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Aiden Clark is a loner– and let's be honest– a little depressed. Ever since he was a kid, he’s always had massive eyebags due to insomnia. He reeked because he could never find it in himself to take a shower, and his parents could never make him. They were never there.
His room was always a mess, the stench of old, stacked cups of ramen noodles filling his senses as he zoned out on his popcorn ceiling for the next three hours. His grades were a mess, he never smiled, he didn’t sleep, he didn’t live. At one point, he wasn’t sure he wanted to.
Well, anyway. Aiden Clark was a loner. But it all changed when the audacity of a big black and blue spider decided that their way of telling him to get his shit together, was to bite him. Painfully, might he add.
And, of course, the usual followed. Aiden woke up that morning drenched in sweat and heavily overstimulated. The rustle of the curtains made him flinch, and his usually low appetite had skyrocketed. The freshly turned sixteen-year-old ran downstairs to the kitchen for the first time in what felt like weeks and ate a meal worthy for a family of two.
Oh yeah, and he could shoot webs and climb on walls! Aiden chalked that up to puberty, what else could it be?
Okay, okay, jokes aside, Aiden was essentially a human spider. And what does one do when one wakes up with superpowers and the overwhelming urge to do something with it? Become a superhero, of course!
A superhero that just a couple weeks after his debut of stopping a bank robbery in the great city of Queens, bit a little more than he could chew.
The Cranes. A dangerous organization that genetically manufactured humans into inky black monsters. Inky black monsters that, matter of fact, wanted to kill him! And any other human in a mile radius. Safe to say, that was a traumatizing week.
If you had to ask Aiden, what was the biggest downside to being a masked vigilante fighting literal blood-thirsty monsters? Well, he’d say that he felt more alone than ever.
He was surrounded by thousands of people that loved and applauded him every time he saved the city from whatever shit The Cranes had cooked up. He even had his own fan base! I mean, how cool is that ? Sometimes Aiden would be scrolling through Tiktok and you know those cool as shit edits of famous people doing cool stuff with a song cover over it? Those, but imagine Aiden in his suit fighting phantoms and making dumb jokes.
But being Spiderman (creative right? Come on, he had spider powers!) also meant that you got hurt. A lot. You saw some scary shit. And he couldn’t tell anyone about it. Aiden wasn’t dumb, he knew that anyone who figured out his identity would be in danger. The Cranes made that especially clear.
So. Another near-death encounter with a Phantom? Almost bled out in an alleyway before finally making it home and patching yourself up in the bathroom? Witnessed a person being mauled by a Phantom because you couldn’t save them in time? Shucks, that’s just too bad.
He couldn’t tell his parents. They weren’t there half the time anyway, making sneaking out to save the city easier at least. His cousin, Ben, lived with him at least. So that was an obstacle to get around sometimes, but he couldn’t tell him either.
Maybe this made Aiden a horrible person, but he saw Ben as more of a family than he ever did his parents. The guy had been there for more of his life than he could ever remember his parents had been. And he couldn’t stand the thought of something happening to him because Aiden couldn’t take the burden that he’d chosen to carry alone anymore.
So, yeah. He’d say that was probably the worst part of being Spiderman. Oh! And also the wrist pains!
But hey! At least fighting for his life and everyone else’s every other day gave him the rush of adrenaline he so craved.
I really need to figure out a way to make swinging less of a pain on my wrists, dammit , Aiden thought, grinning painfully under the mask. Ben said his friend Luke– wait, Logan– was good at tech stuff. Maybe I could get him to ask Logan to make some totally cool mechanism thing for my webs !
Yeah, cause Logan wouldn’t question that at all. He could almost imagine how that conversation would go. Hey Logan, could you make some web shooters for my cousin here? What? No! Of course, he isn’t Spiderman! Why would you even suggest such a thing ?
Aiden groaned as he shot another web at a building, his wrists protesting in pain. But it was far less painful compared to the claw marks raked across his chest, though. Yeah. Ow.
“It’s fine,” Aiden grunted, smile ever present. “I’m fine.” The blood coating his red-and-black suit disagreed.
Finally, when Aiden’s head began to spin, the tall buildings morphed into houses. He swung one last time and landed on his wall, grateful it was dark outside for once. Usually dark meant Phantoms. The relief Aiden felt crawling up to his window didn’t keep his eyes from darting around instinctfully, looking for any too-tall-pitch-black morbid monsters.
When he spotted nothing lurking in the shadows, he ripped off his mask. He felt around for the window latch as he reminded himself that Ben should still be at Ashlyn's for another study session–
Ashlyn.
I didn’t get to see her today, Aiden thought offhandedly as he muttered curses under his breath and unlatched the window. Ashlyn was one of Ben’s friends, the only one he could seem to remember the name of. She was quiet, pretty, not hard to miss unless you were Aiden that is.
And he knows what that sounds like, Aiden must have a big fat high-school crush on her. And the answer? He didn’t know. To be fair, how could he? Aiden zoned out as he tried to shove the pain to the very back of his mind and crawled inside. I mean, she’s pretty. Really pretty. And smart, surprisingly good leader, too– I could like her? I don’t know the first thing about that stuff though , Aiden thought, shutting the the window. Come on, Aiden, you’ve been locked up in your room all alone except for Ben for half your life, what’re you thinking ?
Aiden threw the mask aside, dragging his hands down his face, and turned around. Ashlyn , “Why must you make my life more confusing than it already is?” Aiden was exasperated as he threw his arms in the air, quickly retracting them when his wounds pulled painfully. “Ow, ow, ow, okay, nevermind,–”
Aiden stopped abruptly when he realized there was someone else in the room.
Miffed green eyes stared at him, freckled face laced with shock as her mouth hung open. The same girl that Aiden’s eyes trailed after day-by-day during classes, the same ginger hair and pale skin. “What the fuck?” Ashlyn Banner deadpanned.
Aiden blinked, forgetting to respond because wow, is this really how we had to have our first conversation ? “...I can explain–” But then his body snapped him out of it rudely with sharp pinpricks of pain. The adrenaline was all gone by this point, leaving only his marred chest to scream for some proper healthcare.
“Nope, scratch that, fuck,” Aiden hissed, dropping to his knees.
Ashlyn shook the shock out of her face as she shot up, the homework she’d been procrastinating forgotten. “Shit, you’re hurt!”
“Great observation, thank you,” Aiden chuckled, wincing.
She resisted the urge to glare at him as she looked around for a medkit or anything to just stop the bleeding.
“Bathroom, top left cabinet,” Aiden supplied, reading her mind.
Ashlyn rushed into the bathroom to her left. Aiden could hear her rummaging, and a second later, the medkit was in her hands and she was beside him on the floor. Blood dripped onto the dark wood, and Aiden silently thanked whatever god was listening that his room wasn’t carpet.
“Take off your shirt,” Ashlyn demanded.
“Woah, take me out to dinner first,” Aiden huffed, grinning.
Ashlyn narrowed her eyes.
Aiden took off his shirt.
Unclipping the medkit, she pulled out the antiseptic and wraps.
“Oh, hell no! That hurts!” Aiden complained.
“Is Spiderman really complaining to me about a little sting compared to the giant rips across his chest?” Ashlyn quirked her eyebrow, surprisingly calm about the whole situation.
Aiden bit his tongue, momentarily forgetting that Ashlyn knew his identity now. Whatever. That was a problem for future Aiden.
Ashlyn gave him a look that read that’s what I thought, before uncapping the antiseptic. Aiden’s eyes widened, grinning nervously. “Okay, hold on, we can talk about this, wait, wait, wait –”
—
“So,” Ashlyn said as she began wrapping Aiden’s wounds. “Ben’s cousin is the Great Spiderman. Ben’s cousin who, up until this summer, did nothing but stay in his room and eat instant ramen, has been saving the city these past several months.”
“Wow, did your research, huh?” Aiden said quietly, smiling, then wincing as she tugged on the wrap. “Okay, okay, my bad! How do you even know that? We’ve never talked till just now.”
“...Ben tells us,” Ashlyn said eventually.
Aiden’s smile dropped for a second, but only a second. “Oh.”
Another minute of silence. “He worries about you, you know.”
Aiden didn’t answer that one. A pit of guilt settled in his stomach. Of course Ben worried about him, why wouldn’t he? I’m not that bad anymore, Aiden reasoned. I still don’t get that much sleep, probably less than before…but I’m happy with what I do.
The room was dark, save for the lamps on the desk near Ben’s bed. Aiden’s bed was across the room, next to the mini-fridge. They were quiet for a moment as Ashlyn continued to wrap Aiden’s chest up. She was close. Like, really close. Aiden didn’t think she noticed, her face pinched in concentration.
“...I thought you guys were studying at your place today?” Aiden asked. That’s what Ben had told him at least.
“We were, but my grandparents came over out of nowhere. So, Ben suggested your house.”
Aiden’s eye twitched. “Ah.” He wouldn’t have been caught then, but her grandparents chose today of all days for a family reunion.
Well if that were the case, that would mean that the rest of Ben’s friends were here, wait . “Is everyone else here? Are they downstairs? Are they coming back?” Aiden blurted, panicking again. “Fuck, you already found out– but five people in the same day? I’m not that bad at keeping a secret identity–”
Ashlyn pinched his arm. “Ow!”
“Relax. Everyone else already went home, my parents are coming to pick me up soon too.” Aiden relaxed, reassured that he wouldn’t expose who he was to four other people today. “Ben and I moved up here after everyone left, he went downstairs to get some snacks, and from the sounds of it, calling your phone, wondering where the hell you are.”
Aiden thought back to the Phantom from earlier, it’s giant claws piercing right through his phone from where it dropped when he swung out of the way, just scarcely avoiding getting stabbed. “Whoops,” He smiled apologetically.
Ashlyn finally finished addressing his wounds, humming at her work appreciatively. Aiden stared at her for a moment, wondering how the heck he got here. He went from being resigned to pine from a distance– platonically, of course. Or, ugh, never mind– to sitting with her in the dark of his room as she fixed him up after a particularly bad encounter with a few phantoms.
“Are you okay? Did the blood loss finally get to you?” Ashlyn asked, crossing her arms.
Aiden coughed, looking away. “Yeah, sorry– wait no, I’m just… tired.”
“I mean, seeing as Queen’s masked hero is actually a kid in high school, I would guess you need your nap time.”
“Exactly– wait, what?”
Ashlyn smiled, laughing quietly. And gosh, why did such a small thing send Aiden’s heart running?
Step.
Step.
Step.
The both of them shot up at the same time, Aiden biting back a yell of pain. Shoot, that must be Ben , Aiden panicked.
Ashlyn looked around for an excuse before quickly rushing to the bathroom and turning the lights on. “Uh– Ben! Wait, I’m using the bathroom…and uhm shit – I left the door open!”
The footsteps immediately came to a halt, quickly turning and walking away. Aiden almost laughed. He could hear Ben’s embarrassment from the way he sped off.
“You’re using the bathroom and left the door open?” Aiden snickered.
Ashlyn’s face turned red for the first time. “Shut up! You’re lucky I came up with an excuse at all, Spiderman .”
“You’re right, sorry, sorry.” But the teasing smile never left his face.
Ashlyn rolled her eyes and walked to the drawers pushed against the dark blue wall. “Hey, what’re you doing?” Aiden asked, confused.
Ignoring him, Ashlyn opened a random drawer that just so happened to be full of Aiden’s clothes and grabbed a dark blue hoodie with a yellow smiley-face, and black shorts. “Here, change,” she said, throwing the clothes at him.
He caught them, his eyes trailing back to her as she grabbed a pair of his shoes and socks by his bed. She picked up the socks with a pinch of her fingers and put them in his shoes, not wanting to touch them longer than she had to.
Aiden blinked. “Why–”
Ashlyn resisted the urge to groan. “You are going to change and crawl out of your window with your weird spider powers and act like you just got home from the library! Or…” She looked around the room, an invisible lightbulb shining above her head as she spotted a familiar skateboard. She grabbed it and shoved it into the growing pile in his arms. “Skateboarding! You just got back from skateboarding. Now, go!”
“How did you know I skateboard? How did you know that was my skateboard–”
“ Go!” She whispered impatiently.
“Okay! Jeez,” Aiden said, walking into the bathroom and changing.
A minute later, Aiden stepped out, and Spiderman was gone, stuffed into the very back of the bathroom closet. Ashlyn looked him over and nodded. “Great, now hurry up and get out, my parents are almost here. It kind of defeats the purpose of this whole plan if they see my friend's cousin crawling out of his window with his bare hands and feet.”
Aiden nodded and walked to the window, keeping his skateboard secure in one arm. Just as he unlocked it and began to step out, Ashlyn called his name. “Yeah?” He asked.
“You should do something about that hair of yours,” Ashlyn said. “Some people are already speculating that Spiderman has black hair because of that fight last week.”
Aiden touched his dark hair absentmindedly. Last week, a phantom decided to get touchy with him, ripping a hole in his mask. A tuft of his hair had popped out, but he hadn’t realized that might endanger his identity. “Oh, haha, thanks,” he said. “I’ll take that into consideration.”
Then, he closed the window and crawled down his wall to the first floor. The cold air bit into him as he made his way to the front door just as a car pulled up. The bright headlights startled him as they stopped in front of his house. They must be Ashlyn’s parents, Aiden thought without turning around.
Just as he was about to knock for Ben to open up, he heard steps from inside. The door swung open to reveal Ashlyn, her backpack swung over her shoulders, her long braids hanging over the bag.
Ben came up behind her, smiling when he realized Aiden had come home. He signed to him, Aiden, this is Ashlyn. My friends came over to study earlier, she is leaving now.
“Oh, that’s cool,” Aiden smiled, glancing at Ashlyn again. Her eyes screamed the obvious, act like you don’t know me ! But just in case he didn’t figure it out she offered her hand. “Ashlyn, nice to meet you. You’re Aiden, right?”
Aiden blinked before taking her hand. “Yeah, we have some of the same classes together.”
“Huh, maybe you should hang out with us sometime. I’ve heard a lot about you,” she said, releasing his hand.
“Maybe,” Aiden agreed quietly, holding himself back from chasing after her hand.
“See you around, Aiden,” Ashlyn said. “Thanks for letting us come over, Ben. I’ll see you on the bus in the morning.” She gave Aiden one last look, brown eyes meeting green as she walked past, down the lawn, and into her parent’s jeep.
Ashlyn slammed the door shut, buckling up. “Who was that?” Her dad asked.
“Ben’s cousin, Aiden.” She replied as they pulled out of the driveway.
“Huh, never seen him before. Is he your friend?” Her mom hummed.
Ashlyn didn’t answer as they began to drive home. They lived just a couple blocks away, but due to the phantom attacks recently, her parents didn’t want her wandering around at night alone.
Maybe , she thought to herself as the houses sped past. Maybe we will be friends.
Aiden watched as the black jeep drove away before turning to Ben. His cousin has his arms crossed before signing, what was that about ?
“Nothing important bud,” Aiden said, patting his shoulder as he readjusted his skateboard. “Aye, how about we hang out with your friends tomorrow? You know, we can go to the bowling– oh! How about rock climbing? Wait no, how about–” Ben clicked the door shut, locking it before following Aiden, vigorously signing and asking if he was serious and why did you always say no to hanging out with them before but now you want to? What changed? Aiden wait!