Archive of Our Own ^beta

miles can't breathe.

he blinks sluggishly as he regains consciousness, squinting as he tries to gather his bearings. it’s dark, and he struggles to breathe as dust settles around him, practically suffocating him as his lungs try to take in oxygen. it hurts , his ribs feeling as though they’re digging against his lungs ( fuck, he hopes that’s not the case.) he furrows his brow, trying to remember back to what exactly got him in this predicament– 

miles, admittedly, was a bit idiotic to go forth in dealing with an anomaly on his own in his dimension. especially that of a mysterio anomaly.

but in his defense, he wanted to be able to prove himself to miguel, that he truly was strong and capable to keep up with spider society. it wasn't as if miguel voiced disappointment or anything; in fact, he had actually voiced plenty of encouragement and pride in miles' performance. 

miles, ever so stubborn, however, wanted to move away from only having missions as a team. there was the urge to show off, not only to miguel, but to peter b. and jess. and then it extended out to his friends as well – to gwen, hobie, pavitr, margo – even noir and peni, and others who found their way into the friend group. perhaps it had to do something with how he always preened under the praise of his academic records and of his work as spider-man by unsuspecting civilians who don't know his identity yet. but the itch to prove himself and receive the praise grew stronger and stronger by the day.

so of course, he didn't bother sending out a message for help regarding the anomaly. 

nor did he bother to even alert miguel, in case the man was not anywhere near his screens to see the alert of a new anomaly.

he perched himself on the edge of the building, rendering himself invisible and watching as the mysterio anomaly looked around in fascination and curiosity. miles tilted his head as he studied mysterio, trying to immediately pinpoint anything that seemed different right off the bat.

he instantly noticed that he was not a generic mysterio anomaly, not having the weird, fishbowl-like helmet on his head. there were no indications of any sort of technological devices on him whatsoever, which was... strange. every single mysterio that he had come across used advanced technology in order to achieve their illusions. he had heard stories of there being a rare few mysterio anomalies that utilize actual magic. a small part of him wanted to encounter one, to build more experience in fighting against genuine magic – but now, looking at the glint in the eye of this mysterio, he wasn't quite sure of how he felt about that sentiment anymore.

mysterio furrowed his brow as he studied the landscape of miles' dimension. subconsciously, miles wondered what he always did every time he came across an anomaly, which was wondering what exactly the anomaly's dimension looked like. this mysterio didn't seem to have too much of a different texture or design of sorts, besides having a bit of a cool-toned palette. the closest he could think of was maybe something similar to gwen's dimension, and its cool-toned watercolors.

he startled as mysterio looked right in his direction, holding his breath despite still being invisible. his gaze was piercing, green and blue heterochromatic eyes staring right through him. miles quickly studied his features even further – claw marks across his face, down his right eye, the blue one; green curls; a strange, fancy cloak that looked like it was glittering, like stars. there was something about him that struck him as familiar, but he shrugged it off as it being him having seen plenty of mysterio anomalies already.

"invisibility is such an interesting power for such a little spider," mysterio crooned suddenly, making miles jolt in surprise. how did he know? there was no way that he could actually see miles, was there? "have not seen something like that in all the other spiders i have seen... heh. come on out, then, little spider..."

miles sucked in a breath, trying to figure out how to go about this. his lack of experience against real magic made him a bit nervous to approach this fight, and he contemplated contacting miguel for back-up–

no, no. he should not. he could do this. he could deal with this anomaly on his own. 

it was just a mysterio. how bad could this be?

(miles, of course, forgot about his perfectly unlucky luck. how could he possibly think such a thing?)

he gasped as a blast of magic shot right by him, catching him by surprise as it blasted into the concrete of the building behind him. he flinched at the sound of the concrete exploding into smaller slabs and pieces, heart rate picking up in his anxiety. his spider-sense blared , screaming that there was danger danger danger hide hide DODGE DODGE INCOMING MOVE MOVE MOVE– '

miles dove out of the way as the blast of magic acted as a web, latching onto a slab of concrete and yanking it right back towards miles. he barely managed to avoid it in time before it could slam into his back, and in his shock, his invisibility flickered and his form became visible once more.

"oh, there you are!" mysterio grinned at him, eyes glinting dangerously. miles' breath hitched at the look in his eyes, trying to listen to his frantic little spider and figure out what mysterio's next move might be. but fuck, the anxiety filling him alongside his spider-sense flaring had his head aching , and he couldn’t even allow himself a moment to focus. "maybe we should figure out just what makes you tick, hm?"

with a wave of his hand, miles' world plunged into darkness. 

"what the–?!" miles looked around frantically, trying to get a bearing of his surroundings despite being in complete darkness. the moment he blinked again, he was back on the building he was standing on beforehand, but something felt... off. terribly so. 

miles squinted at the cityscape, trying to figure out what was wrong. he knew it was not normal, with his spider practically screeching and scurrying within him. the buildings all had a slight wave to them, as though they were a part of an oasis, affected by the waves of heat. which– miles frowned as he rolled his shoulders back, feeling an actual effect of heat on him. he was lucky that his new suit had a more cooling fabric, otherwise the black of his suit would have had him overheating immediately. 

"shit," miles mumbled to himself, swinging over to another building and looking around. mysterio had completely disappeared, but miles knew he had to be around somewhere . his spider-sense was spiking his anxiety, making him whirl around in desperation. where could he have possibly gone? he had to be nearby, there was no way that he traveled miles and miles across the city already– absolutely not–

DANGER DANGER DANGER INCOMING DODGE-

miles lunged to the side as another blast of magic sped right by him, frantically looking in the direction of the source in order to try and find mysterio. and yet, he was nowhere to be found still – could he also have the invisibility trick up his sleeve?

miles cursed under his breath – usually, his trick with mysterio anomalies was to get close enough to use his venom blast, and have the electricity from it take out all of the technology that mysterio anomaly had on. but with this mysterio utilizing real magic and not an ounce of technology... 

well, time to go to plan b, he supposed.

"hiding like a coward!" miles shouted, listening carefully as his voice echoed across the city. that was another thing, he noted – the city was almost too quiet. at this time of day, it should be bustling with people getting out of work, traffic hitting the streets, the sounds of laughter and shouts and cars honking filling the air. "c'mon out, mysterio – what, afraid of getting your ass kicked by a teenager?"

miles yelped when mysterio suddenly appeared, looming over him with a brow raised, amused by miles' taunts. "you think of me as a coward? i see you shaking in your little suit, miles morales. you cannot even tell what is real and what is not, hm?"

miles could not even allow himself a moment to stew in the shock of mysterio knowing his name before he was whirled around to – face mysterio? he turned, staring at the mysterio with the brow still raised in amusement, and back to the new one, who had a grin forming on his face. he immediately swung for a punch, mouth gaping in disbelief as his fist went right through him. "oh, what the fuck –"

"little spider has never dealt with magic," mysterio cooed in faux sympathy, the dangerous glint back in his eyes. "let us see how well you fare against it, hm?"

with a flourish, mysterio disappeared and a ripple of magic caused miles to stumble back at the sheer power and intensity of it. 

okay – he had to admit. he was getting a little terrified. multiple illusions of him appearing, and it being difficult for him to even navigate which one was real and which one was fake? oh, he was so fucked. he was so absolutely fucked. 

"m-miles?"

he whirled around, expression dropping in horror as he stared at – gwen? when did she get there? he hadn't called for backup, she shouldn't be here – and why was she injured? she was clutching her side, blood blooming across her white suit, and her eyes were fluttering shut as she stumbled towards him.

"gwen!" miles cried out, lunging for her and catching her right as her knees gave out. he knelt against the pavement of the rooftop, frantically looking over her body for any other injuries she might have. the blood was blooming so quickly against her side, soaking all the way up to her ribs and causing panic to rise within miles. her face was ashen, blue eyes dull, and there was dried blood caked down her nose and mouth. "gwen– holy shit, i – i got you– ack–!"

he gasped in surprise as gwen suddenly grabbed his suit, eyes flashing in desperation and anger as she tugged him down. "this was your fault!"

"wh-what–?!"

"you did this!" gwen wailed, much to miles' growing confusion, horror, and shock. what could he have possibly done to cause this–? he never called for back-up, he never asked for anyone to come help him– how was she here, and how had she gotten hurt? "you got us all hurt, miles – how could you do this?"

“what are you talking about–?” miles gaped in disbelief, before his spider-sense flared ever-so-slightly – a danger, yet it was confused, as the air felt – familiar? he turned to see pavitr staring in fear, eyes wide as his entire form shook in his attempt to stay standing. "pav–?"

"how could you do this?" pavitr whimpered, face scrunching up in his distress, bottom lip wobbling. there was a gash across his shoulder into his chest, tearing his suit, and miles stifled a gag at the sight of bloody muscle, the wound way too deep for pavitr to not be putting pressure on it. “you – how could you be so reckless that you allowed us to get hurt?”

“i– what?!” miles was even more confused now, trying to figure out what was happening. why were his friends here, and why were they all saying that he had caused their injuries and pain? “i didn’t – i ain’t do anythin’–!”

“that’s exactly the point, sunflower.”

miles whirled around to see hobie and – he couldn’t hold back the gag this time at the sight, of the gashed claw marks down his face, of his hands horribly bruised and bloody, of the way he was stained in blood. “h-hobie–?”

“ya sent margo an’ peni over to the medbay,” hobie said bluntly, an underlying tone of anger in his voice, making miles’ heart drop. what–? “they got hurt, all because of you .”

“how?!” miles cried out, trying to wrap his mind around the current situation. he – he deliberately did this on his own so that his friends would not get hurt, to prove himself to them and to miguel and peter b. and– “they– you all should’ve been safe! i never even called you all over!”

“exactly!” gwen snapped, and miles flicked his gaze back down to her. there was a similar anger that was in hobie’s tone that appeared in her eyes, making him grimace. “you should’ve told us immediately – we came to help, ‘cause miguel noticed, but no one was prepared for what happened because you didn’t tell us what we were getting into!”

“you should’ve told us what kind of anomaly you were dealing with, so we would be better prepared,” pavitr spat, and miles flinched at the bitter tone, having never heard that sort of tone come out of pavitr’s mouth. “you knew you were gonna need help, and yet you put yourself in danger, then when we came, you didn’t tell us what we were getting into!”

“i never sent for you guys?!” miles stared at them all in disbelief, unsure of where this was all coming from. did he– did he accidentally call for them, in his haste to stop mysterio? there was no way he did– he was usually so careful with his watch. there– there was no way–

“you did,” gwen growled, and miles took a deep breath, trying to steady himself as he tried to tune out gwen’s ramblings. this – there was no way that this was real. it could not be. 

he looked back down at gwen, studying her carefully as she and pavitr continued their angered rambles. something about her was … off. he couldn’t quite pinpoint it, but there was something that just didn’t feel quite like gwen . he squinted at her face, humming dismissively as she scoffed a small “what?!”

she … she had one too many freckles, and her earrings were wrong, inverted as though they switched to the same spot on the opposite ear. the shade of blue in her eyes was just slightly darker. 

he looked over at pavitr. his brown eyes were more of a hazel, and the blue of his suit was more of a cobalt than its typical cerulean. the wrapping around his hands were wrapped in the standard way, but that was specifically the way that pavitr hated, having discovered a technique that was much more comfortable for him.  

and now that miles thought of it, hobie’s anger never sounded spiteful as it just did. it sounded gruff, rumbling within his chest– they all joked that they’d all be able to tell if hobie was genuinely angry as opposed to a playful angry. that alone caused him to clench his jaw and listen .

“ugh, morales, you never even listen–!”

DANGERDANGERDANGER INCOMING DANGER TRICK ILLUSION DANGER–

miles shot his hand out, shooting a web over to the space right next to hobie. the air flickered all around him and his friends disappeared, the strange illusionary heat wave disappearing entirely. he could tell he was back in his actual dimension, and not stuck in an illusion. mysterio appeared in hobie’s place, an impressed brow raised as he stared at miles.

“faster than other spiders,” mysterio mused, tilting his head. “but still quite slow. very slow.”

it was then that miles realized just how much damage had been done while he was stuck. there were a few fires, in the streets and in some smaller buildings, smoke floating up in the air all around him. the sounds of the city hit him suddenly, and he winced at the sudden overwhelming sensation that filled his head. miles gritted his teeth as he inspected the damage, and mysterio laughed at his franticness, a loud, gratingly bitter noise. 

“what’s the point of all this?” miles snarked, hoping that he could keep mysterio distracted long enough while he desperately thought of what to do. “causing this much destruction in a place that ain’t even yours– can’t even stop to admire the scenery for a moment?”

“tch. i would much rather not,” mysterio sneered, rolling his eyes. with mysterio’s gaze not on him for a moment, miles forcibly swallowed down his pride and sent out the distress signal through his watch. he made sure to select that it was a mysterio anomaly, adding a quick “magic” before letting it go out to hq. the last thing he wanted was for the illusions to come true, and he needed to warn them immediately.

“ah-ah,” mysterio scolded, and miles jolted, ducking just in time as mysterio sent another blast of magic towards him. “asking for help so late into our little game? what a shame. i thought we were having fun, little spider!” 

“i wouldn’t quite classify this as fun ,” miles scoffed, wrinkling his nose in distaste. “this is actually a little boring. was that the best you could do?”

oh, why did he speak sometimes.

mysterio’s grin slowly widened, gaze darkening as he slowly tilted his head at miles. miles took a step back, recognizing the dangerous glint in his eyes. “is that so?” he chuckled lowly, and miles eyed the green magic swirling around mysterio’s hands carefully. “you want to see more ? you think this is boring?”

miles jolted in surprise as the magic suddenly crept up his legs, encircling him like a snake. he stumbled back, attempting to get away from it but unable to, breath hitching as he tried to kick it away. 

“you know,” mysterio crooned, “ i caused my spider-person’s canon events. both of them . did you already have yours, little spider? perhaps i can add a third for you.”

miles gasped as the magic yanked him by the legs, causing him to fall onto his back as it began dragging him across the concrete of the rooftop to mysterio. he scrabbled at the concrete, gasping as he attempted to escape the confines of mysterio’s magic. “shit shit shit shit–!”

“come on and play, morales!” mysterio cackled, form flickering before he disappeared. his voice still echoed all around miles as he exclaimed, “go ahead and fight against your own!”

miles scrambled up, whirling around only to have to duck immediately as fake-gwen swung a punch towards him. “whoa–!”

“fight back, you coward!” fake-gwen shouted, lunging for him. miles grabbed her arm, glad that he was able to actually physically grab her, and he sent up a shock of his venom blast. but the scream that escaped fake-gwen made him flinch and let go, stumbling back in shock. fake-gwen stared up at him in betrayal, sadness replacing the anger in her eyes. she grabbed the spot that miles had his hand wrapped around, and miles’ eyes widened in horror at the third-degree burn on her skin, the blast having burnt away that part of her suit. her eyes welled up with pained tears as she choked out, “m-miles– how could you–?!”

she’s fake, miles reminded himself desperately, breathing in shakily. he did not hurt his actual friend. this – this is just an illusion. she was not actually hurt, he did not cause that injury. this was not his gwen, his gwen was back in her dimension or at hq or with their friends– not here– he would’ve gotten an alert if spiders were coming to his dimension–

he yelped as the back of his suit got yanked, turning around to face fake-hobie, a look of anger across his face. miles breathed in shakily, trying to stay calm – the anger on fake-hobie’s face was more reminiscent of mysterio’s anger. hobie never looked like that, never had such malice in his eyes. “hurtin’ us directly now? fuckin’ low of ya, sunflower. i thought better of you.”

“i–”

“i can’t believe you’d do that,” he heard fake-pavitr whimper, and he looked over to see a distressed fake-pavitr, whose expression was slowly turning into one of anger. “is – is that what you’ve been wanting this whole time?! to fight us?!”

“no! what the– no, fuck no–!”

“if that’s what you wanna do, then fight ,” fake-hobie snarled, shoving miles forward. miles barely managed to dodge out of the way as fake-pavitr sent a kick his way, gasping in surprise as all three fake versions of his friends lunged towards him. 

as miles fought against his fake-friends, mysterio’s laughter continued to echo all around him, taunting him as he attempted to keep up. it was just so much, the way that everything kept overloading his senses. 

fake-hobie was utilizing his guitar, blaring riffs at random moments to throw miles off whenever he swung a punch or attempted to kick away fake-gwen and fake-pavitr. and then there was the fact that fake-gwen and fake-pavitr’s fighting styles were switched – fake-gwen utilized her webs more, dancing with them as pavitr did, whilst fake-pavitr stuck with the graceful physical fighting that gwen usually had.

then with mysterio’s laughter– fuck, the sound just kept getting under miles’ skin. it was taunting, high and grating, as if he knew that it would annoy miles even further. it just felt as though there were millions of little ants crawling on and into his skin. it had his sense wailing as he attempted to block the hits from the fake versions of his friends. after the venom blast he sent up fake-gwen’s arm, her reaction had him reeling hard enough that he didn’t even want to try and hurt them back.

the consequence of that, however, was that he would only be defending, causing him to, quite frankly, get his ass beat on all angles. he would attempt to block fake-gwen, only for fake-pavitr to land a kick, and when he turned to block fake-pavitr, fake-hobie would play a loud riff on his guitar to cause him to stumble back, causing for fake-gwen to swing over and land a hit. rinse and repeat, over and over and over. 

he desperately tried to listen for where mysterio could possibly be– he could tell that his surroundings were not fake once more, and that he was still firmly in his dimension. the only things that were illusioned around him, as far as he could tell, were just the fake versions of his friends.

LEFT LEFT LEFT LEFT LEFT–

miles jerked suddenly at the sudden screams of his sense, whipping around to his left and shooting a web, ignoring the shouts from the illusions of his friends. his web stuck on something, and the illusions suddenly disappeared as mysterio reappeared, miles’s web stuck to his chest.

“you are getting smart, little spider,” mysterio crooned, grin forming on his face. there was a heaviness settling in the air suddenly, making miles grow a little nervous. “unfortunately for you, not quick enough.”

“what–”

miles gasped as the building rumbled beneath him, and mysterio cackled as he disappeared. miles stumbled back at the sudden jerk of the building, eyes widening as he realized that the structural integrity of the building was becoming unstable – and rapidly. shit– 

he swung off the building, desperately swinging around and peeking into as many windows as he could to determine if it was occupied. a few floors down allowed for him to confirm that it was an abandoned building, one he recognized to be a few streets down from his own apartment building. 

as he swung down, the structure of the building groaning behind him, he began to herd pedestrians away from the area. he was glad that they listened to him so easily, much easier than in his starting days– the ones he told were quick to tell other pedestrians they passed by, and the warning began to spread like wildfire.

“what a shame,” came the dramatic whine from mysterio, and miles turned to see him standing there with an awfully dramatic pout on his face. “could not allow me to have my fun, cause destruction? what a pity!

“well,” mysterio sighed, shaking his head with a shrug, the devious grin returning to his face, “i guess you will have to do.”

“what the fuck does that mean–”

mysterio disappeared, and miles stared at the suddenly collapsing building coming down his way.

miles groans as he finally manages to get a bearing of his surroundings, everything coming back to him. he takes a deep breath and lets out a small whimper, feeling the pressure in his lungs and against the side of his chest, where his ribs are. 

shit . he grits his teeth as he looks around, assessing the predicament that he’s in. he can suddenly feel the gigantic slab of concrete laying down on his back, restricting his movements. one of his arms is free, but the other– he gags at the mere thought and feeling of it being just so horribly bent , and that doesn’t even bring to question the sharp pains in his legs–

okay, miles. okay.

he would typically try and reassure himself to take deep breaths, but honestly– that hurt way too much for him to even focus on. he’d rather at least focus on the fact that he can still breathe with the way that he’s stuck. 

he’s grateful that the arm that’s free is the one that has his watch around his wrist; carefully, slowly, he lifts his hand close to his face, wincing at the pain as he shifts. he uses his nose to tap at the screen, attempting to see any updates, hoping that someone responded to his distress signal on an anomaly–

nothing.

his heart drops at the sight, seeing that there’s barely anything working on the screen, causing him to not know if there were any messages that had come through between the time he sent it out to now. shit– what if they’re here, and they can’t find him? what if he’s stuck here forever– what if he dies down here–

oh, fuck . what if he dies down here? his breath hitches in fear at the thought, grimacing at the pain it caused in his chest. it’s a terrifying thought, the way that he could just– just die down here, all alone, no one knowing until seconds, minutes, hours, maybe even days after he died. his chest feels much too wheezy for him to scream for help, and it doesn’t seem as though he can send anything out in time.

which– how much time does he even have? how long has he been stuck under this collapsed building, with this large slab of concrete pinning him down? shit– shit , he can’t even attempt to lift it off without risk of hurting himself– he definitely needs at least one person to lift it off of him–

what the fuck should he do? he doesn’t want to admit defeat, but– he squeezes his eyes shut, biting his lip. he shouldn’t have been so fucking stubborn , refusing to call for help as soon as an anomaly came in. he should’ve known that any form of backup is always helpful, even if he could deal with it himself. he’s only had two, almost three years of experience as spider-man, in comparison to the years and years that miguel and peter b. and jess had.

how can he possibly think that he could hold up as well as they can, without that same experience and expertise? he should’ve called for help the moment he noticed that this mysterio anomaly utilized real magic. how fucking dumb could he possibly be–

“miles?”

what should he do? if he’s stuck under the slab, he’s bound to have at least one form of a chest injury. the pressure in his lungs has got to be a punctured lung, and the pain in his ribs is reminiscent of the pain of broken ribs– he’s all too familiar with that feeling. 

“shit, where is he–? miles?”

if he’s got broken ribs, there’s a good possibility that that was what punctured his lungs. he sure hopes not– he remembers all the medical lectures that mami had given him, about how it can lead to– some spot around his lungs being filled with blood as opposed to air. 

“fuck, if he’s uncoscious under there, then he can’t respond–”

“try his watch–”

miles blinks in confusion as the sounds from outside suddenly grow louder, and he hears plenty of shouts and sirens outside. fuck , he really hopes that everyone actually managed to get out of the way when the building collapsed, and that no one else is stuck under here like he is.

“miles? miles? ”

miles jolts in surprise and ohh fuck , he should not have done that– he lets out a cry at the pain that shoots up his chest and back, gasping for air as he tries to calm himself down. the voice– it sounds familiar, he can’t quite tell who it is–

“miles? oh, shit –”

miles blinks up at– noir? he makes a noise of confusion, noting the hole in the collapsed area that he was stuck in, leading to the outside. it allows for some light in, causing for miles to squint as his eyesight readjusts. he sees the the rubble all around him, and his one free arm is scratched up and bloody– shit, he doesn’t even want to think about what the rest of his body looks like–

“shit, miles,” noir mumbles, tearing his mask off and slipping on his glasses to better assess the situation. “fuck… he really tried t’bump ya off, huh?”

“h-heh… hey, noir,” miles croaks out, wincing at how scratchy his voice sounds. 

“hey, kid,” noir whispers, eyes flickering over his form. there’s brief bouts of darkness as more people slip in the little concave ruins, and noir turns to see who’s coming in. “ah– not too much at once, might collapse further if we got more people in here.”

“this is all of us, these two will leave in a second,” miles hears miguel say, and he lets out a pitiful whimper, hating to have potentially disappointed him. “hey– hey, niño … shock…”

“miles,” someone says, and miles turns his gaze to the spider-person who spoke. he’s crouching awkwardly in the same way miguel is, much too tall to be in this small space. he’s got light brown hair tied in a ponytail, glasses, pale skin and pale eyes, adorned with jewelry and a flowy coat. “hello– my name is petrid. heard you had to deal with a mysterio that has real magic?”

“i sure fuckin’ did,” miles rasps out, and miguel lets out a wounded noise at the sound of his voice as he inspects the slab atop of miles. “wh– why?”

“cannot just bring any spider-being over to fight a real magic user,” petrid says in amusement, eyes glinting kindly. “mind describing him? dealt with many magic-based mysterios, need to know which one it is.”

“he, uh–” miles coughs, and they all stare at the blood splatters that now stain the rubble in front of him. noir swears under his breath, and miles squeezes his eyes shut as he tries to think, not wanting to focus on the confirmation that it is blood filling that space around his lungs. “he had green curls, and– and heterochromia– green and blue eyes–”

there’s sudden intense swearing, and miles opens his eyes to see aisha looking furious next to noir. of course they’d call her, too– she also is a magic-based spider-person, so she’d know how to deal with them. miles thinks more about the mysterio he just fought, wondering why he had an air of familiarity around him the entire time, and– oh .

“oh, shit,” miles whispers in sudden realization. “shit– it’s, it’s your mysterio again–”

aisha growls under her breath, pressing a quick kiss to noir’s temple before she slips out of the rubble, a blur of blue and lavender and brown as she escapes. petrid takes a deep breath and smiles, attempting to stay reassuring to miles. “thank you, miles. we have it from here. noir and miguel will get you out, i swear it.”

miles watches as petrid leaves as well, and it’s silent as noir and miguel try and figure out a way to get miles out as safely as possible. after a few moments, the silence is broken when miguel quietly says, “you know– did real good for holding up to a magic-based mysterio, for someone who’s barely had any experience with real magic.”

“you— h-heh— you think so?” miles says weakly, refusing to look up at miguel. he is so sure that he’s going to look up and see the most disappointed look on miguel’s face. “well— um. thanks…”

it falls silent again, the only sounds being that of the fight going on outside the rubble. miles squeezes his eyes shut, taking as deep of a breath he can without hurting his lungs. why, why, why did he think it was a good idea to go ahead with the decision of not calling for anyone for this anomaly? with any other anomaly, besides maybe a green goblin one (trauma works in crazy ways), he probably could’ve dealt with it easily. but a mysterio, and one with true magic at that? yeah. he was fucked from the jump. 

“i think it’s best if we do it from here, don’t’cha think, miguel?” noir muses, brows furrowed as he inspects the slab atop of miles. “both of us at once, then straight shot for someone to try an’ drag miles out?”

“should work,” miguel muses, tilting his head. “what do you think, miles?”

“hmnggrgrrg.”

wow. very eloquent, morales. 

noir snorts as he crouches down in front of miles, a gentle, reassuring smile gracing his features. “think you can tell me what hurts most, or if you can’t feel somethin’?”

“uh—“ miles tries to think, he really does, but somehow even the thinking process feels like moving through a pile of sludge. “i— think i got a punctured lung. definitely broken ribs. an’— mm—”

“take your time, kid,” noir says gently, shifting over to the side. miles barely registers the brief dip in sunlight, or the scuffling sounds of someone entering the little enclosure, but then— “hey, look up for a sec, miles?”

huh? miles looks up and— he blinks in surprise at the sight of hobie, who looks absolutely terrified out of his mind at the sight of miles’ predicament. he manages a weak smile, but then he coughs out a bit of blood— there’s a few swear words from noir and miguel both, and hobie’s expression drops into one of horror at the blood splatter at his feet. “h-hey, hobie.”

“i swear to whatever deities you all believe in that as soon as you’re outta here, i’m kickin’ your fuckin’ ass to the moon,” hobie says, but the tone in his voice makes miles relax rather than tense up. he knows how hobie gets when he’s extremely worried, and this is nothing more than that. “fuckin’ hell, miles. might kill ya to revive ya and beat your ass for it.”

“how charmin’,” miles chuckles weakly. he keeps his gaze focused on hobie– better than his gaze faltering anywhere else, unable to keep himself still. he knows that’s what miguel and noir are going to ask of him, and he might as well start that off now. “gonna at least, hah , join me in the afterlife an’ beat my ass there?”

“sounds like a wonderful idea, if i do say so myself,” hobie scoffs, rolling his eyes fondly. “i might hafta do that. then drag you back in myself.”

“mm, m’savior,” miles slurs, face screwing up in pain as he hears miguel and noir shift around by him, whispering to one another in hushed tones. he winces. vision going black around the edges as he gasps, feeling the slab shift atop of him, and ohhhh fuck he’s starting to realize just how heavy this concrete is and how much it’s weighing down on him and–

“ay, ay, sunflower, stick with me,” hobie whispers urgently, snapping his fingers in front of miles’ face. miles blinks up at him sluggishly, barely registering the fact that there’s another voice added to the mix beside and behind him. “don’t be fadin’ out on me now. focus on me. talk about random shit. uh– what other recent hyperfixation ya got in that li’l head of yours?”

“my head ain’t little,” miles grumbles, but he tries to think, knowing that hobie’s trying to help him. “i… mm. still real focused on space…”

“a’ight. talk to me, eh? why were we the planets you assigned to us?”

“mm…” miles blinks, taking a deep breath and crying out at the pang in his ribs. okay– okay. still not in a position where he can breathe properly. “well– i was th’sun ‘cause, y’know, sunflower. same with milo an’ the moon, an’ moonflower…”

hobie hums in acknowledgement, gaze flicking up to the others around them. miles can’t quite hear what they’re saying – maybe they’re motioning instead, as to not worry miles– but hobie nods, turning back to miles. “uh huh, shoulda known. they’re aboutta lift in a sec’, okay? keep talkin’ to me, sunflower.”

“mm, an’ then– you were the earth ‘cause – ‘cause you, like, ground us… dunno how else to say it,” miles mumbles, trying to remember what he assigned everyone. “you’re like– well, the sun and earth and moon are all a system, so it jus’ makes sense . i dunno how else to explain it…

“an’ gwen– i think she was mercury? and that was ‘cause– ohhh shit –”

miles groans as he feels the slab slowly being lifted off of him, vision going blurry momentarily. the weight being lifted off of him feels relieving , but it’s also bringing to light just how much pressure was on him and how bad his wounds are. fuck , he feels like vomiting, but he’s so scared of what the repercussions might be, and– “ow, ow , m’fuckin’ leg –”

“shit, grab the back of the slab, we’ll take care of the front of it–”

“got it–!”

there’s a sudden immense relief on his leg, and he gasps, the sharp pain in his leg relieving momentarily before coming back with a fucking vengeance. hobie takes a deep breath, gauging the situation, before suddenly saying, “a'ight, sunflower, ‘m gonna grab you from under your arms and drag you out on the count of three, ‘kay? ready?”

“m-mhm–”

“a’ight.. one, two– three–!”

hobie immediately wraps his arms around miles and murmurs an apology before he yanks him out, and miles cries out as he’s pulled out from under the rubble. his entire body feels like it’s on fire, and he tries to spare a glance down at his body before hobie immediately says, “no no no , don’t look– shit – don’t look, sunflower–”

miles nods, tilting his head back and catching his breath instead. he hears the slab slam back down on the ground, and suddenly noir’s in his line of vision, brow furrowed in concern as he looks him over. his face is rather ashen– which is a surprising tell, considering he’s literally in grayscale. miles tries once more for a rather weak smile, and he says, “ heyyyy , noir–”

he doubles over, coughing up blood and gasping for breath as pain shoots up his chest. his vision briefly flashes a bright, blinding white, and noir makes a noise of concern at the sight while hobie swears in concern. miles can’t even bring himself up to try and smile reassuringly, groaning as he lets his head dip forward, wheezing through the pain. noir presses the back of his hand to miles’ forehead, frowning in concern. “ shit , kid, you’re burnin’ up.”

“yeah, but, mm– you guys as, as space objects, right–”

“a’ight, don’t be puttin’ bees in ya bonnet–”

“why the fuck would i put bees in my fuckin’ bonnet– oh, ow –”

“sorry, mijo ,” miguel says apologetically, a frown on his face as he also goes over miles’ wounds. miles honestly has no idea how bad he looks, but he starts to smile a little giddily because – whoa , some of his favorite people are here and are helping him . that’s so cool. they love him sooooo much– “look up at peter, hm?”

“peter?” miles tilts his head back (ow??) and his smile turns into a dopey grin at the sight of peter b.’s (also very concerned) face. whoooaaaa , he wonders if his other friends are here, or are even waiting for him back at medbay– that’d be sick . “ whoa. heyyyy.”

“hey, kid–”

“noir wants me t’put bees in m’fuckin’ bonnet,” miles slurs, brows furrowing in confusion as his head lolls back down, directing his gaze over to noir. why does he look so concerned? miles honestly feels so floaty right now– like, all the pressure and pain in his body is lifting up. that healing factor must be crazy. “why d’ya wan’ me t’put bees in m’fuckin’ bonnet? ”

“it’s a figure of speech, miles,” noir says gently, but there’s an underlying tone of urgency in his voice as he stands. “uh– think you’d hate the other things we call stuff–”

“mnnn???? like what, like wha’?”

“well, don’t blow your wig on me–”

“ what fuckin’ wig–”

“you shred it, wheat.”

“what th’ fuck are you talkin’ ‘bout–”

“take a look at hobie’s gitbox, eh?”

“now you’re jus’ sayin’ fuckin’ gibberish – ow , ‘s s’ bright –”

miles blinks at the sudden sunlight that hits his eyes, groaning in despair as he’s temporarily blinded. belatedly, he realizes they carried him out of the collapsed building, and honestly? he doesn’t have the heart nor strength to look behind him and see whatever damage he was in. he’d much rather not. the sounds all around him are muffled, but he can faintly hear the sirens of emergency vehicles, and he briefly wonders if maybe his apá or mami showed up– oh shit, that would be bad–

“shit– hey, missus– mm, no– no, no, i ain’t think ‘s a good idea t’take a look at miles right now–”

aw, fuck . the morales luck hit again. 

“ mami? ” miles croaks out, sluggishly tilting his head in the general direction he thinks hobie is talking to his parents. “ apá? ”

“ tenemos que llevarlo a medbay–”

“ si no me dejas ver a mi hijo, te voy a hacer daño–”

“ puedes venir con nosotros– ”

miles has always thought his mother looked like an angel. you know, it’s not hard, with her job as a nurse – people always tend to consider nurses to be angels in disguise, saving lives and all. but mami just has a certain glow to her that just screams angel . her eyes are bright and feel as though they’re glowing, like an everlasting hearth, always so warm and welcoming. her hold feels like that too, and her hair, even in just her braid, feels like it’s her halo.

so when she approaches, horror stricken on her face as she places a shaky hand against miles’ cheek, he has an overwhelming feeling of safety enveloping him. mami is just like his guardian angel. she wouldn’t let anything happen to him. he’s okay.

he can only manage the smallest upwards lilt of his lips in reassurance before his eyes are rolling back, slumping in hobie’s arms as he slips into unconsciousness.

miles’ head fucking hurts.

he groans as he slowly comes to, squinting at the bright lights that pierce his vision as he tries to get a bearing of his surroundings. he scrunches up his nose at the distinct smell of disinfectant and just pure sterileness of the environment. it’s so bright and white, and he feels like a kid waiting at the hospital for mami to get off of work, and–

and then he realizes, and he groans once more as he lets his head fall back against his pillow.

he landed his ass in medbay. what the fuck.

miles exhales slowly, trying to recap on what happened before he fainted. it’s all a bit fuzzy, probably from the combination of stress and anxiety, as well as blood loss, but he furrows his brow in concentration as he tries to think.

okay. 

lungs and ribs– his ribs were definitely at least fractured, if not some being full on broken. and he was sure that it had punctured his lungs, hence his coughing up blood. so, first things first– he takes a deep breath, and he’s pleasantly surprised with the fact that there’s only a dull ache to his ribs now, and not the sharp one that plagued him with every breath he took. 

perfect.

his arm. he squeezes his eyes shut, taking another deep breath. all he knew about it was that he could just tell that it was bent so horribly, so after a moment of steeling himself, he slowly opens one eye to glance at it and–

normal. his arm is normal. 

oh, thank fuck . he 100% would have vomited if it was still in a horrible position. he blinks, opening both of his eyes and sparing a glance to his legs, relieved that they’re also not in bad shape. perfect. cool. good. he’s good. 

he tries to steady his breathing, mind racing back to thinking about the mysterio anomaly. he vaguely remembers encountering this mysterio a while back, with hobie, gwen, and pavitr– they had to call backup at some point, for the usage of real magic and the fact that the illusions had felt so real that the four of them could not properly function and complete said anomalous mission. 

miles groans, dragging a hand down his face as he scrunches up his nose. damn , how did it take him all the way until he got fucking trapped under rubble to realize it was the same mysterio? he can fully well admit now that he should’ve called for backup immediately. but now, he’s thinking about the fact that he could have called for aisha in particular, or even just said that it was that specific mysterio, so that everyone knew what they were getting into. 

he frowns when he realizes that he, well, technically failed what his original motive was. with a sigh, he sinks back against the bed, pursing his lips in thought. he really, really wanted to impress miguel and peter b. and jess– even noir and aisha, even though they were only a couple years older. he just– he really wanted them to think he was capable of dealing with an anomaly all on his own without any backup, but here he is, in a medbay bed instead, after having called for backup regardless.

“miles..?”

miles’ head whips over to the door, eyes widening at the sight of mami y apá, and mami immediately rushes towards him, eyes immediately welling up with tears. she fusses over him, worriedly making sure that he didn’t still have any injuries that needed to be tended to. apá follows close behind, looking rather shaken, and miles winces– he can only imagine what he must’ve looked like to an outsider point of view, especially considering since hobie said he shouldn’t try and look at his wounds. 

“oh, mijo… ,” mami croons sadly, brushing the back of her hand against miles’ cheek before pressing a kiss to his forehead. “goodness, we were so worried –”

“i had gotten reports of some villainous work happening,” apá says, pulling up a chair and gently guiding mami to sit. “and i figured you were already on it– but after i heard that it was causing some buildings to collapse…”

“he picked me up immediately and we tried to get in contact with miguel, and he said they were on the way already, that you just called right before we did,” mami continues, moving her hand to grasp miles’. “why would you wait so long…? when we got there…”

miles swallows, biting his lip as he contemplates how to explain it. it wasn’t hard, really– just a case of pride and wanting to prove himself, and his parents definitely have that same struggle and need as well. but it just feels– embarrassing to say right now, for some reason. like he’s a little kid who was desperate to show off a new trick that he learned, but hurt himself horribly in the process. 

“ mijo ,” mami whispers, and miles looks up to meet her gaze, that warm, tender hearth blazing brightly in those brown eyes. as angelic as ever, it’s a reminder to what he felt right before passing out, that he felt safe , and that she would truly keep him safe– and she had, even if just by her presence being there. 

“... i wanted to prove myself,” miles mumbles, playing with mami’ s fingers. “i– mm. i wanted to show that i could do it, that i could deal with an anomaly all on my own. i wanted to prove it to miguel and peter and jess, to all the older spiders, to show that i can– i can handle it on my own. but, uh. yeah. that didn’t really… work in my favor.”

mami y apá are silent for a moment, exchanging glances with one another and having a silent conversation before looking back at miles. and oh , the softness and tenderness in their looks has him melting, knowing he wouldn’t be ridiculed, that he wouldn’t be scolded for being heroic, but only for not taking his safety into account.

“miles,” apá says slowly, taking a deep breath as he clearly tries to think of how to word his next sentence. “you– man, you’re a great spider-man. from all the stories you’ve told me, plenty of people need backup right off the bat, no matter what. i’ve heard you tell us stories where you can fend off smaller anomalies on your own, and that you’re sometimes the backup they call for in some missions. that alone shows that you’re pretty strong, yeah?”

miles blinks. that… that makes sense. being one of the ones that miguel determines as one of the official backups to send from his infinite list of spiders is truly an honor, and he completely forgot that he was on that list. he was so used to just doing mission after mission after mission with more than one spider-person that he just– didn’t think about that fact at all. 

“we’re just glad that you’re safe and okay,” mami says softly, squeezing his hand. “we can’t stop superhero work, we know that– but, to see you come home to us safe and sound, that is all we ask for, at the very least.”

miles smiles, letting mami nuzzle his hair and kiss his forehead once more, apá patting his thigh reassuringly. it’s a nice, comfortable silence between the three of them, miles basking in the joy of being alive and next to his parents, and–

“you’re still grounded after this.”

“ man. ”

miles comes in and out of consciousness plenty.

it’s probably his body desperately trying to catch up on rest while his healing factor works at a horrifically overtime rate. he can definitely feel the effects of it and is immensely grateful for it– the sharp pangs of pains have reduced down to merely a dull ache, and even those are slowly dissipating with time. 

he thinks he’s gotten visitors in the meantime– his mind vaguely remembers hearing the voices of jess and peter b., maybe even peni and margo– but he’s never quite fully awake to see any of them as he was with his parents.

except, well, now. where he yelps in surprise as soon as he opens his eyes to the sight of an unamused aisha with her arms crossed, and an equally unamused noir with his mask off (oh shit , that means business) and brow arched, and– a black cat purring on his lap? holy shit– it’s ding ding–

“hello, miles.”

miles groans loudly and dramatically, making noir snort and aisha arch a brow at him this time. miles slowly sits up, noir immediately moving forth to assist him, and miles sighs as he pets ding ding’s rather soft fur, unable to hold back a smile when he starts purring up a storm. “... is this a scolding? ‘cause i don’t really wanna hear one–”

“no, not quite,” aisha muses, tilting her head, and her tone turns more teasing, lighthearted. “although, i think you owe benji an apology, for nearly giving him a heart attack when you just passed out on all of us.”

oh . oh, yeah. miles had forgotten that he had passed out mid conversation, as soon as they had gotten him out of the rubble. miles opens his mouth to give the apology (because he truly is sorry, he remembers how worried and horrified noir was), but the first thing he blurts out instead is, “why the fuck did you say i was gonna put bees in my bonnet?”

noir blinks once, twice, thrice, and aisha suddenly bursts into laughter, leaning against noir’s arm and covering her mouth with a hand to try and stifle her laughter. noir slowly shakes his head with a fond smile, chuckling, “ain’t mean it literally, kid. it’s a figure of speech, remember?”

“yeah, but– bees in my bonnet? ”

“can’t believe that’s all you focused on,” noir jokes, dragging a hand down his face. “means you’re so invested in somethin’ you keep thinkin’ or talkin’ ‘bout it over and over.”

“ohhh…” miles furrows his brows. “but– bees? in a bonnet ?”

“fuck i look like, the slang maker?” noir rolls his eyes in amusement, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose. “i just say the stuff ‘m raised with, kid. ‘sides all those racial slurs. ain’t a fan of those.”

“i’d sure hope not,” miles says, raising a brow. “hope you wouldn’t be tryna call me a–”

“nope, puttin’ a stop to that now,” noir says, waving his arm desperately, making aisha double over further with a wheeze of laughter. “okay– let’s start this conversation over–”

“yeah, yeah.” miles clears his throat, taking a deep breath. “i– ‘m sorry for scaring you, noir. ain’t mean it.”

“oh.” noir blinks, tilting his head. “i didn’t think you’d actually apologize, but– uh. thanks. i was just– worried. ‘cause– i care. y’know? didn’t like seein’ one of youse faintin’ in front of me.”

“no, i understand,” miles sighs. noir can act as nonchalant as he wishes, but miles knows that he’s essentially taken the ultimate big brother role for all of them, even if he’s only older by a couple years for them all. he had admitted one day that he just feels so strongly towards protecting them, and that he truly would destroy anything in his path if it meant getting them to safety.

(although, the next day, upon asking him if this was still true, he merely shoved a cafeteria tray full of miles’ favorite food towards him. so, honestly, miles takes that as a yes.)

“must’ve been– a lot of work to try an’ get me outta there, from under that rubble,” miles says awkwardly, rubbing his arm, unsure of how to continue this conversation, now that the other two have also sobered up from the mini joking session. he goes back to petting ding ding, keeping his gaze focused on him. “mm.. really, thank you…”

“was no problem at all,” noir insists, shaking his head. he crosses his arms, a contemplating look on his face before his continues, “definitely glad ol’ man peter came by to help– would have taken miguel and i two separate lifts to get you out otherwise, and we were worried that, well… mm. but you’re here. so.”

miles hums in agreement, nodding slowly– that seems to be the general consensus, that he’s still here and alive, and that’s what they should be focusing on. with an exhale, he slowly looks up towards the both of them, gaze flicking over to aisha and trying to gauge her reaction from her expression.

she, like noir, can keep a scarily blank expression for a rather long while when she needs to. he shudders at the sight of the expression, the only hint of emotion being the raised brow, unsure of how to even interpret that. the galactical swirls in her eyes swirl in what seems to be contemplation, but her eyes, bright and icy blue in its main color, makes him wilt instinctively when she makes eye contact, her gaze practically piercing right through him. 

he’s always unsure of how she’d react to something until she actually does react, with the way that she just prefers to observe. so, truly, he’s worried that, with her magical abilities, she’d be ticked off that he decided to take on a magical mysterio anomaly– her mysterio, to be exact– all on his own.

but instead, her lips quirk up into a smile, making him sag with relief, and she says lightly, “for someone who has only had one other magical experience prior to this with the same mysterio, you did quite wonderful with what you did on your own.”

miles blinks in surprise, tilting his head curiously. her smile widens a little, not by much, but the warmth is definitely there as she continues. “plenty of spiders would have called for backup immediately, and most certainly would not have lasted as long as you did. i understand you did not recognize him, thus did not realize you had dealt with him before. even with that– you did amazing, truly. you definitely got a bit of damage on him, and i am impressed.”

“what?” miles furrows his brows in confusion. “but i barely fought with him directly– how’d i get him–?”

“only drawback of his illusions,” aisha muses, eyes twinkling with mirth. “any injuries you cause on them, if he ever makes them physical enough for you to fight with, it all appears on him. quite the nasty burn you gave him, your venom blast has certainly gotten stronger.”

miles’ eyes widen in surprise, jaw dropping slightly. “holy shit– so all the hits i landed on those illusions–”

“he felt them to some degree, yes,” aisha confirms. “again– very impressive array of injuries you managed to give him, even if it is not an extensive list.”

“wow…” miles breathes, shaking his head in disbelief. he didn’t even realize that, but it certainly cheers up his mood. he had also, admittedly, been down that he couldn’t directly land any hits on mysterio himself, but to know that what occurs on his illusions occurs to some degree on him… “i– thanks…”

he briefly remembers what he said on canons, and decides it’d be better if he kept his mouth shut on that matter. it wasn’t his issue to bring up, and nobody likes talking about their canons. aisha comes over, gently scooping up ding ding from miles’ lap, crooning apologetically to the cat as he meows in distaste. “ aw , i know, but we have to get you home, hm? what about your papa’s comfy old bed, hm? ah, there are those happy purrs… mm, i will see you later, miles. rest well and take it easy until you are fully recovered, hm? benji, i will be back at your apartment, love…”

she stands on her tiptoes, noir still bending down slightly so that she can kiss his cheek before she exits the medbay, cooing at ding ding lovingly and letting him crawl up to curl across her shoulders in content. miles turns his gaze to noir, snorting at the slightly lovesick gaze in his eyes and shaking his head. “whipped.”

“shut up,” noir snarks, a teasing tone to his voice. he sighs, running a hand through his hair. “i ain’t gonna say that it was a smart decision to be on your own, kid, i’ll be honest. ‘cause it wasn’t. but, like ai said… you really did great on your own. maybe you could just get more practice in against magic– i think that was your main setback. otherwise? ‘m proud of ya.”

miles lights up at that, a happy noise escaping him. “you mean it–?”

“‘course. ain’t gonna lie about that,” noir hums, smiling at miles reassuringly. “but i’ma let you rest for now. think miguel still wants t’come and see ya, and of course, your little trio. see ya later, miles.”

miles watches as noir leaves and sighs in content as he relaxes back against his pillows, a goofy little smile on his face, both of their praises playing over and over in his head. 

“morales.”

“ man , that means you’re mad at me, tío . morales ain’t available. try again, later.”

miguel rolls his eyes at miles’ antics, an amused glint in his eyes. true to noir’s word, miguel came in a good half hour after their conversation, jolting miles out of his state of dozing off. he’s leaning against the wall, arms crossed and brow raised. damn, what’s with everyone and raising their brow at him today? miles tries for a charming smile, hoping to lessen the blow of a scolding with it as he says, “ soooo . uh. lovely day we’re having.”

“yes, me finding you under a gigantic slab of concrete whilst trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building was lovely, ” miguel says sarcastically, and miles winces. well, when he put it like that . “miles, what were you thinking? ”

“i know, i know, it was stupid,” miles sighs, wringing his hands together. somehow, this wrenches at his heart a bit more than the conversation with his parents– but he supposes it could be attributed to the fact that he was specifically trying to seek the approval of miguel and other older spider-people. “i’m sorry…”

it’s silent for a moment before miguel also heaves a sigh, uncrossing his arms only to pinch the bridge of his nose. “miles… mm. shock, you could’ve died down there, kid. do you not get that?”

“i do,” miles mumbles, keeping his head down in slight shame. he doesn’t really want the berating, but he knows he deserves it. it just– kinda sucks, you know? to be berated by the main person you were really seeking approval from. he wanted to make miguel proud , not have him worried sick over his reckless actions. “i– yeah. ‘m sorry, tío. ”

another moment of silence falls over them, and miles makes a noise of surprise when miguel bends down and wraps an arm around him in a hug, tucking him in close. “miguel–?”

“just glad you’re okay, kid,” miguel mumbles, taking a deep breath. “seeing you down there like that– mm… it was– certainly a sight. not one i want to relive. certainly one i want scrubbed out of my memory.”

miles winces, biting his lip. “i’m–”

“don’t apologize again,” miguel interrupts, and miles clamps his mouth shut at that, opting to stare at miguel instead. miguel takes a deep breath, mulling over his words carefully. “it… was worrisome. me asustaste. i couldn’t tell at first if you were fully conscious or not, i had lyla running scans every minute to ensure your vitals were still okay.”

“oh…” miles tries to stifle a smile at that, glad to see another instance of miguel properly caring . “i– well. uh. fuck do i say besides apologizing?”

“that you’ll call for backup immediately with a real magical anomaly next time?” miguel offers, and miles huffs, head butting his shoulder lightly. “ ay, mocoso. you ought to promise me now, for that.”

“ ugh , i promise that i’ll call for backup immediately for that next time,” miles says dramatically, huffing and sticking his tongue out at miguel as he pulls away. “whatever, old man.”

“mhm, sure. thank you.” miguel pauses for a moment, and he sighs before saying, “this is not to encourage you to continue being reckless like how you were today, but– i’m proud of you.”

“wh– really? ”

“mhm.” miguel nods, unperturbed by miles’ shocked expression. “i know noir and aisha came by– and i know aisha would’ve told you that many spiders would’ve called for backup immediately without even trying. and she’s right– lots of them wouldn’t stand a chance against magic users, even with training against it. i struggle with it sometimes, just because i was not raised in a dimension with it. but you, without it– for a second-timer, you did real great.”

“i– wow… ” miles looks up at miguel with sparkly-eyed wonder, all previous feelings about how miguel had scolded him disappearing. those no longer held any meaning, with how miguel just said he was proud of him . he was proud of miles! “you really think i did good–?”

“shock, kid, now you’re painting me as a liar?” miguel jokes, raising a brow. “yes, i really think so. i was thinking of letting you do more missions on your own– smaller ones, of course, to start off. but solo missions nonetheless. i think it’d be great practice for you. peter and jess fully agree with me as well”

miles feels like he could burst with the amount of joy that he feels within him. there’s no way that he just got told that miguel (and peter b.! and jess!) are all proud of him, and that they are contemplating letting him doing more solo missions, and you expect him not to feel so full of excitement that he might just explode from it. “i – whoa – holy shit – thanks, tío –”

“mm, of course,” miguel says, awkwardly clapping a hand onto miles’ shoulder, making him snort. at the end of the day, he’s still awkward and doesn’t quite know what to do with the kids’ abundance of joy. “although, please try not to get into that horrible of a predicament again. tu madre estaba muy enojada. ”

“oh, yeah, i can only imagine,” miles winces, thinking of the wrath that miguel must’ve dealt with as soon as he passed out. “uh– sorry?”

“no need, i can understand her worries,” miguel dismisses with a shake of his head. “i would’ve done the same about– ah. mm.. you know what i mean.

“well, uh.” miguel squeezes miles’ should before standing up properly, rolling his shoulders back. “get rest. or, as much as you can before your rascal bunch of friends barge in here– last i saw, they were buzzing in the waiting room, so they might barge right in.”

and barge right in they did. miguel wasn’t even gone for long (a minute and twenty-seven seconds, miles counted) before the door burst open, gwen and pavitr fighting to be the first to make their way over to miles. hobie strolls in behind them, epitome of casual, but miles can sense the relief resting over him once hobie does a proper once-over of miles when he comes in.

“miles, you idiot! ” pavitr wails dramatically, laying across miles’ abdomen and pouting up at him. “you could’ve died! ”

“i know–”

“who else was going to help me dye gwen’s hair the trans flag colors with dye in her shampoo?!”

miles bursts out into laughter as gwen lets out a scandalized gasp, immediately pulling pavitr into a headlock and dragging him back, wrestling with him playfully. miles watches fondly, doing his little handshake with hobie when he comes close. “hey, punk.”

“hey, sunflower,” hobie hums, doing another once-over of him before relaxing further. “bastard had done a number on ya, huh?”

“well,” miles muses, thinking it over as gwen and pavitr finally settle, sitting on either side of miles. hobie settles at the edge of the bed by miles’ feet, tapping at his shins absentmindedly. “i mean, he never got that many swings on me directly. it was mostly that building collapse. and, uh– mm.”

“i heard it was that same mysterio as last time,” pavitr says quietly, tilting his head. “his illusions are strong – did those get you?”

“yeah, they certainly did,” miles sighs, shaking his head. “they– mm , that bastard made it of, ah, you guys.”

gwen blinks, letting out a small hum in thought. “us–?”

“yeah. you, pav, and hobie,” miles says, trying to remember what was said. “it was a bunch of– hmm… it was, like– you guys were pissed that i never called for backup, so ‘miguel’ had found out, thus coming on your own and getting hurt because i apparently never warned you it was all real magic that i was up against. so ‘you guys’ took that out towards me, and then turned it into a whole– me wanting to get rid of you all type shit? like– ah… what was it…

“oh– i used my venom blast against your illusion, gwen,” miles says, looking over at gwen, who tilts her head in curiosity. “and then ‘you all’ began to say that i’ve always wanted to fight you guys and, well, began to beat the ever-loving shit out of me. and it was so weird .”

“like, weird because you had to fight us in a way?” pavitr asks, scrunching up his nose. “or something else?”

“well, y’know how his illusions always had somethin’ off, so you could eventually tell that it wasn’t, well, right? ” at all three of their nods, he continues. “so, like– after realizing it was all illusions, the fights were just different. you and gwen were switched in fighting styles, which really tripped me up. and then hobie was just an asshole, being the distractor so that every time his guitar played or he successfully distracted me with something else, one of you could swing on me.”

“nah, that just sounds like hobie being hobie,” gwen snorts, ducking to avoid hobie’s swats towards her. “hey, i’m just saying the truth! you’re gonna tell me you wouldn’t do that shit?”

“i would, but don’t compare me to his trashy illusions,” hobie scoffs playfully, rolling his eyes. he plays with his lip ring with his tongue, miles noting the anxious habit immediately. “but that was what got ya, mainly? just the illusions, besides the building?”

“yeah, that was pretty much it,” miles muses. “i don’t … remember much after the building came down, honestly. just that i woke up under the rubble, and that it was… real fuckin’ painful.”

“yeah, you… mm.” hobie swallows, looking away, and it’s all miles needed to know that his physical condition had also affected hobie greatly. with the way that pavitr and gwen averted their gazes as well, he can tell that they also had seen, probably right before he got whisked away into a secured room in medbay. “it was rough, ain’t gon’ lie. but– knew you were gon’ be a’ight. no way you weren’t.”

“so much faith in me,” miles teases, grinning when it makes hobie roll his eyes fondly. “ain’t leavin’ all of you yet.”

“better not,” pavitr says, punching miles’ arm playfully but lightly. “then i’d haunt your ghost forever. or bring you back to life to beat you up.”

“i’d follow you to heaven or hell and then beat you up there, then drag you back up here to do it again,” gwen says cheerfully, a bright smile on her face, as if she didn’t just say she’d beat the shit out of miles.

“hobie said the exact same thing as you two,” miles snorts, shaking his head when pavitr and gwen both cheer happily, punching hobie’s arms and chest and back lightly, much to his bewilderment. “and then he said he’d send me back.” 

“so we can continue to repeat the process,” pavitr says seriously, nodding as if hobie had come up with the best idea since the invention of, like, sliced bread or some shit. “so smart, hobie.”

“thank you, thank you,” hobie chuckles, still mildly bewildered but amused by their reactions. “i think it’d be never-ending, but fun, y’know. and then if something happens to one of us, we bring miles back to life, and we just do the same shit to that person. cycle repeats.”

“what if when we all die?” gwen wonders, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “do we just– eternal beating each other up?”

“everyday we target a single person,” miles says mournfully, shaking his head. “gotta make it fair.”

“we are so smart,” gwen says, nodding in agreement. “ so smart. we deserve, like, awards for these ideas.”

“oh, but miles,” pavitr suddenly says, and miles turns over to him, raising a brow (hah! it’s finally his turn) in curiosity. “you know– you dealing with that mysterio on your own is so cool .”

“ah–?”

“yeah!” gwen says brightly, eyes sparkling. “you– i mean, shit, we struggled with all four of us together after he hit us with illusion after illusion! but you managed to keep up so well on your own before calling for backup!”

“and then aisha told us about how his illusions are still connected to him in a way, so all hits landed on them somewhat transfer to him– which makes sense on our last interaction with him,” pavitr says excitedly. “and– petrid and aisha said he had some wounds on him already! something about a nasty third-degree burn on his arm?”

“oh, yeah,” miles says, grinning at the thought. “well– it was originally for illusion-gwen– sorry, gwen– ow , i knew you were an illusion and it wasn’t you, please–! but, it was for her, because she was tryna beat me up, so– guess that worked out in my favor even more!”

“how cool,” pavitr breathes. “you think we can practice that with like, other magic users? see if their illusions have the same effects? or maybe it’s just a him thing…”

“i think it might just be a him thing,” miles hums, trying to think. “from what i heard, not a lot of them can make their illusions be that physical and tactile. guess it just depends? we could totally figure that out, though…”

“still pretty cool if i say so myself,” hobie agrees, and miles preens . official approval of all three of his best friends? fuck yeah. he doesn’t even care about the fact that he’s currently stuck in this medbay bed anymore. “but now– we got more pressin’ matters to care about.”

“oh?”

“next heist adventure,” hobie says dramatically, seriously, pulling out a notebook and flipping it to a page with a long list of dimensions and certain things they would steal or hijack from there. “we are very far behind. you set us back, blud.”

“ me?! ” miles gasps incredulously, holding his hand to his chest with a dramatic flair. “how could you! as if you didn’t get your ass knocked around too, like two weeks ago!”

“ bah, technicalities!” hobie waves him off. “now, we need to get back on business!”

miles laughs, him, gwen, and pavitr huddling close and listening intently to hobie’s explanations of each dimension and what they would do in each one. it’s easy for him to relax against his friends, and despite how fun the potential, future shenanigans that hobie’s describing, he can’t help but feel his eyes start fluttering shut, head drooping down to lean against pavitr. 

“ hey, you can rest, ” pavitr whispers when miles jolts himself awake, him and gwen settling back further against the bed so that miles can settle comfortably between them. “ we don’t mind. ”

“ not at all, ” gwen reassures as hobie merely lays himself across miles’ lap, continuing on as if nothing’s happening, knowing that it’s helping miles relax. “ we can always get him to run it back for you later, you know you’re his favorite.”

“ ‘m totally not th’favorite, ” miles mumbles half-heartedly, but he smiles at the sentiment, knowing that it’s most certainly true. “ cool. love you all. ”

there’s a chorus of ‘love you’s before hobie continues in a more hushed tone, gwen and pavitr whispering in response to him now instead of their usual loud, excited tones, and miles allows for himself to drift off between them, the blanket feeling of safety covering him once more as he falls back asleep.