Miguel had always been proud of his suit. It was made from his own super advanced technology, which was a pain in the ass to try and perfect but the satisfaction he got from when it first covered his body is unmatched.
So yeah, it’s safe to say it’s his pride and joy.
He loved the versatility of it, especially not having to take off skin-tight latex every night which undoubtedly takes at least half an hour (a lot of spiders know this from experience). He loves the unique design he gave it so he never blends in with the endless sea of Peter Parkers. He definitely loves how you look at him when he has it on, something to the tune of want, even lust if he was feeling extra good about himself that day.
And you can’t lie, the suit is amazing. While you do appreciate how he looks in it (absolutely delectable), you also admire the engineering behind it. Even going as far as asking him to make one for yourself, which he agreed to but keeps forgetting to actually do it.
There is one thing you don’t like about his suit, it’s how easily he is able to hide his injury. For the most part, if he is hit with something the suit molds back together to cover the injured area. Unlike most of the other spiders’ suits who would have a visible gash mark or burn letting everyone know they were hit.
Pair that with Miguel's aversion for help (and seeming weak in front of others) is a recipe for disaster; if disaster means Miguel having to patch himself up and spend three days in his office to heal alone. You consider that a disaster, as it’s caused problems in the past.
The sound of you banging on Miguel’s office door is the only sound that filled the hallway. When you arrived it was obvious you were on a mission. Other spiders that passed you tried to start conversations with you, but you brushed them off as quickly as they came. You weren’t trying to be mean, but you had something you had to do that couldn’t wait.
“Miguel open the door!” You wiggled the door handle a few times trying to pry it open but to no avail, it was sealed shut. You knock on the door a few more times before placing your hands on your hips waiting for the door to open.
You were losing more and more of your patience the longer the door stayed closed. Miguel hadn’t been answering any of your calls for the past few days, and no one else had seen him in that time either.
No mission reports, no meetings, no lunches together, nothing.
He hadn’t left his office in so long and no one had any idea why. Not even Lyla could help, Miguel made her swear to secrecy that she wouldn’t tell anyone, especially you.
You tap on your watch a few times to call Miguel, knowing he probably wasn’t going to answer. You placed your ear to the door where you could faintly hear his watch going off. The next thing you hear is a quiet curse and shuffling around before the sound stops.
“Miguel I heard that open the damn door!”
It’s silent for a little while longer, and just when you’re about to yell again he speaks up.
“What do you want?”
“You haven’t talked to me in almost a week and you wonder why I want you to come out of your office? Open the door now!”
You stand in the same spot tapping your foot, knowing he could hear it and how bad it ticked him off. He hated the sound for some reason and right now you’re going to use it to your advantage. A second later you hear a small click and immediately throw the door open, almost off the hinges.
You march to where the platform is, and of course it’s at its max height so you couldn’t even see if Miguel was up there (you knew he was though).
“You coming down or do I have to come up there?” You wait for a response, but when about 30 seconds pass without a peep you know the answer. You sigh and shoot a web at the ceiling using it to propel yourself on the platform.
When you get to the top you see Miguel sitting down in a swivel chair in front of his monitors. The sight is odd, he usually preferred to stand the whole time (God knows why) and would only sit when you asked him to. You try to round the chair to look at him but he turns his head slightly, just out of view.
“Miguel, why are you hiding from me?”
“‘m not.” his response is muffled as if he’s talking into his hand. Why was he acting so weird?
“You are, you won’t even look at me. Did I do something?”
“No, god no I'm fine okay?” He turns back to look at you in his peripheral vision, still not fully facing you.
“You’re not fine, you haven’t left this room in so long and you won’t even talk to me, what happened Mig?” You soften your voice, hoping to appeal to him. He recently told you how much he loved when you talked to him like this, just another thing you were using as leverage.
Once again, he stays silent for a few moments, still facing away. Eventually, he lets out a long sigh and turns to face you.
Saying you were shocked to see his face would be an understatement. Under his left eye is purple and swollen, with hints of yellow speckled throughout. His bottom lip is busted in the middle, but looks like it’s in the middle of healing. He has a scratch on his cheek and he seems to be cradling his right arm in his lap.
“Oh my god, what happened to you Mig,” You rush to the chair and kneel beside him. You brush your fingers over the bruise under his eye as your brows furrow in worry, “Did this happen on the last mission you went on?”
He only nods in response, leaning into your touch as you brush his cheek as well.
“Mig that was 5 days ago, you were injured and you stayed in here the whole time without telling anyone?”
He nods again, not wanting to say anything to upset you. He knew that seeing your friends and teammates hurt was painful for you, he liked to think it was worse when it was him but he wasn’t going to say that out loud.
“Why haven’t they healed by now?”
“I got hit with some toxin that slowed my healing down, I’m not enjoying it.” You huff out a laugh at his disgruntled expression, rubbing his cheek a little more.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to worry you, cariño.” He looks into your eyes and you can see the exhaustion in them. You stayed in his office with him for the next hour, trying your best to take care of him with the limited supplies in his office. You persuaded him to finally go home and get some rest, and you made sure to stay with him all night to make him feel better
Right now was one of those times where the suit was your worst enemy.
Earth-623 was being terrorized by a nasty Green Goblin anomaly. This villain was tougher than anyone you had seen before, your own Green Goblin looked like a push-over compared to this guy. Because of the threat level, the big guns were sent in.
The big guns being you, Miguel, Peter, and Jess.
Ben Reilly, aka Scarlet Spider and Webslinger had been the original spiders on this mission. However, they were quickly overrun by the sheer force of Green Goblin and his arsenal.
Even with the backup there the Goblin was still kicking, taking out Spiders with him.
Jess’ motorcycle had been hit by a pumpkin bomb, taking out a wheel and rendering it useless while she was nursing a hurt ankle. Peter’s web had been cut by one of his bat-shaped boomerangs, sending him flying to the ground, and he was slow to get back up. You had finally gotten close enough to get a hit on him until you were flown in the opposite direction by the electrical blasts from his gloves.
That only left Miguel, who was holding his own pretty well. He had got a few hits on Green Goblin which definitely slowed him down a little bit, all he needed were a few more and he could get him.
He wasn’t able to, however, when the villain flew at him on his glider in a last ditch effort to subdue Miguel. He was caught off guard, only seeing Goblin at the last second not giving him enough time to evade. Goblin flew him into the side of the nearest skyscraper, trapping him between the foundation of the building and the glider he was standing on.
The wind was knocked out of Miguel’s lung, he felt like he could barely breathe when his mind finally registered what happened. His vision was fuzzy and his ribs ached something fierce, but in true Miguel fashion, that didn’t stop him. He was clawing at the anomaly, trying to get him to lose his balance. It wasn’t working out all too well but he’d rather try than give up.
Peter had finally recovered from his long fall, running to you to help you up. You look upward to see Miguel in his compromising position knowing you had to act fast before he got seriously hurt.
“Peter, grab onto the glider, we have to help Miguel!”
You make your way a little closer before shooting two webs at the glider Goblin was standing on. Peter follows your actions as you both use all of your strength to pull the glider down and away from Miguel.
Not expecting the attack, Goblin immediately loses his balance slipping backward and free-falling back to Earth. Before his fall, he pushed the glider forward trying to keep his balance, but all he did was push the glider deeper into Miguel’s side where it punctured. Normally that kind of injury would take a spider out of the fight, but Miguel’s adrenaline was running so high that he couldn’t feel a thing.
As the glider is finally removed from Miguel, he sinks his claws into the wall behind him and takes deep breaths, trying desperately to fill his lungs with air.
Meanwhile, Peter is tasked with taking the glider while you find Goblin where he landed. He’s a few feet away from where you were, and when you found him he was knocked out. Most likely from hitting his head if the shattered helmet was anything to go by.
You wrap him up in as much webbing as you can, not taking any chances with this guy, and throw him in one of the orange barriers. You look up to see Peter inspecting the glider, which is cracked and sparking every once in a while. Miguel is still on the side of the building, but he’s slowly lowering himself down until his feet meet the ground again.
“Jess! Are you okay?” You see her crashed motorcycle to your left while she’s sitting on some rubble a few feet away with her ankle in her hand.
“Yeah, I’m good, just a bruised ankle I think.”
You nod in her direction, calling Lyla to make sure the med bay is ready to deal with all the injuries you and your teammates have endured. To your right you see Scarlet Spider corralling the remaining civilians away from the scene and to safety.
“Now that was one hell of an anomaly if I do say so myself.” Webslinger appears beside you, holstering his revolver and lighting the cigar in his mouth. You let out a small chuckle and agree, checking in with him to see if he had gotten hurt during the fight.
“I’m just fine darling, don’t you worry about me.”
“Good, that’s good to hear. Can you get the portal ready for everyone?”
“Not-a-problem little lady.” He gives you a wink, before sauntering off to the side, tapping on his watch the whole time.
Peter had gone to Jess, helping her stand and walk to where Webslinger was getting ready to open the portal. Ben joined them as well, a gash to his left cheek being the only visual injury you could find on him. That only left one Spider to collect, and arguably the most important one (at least in your opinion).
You search the horizon for Miguel, not knowing where he had landed since you were so preoccupied with finding Green Goblin. Over a pile of rubble from a destroyed wall you could see Miguel’s form slowly become clearer and clearer as he also made his way to the group.
He didn’t seem to be limping or anything and his suit was completely intact, somehow, but with his track record that didn’t mean he wasn’t injured. One thing you learned about Miguel was how good he was at hiding his injuries. He could’ve gotten shot in the chest and still walked all the way home to die in his shower, that’s just who he was.
When he was close enough to the extraction spot you spoke up, needing to make sure he was okay.
“You alright Mig?” He stands in front of you with his mask still on, not showing a lick of emotion through his body language.
“Yeah, I’m good.” You move to remove your mask, looking him up and down.
“Are you sure? You took a pretty mean hit and that glider is pretty sharp-’
“(Y/n), I’m fine, just got the wind knocked out of me that’s all.”
“That’s just your adrenaline talking. You need to go to Spider-doc so he can look after you and make sure, you know that sometimes people don’t even realize they’re hurt because of...adrenaline.” As you were talking he retracted his mask, looking at you with those piercing brown eyes. He doesn’t say a word, instead opts for raising an eyebrow with a blank stare. He looks a little paler than usual, but you chalk that up to the strain on his lungs. You’re still unsure, but it’s hard to question him when he looks so sure of himself. You look him up and down once more, scanning for injuries before you sigh.
“Ok, okay you’re fine, I’ll trust you.” You don’t really want to trust him based on how he’s treated injuries in the past, but you also know how unwise it is to push Miguel. He doesn’t yell as much anymore, and he never yells at you, but he will shut everyone out (including you) and just sit in his office all day, alone.
“I’ll get Goblin and make sure everything's fine, you guys go ahead.” Miguel’s mask is back to covering his face as he turns to where the villain is locked away. He has yet to wake up, the head injury must have been worse than you thought.
“Alrigh’ partner, let’s head on back.” Webslinger opens the portal and one by one everyone walks back to HQ. Just as Jess and Peter were about to walk through she turns around with a gasp.
“My bike!” She makes a move to go back to where her bike lay broken on the ground but you put a hand on her chest stopping her.
“It’s alright Jess, you’re hurt I can get it. I’ll be right behind you.”
She lets out a breath and nods at you, giving you an appreciative smile. They both walk through together, Peter still holding her weight to help her through.
You turn back around to Miguel who hasn’t moved from his spot. You move towards the bike and pick it up, trying to balance it on the wheels. It’s hard to push since the front one was basically completely blown up, but you manage to push it the few feet to the portal, stopping again to look at Miguel.
“Are you sure you’re okay Miguel, please don’t lie to me.” It’s hard to lie to you when you speak in that tone and give him that pleading expression, but honestly he’s not lying (to his knowledge). Sure his ribs hurt but that’s from being crushed by the glider, and he’s a little dizzy but he just has to give his lungs enough time to restore oxygen to his body. He’ll be fine, and if you insist he’ll get checked out by the Doc when he returns but he really doesn’t think it’s necessary.
He retracts his mask again and walks to you until you’re chest to chest. He raises your chin to look him in the eye. He leans down and gives you a little kiss, pulling away with a rub to your cheek.
“I’m okay, cariño, I promise, no te preocupes por mí.” (*Don’t worry about me). He doesn’t break eye contact, using his eyes to try and convey how serious he is. You can’t help the uneasy feeling in your stomach but you decide to trust him.
“Okay, be quick or I’m coming back for you.” He lets out a chuckle as he pulls away, moving to stand where he was before.
“I don’t doubt it.”
You turn back around as you walk with the bike through the portal, out of Miguel’s vision.
He closes his eyes and lets out a sigh. The adrenaline is leaving his body, and his heart rate is lowering back down to its normal pace. As less blood is pumping through his veins, his chest starts to hurt a little more. Yeah, he should probably see the doctor when he returns.
Miguel actually admitting he needs to see a doctor? That’s your influence right there.
He doesn’t even get a few steps toward the barrier before a sharp pain shoots through his side. It’s enough to make him stop and bend over, his breath once again leaving his lungs all at once. He really was more injured than he thought, but he still had to get the Green Goblin back to HQ before he could treat himself.
He takes a few big, deep breaths before straightening up again. He tries his best to make it to where the barrier sits but every step feels like agony. It was only about 15 feet away, why did it seem like an ocean away now?
He had to take a break every few steps, leaning over to catch his breath each time. He’s finally standing in front of the barrier when he almost collapses to his knees. The pain was becoming unbearable, even for Miguel, as every breath felt like his lungs were collapsing. He catches himself on some nearby debris, clutching his hand to his side.
When he goes to stand up he pulls his hand away to try and support his weight. Even through his suit he can feel a warm stickiness on his palm. He turns it to inspect his hand but all he finds is his glove, the bright red tech gleaming back at him.
He knows something isn’t right now. He removes his glove from his hand and brings it back down to his side, he doesn’t need to look at his hand to know what the stickiness from earlier was. He pulls it back anyway and sees his palm is completely crimson, some of the blood running down his arm onto the rest of his suit.
He lets out a shaky breath from the sheer amount that covers his hands as he tries to gain his composure again. He grabs the barrier, dragging it behind him as he makes his way back to where the portal remains open. The journey should only take about 30 seconds, but it feels like a whole lifetime for Miguel.
—
The lobby at HQ is full of spiders. Almost everyone had heard of the terrible mission the 5 of you were tasked with completing and wanted to see your safe return when it was over.
Not to mention the medical team waiting for your team, making sure no injuries were life-threatening.
The four of you assured everyone you were fine, only a little bruised. Nothing you guys couldn’t handle. You explained how Miguel assured he was fine and he was just making sure everything was okay in the other universe. He always did that when he was on a mission, and had to be the last to leave to make sure everything was in order.
“Jess, are you okay?!” Gwen’s voice is frantic when she, Miles, and Pav arrive in the lobby. Jess is sitting on the stretcher the medical team brought with them, giving her ankle some much-needed rest.
“Guys, I’m good, my ankle is just a little beat up.” The group of teens makes their way around, asking all of you if you’re okay. They want to see for themselves, they hate seeing any of their favorite spiders injured. You’re all gathered far from the portal, as you rest in the little seating area in the lobby. Your back is turned from where it sits as Miguel makes his return.
He exits the portal so quietly that no one notices. He places the Goblin on the ground, as he pants beneath his mask. There was one spider who was late to the party, only just arriving at HQ when Miguel made his way back. He saw his boss standing there as the portal closed behind him.
“Boss, you’re back! How’d the mission go?” He walks closer to where Miguel is standing still. When the spider steps to the side of Miguel he can see his chest rapidly rising, almost as if he was hyperventilating.
“Uh...boss?”
Miguel takes a staggering step forward, making it clear to the new spider that something was definitely wrong. Miguel’s mask is removed from his head showing just how pale his skin has gotten. The younger spider to his right gasps, never before seeing the boss like this.
Miguel mumbles something under his breath, something the spider can’t hear even with how close he is standing to him.
“W-what was that?”
“...(y/n).” The only thing Miguel can force out right now is your name. No ‘help me’, no ‘I’m hurt’, no ‘call the doctor’, nothing. The other spider is completely freaking out right now. Miguel is taking small steps forward, not really going anywhere but clearly trying. He looks behind Miguel to see a line of blood following from where the portal was to where he stands now.
“(Y/n)-” Miguel’s voice is cut off by his own groan, straining his neck as more pain surges up his side and throughout his body.
“Oh, you want-ok, ok..uh (y/n)!” The Spider tries to yell, but it’s much quieter than he wanted. Luckily a lot of spiders have better hearing than the average human and he sees you turn around from where you stand. Everyone else continues with their conversations not looking back at the quiet spider’s voice.
When you fully turn around the sight that greets you is a haunting one. Miguel’s tall form is hunched over, making him look much smaller than he actually is. His face is ghostly pale and his un-gloved hand is covered in his own blood leaking from his side.
“Miguel?!” Your gasp and yell is loud enough to make everyone turn toward where he stands. The sight is shocking to them as well, their eyes widen as some gasp louder than you while others look away from the gory sight. All the other spiders are too shocked to react as you start to run to Miguel.
He’s still taking small steps forward, but when you’re only a few steps away he loses his balance and starts to fall to the floor. His arm that was holding his side shoots out to try and catch himself, but you catch it instead. The blood from his hand and forearm transferring to your suit in the process. You don’t care much, too focused on making sure Miguel was going to be okay.
He lands on his knees, breathes coming out as wheezes now. He coughs a little and spits out a pool of blood from his mouth onto the floor below him, a small stream hangs from his mouth as it drips.
“Miguel, what the hell happened?” You grab his arm harder and move him so he’s laying on his back. You’re kneeling beside his shoulder as you inspect where the wound was.
There are still no open wounds to his suit, so you can’t see exactly where he was hurt. He also can’t seem to answer your question as his eyebrows are curled in, his expression twisted in complete agony.
“Miguel, remove the suit where you're injured.” You order him, tapping his cheek to get him to briefly look at you. He quickly closes his eyes again, and not even a minute later part of his suit is removed from his side.
You recoil a little when it’s revealed. The skin is inflamed, a bright red with a deep gash cutting through it. The sides of the cut are a deep red as blood continues to pool out of it onto the floor below him.
“Someone call Doc now!” You turn your head to yell at the crowd of shocked Spiders behind you. Still, no one had moved from their spot, shocked at seeing their strong leader hurt to this degree.
The main Spider Doctor arrives at the scene about a minute later, to you though it feels like an eternity. Seeing Miguel like this breaks your heart, and also makes you sick to your stomach. Even after all these years seeing injuries like this never gets easier, especially when it’s someone as important to you as Miguel.
You, Spider-doc, and the young spider from before all kneel around Miguel’s injured body. You only have experience patching yourself up when you get a few scratches from patrols or missions so you’re not the most help in this situation, but you do your best. There’s no way you’re leaving Miguel’s side when he’s like this anyway so you may as well make yourself useful.
You follow the doctor’s orders as you wait to move Miguel to the stretcher. Jess had wheeled it over when the doctor came, and now you were waiting for Miguel to be okay enough to move him to it.
“We have to clean it out quickly, we don’t know what bacteria got into it in the other universe,” Doc opens up the little supply bag he brought with him, taking out a saline solution and a small towel, “Try and make sure he stays awake.”
“Miguel, Miguel you have to open your eyes okay? Can you look at me?” You tap his cheek lightly to get his attention, he opens his eyes slightly to look at you. His eyes quickly screw shut again as the doctor pours the solution on his side.
“Ah! Fuck!” The volume of his voice surprises you and everyone around. Before he couldn’t even say your name above a whisper and now he’s screaming at the top of his lungs at the added pain to his side, “Quítate de encima!” (*Get the hell away from me!).
Miguel tries to move his limbs away while you try to hold him down. Even with your enhanced strength Miguel is still bigger and stronger than you, which makes it very difficult to hold him down by yourself.
“Help me!” You turn to the crowd of spiders, begging for someone to help you when you’re clearly struggling. They all seem to be in a worried daze but Peter is the first to break out of it. With wide eyes and a heaving chest, he runs to where Miguel lay on the floor and holds his shoulders down with all his might.
“Hold his legs!” Peter yells at the younger spider. He jumps into action but isn’t strong enough by himself. Hobie appears at your side and holds down Miguel’s right leg as he gets the other. As much as Hobie says he doesn’t like Miguel, he also hates seeing him reduced to a heap on the ground yelling in agony even more.
The doctor keeps applying more of the solution to the wound, wanting to thoroughly clean it out before moving him. Miguel is still yelling in pain, cursing the doctor in both Spanish and English as she clenches his teeth, fangs on full display.
“There’s something stuck in the wound, we’ll have to take it out surgically, it’s best to sedate him.” The doctor turns to one of the med-bays nurses, ordering him to retrieve the sedative from the operating room and bring it back.
“No, no, no, no, no d-drugs,” Miguel’s yells have quieted down to a plea, he still keeps his eyes shut but judging by his voice he sounds close to crying.
“Miguel, it’s not like rapture, you’ll be okay.” You try to reason with him, but it’s to no avail, he’s still just repeatedly saying no and trying to plead with everyone around him. You know his past with said drug and his current aversion to most medicines out of fear of repeating his past addiction. Hearing his pleas only adds to your heartbreak.
You grab his jaw, a little harsher than you probably should have, but you need him to listen. He squints his eyes open, locking them onto yours as you stare down at him.
“Miguel, you’ll be okay, I promise. It’s going to help you please stop fighting.” His lip starts to tremble as your words settle in. Even in this situation, he trusts you with his whole heart, knowing you would never do something to hurt him. He relaxes his muscles as much as he can (which really isn’t much but he’s trying so that’s all that matters), and you let out a sigh. Everyone holding him down lightens their grip a little, but not fully never knowing when he’ll start fighting again.
The nurse comes back with the sedative and hands it to the doctor. Spider-doc takes the vial it’s in and sucks some of the solution into a needle. He taps Miguel’s suit on the arm twice and a small portion fades away, leaving his bare skin exposed.
“Alright Miguel, it’s going to sting but it’ll help.” The doctor says as he picks up Miguel’s arm in his left hand, lining the needle up with his bicep. The insertion of the needle does sting a bit, and Miguel would usually take it like a champ. No flinching or anything, he would keep a straight face the whole time.
Now, however, is a different story. With the pain already radiating from his side, the added sting of the needle almost sets him over the edge. His claws shoot out (surprisingly they weren’t out before or at least one of you would have scratches on them) as he clenches both hands into fists. His muscles tense again for about 30 seconds before he unclenches them, going practically limp in all of your arms.
Per the doctor’s instructions you, Peter, and Hobie lift Miguel onto the stretcher. Peter got his shoulders while you and Hobie each grabbed a leg. It would have been amusing how childish big, bad Miguel looked with you three carrying him if it was in any other circumstance. You’re sure you guys will look back on it when Miguel has recovered and have a good laugh about it.
All the other spiders stay in the lobby as you follow the medical team to the med bay (as said earlier, you were not leaving his side by any means). The room is completely silent as they look at the aftermath of the scene that just unfolded. A thin line of blood morphs into a much bigger pool covering the floor.
—
The surgery took about an hour, Spider-doc and his crew were definitely fast workers which made everyone around a little less stressed at the situation. You weren’t able to stay with Miguel during it (not that you really wanted to watch it anyway), but you had faith in their abilities.
The hour wait was nail-bitingly long for you. You had faith that Miguel would be fine, but there was that small possibility something went wrong and god did that scare you.
You paced outside of the operating room, peeking in every once in a while. All you could see was the Doctor’s back, leaving Miguel completely hidden from your view.
“He’ll be okay (y/n), we’re all sure of it.” Jess had come to see you, crutches supporting her weight as she tried her best to keep up with your pacing. You were happy she was here, bringing you some semblance of relief, even if you weren’t able to say it out loud.
Suddenly the door is swung open, the doctor stands in the doorway with spots of blood splattered on his uniform.
“We’re all done for now, he should be okay in a few days, maybe quicker if his healing kicks in,” He turns around to say something to the helpers still inside the room, you don’t listen to what he said instead focusing on Miguel’s face that was now uncovered. His eyes were closed and his skin was as pale as you had ever seen it. There’s a white bandage covering his side, a little drop of red already peaking through, “We’re wheeling him down to the infirmary now, you can stay with him there.”
The gurney he’s on is rolled out to the hallway. Seeing his face up close is even worse, he looks so close to death that it’s terrifying to look at. But you can’t seem to tear your eyes away, needing to make sure his chest was still rising as he was transported down the hall.
You and Jess follow the doctors down to the med bay. The few other spiders that had been injured cleared out, not wanting to interfere with the boss’s treatment (or be there when he woke up).
Right before the doctor and his team left they hooked up an IV into Miguel’s left arm, he explained it was a type of painkiller to help him stay relaxed when he awakes. After making sure his vitals were okay, the medical teams departed from the med bay to get cleaned up, leaving just you and Jess in the room with Miguel.
“Don’t worry, he’ll pull through.” Jess takes the seat next to you and puts her hand on your shoulder. She’s always been the best at comforting you, no matter what the circumstance you can always rely on Jess to lift your spirits.
“I know, it’s just not easy seeing him like this.” She gives you a knowing look. It’s no surprise she found out about you and Miguel, she walked right into Miguel’s office when you were practically on his lap a few weeks ago. She had her suspicions about you and Miguel before, but it was all confirmed when she found you ‘basically devouring Miguel’s face’ (her exact words at the time).
She stays with you for a few hours more, trying her best to take your mind off the situation. Eventually, though, she does have to return home to her family. She reluctantly leaves with many goodbyes before leaving you alone with just Miguel.
Miguel had always hated the med bay, always preferring to lick his wounds in the solitude of his office or home instead. And you can’t bring yourself to leave him by himself, what if he wakes up confused, in pain, alone, and in a place he despised? You didn’t want to add any stress on him so you decided to stay by his side until he woke up.
You grab a pillow from another bed and place it behind your head, you rest your feet by Miguel’s side as you watch the time tick by waiting to fall asleep yourself.
—
The first time Miguel wakes up is strange. It had been about 12 hours since Miguel was put in this room and you had woken up to your stomach grumbling. You left to go grab breakfast and returned to a still-sleeping Miguel. You planned to play on your phone as you ate, but you couldn’t seem to find where you had placed it.
You looked all around the chair you had been sitting in, on the ground, in the adjoining bathroom, and it never showed up.
You turn to check the bed Miguel was sleeping on only to find his eyes open, staring at the ceiling. You were surprised to see him awake so it takes you a second to register it. In that time, he hadn’t moved a muscle.
He was completely still, just staring at the ceiling, barely even blinking. It was kinda freaking you out the longer it lasted. He looked like he was a robot waiting for instructions on what to do.
“...Miguel?”
He doesn’t answer to his name, but his eyes squint a little almost like he was deep in thought. It doesn’t last long though before he turns to lay on his uninjured side, back turned to you.
You’re a little shocked, but when you regain your bearings you stand and round the bed. You crouch next to him seeing his eyes are closed and his chest is rising and falling methodically.
You wave your hand in front of his face, call his name, and even whistle a few times at him, but it’s all met with no answer. Was he really asleep again already?
You decide to leave him be, he obviously needed more sleep, as you return to your chair. You sit back down to enjoy your breakfast as you wait for him to wake again.
—
The second time he wakes up you’re the only one in the room again. This time, however, isn’t as ‘peaceful’ as the last.
No, this time he shoots up out of his bed like a zombie come back to life. His eyes open wide as he surveys the room around him.
The abrupt motion startles you so much you throw the book you were reading across the room. You place a hand on your racing heart as you look to where Miguel is now sitting up.
“T-the chicken…it’s in the f-freezer.” He looks at you as he finally speaks up. He’s mumbling but it’s clear enough to where you can make out what he’s saying.
“Uh…what?”
“The chicken.” He says again, a little more sure of himself.
“What chicken?”
“The chicken, for our dinner later.” He looks around perplexed, which you would assume is exactly what you look like as well.
He rubs a hand down his face before he lays back down, resting his hands by his side.
“Gotta get it out.” His voice starts to lower as he relaxes more and more into the bed below him. While his confusion had worn off in favor of sleepiness, your’s has been replaced with amusement.
“Okay Mig, I’ll do that for you.” A small smile appears on his face as he whispers out a small ‘gracias’. It’s the last thing he does before he drifts back into unconsciousness again. You let out a small chuckle as you pick up your book from the floor and return to your reading as you were doing before the little interruption.
—
The next time it happens, Jess is in the room with you. You had barely left Miguel’s side since he had been in here, so she decided to come into HQ today to have lunch with you (and technically Miguel).
You had both returned with your meals, sitting in two visitor chairs right next to each other. You were currently scrolling through your phone, showing her pictures of the little stray cat you had been taking care of recently.
Both of your attention was so focused on the device in your hand that neither of you saw the movement coming from the bed. A small sound, something close to a ‘blegh’ is what drew your attention over to Miguel.
“No me gusta la mayonesa, arruina el sandwich.” (*I don’t like mayonnaise, it ruins the sandwich) There he is, leaning against his pillows with your turkey sandwich in hand. It has a big bite taken out of the top of it as Miguel talks through a mouth full of food, more specifically your food.
“Excuse me?”
“¿Qué?” He looks very confused as you talk to him, he even tilts his head to the side like a dog would. He places the food back on the plate next to him as he wipes his hands on the bed sheets covering his legs.
“Miguel that was mine, it wasn’t for you.”
“No entiendo..” (*I don’t understand).
“That,” you point to the sandwich, “was not,” you shake your head and wag your finger back and forth at him, “for you.” You end your sentence by pointing your finger right at his chest, maintaining eye contact the whole time.
“No hablo inglés, señorita.” (*I don’t speak English, miss).
“You have got to be kidding me.” You throw your hands up in exacerbation as Jess laughs her ass off next to you. She even has to wipe little tears from her eyes after a little while.
Miguel has seemed to forget you two are even there. He looked away from you to scan the room around him again and his eyes land on the tv hanging opposite of his bed.
“¡Me encanta este programa!” (*I love this show!)
“Miguel the tv isn’t even on.”
—
“You guys have got to see this.”
You and Jess lead the group of spiders into Miguel’s room. You originally were only going to bring Peter (since you know he would love to see this) but Miles, Gwen, Pav, and Hobie were already with him when you asked. Therefore, they all agreed to tag along to see what you were talking about.
They didn’t really believe your stories about Miguel, which you can understand. They had only ever seen Miguel be the extra-serious boss (except for that time you made him laugh in front of everyone, that was weird) so you expected them to be a little skeptical about what you told them. But you just couldn’t waste this opportunity, you had to show them.
“I’m telling you guys he’s been loopy ever since he first woke up, it’s hilar-” You pause mid-sentence as you look to the bed where Miguel lays. His head is up, eyes open the most you’ve seen since the mission, and pointing his finger at you, claw extended and everything.
You tilt your head, staring back at Miguel as he stares at you. He looks like he’s going to say something before he looks at his finger. He turns it so the claw is facing him as he studies it carefully.
“..wha-what the hell is t-this?” He stares at it in wonder, as if he’s never seen a finger before. The whole scene is ridiculous, you love it.
“Your finger..?”
He ignores your answer to further investigate said finger. He brings his opposite pointer finger up and pokes the pointy edge of his claw, recoiling at the prick the sharp talon gave him.
“That...hurts.”
“Yeah, no kidding.” Miles, who had stayed mostly quiet the whole time, speaks up. He thought it was under his breath but it clearly wasn’t because even high ass Miguel turned towards him.
“What’s your problem pipsqueak?”
“Pip-pipsqueak!”
Gwen busts out laughing, leaning on Pav to keep her standing. Pav himself is trying to hide his laughter for Miles’ sake, but he’s doing a pretty bad job at it.
“Ah, so the boss does do nicknames, who’da though’.” Hobie has his hands in his pockets as he looks down at Miguel with an amused smirk. He had always loved teasing Miguel and seeing him like this just made his day (since he knew he was no longer hurt, that is).
Miguel turns his attention to Hobie as he speaks, narrowing his eyes as he inspects him.
“What’s on your back?”
“You forge’ what a guita’ is mate?”
Miguel doesn’t respond immediately. Instead, he takes a second to stare at Hobie for a second longer before turning his head away.
He starts to giggle, a ridiculous smile on his face as he laughs to himself.
“That’s a funny word, guitar,” he paused for a second, “gih-tar, guh-tar,” You all stare on as Miguel repeats the word, getting further and further from the actual pronunciation the more he says it. He’s laughing to himself, almost as if no one else was in the room with him.
“This is precious, I have to record this!” Lyla pops up from nowhere, a holographic camera in her hands. Yeah, this would definitely be used as blackmail in the future.
“So, you remember how to speak English now Miguel?” Jess speaks up from the corner, her arms crossed over her chest as she looks at him with a big smile on her face.
“What else would I speak?”
“Last time you were only talking in Spanish, said you didn’t even know how to speak English.”
“But-but I can’t speak Spanish…”
“I’m so glad I got to witness this.” Gwen wipes the tears from under her eyes as she speaks. She looks at Miguel and can’t help the laughs that continue to escape her throat.
“What’s so funny?”
“You, Miguel, you’re very entertaining right now.”
Miguel looks at you for a second longer, then turns his head to the other side and crosses his arms. There’s a little pout on his lips as he huffs every once in a while.
“What’s wrong Mig?”
“You’re laughing at me, it’s not nice.” You can’t help but laugh again, but you walk closer to his bed and place a hand on his shoulder.
“Aw, Miguel! I’m sorry for laughing at you!” You sit on the bed next to him and hug him around his shoulders. He practically melts into your touch, leaning his head against yours.
“Quiero una empanada, me muero de hambre.” (*I want an empanada, I’m starving).
“I thought you couldn’t speak Spanish anymore?” Miles' voice cuts through the room, he has an eyebrow raised (more in amusement than actual confusion) as he points towards Miguel on the bed. Miguel just gives him a death glare in return, which is a lot less scary in his current state.
“Cállate.” (*Shut up.)
—
The first thing Miguel sees when he wakes up is a bright light coming from his side. It’s not directly in his face, but the sheer brightness of it is already giving him a headache and his eyes have only been open for 10 seconds.
He shuts them again with a groan as his hands slowly come to rest against his eyes.
“Good morning sleeping beauty.”
The voice of an angel sounds to his right, filling his ears with a melodic sound that could put him right back to sleep after just finally waking up. He turns his head to the side and opens his eyes to see not an angel, but you, sitting with your arms crossed and feet resting on his bed with a smile on his face.
“Good to see you’re still in the land of the living big guy.” He groans again and you laugh, another sweet sound he would love to wake up to.
“What time is it?” Even he can tell his words are slurring together, it almost sounds as if he’s drunk. It’s a miracle you can even understand him.
“11:30, in the morning.”
“D-did we finish our mission reports?”
“That was 5 days ago Miguel.” He whips his head (more like slowly turns since he’s still pretty out of it, but it seemed fast in his mind) to look at you. Eyes widening at your statement. 5 days ago? The last thing he remembered was being on the mission with you and Peter and Jess and those other two guys (he didn’t feel like remembering who, too much work right now). How could that have been 5 days ago?
“Couldn’t have been, we-we were just there...” he trails off as he fully opens his eyes. Was he in...the med bay? Why the hell was he in the med bay? Having all of these questions and no answers was starting to annoy Miguel, but he didn’t even have the energy to fully be awake let alone angry.
“You got injured Miguel, pretty badly and you’ve been here for the past 5 days recovering.”
Miguel looks at you, then back to the ceiling. The last thing he remembers is telling you he was okay and taking the anomaly back to HQ, when did he get hurt?
“I...I don’t remember that.”
“Do you remember lying to me? I asked if you were okay and you said yes, next thing I know you’re bleeding out on the damn floor, what the hell Mig?” He does remember telling you he was fine, which he thought he was, and staying behind while everyone returned to HQ. He just couldn’t for the life of him remember the in-between.
“I thought I was fine, couldn’t feel anything.” He sighs and rubs his hand down his face. You can hear the sincerity in his voice, and you also know it would be pretty stupid on his part to hide an injury like that. You believe him and drop the subject not wanting to cause him any more stress.
“What happened while I was out?” He rests his head back on the bed. He reaches out to you when he feels the side of the bed dip under your weight, his hand rests on your thigh as you wrap your own around his.
“Nothing we couldn’t handle, Mig, and we had plenty of entertainment from you.” Miguel can tell the smile on your face has a hint of mischievousness behind it, and he doesn’t like what you're insinuating.
“What do you mean?”
“The metal piece that got stuck in your side had some toxin that interfered with your healing so they had to give you some painkillers to keep you calm, you were so out of it the whole time,” You’re laughing under your breath, remembering the countless times he woke up just to talk nonsense to whoever was with him, “You know you’re 0 for 2 with weird, other-worldly toxins, they kicked your ass twice now.”
He huffs out a breath, not really liking your teasing so soon after he woke up. He definitely doesn't like not knowing what he said or did while he was out of it, hopefully, nothing embarrassing.
“I made sure to record it all for you boss...definitely for official business only.” Lyla pops out from his watch standing above his opposite arm, winking at you right in his face. Of course, Lyla would do that to him, you probably persuaded her as well (not that she needed much persuading).
“Dios mío,” He lets out a much longer groan as Lyla pulls up a screen, “I don’t want to watch this.”
You giggle again as you stand and walk to his bedside. Before you get all the way there he extends his arm, pulling you down next to him when you’re within reach. You land on your backside against the soft bed, leaning against Miguel’s shoulder.
“I’m glad you’re okay Mig, you really scared me.”
“Lo siento, cariño, ¿Puedes perdonarme?” (*I’m sorry dear, can you forgive me?) He looks up to you with his best version of ‘puppy-dog eyes’. It’s adorable really, his eyes getting all wide and his lips in a slight pout, you would take a picture if you could (more like if he would let you).
“I’m not mad at you Mig, just don’t like seeing you hurt.”
“Are you going to take care of me until I recover?” His face has shifted to a smirk, a suggestive look taking over his face as he winks at you once. You laugh and push his face away gently, knowing you would do anything to help him feel better.
He smiles at you as he grabs your chin in his hand, bringing his lips to yours. You’ve gone so long without a kiss from him it feels like heaven, like you’ve finally found water after a day’s journey through a desert, and you never want to break apart from him.,
Your lips move against each other as they’ve done so many times before, molding together perfectly like they were made for each other. You break away for less than a second to take a break before your lips are meeting again, just as passionately.
Before it can get too heated, Lyla’s voice breaks you two out of the moment and away from each other.
“Ugh, okay lovebirds we get it, can we watch Miguel embarrass himself now?” You smile at her and rest your head on top of his, letting out a happy sigh.
“Te amo, cariño.” (*I love you, dear).
Your breath catches in your throat, completely caught off guard by the confession coming from the man next to you. You can tell he’s holding his breath as well by the way his chest has almost stopped moving entirely.
Your face breaks out into the biggest smile you can muster as you grab his cheeks to make him look at you, and you plant a big fat smooch right on his puckered lips.
“Say that again.” He takes a second to realize you’re not disgusted or running away from him. When the realization sets in, he smiles back at you, one of the softest smiles you’ve ever seen come from him.
“Te amo.”
“Hmmm, maybe one more time.”
“Te amo (y/n).” He says it through a laugh this time, but he’s quickly cut off by another kiss being planted on his lips. He gladly kisses you back as you tangle your fingers in his hair, trying to keep him as close as possible.
“I love you too, Miguel.”