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Aaron never thought that Miles could find it in his heart to forgive him for what he had done. Once he saw that it was Miles under that damned mask, his heart dropped. He’s never going to forgive me.
To his surprise, Miles had forgiven him surprisingly fast. He supposed the near-death experience might’ve sped up the process, but he’d thought Miles would at least report him to his dad. He hadn’t. Aaron still lived in the fear that one day Miles would have a change of heart and realize how much his uncle didn't deserve this forgiveness. He had been trying to better himself so this wouldn’t happen, but it was one day at a time.
Even though Miles didn’t immediately rat him out, Aaron knew they would never have the same level of trust they had before. He didn’t talk about his crushes, and most attempts at hanging out and doing graffiti were shut down. It was like Miles was in fight or flight all the time around him, and it made him feel terrible.
He could tell Miles was hiding something, and not just from him. Aaron had always told Miles that he could come around with a girl if he didn’t want his parents to see, and he seemed to be holding him to that. Recently, Aaron had been finding pieces of jewelry that were definitely not Miles’ scattered around his apartment. Rings, necklaces, and earrings—things Miles would have no reason for owning. He knew it had to be a girl, but he wanted to approach the topic carefully to not scare him off.
Aaron closed the front door to his apartment, looking over at his nephew, who was beside him. They were carrying groceries, and Miles had dropped them with a dramatic sigh as if they were heavy. For somebody who could throw cars single-handedly, he sure was dramatic.
"C'mon.” He beckoned the younger boy into the kitchen. Miles followed, ranting about one of the older spider people he had met. Aaron couldn’t wrap his head around the concept of the multiverse, but he still tried to listen to what Miles had to say.
"And I told him that wasn’t what I meant, but he—”
"Hey, Miles?" Aaron cut him off. "You forgot a bag."
"Oh. Yeah, I totally meant to do that,” he said, walking back over to the door. His uncle shook his head. Miles hadn’t changed at all, despite the circumstances. He was still the same awkward kid he had always known him to be.
"So, how's school?"
"Oh, you know. I’ve got loads of friends," he said unconvincingly. The kid was a terrible liar, and it was clear he got it from his dad. Whenever Aaron and Jefferson would get into trouble as teenagers, his brother was never the one defending them. If he did, they’d be in a lot more trouble than they already were.
Miles didn't seem to have many friends, besides Ganke and the ones he had met in the ‘Spider Society.’ Aaron couldn’t comprehend the idea, but he was glad Miles was able to find other kids like him. He only remembered a few he had mentioned—Pavitr, Peter, Hobie, and Gwen. He seemed to trail off and zone out whenever he talked about Gwen, so maybe this mysterious girl he had been seeing was her. His parents definitely wouldn’t approve of her, but she seemed nice enough.
"Sure. Are there any girls you're seeing?" Aaron tried to ask nonchalantly.
Miles paused, his eyes widening. So there is a girl. Aaron didn’t mind that Miles had finally found someone; in fact, he was proud of him, but he did wish the girl would stop leaving her things everywhere. After a long pause, Miles finally responded.
"Nah, they all love me, but I’m just... not interested, y’know?”
"Alright," Aaron chuckled. While they continued unloading the groceries, Miles started telling another story about one of his friends. Hobie Brown was the one Miles talked about the most.
“He took us to his concert, Uncle Aaron! You should’ve seen him,” Miles gushed.
“Really? What type of music does he do?” Aaron asked absentmindedly.
“He’s punk! It’s super cool; he has this vest with all sorts of pins, and he has tons of jewelry and piercings.” Miles wasn’t finished talking, but Aaron began to tune him out as it all fell into place in his mind. The jewelry and the way he talked about him— oh. He didn’t care who Miles dated, whether it was a boy, girl, or anyone in between, but he had hoped Miles wouldn’t feel like he’d have to hide that from him.
Once they finished putting everything away, Aaron sat down on the couch and thought about his new revelation. He wanted to give his nephew the chance to tell him on his own terms. Miles beat up the punching bag behind him, mumbling under his breath.
“Hey, kid?” Aaron spoke up.
“Yeah?”
“You left your rings here.” The punching stopped.
“My what?”
“Your rings. They are yours, right?” Aaron smirked as he gestured to the coffee table, which had a variety of rings and an unidentifiable piercing on it. Miles scrambled for words, stuttering before attempting another bad lie.
“Yeah, they’re mine, definitely,” was the lie Miles settled on as he rushed over to the table to grab the jewelry and stuff it into his pockets. He suddenly seemed set on leaving immediately, pulling up his hood and walking over to the window.
“I have to go now. Bye, Uncle Aaron!” Miles shouted before shutting the window behind him and swinging off the balcony. Aaron scoffed, turning on the television and letting out a sigh as he processed what just happened. Teenagers are weird.
“Lyla!” Miguel shouted, his brow furrowed as he scanned his screens for broken canon events. Lyla materialized at his side, filing her nails. When Miguel didn’t say anything, she rolled her eyes.
“What do you want?”
“Find Miles Morales,” Miguel seethed, his hands balled into fists at his side. Lyla stifled an annoyed chuckle at the man in front of her. Miguel being mad at Miles wasn’t anything new.
“Got it,” Lyla said, pulling up an array of holograms in front of her and hopping through a diagram of multiverses.
“Found him, boss! Earth-138B, he’s with—” Lyla trailed off and gasped, piquing Miguel’s interest.
“What is it?” Miguel demanded, trying to get a look at the screen Lyla was staring at. Lyla moved the other holograms out of the way with a snap of her fingers, then flipped the main hologram towards him.
It was a projection of Miles Morales and the Spider-Punk, presumably a live recording. Miles was pinned against the wall between the taller boy's legs. They were looking into each other's eyes, and when they started to lean closer to each other, Miguel had to look away.
“Ay, Dios mío,” Miguel groaned, turning away and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Call Miles. Tell him I expect him here in no less than five minutes.” Miles and Hobie had already added so much to his plate, and now there was this.
Miguel normally couldn't care less what scandals or relationships went on within the Spider Society, as long as they didn’t affect him or the canon. Once it did, however, it became a problem. Miles was already a nuisance to Miguel, and fraternizing with people who had betrayed the Spider Society was just another thing to add to his list of reasons why he hated Miles. So, he wasn’t exactly looking forward to having to scold Miles again.
In less than a minute, Miles ran into his office. He looked disheveled, but at least he was on time. When Miguel refused to do anything except give the teenager a dirty look, Miles decided to break the awkward silence.
“Lyla said you needed to talk,” Miles said, attempting to grin, which only resulted in a fearful grimace. Miguel hadn’t expected Miles to trust him anytime soon, not after what happened on the train, but the discomfort that engulfed them both whenever they talked was almost unbearable.
“Yes. You have disrupted another canon event.” Miguel gritted his teeth, forcing himself to take deep breaths between each sentence to stop himself from yelling. “Luckily for you, it’s been fixed, but not until after I spent my entire afternoon fixing your mess.”
“I’m sorry.” Miles shrugged, wincing. He wasn’t sure how else to respond, but it wasn’t enough for Miguel.
“I’m sorry? Is that all you have for me? Do you know—” Miguel had to pause to take deep breaths, forcing himself to not lash out again. Letting his anger get the better of him didn’t go so well last time.
“Do you know how hard I work every day to keep the multiverse intact? Just one too many canon events broken, and it could all fall down.” Miguel's anger began to flare up again. “If this happens one more time, I will not hesitate to—”
“Hey, let’s not say that right now. We’ll work that out in therapy later, alright?” Lyla cut in. Miguel nodded in acknowledgment, waving her away.
Miles stared at the two in silence, unsure of what to do.
“I need to get back home soon, so if I could just...” he trailed off, gesturing towards the door.
“No,” Miguel sighed, “we also need to discuss this relationship of yours with the Spider-Punk.” Miles stopped in his tracks and became flustered, giving Miguel even more reason to believe his suspicions were correct. As if he didn’t have enough evidence before.
“What are you talking about? Me and Hobie—we’re just friends.”
“Well, whatever you want to call it, it needs to stop. Hobie is the cause of half of the things I need to fix around here! I don’t need him influencing you any longer.”
“What? Me and Hobie, we aren’t—he wouldn’t—” Miles stumbled for words. If Miguel was having a good day, he might’ve laughed, but thanks to Miles, he wasn’t.
“I don’t want to hear it. Just know that if you ruin one more canon event, I won't be so lenient next time. You better tell your ‘friend’ Spider-Punk the same thing.”
Miles nodded and started to back up. Miguel didn’t try to stop him this time.
“Odio mi trabajo,” Miguel murmured as he turned away and went back to work.
In comparison to other conversations between Miles and Miguel, this one wasn’t so bad.
Gwen had planned to spend her afternoon swinging around Queens, catching any minor criminals she saw on her way. That was until Miles called her, saying it was urgent and she needed to come over immediately. Miles had always been a bit dramatic, but considering all they had been through in the past, she didn’t hesitate to visit him, just in case it truly was something bad.
Gwen swung in through Miles’ open window, pulling up her mask to see Miles’ face planted in his pillow. He lifted his head up to give her a weak smile before dropping his head back into his pillow, groaning.
“Hey, Miles,” Gwen said cautiously, trying to figure out what was going on without provoking more dramatics from him. “What’s wrong?”
“I messed everything up, Gwen,” Miles whined. While leaning down beside him on the ground, Gwen shot a web at Miles’ bedroom door handle to lock it. Rio Morales wasn’t exactly a fan of Gwen, and she wasn’t trying to get another lecture from that woman.
“What happened?” Gwen asked when Miles refused to say anything else. The boy rolled onto his side, staring Gwen in the eyes.
“Promise you won’t laugh,” Miles said, sticking out his pinky finger childishly.
“I promise.” Gwen smiled, stifling a giggle as she intertwined her pinky finger with his and shook it.
“Me and Hobie got into an argument.”
“Oh?” Gwen raised an eyebrow, trying to decipher what was going on. Pav kept telling her that he was sure Miles and Hobie were dating, but she hadn’t believed it until now.
“I knew you’d think it was stupid.” Miles sighed, running his hands down his face and attempting to turn away from Gwen. She reached for him, stopping him from hiding from her again.
“It’s not! It’s just… not what I was expecting. So, what happened exactly?”
“Well, I can’t really tell you.” Miles shrugged, giving a sheepish smile.
Gwen rolled her eyes. Okay, so it was going to be like this.
“Look, Miles. I’m sure that no matter what happened, Hobie won’t break up with you.” Gwen wasn’t able to finish her speech before Miles jumped up, his eyes wide with terror and confusion.
“Me and Hobie aren’t together! Why does everyone keep saying that?” Gwen wanted to tell him exactly why everyone thought they were together, but decided to hold back. Now wasn’t the time to state the obvious.
“Well, do you want to be together?”
“No!” Miles said unconvincingly. “Even if I did, which I don’t, he probably hates me now.” Gwen smiled knowingly, offering nothing but a shrug. Miles was lucky Pav wasn’t here, because if he was, he wouldn’t be afraid to tell Miles what he thought straight up. Clearly, Pav was right, but Miles wouldn’t exactly appreciate the sentiment.
“Miles, it’s just a small argument. I doubt Hobie could ever truly hate you. If you haven’t noticed, he turns pink around you!”
“He turns pink around Mayday, too. It doesn’t mean anything; it’s just the way his universe works.” Clearly, Miles had thought a lot about this.
“Yeah, and I know how his universe works way better than you do,” Gwen said, earning a wince from Miles.
“Well, it’s not like I can just ask him what it means. He doesn’t want to talk to me right now, and that’s probably an invasive question.”
“I don’t think it would hurt to try, Miles.” Miles looked convinced for a moment before shaking his head and hopping off his bed, taking off his jacket and jeans to reveal his Spider Suit.
“No, he’s definitely not going to want to talk to me. Want to go for a swing?” Miles asked, changing the subject. He pulled down his mask and waited at the window for Gwen.
“Sure,” Gwen sighed. She had tried, and at least he wasn’t freaking out anymore. Plus, she had planned on going for a swing regardless. Hobie and Miles would go back to normal eventually, and when they did, she would owe Pavitr a lot of money.
The first thing Rio heard was a crash, but the thing that fully woke her from her sleep was the sound of another person's voice in Miles’ room. Her first thought was that her baby must be in danger, and she looked around frantically for her husband. He was gone, although it wasn’t out of the norm for him as a police officer. By the time Rio had rubbed her eyes and put on her slippers, the noise in his room had stopped. Still, she snuck out of her room and towards Mile’s bedroom door.
“Miles, ¿Qué pasa?” Rio called out as she opened the door. The last thing she was expecting was to see Miles kissing another boy on his bed. She let out a gasp of surprise and clapped her hand to her mouth.
“Mom!” Miles yelled, scrambling back from the boy with wide eyes. “I can explain.”
“Oh, I don’t want to hear any of your excuses. It is three in the morning! You’re so lucky your father isn’t home; what would he say?” Rio scolded. The boy on Miles’ bed started chuckling, and both Rio and Miles shot him a glare to shut him up. He stood up, walking between Rio and her son.
“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Morales. I’m Hobie Brown. I’ve heard a lot about you, haven’t I?” He held out a hand for her to shake, glancing back at Miles with a grin. He had a thick British accent, and he was dressed head to toe in tight clothes and silver jewelry. Rio didn’t approve, but she still shook his hand. He was much taller than her, but she had no doubt she could intimidate him if necessary.
“Are those his shoes?” Rio pointed to a pair of boots in the corner of his room with blue laces. She looked back and forth between Miles and the shoes as it dawned on her what the laces meant. Jeff was not going to like this kid.
“Miles, I need to talk to you alone,” Rio decided. Hobie nodded in understanding, grabbing his boots and heading towards the window.
“It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Morales!” Hobie smiled before jumping out of the window and leaving.
“Who is he?” Rio demanded.
“Mom, can we just talk about this in the morning?”
“You brought a boy in here this late; we’re going to talk about it.”
“He’s nice, Mami! You met him!” Miles pleaded.
“Oh, I met him alright. I bet he doesn’t even know Spanish!”
“Are you mad?” Miles asked, and Rio paused.
“I’m not mad that he’s a boy, if that’s what you’re asking. I love you, mijo; you know that. I can’t say I approve of him, but I’d never stop loving you over that,” Rio said, walking towards Miles and cradling his face in her hands. Although she wasn’t happy with her son's decisions, and she and Jeff would need to have a serious talk with Miles, there was nothing he could do to make her hate him.
“I think that’s enough for tonight, but don’t expect you’ll be let off the hook by tomorrow.” Rio pulled away, backing into the doorframe and shutting off the light. “Buenas noches. Te amo, Miles.”
“Te amo, mami,” Miles whispered into the darkness as the door clicked closed.
Even though Rio didn’t understand, and Jeff definitely wouldn’t, there was no doubt that they would try their hardest to support their son, and that was all Miles could ever ask for.