Hobie Brown was bored.
His world was peaceful, at least after he smashed President Osborn's head into pieces, dictatorial fascism disappeared from his world. As for capitalism, it was as eternal as hell in religion. But at least his world is no longer visibly oppressive, replaced by all kinds of decentralized crime, the aggregation of capital and the manipulation of the market-
Still, it's better than before.
The end of one crime is often the beginning of another, but for Hobie, the recent intermission had been a little too long; he'd patrolled the streets again and again with nothing but a few muggers and thieves.
Hobie Brown was bored as a result.
He had been told that his destiny was to die young, which was fine, because he didn't long for immortality, and that feeling of emptiness and loneliness was worse than killing him; but it also meant that he didn't want to be the first to experience boredom while he was still alive.
So he decided to have some fun.
Couldn't go to HQ because Miguel had learned to ignore him by now; Gwenie was back in her own home and had been busy lately enjoying some warm father-daughter time with her retired dad, which was nice, and Hobie was happy for her, even though he'd never experienced that emotion before.
So naturally Hobie decides to go to Miles. He and Miles had been together for a while, they were often out and about, and Miles was getting used to Hobie's surprise visits from time to time. Neither of them had ever formally proposed, but pretty much everyone defaulted to the idea that they were a couple.
Hobie was ready for some fun when he stepped through the portal, he hoped to find his Miles and they could go do something fun together, or just do nothing and stay in his cabin for the afternoon; when he arrived in the 1610 universe, Hobie found some more fun.
He runs into Miles. Another Miles, from Earth-42.
Miles Gonzalo Morales
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At first Hobie didn't even think of him. The Miles Morales from Earth-42, the boy share the same appearance with his Miles.
He just thought it was fun. He's curious, about a boy without superpowers, broke the canon event and saved Jefferson Davis.
It wasn't such a pleasant experience when they met in this universe. They had met before, of course, when they were heading to Earth-1610 to save officer Jefferson. But obviously the Prowler never expected to see him, Hobie Brown again.
Hobie bumped into the prowler on the street behind Miles' room. Apparently, the other man was equally unsuspecting of his arrival; the prowler hadn't even removed his mask.
His hand with metal gloves on, pointing at Hobie, ready to shoot at any moment. He looked at him with hostility and said:"What do you want?"
"Just hanging around. Good seeing you again."
Hobie answered calmly, as if he wasn't being pointed. He didn't even put his mask on, but simply raised his hands in the air to show that he meant no harm.
Hobie looked at the other man with interest, unconcerned about the fact that he was being threatened by the prowler: "What's with the suit? Looks like you just killed a purple owl and decided to wear it."
The prowler narrows his eyes, his palms gathering electricity, looking ready to give Hobie a whack -
"Don't be silly, kid. You don't stand a chance with me." Hobie still looked rather calm.
"I'd love to see you try."
Morales' eyes turn dangerous at these words: . "Maybe your boy, that Miles somehow left you with a soft impression, but I assure you, I'm different. I'm stronger, strong enough to kick your ass."
"Relax, I'm not here to fight, angry bird. I'm here for him,"Hobie raised his chin toward the window above their heads, then his gaze fell back to Morales once more :"The question is, why are you here?"
The Prowler squinted, but he gradually lowered his hands. He didn't answer Hobie, instead he asked :"You here alone?"
"Sure." Hobie answered while checking the Prowler out. The boy was a bit different from his Miles. Besides their hair cut and shit like that. He looked more mature. Like in some way, Hobie may has more in common with the Prowler. And he bet the boy felt the same. He just wouldn't let down his guard.
"Thought you were with those, other guys from your so-called league, trynna hunt him down or something."
Morales removes his mask, and now Hobie is able to visualize the difference between the two Mileses more; the prowler's facial lines are much harder, and he looks much more dangerous - to the average person.
But to Hobie, they were merely both little boys.
As it was, the little boy told Hobie as he looked upstairs to his room:-"You came the wrong time. He's not here today. He's at school."
"Yep. Thought so." Hobie shrugged and watched as the prowler prepared to put his mask back on as he continued to speak, "So why did you come here?"
"What do you care?" The prowler looked coldly at Hobie, his mask still raised in his hands.:"Mind your own business man."
"Miles?"
A voice they knew each other well enough came from behind them, and for the first time Hobie saw panic in Morales' eyes; it was Jefferso Davis: Hobie understood what was going on. He reacted quickly enough to turn around and hold Morales back, and greeted Officer Jefferson, who was sitting in the police car : "Yo officer."
"Oh my--I'm not even gonna ask why you're here again." Jeff's voice still sounded a little resentful, obviously he'd seen Hobie quite a few times before; he took a step in their direction taking off his sunglasses as he did so, looking warily behind Hobie:"Is that Miles? Is he with you again--he should be at school, what the--"
"Nobody's here sir," Hobie crossed his legs and leaned against the wall, blocking Jeff's view in the process:" I was just wandering around."
"Yeah, wandering around my ass. "Jeff gave Hobie a warning look: "Move, kid. before I--"
"Sure."
To his surprise, Hobie obediently moved out of the way.Jeff looked to the path behind him and there was nothing there, an empty dead end road.Jeff checked around again to make sure that the only person here was his son's asshole looking boyfriend before he felt a little more at ease.
"Don't play with me boy, you both. Now go back home, Miles' not here--he's not gonna be back till weekend."
Hobie greeted Jeff very politely, knowing that the other man didn't like him much, and he didn't care. It was Miles he was dating, it wasn't like Miles' dad-
Only when the police car slowly disappeared from view did Hobie look up and whistle, signaling that Jeff was gone. He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, holding it between his fingers and not rushing to smoke it.
Morales jumped down from the wall above him, his metal claws leaving five scratches on the wall. He glanced back at Hobie, then prepared to leave.
"Want one?"
".... . no."
Morales declined the other man's offer. He nonchalantly slapped the palm in front of him away, but he stopped in his tracks to leave all the same.
And so it was in the alley behind Miles' house, in the middle of the afternoon on a random day of the week in July, in the heat of the summer in the 1610 universe, that Miles Gonzalo Morales and Hobie Brown stood together in the street.
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"Mommy's good boy, huh? You don't smoke. So I bet you don't do a lot of other things, like drinking or drugs?"
"No." Morales stared at Hobie evenly:" I don't do those shit coz all that are for cowards. Only pussies use 'em to run away from the reality. And while running, that's when reality kills you."
"Good point." Hobie nods at him and takes a deep drag on the cigarette in his hand: "kinda like when you ran away from the officer, right?"
Morales glares at him for the comment; he looks like he wants to explode, but eventually relents; the prowler reloads his gloves and begins to look down to adjust his traverser : "You know I didn't save him, the other...guy. Officer Jefferson, I didn't save him for he looks like my dad, okay? I'm not like you guys, so don't try me."
The prowler says this looking at Hobie with a provocative glare:"I'm not a hero. I don't do that shit. My dad's long gone, and I would--"
"Yeah. You just saved him for no reason. Probably coz you wanted to.Even if it was a stranger. I know that."Hobie gently exhaled a puff of smoke in Morales' direction, "Say whatever you like kid. you saved him, that's the whole point."
Hobie leaned against the wall and slowly looked up at the sky, New York in this world had blue skies most of the time and looked very livable, nothing like the world he, and the prowler were in.
There were some similarities between the two of their worlds. It was equally chaotic, equally wrapped up in evil, and similar environments were more likely to produce similar people-
"So why are you here, huh?" Hoppy asked the question for the third time.
"None of your business, bro." Morales looked down the street at the constant stream of speeding cars, the world he was supposed to live in that looked so similar and different from his universe. He was unconsciously immersed in the searing wind blowing down the street and the pieces of advertising paper flying through the exhaust and dust; a scene that could only mean one word: peace.
It was something he had never enjoyed before.
"I'm here to see you heroes. how you save this world, how it works here." Eventually, the prowler answered Hobie without turning his head, still standing on the street corner letting the wind embrace him.
"Bollocks."
The expletive managed to catch Morales' attention.
Hobie pulled a smile. The look once again enraged the prowler; he hated Hobie's scowl, but Hobie quickly spoke up to stop him:"Your wourld doesn't need a hero. Hero, Antihero, villain--those labels mean nothing. Your world needs you. You're here for some reason, I know you're, and if you don't wanna talk about it, it's completely fine. But don't try to fool me man."
Morales looked at Hobie defiantly, and suddenly, it occurred to him how to counter-
"So you're here for him. You two are together, right? Your boyfriend who's, what, still in school?"
Morales teased Hobie. It was strange, he hadn't known Hobie for more than twenty-four hours, and yet now they were still in the same unfamiliar space having long conversations.
"Not my boyfriend. But I like him."
"You like him but you never told him you love him? 'Not your boyfriend' so what is he, booty call?" The prowler continued to taunt Hobie as if he had heard some joke: "Whacha afraid of, huh?"
"Commitment. i guess."
Hobie's frank attitude froze the prowler, he didn't expect the other man to answer his sarcasm so painfully; at first he was just trying to get Hobie to put away that cynical attitude, and now when the other man got serious, Morales started to get uncomfortable instead.
"Yeah . . well don't, okay?"
After a long silence Morales finally squeezed out the words raw; he still chose not to look at Hobie, but instead stared up at the window of Miles' room; he'd been here a few times, and a couple of times Miles had invited him to come by after the Canon event, but Morales had never accepted; he'd come by occasionally late at night, during the brief periods when his universe was at peace, and stood on the floor of Miles's building watching closely as the light filtering through his room.
Occasionally, he'd see Jefferson Davis coming back from a late-night patrol, the same face as his dad, but two completely different people.
And no one knew that that was the only reason Morales came. That was the only reason he kept intermittently visiting this universe, and the only reason he kept refusing to meet up with Miles or Jeff again again.
"…Just tell him. You superheroes, damn, even ordinary people die every day out of no reason."
This is weird. He shouldn't be having this conversation with Hobie in this location. Yet they did. It's like it was all destiny, they were designed to meet here and started to talk. But neither of them believed in fate. They were like friends, close ones, although they have known each other for less than a day.
The prowler walked over to Hobie and, extremely naturally, took the cigarette from him and put it to his mouth and took a deep drag; his movements looked skillful, but immediately afterward Morales choked on the thick smoke and coughed; he coughed so violently that physiological tears began to appear in the corners of his eyes.
Then Hobie suddenly realized something. The boy lost someone too. He remembered when his Miles and him were alone,his boy used to tell him how much he missed his uncle, and how it hurt to watch someone he loved died right in front of him.
It works the same for the Prowler. He lost his dad at a younger age, and from the choice he made of being the Prowler, it wouldn't been easy for him all these years.Hobie knows it. He knows how hard it is for a boy to survive on the street without a father, coz je was there once.
But Hobie didn't say it. He didn't say anything about it. He just took the cigarette from Morales then put it back in his mouth.
"You guys, that's funny's coz I find that, you heroes chances of dying are higher, much higher than ordinary people. It works for anyone who wants to be a hero."
Morales stared at his metal claws as Uncle Aaron made his first pair for him and taught him how to use the tools, which later became part of him.
"He, the other Miles may be foolish. Naive, ill-experienced, but that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve commitment. You could die at any minute once in your uniforms, and you wanna your last word to be 'I love you' or 'sorry I can't promise anything'?"
Morales looked at Hobie and narrowed his eyes:"He might be a fool but he also needs commitment. And if you can't give it to him, then, you and I got something to talk about--." His tone was full of threats.
"You know what, you're right."It was rare for Hobie to express agreement with a point of view; the cigarette burned to the end and was snuffed out in his palm. The black nail polish was cauterized in a small chip, the edges still stained with ash.
"I don't agree with people all the time, but I do agree with you. You're right. Though I still don't believe in consistency, I'll give it a second thought."
Morales looked at Hobie and grinned:"Sure. I've been with my girl since five grades. Besides my boo is hotter than you two."
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They shared another cigarette in the next few moments, this time Morales didn't choke; he followed Hobie's example and stubbed it out in his palm, finally glancing up at Miles's room, they'd both just heard footsteps coming up the stairs, it was Jeff.
The prowler pressed the uniform around his neck and the mask instantly covered his entire face.
"You asked me why I'm here, huh. Yeah I tell ya why. I'm here to see my old man. I know he's not my dad. My dad's long gone, died to protect our city. But I need to see him, even it's someone looks like him. I miss him, my dad. He's the best. And I hate that I didn't say that to him when he....I didn't say I love you to him, and now he never could hear it. Regrets are for cowards, and sometimes I have to be one to survive."
"First time I saw you, I can feel we're from the same worlds. Our worlds are shitholes, that I can feel. And you and I maybe can't save it, but we try. That's good."
"Go back to your place, spike head. And don't forget tell him." Miles Gonzalo Morales said this to Hobie before leaving:"I'm not helping you, alright? It's just, the world's bad enough, even in here. Too many shit happened everyday, each will take something we love bit by bit. So why the hell pushing it."
Morales took one last look at the window. He can hear Jeff's laughter from the house, a deep, gentle voice. Like when he was little, his dad would pick him up and let him sit on the shoulder.
Then he left without hesitation.
"You know there's one thing you said was right. The world doesn't need superheroes. It needs me."