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The city blurred beneath him in streaks of gold and red, neon signs melting into headlights through the haze gathering behind Ravi’s eyes.
Everything hurt.
His ribs screamed every time he shot out another web. His shoulder had gone numb somewhere around Brooklyn. There was blood drying sticky beneath the fabric of his suit, more still dripping steadily from the cut near his side every time he moved wrong.
And he was late.
Very late.
“Fantastic,” he muttered breathlessly as he swung around the corner of a building. “Absolutely fantastic. Love that for me.”
A sharp pulse of pain shot through his torso when he landed badly against a fire escape. He hissed through his teeth, clutching his ribs.
“Seriously,” he groaned at the empty night sky, “if I see one more guy with glowing weapons tonight, I’m moving to Nebraska.”
His mask was torn near the jaw. One lens was cracked. He’d lost count of how many times he’d been thrown through concrete in the last hour alone.
And somehow the thing making his stomach twist the most wasn’t the blood loss.
It was the fact that he was supposed to be having dinner with May’s parents in twenty-three minutes.
Well.
Negative twenty-three minutes now.
“Great first impression, Panikkar,” he muttered. “Captain of the fire department and captain of the police department. Show up bleeding to death. Very charming.”
He could already picture Athena’s expression.
Actually, no.
He couldn’t.
Because every time he tried, his brain supplied May’s face instead.
May, smiling at him earlier that week when she reminded him about dinner.
May, teasing him about how nervous he was.
May, promising him her parents would love him.
Ravi swallowed hard and forced himself forward.
Just get there.
He could change out of the suit in some alley nearby. Wash the blood off. Pretend he hadn’t nearly been folded in half by a man with mechanical claws fifteen minutes ago.
Easy.
Another swing.
Another stab of pain.
His vision tilted unpleasantly for half a second.
“Okay,” he breathed. “Maybe not easy.”
The familiar building finally came into view and relief hit him so hard it nearly made his knees buckle.
May’s bedroom light was still on.
Of course it was.
She was probably studying.
And sure enough, when he landed clumsily onto the fire escape outside her room, he could already see her through the half-open window, cross-legged at her desk in an oversized sweatshirt surrounded by nursing textbooks and loose notes.
The window was cracked open just enough for him to slip through.
Like always.
Like she’d unconsciously left space for him in her life long before either of them admitted what this really was.
Ravi smiled tiredly beneath the mask.
Then immediately winced because apparently even smiling hurt tonight.
One hand pressed hard against the bleeding wound in his side while he stumbled toward the window.
Okay.
Okay.
He just needed thirty seconds.
Thirty seconds to breathe.
Thirty seconds to stop looking like he’d crawled out of a war zone.
Inside, May frowned down at one of her textbooks, highlighter between her teeth as she scribbled something in the margins.
Ravi reached the window.
And then exhaustion hit him all at once.
His forehead dropped heavily against the glass with a dull thunk.
May glanced up immediately.
For exactly one second she looked confused.
Then she saw him outside the window and burst into laughter.
“There you are,” she said, pulling the highlighter from her mouth. “You know normal people text before climbing into someone’s bedroom, right?”
Ravi let out a weak laugh.
At least, he tried to.
It came out strained and uneven.
May barely noticed, already turning back toward her notes.
“The window was open, by the way,” she continued casually. “You’re getting spoiled. One day you’re gonna forget how doors work entirely.”
Ravi pushed the window open wider and practically fell through it.
The sound made her turn immediately.
And then she saw him.
Actually saw him.
The blood.
The torn suit.
The way he was barely holding himself upright.
The color drained from her face.
“...Ravi?”
He hit the floor hard on one knee before catching himself against the arm of her chair. Blood smeared across the fabric instantly.
“Oh my God.”
May was beside him in seconds.
“What happened?” Her voice turned sharp with panic. “Ravi— hey, hey, look at me—”
“I’m okay,” he lied automatically.
The second her hand brushed his ribs he let out a rough sound of pain and nearly doubled over.
May froze.
Ravi squeezed his eyes shut, breathing unevenly.
Then, somehow still trying to make her smile through it, he muttered weakly:
“...You should see the other guy.”
“Ravi.” Her voice cracked around his name. “This isn’t funny.”
“I know,” he mumbled. “That’s why I said you should see him. Comedically, he looked worse.”
“Stop talking.”
May’s hands were already everywhere at once, carefully gripping his jaw, checking the cut near his temple, moving shakily down to the blood soaking through the side of his suit.
And then immediately pulling away again when Ravi sucked in a sharp breath.
Her heart dropped.
There was so much blood.
Too much.
“Okay,” she said quickly, forcing herself into the calm voice she used during practical labs. “Okay, I need to see how bad this is.”
Ravi leaned heavily against the chair, trying and failing to straighten up.
“I can still make dinner.”
May stared at him.
“You’re joking.”
“I’m serious.” He swallowed hard. “What time is it?”
“Ravi– ”
“What time is it?”
She glanced at the clock despite herself.
“Seven forty-two.”
“Oh, come on,” he groaned softly, letting his head fall back against the chair. “Athena already hates me.”
“She does not hate you.”
“She hates Spider-Man.”
“Well, lucky for you, I invited Ravi Panikkar to dinner, not Spider-Man.”
“That feels factually incorrect considering current circumstances.”
Despite herself, May almost smiled.
Almost.
Then Ravi shifted wrong and his face twisted in pain again.
The smile vanished immediately.
“Okay, no. Nope.” She stood abruptly and pointed at him. “You are not moving.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You’re hurt. Seriously hurt. And you’re making jokes.”
“That’s actually very on brand for me.”
May grabbed the small first aid kit from beneath her desk with trembling hands before kneeling in front of him again.
The sight of her shaking seemed to sober Ravi a little.
“May.”
She ignored him.
“May.”
“I said stop talking.”
Her voice wobbled at the edges.
Ravi’s expression softened immediately.
Slowly, carefully, he reached for her wrist.
“Hey.”
That one word nearly broke her.
Because he sounded exhausted.
Not just hurt.
Exhausted.
May finally looked up at him properly and immediately wished she hadn’t.
His mask was half torn off now, curls damp with sweat and blood sticking to his forehead. There was a bruise already forming along his jaw. His breathing wasn’t right.
And underneath all of it–
He looked guilty.
Like he was the one apologizing.
“What happened?” she whispered this time.
Ravi looked away.
“Nothing I couldn’t handle.”
“Ravi.”
“A robbery turned into a weapons deal,” he admitted quietly. “Then one of them turned out to have robot arms.”
May blinked.
“Robot arms.”
“Yeah. Which honestly feels unfair? Like why do criminals get upgrades and I’m still sewing holes in this suit by hand?”
“Ravi.”
“Sorry.”
He went quiet again.
May swallowed hard and carefully peeled part of the suit away from his side.
The second she saw the gash underneath, her stomach dropped.
“Oh my God.”
“It looks worse than it is.”
“It looks deep, Ravi.”
“Little bit.”
“A little bit?”
“Medium bit?”
She shot him a look so horrified he immediately shut up again.
For a moment the only sound in the room was May opening gauze packets with increasingly unsteady fingers.
Ravi was so grateful that his girlfriend was studying to be a nurse that he could cry.
Then something startles them.
A knock at the bedroom door.
“May?” Bobby’s voice came through the other side. “Everything okay?”
Both of them froze.
Ravi instinctively tried to stand.
Pain shot through him so violently he barely got halfway up before collapsing back against the chair with a strangled sound.
May turned to him immediately.
“Jesus Christ, stop moving.”
Another knock.
“May?”
Her brain scrambled desperately for an excuse.
“Uh— yeah!” she called, voice painfully high. “I’m fine!”
A pause.
“You sure?”
Ravi, still somehow concerned about the wrong thing entirely, whispered hoarsely:
“Tell him I’m here.”
May looked at him like he’d lost his mind.
“No.”
“We’re already late.”
“You are actively bleeding on my carpet.”
“I can shower fast.”
She stared at him in disbelief.
There was another pause outside the door before Bobby spoke again, gentler this time.
“Kiddo?”
May panicked.
“I have my period!”
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Ravi’s eyes widened slowly.
May closed her eyes in immediate regret.
Outside the door, Bobby cleared his throat so hard it almost sounded painful.
“...Okay,” he said quickly. “Okay, uh. Got it. I’ll… give you space.”
May exhaled in relief.
Then Bobby spoke again from the hallway.
“Oh– wait. Is Ravi still coming?”
May looked over immediately.
Ravi was already trying to push himself upright again, jaw clenched against the pain.
Everything in him still seemed determined to make this dinner happen.
That alone nearly shattered her heart.
“We can still go,” he whispered. “I’m okay.”
He wasn’t.
He looked pale beneath the blood.
His hands were shaking.
And there was a terrifying amount of stubborn determination keeping him conscious.
May made her decision instantly.
“No,” she called through the door before Ravi could argue. “He… uh… he got called into work. We’re gonna reschedule dinner.”
“What?” Ravi whispered urgently.
“And honestly I don’t really feel like eating either.”
Another small pause.
Then Bobby sighed sympathetically from the hallway.
“Okay, sweetheart. Tell him we’ll do it another night.”
“I will.”
“Love you.”
“Love you too.”
His footsteps disappeared down the hallway.
The room fell silent again.
Ravi looked devastated.
“May–”
“No.”
“We can still–”
“No.”
“I really wanted tonight to go well.”
The quiet sincerity in his voice hurt worse than the blood.
May looked at him for a long moment.
Really looked at him.
At the blood staining her bedroom floor.
At the trembling in his hands.
At the way he was still trying to sit up straighter despite barely being able to breathe.
And somehow, impossibly, all he cared about was dinner.
Her chest ached.
“Ravi,” she said softly, kneeling in front of him again, “you can barely stand.”
“I can stand.”
“You literally collapsed ten seconds ago.”
“That feels like an hour ago.”
May just stared at him.
Then, quieter:
“You were going to walk downstairs like this?”
Ravi looked down at the torn suit like he was only just remembering it existed.
“I was gonna change first.”
“Oh, obviously. That fixes everything.”
“I had a plan.”
She laughed once.
Not because it was funny.
Because if she didn’t laugh, she was pretty sure she was about to cry.
Ravi’s expression softened instantly.
“Hey.”
“Don’t.” Her voice cracked immediately. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Look at me like that when you’re the one bleeding out on my floor.”
Something painful flickered across his face.
Slowly, carefully, he reached for her hand again.
This time she let him take it.
“I’m sorry.”
And that– that nearly undid her completely.
Because he sounded so sincere.
Like he genuinely believed this was his fault.
May swallowed hard and stood abruptly before the tears could actually fall.
“Take the suit off.”
Ravi blinked.
“What?”
“I need to see the rest of the damage.”
He smirked. “That sentence somehow sounded both medical and–”
“Ravi.”
“Right. Sorry.”
He tried to peel the suit off normally and immediately failed when pain shot through his shoulder.
May’s expression tightened.
Without a word, she moved closer and helped him carefully pull the fabric down his arms.
The intimacy of it hit both of them all at once.
The suit came off slowly, inch by inch, revealing bruises already darkening across his ribs and stomach, cuts scattered over warm brown skin, fresh burns near his shoulder.
May’s hands started shaking again.
Ravi noticed immediately.
“Hey,” he murmured. “I’m okay.”
She looked up at him with wet eyes.
“No, you’re not.”
That shut him up.
A few minutes later he was sitting on the floor with his back against her bed, stripped down to his boxers while May knelt in front of him with antiseptic and gauze.
The room had gone strangely quiet.
Only soft breathing.
The crinkle of bandages.
The occasional hiss of pain when she cleaned a deeper cut.
Ravi watched her the entire time.
Watched the way she concentrated.
The little furrow between her brows.
The careful gentleness in her hands.
Just then does he realized she was crying.
Not loudly.
Just silent tears slipping down her face while she tried desperately to pretend they weren’t there.
Ravi’s chest tightened painfully.
“May.”
She shook her head immediately and kept cleaning the cut near his ribs.
“May.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re crying.”
“I said I’m fine.”
Her voice broke on the last word.
Ravi moved before really thinking about it.
Ignoring the protest from every injury in his body, he reached up carefully and cupped her face.
His thumbs brushed beneath her eyes, wiping tears away gently.
“Hey,” he whispered.
May closed her eyes for one terrible second, leaning unconsciously into his touch.
God.
He loved her so much.
Ravi pulled her closer instinctively, forehead brushing hers before he tilted his head slightly, trying to kiss her.
May pulled back.
Not harshly.
But enough.
Ravi blinked, confused.
He tried again, softer this time.
She pulled away again.
And suddenly the hurt in his expression was worse than any of the injuries.
“May?”
She looked absolutely miserable.
“I can’t do this.”
His hand dropped slowly from her face.
“What?”
“I can’t–” She laughed shakily, wiping angrily at her cheeks. “Ravi, my mom leaves for work every day and I don’t know if she’s coming home safe. My dad runs into burning buildings for a living and every single time the phone rings late at night, I panic.”
Ravi went still.
“And now I have to worry about you too.”
“May–”
“One day that suit isn’t going to be enough.”
The words landed like a physical blow.
Ravi looked down immediately.
Guilty and heartbroken.
May shook her head, tears falling faster now.
“You showed up at my window covered in blood and your first thought was whether my parents would still like you.”
He let out the smallest, saddest laugh at that.
“I really wanted tonight to be perfect.”
“I know.”
“Athena already hates Spider-Man.”
“She doesn’t hate him.”
Ravi smiled faintly, his thumbs brushing softly against her cheeks again.
“I just thought that… maybe if she liked me…” he admitted quietly. “Maybe it’d matter less.”
May’s face crumpled completely.
Because even now – even hurt, exhausted, barely conscious – he was still trying so hard to be loved.
“Oh, Ravi.”
The words came out broken.
May leaned forward before she could stop herself, resting her forehead against his.
For a second neither of them spoke.
The city hummed quietly outside her window.
Traffic.
Sirens somewhere far away.
The distant sound of life continuing while the two of them sat bleeding and terrified on her bedroom floor.
Ravi’s hands settled carefully at her waist.
Tentative.
Like he wasn’t entirely sure she still wanted him touching her.
May pulled back just enough to look at him.
At the bruise blooming beneath his eye.
The split in his lip.
The exhaustion dragging at every inch of him.
And underneath all of it–
Ravi.
Just Ravi.
Not Spider-Man.
Not the city’s hero.
Not the guy everyone either loved or blamed depending on the day.
Just the boy who still came to her first when he was hurt.
“You know what the stupid part is?” she whispered.
Ravi’s mouth twitched faintly. “There are… a lot of contenders tonight.”
“My parents would adore you.”
He laughed softly through his nose, immediately wincing afterward.
“That bad, huh?” Ravi watched her carefully.
Then quieter:
“Do you want me to stop?”
May stilled.
Ravi looked away before she could answer.
“I can,” he said softly. “If that’s what you want.”
“No, you can’t.”
His eyes lifted back to hers immediately.
“You save people,” she whispered. “Even when it destroys you. That’s who you are.”
Something vulnerable flickered across his face.
May shook her head, tears threatening again.
“I love Spider-Man.”
Ravi went completely still.
“But I love Ravi Panikkar more.”
The air seemed to leave his lungs all at once.
May watched the exact moment those words reached him.
His expression cracked open softly, like she’d touched something unbearably tender inside him.
For once, Ravi had absolutely nothing to say.
He just stared at her.
Completely undone.
Then slowly, carefully, he leaned forward until their foreheads rested together again.
His eyes closed and a single tear rolls down his face.
“Good,” he whispered hoarsely.
May blinked. “Good?”
A tired smile pulled weakly at his mouth.
“Spider-Man’s kind of a disaster anyways.”
May shook her head, somewhere between fond and devastated.
“Ravi.”
He looked at her again.
And for the first time all night, the mask – not the physical one, the emotional one –seemed to slip completely.
“I just… I don’t know how to do this,” he admitted quietly.
Her expression softened instantly.
“Do what?”
“This.” He gestured vaguely between them. “Be Spider-Man and…” His voice dropped softer. “And have something real.”
May felt her heart crack open all over again.
Because underneath the jokes and the heroics and the optimism, there it was:
Fear.
Not fear of getting hurt.
Fear of losing her.
“You’re not supposed to know how,” she whispered.
A quiet settled between them.
Ravi stared at the floor for a long moment, his fingers absentmindedly twisting the edge of the bandage around his ribs.
“I keep thinking...” he admitted quietly.
May waited.
“That if I can carry enough of it by myself...” He laughed once under his breath. “...then nobody else has to.”
Her expression softened immediately.
“Ravi.”
“I know it doesn't make sense.”
“No,” she said gently. “It makes perfect sense.”
He looked up.
“You've spent your whole life trying to protect people.”
A tiny shrug.
“It’s kind of the job description.”
“No.” She shook her head. “Not Spider-Man.”
He frowned.
“You.”
He blinked.
“You're always doing it.” Her voice stayed soft. “With your aunt. With your friends. With me.”
His shoulders sank a little.
“You think if you hurt enough by yourself, everyone else gets hurt less.”
Silence.
Because she was right.
Ravi looked away again.
“My parents...” he said quietly. “When they died... everyone kept telling me I had to be strong.”
His voice was almost absent.
“So I got good at it.”
May's heart clenched.
“You don't have to do that with me.”
“I know.”
“No.” She moved a little closer, waiting until he looked back at her. “I don't think you do.”
He frowned slightly.
“When you showed up at my window tonight...” she whispered, “do you know what scared me the most?”
“The blood?”
“The fact that you looked like you'd already decided you were going to deal with it alone.”
His chest tightened.
“I wasn't alone.”
“You were.”
He opened his mouth.
She didn't let him interrupt.
“You came here after you couldn't keep standing anymore. You didn't come because you wanted help. You came because you had no choice.”
The words landed harder than she intended.
Ravi closed his eyes briefly.
“...Yeah.”
His voice was barely audible.
“I did.”
May reached for one of his hands, threading their fingers together.
“I don't want to be your last option.”
He stared at their hands.
“You're not.”
“Then prove it.”
He looked at her, confused.
“I’m Spider-Man.”
“I know.”
“You know this isn't going to stop happening.”
“I know.”
“You're going to worry every single patrol.”
“I already do.”
He fell quiet.
“I can't promise I'll always come home without getting hurt.”
“I know.”
“I can't promise I won't miss dinners.”
A tiny smile.
“I figured that one out.”
Despite everything, he laughed.
It was tired.
Small.
Real.
“But,” May continued, squeezing his hand, “I can promise you something.”
Ravi waited.
“You're never treating wounds like this by yourself again.”
He opened his mouth.
“No.”
She pointed at him.
“Don't argue.”
“I wasn't–”
“You were about to.”
“…Maybe.”
“You're dating a nursing student.”
“I noticed.”
“So start acting like it.”
His smile grew.
“You patch me up.”
“I patch you up.”
“And you'll tell me when I actually need a hospital?”
“I'll drag you there myself if I have to.”
He groaned dramatically.
“I was afraid you'd say that.”
“And you'll let me.”
His smile faded slightly.
“That part's harder.”
“I know.”
She rubbed her thumb gently across his knuckles.
“But you're going to try.”
He watched her for a long moment.
“You really want this?”
“What?”
“This.”
He gestured vaguely between them.
“All of it.”
“The late nights.”
“Yes.”
“The injuries.”
“Yes.”
“The lies you'd have to tell your parents.”
She hesitated only for a heartbeat.
“Yes.”
“The constant worrying.”
She smiled sadly.
“Ravi... I'm already doing all of that.”
That stole the air from his lungs.
“The only difference,” she continued, “is that until now, I've been doing it alone.”
He stared at her.
“You don't have to protect me from loving you.”
His eyes shimmered.
“Because loving you was never going to be the easy option.”
A tear slipped quietly down his cheek.
“I don't deserve you.”
She frowned immediately.
“I don't.”
“No,” she whispered, and then more firmly, “Don't say things like that.”
“But–”
“You don't get to decide what you're worth to me.”
Silence.
“You're stuck with my opinion.”
A weak laugh escaped him.
“And what's your opinion?”
She smiled.
“My opinion is that you're an idiot.”
“Ouch.”
“A ridiculously brave idiot.”
“Better.”
“Who has spent far too long believing he has to save everyone by himself.”
He looked down again.
“I don't know how to stop.”
“You don't have to stop.”
She lifted his chin gently until he was looking at her again.
“You just have to let someone stand beside you.”
Their eyes held.
For a long time.
Then Ravi whispered,
“…I'm scared.”
It was the first time all night he'd admitted it.
Not about dying.
Not about villains.
Just...
Scared.
May's thumb brushed gently across his bruised cheek.
“So am I.”
He searched her face.
“What if one day I can't protect you?”
She smiled through the tears threatening her eyes.
“Then I'll protect you.”
He blinked.
“You don't have to wear a mask to save someone.”
Something inside him cracked.
“You'd really do that?”
“I already am.”
She glanced toward the bloodstained towels on the floor before looking back at him.
“I think... we've been trying to keep each other safe in completely different ways.”
A quiet understanding settled between them.
Ravi squeezed her hand.
“So... what are we doing?”
May smiled.
“We stop pretending either of us has to carry this alone.”
He swallowed.
“And from now on?”
She held his gaze without hesitation.
“From now on, if you're Spider-Man...”
She intertwined their fingers a little tighter.
“...then I'm your partner.”
Ravi looked at their joined hands for a long moment.
Then, with the smallest, most genuine smile she'd seen all night, he whispered,
“Partners.”
She smiled back.
“Partners.”
Neither of them noticed the weight that seemed to lift from his shoulders.
Not completely.
Not enough to erase the fear.
But enough for him to realize something that had never really occurred to him before.
For the first time since the spider bite had changed his life...he didn't have to carry it alone.
May stood carefully then, brushing her hands against her sweatpants.
“Okay,” she said gently. “You need sleep before you pass out sitting up.”
“I’m not gonna pass out.”
“Bed. Now.”
Ravi looked up at her innocently.
“In my defense, you did leave the window open like some disney princess waiting for her emotionally repressed prince.”
May rolled her eyes so hard it almost hurt.
Then she held out a hand to him.
Ravi looked at it for a second before taking it carefully.
Even injured, he was warm.
May helped him stand slowly, one arm wrapping around his waist when he swayed dangerously the second he got upright.
“Whoa.”
“Yeah,” she muttered. “That’s exactly why you’re not meeting my parents tonight.”
May guided him toward the bed.
Ravi sank down onto the mattress with a groan of relief.
Then exhaustion finally started winning.
May disappeared briefly into the bathroom and came back with a damp cloth, painkillers, and one of the hoodies he’d left at her apartment months ago and never officially reclaimed.
“You still have that?” Ravi asked, voice rough with sleep.
May glanced down at the faded academy logo across the front.
“You say that like you don’t leave pieces of yourself here constantly.”
Something soft flickered across his face.
She sat beside him on the bed and handed him the pills first.
Ravi eyed them suspiciously.
“What are these?”
“Oh my God.” May stared at him. “You literally let random villains throw you through buildings but suddenly you don’t trust medicine?”
“They’re big.”
“They’re Advil. Take them.”
Ravi obeyed with the exaggerated suffering of a man facing execution.
May snorted quietly and helped pull the hoodie over his head afterward, careful around the bruising on his shoulder.
The sight of him sitting there in her oversized bed, curls messy, face bruised, swallowed whole by a soft gray sweatshirt, made something painfully affectionate bloom in her chest.
He looked younger like this.
Less like Spider-Man.
More like Ravi.
Her Ravi.
Ravi caught her staring and tilted his head slightly.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s a lie. You’re thinking too loud.”
May huffed softly. “You can hear thinking now?”
“Spider powers.”
“You’re impossible.”
“And yet,” he murmured sleepily, “you’re obsessed with me.”
“You look cute.”
He blinked.
Then smiled so suddenly and brightly that it physically hurt to look at.
“Cute?” he repeated. “While actively concussed?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“That’s huge for me.”
May shook her head fondly and reached up to brush damp curls away from his forehead.
The movement made Ravi go quiet immediately.
His eyes drifted shut for half a second beneath her touch.
Trust.
The realization hit her unexpectedly hard.
Not just that he trusted her enough to come here tonight, but that he trusted her enough to fall apart in front of her.
Ravi shifted carefully beneath the blankets, wincing once or twice before finally settling onto his back with a relieved sigh.
May waited until he looked comfortable before standing from the bed.
Instinctively, Ravi reached for her wrist.
She looked down immediately.
He was watching her through heavy-lidded eyes, visibly fighting sleep.
“Stay?”
The vulnerability in that one word melted her instantly.
“I am staying,” she promised softly. “I just need to study a little, okay? My exam is literally trying to kill me.”
Ravi considered that very seriously for a moment.
Then, still holding her wrist gently, he mumbled:
“Bring the book here.”
May blinked.
“What?”
“You can study here.” His eyes were already drifting shut again. “I just…” He swallowed sleepily. “Want you close.”
God.
Her entire chest hurt.
Without another word, May reached over to grab the textbook and highlighter from her desk before climbing back onto the bed beside him.
Satisfied immediately, Ravi shifted toward her on instinct.
May settled against the headboard with the textbook open across her lap just as Ravi carefully curled into her side, one arm wrapping loosely around her waist while his head rested heavily against her stomach.
Like he’d done this a hundred times.
Like somewhere deep down, his body already knew she was safe.
May’s breath caught softly.
One of Ravi’s hands lazily caught hold of the fabric of her sweatshirt near her hip while she adjusted the blanket over him carefully.
“You comfortable?” she whispered.
“Mm.” His voice was muffled against her. “Now I am.”
May smiled helplessly and opened her textbook again.
A few quiet minutes passed.
The lamp beside the bed cast warm golden light across the pages while the city glowed dimly outside the half-open window.
Ravi’s breathing slowly started evening out against her.
Every so often he’d shift slightly closer in his sleep, tightening his arm around her waist for a second before relaxing again.
Clingy.
May absolutely adored him.
She underlined the same sentence three separate times before realizing she hadn’t retained a single word.
Because every time she looked down, there he was.
Bruised.
Exhausted.
Safe in her arms.
Her fingers drifted gently into his curls automatically.
Ravi made the softest sleepy sound at the touch.
May’s expression softened painfully.
There was no separation anymore.
Not between Ravi and Spider-Man.
Not between loving him and fearing for him.
Because the same boy who spent his nights throwing himself into danger was currently half-asleep against her chest, holding onto her like she was the only thing grounding him to the earth.
May looked down at him for a long moment.
“You scare me so much,” she whispered softly.
Ravi barely stirred.
For a second she thought he was already asleep.
Then his arm tightened weakly around her waist.
“I’m sorry.”
May’s throat tightened instantly.
“For what?” she whispered.
Ravi shifted slightly against her stomach, eyes still closed.
“For scaring you.”
The quiet sincerity in his voice hurt more than anything else that night.
May stared down at him for a moment before finally giving up on pretending to study. She closed the textbook on her lap and set it aside on the nightstand.
“You idiot,” she whispered affectionately.
Ravi made a sleepy sound that might’ve been a laugh.
Her fingers continued moving slowly through his curls, feeling the tension gradually leave his body beneath her touch.
Outside, another siren echoed faintly through the city.
For once, Ravi didn’t move toward it.
May leaned down carefully and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead.
“I love you,” she whispered into his curls.
Ravi was already half-asleep by then, too exhausted to answer properly.
But his face softened instantly against her.
And for the first time since becoming Spider-Man, Ravi let himself fall asleep knowing someone would be there when he woke up.