Chapter Text
“I’m worried about him Mi Amor.”
Jefferson Morales looked up from his laptop, the saddened eyes of his wife, Rio Morales, coming into focus. His gaze then shifted toward his son’s room, where he could hear music playing. It was still an early Saturday afternoon but for the entire morning, that door had remained shut.
“Yeah,” he responded, letting out a sigh as he shut his laptop closed, “I’m worried too.”
“He barely leaves his room anymore Jeff. It’s been like this ever since…,” Rio trailed off, not quite able to finish her sentence. Not that she needed to. No, Jefferson knew exactly what she was going to say.
Ever since the day that they found out that their son, Miles Morales, was Spider-Man.
It was still hard for him to wrap his head around that some days. He had always had mixed emotions surrounding the masked vigilante. While he could admit that he largely did good, Jeff just couldn’t let go of the fact that he wasn’t bound by the law, that he hid his face while officers like himself were out there, front and center for everyone to see. To find out that same vigilante was his own flesh and blood, it shook him.
Two months ago, Brooklyn was besieged by a villain who called himself, The Spot. He wreaked havoc across the City, with no end in sight. It was only through the arrival of Miles and his friends, fellow “Spider-people” as he would come to find out, as well as a lot of luck, there had been minimal casualties.
“Including myself,” Jeff thought solemnly. He could still remember the sight of the building crumbling around him. He had been making his own way to safety when he spotted a little girl, screaming her lungs out with tears in her eyes. Above her, a piece of debris, well on its way to crushing her. He didn’t even think twice. As he ran towards her and shielded her with his body, Jeff was sure this was how it ended. And truthfully, he was ok with that. When he’d signed up for this job, he knew that one day he might have to lay down his own life so that someone else would live. He’d longed since made peace with that and he had been convinced that that was the moment, right there. He closed his eyes, waiting for the end. Only, it never came.
Jeff only briefly felt something stick onto his back before him and the little girl in his arms went flying through the air. Straight into the arms of Spider-Man. And in an amazing show of strength and dexterity, managed to swivel around the falling rubble, swinging them to safety. And at that moment, he had never been happier to see the black and red-suited hero. The words “Thank you” had barely even gotten out of his mouth, however, before the hero was off again. Swinging back into the battle.
After finding the little girl’s parents, he went to find his wife. Together, they watched as Spiderman and his allies battled with The Spot. Together, they watched in awe as he saw the band of heroes manage to defeat the villain, saving the city. And then they watched in shock as the hero of the day walked over to them and removed his mask, revealing the face of their teenage son.
“Since the day we found out what our little boy has been up to over the past year,” he finished for her.
Rio nodded her head.
“I’ve noticed too.”
“Don’t you think we should say something?”
“Maybe? But you know what Miles is like Rio. I doubt he’ll tell us what’s really going on.”
“Well, we have to do something!” Rio yelled, not loud enough so that Miles would hear, but enough to get her point. She couldn’t just sit around doing nothing. Not while her son was so clearly hurting.
Jeff sighed again, leaning back in his chair and taking off his glasses so he could rub his eyes.
“ I know, I know. I just…I don’t even know where to start.”
“I think I might,” Rio said, her mind immediately picturing a blond-haired girl. She would bet everything she owned that was who had her little boy so out of sorts. She stood, walking over to her husband and planting a soft kiss on his cheek.
“Wish me luck,” she whispered to him, before walking up to Miles’s door. She took a moment to steady herself, before raising her hand and knocking three times.
“Miles? Can I come in?”
Just to save you, I’d give all of me
I can hear you screaming out, callin' me
The song continued to blast out of his speakers and as he lay in his bed and listened, Miles couldn’t help but feel that the sadness and desperation of the music perfectly matched his mood. And the source of this melancholy mood? Well, that could be traced back to one person.
He reached for his sketchbook, his eyes coming to rest on the latest drawing. One that he’d spent pretty much the entirety of the last two months staring at. The blond hair, tinged at the tips with pink and shaved on one side. The soft jawline and the small smile showed just a glimpse of the cute gap between her two front teeth. The bright blue eyes.
Gwen Stacy. His fellow web-slinging crime fighter. His best friend. At least, she had been. That status had recently come into serious question.
Miles could admit that he was infinitely grateful for her, and the rest of his friends' help in saving his dad and defeating Spot. It had done a lot in terms of soothing his anger at them. But the sting of betrayal. Of secrets kept and lies told. He simply couldn’t find it in himself to let everything go. Especially when it came to… her.
Even amongst the Spider-Band, his relationship with Gwen was different. He was close to her in a way that he simply couldn’t be with anyone else. He’d never felt more like himself than he did when he was around her. It was easy. He’d never been more elated in his life than he was the moment, after over a year of pining and wishing, she’d unceremoniously fallen through a portal and into his room. Right when he’d needed her.
At a time when it felt like, no one, not even his parents, could understand, she had arrived. He should’ve known better. Nothing about that visit had been planned. It shouldn’t have even happened had everything gone the way it had been intended.
She’d known the whole time that his dad was going to die. That there would be an attack and that his father would die sacrificing himself. And she had done nothing. She knew that Miles himself was the original anomaly. That he would have never become Spider-Man had it not been for the event that had led to the genesis of their entire relationship. And she had done nothing.
He could remember their last conversation after all the dust had settled on their battle. She’d tried to apologize, had begged him to forgive her, but he just couldn’t do it. The trust he’d had in her was broken. And Miles told her as much. The end of that talk flashed through his mind.
“Do you think you ever could? Trust me again?” Gwen asked, the words choked out past the tears and silent sobs that wracked her body.
“I…I don’t know Gwen,” Miles admitted, the words heavy on his tongue. “And until I do, I think it’s probably best that you just, give me some space.”
Miles thinks he can see her heart shatter, as he watches the hurt fill up in her tear-stained eyes. She closes them, doing her best to swallow her emotions down. She nods, her hand going to her watch and opening up a portal behind her. Her eyes open and he gets one last glimpse of his favorite shade of blue.
“I’m sorry Miles,” she softly whispered before turning around and walking through. And as he watched the dancing lights collapsing behind her, he knows he can hear the last pieces of his own heart shattering too.
Knocking on his door and the voice of his mother brings him out of his memory.
“Miles? Can I come in?”
“Sure, Mom.”
Miles sits up in his bed as his mother walks in, softly closing the door behind her.
‘What’s going on Mom?” he asks her.
“Are you ok Miles?” Rio didn’t bother beating around the bush. The best way to get her son to talk was to get straight to the point. Otherwise, he’d just try to scoot around everything.
“What? Of course, I’m alright. In fact, I’m better than alright! I’m great!”
Yeah, she wasn’t buying that for a second. She walked over to his desk, turning the speaker off before grabbing his chair and rolling it over right next to his bed, sitting down.
“Miles. You’ve been holed up in this room for weeks now. You barely even come out to eat! That doesn’t exactly sound like ‘great’ to me.”
“I haven’t been that bad Mom. I’ve just been trying to take it easy for a little bit you know? Just chill and relax and…”
“Miles,” his mother cut him off. “Remember what me and your father said? About talking to us?”
Miles stopped rambling, knowing exactly what she was referring to. Revealing himself as Spiderman to his parents had been hard. They were understandably angry about him not telling him. And afraid because what he was doing was so dangerous and risky and there was no reason someone so young should be involved. But ultimately, they had been proud of him. And supported his continued superhero-ing. On the promise of one condition. That he be more open and honest with them in the future.
“Hijo…” he looked up at his mother’s eyes, filled with a warm worry. “ Dime qué pasa hijo?"
Rio watched as Miles's shoulders slumped as he collapsed in on himself, no longer able to mask his mood. She immediately went and sat next to him, wrapping her arms tightly around him. He fell into her embrace, returning it and burying his face in her shoulder. He took a deep breath, gathering as much strength from her as he could before opening his mouth.
He told her everything. How he’d found out that the Spider that bit him wasn’t from their world. That he never should’ve become Spider-man in the first place, and that because it had, it meant that Dad was destined to die. How Gwen had known those things the entire time they’d been together and never said anything. And how she’d had the ability to come and see him for months never did. Had been willing to stand by and just let the biggest tragedy of his life happen because she’d been ordered to. He poured it all out to his mother.
“She was lying the whole time Mom,” he told her after finishing the story. “How could she do that to me?”
Rio didn’t immediately respond to that, letting the silence breathe for a moment as she tried to process everything that had been said. Despite his promise, Miles had always been reluctant to explain exactly surrounding his recent dimensional travels. And now she understood why. Her little boy was heartbroken.
“You know, she came back for you.”
Miles looked up at her, confusion in his eyes. “Who? Gwen?”
“Mhm. That night you went chasing after her down the fire escape. She came here looking for you later. Promised us that she’d find you and bring you back. She seemed quite determined.”
“So what? I’m just supposed to forget about what she did!”
“That’s not what I’m saying, Miles. You have every right to be angry with her. She broke your trust. And she hurt you.”
She paused here to squeeze him a bit tighter in her arms.
“But I saw the look in her eyes hijo. When you were both standing underneath that water tower. And when she was standing in front of your father and me, wearing your jacket I might add. She cares about you. So, so much. And you wouldn’t be this upset if you didn’t care for her just as much.
Miles didn’t even bother trying to correct her. Wasn’t that the crux of his dilemma? He wanted to push Gwen as far away as possible. And at the same time, he wanted to pull her close and never let her go again. It was maddening.
“I just don’t know if I can trust her again Mami,” he whispered.
“But do you want to Mijo?"
It was funny. He’d been asking himself that question over and over again and gotten no closer to any sort of answer. And yet, with his mom sitting here asking him the same thing, it had never been clearer to him.
“Yes.”
He wanted so badly to trust her again. To connect with her. Like they had back on top of the Williamsburg Bank Building, sitting side by side, shoulder to shoulder. He was willing to get over all of it. Because…He loved her. That was the simple truth. Miles Morales was irrevocably in love with Gwen Stacy.
“Then there’s only one thing to do,” Rio said, reaching down the bed to grab a watch. His own dimension-hopping device, or goober, as they had taken to calling them. She pushed it into Miles’ hand.
“Tell her dinner’s at 7:00 and that we’d love to be properly introduced to her.”