the cart and slightly leaning over the counter. Maybe the vendor was hiding? “I- uhm, have your stuff-?”

You let out a startled gasp at the crowbar that was suddenly aimed at you from across the counter. Your figure blinked out of existence, and in the next moment you stood a few feet away from the cart. The only proof that showed that you didn’t actually teleport was the slight blurry figure of your body as you jumped back at speeds so fast that it almost seemed you did teleport.

“Woah woah!” You held up your hands. “It’s alright! I caught the smugglers and got your stuff back, here!”

Now held at crowbar point(?) and under the scrutinizing eyes of an old asian lady, you slowly shrugged off the backpack and gently threw it on the counter, next to the pot of boiling soup. You held your hands back up.

The old lady squinted at you, before quickly snatching the backpack and dragging it towards herself. She opened the backpack and dug through its contents. After a moment, her suspicious look made way for a relieved one. She opened her mouth, but you waved your hands frantically in front of you.

“There’s no need! It’s my job.” You plucked at the fabric of your suit, right in front of your chest. “Spider-Gal, see?”

The old lady squinted at you once more.

“Who?”

“Thank you Ms. Chunhua.” You sighed, pulling your mask back down over your nose and mouth. The old lady patted your cheek before taking the bowl away from you. She squatted down behind her cart somewhere and before long, you heard the sound of water and clacking of dishes. You leaned against the cart, settling an elbow on its surface and resting your chin in the palm of your hand.

It was a slow night today, which you were always thankful for. You've been doing vigilante work for about sixteen years now, so you know not to let your guard down too much, or even speak aloud the thought of it being a quiet night, or else you'll jinx yourself. Even though the night was quiet, that doesn’t stop your paranoia at the thought that it might be quiet for a reason. Was it another bomb planted under the city? A massive breakout of criminals from all the prisons? Or maybe-

“You get boyfriend yet?” Ms. Chunhua asks from somewhere behind her cart.

You closed your eyes, rubbing a hand at your face. Not this again.

“Ms. Chunhua, please.”

“What!?” She squawked. You couldn’t see her from where she was squatting, but you can imagine the offended and exasperated look she would’ve shot at you. “You sound like a young girl, maybe pretty too. And a superhero, tch!”

“I can’t-!” You were about to argue before you cut yourself off, thinking better of it. You wouldn’t win the argument anyway. You sighed, rubbing your temple with a hand and going to the excuse you always use for this conversation topic. “I’m too busy for that.”

She let out another ‘tch’ in annoyance. “If you never find boyfriend, you will be lonely forever. And die alone, with no kids and no husband!”

You grimaced. “Ah, I don’t think I’m ready for kids yet.”

“Not now, of course not now. You need boyfriend first.”

You let out a withering sigh, not wanting to argue with her further.

“Yeah yeah, alright. You have a point.”

“Of course I do. Always.”

Ms. Chunhua never accepts any of the cash you offer to her, always telling you that it was free as a thanks for protecting the city. You feel bad, especially if you were only one of her few customers that she rarely gets at night. As a way to get around that, you always make sure that her food cart is on your patrol routes, and bring her some flowers or ingredients for the stand once in a while.

“Be safe Ms. Chunhua. And goodnight!” You walked away from her food cart, continuing on to the rest of your patrol.

Ms. Chunhua hummed, starting to close up and lock her cart.

“Next time I see you, you bring boyfriend okay?”

You nervously laughed at her question and purposely left it unanswered as you shot a web at a building. Before long, you were swinging through the city, keeping a sharp eye out for anyone, or anything, suspicious. You took in a deep breath of the fresh and crispy cold air, swinging and flying through the air as if it was second nature.

Feeling more bold than normal, you even did a few flips and twirls in the air, as if you were an acrobat. Two tall apartment buildings up ahead caught your eye, and you couldn’t help the smirk slipping onto your face.

You shot out webs from both hands, the white webbings sticking onto the walls between the two tall apartment buildings, and swung yourself towards the small nook between the two structures.

“... Thread the needle.” You mumble to yourself.

You grinned as you effortlessly swung through the small space, just narrowly making it through. You pull as hard as you can and shoot yourself high up in the air, feet first and pointed straight up. Your stomach dropped as your body turned completely vertical and upside down in the open air. Quickly, you pulled your legs towards your chest and shot out your hands, completing the graceful flip to continue to shoot out webs to swing towards the next area to patrol.

You gasped, feeling your spider-sense going haywire as you passed by a building. Your grip on your web faltered and you yelped as you just barely avoided hitting the corner of a building, though you never stopped.

But this… this wasn’t the normal feeling you felt, this was something else. It’s been happening for a few days now actually. You knew for sure no one was in danger or causing trouble, no, this was… something else. Like a presence was announcing itself to you.

The strange sensations started a week ago, one bright early morning as you made your coffee in your apartment, then again later during lunch. It kept occurring, often at seemingly random times. It happens when you go for your morning jogs, going to get groceries, and during your day job, but strangely enough, never when you’re on patrol at night.

Well, until today.

You grunted as you rounded back around to head back in the direction where you felt that sensation. Less than a minute later you found yourself on a random rooftop of an office building. You felt your breath pick up as you felt the sensation again and your head dropped a bit as you closed your eyes tightly, letting out a small hiss. Your gloved hand came up to grip at your head.

Never before have you been overwhelmed by your senses, but during the past few days, it was almost like it was taking over your whole mind. You knew that it was another person that was causing this, you felt it in your gut. After a few moments, it faded away, though not completely. It was more in the back of your mind now. But whoevers presence that was causing this was still here, on the rooftop with you.

You snapped your eyes open, whirling around frantically. Your eyes swept over the barren rooftop, brows furrowed in caution and suspicion.

“Show yourself!” You yelled. Then in a steady voice, “I know someone’s there.”

“It took you long enough-”

The sentence was barely even finished before you whipped around, shooting out a web at the approaching figure out of instinct. The web hit the person’s arm, shooting their arm back and sticking it against the door to the roof. In less than another second, you webbed their second arm against the door behind them.

The figure let out a noise, sounding almost impressed. You furrowed your brows, confused at their calm demeanor.

“You’re awfully calm.”

“Yes, well, the job does that.”

You finally got a good look at the figure now. Their dark suit covered their whole body, but the streaks of bright glowing red created an intricate design on their chest and throughout the upper-half of their body, preventing the suit’s dark color from swallowing the person whole. What caught your attention the most though, was that the red lines created a vaguely familiar image of a spider emblem, and the red crescents on their face looked strangely similar to the design of your own mask.

The creeping sensation crawled up the back of your neck once more.

And suddenly, it all made sense.

“... You’re just like me.” You breathed out, stumbling back a step.

“Why does Miguel not have anyone with him?” Peter asks curiously, watching the yellow TV screen projecting the two of you. Mayday babbled from her place in the baby carrier strapped to his chest. “And uh, since when did he even do initiations? Thought bossman was too busy for these things.”

It was strange, usually Miguel would have either brought him or Jessica along for initiation missions for the rare occasions that he even does these missions. What made this one so special that he had to go alone? Peter tapped a finger against his chin, deep in thought.

Jessica shrugged from her place beside him, watching the multiple different angles of the exchange on the different screens in front of her closely.

“No clue, just left without a word… he didn’t even leave a note or anything.” She grumbled under her breath, irritated at her boss.

“Huh… weird.”

Chapter Text

You slowly walked closer to the man, feeling cautious and in total disbelief.

“You’re from a what?”

The man sighed, the crescent marks on his face scrunching up as if he was irritated at you for not hearing what he said the first time.

“I am… from an alternate universe.”

You let out a scoff, eyes wide under the mask. You stop your walking, and a foot of space now stands between the two of you now. You slightly crane your neck to look up at the guy, observing him closely. He stared at you in silence, seemingly trying to gauge your expression despite the fact that you were wearing a mask.

You almost don’t want to believe the guy and want to write him off as a lunatic that you happen to run into on a random rooftop. But… he would have no reason to lie to you. Your spider-sense tells you all you need to know that he was just like you, there was no denying it. But from an alternate universe? That was a little harder to believe.

“So… what, you’re Spiderman in your own universe or something?” You questioned, feeling close to ripping your hair out at the possibility that parallel universes exist. It seemed impossible and downright crazy, but based on the things you’ve seen, and at the fact that you’re a genetically enhanced human yourself, something that is so far from normal, you’re open to the possibility of infinite realities.

Besides, your life is already so insane, how much more chaotic can it get?

The man tilted his head at you.

“I knew you were smart.”

You straightened up, surprised at the fact that you were right and at both the tone and words he used. He’s playing with you, isn’t he? He ’knew’?

And the tone, you don’t know how to describe it, he sounded proud but there was also the hint of something else there as well. You just couldn’t pinpoint it.

“... And are you going to prove it?” You asked.

“Well, I would if you would kindly help me get your webbing off.” He grumbled at you.

Your face heated up under your mask. Right, the guy can barely move like that.

“Ah, sorry…” You mumbled in embarrassment, starting to work on getting your webbing off of one of his arms. As soon as you got rid of the last string of web, his free arm swiped up. Your eyes widened and you jumped back. Like usual, your figure blinked out of existence from your jump and you ended up a few feet away from him.

You were just about to web him back against the wall, your two center fingers pulled back against your palm, until you saw the red spikes protruding from his elbow, parallel to his arm. He used the spike to cut your webbing against his other arm and grunted as he finally got himself free.

“What…” Your brows furrowed, lowering the hand that was raised and poised to shoot a web at him.

The man looked at you, dusting off his shoulder while doing so.

“Not all Spider-people are the same.”

He rolled back his shoulders and faced you, letting his full attention settle onto you. Your eyes widened, now just taking in the full size of the man. Holy shit, he was tall and insanely buff. He had big broad shoulders which tapered down into a slim waist, long legs that the suit clung to very tightly, and large hands that looked about the size with which it could easily grasp your head and smash into the ground.

Not to mention, his height. You were tall yourself, but he completely towers over you. Not to mention that the size of his thighs looks like he could clamp and crush a whole watermelon between his legs.

You cleared your throat, trying to keep your thoughts from straying.

“You know, it’s rude that you haven’t told me your name yet.”

He let out a chuckle at your indignant tone.

“Miguel O’Hara, of Earth-928B.”

You raised a brow at the sentence, crossing your arms.

“Sounds… official.” You paused. “... What is my universes’ name?”

“Earth-6195.”

“Is there a reason that it has that number?”

The man- Miguel, you reminded yourself, stared at you. “That’s classified.”

You scoffed. “Alright. Can I assume that you know my name already?”

“Y/n L/n.”

Of course he knows your name already. It was unsettling, someone calling you by your real name while you were in costume.

“Did you come to my universe for a reason or…?”

He straightened up. “Yes, I want to recruit you to the Spider-Society.”

You almost busted out laughing at the name, but based on the rigidness of Miguel’s figure this was a serious moment that you probably shouldn’t be disrupting.

“Spider-Society?”

Miguel promptly went on a huge speech about protecting the multiverse. You listened carefully as he explained how universes can be wiped out of existence if left by themselves, vulnerable to any threats.

You felt uneasy at that part, thinking about the threat of your own universe. Every single loved one you cared for, every citizen you protected, every single person just… gone, in a blink, and disappearing as easy as deleting a picture from your phone.

He goes on to explain the purpose of the Spider-Society, founded by him and to prevent the very thing that he just described. The organization was made up of Spider-people from different alternate dimensions, which he is still currently recruiting for.

“How exactly does a dimension get wiped?” You asked worriedly. He hadn’t explained that part in detail yet.

He paused in his talking and took a moment to gather up his thoughts at your question. “There are… things called canon events. They are events that are, or will, eventually happen. The thing that’s most important is that these events must happen, no matter what. If canon events get disrupted-”

“The dimension is doomed?” You interrupted, staring at the ground intently as you thought out loud. “The… the timeline gets screwed and the dimension can’t handle that, can it? It’s like a computer that has to restart, except this is permanent.”

Miguel stared at you in silence for a moment, then nodded. “Canon events for us Spider-people can be anything, from the spider that bit us or… or losing someone.”

Your head whipped up at this. Your hands tightened into fists at your side unconsciously and you stepped closer to him.

“Take me to the Spider-Society.”

You stared at the weird wrist band that Miguel had put onto your wrist. He had asked for your hand, which you held out towards him hesitantly. His big hands grabbed at your small wrist and gently strapped on the device. You couldn’t help but compare the size difference of both your hands, his hands completely dwarfed yours.

“What is this for?” You asked, not daring to look up at him while he made sure the band was secure. One of his hands was grasping at your palm gently, the other was fiddling with the band. You kept your palm facing up, not wanting to get in the way of whatever he was doing.

“A multiverse wristband. It keeps you from glitching out when you’re in my universe.” Was his simple and stiff answer.

His hands slid away from your own and you couldn’t help but miss its warmth, no matter how little it provided.

He then proceeded to fiddle with his own wristband, though it looked more intricate with a thicker width and an orange screen. He clicked a few buttons on it and in the next moment, a small hologram filtered up above the watch, showcasing a woman. Short choppy brown hair and a pair of pink heart-shaped glasses adorned her face, and she was dressed in a long white furry coat.

You blinked. What?

“Heyyy. I was wondering what you were up to Miggy!”

Miguel let out an irritated sigh. “Lyla, not now. Just open up the portal-”

“Oh my god, hiii!” The woman suddenly exclaimed, now finally noticing you. She turned towards your direction and waved at you excitedly. “You must be Y/n right? Name’s Lyla!”

You gave her a small wave back. “Hi, and um, yes… I love your glasses.” You couldn’t help but add. You really did like them.

She held a hand up to her chest, seemingly touched. “Aw, aren’t you a sweetheart?”

“Enough.” Miguel gritted out, sending what you assume to be a glare to the woman- Lyla, based on the way the crescents on his face scrunched up. “Lyla, the portal.”

Lyla huffed, rolling her eyes. “Jeez, okay okay. You can’t just let a girl meet her favorite Spider-Woman, can’t you?”

Before you could ponder over her statment, in the next moment a glowing hexagonal portal opened up a few feet in front of you. Lyla disappeared from Miguels watch.

You jumped back, appearing behind Miguel in less than half a second.

You were tempted to pinch yourself to make sure this wasn’t a dream, but you didn’t get the chance to as Miguel walked towards the portal. He stood beside it and looked over his shoulder at you. You can almost imagine the raised brow he was directing at you.

“Well?”

You huffed and got yourself into a position, trying to pretend that you just didn’t get scared by the appearance of the portal. In the next second, your figure popped up in front of the portal.

Miguel almost flinched back at your sudden appearance next to him.

“Did the big scary spider get startled?”

He pointedly looked away from you, muttering under his breath.

“Ay por dios, eres descarada.”

“What was that?”

“Just get in the portal.” He gruffed out.

You snickered softly and went to step in.

You let out a breath, wide eyes looking in every direction as your body spun in a circle to take in the new area you found yourself in.

It was all… very white. The space was so huge that you couldn’t even see where the other side of the wall was. Instead, the vast open space was filled with white walkways spanning in every direction and leading to doors labeled with signs that you can barely make out. What stunned you the most and kept you from moving though, was the overwhelming amount of people wearing familiar looking masks, walking and going about their day as if they were just normal regular citizens of a city. You let out a small laugh upon noticing some people walking underneath the walkways, hanging completely upside down.

Never in your life would you see so many people, just like you, living a life so similar to yours and yet you had no idea.

You had no idea that you weren’t alone.

You looked back towards where the portal was. Miguel was walking halfway through it before he made it to your side, and the portal closed back up with a blip!

You turned back around and swiveled your head back towards the scenery. Off near the distance, a couple of walkways away, you spot a little coffee shop. It seemed like it was on the outskirts of what appeared to be a food court.

You chuckled at the sight of the spider-barista behind the counter, who was frantically working to serve the long line of customers made up of even more spider-people.

The scene was almost comical, in your opinion.

You turned back towards Miguel and raised a brow at him.

“Well, lead the way Mr. Bossman.”

Miguel grumbled at your tone but did as you said, walking ahead of you and leading the way.

“Just follow me, and don’t go anywhere else. I don’t want to go through the hassle of finding you.”

You followed Miguel as he started to seemingly head in a random direction. You ‘ooh’ed and ‘ahh’ed as you walked, marveling over the beautiful white architecture and feeling the grandness of it all. You even shyly waved at a few other people, who noticed you trailing behind Miguel and greeted you warmly with friendly smiles, though for some it was hard to tell since they had on their masks.

As you were looking at a strange sculpture that you both were passing by, you let out a noise as you were promptly stopped short by a tray that was suddenly held out in front of you.

“Would you like some samples?” A cute looking Spider-person asked. Their suit was in a color scheme of pinks and grays, and based on their voice, you concluded it was a young girl behind the mask.

“Ooooh,” You held a hand up to your mouth, looking over the spread. It was just a bunch of small bite-sized samples, all of which consisted of ham and cheese stacked on top of a cracker. It kind of reminds you of Lunchables… man you haven’t had those in forever.

You happily picked one up and, pulling your mask up to rest it along the bridge of your nose, plopped one right in your mouth. You chewed and listened as the young girl rambled to you about the place the food it was from, plucking a few more to eat all the while. You perked up upon hearing the young girl mentioning the samples were from the cafe that you had just seen earlier.

“And of course, it was all locally sourced from-” The girl's sentence was cut-off as in the next moment, you felt a hand settle firmly on your shoulder from behind. You turned your head and were greeted by the sight of a frowning man. No, wait- looking over his suit, it was Miguel. He just took off his mask at some point, most likely when you had strayed away from him.

Miguel's eye twitched and he gritted out his sentence.

“Was my instruction not damn clear enough?”

He didn’t even wait for you to respond before firmly guiding you away from the girl. Your hand reached out and you shot out a web towards the tray. Your web managed to snag one more sample and you tugged it back towards you triumphantly, plopping it into your mouth to savor the nice treat one more time.

“The samples looked good.” You reasoned, covering your chewing mouth as you talked when Miguel had shot you a glare from his place beside you. You two continued the walk in silence and you decided it was a good time as any to take your mask off.

You ran a hand through your long strands of hair as you did, feeling relief now that you gave your head room to breathe now that it wasn’t stuck beneath the mask.

You couldn’t help but eye Miguel as you two walked in continued silence. His long brown curls looked tempting to run your fingers through, and his sharp cheekbones looked as though it could give you a cut just from looking at them. You couldn’t help but notice that his brooding expression seemed as though it was his default resting expression. But he was handsome, that was for sure. And maybe it was the trick of the sunlight in your eye, but you thought you could even make out two small canines poking into his lower lip. But not wanting him to catch you staring unashamedly at him, you didn’t let your eyes linger on his face for too long.

Miguel watched for what had to be the forth time as your eyes darted away from his the moment that he even so slightly looked towards your direction. But to be fair, the moment your eyes strayed back to his, he did the exact same thing.

You were… prettier in person, he had to reluctantly admit. He obviously has seen your face before the two of you had met officially, but it wasn’t the same through the computers in his office or several meters away.

He had been following you for a few days in your universe, observing and noting down your routine. He was waiting for the right moment to make contact, not wanting you to conclude him as some sort of villain. He was lucky that criminal activity had been dying down for you, as by the time he had shown himself to you, your guard had been let down somewhat.

Your hair was slightly mussed up from taking off your mask, but that didn’t seem to bother you as you looked around.

He took in your amazed expression as you glanced around, observing closely at your starstruck smile. Your universe was several decades behind his, so he understands your amazement at his own dimension. If he was being honest, he even felt a little smug that you were so clearly impressed.

His thoughts eventually wandered back to what happened a few minutes ago. When he had lost sight of you back there, he felt himself getting irritated at first. What was so complicated about his instructions when you two first got here? But the moment he saw you happily eating from a tray sample held out by a worker, he was, admittedly, a little amused. Even more so at your blissed expression as you ate.

You two eventually reached an entranceway, which led into a dark hallway. Miguel didn’t stop in his tracks and walked right through it, and you followed behind him. All around you was machinery, some in working order and emitting a slight hum, and others broken down and silent.

You both then reached a dark room. The outskirts of the place had more machinery, but ahead of you, right in the center of everything, was a platform raised high in the air. Surrounding the platform were some yellow computer screens. It looked like the platform could be lowered down to the ground.

You squinted, noticing two figures up ahead on the raised platform.

“Yo, it’s about time you got back! Mayday here was starting to get fussy, I think she’s missing Uncle Miggy, issat right sweetheart?” One of the figures shouted at you two.

You watched, wide-eyed, as a middle-aged man in a spider-suit and a pink rob webbed his way down towards you both. The man let out a startled yelp as the baby in his baby carrier strapped to his chest immediately slithered her way out and almost fell towards the floor, if not for the man catching her in his arms.

The baby had wispy thin ginger hair and was babbling incoherent words towards Miguel, wiggling in (what you assume to be) her fathers arms and reaching her own arms out towards the man standing beside you.

The man walked on over and dumped the baby in Miguel's arms. Miguel, despite having what you thought to be the cutest baby you have ever seen in his arms, didn’t move a muscle to cuddle or hug the baby, and held her in his arms stiffly.

The baby noticed your presence though, and started babbling at you too. You couldn’t help yourself anymore and leaned towards the baby, cooing at her and letting her grip your finger.

“Oh my god, aren’t you the cutest little thing!” You happily squealed at her, absolutely adoring her cute little smile and her round squishable face.

While you were busy being absolutely enamored with the baby in his arms, Peter shot him a smirk.

“Solo mission huh? What’s the occasion?”

“Cállate Parker.” He gritted out in response. He ignored the distraught noise you let out as he turned Mayday away from you to dump her back in her fathers arms. He walked over to the platform, which was lowering down along with the other figure that had yet to say a word.

Jessica handed him a tablet as he walked up to her onto the platform.

“Mission report due tomorrow, exactly twenty-four hours from now.” She smirked at him. Miguel almost wanted to scoff at her smug expression, irritated at the way she was acting as if she was the boss.

“The name’s Peter B. Parker, aka Spiderman.” The man gave you a bright grin and held out a hand.

You smiled and clasped your hand in his.

“Y/n L/n, or err, Spider-Gal.” It was weird, being able to introduce yourself like this so openly.

“I know, weird right?” It was almost like he read your mind. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it the more missions you go on. Your identity is completely safe with us since… well, we’re also in the same boat.”

“She didn’t agree to anything yet.” Miguel spoke up from ahead, apparently hearing the two of you. He didn’t look up from where he was reading from the tablet in his hands.

You ignored him though, as the two of you walked towards the platform.

“And who is this absolute sweetheart?” You asked, booping the nose of the baby. She giggled at the gesture, slapping her hands against the carrier strap that she was put into once again.

“This little angel here is Mayday.” Peter said proudly, puffing out his chest and his hands went to rest on his hips. “I made her myself.”

You laughed along with him as you two finally made it on top of the platform. Finally, you were able to get a good look at the other person in the room. It was a woman with the puffiest and prettiest afro you have ever seen, her face adorned with large yellow spider-shaped goggles. She had on a red and black spider suit and a belt wrapped around her waist.

She gave you a smile and held out a hand.

“I’m Jessica Drew, or Spider-Woman. I’m pleased to see that you didn’t outright reject the offer.” She chuckled.

You shook her hand, giving her a grin. “It’s starting to look more and more likely that I might just join this little club you’ve got going on here.”

“It’s not a club.” Miguel grumbles out, finally looking up from his tablet.

You chuckled at his grumpiness. He sure didn’t like to smile, huh?

He rolled his eyes at your laughing. Apparently sassy too.

“Alright, let’s go over the details, shall we?”

You three sat in silence in the conference room that Jessica had led you all into. Peter had to leave, saying something about feeding Mayday.

Both your hands were folded into one big fist, which was pressing against your mouth as you sat there in silent deliberation.

The position that you were being offered in the organization was a simple one, one that most other spider-people also had. The job was simple, you were to be called in for any kind of threat or emergency that could threaten a dimension, or round up any stray villains that are in the wrong dimension as a result of accidental dimension hopping, which are usually handled in a team composed of other spider-people. If you were to be in the organization long enough and/or showed good talent, you could even move up to being a team captain to lead one of the many different teams.

The team you were to be assigned to is still up to debate. Apparently, even though you were getting scouted to join the ‘club’, they still need to test your abilities in an assessment. If you lived up to expectations, you were to be put into a “trial period” where you work with different teams to see who you would work well with until you could find the perfect team. Otherwise, you would be put into training until you can pass the assessment test.

The formations of the teams itself weren’t super strict though, members can still get swapped out or switched if the situation calls for it. It’s loosely tied together with the team captain, who makes the decisions for teammate swapping's.

Of course, you would still continue your vigilante duties in your own dimension. The details of your schedule were to be discussed further if you agree to… all this.

It was a little overwhelming, to be honest. Up until this point, you worked alone, no matter how cliche it sounded. But it was true, you didn’t… really have anyone to work with. Sure, there was the occasional Avenger that you bumped into when something happens, but other than that there was no one else there that you relied on. It was certainly going to take some getting used to if you agree to join the organization.

“Can you… give me some time to think about it?” You asked, looking up from the surface of the table that you were intently staring at.

“Of course.” Jessica gave you a reassuring smile, which you couldn’t help but return as well. “Take all the time you need. You can even take a walk around headquarters if you want, there’s lots going on that I’m sure that you would enjoy.”

Chapter Text

You shortly left the conference room, saying your thanks and bidding your goodbye. But just before you left though, Jessica threw a device at you. You caught it, your palms cupped together in order to catch the small device, and turned it around in your hands curiously. It was a small round device, made of metal and was only the size of your thumb nail.

“What is this?”

“Translator device.” Miguel grunted, still scrolling through the data pad that Jessica gave to him earlier. “So the language barrier won’t become a problem.”

“Miguel didn’t take into fact the possibility that spider-people might only speak in languages other than English or Spanish.” Jessica winked at you.

You laughed, thumbing the very small device. “How do I use it?”

“Just stick to it right behind your ear. You’ll feel a sharp pinch, but that’s to connect to your cerebrum and neural network.” She answered you.

You nodded, now staring at the device a little warily. Well, you only live once. If this thing turns out to be a device that kills you and that the people here are actually evil, that’s on you.

Raising the device up so that it hovers right above the skin behind your ear, Jessica’s words rang true as you felt a sharp poke when you stuck the small circular device onto your skin. Your head felt dizzy for a moment and there was a slightly ringing in your ears, but thankfully both disappeared.

Miguel watches you take your leave, his eyes all but staring holes into your figure. His face didn’t move away from the direction of the tablet in his hands though. His eyes were able to follow you until you eventually disappeared behind the wooden door, which closed with a click.

Jessica crossed her arms, leaning back into her chair and leveling Miguel with a knowing look.

“What was that?”

“What was what?” He hummed, not looking her in the eyes as he shuffled some pieces of paper into a neat pile on the table, his tablet now clamped under his armpit.

Jessica raised a brow at him. “You’re little… outing. You didn’t tell me you were doing an initiation that would take a week. Do you know how worried we were?”

He stood up, pushing his chair back and looking ready to leave.

“I don’t have to tell anyone where the hell I’m going.”

With that and an irritating frown resting on his face, he swiftly left the conference room. Jessica shook her head, not surprised at the latest at his outburst. She shouldn’t have expected anything different with your arrival.

Miguel shook his head. What the hell had he been thinking? It was irresponsible of him to do what he did. But at the same time, he wouldn’t say sorry or take back what he did. He would do it a thousand times if given the chance.

It was slightly embarrassing to admit so, but he enjoyed following you around for the past week. He took in every little detail of your life that he was able to observe. He took in the way you order coffee at the local coffee shop at the corner of Pleasant Drive everyday, like clockwork. He even memorizes your coffee order for some damn reason, it was a mocha frappuccino with whip cream and caramel syrup.

Or the stray cat that you often leave food out for in your fire escape, and the way you hover near the edge of the window, not within eyesite of the stray in case it sees you and gets scared. You seem to have a love for cats. And flowers as well.

And maybe he notices the way that you seem to buy a plushie every other week, most often in pink and of cute animals. Your collection is very obvious from your bed, where you display them and where he can see it from his place on the wall of an apartment building adjacent to yours. Not that he actually steps in your apartment, he wasn’t that snoopy and respected your privacy.

(The irony of his actions didn’t cross his mind at all.)

And he held quite a bit of respect for you, because you were as big of a hero outside of the suit as well.

Sure, the other spider-people were good people outside of the suit also. But something about your unconditional compassion for the people around you, from the homeless to even young bratty kids… Maybe he was just weak for soft-hearted people.

Or maybe just you.

That didn’t mean you were a pushover though. You knew when and how to assert your authority. And when you give people hell, you give them flaming, boiling hell. He’s seen it with his own eyes one time, when you were waiting for your drink to be put out in your usual coffee shop. He was hiding in the shadows of the trees, situated right where he can see through the window and keep you in sight.

Another customer, who had just grabbed their drink and was standing in front of you, was giving the barista behind the counter a hard time. He watched as you noticed the commotion right away, your eyes zoning in on the expression on the barista teary face and then slowly over to the obnoxious customer. In the next moment though, the customer hurled the, thankfully iced, coffee at the barista. Without any hesitation, your hand shot out and shoved at the customer's shoulder, turning them around in the process.

The same hand reeled back and you swiftly delivered a punch to the angry red race of the rude customer, who staggered back in disorientation. Without giving them any time to put themselves together, your hand gripped their jacket and dragged them out the coffeeshop. Miguel didn’t need to figure out what happened next.

And when you looked at him, without your mask back there… Your large eyes peering up at him, at his own eyes, for the very first time. Without the usual distance he had to maintain back when he had been following you or through a computer screen, he had finally gotten the chance to stare into your soft eyes.

Calma, corazón palpitante.

He dropped by his office, dropping off the few pieces of paper and the tablet he was handed. There were a few issues that had popped up during the time that he was gone and he could already feel the incoming headache at having to deal with them.

He decides it's a good time as any to grab some coffee to help him through the pile of paperwork.

He made his way out the dark space of his office and headed on over to the coffee shop. People looked up from what they were doing, sparing him passing glances and whispers. He doesn’t mind in the slightest, ignoring it all cooly.

Turning around the corner of a white pillar, his red eyes swept over the coffee shop. The coffee shop itself was not a whole building, instead it was only composed of the counter and the little area needed for baristas to work and make the coffee. With no indoor seating, tables and chairs were sparsely spread out in front of the counter for those wanting to sit down and sip at their beverages.

He paused as his eyes landed on your familiar figure. You stood around the area, looking unsure of yourself.

Thank god they let you have some time to think for yourself before making any kind of decision. You were really hoping for some coffee because you can tell today was already going to be a long day.

After asking for directions from a friendly looking spider-person, you managed to find your way to the coffee shop. It was small, but cute.

Just as you were about to get into line though, you suddenly realized your dilemma. How the hell were you going to pay?

You patted yourself down, checking your hidden pockets. You usually didn’t have your wallet when you were in suit, for obvious reasons. Maybe some days you would carry around a spare wallet with cash inside, but today was not one of those days. But even then, if you did have it, would your currency even work here?

Just as you were about to resign to your fate of having a coffee-less day, a dark shadow dwarfed over your body.

You spun around, eyes landing on Miguel, who had a hand raised and a finger- no, a red talon pointed out as if he was about to tap your shoulder.

“Miguel.” You breathed, startled.

He lowered his hand, brows furrowing.

“You don’t like coffee?”

“What?” You blinked. You shook your head. “No no, that’s not it. I- ah, well it’s just, I don’t… “ You fumbled around, your eyes leaving his in embarrassment. Gosh, was it hot in here or was it just you?

He waited for you patiently.

“I- I don’t have any… money.” Your mouth clamped shut, your embarrassment now very evident in your red cheeks. “S-So I think I will-”

“I can pay for you.” He simply answered.

Your head snapped up, staring at him in bewilderment and slight offense. “What? No! No, I-I can’t ask you to do that!”

“You didn’t, I’m offering cariño.”

This man.

You were too caught up feeling offended at his boldness and straightforwardness to even notice the nickname.

“I-I can get coffee any other day, it doesn’t have to be today!” Now you were bargaining. “This really isn’t necessary, it's not as if I need it.”

“I do.” Miguel started swiftly walking towards the coffee shop. You appeared in a blink beside him, trying to keep up with his walking. “So I might as well get yours.”

“Oh come on Miguel, really, this isn’t-”

Your pleas fell on deaf ears, because in no time at all, Miguel was already standing in front of the counter. You were still at his side and still trying to convince him out of it.

“Hi! Welcome to Parker’s Coffee, what can I get for you?” The spider-barista asked.

“Medium black coffee.” He grunted out, producing a wallet from out of nowhere. He opened it up and took out a card, before tilting his head to you questioningly.

You stared at him in disbelief for a moment, before taking a look at the barista, who was looking at you expectantly. Feeling defeat nipping at the heels of your feet, you let out a defeated sigh.

“Large mocha frappuccino with whip cream and caramel drizzle please.” Was your defeated response.

“Coming right up!”

Miguel had a small smirk on his face, seeming almost amused. It was as if he was laughing at some inside joke. It annoyed you to no end.

“I will pay you back.” You crossed your arms as you two made your way towards the counter where they would eventually set out your drinks.

“With what? Your dimension’s currency?” He raised a brow.

You opened your mouth, a retort ready until it eventually died out. You closed your mouth with a frown. He had a good point, unfortunately.

He watched as you tried to grasp at straws for a response before pulling out the card from before. He held it out towards you, clamped between his fingers. You looked at him, gaze traveling between his hand, back up to his face, before going back down to his hand once more.

Your curious expression made way into disbelief once more.

“No, absolutely not.”

“Then how else are you going to pay for stuff around here?”

“Well-!” He had another good point again, unfortunately. “I won’t!” Was the only answer you were able to conjure up.

Miguel stared at you, deadpan. “So you are going to steal?”

“What, no no that’s not what I meant!” You argued. He watched amusedly at your growing frustration.

You waved your hands in front of you before pushing his hand away. His skin was warm against yours. “I am serious, I cannot just take your credit card. I don’t need it, I’ll be leaving soon anyway. But you need it, or how else are you going to pay?”

“I have many cards.” He answered, taking a step closer to you and holding the card closer to you. “Take it.”

“No.” You swear you’re going to hit him if he wants to argue this further.

“T-”

“Miguel!” The barista called out, pushing out the two cups of coffee.

In a blink and a blur, you appeared in front of the counter and picked up both of your orders. You thanked the barista with a bright smile, slightly relieved that they provided you an escape against the stubborn man you were just talking to a minute ago.

You walked over to Miguel but didn’t stop, instead passing him on your way towards the seating area.

“My hands are full, I can’t take it.” You shrugged innocently at Miguel as you passed him, who was still holding the card up into the now empty air.

He watched you saunter away with your back to him, before letting out a low chuckle and quickly moving to catch up to you.

Chapter Text

You settled down into the white metal chair, watching across the table as Miguel pulled out his own chair from underneath the table and sitting himself down.

Your hands wrapped around your frappuccino and dragged it closer towards you. “Thank you for this. I want to remind you once again though, that this was unnecessary.”

“You seem to like coffee.” He shrugged in response, not at all replying to your gratitude at all. He sniffed, clearing his throat before grasping his own cup. He brought it to his lips, taking a sip and not even flinching at the hot temperature. Damn.

“Thank you.” One more thanks couldn’t hurt.

Your eyes slid down to your own drink and you took a tentative sip through the straw. The sweet chocolate flavor hit you right away, as well as a few crystals of ice that instantly melted on your tongue. It was good and familiar, not exactly the same as the one you usually have at Peet’s Coffee but you could definitely get used to it.

The noise you had let out upon tasting the drink caught the attention of the man sitting across from you, but you didn’t notice it. Still though, Miguel hid his small smile with a sip at his own drink, glad that you were enjoying the coffee he bought for you.

“So,” You started after a moment. Your finger tapped against your cup nervously. “I haven’t made a decision yet.”

He didn’t look at you as he answered, instead letting his eyes sweep around the area and the many spider-people milling around. “I’m not here for that.”

“Oh.”

“Like Jessica said, take your time. Days, weeks, or months. You can go back to your dimension and think about it. You could even come back to headquarters if you want in the meantime.”

Wow, that was… actually really sweet of him to offer that. So you could practically never come to a decision and hang around headquarters? That sounded nice, but you would never actually do that.

It seems rude.

“I don’t think I’ll take months,” You chuckled. “But I think I will go back to my dimension to think it over.”

He nodded in understanding. “I can give you a watch if you want to come back here for visits.”

“Oh, that would be very nice.” You smiled, thinking about all the exploring that you were definitely going to be doing in the meantime.

You didn’t notice it, but his eyes darted quickly over to observe at your pleased smile before they darted away again.

You paused as a sudden thought came to mind. “Wait, I thought only members who join would get the watch? I’m not a member yet.” You tilted your head at him questioningly.

Miguel pursues his lips at this, seeming to think over what you said for a few moments as he stared at the surface of the table. You sipped at your drink, waiting for him patiently as he had done for you.

“I can give you a watch… with limited clearance.” He started, looking to be deep in thought now as he looked up to observe your surroundings. “The watch… I will have to set it so that you could only travel between my dimension and yours, with of course limited clearance to other facilities around here as well.”

You perked up. “Other facilities?” That sounded interesting and exactly what you would want to explore.

“Yes.” He said, sounding almost bored as he listed off the mentioned facilities. “There’s the gym, the therapy section, lounge, repair station-”

You let out a gasp. “Repair station? For our spider gear?”

“Yes-”

“Oh thank god, that sounds like a life-saver. My gear has been finicky these last few weeks, I was hoping to get them repaired. But ah, my wallet would say otherwise.” You couldn’t help your grin, feeling slightly giddy. “My web shooters especially.”

Miguel’s eyes slid down to your wrists, not once looking you in the eyes.

“I thought you produced your own webs.” It sounded more like a statement than a question, but you don’t blame the guy, he probably just sounds like that all the time.

You looked at him in surprise. “Well, yes but… my web-shooters help reinforce my webs, you could say. On their own they have a decent amount of strength, but not strong enough for my liking.”

He nodded, looking to be deep in thought once more for only about a second or two before the expression disappeared completely. He took another sip of his coffee, staring back out around the area.

A comfortable silence followed after your last sentence, and you finally took your eyes off of him, looking down at your drink. It must be strange to the people around you, the sight of you sitting with Miguel like this. He doesn’t seem like the type to sit down and have a little chat over coffee for fun.

You let a small smile take over your lips at the thought of Miguel doing other things, like blowing the candles off of a cake or washing the dishes. You can imagine the begrudging way he would do them, all the while with a deadpan face. The images are funny to you, for some reason.

You chanced a glance up at him, only to find his eyes already on you. A pensive look was across his face, with a hint of something warm underneath.

He stared at you for a moment. You stared back, but did raise a brow when he just kept staring at you.

Now that you think about it, your first impression of him is wildly different to the version that you know now. Despite only meeting him a few hours ago, Miguel seemed sweet, in an indifferent and deadpan way. He seemed intimidating at first, with his tall stature and stern face, but so far he’s been nice to you, if you weren’t taking his stubbornness into consideration. But even then, his stubbornness seems to be born from good-hearted intentions.

You weren’t surprised though, he is a Spider-Man. Even if he was a grumpy one.

Finally, the silent staring contest was broken by him first, who let out a cough. His eyes looked away from yours and he grumbled, standing up.

“I have paperwork to attend to.”

You straightened up, nodding. “Okay. Good luck with your paperwork.”

He gave you a grunt in response. With a final nod at you, he turned around and walked away. You stared at his broad back in deep concentration until his figure eventually disappeared among the throngs of spider-people.

You sat there in silence for a moment, racking your brain for why you think his dorito-shaped back looks so achingly familiar.

“Oh my god.” You thumped your head with your palm, as if you were dumb for not thinking of it sooner. “His back looks like Steves’!”

“Lyla.” He called into his dark office. Automatically, the lights brightened up a little and Lyla materialized into view in her usual hologram form and in a much bigger size than the last time he’d seen her. He squinted, nose wrinkling. “Turn the lights down.”

“That’s like, the lowest brightness setting.” Lyla rolled her eyes. “This place is like the batcave. So dark and danky.”

He ignored her comment and continued his way towards his desk. Time to do the dreadful paperwork. But before that…

“Lyla, get me a new Dimensional Travel watch.” He told her as he webbed his way up to his desk.

“Uh, why? Did Y/n already agree?”

He paused, his hand resting on the top of his chair as he stood stiffly in the following silence. From her place a few feet away from him, Lyla crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently.

“... No.” He was able to grit out. “Just- it’s just temporary.”

“Really?” There was a smug tone in her voice that he didn’t like one bit.

Miguel leveled her a glare. Lyla threw her hands up, starting to walk away. “Okay okay. I’ll see ya later then, I’ll have Pete deliver it to you.”

He pinched the space between his brows, the grip he has on the chair with his other hand tightening. “Don’t send Peter-”

“Aand I already alerted him, he’ll be here soon to give ya the watch.”

He sighed.

Finishing off your coffee, you stood up and made your way over to the trash can. Quickly disposing of your empty cup, you looked around. Miguel had told you some of the things that headquarters offered but didn’t really offer any directions… or even how to contact him for when you want to go home, now that you think about it…

Well, you could always ask for literally anyone around you to contact Miguel or Lyla for you, all of them have the watches after all. Actually, maybe just Lyla, since Miguel was most likely busy with paperwork, as he had mentioned.

With that problem solved, you wandered around a bit.

Like you saw before, white walkways were everywhere, heading in all different directions. Geometric shapes made up some of the small structures situated inside the area and along the walls. Actually, everything was kind of sharp, straight, and very geometric. It was all very futuristic, looking vastly different from your own universe. You’re pretty sure the place you’re inside is a building though, and you’re curious if the rest of the city would be just as futuristic looking.

You walked over to a ledge and leaned over, taking a look down. The drop down was very long, but that didn’t scare you. You watched for a few minutes or so as the people below on the walkways milled around, some even swinging to get from one walkway to another.

Jesus this place was huge. Looking up, your eyes scanned along the walls. At the ends of each walkway lead to some sort of entrance, with some being labeled with a sign above the doorway. That’ll definitely be helpful. Squinting a bit, you took a closer look at one of the signs at random. You were able to make out the word ‘Gym’.

Interesting. Maybe you’ll quickly take a look at the place before trying to contact Lyla.

Just as you were about to hop up onto the ledge and sling a web at the underside of a walkway above you, you felt a soft nudge poke against your shoulder.

Startled a bit, your head swiveled to look at the source of the poke.

What greeted you was an… interesting sight, you would say. Right next to you, sitting atop the ledge was some sort of… tiny plushie? Well, it looked like a plushie based on the fabric like-texture it was made out of and its round cylindrical shape resting horizontally on the ledge, except its arms and legs were small stubs sticking out of its body. It was shaped kind of like a round tater tot. Only, a three inch long tater tot. It could probably even fit in your palm.

It was actually really cute, though you should probably not say that out loud. The thing you were looking at could be a spider-person after all, based on their red and blue suit.

“Oh! Um, hello.” You blinked. “Who…?”

“Spider-Tsum!” It squeaked at you.

You smiled, slightly endeared by this strange creature. “Hi, uh, Spider-Tsum. I’m Spider-Gal, but call me Y/n.”

“Tsum-tsum!” It squeaked again.

You raised a brow. Was that… the only word it could say other than spider? You thought the translator chip would, well, actually translate.

Could it be that its name is Tsum-Tsum? Or maybe you could try to guess its name? After all, the people in here are variations of Spider-Man, and the most common variation was Peter Parker, as Miguel had told you.

“I don’t want to assume, but uh… is your name Peter?” You hesitantly asked the plushie. It perked up, bouncing up and down excitedly in its position.

Alright, that was good. That’s a yes, you think. But it’s going to get confusing, since there was also the other Peter that you only recently met a few hours ago…

“Can I call you Tsum?” You asked, waving a hand around. “So, uhm, I won’t get confused with the other Peters?”

It- He nodded at you somehow, despite not having a neck.

Okay, great. This is definitely not one of the strangest things you have ever experienced at all.

“So,” You leaned against the ledge once more, putting the gym aside in favor of this. “... is something the matter?”

Tsum stared at you before pointedly turning to look at your torso.

“Tsum-tsum.”

Your brows furrowed, confused. Is something on your suit? Your eyes followed where he was staring at, lifting your arm up above your head to stare down your torso.

Right there, like a pesky little bug sticking onto you, was a familiar gray credit card webbed against your ribcage. The hologram like orange webbing stared back at you, almost mocking you.

Mouth dropping open a bit in shock, you peeled the credit card off your suit. The orange glowing webbing glitched a bit before dissipating completely.

You held the card up in front of your face, the stunned expression on your features making way for one of annoyance.

“Miguel.” You whispered, eyes narrowing. For a guy so huge, he sure was sneaky. Your shoulders sagged and the arm holding the card flopped back down to your side. “That scheming little-”

Tsum was looking at you questioningly now. You sighed, blowing away a strand of hair that got in your face. With the hand not holding the card, you rested it on your hip and pointed the card at him, annoyed expression still resting on your face.

“I didn’t have any money to buy coffee and he- Miguel, bought it for me, despite my protesting.” You explained, waving the card around angrily. “Really, he didn’t- and h-he even offered to just give me his card, which- of course I declined but he- that-” You didn’t have the words to describe the sheer stubbornness of the man.

He really just couldn’t let you say no, huh?

You groaned, looking at the card once more. You were slightly tempted to throw the card off from the ledge but just barely stopped yourself from doing so. The words Miguel O’Hara stared back at you in white against the shiny gray color of the credit card, as well as a string of numbers.

“You know what?” You said out loud. Tsum tilted his head. “I’m not going to use the card. I’m not going to use a single cent. So he’ll know that giving me the card would be pointless, because like I said, I didn’t and I still don’t need it.”

You angrily stuffed the card into your hidden pocket. You’ll give it to him the next time you see him and make sure to give him an earful and to not let him web his card onto you again. You heard Tsum let out a couple of noises, realizing that he was giggling, and shot him a glare. But you couldn’t stay annoyed with the plushie for long, he was too adorable. Dropping the annoyed expression, you sighed once more. You nodded your head towards the entrance to the gym.

“I’m new around here, so I’m going to explore the gym a bit before going back to my dimension. Do you want to come with me?”

Tsum nodded at you excitedly before webbing his way up to your shoulder. You leaned your head away from your shoulder, turning your head a bit and giving him an amused smile. He reminded you of your pet rat that you had as a child, who had loved to cuddle up against your neck on top of your shoulder.

Tsum let out a noise, seeming ready, and stared at you. Your smile widened and you nodding, looking back towards the direction of the gym.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Chapter Text

You let out a breath, eyes staring out at the vast space. There was the usual spread of gym equipment that you would find at some place like Planet Fitness, the floors lined with black padding and mirror covered walls. But obviously with the super strength provided by the radioactive spider, normal equipment getting handled by someone like you would only end in disaster and a very hefty amount of money being taken out of your bank account, which isn’t ideal.

But miraculously, the equipment in the gym getting used by the fellow spider-people at the moment aren’t getting broken at all. It almost seems as if they were normal everyday people going to the gym to get in a bit of exercise and training.

“Is the gym free to use?” You whispered at Tsum on your shoulder. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw him nodding his head.

Walking further in, you passed many kinds of spider-people in all and every kind of variation of suits and genders. Compared to out there, in the main sort of atrium(?), you were unable to get a close look at the other members. But in here? You were very up close and personal.

Some were the classic colors of red and blue, but others were in different colors as well, with the colors ranging from every shade in the rainbow. Hell, some didn’t even have any colors, their figures only covered in shades of white, black, and gray, like that one guy in the corner who was jogging on a treadmill with a trenchcoat on for some odd reason.

You don’t even want to get started on the design of the suits, because by god, some looked like they were pulled out of a different century. From the Old West cowboy-like look to the futuristic hologram-like suit, every single one had a unique look to them that, for some, you can tell right away what their dimension must be like. You didn’t even want to spare a second glance at the red and blue pixelated Spider-Man that looked like he was pulled straight out of an arcade game.

The contrast to the real life world around you to some of the spider-people’s looks was a very jarring experience, and it’s one that you imagine would be difficult to get used to. As mentioned earlier, there’s pixelated Spider-Man, but also cartoon looking spider-people looking as though they are from some sort of cartoon that ran in the early 2000’s, looking entirely two-dimensional.

Yep, totally not freaking out.

Like the companion resting on your shoulder, some didn't even resemble a human. You saw a guy with double the arms, double, which if you were being honest, looked pretty damn cool, and had multiple eyes on his face.

Finally, you stopped at the far end of the wall, opposite from the door you had entered from. Ceiling to floor glass walls made up this side of the wall and upon peering through the glass, there was once more the wide vast space that other spider-people were occupying. The floor inside was hundreds of feet below the floor you were on, so you had to look down quite a bit.

The huge room you were peering into was made of all metal, from ceiling to the floor to the walls. Multiple large patches of area were separated by simple orange holographic barriers, with each interior seeming to hold some specific training area.

It seemed like the area on the other side of the glass is meant for more serious training because you can distinctly make out an area inside a holographic square, with a person on their back, their legs bent up and feet planted flat against the object that they seem to be pushing up and against. Lifting your eyes up onto the contraception they were training with, you couldn’t help but think that the machinery looked similar to a hydraulic press.

Another person seemed to have slung a web from both their wrists onto square metal ledges to suspend themselves between the two towers, high up in their air. In another area, people were sparring against each other and using their surrounding objects to use against their opponent, which you suppose makes sense to do out there. Inside here would only cause a lot of damage.

Not all of the training areas are of the same size, some seem to differ depending on the type of training taking place.

You even also saw some web shooting practices, which a group was doing with targets. Some of the targets were moving, pulled along by a rope that was attached to different sets of gears while others were stagnant, not moving to provide an easier training to those less experienced. That training area was happening along the wall and was visually more stretched out than some of the other areas.

Not to mention, looking up and ahead of you in the air, many were practicing their swinging. There were some ledges and blocks poking out from the wall that were non-moving, while others were occasionally pulled backwards into the wall for a few quick seconds before being pushed out once more. You can safely conclude that this was to train fast reflexes and get down the accuracy on slinging webs onto surfaces, as well as a general practice of shooting through the air.

You remember the first time swinging on a web. It was like going on a rollercoaster and afterwards, you had been very close to throwing up the contents of your lunch that day.

Near the center of the ceiling, there were rotating and swinging objects for people to web towards or onto, all of which were held in the air by straight metal rods which sprouted out from the ceiling. Luckily, there was a net halfway up the room to catch those practicing web slinging.

You winced as you watched someone shoot a web out and missed their intended target, which was one of the blocks, but it had unfortunately been pulled back into the wall, leaving for a flat wall for which the web had nothing to stick against. They seemed to panic, flailing around in the air and falling down all the while getting tangled up in the web they had shot out. You watched as they got caught by the net.

“A beaut, ain’t it?” A voice spoke up from beside you.

You jumped, appearing a meter away from where the figure had spoken at you in less than a second. Tsum grumbled a bit, disoriented at your super speed jump.

You looked at the new person in front of you. The person, a guy you can tell from the voice, was wearing a spider designed bandana that seemed to cover his whole face. It was the classic color of red, and adorning his head was a wide-brimmed brown cowboy hat-

Wait! It’s the man you had passed by earlier! He was doing some exercises on a cable machine, the weight set to the heaviest it could do, all the while wearing the same hat.

He was wearing a white tank top earlier but seemed to have covered himself up with a black poncho, which was adorned with gray spider webbing designs along the upper half. He was also dressed in black shorts, perfect for exercising.

You blinked, clearing your throat. Your eyes slid out towards the other side of the window and followed along the flying and swinging figures passing by, trying to ignore your own embarrassment for staring for what had to be a more-than-normal amount of time to be staring at someone.

“Yes, it is.” You said. You hesitated. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The man hummed. “Me too, darlin’. By God’s eye, I almost couldn’t believe it myself the first time I heard but,” He shrugged. “Here we are.”

You let out an amused huff. “Seems like the experience is universal. I almost didn’t believe it until I ended up here.”

You finally had the courage to look back at the man, who had turned towards you at the same moment as you did. Your eyes met his own masked ones and he tipped his hat towards you, nodding.

“May I get the pleasure of gettin’ the name of the fine lady standing before me?”

Your friendly smile turned amused. “Y/n L/n, Spider-Gal.”

He placed the bottom of his hat against his chest, leaning to bend over a bit. You couldn’t help but notice his curly brown locks behind the mask, long to the point where they brushed past his ears but ending just where his neck met his shoulder. The locks shuffled forward a bit as he bent over and the sight of them scratched at something in the back of your mind. They looked strangely familiar.

“I’m Web-Slinger. The real name’s Patrick O’Hara Miss L/n, but ya could call me Patrick.” He looked up and winked at you.

Wait, O’Hara? As in like, a variant of the Miguel O’Hara you know?

It was certainly strange, though it was no surprise. Of course there would also be variants of the less common occurring spider-people. You briefly wonder if you’ll ever run into a variant of yourself. That would be one hell of an experience.

You let out a laugh, and can’t help but give him a small playful curtsey in return. “Then the same goes for you, Y/n works just as well.”

Patrick straightens back up. “Well ain’t that somethin’ nice to hear.” He finally seems to notice the companion on your shoulder. “I see you’ve met some pleasant company, other than myself of course.”

Tsum let out a grumble the moment Patrick addressed him. You turned towards the little guy, raising a brow at his odd behavior towards the seemingly flirty but otherwise nice cowboy.

Just as you were about to ask what was wrong, Patrick interrupted you with a hearty laugh.

“I see little tootsie there is still holdin’ the grudge against me.”

You turned back towards Patrick, confused. “Did you do something to him?”

He waved you off, his red gloved hand waving through the air. “Nothin’ too drastic, just used the little guy as a cake topper-”

Tsum let out a series of protests and yells, all in the form of the words ‘tsum’ in a spew of what you can only assume are swears in his own language.

“-unwillingly, of course. I take full responsibility.” Patrick said earnestly as he put his hat back on his head and raised the other hand to rest against his chest. “... Of which I should have been forgiven for at this point.” He can’t help but add the last point, only wanting to watch the plush get more worked up.

The trick seems to work, as Tsum got even more angry if that was even possible. Even you seemed hesitant to try to calm down the little plushie on your shoulder. Finally though, not wanting Tsum to rip out a seam in his fit of anger, you cupped him in both palms and shielded him against Patrick, resting him against your chest protectively. Even with Patrick no longer in sight, the little plushie didn’t stop in his spew of anger. You tried to ignore it as best as you can.

“It seems like Tsum hasn’t gotten over it.” You chuckled nervously, looking down at Tsum in your hands before looking back up at Patrick. “Do I even want to know why you needed him as a cake topper?”

Somehow, you could tell he was grinning under the bandana. “Maybe we can discuss over a nice glass of nose paint sometime.” He winked at you.

Nose paint? Is that a slang term that cowboys use?

“Another time, maybe.” He seemed like a fun fellow, you thought. “But if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you for a favor.”

“Anythin’ hun.”

“Is it alright if you call Lyla for me? I haven’t yet joined the organization and don’t have one of those fancy watches yet.” You explained sheepishly.

He nodded, raising an arm in front of himself. You stepped closer, observing closely at what he was doing. He clicked a few times on the small orange screen on his watch fast enough that you weren’t able to follow too clearly, but in no time at all the familiar small hologram of Lyla flicked up between the two of you.

“Yeehaw Patrick! What’s up?”

“My friend here was callin’ for ya.” Patrick nodded over towards you.

Lyla turned around, pleasant surprise laced into her features at the sight of you.

“Y/n, hey girl! Oh my gosh, can I get a digital signature later? Huge fan, let me tell you- but anyways, that’ll be for later. Anything I could do for you?”

“I think it’s about time I go home.” You smiled at her. “Think over the deal a bit, yeah?”

She clapped her hands, nodding in understanding. “Of course, of course. Heard Miguel was setting up your watch for ya back in his office and should be finished at this point. You need directions?”

“Yes please.”

After a bit of guidance from both Patrick and Lyla, and leaving Tsum with Patrick, which the plush had very publicly and loudly protested against, you were able to take yourself back to Miguel’s dark office. The familiar sight was assuring, but more so was the silence. It was quite loud out there, which you would usually have no problem with. But with the events of the day, you were more than a little overwhelmed with your senses, mainly from your super hearing.

Up ahead, you spot Miguel. His back was turned towards you, up high on the platform in front of his many yellow computer screens. He seems to be tinkering with some small object in front of him on the desk, though you can’t exactly see what it was from your low vantage point and his body covering it. But you can only assume it was your watch.

Your sigh, despite its quiet sound, seemed to have alerted Miguel to your presence. He paused in what he was doing and spared a glance over his shoulder, looking towards you.

“Come up here.” He grunted out, nodding his head towards the watch in his hands.

You raised a brow, crossing your arms. Miguel seems to be kind from his heart and in his intentions, but his social skills and communication seem to need a little bit more work.

Miguel seems to have noticed your stance and a confused expression filtered across his face. Funnily enough, his confused expression kind of looks like the kind of expression he would pull when he was just about to get angry.

You cleared your throat, waving a hand through the air in a circle and looking at him with an expectant expression, as if you were waiting for him to say more.

He seemed to have gotten the memo, thankfully, and let out a long suffering sigh.

“Do you want to go home or not?”

Maybe you were pushing him, but you were curious. He was nice to you, in his own weird way just about an hour ago, so what happens if you purposely annoy him? You were probably asking for a death wish, but really, you can’t help it.

“Maybe if you said it more nicely.”

He grumbled under his breath, as usual. But your patient and waiting expression seemed to have finally convinced him, as in the next moment he gritted out his words with a bit more manners and thought put into it.

“Will you please come up here?” It sounded like it pained him to say it.

You tutted at him as you webbed your way up the platform, though a smile was on your face. “You need to learn some manners O’Hara. And use the word ‘please’ a little more, please.”

Miguel rolled his eyes at you. “Why add extra fancy words when I can get straight to the point?”

You shook your head, now standing at his side.

“Because it’s polite.” You lightly scolded him.

He huffed, seemingly amused but didn’t say much else.

Miguel turned his chair so that he was facing you and stood up from the seat. In his hands was a watch, similar to the ones so many had been wearing during your time exploring the gym. He held it out towards you stiffly.

“Here, your heavily limited and monitored Dimensional Travel watch.” He simply said.

You slowly took it from his hands, holding it in your own as if it were some delicate little thing.

Miguel raised a brow at you. “It’s not going to break, if you’re worried. They’re designed to withstand a substantial amount of force.”

“Right, of course.” Of course they were, spider-people probably have to wear it during missions and such. In this line of work, things like these need to be durable. But to have a dimension traveling watch that could (technically) take you to any universe you want was still a little unnerving to be holding in your hands.

Unclasping the watch, you set it atop your wrist and carefully balanced it as you tried to buckle the clasp closed from underneath your wrist. A few seconds passed in which you struggled to do so and you could feel the room starting to get awkward. Luckily, your saving grace came in the form of the hulking man in front of you.

“Here, let me.” He sighed out, as if he couldn’t stand another second of you struggling.

His large hands once more moved towards your own, though this time your hand wasn’t held in his own. It only merely brushed against your own as he moved the watch over against your wrist to have the strap part facing upwards, and started to clasp the watch closed for you. He hunched over you a bit as he did so.

“Thank you.” You hummed. A few seconds of silence passed. “... This is the part where you say ‘you’re welcome.’” You whispered at him, leaning forward a bit towards his ear.

He let out another irritating sigh, but obliged. “... You’re… welcome.” He said slowly, emphasizing every word as if to help you see that he had said it and hoping you were more than satisfied.

You leaned back and smiled up at him, silent amusement in your eyes. His eyes darted up from what he was doing for a second, meeting your own, before they darted back down. You couldn’t help but note the small redness on his tanned cheeks that suddenly sprung up, but didn’t say anything. It seems like the man was more than embarrassed enough at your teasing.

Too bad that his head was turned down far enough for you to miss the small fond smile tugging on his lips.

Chapter Text

True to your word, you did ruminate on the offer as you went about your life, now back in your own dimension. Unfortunately you found yourself too preoccupied to visit headquarters at all in the meantime.

Currently, you were fighting up against a small group of thugs. The reason? You caught sight of them in an alleyway, harassing a homeless person in broad daylight and with no shame. To say you were angry is an understatement, you were pissed. How do people have the nerve to attack an innocent man who has no means to defend himself, or to attack anyone for that matter for no reason other than amusement. You will never understand.

You didn’t feel bad as you broke noses and twisted arms, of course only doing so when the thugs were being obvious in their intentions of hurting you. Every single one of the thugs let out noises of pain as you easily overpower them all.

You paused as the homeless who had been huddled in the corner crawled over to a white pigeon a few feet away from him, cupping the bird in his hands and pulling the animal towards his chest.

You stared at the strange yet sweet scene and didn’t redirect your gaze even as you raised a hand and caught the incoming fist aiming towards your head. The man that aimed the punch let out a startled noise from beside you.

“Are you alright sir?” You asked. You twisted your wrist, bending the man's arm in a painful angle, all the while keeping your sights focused on Howard. The man at your side let out a whimper.

The man jumped and looked up from the pigeon in his hands, his eyes wide with surprise as if he wasn’t expecting you to address him at all.

“I… yes, I’m- I’m alright…”

You nodded and webbed the thug up onto the wall, making sure that he was secure against the wall to prevent any chance of escape. Deciding that you’ll call up the authorities later, you walked over to the crouched man still cuddling the pigeon and lowered yourself down onto a knee.

“I just want to make sure, they didn’t hurt you? Anywhere at all?” You asked.

The older man shook his head. You nodded, standing back up and offering the man a hand. He hesitated for a moment but in the end grasped your hand. You pulled him up from the ground and then patted his shoulder. Your attention was caught by a small coo from the man's arms, who was still hugging the white pigeon.

You were tempted to ask him about the bird, but held back. The man, though, sensed your curiosity and answered your silent question for you.

“His name is Barley.” He said. He gently took hold of the pigeon in one hand and held the animal up for you to see. “One of my best buddies.”

You smiled under your mask, staring at the bird. “Hi Barley.” You looked up at the man. “What’s your name sir?”

He looked surprised for a moment before he answered you. “Howard.”

“Nice to meet you Howard.” You held out a hand before nodding down at the bird. “And you too Barley.”

Howard grasped your hand and shook it. “I know who you are, Spider-Gal yeah?”

“At your service.” You nodded. The walkie-talkie you keep strapped at your waist beeped and the sound of police radio chatter sounded throughout the alleyway.

Backup needed in North of Flushing Meadows, we have a 458 with a possible 34-

“Sorry. Duty calls.” You nodded at the man. Before you could web away though, Howard called out to you.

“Thank you Spider-Gal.” His tone was one of gratefulness and relief.

You looked back at the man, smiling under your mask.

“It’s my job.”

Today would mark the ninth day since you had decided to trust Miguel and let him take you to headquarters. You don’t think you’ll ever forget that day, you’ve never been so amazed in your entire life. The prospect of joining the Spider Society was starting to look more and more tantalizing with each passing day, at the thought of being able to work with other people in the same unique situation as you and (if you’re being quite honest) getting access to the facilities in headquarters. You’re itching to train yourself at the training facility.

When it had been time for you to go back on that day, Miguel took it upon himself to take you home, even though you had been given the travel watch.

“So you could watch me and I can make sure you know how to use it.” Was his excuse.

He didn’t stay for long after you both arrived back in your dimension. He only took a look at you, your face concealed by your mask once more, for a few seconds before letting out a grunt and walking back to the portal. Not even a good-bye or expressing his hopes of you joining, just simply disappearing through the portal.

It doesn’t surprise you, Miguel seems to be a man of very few words and the few sentences he does say are straightforward and to the point. You can respect that.

On a nice sunny Thursday, you found yourself sitting on the ledge on top of a rooftop, peacefully enjoying the fresh air and thinking over the offer once more. The people are friendly, the offered facilities were too good to pass up and you wouldn’t find it anywhere in your own dimension, the job is for the greater good of the multiverse and… well, you just have to see Mayday once more, she was such a cutie.

You brought the watch up to your face, peering at the screen. It was easy enough to navigate through, similar to your phone. You swiped at the screen and clicked onto the icon that you think is for contacts. Miguel, Lyla, and Jessica were the only three contacts that popped up, with Lyla having a shortcut to reach to faster back on the home screen. It makes sense, she was an AI and would be someone to call for if needing help with something trivial.

You stared at Lyla’s contact button a little longer. You were a little curious about her. From what few interactions you’ve had with her, she seemed fun and someone that you would totally be close friends with. It’s a strange contrast to Miguel’s usual behavior, who’s more broody and quiet. You can't help but laugh at the contrast a bit. How do they even work together?

Stifling your giggles, you decided to press Lyla’s contact. Not a second passed before a life sized hologram appeared next to you, sitting on the ledge of the rooftop with you.

“Oh my god, you finally called!” She squealed, fists squeezed tight against her chest in excitement.

“I just remembered, I never did give you that digital signature, did I?” You asked her cheekily.

“Nope!” She chuckled. “We need to fix that pronto.”

After signing onto a yellow screen that Lyla had pulled up using your finger as best you can, you two settled once more onto the ledge.

“Sooo… are you joining us?” She asked, peering at you through her heart-shaped glasses.

You shot her a smirk. “I think it’s pretty obvious, no?”

She let out a laugh. “Thought so. You were basically drooling when you were in the gym.”

You blinked. “You were spying on me?”

“There are cameras everywhere in HQ hun.” Lyla shot back with an amused smile. “Anyhoo, if you’re joining, you know about the assessment test?”

“Yeah, I do.” You nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

“Oh, I know you’ll be fine.” She said, looking at you knowingly. “You’re like, one of the few that’s worked as a spider-person for so long.”

You blinked once more at her, startled at the information. “…What? What do you mean?”

“Oh, you probably don’t know.” Pulling up multiple hologram screens showcasing hundreds of profiles of different people between the two of you, she nonchalantly swiped at some of them. “Most of the society is made up of young people, more specifically from teenagers to young adults. Almost all of them and even some of the older folks have only a few years of experience.”

Your eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at the knowledge. “Really?”

She shrugged, pulling up another screen between the two of you. “Pretty much, you’re basically a seasoned professional. There’s only a handful of older folk who have worked longer than you, like Peter B., Jessica, Miguel and a few of his variants...”

You looked at the profiles closely, lifting a hesitant hand up to swipe at the profiles. Each had a picture accompanying it, as well as a short summary about the person and their special abilities. “Interesting.”

Lyla let out an amused sigh. “The multiverse seems to favor young people for the job, for some reason. Based on my research, the job as a whole has only evolved pretty recently for a lot of people. Some that have the job for as long as you have usually… well, the job is dangerous.”

You let out a hum, feeling a bit somber at the thought. “I see. So if I’m such a ‘professional’” You raised finger quotes at her. “Why did it take this long to initiate me? The headquarters was full of tons of other spider-people already.”

Lyla tapped a finger against her chin. “Well, it’s hard to keep track of information on every spider-person out there in the universe, y’know? There isn’t like, a catalog already in place that Miguel can just look through and pick, we gotta find the information ourselves. There’s literally an endless amount of dimensions out there, so the people you saw at headquarters are most likely like, less than two percent of every single spider-person out there in the entire multiverse.”

“Woah.” Once again, your mind was blown. “Wow, okay, that’s pretty- hm.” To say you were speechless was an understatement.

“I know right?” She waved a hand through the air, the yellow screens hovering in the air dissipating. “Anyway, I’ve been dying to ask this. How exactly did you defeat that one alien ship, the Chitauri one, a few years back? I tried to find online sources on your dimensions internet, but every single one of them was saying something different.”

You smiled. She really was a fan, huh? You didn’t believe it the first time she said it, but her enthusiasm at your job makes you feel humbled a bit.

“Well, the alien ship was near the harbor. And since there were a bunch of abandoned container ships nearby…”

You two chatted for a while, delving into topics other than your vigilant duties. Lyla was pretty fun to talk to and you can’t help but think that she was like the fun younger sister you’ve never had. Her cheeky and sarcastic humor mixed in well with your own humor and she happily complained to you about the things she’s had to deal with on her own job.

“And then don’t get me started on Miguel, he is impossible to deal with sometimes.” She rolled her eyes. “I swear, he’s like both the unstoppable force and the immovable object.”

You laughed at her words. “Strong as hell but stubborn as a bull?”

“Exactly.” She snapped her fingers. “That guy, I swear. There’s been so many occasions where I tell him to do something but he doesn’t. A stubborn asshole is what he is.”

“Mm, I know how you feel. I already got first-hand experience with that.” You rolled your eyes fondly at the memory, letting out an amused huff. This got Lyla’s attention.

“What happened?”

You let out a chuckle. “... He offered me his credit card because I didn’t have any money on me.” You explained, waving a hand through the air as you sighed. “He paid for my coffee and then insisted that I take his card, which was ridiculous really.” You shook your head at the memory while Lyla’s eyes bugged out of her skull. “And then later, I found out he webbed his card onto my torso...”

Lyla listened closely as you explained to her the story of your encounter with Miguel at the coffee bar. At each word that came out of your mouth, her eyebrows slowly rose higher and higher, her mouth slightly agape in what you assume to be disbelief. When you finally finished, she stared at you in silence.

You shifted, feeling uncomfortable at the intense stare aimed at you.

“What?”

She blinked and shook her head, as if to get out of the trance she was in. “Oh nothing nothing. I just didn’t think… that is definitely a first.”

“What is?”

She looked back at you. “Well, Miguel isn’t usually that… well, that nice.”

Your brows furrowed. “.... Well, I mean, he seems intimidating at first but he’s actually really friendly.”

“Girl, the word friendly and Miguel don’t go together.” She deadpanned at you. “I’ve seen the way he acts around people, he doesn’t do ‘friendly’ or approachable. The most he’ll do for other people that doesn’t include saving their lives is giving them a nod as a greeting. He doesn’t go out of his way to do these kinds of stuff… well, except for you apparently…” Her voice trailed off and she looked to be deep in thought now.

You got even more confused. “But- Miguel, he…”

Lyla held a hand up to hold her chin, a small smirk tugging at her lips as she observed you closely. “This is… certainly interesting. Maybe…”

“Maybe what?” You looked at her, confused.

She suddenly laughed, waving you off with a glint in her eyes. “Oh, nothing. Don’t worry, forget that I said anything.”

The conversation continued, though not for long. Lyla had been called by someone back at headquarters and she saluted you off, saying that she’ll inform Miguel right away at your agreement to join them.

“I’ll send you the juicy details for the date of the assessment later, so until then, you better get yourself ready.” She winked at you before her hologram form disappeared.

You chuckled into the resulting silence after her disappearance.

She seems fun.

Chapter Text

You sighed, stretching out your arms and letting out a deep groan of relief. Jeez, you have super strength and can take down villains twice your size, but your arm can’t handle hours of putting books back on the shelf? A real mystery, one that you’re sure that you’ll never solve.

You grab your bag from behind the back of the bookstore, stationed-off for employees only, and waved goodbye to your boss before walking out of the shop. You rolled your head around, stretching out your neck.

Once outside, you took in a deep breath of fresh air and absorbed the fading warm rays from the sunset.

It was a simple job that pays you enough to keep up with the rent. And you did have the ability to apply for a high ranking job that pays for a lot more money, but that possibility was thrown away the moment you got your powers. The job you were aiming for was a busy field of work that would’ve simply taken up too much of your time, leaving you unable to carry out your vigilant duties.

It was tragic, to say the least, when you were forced to pick a side. But you guess that comes with the job.

Faintly, you think of where you would be today if you hadn’t had to quit your internship as a lab assistant.

You close your eyes, letting the warmth of the sun sink into your skin a little more.

It was the end of your shift for one job, the start of a shift for another.

You shortly arrived home, thankful that the bookstore isn’t that far of a walk from your apartment. You unlocked the front door of your apartment building, all the while thinking that you’ll have to make a cup of coffee before you put on the suit.

You walked up the three flights of stairs and before long, you were in front of your apartment door. You quickly unlocked the door and stepped inside, toeing your shoes off.

You sighed as you dropped your keys off into the little bowl on the small desk beside the door and walked further into your apartment. You passed by the living room, your coffee table completely cluttered with your work-in-progress gadgets and devices for your spider-suit, and a small toolbox on the floor beside the beat up couch, which was placed behind the coffee table.

You dropped your bag off on the couch before immediately making your way towards your small kitchen.

Instinctively, your eyes wandered over to the small wooden table in the center of the kitchen, where your vase of flowers usually sat.

The bundle of pink and purple azalea’s you were expecting were nowhere in sight. Instead, in its place were bundles of snowdrop’s and forget-me-not’s, their blue and white petals glowing softly in the orange rays of the sun filtering through your kitchen window.

You stopped shortly in the doorway, stumped and confused. You were sure that hadn’t yet changed the flowers, it wasn’t due until tomorrow. How…?

“I changed them. The ones you had were starting to wilt.” A voice spoke out from somewhere to your left.

It took all of your willpower to not jump away, only able to recognize the voice after hearing the first few words of the sentence.

You turned your head slowly, your eyes landing on Miguel's dark figure casually leaning against the side of your fridge. His arms were crossed and his gaze was focused on the flowers in your vase. He wasn’t wearing his mask, which allowed you to get a view of his expression. He appeared calm, but there was something else under the surface there as well. Something that could almost be seen as nervous, you don’t know at what exactly though.

You looked back over to your vase and started to slowly walk closer to it. You lifted a hand and let your finger poke at one of the white petals of a snowdrop. It was cool and smooth beneath your finger. The sight of the drooping flower brought a small smile to your face. You’ve never bought these flowers before, but now that you’re seeing it in your vase inside your kitchen, you might just buy it the next time you see one.

Miguel watched you closely the entire time, his fingers tightening on his arms.

“They’re gorgeous.” You can’t hold back your delighted smile. They really were beautiful. You turned to him, fingers dropping away from the flowers. “Thank you.” You directed your smile at him now. “That’s really thoughtful of you.”

He shrugged but didn’t say much else.

You stared at him for a moment before turning around and walking over to your coffee maker on the counter.

“Would you like some coffee?” You asked him, not turning around from what you were doing. “I would usually offer sugar or creamer for my guests, but from what I remember, you prefer black, no?”

“You’d be correct, yes.” You can hear him settling into your kitchen chair from behind you.

You nodded. “One black coffee, coming right up.”

You mindlessly hummed as you got to work. But while your hands were busy, your mind was just as busy as well. You wondered, what was Miguel here for? You can’t come up with a single reason why he was in your home, since Layla had told you that she would send the details of your assessment test later, as well as any additional information for your ‘welcome party’s as she had put it.

And with that line of thought, the question of how he had even gotten into your apartment popped into your mind.

“How did you get in my apartment?”

There was a pause, one that you didn’t expect as Miguel seems like the type to answer questions relatively quickly.

“Your window was unlocked.”

Your brows furrowed as you pour out the fresh pot of coffee into two mugs. You were sure that you had left your window closed and locked before you left for work today. Ah, you remember now, you had looked through the window at the sky this morning to gauge the weather before leaning back inside and closing it to lock the window-

“So,” Miguel started, interrupting your thoughts. “You agreed to join.”

You went over to your fridge, opening it and grabbing out your creamer.

“Yes, I have. I think… I think it would do me well, and plus it’s for the greater good, which is never a bad thing.” You shrugged, walking back to the counter to where the two mugs of coffee sat, steam rising up into the air. You started your usual amount of sugar and cream into your own mug. “I look forward to working with you and the others.”

“Are you aware of the assessment?”

You huffed, turning around with both mugs of coffee in each hand.

“Yes, of course I do.” You set a Miguel’s mug in front of him before sitting down yourself. “If I’m being honest, I’m actually quite excited for it.”

“You are?”

“Mhm.” You hummed, taking a sip of the coffee. Ah, perfect. “It sounds fun.”

Miguel chuckled, grabbing at his own mug. A glint of amusement flickered in his red eyes. “I think you’ll change your mind the moment you see what you’re up against.”

You gave him a sly smile. You’ve most likely been through way worse.

“Then bring it on.”

He let out a huff through his nostrils, his version of a small laugh, and was seemingly charmed by your determination.

You two sat together, sipping coffee in silence. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence by any means, but you honestly don’t know what to do now. It’s not very likely that Miguel came here to visit you, you can only assume he was here for some kind of business.

The problem was that you could tell that he wasn’t going to break the silence first to tell you what exactly he was here for.

“I came here with some additional details to tell you.”

Oh, seems like you were wrong. That’s rare.

“Why come in person?” You raised a brow, shooting him an amused smile. “Need a break from being the big scary boss?”

He didn’t answer you, but a quirk of his lips told you that he was amused at your jab at him. His expression quickly dropped though and made way for a more serious one.

“It hadn’t seemed important at the time, but I thought it would be beneficial for you to be aware of a certain… situation.”

You sat up a little straighter. “What is it?”

“There is… a version of Spider-Man out there that we can’t allow into the organization. His name is Miles Morales.” He started.

You nodded.

“A little over four months ago, his dimension’s Kingpin had somehow caused five other spider-people from other dimensions into his universe.” Miguel rubbed at his forehead, eyebrows scrunched up as if he was getting a headache just thinking about the situation he was describing. “They luckily all resolved the problem and were able to get themselves back home, but this had led us to discover a big problem with that dimensions Spider-Man.” He let out a big sigh at what he was about today next.

“Apparently that Spider-Man isn’t the original Spider-Man.” He’s starting to sound pissed now. “That dimension's original Spider-Man had died and a radioactive spider from another universe had bitten Morales afterwards.”

Your eyes widened. “Two Spider-Man’s in one dimension? So is Miles not meant to be Spider-Man?”

“That Miles is not suppose to be Spider-Man. The kid is an anomaly, something that isn’t even meant to exist within his dimension.” Miguel grumbled. “Which is why we can’t allow him in the Spider Society. So under no circumstances are you allowed to go to his universe with the exception of missions, and more importantly, you cannot make direct contact with him while doing so.”

You nodded. “Okay. I can do that.”

You can’t help but feel bad for the kid though. If Miles was not allowed to know about the Spider Society, he would be completely on his own. Sure, he most likely knows about the existence of the multiverse from the situation with Kingpin, but he would be left with having no way to contact the people he had met from the situation. He would be completely oblivious to the society made up entirely of other versions of Spider-Man and Spider-Woman.

“I have a question.” You started. Miguel tilted his head towards you. “The spider-people that were involved in the situation, are they in the society?”

“Four of them are.” He simply answered. “They are aware of the situation with Morales as well.”

“Oh, that must be hard for them.” You frowned. You can’t imagine being separated from a friend like that, if they even were friends with each other in the first place. But you assume they most likely were, since they were spider-people, and saving the world together tends to create close allies.

“One of them was Peter, the first one you’ve met.”

“What?” Your head shot up to look at Miguel incredulously. “Really?”

The Spider-Man with the pink robe with the most adorable baby ever? That’s certainly interesting.

He nodded, looking down at the small empty mug in his large hands.“...Well, I think that’s about all that I came here for.” Miguel stood up, pushing his chair back while doing so. “I think it’s about time I leave for you to go on patrol. Thank you for the coffee.”

Your eyes follow him before they flick back to the vase of flowers. “Yes, it’s around my usual time to head out…” You paused, watching as Miguel fiddled with his watch and his brows furrowed at something he had read from the screen. “Trouble back at headquarters?”

Miguel let out a long suffering sigh. “I have… a lot of paperwork to get to when I go back is all.”

You can’t help but smile. That’s what he said last time when he had to leave from your little meeting back at the coffee shop. It seems like being the leader of a hero organization comes with more paperwork than actual action.

“Do you… want to come with me on my patrol?”

Where the hell did that come from.

He looked at you in surprise, a brow raised at your question.

You coughed, standing up and grabbing both of your mugs. You quickly turned around and headed to your sink, your mind running a mile a minute trying to figure out what to say in order to explain yourself.

“I- I mean, if the paperwork isn’t too urgent. It would be nice to… well, to have someone with me while I go around the city. You know how it is, it could get lonely sometimes.”

You winced. Did you really just admit that you get lonely sometimes in front of a handsome man that you barely know?

You busied yourself with washing the mugs, hoping to god that you had enough hair to cover the sight of your reddening ears from Miguel. There wasn’t a response for a couple of seconds and silence had taken over the inside of your kitchen, except with the occasional car honk from outside in the street. The sky was starting to get dark now.

You briefly wondered if Miguel had left you already, too appalled at your invitation to even answer back a ‘no’ and had stepped through the portal without even a goodbye.

That possibility was starting to look more and more likely as the silence continued to drag on. That was, until Miguel finally spoke up.

“... I can’t.”

You let your shoulders droop down a bit, your hands still busy washing the mugs.

“Oh.” Was all you could muster up. “....Why?”

“I could get seen and questions will start up about why there’s two spider-people.” His tone was matter of fact, as if the answer was obvious enough.

You nodded dejectedly. “Good point…”

It was silent once more and this time, you really did think that he had left you.

You heard a big sigh from behind you and you peeked your head from over a shoulder, looking back at Miguel. He looked extremely irritated now and you briefly wondered what you did wrong to cause such an expression on his face.

“...But..” He started, swiping a hand through his brown hair in indecisiveness.

You let a hopeful expression take over your face. This is your chance to convince him and maybe get him to de-stress a bit before going back to headquarters.

“It’s getting really dark out.” You nodded your head out towards your kitchen window. “Nobody will see us, I’m sure. And I know the areas with cameras or foot traffic to avoid.”

A pensive look crossed his face. After a few moments though, he seems to finally cave in, both from your convincing and the encouraging look you were giving him. He closed his eyes and rested his hands on his hips before letting out a long sigh.

“Thirty minutes before I have to go back.”

Chapter Text

You watched out of the corner of your eye as Miguel's mask materialized onto his face, the edges of his mask glowing where the material was quickly spreading over his skin. You had to admit, you were a bit envious. It must be so convenient for his suit to simply materialize whenever he wants it to. Meanwhile you were stuck putting on the suit the manual way, which you are now keenly aware of how much of a hassle it actually is.

After Miguel had agreed to go with you on patrol, you had quickly excused yourself to go change into your suit in your bedroom. He had given you a patient nod and stood in the kitchen, where you had instructed him to wait.

As fast as you could and not wanting to take up too much of his time (as well as not wanting to waste his 30 minute time limit he had given), you quickly threw on your suit. Looking over at yourself in the mirror, you couldn’t help but admire the familiar colors adorning your body, the design you had come up with blending well into your sense of style and the color palette.

You don’t think you have ever changed the design of your suit, not even once. Maybe there were minor changes here and there from time to time, but this was the only version of your suit that you’ve ever used. And you think it looks pretty good.

You had then emerged from your room, mask held in your hand as you walked back to the kitchen. Which is where you found yourself now, eyeing Miguel out of the corner of your eye. Once the familiar red crescent stared back at you expectedly, you put on your own mask. You pulled along the bottom edges of your mask around your neck, making sure it fit snugly and comfortably.

Soon enough, you two left your apartment through your kitchen window, swinging through the city.

As you swung through the air with Miguel following close behind, webbing your way past buildings and avoiding any stray birds, you quickly tried to come up with a patrol route that would have the both of you encountering the least amount of cameras and those late night dwellers. It was especially hard since this was New York after all, the city that never sleeps. In the end, you settled for a route that you think is safe enough for the two of you to go on, which includes the areas near the southeast side of Manhattan.

You looked back behind over your shoulder, seeing Miguel swinging with his own webs. You noticed that his webs weren’t the standard white, but instead a glowing orange so intense that it almost looked red. You were, admittedly once again, a little jealous.

“Come up here next to me, will you?” You asked from over your shoulder. He looked up from where he was peering down at the street and nodded, quickly speeding up to you so that the two of you were side by side now.

You smiled at this, glad that he seemed content swinging by your side.

You two quickly zoomed through the city, with you occasionally pointing out any of the sightseeing areas and or important buildings. From over the wind rushing past your ears, you can just barely make out Miguel humming in response to your talking. You couldn’t help but let out a laugh when Miguel seemed to have almost hit an unlit neon sign sticking out from the side of a building.

“Be careful, there’s a lot of those around this area!” You couldn’t stop laughing even if you tried. Miguel grumbled from his place besides you, letting out murmurs that you couldn’t understand though you can only assume they were curses in his native tongue.

Your left hand shot out another web at a building, all the while your laughing is dying down only moderately now. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw him shaking his head in exasperation.

In fact, you were so distracted by your laughing that you didn’t notice that the web you had shot out had missed its target, going past the corner of the building and straight into the air.

Your hand gripped onto the aforementioned webbed, but the tight strain of the web that you were expecting was nowhere to be found. Instead, when you pulled on it, the web was completely lax. It felt like you were practically pulling at thin air.

You realize a little too late that the web wasn’t attached to anything and let out a gasp, feeling your body lose its momentum and starting to fall down. You fumbled around in the air.

Miguel heard your small gasp and snapped his head down towards your figure, which soon got covered up from the shadow of buildings casted by the moonlight.

“Cariño!” He had almost been willing to fall down after you to grab onto your figure from hitting the ground, but before he could even do that, your figure emerged up through the air in an arched launch.

You gave him a grin, even though it was unlikely that he saw it through your mask. “I’m okay!”

Miguel let his tense shoulders sag slightly with relief. You let out a chuckle at this, reaching a hand out between the two of you and lightly flicking his shoulder while your other arm was preoccupied with swinging. You were unsure if he would take the physical contact well, but he didn’t shy away or flinch away from you, so you think you’re in the clear.

“I’ve been doing this for nearly two decades now. Do you really think I would fall down?” You teased him before looking down into the streets to spot any signs of trouble.

He let out a grumble from next to you but didn’t say much else.

You two continued the patrol without any more slip ups from your end, thankfully. It was a little embarrassing to almost fall in front of your soon-to-be boss, but you brushed it off. He had seemed more concerned than amused at your slip up, which you were thankful for. To make up for that though, you decided to swing with a little more grace in your movements and even showed off some of your acrobatic tricks. One of which had you spinning in the air, similar to a ballerina and ending with an effortless swing with one arm.

You couldn’t help but glance at him for his reaction to the trick. He hasn’t made any kind of noise or even a compliment to your abilities, but was watching you closely. His red eye crescents was not focused on anything else but you. You tilted your head at him.

“What did you think?”

He was silent for a moment as he continued to stare at you, before muttering something under his breath.

“... Preciosa.”

You had no idea what that meant but you assumed it was a compliment.

“Thank you.”

Almost out of habit, you started making your way towards Chinatown. Miguel followed you, letting out a small hum as you two swung through the district. The width of the streets around Chinatown was more narrow and there were even more signs that cramped beside each other popping out from the sides of the building. You were tempted to warn him once more for the signs as a way to tease him but decided to give him mercy for tonight.

You stopped swinging, letting your figure swing through the air and landing atop an apartment building. Miguel landed beside you, looking down into the barren quiet streets that were bathed in yellow light from the light pole. Strings holding round colorful paper lanterns stretched in a zig-zag pattern through the air, attached to the buildings on each side of the street, making for a serene view in the quietness of the night.

You smiled, looking over to Miguel to see his reaction. His arms were crossed as he observed the cozy street. Upon your stare, he let out a slight hum.

“Very… welcoming.”

You laughed softly at his phrasing. He seemed to know that you were waiting for a reaction and had tried his best to express what he thought of it, which was charming. But it seems like he doesn’t give out his feelings too much because you couldn’t help but think that his phrasing was adorably awkward.

His head ducked down a bit at your laughing and his face turned towards your direction to watch you. You cross your arms in response, matching him, and looking out at the surrounding area. The area you two were currently in was a little bit more of a residential area with a few closed shops and convenience stores sprinkled here and there, not a soul was in sight and all was still. But a couple blocks away, you could see the heart of Chinatown, bustling with chatter and the sound of honking cars, of citizens walking through the streets and late-night restaurants still open for anyone to come in and dine.

“It is.” You say softly, referring to his earlier statement. “This is my favorite district. I grew up near the area, so I know it like the back of my hand.”

“I can see why you like it.” Miguel nodded from next to you. “My New York- Nueva York, it has a district similar to this. Just less…”

“Primitive?” You said, amusement lacing your town.

He frowned. “No, less… homey you could say.”

You let out a hum. “What is it like?”

He thought about your question for a bit. “Lots of trains cut through the area. And… each area is stacked on top of each other, like a pancake. Everything is on a different level, instead of being spread out on a flat plane, like yours.”

Your eyebrows raised. “That does seem very… futuristic.”

He chuckled, gazing down at you. “Your dimension will catch up.”

You rolled your eyes. “In a million years maybe.”

“It’s only behind of about,” He tilted his head back and forth as he quickly did the math. “...seventy-six years.”

You almost can’t believe it. Miguel is joking along with you.

You let out a laugh. “At that point my bones will be too old to even swing.”

He chuckled at this. “Maybe.”

You looked back at Miguel, only to find him still staring at you. He seems to do that a lot, it seems. It kind of reminds you of a cat, the way he stares at you. Silent, occasionally blinking, and looking as if he was plotting his next move to attack you. You know he isn’t actually plotting something like that, but his hulking and stiff figure sure does cut it that way.

Suddenly, you remembered that you haven’t checked in on Ms. Chunhua yet.

You cringed slightly, wondering what the old lady, who has been asking you every time you visit if you have a boyfriend yet, will think when you come to her with a man accompanying you. You’re going to assume the worst and say that Ms. Chunhua will think it’s your boyfriend. You know the old lady and know that she is definitely going to interrogate you both if she sees Miguel.

“Um,” You started. Miguel tilted his head. “There’s um, someone that I check in on, on every patrol. She’s actually a couple blocks away and owns a food cart. You could follow me but…”

“Do you want me to stay back while you two talk?” He finished what you couldn’t say.

You let out a sigh. “You read my mind. Could you hide out on the rooftop? I’ll be down on street level and talk to her for a bit before we can head back to my apartment.”

“Hi Ms. Chunhua.” You let out a laugh as the old lady reached out to pinch your cheek.

“... And you don’t bring boyfriend yet?” She teased you.

You sighed fondly. “No Ms. Chunhua.”

“Hmph.”

You two talked for a bit. Ms. Chunhua told you the usual gossip that seems to perpetually center around her neighbors. This time though, she gossips to you about a couple living a floor above her, who seems to get into more and more fights as the days pass. She predicts that by next week, the couple will break up and one of them is going to get kicked out. You nodded along to all of it, listening intently and with a hint of amusement. Ms. Chunhua always seems to love to gossip like a teenage girl, despite her age. Eventually, she asks you if you want to sit and eat for a bit, though you decline with an apologetic wave of your hand.

“I’m sorry, I can’t today. I have a case tonight that I really have to take care of.”

The old lady pouted, but nodded solemnly in understanding. She bids you goodbye with wishes of being safe and you return the sentiment, promising her next time that you’ll bring some flowers for her the next time you see her.

In no time at all, you swung up onto the rooftop that you had told Miguel to wait atop of. Once you got up there though, you saw no sign of him anywhere. The rooftop was desolate aside from a stray pigeon. You narrowed your eyes and called out his name hesitantly.

“Miguel?”

A second later, the thwap of a web sounded from the side of the building you were standing on top of. You looked over to the noise, watching as Miguel appeared over the ledge and jumped up onto the rooftop. He seemed to have been in the alleyway next to the building, for some odd reason.

“What were you doing there?”

“Nothing.” He grit out.

Your eyes widened at his tone. It was tense, like he was trying his best to not let it show in his voice. It even held a hint of venom, directed at you as if it was your fault for whatever you had apparently done. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides and he held your stare for a stifling moment, before moving his gaze down angrily at the ground in front of him.

Okay… Despite the tone, you were worried at this sudden change of mood.

“... Are you okay?” You asked him, hesitantly walking over to him. You hesitated for a moment before letting your hand rest against the side of his arm, looking up at him with slight worry when he continued to stay silent. “Miguel?”

A few moments passed in silence, until he finally let out a strained sigh. He still wasn’t staring at you. “... It’s nothing hermosa.” His voice softened somewhat, no longer sounding like he held a grudge against you, but now instead sounding almost defeated and empty.

His shoulders slumped then and he nodded at you, eyes still glued to the ground.

“Let’s go back.”

You stared at him for a moment longer, wanting to make sure he really was okay. It didn’t seem like it, but based on his posture and avoided eye contact, he wasn’t willing to tell you. You pressed your lips together and nodded, not knowing what else to do.

“Okay.”

You two made your way back to your apartment in silence, no quips or jokes exchanged between the two of you. It was the complete opposite of how the night had started out and you found yourself missing it. You wondered what had gone wrong, what Miguel had been doing in the alleyway that could’ve led to his sour mood, and if it was somehow your fault.

In no time at all, you both were on the rooftop of your apartment. He stood some ways away from you, messing with his watch and his mask absent from his head. You watch him awkwardly, shifting from one foot to the other. One hand went to rub at the elbow of the other arm. Suddenly, you don’t know what to do with your hands.

Miguel glanced back at your figure, observing you intently and taking you in. You were only able to stare back at him for a few seconds before looking away.

You gritted your teeth. Might as well bite the bullet.

“Whatever I did that made you get angry back there, I’m… I’m s-”

“Don’t.” Suddenly, a warm hand pressed itself against the side of your cheek. “Don’t apologize, please.” He sounded guilty all of a sudden, all traces of anger from before gone from his voice. He gently tilted your head up to look at him.

You blinked at him, leaning into his warm palm unconsciously. “But-”

“It’s not you.” He quickly explained. “It’s- It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything, I promise. Something… Something came up and I shouldn’t have-“ He shook his head, as if angry with himself. “You didn’t deserve that.”

You stared at him for a few seconds, processing his words.

So you didn’t do anything that made him snap back there? That’s reassuring to know. But if it wasn’t you though, what was?

You didn’t want to ask him, just in case it could potentially bring down his mood again.

“Okay, I believe you.” You nodded, your cheek sliding against his palm slightly.

His fingers tightened around your face a bit before they relaxed. He cradles your face softly.

“I’m sorry I made you feel as if you need to apologize.” He said to you softly.

You can tell he was sincere about it. The guilty crease in his brow, the small frown tugging at his lips, and the regret in his eyes tells you all you need to know.

Before his hand could drop completely from your face, you quickly lifted your hand and let your fingers wrap around his, squeezing gently in reassurance.

You gave him a small smile, wanting to convey to him that you forgave him through your small action.

He stared at you, relief slowly spreading across his face before he nodded, letting his hand slip out from beneath yours.

You watched as he pressed at something on his watch and the familiar orange hexagonal portal opened up a few feet away from the two of you. He turned around, looking over his shoulder at you one more time. This time, you were able to maintain eye contact.

In the next, he did something out of character. He hesitantly lifted a hand and gave you a small wave. You couldn’t help your giggle and gave him a wave back. He gave you a small smile in return.

And with that, he turned his head back around and stepped through. The portal hovered in the air for a few more seconds before it closed in on itself. The orange light from the portal disappeared, no longer illuminating the surrounding area in a soft glow. Now you were completely alone on the rooftop.

Well, at least the night ended on a good note.

Chapter Text

Lyla had sent you an email detailing your assessment, which included a location to meet up somewhere within HQ and the time you were to show up. You read over the details closely, making sure that you read them closely in fear of showing up at the wrong location. Once you memorized the time and location, you prepared yourself. The date for the assessment was a few days away and you couldn’t have felt better.

Sure, you were a little nervous, but you’ve had decades of experience and you’re sure that you’ll pass easily enough.

Hopefully.

The location detailed in the email was, conveniently, the gym, which you remembered the directions to well enough. A familiar man greeted you at the entrance to the gym, whose face lit up at your approaching figure.

“Y/n!” Peter shouted at you, waving you over with a friendly smile. Unfortunately, it seems like Mayday isn’t with him today as the baby chest carrier was nowhere seen on him. You pull your mask back.

You haven’t known the man for long, but you could see that he seems like the type to annoy Miguel for fun. Peter radiates such a friendly energy and you could feel a smile creeping on your face at the sight of him. When you were less than a meter in front of him, he engaged you in fun banter. He clapped a hand on your shoulder as he led you into the gym, giving you some helpful tips for your upcoming assessment.

You noticed that the gym was not empty like you expected. It was just as busy as the last time you had seen it. This time though, you don’t spend the whole time gawking at everyone else. Your eyes simply gave a simple sweep over the room before they landed on Peter's back. You held back a chuckle when you noticed that the spider logo on his back was a cute round red spider. It fits the man though. You wouldn’t expect, for example, a big scary spider on someone like Peter, unlike a certain someone you know.

You don’t think your own spider logo is too scary, nor is it too friendly, but you still like it. But after seeing so many different other variations, you might even change it up a little. If you were feeling confident enough, you might even change up your suit a bit. That was a big “if” though.

You wouldn’t admit it out loud but you were a bit disappointed when you saw that Jessica, as well as another spider-person at her side wearing a white lab coat, was waiting for you, with Miguel nowhere to be found. Jessica seemed to have noticed your confused expression and chuckled.

“Miguel is currently busy at the moment, but he’ll show up later during your assessment.”

You let out a nervous laugh at her smirk, looking away from her eyes. You rubbed your neck, hoping that the flush that you could feel creeping up your neck wouldn’t show up too much on your cheeks.

The first half of the assessment is the standard fitness check. A heart rate tracker was attached to your neck, thanks to the spider-person wearing the lab coat, who introduced themselves as “Spider-Void.” Outfitted in an all black suit with gray and purple accents, the name seems fitting.

Jessica explained to you which gym equipment you were to use and watched over you as she tested your muscular strength, endurance, and aerobic fitness, all the while Spider-Void wrote down the results in the clipboard in their hands and Peter sat back somewhere to snooze off for a bit.

To be honest, it was a bit boring and repetitive, and wasn’t the super exciting stuff that you expected upon hearing the news that your abilities were to be tested, though it was expected that they would need your actual physical assessment to store in their data banks.

Currently, you were in the middle of your flexibility test, sitting on your bum with your legs ramrod straight ahead of you and your arms stretched as far forward as they can. You rested your fingers against the surface of the metal box sitting at the ends of your feet while Spider-Void looked closely to read the measurement etched into the surface of the box, the highest points in which your fingers could reach.

Jessica nodded for you to let go once Spider-Void noted down the information. You relaxed with a sigh.

“Alright, now we just need your body measurements.” Spider-Void adjusted the large glasses perched on their nose. Funnily enough, it was resting atop their mask, making it seem inconvenient to wear that way. But you’re sure they have a way of keeping it on while on the job.

They lead you and Jessica (Peter has completely fallen into a deep sleep now somehow, despite the noises from the other gym-goers) to a corner with a combo weight and height scale that you would usually see in doctor offices. After doing that and Spider-Void taking specific body measurements using a measuring tape, Spider-Void excused themselves, stating that they were done.

You waved them goodbye as they walked out of the gym, all the while they were muttering to themselves under their breath as they stuffed their face into their clipboard.

Jessica turned to you, nudging your shoulder. “I know you’re itching to get to the fun stuff.” She teased you. “Come on, we’ll head into the bigger training room.”

Jessica kicked at the weight bench that Peter was slouched over onto as you two passed by him, startling him awake.

“Nap time’s over Pete.”

He wiped at the drool on the corner of his mouth, blinking blearily.

“Geez, can’t let a father sleep can’t you…”

You three walked towards a door on one side of the gym, which actually turned out to be an elevator. You three walked in and you turned your head to the side to look out the glass wall that was facing towards the training room.

“Welcome to the strength and conditioning rooms.” Jessica swept out a hand in the large metal space as you three walked into the area. You could make out the other areas up ahead of you through large trapezoidal doorways, though you assume that you’ll get there later.

It was slightly more chilly here compared to the gym. The large area and slight chill that overtook you makes you shiver in anticipation. Footsteps echoed over the metal floor and you can’t help but look up. The ceiling was so unbelievably high you were sure your webs wouldn’t be able to shoot up and stick onto the ceiling at all.

In no time at all, you three were standing in front of the colossal machinery that you had seen someone use during your first exploration of the gym, the one that almost looked like a hydraulic press. All around you other spider-people were working out, albeit with much more substantial weights and equipment than the ones you had seen in the gym.

“Alright, first up is the press-down machine.” You tilted your head at the name. Jessica sighed. “Miguel isn’t the most creative when naming these things.”

“I call it the tortilla press.” Peter piped up, scratching at his hip. “‘Cuz, y’know. You’ll be squished like a tortilla. Or like a pancake.”

You snickered. “Pancakes don’t get pressed.”

“Which is why I call it the tortilla press.”

“Alright, getting back on topic.” Jessica clapped her hands and reigned the two of you back to the original conversation. “Lay on your back in the center. This thing will test your leg strength. We’ll see how long and how much pressure your legs could withstand. Near the center where you’ll be laying back, there’s a pressure plate you could press on when you want it to stop. Or just call out. ”

You nodded, giving her a thumbs up as you walked backwards to the machinery, or really, the tortilla press.

Turning around, you walked further, the blue glowing lines on the ground bathing your figure in a soft light. A blue square lit up the center and you laid yourself down on your back. You stared up at the slate of metal hovering above you menacingly.

“Ready?” Jessica’s voice asked you.

“Ready.” You confirmed.

The hum of machinery sounded throughout the area as the slate of metal got closer and closer to you. The activity that was surrounding you suddenly quieted down, passerbys suddenly curious at the newcomer in their first assessment test. You exhaled through your nose harshly before lifting your legs, shifting into the familiar position that you often do when training yourself back at home.

The familiar feeling of blood rushing to your legs lets you focus and ignore anyone else that was staring, your body reacting in what it assumes to be one of your hyper-jumps.

You grunted at the first contact of the cold metal underneath your foot and sooner than you had thought, you were soon using all the strength in your legs to hold the slab of metal from crushing you into the ground. The feeling of pressure was gradual at first, but soon had you breathing harshly for air and a light layer of sweat covered your temple.

Peter and Jessica watched from the side near the control center, just like everyone else nearby. Peter peeked at the monitor displaying the force being exerted and let out a whistle under his breath.

This went on for a few more minutes before you grunted out.

“Do you want me to stop?” Jessica asked.

“Yeah.” You grunted once more.

Immediately the slab of metal stopped exerting force and your legs dropped, no longer having to keep the weight up and off of you. You leaned your head back and thudded it against the metal floor as you panted for breath. Your legs almost felt like jelly.

“Fifteen tons.” Jessica called out, sounding impressed. “I think that’s a new record.”

Murmurs broke out across the area and, as subtle as they could, the people that were watching the display went right back to what they were doing. The small whispering and talking didn’t stop though.

“I got bit by a jumping spider.” You replied, ignoring the stares that were aiming towards you. You were absolutely ecstatic at the fact that you were probably the new record holder for the tortilla press. “Of course my legs are strong.”

The slate of metal lifted up and away from your body, which was lying flat on the ground like a pancake.

“A humble one, aren’t ya?” Peter teased as he walked over to you, bending down slightly and offering a hand towards you.

You grasped at the hand and let yourself be heaved up by him. You shot him a grin, charmed at the dad energy that he was carrying despite the fact that Mayday wasn’t here.

“I try to be.”

The rest of the assessment went by smoothly. Your core strength and arm strength was tested, albeit with much less exciting machinery. Your scores seem to be good enough for Jessica, who nodded approvingly after each and every one.

Currently, Jessica was leading you to the very last test. Which, unlike all the other ones beforehand, was going to place you in a spar against a real person.

You were fidgeting nervously the closer you got as you three passed by area after area, and Peter seemed to have noticed your nervousness. He chuckled before placing a hand on your shoulder in a fruitless attempt to calm you down.

“Am I going to know who I’m going up against?” You asked, chuckling nervously. Up ahead, you can see a sparing area. It was right in the middle of the room, the area haphazardly sectioned off with orange holograms that made it look similar to a boxing ring, although the floors were lined with training mats. As you three walked closer and closer, the spider-people in their own training stopped to watch the three of you walk past.

“I think you’ll know him when you see him.” Was all Jessica supplied, amusement laced in her tone as you shuffled up to the sparring area. Peter gave you a double thumbs up from his place beside her. “And remember, no webs or tech. Just you.”

You smiled appreciatively at Peter, nodded at Jessica, and then stepped up onto the soft but firm training mats. You shift from foot to foot, letting yourself stretch and warm up a bit before your opponent shows up.

On the other side of the room, a familiar brown hat emerged from a doorway. Your brows shot up high on your forehead.

“Patrick.”

Your shock overturned your ability to make your sentence turn into a question. Patrick nodded his head at you, tipping his hat before shedding off his black poncho off to the side. He stepped up to the platform, standing across from you. His heavy but built frame was hugged by a simple white tank top, dirty blue jeans, and brown boots.

“Heya hun.” You could practically feel the grin behind his mask. “Surprised?”

“I…” You floundered around for a moment. “Y-Yes. I didn’t… did you know about this?”

“Honey, I’m in charge of this.” He chuckled at you.

You press your lips together, nodding slightly.

“Ah, of course you are…”

“You want me to give ya a moment?” You have the distinct feeling that he was raising a brow at you. “Get yourself together before inevitably gettin’ beaten by me?”

You huffed out a chuckle, unaware to the newcomer that was walking towards the area you were in.

“Jumping the gun there, aren’t you?”

“I know what I’m jumpin’ next.” Patrick drawled smugly.

You let out a sigh even as a smile pulled at your lips, pulling up your mask. He was utterly shameless. You widened your stance, bent your knees, raised your shoulders and arms, and tightened your hands into fist at the sides of your face.

“Well you’re going to have to work for it first.” You laughed. Patrick chuckled with you.

“Eh, I don’t mind.”

He didn’t even give you time after that sentence to prepare yourself, immediately shooting towards you. You ducked from his attempt at grabbing your torso, ducking down and rolling off to the side. You landed in a squat, whipping your head around just in time to make the quick-thinking decision to lift both your legs, your arms supporting your upper body and your bum sitting on the floor, as you kicked at an incoming torso.

Patrick was sent flying back into the air, his back slamming into an orange hologram barrier. It glitched slightly. You grinned and shot up, running towards him, aiming to pin him against the barrier by his neck. He seemed to sense your intentions and ducked before your forearm could slam against his neck.

He disappeared from your vision, darting off somewhere behind you. Before you could turn around, a pair of hands grasped your waist and shoved you up against the glowing barrier.

You let out a short yell as you turned your face to the side to only let one side of your face be slammed into the barrier, but didn’t let the shock get to you. Your head jerked back, the back of your head making contact with Patrick's face. His grip on you faltered as he let out a yell, and in a flash, your hands gripped his wrists and you jumped up, using his arms as leverage, planting your feet flat on the barrier and pushing with all your strength. Your back slammed into the front of his body, knocking him backwards.

Patrick let out a grunt as his back slammed into the ground, your body falling down atop of his before you swiftly rolled off of him next to his side. His hat had dropped from his head at one point and was a few feet away from you.

You both were laying on your backs and before you could do anything, a leg kicked up and hit you right in the bottom of your jaw. Your teeth clacked together painfully.

It continued on like that for a while. You both exchanged punches and kicks, tackles and chokeholds, and you have no doubt that there will be bruises all over your body within the next hour. As you both circled each other, eyes sharp and senses high, you realized that Patrick was not slowing down at a rate that you had hoped. He was definitely slower than in the beginning, but not enough where you could confidently go at him again.

Well, it was a good thing that you had saved a special move for this occasion. You felt that this moment was more than good enough of a time to use it.

You hoped that your grin was apparent through your mask. Patrick narrowed his eyes at you in suspicion when you suddenly stopped in your movements. You stopped your circling and tipped your head at him, sending him a smug grin.

“Catch me if you can.”

Patrick blinked as your figure seemingly disappeared into thin air. All around him was the feeling of rushed air, his hair ruffling from the seemingly random tunnels of wind that was surrounding him. He jerked as you suddenly appeared from right next to his side, but before he could do anything you disappeared once more, your giggles carrying with the wind to surround all around him.

It went on like this for a long time, your figure appearing all around him in sporadic cycles. Every time he lunged for you the moment you made yourself visible to him, yet you were too fast for him. It left him grasping and hitting thin air.

You watched as Patrick stumbled around, confused and disorientated. He must be wondering if you had invisibility powers or something, but it was as simple as your body jumping around at insanely super speeds that made you invisible to the naked eye. You feel the exhilaration as the blood pumped into your legs to prepare your hyper-jumps each and every time. The best part though, was that this wasn’t even the main event.

At this point, it seemed that you were more than ready to knock him down.

Patrick looked around a little frantically as multiple copies of you suddenly surrounded him, your figures tensed in a fighting stance.

All the different versions of you waved at him, flickering in and out of existence as if your figure was projected by those old school film projectors. In reality, you were jumping at your maximum speed, only stopping at the same random points for less than a second to seem as though you were standing in place before moving onto the next point.

It was a little amusing to see Patrick so clearly ruffled, spinning around desperately to try and face against the real version of you. His shaggy hair ruffled at the winds you created.

When he spun around once more, you took the opportunity to jump to the point behind him, intending for a sneak attack. It worked, thankfully, and he didn’t have time to turn around quickly enough to stop your incoming kick to his knee, knocking him down to the ground. In a flash, you straddled the back of his torso and brought your arms up, pulling him back into a chokehold.

“Come on. You want me to join the club, don’t you?” You grunted, increasing the pressure.

A few minutes passed with Patrick struggling beneath you. Eventually, he raised a hand and slammed his palm on the ground twice, which made you immediately let go.

Patrick coughed a bit, rubbing at his neck, before begrudgingly standing up to his feet. You got up as well, watched as he tried to get his breath, before holding out a hand. He grasped yours with his own, his leather gloves rubbing against the fabric of your suit as you both shook each other's hand.

“You put up a good fight.” You noted, breathing harshly from the exertion used to pin him down. It may have looked like you weren’t trying, but it really did take quite a bit of strength from you to hold the guy down.

“Not too bad yourself sweetheart.” He chuckled, his voice rough. Most likely from your choking. He cleared his throat and nodded at Jessica, who was still standing off to the side besides Peter. There was an additional person standing with them though.

Miguel stood stiffly next to Peter, his arms crossed as he watched as you and Patrick got yourselves back into order.

You blinked, mentally slapping yourself on the forehead for forgetting the fact that Miguel was going to show up in the later half of your assessment.

“She’s done real good.” Patrick said to the three standing off to the side. The orange barrier surrounding you two flickered before disappearing, and he stepped off the training mats. “Don’t lump her into the newbies.” Was the last thing he said before he disappeared. But not before shooting you a cheeky wink.

You hadn’t noticed, too busy catching your breath, the way Miguel had watched the exchange between you two closely, a tight knit in his brow.

You chuckled nervously and shuffled over to the three. All that confidence and bravo from before seemed to have seeped out from your body, and you don’t know whether it's from the nearly depleted energy left in your body from the day or from Miguels presence.

Peter whooped when you finally stopped in front of them, slapping a hand onto your shoulder.

“Holy hell! I didn’t know you had that in you Y/n!” Peter exclaimed, clearly impressed. He shook your shoulder a little bit.

You huffed at him, letting him shake you. “I worked the job for nearly two decades Peter.”

“But still! I’ve never seen anything like that before! Heck, I’m even a little jealous.” He chuckled, shaking his head.

You couldn’t help your bashful smile, jumping on the balls of your feet excitedly. His excitement seems to have spread to you as well.

You looked at Jessica, who had a small smile on her face from the interaction between you and Peter. She nodded her head at you, her smile reading as immensely pleased.

“The newbies don’t usually have tricks like those up their sleeves. Good job on knocking his ass down.”

“Did you see her?” Peter jumped in, whipping his head towards Jessica. He let go of you and started gesturing in the air with his hands. “She was like whoosh and boom! Gone, into thin air! And then she was like whoosh again! And then-”

Your eyes slid away from Peter and Jessica to finally look at Miguel.

You bit your lip to keep your smile down. If Peter and Jessica were impressed, you were hopeful that Miguel was too.

“How did I do?” You asked him, the other conversation fading into the background.

He stared at you, similar to how a cat stares. His crossed arms loosened a little bit.

“... You did good.”

You really tried not to, but you couldn’t help but preen at his compliment, even if it was only a three word sentence. If you felt especially delusional today, you would even say that his tone sounded fond of you.

You reigned yourself back in when you noticed the glint of amusement in his eyes, nodding as professionally as you can.

“Thank you.” You cleared your throat.

“Alright!” Peter clapped his hands. “How’s about I treat ya to free lunch as a reward for completing your assessment.” He looked at you, raising his brows.

You smiled. “Yes, please. I’m starving.”

“You both wanna tag along?” Peter asked the other two. “I’m not paying for you two though. Can’t blow over my budget for the month, y’know how it is.”

Jessica shook her hand apologetically. “Can’t. I have to write up Y/n’s assessment report. Have fun though.” She waved at the three of you as she started walking away, in the same direction that Patrick had disappeared off to. “And excellent work today Y/n.”

“Thank you.”

Both you and Peter directed your expectant gazes over at the only other remaining person.

“You don’t have to pay for her.” Miguel addressed Peter. “She has a credit card.” Miguel nodded at you.

You mimicked his pose. “I don’t have your card anymore. I returned it this morning.”

Miguel's brows furrowed. “You… returned it?”

“Mhm. Check your desk drawer.”

“Why are you letting Peter pay for you if you don’t want me to pay for you.”

“Because Peter isn’t giving me his whole bank account.”

Peter looked back and forth between you and Miguel as you two argued, his expression twisted into awkward confusion.

Miguel frowned.

You sighed in exasperation. This man. “I’ll make money soon, won't I? Don’t worry about it.”

He stayed silent, deep in thought.

Peter cleared his throat, clapping his hands together. His pink robe swayed as he looked between the two of you. “So! Miggy, you wanna join us?”

“No.”

With that, he turned around and left. But not before looking over his shoulder to direct his stare at you.

“Good work today.”

You and Peter watched as Miguel retreated, disappearing behind a doorway in the next area over.

“So…” Peter started, slowly turning his head to you and raising a brow. “Mr. Bossman gave you his bank account?”

You groaned, walking past him to head back the way you came from. “Don’t start with that Peter, let’s just get something to eat.”

“What is it called these days?” He wondered to himself behind you, a thoughtful expression across his face as he started following after you. “Is… Is he your sugar daddy?”

“Peter!”

Chapter Text

“-and I already have a mini web-shooter built for her already.”

“Really?” You asked, slightly worried. “Is that… safe to give her at such a young age?”

You and Peter were seated on a couple of bar stools facing a white counter in what appears to be a small food court somewhere within HQ. Peter had steered you away from the cafeteria when you had turned towards that direction. He had shook his head at you and he clicked his tongue, mumbling under his breath about how the cafeteria food wasn’t that good. Instead, he led you into a hallway away from the main open atrium of HQ, walking on a path that overlooked some lounge areas, only separated by short glass panels that you could easily jump over and down into the area.

“If you ever need a session of therapy, it’s in the next hallway over.” Peter had supplied for you helpfully, nodding his head towards the perpendicular hallway that you two passed by.

“Oh, good to know.”

Coming back to the present, natural light shone through the large windows lined up against one far side of the wall in the area you were in, and the warm rays warmed your back. There was a short wall that sectioned off the food court you were in, with stairs that led down to a lower level that had tables and seats for those who didn’t want to sit at the counter.

Warm lights hung down from the ceiling over the counter and there was a blue hologram menu board mounted on the white wall behind the person manning the counter.

“Pftt, yeah, the web-shooters are completely safe.” Peter waved off your concern, shaking his head. “I’m not gonna give it to her now, but it wouldn’t hurt to let her learn young.”

“... I’m not worried about the web-shooters being dangerous, I’m worried about giving a little child a weapon that lets her swing around. Also, does your wife know about this?”

Peter cleared his throat loudly, slapping a hand down onto the counter. “Aaaand cue the smooth transition! Order anything you want.” He turned you towards the menu with a push on your shoulder and gestured to the options listed on the hologram. “But not too much, if you could please.”

You looked over the menu, scanning over the items closely. There wasn’t anything too special, just the standard food options you would find in your own world. Pizza, tacos, sandwiches, salads, and burgers, as well as plenty of different sides and drinks to pair with your main meal.

“I haven’t had a cheeseburger in a while.” You noted.

Peter nodded, turning around in his seat. “Hey Moon!” He called out. The black and white spider-person, who was wiping at a wet plate with a towel behind the counter, set their items down and shuffled over to you two. “Two cheeseburgers, two fries, and-” Peter turned to you. “Soda, tea, anything?”

“Just water please.”

“-a cup of water and a bottle of coke, please.”

“I thought you were trying to get back in shape?” The person- Moon, asked Peter dryly. Moon looked relatively young, most likely still in his very early twenties, based on the young features on his unmasked face. A cute white paper hat with a cartoon spider logo sat atop his black messy hair, similar to the old style of fast food diner uniforms hats.

Peter shrugged helplessly. “This is a special occasion. Y/n here,” He wrapped an arm around you and shook you by your shoulders. “Just blew through her assessment like a champ!”

You looked off to the side, huffing in embarrassment as you slipped off your mask. “Oh come on, most of it was just measuring-”

“Fifteen tons of leg strength alone, kid.” Peter slapped the counter once more, leaning towards Moon. “And knocked Web-Slinger down on his ass.”

Moon’s brows bounced up in apparent interest and his eyes slid over to you. He paused when his eyes roamed from your suit to your face, and his cheeks slowly broke out into a blush.

“O-Oh.” Was all he said, staring at you with wide eyes.

You gave him a friendly smile, still held under Peter's arm. He sputtered in reply, quickly turning away and letting the two of you know that your order will be ready within five minutes. You ignored the poorly hidden glances from Moon as he shuffled around, preparing your orders, and promptly returned back to the conversation with Peter.

“How old is Mayday exactly?”

“A little under one years old.” Peter replied, tilting his head.

“I don’t know if giving anyone under two years old a web-shooter is a good idea Peter.”

“Oh come on. Jessica said the same thing.”

“Then maybe it’s a sign that you shouldn’t give Mayday a web-shooter.”

Peter rolled his eyes, throwing his hands up. Before he could fruitlessly argue with you further, a small dart of red and blue landed in front of you onto the counter. You perked up at the new incomer.

“Oh, hi Tsum!” You fondly greeted the tiny plush.

“Tsum-tsum!”

“Hey pillbug.” Peter greeted.

You couldn’t help but laugh at the accurate nickname. Tsum exclaimed at Peter, delving into what you assume were curses at the man beside you. For such a cute looking plush, you wouldn’t expect so much anger from the little guy. Moon snapped his head towards you three at the sound of your laughter.

“Aww, come on. It’s cute.” You tried to convince him, nudging Tsum with a finger. “Everyone loves pillbugs, or what I personally call them, rolly-pollies.”

“You call those things rolly-pollies?”

Tsum grumbled, somewhat simmering down at the sound of your cooing voice. The sounds of a plastic tray hitting the counter alerted you that both your meals were here.

“Here you go.” Moon said, setting your cup of water down in front of you and avoiding your eyes.

Peter didn’t bother with a ‘thanks’ and delved right into his burger, eating like he’s been starved for five years.

“Thank you Moon.” You smiled, hoping that your single sentence of gratitude was enough for Peter’s lack of one.

Moon blushed, nodding and murmuring under his breath before all but basically scrambling away from you three.

You looked down at your meal, slipping your gloves off your hands and letting it hang from your wrists. You were glad that you had decided to keep your gloves attached to the sleeves of your suit, they could come in handy in these situations.

You blink and let out a bark of laughter at the blue bun that greeted you back, which was topped with cuts of red bell peppers that were cut in the shape of a familiar looking pair of spider-eyes.

“Is this a Miguel O’Hara themed burger?” You were wheezing at this point, covering your mouth as you laughed.

Peter chuckled along with you. “You should see the other menu items.” He shoved a handful of fries into his mouth.

After calming down, you placed a fry on a napkin and slid the offering over to Tsum, who descended on the poor fry and started nibbling on one end of it. You three enjoyed your meals, engaged in casual conversation (or at least, you and Peter were. You still don’t understand what Tsum is saying exactly). Peter and you recounted your assessment to Tsum, exchanged quips, and argued the merits of giving Mayday spider-tech so soon.

“Wait wait, how old were you when you got bit?”

“Sixteen.” You hummed. “Mm, these fries are delicious.”

“Huh, that’s one year before I got bit.” Peter said through a mouthful of food, finishing off his burger.

Your eyes bugged out at the short time it took for him to finish the burger.

“Wait.” You shook your head. “How old are you? If you don’t mind answering.”

“Thirty-nine.” Peter held up a fist in front of his mouth and let out a burp, patting his stomach in content satisfaction with his other hand.

“Oh! I’m thirty-two.”

“Thirty-two? Ya don’t look thirty-two.” Peter praised before blinking suspiciously. “Wait, you sounded surprised. Did you think I was older?”

You nudged him, smiling cheekily. “I think it's the five o’clock shadow.”

He huffed a laugh. “So… sixteen years of being on the job. I think with that amount of experience under your belt, you’re probably either gonna train the newbies or join one of the spider-teams.”

You perk up at the mention of your potential future job. “I’m fine with either.” You replied. “Hopefully Miguel doesn’t assign me to a low position though. I think that would hurt my pride if I did well on the assessment and then got assigned to be a janitor.”

“Oh don’t worry ‘bout that, you’re gonna get a good position. The man is sweet on you, or as the kids say, he’s ‘rizzed’ by you.”

“What?” You asked, tilting your head in confusion. “What’s ‘rizzed’?”

“Uhh,” He scratched his chin. “I dunno the exact definition, but it means wooing someone… I think?” He shrugged.

You hummed before finally registering the rest of his sentence. “Miguel’s… sweet on me?”

“Come on, he lended you his credit card.” Peter waved a fry through the air. “I mean, who does that? Plus, I don’t know if you saw, but he had a real fond look on his face when you two talked after your sparring. Miguel doesn’t look like that when I bring him coffee whenever I’m feeling generous.”

You mull over his words, finding it hard to believe what he’s suggesting. Yes, Miguel seems friendly but he can’t- he isn’t sweet on you, you would say. He’s just… overly friendly. Well, maybe that’s the wrong adjective to use, because most of the time it looks like he’s brooding.

You drummed your fingers on the table, fries long forgotten.

“Are you gonna eat those?”

“No, you could have them.”

Peter eagerly grabbed your fries, inhaling them at lightning speeds. Tsum let out a yell.

“Oh come on, I paid for these. And you were too late anyways.”

You now stood at the entrance to Miguel’s office. Lyla had projected from Peter’s watch the moment you three finished eating, letting you know that Miguel requested your presence.

“You’re getting your watch!” She had told you excitedly.

You hope that he wasn’t too mad that you finally returned his credit card. Knowing him though (at least, for the short amount of time you’ve known him), he will most likely try to sneak it back to you, some way or another.

You look down at your travel watch, finally taking in the fact that you’re really going to be getting a real dimensional travel watch that will let you jump from one dimension to another. The thought was a little daunting, knowing that you’ll casually be wearing a watch that holds unlimited power and could very easily fall into the wrong hands.

You were snapped out of your thoughts by the sound of a voice behind you.

“Big boss givin’ ya the watch?”

A smile crawled up onto your face and you turned around. You paused, blinking at the sight of a familiar face.

“Yeah. I’m going to be part of the team.” Your eyes roamed over Patricks features, which looked identical to Miguel. The only difference? The scruffy looking beard lining his jaw. Albeit the hair on his head was also a little more messy and jagged.

Patrick sent you a smile. “Lookin’ forward to working wit’ ya. Now I don’t like to admit this often, but ya knocked me down real harsh on my bum. Could still feel the sting on one of my cheeks.”

You let out a laugh, your shoulders shaking at the image of Patrick rubbing his butt after your spar like a toddler that fell on their bum.

“Do you not get knocked down on your ass often?” You teased him.

“If you’re the one that’s doin’ it, then I don’t mind my bum kissin’ the ground a little more.”

You threw your head back, more laughs escaping from you. You were absolutely charmed once more by this man.

You wiped a tear at the corner of your eye as your laughter finally died down. “Well, we’re going to be coworkers so I’ll be kicking ass with you, unfortunately. Maybe if you decide to spar with me I can kick your ass again.”

He snapped his fingers and pointed a finger gun at you. “Just say the day and time toots.”

You giggled but before you could say anything else, Patrick tipped his head up at something over your shoulder. You blinked before turning around, curious at what he was looking at. You were met with a wall of muscle underneath dark blue and red fabric.

Your eyes trailed up the chest until you met the irked face of Miguel O’Hara. His red-brown eyes darted down from where they were staring at Patrick and met your own, and the hard look in them softened at the sight of your smile.

“Miguel.” You greeted, trying to ignore the strange tension that suddenly popped up between the two men. “You called for me?”

“Let’s go to my office first cariño.” He lifted an arm and hovered it behind your shoulders as he started to turn you around towards the hallway to his office.

You followed after him, starting to walk by his side. You turned your head over your shoulder and flashed Patrick a smile, waving at him.

Patrick gave you a nod, the strange look on his face making way for a small smile and a wink. You turned back around, practically skipping into the office.

“Excited?”

“Is it obvious?” You sighed, trying your best to walk more casually. “It’s hard to keep in my excitement when I’m going to be given a dimension-hopping watch.”

“Your reaction is moderate compared to the ones I’ve seen.” Miguel replied, amused.

You reached the edge of the lowered metal platform in his office. You slowed down but Miguel walked right past you. Before you could ask him anything, Miguel looked back at you and jerked his chin in a gesture that suggested that you should come right up next to him. Silently following his order, you watched as the platform automatically started to raise the both of you up, the hum of machinery filling the silence.

“Is there a reason your desk is so high up?” You asked curiously. “Or does it just look cool?” You teased him.

Miguel glanced at you from the corner of his eye. “It was a design feature.”

“Your design feature?”

“...”

The sound of your laughter filled his office and Miguel couldn’t stop the corner of his lips from lifting.

The platform finally stopped in its movement and Miguel stepped forward towards his desk. You gazed at the multiple orange hologram screens as you followed him and stared at the large complicated looking desk that looked more like the control panel you would see on a spaceship.

Miguel picked up the dimensional travel watch that was sitting right where he had left it last time. He fiddled with it for a bit as you walked along the length of his desk, taking in the large range of buttons and controls that litter the surface. There actually was a section that looked like a desk, with a surface that wasn’t littered with strange screens and knobs. It looked neat, though that was mainly because it was mostly bare. There was a small metal filing cabinet next to that small portion of the desk.

Your eyes slid away and you focused attention on the current watch on your wrist. To make his job easier, you went ahead and took off the watch from your wrist.

Miguel finally finished with whatever he was doing and turned around, your watch in his hand. You straightened up as he approached you.

He held out a hand and you blinked at him, before finally registering that he was most likely asking for your wrist. You raised your arm and rested your hand on his own, wrist side up. His fingers bend to wrap around your hand gently and he secured the watch over your wrist.

You got the sudden sense of deja vu and couldn’t help the fond smile at the familiar position you two found yourselves in.

“Do you usually hand deliver the watches to new recruits?”

“No.” Miguel answered. His voice was soft. “No, I don’t.”

He doesn’t elaborate and you don’t question him further.