Chapter Text
Miles lands with a small thump, stretching his arms and legs out after a couple hours of swinging. The rooftop he stands on currently is empty, and so he pops his neck, pulling his phone from one of the suit’s compartments to check the time. Midnight. Okay, so that gives him another hour or so before he needs to head back to sleep, and before the security guard comes to check on all the student dorms. Ganke could stall, but only for so long, and Miles never did like to press his luck.
He switches out a webfluid canister and raises an arm, ready to shoot another web, when his spider sense suddenly flares to life. He pauses, recognizing this sort of tingling. It wasn’t the kind that wasn’t yelling at him to leap pout of the way, or the kind that warned him of some kind of danger, but instead was quieter, pointing him in a single direction.
It felt like the tingling that told him another spider person was nearby. Which, shouldn’t really be possible, seeing as the whole dimension hopping thing with Fisk had happened a few months prior, so there really couldn’t be another spider person. And yet, here was his spider sense, contradicting his thoughts.
Curious, Miles walks towards the edge of the building his sense was pointing towards, looking over it just as a red a blue blur hops past him. He steps back, eyes going wide when he finds none other than Peter B. Parker himself standing there in the flesh just a few feet from him. He is now glad that he was wearing his mask, because his mouth drops open quite wide, and Peter most likely would have had a fun time of teasing him if he’d seen this.
“Ah ha, there’s the man I was looking for!” Peter exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air. He was wearing his full suit this time, not just his sweatpants, so Miles could see that the man has already lost a considerable amount of weight. He then spots the strange watch that the other Spider-man was wearing on his wrist, a bright light emitting from its screen.
“Puh- Peter?” Miles exclaimed. He really wasn’t able to believe Peter was currently standing in front of him. Not just because his universe’s Peter was dead, but also due to the fact there should literally be no way possible for the older spider to be here. Unless, of course, another dimension’s Fisk had built a new dimension tearing machine. Or his had again, and Miles just hadn’t noticed. “How are you? Shouldn’t you be in your own universe?”
Peter nods, placing his hands on his chest now. “Well, yeah, duh, of course,” he said. “But, I’m here for a reason.” He pauses, and Miles waits for his explanation. Peter’s shoulders hunch. “Could we get some food first? I’m starving.”
Miles groans, rolling his eyes under his mask before shaking his head. “Pete, I’ve only got an hour before I’ve gotta go back to school,” he points out.
“It won't take long, promise!” Peter said, and even though Miles already knows it was going to take way too long, he agreed to feed the hobo spider.
They enter the same diner as before, and instantly, Peter stuffs his face happily, smiling the whole time. Miles leans back in his own seat, his mask stuffed in the pocket of the jacket he'd put on over his suit. They'd gotten a few stares from the workers- unfortunate enough to still be working at this unearthly hour- but no one questioned their Spider-man esque costumes.
“Alright,” Miles began. “Where's my explanation?”
“So impatient,” Peter said, after swallowing a mouthful of hamburger. He wipes his mouth with a napkin this time(last time he'd just used his jacket sleeves). Then, he becomes more serious. Well, as serious as Peter could get, anyway. “Alright, kid, the multiverse is a bit unstable again.”
Miles groans, hanging his head in annoyance. Of course it was. Why wouldn't it be? “What happened this time? Fisk trying to make another machine?”
“No, actually,” Peter replied. “It's just a side effect from that- leftover… uh, residue, from when he tore through five different dimensions. A few people from other dimensions have been strewn about and out of place. One even came to my dimension not too long ago and explained everything to me, then gave me one of these.” He hold up the wrist with the strange bracelet. Then, his lips just out, like he was pouting. “The guy that gave me this had a way cooler suit than mine, all blue and red. You guys really gotta stop getting better suits than me, the original.”
With a roll of his eyes, Miles stares at the bracelet on Peter’s wrist. “So what is that, anyway?” he asked, pointing at it.
“Oh, right,” Peter said. He holds it across the table for Miles to see. “He called it a, uh, goober bracelet.” Miles snorts. Did all spider people automatically call something a goober? “It can open small tears in the multiverse for quick traveling, and that's what we've been using to try and return the misplaced spider people to their rightful dimensions.”
“And you came to my dimension because…?” Miles trails off, waving a hand.
Peter smirks before he stands, walking to Miles’s side of the table. And, before Miles could do or say anything, Peter was grabbing him and squeezing him in a tight, almost bone crushing hug. He gasps, surprised by this sudden show of affection. He wriggles a little, feet kicking as Peter pats his head.
“I missed you!” Peter exclaimed, nestling his face into Miles’s hair. Miles grunts, and finally manages to pry himself from Peter’s hug. “You know, kid, I missed you a lot.”
Miles can feel his face heat up. That was a very nice thing for Peter to say to him, especially since their last time together, Peter hadn't been too keen on spending any time with the younger spider. Though, as people say, times change. Peter had seemed to grow fond of Miles by the end of their time together the few months prior.
“I missed you too,” Miles admitted in a mutter, and Peter chuckles.
“I also need your help,” Peter finished, and Miles groans. Of course. Peter couldn’t have come to his dimension just to see him. He holds up his wrist to show off the bracelet. “We’re gonna use this to find misplaced spider people, and then go to another Spider-man to get you one of your own.”
“Where’d you get these, anyway?” Miles inquired, squinting to get a better look at it.
“From another Spider-man in a dimension that’s in the future,” Peter answered with a shrug of his shoulders, and Miles’s eyebrows pinch together, his head beginning to ache with his confusion.
“H- he’s from another dimension, from the future?”
“Yeah, don’t think too hard about it. Sides, Noir is from the past in another dimension,” Peter said dismissively. “Now, come on. You notice any disturbances?”
Miles frowns because, no, he hadn’t. Then again, there hadn’t been any news or reports of any kind of earthquakes like there had been before. “No,” he said. “You sure that they’re here? Nothing out of the ordinary has happened.”
Peter purses his lips and rubs his chin, pondering this information. “Huh, weird,” he stated. Then he looks imploringly at Miles. “So, uh, anyway, like you said, it’s getting late, and you need to head back to school, and so we can’t really start looking for these misplaced spider people, and I have nowhere to stay. So uh, you think I could stick with you?”
With his mouth dropping open, Miles accusingly glares at Peter. “You know I stay at my school over the weekend,” he said. “There’s a security guard that-” he stops mid sentence, eyes going wide as he quickly checks the time. Twelve fifty. “Ah! He’s gonna be checking my room in ten minutes!!”
He darts out the door instantly, and he’s pretty sure Peter follows suit because of the fact he hears footsteps behind him. He pulls his mask back over his face and then shoots a web into the air, pulling himself off the ground. He zooms through the air, and then Peter is swinging beside him, staring at him sideways.
“So is that a yes?” Peter asked, flipping upside midair, and Miles shoots him what he hopes to be a glare. “Not the time?”
“No!” Miles exclaimed. He swings around a corner tightly, vainly hoping that that would loose Peter. But of course it didn't. Peter was way more experienced and did the turn even sharper than Miles had. “If they find I have some random adult man in my room, they'd flip out! My parents would flip out! I'd flip out-”
“But Miles,” Peter pleads just as Miles lands on the side of his dorm room. He lands beside the younger spider, his masked eyes lowered like he was sad. “I've got nowhere else to stay!”
Miles opens his mouth to say no again, to tell Peter to buzz off, but he closes it. He shakes his head. “N- no! I won't-” he hits his forehead on the brick wall. “Ugh! Fine! But if I'm caught, I'm filling you with my venom sting!”
Peter holds his hands up in surrender and nods, before gesturing towards the window. “You lead the way, boss,” he said, winking.
Miles groans but opens the unlocked window, crawling in. Ganke is still awake, of course, and grins when he sees him return.
“You're back!” Ganke exclaimed. “That's good. I thought we were gonna get caught!”
“Morales, Lee!” the two teens freeze, looking towards the door. It was one o'clock on the dot now. Miles quickly rips the mask from his face, slams the window shut, and dives into his bed, wrapping the blankets around himself tightly. He prayed Peter would not try and enter at this exact moment. “You should not be talking!” The door opens, and the security guard steps in. Ganke waves a tad awkwardly.
“Hey, Mr. Security,” he said sheepishly, before gesturing towards his computer. “Sorry, you know I have a bad habit of talking to myself while I'm working.”
The security guard glares for a few seconds before rolling his eyes. “You should work on not doing that, Lee. You'll creep your future wife out,” he said pointedly.
“Haha, yeah, wife,” Ganke said with a half hearted laugh, just as the security guard exits, shutting the door behind him. Then, he turns to face Miles. “Dude, you're really starting to cut it close.”
“Yeah I know,” Miles said miserably. He pushes the covers from his face and hops to the floor, peeking outside the window. Peter is stuck on the wall beside it, tapping his fingers on one of his arms impatiently. “I would have been back sooner, but then this guy showed up again.” And then he opens the door and Peter hops in, in all of his original Spider-man glory.
Ganke’s mouth falls open, and he points in disbelief at Peter. “I- is that… is that the guy from the other dimension?!” he asked excitedly.
“The one and only,” Peter replied, stretching his arms out. Ganke makes a noise of excitement.
“You were right! He is large!” he said, pointing now at Peter’s stomach. Miles stifles a laugh.
Peter glares at Miles. “Oh really, Miles, you told him I'm large?” he asked accusingly.
“No, that's great!” Ganke said quickly, waving his hands. Miles hops on his bed, letting his feet swing as he watches the conversation. “I mean, well, it's great for other fat people like me!”
Now Peter pauses, like he hadn't even considered that. Miles smiles widely, kicking his feet up, not even bothering to change as he lays down.
“Ganke, would you mind if he used your bed tonight?” he inquired, before whispering, “Not like you ever sleep anyway.”
“Oh, yeah, sure!” Ganke replied. Then he pauses. “He's staying with us?”
“Yeah. Super hero stuff,” Miles replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.
“That's awesome!” Ganke nearly shouted. Miles shushes him. “Right. Sorry.”
“Anyway, I'm sleeping,” Miles said, turning over on his side. “Bother me when the world is ending or somethin’...”
He can just hear Peter chuckle before starting conversation with Ganke, seeming to have warmed up to his roommate now. Miles smirks before falling asleep. He'd known Ganke would like Peter.