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Aiden got a minor sense of deja vu when he crawled into his room at nearly midnight and he realized he wasn’t alone.
Come on, we all knew it was going to happen sooner or later.
The room was dark when he carefully closed the window. The only light he could make out was the alarm clock on the desk, a bright red light reading 2:03 am.
Tonight was peaceful, nothing out of the ordinary. It was warm, still, and dark. One of the very few star-filled nights he’d enjoyed in the past year ever since the phantoms had come about. So, of course, Aiden swung up to the highest skyscraper he could find– and it wasn’t very hard– and basked in the night, kicking his feet and humming.
Who knew New York was this pretty from above , Aiden thought. Still doesn’t beat jumping off of them, but you know, still pretty . Yawning, he closed his eyes. Just for a second.
Aiden hadn’t meant to fall asleep, honest! But one second he was thinking about possibly asking Ashlyn to eat lunch with him at school the next day, then the next– he woke up, shivering, drool sticking to his mask.
He’d hurried home, reassuring himself that Ben would be asleep. His cousin always fell asleep around just after sunset, so he should be okay to just swing on in!
Well . As Aiden threw his mask to the floor and the bright yellow light flicked on, revealing a very sleep-deprived Ben Clark staring wide-eyed at him from across the room. That was the plan.
As you can see, things never go according to plan for Aiden Clark, the Hero of New York City. Dammit.
They stood there awkwardly, Aiden wishing a black hole would appear beneath him and swallow him whole.
Aiden spoke first. “Aye, uh, Ben,” Aiden grinned, hand instinctively reaching to scratch the back of his neck. “Good…morning?”
Ben surprisingly just stepped forward and brought Aiden into a hug. The Great Spiderman stood limp in his hold as Ben, for the first time since the incident that had taken his passion away, spoke.
“Are you happy?” His voice was scratchy and grainy, but it was still Ben. His cousin had been there through thick and thin and his parents were nowhere to be seen.
Shocked into silence, mouth frozen in a nervous grin melted into something softer. “Yeah,” Aiden smiled. “I’m happy.”
And he was. Sure, there were dark spots to the responsibility he had taken on, but he’d never felt more himself than he did now. He was helping people, and that managed to fill the dark spots in his heart better than the adrenaline he chased after.
Ben didn’t speak again, but he nodded in understanding. After a minute, Ben stepped back and began to pull Aiden to the bathroom. “Wait, why are we going to the bathroom?”
The taller responded by reaching the top right cabinet, just as Ashlyn had two months ago, and pulled out the med kit. “Woah, woah, I’m not even hurt!”
You don’t think I know what Spiderman does on a daily basis? Ben signed, raising his eyebrow. Knowing you, you probably patched up your wounds to the bare minimum and called it a day.
“Oh, come on! Give me some credit– wait, why are you getting the tweezers out? Ben, HOLD ON!”
—
“Are you sure you’ll be alright to walk home?” Logan’s boss asked, concern written on her face. “I can call you an Uber, it’s not a big deal, really. Phantom sightings have been a lot higher than usual.”
“I’ll be okay, no worries!” Logan smiled. “My house isn’t too far from here. I’ll see you next weekend.” Closing the door, Logan readjusted his backpack and started his treck home. At most, it’ll take me fifteen minutes, Logan reassured himself, glancing around nervously.
Five minutes in, Logan was rigid and paranoid. He felt eyes on him, but every time he looked to see where and who it was coming from, shadows stared back. It’s just cause of the phantom sightings, I’m paranoid, that’s all. I’m okay. It’s okay.
Finally, finally, when the dark and old brick buildings began to look familiar, Logan unclenched his fists from around his backpack straps. His street was just around the corner! Gosh, he knew he was overreacting.
Picking up the pace, Logan looked at his phone, sending a quick message to his group chat with his friends. They knew Logan worked later on weekends, and ever since the Cranes had arisen, it had become much more dangerous. But he needed the money, so he continued his shifts at the local library anyway.
Ben had made Logan promise to tell them if he felt unsafe and needed a ride and when he made it home safely (if it all). Logan had agreed, warm at the reminder that he had friends who cared for him now.
Before meeting them, his only ‘friend’ was Barron. But that didn’t really count, he only kept Logan around to do his work. And when he had finally decided to stand up for himself, Barron resorted to dirtier tactics to make sure Logan stayed. Safe to say, Barron hasn’t come near him again since Tyler found out what he was doing to Logan.
When he finished sending the message, letting them know he was almost home, he heard a strange clicking noise. Logan looked up, realizing he’d taken a wrong turn into an alleyway while on his phone. Quickly, Logan began to double back when he heard another click-hiss-click .
What could that be… Logan squinted his eyes into the shadows. The alleyway led into a dead end, a ten-foot brick wall stared him down as if daring him to try and climb over it.
Click-hiss-click.
There it was again! Logan’s mind looked sifted through his memory, trying to remember where he’d heard that before. It sounded so unnatural like it wasn’t supposed to exist–
The pale yellow lights attached to the wall of the old building beside him flickered.
Oh .
The lights flickered again before exploding, glass shattering and hitting the floor in a doomed rhythm. Logan turned around so fast he almost tripped as he ran from the alleyway. But just as he was about to reach the street, the phantom jumped and sailed over him. Logan skidded to a stop as the monster shrilled, long limbs rising as it stalked toward him.
Logan began to hyperventilate, backing away, knowing full well that within the next few seconds his back would hit the brick wall.
The phantom's inhumane grin sent shivers down his back, drool dripping down its black face. Logan yelled as the thing pounced, screeching in excitement to have found its dinner.
He shielded his face, ready to be devoured when he heard the phantom cry out in anger and a huge SMACK !
“Don’t you know it’s creepy to follow kids home and corner them in alleyways?” A familiar voice said, a grin evident in their tone.
Logan blinked his eyes open, relief crashing into his body when Spiderman stood before him. Then, Logan stopped still. “Wait, weren’t you following me? There’s no way you could’ve found me down here if you weren’t.”
Spiderman stilled.
Okay. Fair. Well played Logan Fields.
Aidan launched into action when the phantom began to stand again, head twitching and click-click-clicking at him in anger. “To be fair, I was only following you because my friend asked me to!”
“Wait, what? Why? Who–” Wickedly long claws swiped at Aiden. He swerved out of the way just in time and kicked it square in the face. Its bony, long neck cracked, but the disturbing part was that when the head lolled to the side, it turned a full 360, and pure white eyes smiled eerily at him.
Logan covered his mouth, ready to projectile vomit his lunch onto the dirty ground. “Oh, gross, see a chiropractor, dude!” Aiden cringed before letting out a totally manly scream and ducking, avoiding some very yellow teeth. “And maybe a dentist, too.”
Aiden grabbed for his dagger strapped to his thigh, using the tall buildings as leverage and swinging himself at the phantom. Logan could do no more than watch as he sunk the weapon into the phantom's eye.
As Logan sunk to the ground, he covered his ears when the monster screamed. It was unnatural, like if you mixed the static of a malfunctioning TV and the screams of a child getting eaten alive. Ok. Graphic. Sorry.
Logan shut his eyes, waiting for it to be over. He stayed rolled up into a ball on the ground, his blue sweater stained with the muck that lived on the alleyway floor. Not more than a minute passed when Spiderman tapped his shoulder, squatting down in front of him.
“Do me a favor and let’s not look at the mangled-up icky body behind me, 'kay?”
Tears streaming down his face, Logan wiped his fogged-up glasses and nodded. Aiden stood up, stretching his arms up to the sky. “Perfect! Come on, I’ll swing you home–”
“You’re Aiden, aren’t you?” Logan said.
Jeez, Aiden sighed. What is with people and interrupting me! “Wait,” Aiden cut off his own train of thought. “Wait what?”
“Aiden…Ben’s cousin?” Logan inquired again as he stood along with Aiden.
Aiden didn’t answer, because what the hell? What was with these people and just plucking his secret identity straight out of his pocket like it was nothing? No big deal! Just the city's only hero who refuses to reveal who he is for a reason !
Aiden swung around and dragged his hands down his face, his mask bunching up just slightly as a result. “This is what I get for listening to Ash,” Aiden sighed. “God, why couldn’t I just say no? That’s it, jumping off the nearest skyscraper!”
“So I’m right?” Logan said, following Aiden as the masked hero began to walk away.
“If I said no would you believe me?” He crouched down, muttering for Logan to climb on his back. Logan obeyed, decidedly not looking at the corpse beside them.
“No, not really.”
“Ugh, how did you even find out? I don’t talk to you in school!” Aiden began crawling up the wall, looking around for a building tall enough for him to start swinging.
“Well, first off, you said one of your friends asked you to follow me home,” Logan began, "Which would be weird, unless your friend is also my friend! So that narrows it down a lot because I only have five friends.”
“Uh huh,” Aiden said, spotting where to shoot his web.
“Plus, your voice. It sounded familiar, which is also weird cause I don’t recognize voices too often unless I’ve been around them frequently. And the only other person whose voice I could recognize that isn’t my friend– but a friend of my friend– would have to be Aiden Clark.”
Aiden shot a web, tested it for Logan’s sake, and squatted down. “And Aiden– you– only talks to Ashlyn and Ben, but you said ‘friend’ earlier, implying it wasn’t someone related, like your cousin. This is another thing because they promised I would be safe tonight when I was worrying today. Wait, does that mean Ashlyn knows you’re Spiderman– does Ben?” Aiden jumped.
Aiden doubted that Logan realized what was happening while he was rambling because as soon as he jumped off the wall and they were swinging in the air, he started to scream. It would have been funny if it weren’t right in his ears.
When Aiden reached Logan’s house, it took longer than you’d expect because Logan was too busy screaming to give him coherent directions. Eventually, they made it to his doorstep without too many people peeping out their windows and wondering who was screaming like a child being kidnapped.
And even after all that screaming, as soon as Logan was safe and on the ground, he began to ask more questions. “Listen, it’s late, and I can’t really answer any of your questions right now–”
“Oh! That’s alright, I’ll ask you tomorrow! See you at school!” Logan smiled, thanking him for ‘uh, escorting me home,’ and shut the door.
Relieved, Aiden turned to leave and swing back to his own house, when he realized what Logan had said. I’ll ask you tomorrow! See you at school! Aiden winced, eye twitching but his grin never fading. Right. Another person in Ashlyn’s little friend group knew who he was now. That meant that he’d be hanging around Logan a lot more than before, which was not at all.
It hadn’t even been two weeks since Ben found out. “At this rate, I’m going to be in the friend group! Who’s next? Those twins?!”
—
Take it from Aiden Clark. Do. Not. Jinx yourself. Even sarcastically.
“So, let me get this straight,” Tyler put his face in his hand. “You want my sister to make you a ‘super cool machine thing that makes shooting things easier– but not a web, though.’
Ashlyn smacked her face, glaring at Aiden. “Yeah!” Aiden grinned. “What about it?”
Safe to say, the twins found out. And Taylor had just as many questions as Logan did. And before long Aiden was surrounded by them every single day. He’d been trying to avoid this outcome for the past year since they moved here, but of course nothing went his way.
A week passed. So far, after three months of riding the bus no longer alone, but instead with Ben and Ashlyn right beside him. Okay. That wasn’t so bad, Ben was his cousin, of course, he didn’t mind. And Ashlyn was– well, she was Ashlyn. And Aiden certainly didn’t have a problem with that, though it still took some getting used to. At least she was a nice, quiet presence.
Two months of Logan tagging along when Aiden was walking with Ben or Ashlyn to class. Each day, a new question. That took a little longer, but eventually, Aiden got used to that too.
One month walking through the school with Ben, Ashlyn, Logan, Tyler, and Taylor. Four weeks of eating lunch together instead of Aiden sneaking out and practicing his abilities. Twenty-eight days of no longer filling all his free time with just being Spiderman. Cause now, he was Aiden more than half of the time. And while that stressed him out sometimes, still getting accustomed, it was nice.
Even if he and Tyler fought every day about something new, soon it turned into joking and playful fights.
—
Logan yawned, setting his glasses down beside him as Tyler finished trimming Ashlyn’s bangs, they’d begun to get in the way and luckily for everyone, Tyler knew how to cut hair. Just a side hobby , he said.
“When is Spiderboy getting here? It’s almost eleven,” Tyler complained, setting the scissors aside.
Everyone was doing their own thing while they waited for Aiden. They’d told their parents they were having a late-night study session again, and somehow, they still believed it. But in reality, they were waiting for Aiden to finish with his patrol tonight.
“Sometimes it takes him a while, you know that,” Ash said, brushing her hair so Tyler could braid it.
“Like how he came back at two in the morning that one time?” Tyler snickered, Ashlyn, shaking her head in exasperation as everyone else laughed.
Once they’d all ‘figured’ out his identity, everyone always teased Aiden with their own stories. This time, Tyler was referencing how Ben had found out, Aiden crawling through their window at two in the morning, only to be faced with his cousin and a lot of explaining.
“Yes! You landed on my property, give it up, Ben!” Taylor grinned, extending her hand. Ben sighed and handed her two hundred dollars worth of Monopoly money.
“Woah, guys, come here,” Logan said, concern in his voice. Everyone turned their heads to him. He was sitting on the couch, supposed to be watching the Big Bang Theory last Ashlyn checked. But now, the TV was fixed on a live stream on YouTube. A girl from their high school, a senior was rambling as she fumbled to flip the camera. She was hidden inside a gas station in the city, people all around her yelling and recording the scene outside.
They would’ve gone back to their own thing if the title of the life wasn’t written in bold, sending a familiar pit of dread through the room. Suddenly, the room felt colder and darker.
SPIDERMAN FIGHT!! PHANTOMS IN NEW YORK CITY!!!
“Shoot,” Ashlyn whispered. Not a moment later, Aiden– Spiderman– shattered through their window, a phantom in tow.
“Ah, jeez,” Aiden groaned in pain as he stabbed the phantom in the head. It went limp on top of him and he shoved it off. Everyone had their phones out, recording or screaming, some both.
His eye caught on a girl he vaguely recognized, someone from school. Aidan stood, picking up pieces of glass that had stabbed through his suit. “Okay everyone, I know this is exciting and all, but you gotta leave.”
Did they listen? No. They just started bombarding him with questions instead. Are you going to save us? Who are you? How old are you ? Behind you, behind you!
Aiden whipped around, stabbing another phantom right in the chest as it ran at him. He was about to start shoving people out. Saving every single person here wasn’t going to be easy, and it didn’t help if they all refused to leave because they wanted to record it.
“I’m not kidding, leave!” Aiden yelled. “People are going to get killed, do you get that? Dead. Never coming back. Go–” A high-pitched scream pierced his ears. It sounded like a little girl. Shit , Aiden thought, looking for the source of the scream.
Adrenaline pumped through his veins, ready to aid him when he spotted the source of the noise. His heart dropped to his stomach when his eyes landed on a little girl pinned beneath a phantom.
Forgetting about the people inside the store, Aiden sprinted toward the girl. Just as the phantom was about to sink its teeth down into her flesh, a man barreled into it, knocking the monster away.
Aiden internally cursed, twisting himself out of the way and shooting out two webs at the girl. Pulling harshly, the girl knocked into his chest. Aiden stood back up, the little girl held against his chest. She was shaking, sobbing into the red-and-black fabric of his suit. He was shaking, too. He was almost too late.
But then, the yells and grunts of an older man brought back another surge of panic when he remembered the man that got to her before him. Aiden hissed, instructing the girl to hold onto him as he repositioned her on his back. “Okay, okay, come on, Aiden,” He whispered to himself as he looked for the man. It wasn’t hard, just follow the yells.
“Hold on!” Aiden yelled, sprinting toward him. Then, the nearby gastation exploded. The girl screamed in his ears as he fell, catching himself. The heat was smoldering, orange and red flames licking at the once-white walls. There had to have been people in there , Aiden shivered despite the heat. No. No, it’s fine, a small voice said in the back of his mind when he saw people– dark with soot and bleeding– running out of the back alleyway.
Turning his attention back to the man, he was instead met with a phantom twice his height. Aiden and the girl screamed as he ducked out of the way, knocking the thing off its feet and stomping its head in. Hey, super-strength came in handy.
Then another one came. And another one. Another.
Aiden yelled in frustration, his eyes fleeting toward the man on the ground. How he was still alive was beyond him, he did not skip arm day. But he was shaking like a leaf, trying to push back against the phantom, hands interlocked with black claws as it pushed down further and further. Black goop– probably drool, to be honest– was dripping onto the man's dark brown skin. He wouldn’t last much longer.
“Come on, come on!” Aiden growled, stabbing another phantom. “Just hang on a little longer–”
“No!”
Aiden’s mind blanked temporarily, stumbling as another phantom jumped at him. He grabbed its arm and tossed it over him, slamming its head into the ground. Black blood splattered onto the ground. “What?” Aiden said.
“Take her and run,” The man grunted again. “Go!”
“Daddy!” The girl screamed, snot and tears dripping down her face.
Oh.
Oh, fuck.
That’s why this random stranger saved her because he wasn’t a stranger at all. This girl was his daughter .
Oh no, oh no, oh no.
“Are you crazy?!” Aiden yelled. “I’m not leaving you.”
Another phantom. Sweep, kick, stab.
“Save my daughter, don’t you dare risk her life to save me–” The father was cut off by an agonized yell of pain. The phantom’s claws had stabbed into his shoulder, blood oozing and soaking into his once-white shirt.
“She needs her dad–”
Aiden cracked another phantom’s long, spiny neck. This girl couldn’t lose her father. What would she do?
Dark room. Moldy, uneaten food filling up his senses. Grime and sweat sticking to his skin like glue.
Phantom. Web, pull, kick in its skull. Another.
Dark eyebags, greasy hair, useless, muscles sinking into his dirty mattress. Why was he here?
“Daddy, get up!” The girl begged, unable to look away as the phantom dug further into the man’s skin. “ Please !”
Numb. Feelings, pain, sadness, he couldn’t feel it. He wanted to feel it. Dull eyes traveling up to a pair of scissors. Why were they here? Ah, Ben brought them. He’d sat beside Aiden as he accompanied him, doing his schoolwork. An art project. That’s right.
“Leave!” He yelled in return, blood dripping from his mouth.
Maybe…maybe Aiden could feel. He just needed to make himself feel something, something . He moved from his bed, slowly, slowly, sitting up for the first time in days. Wobbly, drunkenly, he walked toward the scissors on the floor.
Phantom. Phantom. Where were they all coming from? Stab. Kick. Punch. Twist. Break. Snap . They weren’t human. Monsters. Just monsters.
“No!” Aiden screamed, voice breaking. He couldn’t leave. She couldn’t live without her father. If he wasn’t there, who’d take care of her? Aiden didn’t know if she had any other family. He couldn’t do that to her, make her live a life so, so lonely. She wouldn’t go through was he did. He couldn’t let that happen.
“I love you, Celeste. Don’t forget, Daddy loves–”
But, sadly, you don’t always get what you want.
Just as Aiden killed another phantom, the man let out a blood-curdling scream. Aiden watched in horror as the phantom's teeth came down on his throat. CRUNCH .
Screams. He didn’t know whether they were his or the girl on his back– Celeste. Maybe both. Or maybe it was the sound of the people hiding in the stores, untouched by the phantoms.
It didn’t matter. He was dead.
—
Taylor sobbed into Tyler’s shoulder. Ashlyn was still staring at the TV, unable to process what had happened. The attack had ended ten minutes ago when the police had finally showed up. The phantoms were all shot down in a matter of minutes. Too many black corpses littered the ground to count.
Spiderman stood numbly as a bunch of reporters arrived on the scene. The YouTube live had been cut short by the news, forcibly switching it to their broadcast. The woman live had a microphone shoved into Aiden’s face. But he wasn’t looking at her, his gaze was fixated on the little girl who he saved. She was currently sitting with the ambulance, sobbing and hitting them as they took her father away, a white blanket covered his body.
“That was horrible,” Logan whispered. Ben’s eyes were wide open, the gruesome scene had been terrible to witness for everyone. Ashlyn couldn’t imagine what Aiden was feeling.
Oh, Aiden.
The boy looked smaller than ever as he mumbled something into the microphone before flicking a web out. Taking a running leap, he zipped away behind a set of buildings that led back to Queens.
As they waited, they began setting up the living room for tonight. Everyone’s parents had texted them, asking if they were safe and to stay at Ben’s tonight. It wasn’t safe enough for anyone to go out tonight. They’d pick them up in the morning.
Ben and Tyler went upstairs to get the blankets and Logan was grabbing the pillows from Aiden and Ben’s room. Taylor and Ashlyn were cleaning up the mess they’d left earlier.
“Hey, uhm, Ash?” Taylor said, sweeping the dead, ginger hair into the pan. “I’m gonna go upstairs real quick– to the bathroom, I just,” She sighed. “I feel kind of sick after all that.”
“That’s fine. I can finish up down here, do you want me to come with you?” Ashlyn asked.
“No, it’s okay. Someone should stay down here in case Aiden comes back.”
Ashlyn nodded and Taylor thanked her quickly before rushing upstairs, the bathroom door slamming shut.
She’d just finished cleaning the dishes when she heard a creak. It was small, but thanks to her sensitive hearing, Ashlyn noticed it. Her heart tripped, her mind immediately thinking a phantom must’ve broken in.
Instead, she was met with a de-masked Aiden, his eyes puffy and red. He looked tired and broken. Ashlyn didn’t know him for long, only just barely a few months, but it scared her. Such a defeated look wasn’t meant to be on Aiden’s face.
“...Aiden?” Ash said finally, breaking the silence. Maybe she said his name wrong or something because as soon as she spoke, tears started to pool over Aiden’s green eyes.
Ashlyn Banner wasn’t the best at comforting people, she was probably the last person you’d want to go to if you needed comfort, but if she learned one thing from Taylor and everyone else in the group, it was this.
She stepped forward and pulled Aiden into a hug, letting his salty tears drip, drip, drip down. Ash yelped when Aiden pulled them to the floor, sobbing. He was holding her tightly like he was afraid she was going to disappear.
“What’s going on?” Tyler said, rushing down the stairs with an armful of blankets. Ben was right behind him, arms equally full of blankets.
They saw Aiden and Ashlyn gave them a look. Tyler closed his mouth and nodded, setting the blankets down by the couch, Ben following suit.
Carefully, they knelt and joined Ash and Aiden. This only made Aiden sob louder, for whatever reason. But he didn’t pull away, in fact, he curled further in, like they were his shield from the rest of the world.
A few moments later, Taylor and Logan came down to check out the commotion. Ashlyn didn’t need to give them a look for them to rush down and join in. They all held Aiden like he was glass like he’d shatter at any moment.
And maybe they were right.
There they sat on the kitchen floor, Taylor whispering sweet nothings as he sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. His body racked with sorrow and guilt, enough to shake the whole group.
Aiden caught Taylor whispering, “You’re not alone. We’re here, you don’t have to do this alone anymore.”
And oh, god. She was right, wasn’t she?
Aiden had said that the worst part of being Spiderman had been the loneliness. But, purposefully or not, he wasn’t anymore. Because here he was, the lowest he’d ever been– because no, Spiderman couldn’t always save everyone– but he was anything but alone. He was loved.
And all throughout that night, as they held him and carefully brought him to the mess of blankets and pillows, as Ashlyn held his hand and Ben played with his hair just the way he liked it, a tiny voice whispered.
I’m okay.
He’d lost today. He couldn’t save everyone. And maybe he’d doomed that little girl to live the life he had before he’d become Spiderman. Alone. Numb. Wanting nothing more than to feel again.
But she’d be okay. Aiden would be okay, and as he fell asleep at three in the morning, sweaty, smelling like smoke and blood, everyone in some way giving him a touch that tasted and felt like love, he knew that little, small, whisper in the back of his mind, was right.
That little boy who rotted away in his room, did horrible things to himself that could never be taken back. That little boy that was no longer alone anymore smiled.
He would be okay, too.