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Maurice had never meant for it to start the way it did.
At first, being Spider-Man was about not dying, then about helping people, then, somewhere along the way, it became about him.
Jack.
It was stupid. Deeply, profoundly stupid.
But it was also the only way to flirt with him without ruining their friendship.
—
It started in third period.
Maurice was halfway through solving a problem the teacher hadn’t even finished writing when he heard the commotion.
With a glance towards the window, he groaned.
Great.
Police cars sped through the streets, sirens wailing loudly as the tires skeeted against the road.
The brunette bit his lip anxiously, turning to stare at Jack, who was too busy taking notes to notice.
Roger sat next to him, not working, but instead doodling something that looked suspiciously like their math teacher getting hit by a bus.
Maurice exhaled.
“Can I go to the bathroom?” he requested with a quick raise of the hand.
The teacher barely looks at him. “Make it quick.”
—
The incident wasn’t even that big.
A car accident right outside the school, two vehicles smashed at a bad angle, with smoke curling from the hood, people gathering like it was a show.
Maurice, or better yet Spider-Man, landed on the pavement in a crouch, already moving.
“Hey, hey, everyone back!” he shouted, voice filtered and distorted through the mask.
With a quick yank, he opened the bent car door like it weighed nothing. Inside, a woman was panicking, hands shaking.
“It’s okay,” he comforted, voice softer now. “I’ve got you.”
He got her out. Another person was trapped. He webbed the cracked windshield, stabilizing it, and pulled.
Sirens get closer.
And then…
Voices.
A lot of them.
Students.
Of course.
Shit.
The entire school began spilling out onto the sidewalk, phones already out, chatter loud and excited.
Maurice didn’t have to look to know they were there.
But he did anyway.
And his gaze landed exactly where it always did.
Jack.
Standing near the front, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, not in awe like everyone else, but in analysis. Like he was trying to solve something.
Roger stood beside him, muttering something under his breath that Jack smirked at.
Maurice felt his chest tighten under the suit.
Well.
If he was already here…
With a quick swing down from the wreckage, he landed a few feet from the crowd. People began to talk over each other.
Questions, praise, eagerness.
He barely heard any of it.
Because he was too busy looking at Jack.
And Jack was looking right back.
“…He’s staring again,” Roger groaned, loud enough for Jack but not for the others. “Dude’s got a crush on you.”
Jack faintly laughed, feeling his ego raise as he continued to analyze the boy in the spider suit. For a mere second he looked to Roger, “where’s Maurice?” He asked, only for the shorter boy to shrug in reply.
Spider-Man felt his heart jump.
Carding a hand through his curly blond hair, Jack turned back to continue squinting.
Spider-Man tilted his head slightly. “Y’know,” he said casually, voice light, directed only at Jack, “you look a lot less impressed than everyone else.”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “Should I clap?”
“Oh, I mean, if you want to,” Spider-Man shrugged. “I wouldn’t stop you.”
A flicker of amusement crossed the boy’s pretty face despite himself. “Bit full of yourself, aren’t you?”
“Only on days that end in ‘y.’”
Roger frowned. “His personality is just as stupid as his mask.”
Spider-Man glanced at the shorter blond. “Shut up Rog—shut up, you!”
Then back to Jack.
A beat.
“Careful,” Spider-Man added, voice much more confident than it would be if he were still Maurice. “You keep looking at me like that, people might get the wrong idea.”
The teen’s blue eyes narrowed further. “…What idea is that?”
“That you’re into me.”
The crowd erupts, half laughing, half gasping. He almost forgot they were there.
Jack didn’t react right away.
Then, slowly, he smirked.
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
Spider-Man grinned under the mask.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
And before anyone can say anything else, he shoots a web, launches himself upward and disappears.
—
By the time Maurice snuck back into class, slightly out of breath and trying to look like he just took a very long, very normal bathroom break, the room was in chaos.
Everyone was talking at once.
“Did you see—”
“He was right there—”
“He talked to Jack—”
Jack.
Maurice glanced over.
The blond was leaning back again, now with a crease between his brows.
From his right, Roger caught his eye and smirked. “Bathroom, huh?” he teased.
The brunette sat down, ignoring the way Roger kicked his chair. “Yeah.”
—
It didn’t stop there.
It definitely didn’t stop there.
Spider-Man began showing up more often.
Not in obvious ways. Not enough to raise alarms.
Just enough.
A quick stop outside school when Jack was around.
A “coincidental” appearance when Jack was walking home..
Little things.
And every time…he talked to the boy.
Flirted, even.
It was easier with the mask. Easier to be bold, to say things Maurice would choke on.
“Miss me?” Spider-Man asked one afternoon, perched upside down on a streetlight as Jack and Roger walked beneath.
Maurice said he had to go home early.
Jack didn’t even look up at first. “No.”
“Wow. That’s cold.”
Roger shaded his eyes, looking up. “Do you ever shut up?”
“Not really, no.”
Jack finally glanced at him. “…Don’t you have crimes to fight?”
Spider-Man shrugged. “Multitasking.”
“Flirting with civilians is part of the job now?”
“Only the interesting ones.”
Jack huffed a quiet laugh despite himself.
Roger spat. “This is unbearable.”
—
It started to build.
A pattern.
A tension.
Jack began expecting him.
Watching for him.
And Maurice?
Maurice started forgetting where the line was.
—
It was late.
The city was quieter, the air cooler. Maurice perched on the side of the blond’s house for a full five minutes before he worked up the nerve to tap lightly on the glass.
Nothing.
He tapped again.
The curtain shifted..
Jack finally appeared, blond curls messy, expression already irritated as he opened the window. “…You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Spider-Man only raised a hand. “Hi.”
Jack stared at him, leaning against the window frame, unimpressed. “How do you know where I live?”
Maurice freezes for half a second too long. He forgot. Only Maurice knew where Jack lived. Not Spider-Man.
“Public records?” he tried.
Jack’s eyes narrowed immediately. “That’s not how that works.”
“Google is a powerful tool.”
“Yeah, for people who aren’t full of shit.”
Ouch.
Spider-Man scratched the back of his head. “Okay, fair.”
The taller boy sighed, rubbing his face. “What do you want?”
There was an edge to it, annoyance, but also something underneath.
“I just…want to talk.”
Jack studied him for a moment.
Then, surprisingly, he stepped back. “Fine. Make it quick.”
Spider-Man slipped inside, landing lightly.
The room was dim, lit only by a lamp. It smelled faintly like laundry detergent and something warmer.
Normal.
It felt weird to be here like this.
“Five minutes,” Jack said, crossing his arms as he sat down on his bed. “Then you leave.”
“Harsh.”
“Efficient.”
Spider-Man huffed a quiet laugh.
They talked.
About nothing, at first.
Snarky comments, back-and-forth, the same rhythm they’ve fallen into, but closer now.
Quieter.
Realer.
The brunette found himself relaxing.
Forgetting.
At some point, he ended up hanging upside down from the ceiling beam, because of course he does.
The blond looked up at him.
“…You’re so weird.”
“You like it.”
Jack scoffed. “Debatable.”
But he didn’t look away.
There was a pause.
A longer one this time.
Maurice’s heart pounded in his throat.
Jack stepped closer.
“Y’know,” he said slowly, “you talk a lot.”
“Comes with the job.”
“Mm.”
Jack reached up.
Maurice didn’t move.
Fingers hooked lightly under the edge of the mask.
The shorter’s breath caught.
“Jack—”
Too late.
Jack tugged it down just enough to lean in.
The kiss was brief.
Soft.
He was still upside down, and it knocked the air out of him completely.
Jack pulled back first.
For a second, neither of them spoke.
Then, the blond smirked. “You know,” he began, “if anyone else was under that mask, I wouldn’t be this nice.”
“…what do you mean?”
“You’re lucky my crush is on Maurice, and not Spider-Man, because this mask is ridiculous. Roger’s right.”
Maurice felt his heart drop.
Jack smiled.
Not long later, Maurice was smiling too.