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Gunshots.
That and the local police radio sitting on his desk just as he put his bag down from school, crackling about an armed robbery is all it took for Aidan to change and rush out of his house.
“Shit,” He sighed, adrenaline coursing through his veins as he whipped out a web and swung in the direction of the discourse.
Not too surprised, Aiden was met with an armed robbery. Two guys in crappy ski masks with guns, one threatening the cashier to put the money in the damn bag, or else! (I mean really, get creative.) and the other acting as backup, keeping an eye out for the police.
A few months ago, Aiden would have been scared shitless, shaking as he entered the scene, heart pounding. That was still the case, but it was just a buzz in the back of his mind now. His heart thumped in anticipation of the fight, hands steady and head clear.
Disarming the robbery had been no problem and took less than ten minutes. All Aiden had to do was sneak in using using the vents (awesome, right? He’d always wanted to do that!), disarm the robbers, and apprehend the criminals, leaving them hanging upside down from the ceiling with his webs, just for a little pizzazz.
The real problem head appeared a minute later, in the form of self-righteous men in uniforms and flashing blue-red lights. How on earth it had taken them this long to get here? Aiden had no idea. But he unfortunately didn’t notice until they were breaking down the door, guns pointed at him. Aiden was just a bit annoyed the Cashier still quivering at the desk hadn’t warned him that hey, maybe he should get going because he was a wanted vigilante! No. Of course not.
“Yikes! Watch the face!” Aiden yelped as he dodged the oncoming bullets and swung away. I mean, seriously, bullets?!
The moral of the story, he didn’t get a lot of sleep that night. And now he was paying the price for it because not even the Great Spiderman could skip his english class. Stay in school, kids.
His english teacher, Mr. Bruner, continued to drone on. They were currently covering The Odyssey. And normally, he would have been paying attention to every detail, being a sucker for Greek Mythology, but he could barely keep his eyes open.
Just as Aiden was about to give in to his exhaustion; the lunch bell rang, startling him awake.
Packing his things sluggishly, he yelped as Tyler, his semi-friend (oh yeah, he had those now) bumped his side with a deadpan face, but even Aidan through his exhaustion could see the hint of worry on his face. “Hey, you look like a dead boy walking, how much sleep did you get last night?”
Aiden chuckled. “Do I really look that bad?”
The duo made their way into the bustling halls, “Just a little– like a walking corpse.” Tyler grinned as he dodged a group of rowdy freshmen pushing each other into the green lockers.
“Gee, thanks.”
Tyler snickered, “Anyway, Ash wanted me to ask if you wanted to grab lunch with us again today.”
Aiden perked up at this, the sleep lifting from his shoulders almost immediately at the mention of the ginger. Though, they almost immediately sagged at the mention of the rest of her friend group being there. Don’t get him wrong, they were nice and everything, but he was tired. And frankly, he just didn’t know them that well, even though Tyler talked to him from time to time outside of class.
Aiden gulped as he clenched his the rest straps of his bag. “Uh, I don’t know about today–”
“Aiden!” Ashlyn gasped, latching onto Aiden’s shoulder from behind. “Aiden, we need to go, bananas, apples, bananas and apples!” Ashlyn rambled, trying to catch her breath, looking like all hell. Aiden’s heart dropped into his stomach after it had just settled from the sudden scare. Didn’t she have her fourth period all the way on the other side of the school?
“Speak of the devil,” Confused, Tyler furrowed her brows, “And what the hell? Apples and what?”
“Uhm, she means she’s just really hungry, you know, forgot her lunch,” Aiden smiled nervously, hooking his arm through Ashlyn’s. “We’ll see you guys later, yeah?” Not giving Tyler any time to respond, he began speeding away, Ashlyn in tow.
“We’ll have lunch tomorrow, yeah!” Tyler called after them as the dove through the tidal wave of hungry students.
Disappointment pooled in his gut at having to leave behind the promise of lunch with possible friends (he was going to say no anyway, but still), at times it kind of sucked being New York City’s only hero. Maybe if he hadn’t been bit last summer, he would be eating lunch with his maybe-are-they?-friends right now. But he knew that more than likely wouldn’t have been the case.
He’d be sitting alone either eating in an empty, quiet classroom, the bathroom, or just skipping lunch entirely.
Man, being Spiderman was a hard job, someone should start paying him for this. This was a joke, the adrenaline coursing through scar-littered skin was enough of a pay.
Aiden shook his head, dragging himself and Ashlyn into an empty classroom, the teacher gone for conference period. “What’s going on, is it another robbery?” He asked as he began to strip his red hoodie and jeans off, grateful that he always kept his suit underneath his clothing, just in case.
“Brooklyn bridge, it collapsed,” Ashlyn rushed out, surprising herself with how winded she was considering her sport. She should apologize to the students she knocked to the floor on her way over here– “They got all the cars out in time–”
“Thank God,” Aiden interrupted, his heart spiking in anticipation. “Wait, then what is it?”
“There’s a bus, a school bus, from the nearby elementary school.” She responded. “Your cousin’s school.”
Time stopped for a moment, all the blood draining from his face almost immediately. He stumbled toward Ashlyn, dropping his mask as he gripped her shoulders, wrinkling the green army shirt. “Lily, her field trip was today–” No, no, no . Light Headed and panicky, the situation becoming a lot more personal a lot more quick. No. No. Nononon onono
“Half the bus is tipped over. The police don’t know what to do without unbalancing the whole thing.” Ashlyn said quietly, keeping him steady. “I’d give you maybe ten more minutes before it plummets into the water.” A bit brutal, but it’s that same honesty that slaps Aiden out of his daze and into action. He’d learned to appreciate the blunt quality of the girl.
A second passed as he processed, Ashlyn green eyes boring into him, and Aiden had his mask on. He unlatched the nearest window, and launched a web onto a building and zipped away, eternally grateful that their high school was so close to the city.
It was cloudy today, the promise of rain hanging in the air before breaking away as Aiden tore through the air with a whoosh. It took him all of five minutes before he found himself on top of a nearby office building, looking down on the quickly tumbling bridge.
Cars were left abandoned on the bridge, the last stragglers running to safety as cops pushed and yelled for reinforcements. He could hear the chaos from up where he stood, and he quickly felt like it was his first day on the job.
He’d had multiple near death experiences, injuries, and almost-losses that he lay awake thinking about at night. The fear and the anticipation of every fight and dangerous situation playing through his mind like a sick melody that he clung on like a lifeline.
But God, he’d never felt this downright horrified as he flung himself off the building, his web sticking to the top of the bridge as he rushed to the bus full of screaming children.
His stomach dropped with him, but the adrenaline no longer felt exhilarating, he only knew that he was playing God. And tonight, even just an hour from now, if he failed, he would be going home with something lost. Someone.
Aiden landed harshly onto the concrete, noting the police officers already on the scene and trying and failing to hook the bus onto an firetruck to keep it steady as they helped the children off.
He heard a thunder in the distance, gray clouds rolling in as he took all of three seconds to shoot his webs onto the bus and pull.
Now, Aiden was strong. He had superhuman strength, because of course that’s what happens when you get bit by a radioactive spider. And he would’ve been fine without the scrambling officers frantically trying to find out what to do as he grunted and heaved, pulling the bus up, up, up, trying to latch the tied webs to the firetruck.
“Well, what are you doing, standing there?!” He heard a voice, deep and resounding over the Aiden risked a glance, his heart pounding at the familiar voice. A tanned face with a long scar running across his cheek and stout green eyes met his, and Mike Banner nodded in acknowledgement. “Help the man!” He barked at the rest of his team.
And help they did.
Mike Banner, Chief of the Brooklyn Police. He was very nearly famous for all the people he’d saved in his still young career, and how fast the man had ranked up. He also happened to be in charge of the team trying and currently failing to find the man behind Spiderman’s mask and bring him in for Vigilantism.
He was also Ashlyn’s father.
Yeah, that had been a fun surprise the first time he’d stepped foot into her house to ‘study.’ Really, they were there to discuss his side-job as New York’s Hero, obviously.
But yes, Chief Banner had taken every chance he could to bring Spiderman into justice, and yet, here he was, putting aside their differences to save these kids. If Aiden pushed it– and he would, later that night, push it with a girlish squeal– it was almost like they were partners.
Next thing Aiden knew, the bus might as well have been light as a feather as several officers split up in accordance to Mike’s next bellowing orders. Some helped guide the person driving the firetruck to Aiden, the long, thick, metal wire stretching to meet Aiden’s webs. The several others grabbed with just a moment of hesitation onto said webs, pulling with all their might as the screams of the children rushed back to Aiden’s ears.
Slowly and surely, the bus was semi-steady as they managed with one last heave-ho to connect it to the firetruck.
His arms ached and his legs were burning, more than sure he pulled something as he ran to the bus, wasting no time in busting the emergency door open.
Almost immediately, the cries of his sister’s class became louder as they reached out for him desperately, snot running down their noses. He knew they’d only end up hurting each other with how they were pushing and shoving to get out first.
“Hey, Banner!” He called behind him as he reached for the first child’s hand. The man met his eyes, listening (or where they would be, he had his mask.) “I’m going to give the kids to your guys once I pull them out. We don’t have much time before my webs snap!”
“Alright Spiderman,” Mike agreed with a huff. “Don’t get too use to giving me orders, now.”
And Aiden would have smiled with glee at the joke if he weren’t desperately looking through the crowd of crying elementary schoolers for his cousin.
“One at a time, kids!” Aiden yelled into the growing chaos of screams. “I can’t get you all out if you’re pushing each other, single file!” Most of them listened, thankfully. Other’s still sobbed and pushed until it was their turn to be lifted out, using the bus seats as leverage to keep from slipping on the slope.
It felt natural as his heart pounded, his hand outstretched and clasping another parent’s child, after child, after child. The officers followed Aiden’s orders, hands ready to catch them as they skidded off the back of the bus and into their arms, wailing.
It was only maybe two minutes, but it felt like hours before he caught a glimpse of Lily in the very back of the crowd, holding her crying friend’s hand as she told her it would be okay because Spiderman is here! Though that didn’t dissuade the tears in her own eyes while she sniffled.
Finally, she grabbed Lily’s friend’s hand, a girl she recognized as Mckenna from her last birthday party. He carefully handed her off to an awaiting officer before turning to Lily.
“Hey, little girl,” Aiden said softly as she reached her hand out. “An awful lot of trouble you’ve gotten yourself into now, huh?”
Lily giggled, sniffling as she clasped his hand, and it felt like the guarantee of her laughter tonight at the dinner table tonight. His heart continued to thump, thump, thump against his ribcage as he lifted her up.
But of course, that’s when his webs decided to snap.
He heard yells from the officers, but they were unintelligible as the bus began to creak and groan beneath him. Sinking down with a hard jump, as if the bus itself were scared for its life, Lily’s hand was snatched from his.
She screamed as she fell down into one of the seats with a hard thump, Aiden’s brain getting rocked inside his head as his body stayed steadily on; courtesy of his ability to climb on walls.
“Lily!” He yelled as he heard the web’s begin to snap again, growing thinner and thinner. “Lily, I need you to climb. Now!”
But she didn’t listen. She was sobbing and wailing and screaming, and she was just a kid. She was his favorite little cousin that’d practically become his sister, and Ben’s actual sister. And god dammit, she was going to come home.
“Lily, please, I know this is scary–”
“Ben!” She interrupted, crying as she clung onto the seat in a ball, screaming again when the bus moaned and began to sink further down the bridge. “Aiden!”
Aiden stopped still, his blood running cold as her plea rang in his ear, her brown hair tangled and sticking to her face with sweat and tears.
Lily needed to get out.
Lily needed someone to save her.
And that someone wasn’t Spiderman.
“Hey, Bunny,” He said, his voice gentle but still loud enough to be heard. “I’m right here.”
Lily gasped softly, looking up at him when she heard the familiar nickname. Her cousin had given it to her when she’d come home from school with a bunny in tow.
Can we keep her, she’d begged with stars in her eyes, drawing out a long please.
And Aiden’s parents had no real reason to say no, so that very same bunny (she’d named her angel) was now waiting for her back at home.
Aiden felt a small relief as she looked at him, cries momentarily turned to sniffles as she looked up at him in wonder and confusion.
Slowly, he found the edges of his mask, and tugged it off. Time seemed to slow as he willingly did. He would have to have a conversation with her about keeping secrets and how important this one was later, but that was a problem that future Aiden would gladly deal with if that meant Lily was safe and alive for it to be a problem.
“I’m right here,” He repeated once the recognition flashed across her face. “And I’m going to need you to climb up, okay? I know you’re scared, but I’ve got you.”
The sky began to cry, the sound resounding like an echo from inside the metal bus. Aiden could feel his suit quickly soaking from the cold water.
And Lily only hesitated for a moment, wiping her nose before nodding. “Okay,” She mumbled. Aiden tried his best not to rush her as she climbed the seats, wiping her hair out of her eyes, the rain soaking it to her face. Aiden continued to talk about everything and nothing as the bus swung, crying for mercy.
“There we go,” Aiden said when she finally reached him. Quickly, he put his mask back on, leaving enough of his face for her to see as he stuck his hand out. “Almost there–”
He heard more screams and yells for him to get out when the bus finally tipped over.
“Lily, jump! ” He practically screamed.
Lily obeyed, but the angle was simply too much of a slope, and the rain too harsh for her to steady herself enough. Her feet slipped from under her, and she was gone.
His stomach dropped as he and the bus plummeted down toward the ocean, the space between them with each passing second. “Shit!” He gasped, his voice breaking as he threw a web out, not waiting to see if it latched onto anything before turning and launching another web. The bus was falling straight down, giving him a perfect view through the back door as the web landed straight on Lily’s chest and he pulled tight.
Lily came flying out of the bus, screaming and kicking as the vehicle was left behind before crashing into the water like a gunshot.
Aiden blinked, his throat closed as his most vital organ attempted to escape. If he didn’t know any better, he’d swear that his ribs were cracked from the sheer force and speed of which his heart was pounding.
Lily swung from the web, back and forth, back and forth. He could only hear the blood rushing in his ear before he heard the hollers and whoops from above. He didn’t need to force himself to look away, his eyes focused on only Lily as the officers and bystanders roared from above.
He could only speak when he heard Lily’s crying turn into laughs, no doubt still in shock, but at least the crowd were good for something in that moment.
It was only Aiden and Lily as they swung almost peacefully above the water despite the calls and congratulations above, the rain falling around them like harsh confetti. Lily was okay. She was going to come home. This wouldn’t be Aiden’s Spiderman’s first loss. Aiden pulled her up, sure that his arms weren’t going to be usable for the next week. She had to climb the rest of the way before making it into his arms.
“Hey, little girl,” He sighed, smiling exhaustively as she giggled.
“Hi, Aiden,” She grinned, her eyes red.
“Shhh,” Aiden furrowed his brows before smiling more genuinely, whispering. “It’s a secret. Call me Spiderman.”
Lily beamed.
Two hours later, after the officers had helped pull Aiden and Lily up,(Lily had fixed Aiden’s mask, patting him on the head) he was free to go home. Mike himself (partners!!!) patted him on the back and reassured him he’d personally drive her home after she was checked for injuries with the other children.
Aiden could go home. And he did.
Well. He would have gone.
But he got a message from his phone when he was about to swing onto his street.
Ash!: Hey 4:52 pm
Ash!: You left your stuff, want me to bring it to you? 4:52 pm
That’s when Aiden realized that he wasn’t quite ready to go inside yet. He didn’t want to deal with the news that would inevitably be playing on the TV. He didn’t want to see anyone. Period.
…
He kind of wanted to see Ashlyn.
Me: omw 4:56 pm
—
Ashlyn didn’t know why she sent that text.
Okay. That was a lie. She did.
She’d seen the news, the helicopters flying overhead of the bridge scene had made sure of that. She’d seen everything from the collapse to Aiden saving his little cousin, Lily, from plummeting to her death in the Brooklyn water.
Ashlyn had also seen what she was sure no one else did.
From Aiden’s hunched form, body racked with shivers and trembles, his screams as the bus fell. He was scared. Obviously he was, this was his little cousin he’d almost lost.
But what only she knew, as far as she could tell, Aiden was a still a child. A kid. A teenager.
And Ashlyn was worried.
“Crap!” She yelped, dropping her phone with a clatter onto the floor as she whipped her head to the steady knocks on her window. Aiden, no longer in his costume, waved at her with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
Quickly snatching her phone from off the floor, closing the tab of messages from Aiden she was definitely not rereading, she unlatched the window with a steady smile that felt foreign to her. She thought Aiden might need it though.
“Hey, Clark,” She said, helping him inside.
“Hi,” Aiden said quietly, pushing his hoodie sleeves up before adding almost as an afterthought. “Ash.”
His hair was all over the place, dark, wild, and unkempt. His eyes were listless, a bruised arc carved beneath them carefully from what she imagined were many sleepless nights.
His bag lay at the foot of her bed beside her own, dark red with smiley face pins that did not match the heavy atmosphere of the room.
“Uhm,” Ash said as Aiden continued to look away from her, instead choosing to stare at the floor. “Is Lily–”
“The Cranes did it,” He interrupted, finally turning to look at her. His face was devoid of emotion, yet so full of it as he met her eyes. Exhaustion carved beneath his eyes, anger swirling in his pupils, stubbornness etched in the furrow of his brows, and resolve in the tilt of his lips. “They’re the reason all those kids almost died today.”
Ashlyn stared at the boy that was just that, a boy, with all the burden of a grown adult weighing on his shoulders. She reached a hand out subconsciously. “What are you talking about? It was too bright for phantoms, and the Cranes couldn’t have known Lily was on that bus, or who she is to you.”
Aiden clenched his fists, looking down with a trembling frown. He looked more like a growing shadow than a human in the dark of her room in that moment, the only thing reassuring Ashlyn that he was in fact, Aiden, was the gray light pooling into her room from the window. The sun wasn’t out, gray clouds making sure of that much, but it was light nonetheless.
“Aiden,” Ashlyn said when he didn’t answer.
“I don’t know how they did it,” He said eventually, quietly. “But The Brooklyn Bridge doesn’t just collapse like that. Maybe they don’t know anything about Lily or who I am under my mask, maybe it was just a coincidence.” He looked up at her again, and now Ashlyn could only see a deep set fear and sadness rather than that myriad of emotions that made her so lost in what to do. “But that coincidence almost cost me Lily’s life.”
Ashlyn bit her lip, forcing herself to meet his gaze. She couldn’t look away, he was looking for something in her, and she wasn’t going to leave him hanging. Maybe she didn’t know what to do about everything that Aiden was carrying, everything that he had been carrying alone until she found out
Letting her hand fall back limp to her side, she breathed before stepping closer to him. Closer, closer, closer, until there was just a few inches separating them, and she could swear she felt his breath on her face, shaky and warm.
Aiden was stressed. He was worried, and he was scared.
Aiden was just a sophomore in high school.
“I think,” She said gently, hesitantly wrapping her arms around his torso, the fabric slightly wet from the softening rain, but still soft against her skin. “That you saved not just Lily, but all of those kids. And now, those parents don’t have to eat dinner with an empty seat tonight where someone had been just that morning.” She heard a small hiccup from above her as she pulled Aiden close, her chin resting just below his shoulder.
“As much as I hate to fuel your ego, you were a hero today. And I think even hero’s need to let themselves rest and focus on their chemistry test on Friday instead of tracking down gangs.”
Aiden let out a wet laugh above her as he finally curled his arms around her, bringing her tight against his chest as those laughs turned to sniffles, then choked sobs.
And as his tears fell, Ashlyn held him the entire time to make sure he didn’t.
The sky was growing darker as the hours went by, the growing thunder crashing in the distance as Ashlyn and Aiden lay side by side on her floor in silence. Aiden breathed quietly, his arms behind his head, Ashlyn’s arms on her chest.
Aiden felt… better.
He felt better than he had in ages, actually.
Who knew crying was good for you? Maybe he should do it more often.
The rain knocked against the roof of the house, deafened, like tapping your fingers on the side of your bathtub as you dunked your head underwater.
It was peaceful. Aiden felt safe, safer than he ever felt back at his house.
And maybe that’s why he broke their steady silence when a sudden, revolutionary thought came into his head.
“Hey, Ash?” Aiden said, turning his head to look at her, they’re shoulder’s close enough to touch.
“Yeah?” She said, taking a second before turning her head to look at him. “What’s up?”
Aiden hesitated for a moment, realizing just how close they were. They’re faces were mere inches away from each other. If Aiden scooted just a little bit closer, they’re hair could tangle together… among other things.
Aiden licked his lips, forcing his heart to steady in fear that Ashlyn would hear it with her super hearing, “There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you, for a while now actually.”
“...Yeah?”
Aiden took a deep breath, refusing to break away from the emerald green of her eyes. He’d never seen them from this close. “I…uh…”
Just say it , he scolded himself as she blinked at him from the growing dark of her room. Like a bandaid, just rip it off!
“Ashlyn,” He restated, clearing his throat.
“Yes?”
“...”
“Can you help me dye my hair?”
“...Seriously..?”
“Please! Come on, it’ll be so good, I promise. I even brought it to school with me to ask you today! You even told me to do something about my hair when you first met me–”
“I meant like, I don’t know! A haircut or something!”
“I want to be blond!”
“Oh my God.”
“Please, please, please, please–”
“Jesus, fine!”
“ Yes !”