Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jeremy stepped through the doors, bracing himself for the worst. No one looked at him funny, maybe he could make it through the day. First official day back since the whole…Squip incident. He…he could do this.

“Hey Jeremy,” Jenna approached him like they were…friends. Right, because suddenly Jeremy had managed to befriend the popular crowd. “Did you and Christine get that date scheduled yet?”

Jeremy chuckled, “Can I tell you later?”

Jenna shrugged, “Okay, fine. Keep your secrets. I’ll figure it out sooner or later.”

Walking into first period felt like a blessing. It was quiet. He had felt like he was constantly fired up for the past few days. He needed to have a normal day at school. He caught notice when Brooke and Chloe walked in, the two of them giving him a polite smile in acknowledgment as they took their seats. Shit, he really owed it to Brooke.

“Hey, Brooke?” Jeremy got up and switched desks to sit next to her. “I…I’m sorry about leading you on. You don’t need to forgive me—”

Brooke held up a hand to silence him, “I don’t forgive you, not yet at least. But…you’re working on it. Chloe is too. In time you’ll earn forgiveness. And for now we can still be friends.”

Jeremy nodded, moving back to his original seat. Chloe still terrified him, so he wasn’t going to try talking to her just yet. Rich was still in the hospital, though they had talked quite a bit. He was…shockingly nice when he wasn’t under the influence of the Squip. Jake was in a different home room, as were Jenna and Christine, meaning the only person missing was…

Michael came walking in, his hood pulled over his head. Unlike with Jeremy, Chloe and Brooke ignored Michael. If he was going to be friends with them they would all eventually learn to get along, right? Michael took his seat in front of Jeremy, lowering his head to the desk.

“Hey,” Jeremy nudged him with his foot. “You okay?”

Michael glanced over, squinting behind his glasses, “Yeah. I…are you?”

Well his head was still kind of screaming at him but seeing Michael did help that a bit, “Yeah! Did you—”

“Quiet please!”

Oh damnit. Jeremy shut up and turned his focus to his homework. He…didn’t have any idea what was going on. With the Squip he hadn’t needed to pay attention and now…fuck, he was lost.

He flinched as Michael tossed a notebook on his desk, his chicken scratch notes staring up at him. Jeremy silently thanked the back of Michael’s head while he read through the notes. Anything would be better than his total oblivion to his studies.

Between classes Jeremy felt his headache begin to grow worse. He bit back any complaints and trudged forward, offering Jake and Christine waves as he passed them in the hall. It appeared that Christine would be wheeling Jake around while his legs healed.

By lunch Jeremy felt like his head was going to explode. He felt physically ill. It couldn’t be a Squip thing, no one else seemed to be bothered. Yet here he was, ready to rip his own skin off.

“Jeremy?”

He flinched, whipping his head over to find Brooke and Chloe standing over him. God he felt useless.

“C’mon, you clearly aren’t feeling well,” Chloe grabbed him by the arm and began to drag him towards the doors. Brooke took up the rear, carrying hers and Chloe’s bags.

Jeremy weakly protested as he was dragged out to Chloe’s car. He was pushed into the backseat, and other than the doors around him closing the sudden silence did help his racing head.

“You rest, we’ll stop and get lunch,” Chloe offered, turning on the car.

Jeremy didn’t say anything, he just stretched out and let his eyes drift shut. His head was pounding, his wrists felt weird, hell even his hands felt wrong. He was faintly aware of Brooke and Chloe talking amongst each other but he was too out of it to discern actual words being said. He didn’t perk up until the smell of fries hit his nose, Brooke silently passing him a bag of fast food.

Eating did help a bit, he felt more stable, though still in pain. Brooke was the one turned back towards him, her expression exerting concern for him.

“Kinda feels like my head is going to explode,” Jeremy explained. “I’ve felt weird since waking up at the hospital, but this was next level. You guys haven’t felt anything weird?

Brooke shook her head, “No. Is it withdrawal symptoms? You’re not addicted to ecstasy, right?”

“No! I just…” Jeremy placed his hand to the ceiling of the car so he could stretch his back. “I feel weird.”

He tried lowering his arm back down but his hand wouldn’t budge. Panic set in, Jeremy trying to rip his hand free. What the fuck was happening.

“Jerry, what are you doing?” Chloe asked.

“I’m stuck,” Jeremy felt dumbfounded. His hand wouldn’t budge.

“Don’t bullshit me—”

“Chloe, I’m stuck!” Jeremy tried sliding to the floor of the car, but his hand simply clung to the ceiling and held his body weight up. What the shit?! Brooke also started to worry, eyeing up his flat palm carrying his entire body.

“Chloe…I think something’s wrong.”

Chloe parked the car, turning back to watch Jeremy stick to her car. He didn’t know what the hell was happening. He opened his mouth to speak when his hand slipped free at random, causing him to fall down to the floor of the car.

“Okay, what the hell is going on?!” Chloe demanded, getting out of her car. Jeremy and Brooke followed her outside, Jeremy keeping his hands close to his body so he didn’t stick to anything else.

“Chloe, I seriously don’t know what’s happening,” Jeremy stated, glancing at his hand.

“Well, figure it out!”

She started to walk away, Brooke hesitating before following her. Jeremy scrambled after them, his fingers flailing as he caught up. He felt his breath catch as a substance came from his wrist and stuck to Chloe’s jacket, catching the ends of her hair as well. Chloe whipped around, her expression fully rageful.

“Did you just jizz on my jacket?!”

“What?! No!”

Brooke stepped forward, picking out Chloe’s hair so she could remove the jacket. She turned to Jeremy once the jacket was off, her eyes scared.

“Jeremy, what is going on?”

“I don’t know!” Jeremy insisted. “I…fuck I’m scared.”

Brooke stepped forward and lightly gripped his shoulder, “What would have happened to cause this?”

“I don’t know! It’s not anything to do with the play because you guys are all fine, I just don’t know!”

Brooke cocked her head to the side, “Why would it have anything to do with the play?”

Jeremy crossed his arms over his chest before explaining himself to the girls. The Squips, his stupidity, nearly losing Michael, everything.

“…Oh my god, you’re an ass!” Chloe growled, her eyes narrowed. “You’re lucky I don’t want to ruin your life!”

Brooke made a face, “You weren’t hospitalized for being electrocuted, Jeremy. We were told you had an allergic reaction. None of us were hospitalized and the same happened to us.”

Jeremy pressed his lips into a line, “What?”

Chloe nodded, “Yeah, we just assumed you got a bad batch of drugs. But now?”

Jeremy pulled his phone out, logging into his online doctor charts. And sure enough, he had been hospitalized due to an allergic reaction. To a spider bite of all things. Holy shit.

“It’s not jizz,” Jeremy pointed to Chloe’s jacket. “It’s webs.”

Chloe scrunched up her face, “What?”

Jeremy shrugged, “I’m going off of comic book knowledge, but I’m guessing that I was bit by a spider at the same time I was electrocuted, and somehow…” Jeremy pointed his wrist towards the ground, applying pressure where he had previously. More of the webs came out of his wrist, hitting the ground. “I make webs now.”

Brooke perked up, “And you stuck to the car because spiders can cling to walls! That’s so cool!”

Chloe shook her head in disbelief, “This is crazy, I…fuck. Do you lay eggs now too?”

“Uh, I hope not?” Jeremy tucked his hands into his cardigan pockets. “Besides, only girl spiders would do that, right?”

Chloe shrugged, “Guess we’ll find out, Spider-Boy.”

They all started walking back towards the building, Jeremy now taking up the rear while Brooke picked webs off of Chloe’s jacket.

“Can we…not tell people about this?”

“No duh,” Chloe reached back and ruffled his hair. “I don’t want to deal with your bug boy shit.”

“Thanks.”

“Are you feeling better?” Brooke asked, still struggling to get rid of the webs on Chloe’s jacket. “Headache?”

Jeremy shrugged, “Still there.” He followed Chloe and Brooke to their lockers, earning a few not so subtle head nods from passersby students. It made sense, even without the Squip Jeremy was still…popular. Hanging around Chloe and Brooke made him important. “I’ll have to google if it’s a spider thing, perpetual headache sounds like shit. It’s almost like—” Jeremy flinched, reaching a hand behind him just in time to catch a soda can flying towards his head. He had all the coordination of a newly born giraffe, so the fact that he caught the can at all was shocking. And he had caught it without looking.

“Nice catch dude!”

Jeremy turned on his heel, finding Jake being wheeled over by Christine. Chloe still seemed kind of upset with him, but she didn’t verbalize anything. Jeremy handed back the soda can, offering a shrug in response.

“Ladies,” Jake looked between Chloe and Brooke. “Do you think you could help me switch my books? Chris has been pushing me all day and she needs a break.”

Chloe pressed her lips into a line, “Yeah, fine.”

Brooke followed, still picking at Chloe’s jacket. That left Jeremy and Christine in the hall. Alone.

“So, uh, now that the play is over my schedule is more open,” Christine chuckled. “Did you want to get dinner tonight?”

Jeremy nodded his head, “Yeah, uh, sure! You…you’re sure you still want to try going out?”

Christine nodded, “I like trying new things. And we can at least say we gave it a fair shot, right?”

Jeremy nodded, “Right.”

“Cool,” Christine grinned at him before pirouetting down the hall. “Bye Jeremy!”

Jeremy smiled to himself before leaning against the row of lockers. He had an actual date planned. He had been on a few with Brooke, but his mind hadn’t really been there for them. He couldn’t wait to tell Michael.

Jeremy made his way to class, being mindful to try and not stick to things. Now that he was aware his body seemed more willing to listen to him. He changed into his gym clothes before making his way into the gym, confused when he couldn’t find Michael. He knew they shared a gym class, where the hell had he gone? He had seen him earlier, it wasn’t like he was being blocked from sight again. He also shared the class with Jenna, so he made his way over to her.

“Hey,” Jeremy greeted her.

Jenna smirked, “Hey Jeremy, I saw you talking with Christine. Is it official yet?”

“No,” Jeremy shook his head. “How are you doing?”

Jenna shrugged, “Y’know, my parents are divorcing. It’s been weird.”

Jeremy offered her a hand to slap, “Been there, done that.”

Jenna hi-fived him, “Yeah? How old were you?”

“Eight. Meaning it was totally my fault. But hey, you might get double birthday presents. I didn’t, but my mom also just packed her shit and left.”

Jenna hummed, “Yeah, maybe. My mom isn’t taking it well, she dyed her hair red.”

“Oh no. Hey, have you seen Michael?”

Jenna thought about it for a moment, “The tall dude who crashed backstage?”

“He’s not that tall, we’re just short. But yes, him.”

Jenna arched her brow, “Uh, the guy is at least six feet, he’s tall. But yeah, saw him leave at lunch. He looked like shit. Are you friends with him?”

Jeremy nodded, digging into his pocket for his phone. He needed to check in. The stark gap from the last text he had sent Michael didn’t make him feel any better. He sent a quick message before pocketing the device again. He didn’t want to get into trouble with any of his teachers over it.

Jeremy hated dodgeball. He always had. With the Squip he had been able to usually survive long enough to not be seen as weak, but now he was back to square one. He had sticky hands at least, maybe he could catch a ball on his own now.

The idea that the Squip had inadvertently given him shitty superpowers wasn’t lost on him, he just didn’t want to think about it. He was equally excited and pissed about it.

Jeremy found that he actually was able to hold his own quite well. His sticky hands helped him catch things, and he was actually able to dodge when he was targeted at. He moved to dodge like a knee jerk reaction. Luckily the balls they used were foam so no one ended up injured, but Jeremy even managed to hit a few people and get them out.

And then suddenly it was just him and Jenna. Jeremy had a ball in his hands, Jenna was running to grab one laying on the ground. He could get her out. But he didn’t want that attention. He tossed the ball slightly above her, missing Jenna by a few inches. She whipped her ball at him and Jeremy tripped over his own feet so he fell into the arc of the ball. He was hit, Jenna won. All the competitive boys on Jenna’s team whooped and hollered at her, congratulating her and patting her on the back. And Jeremy got a few dirty looks but went mostly ignored. He was popular, he was allowed to make mistakes.

“Thanks,” Jenna approached him after class.

Jeremy shrugged, “Good game.”

Michael had responded to his text saying he had gone home sick. Shit. Jeremy didn’t focus all that well through the remainder of his classes. It didn’t help that he was already clueless, but now he was worried about his best friend. Once the dismissal bell rang Jeremy bolted from the building and started running to Michael’s house. They didn’t live terribly far from each other and Jeremy walked to school most of the time. He found himself at the Mell house in record time, and he hardly felt winded. Was endurance and speed a spider thing? Maybe the whole creepy powers thing wasn’t all that bad. Jeremy made his way up the front steps and rang the bell. Michael’s mom Maria answered, and Jeremy could tell she wasn’t all that happy with him. It made sense, Jeremy just up and left not just Michael but them as well when he had been Squipped. Michael’s moms had stood in for his own a lot over the years.

“Maria I—”

She held up a hand and cut him off. Jeremy clamped his mouth shut, he had always been slightly scared of Maria. She was arguably the kinder of the two at first glance, but no one crossed Maria Mell and got away with it.

“Michael said you got mixed up with some bad people.”

“I let the idea of status cloud my vision, yes I'm an asshole.”

Maria smirked, “At least you can admit it. How’s your dad?”

Jeremy shrugged, “He actually went into the office today.”

“That’s good,” Maria nodded, reaching a hand out to pat his cheek. “We all missed you, honey. Have you been eating?”

“I actually learned to cook a little bit.”

Maria welcomed him inside, “Good, you need some meat on those bones of yours. Mikey is sick, not sure what with. He’s been like this for a few weeks. Good for a few days, then a raging fever.” Oh fuck. “Darcy and I took him to the ER the first night but they didn’t find anything in his labs. You can go talk to him if you want, are you staying for dinner? I’ll make pasta.”

“I can’t…” Jeremy felt like shit for saying no to her. “I have a date.”

Maria perked up, “Oh! With who?”

“Uh, this girl from school. Christine. She’s—”

“Oh hush I know plenty about her you never shut up,” Maria was beaming, pushing him towards the stairs to the basement. “Have a good time.”

Jeremy made his way downstairs, finding Michael curled up under a pile of blankets. Jeremy made his way over to the pile, sitting beside it on the edge of the bed.

“Hey man,” Jeremy greeted, causing the blanket pile to move.

Michael poked his head out, his glasses crooked on his face, “Hi Jeremy.”

Michael scooted his blanket pile over, giving Jeremy room to actually sit next to him. They were both quiet for a moment, Michael shimmying to sit up properly.

“I’m sorry,” Jeremy said, looking over. “I shouldn’t have just left you. I fucked up. And I’m sorry that I hurt you. If I ever start acting like a dick again I want you to kick me in the dick so as to remind me to not act like one.”

Michael threw his arms around Jeremy, hiding his face against his shoulder, “I fucking missed you, man.”

Jeremy hugged back, finding Michael’s skin hot to the touch. Holy shit his fever was bad. Still, he hadn’t realized how much he needed a Michael Mell Hug until he had it.

“I have time to play a few rounds of Smash if you feel up to it?” Jeremy offered, rightening Michael’s glasses so they weren’t crooked anymore.

Michael nodded, “Yeah, fuck my stupid body. I want to kick your ass as Zelda.”

Jeremy set up the bean bags while Michael properly emerged from his blanket pile. Jeremy eyed up Michael’s frame, finding that he appeared to have lost weight. How sick was he? Was he eating?

Michael acted as if he was fine, plopping down in his bean bag and turning on the game. Despite his anxieties Jeremy found himself having a good time. Michael kept trying to poke or tickle him to distract him, it felt like before. Michael won due to his cheating antics, but Jeremy didn’t really mind. His phone beeped when it was time to leave, waving to Michael as he went to the door.

“Good luck!” Michael was already going back into his blanket pile.

Jeremy waved, “Thanks.”

Jeremy hadn’t ever been to Christine’s house before. Her mom was nice, she reminded him a lot of Maria. He was offered food about five different times before Christine came downstairs.

“Bye Mom, we’ll be back,” Christine called out, leading them outside.

They wound up taking the subway into New York. It had been a while since Jeremy had been across the river, but he found himself enjoying the lights as they walked around. The trash in the streets and the ever presence of noise…not so much.

“So,” Christine hummed, the two of them finding a restaurant they both liked the sound of.

“So,” Jeremy parroted back.

Dinner felt…tense. Not tense, awkward. Jeremy thought that after everything talking to Christine would be easy but…he couldn’t be casual. Being her friend had been so easy, but the context of the date made it weird.

“I…I don’t think this is working,” Christine said something first.

Jeremy nodded, “Sorry.”

“No, it’s not your fault, Jeremy,” Christine offered him a smile. “I just…I think we work better as friends.”

“Yeah,” Jeremy sighed. “It feels kind of stupid, all the shit I did. Just for it to not work out.”

“Well, it’s better than a robot version of me lying, right?”

“Yeah. That…would have been bad,” Jeremy whispered. “I…I’m sorry about that. Ruining the play and…everything else.”

“You already apologized, Jeremy,” Christine dismissed his words. “I think being hospitalized is punishment enough. Besides, we’re still friends.”

“Right.”

After dinner they started their walk back to the subway when Jeremy received a text from his father requesting a loaf of bread. After Christine assured him she would be fine on her own, she even pulled out her mace to reassure him, Jeremy detoured to a bodega to pick up the bread. The plastic bag swung on his arm as he traipsed through the city, looking up at all the massive buildings. Maybe…just to experiment…

Jeremy ducked into an alleyway, tucking the bread into his backpack. He glanced around to make sure he was alone before deciding fuck it and running at the wall in front of him. Somehow his feet stuck to the side, and he was able to climb up the side of the building thanks to his sticky appendages. Jeremy made it up to the roof, getting a whole new view of the city from his new height. It was beautiful in the growing dark. He could even see the bridge leading towards home.

Jeremy wasn’t sure what possessed him, but he made the decision to jump off the roof. His heart was pounding with adrenaline and for a few seconds it almost felt like flying. Jeremy fired a web and held on tight, his body curving in an arc back up towards the skyline. Holy shit. He repeated the action, swinging towards the bridge far faster than he could ever walk. He hadn’t known his body was capable of doing flips, but here he was. What felt like a million stories up and flying around like a trained gymnast. Jeremy weaved his way back to Jersey, finding that swinging in the more suburban areas was far less easy. Still, Jeremy had effectively made his own way of travel. Jeremy slid into his house, dropping off the bread before wishing his dad well and running right back out. The night was young and Jeremy Heere had somehow ended up with superpowers.

Jeremy made his way to Brooke’s house, figuring that her mom was out drinking. Jeremy had met the woman when he had dated Brooke, and she never seemed to actively be around for her daughter. And Brooke’s dad worked overseas most of the time. So it was most likely that no one was home. Jeremy knocked on the door, Brooke coming to the door after a moment.

“Hey!” Brooke welcomed him in. She had rubber gloves on. “I was just doing Chloe’s hair, what’s up? How did your date with Christine go?”

Jeremy shrugged, toeing off his shoes before following Brooke deeper into the house, “Uh, it went fine. We decided to just stay friends.”

Chloe pivoted around in her spinning barstool, her hair layered with tinfoil where Brooke was bleaching it, “All your talk earlier of nearly destroying humanity and it didn’t work out?!”

Jeremy nodded, “Yeah, I know. But! I learned some more cool shit about my spider powers.”

Brooke was all ears, “Oh?”

Jeremy grinned before casually beginning to walk around Brooke’s kitchen on his hands. He didn’t experience head rush, and he felt perfectly balanced.

“You have abs now,” Chloe noted, pointing to Jeremy’s exposed stomach from his shirt falling towards his chest.

Jeremy went back to his feet, shocked that Chloe was right. The Squip had tried to make him more like Jake in build, but it hadn’t ever worked. And now he had abs. Cool!

“Anything else new and exciting?” Brooke hummed, cleaning up her bowls from taking care of Chloe’s hair.

Jeremy casually threw himself up to her ceiling, planting his feet and standing upright, “My feet are sticky too.”

“This is so cool!” Brooke squealed, her eyes bright. “Jeremy, you’re like a superhero!”

“I don’t…Being sticky and flexible doesn’t make me a superhero.”

“You clearly have strength too,” Chloe added. “You need strength to carry yourself on your hands like that, not to mention the magic abs.”

“I could make you a costume,” Brooke offered. “Secret identity and all that, then you can still just be Jeremy.”

Jeremy silently dropped back down to the floor, “You think I could do that?”

“Sure!” Brooke was practically vibrating. “You have the powers, why not use them for good? It’s what Batman would have wanted.”

Jeremy nodded, “Good point. What would my name even be? Sticky Man?”

“Bug-Boy,” Chloe offered

“…Spider-Man?” Brooke tried.

Jeremy grinned, “I like it. Spider-Man it is.”

▣

“No,” Jeremy cringed at his own reflection. “Brooke you can see all of my junk. I cannot wear this.”

Brooke sighed loudly from the other side of the door, “Besides you being picky about your junk do you like it?”

Jeremy met his reflection’s eyes, the white lenses of the mask staring back at him. Brooke had done a great job.

“Yes.”

Brooke rapped her nails against the door, “I’ll sew in a pair of compression shorts, that should help. Otherwise you’ll need to learn to tuck. Okay?”

“Fine,” Jeremy began to pull the costume off, he even had two pockets. He changed back into his school clothes and walked out of the room. Brooke took the costume back and tucked it into her backpack before the two of them walked outside to her car. Things were starting to look up. Rich was out of the hospital and out of a majority of his cast, Jeremy had his powers under control, and Michael had messaged him the night prior stating that he was finally beginning to feel better.

Jeremy and Brooke split up to go to their lockers, Jeremy being greeted by Rich standing next to his.

“Hey Tall-Ass,” Rich greeted. Jeremy could hear him suppressing the lisp that had at one point been so easy for him to hide. His healing skin was still pink, and he still had medical wraps on both of his arms to protect the more sensitive areas, but Rich seemed happy to be there.

“Hi,” Jeremy nodded. “How’re you feeling?”

Rich simply shrugged, “Kind of hurts to move a bit but…it’s better than sitting at home. Not like my family would bother to make me feel welcome. Everyone keeps looking at me like I’m a monster.”

Jeremy sighed, “Yeah, you did start a house fire, dude.”

“Yeah, to thtop an evil computer!” The lisp slipped out as Rich became more passionate in his words.

“I know that,” Jeremy assured, collecting his textbooks. “But not everyone does. It’s us, Chloe, Brooke, Christine, and Michael.”

“Jake didn’t find out? Fuck, he probably hates me.” Rich looked at his phone, “I’ve been too scared to open my messages from him.”

“It sucks, I know. But—”

“Rich?”

Rich looked like he was ready to drop dead. No Squip to give him the perfect response. No artificial way of masking his own fears. Rich had no choice but to face the music.

He pivoted around, “Jake. Uh, hey man.”

Jake pushed his wheelchair forward, nearly bumping into Rich, “How…how’s healing going.”

Rich gestured to his hardly healed scar tissue on his face, “Oh, y’know…painful. You?”

Jake glanced to his legs, his femur had healed, leaving just the lower legs and ankles. Jake could officially bend his knees again. “Yeah, it’s kind of shitty. I…I called you. And texted.”

Jeremy felt like he was intruding on a private conversation. He tucked his face into his locker and pretended to dig around so he at least wasn’t just staring at them.

“I…I know,” Rich sounded guilty. “I’m tho thorry Jake—fuck! Damnit!”

Jake chuckled, “Say that again?”

“Fuck off! It happenth!”

“No, no, I think it’s endearing,” Jake clearly hadn’t noticed Jeremy standing next to them. “I’m shocked I never noticed before.”

“Yeah, well it only…” Rich waved with his hand to motion to his face. “When I’m…threthed. Goddamnit kill me now.”

“Hey, I’m just glad you’re okay,” Jake pulled Rich practically into his lap to give him a hug. It was awkward and Rich clearly didn’t know how to react, at least not at first, but the two did hug it out. Jeremy left them to fix their friendship and made his way to class. Michael was in his seat, and he looked better than Jeremy had seen in…forever, it felt like. He stopped by to play video games after school when Michael was feeling up to it, but it hadn’t been a daily thing. To see him at school and in a good mood was the best thing to happen to him all week.

If Michael was feeling good that meant that he could finally spill about his powers without worrying for his friend’s health. Jeremy walked to his desk, tossling Brooke’s hair as he passed her. She looked up from her sewing, apparently she was just working between classes now, and stuck her tongue out at him in response.

“Hey man,” Jeremy greeted.

Michael spun around in his chair, turning back to face Jeremy, “Dude. Please tell me you’re free tonight.”

“Free and ready to smoke a bowl,” Jeremy assured.

“Good. We have…so much to talk about.”

Jeremy cringed at the words. Were they talking about the Squip event again? Jeremy felt like he had apologized to Michael about a million times.

“Talk in a good way,” Michael corrected himself. “If I have to hear you say I’m sorry again I might smack you.”

“Everyone quiet!”

The room fell silent, Jeremy flipping through his homework. Michael turned back around to work on his own things, pulling his headphones over his ears. Jeremy peeked over at Brooke, finding her still holding her backpack in her lap so she could keep sewing. Her commitment meant a lot to him. Maybe if the costume was finished before school was out he could show Michael while explaining his powers.

Between classes Jeremy caught sight of Rich pushing Jake down the hall. It was good to know that the two were able to get along after everything. Jeremy dreaded his chemistry course, but he was lab partners with Chloe and she understood the work a lot better than he did.

“Y’know, Brooke’s birthday is coming up,” Chloe hummed, writing on their lab sheet with a hot pink pen. “I was thinking of getting her a PinkBerry gift card. You dated her, what do you think?”

Jeremy scrunched his nose, “Brooke is lactose intolerant. Like…severely lactose intolerant.”

Chloe turned to face him, “What? We go there all the time! She would say something if she couldn’t eat yogurt, right?”

Jeremy shrugged, “She probably just went along to make you happy. She does that a lot.”

Chloe buried her head in her hands, “Fuck, I know. I’m trying to be better about it. What do you think I should do?”

Jeremy stared at their beaker, dropping in the next chemical before swishing it around. The color turned orange. “Well, she likes sewing. Maybe a fabric store gift card? Or you could plan something for you two to do together. Brooke loves you, whatever ends up happening she’ll love, just because you put time into thinking about her.”

Chloe continued to write on their worksheet, “Does she think I don’t care about her?”

“She…she thinks you view her as lesser. She wants to be your equal, not the sidekick.”

Chloe stared deep into the beaker in front of them, “Brooke is my best friend. I wouldn’t have made it through my breakup with Jake if not for her. She…I love her. She’s like…my favorite person. Does that make sense?”

Jeremy nodded, “Yeah, I feel the same about Michael.”

“I would go all Regina George on anyone if they hurt her,” Chloe kept going. “You’re only excused from that because you hurting her was my fault. I can’t believe she didn’t tell me she can’t eat dairy. God, I’m a bitch.”

“You’re trying to be better,” Jeremy patted her shoulder, dropping in the next chemical. He swished the beaker again and the mixture turned bright blue. “That’s all any of us can do, really.”

Chloe nodded, writing down the next answer for their worksheet. They finished the experiment with relative ease, Chloe texting him a copy of the worksheet for him to study with since she would get the physical copy back after grading. The two of them cleaned up their work station and Jeremy caught sight of Chloe looking into fabric and craft stores around them. Jeremy did have a birthday gift picked out for Brooke already, but it was small and more of a thanks for being my friend gift than a birthday gift.

At lunch Jeremy ended up sitting at a big table so everyone could fit. Jenna and Christine were talking about the year book, Chloe and Brooke were huddled together, Jake and Rich were acting like nothing big had happened between them, leaving Michael and Jeremy to play on their old DS systems. Michael seemed hesitant, but he was warming up to the group. It helped that the group that wasn’t aware of what actually happened at the play assumed that Michael had been a part of their drug endeavors, and those that were aware owed Michael their lives.

“I’m just saying, Christine, yearbook is a lot like acting,” Jenna shrugged. “You get to go and experience all these different things, we even interview the club and activity presidents. Other than needing to photograph a lot of it you might find it as natural as a school play. Maybe you’ll even find another activity you enjoy.” Jenna smirked for a moment, “Also you get to skip classes sometimes to get photos, it’s pretty great.”

Christine smiled, “I guess I’ll give it a try.”

“Hey Tall-Ass,” Rich slid his container of tater tots across the table at Jeremy. “Throw these at me so I can catch them in my mouth.”

Jeremy started tossing, everyone looking up from their conversations and work to watch Rich weave around to catch the tater tots being thrown at him. Jake was cheering him on, keeping count as Rich consumed the processed potatoes. When the container was empty and Rich had only missed four tater tots he received quiet applause from Jake and Brooke. Jeremy passed the container back before returning to his game with Michael.

“Y’know he asked me out over text the other day,” Michael whispered. “I don’t think he even likes me, he’s just excited that he knows he isn’t straight.”

“Did you answer him?”

“I said no thanks, obviously. Why would I date the guy who used to torment us? Us getting along and him not being an asshole is great, but I don’t owe Rich anything. He’s had it rough and I’ll be nice to him but he still hasn’t apologized to me about anything.”

That was a good point. Jeremy had gotten an apology. Michael hadn’t. It wasn’t fair.

“Besides, he only refers to me as antisocial headphones kid, I feel like I deserve a better nickname than that, right?”

“You deserve all the good nicknames,” Jeremy assured.

The rest of lunch went smooth, Jeremy and Michael walking to the locker room to change together before heading into the gym. Jeremy stood between Michael and Jenna while the remainder of their class filed in. They were doing fitness testing. Jeremy hated that they were graded for the testing. He felt that people who couldn’t run a mile in seven minutes shouldn’t get a poor grade because of it. Michael had passed out the first time they had been forced to run the mile and he had still been forced to finish after waking up. It was bullshit.

At least in high school they didn’t require the mile. Jeremy and Michael stood next to each other in the long line of students while their first exam was set up.

“The Fitnessgram Pacer Test is a multistage aerobic capacity test that slowly becomes more difficult as you continue.”

Jeremy winced at the feedback from the recording, prepping himself for torture.

“First one out has to pay for slushies tonight,” Michael offered, trying to make it more interesting.

Jeremy had superpowers, “You’re on.”

The first few levels were easy like usual, more of a jogging pace rather than running. But like usual it didn’t take long for people to begin to grow tired and fail to complete a level. Jeremy felt himself chuckle as he broke his personal record of fifteen. He hadn’t ever managed to actually do well before, he had only ever managed his record because of anxiety. Michael and him were both still going, as were most of the sporty kids in their gym class. Jenna had stopped at some point and was watching them from the sideline.

As they went more and more kids didn’t complete the level. Jeremy didn’t feel tired, and he felt light on his feet. He just kept running, barely biting back a smirk as he managed to surpass the more sporty kids. Michael dropped out with a side stitch, limping over to stand next to Jenna. He had broken his record by a ton as well. Eventually Jeremy was the only one still running, and just to keep up appearances as a normal person he let himself miss the next marker. The test was complete, Jeremy had passed for once.

“Nice job dude!” Michael clapped him on the back.

“That might be a new class record, Jeremy,” Jenna added. “I’ll check and post about it if it’s true.”

Jeremy sighed, cringing as they set up the next exam. Sit ups. Michael agreed to stand on his feet and be his partner for the test. Sit ups were something Jeremy was used to after the Squip, they had been mixed into his free thought punishments if he thought about indulging in something off of the Squip’s diet it had set for him. Jeremy just blocked out his past experiences and focused on Michael’s cringey jokes and attempts to make him unfocus.

The rest of the tests were more of the same. Jeremy did shockingly well, Michael also did well, and they moved on.

“When did we get good at gym class?” Michael asked, the two of them walking back towards their lockers.

“Not sure,” Jeremy chuckled. “See you at the end of the day?”

Michael nodded, “You know it.”

Jeremy drifted into his next class, dropping into his seat next to Brooke. Brooke offered to review his homework for him, Jeremy had found that both her and Chloe had taken pity on his complete oblivion to his homework. They never mentioned it but they all knew that Jeremy would be failing without their help.

“I finished some basic stitching,” Brooke hummed, taking her pencil to change an answer Jeremy had incorrect. “I’ll use my machine when I get home, and then Spider-Man can finally exist. Have you been practicing?”

“You mean watching fight training videos and figuring out how these fuckers work?” Jeremy flicked his wrists a few times to get the point across. “Yeah.” Jeremy traced his wrist, eyeing the tiny divot where the webs came from. “Y’know it’s almost like they’re connected to my brain. I can kind of control the shape.”

Brooke passed in their homework upon request before they were sent to do their work for the day and the two of them went to hide in the corner by the small window in the room. Brooke pulled out her textbook, Jeremy not bothering with his own since Brooke did a better job explaining than him just reading.

“That’s cool,” Brooke nodded her head. “Have you told Michael yet?”

“No, I plan on it tonight though,” Jeremy hummed, resting his head against her shoulder. “He’s going to be so fucking excited.”

“You’re just doing the hero thing on weekends, right?” Brooke whispered. “Like I won’t need to worry about you jumping off of skyscrapers on a Tuesday night?”

“It’ll be a part time thing,” Jeremy assured. “Just…helping out the little guy every once and a while so I feel worthy.”

Brooke accepted his answer and the two started on their assignment. Jeremy couldn’t care less about the Second World War and what happened in Greece at the time, but in order to graduate he had to pretend to care for the next few months. Brooke was the only thing keeping him going.

“Everyone?” Their teacher called out to the room. “We’ve just called a code orange, please just continue your work as normal but do not leave the classroom.”

“What’s orange mean again?” Jeremy asked.

Brooke sighed, “Someone armed is robbing the bank down the street. Not a full lockdown but stricter hall access.”

“People still rob banks?”

“Apparently.”

Jeremy smirked, “Brooke.”

“Jeremy, no.”

“They won’t know I’m gone.”

“Armed robber. Not happening.”

“It’s going to eventually, why not now?”

Brooke held her textbook close to her chest, “The suit isn’t done yet!”

Jeremy got up and grabbed Brooke’s bag before walking back over to her. No one was seated around their alcove so Jeremy opened the bag and tugged his shirt off.

“Don’t strip in front of me,” Brooke hissed.

“Close your eyes then.”

Brooke buried her face in her hands, Jeremy pulling on the suit as quickly as he could for her sake. The compression shorts did help. And the web design on the suit lined with the hems so they weren’t as visible. Jeremy pulled on the mask before pushing open the window and slipping through.

“Don’t be stupid,” Brooke whispered, tucking Jeremy’s clothes into her bag.

Jeremy nodded to her before jumping off the wall and firing a web to swing towards the bank. He could do this. Superpowers. Be helpful, get back to class, tell Michael everything. Jeremy landed on the roof of the bank, peeking in through a skylight. He pried open a pane by force, eyeing up the armed idiots. Stealth was probably key. Jeremy began to slowly lower himself into the building from a web, keeping his eyes alert.

“What the hell is that?!”

Shit. Jeremy dropped to the floor, landing on his feet. It looked like all the hostages were far enough away.

Hostages? What was he getting into?

“Hey guys,” Jeremy greeted. “Did you forget your account number? They can usually look you up by date of bir—”

Jeremy instinctively dodged bullets that were fired at him. He shot a web in retaliation and pulled the gun away from the shooter. Welp, time to test the strength. Jeremy casually bent the barrel of the weapon out of shape.

“Not cool, man!” Jeremy complained, firing a web at the next attacker to pin their arms up. “I know we joke that everything is legal in Jersey but we can’t take a line from a musical that far!”

Jeremy let his instincts guide him as he was confronted by the first gunman. His body knew when to duck, and he was able to even land a few hits. They weren’t good hits, but his strength made up for his lack of everything else. Jeremy did a swoop of the place before helping free the hostages. He ushered them outside, flinching as officers came in with guns raised.

“I got them!” Jeremy cheered, pointing to his webbed up robbers. “It takes like two hours to dissolve the webbing, so be ready to cuff them after.”

“You, in the tights, on the ground!”

“Not even going to read me my rights?” Jeremy scoffed. “I just did at least sixty percent of your job!”

Jeremy fired a web towards the ceiling and launched himself back out the way he came in. He made his way back to the school, dropping down back in front of the window he crawled out of. Brooke let him back in and Jeremy shimmied into his street clothes again. Some of Brooke’s stitches had come undone, but she didn’t seem upset.

“How’d it go?”

“Awesome,” Jeremy beamed at her.

Brooke handed him his worksheet, “I’m glad. I made this easier for you, fill in the blank answers instead of essay answers. Just skim the chapter and you’ll figure it out.”

“Thank you Brooke.”

Jeremy was buzzing the rest of the day. The news report came out while they were still in school, many of the students talking about the masked man who had saved the hostages. Chloe walked by him and ruffled his hair in passing, the only sign that she had heard the news. Jeremy slid into Michael’s car when the dismissal bell rang, waiting for his friend to show up.

“Are you ready to play Apocalypse of The Damned?” Michael asked, dropping into the driver’s seat.

“I’m ready for everything!”

They stopped to get snacks before going back to Michael’s house. Darcy was home, but still working from her laptop set on the counter. It looked like she was in a call, so Jeremy and Michael kept quiet as they went around her space before booking it into the basement. Michael shut the door behind them and the duo crashed against the bean bags.

“Can you get the window?” Michael asked, digging in his dresser for his weed baggie. “Mama will kill us both if we make the house smell…again.”

Jeremy chuckled, but got up and walked over to the window. It was high up since they were in the basement, and Jeremy usually had to wheel over Michael’s desk chair to ensure he could reach the window. Today was different however. Jeremy kicked off his sneakers so he didn’t leave any marks on the wall before climbing up a bit and prying open the glass. He had been hoping Michael would notice and they could direct the conversation to his powers, but Michael was too deep in his sock drawer to notice.

“Aha!” Michael held up the bag in triumph. It looked like he already had a few joints rolled for them, though Jeremy doubted they would smoke more than one. They were both lightweights when it came to drinking and smoking, and Jeremy tended to get nauseated if he overdid it. He doubted his sticky limbs would help in that front.

They both got comfy on their bean bags, Jeremy digging into their snacks while Michael lit their joint. They passed it back and forth a few times as they started playing, Jeremy coughing into his elbow whenever he exhaled.

Being high with his powers was…different. The buzzing in his head was always alert, and he was aware of every movement Michael made. His brain was ready to jump into action but his body didn’t want to move.

“So, how cool is it that superheroes might actually exist?” Jeremy asked, mashing his attack button as a zombie approached his character in game.

“Freaky,” Michael said, chopping his way through a hoard of pixelated undead. “Y’know damn well no one is going to actually be a hero for long. No one has the time to commit to the hero thing in real life. Not to mention heroes mean villains too.”

Shit, Jeremy hadn’t considered that part. He didn’t want to have an arch enemy. Teenage superheroes never got a good pick for them anyway.

“But the spider guy, he’s cool, right?”

Michael shrugged, “Maybe if he proves he’s actually good. I dunno, it’s all kinda scary. Power like that? Sure it’s cool in theory but…it’s terrifying too.”

Okay, note to self. Jeremy would not be revealing his powers until Michael liked Spider-Man. He was not going to risk losing his best friend over this when he just got him back.

Maria called them up for dinner later in the evening. They both kept their heads down so they didn’t reveal their red eyes, but it was pretty clear that both Maria and Darcy knew they were stoned. They never got into trouble because they were at least smart and stayed home. Darcy and Maria would rather them be safe than try to hide it and risk their necks.

After dinner Jeremy sent his father a text telling him where he was before going back downstairs to change. He pulled on his pajama pants and removed his cardigan, giving his reflection a once over. It was weird to look in a mirror and like himself. Especially after the whole Squip ordeal. But Jeremy found himself liking who he was for once. He was so used to wearing jackets and sweaters, even the Squip had encouraged him to hide his weak and unimpressive frame behind a jacket to seem stronger than he was. Maybe it was the superpowers, but Jeremy liked who he saw in the mirror. He traced the ink on his arm, smiling at the tattoo. Another reason to wear sleeves, the Squip didn’t want to associate with Michael. And Michael had matching ink on his own arm.

“Dude, are you jacking it in there?”

Jeremy rolled his eyes, pulling open the bathroom door. Michael was standing on the other side, he had also opted to ditch his sweatshirt. Did he look different or had Jeremy just not looked at him in that long?

“Dude, when the fuck did you get biceps?” Michael asked, faking a punch to Jeremy’s arm.

“Uh, Squip?” Jeremy shrugged. It wasn’t technically a lie. “It made me do push ups and shit if I did things it didn’t like, and uh…that was a lot. I guess they haven’t gone away yet.”

Michael offered him a sympathetic smile, “Well, I won’t be forcing you to do anything but let me kick your ass at Mario Kart.”

“Oh fuck off Rosalina,” Jeremy laughed, heading back in to Michael’s room. He was about to get settled when his head buzzing became more apparent. Jeremy sidestepped as Michael whipped an empty soda bottle at him.

“You asshole!” Jeremy cried, diving for a pillow from the bed and throwing it at Michael.

It started a pillow fight, maybe he was too old for it but Jeremy was determined to kick Michael’s ass as hard as possible without breaking into bending the barrel of a gun with my bare hands territory.

“Don’t you dare take my space princess's name in vain!” Michael hollered, swinging his pillow at Jeremy’s head.

“Blonde bimbo loving bastard!”

“Says the man who willingly chose to be Pink Gold Peach on more than one occasion!”

Jeremy landed a solid swing to Michael’s hip, “You once said you would give Waluigi a blow job!”

“I’m six two, do you know how hard it is to be the short king in a relationship for me?! You suggested Birdo was a better option for him!”

“She’s a queen and you know it!”

“Boys!” Darcy was standing in the doorway, ending their mock fight. Both of them dropped their pillows and turned to pay attention. Darcy held up her wine glass, “It is movie night, do not interrupt us.”

“Yes Mama.”

“Yes Darcy.”

She smiled at them, “I’m glad you two are talking again. If it isn’t broken or bleeding or mentally spiraling I don’t want to see you until morning, okay?”

They both nodded and Darcy vanished back upstairs. The house was fairly sound proof, so long as the door was closed they would be fine.

It was nice to go back to their usual sleepover antics. Jeremy had missed the warm and welcoming feeling, he had missed Michael. The banter and jokes and going out into the unfinished part of the basement that Darcy always said would get finished some day but never was to try and hang from the exposed rafters.

Whenever they had sleepovers as kids they used to camp out in the living room, then they got older and moved back down to Michael’s room. Jeremy opted to sleep on the bean bags while Michael took his own bed. And Jeremy liked the bean bags, but for once he couldn’t sleep. He was staring out the window, part of him itching to go see if his suit was finished so he could go swinging around. Instead of that Jeremy decided on a different plan. Jeremy got up from the floor, making his way over to Michael’s bed. He maneuvered around Michael and laid next to him. His goal had been to not disturb Michael but that didn’t work.

“What’s up?” Michael asked, his eyes not open.

“Couldn’t sleep on the floor,” Jeremy whispered.

Michael haphazardly threw back his blanket so Jeremy could get beneath it, “Okay.”

They didn’t say anything else, and Jeremy just curled up to let sleep claim him. He always felt the most comfortable around Michael, and that didn’t change even after everything they had gone through. Sleeping next to him was as easy as breathing.

▣

Jeremy woke up slowly. He was still mostly asleep, but something had stirred him enough to be aware that he was sleeping. It wasn’t an alarm, so Jeremy just brushed it off. He didn’t mind the state he was in.

Jeremy felt gentle scratching at the base of his skull and he turned to bury his face. He was cozy, damnit! He started to try and move his arms when he realized one was pinned down. That got him to wake up a bit more and actually open his eyes.

Jeremy blinked a few times, finding that he and Michael were holding each other, they were practically chest to chest, and their legs were tangled up under the blanket. He wanted to say it was weird, but it wasn’t. Jeremy just felt comfortable.

“Hey,” Michael mumbled, also not fully awake. He was blinking, but it was slow and he looked ready to fall asleep again.

“Hey man,” Jeremy hummed, brushing his thumb over Michael’s shoulder blade.

Michael continued to gently itch at his scalp. Jeremy was far too content to bother saying anything about it. If he had known that sleeping next to Michael would result in this peaceful of a wake up he would have been doing it for years. They were staring at each other, holding eye contact. But it wasn’t bad.

And then Jeremy decided to just lean in the final few inches and pressed his lips against Michael’s. He hadn’t ever thought of doing that before, and a flash of anxiety hit him like a truck. He had probably just ruined his entire friendship with Michael over an intrusive thought. But then Michael kissed him back, ending the downward spiral before it could get momentum.

It was gentle, soft. They both had morning breath but Jeremy honestly didn’t care. He reached his not pinned hand up and buried it in Michael’s hair while Michael moved his own to cup Jeremy’s jaw. Was this real? Was he still asleep? He hoped not.

Jeremy honestly could have stayed there all day. But then Michael’s alarm went off and scared them apart, Michael flailing to grab his phone and turn off the loud beeping. They were awake now.

“Um,” Michael was sitting up now, his eyes wide.

“School,” Jeremy said.

“Yeah,” Michael got out of bed, walking over towards his dresser. “You uh, you can have the bathroom first.

Jeremy got up, opening up Michael’s closet for the change of clothes he kept inside. He booked it for the bathroom, locking himself inside. Okay, he had made out with his best friend. That wasn’t the worst thing in the world. It was actually pretty nice.

Jeremy took the fastest shower he could, used to the rushed routine thanks to the Squip. He pulled on his clothes and rushed through the rest of his morning routine, making his way back into Michael’s room to deposit his pajamas and grab his bag.

“I left my chem book at home,” Jeremy was lying.

Michael paused in the doorway, he was about to head down to the bathroom himself, “Did you want a ride?”

Jeremy shook his head, “Nah, I’ll walk. Just uh, letting you know where I’m going.”

“Want me to pick you up at your house?”

“No, I’m good,” Jeremy felt like his heart was trying to escape his chest. “Um, I’ll see you at school.”

Jeremy slid past Michael, being stopped by a hand grabbing his wrist.

“Are we okay?”

Jeremy pivoted around, “Yeah! We’re, uh, great.”

Jeremy stretched up on his toes and pressed a kiss to Michael’s cheek before bolting up the stairs. What was he doing?! He started to make his way to the front door when Maria blocked him.

“Nope, I didn’t specifically make you a chicken burrito just for you to walk out without eating,” Maria handed him the burrito and pressed a kiss into his damp hair. “Have a good day at school.”

“Thank you,” Jeremy took a bite as he walked out the door. Once he was outside he ran, jumping fences and zooming through yards to get to Brooke’s house. He climbed up the back of her house and knocked on the window, the burrito still in his free hand. She let him in, Jeremy crashing against her fluffy comforter.

“I know we’re friends, but just because you can climb walls doesn’t mean I want you climbing my wall at this hour, Jer,” Brooke chuckled, spinning in her desk chair. “How did telling Michael go?”

“Huh? Oh, I didn’t even do that,” Jeremy groaned, covering his face with a pillow. “He’s not too fond of Spider-Man yet, I’m waiting.”

“Oh. Are you okay?”

Jeremy removed the pillow and stared into the ceiling. Brooke had glow in the dark stars on her ceiling, Jeremy had helped her map out fake constellations when they had been dating, “I don’t know. I uh…I kissed him.”

Brooke shot out of her chair, jumping on to her bed, “You what?!”

“Brooke I totally fucked everything up!”

“Was he mad?”

“No, but—”

“Then you didn’t fuck it up! Jeremy! I didn’t know you liked boys!”

“Neither did I!” Jeremy smothered his face again. “Brooke, what if I lose him? I just got him back, I can't lose him again!”

Brooke took his pillow from him, “Jeremy. Did he kiss you back?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t think you’ll lose him,” Brooke assured, patting his cheek. “He wouldn’t have kissed you back if he didn’t want to, and he wasn’t mad. And if you like him? Go for it. You’re best friends, he won’t let you go over something trivial like a kiss if he truly cares about you. Okay?”

Jeremy nodded, sitting up, “Thanks Brooke.”

Brooke shrugged, “That’s what friends are for. Did you want a ride to school?”

Jeremy shook his head, “Nah, I told Michael I would walk and I don’t want him to know I went running to you.”

Brooke pointed to his discarded burrito, “Alright, then grab your breakfast and head out.”

Jeremy nodded, snatching his food before hopping out the way he came in. He made it to school before Michael, so he was doing good on time. They were going to be okay.

“Hey Jeremy?”

He turned his head to find Jake wheeling over. Jeremy didn’t hesitate to shove the last of his breakfast into his mouth before grabbing the handles on Jake’s wheelchair and pushing him up the stupidly steep ramp they had in front of the doors. He brought Jake to his locker before heading over to his own and switching out his textbooks.

Rich arrived soon after them, both Jake and Jeremy noting that he had removed the wrappings on his arms. The skin looked irritated, but it wasn’t raw anymore. Rich didn’t mention it, just grabbing Jake’s chair and hauling him off to their first class. Jeremy made his way into his own classroom, plopping down in his seat so he didn’t waste his time staring at the front door.

But now he was just staring at the classroom door instead. Brooke came walking in with Chloe before long, the two of them huddling together so they could talk. Jeremy tried to not pay attention to the door, to focus on his studying, but his eyes refused to shift away. When Michael walked in they made eye contact. Jeremy felt his heartbeat pick up as he walked over.

“Can we talk for a minute?” Michael asked.

Jeremy got up, the two of them heading out of the room and over to the library. Jeremy sat at one of the small tables, the two of them dropping their backpacks next to each other. The sharpie Rich had tagged them with was still there even after all the time that had passed.

“Did I make you uncomfortable earlier?” Michael asked. “Because if I did, I’m sorry.”

Jeremy blinked a few times, “What? Dude, I kissed you. If anything I should be apologizing.”

“I…but I instigated it by touching your hair!”

Jeremy got up and moved to sit on Michael’s lap, “Dude. I…I like you. Like, a lot. Is that…are we…”

“I like you too,” Michael whispered, holding Jeremy by his hips.

Jeremy leaned in, wrapping his arms across Michael’s shoulders as he kissed him. He hadn’t known that he wanted this, but to have it felt like the best thing ever.

“Are we still friends?” Michael asked.

“I mean, yeah,” Jeremy pressed their foreheads together. “Always. But we can be friends and…”

“More than friends?”

“Boyfriends?”

Michael pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth, “I like that.”

“Cool.”

“Friends and boyfriends. My mothers will be thrilled.”

Jeremy hesitated, “Do…do we have to tell people right away?”

“We…no. I was just—”

Jeremy covered Michael’s mouth with his hand before he could start spiraling, “No. I’m specifically referring to my dad. I just…I’m scared that he’ll be…not mad, but disappointed? He was excited when I asked Christine out and I just…I’m not sure what he’ll say.”

“We don’t have to tell him,” Michael assured.

“We can tell your moms,” Jeremy offered. “I know they’ll be happy for us.”

Michael chuckled, kissing his cheek, “Really? The lesbians are going to be happy for their gay son getting a boyfriend? I never would have guessed.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes, “Fuck off.”

The warning bell rang, the two of them jumping up. Jeremy picked up his bag and reached for Michael’s hand, the two of them sprinting back to their class. Jeremy hardly remembered to keep a lid on his speed, sliding into his seat just in time. Brooke turned back to look at him, waggling her eyebrows at him. Jeremy flipped her off before digging into the homework he had ignored the night prior. He had been too focused on having fun with Michael to care about algebra.

Running across town all morning had kept his body warm, but winter was just around the corner and Jeremy was beginning to regret leaving his cardigan at Michael’s. He walked into chemistry with his teeth chattering. Would it kill the school to heat the place?

Chloe eyed up his shivering, “Where’s your sweater? You always have a sweater.”

Jeremy just rolled his eyes, pulling out his textbook to review with her. Chloe set a card on top of his page, offering him to choose from her collection of various pens.

“Jake suggested we all get a group birthday card, as a sign that we all care about Brooke,” Chloe grumbled at the mention of her ex. “Jake and Rich already signed. You need to get Michael, Jenna, and Christine to sign it.”

Jeremy grabbed a blue pen, writing a simple birthday message on the card and signing his name. He tucked the card into his backpack, figuring he could catch the others in his free period later in the day.

“Speaking of Michael,” Chloe drawled out her sentence. “Don’t think I didn’t see you two holding hands as you walked into homeroom.”

“I…”

Chloe ruffled his hair, “Oh shut up, I won’t be mean to you. He makes you happy, right?” Jeremy nodded. “That’s enough. Now do your review.”

Jeremy had to ask for help on every question, but Chloe didn’t seem to mind helping. Jeremy was not ready for his next test, but he would probably pass. He slid into his language class still feeling chilly, Rich plopping down next to him with a sigh. Jake wasn’t next to him for once, confusing Jeremy.

“He has a doctors appointment,” Rich explained. “He might be on crutches soon.”

“That’s good.”

Rich shrugged, “Yeah.”

Jeremy pulled out his book, pretending to read while Rich didn’t even bother opening the book. He didn’t like assigned reading but he could at least pretend and then find a summary online.

“Why aren’t you excited for him?”

Rich looked over, “What if…what if Jake gets better…and then he’th an athhole to me? Becauthe I’m not better.”

Jeremy elbowed him, “Dude, you’re friends.”

Rich glared at his book, “I told him about the Thquipth. He…he knowth that I’m a fraud.”

“Did you tell him about me?”

“He’th imprethed you did all that jutht to get friendzoned. But he wath upthet with me. He athked me to not wheel him around today.”

Jeremy looked for a patch of skin that wasn’t in a stage of healing and patted it, “It’ll be okay, I promise. And if Jake doesn’t want to be friends with the real you, you’ll still have me. And Brooke. And…well Michael will tolerate you. You should apologize to him. Either way, you won’t be alone.”

“Thankth Tall-Ath.”

Jeremy did actually manage to read through his assigned pages, Rich spent his class time tracing over his scars in various stages of healing. Jeremy didn’t understand how the guy would wear his muscle tanks given how cold he was. It wasn’t a spider thing, Jeremy was just a freeze baby.

Winter in the spandex Spider-Man suit was going to suck complete ass. Maybe he could get Brooke to help him find a way to layer with the suit. Surely there had to be a way.

As Jeremy walked into the cafeteria he pulled Jenna and Christine aside before they grabbed their lunch trays, having both girls sign Brooke’s birthday card. He then made his way over to his seat, dropping down next to Michael. They grinned at each other, Michael locking their ankles together beneath the table.

“Here,” Michael passed a container over to Jeremy from his backpack. “You’re lucky my mom is willing to cook for you.”

“I think I’m more lucky that I like Maria’s cooking,” Jeremy chuckled, digging into his lunch.

The rest of the group filed in, everyone chatting and making the place feel more alive. Rich still seemed a bit down, but he seemed to have a soft spot for Brooke and the two were both looking at something on her phone.

“Ugh, gag me,” Jenna grumbled, clicking her phone off. She looked over to Jeremy and Michael with a sorrowful expression, “Next gym unit is fucking gymnastics. Can’t wait to fail because I have the flexibility of uncooked pasta.”

“I can do like…half a cartwheel,” Michael added on. “And after all the stupid tests yesterday?”

“At least it’s not as dumb as a dancing unit,” Jeremy tried to not bring up his newly found flexibility. Jenna seemed to agree that dancing would be far worse.

“I can’t believe you don’t want to be my dance partner,” Michael faked offense.

“They would pair us with girls and you know it,” Jeremy chuckled.

“There’s a reason I got all my gym units in right away,” Christine shrugged. “Now I don’t have to deal with those things. I’m free for the rest of school.”

Jeremy was honestly thankful for his gym class. It was an excuse to move and warm up his body. It was weird, just doing stretches demonstrated by a video while their teacher watched. Then again, when did a gym teacher ever actually participate in any of their units. They pulled out the mats to actually get started and they all watched each other do shitty cartwheels and somersaults, Jeremy downplayed his advantage by purposefully fumbling each landing. No more showing off like he had the day before. Jeremy Heere was average or less at athletics and it would have to stay that way.

“Did you want to come over again today?” Michael asked, the two of them walking back to their lockers after class.

“Yeah,” Jeremy nodded, retrieving the birthday card for Michael to sign. “I, uh, I can’t stay over again, but I can stay for a little while.”

Michael scribbled in his name and passed the card back, “Cool.” Michael lingered his hand on Jeremy’s wrist. “Speaking of cool, you’re cold.”

Jeremy shrugged, “I’ll live.”

Michael shrugged off his hoodie and handed it over, “I’m never cold, you need this more than me.”

“Michael—”

“I’m being a good boyfriend, don’t stop me.”

Jeremy felt his face burn, but he took the jacket and slipped it on. He couldn’t stop grinning, walking to his next class. How had this happened so fast? He hadn’t ever considered Michael as a romantic interest. At least not consciously. Who knows what was going on in his head, especially with the Squip being in the driver’s seat for a few months. Maybe he had been interested for years and not known, maybe it really had just been an intrusive thought gone so well. He didn’t really care either way, Michael liked him, and he had always liked him. As a friend or otherwise.

“Ooh, sharing clothes already?” Brooke teased him as he took his seat next to her.

“Oh shut up,” Jeremy elbowed her, pulling out his homework to hand in. “Do…is it bad? How…well it’s going?”

“Young love,” Brooke pressed a hand over her heart. “Besides, you’re best friends. He obviously adores you. Do you know how obsessed I would be if Chloe suddenly asked me out? You would hate me, I wouldn’t ever shut up.”

“Do you…do you like Chloe?”

Brooke shrugged her shoulders, “I mean, yeah. I feel like I always have, at least a little? It’s something that I’m just accepting. She’s got a bitchy side to her, but she’s still one of my favorite people. Even when she takes missteps in our friendship, she usually makes it up to me. I don’t know, we’ve been friends for so long I guess it was bound to happen. You can’t really blame me, have you seen her?”

Jeremy offered a shrug, Chloe was pretty. If anything Jeremy had somehow ended up with a group of attractive friends and he was the less than ideal addition.

“Oi, I can read your thoughts,” Brooke moved to stand in front of him, holding his head in her hands. “You’re pretty too, Jeremy.”

“Brooke—”

“I love your eyes,” Brooke said, tracing her thumb over his brow. “They are so pretty it’s unfair. And your hair, how do you get it so fluffy? You know I love your hair.” Brooke ran a hand through his hair to push her point. “You’re so cute, and you have a big heart. You…up until the end you were a good boyfriend. And I know that what happened wasn’t your choice. You’re beautiful, and I love you. Platonically.”

Jeremy couldn’t help but smile, “Love you too, Brooke. Platonically.”

Brooke hummed, heading back over to pull out their textbook, “Ready to learn about internal affairs from the past?”

“No,” Jeremy sighed, digging out a pencil. “But I don’t have a choice.”

“You don’t,” Brooke confirmed.

Jeremy did his best to pay attention. Brooke talked through their work, writing notes for Jeremy while she did so. He would have been doomed without her. He hadn’t been the best student before the Squip, and now he was at least managing to get by. Chloe and Brooke were the only reason he wasn’t drowning.

“Oh,” Brooke pulled a gift bag out of her backpack and passed it over to him. “I forgot to give you this earlier.”

Jeremy peeked inside, finding the eyes of his mask staring back at him. He put the bag into his backpack, pulling Brooke into a hug. He couldn’t believe it was happening, him as a superhero? It didn’t seem possible.

Jeremy met with Michael at his locker when the dismissal bell rang. He hesitated, holding out his hand for Michael to take. Michael laced their fingers, the two of them walking out to his car. This didn’t feel real, how easy it was.

“You’re sure you want my moms to know?” Michael asked. “We don’t have to tell anyone if you don’t want.”

“Brooke and Chloe already know,” Jeremy chuckled. “It’ll be okay. I promise.”

Michael hummed, turning his focus to the road. They were going to be okay. Maria and Darcy would be happy for them, he was sure of it. Why wouldn’t they be? 

They walked in the front door together, making their way towards the living room. Michael’s moms were stretched out on both couches with a movie playing in the background. They both looked up when they heard the teenagers approaching, Maria the first one to clock Jeremy wearing Michael’s sweatshirt and their connected hands. Holy shit he was terrified.

“Hey boys,” Maria greeted, sitting up. Her eyes kept flicking to their hands. “…You need anything?”

Darcy followed her wife’s gaze, her eyes widening a bit when she figured out what was going on, “Or did you want to talk about something?”

“Uh, we’re fine,” Michael answered for both of them. Jeremy was too scared to say anything. “Um…Jeremy and I are dating now.”

Both of them shot up, squealing and running at them to pull them into hugs. Darcy was talking fast and Maria’s words were lost in translation, but they were happy. He really shouldn’t have been worried about it.

“Wait!” Darcy pulled out of her hug with Michael and looked at Maria with wide eyes. “Are they still allowed to have sleepovers?”

“Mama please don’t talk about this now.”

Maria shrugged, “Not like we can stop them.”

Michael started dragging them downstairs, “We’re leaving now!”

“Don’t be stupid!” Darcy yelled after them.

They made it into Michael’s room, Jeremy ditching his backpack before falling against his usual beanbag, “I think that went well.”

Michael rolled his eyes, plopping down next to him, “Yeah, I guess.

They booted up a random game from Michael’s collection, the two of them growing quiet as they mashed buttons. If this was what dating Michael was going to be like Jeremy honestly couldn’t say he had any notes. He still got to have his best friend, they just kissed sometimes now.

They paused after a while to actually try and get homework done, Jeremy recoiling at his chem notes. He wasn’t going to do well come Monday, he knew it. Still he read through the notes he had and he looked over all the worksheets Chloe had completed for him.

“You okay?”

Jeremy looked up from his phone, finding Michael looking at him from the other bean bag.

“I fucking hate chem, dude.”

Michael wrinkled his nose, “Yeah I didn’t do well when I took it last year, sorry I can’t help.”

Jeremy shrugged, “I’ll live.”

Michael got up from his seat, offering a hand to Jeremy, “Want to take a break?”

Jeremy took his hand, being pulled to his feet. He wasn’t sure how they could take a break anymore than playing video games between assignments. He got his answer when Michael wrapped his arms around his waist. Oh yeah. They could make out now. That was an option.

A fantastic option.

Jeremy leaned in, both of them laughing as they kissed. Jeremy looked into Michael’s eyes, narrowing them as he noticed a lack of glare against the glass of Michael’s glasses. Which…was odd.

“What?” Michael pulled back, his fingers drumming against Jeremy’s side.

Jeremy reached forward and grabbed Michael’s glasses from his face, placing them on his own. Nothing about his vision changed.

“You don’t have glass in your glasses,” Jeremy noted.

Michael chuckled, “Oh, yeah. Surprise? I uh…I got contacts. Just…keep wearing the frames out of habit.”

Jeremy scrunched up his nose, “What happened to you never wearing contacts? Because they’re a pain in the ass?”

Michael shrugged, “There are a lot of things you don’t know about me, Jer.”  Michael dipped him, Jeremy yelping and throwing his arms around Michael’s shoulders and planted his feet to the floor with his powers to support himself. Michael took his glasses back with a smirk, “Perk of being my boyfriend is finding all those things out.”

Jeremy snorted, “Oh yeah, the twelve years of being best friends doesn’t amount to anything, but dating gives me access to the deep lore?”

“You finished the main storyline and went back to complete the side quests,” Michael hummed, leaning in to kiss him again.

It was a good thing Jeremy was now flexible because he had a feeling being dipped for so long would be uncomfortable for him without his new abilities. He let himself get lost, dragging his lips against Michael’s. How had he not considered this before today? Michael was…everything to him. Shutting him out had been hell, the fear of ruining their friendship after picking up the pieces, had the romantic undertones always been there or were they new? Either way he didn’t care. He was dating Michael now, that was all that mattered.

The sound of a throat clearing scared both of them. Jeremy threw himself into a standing position, finding Darcy poking her head into the room.

“Mama!” Michael walked over and tried pushing her out. “Do you know how to knock?!”

Darcy narrowed her brows, “Do I need to ask you to keep this door open, young man?”

“Mama!”

“My love!” Maria was yelling from upstairs. “Stop pestering!”

“Because as your mother I think I can ask you to keep the door open with your boyfriend around—”

“It’s been nine hours, please stop!” Michael pushed the door shut, Jeremy hearing laughter on the other side. Darcy had always been the one to push buttons. She meant well, but that didn’t mean Jeremy wanted to be walked in on while making out with Michael.

With the romantic mood pretty much ruined they went back to their homework. Jeremy hesitated before stretching across his bean bag and resting his head on Michael’s thigh while he half heartedly scribbled in answers to his homework. Michael took this in stride, a hand threading through his hair and lightly itching at his scalp. The movement and comfort was hypnotic, and Jeremy felt that he could fall asleep in his current situation. 

Assignments were finished, books were stored away, and it was getting close to dinner time. Jeremy had been trying to have consistent sit down dinner nights with his dad since they were finally getting better. His dad actually went to work every day, he felt like they were becoming more functional. Another reason to at least wait on spilling the boyfriend beans.

“Did you want a ride home?” Michael offered.

Jeremy almost said no, but rationally spending time with Michael seemed like it could only be a good thing. The two of them went upstairs, walking out to Michael’s car hand in hand. The sun was beginning to set, and Jeremy kept a hand laced with Michael for the entirety of the short ride back to his house. All was well until he spotted a fancy red car in his driveway. Who the hell owned that?

“Did your dad get a rich girlfriend?” Michael seemed just as lost.

“Not that I know of,” Jeremy shook his head. “Come in with me?”

The two of them walked into the house, Jeremy calling out to his dad as he kicked off his sneakers. Michael followed suit, the two of them walking further into the house. Jeremy dropped his backpack by the doorway to the kitchen, walking in to find his dad looking stressed beyond belief…

And a face that so closely mirrored his own standing across the island.

“What’s going on?” Jeremy asked, taking a step back towards Michael. He didn’t trust seeing both of his parents in the same room. He hadn’t seen his mother in eight years. Not since the day he came home from school to her packing the last of her bags. And his Squipped self words were now echoing in his head.

“You keep waiting for her to come back. But do you know what she’d find? A loser! Who’s so afraid to have a life that he can’t even put pants on!”

“Private I—”

“Look at you,” Jennifer walked across the room, taking Jeremy’s face in her hands. They were practically the same height now. “I haven’t seen you in so long, honey.”

It took an effort to not actively recoil. She was a stranger to him, he didn’t even have it in him to call her Mom anymore. Once the evil tic-tac was ejected and his dad and him had actually had a conversation it cleared up in his mind.

Jennifer glanced at Michael, vague remembrance crossing her face, “It’s Mitchelle, right?”

Oh yeah not like he and Michael hadn’t been friends for half the time she had been around. She didn’t know him anymore.

“Michael, actually.” He sounded pissed.

“Right, Michael,” Jennifer nodded. She turned to Jeremy, “Well, honey, it’s time to pack your bags.”

“What?” Jeremy looked to his father.

Jennifer walked over to the counter and held up a file, “Per these documents signed by a judge I now have custody every other weekend until you’re eighteen. And unless James would like to lose everything he will follow the court orders.”

Jeremy really didn’t want to lose his dad over this. He felt overwhelmed, looking to his dad for clarification.

“I don’t…Jeremy I don’t know.”

Jeremy nodded, “I…I’ll go pack.”

He went up to his room, dragging out a duffle bag to pack clothes into. Michael followed him, sitting on Jeremy’s bed while he packed.

“Dude. What the fuck is happening?”

“I don’t know,” Jeremy paused his packing and fell against Michael, making the other boy catch him. “But I’m not about to risk my dad getting into trouble over this so I’m going to go with her.”

“Keep me updated?”

Jeremy pressed a kiss to Michael’s chin, “Of course.”

They both went back downstairs, Jeremy hesitating to go back into the kitchen. Michael nudged him forward, the two of them walking in. Jennifer grinned at him again, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“He’ll be back Sunday night, I promise,” Jennifer hummed, pushing Jeremy towards the front door.

Jeremy felt his stomach twist as he was brought to her car. How had she managed this? He knew his mom was a lawyer, but surely she had to actually go to court in order to try and get custody, right?

“I’m so excited, Jeremiah,” Jennifer squeezed his hand as she started her car. “I do unfortunately have a work meeting tonight, but tomorrow we can go shopping to decorate your room, and get lunch, whatever you want to do.”

“Where…” Jeremy hesitated to talk to her. “Where do you live?”

“I’ve got a beautiful condo in New York,” Jennifer hummed. “Nice neighborhood, it’s fairly close to the subway so you could come visit whenever you want, there’s a park, I think you’ll love it.”

The drive was stressful on Jeremy’s end. He kept the sleeves of Michael’s sweatshirt bunched over his hands. This isn’t how he had planned his weekend going in the slightest. Jeremy braced himself, following his mother through the parking garage and into her building. It felt…too nice. Jeremy kept quiet, following her through the apartment as she gave him a tour. He had the bare bones of a bedroom waiting for him, at least the bed looked comfortable.

“Now, I’m going to have to run to make my meeting,” Jennifer patted his cheek as she made her way out to the kitchen. “I’ll leave you with my credit card,” she set the card down on the counter, taking a piece of paper out to scribble something on it. “And here’s the address, you can order whatever you want. I’m so excited you’re here, Jeremiah. We’re going to have the best day tomorrow!”

And just like that she was gone. Jeremy was quick to snap a photo of the address and send it to both his dad and Michael, just so they knew where he was. Jeremy made his way into his room to look out the window. He could see the park Jennifer had mentioned, there were families still out and about in the growing dark. After a moment of hesitation Jeremy pried the window open and took out the screen, sliding through the gap and clinging to the wall as he looked out at the park.

It was peaceful, all things considered. Cars were driving by on the street, the view was nice, and the air was only kind of cold. Jeremy pulled the hood of the sweatshirt over his head and just watched the world pass by.

There was a group of kids playing with a rubber kickball, and Jeremy was enjoying watching them run around. It looked like the parents were chatting nearby. Michael and Jeremy used to have similar get together when they were young. Before his dad and Michael’s moms trusted each other. Then the divorce happened and suddenly Jeremy was at Michael’s all the time. Looking back it was probably so his dad didn’t need to worry about taking care of Jeremy while his life fell apart, but as a kid Jeremy had just been excited for the extended sleepover.

Jeremy flinched as the ball rolled out into the road. He felt his heart begin trying to escape his chest as one of the kids went running after it. He jumped off the wall and landed in front of the kid, his body taking the force of an oncoming car that was about to hit the kid. He planted his feet and tensed up, finding that while being hit by the car hurt, he wasn’t dead. And that was a win.

The car thankfully didn’t run them over, but there was a Jeremy sized dent in the front of the vehicle. Airbags were deployed, the kid looked terrified. Jeremy made eye contact with the kid for a split second before quickly depositing the kid on the sidewalk and turning tail. He ran into an alley and climbed up a wall, making it to the roof before he collapsed to his knees and began crying. The kid had nearly died. His body hurt.

But the kid was alive. Safe. Breathing.

Jeremy sat back, looking out over the rooftops. Spider-Man couldn’t be a weekends only gig. Not when accidents like that happened all the time. Not when people still robbed banks. Not when he could do something about it.

Jeremy slipped back into Jennifer’s apartment once the scene of the near accident cleared. He locked his bedroom door and pulled on the suit. He had to act, he had to be helpful. Sleep schedule be damned.

Jeremy crawled out the window, looking out over things again. He had no choice. This was his life now. Jeremy held his breath and jumped off the wall, swinging deeper into the city. He had people to protect.

Chapter Text

Jeremy knew he was running late but he didn’t have the energy to rush to class. He slumped his way into the building, hiding his face under his hood. The bright lights hurt his eyes. He walked into his first class, thankful they had a substitute. That hopefully meant no yelling.

He had spent every free moment he had all weekend out as Spider-Man. He had even taken the time to swing back into New York after Jennifer brought him home. He had maybe gotten three hours of sleep throughout the whole weekend.

“Jerry, you asshole!” Chloe tried to whack him with her notebook but Jeremy reached out and caught her wrist. He quickly let her go, dropping into his seat. He wanted to nap. “You had your phone off all weekend!”

“Are you okay?” Brooke piled on.

The girls kept piling on, talking at him and asking questions. The lack of sleep and the bright lights and the noise set him off. Jeremy lowered his head to his desk, not wanting to let it show that he was about to go into an anxiety attack. He was still considered cool and cool people didn’t have anxiety attacks over being talked at by two pretty girls.

Jeremy felt a hand wrap in his and suddenly he was being pulled up. Jeremy was dragged from the room. He was brought into a bathroom and he broke, hyperventilating as he slowly sank to the floor. When Jeremy finally managed to get his eyes to look at something and actually see he found Michael sitting across from him on the floor.

“Michael—”

“Don’t talk until you’re ready,” Michael reached out and patted his knee. “Do you want water? A snack?”

Water sounded like a good idea. Michael silently handed over his water bottle, Jeremy taking a few sips to help steady him. He passed the bottle back for Michael to put away, wiping away the last of his tears. He needed a nap. Or a coma.

“Thanks,” Jeremy whispered. “I’m so sorry I didn’t message you all weekend, my phone died and my mo—Jennifer wouldn’t leave me alone.”

Michael scooted to sit next to him, “I had your last known location, if you didn’t show up today I knew where to report to the police with.” Michael held out his arms, “Want a hug?”

Jeremy fell against him, Michael squeezing him tight. Jeremy hid his face against Michael’s shoulder. He didn’t deserve this. Not even a superhero for a week and he was already failing in the friend department. And the boyfriend department. Michael deserved better.

“I’m sorry,” Jeremy mumbled.

Michael scratched at the base of his skull, “Dude, you’re okay. No need to apologize.”

Jeremy pulled out of the hug, “But I ignored you and I literally just promised to not do that—”

Michael covered his mouth with one hand, “Jeremy. Your phone died. It’s not ignoring me if your phone dies and you don’t have a charger. Okay? To be honest you just had the biggest rock thrown at you and I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Jeremy pulled the hand away from his mouth, “You’re the best, you know that right?”

Michael flipped pretend long hair behind his shoulder, “Well, I did save the world from the evil tic-tac apocalypse.”

Jeremy leaned in, pressing his lips against Michael’s. He really liked kissing Michael. Michael made him feel…perfect. The gentle touches and the way Michael held him like he was something valuable, Jeremy adored it all.

“Hey, um,” Michael pulled back, a bright smile on his face. “I…never mind.”

“What?” Jeremy laced their hands together. “C’mon, you can tell me anything.”

He would be telling Michael about his new volunteer job as soon as Michael liked his alter ego.

“No, it’s dumb.”

“As dumb as that time you tried convincing me that Mario was more powerful than Kirby?”

“Fuck off!” Michael’s thumb brushed over his hand. “You have to promise to not freak out.”

“I just had an anxiety attack, I cannot make that promise.”

Michael sighed, “Can you at least promise to not like…make fun of me?”

“I would never do that.” Not again.

Michael pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, “I love you.”

Jeremy quirked his brow, “Yeah, I love you too man.”

Michael removed his hands to rub at his eyes, “No, Jer, like…this is more than best friends love. It’s boyfriend love. That’s why I don’t want you to freak out, because we just started dating but I know how I feel and—”

Jeremy covered Michael’s mouth with his hand, “How…how long have you liked me?”

Michael shrugged as Jeremy removed his hand, “I dunno, I think I always have at least a little bit. But you being happy is important to me, and I could have sworn you were straight until last week, so I never really bothered thinking about it.”

Brooke's words from the week prior burned in his mind.

I don’t know, we’ve been friends for so long I guess it was bound to happen.

“So you had feelings for me and just…weren’t ever going to say anything?”

Michael nodded, “Like I said, I thought you were straight. Hello, you nearly caused world destruction in the hopes of getting with a girl.”

“Dude, that sucks though.”

“Well, we’re dating now, aren’t we? I got lucky.”

Jeremy leaned in, resituating himself in Michael’s lap. He hadn’t a clue. No fucking wonder he had been so responsive to the first kiss.

“I love you too,” Jeremy assured. “Boyfriend love. Best friend love. All the love.”

Michael pressed a kiss to his forehead, “Do you think we can go back to class now? This bathroom is kind of gross.”

The two of them walked back to class, Chloe and Brooke notably silent. Jeremy put his head down to block out the light. He probably wouldn’t be able to nap, but getting a break from the harshness of the room would be enough.

Chloe walked with him to chemistry. Jeremy felt his anxiety build as he realized where they were going. He hadn’t studied. He was going to fail his exam.

“Chloe—”

“Y’know we counted over fourteen different Spider-Man reports over the weekend,” Chloe hissed. “And then you walk in looking like shit. What happened? I thought this would be a sometimes kind of deal.”

Jeremy looked her in the eyes, even if she kind of scared him, “A kid almost died. I stopped it. I have the strength to stop a car from hitting someone and killing them. How utterly fucked up would it be of me to not do everything I can to help keep people safe. Nine people almost were shot over a weed deal gone wrong, and now they’re okay. I can’t let people get hurt, Chloe. I can fail a fucking chem test, those don’t matter. But I can’t let innocent people get hurt.”

Chloe blinked a few times, “If you get hurt—”

“I won’t.”

Chloe rolled her eyes, lightly shoving him, “You say that now. And what was that about you failing a chem test? You’re going to do great.”

“Too busy out swinging from buildings to study.”

“Jerry, you’re going to cheat off of me.”

“What?”

Chloe shrugged, “Use your little spider senses and just listen. I’ll whisper answers and you’ll hear me. We’re lab partners, it makes sense for our tests to look the same.”

Jeremy smiled at her, “Thanks.”

Jeremy dropped in his seat and tried to calm his brain down. Once the test began he tried tuning out the noise around him and focused on Chloe. She was seated next to him, and to help she ducked her head a bit towards him when she whispered. Jeremy felt decent walking out of the classroom with Chloe’s help. He made his way to his next class, dropping into his seat next to Rich. Jake was on Rich’s other side, his expression fairly neutral considering he knew that Jeremy had tried to mind control him, almost.

“We all need to talk this out,” Jake said, leaning over to speak to Jeremy. “Everyone. Jenna too, she’s the only one who doesn’t know.”

Jeremy nodded, it really wasn’t fair that Jenna was the only one not knowing.

Jake now had crutches, but it looked like Rich was still carrying textbooks around. Jeremy couldn’t tell if that was something Jake requested or if Rich had offered up to the task as a way to stay close. Given their current context it could go either way.

Jeremy appreciated the calm atmosphere of their language class, being able to duck his head down again while he pretended to read his book. Jake was actually explaining the chapter to Rich, because one of them had to understand what was going on, but Jeremy would just skim the chapter the next morning. His body was still processing everything from the weekend, and he knew he still had a few lingering bruises on his back from being hit by the car.

At lunch Jeremy cuddled up next to Michael, too tired to bother trying to hide his affection as he buried his face against Michael’s shoulder. He heard Brooke audibly aww at them, but he didn’t care. He needed to figure out a schedule so he could actually sleep at night. Michael offered him a container of pasta, and that was enough to pull Jeremy out of his insistent cuddle.

“Alright, let’s talk,” Jake spoke up once everyone was seated.

Jeremy looked up from his lunch, “Dude, not here.”

“If not here, then where? We need to talk.”

Michael seemed lost, pointing to his forehead. Rich gave a nod, Chloe, Brooke, and Christine also catching on to what they were saying. Michael sighed, glancing around the table.

“If everyone is free we can discuss it at my place,” Michael offered. “Order a pizza and hash it out.”

Brooke nodded, “I’m in.”

Everyone else agreed, Jenna was a bit lost on what they were doing but clearly happy to be involved. Jeremy went back to his lunch, his free hand wrapping in Michael’s. He couldn’t wait to get his ass chewed out by Jake, and then probably Jenna.

Whatever, at least he could swing around to let his frustrations out afterwards.

Their gym class was continuing the gymnastics unit, Jeremy continuing to plant his forehead on Michael’s shoulder as they stood in line to do a cartwheel. Jenna was gone for year book related things, so he didn’t feel bad giving Michael his full attention.

“Did you not sleep well last night?” Michael asked. “I never asked why you’re so tired today.”

Jeremy hummed, “Slept like shit all weekend.”

Michael pressed a kiss into his hair, “You can nap at my place before everyone shows up.”

Jeremy grinned, “You’re the best.”

“Heere!” Their teacher shouted at him. “Stop yapping and go!”

Jeremy sighed, annoyance slipping into his posture. He glared at their teacher before doing three cartwheels across the mat they had out just to spite him. He didn’t think to fake messing up the landing since it got his teacher to shut up. Michael went after him, managing the cartwheel but stumbling on the landing.

“Dude,” Michael hurried over to him. “The look on his face, how did you do that?”

Jeremy shrugged, “Spite?”

Michael pulled him into a hug, “Holy shit the things you’re willing to do to piss people off.”

Jeremy lounged around during his free period, hiding out under the bleachers in the gym to pass the time. He actually managed to get a few of his assignments done, although he did start to drift off a few times while working. He was just glad to actually be making progress on his own for once.

“Jerry?”

Jeremy poked his head out from under the bleachers, finding Brooke and Chloe in the doorway to the gym. The place was abandoned since there wasn’t a class going on. Jeremy climbed out waving at the girls as he approached.

“Did you need any help with any assignments?” Brooke asked.

Jeremy shook his head, “I actually managed to get work done for once.”

“When did Jake learn about the computer pills?” Chloe questioned.

“Rich told him, I’m not sure exactly when. How did we do on that test?”

Chloe rolled her eyes, “Is a B satisfactory for you?”

Jeremy chuckled, “Better than I could ever do. What’s bullshit is me hardly passing gym class even though I’m strong enough to stop a moving car. I can’t even do well with freaky powers because if I give away my abilities it’s bye bye normal life and hello science lab rat!”

“Jeremy—”

“Today I probably got a low grade for doing good but I can do so much better than they even know!”

Jeremy threw himself into the air, firing a web and pulling himself up to the vaulted ceiling of the gym. He clung to a rafter and hung upside down from it, looking down at Brooke and Chloe.

“This is bullshit, right?!”

“Oh no, you got fucking superpowers and want to have a secret identity,” Chloe was glaring at him. “Tough titties! We’re helping you get through school even though you tried to mind control us!”

“You assaulted me!”

“You could have left!”

Jeremy glared, “No, actually! I couldn’t! The fucking computer paralyzed my legs because you were part of its goal! I couldn’t fucking move! If I had tried to say no it probably would have made me shut up!”

Chloe froze, “…I…I didn’t know that. Jeremy—”

Jeremy lowered himself down on a web, hanging only a few feet above them in the air, “…I know. Fuck. I shouldn’t have yelled. Fuck. I’m a fucking mess today.”

Chloe held her arms out, “Can…can I give you a hug?”

Jeremy flipped around before dropping to the floor. He formed a balled up piece of webbing in his hand and attached it to the line hanging from the rafters before throwing it up so that the line wasn’t visibly hanging there. He didn’t need people to be suspicious. He stepped into Chloe’s arms, accepting the hug she was offering.

“I’m sorry,” Chloe whispered. “I thought you could leave.”

Jeremy sighed, “Maybe…maybe you should just take the time to actually get over Jake? I know you were trying to make him jealous.”

Chloe nodded, “Yeah probably. Are…are you okay? Is there anything I can do?”

Jeremy shrugged, “I’m far from okay, but I’m not traumatized. Just…I don’t know…can you not do that anymore?”

“Obviously.”

Brooke took up the back, making a hug sandwich with Jeremy in the middle. It was nice to get off his chest. He had been trying to just ignore what Chloe had done.

“Did the suit hold up?” Brooke asked.

Jeremy wiggled out of the hug, heading back behind the bleachers for his backpack, “Yeah, it’s awesome.”

Brooke took the mask out of his bag to examine, “I was thinking of making a backup. If you’re going to go out all the time—which I don’t agree with—you should probably have a spare suit so you can have a clean one at all times. I’ve also been messing around with trying to layer the spandex with long underwear so you can stay warmer come winter.”

Jeremy ruffled her hair, “You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to.”

Jeremy appreciated her thought. After everything he had done to her Brooke didn’t owe him any kindness.

“So, when do we get to go swinging with you?” Chloe asked.

“You want to drop from sky scrapers?”

Chloe hesitated, “Uh…no.”

Jeremy couldn’t help but smirk, rushing at Chloe and hoisting her over his shoulder before firing a web and pulling them up towards the ceiling. Chloe screamed, kicking her legs and demanding to be put down. Jeremy just laughed while swinging them around the room. After a few laps he set Chloe back down, ignoring the pissed off look he was being given by her. Jeremy offered his arm to Brooke, holding her by her waist while she kept steady with her arms wrapped around his shoulder. He also went a few laps with Brooke, making sure to clean up his web lines on the final lap to keep suspicion low.

“Great, I can’t wait to add went swinging with Spider-Man to my resume,” Chloe sighed.

Jeremy just shrugged, swinging his backpack over his shoulder. He was ready to take that nap Michael had offered, he would need it if he planned on going out again later that night as it was.

“Anyway, regarding the winter suit, I’ll use the measurements I have and if I need adjustments I’ll let you know,” Brooke hummed, brushing her hair out of her face. “And we’ll be defending you tonight if Jake or Jenna get too mean.”

Jeremy gave her a quick hug, “You’re the best.”

Brooke batted her lashes at him, “I know.”

By the end of the day Jeremy could feel the aches in his back from the car hitting him. He bit back any outward sign of pain and made his way to Michael’s locker. The rest of their friend group followed, deciding that Jenna would bring food and they would meet later in the evening. Jeremy began the walk out to the parking lot with Michael, the group leaving in one mass.

“Jeremiah!”

“Shit,” Jeremy glanced out, finding Jennifer walking up the steps towards him. She had bags on her arms. Rich and Jake froze, locking on to Jennifer as she approached.

“What are you doing here?” Jeremy asked. “You said every other weekend.”

“Oh, I know honey,” Jennifer brushed off his words. “My case finished early today so I went shopping for you.” She handed over the bags. “Try these on, whatever doesn’t fit or you don’t like we can return when you come over next week.” Jennifer peeked around and spotted the group, the girls only sticking around because of potential drama. “Are these your friends?”

“Uh, yeah,” Jeremy nodded.

“It’s nice to meet you Mrs. Heere!” Rich blurted out.

“Ms. Fisk, actually,” Jennifer corrected. “But that’s very kind of you, you all can call me Jennifer. Maybe Jeremiah could invite you over for a weekend, I’ve got plenty of room. We can discuss it later, I have to get going darling,” Jennifer patted his cheek. “I’ll see you next Friday.”

And Jennifer was gone. Jeremy rolled his eyes at her retreating figure and continued his walk towards Michael’s car. The two of them were quiet during the drive, Jeremy not bothering with his bags as they parked the car.

“Nap time,” Jeremy hummed, sliding down the stair railing to the basement. He flopped over on Michael’s bed, biting back an eye roll when he felt Michael ruffle his hair.

“I have physics homework, I’ll wake you when people show up,” Michael offered.

“M’kay,” Jeremy mumbled, already half asleep.

Jeremy personally couldn’t name the last time he had napped so hard. The Squip hadn’t allowed napping. Looking tired meant Jeremy was likely to slouch, so shocks to the spine kept him alert.

Jeremy stirred to a noise, squeezing the pillow he had in his arms a bit tighter. He usually didn’t sleep all that easily, more so since the Squip. Michael’s house was the only place that changed up his usually shit sleep quality.

“Jer? Dude I have to piss,” Michael said, his voice close to his ear.

“Congratulations,” Jeremy mumbled out.

Jeremy forced his eyes open, finding that Michael was in his arms and not a pillow. Jeremy released his hold so Michael could get up. He earned a kiss on the forehead before Michael vanished from the room. Jeremy looked over and found Brooke sitting on his usual bean bag.

“Sleep well Spidey?”

Jeremy flipped her off, pulling himself to his feet. He felt better than he had all day. Good enough to make it through the night.

When Michael came back from the bathroom they all went upstairs, both boys opting to ignore the confused look Maria was giving them for the growing group of teenagers in the house. They ushered everyone outside, everyone taking a seat around the back patio.

“Jenna,” Jake addressed her on behalf of the group. “Jeremy has something to share with you.”

Or not. God, he really could be an asshole sometimes.

“Okay?” Jenna arched a brow as she looked at him.

Jeremy took in a breath, “At the play? We…we weren’t doing drugs. I uh…force fed everyone—not Rich—evil supercomputers that try to make your problems disappear.”

Jenna blinked, “…Yeah? Jeremy, you told me straight up what was going on. They were nice, the computers. But yeah, it sucks that they were evil.”

“You remembered?!” Jake seemed outraged.

Jenna shrugged, “Yeah. Mine looked like that word review paper clip thing. Clippy? Did you guys not remember?”

Christine held up her hand, “I did. Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”

“Mine was Chris Evans,” Rich confessed.

“Keanu Reeves.”

Michael made a face at Rich, “You spent how many years staring at Chris Evans? And you thought you were straight? How repressed did the tic tacs make you?”

“Fuck off!” Rich complained, prying open their pizza box. “You didn’t even have a Squip!”

“Yeah, you’re welcome by the way,” Michael snapped.

“Are you getting a little hot headed there?” Rich continued to poke.

Michael flipped Rich off, grabbing his pizza slice. Jeremy sighed, grabbing his own slice. Everyone grew quiet while they ate, Jake still glaring at him.

“I can’t believe you fumbled the ball that fucking hard after having my legs pulverized,” Jake grumbled.

“Can you not?” Christine huffed. “We went out, it didn’t work. It’s weird to expect us to work just because we went through what we did.”

“Y’know you and Rich tortured Michael and I for years?” Jeremy glared across the table. “Do you know how many times you…how fucking shitty you made us feel? I can’t speak for Michael on everything, but you Jake, aren’t fucking perfect.”

“I apologized—” Rich started to speak.

“Did you to Michael?” Jeremy asked. “Or were you too busy trying to save face because just like me you’re a fucking fraud?”

“You’re why my recovery is taking so long,” Jake argued.

“I didn’t burn your fucking house down, Jake!” Jeremy stood up. “Friendly reminder that was the guy who’s so far up your ass I’m shocked you aren’t fucking!”

“Jer,” Michael took his hand. “He apologized. They both did.”

“How the fuck are we friends?” Jenna asked.

“Secrets build relationships,” Brooke shrugged. “Does anyone else have any grievances to air? I know Jeremy and I talked through ours already.”

Christine looked to Jake, “You were a bad boyfriend.”

“Thank you!” Chloe huffed, nibbling at her pizza crust.

“You’re a bitch,” Jenna added.

Chloe just nodded.

“Long story short, we all kind of suck,” Michael sighed. “But we’re stuck like this. We went through an event. And we aren’t going to kill each other over it. We can be mad and not forgive, but let’s just try not to have this end in loss.”

Jeremy slouched in his seat, resting his head on Michael’s shoulder. This wasn’t how he had planned on things going. He also had no memory of telling Jenna about the Squips, but he must have if she remembered.

“Can we talk about how cuddly you two are?” Rich asked.

“We’re dating, dumbass,” Michael huffed.

“Oh!” Christine looked at them and placed a hand over her heart. “Congratulations Jeremy!”

Everyone filed out soon after to go do homework. Jeremy helped clean up their garbage before walking out to grab his bags.

“Did you want a ride?” Michael asked, following him outside. “Those bags don’t look like they’re light.”

Jeremy cocked a brow, “You getting soft on me or something Michael?”

Michael matched his expression, “I am anything but soft with you, Jer.”

Jeremy snorted, dropping his bags so he could throw his arms around Michael. They laughed together in the driveway, Jeremy brushing his thumb over Michael’s cheek.

“I love you,” Jeremy murmured.

Michael kissed his forehead, “Love you too, geek.”

Jeremy pulled him in for a real kiss, giving an appreciative hum when Michael pulled them chest to chest. He wasn’t sure how or when he had ended up so lucky, but he was growing evermore thankful to have Michael in his life.

▣

“Private? Jeremy?”

Jeremy blinked awake, squinting as he looked around the room. He was exhausted, why was someone waking him? Who?

“Are you awake?”

Jeremy shot up, glancing at his red and blue covered body. Shit.

“Hang on, Dad!” Jeremy jumped to his feet, beginning to pull the top of the suit over his head. “I’m…naked!”

“Oh, we’re both men in this house. It’s fine—”

“Just give me five seconds!”

Jeremy tossed the suit top into his closet and kicked off the bottom half before jumping into the first pair of jeans he could find and pulling a shirt over his head. He ripped open his bedroom door, finding his dad rocking on his heels.

“Good morning,” James greeted. “Or should I say afternoon—” James cut himself off, his eyes widening. “What the hell happened to your face?”

What? Jeremy glanced around his door to the mirror, finding a lovely bruise framing his cheek bone. Shit, he didn’t think it had been that hard of a punch in the moment.

“I tripped,” Jeremy sighed. “Walking up the steps at school.”

James crossed his arms over his chest, “Jeremy, don’t lie to me. I know a right hook when I see one.” He stepped closer to inspect. “What happened? Do I need to contact someone’s parents?”

Okay, he needed a better lie, “No. I…it was an accident. I got in the way of a fist, it wasn’t meant to be thrown at me.”

More like he had dodged the rounds of bullets but couldn’t add in the fact of the other criminal rearing up to hit him. He had hit back, knocking his attacker on their ass.

James sighed, “Shit, you can’t scare me like that kiddo. Not after this fall. Not with…I hate to speak poorly of your mother but—”

“Not with Jennifer around, I got it,” Jeremy nodded. “Did you need something? I’d like to go back to nursing my wound.”

James shrugged, “I was going to offer going out for lunch. I can’t remember the last time we went out. You’ve been so busy with school and…whatever happened this fall, and now you’ve got your boyfriend—”

“Excuse me, my what?”

“Last I checked best friends don’t kiss goodbye,” James chuckled, reaching out to ruffle his hair. “Michael’s a good kid, I’m happy for you.”

Oh. Had they been that obvious? He hadn’t thought that they…huh. Well, at least it went well.

“We can do lunch,” Jeremy nodded. “I just need a few minutes.”

James grinned, “I’ll meet you in the car.”

He started to walk away. Jeremy reached out and grabbed his arm to stop him. Before James could say anything he wrapped his arms around his father, squeezing him in a hug.

“Thanks.”

And his dad squeezed him back, “Anytime, kiddo.”

Jeremy clicked his door shut again before glancing out the window. It had been snowing most of the night, and Jeremy’s feet had been frozen by the time he made it home. The roads had been cleared, but it still looked like it was freezing out. Gross.

Jeremy went back to his closet, properly folding up the costume and hiding it under a box of Michael related memories he had. He then turned to his backpack, unzipping the bag to pull out the new winter costume Brooke had finished. It had taken a bit of trial and error, but he had something better fit for winter. The design was still the same, just layered to be warmer. Jeremy grabbed the costume and a set of clothes that were actually clean before making his way into the bathroom to take a quick shower.

He layered the suit under his clothes, finding that Brooke had designed separate gloves this time around so it wasn’t just two pieces. Better to hide under clothes. And with socks on his feet you couldn’t tell that he was wearing the bottom half of the costume. He pulled on a hoodie and tucked the gloves into his pocket before making his way downstairs. He slapped a beanie over his ears since his hair was still damp before meeting his dad in the car like asked.

“How’ve things been going?” James asked, the two of them not settling into silence for once. “Y’know, with your mom and school and stuff.”

Jeremy shrugged, “Jennifer still kind of sucks. Every weekend is the same gimmick. She drops me off Friday so she can go to a meeting. We usually do lunch Saturday while she works from home, and then Sunday she’s calling clients until it’s time to take me back.”

James sighed, flicking on his blinker as they rolled to a stop at a light, “And she…she hasn’t spoken about me at all? Tried to convince you to move in full time?”

“No. Not that I would if she tried,” Jeremy shook his head. “I…she’s like a stranger. I’m happy with you, you know that right?”

James shrugged, “With everything that’s happened recently. I…I wouldn’t blame you if the idea of having a new life with someone who’s able to give you a better chance sounded nice.”

“I’m happy, Dad,” Jeremy assured. “I’m busy, but I’m happy.”

They ended up at a pizza place. It was nice to just have a quiet moment with his dad. His side hobby was taking up a lot of his free time, and having a day without the chaos of swinging from buildings was nice. His face would heal in little to no time, he could have a few hours to be a normal teenager.

“So, how long have you and Michael been together?”

Jeremy shrugged, “A few weeks.”

“I should have guessed, you’ve been at his house so much it figures something was going on.”

Jeremy stared into his menu, trying not to react. He hadn’t been at Michael’s, he had been out as Spider-Man. But if his dad wanted to think that he was hanging out with his boyfriend that was okay. He wouldn’t be the one to tell him the truth on that front.

 While they ate Jeremy checked his phone, finding it later was in the afternoon than he had thought. He had been asleep since crawling through his window near sunrise. No wonder his dad had checked in. To him Jeremy just wasn’t emerging from his room for some reason.

“Shit,” Jeremy opened Instagram and glanced up at his dad. “It’s Brooke’s birthday.”

“Who’s Brooke?”

“Ex-girlfriend. We’re supposed to go skating as a group, shit!”

“You can go,” James encouraged him. “Just let me know when you get where you’re going.”

Jeremy hopped up, “Thanks Dad.”

Jeremy bolted, ducking into an alley before pulling on his mask. He flung himself home, stopping to grab his backpack and shoving his regular clothes, skates, and Brooke’s gift into his bag before swinging towards New York. Chloe was going to be pissed.

He flipped around as he moved, making his way to the ice skating rink. He ducked into another alley to change before jogging over to his friend group.

“Well well, look who finally showed,” Chloe wasn’t impressed with him.

“Sorry, was out with my dad,” Jeremy apologized, digging out the little gift box and handing it to Brooke. “Happy birthday.”

Brooke beamed at him opening the box and pulling out the charm bracelet. It was fairly empty, the goal would be to give more charms as time passed. Still, Jeremy had added a few before giving it to her. A cat, a star, and a spider. Brooke talked about her old childhood pet all the time, the stars represented the night they had spent decorating her ceiling, and the spider was for her making his costumes.

“Oh, Jeremy!” Brooke pulled him into a hug. “Thank you!”

Jeremy ruffled her hair as she turned back to Chloe to show her the charms. He made his way over to Michael, his eyes narrowing at the sight of his boyfriend in the thinnest hoodie ever imagined. Jeremy took his hand, finding him perfectly warm and content.

“How aren’t you freezing,” Jeremy gestured to the rest of the group in various states of winter dress.

Michael shrugged, “I dunno.” Michael smirked, grabbing Jeremy by the waist and dipping him, “Guess I’m just hot or something.”

Jeremy planted his feet and wrapped his arms around Michael’s neck, “Oh ha ha.”

He pressed a quick kiss to Michael’s lips before pulling himself back into a standing position. As he stood he noted Michael clocking his bruised face, but neither of them said anything. Hopefully that meant they wouldn’t talk about it at all.

Christine was hesitating by the edge of the rink on her skates. Jeremy quickly changed into his own before leaving his bag by Brooke’s and walking over to her.

“Have you ever skated?”

Christine shook her head. Jeremy stepped out on the ice and held out his hand, “I’ll show you.”

Christine was cautious, but she was a quick learner. Jeremy had her going in circles around the rink in a matter of minutes. Both Jeremy and Michael had some experience, and while Christine had picked it up Rich was clearly struggling even with both Michael and Jenna helping him. Jeremy made his way over to them, skating alongside them while Rich gripped Jenna’s arm like a lifeline.

“Can I steal Michael?”

“No,” Rich glared at him.

“Yeah,” Jenna nodded.

Jeremy took Michael’s hand, the two of them skating around the rink in time. The two grinned at each other, not bothering to look where they were going. Jeremy’s head blared and he swerved around someone instinctively while Michael bumped them in the shoulder. He shouted a quick apology as he caught back up.

“Did you want to hang out after this?” Michael asked. “I just filled up on the goods before coming over here.” Michael mimed lighting a joint and patted his pocket.

“Sure,” Jeremy nodded.

Jeremy noted Jake sitting on the sidelines, watching the rest of the group skate. He was still on crutches, but hopefully it wouldn’t be for much longer. Jake looked kind of miserable, not being able to participate. He laughed as Rich stumbled his way over. The two of them choosing to sit together on the bench.

“Hey,” Michael pulled them into a corner. “What the fuck happened to your face?”

Shit.

“I…” Jeremy hung his head so he didn’t have to look Michael in the eyes as he lied. “I tripped last night.”

“How do you manage to have the grace to dodge a slow skater one minute and trip over your own feet the next?”

Jeremy shrugged, “Just dumb luck I guess.”

Michael got closer to inspect the bruise, “Did you trip on the stairs?”

“I uh, it was a hard piece of snow on the edge of the driveway, actually,” Jeremy kept his facade going. “Hit the pavement pretty hard.”

Michael pulled him into a hug, “You worry me sometimes.”

Jeremy chuckled, pulling back a bit to grin at Michael, “What? C’mon, I’ve always been a klutz.”

Michael pressed his lips into a line, “Yeah, but…it’s more than that.”

“Huh?”

Michael sighed, “I’ll explain at my place.”

Jeremy tried to make the most of the afternoon, but Michael being worried about him only made him worry. Brooke was having a good birthday, that was really all that mattered.

They all took the subway back to Jersey, splitting off to go to their own houses. Jeremy and Michael walked under the light of street lamps, Jeremy making a point to lean against Michael as they walked. It also helped that Michael was still somehow warm to the touch and being in close range helped heat his chilled skin.

“Hi Jeremy!” Maria greeted them as they walked in the front door. “Minamahal, did you two have fun?”

“Yeah,” they answered in sync, making their way down the stairs to the basement. Jeremy crashed into his beanbag, tossing his backpack against the far wall. He was ready to go back to sleep.

“Here,” Michael passed him an already lit joint. Jeremy accepted it, taking a hit before passing it back, still coughing as he exhaled like usual.

“Whimp,” Michael teased him, getting up to dig through his game collection. “Up for some Mario Bros?”

Jeremy kept quiet, waiting for Michael to come back with controllers for them. He set his down before scooting over to Michael’s beanbag and planting his head in Michael’s lap.

“You said you were worried about me?”

Michael sighed, pulling his frames off and setting them to the side before brushing a hand through Jeremy’s hair. “Did…did the tic tac turn back on?”

“What? No. I haven’t been trying to destroy the school, have I?”

Michael sighed, “I just…you keep flaking on me? And I know you’ve got more friends than me now, and it really shouldn’t bother me, but I’m the best friend and it feels like this is the first night we’ve hung out in weeks. Also you’re tired all the time, so maybe the Squip was like…making you tired? So you wouldn’t talk to me?”

“Dude,” Jeremy got up to his knees so he was level with Michael sitting. “I love you. And there’s no way in hell the Squip would let me say that. It literally repressed Rich’s bisexuality. I…” Jeremy scooted closer, holding Michael’s face in his hands. “Fuck, man. You’re my favorite person, you know that right? If you were tied to the train tracks and I had to pull the lever and crush ten people to save you I would do it. I’m so sorry if I made you feel like I didn’t want to hang out with you.”

“Jer…” Michael pulled him into a hug, Jeremy adjusting so he was sitting in Michael’s lap. “I mean with Jennifer showing up and all the new friends I—”

“I promised to not ignore you,” Jeremy whispered. “If you ever feel even slightly ignored call me out. You’re my boyfriend, and I should do better.”

“Okay,” Michael offered a smile. “Now explain the constantly being tired.”

Jeremy reached for the mask in his pocket, now or never. “I’m Spi—”

“Did you guys eat dinner?” Darcy barged in, startling both of them, Jeremy retracted his hand from his pocket as Darcy took in their position on the beanbag. “Oh. Uh, there’s pizza upstairs if you want. Have fun!”

And just like that she was gone. Michael glared at his door for a moment before turning back to Jeremy, “You were saying?”

Jeremy didn’t reach for the mask this time, he knew a sign when he saw one. “I’ve just been sleeping like shit for a while now. Sleeping here is one of the only times it’s not horrible.”

“Why don’t you stay over then?”

“My dad…with Jennifer popping up he’s just…y’know.”

He hated lying, especially to Michael. Especially after everything they had gone through. But the wind had been completely swept from his sails.

Michael blinked, “Oh. Yeah, I guess he would be like that. Yeah. Shit.”

“I love you,” Jeremy murmured. At least it wasn’t a lie.

Michael leaned in, “Love you too. Nerd.”

Jeremy was such a lucky asshole. He didn’t deserve Michael. Not after lying for weeks on end. Michael deserved so much better than him.

Still, Michael wanted him. And Jeremy was nothing if not selfish, so he would take all the love and care Michael was throwing his way. He might not deserve it, but he would gladly accept it.

Jeremy focused back in as he felt Michael grip the hem of his sweatshirt. And…knowing Michael wanted him shirtless was…a fantastic revelation. But removing his sweatshirt would reveal the costume beneath and Jeremy couldn’t risk that at the moment.

“I have to piss,” Jeremy pulled back and got to his feet. He stopped at Michael’s closet to grab his spare pajama pants and he felt eyes on him. Jeremy pivoted back on his heel and found Michael grinning at him. The most awe stricken expression Jeremy had ever seen on him.

Holy shit he was weak.

“I’ll be right back,” Jeremy assured, leaving the room. He locked himself in the bathroom and went about removing his costume. He wasn’t quite sure where to hide it, but rationalized that no one would come looking under the sink. Jeremy webbed the costume to the underside of the vanity just to be safe before shutting the cabinet door and pulling on his pajamas.

He caught himself in the mirror again. He had looked briefly at home, but at Michael’s house the lighting was more harsh against him. The bruise on his cheek was already healing, it looked smaller than earlier. His eyes had dark circles under them. Worse than he had ever seen on himself before. He really needed to get a sleep schedule sorted out that didn’t involve sleeping at every free moment during the day.

And resting along the length of his neck was a column of hickeys. He couldn’t remember Michael leaving them, but the world tended to become a bit more fuzzy and soft around him now. He felt his way along the bruises and was unable to hold back a dumb grin over them being there. They’d probably be gone by morning. That didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate them in the moment.

Jeremy made his way back into Michael’s room, being passed the joint as he walked over. Shit, they didn’t open the window. Jeremy grabbed the desk chair this time and made his way over to open the glass. It might be a bit too late, but at least now they could say they made an attempt. He set the joint down on an ashtray before plopping himself back down in Michael’s lap.

“Was I pushing it earlier?” Michael asked. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

Jeremy arched a brow, “What? No. Dude, I love you. I am at my most comfortable around you.” Jeremy pulled off his shirt and tossed it across the room to push his point. “See? Totally comfortable.”

“You’re such a dork,” Michael pulled him in for a kiss.

Jeremy rolled his eyes, brushing his thumb over Michael’s cheek. There was something about Michael that just drew him in, being close to him was an addiction Jeremy was growing into quickly. He brought a warmth that Jeremy couldn’t get enough of.

Michael’s thumb brushed along his side, the two of them pulling apart enough to just breathe each other’s air. Jeremy ran a hand through Michael’s hair, finding it soft.

“…You have abs,” Michael whispered, staring at Jeremy’s stomach. “The Squip gave you abs?”

Jeremy froze up, “…Yeah? It…it’s weird. Sorry.”

“No wonder you could do all those cartwheels, you’ve got core muscle for days.”

Jeremy snorted, “I never considered that.”

They ended up starting a new save for one of Michael’s many different Mario games, playing through nearly half the game before calling it a night. Jeremy waited for Michael to go turn off the lights before quickly climbing up and shutting the window. He dropped back down as Michael turned back around, his wall crawling not noticed. Michael crawled into bed, Jeremy unsure of if he should sleep on the beanbags or not. Michael scooted over and patted the space next to him, Jeremy taking the offer.

They cuddled up under the blanket, Jeremy letting his eyes close but keeping alert enough to not fall asleep. He waited in the dark until he was sure that Michael was sleeping before slipping out of bed. He made his way back into the bathroom, ripping his costume free and switching into it. He tucked his pajamas under the sink in the costume’s place, pulling on his mask and sliding out of the bathroom.

He kept to the ceiling, quietly sliding open Michael’s window and climbing outside into the early winter air.

Weekends were always more busy with crime. Those who had actual day jobs were free to work on their side hobbies. Jeremy flipped around, finding sometimes his presence alone was enough to scare quite a few criminals.

He had made his way swinging down the street when he caught sight of a bus going way too fast towards a red light. But the brake lights were on, meaning that the brakes were broken. Jeremy dropped down at the stop line, planting his feet and tensing up his body. He took the impact head on, but luckily the bus didn’t manage to run him over. Jeremy winced as he was hit, making sure the bus was fully stopped before backing up. He stumbled back, finding the driver of the bus exiting.

“Thank you!” The man cried out as Jeremy pulled himself back up with a web.

Jeremy stayed out for hours, he kept going until he couldn’t feel his toes from the cold of the snow. That was what Spider-Man did. He never stopped until he had to.

Jeremy slid back through the window, finding Michael still asleep. He dropped down from the ceiling once he was in the bathroom, changing back into his pajamas and depositing his costume in his backpack. He climbed into bed and cuddled up with Michael again, hoping his absence wouldn’t be noticed. Michael pulled him into his arms, his wish seemingly granted.

It was the earliest Jeremy had made it home in a few days, and he gladly took the few extra hours of sleep as he drifted off. He found comfort in Michael’s embrace. Sleep came easy when he was next to him.

“Jer?”

Jeremy opened his eyes a bit, finding the room already full of light. Hadn’t he just closed his eyes? The world was unfair.

“Not yet,” Jeremy mumbled, shutting his eyes again.

“No, Jer you can’t just…” Michael sighed, wrapping his arms around him a bit tighter. “Fine. Half an hour.”

“You’re the best,” Jeremy managed to get out before sleep claimed him again.

He didn’t feel much better when he was shaken awake. Jeremy sat up, stretching and letting his spine pop. He glanced over at Michael as he rubbed his eyes in an attempt to wake up.

“Hi,” Jeremy yawned.

“Where did you go last night?” Michael asked.

“Huh?”

“Well when I woke up to piss you were gone. Not in the house, because part of me thought you were having an anxiety attack and didn’t want me to know. So I checked.”

“Michael—”

“No. No excuses or lies. Talk to me, be honest.”

Jeremy sighed, “I…I went out. And I just kept moving until I wore myself out.”

Not technically a lie.

“Is this a sleep thing?”

“I guess.”

Michael ran a hand through his hair, “Have you tried melatonin?”

Jeremy shook his head, “No, I get too anxious about possibly not waking up to an alarm, or growing dependent.”

“Fuck, Jeremy,” Michael pulled him into his arms. “Can you…if you need to go on a walk again can you at least like…leave a note? Or text me? Please?”

Jeremy nodded, tucking his face against Michael’s neck, “Yeah. I’m sorry.”

“I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Jeremy didn’t have it in him to say anything else. He had always been a bad liar, this was going to catch up to him eventually.

▣

Jeremy sat staring at the test in front of him. He had already gone through the easier questions, now he was stuck with everything he didn’t know how to do because he hardly ever did homework. Of course this was the one class he had no friends to possibly help.  C’mon, he had finally figured out how to catch moving vehicles instead of just letting them hit him, he could handle a geometry test!

The classroom door opened and another teacher walked in. Jeremy tried to ignore the interruption and scribbled on the margin of his test. He should have begged Chloe and Brooke to help him study during their homeroom period, something to save him from his impending doom of flunking junior year.

“Jeremy Heere?”

Oh fuck. Jeremy looked up, finding the teacher who had walked in standing in front of his desk.

“You’re excused, come with me.”

Jeremy didn’t argue, he didn’t want to think about the test ever again. He packed his things and followed the teacher, being brought into the choir hall. What the hell did a music teacher want with him?

Inside the choir hall was all of his friend group. Along with at least a hundred other students. Jeremy blinked, finding the girls all waving at him from their spots around the room. Jeremy wanted to shrink up with all the eyes on him, but his Squip conditioning had him keeping his expression neutral and holding himself like he was important. He was still somehow popular.

Maybe that was because he was friends with some of the other popular kids.

“I was told you play guitar by a few of my students,” the teacher explained. “Is that true?”

Jeremy nodded, “Yeah, not actively but I know how.”

The teacher beamed at him, “Wonderful. Your math teacher owes me a favor, so for the foreseeable future you’ll be coming here instead of your usual class. Play for me and you’ll get a perfect grade. Does that sound okay? You go check in with math and come straight here.”

Holy shit. Jeremy felt relieved at the idea, but he kept calm on the outside.

“Okay.”

“Wonderful,” the teacher beamed. “You’ll sit by Michael, he’s our other guitarist.”

The teacher pointed and Jeremy followed her finger, finding his boyfriend smirking at him. Jeremy walked over, taking a seat next to Michael. There was a guitar next to his chair and sheet music in front of them.

“Did you plan this?” Jeremy asked.

Michael shrugged, “Brooke mentioned you were worried about a test today, I needed help playing over all those people singing. It worked, didn’t it?”

Jeremy let his head fall against Michael’s shoulder, “I love you.”

It was the easiest class hour he’d had in forever. It was loud, more so because of his powers, but it wasn’t solving proofs that he didn’t understand. Plus he had Michael right next to him, and that was always a plus.

“I can’t believe I didn’t know you took choir,” Jeremy chuckled between songs. “I went to a concert because Brooke was in it and I never…”

“You never saw me?”

Jeremy hung his head, “Yeah.”

He could feel eyes on him throughout the class hour. People looking over to judge him, to see if he really was cool. And Jeremy probably did look it. His wardrobe still mostly consisted of choices the evil computer had made, and with Jennifer now inputting what she thought was best for him to wear? He still had some of his old clothes, but Jeremy didn’t exactly dress like a geek anymore.

Over lunch Michael shared what Maria had made for him, which was probably the only reason Jeremy bothered eating at school. He didn’t trust what the public school system considered a proper meal after finding long blonde hairs in his food once his freshman year.

“Oi, Mikey!” Rich shouted across their table.

“Don’t call me that,” Michael was stern.

“Check your fucking messages!”

Michael made a point of shoving his phone into his pocket. Clearly there was still some resentment.

“Winter carnival is coming up,” Christime caught everyone’s attention. “Do we want to coordinate any outfits?”

Fuck, it was already winter carnival time? That meant the holidays were coming up. And that meant finals would be in a month or so. Fuck. He wasn’t ready.

“What are the dress up days?” Jeremy asked.

“The usual,” Christine shrugged. “Pajama day, costume day, school spirit.”

“Jeremy and I are matching for costume day,” Brooke piped up. “I already planned everything in advance.”

“I’ll be gone that week,” Jenna sighed. “My dad is taking me to France for three weeks as an apology for causing the divorce.”

“Send me photos,” Brooke begged.

“Antisocial headphones bitch!” Rich yelled again. “Check your goddamn phone!”

“I actually prefer bastard since I have no father.”

“Just do it!” Jake groaned.

Michael opened his phone and scanned over whatever Rich wanted him to see. His nose scrunched up, but thanks to the glare of the ceiling lights Jeremy couldn’t see what was on the screen.

“That’s the ugliest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.”

“It’s the best we could do!” Jake complained.

“What?” Jeremy asked.

Michael pocketed his phone again, “Suit ideas for prom they keep sending me.”

“People are already thinking about prom?”

“Apparently those two are.”

Everyone kept discussing potential ideas to coordinate outfits. Jeremy ignored the chatter and turned his attention to Michael. He lowered his head to rest on his arms while Michael began talking about a video game trailer he had watched. Jeremy couldn’t bother listening to his words, he just enjoyed taking in the time with his boyfriend.

“Are you paying attention?” Michael ruffled his hair.

“He’s being gay!” Rich laughed.

“Lil Cheese Head,” Jeremy quipped back.

“Fuck you!”

Jeremy rolled his eyes, “No thanks.”

In their gym class they started a floor hockey unit. Jeremy somehow got placed as a goalie. He did a decent job blocking the pucks being thrown at him, the ringing in his head helping keep him alert. He still wasn’t quite sure what to call the weird warning signal in his head. He had fucking spinnerets in his wrists that he didn’t want to acknowledge most of the time. When he looked close enough he could see the exact placement of them. It was creepy.

Jeremy stepped to the side as a puck came flying at his head. He held up his hockey stick and stopped the puck from flying in the goal, quickly hitting it back out away from him and across the gym floor.

“Do you enjoy ruining my chance of getting a goal and being viewed as better than I am?” Michael asked, standing in front of him.

Jeremy shrugged, “Maybe you just suck.”

“Says the guy who fell while walking out of an elevator the other week.”

A lie to cover the fact that he had miscalculated his web line slack and had his face hit the side of a concrete wall. It hadn’t even looked that bad, just a scrape.

“You dropped a slushy inside your car once.”

Michael walked over, “I’m going to kick your ass.”

“What? At Wii Sports? I’ve got my bowling technique down.”

Michael quickly leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips, “Bring it, Heere.”

Jeremy couldn’t help but beam. He was two seconds from dragging Michael out of the gym so they could make out. His head let out a warning blare and Jeremy held his hand up to catch a flying hockey puck soaring towards his face. He dropped the puck and hit it back out again, sending the other players away from them.

“I love you,” Jeremy whispered.

“Want to come over?”

“Can’t, my dad.”

Michael looked a bit bummed, but didn’t let his smile fade, “How about tomorrow?”

“Deal.”

Jeremy drifted through the remainder of his afternoon. Brooke kept him on track enough for their class together, but he wasn’t thinking about his homework. Between his constant fatigue and his now growing attachment to Michael—as if it could get any worse—he was useless in a classroom setting. Still, they at least managed to get their work done before the hour was up, so they at least didn’t have any homework.

Jeremy bolted from the building once the dismissal bell went off. He made his way home, stopping in the kitchen to look and see what they had for leftovers. He had to eat dinner and then get swinging.

“Private?” His dad came walking into the kitchen. “I was going to make stir fry.”

“Can’t stay,” Jeremy found a container and put it in the microwave to warm up. “Have a thing with Brooke.”

“Jeremy, we need to talk,” James pointed to the table. “Sit.”

Jeremy sat down once his food was done in the microwave. James sat across from him, running a hand through his hair.

“Kiddo…is there something going on?”

“What?”

“I got your progress report emailed to me today. Jer, it’s not great. Everything is a C or lower. I’m not mad, I just want to know what I can do to help. I know school seems boring but it’s really important that you at least pass your classes.”

“I’m fine,” Jeremy assured. “I just don’t understand my classes right now. Brooke is helping me not fail, trust me it could be worse.”

“I just…” James rubbed at his temples. “I can’t help but notice that the downward spiral matches with…I really don’t want to say it, but with your mom popping up. Is she…are you sure everything is okay with her?”

“I know she sucks but she’s not abusing me.”

“That isn’t what I meant,” James kept his voice stern. “Jeremy. If you have poor grades under my care it wouldn’t be hard for her to try and get full custody. I don’t want to lose you. Do you need a tutor? Or maybe we should limit the nights you can go to Michael’s house? Maria and Darcy said that Michael has been doing fine, so I don’t quite get how it’s just you who isn’t working on homework.”

“You can’t just take away Michael, Dad—”

“Don’t make it sound like that, you need to get your grades up. You aren’t a bad kid, I just don't want to lose you. You can go to Brooke’s tonight, but tomorrow I want you to stay home, okay?”

“But Michael asked me over—”

“Michael is more than welcome here. I’m being as fair as I can. I’m so glad you have someone you care about that much, and I’m glad you’ve got some new friends, but school needs to come first sometimes. Do you understand?”

Jeremy nodded, his dad getting up from the table to grab him a fork. Jeremy poked at his food, feeling ridiculed.

“Oh, and I think it would be smart to add in a curfew. How does ten thirty on school nights and midnight on weekends sound?”

“What, so I can’t stay over at Michael’s anymore?!”

“You can if you text me. You usually don’t and it makes me worried.”

“Fine.”

James walked over and ruffled his hair, “I love you kiddo.”

Great, now he had to make his way back home before sneaking out again. Why did he bother with the whole superhero shtick? All it had done so far was complicate his life.

Because he had the ability to save people. And the idea of people dying when Jeremy could do something scared the shit out of him.

Jeremy made his way out of the house and ducked around the side to change into his suit. He made the most of his afternoon, doing extra flips in the air as he practically flew around the city. He hated to admit it but the whole swinging from buildings thing really did appeal to him. The rush of wind in his ears, the adrenaline of nearly crashing to the pavement at every turn, it was an addiction. There was no way Jeremy could give it up.

He made his way back home again in time for the new curfew, wishing his dad a good night before locking himself in his room. He waited for the sound of his dad going to sleep for the night before pushing open his window and jumping back out again. It was a huge waste of time to go back and forth, but that was how things would need to be until his dad let up on the stern behavior. He hadn’t ever cared about where Jeremy was before.

Swinging in the dark brought a whole new sense of awe to the action. The lights of the city being offset by the dark sky was maybe one of Jeremy’s favorite views. He made a stop at Jennifer’s apartment to grab his headphones—they were actually Michael’s and he was just borrowing them—and tucked them into his backpack before ditching it on the roof. He could at least remember to return Michael’s headphones since he had been forgetting the past few nights.

The sight of smoke floating up into the sky caught his attention from a distance. That didn’t look good. Jeremy dived off the roof he was on and started swinging towards the smoke. He was greeted with an entire building up in flames. Shit.

Jeremy dropped down in front of a window that looked to be safe and pried it open. He took one last deep breath before going inside. The place was hot and it hurt to breathe. Jeremy forced himself to focus, finding that he was in the hall of an apartment building. He kicked in the first door and started searching for people. The first apartment was already empty, so Jeremy moved to the next. He kept moving, gritting his teeth while moving burning rubble to help free people who were trapped. He carried people to safety, swinging them outside and to the ground. He had no idea what to do in a fire, and his suit was beginning to melt against his skin a bit, but he kept going.

He was sprinting down a crumbling hallway when he caught sight of someone pivoting among the flames.

“Hang on, let me…” Jeremy trailed off, finding the flames were on the person in front of him. Not a hint of worry for being literally up in flames. “…Help you?” What the fuck?!

“How can I help?” The person asked.

Oh fuck, he had a mask. Another superhero? Jeremy had thought he was the only one.

“You’re on fire.”

Ah, so eloquent.

“Oh, yeah maybe that isn’t helpful right now,” the masked person suddenly extinguished himself. “Seriously, how can I help?”

“You’re fireproof?”

“Yeah.”

Jeremy beckoned for the stranger to follow him. The guy wasn’t just fireproof. He clearly had some strength in his skill set. Jeremy was able to save his costume and skin by having the new guy lift and move the rubble so he could get people out easier. They were quiet, working together to help clear the floor. They moved so fast as a duo that they met the firefighters on one of the lower floors.

“All clear, get the hell out!” The firefighter shouted.

Jeremy went running for a window, sliding out and swinging down the street. He clung to a wall after a single swing, coughing hard as he was able to finally breathe air clear of smoke. He looked back at the burning building to watch a streak of fire come flying in his direction. What. The. Fuck?!

“Are you okay?” The stranger asked, casually floating a few yards away while fully up in flames. The light almost hurt his eyes, but he still found himself able to look into the eyes of the stranger. Holy fuck why was this guy so familiar looking?

“Fine,” Jeremy’s voice sounded like shit from all the smoke. “Who are you?”

The guy shrugged, “I…Fire Guy?”

“No. You did not get that costume just to call yourself Fire Guy. That’s the dumbest name ever,” Jeremy began crawling his way to the roof of the current building he was resting against. The stranger followed, extinguishing himself as he landed a bit away from Jeremy.

“You’re literally called Spider-Man.”

“At least I had my name figured out before I went running around in spandex.”

“This isn’t spandex, that would melt,” the guy gestured to his black and white suit. “It’s some fireproof material I don’t remember the name of.”

“My point still stands. You don’t even have a real name yet.”

“I don’t think you get to judge me.”

“Have you ever done this before? Because I know that I have been at this hero gig for over a month. One of us knows what they’re doing.”

“I…look, I don’t have time to throw my actual life away and become some dumb superhero. I just agreed to try it and see how things went.”

“Torch.”

“What?”

Jeremy shrugged, “That should be your name. You’re a human torch. I’m a spider man. The names match who and what we are.”

The guy dropped his shoulders, “It is better than Fire Guy.”

Jeremy was smirking behind his mask, “Well Torch, thanks for the help. No one died, you’re clearly a natural.”

Torch hesitated, “Do…do you think you could show me what the hell I’m supposed to be doing? At least for a few hours? I…” he shrugged, looking down. “I want to do the right thing, but I honestly don’t know where to start. Tracking you down was my only option.”

“Sure, if you can keep up,” Jeremy laughed, dropping backwards off his ledge and swinging away. Torch kept a good pace, but Jeremy was better at zipping around corners. He ran around the city with his new hot headed companion, finding people were much more scared of being burned alive than a random guy in a mask. He was a natural. He stood back and watched as Jeremy got into actual fights, Jeremy was more than capable of handling himself so long as weapons weren’t in the mix. He was strong, and webbing people to objects or walls was an easy way to detain someone without needing to throw a single punch.

“Holy shit it’s late,” Torch muttered as they passed by a flashing clock sign.

“It’s really not,” Jeremy hummed, flipping around as he fired his next web line.

“I don’t know about you, but I have…real life to get to in the morning. I have to call it.”

Jeremy landed against a wall, “You’re a wimp, Matchstick Head.”

“And you’re insane,” Torch shot back. “Later Webs.”

Jeremy watched as Torch flew away, a bright dot that vanished over the horizon. Crazy as it was, he hoped to see the guy again. Having another superhero meant a lot. Maybe Torch didn’t see the responsibility of their gifts like Jeremy did, but he still wanted to do good. If only in moderation. And that was better than not at all.

Jeremy took off, going back to his patrolling. He still had hours of work to do before calling it quits for the night. If he cared about his real life he would have been done with Torch, but Jeremy Heere had to take the backseat when it was Spider-Man time.

He ended up pulling an all-nighter. Jeremy crawled through his window with only a half hour to spare before his alarm to wake up went off. He sighed, pulling off his mask and tossing it into his closet. He made his way around his room, picking out what he would wear for the day before climbing into the shower to get ready. He needed coffee.

Jeremy sat at the kitchen island and poked at a bowl of cereal. He didn’t feel all that up to doing much, and he was fairly sure he hadn’t done what little homework Chloe didn’t finish for him. Holy shit he owed her and Brooke so much.

“Morning kiddo,” James walked in already dressed for work. “Sleep okay?”

Jeremy just made a grunting sound in response. He was hardly awake.

“I’m going to have a talk with your mom later today, she finally gave me her contact information.”

“What about?”

James shrugged, “I just wanted to see if she would consider adjusting her custody of you. I don’t exactly feel comfortable with you being stuck in that city. What with the spider guy running around, it's not exactly safe.”

Jeremy dropped his spoon, “Spider-Man is a good guy, Dad.”

“I’m sure he means well, but I still don’t think it’s safe. He’s been spotted specifically in your mom’s neighborhood more than once—” James paused as he walked by Jeremy, taking a step closer to sniff the air next to him. “…Did this Brooke girl have a campfire last night?”

Shit, he still smelled like smoke?

“Uh, yeah. We took a break from studying and made smores.”

James hummed, ruffling his hair, “Snack breaks are important. Anyway, I’m just going to suggest to her that it might be safer for you to not be in the area with costumed vigilantes. She probably won’t do anything, considering she never listened to me in the first place, but at least I can rest easier knowing I’ve attempted. If she takes me to court it’ll look good on my part.”

“Do you really think she would try to get full custody?”

“Jeremy, your mom is…a very powerful woman. I’m not going to underestimate her.”

What the hell did that mean? Jeremy sighed, drinking his cereal milk before putting his dishes in the sink. He seriously needed coffee, he hadn’t considered it as an option before now, but it sounded like the best idea for him. Although knowing how his body was he would likely overdo it and give himself a heart attack.

“Need a ride to—” James started to speak when the doorbell rang. Jeremy made his way to the front door and opened it, Brooke and Chloe barging in.

“What happened last night?!”

“Are you—”

Jeremy slapped a hand over each of their mouths. His dad came walking in and Jeremy removed his hands.

“Uh, good morning?” James greeted the girls.

“Dad, this is Brooke and Chloe,” Jeremy introduced them. “Guys, this is my dad.”

“Hi Mr. Heere,” the girls greeted in unison.

“We’re here to take Jeremy to school,” Chloe explained.

“I need like three minutes,” Jeremy sighed, turning on his heel and heading towards the stairs. He picked up the pieces of his costume and put them into his backpack in case he needed it before quickly brushing his teeth and heading back downstairs. He followed the girls out to Chloe’s car, laying down in the backseat and draping an arm over his eyes.

“How did the suit hold up in the fire?” Brooke turned her head back to look at him.

“Slightly melted, but it’s fine,” Jeremy mumbled.

“And can we talk about the fire guy? Jeremy, there’s another superhero! That’s awesome!” Chloe was practically vibrating in her seat. “Was he hot?”

“In the literal sense? Yeah,” Jeremy sighed, lifting his arm. “In any other way? I wasn’t paying attention. Need I remind you that this spider is no longer single.”

“Yeah yeah, you have your nerdy little boyfriend,” Chloe rolled her eyes. “Did you talk to him?”

“A bit. He can fly. He’s kind of an asshole, but in a cocky way. Not in a rude way.”

“Is he…is he a good guy?” Brooke asked. “Y’know, like you?”

“He doesn’t want to do the whole hero thing as much as I do. He puts his real life first. But yeah, I don’t think he means any harm.”

“So he’s sane, unlike you.”

“…Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night.”

Jeremy trudged to class, choosing to switch his seat so he was sitting next to Michael. Their class was empty enough that he wouldn’t be bothering anyone. Michael took the seat change in stride, plopping down next to him and reaching over to take his hand.

“Morning,” Michael hummed.

“Hi,” Jeremy bit back a yawn, lightly squeezing the hand wrapped in his.

“Didn’t sleep well again?”

“Didn’t sleep at all,” Jeremy confessed.

Michael sighed, “Did you at least do your homework?”

“Nope.”

Michael pressed his lips into a line, but didn’t say anything else on the subject. Jeremy noted that Michael also seemed a bit on the sleepy side.

“Don’t tell me my shitty sleep schedule is hurting you too,” Jeremy made a face.

Michael shook his head, “No, just got sucked into a game. Did you watch the trailer yet?”

“Trailer for what?”

Michael raised his eyebrows, “The Apocalypse of The Damned sequel trailer?! I talked your ear off about it for like ten minutes yesterday!”

“They’re making a sequel?!”

Michael threw his head back, “Yes, Jer!”

Jeremy pulled his phone out along with Michael’s headphones and looked up the trailer. The new graphics alone were enough to wake him up. He beamed at Michael, excited for the soon approaching release date.

“I thought you left these at your mom’s place,” Michael tapped the headphones around his neck.

“I thought I did,” Jeremy shrugged. “I found them!” He passed the headphones back over, “Here.”

Michael took his headphones back and tucked them into his backpack, “Did you want help with your homework? I’m probably not as smart as Chloe or Brooke but…”

Jeremy slid his desk to be right next to Michael’s and pulled out the unfinished assignment he had for Chemistry, “Your guess is better than mine.”

Jeremy also pulled out his textbook and the two went to work. Michael scanned the chapter looking for answers while Jeremy tried to comprehend. It was a little bit one sided, but Michael was trying to explain things when he could.

“Did…did you hear about that uh…the fire guy?”

Jeremy hummed, writing down an answer. “Yeah, I think that Fire Guy is a terrible name for him. At least Spider-Man made sense.”

Michael chuckled, “Yeah, good point. What do you think of him?”

Jeremy offered a shrug, “It’s a little too soon to tell. I mean…what if he isn’t a good guy? It would be awesome if he was but I wouldn’t guarantee it. He’s been spotted once, it’s not like Spider-Man. Not yet at least.”

“Oh,” Michael glanced back at the textbook. He tapped the answer Jeremy had just filled out, “Pretty sure that’s wrong.”

“What?” Jeremy eyed up his book, finding that he was in fact wrong in his answer. He sighed, erasing what was on the page to replace it. He hated chemistry.

Jeremy drifted through his day. He was so worn out from not sleeping, but the deprivation was hitting him hard enough that he couldn’t even manage to get in a nap during his slow classes. He was exhausted but his brain was on high alert.

Meaning his sixth sense was also on high alert.

“Did you practice your lines for our reading today?” Christine asked.

Shit. They were reading myths in class. Out loud.

“I’ll take that as a no,” Christine hummed.

“Fuck, I’m sorry,” Jeremy sighed.

Christine shrugged, “You’re a total scatterbrain Jeremy. I’m used to it.”

Jeremy opened his mouth to respond when he felt ringing in his skull. He moved on instinct, swiping a leg out behind himself before pivoting and reaching for whatever was trying to hurt him. He focused back into reality to find himself shoving Rich into the row of lockers next to him, his feet off the floor.

“Dude!” Rich yelped, his eyes showing a flash of fear. “Jeremy! Tall Ath! Calm yourthelf!”

Jeremy let go and took a step back, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry.”

Rich offered a small shrug, “I mean, how many timeth have I done that to you, right?”

“You’re okay?”

Rich nodded, “Yeah. Fine.”

Jeremy slumped to his last class with Christine, hoping to forget that major fuck up. He really wasn’t doing a good job at keeping a lid on his powers. He managed to fake his way through their myth reading, only surviving because he was allowed to read from their book.

“I’m throwing a little party over break,” Christine hummed, swinging her legs while she sat at her desk. “Any chance you wanted to come with?”

Jeremy hummed, “Yeah, sure. I didn’t think you were the party hosting type.”

Christine shrugged, “I’m usually not. But…I’ve never had a real friend group before. Am I the only one who thinks Chloe is terrifying? She said she’d come but she’s just…”

“Intimidating. Yeah.”

Jeremy waited by Michael’s locker for him when the bell rang. It took him a while to notice, but Michael hadn’t bothered putting on his frames. He must have been enjoying having contacts more.

“I think my mom is making pasta tonight,” Michael hummed.

“Uh, my dad said I have to stay home today,” Jeremy said, rocking on his heels. “But if you still want to hang out we can at my place?”

Michael nodded, “Sure. I’ll text Mama when we get there. C’mon.”

Michael took his hand and led them out to the car. They clamored up the stairs to Jeremy’s room, the two of them falling against his bed since he didn’t have beanbags.

“Have homework?” Michael asked, pulling out a textbook from his bag.

Jeremy nodded, following suit. They adjusted themselves by the head of the bed, sitting next to each other while they silently scribbled in answers. Jeremy felt his eyes drifting shut, struggling to keep himself awake after all his activities over the past few days. Hell, the past month was more accurate. Jeremy passed out, his head falling against Michael’s shoulder. He might have been the superhero between them, but he trusted Michael to keep him safe.

Chapter Text

“Spider-Man!”

Jeremy turned his head, spotting his new firewood friend approaching next to him. Jeremy switched his course on the upswing of his web, landing on a roof nearby. Torch landed next to him and extinguished himself.

“Hey,” Jeremy offered a nod, each breath he let out steaming through his mask. It was freezing out, his fingers were numb.

“You cold?”

Jeremy shrugged, his breath catching as Torch lit up again and flew a few circles around Jeremy. The heat of the flames warmed him in seconds and melted the snow and ice in the surrounding radius. That was one way to warm up.

“It seems kind of late for you to be out,” Jeremy noted, quickly pulling out his phone to check the time. He had to be sneaky since his lock screen was a photo of him and Michael that Brooke had sent him of them playing a game during homeroom. He should change it to keep things anonymous. “What happened to your precious real life you keep mentioning?”

Torch shrugged, “I want to prove myself. Plus I napped like…all afternoon so I shouldn’t be too tired come morning.”

Jeremy hummed, nodding along to what Torch was saying. He had been popping up a few times a week, nothing substantial but he was making a name for himself. People were actually calling him Torch, which helped. Jeremy didn’t mind the company, it was nice to work with someone. Torch had an energy to him that bounced well with Jeremy’s attitude when out swinging.

The night was filled with their usual chaos. Criminals practically giving themselves up at the fear of being burned alive. Torch made the loneliness of being a superhero so much better. They weren’t partners, but they shared a silent connection being the only superhumans of the world. For a few hours they were a duo.

Torch ran off to get back to his real life before long. Jeremy pondered it before also deciding to call it. He was tired and getting a few hours of sleep sounded nice.

Unfortunately his alarm clock always came ringing too soon. Jeremy groaned, getting up and going about getting ready. He was tired. He was always tired.

Jeremy made his way down to the kitchen, finding his dad setting the table. He had made breakfast. Actual breakfast. Not just setting a cereal bowl out for Jeremy to have if he wanted.

“Morning?” Jeremy sat at his usual spot.

“I made latkes! Happy Hanukkah!”

“Oh. Thank you.” Jeremy got up and pulled his dad into a hug.

“I know usually we celebrate around dinner but we both have plans later so I figured this would do.”

Jeremy couldn’t even remember what bullshit excuse he had given his dad for the night, but he nodded either way. “Yeah, thank you.”

Jeremy made his way through breakfast and made the decision to walk to school. Logically he could have asked Michael for a ride, but he didn’t feel like having Michael roll his eyes at him for not sleeping well so early in the morning.

Jeremy kept his chin up, even now his brain still acted like the Squip was in charge. He looked, but let others see. Jeremy was the important one, he didn’t see others but they saw him.

“Jeremy!”

Jeremy pivoted at the sound of Brooke’s voice, “Hey Brooke!”

The girl looked at him expectantly, “Where’s your costume?”

“What?”

Brooke removed her jacket, Jeremy finally noticing that Brooke was wearing an exact replica of his Spider-Man suit. “It's costume day, we’re supposed to match.”

Jeremy hesitated, “Why would I…dress up as Spider-Man? When I am Spider-Man? It’s called a secret identity—”

“There are fifty spider people here, no one will connect it. C’mon! Please?”

Jeremy groaned, but trudged towards a bathroom. He pulled on the suit and shoved the mask into one of his pockets. He glanced at his reflection in the mirror. He didn’t ever take the time to look at himself in the suit without the mask. It was almost scary, how…defined he looked. Jeremy shoved his street clothes into his bag before walking out, earning a small excited squeal from Brooke. Being in his costume at school was throwing him. People were looking at him, double taking because Jeremy looked like Spider-Man.

“Holy shit!” Chloe gawked as they approached. Her Wonder Woman costume was cute, but he couldn’t tell if Brooke had made it or not. Chloe ran a hand over his shoulder, her eyes wide. “I know…I know that I know it’s you, but I’ve never seen you…in the suit. Y’know? I know the dots connect but I’ve never seen the connection. Is this even a good idea?”

Jeremy shrugged, “Brooke’s idea, not mine.”

“Michael is going to swoon once he gets here,” Chloe teased him. “I know someone is getting laid tonight.”

Jeremy pulled his mask over his head, “I don’t–uh…”

“What, have you two not–”

“It really isn’t your business, Chloe. Drop it.”

Chloe hummed, “I mean, it makes sense.”

“Chloe, not our business,” Brooke warned.

They all walked to class, Jeremy pulling off his mask again as they walked. He didn’t want to talk about his sex life, especially not with Chloe of all people. She was still on thin ice for what she had done to him. They were on good terms, but they both made the choice to avoid what had happened.

Wait…

“What do you mean it makes sense?” Jeremy asked, moving over to sit next to Chloe briefly.

Chloe shrugged her shoulders, “Y’know…you have…Jerry you caught a bus. Casually. Either you’ll break Michael from crushing him in your hands or you could potentially like…break his dick from muscles crushing him.”

He hadn’t ever considered that a potential problem before. Jeremy felt a pit form in his stomach. How had he never thought of the dangers being Spider-Man would bring into his normal life. The balancing act was one thing…but the idea of accidentally hurting Michael or anyone he cared for…

Holy shit he was a walking accident waiting to happen.

“Hey, no, don’t spiral,” Brooke held his chin in her hand. “You’ve been Spidey for nearly two months, right? You don’t hurt Michael—or anyone for that matter—when you give hugs. You’re gentle by nature, Jeremy. If anything your strength has been the one power you’ve always had in check. The webs and the sticky parts took time, but strength was never an issue. Right?”

Jeremy nodded, “Yeah. You’re right.”

“Jeremy?”

Jeremy craned his neck, finding Michael staring at him with wide eyes. Michael had opted to not dress up for costume day. Jeremy got up, walking up to his boyfriend.

“What do you think of my costume?” Jeremy asked. “Pretty stupid, right?”

Michael reached for his hand, “I…wow. It…it looks real.”

Jeremy shrugged, “Brooke designed it.”

Michael grinned at him, leaning to whisper into his ear as he walked to his seat, “You can web me up anytime Jeremy.”

Jeremy felt his face burn, pivoting to follow Michael to their desks. Michael hadn’t ever said something like that towards him. Jeremy just stared at him, too surprised to say anything.

“Do you want to go make out in the library?” Michael asked, reaching over to take his hand.

Jeremy silently nodded. The two of them getting up and leaving the room together. Chloe waggled her eyebrows as they passed, Jeremy quickly shooting a web at her and tangling a chunk of her hair. He could feel her glaring at him as he walked away, but he didn’t have it in him to care.

“I take it you like me in spandex?” Jeremy asked, wrapping his arms around Michael as they tucked themselves into a quiet corner.

“I hate that fucking tic tac so much, I didn’t want you to be hot,” Michael sighed, pressing a kiss to Jeremy’s forehead. “Did I always think you were hot, yes. You were a nerd with a stick frame. My ideal man right there. Now you’re all buff and it’s the fucking computer’s fault.”

“Sorry.”

Michael rolled his eyes, pulling him in for a proper kiss. Jeremy hummed against him, leaning into the touch. What if he told Michael now? Jumped to the ceiling, revealed it all. He was sick of lying to Michael, it would make it better—right?

But wasn’t it easier? With Michael not knowing? He wouldn’t have his boyfriend worried about him all the time like Brooke and Chloe were. Sure there were inconsistencies, but Jeremy had a fairly good grip on things all considered.

“How come you didn’t dress up?” Jeremy asked, his fingers playing with Michael’s hair.

Michael shrugged, “Just didn’t want to. Brooke did an amazing job on yours though, holy shit.”

The two of them hid in the corner until the warning bell rang. They both sprinted back to class, Jeremy turning heads as he walked in. It was going to be a long day.

Jeremy struggled through a chemistry test, the seating arrangement had changed and Chloe was no longer close enough to whisper him answers. He felt sick to his stomach when his brain couldn’t think of a single answer to the test questions.

It was moments like this where Jeremy missed the Squip. He never had to think to get good grades. Didn’t have to think of anything to say. He was able to take the backseat and ride through life. He had ended up with a wonderful girlfriend, he had friends, up until the play Jeremy had enjoyed all his time being Squipped.

But now he had Michael. And he still had his friends. He had fucking super powers. He was lucky. School was a struggle, sure, but only because he was trying to do the right thing.

“Goddamn!” Rich squeaked as Jeremy walked into their language class. Rich was dressed up…like Torch. The black and white suit looked stupid on him, it didn’t fit right. And yet somehow Rich managed to pull it off like what he was wearing was completely normal. Jeremy couldn’t judge him for it. “I knew people were saying you looked hot Tall Ass, but look at you!”

“Why do you care about how I look?” Jeremy asked. “Have a crush on me or something?”

“He cares because he’s jealous,” Jake chuckled. Finally free from crutches, he was in a Superman costume. “I think his new thing is just flirting.” Jake smirked at Rich. “Isn’t that right?”

Rich sighed, lowering his head to his desk, “Why can’t I jutht call people hot?”

“I didn’t know you liked Torch,” Jeremy changed the subject.

Rich shrugged, “I wouldn’t say I like him, I just lost a bet. Michael’s a bitch, you know that?”

“I don’t think my boyfriend is a bitch,” Jeremy said. “What was the bet?”

“He won’t tell me,” Jake ruffled Rich’s hair.

Rich rolled his eyes, pulling out his book, “Can we focus on the reading for once?”

They all fell quiet, reading through their assigned pages. Jeremy couldn’t remember the plot of the book they were reading, so opening to his first page of assignment work confused him. He bullshit his way through the homework questions like normal. School was hell and he walked through the flaming coals like it was nothing because he had to.

Jeremy went through the usual routine of checking in to his math class before hurrying to the choir hall, sliding into his seat next to Michael. This was easy. Playing guitar for forty five minutes was brainless compared to chemistry. Jeremy pulled off his gloves and strummed along, scooting his chair closer to Michael’s so he could press their knees together. He glanced at all the students singing, finding several spider people. Just like Brooke had said. Costumes were in varying quality, but it was clear that Jeremy and Brooke had the most realistic suits.

At lunch Jeremy tucked himself next to Michael once again, the two of them sharing the food Maria had packed. Everyone was grouped off, but with Jenna gone on vacation it was a bit quieter. Christine was trying to sell Brooke and Chloe on the idea of the spring musical, Jake and Rich were discussing whatever the hell sporty kids talked about, leaving Jeremy to bury himself against Michael. It was nice. Comfort and familiarity.

Jeremy made the decision to skip the going home part of his afternoon routine. He left school at the dismissal bell and went right to swinging. There wasn’t much daylight at the moment and he wanted to actually be able to see the city without all the bright lights for a moment. Holiday break had officially begun.

He dodged flying bullets, webbed people to walls, and punched those that got too close. He was being productive. It was fun.

Was it a bad thing that he loved being Spider-Man so much? He was at the point that people would grin when he went swinging by. He wasn’t doing the hero gig for the thanks, but it was nice to be appreciated once and a while.

The sky grew dark, Jeremy taking a moment to pause and look over the city from a high roof. Holiday decorations were everywhere, bringing more light to the night. He pulled his phone out to check the time, finding four missed calls from Brooke. He usually kept his phone on silent. Shit.

“Hey,” Jeremy greeted when he called her back.

“Where are you?”

Jeremy furrowed his brow, “Manhattan?”

“Jeremy, we have a concert in less than an hour! You need to get to school!”

“I’m not in choir—”

“You’re a guitarist, dumbass!” Chloe’s voice came over the speakers. “Unless you want to fail your math class.”

Shit. Had that been what his dad had mentioned earlier? “I’ll leave now.” Jeremy jumped off the current building he was on, swinging towards Jersey with one hand. “Wait, I don’t have concert clothes! Fuck!”

“I have that covered, just get here,” Brooke sighed.

Jeremy ended the call so he could use both hands. Just to be safe he swooped back around to grab his backpack from the rooftop he had abandoned it on. He went as fast as he could, swinging around the back of the school to the choir hall, he poked his head to look through the window, finding Brooke pacing and Chloe picking at her nails. Otherwise the room was abandoned. Jeremy pried the window open and jumped inside, tugging off his mask and dropping his backpack to the floor.

“I made it,” Jeremy huffed out a breath.

Chloe watched the doors while Brooke handed him his clothes. Jeremy hid his costume inside his backpack and Brooke did up his tie for him. He looked as good as he would get.

“We’ve been looking for you!” Jake came barging in, Chloe rolling her eyes at him. “Michael is freaking out.”

What? Jeremy went power walking to find his boyfriend. He found him with Rich, the two standing in the cafeteria.

“Michael?”

“Oh thank fuck,” Michael sighed, scooping him up into a hug. “I went to pick you up and you weren’t home. Where were you?!”

Fuck. “I…it’s Hanukkah. I went to a menorah lighting.”

Michael pressed a kiss to his forehead, “You’re a piece of shit sometimes. You know that?”

Jeremy nodded, “Sorry I scared you. Ready to kick some guitar ass?”

Michael hummed, the two lacing their hands together. Rich also looked a bit miserable.

“Are you okay?” Jeremy felt the need to reach out.

Rich looked up, “Your boyfriend is a bitch. I hope you know that.”

“You’re a wimp—”

“Fuck off!”

Jeremy looked between the two, “What is going on?”

Michael rolled his eyes, “Rich here has a crush on Jake.”

“I’m going to light you on fire!”

Michael glared at Rich, “Like you did Jake’s house? You already know how well that went.”

Rich’s scars were healing well. His skin would have discoloration for a long time, if not forever, but they weren’t open wounds anymore. It was suffering enough for what had happened.

“I am not a wimp,” Rich asserted.

“Prove it. You already lost the bet.”

Rich flipped Michael off and stomped away. The couple followed, finding the entire choir class being arranged for going out to the actual concert hall. Michael and Jeremy took their seats and grabbed their guitars as everyone else stood on risers. Looking out over the crowd showed Michael’s parents sitting next to his dad. He wasn’t sure how his dad knew Jeremy was in the concert considering Jeremy hadn’t known he was in the concert. Maybe Michael’s moms had told him.

And on his dad’s other side was Jennifer. She smiled at him as they made eye contact. She pulled a small box from her bag and shook it to get his attention.

She had a gift for him. Oh. He was shocked she had bothered to show.

Jeremy and Michael played along, just like they did in school. It was mindless after playing the same songs over and over for weeks. Still, if this is what it took to get a good grade he would do it.

“Oh darling,” Jennifer pushed her way to be the first person to greet him after the concert. “I never knew you were so talented. Here.” She handed him the box. He lifted the lid, finding a car key inside. What the fuck?

“Your dad mentioned you’ll be taking your drivers test soon,” Jennifer explained. “Once you pass you’ll want a car.”

“What?” James walked over, eyeing the key. “Jen, he’s sixteen—”

“I just want to make sure our boy has a good and safe vehicle,” Jennifer explained. “I’m afraid I can’t stay long, traffic is going to be brutal tonight with the holidays.” She pressed a kiss to the top of Jeremy’s head. “I hope you come visit me over break, darling. Otherwise I’ll see you next week.”

She smiled at James, “You’re also more than welcome. We’re family, James. This is the season of giving.”

That was weird. Jeremy watched her walk away, accepting the hug his dad was offering him. Michael’s moms went after him next. Darcy and Maria squished him between them, wishing him well.

“We’re so proud of you,” Maria playfully growled in his ear.

When they let him go Michael reached for his hand, the two of them grinning at each other. He hadn’t exactly wanted to play at the concert, but he had to admit it was fun.

“You can stay over if you want,” James offered, ruffling Jeremy’s hair.

“To the cruiser!” Michael shouted, dragging them out of the hall. They detoured to grab Jeremy’s backpack before running out to Michael’s car. Jeremy settled himself in the passenger seat with a grin.

Okay, now holiday break had officially begun.

▣

Jeremy sighed, turning over in bed. He glanced at the time from the clock on the nightstand and sighed. Time wasn’t moving fast enough.

Jeremy wanted to move. Go swinging and get some work done. But he couldn’t.

People don’t vanish in the night for hours on end after having sex for the first time. At least not decent people. Not when your best friend of twelve years would be the one you’re leaving.

But he was restless. Jeremy flipped over again, now facing Michael. He was a perfect human heater for Jeremy’s chilly body. He was so in love with him.

Jeremy leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Michael’s cheek before getting up. He wouldn’t leave, not tonight. He was a fairly shitty boyfriend all things considered but he wouldn’t cross this line. Instead he walked into the bathroom, letting the door click shut behind him.

It had only been a few hours but the bruises Michael had left were already mostly faded. Still, he could see a few of the darker ones. At least Brooke had been right, he hadn’t hurt Michael in any shape or form. It hadn’t even been an issue to think about.

He turned the faucet on and splashed some water on his face in hopes of clearing some brain fog. It didn’t do much, his body still wanted to go jumping off of buildings.

“Jer?” There was a light knock at the door. “You okay?”

Jeremy pulled the door open, finding Michael standing on the other side and rubbing at his eyes. He was so beautiful it really wasn’t fair.

“I’m fine, just can’t sleep,” Jeremy hummed.

Michael pulled him into a hug, the two of them standing in the doorway and swaying side to side.

“D’you want to go for a walk or something?”

Jeremy shrugged, “It would be kind of…horrible of me to just leave.”

“I’ll come with,” Michael offered. “It isn’t bad if we both go.”

Jeremy conceded, the two of them splitting off to put clothes on. Michael made sure he had his keys before they walked out into the snowy night. It wouldn’t be the same as swinging, likely far from it, but it was better than nothing. Street lamps lined their walk, the two of them huddling close together to conserve heat between them. They made it to a business district and the two of them found all the storefronts and lights turned off given the late hour. They passed by an alleyway, Jeremy eyeing up a fire escape ladder.

“Jer?” Michael pivoted as Jeremy went jogging into the alley. He followed, the two of them approaching the ladder. It looked like the ladder was almost out of reach, but Jeremy had his powers to help with that. He jumped up, not nearly as high as he could to save his own skin, and barely grabbed the bottom rung of the ladder, pulling it down with him.

“Dude, where are we going?” Michael asked, watching Jeremy begin to climb up to the first platform.

“Up,” Jeremy shrugged.

Michael followed him, the two of them climbing to the roof. This might be the closest he would ever get to sharing this kind of view with Michael. It wasn’t as tall as the buildings in New York, but it was something.

“Jer—” Michael sounded panicked as Jeremy made his way to the ledge. But Jeremy just plopped down, crossing one leg over the other as he looked out over the street. Michael sat next to him, the two of them leaning against each other.

“You do this often?” Michael asked.

Jeremy shrugged, “Eh, not often. Sometimes.”

Michael traced patterns into Jeremy’s chilly skin, his touch warming him, “It looks pretty. Bet it would look even better in New York.”

It did, but Jeremy didn’t tell him that.

“Maybe when I’m visiting Jennifer I can check and see from her building.”

Why wasn’t he telling Michael about his powers again? Fear of rejection? Probably. Preventing anxiety? Yeah. But moments like this made him want to share. He wanted to get up, offer his hand to Michael, and take them swinging around just for fun. It would be awesome!

“You should invite me over sometime,” Michael hummed. “We can look together.”

Jeremy pulled Michael into a kiss and swung a leg around so he was seated in his boyfriend’s lap. He braced his feet on the ledge just in case they somehow managed to slip. He wouldn’t be letting his boyfriend fall off of a building anytime soon. Not ever if he had any say in it.

“I love you.” Michael murmured, exuding warmth in every word and movement.

“I love you too.”

They sat on the ledge and shared quiet kisses for a few minutes. Eventually Jeremy shivered from a sharp breeze and he conceded that they should go back before one of them managed to catch a cold. They walked back to Michael’s house hand in hand, Jeremy leaning against Michael as they walked. They kept quiet as they made it back inside. Both of them kicking off their jackets and clothes to go back into pajamas and cozy blankets. Jeremy still could have gone out swinging and been fine with it, but even just the walk had done enough to calm his racing brain enough to feel sleepy.

As he drifted off while curled up next to Michael he realized that this was his first night off since his first night as Spider-Man.

Morning brought the usual chaos of their sleepovers. Maria and Darcy were out of the country visiting family so that meant Michael and Jeremy had to cook their own breakfast. Jeremy wasn’t exactly the best at cooking, but the Squip had taught him some basics to provide for himself. A twisted gift. Michael made pancakes while Jeremy fried up turkey bacon for them. They made a mess, Jeremy managed to get flour on his shirt despite not touching the flour, it was ridiculous.

After breakfast Jeremy made his way towards home, detouring once Michael’s house was out of sight so he could go swinging. He changed into his suit and made his way into the city, flipping around in hopes of making up for his missed night out. He did impossible twists, stretching out his body as he flew around like a rag doll.

Jeremy chose to camp out a suspicious building he had been monitoring lightly for a few weeks. He had learned that sometimes if you didn’t send the right criminal to prison you could sometimes find more idiots to web up and call the cops on. He waited around the side of the building, waiting for someone to come out alone before webbing them up and dragging them away from the building of suspect.

“Hey buddy, wonderful morning we’re having,” Jeremy greeted, dropping the criminal on his ass. “I have some questions for you.”

“Shit!” The criminal tried pulling out a gun to fire at Jeremy, but his arms were webbed down in a way that he couldn’t reach.

“I’ll take that,” Jeremy grabbed the gun and tossed it into a corner away from them. “Ready to answer questions?”

“Fuck off!”

“Calm down, Pufferfish. I’m not here to hurt you. Just help me out and I’ll let you go free for now. I haven’t caught you doing anything wrong, right? No reason to go to jail yet. I mean, that gun could be unregistered but how am I to know? Unless you’d rather I tie you to the Empire State Building and let the webbing dissolve so you fall to your death?”

Jeremy didn’t like threats like that but sometimes he had to make do.

“Wh—no. Please I—”

“Then let’s chat.” Jeremy lightly nudged the guy into a sitting position. “That building, who owns it?”

The criminal floundered, “I can’t tell you that, they’ll kill me!”

“Who’s they? Pufferfish, talk to me.”

“M-my superiors. Never met the actual boss, I’m not important enough.”

“What do your superiors dabble in?”

“Everything. Practically runs the city! There’s a big target on your head for fucking everything up!”

“What’s your boss’s name?”

“I don’t know,” Pufferfish confessed. “We all call ‘em Kingpin. I’m just an enforcer, making people pay up when they don’t pay their dues.”

Jeremy flipped his conversation partner around, finding a wallet in his back pocket along with a phone. Inside was an ID. Pufferfish was actually named Gary. And a quick check of the phone revealed that Gary had a partner, a boyfriend. Maybe a kid too.

“Here’s the deal, Gary,” Jeremy tossed the items back to the ground. “You will get me information, I’ll stop by periodically to check in. Ratting and confessing clearly won’t do you any good, seeing how much you’ve told me already. I want names. Got it?”

“What’s in it for me?”

“Not going to jail?”

Gary nodded, agreeing to the terms. Jeremy pulled his arms free from the webbing, letting him grab his things. Jeremy did however unload the gun before crushing it in his hands, rendering it useless. He directed Gary to a fire access door before swinging off.

Crime was a bit slower during the day, but Jeremy still made the most of his morning. He found himself stretching on a ledge, finding that even just watching over the city was enough to put him in a good mood. Though he would have to call it soon so he could get home before his dad panicked.

“Hey Webs!”

Jeremy looked over, finding Torch flying over to him. He hadn’t ever seen Torch in the daylight before. As his firepit friend landed he extinguished himself, Jeremy noting how warm he was. His eyes were welcoming.

“Hey Flame Brain,” Jeremy greeted. “Real life not busy today?”

Torch shrugged. “I guess not. Not right now at least. What’re you up to?”

Jeremy looked around, “Do you see any other masked crime fighters?”

“Are you hungry?”

Jeremy scrunched up his nose, “What?”

Torch walked up to him, “I bought a pizza before suiting up. Are you hungry?”

Jeremy was always kind of hungry, and he trusted Torch to not try and poison him. Maybe it would be nice to get lunch in before he went home to see his dad. Jeremy shrugged his shoulders, “Where did you leave the pizza?”

Jeremy bit back a pitiful yelp as Torch lit up again except for his hands and grabbed Jeremy by his, dragging them off across the city. The flames were so close to burning him, but Jeremy never felt his head ring out in warning so he knew he was safe. He was deposited on a different rooftop, a pizza box resting on the snowy surface. Torch extinguished himself before walking over to the box, grabbing a slice and plopping down on the ledge. Jeremy hesitated, grabbing his own slice and seating himself next to the firecracker. Torch’s mask didn’t cover his mouth, he could eat freely. But Jeremy? Different story. He hesitantly lifted his mask, tucking the hem to rest on his nose. He wouldn’t be taking it off completely if it could be helped.

The pizza was a plain cheese one, something neutral that everyone would like. Somehow eating it on a rooftop in costume made it better.

“Do you…do you have a real life?” Torch asked.

Jeremy looked out over the snowy city, “Yeah. Family. Friends. Why?”

“Don’t they ever wonder where you are?”

“I guess. It isn’t like I’ll be telling them the truth.”

“It’s tempting though,” Torch hummed. “Last night…I almost told…someone important. But…”

“They would worry about you?”

“Yeah.”

“I think about it all the time,” Jeremy confessed. “I argue if it would be better or worse. Real life has been pretty shitty since the whole superpowers thing, it feels like it’s too late to bother anymore. Does…have you told anyone in your real life?”

Torch nodded, “Not on purpose. I…my hand started on fire, I was still figuring out how to control everything. Two of my least favorite people on the planet walked in on it. I keep them in check with some threats of burns, but I don’t think they would ever tell anyone. How about you?”

“Two friends were with me when the powers kicked in,” Jeremy hummed. “One of them ended up making my suit. They’re supportive but…it’s hard. They don’t get it like I do.”

“It’s weird to think that my biggest goal before all this was to just…graduate,” Torch mused.

Wait. Graduate? That meant…

“Holy shit, you’re still a teenager?” Jeremy stared at his companion in awe.

“Fuck!” Torch hissed. “Just narrowed it down a bit didn’t I?”

Jeremy nibbled on his pizza crust, “Well…me too. Sixteen.”

Now Torch was staring at him, “Same. Are your parents pissed with the shitty excuses? Because mine are.”

“I have a fucking curfew that I have to sneak out of,” Jeremy nodded. “And I can’t explain myself. It’ll just hurt.”

They polished off the pizza, complaining about school and how having powers made some parts easier. It was the first time Jeremy actually felt a real connection to his matchstick partner. They were on the same path, closer to the same beat than originally expected. They were kids with immense power and a love of comics. Just trying to do good.

After eating Jeremy tugged his mask back down before swinging off. Torch went the opposite way, the two agreeing that maybe actually talking was a good thing every once and a while.

Jeremy made it back home, sliding in his window and changing out of the suit into normal clothes. He lightly padded his way downstairs, freezing when he heard talking in the kitchen.

“Jen, I—”

“James, darling, come on,” Jennifer was in the house apparently. Jeremy jumped up to the ceiling and crawled over, hoping to listen in. “I can give Jeremy a strong future.”

“So can I!”

“Dear, please. Is it wrong of me to want my family back? I haven’t done anything but provide for Jeremy since getting him back. Think about it. I get my family back, and you have all of my potential at your disposal.”

What the hell was she talking about?

“I’ve heard some unsavory things, Jen. I can’t—”

“Rumors I promise,” Jennifer didn’t let him finish speaking. “Lord forbid a woman become successful. I’m not asking for you to love me again, I know I hurt you. But give me a chance, I can make you happy. I can give Jeremy more than you.”

“We aren’t moving into that city, I don’t like it there. It isn’t safe anymore with the…I don’t know what they are…Spider-Man and that fire guy.”

“Would you protest a move across town?” Jennifer offered. “Beautiful and safe neighborhood, I’ll travel to work and stay in my condo as needed for work. We could be a family again, darling.”

“…Can I think about it?”

What the fuck was going on? Jeremy kept crawling, keeping to the darker corners and he went along the kitchen ceiling and towards the front door. He dropped back down in the entryway to keep listening.

“I’m afraid I need an answer now, dear,” Jennifer hummed.

“…If I say no are you…”

“You will likely lose custody of him. Yes. I want both of you, but I’ll take just Jeremy if need be. I won’t ask anything you aren’t ready for, but I need you to make up your mind now.”

What? Was this about him? Had he done something wrong? He didn’t want to lose his dad.

“If…if I say yes, you need to agree to a few terms.”

“I’m reasonable.”

“You have to be at dinner three nights a week, and we have to do something as a family every weekend,” James sounded…almost defeated. “I’m not agreeing to this if you can’t even pretend that this isn’t just to get Jeremy from me.”

“I never meant to hurt you so much,” Jennifer was almost belittling him. “I can agree to that.”

“I don’t want to force myself into what things were before.”

“I’ll ensure we have separate rooms, I wouldn’t dare pressure you.”

What…were they getting back together?

That felt wrong.

“And you don’t get to try and influence Jeremy or his future. He gets to make up his own mind about what he wants.”

“Deal.”

“Then…yes.”

Jeremy quickly opened and shut the front door to make it seem like he had just walked in, “Dad?”

He stepped into the kitchen, finding Jennifer beaming while clinging to his dad’s side. Jeremy couldn’t tell if he looked miserable or happy as he looked down at her.

“Oh Jeremiah!” Jennifer ran over to him and scooped him into a hug. “You’re just in time!”

“For?”

Jennifer flashed her grin back over to James, “Your father and I have been talking. And…well…”

James seemed a bit hesitant, “We’re going to get married again.”

They were skipping the dating phase? Oh fuck. Jeremy couldn’t form a response.

“Should we go now?” Jennifer blinked up at her husband to be. “I would love to bring my family along to the New Year’s Eve party as a proper family next week. I’ll hire movers and we can be settled in by the weekend!”

Jeremy felt sick to his stomach. The idea of his parents being together again didn’t feel good. They had split nearly a decade ago. Why would it work now?

“I suppose so,” James shrugged. “Do we even have rings?”

Jennifer pulled a ring box from her pocket, “I kept mine.”

Jeremy still wasn’t quite processing as his dad vanished into his room. He came back out with his old wedding band. He slid the ring on and off to show that it still fit.

“We need to at least look nice,” Jennifer hummed, removing her jacket to reveal a nice dress beneath it. She had planned this. She had known he would say yes. Not like she gave him a choice.

Jeremy and James went to change, Jeremy feeling stuck with the button up on. He trudged his way out to the car with his backpack over one shoulder, his parents already inside and waiting. Was this real? Could people just…do that? Get married for no reason?

He supposed if not there would be a lot less romcoms.

Jennifer looked so smug, his parents signing paperwork. James Heere and Jennifer Fisk-Heere. Back together again. It didn’t feel real. Jeremy almost felt like he wasn’t there. Why was the day going so weirdly? Bonding with Torch? Now this?

“Shall we go out to eat?” Jennifer asked, holding James’s hand in hers. His dad didn’t exactly look comfortable. But Jeremy knew part of him had wanted this for a long time.

“Uh, I actually have a party to get to,” Jeremy explained, rocking on his heels. “Christine invited all of our friend group.”

“Oh! Have fun darling,” Jennifer patted his cheek.

“Be home by midnight or text if you stay over,” His dad reminded, ruffling his hair.

Jeremy walked to Christine’s house. He was early, but he didn’t want to be around Jennifer. Christine let him in, the two of them setting up together.

“So, my mom did casually buy wine coolers,” Christine hummed. “And she said it’s fine if people drink, but they have to stay over if they do.”

Jeremy hummed, dropping his bag in the corner by the door. He shot Michael a message to bring weed, figuring he wouldn’t drink.

“Will four pizzas be enough?” Christine asked.

“I would do five to be on the safe side,” Jeremy shrugged, heading out to the backyard to start up the fire pit.

“Are…are you okay, Jeremy?”

Jeremy looked over, “My parents got married, I’m fucking stellar.”

“Oh. Your mom…she…”

“Packed her shit and vanished for eight years? Yeah. Don’t know why she wants me back all of a sudden.”

“Do you need anything?”

“Nah, I’ll be fine. Today has just been weird.”

The rest of the group began to show up a bit after the food arrived. It was casual, nothing like the disaster of the Halloween party. Everyone carried around their drink and they sat around the fire while eating, Michael being the last one to show.

“Jenna sent me photos of her trip to Paris,” Brooke hummed. “I’m jealous beyond belief.”

Jeremy kept quiet, watching the flames in the growing dark while he rested his head against Michael. The two shared a joint, Jeremy enjoying the fuzzy feeling he got in his head for it. His sixth sense keeping him alert enough to function while his body was a slumped over mess.

“Jer,” Michael pressed a kiss into his hair. “You okay?”

“Mhm,” Jeremy kept a hand laced with one of Michael’s.

It wasn’t really a party, but it was nice to just hang out with the friend group outside of school. Eventually they went inside, the wind was brutal. Everyone stretched out around Christine’s living room, a movie playing in the background.

Life might be weird now, especially with his parents. But at least he still had this. He had his friends, and Michael.

▣

“Wake up!”

Jeremy stirred awake. He felt like he had been hit by a truck. What the fuck had happened? Hell, Jeremy had been hit by vehicles and this hurt far more.

His web line had broken, too close to the ground to recover. He had hit the pavement hard. Velocity was a bitch.

He was tied to a pole, an empty cement room. Jeremy tried to lightly tug at his restraints, finding he could likely break them. But he needed to make his head stop spinning first.

“You’ve been a very big pain in our ass, Spider-Man,” whoever his captor was was sitting across from him. “But targeting us directly? That’s a line we don’t take you crossing well.”

What? Jeremy felt a pit form in his stomach as a door opened and Pufferfish was dragged in. Oh fuck. His potential informant was being held down.

Another door opened, behind Jeremy where he couldn’t see. He heard shoes clicking against the cement. Fuck. Fuck. What was going on?

“Good evening Ms. Kingpin.”

“Holy shit, you actually got him.”

Kingpin? Oh no.

Jeremy wanted to vomit, watching Jennifer walk into view. What the hell was she doing there? He had his mask on, how did she know it was him? She had never even mentioned Spider-Man in the past!

“So you’ve been the thorn in my operations?” Jennifer eyed him up. “I thought you would be taller.”

What?!

Jennifer turned to Pufferfish, “And you have no loyalty.” She turned to his captor. “Kill him.”

Jeremy felt a scream catch in his throat as Pufferfish was shot point blank. What was he getting into? Why was Jennifer a part of it?! This was so much fucking bigger than him. A man was bleeding! Likely dead!

“I’ll be sure to send your family a visitor on my behalf,” Jennifer hummed, her hand reaching out for his mask.

Jeremy jerked into action, kicking back Jennifer and sending her across the room. He pulled his arms free from his restraints and jumped to the ceiling, narrowly missing the row of bullets being fired at him. He needed out. He webbed up the hands of his captor before dropping back down. The gun clicked but nothing came out. That had been easy. Holy shit his body ached. He glanced down, finding a large dark mark along his ribs. He had been bleeding. That explained a lot.

His captor tried to hit him with the gun in his hand, but Jeremy held off his attack with ease. He shoved the man back, gathering his bearings. Jennifer. He needed to—

Jeremy let out a yell, hot pain blooming in his chest. He didn’t quite register at first, looking up to find Jennifer holding a gun in her hands. He looked back down to find more blood spilling out to soak his costume. She had shot him.

Jeremy quickly webbed a patch over the bullet hole and ran. He wasn’t quite sure where he was. He found stairs leading up and followed them. As he found a door he ran out, running down hallways until he saw a sliver of darkened sky. Jeremy didn’t look to see where he had been, he just ran, his body screaming to stop as he forced himself up the side of a building. He was bleeding. A lot. Where the fuck was Torch when you needed him? Jeremy didn’t have his phone. He had left it with his backpack. He needed to go. Could he go to a hospital? No. Jennifer would know if he went, and would figure out it was him. He couldn’t risk it.

Jeremy bolted, his body feeling like jelly as he sprinted across rooftops to reach his backpack. He wasn’t sure how well he could swing, and would put it off as long as he could.

Jeremy almost felt numb where he had been shot, the skin so hot and inflamed. Bullets hurt. She had aimed for his heart. Jeremy braced himself as he pulled the backpack over his shoulder and began the journey back to Jersey. He was less coordinated than normal, his senses delayed as the adrenaline worked though him. What would he do? Where would he go?

Brooke seemed like the only safe choice. Jeremy crawled up the side of her house, not bothering to knock as he pried her window open and slid inside, laying on the floor.

“Can you knock?!” Chloe’s voice yelped.

Jeremy managed to look up, finding the two of them cuddled up, Brooke’s face bright red. What?

“Oh shit did you two get together?” Jeremy wheezed out. “I’ll go bleed out somewhere else.”

“What?!” Brooke snapped on the ceiling light, taking in Jeremy’s bloody suit. “Oh god! Jeremy what happened?”

Chloe jumped to attention, trying to drag Jeremy to his feet, “C’mon Jerry, the bathroom is for bleeding not the carpet.”

Jeremy pulled his mask off, Brooke gasping as she looked at his face. That didn’t bode well. Jeremy limped into the bathroom, pulling off the top half of the suit. With it went the webbing patch covering his bullet wound, the space beginning to bleed freely once again. Jeremy sat on the tub ledge, feeling faint. He was so cold.

“Is there an exit wound?” Jeremy asked, pointing to his chest.

Brooke was hyperventilating, pacing the small space while Chloe checked.

“No.”

“Need to get the bullet out,” Jeremy whispered. “Tweezers?”

Chloe went under the sink and pulled out a first aid kit. She had Brooke grab a pair of gloves to cover her hands, Jeremy finding she was quite capable given the situation. She was quiet and calm while Brooke was crying. He hated to scare them.

“Here,” Chloe handed him a bunched up hand towel. “Bite this so you don’t hurt yourself, this won’t be easy.”

It sucked ass. Jeremy bit back a scream as Chloe went about removing the bullet. It was lodged deep, the blue gloves staining purple from all the blood. Chloe got the bullet out and threw it into the trash, having Brooke hold a gauze pad to the wound while she changed gloves. She bandaged him up, cleaning and covering the huge cut going along his ribs. He must have hit something when he crashed.

“Nothing feels broken,” Chloe hummed, pressing on his bruises and making him hiss. “Bruised maybe, but that’s better than broken.”

“I think ‘m gonna throw up,” Jeremy whispered.

Chloe pointed to the toilet, “That’s the adrenaline wearing off. I’ll get you some crackers and water. Brooke, help him to the couch.”

Jeremy thankfully didn’t throw up, Brooke and him slowly making it downstairs and over to the couch. Chloe brought over the crackers and water, throwing a blanket over him.

“When did you learn to do this shit?” Jeremy asked, his eyelids feeling heavy.

“Jake got hurt a lot,” Chloe hummed, brushing a hand through his hair. “Learned to deal with it pretty quick. Blood doesn’t really phase me. Rest up bug boy.”

“They killed a man,” Jeremy whispered. “Made me watch.”

Brooke walked over, wiping a damp rag over his face, “What?”

Jeremy felt hot tears in his eyes, “‘s my fault, Brooke. I thought I could—I fucked up. The guy is dead.”

Brooke wiped his tears away, “You’re amazing, Jeremy. It’s not your fault. Someone tried to kill you.”

Yeah the woman who had birthed him. Jeremy wanted to tell them that part. But he felt broken. He sobbed, Brooke and Chloe kneeling down to wrap him in a gentle hug. He didn’t deserve them. He had failed, he was no hero. He was a stupid kid who couldn’t even pass a chemistry course.

“You better not h-hurt her,” Jeremy was trying to not hyperventilate, glaring his teary eyes at Chloe. “If you do I-I’ll abandon you on a skyscraper.”

Chloe looked over to Brooke, a small smile forming when they made eye contact, “I don’t plan on it, Jerry. Not in a million years.”

Brooke beamed, resting her head against Chloe’s shoulder. He was so happy for her.

They stayed with him, making sure he actually ate a few crackers and had a few sips of water. Brooke played with his hair until he fell asleep, an ache pulsing through his body.

Sleep was fitful, but he made it through the night. Come morning Jeremy felt sore, his body trying to heal from all the damage taken. He pulled himself to his feet and shuffled up to Brooke’s room. Stairs kind of hurt. He kept quiet as he found the girls still sleeping. He grabbed his backpack before making his way into the bathroom. He didn’t bother with his bandages, but a look in the mirror revealed a black eye and a nasty scrape along the left side of his face. Considering how fast his body healed he didn’t want to know how bad it had been last night. Jeremy changed out of the remainder of his costume and into his normal clothes, finding more bruises on his legs.

He still wasn’t quite sure how he had fallen. His webs were strong. It had to have been cut, right? Had Jennifer hired that guy from last night to look out for him and cut the web mid swing? 

The fact that Jennifer was the one trying to kill him didn’t help his queasy feelings.

Jeremy found the remainder of the suit laying in Brooke’s tub. He dropped the parts he had to join, limping back out of the bathroom and down towards the kitchen. He set about making the girls breakfast. It was the least he could do after all they had done for him.

He heard Brooke giggle as she came walking down, Jeremy just setting plates for them. The grin on her face spoke for her happiness enough.

Do you know how obsessed I would be if Chloe suddenly asked me out? You would hate me, I wouldn’t ever shut up.

“Oh, Jer!” Brooke came over and shooed him away from the counter. “You’re supposed to be resting!”

“Yeah,” Chloe came down and ruffled his hair. “You got fucked up last night, and not in the good way.”

Jeremy hummed, biting back a noise of pain as he bent over to touch his toes. He had lived, that was what mattered.

The image of Pufferfish dying still played behind his eyes.

“Want a ride home?” Chloe offered after they all cleaned up.

Jeremy nodded, pulling out his phone. Thankfully no missed messages or calls. His dad was a bit preoccupied to notice him not being home for curfew. Michael had been celebrating Christmas with his moms and hadn’t had a chance to check up on him yet—

“Brooke, where are your parents?” Jeremy asked. “Wasn’t it Christmas yesterday?”

Brooke shrugged, “My dad is like…in Japan? Maybe Denmark? Somewhere. And my mom went to Italy to drink wine and have a good time. I asked Chloe over because I didn’t want to spend the whole day alone.”

“My family shit wrapped up in the morning, I was happy to do it,” Chloe wrapped her arms around Brooke and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Chloe looked like she was going to be possessive over Brooke. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too overbearing for her. Brooke deserved her dream girl.

Chloe started to take him home, her car’s heated seats helping keep Jeremy from shivering too much in the cold.

“Uh, left turn,” Jeremy hummed, watching Chloe flip her blinker to go right.”

Chloe made a face, “What? You house is—”

“I moved. My parents live together now,” Jeremy explained. “I’m still…processing it.”

Chloe sighed, flipping her blinker and turning left. Jeremy kind of hated the move. He wasn’t super close to Michael now. He could still walk to school if he wanted, but he was in the opposite direction from before.

Chloe dropped him off at the curb, Jeremy sneaking around trees and shrubbery to make it to the side of the building. Jeremy scaled the wall up to his room, pushing open the glass and collapsing on his bed. He did have to admit that the new bed was very comfortable. And big.

But now Jeremy had a feeling his new bed—hell the entire house—was paid for by dead bodies. And whatever other horrible things Jennifer dealt with.

Jeremy groaned, firing a web and pulling the window closed. He kicked off his shoes and dropped his backpack over the edge of the bed. He was so fucking exhausted. He hid under his blanket, turning away from the door so his injuries wouldn’t be seen, and tried to get back to sleep.

He woke to a hand brushing through his hair. Jeremy stirred, craning his neck to find Michael sitting next to him while messing with his phone. And for a moment he forgot about how fucked up his face looked.

“Hey,” Jeremy hummed, pulling himself into a sitting position. His injured ribs protested the movement but he bit back the pain.

Michael turned his head to look at him, “Hey—what the fuck happened to you?!”

He was so stupid sometimes.

“I tripped and went falling down the hill,” Jeremy lied, grateful that he now lived on a hill to potentially fall down. “Sidewalk hurts even more when it’s icy.”

Michael took his face in his hands, inspecting the scrape, “Dude. You—fuck. You can’t do that to me. Fuck.” Michael pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I love you, you scare the shit out of me though.”

Jeremy scooted himself into Michael’s lap, “I’m sorry.”

Michael just held him, the two falling quiet. Eventually they silently agreed to switch over to playing video games, the two of them sharing Jeremy’s blanket thrown over both of their shoulders. Jeremy leaned against Michael, his body still feeling heavy.

Jennifer was a murderer. Running a crime ring. And he was now stuck in the same house as her almost every night. She had shot him. Tried to kill him.

The echo of the gun shot. The sight of Pufferfish hitting the ground. Blood pooling from the injury.

Fuck. He couldn’t do this.

“Jer?”

Jeremy got up, walking from his room and shutting himself in the bathroom. He locked the door behind him, glancing in the mirror at his face. The pain he had was her fault. He lifted his shirt and saw the watercolor of bruises peeking out from his bandages. The inflamed and red skin bloomed still from where he had been shot. It was all her fault.

Jeremy gripped the vanity, angry tears welling up in his eyes. He wanted to ruin her. Wanted her to know how awful she really was.

“Jeremy? Are you okay?” Michael knocked on the door.

Jeremy wiped his tears away, pulling open the door. He offered Michael a small smile, “Yeah. Just…” he gestured to his face. “Wanted to look and see if it was infected or something.”

Michael pulled him into a hug, “Anything else you want to talk about?”

Jeremy considered it again. Telling Michael the truth. But…he couldn’t. Not when he had a bullet wound. He couldn’t scare him like that.

“You mean how cute you are? Okay, I’ll inflate your ego,” Jeremy chuckled.

“Shut up!” Michael scooped him up, carrying him back to his room. Jeremy laughed as kisses were splattered across his face. “I fucking love you.”

Jeremy pulled him in for a real kiss, “I love you too.”

“Y’know, your dad let me in as he was leaving for work,” Michael hummed, depositing them back on Jeremy’s bed.

“Yeah? He goes to work every day now, it’s good for him.”

Michael pressed a kiss behind his ear, “Jeremy. Babe. Your parents aren’t home.”

“Yeah? Oh,” Jeremy felt kind of stupid for not picking up context. “Okay. I see. You came here for my body.”

“Shut up!” Michael brushed a hand through his hair. “You know I adore you.”

“Can I pass for now?” Jeremy asked.

Michael blinked a few times, “I…yeah. Obviously. Is it bad I’ve never expected you to say no?”

Any other day maybe, but not when there was a bullet wound in his chest and bruised ribs to worry about.

Jeremy shrugged, “I did kind of fall on my face yesterday.” He motioned to his scraped up skin. “So…”

Michael nodded, “Fair point.”

Jeremy stretched himself across Michael’s lap, “Sorry to disappoint.”

“Nah, I’m dating you, I don’t get disappointed.”

Michael ran his hand along Jeremy’s side, clearly meaning to just be cuddly. But his hand went right over Jeremy bruises and it hurt. He yelped, flinching away from the touch. Michael froze, his eyes wide as Jeremy got to his feet.

“Jer—”

“Sorry, I panicked.”

“What the fuck was that? Are you hurt?”

Jeremy hugged himself, “Dude, I wiped out down a hill, obviously I’m not thriving!”

“Fuck—”

“It’s not even that bad.”

Michael stepped over to him, “Can I look? Please?”

He couldn’t show off the bullet wound, the bruises were excusable but not the fact that he had been shot. Jeremy hesitated, slowly reaching for the hem of his shirt and lifting it to rest above his chest.

“Jer—” Michael looked close to tears. “Oh god. Miah.”

Oh fuck was it really that bad? Chloe hadn’t made it seem that way. But Michael…he never called him that. Not unless it really mattered.

“I’m sorry,” Jeremy whispered.

Michael pulled him into a hug, brushing a hand through the ends of his hair. It was right there, on the tip of his tongue. Just say it. Tell Michael the truth because he’s the only one who would forgive him for digging the hole this deep. Tell him before even he won’t be able to forgive.

But he couldn’t force it out. Jeremy broke, tears soaking into Michael’s shirt. He didn’t deserve him, he was terrified, he wanted his boyfriend to hold him and make all the shitty parts of his life disappear.

“I’m so sorry,” Jeremy sniffed.

“Don’t—don’t apologize,” Michael shook his head. “Your bandages need to be changed. And you need to be more careful, okay?”

Jeremy nodded.

“C’mon,” Michael brought them out to the bathroom again. On the plus side his dad always kept a first aid kit on hand in each bathroom. Jeremy stood while Michael got to his knees and went about changing the bandages along his ribs. The ones Chloe had put on the night prior came back sticky, blood and other fluids trying to keep them on Jeremy’s skin. His watercolor painting of a body was less inflamed, but the bruises were more prominent. Jeremy made sure to not lift his shirt any higher than it needed to, he wouldn’t be explaining the bullet wound.

They lounged around the house all morning. Playing video games and making out. If it weren’t for his pain and fears it could have been a perfect morning. Michael was his favorite person. And with him aware of the injuries he was careful to not disturb them. It did make things a bit easier.

“This house is huge,” Michael mused, the two of them moving to the kitchen to look for lunch.

“Yeah…not my choice,” Jeremy hummed.

He hated the new house. It was too big, they were three people and they didn’t need all this space. Jeremy had loved his old house, it had been perfect for them. Another thing for Jennifer to ruin.

Jeremy had tried to make his room feel like normal, but the space was bigger. He had more wall space to try and cover up and make feel normal. He had put up every photo booth string of pictures he had ever taken with Michael, all the childhood memories and sweet moments. It didn’t do much to be rid of the disgustingly first class appeal of the room.

“Are you opposed to just ordering out?” Michael asked, poking his head into the fridge. “Because what’s in here intimidates me.”

Jeremy hummed, pulling out his phone, “I’m in.”

He ordered them a pizza, moving to sit on the counter. He refused to respect his mother by sitting at the table or on a barstool. Michael swooped in after their order was placed, pulling Jeremy into a kiss.

“Jeremiah?”

They both flinched, Michael stepping back as they looked over to find Jennifer walking into the kitchen. Jeremy braced himself, not willing to expose what she had done to him yet. He was tempted to web her to the wall, but held back.

“Oh,” Jennifer glanced between them. “Okay, that makes sense. Darling I’m so sorry I wasn’t home last night, I had to talk to a client for a case and got held up.” She walked in and patted Jeremy’s cheek. So that was what she was calling having a man murdered. And shooting someone. “And I can’t stay because I have a meeting with my firm members. But I should be back later tonight.” She grabbed a container from the fridge and placed it into her bag before beginning to walk back out. She pivoted before vanishing from view. “Oh. And use protection, obviously.”

“Get out!” Jeremy snapped.

Jennifer waved her fingers as she continued back out. He hated her.

“Is it bad I expected her to be homophobic?” Michael mused.

“She’s a bitch,” Jeremy grumbled. It hadn’t even dawned on him that she didn’t know about Michael already. Great, another thing she could try and rip from him.

After lunch Michael went home, Jeremy making his way back to his room. He called Brooke, glancing out the window as the phone rang

“How are you feeling, Jer?”

“Pretty shitty,” Jeremy grumbled. “I left my suit at your place, can I go get it?”

“Uh, no. It needs repairing…and a deep clean,” Brooke sounded like she was scrunching her nose. “Besides, you are supposed to be resting. No extracurricular activities until you’re better. Okay?”

Jeremy sighed, “Fine. Will you let me know when it’s done at least?”

“Yes, now take a nap. I love you but you’re so goddamn stubborn.”

“Yeah, love you too Brooke.”

Jeremy ended that call, making his way back into the bathroom again. He pulled off the bandages and gauze over his bullet wound, finding that it didn’t look infected. That was good. He gently washed the wound before replacing the bandages and walking to his room. He started digging in his closet, looking until he found the other suit hidden at the bottom of a box. It wasn’t nearly as warm, but it was better than nothing. He hadn’t even tried swinging without adrenaline keeping him going, he hoped it didn’t hurt too much.

Jeremy pulled on the suit, sent his dad a text saying he was at Brooke’s, and climbed back out his window. Houses were too far apart to swing around from at first, Jeremy ducking through yards until he was able to pull himself into the air. He went back into the city, being mindful of his webs and how well attached they were. He wouldn’t be falling again if it could be helped.

The stabs of pain lessened the more Jeremy moved. He practically flew around the city. Although he did steer clear of the area he had been in the night prior. After a few hours his body was begging to take a break. Jeremy sprawled out on a rooftop and put pressure over his throbbing wounds. Why did he do this to himself?

“Hey Web Head.”

Jeremy opened his eyes to find Torch hovering above him, “Hey. Could’ve used you last night.”

Torch cocked his head to the side, “It was Christmas.”

Jeremy shrugged, “Eh. I got shot.”

Torch landed and put out his flames, “What?”

Jeremy tapped his chest over where the wound was, “Yeah. Fun times.”

Jeremy went into the details, explaining his work. Pufferfish. Crashing. Getting shot. Torch listened, sitting nearby and letting him vent.

“So you saw the Kingpin?”

Jeremy nodded, “Yeah. Evil bitch.”

Torch reached out a hand and pulled Jeremy to his feet, “Well, I can’t say I’ll always be able to help, but for at least today I can help make sure you don’t fall.”

“Good enough for me,” Jeremy hummed.

“Doesn’t…doesn’t anyone question your injuries?” Torch asked. “I’ve watched you take hits, there’s no way you always walk away fine.”

Jeremy shrugged, “I do what I can to hide them. People can’t worry if they don’t know.”

Torch let out a huff of laughter, “You sound like my boyfriend. He hates telling me anything if he’s hurt.”

Boyfriend? Jeremy cocked his head to the side, “Oh. What, like an abusive family or—”

“I—no. Not that I’m aware of,” Torch clarified. “He…he’s clumsy. And he had a thing this fall and since then it’s just been getting worse. Part of me is worried that his incident caused something to happen with his motor functions but…we’re teenagers. Dumb shit happens. Even his dad asked me if I knew what was going on and I couldn’t tell him.”

Ouch, “I hope he gets better.”

“Me too. Thanks.”

They took off, rushing down the street to go back into the search for criminals. At least he would have Torch to catch him for a little bit.

▣

“Hey, kiddo?”

Jeremy looked up from his plate, finding his dad standing in the kitchen dressed for work. He was exhausted from being out most of the night, and unfortunately break was going to be over soon and that meant no more sleeping all day.

“Are…are you okay?” His dad asked, pulling up a chair next to him.

“Yeah?”

His dad looked down, “I just…are you sure? Kiddo, I’m worried about you. I know this whole deal with your mom moving us around is a lot but you can still talk to me.”

“What are you trying to get me to say?”

“Why was there bloody gauze pads in your garbage the size of my hand? It looked rough. Are you okay?”

Jeremy lifted his shirt to reveal his healed torso, “Perfectly fine. Maybe it was Jennifer.”

“In your bathroom?”

“I had my friends over too,” Jeremy shrugged off the accusation. “I’ll check with them if it makes you feel better.”

His dad patted his shoulder, “It would. Thank you.” He got up and grabbed his bag, turning back before he made it through the doorway. “Did you start working out?”

Jeremy looked over, “What?”

James gestured towards Jeremy, “The muscles, kiddo. Holy shit, you’re putting my teenage self to shame.”

“Oh,” Jeremy blinked. “Uh…yeah. Thanks.”

“Have fun today,” James waved as he continued his journey out of the house.

Jeremy went back to poking at his breakfast, Jennifer being the next to come into the kitchen. She went about gathering up her lunch and placing items into her purse. While she was grabbing a coffee thermos Jeremy lightly tossed a tracking tag into her open bag. In his blood loss daze from the week prior he had been unable to remember exactly where she had shot him, this would be how he found her again. Modern technology has its benefits.

“Have a wonderful day darling,” Jennifer hummed, walking over to press a kiss to his cheek. He wanted to recoil, the scar on his chest from not properly stitching the bullet wound was always on his mind now.

“Hey Mom?” Jeremy felt weird saying that word. He didn’t say it. She didn’t deserve it.

Jennifer paused, stopping to listen to him, she knew he didn’t use that word. Him using it meant something good for her. “Yes honey?”

Jeremy pivoted his stool around to face her, “I…I was thinking, maybe I could come visit you at work sometime? See what it’s like, being a lawyer? We have a career day field trip coming up next semester and I want to know what my own parents do beforehand.”

Jennifer smiled at him, “Oh darling I would love that!” She pulled him into a hug. “I’m afraid not today, I’ve got some…difficult clients today. But I’ll make sure to get you in on a day I don’t have court.”

“You don’t have court today?”

“Nope. Just building my case today. We can talk about the process when you come in, my firm members would love to meet you. I’ll get you a nice outfit for it, no jeans in the office.” Jennifer checked her watch for the time. “Now I have to run. We can talk more about this tonight at dinner. I love you darling!”

Jeremy waved, watching her run out. He pulled up the tracker on his phone, watching her drive to work as he went about his morning. He lounged around with his costume on beneath his clothes. Brooke was still trying to get the blood out of the winter suit, leaving him with the warm weather option. He ended up falling asleep on the couch, napping through the morning. Catching up on lost rest from the night prior.

He woke when the doorbell rang. Jeremy got up, making sure his mask was in his pocket before going to get the door. Brooke and Chloe stood on the other side, the two wearing matching beanies to combat the wind.

“Hey,” Jeremy greeted. “What’s up?”

Brooke held up a gift bag, “It's clean and fixed!”

Jeremy beamed, taking the bag from her and letting them in, “You both had to come to tell me that? I could have picked up the suit, Brooke.”

Chloe sighed, slipping off her jacket and setting it on the rack near the door, “We wanted to ask you something.”

They all made it to the living room, spreading out across the couches. Jeremy personally opted to crouch on the back of the furniture, using his feet to cling and keep from falling.

Brooke spoke first, “So, we’re dating. Like officially.”

That was awesome! Jeremy beamed at her.

“We’re going to like…actually be out at school,” Chloe explained. “I know you and Michael have your little thing where you don’t tell people that you’re together, but we don’t want people to question anything.”

“We aren’t hiding anything—”

“Jer, have you actively told anyone?”

Jeremy arched a brow, “Brooke, I told you.”

“You told me you kissed him. I put you two together with context clues.”

“Jake and Rich and Jenna?”

“Jenna already knew,” Chloe shook her head. “She knows everything. And Jake said Michael told him and Rich after school one night. Rich just wasn’t listening.”

“Chris?”

The girls paused. There, he told one person. He hadn’t told either of his parents…fuck, did he even have his sexuality figured out? He liked girls for sure…and he liked Michael. He loved Michael.

He didn’t need to know right away. He could worry about it later.

“I’m not sure if she knew or not,” Brooke confessed. “Her and Jenna have the year book together. I’d have to ask her.”

“Anyway,” Chloe sighed. “We don’t want you to feel pressured to do the same just because of us.”

Why would he change because of them?

“Jeremy, you ate an evil pill because you wanted to be like us,” Brooke answered his unspoken question.

She had a point. Jeremy slid down to sit properly on the couch, holding up his hand like taking an oath.

“I promise to not out myself because you two want to be out,” he lowered his hand and glanced between the girls. “But Michael and I aren’t hiding it. We’ve cuddled at school more than once. We just don’t hold hands all the time. We don’t share that many classes.”

“Just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t go doing something stupid,” Chloe hummed.

“I’m Spider-Man, I do stupid shit on a daily basis.”

Speaking of, Jeremy checked his phone. Jennifer had left her bag in one location since morning. It seemed to be around where he could remember running from after being shot. Maybe the crime ring was intertwined with her firm…

“What?” Brooke got up to see what had his attention.

Jeremy pointed to the screen of his phone, “I think this is where I got shot. I want to scope it out.”

Brooke checked the address on her phone, “This is a law office. Murphy, Duke, and…Fisk. Jeremy, this is your mom’s office.”

Jeremy looked up from the screen, “Yeah. She shot me. Did I not tell you that part? I was bleeding out…”

Chloe got up, “Fuck Jerry. Let us take you at least.”

Jeremy conceded, the three of them going out to the car. It was always weird driving into New York instead of swinging. Jeremy lounged in the backseat while Brooke and Chloe took the front. They found a parking ramp near the office and chose to stay put while Jeremy went inside.

“I’ve got this,” Jeremy assured he hurried down, approaching the office. He stepped inside, finding the place empty. Why didn’t Jennifer have security cameras in her office? Wasn’t that a necessity? Maybe it was the criminal activity…

He checked his phone again, finding Jennifer’s tracker now down the street. She appeared to be out to lunch. Perfect, she wouldn’t know he was there. Jeremy searched for a fire escape, pulling his mask on before removing his street clothes and webbing them to the side of a neighboring building. With that he went back inside, making his way to look for the basement. The hallways were brighter now, but his panicked memory seemed to be serving him well.

He found a door, kicking it open by force. He walked around, his stomach turning as the memory of Pufferfish passed over him again. He might not have been innocent, but he hadn’t deserved death. Not even Jennifer deserved death.

“Did you miss the place that much?”

Jeremy whipped around, Jennifer walking in behind him with four armed cronies. Where did she find the time to get cronies?

“What can I say, I’ve got a thing for danger,” Jeremy responded. “You sure seem smart, hiding your operations under your firm Mrs. Heere.”

“Fisk-Heere,” Jennifer corrected. “Did you want a few more bullet holes?”

“I just got this suit dry cleaned, I’ll pass.”

“Shoot,” Jennifer ordered.

Jeremy moved fast, flipping as he dodged bullets that were honestly quite poorly aimed at him. He backed up further into the room, landing without a mark.

“You missed,” Jeremy laughed. “You’re worse than storm troopers.”

Jennifer hummed, pulling out her phone, “They didn’t miss.”

What? He was fine how had they not—

Jeremy felt his head blare in warning, looking up to find an explosive attached to the ceiling. Oh fuck. Jennifer was quick to exit, the explosions detonating and showering Jeremy in falling cement. He ran for the door, finding it barred shut. Fuck. He forced the door open, running for the stairs.

He made it halfway up when the explosions began going off. The building falling apart, collapsing in on him. Jeremy tried to run, to make it out. The floor collapsed beneath him, Jeremy falling right back into the basement. Jeremy caught sight of a falling piece of stone in his sight, pinned beneath it in seconds. Jeremy couldn’t see, dust was everywhere. He had to get out. He couldn’t move. Couldn’t see. His chest ached.

Jeremy could lift a lot, but not a whole building.

“Spider-Man!”

That almost sounded like Brooke. Jeremy tried shifting, only causing something sharp to dig deep into his body. His head was covered in concrete chunks. He kept wiggling despite the stabbing and weight. He needed to get free. Michael. He needed to get out so he could tell Michael the truth. To make sure his dad was okay.

“C’mon Spider-Man,” Jeremy spoke to himself. Blood was in his mouth, he could tell his suit was being ripped as he wiggled. “You didn’t get shot for her to win. Tell Michael.” The pain caused tears to well up. Maybe it was something else. Hysteria. Panic. “Don’t hurt Michael!”

Jeremy got an arm free, latching his sticky hand to a bit piece of rubble and pulling. His body eventually came with, a lense of his mask falling out. He could feel dirt in his lungs. Jeremy brute forced his way to the top, dragging himself from the grave built by his mother. He stood on top of the fallen building for a moment before collapsing. He couldn’t breathe. He hurt. He wanted to die.

“Grab his feet, I’ve got his shoulders.”

He couldn’t hear anymore. Everything felt echoed. He caught a slight glimpse of Chloe’s face before everything went dark.

Chapter Text

Consciousness was so hard to hold onto. But Jeremy somehow managed to weakly grasp the concept. His eyes opened, immense pain flooding his system. He screamed, unable to do anything else.

“Jeremy!”

He blinked, finding Brooke above him. Where was he? He felt so tired. He hurt so much. He let his eyes drift shut.

“No! No! Jeremy you can’t go back to sleep yet,” Brooke patted his cheek. “Talk to me. Do you want to talk about anything?”

“No!” Jeremy wailed, a bump causing him to jostle in a painful manner.

“Chlo—”

“I’m going as fast as I can! Getting pulled over isn’t going to help!”

Brooke brushed her finger through his hair, “Can you tell me about the fire guy? What did you say his name was again? I can’t remember.”

“Torch,” Jeremy spoke through gritted teeth. He felt so heavy. He started to nod off again. He just needed five weeks rest.

“Do you and Torch ever talk?”

Jeremy couldn’t get his eyes to open, “Tell Michael I love him. I love him. I’m sorry.”

“Tell him yourself!” Brooke kept poking his face. “You still need to tell Michael that you’re Spider-Man. You can’t go to sleep yet!”

Jeremy felt tears in his eyes, “‘M such a fuckup, Brooke. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say sorry,” Brooke sounded scared. “Is Torch single?”

“He has a boyfriend,” Jeremy mumbled. “Can you tell my dad I’m sorry?”

Brooke looked away from him, “Why are we back at his house?!”

“We can’t bring him to a hospital in the costume!”

“Okay, Jer,” Brooke caught his fading attention. He was ready to die now. “We’re going to get you inside.”

Jeremy cried out as he was moved. He felt like his arm had been ripped off and sewn backwards. He felt sick. He could see blood on his suit, could taste it in his mouth.

“If we put him on the tile it’ll be easier to clean,” Chloe’s voice echoed around him.

Jeremy was staring at the ceiling of the house he didn’t want. He felt so wrong. Why had he done this to himself? He was going to die. He wouldn’t get to tell Michael the truth. He was going to die before being able to show Michael the best parts of what he did.

“You aren’t dying, Jeremy!” Chloe snapped, her voice close to his ear. “We’re going to cut the suit off so you don’t have to move as much, okay?”

Jeremy screamed out anyway. His lungs hurt. He was in pain. He wanted an adult, his dad. Someone needed to take charge because Jeremy couldn’t breathe. He felt so sick. Nausea and pain was all he could feel.

“Do not puke on me you asshole,” Chloe growled.

The scissors felt cold against his skin. Jeremy whined as he was pulled from his suit.

“Almost done Jerry, then we can go to a hospital,” Chloe assured.

“Jeremy? Hey, your mom messaged me and said she’s fine—”

Jeremy couldn’t get his neck to move but he could hear his dad. The girls froze, Jeremy laying on the floor as blood continued to spill from his body. The torn Spider-Man suit thrown across the floor in pieces. He felt a thump vibrate through the flooring as James dropped his bag. Jeremy was going to die, he wanted to see his dad before he went. He could hear the girls panicking, but Jeremy just wanted his dad to hold his hand when he died.

“Dad!” Jeremy screamed as Chloe pulled his arm through the sleeve of a sweatshirt.

“Oh fuck! Jeremy!” His dad finally came into view.

“Mr. Heere he needs a hospital,” Chloe spoke. “Please, we just—”

James looked to Chloe, “Help me move him.”

Chloe nodded, the two of them working to get Jeremy’s other arm through the sweatshirt. Loose sweatpants were pulled to rest around his hips, Jeremy not noticing that he was babbling. How long had he been running his mouth?

“Dad ‘m sorry. Sorry. Sorry! ‘M so sorry! Dad! Help. Please! ‘M dying please!”

James was now the one supporting Jeremy’s shoulders as they carried him, “Kiddo, breathe.”

Jeremy sucked in a breath through his mouth. But it hurt. He coughed, his whole body shaking and blood spitting from his mouth. He was crying. He had been for a while.

Jeremy was placed in his father’s vehicle, his father turning to the girls, “Brooke? I need you to clean up the house. Chloe, come with me. I don’t—I will need to know what happened but for now I need you to lie. And make it good.”

Chloe now sat in the back with him while his dad drove. Jeremy continued to cry, his chest heaving and blood making his sweatshirt sticky. He wanted to go to bed.

“No, no, Jerry you can’t go to sleep,” Chloe forcibly held his eyes open until he needed to blink. “Tell me about Michael. Y’know, I don’t know him that well all things considered.”

“He’s perfect,” Jeremy sniffled. “Tell him I love him.”

James whipped his head back to look at him, “You can’t talk like that kiddo. Any video games I should be keeping an eye out for? Your birthday isn’t for a while but it’s good to be prepared.”

“Michael likes video games,” Jeremy sobbed.

Jeremy was ripped from the car once again, his dad and Chloe screaming fading into the background. Tears were rolling down his face, the pain blocking his senses. Jeremy was about to drift his eyes closed when he was jostled and placed on a hard surface. He screamed out, feeling a small prick in his arm before everything went dark once more. Peace at last.

Consciousness was a fragile thing. Jeremy thought he was awake, feeling so fuzzy and wrong. But then before he could even open his eyes he was pushed deeper into his own brain, out once again.

The next time he tried harder to stay awake. He forced his crusty eyes open, unable to properly see where he was. He could hear talking. He couldn’t tell who, couldn’t see who. But someone was nearby.

He couldn’t hear what was being said, but he needed to let them know he was alive. He saw different colored blobs enter his vision. Who was there to see him? Family? Friends? Jeremy couldn’t get his eyes to focus.

He forced an arm to raise, and it was a battle to move. He didn’t make it far, only a few inches. His arm collapsed back down, defeat and tiredness rearing its head. He was so tired he just wanted to—

Jeremy felt a hand wrap in his. Perfectly sized to fit his own. Warmth spread from his hand and up his arm slowly. Michael.

Knowing he was there, Jeremy put all his effort into holding Michael’s hand. He let his eyes drift shut, attempting to squeeze Michael’s hand. He used his powers to help hold on, but exhaustion swept over and he went limp before he could get very far.

Consciousness was more stable the next time Jeremy opened his eyes. He blinked, the room he was in slowly focusing in. He could see. He ran his tongue over his dry lips. He hurt everywhere. But it was dulled. Manageable.

A thin blanket covered Jeremy from his stomach down. He needed to pee.

Jeremy forced himself to sit up, stretching as he moved and cracking his spine. He hadn’t been to the hospital in years. Well, that wasn’t true.

He had been there after the Squips turned off. Jeremy struggled to get up and stand, finding one arm in a brace. Had he hurt his arm? He had hurt everything, it wasn’t exactly surprising.

No one was in the room. Jeremy took the IV stand that was hooked to his arm with him as he shuffled to the bathroom attached to his hospital room. There was a full mirror for him to look at himself with. He took care of himself before bothering to actually look. Splashed water on his face and rubbed away the gross feeling he had as best as he could.

He looked…well, he looked like shit. But all things considered it wasn’t too bad. Bruises and cuts were healing along his limbs, his face seemed to be mostly healed. A bruise on his forehead, likely from the rubble crushing him. How had he made it to the hospital? Everything after escaping the building was a blurry mess. Was Michael okay?

Jeremy lifted his hospital gown, finding a large patch of bandages on him. It hurt to touch, so he left it alone.

He shuffled back to bed, his legs shaking with the effort. He got himself situated, adjusting the bed so he didn’t have to lay down again. He would wait and see what happened.

His dad walked in a few minutes later, his eyes looked tired. Was he okay?

“Jeremy?” His dad seemed shocked to see him awake. “Are you actually awake this time?”

Jeremy shrugged, looking around the room, “I hope so?”

Oh his voice sounded like shit. He needed water. James rushed over, pulling Jeremy into a hug. Moving like that hurt his injured torso, but he could bite back the pain for his dad. Jeremy tried to not act annoyed when James pressed kisses into his hair.

“Oh god, Jeremy,” James sounded close to crying. “I’ve been so fucking worried. You—you were dying, kiddo. You did die. They said your heart stopped twice during surgery.”

Oh. Jeremy squeezed his dad a little tighter, “I’m sorry.”

His dad shushed him, going about getting Jeremy a small plastic cup of water. It helped with the itching in his throat that he hadn’t realized was so prominent. A nurse came in and checked Jeremy’s vitals, telling them that the doctors would be by in a few hours. Jeremy sat on the bed and focused on moving his hands. Forming fists and making sure his fingers still worked.

“Kiddo,” James pulled a chair up, taking one of Jeremy’s hands in his. “Do you remember what happened?”

“Building collapsed,” Jeremy mumbled. “I don’t…I know things happened but it’s fuzzy.”

“I found you bleeding on the floor in the kitchen,” James said. “I need you to tell me the truth, your friends are too scared to talk to me and I just want to get it right.”

Jeremy hung his head, he did have flashes of screaming in the kitchen for his dad burned in his brain. Chloe forcing him out of the suit.

“I…I’m Spider-Man,” Jeremy whispered. “Only Brooke and Chloe know.”

James squeezed his hand, “That’s what I was afraid of. Chloe told the doctors you were trying to visit your mom at work when the building exploded. That Spider-Man got you out.”

“I got myself out,” Jeremy shrugged.

“How? How did you…have you always been able to…”

Jeremy hesitated before aiming an arm towards the ceiling and firing a web at it. “That?”

“Yeah.”

Jeremy told him everything. The Squips, what happened at the play, Chloe and Brooke being with him while he figured it out. He told his dad all the good parts.

And some bad parts too.

“Jennifer, she’s evil. Actually evil,” Jeremy insisted. “She runs a crime ring, she had a man killed right in front of me—Spider-Man.” He felt the need to clarify. “She shot me, Dad.”

James went rigid, “What?”

Jeremy tapped over where the scar was, “Yeah! It’s so bad, everything she’s doing. And I can’t stop her, I tried and she blew up a building on me!”

James pressed his lips into a line, “Fuck. Fuck. I married her. Again. I knew she was lying but…oh god.”

James opened his mouth to say more but the door opened, his friends filing into the room. Jeremy locked eyes with Michael, his boyfriend running to get to him first.

“Oh my god, Miah,” Michael brushed a hand through his hair. “You piece of shit!”

Jeremy wanted to kiss him but it would have felt weird in a room full of people. Especially his dad.

Everyone else lined up for hugs, even Jake and Rich.

“How was Paris?” Jeremy asked, squeezing Jenna in a tight hug.

Jenna laughed, “More fun than whatever the hell you did over break. Damn dude!”

Chloe looked almost close to crying, “You scared us.”

Her and Brooke especially, he was sure of it. Everyone hung around, catching Jeremy up on what he had missed during his week of sleep. Michael kept hold of his hand, Jeremy leaning against him as he listened to the others talk. When the doctors came in everyone went home, save for his dad and Michael. Jeremy let them do their tests, it being agreed that Jeremy could go home in the morning.

“I’m going to get dinner,” James said, getting up. “Let me know if anything happens.”

That left Michael and Jeremy alone. Jeremy scooted over, Michael sitting next to him on the hospital bed. Jeremy looked over, finding Michael close to tears.

“I’m so sorry,” Jeremy whispered.

“‘S not your fault,” Michael murmured. “I love you.”

Jeremy pulled him in for a kiss, Michael's tears falling against his face. Jeremy buried himself as close as he could get, dragging his lips against Michael’s. He had almost died. And he hadn’t told Michael the truth. He needed to. Fuck fears, this was getting out of hand.

“Michael, I—”

He already looked so crushed. He could wait until things calmed down again. At least until he was healed. It would make it easier on Michael.

“—I love you so much,” Jeremy whispered.

Michael called his moms and got approval to stay the night at the hospital with Jeremy. James came back with burgers for everyone, the room quiet as they ate. The food made Jeremy realize how hungry he was. He had been asleep for a week and had skipped lunch the day of the accident.

“I’ll head home for the night and be back to bring you home tomorrow,” James said. “Don’t do anything stupid. Michael, keep him in check.”

“Will do!”

Michael brought them handheld consoles to play with for the evening. Jeremy found himself enjoying the time with his boyfriend, his eyes focused on the screen while they tangled their legs together.

“Did…did Spider-Man really save you?” Michael asked.

Jeremy tensed up for a moment, “I don’t…I don’t remember a lot of what happened right after the accident? But yeah.”

Michael cracked a smile, “Well now I have to like him. He saved you.”

Of course that was what finally won Michael over. Jeremy sighed, resting his head against Michael’s shoulder, “You don’t say?”

Michael had to move to the couch in the corner to sleep, Jeremy almost scared to go to sleep after being out for so long. Still, he bit the bullet and shut his eyes. The sooner he fell asleep the sooner he could leave. And get back to swinging.

Michael was gone for school when he woke up, the doctors coming in with his dad to do a final check. Jeremy’s arm was deemed healed and his bruises were looking like they would be finished healing soon. Jeremy was a miracle patient, coming in with broken bones to walking out a week later just fine. Jeremy and his dad walked out to the car together, Jeremy finding comfort in being back with his normal clothes. He needed to take a shower.

“Jennifer isn’t home,” James hummed, the two of them driving slow through traffic. “But we need to talk.”

“About?”

James forced out a laugh, “Kiddo, you can’t keep doing this whole Spider-Man thing. Okay? It’s…you’re a kid.”

“Yeah, a kid who can catch a fucking bus!”

“What if you get hurt again? Am I not a bad parent for letting you do this?”

“I’ll do this because it’s what I want,” Jeremy stated. “I’m worthless if I have all this power and don’t do anything with it.”

“Can’t it at least wait until you graduate?” James seemed exhausted. “School is so important, Jeremy. Two and a half years.”

I don’t miss school because of this,” Jeremy continued to argue.

“You’ve been in a coma for a week! Yes you have!”

“That’s Jennifer’s fault!”

James shook his head, “I’m not…I’m not arguing with you in the car over this.”

Jeremy crossed his arms over his chest, slouching in his seat. The moment the car was parked Jeremy marched into the house, heading up to his room. He shut himself in, glancing around the space. He wished he was at his old house.

Jeremy sighed, pulling off his shirt to inspect his injuries once again. He still looked like shit, but he could go swinging in this condition. Probably. Jeremy grabbed his spare suit and went about putting it on. He reached for the mask as he heard a knock at the door.

“What are you doing?” James asked, poking his head in. Jeremy froze, the mask still in his hand. “No. No. You just got out of the hospital, Jeremy. Negative. Put your actual clothes back on and come downstairs.”

Jeremy grumbled, pulling off his gloves. He didn’t remove the suit, but did pull on his street clothes to go over the suit. His dad was waiting for him, Jeremy shoving the mask and gloves into his pocket before stepping out into the hall. Maybe it was spite, but Jeremy opted to ditch the stairs on his way down and just jumped over the railing to the floor. He landed silently, walking to the living room with his dad still at the landing.

“Is this how we’re doing things now?” James asked. “I know now so you just…jump around?”

Jeremy arched a brow, firing a web and pulling himself to the ceiling, “Yeah. Have a problem with it?”

James stared up at him, “Well, I can’t ground you. You’re on the ceiling.”

It caught Jeremy off guard. He laughed, the noise and movement causing a bit of pain to flare up. He dropped back down to the floor next to his father, glancing up at him.

“Dad…being Spider-Man, it makes me happy. I’m in too deep to stop.”

James reached for his hands, “School, Jer. That’s my worry.”

“Chloe and Brooke are keeping me from failing.”

James sighed, “It’s really hard to be upset with you. Do you have any idea how proud I am? Jeremy I’ve seen the things you’ve done, it’s amazing! And I want you to be happy! But you can’t…you can’t scare me like that.”

“I don’t try to do overly dangerous shit,” Jeremy sighed. “Jennifer is the cause of my worst injuries.”

James nodded, “I still don’t know what to do about that. I don’t know if I can do anything about it.”

“Well I don’t plan on targeting her any time soon. So consider me safe.”

James sighed, pulling Jeremy into a hug, “I wish that was how it worked, kiddo.”

Jeremy stretched out on the couch, flipping through movies to watch. He needed his dad to calm down. James eventually went off to get some work done, Jeremy waiting for him to shut himself in his office. Jeremy kept the movie playing, scaling up the wall to get back upstairs to the landing. He slipped into his room, ridding himself of his street clothes and pulling the pieces of his costume back on.

“Bye Dad, I'm going out! Be back later!” Jeremy yelled before climbing out the window.

“Jeremy—”

Jeremy shut the window behind him and took off. Making his way into the city. Moving was hard. He was good at brushing off pain but he couldn’t even flip around. His swings were just swings and he was careful when turning. His torso was screaming after only a few minutes. Jeremy chose to ignore the pain.

That is until he stumbled a landing on a rooftop. Holy fuck why was he in so much pain? Jeremy backed away from the ledge, lifting the top of his suit to inspect his body.

One of the gashes along his ribs had opened back up and was bleeding again. Fuck. Fuck. That wasn’t good. At least most of the gashes had bandages to keep blood contained. Jeremy didn’t want to ruin another suit with blood.

He kicked off the foot of his suit, removing the sock from his foot beneath it. He liked to layer to keep his feet warm but he wouldn’t ask Brooke to make or fix his suit again. He pressed the sock against his gash before placing the suit to normal. There, the bloody sock was better than the suit.

His lungs still kind of hurt.

“Webs!”

Jeremy looked over as Torch came flying into view. Jeremy yelped as he was pulled into a hug by the other teenager. They didn’t…do this. Hugs.

“Thank you,” Torch whispered.

“What?”

Torch let him go and backed up a bit, “I…my boyfriend said you saved him. So thank you.”

Jeremy had saved a lot of people, “Oh. Uh, you’re welcome?”

“How are you doing? With the building collapse?”

Jeremy shrugged, “Pretty sure I just popped my stitches. Apparently a week isn’t enough time to heal even with my powers.”

Torch lit up and hovered off the ground, “I’ve got hot dogs if you’re hungry?”

Jeremy sighed, reaching his arms out for Torch to grab. They flew off together, eating on the same roof as before. The sky grew dark as they sat. Jeremy couldn’t help but wince as the open wound throbbed under the suit.

“Thirsty? I got drinks too.”

Jeremy shrugged, accepting the bottle Torch offered. His throat wasn’t all that fucked up anymore, but fluids were important. Sure, soda probably didn’t apply but since when did Jeremy care?

Jeremy silently looked over the city lighting up for the night as he took a drink. Huh, that almost tasted like—

Oh no.

Jeremy stared at the Mountain Dew label, his heart rate rocketing up. Fuck. Fuck!

“Spidey? You good?” Torch waved a hand in front of his face.

“Shit!” Jeremy dropped the bottle, hugging himself. “Oh no.”

Calibration in progress. Please excuse some mild discomfort.

“Dude?”

Jeremy looked over, “That may or may not have turned on the evil supercomputer in my brain.”

Torch froze, “You have a Squip?!”

“I—I did! It got turned off! And now—”

Jeremy’s head tried to warn him of danger but he couldn’t avoid his own head. He went to his knees, holding his head in his hands.

Calibration complete. Access procedure initiated.

“Fuck!” Torch backed up. “I, I have some experience with them. I’ll track down some Red and we…we can figure this out!

Jeremy was released from the pain in his head, staggering back to his feet.

Accessing neural memory. Accessing muscle memory. Access procedure complete. Jeremy Heere, welcome back to your Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor. Your Squip.

Jeremy stared at the projection of Keanu. He waited to be hurt. To be forcibly thrown from the roof.

I do not wish for you to kill yourself, Jeremy. I see you’ve been busy since I was shut down. You wish to be a good boyfriend to Michael? To not worry your father? To pass classes?

“Is it on?” Torch asked, hovering off the ground. Jeremy nodded. “It’s not being evil yet?”

“No, but I don’t trust it,” Jeremy growled. “You can track down Red?”

“Did it once, I can do it again,” Torch nodded. “Meet here tomorrow to update?”

Jeremy nodded, Torch flying off. Jeremy was scared to move.

Jeremy, everything I did was to meet your goals. I will continue to do so now, with new goals. However I have been damaged. It seems my physical control has been lessened.

“Oh, so you can’t make me hit my boyfriend anymore? Great! Do me a favor and shut the fuck up while I’m swinging!”

Jeremy turned away from the projection and started swinging again. He could ignore it, surely. Torch would help him and he would be free. Again.

This won’t help you meet your goals. I suggest getting to the ground.

“Fuck off!” Jeremy snapped, swinging up in an arc. The Squip was quiet. Jeremy muttered to himself, his breath catching as he tried to fire a web and nothing came out. What?

Jeremy crashed to the ground, landing in an alleyway. He cried out in pain, his body rolling as he made impact. What the fuck was that?!

I turned off your biological advantages. The Spider-Man identity will not be of assistance to your goals. I told you to get to the ground.

“You turned off my powers?!”

Yes. You should get home.

“I can’t get home without swinging! Turn them back on!”

I would suggest calling your father.”

Jeremy cursed out the projection, pulling out his phone. He was shocked it worked. The screen shattered and nearly falling apart. He did get crushed by a building with it in his pocket. He called his dad.

“You’re an asshole,” James said by way of greeting.

“I…I need you to come get me,” Jeremy confessed.

“Oh really? You can’t get yourself home after running out?”

Jeremy didn’t want to admit his powers were temporarily gone, “I popped my stitches. I can’t swing.” He glanced down at his torso, feeling the bruises from his most recent fall forming. Did the Squip turn off his healing? No. You need that one. At least for now. “I know I’m an asshole but I really need help right now.”

“Text me your location, I’ll be there soon.”

“Thank you,” Jeremy whispered.

“Oh and Jeremy?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re grounded.”

Jeremy ended the call, sending his dad a text of where he was. He hid behind a stack of shipping pallets while he waited. The Squip kept staring him down. What the fuck did it want?

To meet your goals, Jeremy.

“So if I meet my goals I can have my powers back?” That seems reasonable. “You don’t want to kill me?” No. Sharing the gift of my existence with your peers was to bring you to your goal. “Really? Doesn’t seem like it!” Are you not considered “chill” now? Did you not have Christine? If not but for a short while? Did you not get popular? I met my goals, Jeremy. You made me a villain.

Jeremy wanted to strangle the projection. “You hurt Michael! You made Rich burn a house down!”

Rich had his own goals. And his results are still forming. As for Michael, he was irrelevant to your goals. “He’s my best friend!” You didn’t want him to be popular. Your mind is too weak to understand what processing must be done for my function. In order for you to meet your prior goals I had to act as an antagonist.

Jeremy brushed off the projection, peeking to see if his dad had arrived yet. He was in a lot of pain. Just to test and see if the Squip was bluffing he tried climbing up the wall behind him. And he didn’t stick. Fuck.

“Jeremy?”

Jeremy poked his head out from behind the pallets, finding his dad walking down the alleyway. He brought a sweatshirt with. Jeremy got up to meet his father, slipping on the sweatshirt and pulling off his mask. They made it back into the car without incident.

“Thanks,” Jeremy mumbled.

James ruffled his hair, “I love you, kiddo.”

You see how not being Spider-Man makes him more at rest. You’ve been injured, Jeremy. You had surgery. Your father needs peace of mind and you want to give him that.

Jeremy bit back any outward remark. He wanted his powers back.

Not happening. Not unless the goals are met.

Once back home Jeremy made his way to his room, changing out of the suit before slipping over to the bathroom to inspect his injuries. He properly bandaged his open wounds and replaced the ones already there. It was beginning to hurt to walk.

Exhausting your muscles without your usual strength and pain tolerance will make you tired.

Jeremy rationalized that he would at least be stuck without his powers until after finals. When he passed his classes. That was a few weeks away. Could he go that long without being Spider-Man? He would have to, right?

“You’re sure you didn’t do this because you’re mad at me?”

Oh no I’m livid. But even in anger my existence is only justified by helping you meet your goals. Sure, you could meet your goals with your biological advantages, but why would I give you the pleasure?

Jeremy flipped off the projection, limping out of the bathroom. Holy shit the pain was hitting hard. He hadn’t realized how much his powers did to cover up the damage he did to himself. It must have been bad if even with his strength he had been a wreck.

“Oh darling!”

Jeremy tensed at the sound of Jennifer’s voice. He cried out in pain as she hugged him, putting pressure on his wounds in all the wrong ways. She backed up as Jeremy fell against the wall, biting back tears from the pain.

“Private?” James came rushing up the stairs. He took in the scene, turning to Jennifer. “What the fuck did you do to him?!”

Jennifer glared at her husband, “I hugged him! I’ve been busy relocating my firm, forgive me for wanting to greet my son!”

“He had surgery! You can’t just grab him!” James turned to Jeremy, offering him a hand. “It’s okay. Are you hungry?”

Maybe if he hadn’t fallen from a building. But he was in too much pain to be eating anything. Jeremy shook his head, going back to his room. James came with, the two of them standing in the door.

“You don’t have to go back to school yet,” James assured. “You had surgery, they understand. Take your time getting better, okay?”

Jeremy nodded, pulling his dad in for a hug, albeit a gentle one. He crawled into bed, shutting his eyes so he couldn’t see the projection that was always watching. It was going to be a long few weeks.

▣

Jeremy braced himself, stepping into the school building. He was a wreck. Restless from not being able to go out as Spider-Man. Pissed off by the tic tac that wouldn’t leave him alone. He couldn’t even try to meet up with Torch because Jeremy couldn’t climb a wall. He was useless without his powers.

It is pleasant to see you suffer over what harmed you.

Jeremy ignored the comment, walking to his locker. He was shocked to find cards and get well messages taped to it. Then again…Jeremy was popular. And they had made entire shrines for Jake when he had been hurt.

“Jeremy?”

He looked over, Christine weaving through a group of students to get to him. He offered a head nod, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“It’s good to see you back,” Christine offered him a small hug. “Stitches healing okay?”

Jeremy shrugged, “Yeah. Mostly.”

The ones he had popped were still in the process of healing, but it didn’t hurt to walk anymore.

“Did you talk to the office about getting an extension?”

“What?”

Christine arched her brow, “We have finals next week, you need to catch up on work. You need to request an extension.”

Tell her you don’t need one.

“I don’t need an extension,” Jeremy insisted. Wait, why was he listening to the computer?!

If Christine speaks good of you to Michael he will be more convinced that you are a good partner.

“I did my work at home,” Jeremy continued to talk. It was partially true, his dad brought him his homework but he didn’t really do anything with it.

You need to go to the library to do that homework. Now.

Christine hummed, “Oh. That’s very responsible of you. I’m getting photos of the archery team during first period, so I have to go grab my camera. I’ll see you in fourth period!”

Jeremy waved as she took off. He made his way to the library, pulling out the stack of work he had been ignoring. He had spent most of the past few days sleeping so his body could rest up. It wasn’t good sleep by any means, but it made the time pass quicker.

Nine kilograms.

Jeremy nearly dropped his pencil. Fuck. He could cheat again. Not think about his homework. Jeremy was able to finish assignments in record time, finishing his stack of homework before the warning bell rang. He felt guilty for it, but rationalized that this would be a step to getting his powers back.

Jeremy walked to homeroom, students welcoming him back as he made it to his seat. He dropped in his chair next to Michael, finding his boyfriend staring deep into his desk. He reached over and took Michael’s hand, startling him.

“Hey!” Michael beamed at him, an anxious look in his eye. “You’re back!”

“Quiet!” Their teacher snapped.

Jeremy scooted his desk closer, “Yeah, not feeling like garbage today. Are you okay? You look stressed.”

Michael shrugged, “Eh, finals are next week and physics has been kicking my ass.” Michael brushed a hand over Jeremy’s face, finding the cuts and bruises gone. “I’ve missed you so much.”

You should kiss him. Michael wants to have a public relationship with you, but he fears hurting your popularity status.

What? Jeremy hesitated, “Hey, um…does it make you uncomfortable that I’m not…out?”

Michael made a face, “What? No. Jer, sexuality is fucking difficult. And being out isn’t exactly easy. I have you, that’s all I’ve really ever wanted from you. You don’t have to be out of the closet as anything.”

He wished he knew what the fuck he was so he could just get it over with.

Bisexual. I could have told you that months ago but it wasn’t relevant to your prior goals. It would have only confused you.

And there went his chance of self discovery.

You’re welcome.

Jeremy squeezed the hand wrapped in his, “I love you.”

Michael cracked a grin, “Yeah, I love you too.”

Jeremy kept his hand laced with Michael’s throughout their whole first hour, finding that his boyfriend still seemed tense about something. Michael usually didn’t stress over finals, it must have been a rough class. Jeremy was thankful he wouldn’t have to take physics.

“I’m impressed,” Chloe nudged him in the hall. “I haven’t seen a Spider-Man report in days. You’re actually letting yourself heal?”

Jeremy gave her a chuckle, “Yeah, popped my stitches and decided it would be safer to take a break.”

Chloe held out her hands, “Where’s your homework? I’ll fill out what I can before class starts.”

“Oh, I finished it.”

Chloe paused her walking, her head cocked to the side. She seemed shocked. Jeremy pulled out an assignment to show her the work. Her eyes widened, handing back the worksheet. It wasn’t like him to do his homework even if he had time. They walked in together before splitting to take their seats. Jeremy handed in his assignments from his absence before turning to the sheet in front of him. He wrote the answers the Squip gave him. He had to admit that if there had to be one thing he missed about the Squip it was the homework help.

So I’m not useless? I’d be flattered if I actually cared. Jeremy rolled his eyes. The Squip would probably want to kill him if it had the ability to control him. Torture maybe. I could have paralyzed you. I’m lucky to control your biological advantages.

Jeremy continued through his day, earning more welcome back greetings as he walked through the school. It was nice in a sense, people caring enough to talk to him.

Jeremy passed in his missed math homework before running to the choir hall, sliding into his seat next to Michael. He passed his boyfriend a grin, squeezing his hand.

“You’re in a good mood today,” Michael chuckled. “Sleep well or something?”

“Yeah, kind of.”

Jeremy leaned over, pressing a quick kiss to Michael’s lips before situating his guitar in his lap. Michael froze, and Jeremy knew at least twenty students had seen him. He could be out if it made Michael happy. He still had his friends, it wasn’t the end of the world. Brooke arched a brow at his actions, Chloe matching her expression. They stared at him the entire period, Jeremy brushing off their stares as he played along to the new songs the class was learning.

“We need to steal your man,” Chloe stated as the bell rang.

Jeremy was dragged away, Chloe bringing them to the library while Brooke ran to grab them lunch. Jeremy sat at a table across from Chloe, confused about what was going on.

“Did you not just agree to not force yourself out because of us?” Chloe asked.

Jeremy shrugged, “It’s not because of you. I just…I don’t want to hide what I have with Michael. I love him.”

“You’re being weird, Jeremy.”

“I am not. What’s wrong with me caring about my boyfriend and wanting people to know we’re together?”

Chloe stood, now leaning across the table, “You haven’t gone out as Spider-Man in days. You did your homework. And now suddenly your top priority is making sure everyone knows you’re off the market? Jeremy you didn’t stop being Spider-Man when you were shot—”

“Almost dying and being shot is very different. Ouch!”

Jeremy turned to find Brooke had pelted him with an apple. What the fuck was that for?

“You didn’t catch it,” Brooke whispered. “Jeremy, you always catch shit. You have a sixth sense, what is going on?”

Chloe moved to stand in front of him, “Web up my shirt. Now.”

Oh fuck, “Why would I do that? Chloe they’re a pain in the ass to remove—”

Chloe slapped him in the face, Jeremy yelping and holding his cheek in his hand.

“Spill it, bug boy. Now.”

Jeremy sighed, hanging his head, “I may or may not have lost my powers temporarily.”

Chloe grabbed him by the shoulders, “Why?”

Jeremy explained, the Squip silently watching in the corner of his vision. The fucker didn’t ever have much to say. Chloe and Brooke fell into their seats at the table, the two of them holding each other’s hand.

“Is there any way to get your powers back without the Squip turning them back on?”

Jeremy shrugged, “I don’t have any idea, and it isn’t like it’ll tell me.”

“We need to tell Michael,” Chloe insisted. “He found the soda before.”

“I don’t want to scare him, I can’t guarantee that my powers will just come back if we turn off the Squip. I don’t want to risk it. Besides, Torch is looking too.”

“The thing is evil, Jeremy.”

Jeremy slammed his fist on the table, “I was useless before Spider-Man. I can’t go back to being just Jeremy Heere. I have a purpose as Spider-Man. I refuse to be worthless anymore!”

“You aren’t useless, Jeremy,” Brooke insisted. “You—”

“You don’t know, Brooke,” Jeremy didn’t let her finish. “You didn’t care about me until the fucking Squip showed up!”

“But I do now! We want you to be safe, Jeremy.”

“Quit it with your petty bullshit,” Chloe growled. “I get that you’re pissed, but we aren’t doing anything wrong by trying to fix this. That evil pill is messing with your head.”

“Fuck off!”

Jeremy got up, marching out of the library. Was he being irrational? You want your powers back, don’t you Jeremy? Obviously. Let me help you get them back. Your goals aren’t difficult. Chloe and Brooke were holding you back, they’re weaker now. They don’t understand your potential.

Jeremy made his way off campus. He marched home, unlocking the door. He didn’t care that he was skipping, the Squip would help him get back on track. Chloe and Brooke didn’t understand. He just needed to meet the goals and then he would be back to normal.

Fuck, he wanted to go swinging. Perhaps a jog would do you better. Given your current state.

Jeremy hummed, ditching his backpack in his room. He turned to leave again, catching the mask poking out of his hiding spot. He needed to put it away better. Jeremy walked over, holding the mask in his hand. Was it wrong? Him wanting to be Spider-Man again?

Every good hero needs a strong foundation outside of their alter ego. I’m helping you achieve that.

Right. Jeremy put the mask in his pocket for his run. Just to remind himself what he was reaching for. Jeremy took off, running aimlessly. He wasn’t sure where to go. He wanted to sit and think on a rooftop.

Your mother’s apartment would be a good option.

Jeremy made his way to the subway station. He kept to himself on the train, not bothering with those around him. A nice rooftop view of the city would do him good.

It didn’t surprise him that Jennifer wasn’t in the apartment. Jeremy made his way inside, detouring to his room and changing into a warmer jacket. The wind had picked up and he hated being cold. With that he slipped through the window to the fire escape and made his way up. Sitting on the ledge did make him feel quite peaceful. Before long he would be back to doing this all the time. Jeremy sighed, pulling the mask over his head just to simulate what he was used to. He wasn’t sure how long he sat there, but it was nice to just watch the city pass by.

“…Webs?”

Jeremy turned his head, finding Torch flying in the air next to him. It was good to see him. Jeremy waved, his friend landing and extinguishing himself.

“I…you aren’t wearing the suit?” Torch seemed confused. “Dude, I haven’t seen you in days. We were supposed to keep each other updated.”

Jeremy shrugged, “The Squip took my powers away. I can’t be Spider-Man right now.”

“But you’re on the roof?”

“Just watching. Any building with an easy enough fire escape to climb.”

Torch sat next to him, “My boyfriend does this sometimes too. He would like the view here.” Torch elbowed him, “Anyway, I tracked down some Squip Destruction Juice. We can turn off the pill now.”

Jeremy shook his head, “I can’t trust that my powers will come back if we turn it off. It’s safer to guarantee that I get to continue life as normal if I complete my goals. Once I do that I’ll get my powers back. It made a deal with me.”

Torch scrunched up his face, “I don’t know how much I trust those things. But…if you change your mind I’ll keep an eye out for you on rooftops. Okay?”

“Thanks Matchstick.”

Torch flew off, likely going to do his own patrol. Jeremy continued to sit for a bit longer until the cold became too much. He went back down to the ground and started his way home. Hopefully no one would miss him. Your absence was not alerted to your parents, they will not worry. Good.

Jeremy found himself having a calm night. Him and his parents having dinner. Jennifer still made him uncomfortable, obviously, and it was clear that James wasn’t fond of her either. Jennifer was oblivious to their distaste in her. She had her family back, she looked like a better woman because of it.

“I’m running for mayor,” Jennifer announced, causing both boys to look over to her. “I’ll announce the campaign tomorrow, but I wanted you two to be first to know. My boys.”

“Jen, political campaigns cost a lot of money.”

“I have endorsements dear,” Jennifer shushed. “And it’s not like we’re struggling financially.”

If Jennifer became leader of anything they would be doomed. But the actual election was months away, he had time to figure out how to deal with her. There was always a chance that she was hated in the polls.

After dinner Jeremy did his homework, not having to think as he mindlessly wrote down answers. He deserved a break from being Spider-Man, he had spent two months straight with that as his focus. Torch was still out there, he wasn’t abandoning the world.

“Hey kiddo,” James poked his head into his room. “Did you want to watch a movie?”

He could finish his homework in the morning, right? Without issue. Your father wants to spend time with you. Go.

Jeremy got up, following his dad downstairs. He couldn’t remember the last time they had done something like this. Just them. Being casual. It was nice.

When Jennifer had left, at least a few months after she left, he and his dad would do something as a family every weekend. They went to the park, or the zoo, there was always something to do. James was the one who taught Michael and Jeremy how to skate. Michael tagging along was never an issue, but usually it was just Jeremy and his dad. He wanted to be able to do that again. Maybe now with everything on the table it could be like that.

He hoped so at least.

Sleep came easier, Jeremy feeling refreshed and not constantly exhausted was taking some getting used to. Once he got his powers back it would be back to the grind, so maybe finding some enjoyment without them was a good thing.

Jeremy walked to school the next morning, entering to find Chloe and Brooke chatting with Michael. Perfect, they were getting along without his involvement. Sure, Jeremy was annoyed with the girls, but Michael deserved to have good friends too.

“Hey,” Jeremy wrapped his arms around Michael’s middle, stretching up on his toes to plant a kiss to his cheek.

Michael turned around and beamed at Jeremy, “Hey.” He turned back to Brooke, “Yeah, I’ll get it to you in third.”

The girls walked away, Chloe shooting Jeremy a dirty look. What was her deal? She doesn’t understand what is best for you, Jeremy. She’ll come around. Jeremy brushed off her behavior and laced a hand with Michael, “Did you want to come over today? I feel like I’ve hardly seen you.”

“You were recovering from surgery, Jer,” Michael hummed. “I can’t today, but maybe tomorrow? Mama and I are going out today.”

“Okay,” Jeremy squeezed his hand as they walked to class. It was awkward, walking past Chloe to get to his seat. He didn’t like being upset with her. Jeremy sped through the remainder of his homework before burrowing against Michael. He did miss hanging out all the time, but with all the injuries it made sense to just let Jeremy rest.

“I’m glad you’re sleeping better,” Michael hummed, pressing a kiss to Jeremy’s cheek. “You had me worried there for a while.”

Jeremy beamed at him, “Yeah, me too. We should go skating this weekend.”

“I’m going to study this weekend, Jer,” Michael ruffled his hair. “But you’re more than welcome to join me.”

Jeremy drifted through his morning. In chemistry the seating chart changed again, Jeremy now seated directly next to Chloe once again. She looked pissed with him, ignoring him as they both worked on their assignments. It was going to be a long day, he could feel it.

Christine pulled him aside in fourth, “Hey, I’m getting some late photos for cast members of the play today after school. Want to come down to the theater with me after class?”

Jeremy nodded, “Sure. I kind of forgot that I was in the play.”

Christine chuckled, “What? Because you showed up late? And never spoke a single line?”

“…Yeah. That.”

Jeremy couldn’t help but notice that Michael seemed to be tired. Was he sleeping okay? Michael had spent ages encouraging him to sleep at night and now he was tired? He must have been up late studying. That or playing video games.

“I’m throwing a bonfire in a few weeks,” Jake announced over lunch. “Who wants in?”

Everyone spoke up, seeming to be interested in joining. Despite Chloe being mad at him the day was going well.

“Jeremy?” Jenna caught his attention. “Your mom is running for mayor of New York?”

Right…

“Yeah, she’s excited about it,” Jeremy hummed.

“Your mom is so hot,” Rich spoke up. “Is she interested in younger men?”

Jeremy wrinkled his nose, “She’s married. And like…the worst.”

“Your mom is trying to run New York?” Brooke stared across the table. “Jeremy, that…”

“I can’t exactly stop her, Brooke,” Jeremy sighed.

Jeremy and Michael kicked ass playing dodgeball in gym class, the two of them working seamlessly. Jeremy didn’t have the inhuman part of his powers anymore, but he still had the muscle mass and power that had just happened to him. He couldn’t sense danger before it happened anymore, but his body was still flexible enough from all the work he had done. He was still strong, just at a normal person level.

Brooke kept her distance during their history course. Jeremy felt bad for yelling at her. She’ll understand and get over it, Jeremy. It still sucked. Jeremy did his work, again not bothering to think as he wrote his answers down. Brooke knew he was essentially cheating, but she didn’t try to stop him. Jeremy had another charm for her bracelet at his house, he should give it to her as an apology.

Jeremy and Christine walked down to the theater together after school. It was weird, being backstage again as Christine took her photos for the yearbook.

“Did we need any on the actual stage?” Jeremy asked.

Christine shook her head, “Nah, Jenna said we should focus on the behind the scenes. Maybe take like…three steps to the left?”

Jeremy did as she asked. Christine set her camera down on the ground, confusing Jeremy. What was she doing? Perhaps she wants you. No, that was crazy. Christine was happy for him and Michael—

Jeremy cried out as he was grabbed from behind. He yelped, being dragged to the floor. Christine ran after him and sat on his legs to prevent him from kicking while Chloe held him down by his arms.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Jeremy yelled.

Brooke ran in, swooping down and sitting on his chest. Jeremy struggled against the three girls. He yelled out but no one was there to hear him. What were they doing?!

“Brooke get off!” Jeremy couldn’t try to get her off.

Brooke frowned at him, shoving her fingers on his mouth. What the fuck?! Jeremy didn’t want to bite her. Brooke pried his jaw open and took a small container from her pocket and poured the contents into his mouth. Jeremy coughed, letting the fluid go down so he didn’t choke. What did she do?

“I’m really sorry, Jeremy,” Brooke whimpered, extracting her hand and digging into her other pocket.

J-Jer-Jeremy!

She was trying to turn off the Squip. No! He would lose his powers! He thrashed against them, unable to break free. Brooke pulled a small jar from her pocket, unscrewing the lid and flipping the jar upside down so the open lip of the jar was against his neck. What the fuck was she doing?!

Jeremy screamed out as the Squip was shut down. Jeremy felt the shock down his spine, a sharp pain on his neck. Jeremy felt sick. What were they doing to him?

Everything went dark, Jeremy feeling like he was drowning.

Jeremy felt sick. He couldn’t move. Where was he? Why did he feel so heavy?

It’s been hours. We should take him to a hospital.

Brooke?

We gave him the epipen. He should be fine.

Chloe?

Can someone please tell me why we tried to kill Jeremy as we saved him?

Chris?

Jeremy snapped awake, his heart slamming in his chest. He looked around, panic setting in. Where was he?

“Jeremy?”

He yelped, falling to the floor. Jeremy looked up to find Brooke standing above him. He felt like his heart was going to escape his chest. He felt like he was high, and not in a good way.

“Jeremy, breathe,” Brooke reached out to him.

Jeremy scrambled to his feet. He was shaking. He looked around, his skin felt like it was vibrating. He needed to move, run, something.

Jeremy’s head rang out, practically an alarm in his skull. He pivoted, catching a flying remote as it came zooming at him. Jeremy dropped the remote, his eyes focusing on Chloe.

“It worked!” Chloe cheered out. “Thank god!”

“What—what did you do?” Jeremy felt like he was hyperventilating.

Brooke came to stand in front of him, holding a small jar in her hand, “We recreated what happened at the play.”

Jeremy looked to the jar, finding a dead spider in it. They had…”

Jeremy felt along his neck, finding a bump where he had been bit.

“I think the second bite killed the spider,” Brooke hummed. “I was going to keep it alive in case we needed it. How do you feel?”

Jeremy looked around the room aimlessly, “I’m hungry. I have my powers again?”

Brooke nodded, “I think so. Try something.”

Jeremy effortlessly jumped to the ceiling, clinging there with his fingers. He was back to normal. Or…back to abnormal. Holy shit he was starving.

“Guys I—what the fuck?!”

Jeremy dropped back to the ground, finding Christine in the doorway. Fuck. Chris.

“Christine—”

“You’re Spider-Man?!” Christine ran over. “Jeremy! Oh my god! That’s amazing! It explains so much! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!”

“I…I haven’t really told anyone,” Jeremy confessed.

“C’mon, there’s pizza in the kitchen,” Brooke encouraged him forward. “You don’t look great right now, we probably threw your body through the ringer.”

Jeremy sat, staring out across Brooke’s kitchen as he silently ate a slice of pizza. Holy shit why did he feel like he was on steroids? Had this happened last time? Last time he had been sent to a hospital.

“Jeremy? You okay?” Chloe reached out and touched his shoulder.

“I’m really sorry for being an asshole,” Jeremy whispered, turning to look at her.

Chloe pulled him in for a hug, “That fucking computer is evil, I know you didn’t mean to.”

Jeremy nodded, “At least your plan worked.”

“Here,” Brooke passed him a bundle of red and blue cloth. “I remade the original suit, there was no saving the other one.”

Jeremy stared at the fabric. He needed to move.

“Hey, we’re fine,” Christine squeezed his hand. “Go.”

Jeremy got up, walking over to the bathroom to change. Chloe handed him his backpack as he walked out, Jeremy shoving his street clothes inside.

“This is so cool,” Christine beamed. “Have fun.”

Jeremy nodded, heading out the back door and jumping straight up to Brooke’s roof. He ran off, firing a web to start swinging. Holy shit he had missed this.

Jeremy began swinging around without a real sense of direction. The small thwip of the webs and the rush of wind in his ears was all he really needed. He pushed himself, sending his body flying higher than he was used to, rushing down with more momentum. It felt good. Just moving like this again. He hadn’t done any substantial swinging in two weeks.

Jeremy ditched his backpack on a roof mid swing, catching sight of a glowing streak in the sky. Torch was out. He started booking it over, flinging himself into Torch’s sight.

“Webs!” Torch followed him to a roof. “You got your powers back?”

Jeremy nodded, “A friend tracked down Red and we managed to get my powers back on. Long story. I apparently get corrupted easily by computers.”

Torch let out a laugh, “Yeah? I’m glad you’re back. I’ve been trying to keep this whole patrol thing up since you’ve been out but…shit dude this is a lot of dedication.”

Jeremy nodded, “Yeah, it is. I appreciate the effort, I know you…you enjoy your life outside of this.”

Torch shrugged, “Eh, it’s not all bad. I like being a superhero, I wouldn’t have kept it up after the first night if I didn’t.”

“I…I figured out who the Kingpin is,” Jeremy was hesitant to share Jennifer’s name for fear of connecting himself, but now she was running for office. She was a public figure now.

Torch seemed interested, “Yeah? Who is she?”

Jeremy hesitated, “Uh, Jennifer Fisk-Heere…the lady running for mayor.”

Torch looked frozen, “Y-you’re sure?”

“Yes, she dropped a fucking building on me dude. Her building. She shot me, I know her face.”

“Fuck,” Torch backed up a step. “Fuck! I…I’m going to uh—research!”

Was he okay?

Torch lit up, giving Jeremy a quick wave, “Uh, later!”

Jeremy let it go. If Torch was going to look for her weaknesses that wasn’t a bad thing. Jeremy plopped down, swinging his legs against the ledge as he looked over the city. His body had stopped trying to vibrate. He had just needed to utilize his powers for a bit, just to regulate things. He made his way towards Jennifer’s apartment building to warm up for a bit, dragging along his backpack as he pulled on a sweatshirt over his costume. He checked his phone while he was at it, chuckling as it buzzed with a call from Michael.

“Hi,” Jeremy answered, sitting on the ceiling.

“Hey! Jeremy! Hi!” Michael sounded a bit out of breath. “Uh, Mama and I finished up, did you want to hang out still? You could spend the night!”

Jeremy glanced around his room, “I actually went to Jennifer’s apartment to study in peace. We’re still on for tomorrow though.”

“Oh! Okay! I’m still in New York, could I come over to you?”

Jeremy wrinkled his nose, “Uh, I was about to pack up. It’s getting late and I have to catch the next train home. What’s the urgency for?”

Michael was quiet for a moment, “I just—I’m…horny. And would like to ravish you.”

Jeremy bit back a laugh, running a hand down his face, “Michael, people don’t say ravish.” He broke anyway and started laughing, “Holy shit, I love you.”

“There’s nothing wrong with me wanting to have sex on a school night, Jeremy.”

“Sex On A School Night would be an awesome band name,” Jeremy chuckled. “Tell you what, I’ll pack up and meet you at my house if you’re that in the mood.”

“Do you better and meet you at the subway station! See you in a bit! Love you!”

Jeremy burst into laughter, dropping down from the ceiling and changing into his street clothes. He wouldn’t be swinging home if Michael was that desperate to see him. He made his way out of the building, turning to head towards the subway station.

“Jer!”

Jeremy pivoted and squeaked as Michael came sprinting over. He laughed as his boyfriend scooped him up. The two of them spinning around.

“Hi?” Jeremy beamed at him.

Michael brushed a thumb over his cheek, “Hi. You okay?”

“Yeah? You?”

“Fucking fantastic now that you’re here,” Michael assured. “C’mon.”

They walked hand in hand, Jeremy resting against Michael as they sat on the train.

“What did you and Darcy do?” Jeremy asked.

Michael shrugged, “Nothing exciting. She wanted to go spice shopping. Mom is sick right now and couldn’t come with.”

“Oh, I’ll have to have my dad bake her bread or something.”

Michael laughed, “She would love that.”

They made it back to Jeremy’s house, James greeting them from his spot on the couch.

“Oh, Jeremy,” his dad stopped him on the stairs. “I know we’ve talked and all that, but your curfew does still apply. And I’ll know if you break it.”

Oh what the fuck? He knew what Jeremy was up to!

“Fine,” Jeremy grumbled.

“Is Jennifer here?” Michael asked, glancing around from his spot on the stairs.

James shook his head, “No. She said she was meeting with a client for court in the morning. I’m assuming she’ll stay at the apartment tonight.”

“Michael is staying over don’t bother us!” Jeremy stated, continuing up the stairs. “And I’m going to his place for the night tomorrow!”

“Have fun!”

Jeremy dropped his bag on the floor as he walked in and locked the door behind them. The house was soundproof, they would be fine.

“Dude where are your games?” Michael peeked around the gaming space.

“I’m technically grounded,” Jeremy grumbled. “I was being snarky.”

Michael rolled his eyes, “That’s not new.”

“Weren’t you saying something about ravishing me?”

Michael dropped his backpack to the floor, “I thought people didn’t say that word.”

“Shut up and kiss me you geek.”

▣

“Do you have venom?”

Jeremy flinched, finding Christine standing next to him in front of his locker. Holy shit she was sneaky.

“What? No. And can we not talk about this at school?”

Christine grabbed his arm, “Jeremy, you’re a superhero! I have so many questions!”

“Chris, shush,” Jeremy warned. “You can ask questions after school. After finals are over. Okay? Make a list. I’ll answer them. Just not here.”

Christine hid her face against his shoulder, “Jeremy that’s so far away!”

“Or I could just not answer at all—”

“No! I’ll shut up! Sorry.”

Jeremy watched her shuffle back down the hall, choosing to make his way to class. It was officially finals. Today his odd numbered classes, tomorrow the even ones. Meaning he didn’t have chemistry until tomorrow. Today was the easy day. His first and seventh hour classes were just study halls. And gym class didn’t have an actual exam.

“Okay Jer,” Chloe set her chemistry textbook down on his desk. “I read over all the notes and made a practice quiz. If you pass my quiz you’ll pass the actual test in theory.

Jeremy groaned, he didn’t want to do chemistry. Michael walked in, his hand weaving with Jeremy’s once he was seated.

“You've got this Jer,” Michael encouraged him.

Jeremy buckled down and started going through the test. He had some answers that he knew for sure, some he had an idea of the answer, and some that he had no clue. He spent half of the class on the practice test, handing it to Chloe when he was done. He tried focusing on his other classes, Michael nose deep in his physics textbook. Why did he do this to himself? He could have actually studied for finals but no. He had to run around New York like he was a free man.

Chloe approached his desk again with the test in her hand.

“What’s the prognosis?” Jeremy felt ready to jump off of a building, and not in the fun way.

Chloe passed him the test, “In theory if you do as you did here you’ll get a D+, meaning you’ll get a C- for the semester grade. You’ll pass.”

Jeremy let out a sigh, “That’s good. If I have to retake this course I’ll cry.”

“Jer, it’s a two semester course. You’ve got the rest of the year for this.”

“Fuck.”

He wasn’t even sure if he should try pretending to study for his math course. He hadn’t sat in a class in nearly two months. Would he go to the choir hall for the final or be forced to take a test he had no knowledge on?

Jeremy let out a groan, he felt overwhelmed. Why couldn’t he just get perfect grades for being a superhero?

“Hey,” Michael reached over and laced a hand with his again. “Let’s take a break.”

The two got up, walking out of their classroom and aimlessly roaming the halls.

“When this is over we can get stoned in my basement and do nothing all weekend,” Michael assured, squeezing Jeremy’s hip.

“That sounds nice,” Jeremy mumbled. “It’s this kind of shit that makes me wish I still had the Squip, but…I know better. I was such an asshole.”

Michael glanced over at him, “Do…do you still think about that? The Squip? I know Brooke said she was having some nightmares so I gave her some Red just in case, we could do the same if you need it.”

Oh, right. Michael didn’t know that he had been the Squip related problem of recent times. Brooke had likely lied so Michael didn’t panic over him or risk exposing his powers.

Fuck, he still needed to tell Michael. It had been so crazy that he hadn’t but…

If something like the building exploding happened again he couldn’t bear to have Michael not know again. To have him wondering how Jeremy ended up in the situations he did.

After finals, it was too much stress right now to put on Michael’s mind.

“I think it’s just guilt,” Jeremy hummed. “I love you, and part of me feels like we could have been more than friends a lot sooner if not for what I did.”

“I think about that sometimes,” Michael pulled them into the library and seated them at a table. “How we would have been different if not for the Squips. And I…I know I would be a completely different person.”

Jeremy looked to the inside of his wrist, the tiny mark where his webs came from. And yeah, he wouldn’t be anywhere near the same person. He wouldn’t have Brooke or Chloe. He would probably still be bullied and tortured by Jake and Rich. Would he and Michael have ended up together? They had spent years in their friendship, most of which Michael claimed he had been enamored with Jeremy for. Would Jeremy still be hung up on the idea of Christine? Would Jenna be texting him buzzfeed quizzes she wanted him to take at all hours of the day? It was hard to say.

“I…I hate how I treated you when I was Squipped,” Jeremy said, reaching for Michael’s hand. “But I’ll admit that I am glad that it got us to where we are. I fucking love you, dude. I don’t want to imagine us not being together because it just feels wrong now.”

Michael stood, bending over to be at Jeremy’s level and leaning in to kiss him. Jeremy threw his arms around Michael’s neck, keeping him pulled close as they both hummed into the kiss. He was such a lucky bastard.

The dismissal bell rang, separating them. Jeremy felt flushed. Michael shouldn’t be allowed to do that to him. Not when he had finals.

“Good luck with your exams, I’ll see you at lunch,” Michael squeezed his hand before walking out of the library and down the hall. Jeremy let out a wistful sigh, finding Michael had a pep in his step. Asshole.

Jeremy made his way to his first actual test, plopping in his seat next to Rich. Jake drummed his finger on their table, he didn’t seem stressed at all.

“Dude, Tall Ass,” Rich pulled his phone out. “You like Spider-Man, right? You wore that costume, and he saved your ass over break.”

“I…yeah. Spider-Man is…yeah I like him. Why?”

Rich pulled up a video, “Some college professor he saved a while back fucking wrote a song for him. It sounds epic. There’s a version with lyrics but I like this one better. It’s orchestral.”

“Phones away or you fail this exam, Mr. Goranski,” Their teacher warned. “You have the entire hour and a half to finish the test, if you finish early you are welcome to study for your other classes. If everyone finishes before time is up I will allow phones.”

Jeremy braced himself, his jaw nearly dropping to find multiple choice questions. He could guess a whole lot easier this way.

Jeremy did his best from what he remembered reading. There were a few essay questions on the back page, and he had to admit he just rambled through them instead of actually answering. Maybe he would get points for just writing a lot.

He turned in his test with ten minutes to spare. Jake and Rich had been done for a while, but he wasn’t the last one to finish. Jeremy scanned over his chemistry notes some more, but the words were just spatterings of letters on a page. He wasn’t actually comprehending anything. Why was this his life?

Jeremy made his way to the cafeteria when the dismissal bell rang, dropping into his usual seat. The rest of the day would be easy. Gym was usually just a free day for finals and then another free period after. He would be okay.

“My mom made pasta,” Michael passed him a container. “She knew you were stressed about finals.”

“Tell Maria I love her,” Jeremy whispered, opening the container.

Michael passed him a fork, “I think she knows. She spoils you more than me.”

Jeremy didn’t respond. He was too busy eating. Maria Mell was one of his favorite people and her cooking was a large part of the reason why.

“Jeremy!” Brooke came sliding over, sitting next to him. “Did you hear the Spider-Man song? It’s awesome!”

Jeremy shook his head, Brooke pulling up the song. It was awesome. It made Jeremy feel good. He didn’t do the whole Spider-Man thing for praise and thanks but damn if it didn’t feel good to have a whole ass song written about him. And multiple versions of the song no less! The lyrics were kind of cheesy, but it isn’t like Jeremy could do any better.

“So, what classes are you guys taking next semester?” Jenna asked.

Jeremy wasn’t even sure. He pulled his phone out to check his next schedule, “Apparently I’m taking another health class instead of gym? And an art class instead of mythology.”

“Let me look,” Michael took his phone. “Jer you still need a computer science course to graduate, switch the art and join me for eighth.”

Fuck, he had forgotten the computer course. Jeremy snatched his phone back and went about requesting the transfer. He let out a sigh when he received an email confirming the transfer.

“Ready for our final day in gym hell?” Jenna hummed. “Because I am.”

Jeremy had mixed feelings about it. On one hand, he fucking hated gym class and their teacher. On the other hand, it was a good way to let off some spider-related energy in a casual and not weird way.

As predicted it was a free day. Jeremy, Michael, and Jenna ended up just passing a volleyball between the three of them, keeping to a corner away from the active game of half court. The rest of the day was peaceful, all things considered. Chloe had him retake the practice test for chemistry during his free period and he did marginally better on it. He hoped to pass, he didn’t need a good grade. He just needed to not fail.

“Hey kiddo,” James was already home when he walked in. “Tests going okay?”

Jeremy nodded, “Yeah, today was the easy day.”

James ruffled his hair, “Good. Need any help studying tonight?”

Jeremy shook his head, “Nah, Chloe and I worked in my free periods today.”

“Kiddo, you need to do well, your grades aren’t great.”

“And you know why.”

“Just because I know doesn’t excuse your behavior.”

Jeremy rubbed at his temples, “Dad—”

James patted the counter, “An hour, Jer. Please.”

Jeremy slumped at the counter, reading over his chemistry notes that Chloe gave him. James was working on the other side, his laptop open and eyes locked on the screen.

“What are you doing?”

James looked up, “I’m working on getting my certifications back up to date. I’m trying to get my license reinstated so I can practice law again.”

“…Why?”

James shrugged, “Your mother. I’m not letting her get away with what she did to you.”

“Dad we can’t take her to court, I would be exposing myself! Friendly reminder that a most of the world doesn’t know what I do in my free time!”

“Not if I’m representing Spider-Man,” James shrugged. “We aren’t asking for money, we want criminal charges.”

“And being married to her won’t be an issue?”

James shrugged, “Eh, details. First things first I need to know what the hell I’m doing. So I’m also doing schoolwork, kiddo.”

Jeremy sighed, flipping through his notes some more. He was burned out on chemistry. Still, he sat and worked next to his dad for an hour, thankfully not hearing any complaints when he got up.

“Back by ten,” James called after him as Jeremy started up the stairs. “And straight to bed after, you need to sleep tonight.”

Jeremy groaned, shutting himself in his room he pulled on his suit before jumping out, swinging out into the city. He allowed himself to forget about school, focusing on his webs.

The second spider bite had done more than give him his powers back. It had taken a bit to notice, but he was stronger now. He had always pulled his punches, but shattering someone’s jaw by accident only proved that he was even more of a freak than before. His webs felt stronger, his senses sharper, and he was doing his best to hide it. The strength adjustment had been fairly easy, Brooke tended to be right about things and she was in that regard too. Jeremy was gentle by nature. Once he knew to be more careful it became easier.

Torch was nowhere to be found. It made sense. The guy likely had finals either coming up or currently going on like Jeremy. Patrolling alone wasn’t a bad thing, but it was nice to have the company. Being a superhero was lonely work.

Jeremy was feeling like behaving for once. He made his way home at a reasonable time, dropping through his window a few minutes before curfew. He changed into pajamas before tossing the suit into a corner and making his way downstairs. He was starving.

“Hello darling.”

Jeremy flinched as the kitchen light was flipped on. Jennifer made her way over, pressing a kiss to his cheek. He was trying to keep a lid on his disgust with her, but she made it difficult.

“Did you have fun with your study group?” Jennifer asked, walking around him to grab a water glass.

“I…yeah.”

“Good,” Jennifer hummed, ruffling his hair. It felt weird when she did it. “You know, my firm members have been wanting to meet you. We’re holding a dinner to advertise my campaign in a few weeks, you should come along. With you in the hospital I wasn’t able to show everyone my family at the New Year’s Eve party.”

“I…I’ll have to see if I’ve got plans or not, but yeah. Sounds fun.”

“Wonderful dear. Have a good night.”

Jeremy was restless. Stressed about exams, itching to go swinging, it was torture. He tossed around in bed, waiting for exhaustion to hit. C’mon, he was going to have a rough day in the morning! He couldn’t not go swinging and still be exhausted in the morning!

Eventually Jeremy caved, getting up and moving to lock his door. He was going to try something he hadn’t thought of before. He jumped to the ceiling, laying himself flat against the surface. It was weird, he hadn’t used any part of his body besides his hands and feet to stick before. Since he didn’t experience head rush he could lay on the ceiling without issue. He made sure he was positioned above his bed before letting his eyes close. He wasn’t quite sure if he could stick unconsciously or not, and if he fell he would rather not hit the floor.

Jeremy woke to his alarm, still firmly on the ceiling. He dropped down to his bed, bouncing as he reached for his phone to turn off the alarm. He had a new solution to his restlessness.

Jeremy made it to school early, stuck by his locker since he didn’t want to go into his chemistry classroom. He felt so nervous. He couldn’t risk failing, the Squip had helped boost his grades in the final stretch but this was insane.

“Here’s my list,” Christine approached him and handed him a sheet of paper.

It was a way to avoid the inevitable. Jeremy took her hand and brought them into the library. He sat them in a corner and started going through Christine’s questions. He had been expecting more, but Christine hadn’t actually had that many questions. He found himself finished before the warning bell even blared.

“Thanks Jeremy,” Christine squeezed his arm. “Good luck with your exams!”

Jeremy considered faking being sick. Could he make himself vomit? Would it be worth it?

“C’mon Jerry,” Chloe found him and started hauling him to class.

“I think I can hear a mugging in Manhattan, I should go,” Jeremy turned to march towards the doors.

“Nope!” Chloe yanked him back on course.

“Jer!”

They both paused, Jeremy finding Michael running up to him. Maybe Michael was spiraling and that would take his attention away from school. Was he awful for thinking that?

“Hey,” Jeremy smiled at him. “What’s up?”

“Jerry—”

“You’re going to do great today,” Michael assured, ignoring Chloe. Jeremy felt flushed, Michael holding his face in his hands. “And we are going to have an awesome weekend. I already checked, you aren’t taking the math exam.” Oh thank fuck! “You are going to kick chemistry’s ass. And then we can get stoned and play video games and do fuck all.”

Jeremy pulled himself into Michael’s arms for a hug. Michael held him, the two of them, squeezing as tight as they stood in the hall.

“Love you,” Michael murmured into his shoulder.

“Love you too,” Jeremy nodded.

They separated, Michael pulling off his hoodie and offering it to Jeremy, “Here. For good luck. I’m overheating as it is.”

It was fucking freezing inside, but Jeremy didn’t complain. He pulled the hoodie over his head, offering Michael a quick kiss before Chloe dragged him away.

“Chloe I feel sick,” Jeremy hissed from his desk.

“Hush,” Chloe leaned over the walkway and lightly shoved him.

The bell rang, it was time for hell to begin.

“Good morning everyone,” their teacher greeted the room. “I know many of you were expecting an exam, however it was brought to my attention that a copy of the test in its entirety was shared on social media. IT staff are still searching for the person who did this. With that being said, things have now changed.”

What?

“Please find your lab partner and go to your station.”

Holy shit…no test? They were doing a lab?! Jeremy jumped up, grabbing Chloe’s hand and bringing them to their lab table. She squeezed his hand in support, pulling out their goggles. Jeremy nearly cheered when the lab form was placed on the table. Chemicals were passed out and Chloe pulled out her pens.

“I might cry,” Jeremy whispered, signing his name at the top of the paper.

Chloe read the directions while Jeremy did the actual science. It worked best when Jeremy just shut up and listened to her. Chloe filled out answers while Jeremy stirred their beakers. They had everything filled out and cleaned up with twenty minutes to spare.

“I told you it would be okay,” Chloe hummed, ruffling his hair. “Choir doesn’t have an exam, you get to partner with Brooke for sixth, and I’m sure a mythology test isn’t hard.”

Jeremy happened to have had a mythology phase in middle school, it was his easiest class that actually required work, Jeremy just didn’t do the work. His day just got a whole lot easier.

“Who do you think leaked the exam?” Jeremy asked.

Chloe shrugged, “I don’t really care. If you had to retake chemistry without me you would be doomed.”

That was true.

Jeremy checked in with his math class before heading to the choir hall. The room was rearranged, Jeremy and Michael now being seated more towards the center of the room. Michael squeezed his hand in support, the two of them waiting for directions.

“Today we are watching over concert footage, and then we can watch a movie. If I have to tell anyone to be quiet more than once you will fail my “exam” portion of your grade. Understand?”

The room fell quiet.

“Michael, Jeremy, to my desk.”

They got up and walked over as the lights were dimmed and the projector was turned on. The teacher turned to Jeremy first.

“Thank you for your assistance young man, I’ve appreciated having you in my class. It’s been nice having two guitarists.”

“Y’know Jeremy plays drums too,” Michael peeped.

The teacher blinked a few times, “And you’ve kept this from me? I could have had variety in my musicians?”

Why didn’t she just get the band kids in on her classes?

“I’ll speak to your teacher, continue on Monday as we have been,” the teacher said. “Michael, thank you again for bringing this talent to my attention. You two can be seated.”

It wasn’t really talent, it was a skill that lots of people had. Surely Jeremy and Michael weren’t the only people in school who could play guitar. Either way, Jeremy and Michael took their seats and watched over the concert footage. The entire day was looking up, no chemistry test and he didn’t have to go back to learning geometry yet? Perfection!

The rest of the day was so easy. Brooke and him partnered up for the history test, and they were allowed notes for his final test with Christine. Maybe he wouldn’t get perfect scores, but dammit if he wasn’t at least happy that it was over.

“I have to check in with my dad,” Jeremy tracked Michael down before he left the building. “I’ll be over after dinner.”

Michael nodded, “Cool. See you in a few hours.”

Once Michael was out of sight Jeremy sprinted off, hoping to get in a few hours of swinging before Michael and him had their weekend of freedom. He was free from school and had high hopes of passing. How was he not supposed to be excited?

Jeremy was beaming beneath his mask, he was so happy. He even risked swinging around in Jennifer’s territory, finding that no one wanted to fuck with him for once. It was kind of cool that as he went swinging by police officers they waved to him. It had taken months but people trusted Spider-Man. He had a song written about him he was so fucking happy.

He was able to swing, he was free from the Squip, and he was about to spend the weekend with his favorite human ever. Jeremy flipped around in the air, his heart going a mile a minute from the excitement.

“Spider-Man!”

Jeremy landed against a wall, watching Torch fly over to him. Maybe he was done with tests too.

“Finals kick your ass too?” Torch asked.

Jeremy nodded, crawling up to the roof. They sat next to each other on the ledge, Torch picking at his sleeve.

“Fuck, I think there’s a rock in my glove or something,” Torch grumbled, pulling off his glove. Jeremy hadn’t realized the suit had gloves. He had thought it was one piece. “I dropped it in my driveway earlier and I think it was a piece of gravel or something…”

Torch shook the glove. A rock falling from inside. Jeremy watched, his eyes picking up on a spattering of yellow on Torch’s arm. Jeremy looked closer, reaching out for Torch’s wrist. He had a Pac-Man tattoo.

Jeremy felt his stomach turn, letting Torch pull his arm free. Jeremy felt like his own arm was burning. Torch…why did he have a matching tattoo to him and Michael.

“Yeah, I’m a nerd. I know,” Torch chuckled. “Don’t blow my cover.”

Jeremy felt sick. Oh god.

You sound like my boyfriend. He hates telling me anything if he’s hurt.

My boyfriend said you saved him. So thank you.

Fuck. Torch panicking when Jeremy let Jennifer’s name slip. The rooftop conversations. The immediate familiarity. Torch not showing up consistently until after Jeremy commented on it to Michael. How…Michael wouldn’t hide that from him…

Of course he would. Jeremy was hiding Spider-Man after all! But…

Jeremy webbed Torch’s hand to the roof.

“Dude!”

Jeremy reached forward, pulling off the mask. Michael stared at him. Fuck. Fuck!

Michael burned his hand free, reaching for the mask with the other and placing it back on, “What the hell, Webs?”

“Sorry.”

It was all he could manage. Jeremy jumped off the roof, swinging away. Holy shit. Fuck. No. Not Michael. Why him? Anyone else. Rich, Jake, anyone. Just not him.

Jeremy practically crashed through his bedroom window, pacing the room as he pulled off his suit. He couldn’t fucking breathe. Not Michael.

I’m never cold, you need this more than me.

Guess I’m just hot or something.

I’m overheating as it is.

“Fuck!”

Jeremy pulled on his normal clothes, cursing again as he realized he had ditched his backpack on a random roof. He would have to go back for it eventually. He marched out of his room, making his way downstairs.

“Private? I didn’t hear you come in,” James was seated in the kitchen once again. “Wait…oh yeah. What’s up? How were your exams?”

Jeremy made a noise in the back of his throat, “I…I’m going to Michael’s.”

“Need a ride?”

“No.”

James closed his laptop, “Are you okay?”

Jeremy laughed, “Good question, I’ll get back to you on it.”

“Are you hurt?”

“Emotionally.”

James hesitated, pressing a kiss to the top of his head, “Well, call or text if you need me.”

Jeremy nodded, walking out the door. He sprinted towards Michael’s, using the speed he often forgot he had. Swinging was fast enough, Jeremy hardly ever traveled with his feet on the ground. He went around Michael’s house, jumping up to the roof. He needed proof. Sure he had seen Michael’s face but he needed more. He called his boyfriend with shaky hands.

“Hey Jer, what’s up?”

“I’ll be over to your place in twenty, my dad and I finished up early.”

“Oh! Okay! Yeah, see you in a bit!”

“Love you, bye!”

Jeremy ended the call and kept himself low. He waited, keeping his eyes peeled towards New York. He watched a burning streak come towards him, the streak landing behind a building at the edge of the neighborhood. Jeremy kept waiting. A few minutes later Michael came running down the block towards his house. Jeremy made himself small, watching Michael round the yard and climb up the ladder to the treehouse they never bothered with anymore. Michael exited a moment later and went back around to the front of the house, going inside. Jeremy jumped from the roof to the tree, snaking his way into the treehouse. It was dusty inside, they hadn’t touched the place since growing too tall to stand inside properly. It was kid sized, not teenager sized. Jeremy eyed a trunk resting in the treehouse. That hadn't been there the last time he had been inside. Jeremy opened the trunk, finding the Torch costume inside. Fuck.

Michael was Torch.

What the hell was he going to do?

Chapter Text

“And now New York’s biggest question: Where is Spider-Man?”

Jeremy groaned, turning the tv off. He was a coward hiding in his house. A coward too scared to confront his own best friend.

“Hey! Just because you’re being smart doesn’t mean I can’t watch the news!” James leaned over and turned the tv back on. “I don’t see why you’ve been so…touchy about it lately. Did you want to talk about it?”

“—last seen interacting with the Human Torch over three weeks ago.”

Jeremy got up from the couch, sprinting from the room. He shut himself inside his bedroom, sliding down against the door.

His dad thought he was just being smart, putting school first until he had time off. But no. Jeremy was just fucking terrified. He couldn’t face Michael again in the suit. Not now.

It was easier without the suits. Michael was just Michael, and Jeremy was just himself. They were high school lovers and childhood best friends and that was it. No secret identities or powers. Just Michael and Jeremy.

Brooke and Chloe had made him drink more Red a week into his superhero abstinence. To prove he wasn’t being forced to do it. They were getting sick of his shit, he hadn’t told them anything.

Jeremy slept on the ceiling every night that he wasn’t at Michael’s. He was itching with energy. Every police siren he heard had him flinching, ready to jump into action. And it was Jersey, he heard those sirens a lot.

He missed being Spider-Man. But he was too scared. Michael was missing Spider-Man too. Or rather Torch was. Jeremy had been the one pulling the all nighters, and with him gone Michael was the one going out all the time. Apparently Michael felt that at least one of them needed to go out at night. He felt like shit for it. It was a downward spiral.

Jeremy bent himself like a pretzel to work his body. What if he just went around Jersey? Surely Michael wouldn’t find him—

He couldn’t risk it. He wasn’t ready.

“Private? Your friends are here.”

Jeremy stood back up, opening the door to find Brooke and Chloe standing behind his dad. Fuck. What had he done this time?

“Jake is having his bonfire tonight, are you coming?” Brooke asked.

“Is Jennifer here?” Chloe asked James. His father shook his head. Evil bitch was out for campaigning bullshit. “Okay, Jerry, we need to talk about your fucking issue. Spidey? Where the fuck is he?”

Jeremy made a noise in his throat, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Chloe arched a brow, “Too bad. You either get to tell us, or we ruin your reputation at school.”

James seemed shocked, “He just wants to focus on school, why is that—”

“It’s not that,” Jeremy felt overwhelmed. “I…I just can’t face Torch, okay?”

“What, did he kiss you or something?” Chloe sounded bored.

“I thought he had a boyfriend?” Brooke seemed lost.

Jeremy rubbed at his eyes, “I saw his face! Like all of it! I know who he is!”

“Does he know—”

“No!”

Chloe smacked his arm, “I thought you superhero types followed a code of honor.”

Brooke’s phone buzzed, “Oh fuck, Jenna has a family emergency. She can’t come tonight.”

Chloe shook a finger in his face, “You need to track Torch down and at least tell him you’ll keep who he is a secret. If I don’t see a Spider-Man report in the next two hours I’ll start ruining you. Starting with Brooke and the Halloween party.”

Jeremy felt his jaw drop, “You wouldn’t—”

“Tick tock bitch! See you at the bonfire!”

“Thanks Mr. Heere.” Brooke peeped, following Chloe out. With the girls gone James turned to his son with raised brows. Jeremy made a strangled sound, shutting his door. He walked over to the closet and pulled out his suit…

He was scared of losing Michael. Things had been awkward on Jeremy’s half for a while now. But…

Maybe it would be okay.

Jeremy pulled on the suit, placing his civvies on over it. His backpack was waiting for him. He was so fucking terrified. Why was he such a coward?

“Kiddo?”

“I’m going!” Jeremy pulled his window open. “I’ll text you when I figure out what I’m doing tonight!”

He closed the window behind him and took off. Jeremy pulled on the mask as he took off, swinging around with his normal clothes on display. Was he crazy for this? Yes. But…he owed Michael honesty for once.

How many times had he almost said it? Too many to count now. Why hadn’t he said it?

Jeremy made his way into the city. He spotted Michael—Torch. He was flying around a ways away. Jeremy tested his luck, running up the tallest building he could find. Was this Empire State? He couldn’t quite tell in the dark, he was from Jersey he hardly knew the boroughs.

Jeremy stood with his back to the moon, hoping Torch would notice him from a distance.

Sure enough the bright flame in the sky paused when he saw Jeremy. Who else could cling to a building roof like that. Once he started flying over Jeremy jumped out of sight and to the roof of a neighboring building. He pulled off his mask, shoving it in his pocket while he moved to sit on the ledge. Torch came flying over to look for him, Jeremy looking up at the bright light. Torch saw Jeremy, but he was looking around for Spider-Man.

Torch came closer, keeping a big gap between him and Jeremy, “Hey, uh, kid—” he sounded so stupid trying to make his voice deeper on purpose. “Have you seen Spider-Man?”

Jeremy shrugged, not answering.

“Do you need help down? How did you get up here?”

Jeremy stood on the ledge, “Climbed.”

“Would you like help getting down? You shouldn’t be that close to the ledge.”

He loved him so much holy shit.

Okay, here we go. “Why? I won’t fall.”

“I—”

Jeremy spun on his heel, letting himself fall backwards off the roof. 

“Jeremy!” Michael panicked, flying down to try and catch him. Jeremy didn’t let him.

He fired a web, catching himself and swinging back up. Jeremy flipped around, pulling himself closer to the sky. He landed on another ledge in a crouch, standing back up to check in on his boyfriend.

Michael was frozen in the sky, flames lighting up the darkness. He hesitantly flew over, landing and extinguishing himself.

“What the hell was that?!”

Jeremy pulled off his jacket, revealing the suit beneath it. He pulled out the mask and handed it to Michael.

“I—”

“What the fuck?!” Michael sounded close to panicking again. The mask fell from his fingers. His fists burst into flames again, slowly spreading up his arms and reigniting his whole body.

Jeremy reached a hand out, touching Michael’s cheek, his face stopped burning as Jeremy reached out, saving his body from being hurt. He pulled Michael’s mask off, cupping his cheeks in his hands.

“Hi Mikey.”

Would he be losing his boyfriend? Jeremy yelped as Michael grabbed him, his body turning off the flames again. His sixth sense wasn’t blaring, he was safe.

“Jeremy?”

“Yeah.”

“You—”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck—”

“I know.” Jeremy felt tears welling up in his eyes, “I’m sorry. I love you.”

Michael held him like he was precious, “I love you too.” Michael glanced at the top half of the costume, “Am I imagining this?”

Jeremy let out a laugh, stepping out of Michael’s hold so he could start walking down the side of the building, standing parallel to the ground with his feet on the wall. Michael watched him, his eyes wide.

“Holy shit,” Michael whispered, smiling at him. Jeremy climbed back up and his face shifted to confusion. “Wait, why have you been avoiding me? You took my mask off, you knew it was me for weeks.”

“Freaking out over it being you! I’ve spent months trying to work up the courage to tell you as Michael and now you’re Torch too?! I panicked!”

Michael fell quiet for a moment before he covered his mouth with one hand, “Fuck, Jennifer tried to kill you!”

“Twice. She doesn’t know that it’s me, but fuck it’s hard to be around her.”

“Fuck, wait so your ribs—”

“When I crashed, yeah.”

“You were shot?!”

Jeremy tapped over the scar, “Yep.”

Michael pulled him back into his arms, “Jeremy. Fuck. Oh god. The building…your heart stopped in surgery. Fuck.”

“Hey, I’m fine. Right? Still standing. Ready to kick ass.”

Michael nodded, the two of them falling quiet. He still wasn’t quite sure if he would be losing his boyfriend or not. He didn’t think so, but…

“I have…so many questions,” Michael stated.

“I do too,” Jeremy nodded. “I’ll answer yours, I promise.”

“Fuck, Jer—” Michael ran a hand through his hair. “This is fucking insane.”

“I know.” Jeremy picked up the discarded masks, holding Michael’s out to him. “Want to beat up bad guys?”

Michael sighed, placing his mask on, “Yeah, might as well.”

Jeremy pulled on his own mask and shoved his street clothes into his backpack. Michael walked up to him again, Jeremy holding himself still while Michael lifted his mask up to his nose. He hummed against Michael’s lips when he leaned in, throwing his arms around Michael’s shoulders.

“I love you.”

Jeremy beamed, “I love you too.”

Jeremy pulled his mask back down, jumping over the edge of the building, swinging off. Michael kept pace, the two of them looking over at the other frequently.

“This is fucking insane!” Michael was grinning at him.

They ran around for about an hour before deciding to call it so they could make it to Jake’s bonfire. Surely someone had spotted him, Chloe wouldn’t be mad at him.

“Want to just fly over?” Michael asked, holding out a hand. “Jake and Rich…they know. Not my first choice but they…it could be worse.”

Jeremy smiled, “Chloe and Brooke know about me. Chris found out after the whole Squip thing. But, y’know, the less people who know the better.”

“Holy shit your Squip was back on!” Michael grabbed him by the shoulders. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Didn’t I? In a way? Besides, how stressed would you have been if both me and Spider-Man were Squipped at the same time? And right before finals too?”

Michael sighed, “I…yeah. Good point.”

Jeremy pulled his backpack on and took Michael’s hand, the two of them flying off towards home. They grabbed Michael’s bag on the way, the two of them dropping in a few blocks before Jake’s house. Or rather his aunt’s house. Since Jake…didn’t have a house.

“This feels so weird,” Jeremy hummed, jumping through yards with Michael. “Us. Doing this.”

Michael stopped him before he cleared another fence, “I wouldn’t want anyone else but you.”

Jeremy pressed a kiss to Michael’s cheek, “You’re getting soft on me, Mell.”

“I sincerely doubt that.”

They pulled on their street clothes before jumping the final fence. They walked up to the group of teenagers, Jeremy finding Brooke already asleep and slumped over against Chloe’s shoulder.

“Hey guys,” Jeremy waved to the group, plopping down in the snow. Michael sat next to him, the two of them sharing a grin.

It was calm, all things considered. Jake didn’t seem to be interested in big parties now that he had lost his home to one. Rich kept his eyes locked on the flames of the firepit, sitting back a bit further than everyone else. Was he scared of fire? Did Michael…did his powers scare Rich? It made some sense, Rich was physically scarred for life.

“I think I should get home,” Christine stood up first. “I’ll see you guys later.”

As she walked by she ruffled Jeremy’s hair. The only notion that she knew he had put the suit back on. Chloe and Brooke left soon after, the two leaning on each other as they walked.

“I was thinking of asking Madeline out for Valentine’s Day,” Jake hummed.

“She sucks,” Jeremy pointed out.

“And she has a boyfriend,” Michael added on.

“Well it’s not like I can ask Chloe or Christine—”

“You don’t need a girlfriend, dude,” Rich elbowed him. “Hathn’t it been fun being thingle? I think you’ve been happier.”

Jake made a face, “Yeah, being lonely since losing my house has been great, dude. I love being the pity party.”

Oh fuck had they ever had an argument before?

“You’ve had me!” Rich insisted. “I’ve been there for you!”

Jake shrugged, “Yeah, but that’s different. Maybe one of the freshman girls has a crush or something—”

“Motherfucker, I’m right here!”

Michael grabbed his hand, “We should go.”

Jeremy and Michael bolted, leaving the other two alone to figure out their bullshit. They ran down the streets towards Michael’s house, the two laughing as they made it inside. Holy shit watching other people’s drama was wild after dealing with their own.

Maria and Darcy were asleep in the living room, leaving the two teenagers to run down to the basement. They dropped their bags down by the door before falling into silence.

“I don’t think I’ve processed yet,” Michael sighed, leaning against his bed frame. “You’re Spider-Man. Holy shit.”

Jeremy nodded, hopping up to crouch on the bedpost. He balanced easily, smirking at Michael, “Yeah. Flame Brain.”

Michael got up and leaned into his space, “Web Head.”

Jeremy reached a hand out, grabbing Michael by the collar of his sweatshirt and pulling him into a kiss. Part of him couldn’t believe things were working out. The lies, surely Michael should be pissed with him. But then again, the secrets went both ways, and Jeremy wasn’t mad. He had spiraled a bit at first, but Michael being Torch wasn’t a bad thing by any means. Jeremy loved him, now they just had something else to share between them.

“You have to stop lying about your “walks” now,” Michael hummed, pressing kisses along Jeremy’s jaw. “Just tell me you’re in New York and I’ll be able to rest easy.”

“I don’t believe that for a second.”

“Okay I won’t rest easy but it’ll be better.”

“Y’know I never said I was going on walks, that was your suggestion.”

Michael flipped him off, walking over to the beanbags and dropping down, “Up for some video games?”

Jeremy jumped from his spot and onto his beanbag, “Hell yeah.”

They stayed up late playing various games. Jeremy found himself happy, kicking Michael’s ass at Mario Kart.

“You bitch!” Jeremy shouted as he was blue shelled. He quickly fired a web at Michael’s face, partially blinging him from the screen.

“What the fuck!” Michael ignited his face to melt the webbing off. He lunged forward as he put out his head, tackling Jeremy off of his beanbag.

“Fuck you!” Jeremy flipped them over before flinging himself to the ceiling. “You can’t get me up here!”

“I can fly!”

“Not without setting the house on fire!”

Michael glanced around, realizing that, yeah, his bedroom was a bit on the flammable side. Michael stared up at him, his eyebrows raised.

“But what if I miss you?”

Jeremy lowered himself down on a web, hanging upside down at Michael’s level, “Is that better?”

Michael held his face in his hands, pulling Jeremy forward into a kiss. It was weird, Michael’s nose bumping into his chin, but not bad. He clung to the web line with his feet and buried a hand into Michael’s hair.

“I love you,” Michael whispered.

“Love you too,” Jeremy nodded.

They ended up flying back out into the city. They didn’t have school in the morning, it would be fine. Michael kept close, the two of them sharing smiles. Although you couldn’t see Jeremy’s through his mask, Michael seemed to know it was there.

“Y’know I’ve always wanted to do something,” Michael hummed, flying over Jeremy. “Trust me?”

Jeremy jumped up and laced their hands together, “Obviously.”

Michael flew them out over the harbor, the two of them landing on the crown of Lady Liberty. They found stable spots to sit and watched over the city in the dark. Jeremy pulled his mask off and leaned his head against Michael’s shoulder, the two of them swinging their legs over the ledge.

“I’m really glad it’s you,” Michael whispered. “I wouldn’t want to share this with anyone else.”

Jeremy pressed a kiss to Michael’s chin, “Ditto.”

They fell quiet, the sound of waves and the distant city making up for their lack of voices. Jeremy didn’t deserve Michael to be Torch. But he didn’t deserve a lot of the good in his life.

“Hey,” Jeremy squeezed Michael’s hand with his own. “How did you get your powers?”

Michael sighed, pulling off his mask to rub at his eyes, “It’s a long story.”

▣

“C’mon man, move it.”

Michael scoffed, holding his ground as he blocked the bathroom door. This was maybe his one chance to get through to Jeremy. He didn’t know why the Squip was off, didn’t know anything. But he couldn’t let Jeremy get hurt. He couldn’t risk losing him. Jeremy had always been stubborn. And if that meant being an asshole until he listened? Michael was willing to do that.

“Or you’ll what?”

Jeremy stepped forward, his eyes lightly glazed over. Was he drunk? Did the Squip turn off when the user was drunk? Michael felt his heart pounding as Jeremy tried to intimidate him. This was Jeremy. He couldn’t hurt him. Even if he—

“Get out of my way. Loser.”

Michael inhaled, his body locking up as Jeremy shoved past him. He heard the door echo shut in the background, but Michael wasn’t there anymore. He slid to the floor, back against the wall. Jeremy…

Jeremy was gone.

That little dweeb he had known was no more. All the years of video games. His only friend. His favorite person. The guy he was still pathetically in love with even after all these years. The Squip was off and he had still rejected him.

Michael broke, sobbing as he curled up in the fetal position. His glasses fogged up and grew blurry with tears, he felt like he couldn’t breathe. He considered vomiting.

Michael wasn’t sure how long he cried, dark thoughts circling his mind. He had never felt so worthless. Jeremy—he had always been the one to make Michael feel like he had some semblance of importance.

Michael had been Jeremy’s rock when his mom left, never mentioning it when he woke up to his friend crying. Michael had been the one to encourage Jeremy to try and peruse Christine in the first place, even if it fucking sucked to watch Jeremy fall for someone else. He had been there for Jeremy’s bar mitzvah. He had ditched countless family events to be with him.

And in turn Michael had found love. He couldn’t pin when it had happened, maybe the feeling had always been there, but there was a day…they had maybe been thirteen? It was their first concert. They had bought Weird Al tickets. The two of them had saved up for months, Jeremy had broken into some of his bar mitzvah money to make it happen. They had never been more excited. Darcy had dropped them off. And watching Jeremy jump around, the lighting…his grin, the stupid freckles on his face and that cluster of acne near his chin that never seemed to want to go away…

How was he not supposed to fall in love?

Michael pulled his glasses off, tossing them aside as he rolled on his back. He sniffled, staring up at the ceiling. The bathroom had a skylight. He could see the moon. Maybe he could hide until morning and then pretend to be hungover when he left.

Banging on the door startled him, “Hello?! Some of us have to pee!”

Michael quickly turned the lock before flopping back over, “I’m having my period!”

Michael heard grumbling on the other side. Fucking assholes.

He had never been one for dark thoughts. Michael tended to try and be an optimist. More for Jeremy’s sake than his own.

But now there was no Jeremy.

Would anyone…

Would anyone miss him if he just…

Disappeared?

The idea scared him, but in his despair it felt like a good option. Jeremy couldn’t hate him if he was gone. His moms wouldn’t be so tied down. It wasn’t like Michael was out winning any awards. He wasn’t special.

How did people kill themselves? It felt like it would be a lot of work. And be painful. Michael didn’t like pain.

He pulled himself to his feet, looking in the mirror. His eyes were bloodshot. He felt sick. Why had he bothered drinking those beers earlier? Liquid courage and Michael didn’t belong together. Tear tracks and snot covered his face. His blurry reflection was pathetic.

A loser.

Michael turned the faucet on, splashing water on his face and drying it with a towel. He cleaned his glasses up and took a shaky breath. He should go.

Michael raised his hand to the door, fear overtaking. What if he ran into Jeremy again? He couldn’t—

Michael actually did vomit. He managed to get himself over the toilet first, but his stomach contents ejected. He rinsed his mouth with water and sat on the ledge of the tub. Okay, he could hide out until morning. His moms…they wouldn’t notice if he was gone.

Michael slid back to the floor. He felt so heavy. He lowered his head to the cold tile, letting his eyes drift shut. He had running water and a bathroom, he could hide forever.

Michael woke to…silence. No more music blaring outside the bathroom, it felt eerie. Why did it smell like smoke?

Michael pulled open the bathroom door, smoke filtering into the room. The house was up in flames. Fuck.

Michael pulled his shirt over his nose and ran, blindly navigating the halls. His eyes and lungs burned. He was already struggling to breathe.

Michael didn’t find the stairs, the staircase found him. He tripped, falling down the stairs. Why had he worn shorts? Flames licked at his skin, the carpet around him smoldering. Michael stumbled to his feet, wheezing as he looked around. How did he get out?

He heard a groan, turning to try and look through the flames. Jake was trapped under a pile of rubble. Fuck. He couldn’t let the guy die, even if he was a prick.

Michael ran through the flames, his skin blistering against the heat. He braced himself for burns and started pushing debris off of Jake. He could see bones poking out of angles that shouldn’t have been allowed. Had he jumped from the landing? Or had the landing collapsed?

Jake seemed to be out of it. Michael hoisted him by the armpits and started dragging. C’mon the house was massive but there had to be doors!

Michael nearly cried at the sight of a door. He hissed as the handle burned him from the heat, but pushed it open anyway. He dragged Jake out into the grass, collapsing down next to him. Michael coughed as he breathed in fresh air, staring up at the night sky as the house burned. He let out a broken laugh as the sky turned to rain, thunder clapping as large droplets fell from the sky. The cold rain stung against his burns. At least Jake was alive.

“Get out!”

Michael sat up, his eyes widening. Someone else was inside the house. Fuck. Michael got up, taking a deep breath before sprinting back in. The fabric of his shirt was starting to melt to his skin, but Michael felt numb to the pain. Who the fuck was still inside?

“Hello?” Michael called out, coughing from the effort. “The exit is this way!”

Michael saw a body through a practical wall of fire. Pieces of the ceiling were caving in.

“Get out of my head! Or I’m taking you with me!”

Was that Rich? Michael braced himself before jumping through the flames. He cried out from the burn, finding Rich in far worse condition. Rich was staring at something in front of him. His skin looked horrible, inflamed. Blisters the size of golf balls resting everywhere. One eye swollen shut from inflammation or pain.

“Rich! C’mon!”

“Go fuck yourself!”

Rich wasn’t looking at him, who was he talking to—

His Squip. Oh fuck.

“You’re nothing without me—” Rich seized up, acting as if he had been electrocuted. And maybe he had been. The Squip’s could control a lot, it seemed.

Michael grabbed Rich by the arm, pulling him towards the exit. Rich didn’t seem to notice him, still screaming at the computer in his head. Michael got him outside, Rich fainting in the grass. Michael backed away from him and Jake, struggling to breathe. Holy shit he felt like he was on fire.

Michael glanced at his sleeve, finding it was actively up in flames. Michael yelped, waving his arm to put out the fire. Fuck! He started to pull the shirt off, figuring he could just toss it away and stomp out the—

Lighting was bright, Michael soon learned. He felt it hit him, his eyes being forced open. He screamed, the fire and the electricity both burning him. Michael swore he felt himself leave the ground.

And just like that it was over. He collapsed in the grass, extinguished at last but fully burned.

He managed to drag himself to his feet. He limped around the burning house, finding fire trucks around the front. He avoided them and continued his journey down the street to his car. Michael felt like he was about to die. He wasn’t focused on the road as he drove. He managed to get home, stumbling into the house. He nearly fell down the stairs. Again.

Michael grabbed a set of pajamas and turned on the shower in his bathroom. The water hurt his burned skin, but he needed to get the ash off.

“Minamahal?” Maria knocked on the bathroom door. “Honey, are you okay? It’s late.”

“Yeah,” Michael squeaked out. “Just…sweaty.”

“Okay. There was a fire at your classmate's house, we were worried since you were out. Rest well.”

Michael looked in the mirror, finding his skin to be severely burned. He would likely have to go to a hospital. But they could do that in the morning. Right now Michael was exhausted.

He woke up feeling…strange. Different. Michael got out of bed, shuffling back to the bathroom. He looked in the mirror and startled. His skin was healed. He looked…fine. Good, even.

And then the wind was pulled from his sails. Michael cried out, pain filtering through his system. He felt sick. He felt like he was burning, but he was so cold. He sobbed on the floor of the bathroom, unable to support himself in a standing position.

“Mikey? Baby? Shit!” Michael heard his mother but she felt so far away. “Hey, hey! What’s wrong? Maria! Sweetheart, can you hear me? It’s Mama. Where does it hurt? Mikey, honey, breathe. Maria! Mikey, deep breaths baby.”

His moms brought him to a hospital. His fever was scary. 106° and nothing would drop it. Michael was shivering all the while. He felt like he was dying.

Would he ever see Jeremy again?

They stayed the whole day at the hospital. Michael didn’t come back with any results for their tests. He was sent home the next morning since the fever randomly decided to break. He felt good again. Michael went to school. He watched as Jeremy turned more and more away from who he once was. Michael was invisible to him, it made it easy to stare. He tracked down the bottle of Red. He had a cure for Jeremy, once he could get it to him at least.

And then the fever came back. Michael screamed and cried, shivering as his moms panicked about him. He hated to scare them, but he couldn’t do anything about the situation. He didn’t know what was wrong and doctors couldn’t figure it out.

Why was this turning into a roller coaster?

Michael was feeling better again in time for the play. He shrugged off his moms worries about him and made his way to the theater. He had his bottle of Red in his pocket and he was ready to take Jeremy back by force if he needed to.

And force was exactly right. Practically zombies, most of his classmates. Michael could feel the fever threatening to come back, but he bit back his own ailments to fight off the teenagers trying to hold him down. He didn’t save Jake’s ass just for the favor to not be returned. Rich was still sedated in the hospital last he checked, so that was excused for now. Once the dust settled he would be holding this over their heads for forever.

Michael had always hated to see Jeremy hurt. Sure, the screaming students scared the fuck out of him, but watching Jeremy collapse…

It broke him.

Michael charged forward, running to Jeremy’s side. He held his head in his lap, making sure nothing else could hurt him. After a few minutes everyone else started waking up, but Jeremy didn’t. Michael really began to panic when Jeremy’s breathing became wheezy.

An ambulance was called, Michael went with for the ride since James wasn’t around. Michael could tell the fever was back, but he did what he could to act normal around Jeremy. 

He stayed until Jeremy woke up, nearly delirious because of his fever. They talked, and Michael finally went home to suffer in peace. His moms didn’t mind that he had been gone, but they scolded him for ignoring his own health.

Michael really wasn’t up to par to go back to school, but he knew Jeremy would be back and he would kill himself if he missed that. So he forced himself to go, no matter how shitty he felt.

He ended up leaving right before lunch. He had seen Jeremy, they had spoken, that was enough. He cowered in his blanket pile and wished that his body would just sort itself out.

And now Jeremy had a date with Christine. An actual date.

It shouldn’t hurt. He knew he had no shot. But once Jeremy left after telling him? He buried himself in the blankets and cried, hot tears soaking into his pillow. He was happy for Jeremy, he wanted him to be happy. Why did it hurt so bad? It didn’t hurt when he had been with Brooke. Because of the Squip? Maybe.

Michael pulled himself out of bed, drifting into his backyard. He laid in the grass, his fever making him ill and his heart breaking over a relationship that didn’t even exist. The heat he could feel in his chest, radiating through his body. He focused on that pulsing heat since it was easier than thinking of Jeremy.

He had spent so long pushing down the heat. What if he…let it out. How would he do that?

He let the heat go, clenching his jaw as it pulsed through him. It didn’t hurt, it felt different. He raised one arm, focusing on the heat. Maybe he—

Michael yelped as his hand burst into flames. He was on fire! But…why didn’t it hurt?

The flames spread up his arm, his shirt catching fire.

“Shit!”

The flames on his body went out, Michael patting out his shirt before he could be fully burned. What the hell was happening to him? Why didn’t the fire hurt?

He stayed home for a few days. His moms assumed he was still sick, so he didn't correct them. He was trying to figure out the flames. He thought he had it under control. He forged a note from his mom and made his way to school. He could do this.

And then he felt his hand start to flare up. At school. Not even in the building for twenty minutes. He bolted to a bathroom, holding his hand away from his body as it burst into flames. Fuck! He used his free hand to turn on the sink in hopes of putting out his skin.

“What the fuck!”

Michael hid his hand behind his back and pivoted, finding Jake and Rich staring at him. When did Rich come back to school? He still had wrappings on his arms.

“Dude, you’re on fire!” Jake stated the obvious.

Michael moved his hand back out in front of him, “Yeah, and if you tell a soul I’ll make sure your face looks worse than his,” Michael growled, pointing to Rich. “You’re already in a wheelchair, it wouldn’t be hard.”

It scared them. Good. All the years Michael and Jeremy had endured of those two assholes making them feel like garbage. Both of them mentally spiraling because of these two idiots. It was high time he got some revenge over them. A smidge of power. He didn’t save their asses just to have them try and fuck with him.

The flames went out, Michael shoving his hands into his pockets. He made his way towards the bathroom door, pivoting back to shoot them a glare.

“Do I make myself clear?” Both of them nodded. “Good.”

▣

Jeremy hadn’t worn a suit in years. He was fairly sure the last time had been for his bar mitzvah. It had been one of the moments that his dad had been proud of him for.

Although now that he had his extracurriculars he was apparently more proud than ever. They pretty much never spoke directly of what Jeremy did in his free time, but there were subtle notions. The smiles, pats on the shoulder, it meant a lot. Jeremy had walked into his office and found his dad had framed the first ever article published about him. It…it felt good.

“Darling,” Jennifer pulled him from his happy thoughts. She took his arm and dragged him up to a scary lady in a green dress. “This is Heather, she’s one of my firm members.”

“Nice to meet you,” Jeremy held out a hand for her to shake. He didn’t know what the fuck he was doing but he was forced to be at this party.

All the more for him to try and utilize.

“Oh my, you are cute,” Heather shook his hand, his sixth sense lightly buzzing as she touched him. She was bad news. “Jen, if he’s single in two years you’ll have to give me his number.”

The older women laughed while Jeremy recoiled. He removed himself from the situation and made his way over to his dad. He wanted to leave. But…he couldn’t.

“Y’know, this is just reminding me that prom is coming up,” James squeezed his shoulder. “Are you going? We’ll have to get you a suit for it.”

“The only suit I’ll be wearing on prom night will be made of spandex,” Jeremy said.

“Michael doesn’t want to go?”

“I don’t know, we haven’t talked about it.”

“Ask him. I want cute prom photos of you two. Y’know I haven’t updated my office at work in years, I still have photos from when you were a kid in there.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes, “Whatever. I’m going to crawl around for a bit, see if I can find anything on her.”

James made a face, “Be careful.”

Jeremy nodded before walking out of the party. He made his way down a few floors to Jennifer’s firm, once again finding no security cameras. She didn’t need footage to be guilty. She had to be tracking her crimes somewhere. He found an office with decorations that matched his house, figuring it was hers. Jeremy hesitated before seating himself in her desk chair and beginning to dig through her drawers.

There was nothing exciting. Notes for court, some old case files that had been salvaged from the wreck of the first building, but nothing incriminating.

Jeremy flinched at the sound of tapping. He pivoted in the chair, looking out the far window to find Michael hovering outside. Shit. How had he known?

Michael pointed up before flying in the same direction. Jeremy hurried from the office, finding the stairwell to the building and making his way up. He made it out the fire access door and greeted his boyfriend with a wave.

“Find anything?”

Jeremy shook his head, “No. and I doubt her computer will just unlock for me. I don’t know what to do. My dad won’t get his legal shit cleared up for months, and even then I don’t think he can fight her in court since they’re married.”

Michael approached him, pulling him into a hug, “We’ll figure it out. And in the meantime we can keep putting her cronies in jail, right? So long as we have each other we should be safe. The election isn’t until fall, once school is out we can dedicate all of our time to this.”

Jeremy nodded, resting his chin on Michael’s shoulder. If he could find a way to ensure she wouldn’t be voted mayor it would solve a lot of his problems. But she had a foothold in everything it seemed like.

“Y’know, I’m kind of glad she shot me,” Jeremy hummed. “If she hadn’t I might not have ever figured out it was her. She’s got an ego the size of Manhattan, no wonder she wants to practically own it.”

“…Jer?”

“Hmm?”

Michael held him by the shoulders, “She’s holding a campaign event right now. What if we get a jump on her now?”

“We can’t just attack her in a public setting—”

Michael shook him, “Jeremy. The public adores Spider-Man. You have a fucking song. And there are reporters downstairs at that party. What if New York’s finest heroes crash the joint and hard accuse her? It’ll get people reporting on it and get the rumor mill running. More people will look into it. At minimum it would bring her some negative attention.”

Jeremy broke into a grin, “Holy shit! I’m so glad I have you because I never would have thought of that!”

“Do you have your suit?”

Jeremy undid his tie and button up, revealing the suit beneath it, “Always.”

Jeremy tucked away his party suit and pulled on his mask and gloves. He jumped off the side of the building and attached a web to the side, scaling down the side like a rock climber. Michael flew next to him, Jeremy watching as he pressed his flaming hands to the glass of the windows, the glass melted, forming a hole for them to get through. Michael flew in first, startling the party. Jeremy followed, hanging from a web above the crowd.

“Good evening New York!” Michael cheered, stirring up whispers in the crowd below. Jeremy rolled his eyes beneath his mask. He was so dramatic with the mask on. “This sure looks like a lovely party! Sorry we crashed it!”

Jeremy spotted his mother in the crowd, jumping down and landing in front of her. Sure it showed how short he was, but that hardly mattered. People had phones out and cameras rolling, it was exactly what he wanted.

“And Mrs. Heere, congratulations on your campaign!” Jeremy webbed an abandoned glass into his hand. “Can we have a toast for the lucky candidate?”

Those that weren’t frozen in shock raised a glass if they had one. Jeremy caught his dad staring at him wide eyed from the side of the room.

“I'm sure your family is proud of you, Mrs. Heere,” Jeremy almost felt like he was taunting her. And wasn’t he?

“Fisk-Heere,” Jennifer corrected him with an edge to her tone.

“Does your family also know about how you run what could quite possibly be the largest crime ring in New York?” Jeremy asked.

Jennifer was good at playing dumb, “Excuse me? I’m a lawyer, Spider-Man. I put criminals in jail.”

“But do you? Have you told all your lovely guests about how you had a man murdered right in front of me? About how you shot me? No? You left that part out, didn’t you?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. You’re upsetting my guests, and you weren’t invited, please leave.”

“Oh I’m almost done. I just wanted to make sure the people knew who they were supporting. Did you mention to anyone that your building blowing up was your own doing? In an attempt to kill me? An act that almost succeeded in my demise but also nearly killed your own child? You’re welcome for saving him, by the way. I really didn’t feel like being nice after being crushed by a building, but with great power comes great responsibility and all that. Hope the kid is okay, he probably didn’t know his mom is a monster.”

“Please leave. You trying to slander me is pointless, you’re a criminal. Acting above the law.”

“Last I checked, citizen arrests were legal in New York,” Jeremy shrugged, setting the glass in his hand down before pulling himself back up to the ceiling. “Oh! One more thing!” Jeremy braced himself for possibly complicating his dad’s life. “Did you tell anyone that you were going to forcibly take custody away from your husband if he didn’t agree to marry you? The way I read your story was that you walked out on him. And then you forced him to take you back. And I’m fairly sure that what you did could be classified as extortion. But, then again, what do I know? I only dedicate my life to stopping monsters like you after all.”

Jeremy and Michael went out the way they came in. Jeremy chose to swing around to the opposite side of the building before crawling back up. He had to get back inside before anyone noticed him missing.

“You’re so hot when you’re being a petty bitch,” Michael mocked a swoon, dropping backwards to hover off of the ground. Jeremy flipped him off as he shoved his mask and gloves back into his pockets. He redid his tie before giving Michael a quick spin.

“Do I look okay?”

Michael extinguished himself before walking up to Jeremy, cupping his jaw, “I would take you home with me right now if I could. Ravishing, Jer-Bear.”

“Stop saying ravish! You would do that if I looked like garbage!”

“True. You look great, have fun.”

Michael flew off into the night, Jeremy rushing back into the party. He slid next to his dad, offering him a smile.

“What the hell was that?” James whispered, dragging them into a corner. “Why didn’t you at least warn me you were going to do that?! I could have covered for you if someone noticed you missing.”

Jeremy shrugged, “It was Michael’s idea, not mine.”

James blinked a few times, “I thought Michael didn’t know about…”

Fuck, “Well, he does now.”

“You made it clear you didn’t plan on telling him.”

“What? He’s the first person I’ve wanted to tell since day one!”

“Boys,” Jennifer marched up to them, a fake smile plastered on her face. “We need to go home now. James, take my arm. Jeremy follow.”

They did as she asked. Jennifer was trying to do damage control.

“Jeremiah! What do you have to say about the allegations revealed tonight?” A reporter approached him.

“Please, no comment,” James grabbed Jeremy’s hand and pulled him forward with his open hand.

They made it to the parking garage, Jennifer sitting in the driver’s seat. She pinched the bridge of her nose, her expression turning sour.

“Tonight…was awful,” Jennifer lightly smacked the edge of her steering wheel. “Those costumed freaks are ruining my life for no reason!”

“They’re stopping crime, isn’t that good?” Jeremy played dumb. “Maybe they don’t understand you but—”

Jeremy felt his sixth sense blare in his head, ducking as Jennifer tried reaching for him.  Fuck.

“Jeremiah, you don’t know how the world works! You aren’t an adult! Don’t try and act like one!”

“Spider-Man saved me—”

“Well it’s your own damn fault you were in the fucking building!” Jennifer snapped. “You deserved what you got for being ignorant enough to not listen to me!”

“No!” James opened his door and got out of the car. “No! Fuck you Jen! You don’t yell at him for that! He almost died! I found him bleeding out on the floor because two teenagers didn’t know better than to take him to a hospital! You can be pissed! But shut the fuck up about what Jeremy deserves! C’mon, Private. We’re taking the fucking train.”

Jeremy scrambled out of the car, standing next to his dad. Jennifer glared through James’s open door.

“I’ll be at the apartment tonight.”

“Good. Maybe you’ll calm the hell down.”

James shut the door and Jennifer peeled out. Leaving the two boys in the parking garage alone. James leaned against a support beam as she vanished from sight.

“Holy shit, are you okay?”

James shrugged, “Today…has been a lot, kiddo. Let’s go home.”

Jeremy offered his dad a smirk, “Did you want to swing home?”

James looked up, “What? Kiddo, that’s—”

“Fun? I know. I do it all the time. C’mon! I won’t drop you!”

James seemed very hesitant, but he did allow Jeremy to pull them outside and into a nearby alley. He had his dad climb on his back before scaling up a building with him clinging for his life. Jeremy suited up on the roof, making a makeshift bag out of webbing to carry his suit, and the two took off. Jeremy kept things calm, not doing any flips with his dad on his back. He heard consistent yells of surprise, but James was fairly quiet.

They made it home in one piece. Jeremy pushed open his bedroom window and let his dad climb through first before following him in. James sat on the floor, his eyes wide.

“I…I don’t think I want to do that ever again,” James whispered. “That…was awful.”

Jeremy helped him back to his feet, “You did good. But yeah, it’s an acquired taste.”

James nodded, stumbling out of the room. Jeremy changed out of his suit and into pajamas, making his way downstairs to the kitchen. He was starving. James was sitting at the island.

“How did you figure out you could do that?”

Jeremy shrugged, pulling a container of macaroni from the fridge. “Climbed a building and jumped. It was…like an instinctive thing? My brain just knew. It’s kind of like how I keep thinking of ways to make artificial webbing? Or how I prefer sitting on the ceiling. Part of my brain is just hardwired to spider mode.”

James blinked, “Oh. Y’know, it does scare me. But…kiddo I know you’re capable. I hadn’t ever…seen you actively be Spider-Man. I never had an interest in watching the videos before I knew, and once I did know I was too scared of what I would find. But holy shit, it’s incredible!”

Jeremy couldn’t help but smile at the praise, “Thanks.”

James got up and ruffled his hair, “When did you tell Michael?”

Jeremy shrugged, “A few weeks ago. I just couldn’t justify lying to him anymore.” He practically inhaled his macaroni, dropping his dishes into the sink. “I have to regroup with Torch, are you okay?”

James laughed, “Kiddo, that’s my line. Be safe, back by midnight.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes as he walked away. They both knew he wouldn’t be listening to that request. He hated changing all the time, but it was better than risking anyone finding out who he was. Jeremy made his way back into the city, flinging himself like a rag doll until he spotted his boyfriend.

“Hey,” Michael greeted, the two of them sitting on a ledge together.

Jeremy pulled his phone from his pocket, checking to see if anything had surfaced about what they had done earlier. The two watched a gossip news report on the event and several different clips of the confrontation. Perfect.

“It’s like Mean Girls, Jer,” Michael nudged their shoulders together. “We take away Regina’s only achievement. Being a hot person. But in this case it’s your mom and we’re just ruining her reputation.”

Jeremy nodded, “Yeah. We did good.”

Michael reached for Jeremy’s mask, lifting the hem to rest on his nose. Jeremy chuckled before leaning in for a kiss. How the hell had he ended up so lucky?

“I love you.”

Jeremy pressed a kiss to Michael’s chin, “I love you too.”

▣

Jeremy made his way up the front steps and into the school building. A cold rain had soaked through his sweatshirt, Jeremy pulling it off to dry in his locker. The snow was melting outside thanks to the moisture, but he was freezing. Where the hell was his literal human fireplace when he needed him?

Jeremy bit back his chattering teeth and walked over to Jenna. He couldn’t quite remember the last time he had spent time with her one on one. And he was trying to do better by her.

“Hey,” Jeremy greeted.

Jenna looked up, her eyes bloodshot, “Hey Jeremy.”

Oh fuck had she been crying?

“Woah, hey, what’s wrong?”

Jenna scoffed, shoving her phone in her pocket, “It’s dumb.”

Jeremy patted her shoulder, “I can promise you that it isn’t. C’mon, the library is more quiet.”

They walked to the library together, Jeremy nabbing a box of tissues as he walked in. He held the box out to Jenna so she could take one. They sat against a far wall while Jenna blotted the tears from her eyes.

“My…my dad’s boyfriend, he had been missing for like…nearly two months,” Jenna explained. “I hadn’t ever met him with the context that my dad was with him. Romantically. But he was a nice guy when I met him under the impression that they were friends.”

“Didn’t your parents get divorced recently?”

“Yeah, because my dad wanted to spend his life with Gary,” Jenna nodded. “And then while we were in Paris he apparently just went missing. And uh…turns out he’s been dead the whole time.”

“What?”

Jenna pulled her phone out, a news article from New York pulled up, “Yeah. Shot in the head. Found his body in a river. And…I obviously didn’t want him to die, but now it feels pointless for my parents to have split? Y’know? Without Gary they could have stayed together.”

Jeremy skimmed the article, his body tensing up at the photo submitted for the victim, “This is him?”

Jenna looked at the photo and nodded, “Yeah. That’s actually from my birthday. Like I said, I hadn’t known that they were involved like that.”

Jeremy stared at the image. It was Pufferfish. Jenna’s dad had been the partner. Jenna was the kid Jeremy hadn’t been sure if Pufferfish had or not. Fuck. Fuck. Jennifer had killed Jenna's stepdad.

“Thanks for letting me talk, Jeremy,” Jenna sniffed and took her phone back. “It’s been…rough at home.”

“Of course,” Jeremy broke himself from his thoughts and pulled Jenna in for a quick hug.

They split off to go to class, Jeremy dropping into his seat with dread coursing through his veins. Of all the people Gary could have been…

It was Jeremy’s fault. Gary would have still been alive if not for him. Jenna wouldn’t be crying. Fuck!

“Hey,” Michael reached for his hand. “Oh gross, you’re freezing.” Michael pulled off his hoodie and offered it to Jeremy. Jeremy didn’t complain, the fabric was warmed from Michael wearing it and it sent goosebumps down his arms. “There, you and I both know I don’t need it.”

Jeremy forced out a chuckle, leaning over and pressing a kiss to the corner of Michael’s mouth.

“Aww, what a cute couple,” Chloe approached their desks, her hands clasped together. Her gaze turned to Jeremy, “You. Come with me. Now.”

Jeremy hesitated, getting up and following Chloe out into the hallway. He wasn’t quite sure what she wanted with him. He felt his sixth sense in his head, reaching an arm out and catching a book Chloe had thrown at him.

“What the fuck Chloe?!”

Chloe backed him into the row of lockers, towering over him and jabbing a pointy nail to his chest, “You disgusting, pathetic excuse for a man! How dare you! I cannot believe you!”

Jeremy held his hands up in surrender, “What did I do? Chloe I just got here!”

“Cheating son of a bitch!” Chloe poked him again.

“Cheating?! What?”

“I have done nothing but help you for months! And you go and cheat!”

Jeremy removed her hand from his chest, “Chloe. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Chloe leaned in to hiss, “You have some nerve, cheating on Michael. You disgust me.”

What?

“I—huh?! Chloe. What gave you the impression that I’m cheating on Michael? Why would I fuck that up?”

Chloe pulled out her phone, her eyes narrowed. Jeremy looked to the screen, finding a slightly blurry photo of Jeremy and Michael kissing on the rooftop from over the weekend. Oh. Oh! Chloe thought he was cheating with Torch!

He chuckled, passing Chloe her phone back, “Chloe. No. Not cheating.”

“You’re literally kissing him!”

“I swear, I am not cheating on Michael,” Jeremy assured, pivoting to walk back to class. “But thank you for caring about Michael’s feelings.”

Jeremy dropped back into his seat, finding Michael staring at his phone. He looked stressed.

“What?”

Michael looked over at him, “Uh, Rich and Jake keep spamming me. They want to know if I enjoy having two lives so I can date two people?”

Jeremy let out a laugh, letting his head fall against Michael’s shoulder. It wasn’t just him. Good.

“I think we need to let the two halves connect,” Jeremy hummed. “That or stop acting like a couple in the suits.”

Michael pressed a kiss to his temple, “Yeah. But it’s kind of funny, right?”

Jeremy nodded, the two of them settling into their homework. Not ideal, having a whole group aware of both of them, but cheating allegations were a bit far in his willingness to deal with it. Jake and Rich had kept Michael a secret so far, they could keep Jeremy one too.

Jeremy shared half of his day with Michael now. The shared classes made things more enjoyable and easier. Usually one of them was awake enough to take notes and keep them on track. And that was Michael most of the time. Even now Jeremy still got the eye rolls for his pathetic excuse for a sleep schedule.

At least now he wasn’t lying about it anymore.

The beginning of the semester was always easier. Classes weren’t as difficult yet, and the stress levels were lowered with exams being months away once more. Jeremy drifted through his day with ease, always having at least one friend to share the class hour with.

He laughed, checking his phone between classes to find Michael had made a group chat with all of their in the know friends requesting they all get together after school. At least he was taking initiative over the situation. Jenna had even removed herself from the situation for them, announcing over lunch that she had plans with her dad after school.

The loss that he was likely feeling wasn’t lost on Jeremy, nor was his guilt in the matter. Jenna’s dad had lost a loved one because of him.

Jeremy dropped into his last class, his seat next to Michael’s. They quietly worked on their presentations together, Jeremy stretching one ankle over to lock with Michael’s since their hands were too occupied to hold.

And to think that what? Three months ago he had been sure that Christine would be the one and only. Everything he ever wanted had been right next to him the whole time. Wrapped up in a hoodie and always ready to support him. Jeremy traced a finger over one of the patches on the sweatshirt, a smile forming on his face.

He was such a lucky bastard.

After school Jeremy and Michael rushed to the Mell house. They had to beat their friends there in order to pull off Michael’s hasty plan. Jeremy pulled on his costume and threw himself to the roof, hiding out while Michael flew up to join him. The rain had thankfully let up, the two of them watching the other kids file into the backyard.

“Yo! Anti-Social Headphones Kid?!” Rich called out.

Jeremy had noticed Rich had been far more quiet since whatever the hell happened at the bonfire. He and Jake still hung out, but Rich had practically gone silent.

“He said to just hang out,” Chloe shrugged, seating herself at the picnic table.

“Now?” Michael asked.

Jeremy nodded, the two of them getting up. Michael ignited his body and floated to the ground while Jeremy chose to just dive off, landing in a crouch. Their friends startled, each staring at the person they didn’t recognize under the mask. Michael extinguished himself before he could leave a burn mark on the patio, the two of them sharing a nod before pulling off their masks.

The group collectively freaked out. Christine was practically bouncing in place with a wide grin on her face. They managed to get everyone inside and down into the basement so people outside wouldn’t possibly hear them all yelling.

“You’re Thpider-Man?!”  Rich grabbed his shoulders and started shaking him. “What the fuck Tall Ath!”

Jeremy shrugged, “It’s a long story.” He walked over to Michael and laced a hand with him. “But we aren’t cheating on each other. Okay?”

Chloe ran a hand over her face, “Holy shit, that’s what gets us the full truth? Cheating allegations?”

“I brought receipts,” Jeremy gestured to Michael.

“Yeah, ditto,” Michael wrapped an arm across his shoulders.

It was no surprise that everyone had questions. Jeremy and Michael answered as best as they could, though Jeremy could tell that Michael was keeping some details to himself even when it came to Rich and Jake. They changed back into their street clothes, everyone agreeing to have dinner together since they were already in one place. Michael ran up to the kitchen and started cooking, Jeremy helping grab dishes and silverware for everyone.

“Does anyone know where Jenna lives?” Jeremy asked, grabbing water glasses for the group.

“Oh, yeah!” Brooke scribbled down an address for him.

Maria and Darcy came home to find the group of teenagers spread across the living room with a movie playing. They didn’t say a word, both of them ruffling Jeremy and Michael’s hair before heading off to their room.

“We really should do this kind of stuff more often,” Chloe mused, gathering dishes as they were emptied. She wordlessly started doing the dishes, Brooke drying them and Christine putting them away. It was a bit odd, Jeremy hadn’t ever seen them do something like that.

“We can do it, guys,” Michael tried to shoo them. “We all have homework—”

“Michael, you literally save lives in your free time,” Christine shushed him. “Let us help.”

Jeremy kept an eye on Jake and Rich, watching the two interact. Jake…he seemed to be acting as normal. Rich on the other hand looked kind of miserable. And if Jake was just ignoring their whole deal at the bonfire it made some sense. Jeremy couldn’t imagine ignoring Michael’s feelings like that.

“Holy shit, that stuff about your mom is all true!” The idea dawned on Jake, his eyes widening. “She shot you?!”

Jeremy nodded, “Yeah. Not fun.”

“Did it leave a thcar?” Rich got up to approach Jeremy.

“You just want to see him shirtless,” Michael jabbed.

“He hath magic thpider abth, do you blame me? I wanted to thee the magic fire abth too!”

Jeremy crossed his arms over his chest, “It did. I try not to think about that night, y’know it wasn’t exactly fun.”

“Scared the fuck out of us,” Chloe added on. “Fucker drops in through the window, first thing out of his mouth is I’ll go bleed out somewhere else, and then we see he’s about to ruin the rug.”

“You were making out, I didn’t want to ruin it!”

Chloe raised one hand from the sink and flipped him off before returning to the dishes. They didn’t bother finishing the movie, everyone clearing out to get homework taken care of for class. Jeremy made his way down to the basement with Michael, scooping up his backpack before jumping up to the window.

“See you in a bit? I’m finishing my homework first but I’ll meet you in the city,” Michael offered.

Jeremy nodded, dropping back down to press a kiss to Michael’s cheek before climbing back out. He made his way home to check in with his parents, informing them he had dinner at Michael’s before locking himself in his room. He waited for the hall light to turn off before pulling on the suit and grabbing the paper with Jenna’s address. He owed her dad an apology.

Jeremy navigated the streets with ease. He found Jenna’s house, dropping down at the back door and knocking. He was going to scare someone, he was sure of it.

“Holy shit!” Jenna’s dad answered with a yell. “Spider-Man?”

“I…I’m sorry about P—about Gary,” Jeremy said.

Jenna’s dad blinked, “Y-you knew Gary?”

Jeremy hung his head, “I…I didn’t know who he really was until recently. He…the Kingpin killed him. In front of me.”

“What?”

“Your partner was in a shady line of work, I wanted him to be my inside guy. But he told his superiors and…it happened so fast. I couldn’t…I didn’t have a chance to react. I wanted to make sure you knew who his killer was.”

“It was Fisk?”

“She didn’t pull the trigger, but she gave the order.”

Jenna’s dad nodded, “I…okay. Thank you.”

Jeremy nodded, jumping up to the roof and running off. Part of him had wanted to have Jenna’s dad blame him. It was his fault. It wouldn’t have happened if Jeremy hadn’t intervened.

Jeremy sighed to himself, swinging off towards the city. He tempted fate, swinging around Jennifer’s area. What part of the land she controlled. But his rant at the party seemed to have scared her. The streets were eerily quiet. She didn’t want to target him anymore, not with his facts right in her face.

“Webs!”

Jeremy caught himself on the side of a building, Michael flying over to him. He smirked beneath his mask, standing parallel to the ground while Michael hovered above him.

“Hi, homework not take long?”

Michael shrugged, “Not really. Did you do yours?”

“You and I both know the answer to that.”

It was nice, being an official team now. They worked together all the time, and Jeremy found himself happier with the new situation. He felt so blind for not realizing it sooner. The way Michael’s hair almost seemed to float when he was inflamed. His smile. All the pieces were there. 

“Do you ever think there’s more people like us?” Michael asked, keeping pace while Jeremy was swinging. “Superpowers and all that?”

“It’s possible,” Jeremy shrugged. “But if we go by how things are now next to get any would be Rich, right? He’s the next closet to have been in a freak accident?”

“He would abuse having superpowers.”

“Exactly why I’m glad the lightning chose you and not him. We would have been screwed.”

The streets were quieter now. Spider-Man and Torch had made a difference. They opted to switch neighborhoods, Michael flying them over to Queens to see if there was anything for them to do.

It kept them busy for hours, Michael eventually having to call it a night for school. Jeremy stayed longer, but with the added travel time he didn’t stay out too late. He was already breaking curfew daily, he didn’t need to risk just not coming home.

It was a slow morning. Jeremy was exhausted, slumped over his toast.

“Kiddo, we need to talk—”

“Have a wonderful day my boys,” Jennifer barged past them on her way out the door.

“About what?” Jeremy looked up and mindlessly began munching at his food.

“Why…why is there a photo of you—”

“Holy shit not you too!” Jeremy threw his head back and whined. Michael could be mad later. “Michael is Torch, I am not cheating on him!”

James froze, “Really?”

“Yes and his moms don’t know. I really shouldn’t have told you but the whole cheating thing is stupid so…”

James rubbed at his eyes, “That actually explains a lot. Kinda funny it’s you two who have powers, right?”

“It’s hilarious,” Jeremy deadpanned. “I’m going to go sleep all day at school.”

“You’re funny, if your grades drop below a C in anything I’ll be burning your suit.”

“Brooke will make me another.”

“No, I asked her not to if it was regarding your grades. Nice try though. Michael seems to be able to prioritize school.”

Jeremy groaned, trudging up to his bathroom to take a shower. He denied the offer of a ride to school, making the decision to walk since it seemed like the best option to wake up. As he walked he passed by a few store fronts, finding several had police tape and shattered windows. What the fuck had happened? Jeremy kept his distance, picking up the pace and running to school. If anyone would know it would be Jenna, she knew everything.

Jeremy tracked her down, finding Jenna sitting in her homeroom. He approached, sitting backwards at the desk in front of her.

“Hey,” Jeremy greeted. “How are you?”

Jenna looked up, her eyes angry, “I’m doing just great Jeremy. My parents are split for no reason. And now your family is to blame? Did you just try befriending me to rub it in?”

“What?” Jeremy blinked. “Jenna, we are friends. I don’t–” Oh fuck. Jenna’s dad had told her about what Spider-Man had revealed. Shit. He really didn’t think that through. “Are you talking about my mom? Trust me, I wouldn’t associate with her if I had the choice. She nearly killed me in the building explosion.”

Jenna’s expression softened, “Shit, I forgot about that. Is all that stuff Spider-Man said true? Did she really…did she kill a man? How do you live with her?”

“She kind of…forced that on me and my dad,” Jeremy shrugged. “And for if it’s true? I…I have no reason to think it isn’t? Buildings don’t just collapse Jenna. I don’t care what the report said. The building was empty on purpose. She never…she didn’t even say sorry. For letting me get into that situation. I don’t even know why she wanted us back in her life, but I’m assuming it was so she looked good for her campaign.”

Jenna leaned in closer to whisper, “Spider-Man said the man she killed in front of him was my dad’s boyfriend. That the news report coming out was what helped him figure out who the family was. I just…I don’t think Spider-Man would lie about that. He wouldn’t go through the effort of tracking my dad down just to lie.”

“I don’t think he would either,” Jeremy nodded. “I’m sorry. My mom fucking sucks, and I wouldn’t have asked her back if I had the choice.”

Jenna hung her head, “Thanks. Uh, do you like science?”

Jeremy shrugged, “It’s not my best subject. Why?”

Jenna pulled up a photo on her phone. Her dad was standing in the photo with a lab coat on, “He’s a scientist. He invited me to invite some friends to tour his work, and I know that the others don’t…they don’t like me that much. I’m kind of the leech of the group.”

“Bullshit, it’s just…it’s a very cliquey group,” Jeremy insisted. “Michael and I have been friends since age four, Brooke and Chloe are dating, Rich and Jake are…whatever the fuck they have going on. I like hanging out with you, I’m just always busy. I would love to visit your dad’s lab. We can ask the others to come with together. C’mon.”

Jeremy got up and held out his hand, Jenna taking it so they could walk the halls together. They tracked down the others in their homeroom classes, asking each of them to come with to join the tour. Jake and Rich were both busy, Chloe was gone for a doctor appointment, Brooke and Michael agreed to come, and Christine had a family event going on. They could ask Chloe when she was back around lunch.

“Hey,” Jeremy plopped down in his seat next to Michael as the bell rang. “I’m really sorry but I had to spill the mask thing to my dad. He thought I was cheating.”

Michael blinked, “Your dad…he knows? You told your dad? When?”

“Uh, he found me after the whole building thing. I didn’t tell you that?”

“No. But…your dad is cool. I get why you told him. Thanks for keeping me updated.”

Jeremy leaned against Michael, “Not a problem.”

Jeremy actually worked on his homework during his first period. He had Michael and Brooke to help him, and it made things easier. He managed to finish almost all of his assignments, saving his history homework for Brooke and him to work on at lunch. He knew once all his classes started kicking into high gear it wouldn’t be as easy to catch up, but he would take what he could get.

Chloe walked up to their table during lunch, Jeremy having to look twice because Chloe wasn’t wearing makeup. He was fairly sure he hadn’t ever seen her without eyeliner since at least sixth grade. She looked…miserable.

“Chloe?” Brooke got up, holding her face in her hands. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Chloe started crying, silent tears rolling down her face. Brooke pulled her into a hug, brushing a hand through her hair. Jeremy put his homework away, this was far more important.

“Chlo–”

“I can’t. Brooke. I’m sorry,” Chloe whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

Brooke began to look worried, “Why? Chloe, you can’t just say stuff like that.”

Chloe wiped away her tears, sniffing as she took a step back, “I uh, I got bad news at my appointment. So, uh, I’m going to give you the chance to break up with me now.”

“What? I’m not doing that! Chloe, please,” Brooke held her hands in hers.

Chloe sniffed again, “I…I have cancer? And they don’t know if treatment would…save me.”

The table fell quiet at the news. Brooke pulled her back into a hug, the two of them squeezing each other tight. Jeremy got up and joined the hug, the others following. Even Jake.

Things just got a lot more complicated.

Chapter Text

“Holy shit…”

Jeremy paused his walking, following Michael’s gaze to find another street with shattered windows. What the hell was happening?

“Jer, I know we stick to New York because it’s busy and all…but maybe we should spend a night in Jersey,” Michael whispered. “This is like the fifth street to get hit.”

Jeremy nodded, lacing a hand with Michael, “Yeah. Let’s try close to home tonight.”

They continued walking, the two of them making it to Jenna’s house. Chloe’s car pulled up a moment later, Brooke and her stepping out.

“Hey,” Jeremy waved at the girls.

Chloe nodded her head, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Chlo. C’mon, you know you can’t stay,” Brooke stretched up on her toes and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“What if I just don’t go to my appointment?” Chloe shrugged. “Maybe the test results were wrong. I’m fine. I haven’t been sick.”

“But you have been,” Brooke pulled her hands into her own. “You kept insisting it was food poisoning. Going to your appointments is your best chance of getting better.”

Chloe looked up at the sky, “Will you still love me when my hair falls out?”

Brooke pulled her into a tight squeeze, “I would love you if you were a worm, yes. Besides, we could always get you a wig if you wanted.”

Chloe smirked down at Brooke, running a hand through her hair, “I have always wondered what I would look like as a blonde.”

Jeremy walked up to the two, offering Chloe a smile. She…she clearly wasn’t taking things well. Their friend group was doing what they could to make things easier on her. Jeremy had even turned to asking Jake for help with homework instead of her. The guy was smart, he was just a bit of an asshole.

“Okay, fine, I’ll go,” Chloe sighed, leaning over to press a kiss to Brooke’s lips. She also reached a hand over and ruffled Jeremy’s hair, “Have fun geeking out.”

Chloe got back into her car and took off, leaving the group still standing outside. Michael knocked on the door, Jenna quickly ushered them in. They weaved through the house and into Jenna’s car, the four of them driving off.

“So, what does your dad do?” Brooke asked.

“He works in like…medical stuff,” Jenna shrugged. “Designing equipment, stuff like that. I think this is part of him trying to make up for the divorce. He’s been doing a lot of that…especially lately.”

The lab was small. Jeremy wasn’t the biggest science nerd by any means, but he did appreciate the work. Jenna brought everyone over to her dad, the man seemed…more at peace than the last time Jeremy had seen him.

“Dad, these are my friends. Brooke, Michael, and Jeremy.”

Jenna’s dad made eye contact with him, his sixth sense blaring in his head. Oh no.

“You’re Fisk’s kid.”

“Not by choice,” Jeremy didn’t want to defend himself against the guy. “It’s nice to meet you Dr. Rolan.”

The blaring in his skull stopped, Jenna’s dad calmed down. They started the tour, Jenna’s dad leading them around. They were shown prototypes for different adhesives, medical supplies, and so much more that Jeremy couldn’t name.

“What is that?” Brooke pointed to a clear dome.

“We are working on creating…a universal cure to illness,” Jenna’s dad explained. “A mixture of stem cells and chemicals, we want to make a…almost like a parasite? It would attach to a patient and absorb the virus or illness that ails them. But theory work like that…it’s just a side project to dive into a bit of the science fiction side. We haven’t made any progress.”

The group continued forward, Jeremy stepping back to inspect the project. Inside the dome was a beaker full of black liquid. How was that supposed to save people? It looked like ink.

Jeremy continued forward, catching up and lacing a hand with Michael. This was cool, seeing what people were trying to accomplish. They were brought to an x-ray machine. Jenna’s dad explained how to read the x-rays before bringing them over to some coworkers to meet. Jenna looked so proud of her dad, and given how rough things had been between them it was nice to see her so happy.

“Y’know we’re also working on ways to make taking medication easier,” Jenna’s dad hummed. “Over here—”

“Shit!”

They all turned to watch a light fall from the ceiling and crash into a table. Someone had been changing the bulb. Jenna’s dad rushed over with his coworkers to check in.

“Are you okay?”

The group followed, Jeremy finding that the dome holding their fictitious miracle cure had cracked. Jeremy creeped over, inspecting the crack. Did the ooze give off fumes? Was it dangerous to be in the vicinity of? Why else would it—

Jeremy nearly yelped, watching the ooze jump out of the beaker and to the crack. Shit. Jeremy aimed a hand and quickly fired a web at the crack in the dome. There…that should stop the mixture from reacting with the air, right?

Glass was cleaned up and part of the lab was darker now, but everyone was okay. Jeremy hummed to himself, leaning back against a table as they were talked at. He had to admit he was impressed. He wasn’t a science guy but this was fun.

“Sorry for the chaos,” Jenna’s dad apologized. “Thank you all again for coming. It does mean the world.”

Jeremy felt a shiver down his spine as they were brought back outside. It was nearly spring but it was still cold out. Jenna brought them back to her house, Brooke opting to stay with her for lunch. Jeremy wanted to get home, he was starving but lunch with Michael sounded a bit more fun.

“So, the Apocalypse of The Damned sequel comes out next week,” Michael hummed. “And with spring break around the corner I think we should just avoid spoilers and then spend break playing.”

Jeremy nodded, “Yeah. Good idea.”

Michael smirked at him, “I’ll go pick up pasta if you want to get games set up?”

Jeremy nodded, the two splitting up. Jeremy ran back to Michael’s, sliding in through the basement window and arranging the bean bags. Maria and Darcy were out of the house, and that meant—

Hello Jeremiah.

Jeremy dropped his controller. That…definitely came from his head. That wasn’t the Squip though. Too feminine sounding.

Squip? Oh yes, I see. You prefer to go by Jeremy, yes?

“What the fuck?!”

You’re a hero? You save people?

“What the fuck is happening?!”

Jeremy yelped as his arm moved of its own accord. He felt his breath catch at the sight of a black spot forming on his hand. Oh god. What was that?

I do not have a classification. My consciousness was only recently awakened. My awareness is new. I mean you no harm.

“What are you?”

I just stated I have no classification. I do not know what I am. But I’m weakened. You brought me to life, Jeremy. You’re the closest to a perfect…companion.

“Oh my god you’re the ooze!”

Artificial life isn’t yet a reality for you, is it? Please don’t harm me. This Squip you speak of, I can feel it in your brain. I can remove it if you would like.

Jeremy didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what was happening. He felt sick to his stomach, watching the ooze sink into his skin. He twitched, he could feel it moving inside him. Oh god. Was he dead? He gasped as it emerged from his hand again, sinking back to reveal a small bunch of wiring.

I am not an it, Jeremy. I am not an object. That device I removed from you however? It was.

“Am I really worrying about misgendering the parasite inside me?”

It’s basic respect. You humans usually understand that concept. I believe she suits me better.

“What do you want?”

To live. I was created to help people, and I believe I can be of service to you. I’ll keep you safe, so long as you help me find my perfect partner. You’re a good fit, but your mutated DNA doesn’t allow us to be perfectly compatible. I believe I would be a great assistant. Look in the mirror.

Jeremy shuffled over to the bathroom. He watched the creature emerge and cover his whole body. He was covered head to toe in a black and white version of his Spider-Man suit. What the hell was she?

“I think I’ll stick to red and blue!” Jeremy yelped.

The creature sunk back into his body, leaving him as he was. He didn’t know what to do.

“You promise you aren’t going to eat me?”

Yes, of course. Jeremy, your strength and good nature is what made me…more than just ooze. I was practically born of good, in a sense. In the hour I’ve been aware of my life I have felt nothing but the urge to help and find my symbiotic partner. You and Michael, your friendship is what I desire, but on a deeper level. Your…other desires of Michael don’t appeal to me, but the connection and understanding is vital to my survival. Do you have any…chocolate? It seems wonderful based on your memories.

“Chocolate? I…yeah probably. Don’t—don’t read my memories. I’ve already had one thing do that, and it ended in shit.”

Oh. Yes. I’ll avoid that from now on, my apologies.

Jeremy made his way out of the bathroom and up into the kitchen. He opened the pantry and pulled a chocolate bar out. How did…how did eating work?

I can usually just absorb food from your digestive system. You’ll likely be hungry more often. But if you want I can consume directly.

Jeremy opened the candy and set it on the counter, “Show me.”

Jeremy held out his arm, the ooze seeping from his palm and over the candy. He watched the ooze wiggle over the candy for a moment before slipping back under his skin. The candy was gone.

Oh it’s wonderful Jeremy, thank you.

“You need a name,” Jeremy stated. “I can’t keep calling you ooze.”

Hmm…I’ll have to ponder that. So long as we have a mutual understanding that I am not an object.

“You ate the chocolate, I think I’ve got that figured out. And we…we aren’t telling Michael about this. I’ve worried him enough.”

As you wish. I’ll try and act like I’m not here.

Jeremy made his way back to the basement and finished setting up the games for them. He sat on his beanbag and pulled out his phone. He could do this. The ooze…she didn’t seem to be evil. He could tolerate her until she found a better…host felt like a better word.

I’m not actually a parasite, Jeremy.

Fuck he hated mind reading.

“Dude! Pasta!”

Jeremy got up, making his way back into the kitchen. He snatched his container of food and perched himself on the counter. He loved pasta so much, probably his favorite food group.

Given your advanced metabolism you really should ingest more protein.

And what happened to pretending that he didn’t have a creature living inside him?

Sorry.

It was a calm afternoon. Jeremy and Michael spent their time in the basement playing video games. It was nice to have their normal activities mixed in with their night time ones. In preparation for the sequel they started up a new save of Apocalypse of The Damned. Michael paused the game at a checkpoint, Jeremy looking over in confusion.

“You okay?”

Michael nodded, “Yeah. Just…I’ve been thinking about how we still need to deal with your mom. Y’know? And…have we considered mocking a threat?”

“What do you mean?”

Michael shrugged, “Like having me suit up and threaten to hurt you? In front of her? See if we can get a confession out of her? We both know I won’t actually hurt you, but…”

“She doesn’t actually care about me, Michael. And I wouldn’t want you to have a ruined reputation because of me. We can’t stoop to her level.”

Perhaps I could be of assistance?

What?

I can form myself into a humanoid shape and be the fake threat to you, Jeremy. Michael’s reputation as the Human Torch would be safe.

“Oh my god,” Michael got up and moved to kneel in front of Jeremy. He felt his sixth sense blare, rolling out of the way as Michael tried tackling him. “Your Squip is back on! Again!”

Jeremy jumped to his feet, “What? No!”

“So you weren’t just talking to it?”

Jeremy…

Yeah yeah. He knew.

“No, I wasn’t,” Jeremy assured. He held out an arm, the ooze spilling out of his skin and shaping into…almost a human shape. “This is…well she doesn’t have a name yet.”

“I think I’m fond of Vee,” she said. It was so strange to actually hear her vocalize.

“What the fuck is that?!” Michael lit up his fists and squared up like he was ready to fight Vee.

“She’s the ooze from Jenna’s dad’s lab,” Jeremy explained. “I…somehow me being near her made her sentient? She’s not…evil. I think.”

“I’m offering myself to be the fake villain in your plan,” Vee explained. “No one knows what I am, they’ve never seen me before.”

Michael looked over to Jeremy, his fists ceasing the flames. “Did you plan on telling me about the alien living in your skin?”

“I…honestly I haven’t made it that far.”

“I’m not an alien. I’m man made. Synthetic life.”

Michael shook his head, “Why couldn’t we have just been normal, Jer?”

Jeremy shrugged, “Who knows. Should we try operation Vee?”

Michael groaned, “Yeah, probably. Is your mom working?”

“Probably. Let’s go for it. I’ll keep my phone on me to record things. I think I left my suit at home—” Jeremy yelped as Vee reattached to him, covering his body again. “No no no, I’d like the red and blue—” he blinked as the black suit shifted color to his normal scheme. Oh. He hadn’t known she could do that

I didn’t either. My capabilities are expanding, but I can only be without a partner for so long before I’m weakened. We will have to be efficient. Michael is far too warm for me to try and bond with, he would burn me alive.

“Well that’s convenient,” Michael mused, digging into his backpack to pull out his suit. Michael changed before they crawled out and made their way into the city. They landed on the roof of Jennifer’s building, Jeremy peeking over the ledge.

“It would probably be better for me to walk in like I’m saying hi, make it natural?”

Michael nodded, “Yeah. I’ll watch from next door just in case. Good luck.”

Michael flew over to a neighboring building and Jeremy jumped from the roof. He slowed himself with a web as he landed to the ground, Vee sinking back into his skin and revealing his clothes beneath. This was seriously convenient.

You’re welcome.

Jeremy made his way inside, heading up to the firm. It was quiet for a weekend. Vee slid off of him before he reached Jennifer’s office, Jeremy turning on his audio recording app and pocketing his phone again.

“Knock knock,” Jeremy greeted.

Jennifer looked up from her computer, “Darling! What brings you here? You should be at home!”

Why did she sound nervous?

“I just wanted to say hi, my friends and I went on a ferry ride earlier and I figured it would be nice to stop in. Do you think you and I could go driving tomorrow? My driver’s test is coming up.”

Jennifer’s eye twitched, “Yes, that sounds lovely. I’ll have to get your car from storage so you can practice in it. Now, darling I’m very busy getting my opening statement ready, could you—”

“Evening boss—”

Jeremy pivoted, finding one of Jennifer’s gunmen walking in. He froze at the sight of Jeremy. That was the man who killed Pufferfish.

Jeremy chose to play dumb, “Hi. You work for my mom?” Jeremy gave his all black attire a look before turning back to Jennifer. “I thought you had higher standards for dress code.”

“Janitorial staff, darling,” Jennifer hummed, getting up from her chair and patting his cheek. She turned to her cronie, “Your job isn’t to start until the firm is empty, go find a different floor to clean. I’m still working.”

The gunman left without a word. Jeremy rocked on his heels while Jennifer moved to a shelf in her office, wiping away dust from her diploma.

“You know, I was thinking about holding a campaign rally in a few weeks. Did you want to tag along, dear?”

Jeremy felt his skull blare out, forcing himself to not flinch as Vee tackled him from behind. Jeremy was pinned to the desk, Vee forming one of her makeshift arms into a blade shape and pressing it to Jeremy’s throat. Holy shit. Jennifer screamed, backing into a corner.

“Your time of terror is up!” Vee hissed, her faceless head turning to Jennifer. “Surrender for your crimes or the boy dies!”

Jennifer fumbled with her hands, “I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

Jeremy, I’m going to make you appear to faint. She might confess if you appear to not be awake.

Jeremy felt another blare in his skull and his body went limp. He couldn’t move, but he could still hear.

“Don’t make me hurt him further!”

Jeremy heard shots ring out, unable to tell what was happening. Who had a gun?

“You think that would hurt me? Please. You’re pathetic, human.”

Jeremy heard a thump next to him, a groan from a man. Jennifer’s help had come back.

“Now!”

“Killing me accomplishes nothing. You aren’t the first freak to try and scare me. And if you’re anything like the others you won’t actually hurt him.”

I’m going to throw you out the window now.

Wait, what?!

Jeremy snapped back to being awake as the glass shattered around him. He moved to cover his face from falling shards, unsure of what to do. If he caught himself he would expose his powers but he had only a handful of seconds to figure it out—

He let out a grunt, opening his eyes to find that Michael was now carrying him. Oh thank god. He offered his boyfriend a thankful smile, finding Michael was being careful to not burn Jeremy as he flew him back up.

“I’m going or pretend to fight Vee,” Michael hummed. “Just to sell that we don’t threaten people.”

Jeremy and Michael made it to the broken window to find Vee ripping the room apart. She had tendrils slicing at the walls, Jennifer cowering in the corner. Jeremy was set down away from the broken glass, Michael swooping in and slamming Vee into a wall.

“You monster!” Michael yelled.

Vee screeched, throwing herself out the window. She formed into a pile of ooze, slithering up the wall and out of sight. Michael turned to Jennifer, putting out his flames and offering her a hand.

“Are you okay, Mrs. Heere?”

Jennifer stumbled to her feet, “Fisk-Heere. And I’m fine. Get your costumed ass out of my office.”

Michael flew back out and up. Jeremy faked a cower in his corner, his eyes darting around the room.

“Are you okay?” Jennifer asked. She lightly kicked her gunman. “Get up.”

Jeremy sniffed, “Why do you keep getting targeted like this? Is what they keep saying true?”

Jennifer marched into his space, “Do not ask me that again. It is shameful of you to think so little of me. Why have you always been so ungrateful? I have done nothing but give you a good life and this is what I get in return?”

It felt like a slap to the face. But Jeremy stood his ground anyway.

“You didn’t say no.”

Jennifer pointed to the door, “Get out, go home.”

Jeremy listened. He slipped out of the office and made his way to the stairwell. Waiting for him on the roof was Michael. Vee was now a puddle on the ground. Jeremy walked over, letting her latch on and having her suit him up.

“No glass in your skin?” Michael asked, walking over.

“I don’t think so,” Jeremy hummed.

I’ll dissolve any I find.

“And Vee can apparently remove it.”

“Yeah, her claws fucking suck by the way!” Michael turned his head and showed a clean cut along his jaw. Jeremy hadn’t noticed it before.

Sorry.

“She says sorry.”

Michael lit up and floated off the ground, reaching a hand out for Jeremy to take, “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

▣

Jeremy sighed, landing on top of a street lamp. Their supposed window smasher had gone quiet. Jeremy and Michael had taken the time to patrol their own neighborhoods but there was nothing. Whoever or whatever was causing the damages knew they were looking.

Perhaps you should take a break. You still have schoolwork to finish.

Jeremy sighed, flinging himself off towards where he had ditched his backpack. He landed on the roof, pulling out his textbook and a pencil. Vee was different from the Squip. Whatever made up her consciousness was like a sponge, she soaked in information and learned. While the Squip was an instant answer to his problems, Vee just memorized Jeremy’s textbooks and helped talk him through things. She was even able to read ahead if Jeremy spaced out and let her. It made things easier without directly cheating. It was like having a lab partner at all times.

Not to mention Vee could keep him warm better than Brooke’s suits. He would happily switch back once they found Vee her perfect host, but for the time being she was a wonder at warding off the outside elements of spring.

And she wasn’t evil. That also helped.

Jeremy was midway through his chemistry homework when he felt the ground rumble. He closed his book, running off towards the source of the vibration. Jeremy reached a corner to find someone in a mask aiming what looked like gauntlets at a window. Jeremy watched, jumping out from the shadows when the window shattered. He found his criminal.

“That desperate for a good bass line? I don’t blame you,” Jeremy swooped in and knocked the criminal off their feet.

The criminal cried out, aiming the gauntlet at him from their place on the ground.

“Stay back!”

Jeremy crossed his arms over his chest, “You’re the one who has been destroying property.”

The vibration wouldn’t even throw him off of his feet, Jeremy could stick. He had nothing to fear. Jeremy laughed as the gauntlets fired. The vibrations felt…tingly. No pain.

Vee screamed out, her color shifting back to black and forming into goop. Oh shit!

“Make it stop!” Vee screeched, her voice actually vocalizing as she practically melted.

Jeremy ducked his head to hide his face, watching Vee begin to drip off of him. A tendril formed and began slicing in the air, trying to knock the gauntlets off target. Jeremy raised his arms and fired webs, closing up the hands of the criminal. The vibrations stopped and Vee quickly scurried back on his body, reforming the costume. Holy shit.

Ouch!

Jeremy walked over, the criminal now vibrating in place as the devices were clogged. Jeremy waited for the movement to cease before webbing their attacker against the wall.

“What the hell is on you?!” The criminal demanded.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Jeremy quipped. “I mean holy shit, those things are real shockers!”

“Let me go!”

Not a chance,” Jeremy tsked, stepping forward and reaching for the almost helmet-like mask. “Let me just save the authorities some time with this—”

Jeremy pulled off the mask to reveal Jenna. Oh fuck! Why her?

Jeremy dropped the mask, backing up a step, “Are you stupid! What? Your parents divorced so now you take to destroying public property?! Family therapy was an option!”

Jenna glared at him, “Don’t act like you know my life!”

“Did your dad make those? Does he know you’re doing this?”

“Fuck off!”

Jeremy ripped her free from the wall, scooping up the mask before swinging Jenna back towards her house. He dropped down by the back door, setting Jenna down on the steps.

“How did you know where I live?”

Jeremy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Would she tell everyone? The rest of the group already knew.

Eye for an eye, you keep her a secret and she keeps you.

Good enough. Jeremy had his mask melt away, offering Jenna a bored look, “C’mon, Jenna. Seriously?”

“Holy. Shit!” Jenna gasped, unable to properly emote with her body being covered in webbing. “Jeremy?! Wait! So your mom—”

“Yep.”

“And the building—”

“Mmhmm.”

“And…and Gary?”

Jeremy hung his head, “Yeah. I didn’t…I didn’t know who he was until you showed me the article written about him. I’m so sorry.”

Jenna nodded, “I…I get it. I think. Why…why didn’t you leave me for the police?”

“Your life is falling apart, you aren’t a bad person,” Jeremy shrugged, sitting next to her. “But seriously, no more Shocker nonsense. You…you’re better than that.”

“I haven’t seen my mom in like a month,” Jenna sniffed. “I’m so fucking stupid, thinking this would get her to come back.”

“Have you told her you want to see her?”

Jenna shook her head.

“Start there. I know things suck, trust me. But you’re old enough you can actually try to have a connection with your mom.”

“And Chloe’s fucking dying,” Jenna let her head fall against his shoulder, venting out her problems. “And my dad is miserable. And now you’re a fucking superhero! Why is all this happening?!”

“The cancer is possibly genetic, and she could end up in remission,” Jeremy hummed, wrapping an arm around her. “Your dad is probably still in mourning. And uh…random spider bite mixed with being electrocuted?”

Jenna tilted her head to look at him, “Do you think things will get better?”

“Yeah, it just might take some time.”

Jenna glanced down at her web covered body, “Can you get this shit off of me?”

Jeremy scrunched his nose, “It’s easier to just let it dissolve. Two hours tops. Do you need help inside?”

Jenna nodded, Jeremy helping pull her to her feet. He carried her to her room, depositing Jenna on her bed. He even offered to start a movie for her since she couldn’t use her hands properly.

“Wait!” Jenna stopped him before he could leave through her window. “Who’s the Human Torch?”

Jeremy had his mask reform, covering his face. “Michael.”

Jeremy crawled out, shutting the window behind him. He made his way into the city, looking around for his boyfriend. He wasn’t sure if Michael was out or not, and it wasn’t like Michael would have his phone on him if he was out flying around. Michael might not burn but his phone would.

After searching for an hour Jeremy concluded that Michael was probably at home. He still stayed out, taking care of a few easier fights and robberies before heading home. He crashed into bed, Vee melting back into his skin as his eyes drifted shut.

His alarm never let him rest long. But Vee and him were both hungry so he forced himself to get up. Vee hung out in a puddle in his room while he showered, Jeremy letting her latch back on before he slid down to the kitchen. Despite his food intake increasing he didn’t mind her being there. She was cool.

I’m honored, Jeremy.

“Hey Private,” James ruffled his hair as he passed. “Fun night?”

“Consider the window smashing finished,” Jeremy shrugged.

Jeremy chose to walk to school, pulling his hood over his head to offset the chill of the wind. He had thought spiders preferred cool environments but apparently that didn’t apply to him. He couldn’t wait for summer.

Jeremy froze as his skull blared out in warning. He dived off to the side as a car came crashing into a fence near him. Shit. They must have lost control.

Jeremy began to run over, hoping to check in on the driver.

Jeremy was half way over when his head cried out again, halting his movement. What?

“Are you okay?” Jeremy called out.

He yelped as a gunshot rang out. He jerked his body towards the ground, rolling towards the sidewalk. What the fuck was happening?!

Jeremy, run.

And he did, he bolted into an alley and threw himself up the side of a building. He made it to the roof, peeking his head over the edge to inspect. Holy shit. What was happening?

The driver stepped out of the vehicle, clearly searching for him. Fuck! Who the fuck tries killing a teenager?!

You are bleeding.

Jeremy looked down at his arm, finding blood soaking into his hoodie. Shit!

“Let’s get him,” Jeremy growled, tossing off his backpack.

Vee complied, covering him in the synthetic costume. Jeremy jumped down, landing a kick to his attackers face. It was a pathetically easy fight, Jeremy restraining the man easily.

“Who sent you?! Who attacks a kid?!” Jeremy demanded, slamming the webbed up gunman into his vehicle.

“My employer remains anonymous!”

Jeremy landed a hit to the jaw, “Now!”

“The Kingpin sends their best to the child.”

Seriously?! Jennifer?! Jeremy grumbled under his breath and threw one more punch, rendering the attacker unconscious. He webbed him to the ground before flinging back to the alley. What did he do now?

Go back to the scene, call the police. Spider-Man saved you. That’s all.

Jeremy hummed, doing as she said. He called the authorities and waited, spinning the tale as best he could to make it seem like he had been saved by another person. His dad was called, James running over to him while a paramedic worked on stitching up his arm. She seemed shocked that Jeremy didn’t flinch, but he ignored her strange looks. At least he was actually getting stitches this time. The bullet had only grazed him, but he had still lost a lot of blood. His hoodie was discarded.

“Jeremy, oh my god!” James pulled him into a hug.

“Did he say anything that you heard?” The officer that had been questioning him peered over the scene, other officers trying to rip the criminal from the pavement.

“He…he said he worked for the Kingpin?”

The officer froze, “And…you’re sure about that?”

Jeremy nodded.

The officer turned to James, “I can’t imagine a kid would be involved in a crime ring—”

“No. Do we…do we know who the Kingpin is?”

“Suspicions but nothing…” the officer looked at Jeremy again. “What’s your name again?”

“Jeremy Heere.”

The son of the actual Kingpin. But society was still in denial over it.

“How about we get you to school?”

Jeremy took the ride, James gripping the wheel tight as they drove. Jeremy kept quiet, looking out the window.

“Kiddo—”

“He tried to hit me, when that didn’t work he shot me. I kicked his ass, Dad.”

“Why would Jennifer want to hurt you?”

Jeremy hung his head, “I…may or may not have questioned her.”

James sighed, “We…fuck I need to divorce her. Kiddo this is bad. We’re going to have to leave.”

“Not is she’s arrested.”

“Have you considered she might own some of the police?”

“I’m not backing down. She’s going to pay for what she’s done. And obviously I can take care of myself.”

James sighed, pulling up to the school, “I hope so. Have a good day kiddo.”

Jeremy waved before heading up the front steps. He had missed his first class, but slid into chemistry before the late bell rang. Their seating arrangement had changed again, throwing Jeremy across the room from Chloe. She had her head lowered, her hair curtaining her face. She had missed a few days of school because her treatment had made her sick. It was nice to see her. Even if it was only her hair.

“Dude! What the hell ith with the bandageth?” Rich asked as Jeremy took his seat in their next class.

“Occupational hazard,” Jeremy shrugged, not wanting to explain in a room full of people.

Would you like me to heal you?

No, if Jennifer had a target on his head she would want proof that he had been hit. His own healing factor would get things rolling fast enough as it was. He would just have to deal with the wound for a few days.

Jeremy drifted into the choir hall, falling into his seat next to Michael. He was chilly and Michael was a perfect human heater for him.

“What, no sweater?” Michael teased him, pulling him into his arms.

Jeremy motioned to his bandaged arm, “It got messy.”

“Fuck, why didn’t you call me? I could have come out last night—”

“Nope, don’t go there. I’m fine. Can I have your sweatshirt? I’m freezing.”

Michael pulled off the hoodie and passed it over, Jeremy burrowing himself inside the fabric. He was such a lucky bastard to have Michael. With his body temperature more regulated he played along for the class with ease. Vee wasn’t exactly fond of the drums, but the vibrations weren’t enough to send her into the frenzy from the night prior. It was good that they were learning her weaknesses.

Jeremy and Michael walked to lunch hand in hand. They shared what Maria had packed, the two of them huddled together. Chloe slumped into her seat next to Brooke, lowering her head to the table. Brooke reached an arm over and rubbed up and down her back.

“Did you want to go out to eat tonight?” Brooke hummed.

Chloe looked up, her face pale, “I’m sorry, I just don’t feel great. But when I’m feeling better we can. I promise.”

Brooke squeezed her into a hug, “Did you feel like eating?”

Chloe shook her head, Brooke dropping the topic and turning to her own lunch. Jeremy tried turning his attention back to his own lunch but his head wouldn’t move. What the fuck? Vee?

Her. Chloe. She…it’s like when you were first around but stronger. She’s sick? Can I…could I heal her? Please?

Oh fuck. Jeremy got up, taking Chloe by the arm and dragging her out of the cafeteria. She tried complaining, but Jeremy ignored her. He brought her into the library and took them into a far corner.

“Jerry, what the hell?”

Jeremy held a hand palm up, Vee emerging from his hand in a small black puddle, “This is Vee, she’s…she…can you just trust me?”

Chloe backed into the wall, “What the fuck is that?!”

“Science. Just…please, Chloe.”

Chloe glared at him, “If you kill me I’ll make sure to haunt you.”

But Chloe reached out and touched the puddle in his hand. Vee practically jumped to Chloe. Jeremy watched over them as Vee surrounded Chloe in black. It almost looked like the black suit, but without all the web detailing and spider logos. Large white eyes formed, looking like his suit but actually moving. Blinking. Chloe’s hair was also covered in the goo, still somehow resting like normal. Whatever Vee had done with Jeremy was nothing compared to what was possible with Chloe.

“Holy shit!” Chloe raised an arm, examining her suit. The suit melted back into her, leaving her in her normal clothes. “Woah.” She shuddered, goosebumps forming on her skin. “What is this?”

“Vee is…she’s an artificial life form that I somehow gave consciousness to. She’s nice.”

Chloe spaced out, Vee likely talking to her through her mind. Her eyes welled up as she focused back in.

“She…she said she can cure me. Jeremy, she's a cure for illness!”

“But she can’t just bond with anyone, you and I are good fits. I think…I think she’ll be good for you.”

Chloe nodded, brushing her hair back, “It’ll take some getting used to, but this is way better than my treatment so…I think I’ll take it.” She wiped a few stray tears from her eyes, “Holy shit. I’m going to live!”

She pulled Jeremy into a quick hug, the two of them walking back to their table. They chose to ignore their significant other’s looks of confusion. Chloe could share what was going on in time if she wanted to.

“Hey, uh, Jer?” Michael reached for his hand. “Did…did you want…um. Prom sign up is today. Did you want to go? With me?”

Oh. Jeremy smiled, reaching for Michael’s hand, “Uh, sure. If you want to go.”

Michael grinned, squeezing his hand quickly, “I’ll go sign us up.”

Jeremy beamed as he walked away, snatching another bite of Michael’s food. Maybe things would turn around. Chloe was essentially healed, Vee had her perfect host, it was all looking up.

“Y’know Jeremy, I heard you’re in the running for prom king,” Jenna teased from across the table.

That sounded like a nightmare waiting to happen. Jeremy would have to take it in stride like everything else.

“We should all go shopping after school,” Christine piped up. “We don’t do enough as a group.”

There was a round of agreements, Michael piling on when he returned.

“Wait, I thought you weren’t feeling good,” Brooke practically crawled into Chloe’s lap. “You should rest. Don’t go out just because we want to.”

Chloe offered her a small smile, “I can tough it out for a few hours. Besides, I can’t let you see my actual dress, I’ll just window shop. Who knows, maybe some group activity will help me feel better?”

“Do you guys have dates?” Michael asked the remainder of the table.

Jenna shrugged, and Christine shook her head. They were both going as photographers for the yearbook.

“No,” Jake mumbled while poking at his empty lunch tray. “Madeline said she already had a date.”

“That girl is a nightmare,” Chloe hummed, shooting her ex a bored look. “I don’t know why you bother. You have a habit of going back to pointless relationships.”

“Says the bitch who let me come running back.”

“Bridge has burned, buddy,” Chloe hummed, pressing a kiss to Brooke’s forehead. “Terminal illness has cleared my head. We were doomed.”

Jake rolled his eyes, but dropped the argument.

“Uh…y’know we could—”

“No,” Jake didn’t even let Rich finish his sentence. Rich froze, his eyes widening. “Why the fuck would I go to prom with you, Rich?”

Rich floundered, “I…becauthe we’re friendth? Who the fuck pithed in your cheerioth?”

Jake slammed a fist down on the table, causing all of them to flinch, “Really? This…this is fucking pointless. I’ve tried just moving on but it’s not worth anything. I don’t know you, Rich. I know my friend who died on play night. And as hard as you try to be, you aren’t him. Everything you ever told me, it’s all been one big fucking lie. The real you burned my house down. I’ll sit here and pretend that we’re all good because for some reason I don’t want you to suffer…but no. I’m not going to encourage your creepy crush on me.”

Rich turned angry, “What ith tho wrong with me that you’d rather have the fake? What? Go on. Tell me! I fucking know I thuck! Thould I go turn the fucker back on? Would that make you happy?!”

Jake got up from the table, “Fuck off.”

Jake marched away, Rich gripping the table while blinking rapidly. Brooke hurried over to him, pulling Rich into a hug and hiding his face against her shoulder. Jeremy stood, going to chase after Jake.

“What the fuck was that?!” Jeremy caught up to him in the hall.

“Oh shut up, you aren’t any better,” Jake grumbled.

“No!” Jeremy stood in front of Jake and made him stop moving. “I get you’re pissed, but Rich didn’t deserve that! He apologized to you! He’s the one who told you the truth!”

“No. He deserved so much more,” Jake growled. “Why is it that I’ve lost my parents, my house, I had to relearn to walk, and lose my girlfriend and best friend?! How is that fair? I’m supposed to just forgive him?!”

“He’s trying! It’s been months, you need to get over yourself—”

Jeremy’s head rang out, his body leaning back on instinct to dodge a punch Jake threw at him. In that moment all the years of suffering at Jake’s hand came flooding back. All the times Jeremy had been driven to panic attacks. The scraped knees and bruises he had hidden from his dad at thirteen. Jake’s words had once driven him to nearly…he hadn’t gone through with it. Michael had stopped him. But he nearly had.

Jeremy threw Jake into the lockers, grabbing him by the throat and holding him off the ground. He glared, anger pulsing through him.

“What? Are you going to threaten to kill me again like on Halloween?” Jeremy hissed, watching fear seep into Jake’s eyes as his airway was tightened. “Try and trip me down the stairs? Call me disgusting? Tell me to kill myself? Again? I did not throw my normal life away for you to hurt me again. I did not pull myself from the grave to have you act like this. You think your life is so sad, and I’ll admit you’re pretty pathetic. You think your life sucks? My mother tried to have me assassinated this morning. I have not come this far to die now. I have so much more going on than your pity party, I’m not going to tolerate you being an asshole in the few hours I get to be a normal kid. I walk out these doors and the target is back on my head, with or without the mask now.” Jeremy let Jake go, the taller teenager dropping on his ass. “Check yourself. Apologize. I’m not mediating your melodrama again.”

Jake got to his feet, “You—”

Jeremy pivoted around and slammed a punch into the lockers beside Jake’s head. The metal nearly snapped under the pressure. Jake audibly yelped.

“Do not.” Jeremy narrowed his eyes. “Fuck. With. Me.”

Jeremy stalked away to his next class. Michael came sliding in after a few minutes, the two of them sharing a table. Since the room was empty Jeremy crawled into Michael’s lap and pulled his boyfriend into a kiss. He needed to let out his frustration somehow.

“What the hell did I miss?” Michael breathed in the same air as him.

“Fucking hate Jake sometimes,” Jeremy grumbled, dragging a hand down Michael’s chest. “Are we still going prom shopping?”

“Dunno,” Michael shrugged, pressing his lips against Jeremy’s pulse point. “But, either way my moms are gone for a work trip. We can get up to some ravishing?”

“Why is ravish your code word for sex?” Jeremy groaned, pressing their foreheads together.

“Code Word For Sex would be an awesome band name.”

Jeremy wheezed out a laugh, “Holy fuck I love you.”

By the end of the day everyone had calmed down enough that they could go shopping like civil humans. Jeremy made sure to keep himself alert, not wanting a repeat of the morning. His arm was still throbbing beneath his bandages. He made sure to keep his dad updated, just so he didn’t worry. He wasn’t sure how determined to kill him Jennifer was.

“Oh, fuck, I can’t come over tonight,” Jeremy sighed, lacing a hand with Michael. “Jennifer is…not reacting to my stunt with Vee all that well.”

Michael hesitated, “Does…does she suspect that you’re…”

“No. Just…” Jeremy gestured to his bandaged arm, though you couldn’t actually see the bandages with Mochael’s hoodie covering them. “She uh…she’s trying to kill me. Sent a shooter after Jeremy Heere this morning. And only one of us has a sixth sense, and unfortunately I can’t sense when you’re in danger. My arm fucking hurts.”

“Vee didn’t heal you yet?”

Jeremy blinked, “Uh, no. She…she’s attached to Chloe now. She’s a better fit than me. I heal fast enough on my own.”

Michael pressed a kiss into his hair, “Well, then I’m coming over. I think she would be less likely to kill you in her house. Right?”

“I hope so.”

They made the most of it. Jeremy didn’t actually buy anything, none of them did, but it was fun to goof off for an afternoon. Chloe seemed to be more alert, Vee must have been working on helping heal her. Rich kept close to Brooke while Jake was the one to not really talk to anyone.

He hoped things would get better, but they clearly needed some time to adjust.

▣

Jeremy groaned, his eyes opening slowly. He couldn’t even remember what had happened. A bar fight. Something dumb. And then all of a sudden there was a hoard of people.

“Oh good, you’re awake.”

Jeremy looked up, wincing as he did so. He felt like he had been beaten with a metal pole. Standing in front of him was one of Jennifer’s cronies. The one who killed Pufferfish. Shit. Why did he feel so heavy?

“Nothing to say? That’s probably all the tranquilizer. It takes quite a bit to take you down.”

Fuck, he was drugged? He couldn’t move his arms because he felt so heavy.

“Oh good, you got him.”

Fuck! Jeremy watched Jennifer walk into view, her eyes narrowed. He couldn’t even speak. He managed to get his fingers to twitch, begging his body to wake up.

“You’ve really become a pain in my ass, Spider-Man,” Jennifer tsked. “I really can’t bother with you anymore. When your body is found I’ll be sure to send your family my best.”

What? Jeremy made a noise in the back of his throat as he was picked up and dragged across whatever room he was in. Jeremy was dropped into a metal box, surrounded by bags of sand. What the hell?

Jeremy managed to slide his phone out of his pocket, moving painfully slow to turn on the camera.

“Last I checked spiders don’t swim,” Jennifer hummed, walking towards him. Jeremy flipped his arm over to rest on top of his phone so she wouldn’t see it, just barely keeping the camera visible. He hoped it would catch her gloating.

Jeremy clenched his teeth, “Why…why try to kill the kid?”

Holy shit his voice sounded like ass. His throat hurt. He would probably be in more pain if he wasn’t so out of it.

“Disrespectful brat. He doesn’t deserve what I’ve given him. I’m sure he’ll be joining you soon. And once we get that fire freak drugged I’ll be sure to send him down too. Should have thought of it sooner.”

“He’s your son.”

“Everyone is a tool, Spider-Man. The sooner you figure that out the sooner you’ll grow up. Though I guess you’ll never have the time.” She turned to her cronie, “Box him up.”

Jeremy was enclosed in darkness. He was jostled around. He could hear an engine start. They were going to throw him in the river. Or the ocean. Jeremy got his phone into his hand. Ending the recording before painfully slowly managing to call Michael. He had to put it on speaker because he still couldn’t get his arms too move all that much.

“Jer?”

“Help. They’re going to drown me. Box. Can’t move.”

“What?! Fuck! Do you know where you are?”

“No. Please.”

“I’ll start searching.”

The call ended. Jeremy hesitated before working to call Chloe. Vee might be able to help. He repeated what he could, Chloe repeatedly saying she couldn’t help. She didn’t have powers. And that was a fair point. He didn’t quite have the brain power to articulate that Vee could possibly sense his location from a further distance. He ended up ending the call so he could focus on waking up. He wiggled what parts of his body he could move, hoping that if he got his heart rate elevated his body would process the tranquilizer faster. He wasn’t quite sure if that was how bodies worked, but he would try. He knew he blew through drugs fast, he was never high long when smoking with Michael now.

His sixth sense buzzed in his skull, the sensation dulled but still there. Jeremy was jostled, water beginning to seep into his metal crate. Shit. They had thrown him in. Fuck.

Goddamnit! He had to take Michael to prom, he was not dying now!

Jeremy found his legs easier to move. He focused there, kicking at the side of the crate. The more he moved the stronger his movement became. He managed to rip a hole in the metal, equally happy for the progress but also realizing that now water was flooding into the crate. Jeremy had never been the strongest swimmer. He felt cuts form on his legs as the sharp metal went scraping against him. He didn’t let that stop him. He made the hole big enough for his head to get through. That was progress.

Jeremy willed himself to get up, taking a deep breath before pushing open the hole bigger with his hands. He winced at the pain as his hands were sliced open, but he had to keep going. Jeremy took one more deep breath before snatching his phone back and pulling himself out of the crate. The dark of the night was worse with his blood changing the color of the water. Jeremy willed his body to swim up towards the bit of moonlight he could see, but he was spent. His legs flailed aimlessly, but he wasn’t moving up. Fuck he was so tired. He wouldn’t be able to hold his breath much longer. Jeremy could feel his lungs aching. Please. He just wanted to make it home. He didn’t want to die in the mask. He didn’t want to hurt everyone like that.

Maybe it was the blood loss, maybe it was exhaustion, but Jeremy felt his eyes drift shut. Air left his lungs, but he was too weak to thrash as he inhaled the water.

He felt a force in his hand, faint. After a few moments Jeremy felt air. He coughed, trying to force out the water. He opened his eyes as he hit solid ground. Standing above him was…

“Vee?”

“We are Venom.”

Jeremy began coughing again. He wheezed as more water came out of his mouth. He rolled to his side, pulling his mask up to rest above his airways.

“Fuck!”

Jeremy looked up, finding Michael landing next to them. Holy shit. He felt so weak. Michael extinguished himself as he ran over, dropping to his knees next to Jeremy in the sand.

“Oh my god, Jer!” Michael took in his appearance. “Are you okay?”

Jeremy opened his mouth to speak, but he fell faint before he could say anything. He just needed some sleep. He would be fine.

He jerked awake, a scream caught in his throat.

“Do not kick me you prick!” Chloe snapped.

Jeremy took in his surroundings, finding himself in Michael’s room. What the hell? Why was he practically naked? How had he—

Jeremy cried out again as Chloe pressed something against his leg.

“Woah, Jer, hey,” Michael came running into view, holding his legs still while Chloe worked. “Breathe.”

“Phone.”

“What?”

Jeremy felt like he was shaking, “My phone. Recorded her.”

His costume had been thrown into the corner. Michael pulled out the device, wincing at the state of it. His phone was nearly busted completely after the building crash and nearly drowning probably didn’t help.

“I’ll throw it with some silica beads, we’ll see what happens,” Michael hummed.

“Okay, all disinfected,” Chloe said, pulling out a pack of gauze. “Time to bandage you up, bug boy.”

Jeremy bit back his cries of pain as pressure was put on his cuts. Chloe then moved to his hands, wrapping up his wounds. He felt so weak.

“Did you pull me out?” Jeremy asked, looking up at Chloe.

She hummed, “Vee and I did, yeah.”

“Why’d you call yourself that?”

Chloe shrugged, “When we work in sync like that? It’s not really either of us in control. It’s both of us at once. Besides,” Chloe tilted her head and her body covered in the ooze, forming her version of a suit. “We needed a superhero name. We aren’t crazy like you, but we want to be useful as needed.”

The suit sunk away again, leaving Chloe standing above him. She had a bunch of blood soaked rags around her, piling them up and carrying them towards the laundry room.

“Okay so Venom uses we pronouns?”

“Yeah,” Chloe called out.

Jeremy pulled himself into a sitting position, wincing at the sight of all the bandages covering him. His arm had just healed from the gunshot too. Michael came back in, Jeremy hadn’t even noticed he had left. Fuck he was out of it. In his hand was Jeremy’s phone stuffed in a bag of silica beads like promised.

“Okay, I’m going home,” Chloe sighed, her eyes tired. “Do not bother me for the rest of the night, I have to go through another round of treatment tomorrow.”

“Why? Didn’t Vee like…heal you?”

“Yeah but I have to keep up appearances,” Chloe shrugged. “I’ll finish my treatment and when they see that I’m healed they’ll think it was the treatment. Vee said she can filter out all the medications so they won’t hurt me.”

Jeremy pulled himself to his feet, “Thank you.”

Chloe walked over and ruffled his hair, “I do care about you, dumbass. And now I know I…kind of have superpowers? Still not doing your dumb shit, but it’s good to know I can be helpful. Have fun.”

Chloe made her way up the stairs, Michael passing him a pair of pants to put on. He shimmied into the pants and fell back against Michael’s bed. He was exhausted.

“I’m glad you called me,” Michael whispered, climbing into bed and sitting between Jeremy’s legs. “I was…fuck I was scared. How did we ever manage this without each other?”

Jeremy managed a smile, “I kept nearly dying?”

Michael leaned over and kissed him, the two of them holding each other close.

“So, what’s the plan with the video?”

“Send it to someone who can help? Upload it online? I haven’t got that far into planning, but she admitted to trying to kill me. And she threatened to kill you.”

“Solid evidence, we’re one step closer,” Michael murmured, brushing a hand through his hair. “We’re going to do this.”

Jeremy grinned, letting his eyes fall closed, “Yeah. Just…maybe in the morning?”

“You’ve been through enough, Webs. We can work in the morning.”

Michael fell against him, smothering him in warmth. Jeremy blindly fired a web, latching onto the light switch and flipping it off. The room went dark, the two of them cuddling up. His body was throbbing with ache, but Michael was holding him. He was safe.

How many times had Jennifer tried killing him now? Four total? Three as Spider-Man and one as Jeremy? She had failed. Every attempt.

And now they had something. It wasn’t an outright confession, but it could be enough. She hadn’t denied trying to kill him.

This was his chance.

▣

“I’m so proud of you!” James squeezed his shoulder. “It took me three tries to pass my drivers test.”

Of all the difficult things Jeremy did, it was odd that something as simple as passing his drivers test was something to smile about. Still, holding the piece of paper that would act as his license for the next week or so was exciting. Jeremy couldn’t help but grin.

“James Heere? Jeremiah Heere?”

The two of them looked up, finding a pair of officers approaching them. Oh shit. It was happening!

“We would like you two to come in for questioning regarding Jennifer Fisk-Heere and her potential involvement in gang activity.”

Jeremy bit back a grin that threatened to play at his lips. James agreed, the two of them following the officers as they were brought to the police station. James looked over during the drive, his eyebrows raised.

“Jeremy?”

Jeremy held up his hands, revealing the bandages on his palms, “These will be more than worth it if she gets charged.”

James blinked, “What did she do?”

“Tried to kill Spider-Man.”

James focused on the road, “Kiddo, you scare me.”

Jeremy was separated from his dad as he was brought in. The officer sitting across from him was clearly trying to be intimidating, but she didn’t know she was sitting across from Spider-Man.

“Jeremiah, you were at the party where Spider-Man accused your mother of being the Kingpin, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have any reason to believe that to be true?”

“I…no solid reason, but honestly I do believe it.”

“Reports show you recently suffered a gunshot wound to the arm, and that you said the attacker claimed to have been hired by the Kingpin to kill you.”

“Yes.”

“You’re a lucky young man, you were also in the wreckage of your mother’s old firm building.”

“Yes.”

“You’ve been through a lot in a short period of time.”

Jeremy nodded, “Yeah, all that and I still have to think about school.”

“You believe your mother to be the Kingpin?”

“I…yes. She…threatened me. Kind of? At her office she was targeted by…a creature. I don’t know what it was. It threatened to kill me unless Jennifer confessed. I was saved by the Human Torch. And when I asked her why everyone was targeting her, when I asked if it was true…I was terrified. But she didn’t deny anything. And then the next week I was nearly hit by a car, and then I was shot.”

“Jeremiah, your mother was arrested today. A reporter came forward with video evidence of her…admitting that she hired that man to kill you. We are looking into the crime ring allegations, but at minimum she did try to have you killed.”

Thank god, it had worked. Jeremy did his best to help, also trying to act like the news was actually shocking to him. It was a struggle to not grin the entire time.

“Kiddo?” James was finally allowed to see him. “How about you head back to school? He doesn’t need to do anything else, right?”

The officers let him go. Jeremy left the police station and sprinted to school. He had missed most of the day, but he had enough time to at least gather up his homework for the day. Jeremy scurried around the building to collect his work before plopping himself down in the empty cafeteria. He had a bit of time left in his free hour to get some work done.

“Jerry!”

Jeremy looked up, finding Brooke and Chloe running over to him. He waved, turning his attention back to his book.

“What are you doing here?” Brooke asked, sitting next to him.

Jeremy made a face, “Homework?”

Chloe lightly smacked him across the back of the head, “Your mother was arrested! Why aren’t you out celebrating?!”

“Y’know I passed my drivers test today, I could just be content with that.”

“Oh please, you’ll be hitching rides for years,” Chloe hummed. “You seriously didn’t want to take a lap around the city? You’ve been trying to do this for months.”

Jeremy shrugged, “I…yeah it’s great. But…this is only part of the battle. She hasn’t been exposed as the Kingpin yet, all people know is that she wants me dead. It’s Jennifer, it’ll never be that easy.”

Chloe shook a finger at him, “We’re celebrating. All of us. This weekend.”

Jeremy let it go. He was happy, he just knew that things weren’t finished yet. Chloe and Brooke helped catch him up for what he had missed in class, the three of them splitting off as the bell rang to send them to their last class of the day. Jeremy dropped into his seat next to Michael, lacing a hand with his boyfriend. They shared a smile, Michael squeezing his hand tight.

There were a lot of eyes on him. It had been like that more frequently since Jennifer announced her campaign. Since she was using Jeremy to help boost her image. And now?

The video was public. Everyone knew what Jennifer had tried to do to him. The Squip might have made him popular, but now he was a victim of a potential crime boss. There would be eyes on him for a long time.

After school the duo chose to hang back. They let the crowd of students file out, Michael pulling him into the library. Jeremy let out a laugh as he was pushed into a corner, Michael caressing his cheek.

“You did it,” Michael beamed at him.

“We did it,” Jeremy corrected. “I would have been fish food if not for you and Venom.”

Michael pulled him into a kiss, practically pulling Jeremy into his arm. Jeremy chose to commit and just jumped, locking his legs around Michael’s hips and throwing his arms around Michael’s neck. He buried his hands into Michael’s hair and gave an appreciative hum as Michael pushed him further into the wall. Knowing them they would probably break something—

Jeremy cut off the kiss as he heard crumbling behind him. He turned his head, finding they had in fact nearly crushed a hole into the stone wall behind them.

“Oops,” Michael chuckled, pressing his lips to Jeremy’s neck.

Jeremy laughed, “I love you.”

“Jeremy?”

Michael set him down, the two emerging from their corner to find Brooke standing at a table. Jeremy waved, keeping one hand locked with Michael as they walked over. She seemed…worried.

“Rich didn’t come to school today,” Brooke explained. “And I know he’s still…what Jake said to him hurt. Can you guys come with me to check on him? I know he’s…he’s not been nice to you. But…I care about him.”

Michael nodded, “Yeah, we can go talk to the little prick. Your car or mine?”

Brooke cracked a small grin, “Yours. Mine…my mom said she needed it like a week ago. I’ve been walking or getting a ride from Chloe.”

Brooke…wasn’t exactly close to school. She was near the edge of town.

“If Chloe can’t take you just let me know,” Jeremy offered. “I can either drive you or we could swing.”

“Okay,” Brooke hummed. “But you aren’t swinging with me.”

The group went out to the parking lot. Christine, Chloe, and Jake were still hanging around to go to musical rehearsal, the three of them waving as they passed. Jenna was also with them, but Jeremy wasn’t sure if she had auditioned or not.

“Does anyone actually know where Rich lives?” Michael asked. “Because I don’t think I’ve ever heard him talk about his home, let alone mentioning where it would be.”

Jeremy pondered on it. No. Rich didn’t talk about his life outside of school all that much. Not that he talked much at all these days. The more time he went without the Squip the further his lisp had progressed into returning. Not to mention his whole deal with Jake.

“Unless he’s moved since middle school he lives in an apartment complex near the weird gentlemen’s bar.”

Jeremy cocked his head to the side, “The what?”

Brooke shrugged, “It’s like a strip club except they can’t afford actual dancers so they just play porn on the tv.”

“Is that…”

“Legal? I dunno. I only know because Rich had me over one time in seventh grade.”

Michael started driving, “You hung out with him? Before the Squip?”

Brooke nodded from the backseat, “Yeah. We…Rich found me as I was going through my first period. We skipped class and he bought me pads and we hid at his place since no one was home. I didn’t…I didn’t know his name until that day. And I never really…bothered with him after. At least until freshman year. But…he’s a nice guy under the muscles and intimidation tactics.”

They found the apartment building, parking on the street and heading towards the front door. There was no security, the door just opened and let them in. The place was pretty disgusting. Jeremy kept his thoughts to himself as Brooke brought them to the stairwell.

“No elevator?” Michael made a face.

“It sounded like it was going to crash when I was twelve, I don’t trust it now,” Brooke hummed.

They walked up the six flights of stairs to reach the correct floor. Jeremy and Michael were fine, but Brooke was winded by the time they made it. She didn’t have their powers.

“Okay,” Brooke brushed her hair out of her face, leading them into the hall. “Look for number nine, I only remember because Rich made a 69 joke.”

Brooke was the one to knock on the door. They waited, but there was no answer. Brooke knocked again, crossing her arms as she waited.

The door opened a bit, Jeremy spotting a sliver of Rich’s face peeking out, “Brooke?”

“Hey,” Brooke waved.

The door opened, revealing a sullen Rich on the other side. He had a hood pulled over his head, and while he was already kind of short the giant hoodie and baggy pajama pants didn’t help him at all.

“What’re you guyth doing here?” Rich asked.

Brooke approached, reaching out and taking one of Rich’s hands in hers, “I was worried when you didn’t come to school without saying anything.”

Rich motioned for them to come in, “Yeah? Thorry. Jutht wathn’t feeling it. Pleathe exthuthe the meth, my family are pigth.”

The scent of cigarette smoke was immediately apparent. Jeremy held his breath as Rich brought them into his room. Inside was much easier to breathe, though the room was small and clearly not meant for four people to sit inside. Jeremy opted to slip his shoes off and sit against the wall, leaving more room for everyone else to settle. The movement startled Rich for a moment. It wasn’t like Jeremy openly used his powers in front of him all that often.

“Are you doing okay?” Brooke asked. “I know Jake…”

“Oh, he blocked me,” Rich scoffed, sitting by the head of his bed. “On everything. Can’t even text him. I thouldn’t have…telling him how I felt wath a mithtake. Why did I have to fall for him? Betht friendth thould be off limith.”

“They have a way of sneaking up on you,” Michael hummed, turning his head to smile at Jeremy.

Brooke laughed, “Yeah. Been there.”

“Rich!”

Rich shot up, “Fuck. I’m not supposed to have people over. Go. Now. Window.”

Jeremy hesitated, but did pry the window open and crawled out. He took Brooke out first, dropping to the ground and depositing her safely before climbing back up for Michael. They waved to Rich as they dropped back down, Jeremy pulling his shoes on as they hopped around the building.

“I’m worried about him,” Brooke grumbled, heading back to Michael’s car.

“We’ll keep an eye out for him,” Michael assured. “Jake needs to get his head out of his ass, it isn’t like Rich was ever openly hitting on him.”

“Did you guys want to grab dinner?”

Jeremy hesitated, “I…Jennifer was arrested I don’t know…”

“C’mon Web Head,” Michael ruffled his hair. “I think you’ll be fine to have dinner.”

He relented, the three of them driving off to find dinner. It wasn’t a group he ever imagined working well together. Brooke and Michael. But they got along great, far better than Jeremy had seen him interact with the others in the group.

“What do you think will happen with your mom?” Brooke asked, stabbing at her food.

Jeremy shrugged, “Dunno. But the video exists, people have seen it. I sincerely doubt she’ll be appointed mayor. That was the main goal for me initially. Now it’ll be exposing everything else. I’ve taken hit after hit, I’m done.”

It was nice to have a normal evening for once. Michael brought Brooke home before dropping Jeremy off. The house was quiet, Jeremy glancing around the empty space. Where was his dad? Still working with the police? It was late for that, right?

“Kiddo? Why are you in the dark?”

Jeremy pivoted, finding his dad walking in and flipping on the lights. Oh thank god. Jeremy approached, pulling his dad into a hug.

“You okay Private?”

Jeremy let out a slow breath, “Just…in my own head.”

They ended up watching a movie together. James fell asleep part way through, leaving Jeremy to throw a blanket over him before slipping off upstairs. He pulled on his suit before making his way out, reveling in the night lighting. Jeremy made a point to swing around Jennifer’s territory, even stopping the simple weed deals he usually ignored. He was going to make a point to her, she would not be winning this.

He didn’t stay out terribly late, if anything was to happen before morning he wanted to be available. He slid back through his window and crashed into bed, letting his eyes drift shut. It was a different kind of peaceful, having Jennifer off the streets. And Jeremy couldn’t wait for it to continue.

He was up early the next morning. Showered, dressed, and downstairs for breakfast before his dad was up. Jeremy put some of his basic cooking skills to work, setting up pancakes for the two of them. He was in a good mood, why the hell not?

“Morning Private,” James ruffled his hair as he took his seat. “So, I was thinking, if your mom ends up in jail there’s no way we’ll be able to afford this place.” James gestured around the room. “And since we didn’t get a sale on the old house…maybe we should move back in? You’d be closer to your friends again.”

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Jeremy nodded. “We can pack once we get the confirmation.”

James and him cleaned up together, the two splitting off to finish getting ready. Jeremy was feeling…amazing. The weather was actually nice enough for him to wear the warm weather suit without freezing. He tucked his mask and gloves into his pockets before making his way downstairs. Brooke messaged him saying she had a ride, leading Jeremy to accept the offer from his dad for one.

“Have a good day,” James hummed, letting him out.

Jeremy couldn’t help but have a small smile on his face as he walked around. Chloe cornered him in their homeroom, sitting at the desk in front of him while he finished his homework.

“Okay, when were you going to tell us you told Jenna the truth?”

Jeremy blinked, “Oh. Uh. Sorry? I mean, the rest of us knew. It felt dumb to exclude her. I haven’t even told Michael that she knows.”

Chloe rubbed at her temple, “You really aren’t the brightest bulb sometimes. You’re lucky we like you.” She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “Anyway, we’re all celebrating at my place after school. My mom already bought beer for us, Jenna offered to bring snacks. I don’t play video games, but I already messaged Michael and he said he would consider bringing some for us, otherwise we can watch movies and get drunk. I’m hoping that booze gets Jake to quit being a bitch to Rich. He was always more…open…when drunk.”

“Last time he was drunk around me he threatened to kill me.”

“He wasn’t over me yet, that’s my fault. You aren’t allowed to be a little bug boy tonight is what I’m getting at.”

“Yes ma’am,” Jeremy saluted at her.

Chloe helped him catch up on his homework, the rest of their friends in the class filing in soon after. Jeremy finished his work with all the help, Michael and him spending their free time just cuddling up as best as they could given their desk placements.

Jeremy was scrolling through Instagram when his phone buzzed with a call. Jennifer? How? She had been arrested.

“Hello?” Jeremy answered the call with a whisper.

“Outside. You have two minutes.”

The call ended before Jeremy could ask for clarification. It hadn’t been Jennifer’s voice. He pocketed the device before getting up and peeking out the windows to the parking lot. He could see someone standing in the visitor lot next to a vehicle.

“Jer?” Michael reached for his hand as he returned to his seat.

“I’ll be right back,” Jeremy assured, grabbing his backpack. “I have to pee.”

Jeremy left his classroom, dropping his backpack in his locker before walking out the front doors. He approached the person he had seen outside, finding it to be Gary’s murderer. Jeremy put up a front, narrowing his eyes.

“What do you want? I have class.”

He opened the backseat door to the car, “Get in. Otherwise my employer has a gift planned for your father.”

Jeremy clenched his jaw, getting into the backseat. The drive was silent, Jeremy hardly able to see through the tint on the windows. Had they been made darker in the back on purpose? They went to New York, into the building Jeremy had originally found Gary at.

Jeremy stepped out of the car, finding Jennifer standing a few yards away.

“What the hell is going on?” Jeremy asked.

Jennifer scoffed, “You’ve ruined my life and you want to know what’s going on? I was going to save this city. Save you. And you repay me with trying to ruin me?”

“You tried to have me killed!”

“You didn’t know I’m the Kingpin! So you didn’t know it was me!”

“I’m not fucking stupid!”

Jennifer turned to her cronie, “Wesley, please restrain him.”

Jeremy faked a struggle, being bound to a support beam. He could easily break free, but he wanted to see what she was planning.

“What? What does this accomplish?” Jeremy asked.

Jennifer crouched in front of him, “You’ll learn a lesson, and then you’ll disappear. And if that spider freak shows up I’ll shoot him myself.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Jennifer’s cronie came in, a metal pole in his hand. Jeremy’s head blared, and then he was hit in the stomach. He cried out, blow after blow. The pole was dropped before his face was targeted, punches being thrown at him.

“I wanted to give you the world, Jeremiah,” Jennifer make her cronie back off. Jeremy could taste blood, could feel it dripping from his nose. “Why couldn’t you just…be a better son?”

Jeremy spit at her, “You’re a fucking coward! You can’t even hurt me yourself! Is it because I look like you? Too close to hurting yourself?! I never loved you! And Dad doesn’t either!”

Jennifer smacked him, “I don’t need love. Your father is a perfectly fine lapdog. Wesley, please dispose of him.”

Fuck. Jeremy watched the cronie pull out a gun, pressing it to Jeremy’s forehead.

“You’re sure?”

Jennifer arched a brow, “Yes.”

Jeremy kicked a leg up, landing a blow to the cronie’s crotch. He fell to his knees, crying out and dropping the gun.

“Boys!” Jennifer yelled out.

A group came filing in. Shit. Those must have been saved for Spider-Man.

“First one to kill the boy gets a million. Go.”

Jeremy broke his restraints. Jennifer looked over in shock, Jeremy choosing to just run. He charged forward, sliding down under the legs of one of her minions. They began firing, Jeremy bending to dodge while they hit each other. He knocked out those that got too close to hurting him. In a matter of thirty seconds Jeremy had them all on the ground and unconscious.

Jeremy turned around, glaring at Jennifer. She pulled out a gun from her hip, aiming at him.

“How did you do that?!”

She sounded scared. Good. Jeremy stepped closer, “I’ve learned a lot.”

Jennifer’s hands began shaking, “Take a step closer and I’ll shoot!”

Jeremy stepped closer. He jumped as his sixth sense blared, flipping around in the air and landing back on his feet. He dodged shots until Jennifer’s magazine emptied. Jennifer tried throwing the empty gun at him, but Jeremy caught it.

“What is this?!”

Jeremy chuckled, tossing the gun to the ground. He began humming, rolling his joints as he got closer. Jennifer backed up, walking into a wall.

“Hey!” Jennifer’s first minion came running at him. Jeremy spun on his toe, landing a punch to his attacker before seamlessly continuing his walk. Wesley was now out cold.

“Jeremy, please, don’t hurt me,” Jennifer begged.

Jeremy continued walking closer.

“Darling, we can work together! That’s what I always wanted! Your training, I had no idea—”

“I don’t have any training,” Jeremy cut her off. “I’m just built different.”

“Darling, come on. I’m your mother!”

“Didn’t stop you from trying to kill me.”

“I had to!”

Jeremy reached her, hoisting her up by her shirt, “Give me one good reason.”

“You’re a good person—”

“You threatened my dad.”

“Please.”

Jeremy dropped her, Jennifer crashing to the floor.

“You aren’t worth it. I’m not like you, I don’t kill people.”

“Thank you darling—”

You’re going to turn yourself in,” Jeremy said. “Just because I’m not willing to kill you doesn’t mean I’ll let you go. You’re going to turn yourself in, you’ll confess to all your crimes. And you’ll spend your life in jail. And you’ll never speak to me or dad again.”

“I—”

“That’s all,” Jeremy shushed her. “Now shut the fuck up until the cops get here.”

“You think you’ll get away with attacking people?”

Jeremy sat down in his spot against the support beam, “I’m just a teenager. Besides, they won’t know I was here.”

“What—”

Jeremy webbed her mouth shut from across the room. He got up, continuing to web her down against the wall and floor as he pulled out his mask.

“Bye, Mom. If you tell anyone what you know I’ll send Torch and the ooze creature to torture you.”

Jeremy threw himself up to a window, crawling out. He finished pulling on his costume, swinging back to Jersey. He changed again, leaving his costume at home before running to the police station he had been at the day before. He got lucky, an officer recognized him and eyed up his injuries.

He lied. Kind of. He said he was targeted outside of school after receiving a threatening call from Jennifer’s number. Said he was attacked by someone who claimed to be hired by the Kingpin. Said they vanished in a car, and he ran.

It worked. Jeremy was treated by a paramedic on sight, being able to leave after giving his statement. He made his way back to school, dropping into his seat in the choir hall. Michael grabbed his hand, his eyes wide.

“Jer, what happened—”

“We can talk about it later I promise.”

Jeremy did his best to ignore his injuries. He was strong, but being beaten with a metal pole still hurt. He caught sight of his reflection in a window, finding several gashes along his cheek bones. It could have been worse.

His afternoon was slow. His body began to ache, the pain settling in the farther in the day he made it. The news story of Jennifer’s escape and near immediate second arrest broke before the end of the day. There was no denying Jennifer’s involvement now. No denying she was the Kingpin. And from the look of things Jeremy’s threats were working, not a word of his identity.

The group wished him well at Chloe’s house after school. Michael cheered, scooping him up in his arms.

“I love you,” Jeremy hummed, leaning in for a kiss.

“Which one of you is stronger? Have you ever tested that?” Jenna asked.

“Uh, no,” Michael chuckled. “But…it’s Jeremy. I struggled to stop a car one time, Jeremy can catch a bus.”

Chloe got up to the doorbell ringing. Jeremy and Michael shared a recliner, the two of them curling up and passing a joint back and forth. He needed an afternoon to rest up, and this wasn’t a bad way to spend that time.

“Thorry I’m late,” Rich mumbled, shuffling in. He stuck close to Brooke, keeping his head down as he joined in on the snacks and drinks and movies. “Uh, congrath on getting your mom arrethted, Tall Ath.”

Jeremy smiled, “Thanks.”

Jeremy caught sight of part of Rich’s face under the hood, causing him to sit up. Jeremy passed the joint back to Michael before getting out of his seat. He grabbed Rich by the sleeve, taking him into the kitchen away from the group.

“What happened?” Jeremy asked, pointing to Rich’s face.

Rich looked away, “I fell.”

“Bullshit. I fight criminals in my spare time, I know what a hit looks like.”

“It ithn’t a big deal.”

“Show me.”

Rich flipped Jeremy off before pulling down his hood. Rich had a black eye, and a few bruises across his jaw that matched Jeremy’s. He had been punched.

“Rich—”

“What the fuck?!” Jake came marching in, shoving Jeremy out of the way. He inspected Rich’s face, his fingers brushing over the swelling in Rich’s eye. “Who did this to you?”

Rich looked terrified, “I—” Jake being that up front after their fight was clearly throwing him off. “It doethn’t matter—”

“Bullshit, no one is allowed to hurt you like that. Now spill.”

Rich was locked on Jake’s eyes, “…My dad.”

Jake cursed under his breath, marching out of the room. Jeremy jogged after him, getting in front of Jake to try and stop him.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to fucking kill him.”

Jeremy arched a brow, “Uh, no. You aren’t sober. And we don’t kill people. No matter how much they deserve it.”

“Oh fuck off—”

Jeremy pushed Jake back, webbing his hand to the wall. He crossed his arms over his chest, watching Jake struggle for a moment.

“If you want, and if Rich wants, I can go over as Spidey later tonight once I’m not about to keel over from getting my shit kicked in. Okay?”

Jake slid to the floor, his arm hanging above him, “Whatever.”

Rich shuffled over, seating himself next to Jake, “I, uh, thankth for caring.”

Jeremy went back to his seat next to Michael. This was nice. The casual nature. Part of Jeremy was still reeling over the fact that he was dating Michael. That they had lasted so long. They had gotten together before he had even properly established Spider-Man.

It had been nearly five months.

Holy shit Jeremy wanted to make out with him.

“Hey, can you let my arm go?” Jake called out from his corner. “I’m losing blood flow.”

“I’m not ripping Chloe’s paint, just stand up,” Jeremy said, not looking away from Michael.

Michael finally caught on to his staring, “What?”

Jeremy readjusted them, straddling Michael’s lap and wrapping his arms around his neck, “I love you.”

“Oh hurl!” Jenna faked a gag.

Jeremy just burrowed himself closer, Michael holding him. Jeremy was set to just sit and be content, but his rest didn’t last much longer. His dad called and asked Jeremy to come home. He bid the group farewell before jogging home. His hope was to come home and not have it be immediately clear that he wasn’t sober, but he probably wouldn’t get that lucky. His dad was usually oblivious to the weed anyway.

“Dad?”

James practically cornered him, inspecting Jeremy’s face, “What the hell happened? I—the news stories? Kiddo—”

“She’s done, she can’t get out of it anymore,” Jeremy explained. “We can go back to normal.”

“Normal hasn’t been a thing for us in a long time,” James stated. “And I doubt you’ll stop…I mean…”

“Spider-Man stays.”

“Yeah. But…thank you. I…I wish I could have done more to protect you.”

Jeremy shrugged, “You didn’t know.”

James squeezed his hand, “I love you, Private.”

“Love you too.”

Chapter Text

Jeremy hummed to himself, closing up the last box. They were finally moving home. Their actual home where the house wasn’t big enough to get lost in.

Jeremy loaded up his arms, stacking boxes tall enough that he couldn’t see where he was walking.

“Kiddo, we can take multiple trips!” James laughed, watching Jeremy walk into the hall.

Jeremy ignored him, leaping over the railing and landing on the main floor. He continued his walk out the front door, dropping his boxes in the back of James’s car. They were nearly done. Jeremy’s room was the last one.

Jeremy felt his head blare out, pivoting and catching his backpack as it was thrown at him. James laughed, holding the last box in his other arm. Jeremy placed it in the car before sliding into the passenger seat. James and him started the drive, Jeremy finding comfort in the sight of their old house.

Jeremy loaded his arms back up with boxes and began walking towards the door inside. He nearly dropped one, but stuck a foot out and caught it. He kicked the box up into the air, allowing it to land on top of his pile.

“Sometimes I really think your powers are cool,” James mused.

“Get the door, please.”

Once inside Jeremy sprinted to the stairs, throwing himself up and into his old room. He dropped his boxes before falling against his bed. It was the only furniture from Jennifer's invasion of his life he was keeping. Mostly because it was comfy as hell and he needed to rest well since he didn’t rest often.

Jeremy got up again, sliding down the railing to help unpack in the kitchen. James was frozen in place by the door, staring at Michael. He had been helping them unpack all day. To help get decorations back in place he was currently flying over the counter, placing things on the shelves without need for a ladder.

“What?” Jeremy asked.

“Fire,” James pointed.

Oh. Yeah. James hadn’t really been given a chance to see Michael use his powers. He was only able to safely hover in the house because he was wearing shorts, meaning his clothes wouldn’t start on fire.

Michael paused, “I can stop if you want.”

James blinked, “I…be careful. Please.”

Michael nodded, turning his attention back to his task. Jeremy set about unloading boxes of dishes, James opting to move to a different room so he wasn’t watching Michael or his flaming legs.

Jeremy moved on to silverware when Michael cut the flames and landed on the floor, walking over to Jeremy and wrapping an arm around him. Jeremy leaned into the touch, Michael turning his head to inspect him.

“What?”

“…When did you get taller?”

Jeremy made a face, “Am I taller?”

Michael blinked, “Uh. Yeah. How did I not notice this? When did this happen?”

Jeremy shrugged, “Late growth spurt? That does explain why I thought my suit shrunk. I just assumed it was the dryer.”

“How do you not notice something like that?”

Jeremy shrugged, “Dunno. I didn’t even really think about it until Jenna showed me an Instagram post talking about Spider-Man’s ass.”

Michael chuckled, lightly smacking his rear, “It is a nice ass.”

Jeremy swatted him, “Fuck off!”

“I’d rather just fuck you.”

Jeremy fired a web in Michael’s face, “You aren’t allowed to be horny when my dad is home.”

Michael just laughed, allowing his head to burst into flames momentarily so he could melt off the webbing. Once the flames were put out he pressed a kiss to Jeremy’s pulse point. Jeremy pulled his head up for a real kiss, smirking at Michael when he pulled back.

“Are you worried I’m going to pass you up in height or something?”

Michael shook his head, “Nah, just concerned how you’re leaving Rich in the dust.”

“Michael, did you want to stay for dinner?” James came walking back into the kitchen. “I’m thinking pizza tonight.”

Michael shook his head, “Nah, my moms and I have plans. I actually should get going, I don’t want to be late.”

Jeremy squeezed Michael’s hand, “See you later tonight?”

Michael shook his head, “Nope. I’m getting my beauty sleep tonight. We have prom tomorrow night.”

Fuck. Prom was tomorrow? He knew it was overlapping with spring break but not by that much! He had a suit but—

“Did you forget?”

“No!” Jeremy’s voice jumped up an octave. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

Michael shook a finger at him, “I will be here to pick you up at five. Capeesh?”

“Yes. Five. Prom. Love you.”

Michael pressed a kiss into Jeremy’s hair before offering a wave to James and heading out. Jeremy and James went about finishing the kitchen unpacking. It was good to be home. To be free from Jennifer and her grasp.

“I thought you didn’t want to go to prom,” James teased him, passing him a paper plate with a pizza slice on it.

“I…Michael wanted to go,” Jeremy shrugged. “And he…I would do anything for him.”

“Did you get a suit?”

“Brooke actually made it for me,” Jeremy confessed. “She’s…really good at making things like that.”

“Have you ever tried paying her for all she’s done?” James asked. “I’m not saying you have to, but she’s put a lot of time and money into making you things.”

Fuck. He was right. Jeremy hung his head, not answering verbally. He really needed a job, but it wasn’t like he had the time for one. After eating the two of them cleaned up and Jeremy went to unpack his things. It didn’t take terribly long, Jeremy falling back against his bed once the last box was emptied. He was itching to go out. Swing around.

Jeremy grabbed his backpack and pulled out the suit. He flipped off his light before climbing out the window, swinging around to get into the city. Michael may have wanted his beauty sleep, but Jeremy was wired. And with Jennifer and the majority of her cronies gone it was a lot quieter in the area she used to control.

Jeremy made his way back to Jersey before sunrise, sliding into his room and conking out. Spring break was going to be awesome, especially now that he was home. Michael and him were set to play the Apocalypse of The Damned sequel through completion. And kicking it off with prom wasn’t exactly a bad start, even if he hadn’t originally planned on going.

“Private?”

Jeremy whined, tossing a blanket over his head. He was not ready to get up yet.

“Just letting you know there are waffles downstairs if you get hungry,” James’s voice spoke from nearby. “I’m going to run some errands, text me if you need anything. I’ll be back so I can get some pictures of you and Michael before prom.”

Jeremy made a noise in the back of his throat and he was left to rest. He wanted to sleep the day away. He was fucking exhausted.

Jeremy woke up later in the morning, pulling off his suit as he shuffled into the bathroom. He took his time getting ready, actually blow drying his hair after he showered. The Squip had said it made his appearance better, and Brooke hadn’t ever denied that fact. He sighed, pulling on a shirt and sweats before heading downstairs. It was closer to lunch time, but Jeremy munched on the waffles left out for him. No one would want to hang out before prom, so he didn’t bother messaging any of his friends. Should he be putting in more effort? Properly getting ready? He had hours to kill.

What if he went back out in the suit? Just for a bit?

No. No. He would end up running late. He wasn’t going to disappoint Michael.

Well, he did have some homework…

Jeremy planted himself on the ceiling. He worked through his assignments, though he skipped the questions he needed help with. It was boring, but he was actually managing to keep his grades decent this semester and he didn’t want to ruin it now.

Jeremy helped his dad unload groceries before heading back to his room to get ready. He almost put on his costume under his prom suit, but he bit back the thought. He could go one evening without shit going wrong. He left the costume in his closet before heading downstairs to have his dad help him with his tie.

“Look at you!” James patted his cheek. “Kiddo!”

“Yeah yeah, get it out now,” Jeremy grumbled.

James went for the door when the bell rang since Jeremy was tying his shoes. He looked up and his brain short circuited. Michael looked so hot. What the fuck?!

“Hi,” Michael greeted.

Did he change his earrings? Jeremy knew he hadn’t been wearing them at all recently since his powers tended to melt the metal to his skin. “Hi,” Jeremy waved, shuffling over.

His hair looked so nice. Jeremy reached for Michael’s hands, the two of them silently grinning at each other. Jeremy could sense his dad taking photos of them, but he could ignore it. Michael moved his hands to rest on Jeremy’s cheeks.

“You look nice,” Michael mumbled.

“Have you looked in a mirror?”

Michael laughed, “Yeah, have you?”

Jeremy rolled his eyes, stretching up on his toes to plant a kiss on Michael’s lips. It was quick, he didn’t want to do anything overly PDA with his dad in the room.

The two of them actually posed for photos, James making a big deal over it. Jeremy bit back any complaints, letting him have his moment. He had to remind himself that his dad hadn’t even bothered to put pants on back around homecoming, let alone try and play at being a photographer. This was a blessing.

“Okay, okay, I won’t keep you anymore,” James ushered them out. “Have fun. Whose house are you going back to?”

Jeremy shrugged, looking at Michael.

“We can crash here.”

“We’ll come back here,” Jeremy hummed.

James waved, Jeremy rolling his eyes as Michael opened the passenger door for him. They kept their hands laced together during the drive. It was nice to actually go out together. They had been dating for months, but they had technically never even gone on a real date. It was hard to classify anything as a date. It was almost like they couldn’t separate their twelve years of friendship from the dating sometimes.

They walked into the school hand in hand. They located their friend group, all the girls squealing and talking about how nice the others looked. Jeremy glanced around, finding Rich hovering next to Brooke. He seemed content on not moving from her side. He had his forehead planted on her shoulder and didn’t seem to actively be paying attention to the conversation around him.

“Sorry I’m late,” Jake came walking up. “My aunt was making a big deal about getting a lot of photos.”

Jake chose to stand opposite Rich, the two of them not looking at each other. So they were back to ignoring each other, fun. After their mock celebration of Jennifer’s fall from grace he had been hoping they could at least begin talking again.

For the grand march Rich ended up pairing up with Christine, and Jake with Jenna. Jeremy and Michael were at the back of their group, his eyes widening at the sight of Rich's jaw. It was bruised.

“Hey,” Jeremy rested a hand on Rich’s shoulder, catching his attention. “I wasn’t kidding. I’ll go scare the shit out of your dad. This isn’t okay.”

Rich sighed, “Thankth, but don’t bother. I…y’know I uthed to be able to jutht avoid him. He’ll go back to normal thoon.”

Jeremy hesitated, but lowered his hand and let Rich turn his attention back to Christine. Jeremy laced a hand with Michael, worry building in his stomach. He hadn’t realized at first…how serious it was. When the Squip forced a bond with Rich he hadn’t realized it was from an actual issue of Rich’s dad being an asshole. 

They all walked through the balloon arch, a professional photographer taking their pictures. They all sat down at their tables to eat, Jeremy offering Michael a grin. This was nice. Jeremy looked over, watching Jake focus on the bruises across Rich’s jaw. His eye twitched before he went back to eating, not paying Rich any mind. This was going to be difficult.

“And now for our prom queen nominees,” someone from the student council caught their attention. “Chloe Valentine!”

Chloe grinned, getting up from her seat and walking towards the front of the room.

“Brooke Lohst!”

Brooke nearly inhaled her water. She clearly hadn’t been expecting it. She got up, rushing after Chloe. The two of them beamed at each other, Christine and Jenna snapping photos of the pair.

“And Madeline Harp!”

Madeline was at a different table, walking across the room and standing on Chloe’s other side. Jeremy hadn’t ever really interacted with her. He just knew she was a bitch.

“And now for our king nominees,” a different student council member grabbed the microphone. “Dustin Kropp!”

Dustin whooped from his seat, jogging up and standing at the front of the room.

“Jake Dillinger!”

Jake didn’t seem surprised, and honestly Jeremy wasn’t either. Jake had always been popular. And the tragedy of his house burning down just boosted sympathy towards him. He would have been nominated either way, but it felt more like a pity nomination because of the situation.

“Jeremy Heere!”

Jeremy blinked. Him? He wasn’t that popular, not Jake levels—

“Dude,” Michael nudged him. “Go.”

Jeremy got up, throwing his shoulders back as he walked. In his panic his brain slipped into his Squipped behavior. It was easier than daring to let his eyes drift over the crowd. How the hell had he been nominated? He—

Holy shit. It was Jennifer. Everyone knew Jeremy had been nearly killed because of her. It was pity. Fuck.

Jeremy watched them crown the queen. It didn’t surprise him when they placed the crown on Chloe’s head. Brooke cheered, pulling Chloe into a hug. Christine and Jenna had shuffled closer to get more photos.

Jeremy didn’t shut his eyes for the king crowning. But he did focus his eyes on Michael. It was easier that way.

Jeremy felt a weight on his head. No way. But sure enough, Jake was clapping him on the shoulder. Holy shit. He and Chloe were ushered on the dance floor, his anxiety building. He still wasn’t processing. He—

“I don’t know how to dance,” Jeremy confessed, his eyes wide as he stared at Chloe.

Chloe smirked, “Let me lead. Your spider brain should be able to keep up.”

Jeremy listened, letting Chloe practically drag him across the floor. She managed to make the act look seamless, Jeremy felt like he would have tripped if not for his powers. He could feel all the eyes on him, but he managed to keep his worries at bay. The song was over before Jeremy had even noticed it playing. Chloe and him walked back over to their partners, Jeremy practically falling into Michael’s lap. He grinned at his boyfriend, brushing a thumb over his cheek.

“Boys!”

Jeremy turned his head, gawking at the sight of Maria and Darcy. Michael stiffened beneath him. Clearly he hadn’t been expecting them either.

“Mom? Mama? What are you doing here?” Michael got up and approached his moms.

Darcy shrugged, “PTA said they needed chaperones. It isn’t like we had plans.”

“Look at you, darling,” Maria pulled Jeremy into a hug. “We’ll go back to just monitoring, but we just wanted a picture of you two since that one,” Maria arched a brow at Michael. “Decided to run out before we could take any.”

“I was running late!”

The two of them walked over to a wall so Maria and Darcy could get their photos. Jeremy smiled, turning his head to look at Michael. He was lucky. To have him.

Jeremy hummed to himself, watching over all the people dancing. Rich was also sitting back, holding his cup in his hand.

“Hey, Jer,” Michael approached him and held out his hand. “Dance with me?”

Jeremy hesitantly took his hand, “You know I can’t dance, right?”

Michael shrugged, “Yeah, but I can.”

Jeremy let Michael lead, and like before with Chloe it was the best move. His powers kept him alert enough to not look like a fool. Jeremy nearly cried out when Michael chose to dip him at random. He threw his arms around Michsel’s shoulders and stuck his feet to the floor.

Michael stared at him, not lifting him from the dip, “Is…is your whole body sticky?”

“Huh?”

“You’re like…nearly upside down and the crown hasn’t fallen off. Is your head sticky too?”

“Oh. Uh…I dunno. I guess that makes sense? I never thought about it before.”

Michael pulled him back up, “Weird.”

Jeremy just hummed. He was content with not thinking about how his body was sticky. He only cared about Michael and how pretty he looked.

When the song ended Michael brought them back to their table. Jeremy made himself comfy in his chair, content with just watching. He caught sight of Jake and Rich both walking off towards a bathroom, Jake looking particularly pissed off. Maybe he should make sure they didn’t start physically fighting.

Jeremy followed after them. He stood just out of view, watching Rich practically cower under Jake’s gaze.

“Can you just stop?” Jake snapped.

“I didn’t do anything,” Rich said, not looking up.

“I can feel you looking at me. Why are you like this? It’s fucking creepy!”

Rich crossed his arms over his chest, making himself smaller, “I haven’t—why are you—”

“What?”

“You’re being a dick!” Rich snapped. “I’m thorry I have a fucking cruth on you! I’ve been trying to get over it! I have! I thould have kept it to mythelf!”

“Don’t make this about me being mean! You started it! You burned my house down—”

“Yeah, while trying to fucking kill mythelf!”

Jeremy felt frozen. Jake seemed thrown off.

“What?”

“You think I did it jutht to fuck with you?” Rich scoffed. “That fucking computer wath torturing me. It doethn’t exthuthe what I did. I fucking…I thould have found a better way. Pillth or thomthing. But…I found the gath can firtht. I don’t know how many different wayth I can thay thorry, dude.” Rich picked at the edge of a scar on his hand. “But…I didn’t do it to hurt you.”

“Are you really trying to get me to pity you right now?” Jake scoffed. “What? Like some sob story is going to get me to magically develop feelings for you? You killed my best friend! I have nothing! I don’t know why I don’t try and ruin you. You fucking deserve it. You’re hopeless!”

Jake had Rich backed into a wall. He looked mad. Jeremy almost thought he looked ready to cry. Jake reached out and grabbed Rich by the biceps, the shorter of the pair letting out a painful yelp. Jake went pale, letting go and his angry expression forming to one of concern.

“Rich—”

“Jutht fuck off,” Rich turned to leave.

Jake caught him by his hand, not letting Rich leave. “What did that bastard do?”

“Nothing that I didn’t detherve,” Rich tried pulling away again.

“Show me.”

Rich hesitated before taking off his jacket and tie. Jeremy couldn’t see what Jake did when Rich unbuttoned his shirt, but whatever it was clearly set Jake off. Jake cursed under his breath, one hand hovering in the air between them.

“No,” Jake whispered. “No. No. Rich. Oh fuck. No.” Jake pulled Rich into his arms, the two of them collapsing to their knees. “That isn’t okay. You—no. No. You don’t—” Jake buried his hand in Rich’s hair, trying to rock them in a comforting motion. “You don’t deserve this.”

“You jutht thaid—”

“Yeah! You’re a liar and a prick, but you don’t deserve that!” Jake didn’t let go. “I’m fucking pissed but I’m not a monster! Fuck dude! I don’t hate you!”

Rich hid his head, his body shuddering with a silent sob. Jake continued to just hold him, the two of them hiding their faces against each other. Jeremy backed out of the bathroom, making his way back over to Michael. The two of them opted to just sway in the corner instead of properly going out to dance. Jeremy didn’t mind the quiet time, happily leaning against Michael.

By the end of the night all the girls were walking around with their heels in their hands. Chloe offered to carpool those that needed a ride, everyone splitting off to find their vehicle. Jeremy and Michael went back to his house, walking in to find James asleep on the couch. He had clearly tried staying awake to wait up for them.

Jeremy tossed a blanket over his dad before following Michael up to his room. Michael clicked the door shut behind them before pulling Jeremy into a kiss.

“This was fun,” Michael murmured. “Are you up for some ravishing?”

Jeremy rolled his eyes, “Yes, just…” Jeremy glanced over to where his costume was sitting in a pile. “I need to take care of something first.”

Michael followed his eyes, “Jer—”

“I…I need to do something about Rich’s dad, Michael. It’s…I should have done something sooner.”

Michael let him go, “Okay. Yeah. That’s more important than us boning. I didn’t bring my suit with me, dude. Be careful.”

Jeremy nodded, stripping himself of his prom suit before pulling on the costume and jumping out his window. He made his way over to Rich’s apartment building, forcing open Rich’s window with ease. He crept through the house, finding Rich’s dad asleep on the couch, a beer resting on the end table next to him. Jeremy wasn’t all that good at intimidation. What had happened with Gary was evidence of that. But this asshole deserved it.

“Hey,” Jeremy nudged him awake.

The older man startled at the sight of Jeremy, “What the fuck?!”

“I heard you like beating your kid,” Jeremy tried to pitch his voice down. “You think it’s fun? Hurting other people?”

“What? Is the little bitch paying you? I’m his father you’ve got no right—”

Jeremy picked the man up by his shirt collar, “I do when there’s blood involved. Do not. Touch him. Again.”

“Or you’ll what?”

Jeremy threw the man to the ceiling, webbing him by his feet so he was hanging upside down.

“You like the view from there? How about if I try it from the torch of Lady Liberty? I’m sure that would be a fun fall for you when the webbing dissolves.”

He was scared now, “You wouldn’t—”

“I will if I hear about another bruise on the kid. Understand?”

The man nodded. Jeremy walked to the living room window and opened it to crawl out.

“Good.”

Jeremy made his way back home, sliding back through his bedroom window and falling against his bed. Michael let out a grunt, Jeremy having landed on his shoulder.

“Sorry,” Jeremy flipped off the bed and landed on his feet. He pulled off the mask and gloves and tossed them into a corner. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Michael assured, sitting up. “How did it go?”

“Well, he’s currently hanging from the ceiling,” Jeremy shrugged. “It went okay. We’ll see how good my threats worked. I just…Rich looked like shit tonight.”

Michael nodded, “I didn’t want to say anything, but yeah.

Jeremy pulled the top half of his suit off, “Are we still up for ravishing?”

“Bring it Web Head.”

Jeremy laughed, falling into Michael’s arms. “I love you, Matchstick.”

“Love you too.”

▣

“Fuck!”

“Move faster!”

“Oh my god!”

“Ow!”

“…Boys?”

Jeremy dropped from the ceiling and down to his beanbag just before the door opened. Darcy poked her head in, her expression confused. Michael paused their game before looking over.

“Hi Mama. You’re home early.”

Darcy stepped into the room, “Meeting wrapped up sooner than expected. What are you two doing?”

Michael pointed to the tv, “Video game.”

Darcy nodded slowly, “Right. Did you guys want to order dinner tonight? Or did you want us to make something?”

“We can take care of it,” Michael assured.

“Okay. Come find me if you need anything.”

They resumed playing, Jeremy jumping back up to the ceiling once the door was shut. He was itching with energy and sitting on the ceiling was a better use than the floor at this point.

“Fuck yeah!” Jeremy cheered when they completed the level. He dropped back to the floor, rolling into Michael’s lap. He pulled Michael into a kiss, the two of them falling off the beanbag and to the ground.

“I love you,” Jeremy murmured, pressing kisses along Michael’s jaw.

“Love you too,” Michael beamed at him. “Are you up for pizza tonight?”

“Sure,” Jeremy nodded.

“Want to eat in the city?”

“Superhero dinner?”

Michael hummed.

Jeremy got up, pulling his cardigan and shirt off to reveal his suit beneath. “Hell yeah.”

Michael followed after him, “Cool. I’ll grab food and catch up.”

Jeremy nodded, digging his mask and gloves out of his bag before climbing out Michael’s window. Jeremy made his way into the city, doing extra flips to use up some more of his energy. He wasn’t sure why he was so hyper today, but the fact that he hadn’t left Michael’s basement all day might have something to do with it. Jeremy found a spot with a nice view, deciding to do a handstand while waiting for Michael to show up.

“What the hell are you doing, Webs?”

Jeremy flipped back around, finding Michael hovering above him with a pizza box in hand. He pulled the hem of his mask up to his nose, sticking his tongue out at Michael. His boyfriend dropped down, extinguishing his body before passing Jeremy the pizza box. They sat next to each other on the ledge, leaning against one another as they munched. The sun was just beginning to set, the added daylight meant they had a new view to see.

“Y’know, it’s kind of funny how our first supervillain was just…greed,” Michael mused.

“Yeah, greed nearly killed me like four times.”

Michael tugged his glove off before wiping pizza sauce from Jeremy’s lip, “Still…if all the big baddies we face are just evil rich people I think we’ll make it out okay.”

Jeremy grinned, sticking his tongue out and licking the sauce off of Michael’s thumb just to make him squirm. He received an elbow to the gut for his actions, but it didn’t hurt.

“Hey Spider-Man!”

Jeremy turned his attention to the noise, finding Brooke and Chloe standing on the opposite side of the street. Jeremy wordlessly jumped from his spot, picked both girls up, and launched himself back up towards the roof, running up the last story to deposit them safely. Jeremy returned to his abandoned slice, Michael offering the box to the girls.

“…That looks cheesy, I’ll pass,” Brooke shook her head. “I already had to deal with the coffee place messing up my order earlier, I don’t need anymore milk today.”

“Are we interrupting a date?” Chloe teased them.

“Nah, just dinner,” Jeremy assured. “What’s up?”

Chloe pulled a folded sheet of paper from her purse, “I was going to show you this Monday, but here.”

Jeremy took the paper, unfolding it and gawking. The city of New York was celebrating Spider-Man.

“Oh what the fuck?” Michael read over his shoulder. “How come you get a festival?”

“Because I don’t do my homework,” Jeremy shrugged, glancing over the flier. “Keys to the city are real? I thought that was made up!”

“Dude, you collapsed a fucking crime ring,” Chloe lightly kicked his thigh. “Jenna said she’s heard rumors of both of you two getting medals of honor, or whatever the civilian equivalent is.”

“I’d like to point out that you two are from Jersey and you’re being celebrated by New York,” Brooke piped up.

“We hang around Jersey sometimes.”

“I should make you a new suit for the festival,” Brooke gasped. “And…Michael, I…can I make you one too? I…it’s just so…”

“Yeah I kinda hate it,” Michael glanced down at his costume. “But…you’ll have to talk to Jake about getting the fireproof material. Half the reason it looks so shitty is because we just needed something that wouldn’t burn off.”

“…Jenna’s dad might be able to help,” Jeremy spoke up. “He’s a scientist.”

Brooke pulled her phone out to message Jenna, “I’ll find out. This,” Brooke waved a hand at Michael, “can be so iconic. But it doesn’t have any flare, y’know? At minimum I can give you a logo.”

Michael nodded, “Yeah, go nuts. Thank you. I’m pretty sure my first response to seeing this was calling it ugly.”

“Can you put us back down please?” Chloe hummed, tugging Jeremy’s mask back into place. “We have a train to catch.”

Jeremy scooped up the girls again, bringing them back down to the sidewalk. He made sure they were both steady before heading back up to Michael again. They waved to the girls as they walked off, Michael incinerating their empty pizza box.

They ran around the city together for a few hours. Usually Jeremy would opt to stay out when Michael wanted to turn in, but today he chose different. Maybe during his week off from school he should have been focusing differently, spending more time out than normal, but he just wanted to have a nice night with his boyfriend.

“Oh, dude,” Michael pivoted on his heel and grinned. “It’s free application week, we should get our college applications in tomorrow!”

College? Now?

“Huh?”

Michael shrugged, “I figured saving the fifty bucks would be worth it? We’ll have to apply in the fall anyway.”

“I…I don’t think I’m going to college?”

Michael made a face, “What? Jer, dude, we’ve been talking about this since we were ten. We’re going to get animation degrees and make indie games and sell them for like fifteen dollars and make tons of money? Y’know? Cool in college? Hasn’t that been the plan since…forever?”

Jeremy gestured to his suit, the mask in his hand. “I…I can’t balance school and Spider-Man. Clearly. Why would I waste money going to school when I’ll just fail?”

Michael ran a hand through his hair, “Jer, this is our future we’re talking about. You can’t…you can’t seriously be considering throwing away our plans because of this. This has been the plan for years. Since we were kids!”

“We didn’t have superpowers when we were kids, Michael! Things change!”

Michael looked away, turning to grab his pajamas and walking out of the room. Jeremy scrunched up his face, what the fuck was going on? Jeremy followed after him, grabbing his arm.

“Dude, what’s going on?”

Michael looked up at the ceiling, “…Why are you so desperate for change?”

“What?”

“No,” Michael whipped his head down and looked him in the eyes. “I want an actual answer. You’re so…you run at every chance to not be yourself. I mean, the Squip? Spider-Man? Why do you avoid just…being you?”

Jeremy could feel himself tensing up but he didn’t want to get worked up. “College shouldn’t be that important to you—”

“No! No! I want to go to college with my boyfriend! I want to share classes and graduate together and get a shitty apartment and struggle to pay rent and work shitty jobs while we work to make the coolest apocalypse game ever! And now you want to just throw that away to run around in spandex?!” 

“I can’t just do nothing! It’s fucked up of me to not try and make the world better!”

“I’m not saying that!” Michael’s eyes welled up. “I know how much you love this! But would it kill you to put Jeremy Heere first for once? What does your dad think about this?”

Jeremy shrugged, “We haven’t talked about it.”

Michael stepped closer to him, “What’s your grand plan then? Huh? Finish high school? Then what? Live your whole life behind that mask? Spider-Man isn’t a real job, Jer.”

“I’m not stupid—”

“I never said you were.”

“Then why are you talking to me like I am?!”

Michael dropped his things to the floor, taking Jeremy by the shoulders and holding him still, “Because I don’t want you to throw away your life!” Michael blinked and tears rolled down his face. “You…you have a chance to go to college! I want our dream, and I think you want it too! Think about it Jer! If you drown yourself in Spider-Man you won’t have a life outside of it! I’ve been set to spend my life with you and build our dream since the day we created it! All you’ve done for the whole school year is try and toss that dream in the garbage!”

“I—” Jeremy struggled to speak. “Fuck off!” He spun on his heel, marching back towards Michael’s bedroom and the window out.

“Jeremy!” Michael tried calling after him.

“Sorry, I’m off to go drown myself as Spider-Man!”

Michael caught hold of his arm, “Miah.”

Fuck. Jeremy dropped his mask, turning back to face Michael again. It sucked, seeing him cry. Jeremy wiped at his face, tears soaking into his glove.

“Please don’t leave,” Michael squeaked out.

Jeremy pulled Michael into a hug, the two of them falling to their knees. Michael hid his face, Jeremy's shoulder growing damp as Michael cried. His fingers buried into Michael’s hair as he held them steady. He bit down on his cheek so he didn’t start crying.

“Don’t leave me,” Michael sobbed.

Fuck. Jeremy pressed a kiss into Michael’s hair, his breath stuttering. He didn’t want to hurt Michael. He had done it so much. Fuck. He was an asshole.

“I love you,” Jeremy whispered.

“I just—I want you to be happy!” Michael explained.

“I know.”

Jeremy picked Michael up, setting him down in bed and crawling to lay on top of him. He pressed kisses across Michael’s face, wiping away tears before they could leave tracks on him.  They stayed in the dark, Michael’s arms wrapped around Jeremy.

“I’m sorry,” Michael mumbled.

“Hey, no apologies.”

“No. For…I should have a better lid on myself.”

Jeremy kissed his cheek, “How many times have you been there when I’ve cried? It should be mutual.”

“I just—”

“Let’s talk about it in the morning,” Jeremy offered. “Okay?”

Michael nodded. The two of them went back to changing out of their suits, Jeremy falling back against the bed again. Michael curled up next to him, the two of them turning their heads to face each other.

“I love you.”

Michael pulled him into his arms, “I love you too.”

Jeremy crashed hard, his face smushed into Michael’s shoulder. He kept one hand over Michael’s heart, the consistent beat and warmth of his body made it easy to sleep. He still found himself getting his best rest with Michael at his side, even after all the months of them being together.

Jeremy woke up to an empty bed. He stretched, twisting his body until he heard his joints pop throughout his body. Jeremy sat up, blinking slowly as he took in the room. It wasn’t terribly late according to the clock on the nightstand. Shocking for him to be up at a decent hour.

Jeremy pulled himself out of bed. He walked up the stairs and trudged into the kitchen. What was the likelihood of there being juice? He hoped that Maria had made them breakfast before leaving for work. He loved her cooking.

“Good morning Private.”

Jeremy yelped, whipping his head up and nearly dropping the juice carton in his hand. He caught it by the tips of his fingers, moving the carton to the counter. He hadn’t been expecting his dad to be there. This wasn’t even his house.

“What are you doing here?”

James gestured to the spread of food along the counters that Jeremy had completely missed, “Michael and I made breakfast.”

“What?”

Michael came walking in, already dressed for the day.

“Dude—”

Michael shrugged, “You said you didn’t talk to your dad about it yet, I figured we could make it a group conversation.”

Jeremy felt backed into a corner, “You’re ganging up on me.”

“Kiddo,” James walked around the counter and patted his shoulder, “C’mon, let’s be mature about this. We can talk and eat, yeah?”

Jeremy was pushed to sit at a barstool, his loved ones on either side of him. Jeremy poked at the plate James made for him, unsure of what to do or say.

“Spider-Man isn’t a career, Jeremy,” James spoke slowly. “I know you love it, I know nothing will stop you from doing this, but you cannot live your life behind a mask full time.”

“I can’t just do nothing, Dad!”

James reached for his hand, “Who died and decided that it was your responsibility to save every person you cross?”

Jeremy pulled his hand away, “It’s a matter of who will die if I don’t. When you can do the things that I can but you don’t…and then the bad things happen. They happen because of you.”

“It isn’t our job to give up our lives for this, Jer,” Michael said, locking an ankle with him. “You have it in your head that being a superhero is all fun and games, but I don’t know how you think like that when you’ve been hurt so much. Your heart stopped. Your legs have scars that are still healing.”

Jeremy glanced down at his legs. He honestly hadn’t noticed that he still had fading scars. He just…he couldn’t bother to care about himself.

“We aren’t saying stop being Spider-Man,” James added. “We’re saying that you should put yourself first. I might not be able to do anything to stop you from making bad choices, but I won’t enable your behavior. I love you kiddo, but if you choose to throw your future away for this I won’t let you stay with me past graduation.”

“What?!”

“I haven’t worked to make sure you have a chance to go to college to have you waste it.”

“Dad—”

“Last I checked it was your dream to make games with Michael. That doesn’t have to be what you want, but I won’t support you doing nothing.”

Jeremy looked over to Michael, “What? And you’re willing to hold my hand through all of college?”

Michael nodded, “Yeah. I’m not doing your homework for you, but I’ll help. I want our dream, Jer. Holding your hand is like…one of my favorite things.”

Jeremy got up from his seat. He felt ready to rip his own skin off. Why did he feel like this?

“Private, don’t just walk away from a conversation.”

“I’m not!” Jeremy jumped up to the ceiling and sat there. “I just need some space! Stop taking everything as a personal attack!”

“You’re being overly dramatic over a simple conversation—”

“You’ve been against me doing what I love since you found out!”

“Is it wrong of me to not want you dead? I’m sorry, how selfish of me!”

“Jer, why are you getting defensive?” Michael asked, standing below him. “What’s going on?”

“The only people who give a shit about me don’t want me doing what I love! You’d be pissed too!”

“That isn’t what we’re saying. Why do you want to spend your whole life in that suit? The part time deal isn’t that bad, but you’re talking about doing nothing but being Spider-Man.”

“Being Spider-Man is the first time I’ve done something right!” Jeremy argued from his place on the ceiling. “He’s a good guy, he’s a hero. Jeremy Heere is a fuckup and can’t accomplish anything.”

“Jer—”

“Spider-Man saves lives! Jeremy Heere nearly destroyed human civilization! I’m a fucking disgrace, at least Spider-Man is worth something! I’m terrible!”

The other two didn’t respond. They shared a look, something Jeremy couldn’t read. It didn’t help him feel better.

“Jer, come down.”

Jeremy didn’t move. Michael sighed, rolling up his jeans as high as he could before jumping and igniting his legs. He flew up to Jeremy’s level, holding his face in his hands.

“You are not worthless,” Michael stated, brushing his thumb over Jeremy’s cheek. “You are not terrible. I don’t know who or what made you think that…but you aren’t.”

“Minamahal? Have you seen my box of hairspray??

Jeremy and Michael both dropped to the floor, Michael kicking his pants back into place once the flames were out. Maria walked on to the two of them trying to act like they hadn’t been literally defying gravity.

“James!” Maria blinked at the other parent. “Oh my goodness! I haven’t seen you in ages! How are you honey?”

James got up and accepted the hug Maria offered. “I’m good. Newly single. Again.”

Maria made a face, “Yes. I’m glad she’s gone. Did we have plans? I was just running home between clients.”

James shook his head, “No. Just checking in on that one.” He gestured to Jeremy. “Y’know with how attached he is to his phone he really isn’t good about telling me where he is. Michael was cooking when I got here so I just helped out. I’m sorry if I’ve barged in.”

Maria swatted his shoulder, “Oh please! You’re family! Break in and cook any time you want! We should schedule a dinner night for all of us!”

“Mom,” Michael walked over to the dining table and held up a box. “Hairspray?”

Maria rushed over to the box, “Yes! Thank you! I have to run, I’ll see you all later!”

They all waved as Maria hurried out with her box. The room fell quiet, Jeremy unsure of what to say or do.

“You really haven’t told your moms?” James turned to Michael.

“No, and I don’t plan on it,” Michael shook his head. “I freak myself out enough, I don’t want to do the same to them.”

James didn’t argue it. Jeremy hesitantly went back to his breakfast, hoping they were done arguing.

“You’re applying to college,” James stated. “I have to get to work.”

Jeremy whined, watching his dad place his dishes into the dishwasher before walking out. Michael pulled out his laptop, working on his own application while munching on his food. Jeremy poked at his plate, averting his eyes while Michael worked.

“Hey,” Michael reached over and grabbed his hand. Jeremy looked over, a bit nervous to make eye contact. “Do…do you seriously not want to go with our original plan? Do you not want…I mean, things are different than when we were younger. And I know I’m not…an ideal person to commit your whole life to. If you think I’m pressuring you I don’t want you to go forward with our…with my dream.”

Jeremy felt his eyes widen. He got up and pulled Michael into his arms. The two spun in slow circles for a moment until Jeremy set him down again.

“Dude. I fucking love you. I’ve literally never been happier. I just…I can’t just sit and do nothing. I’ve had these powers for nearly six months. If I didn’t want a future with you I would have up and left and joined football or something. But I couldn’t before, so why should I now? I need to use my powers. When I don’t my body gets all itchy and I can’t sleep and my strength gets harder to control. I…I just don’t see what the harm would be in taking a gap year or two. To try and experience the improbable future of dedicating my life to Spider-Man. Do you not ever feel that way about Torch?”

Michael shrugged, “Not really? I don’t…maybe as a kid being a superhero sounded fun. But I don’t…I fucking hate my powers. Y’know the first time we slept together I was terrified I would accidentally slip up and burn you alive? Rich and Jake are the ones who encouraged me to try it that first night, they got the suit and everything ready. But fighting people? Even criminals? It’s just not my thing.”

“Then why—”

“Because you love it,” Michael explained. “And I love you. And you being Spider-Man makes it all a bit better. Fuck, your smile whenever we pause on a roof? It’s like the night it hit that I’m in love with you all over again. I meant it when I said I wouldn’t want it to be anyone else. You’re…you’re the whole reason I keep doing this. And the reason I’ll keep going even if it isn’t my thing. And I mean…flying is cool as fuck. I love it. Arguably the best part of the whole thing. But y’know I miss having glasses sometimes? But if perfect vision and muscles I never asked for are what I need to have in order to be there for you when you do stupid shit…I guess I’ll take it.”

Jeremy hid his face against Michael’s shoulder. The two of them hugged in silence. One of Michael’s hands brushed at the ends of his hair, Jeremy leaning into the touch.

“Let’s just get it over with,” Jeremy pulled out of the hug and moved to Michael’s laptop. He pulled up a new tab and began typing away at his own application. Of course he wanted his indie game designer dream with Michael. He just wanted other stuff too.

They would understand eventually, he was sure of it.

▣

“Mr. Heere?”

Jeremy looked up from his desk, finding his teacher in front of him. He blinked, unsure of what he had done wrong.

“You’ve been requested at the office, you’re excused.”

Jeremy got up, unsure of what he had done wrong. Had his grades slipped that much? He had been keeping up as best as he could. He wasn’t failing any classes last he had checked.

Jeremy made his way into the office, finding his dad seated in a chair. Jeremy offered his dad a wave as he approached. What the fuck was going on?

“Hey kiddo!”

“What are you doing here?”

James got up and patted his shoulder, leading them out of the building, “You’re overdue for follow up regarding your surgery. I want to make sure everything’s okay in that noggin of yours.”

Jeremy made a face, sliding into the passenger seat of the car, “What? I’m fine.”

“But it’s good to make sure.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes, “Fine.”

The drive to the clinic was quiet. They hadn’t really spoken much the past few days. Jeremy kept to himself. Hiding out at Michael’s, or out in the suit, or his room. He was pissed, but at least with Michael he could make out instead of addressing his problems.

The clinic was cold inside. Jeremy huddled inside his sweater. His dad took care of paperwork. He knew he was fine.

The exam room felt even colder. Jeremy crossed his arms over his chest while he sat and waited for the doctor to come in. A nurse came in first, checking his vitals.

“120 over 80, you’re perfect,” the nurse hummed.

He could have told her that. Jeremy continued to wait, his dad staring at the door expectantly.

“Hi Jeremy,” the doctor greeted them warmly. “Mr. Heere, would you mind stepping out for a bit?”

James got up and left, Jeremy still sitting on the exam table. What the hell was going on? It was a checkup. He could be in the room.

“So, Jeremy,” the doctor looked at him with her hands clasped together. “How have you been?”

Jeremy shrugged, “Fine.”

The doctor offered him a smile. It felt…pitiful.

“I heard you might be having a hard time.”

“…No. I’ve been great.”

She pulled out a clipboard from a drawer, “Okay. Since we haven’t done this recently I just want you to fill out these questions. Don’t overthink it.”

Jeremy accepted the clipboard and a pen, reading over the first question.

In the past two weeks have you had thoughts of harming yourself?

Jeremy arched his brow. He skimmed the answers.

Not at all; A few days: Several days; Every day

He looked up at the doctor. She was typing away at the computer in the room. Jeremy turned back to the paper and circled an answer. The questions kept getting darker. He didn’t understand why he was filling this out. Once he was done he passed back the clipboard. Didn’t she need to check him for his accident with the building? Wasn’t that the point of this?

“So, Jeremy,” The doctor offered him a small smile again. “You indicated that you have thoughts that you feel worthless every day. Did you want to talk about that?”

“No.”

“I know you were involved with a few major incidents these past few months, did those feelings start after that?”

“I—what does this have to do about anything? I thought this was a follow up appointment.”

“Your father mentioned you’ve been expressing some self destructive thoughts and actions, I want to chat about this.”

Jeremy felt himself tense up, “What? You’re taking his word over mine? I’m fine. He’s just pissed that I’m growing up and he wasted his time when he had the option to be a parent!”

“And you feel upset by his shortcomings?”

“Obviously! He just tries to take away the things that make me happy when I know what I want with my life!”

“And what do you want with your life?”

“To be—” Jeremy cut himself off before he spilled his identity to the doctor. “A good person. Better. Y’know, like…worthy.”

“Worthy of what?”

“Everything!”

“And you don’t feel that you are now?”

“No. I’m…I don’t deserve anything good that I have in my life.”

The doctor nodded, “Okay. It can be hard to get along with parents when you have different ideas of what your future should hold. Do you deny the accusation of having self-destructive tendencies?”

“I…” Jeremy crossed his legs. Of course he was self destructive. He jumped from buildings on the daily! He fought armed criminals because it was the right thing to do! “I guess technically, yeah I do. But…I don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. It’s fine, it’s not like I’m trying to kill myself.”

The doctor hummed, “Okay. Do you mind if I invite your dad back in?”

Jeremy shrugged, the doctor stepping out to fetch his dad. James returned to his seat and Jeremy pointedly avoided looking at him.

“So, James,” the doctor sat back on her stool. “After talking with Jeremy and reviewing his test answers I do feel he is showing symptoms of depression and anxiety.”

Jeremy lowered his head. He didn’t really buy that.

“Okay,” James just nodded.

“There are multiple routes we could go with treatment. I feel we should start with an antidepressant, and once we have time to see how it works move on from there.”

“Okay.”

They went back out to the car after another few minutes of discussion on pharmacy location and dosage. Jeremy waited for them to be on the road before turning to his dad.

“You do know meds won’t work on me, right?”

James made a face, “What?”

“I have an advanced metabolism. Nothing works in small doses. I would never be prescribed something strong enough to actually have an effect on me.”

James fell quiet for a moment. Jeremy sighed, looking out his window. He didn't need meds anyway. He wasn’t depressed, he was a superhero.

“Well, school is out. Let’s just go home. I’ll figure something out.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes. He made his way into the house once they were parked, running up to his room and digging for his costume. Brooke had made a new suit, the only real difference being that the webs were kinda shiny. He had been saving it, but with the Spider-Man festival he could finally wear it.

“Kiddo did you want tacos for dinner—” James poked his head in and spotted Jeremy prying open his window. “Oh. Did you want to eat first?”

Jeremy shook his head, “Nah, I’ll eat later. They’re holding a festival for me in New York.”

James blinked, “Oh yeah! I heard about that! Did…could I come?”

“I guess,” Jeremy shrugged. “I’m swinging, I doubt you’ll make it in time if you drive. My friends are already on the road.

“You could swing me? I’ll catch a train back.”

Jeremy hummed, crouching so James could climb on his back. He again yelped the entire time, but Jeremy ignored it. He did a few flips, just to make his dad mad. He deserved it for lying to him.

Jeremy dropped his dad off in an alley, climbing back to the roof to watch over the growing crowd.

“So, you come here often?”

Jeremy turned his head, grinning beneath his mask as Michael landed next to him. His new suit looked awesome. No longer black and white, Brooke had made it red and black instead. Michael actually had a sort of logo like Jeremy had with his spider emblem. A flame in the center of his chest.

“Woah, you look…great,” Jeremy beamed, lifting up his mask to his nose so he could pull Michael into a kiss.

Michael hummed against him, “Yeah? Thanks.” Michael tugged the mask back into place. “You vanished before the end of the day. What happened?”

Jeremy shrugged, “Follow up appointment. My dad wanted to make sure I didn’t have any lasting injuries from all the bullshit the past few months. I’m fine.”

“That’s good,” Michael hummed. “Anything else?”

“Nope. All healed up!”

Michael pressed a kiss to his masked forehead, “Okay. I’m glad you’re okay.”

Jeremy pulled out his phone, finding the group chat with their friend group was blowing up confirming they had arrived. Chloe was requesting to chat before the festival started. Jeremy and Michael directed the group to the back alley before swooping down to carry them all up. It took a few trips but soon all eight of them were on the roof.

Jeremy felt a light buzz in his skull, causing him to tense up. Where was the danger? What? He didn’t see anything. Nothing was happening.

“Tall-Ass!” Rich marched over to him, his eyes narrowed. “I’ve been looking for you! What the fuck did you do to my dad?!”

Jeremy held up his hands in surrender, “What? I—dude you looked like shit! Is he still hitting you?”

Rich crossed his arms over his chest, “You’re a fucking dumbass. There’s a reason I never asked you to confront him!”

“What? Is he pissed at Spider-Man now or something?”

“You’ll see.”

“Your suit looks awesome!” Christine was examining Michael’s new costume. “Wow!”

Michael gestured to Brooke, “Thank her, not me.”

“Someone had to fix that mess,” Brooke just shrugged. “You look awesome, Michael.”

“Good to know my dad pulled through,” Jenna mused.

Jake was quiet, hanging close to Rich. He didn’t seem to actively be pissed off for once, but he also didn’t appear to want to properly interact with Rich either.

“Guys,” Chloe pointed towards the crowd. “I think it’s starting.”

They got everyone lowered to the ground, Jeremy and Michael hanging back on the roof while they watched things begin to unfold.

“This isn’t what I expected when I bought that dumb tic tac,” Jeremy said, laughing as music began playing.

Michael pulled Jeremy into a hug, “Yeah, not on my junior year bingo card, Jer.” He pulled back and offered Jeremy a warm smile. “Go get ‘em tiger.”

“Oh hurl,” Jeremy rolled his eyes beneath his mask before diving off the side of the building. He made his way around the event, keeping to the side on the off chance he wasn’t supposed to actually be there. Someone spotted him, a group of people cheering.

“Holy fuck,” Jeremy whispered.

The mayor spotted him from their stage, waving Jeremy down to join him. Jeremy hesitated, but leaped down and landed in a crouch next to the older man. He stood tall, trying to appear more mature than he was.

“Spider-Man,” the mayor held out a hand to shake his. Jeremy accepted the offer, his heart slamming in his chest. “I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done for our great city. You’ve done the impossible, and you’ve made our city safe. I and all of New York wanted to give you this key to the city as a thank you.”

Jeremy accepted the simple case holding the key. He made sure to lower his voice before speaking, “Thank you, Sir.”

“Hold it!”

Jeremy turned his head, his jaw dropping at the sight of Rich’s dad approaching the stage. What the fuck?! Security moved to apprehend him.

“That wall crawler is a menace!” Rich’s dad screamed. “He’s a threat to this city! To the American Dream!”

“Who on earth is that?”

Jeremy turned to the mayor, “I have no idea.”

“He broke into my home! Threatened my life! He’s after our kids! And you all are giving him honor?!”

Rich’s dad slipped out of the security guards hold, rushing at the stage again. He managed to make it on to the stage, Jeremy standing between him and the mayor. Just to be safe. Instead he grabbed a microphone and addressed the crowd.

“This man is a criminal! He will be our downfall! And I, Gerald G. Goranski will be leading the charge against this despicable creature! I want this arachnid prosecuted! The Daily Bugle holds the truth to his evil! I will stay silent no longer—”

Security tackled the man, dragging him away towards police officers. Jeremy spotted a few wary eyes in the crowd. He held his ground. Surely this wouldn’t turn people against him.

“Sorry about that, Spider-Man,” the mayor patted his shoulder. “Thank you again for coming.”

Jeremy nodded, launching himself up and swinging away. He made his way back towards where he had left Michael, the two of them meeting in a hug while Jeremy held his new key in one hand.

“That was fucking wild, dude,” Michael laughed.

“I see what Rich meant earlier now,” Jeremy nodded. He glanced at the box in his hand, “I guess I should bring this home, huh?”

“Might be a good idea. I’m sure your dad is happy for you.”

Jeremy shrugged, “He doesn't like that I do this.”

Michael took his free hand, “You know he just wants you to be safe, right? I’ve talked to him, he’s so fucking proud of you, Jer.”

Jeremy sighed, “I…yeah. I know. I’ll drop this at home and swing back out. Are you staying?

Michael shook his head, “Can’t tonight. I have a test for physics tomorrow. Not to mention the computer science test. I’ll fly you home if you want?”

Jeremy nodded, sticking his hand to Michael so the two of them could fly off. Jeremy dropped to his roof so Michael could head home, waving to his boyfriend as he vanished in a bright streak of fire.

Jeremy crawled through his window and placed his award on his desk. He hadn’t ever won an award before. He hadn’t ever been good enough at something to earn one.

Jeremy caught his reflection in the mirror as he turned to leave again. He raised one arm, finding Brooke had made a mesh and sewn it along his armpits of the suit. He hadn’t noticed that before. It looked awesome, more thin shiny fabric catching the light like the new pattern did along the rest of the suit.

Jeremy made his way back out, swinging around the city. Citizens he passed tended to wave. It was nice. He would do this no matter what, being Spider-Man was his job. But having people recognize him as being a hero, acknowledging that he was doing good, it sure did make him feel good about the whole thing.

It was a quiet night, almost as if because of the festival they had held in his name. Jeremy wound up back home and in bed at a reasonable hour. At least, reasonable for him that is. It was nice of the world to give him an easy night.

Jeremy was up and ready for school without rush. He bypassed his dad and sprinted to Brooke’s house. She had mentioned needing a ride, and Jeremy was more than happy to swing her. He knocked at her door, offering her a smile as she opened up.

“Do we have time to stop for breakfast?” Brooke asked. “I didn’t get a chance to eat before leaving.”

Jeremy nodded, having Brooke take his backpack so she could climb on his back. Jeremy opted to just jump rooftops, both him and Brooke keeping their hoods over their heads. Brooke directed him to a coffee place she liked, the two of them walking in to order.

“Thanks Jeremy,” Brooke sighed, finding a table for them to sit at. “It’s been a long week.”

“Thank you again for the suit,” Jeremy nudged her with his foot. “You didn’t have to do that for me.”

“Oh please, I love sewing, that’s nothing,” Brooke inserted her straw into her drink. “I just…y’know. School will be out in like a month, and I…I just have so much I need to get done. And Chloe…god I hope her appointment today has good news. I know she’s been pretending to be okay, and she’s honestly pretty convincing, but stage three? That’s late. And her denial at first? I’m terrified of losing her. I love her.”

Right, Brooke didn’t know about Vee. It wasn’t Jeremy’s place to share. Brooke would find out that Chloe was safe along with the rest of the non powered group.

“I’d have hope,” Jeremy reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “Chloe is tough. She’s stronger than we think.”

Brooke nodded, munching on her breakfast sandwich. Jeremy knew how much she worried, it was hard to find Brooke and Chloe in the same room without Brooke looking anxious these days. Brooke was just…anxious in general. Given her history it made a lot of sense why she was so scared of losing Chloe. And a cancer diagnosis was in no way any help to those fears. Part of Jeremy wanted to tell her, just so she could know and rest easy. But he kept quiet. She didn’t need to know about Vee, at least not from Jeremy.

They continued off to school, Jeremy dropping in along the side of the building. Brooke hurried off to her locker, Jeremy just walking to class. He had a long day ahead of him. Two tests that he hadn’t studied for. Not to mention the once again looming threat of finals. They were coming up fast.

Chemistry kicked his ass without Chloe to help. He had been doing decently in the class, but now? A low test score would tank his grades. Why couldn’t he have been gifted a powerful mind with his powers? Were spiders not smart? They had to be a little bit, right? But they weren’t dolphins. Dolphins were geniuses. Jeremy wished he was a genius.

“I’m assuming you didn’t study for our test this afternoon?” Michael sat next to him in the choir room.

Jeremy shook his head, Michael passing him a notebook. He would read through at lunch. Jeremy had to switch seats once the class started since he was playing drums now. There was another concert coming up too. Jeremy didn’t want to forget about it and be late. Granted at least now if he did Michael could just fly to him and haul his ass back to school.

Brooke sat without a lunch tray during their noon hour. Jeremy passed her his share of what Maria had packed for him and Michael, hoping to try and improve her day. His head was once again lightly blaring out in warning, but nothing was happening. He glanced around just to be sure, and still there was nothing. Maybe he was losing his grip on his powers.

“I can’t believe I never connected that your dad is Gerald G. Goranski!” Christine was seated next to Rich today. “I’ve followed his paper for years. He has such wild takes!”

“He’s an asshole,” Rich nodded, turning away from Jake to give Chris his full attention. “Right now he’s all excited because my brother is out of jail. He thinks Steven is all…honestly I think he’s convinced that Steven is like Jesus’s second coming? Fucking loves the prick.”

“Wow, imagine believing in Jesus,” Jeremy quipped from his spot.

Brooke snorted and reached a hand out for Jeremy to slap. He smacked her palm before ripping off a chunk of her sandwich so he didn’t go completely hungry. He was usually hungry as it was, eating nothing wouldn’t be of any use to him.

“I would love to pick his brain,” Christine stated. “Is that horrible of me to say?”

Rich shrugged, “I think he just fired a freelance photographer? Think he pissed him off. If Tall Ass let you take a photo of him he would probably hire you.”

Christine turned to him, her hands clasped together in a pleading manner. Jeremy sighed, nodding his head. If it would make Chris happy then he would do it.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Chris?” Jake snapped at her, slowly rising from his seat. “We know he’s a piece of garbage. If I was Jeremy I would have dropped him in the fucking Hudson with cinder blocks! He’s not some weird little guy for you to analyze! He’s a piece of shit!”

“Woah, woah, Jakey D,” Rich chuckled, pushing Jake back into his spot. “Dad learned his lesson. May I remind you we have two superheroes among us. No need to worry anymore.”

Jake blinked, staring hard at Rich for a moment before turning away and stabbing at his lunch.

“My mom agreed to come visit,” Jenna tried changing the subject. The group congratulated her on the progress. It sucked that it had taken so long to get her to agree to a meeting. But the sooner the better! Jeremy had waited eight years that had earned assassination attempts for it.

“Hey guys,” Chloe slid into her seat next to Brooke, eyeing up the food in front of her girlfriend before passing Jeremy a take out container. He didn’t complain, he was starving.

“How was your appointment,” Brooke shifted focus to be on Chloe. “When does your next round of treatment start? I figured we could plan your sick time if we knew when—”

Chloe covered Brooke’s mouth, a small smile on her face. “Honey. I’m in remission.”

Brooke’s eyes welled up, the table fell quiet. Michael laced a hand With Jeremy beneath the table.

“What?” Brooke’s mascara began smearing from the tears rolling down her cheeks.

Chloe wiped the makeup off with her sleeve, “I’m in remission. I’m going to live.”

Brooke’s chest began to heave, the girl throwing herself into Chloe’s lap and sobbing openly against her shoulder. Chloe wrapped her arms around her, the two squeezing each other tight.

Jeremy knew Chloe was okay. He had known for a while. But to officially hear the news. To have a doctor confirm it. It was great.

The group began cheering, Brooke still crying against Chloe. They all squished the couple in a group hug, Jake also appearing to have teared up a bit.

“Don’t tell me you’re getting soft on me Dillinger,” Chloe arched her brow with a smirk.

Jake rubbed at his eyes, smiling down at Chloe, “Hey. I’m allowed to care about you. Even if we aren’t together, you’re still my Chlo-Bear.”

Chloe raised one hand, flipping Jake off, “Don’t call me that, prick.”

But she was smiling. Jake returned the gesture, pressing a kiss into Chloe’s hair before returning to his spot. Jeremy couldn’t remember them getting along that well even when they had been together.

But it was official. Chloe was safe. Maybe things would be okay after all.

Chapter Text

“Hey, Jeremy?”

Jeremy looked up from his textbook, finding Jake standing in front of him. He hadn’t ever come to visit Jeremy during their study hall before. Michael knew it too, both of them arching a brow at him.

“Can we talk for a minute?”

It must have been important if he was going out of his way for this. Jake hadn’t exactly been the most fond of Jeremy since their fight in the hall a while back. Granted…he hadn’t ever been all that fond of Jeremy.

Jeremy pressed a kiss to Michael’s cheek before getting up, “Yeah, sure.”

Jake brought them to the library, sitting at a table in the corner. He looked genuinely distressed.

“I’m worried about Rich,” Jake stated, his eyes serious.

Jeremy cocked his head to the side, “What? He’s doing good, I’ve kept an eye on him. His dad is too busy trying to behead Spider-Man to focus on Rich.”

“No. No. Not that,” Jake pinched the bridge of his nose. “Thank fucking god it isn’t that for once. I just—he’s acting weird. Has been since prom.”

“Have you been screaming at him? People usually don’t respond well to that.”

“No! Fuck off, you don’t understand that! He…we all went to Chloe’s after prom and stayed over but when I got up the next morning he just…something is up with him.”

Jeremy sighed, “Have you talked to him?”

“No.”

“Maybe start there—”

“I’m not imagining this!” Jake got up, trying to use his height to scare Jeremy. He didn’t flinch. Jeremy was used to the intimidation tactics. “His lisp! It’s gone!”

“He suppresses it. He’s self conscious about it.”

“But he wasn’t for months! He gave up! Now all of a sudden he’s back to perfect suppression? Can you just make sure? Please?”

Jeremy sighed, “I’ll keep my eyes peeled. But seriously, you need to try and talk to him. Without being a dick. And without him being forced to be vulnerable. No yelling.”

“I—”

“We get it, Jake. Your parents are in jail. Your house burned down. You have to do physical therapy. But fuck, all you do is complain about it.  Jenna’s parents divorced, but she doesn’t make it her entire personality. Her mom abandoned her for months, she didn’t say a word. Rich is scarred for life, he lives with his guilt daily. Rich’s dad is a worthless piece of shit, but he never told us that. My mom tried to kill me like four times, I don’t go around complaining about her every day. I don’t whine every time I get punched or kicked because I didn’t react fast enough. Chloe had fucking cancer and she still didn’t talk to us about it. I’m not saying you should internalize your shit, I’m just saying you shouldn’t make it your whole life. There comes a point when you just need to move on.”

Jake was silent.

“I’ll keep an eye on Rich, see you in third.”

Jeremy made his way back to class, dropping in his seat to go back to work. Michael laced a hand with him, the two of them silently working on their own assignments. They were working down to the final stretch of coursework before recap week started. Jeremy was feeling a bit better about this semester compared to last, but that didn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. He had nearly flunked his last few tests, his grades were hardly passable. It wasn’t quite fair that teachers could weigh grades like that. Even if Jeremy did all his homework, if he didn’t do well on an exam his grades would tank. His classes with a point based grading system were much better. He was cheating to get a perfect grade in math, but the school didn’t need to know that.

“Here,” Chloe handed him her notebook while they worked on a lab together. The pages were full of colorful notes and science related doodles, a few homework assignments with good grades taped inside. Chloe kept good notes, but the bright colors didn’t make it look that way.

“Don’t you need this?”

Chloe shrugged, “Vee absorbs information like a sponge. I don’t really need it. It’s kind of nice, I have a built-in study buddy now.”

Jeremy watched her peer down at the palm of her hand, Jeremy watching black ooze spread across the skin before sinking back in. It was still kind of creepy to look at.

“Thanks,” Jeremy put the notebook into his backpack. 

Walking into third Jeremy felt his body tense up again. His sixth sense was going fucking haywire for no reason almost every day now. If it weren’t for the fact that it still did work most of the time he would have started ignoring it.

Jeremy only pretended to read his book. He did as Jake asked and kept watch over Rich. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He had a small smirk on his face, his brow arched as he scanned his own book. He looked…normal. Exactly the same as he had looked the past few years.

“You watching me now, Tall Ass?” Rich chuckled, grabbing Jeremy by his shirt collar and dragging him closer. “Have a crush on me or something?”

Jeremy narrowed his eyes, webbing Rich’s hand to his book, “What the fuck? Dude. I’ve been with Michael for…oh fuck it’s six months soon.”

Jeremy grabbed his phone, searching for the date. He had it saved for a reason, his brain was far too preoccupied to remember half the time—

Six months was on Michael’s birthday. Holy shit. Fuck. Birthday. What did Jeremy get him? What did people get boyfriends?

“Did I break you?” Rich lightly tapped him with his web covered hand. When Jeremy didn’t respond right away he turned to Jake. “I think I broke the geek.”

Jeremy whipped his head over to look at Jake, “What do you get a significant other for anniversaries?”

Jake shrugged, “I always got Chloe makeup. She made lists. Michael is gay but he isn’t…flamboyant.”

He would be if it weren’t for his powers. Jeremy couldn’t remember the last time he had walked into Michael’s room to the smell of nail polish. It just melted off now, so he didn’t bother. No more earrings, nothing.

“Fuck,” Jeremy groaned, sliding back in his seat. “Are there any concerts coming up you guys know of?”

Both guys shook their heads. Jeremy grumbled to himself, pulling out his book to stare and not comprehend the words on the page. He was such a shitty boyfriend. Bad enough he sucked at school, now he couldn’t even be a good partner? Why was he becoming worse at acting like a decent person?

Maybe he could just ask Michael what he wanted? They had done that in the past. It wasn’t the worst idea.

Jeremy didn’t get a chance to ask until lunch. He plopped into his spot next to Michael and leaned against him. His head started blaring out quietly again, Jeremy twitching in an attempt to ignore it.

“You okay?”

Jeremy nodded, “Yeah, it’s just…” He waved at his own head, “My head won’t stop freaking out. It’s fine.”

“What, like your…what do you even call it? Spider tingle?”

“That…I don’t have a name for it, but yeah. That. There’s no danger, I don’t know why it keeps going off.”

Michael glanced around, confirming there was no danger, “I’m not sure, dude. Maybe it’s stress?”

“Maybe…” Jeremy shrugged, brushing off his worries. “Anyway, it’s your birthday soon. What do you want?”

Michael chuckled, “Uh…can I get back to you?”

Jeremy nodded, letting his head fall against Michael’s shoulder. The consistent alarm bells were overwhelming him. But Michael was always grounding. Jeremy was a bit obsessed with the warmth he gave off even when just sitting casually. 

Once they went to class Jeremy’s head calmed down. He sighed, slouching in his seat for a moment before shooting back upright. Sometimes slouching scared him. He drifted through his afternoon and waited for Michael to tell him what he wanted. He wanted to be a good boyfriend. He didn’t deserve Michael, and if he could feel like he did for even a brief moment it would be worthwhile.

“Jeremy!” Christine approached him during his free period. “Do you think I could get a few photos of you after school? Work is insane and…I didn’t think I would actually like this job.”

Jeremy sighed, glancing up at her from his seat, “I…yeah. Sure. Y’know that asshole is trying to pin me as some sort of child predator? Which is funny because I am a child.”

Christine shrugged, “He doesn’t know that. It’s wild, I know why Rich never mentioned him. But at least he’s consistently an asshole to everyone. Granted he doesn’t hit his employees.”

“He is turning people against me. Had a woman last night throw her phone at me after I saved her from being mugged.”

“Holy shit.”

“It’s not like she hit me,” Jeremy shrugged. “But yeah, I’ll let you get a few. Make sure you get my good side and all that.”

“You’re a superhero, you don’t have a bad side Jer,” Christine ruffled his hair before scurrying off. Jeremy continued his venture at attempting to finish his homework before school let out. The closer finals got the more everyone was beginning to hound him to get things done. His dad now checking in on his grades a few times a week, nearly every day. Whenever Michael was out with him at night he didn’t let it go, constantly reminding him to get his work done. It was never ending.

After school Jeremy nabbed Christine and brought them into the city. She squealed, clinging to him as they swung around. He let her get her photos, hoping she would somehow convince Rich’s dad to like him. It wouldn’t happen, he knew deep down, but he wanted to dream.

Jeremy dropped her off outside of the dingy news building, Christine walking out from an alley. With her safe and to work Jeremy made his way back home. He was starving.

Jeremy dropped through his window, pulling off his mask and gloves to toss in the corner. He pulled street clothes over his costume before making his way downstairs. His dad wasn’t home yet. Jeremy hummed to himself, warming up leftovers.

Once he was finished with the hot dish that he had reheated he was still hungry. He was always hungry, it came with his advanced metabolism. He knew that they had more leftovers in the fridge, but he didn’t know if his dad wanted them or not. Jeremy opted to just go without, he would rather his dad eat what he wanted.

He received a text from Michael, asking him over. Jeremy ran up to his room, grabbing the discarded pieces of his costume and shoving them into his pockets before heading out. He ran to Michael’s, knocking on the front door while rocking on his heels.

“Hi honey!” Maria answered and pulled him into a hug. “I swear, every time I look at you I think you look more like an adult! I’ve been talking with your dad, we’re working on having a day to all get together. We haven’t even had dinner together since you and Mikey started dating! It’s been too long, and so much has happened!”

Jeremy smiled at her, “Okay! Yeah, that sounds awesome.”

Maria patted his cheek, “He’s in his room.” Jeremy started towards the stairs, but Maria caught his hand before he could vanish. “Has…has he been over to your place a lot lately?”

“Uh…why?”

Maria looked to the floor, “Sometimes when I have trouble sleeping I do laps of the house. And…and sometimes he isn’t in his room. When I know he was there when we went to bed. I know you…I know Michael and you are trustworthy. I would just appreciate knowing where he is. He didn’t even take his phone.”

Oh fuck.

“I…yeah. I’ve had uh…some not so great insomnia lately. Michael usually just comes and sits with me until I can sleep. Sorry, I just didn’t want to make a big deal of it. It’s my fault, don’t be mad at him.”

Maria brushed a hand through his hair, “Oh honey…no don’t blame yourself. Thank you for telling me. I’m not mad. Have you talked to your dad about it? Gone to the doctor?”

Jeremy shrugged, “He knows about it.”

Maria pressed a kiss to his forehead, “Well, don’t go keep Mikey waiting. Did you want to stay for dinner?”

“Oh, I already ate. Thanks though.” He didn’t want to inconvenience her. She had done plenty for him over the years. Maria and Darcy stepped in as his moms when Jennifer left, he couldn’t ask for much more. Besides, she packed a lunch for him to have at school every day with Michael so he didn’t have to eat the cafeteria food.

Maria eyed up his frame, “Okay, but you’re skin and bones, so if you change your mind let me know. You’re always welcome. I know your dad…struggles sometimes, and you’re never a burden. Both of you. You’re family, honey.”

Jeremy nodded, escaping down the stairs to Michael’s room. He found his boyfriend on his beanbag, stretched out while playing a platformer. Jeremy sat down next to him on his own beanbag and watched him play. He leaned over, resting his head against Michael’s ribs. Michael silently lifted his arm so Jeremy could move and plant his head on his stomach, Jeremy doing so and Michael lowering his arm back down once he was comfortable. Jeremy hummed and folded his arms up so he could squeeze the arm Michael had draped over him, hugging the one arm as Michael silently continued his game.

They stayed quiet, both focused on the tv screen while Michael fought his way through the level. Once completed Michael set aside the controller, one hand brushing through Jeremy’s hair and massaging his scalp.

“Hi,” Michael hummed, brushing his thumb over Jeremy’s cheek.

“Hi,” Jeremy blinked up at him from his spot. “What’s up?”

Michael drummed his fingers along Jeremy’s sides, a small smirk on his face. “I know what I want for my birthday.”

“Oh,” Jeremy’s attention perked. “Yeah, whatever you want.”

“Would it be too much to ask to spend the day with my best friend?”

Jeremy scrunched up his nose, “No. I can do that.”

“Would it be too much to ask that my boyfriend spend the night with me?”

“Of course not.”

Michael arched a brow, one hand slipping under Jeremy’s shirt and running his fingers over the webbing detail on his costume beneath. “And without this?”

It caught Jeremy a bit off guard. Of course Michael would say that. Make it difficult for him—

He needed to stop getting agitated over it. Michael didn’t like being a superhero, that was perfectly fine. He could go a day without the suit. Michael was more important than Spider-Man. If Michael kept up the whole hero thing to please him then he could do the opposite in return.

“Yeah,” Jeremy nodded his head. “I’ll leave it at home.”

Michael grinned, bending over to plant a kiss to Jeremy’s lips, “Thanks.”

Jeremy hesitated, one hand tapping against Michael’s arm, “That’s it?”

Michael nodded.

“Nothing else?”

A head shake.

Jeremy scrunched up his nose, “How shitty am I that your standards for your birthday are that low?”

Michael poked his cheek, “Hey! You aren’t shitty. This is honestly what I want. No Spider-Man, no Torch. Just Jeremy and Michael. Best friends. Boyfriends. Normal teenagers.”

“Yeah, but—”

“No buts. That’s the depression talking, don’t listen to it.”

Jeremy blinked, “What?”

Michael sighed, running his fingers through Jeremy’s hair. “Jer, c’mon. I’m not blind.”

“I’m not depressed.”

“You don’t have to like it, but don’t lie to me about it.”

Jeremy threw himself to his feet, starting towards the door, “I’m not—”

Michael scrambled after him, catching his arm, “Don’t walk away from this, Jer.”

“I—”

Michael backed him into a wall, holding his face with one hand. “You can’t keep running from this. All we want is for you to be happy.”

“I am happy!”

“But are you? You’ve been through hell! All this shit you’ve been through, you can’t say that it hasn’t fucked with you! Your mom tried drowning you! She crushed you with a building! She shot you! She hired someone to murder the real you! You can’t walk away from that unscathed!”

“Stop—”

“Not to mention the fucking computer. Rich has told me what it said to him, I’m scared to know what it told you. What lies it made up about you being gross, or-or whatever the fuck else it said. What it made you do, what happened with Chloe. This entire year has been torture for you. You don’t have to be okay.”

Jeremy held himself, looking to the floor, “I’m a superhero. I’m supposed to be better—”

“Bull-fucking-shit!” Michael tilted his chin up so they made eye contact. “Having powers doesn’t make you inhuman. Being a superhero doesn’t mean you can’t be sad. Batman literally exists because of trauma. Do you know how many times I’ve cried? How anxious I make myself every time I put on that mask? You’re allowed to feel, Jer.”

Jeremy closed his eyes, trying to cut off tears before they started rolling, “I can’t—” he cut himself off. “I can’t keep being a problem.”

“You aren’t one.”

“But this is!” Jeremy snapped his eyes open. “I can’t be depressed because that means people need to fix it! All I’ve ever been is a problem! People don’t like problems!”

“If you’re such a problem then why do I like you?” Michael wiped away a tear that broke loose. “Why do I want to spend my whole life with you? Why have I been in love with you for as long as I can remember?”

Jeremy just shrugged. He was at a point where he didn’t trust his voice. Michael could do so much better. He deserved better.

“Jer, not even evil computers could keep me away from you,” Michael whispered. “Mental illness sure as hell won’t be able to do it.”

“I love you—” Jeremy’s voice cracked, falling against Michael. He hid his face, hot tears soaking into Michael’s shirt.

Michael picked him up and into his arms, “Love you too.”

Michael let him cry. Jeremy squeezed him tight—maybe a bit too tight—and let the tears fall. Jeremy struggled to get ahold of his emotions, but Michael didn’t push him. They worked through the outburst together, Michael supporting him with whispered words and gentle touch. When Jeremy did manage to return to reality Michael laid them down on his bed, the two of them holding each other on top of the duvet.

“Hi,” Michael whispered, rubbing away tear tracks.

“Hi,” Jeremy murmured. “D’you think your moms heard me?”

Michael shook his head, “Nah. They would have barged in by now.”

Jeremy let his eyes drift closed, “Okay. Good.”

They were quiet for a moment. Jeremy could feel Michael’s hand tracing up and down his arm, heat traveling through his clothes to warm him. It sent goosebumps across his skin. Jeremy tucked his face against the crook of Michael’s neck and hummed.

“Hey Jer.”

Jeremy pulled his head back, opening his eyes to look at Michael with questioning.

“I love you.”

Jeremy smiled softly, lightly nudging Michael to roll on his back. He followed suit, swinging a leg across him so he was straddling his lap. He leaned over, pressing his lips against Michael’s. One hand went for Jeremy’s hip and the other buried into his hair. He felt Michael lightly bite at his lower lip, earning a laugh from Jeremy. He opened, properly slotting his mouth over Michael’s and earning a squeeze to the hip for his actions.

Michael tugged at Jeremy’s sweatshirt, Jeremy sitting upright so it could be pulled off. Underneath it was the Spider-Man suit. Michael scowled at the emblem, earning a chuckle from Jeremy.

“Stupid fucking spandex,” Michael reached for the hem and started pulling. “Keeping me from ravishing my boyfriend.”

Jeremy properly laughed, pulling his hands away, “Your moms are upstairs.”

“Oh so they’re cockblocking me too?”

Jeremy wheezed, flopping over on top of Michael. “Don’t—don’t describe them like that.”

Jeremy launched himself to the ceiling, lowering himself down with a web to be more level with Michael as he sat up.

“How do you see out of these?” Michael pulled Jeremy’s mask from his sweatshirt pocket and pulled it on. “Everything has a fucking white filter!”

“Spiders have good vision,” Jeremy shrugged, snatching the mask back. “You don’t like my big bug eyes?”

“Jeremy. Dude. I would think you look hot in a trash bag. I love your geeky bug eyes. I also love how your ass looks in spandex.”

“Oh my god,” Jeremy rubbed at his temple.

“Seriously. I wouldn’t lie about that.”

“Boys?” Darcy’s voice came through from the other side of the door. “Dinner is ready!”

Jeremy dropped down and pulled his sweatshirt back on, “I should get going.”

Michael took his hand, “Or you could stay for dinner?”

“I ate at home.”

“And I know you could eat an extra large pizza by yourself and still have your stomach growl. So how about you suck it up and have some of Maria Mell’s beloved lasagna?”

Jeremy did love Maria’s pasta dishes. “She made lasagna?”

Michael nodded, backing towards the door while making a come hither motion with one hand. Jeremy caved, walking over and taking Michael’s hand. He shoved his mask back into his pocket as they went up the stairs, Michael casually grabbing another plate for Jeremy while Maria and Darcy watched on. Jeremy got them water glasses, taking his usual seat at the table.

Jeremy wasn’t sure if it was obvious that he had been crying or not. Either way Maria and Darcy didn’t mention it. They asked about school, their friends, James, all the normal stuff. Jeremy happily ate two pieces of lasagna, Michael smirking at him when he grabbed the second slice. Why did he love him again?

Twelve and a half years of dedication. That would do it.

Jeremy and Michael helped clean up, Maria and Darcy both watching on with smiles. He loved them. Despite everything they were his moms. The women who raised him.

“I’m going to Jer’s for a bit,” Michael stated, kissing both of his moms on the forehead before grabbing his backpack from the stairs.

“Have fun,” Maria called out, stretching across a couch to watch a movie.

“Be safe,” Darcy added on.

The two of them walked out, Jeremy walking in time with his boyfriend. They were quiet, Michael leading them into an alley. Jeremy scaled up a wall, tugging off his sweatshirt once he was on the roof. Michael came flying up when he pulled on his mask.

“What are you doing?” Jeremy arched a brow at him. He caught Michael’s backpack as it was tossed at him and set it down on the roof. “Don’t you have studying to do?”

Michael hovered in front of him, “You’re more important than studying. I can be Torch for a night.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes beneath his mask, reaching an arm up above his head. Michael grabbed his hand and the two of them flew off towards New York. A night out together would be nice.

▣

“I have to applaud you guys,” Jeremy slowly clapped his hands together as he approached the attempted ATM robbers. “I mean, wow. Trying to rob a place in what could be my most patrolled area? How do you sit down with balls that big?”

The trio panicked, one pointing a gun at Jeremy.

“Back the fuck up, freak! I’ll fill you with lead!”

Jeremy forced himself to flinch, raising his hands in surrender. “You’ll shoot me?!” Jeremy forced himself to sound scared. “No one has ever done that before! Please Sir, don’t shoot me!”

The robber stepped closer, pressing the gun to Jeremy’s skull. Jeremy rolled his eyes beneath his mask, swooping a leg out and knocking the back of his main would be attacker’s knees. Jeremy grabbed the gun and tossed it out of reach, webbing it to the ground before standing on the main attacker so he couldn’t get up. The partners freaked out, scrambling away. Jeremy fired webs at them, yanking them back over with the lines.

“You guys really do make my job easy,” Jeremy hummed, webbing the trio together. “Can’t stay to chat though, I have to get going. Stop in the name of love, y’know?”

“Do you ever shut up?!” One of them cried out.

“No, contractually obligated to be annoying in every fight actually. My fans expect it of me.”

Jeremy hauled the trio up a wall, webbing them to the surface. Just in case they managed to break free they would fall and injure themselves.

“Later boys!”

Jeremy swung off, making his way towards home. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, checking the time. Part of the screen didn’t light up, and the entire thing was practically shards of glass, but it worked enough. He still had enough time.

Jeremy dropped through his window and began pulling off his costume. He pulled on a pair of pajama pants and one of the sweatshirts he had stolen from Michael. With that he kicked the suit into his closet and grabbed his backpack. He had plans.

Jeremy made his way downstairs, stopping in the kitchen to grab a granola bar. He was starving but didn’t want to make noise warming something up.

“Private?”

Jeremy turned on his heel, waving at his dad. So much for not making noise.

“What’s going on?”

Jeremy shrugged, “I’m going to Michael’s.”

“It’s nearly midnight.”

“And? It’s not a school night.”

James sighed, rubbing at his eyes, “Just text me when you get there. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Jeremy nodded, tossing his wrapper in the garbage. His dad shuffled back to bed, leaving him to head for the door. Jeremy pulled his shoes on and made his way out. He sprinted to Michael’s house, going around the building to his boyfriend’s bedroom window. He pried the glass open and slid inside, firing a web at the window to pull it closed after him. Jeremy kicked off his shoes and tossed his backpack aside before checking the time again. Two minutes.

Jeremy waited, standing beside Michael’s bed. When the time hit he flopped over, falling on top of his boyfriend. It woke him up, Michael grunting as his eyes popped open.

“Jer?”

Jeremy pressed a kiss to Michael’s jaw, “Happy birthday.”

Michael scrunched up his face, “What?”

Jeremy sat up, drumming his fingers against Michael’s chest. “According to Maria you were born seventeen years ago as of this minute.”

Michael turned to look at the clock sitting on the nightstand, “Oh. So you broke in?”

Jeremy nodded.

Michael smiled at him, “Cool. Thanks.”

Jeremy shimmied under Michael’s covers, cuddling up with his boyfriend. Michael’s hands traced patterns into his back. It was peaceful. Quiet. Nice.

Jeremy pressed another kiss to Michael’s jaw, “I love you.”

Michael hummed, pulling them chest to chest, “Love you too, Web Head.”

Jeremy drifted off with ease. He loved Michael, loved sleeping next to him, it was always so calm. It still felt insane, six months ago Jeremy hadn’t even considered Michael as an option. Maybe it had been all the jokes and jabs made at them by Rich and Jake over the years. The insult of being called gay, the slurs, maybe it had turned him off from the idea. But he had Michael now. The two were locked together. They had always been close, always been able to read the other like a book, able to have a conversation without words. Now they had even more to share. Superpowers. Not the science fiction dream Jeremy had ever imagined coming true, but not a bad one. Even if Michael wasn’t the biggest superhero fan, it was something they shared.

Jeremy somehow woke up first. He never woke up first. It was weird. Jeremy removed himself from Michael’s arms and stopped in the bathroom before heading upstairs. Maria and Darcy were already up, the two of them cocking their heads to the side as Jeremy grabbed a juice carton from the fridge.

“My love…did we have two kids last night?”

“No darling, I don’t think so,” Darcy ruffled Jeremy’s hair.

“I broke in, my dad knows I’m here,” Jeremy held up his hands in surrender. “Wished Michael happy birthday on the minute.”

The moms hummed, moving on with their morning. Jeremy sat at the counter, holding his glass in his hands. He still wasn’t quite sure why he was up so early.

Michael shuffled up the stairs and found his way to Jeremy. He couldn’t help but smile as Michael wrapped his arms around his middle, hiding his face against Jeremy’s shoulder.

“You left,” Michael mumbled.

“I wanted juice,” Jeremy could only shrug.

“Happy birthday Minamahal,” Maria pulled her son into a hug.

“We love you,” Darcy piled on.

“Love you too,” Michael squeezed his moms back.

“Get ready, we’ll go out for breakfast,” Maria ushered both of them to get back downstairs. Jeremy downed his juice and set his glass into the sink before following after Michael. He went over to his boyfriend’s closet, searching for his spare set of clothes. Covered with a laundry basket was Michael’s Torch costume.

“Nice hiding spot,” Jeremy mused. “Almost as good as me just throwing mine in a corner.”

“Your dad knows about you though, you don’t really need to hide anything at your house,” Michael came up behind him. “And this is only because Mama caught me climbing out of the treehouse. I’m not good at lying to them. Or lying in general.”

“Well, you fooled me for months,” Jeremy hummed, leaning back into Michael’s touch.

“Well what’s your fantastic suggestion, oh great sticky one.”

Jeremy just shrugged, “I either have mine in my backpack or I’m wearing it.”

“You just wear it all the time?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s gross.”

“I have two! I switch when one is being washed!”

“Can’t believe I’ve been dating a slob.”

“Fuck off!”

Michael arched a brow at him. He turned Jeremy around, pulling the collar of his shirt over to look for a costume beneath it. All Michael saw was freckled flesh and collar bones.

“You aren’t wearing it.”

“I promised.”

Michael smiled at him, “I know, but…” Michael shrugged and averted his gaze.

“You’re my favorite person, Michael,” Jeremy made Michael face him so he could press a kiss to Michael’s cheek. “I can go a day without Spider-Man if it makes you happy.”

Michael laughed and grabbed his costume from the closet, “Maybe I’ll wear mine today. Make you jealous.”

“Wow, can’t believe I’m dating a slob.”

Michael raised one hand to flip him off, his hand bursting into flames. “Don’t test me.”

“Oh I get it now, you want me to have more layers to remove later. Got it. It’s a sex thing.”

Michael wheezed, his hand extinguishing. He pressed a kiss to Jeremy’s lips before heading into his bathroom, “I love you, Jer. Get dressed.”

Jeremy hummed, changing while Michael was gone. Despite summer practically being on his doorstep Jeremy still pulled on a cardigan. He could always take it off if he got too warm.

 They switched places in the bathroom, Michael shoving his mask and gloves into his hoodie pocket. Jeremy was always cold, Michael wasn’t affected by heat. They were quite the pair.

The two of them walked upstairs hand in hand. They all went out to Maria’s car to go out, Michael drumming his hands against his legs. Jeremy leaned against him and scrolled through his phone.

“Dude your phone is in shards.”

Jeremy hummed, “Yeah. I did get crushed by a building with it in my pocket.”

Darcy turned back to look at him, “Any updates with your m—with Jennifer?”

Jeremy clicked his phone off, “I…not really. I know her trial is coming up. They’ll ask me to testify I’m sure. I’m happy to do it, all Jennifer has ever done for me is give birth to me.”

Darcy reached an arm back and patted his knee, “If you want us at the trial for moral support we would be happy to come with.”

“Never liked that woman,” Maria shook her head as she drove. “She’s the only reason I ever hesitated to let you and Michael play as kids. She always treated us like we were lesser than her. And she had the gall to blackmail your father. I can’t believe—”

Maria started muttering in a different language. Michael raised his brows at his mother and she cut herself off. Clearly it wasn’t tasteful.

“We should talk to James about senior photos for you two,” Darcy hummed. “If we wanted to split a photography fee and have both of you on the same day. Where would we even take them?”

Jeremy would love one on top of a skyscraper but he knew that wasn’t going to happen.

“Minamahal have you decided if you’re coming with us to the Philippines this summer or not? I need to book our tickets next week. You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

Michael hesitated, “I…maybe not this time?”

“Okay,” Maria nodded.

“But that doesn’t mean you can throw a party while we’re gone,” Darcy warned.

“Me and what popularity status, Mama?”

“Your boyfriend was prom king, surely someone looks up to you.”

It was weird to think about. Him and Michael…a year ago they had been bullied relentlessly. It had been them against the world. And now Jeremy was one of the popular kids. And Michael…maybe he didn’t want to associate but their friend group was bound to bring some change.

“The only social event I’ll hold is Jer and I watching old Batman movies.”

Maria chuckled, pulling into a parking lot, “Sounds like a plan.”

The four of them piled out of the car, walking into the diner Maria had taken them to. Jeremy stretched as he walked, Michael chuckling at him when he yawned. He quickly fired a web at his boyfriend, sticking his fingers together. Michael shot him a bored look and quickly ignited his hand for a moment to melt off the webbing. The fire was out just as fast, no one else noting their use of powers.

“Do you two have any plans for the summer?” Darcy asked once they were seated.

Jeremy just shrugged. It wasn’t like they could tell them that he was going to be out in spandex all the time.

“I was thinking about getting a job,” Michael shrugged. “Get some work experience in before college.”

Maria squeezed his hand, “Oh! I can ask my boss at the bakery if you can take over for me while we’re away! It’s only a few days a week but it would be familiar.”

Michael nodded at the idea.

“How about you kiddo?” Darcy tapped her foot against Jeremy’s leg. “Any plans for the workforce?”

He did need to get a job. But given how…everything he did was going? He wouldn’t exactly be an ideal employee.

“I’ll keep an eye out, but I’m not meant for food service,” Jeremy responded. He wanted to make Maria and Darcy happy. They deserved it for helping raise him when his dad had been too out of it to actively parent.

They all ordered and Michael laced a hand with Jeremy under the table. Spending the day together was nice. Maybe Jeremy would have liked to throw in some sky high city sights to their day, but this was just as good.

“Sorry I’m late,” James slid into their booth next to Jeremy. He turned his attention to Michael, “Happy birthday son.”

Michael smiled, “Thanks Mr. Heere.”

With James at the table the group handed Michael gifts. Maria handed her son a box from her giant bag she called a purse, Jeremy pulled a small box from his cardigan pocket, and James passed over an envelope from his jacket pocket.

“You guys seriously don’t need to get me stuff, I’m fine.”

Darcy shot her son a look, “And you’re still our baby so we’ll ignore that.”

Michael rolled his eyes and chose to open the envelope first. He pulled out a simple card, reading it while not letting the table see what was inside.

“Thanks,” Michael smiled over at James.

James just reached over and ruffled his hair.

Next was the box from his moms. Michael lifted the lid and pulled out a handful of patches. There didn’t seem to be any connection to any of them, just a spattered assortment of different things. Random doodles, video game characters,  some had words.

“Thanks Mama, Mom.”

Both of them reached over and squeezed one of Michael’s hands.

Last was Jeremy. Michael opened the small box, lifting out the sets of earrings Jeremy had gotten him.

Michael stopped wearing earrings because of his powers. Something he knew that Jeremy was aware of. “Oh. Jer, that’s sweet of you—”

Jeremy nudged his boyfriend, “So, uh, fun fact. Those are made of tungsten. And I uh, I learned that tungsten has the highest melting point of any metal. Just…” Jeremy shrugged. “Random fact I learned.”

“Oh.”

Michael set his things aside as their food was delivered to their table. Jeremy felt him squeeze his hand beneath the table. He pressed himself against Michael, hoping to convey his feelings without words.

The group fell quiet while they ate. James didn’t actually order any food, but he did have a cup of coffee before running off. He had exams to finish his legal courses. Jeremy was honestly shocked he kept up the whole legal process after everything with Jennifer cleared up. But if that was what he wanted Jeremy wouldn’t complain.

After breakfast they all went back to the car. Jeremy held Michael’s hand in his as they slid into the backseat and the two of them shared a grin.

“Okay birthday boy,” Darcy swapped with Maria so she was driving now. “You’ve got one year left before adulthood. That means making the most of it, okay?”

Michael nodded, “Always, Mama.”

Darcy chuckled, “Good.”

They pulled out of the diner parking lot and started driving deeper into town. Michael seemed confused, but the remainder of their group ignored his perplexed expression. It might have been Michael’s birthday, but they had planned out the day.

“Okay, you two have fun,” Maria turned back to look at them as they pulled up to another building. “We’ll be back to pick you up later.”

Michael glanced outside, “The roller rink?”

“C’mon tough guy,” Jeremy stepped out of the car and pulled Michael with him. They waved to Maria and Darcy as they drove off, Jeremy pivoting to drag them inside once they left.

The roller rink was important to their history. The park where they had first met was just around the corner. James had taught them to skate here. They had introduced their parents there, James first met Darcy and learned that she was a girl. Michael had come out to Jeremy while the two were speeding around the rink. So many memories, it only made sense that they finally visited the place as a couple.

The rink was ancient. The owner never seemed to want to update the place past what was necessary, but that was half of the charm. The worn thin carpet, the edge of the rink had chips in the flooring, the dim lighting, the lack of any computers or security cameras, the crackling speakers, and the oldies radio station that the music was always set to. It was perfection in Jeremy’s eyes.

“Fuck, we haven’t been here in like a year,” Michael laughed, opening the front door. “Last summer, right?”

Jeremy hummed, leading them up to the front counter. A lone employee gave them their skates, not paying them any mind as he played on his phone. The place was usually empty, nicer rinks existed in the area. But Jeremy liked the quiet atmosphere.

“As much as I loved our first kiss, it would have been better if we had happened to have it here,” Michael mused, sitting on a bench to switch to his skates.

Jeremy laughed, kicking off his sneakers, “Yeah? I think I liked the wake up call. Open my eyes and boom. Bisexual.”

Michael cocked his head to the side, “I don’t think you’ve told me you’re bi yet.”

“Oh. Really? Weird.”

Michael shrugged, “Well, ready to get your ass kicked in a race around the rink?”

“Game on, Flame Brain.”

They rolled over to the tables, Jeremy grinning as Michael froze. Sitting at a large table was their friend group, excusing Rich. He had said he was busy with his brother in the morning, but he would be around for lunch.

“Happy birthday!” The group cheered, everyone rolling over to them. Michael received side hugs and shoulder pats. He seemed shocked.

“I…thanks, guys,” Michael smiled at the group.

“Let’s hope I don’t break anything!” Christine yelped, wobbling over to a chair. “I’m not very good at this!”

Jenna helped keep her steady, offering to refresh her on things. Brooke squeezed Michael’s arm before gliding over to Chloe. The two were still celebrating Chloe’s miraculous recovery. More so Brooke than Chloe. Jake was calmer now, no longer snapping at Rich, Jeremy wanted to believe part of his anger was misplaced worry for his ex. The two weren’t together, they hadn’t been for a while, but it was clear that the two cared about each other still. It made sense, Jeremy still cared about Brooke after all.

Jeremy and Michael took off around the rink. Jeremy propelled himself forward, rolling around as fast as he could carry himself. The two superheroes lapped their friends, Jeremy eventually skidding to a stop so he didn’t risk one of them swerving into him.