Chapter Text
Friday, November 30
His whole life, Mike stayed pretty close to the ground.
It’s not like there was much that pulled him up above, so it was pretty easy to stay where it was comfortable, safe.
Though, working on the eleventh floor of his work is pretty close to the edge of his comfort zone. It took some getting used to at first, but honestly the view of mid-afternoon Brooklyn is quite a sight.
Mike stares out the window, slowly sipping his overpriced ice coffee. The Daily Bugle has a yearly gross income of $140 million and still doesn’t have a coffee machine in the break room, leaving Mike with no other options but the modernized coffee place on his bike ride to work from his apartment downtown. If you ask him, $6 coffee is ridiculous.
“Michael,” Nancy’s voice snaps him back into his reality, “what are you doing?”
He turns on his heel and looks down at his shockingly intimidating older sister, peering at him with a cross expression across her face.
“Sorry,” He grumbles, pushing past her back to his desk. He collapses into his swivel chair and twists around to face his eccentric coworker, Robin, who shuffles closer until her chair is directly beside his own.
“Listen,” She whispers dramatically, waving him closer. When he doesn’t adjust their proximity, she grabs his chair by the seat and yanks him right beside her. “I heard ‘bout this string of robberies downtown..” She begins.
Mike’s attention is barely caught, but immediately dissipates at her next sentence.
“I think if we head down there, we can get some great pictures and maybe even an interview with Spider-Man-“
He scoffs and rolls his eyes at the suggestion, sinking into his chair like a platter of melting ice cream.
“Before you scoff at me like that, hear me out!” She clasps her hands together.
Mike lifts his foot and kicks Robin's chair, pushing it a couple feet away.
“Robin, you know Spider-Man is impossible to catch,” Mike reminds her as she shuffles back to her spot beside him. “He’s too fast and always too busy for interviews.”
“Yes, but if we catch him right after he stops the robbery-“
Mike cuts her off with a loud groan. He swivels towards his desk and opens his laptop to start drafting an article about some school children planting flowers in a local park.
Robin sits, unmoving, staring a Mike with a grouchy expression on her face. He ignores her as she taps the wheels of his chair with her toe.
“You’d seriously rather sit in this office writing about boring gross stuff all day?” She asks, attempting to shove Mike’s computer shut. “What happened to fun? What happened to adventure?”
“What happened to getting paid?” Mike sighs, “How do you think our boss will feel if we take another field trip and return with no new material?”
“But we will get material! We wiiiill! I promise!” She grasps his shoulders and gives him an impertinent shake.
She releases him and gives him her best pleading face, which is by the way not very good, and Mike sighs with defeat.
“Fine, if you can convince Nancy to let us go.” Mike waves her away dismissively. She leaps up with a laugh and scurries to Nancy’s desk to make her request.
Mike reaches for his phone on his desk as he takes another long, drawn-out sip of his coffee. He notices messages from his friends’ group chat, talking about making plans to meet up this weekend. Before he can even unlock his phone to respond, he’s being jostled by an enthusiastic Robin, shouting at him to get off his ass.
“She really said yes?” Mike mumbles. He was expecting Nancy to decline Robin’s request to leave the office, but he guesses there must be a drought of good material.
Robin rushes him out of the office and into the elevator while Mike takes his time, exploiting the field trip as more time not having to sit at his desk.
It’s a short walk to where Robin insists is the next target of the robbers. The sidewalks are crowded, per usual, and traffic is loud. He and Robin sit on a bench across the street from the targeted business, a jewelry dealer, right outside a small Chinese convenience store.
“This is an awfully quiet robbery,” Mike says smugly. Robin only shushes him aggressively.
They both sit in silence, Mike watching the traffic go by and Robin’s eyes fixed on the glass windows of the jewelry store ahead of them.
Before Mike can suggest that they take the loss and head back to the office, a deafening crash from behind them alerts him and sends him out of his seat.
Robin shoots up next to him and they both stare at the convenience store behind them, glass shattered over the sidewalk and screaming civilians running in every direction.
“This is it!” Robin squeals. Mike merely stares in disbelief at the disaster, staggering backwards slightly. Another boom sends him and Robin to their knees, both covering their heads. Mike drops his coffee, spilling it over his shoes.
Mike peaks between his arms and notices fire flickering through the shattered windows. A quiet whoosh from over his head cues him to glance up to see a blur of yellow and grey flying straight into the flames.
Robin stands and pulls him up with her. She holds the camera around her neck up to her eyes and begins clicking away at the scene.
“What the hell?!” Mike finally speaks, feet frozen to the ground as he watches the blur of color emerge from the flames, carrying the two shop owners over his shoulders.
Spider-Man.
Mike watches as Spider-Man lowers the people to the ground, both conscious, and they stagger to hold each other.
Spider-Man whips around and sprints back into the burning store, but the smoke conceals the interior heavily, and it’s impossible to tell what’s happening.
“We should get out of here-“ Mike shouts to Robin, continuing to step backwards, the heat of the flames sending stinging tears to his eyes.
“No! This is too good.”
Two beams of bright light shoot through the doorway, like lasers, cutting a streetlamp completely in half.
Spider-Man swings out of the shop and perches on the streetlamp, flying backward to avoid another laser beam. This one hits the side of a Toyota, causing the driver to swerve over the curve and pummel straight towards Mike.
He watches in shock as the car heads straight for him, making a measly attempt to protect himself by covering his head. He braces for impact and waits for the car to crash into his body.
An arm snakes around his waist and without warning, his feet leave the ground. Feeling the wind in his hair and the heat of the flames leaving his face, he lifts his head slightly and opens his eyes.
The city is flying before him, as he looks over the shoulder of Spider-Man, who’s holding him against his own body. Mike whimpers slightly as he watches the car crash into the bench where he and Robin had just been standing. Robin is staring up at them from a few feet away, and a rush of relief falls over him when he realizes she got out of the way in time.
His arms instinctively wrap around the superhero’s shoulders, holding him tightly, hoping not to fall.
The ride only lasts a few seconds. Spider-Man lands on the other side of the street corner, far away from the battle, and helps Mike stand.
“Are you okay?” He asks, his hand on Mike’s back to steady him slightly. “Are you hurt?”
His questions are rushed, but incredibly empathetic. Mike had never been this close to a hero before, and he takes in the view slightly. Spider-Man is shorter than him.
“Yeah,” Mikes voice trembles slightly, “I’m okay.”
Despite the mask, his face conveys noticeable emotion. Spider-Man’s eyes light up slightly and he gives Mike a thumbs-up, as if confirming that Mike is truly okay. He responds with a confident nod, and Spider-Man pats him on the shoulder quickly before shooting web from his hands back towards the crime scene, swinging away and leaving Mike safely by himself on the sidewalk.
On the other side of the street, the battle is concluding as Spider-Man finishes off the now-revealed robber. Robin is waving her arms in the air wildly and yelling to the hero, trying to flag him down before he can swing away.
Mike’s feet finally begin to move again. He waits for the crosswalk light to turn green, not trying to nearly get hit by another car, and jogs across the street to Robin’s side as she manages to catch Spider-Man’s attention.
“Hey! Spider-Man! Do you have the time for a quick interview?” She holds out a small microphone, and I’m not sure where she got it.
“Uhh,” He stammers, wiping some dust from his suit, “I gotta swing, really-“
“How about a quick picture? With my associate?”
She reaches an arm out and pushes Mike into Spider-Man, who wraps an arm over his shoulder and holds out a peace sign for the picture. Mike rushes an awkward smile, and before he knows it, a gust of wind signals him that Spider-Man is gone.
“Check this out!” Robin smiles as she blocks the sun from the camera screen and tilts it towards Mike.
Something about the photo shifts something in Mike. Spider-Man’s thick biceps, his sweet upturned eyes, the arm around Mike’s shoulder.
“What do you think?” Robin asks, nudging him with her shoulder. Mike grins slightly.
“I think.. it’s a good photo.”