It started a few weeks before Gwen showed up, after Miles had pulled three consecutive all-nighters to deal with a trafficking ring in East Harlem.
Miles had come home for the weekend exhausted and somewhat disheartened due to the fact that he had completely flunked two tests that week because he was so distracted.
He had been completely sure his parents would ground him for at least two weeks but his mom had taken one piercing look at him, sighed, and pulled him into a warm hug he had melted into without a second thought.
“What am I going to do with you, mijo? ” she said softly.
“Sorry, Mami,” he mumbled into her shoulder, eyelids growing heavier by the second.
It took him a few seconds to notice the strange rumbling sensation that sounded like it was coming from his mom before pulled away and gave her a confused look. The sensation stopped.
“What was that?” they both asked at the same time.
Miles blinked at her confusion. “I thought that was you.”
“How could I possibly make that sound? It sounded like a cat,” Rio huffed, a smile tugging at her lips when her statement earned an indignant look.
“I can’t do that either!”
“Can’t do what?” Jeff asked as he entered the room, the lack of sleep clear on his face that Miles couldn’t help wincing a little. His dad tended to be assigned to anything relating to ‘Spider-Man #2’ because Miles had unknowingly drifted closer to him, resulting in him being assigned to deal with the trafficking mess and pulling several all-nighters like Miles.
“Mami thinks I can purr like a cat,” Miles informed him, snorting a bit when his dad gave both of them a baffled look before the man huffed good-naturedly.
“I don’t even wanna know. How was school, Miles?”
Miles blanked a bit at the question, surprised at the lack of anger behind it and glancing at his mother in confusion. Apparently she had decided against telling his father about the failed test for now, likely pushing back that particular conversation so that both of them could have a good night’s sleep.
“It was… okay,” Miles answered honestly.
Rio shooed them both out to the living room with the promise of hot chocolate, the warm weight of his dad’s arm settling over his shoulders after he had put his bag away and changed before sitting on the couch next to his dad.
Someone had watched through half of the newest episode of the Money Heist and Miles let out a small betrayed sound, turning to give his dad a mock offended look.
“You guys started without me!”
Jeff laughed a bit sheepishly. “I was catching up on the last episode, it was too interesting to wait,” he explained, flicking Miles' ears when he made a face. “Don’t give me that, you and your mother watched it without me last week.”
“That’s ‘cause you went to sleep,” Miles pointed out cheekily, shoulders scrunching up to his ears when his dad tickled his neck and snickering as he swatted the man’s hands away. He stopped when Miles got desperate enough to roll off the couch, his dad’s eyes softening into something fond and happy that made the little knot of guilt in Miles's chest loosen.
Miles perked up when his mom walked in with three mugs of hot chocolate, laughing when she let out an offended sound when she saw that his dad had begun the episode without them.
The incident earlier was forgotten as he sat on the ground, his back wedged between his dad’s legs as the man absently ran his blunt nails against Miles’ scalp and slowly lulled him into sleep for the first time in three days.
It wasn’t until a few days before Gwen arrived that Miles was forced to remember it, thanks to being woken up by a concerned Ganke after a particularly exhausting patrol.
“Dude,” his roommate called, his voice tinged with concern as he shook Miles’ shoulder. “Miles, wake up, you’re freaking me out.”
Miles blinked, rubbing his bleary eyes as his jaw cracked open with a sleepy yawn. “Wha…?”
“You’re breathing really weird. Did something happen to your lungs? Did you get hurt?” Ganke questioned, eyebrows furrowed in deep concern.
“No… what’re you talkin’ about, Ganke?” Miles muttered in confusion, rolling over to face away from his roommate.
“ Miles,” Ganke called a little forcefully, the uncharacteristic tone waking Miles up enough to take him seriously. “You just stopped but you sounded really weird, man. Kinda like you… were purring. Which is really weird to say. Did something happen?”
“Not really,” Miles frowned, still sleepy but more aware than earlier. It felt like he’d had this conversation before already… “I mean, I had to fight Scorpion and that’s never fun but he didn’t get any good hits this time. And what do you mean, purring? ”
“Like the sound a cat makes when it’s happy?”
Miles was a little offended at the comparison but pushed past it to reassure his roommate. “I’m fine, Ganke. I only got a few bruises and they’ll heal in a little while.”
Ganke agreed a little uneasily, still worried but willing to let it go if Miles said he was okay.
He turned over in his bed as soon as his roommate climbed off the latter to go about his usual business, wrapping his blanket around him and basking in the warmth and oddly comforting rumbling sensation that seemed to be coming from the back of his lower throat and reverberating in his chest.
Miles blinked in confusion, the sensation disappearing as soon as he focused on it. It was the same thing that had happened a few weeks ago, after the trafficking ring fiasco.
Suddenly uneasy and unable to sleep, Miles wondered if there was anything wrong with him. Did he develop some sort of breathing issue? Asthma or anything like it?
Retrieving his phone and Googling his odd symptoms didn’t give him any half-decent answers. He wasn’t really having any trouble breathing and the sound wasn’t even continuous.
… Maybe it was a spider thing?
Research proved that, yes, apparently male spiders could purr but they only did it as an elaborate form of communication to woo female spiders. Which definitely wasn’t the case with Miles, especially not when he made that sound around his mom.
Gross.
Not for the first time, Miles wished his friends were here to offer their own experiences and curb the loneliness that had slowly been consuming him since they had returned to their own universes. They appeared in his dreams frequently, Peter and Gwen more often than the others.
Sometimes he wished a collider would open in their universes, so he could be sucked in to spend time with them but the thought was banished as soon as it came. Colliders were dangerous, they had almost destroyed multiple universes.
He couldn’t wish for something as selfish as that because he was lonely. He was Spider-Man and Spider-Man protected the people, he didn’t put them at risk.
Miles turned over in his bed and peeked down at Ganke. “Hey. I think the purring thing is just another weird radioactive spider thing. Sorry for scaring you.”
“Oh,” Ganke said, losing some of the tension he’d been carrying as he gave Miles a relieved smile. “It’s fine. Glad you're okay.”
A tiny smile tugged at Miles’ lips as he gave his roommate a thumbs up. “Thanks, man, Goodnight.”
“‘Night.”
Miles had honestly forgotten all about the whole purring thing until he was holding Mayday awkwardly in his arms, staring at her with wide eyes as she curled up in his arms like a tiny cat and purred.
It was kinda adorable.
“You are so bad at holding a baby,” Peter laughed, his warm hand on Miles’ shoulder almost making him forget that he was on the run right now.
At least until he heard the lady from earlier– Jessica Drew– announce that they had Peter’s location and then he was off once again, weird spider purring forgotten as he led hundreds of Spider-people out of their home base, His heart pounding with the steady thrum of alivealivealive.
No one was stopping him from getting home and saving his dad. No one.
It wasn’t until months later that anyone really found out.
After everything had gone down, after Spot was taken care of, after all the holes in the universe were patched up and Miguel’s canon theory was scrapped, after he had finally revealed the truth to his parents, Miles had wanted to be alone.
Which was odd, considering how long he had yearned to be by their side but he had still been grappling with his feelings and didn’t know how to navigate his relationship with both Peter and Gwen without someone ending up hurt.
They had recognized he needed space but still popped up every once in a while to hang out, which Miles had really appreciated. The extra time spent with his parents was really nice too, despite how much crying and arguing had been involved in their initial conversations.
Overall, Miles felt like the things in his life had finally stabilized and he was happy– like seriously happy– for the first time in over a year. He could see his friends, he wasn’t lying to his parents, and he was doing good in school.
He was happy.
Miles was in the middle of studying for one of his tests when Pavitr dropped in, a bunch of snacks Miles didn’t recognize and a blanket bundled up in his arms as he beamed at Miles.
“We’re all having a sleepover at Margo’s! She’s got this super-huge movie theater and a bunch of us are going tonight,” Pavitr explained excitedly. “Do you think you can come?”
Miles glanced between his Calculus textbook and his friend’s expectant face a few times before giving in to the temptation. It wasn’t like his parents knew he had a big test on Tuesday. He could just study tomorrow night.
“For sure, I just gotta tell my parents,” he agreed, closing his textbook and shoving it aside. “Should I swing by the store to get something?”
“Yeah, Hobie said to get those donuts you gave him and Gwen the last time he came around,” Pavitr snorted. “He swears they’re the best thing ever.”
Miles laughed at that, suddenly reminded of his dad’s affronted look when he found that the box of donuts he’d purchased was half-finished. “Yeah, I’ll do that. Any special orders or should I just get whatever?”
Pavitr shrugged, his nose wrinkling a bit as he tried to recall the conversation. “Gwen said something about a cheesecake donut– which sounds really weird, by the way.”
“Yeah, man. I’ll be there in a bit,” Miles said, waving as his friend disappeared into a portal before leaving his room to talk to his parents. His mom was passed out on the couch with a heavy blanket thrown over her and her head laid out on Dad’s lap, exhausted from the night shift she had pulled.
Jeff turned towards him when he came into the room, raising an eyebrow at Miles curiously.
“Uh… Dad? Could I spend the night at one of my friend’s houses? We’re just gonna be watching some movies,” he asked, clarifying quickly when the man gave him a suspicious look.
“Didn’t you say you had a test next week?”
Miles made a face. Apparently, his dad did know about the test even though Miles had no memory of telling him that. “Well… yes, but I still have time to study for it. C’mon, Dad, please,” he pleaded.
It took a few more pleas before Jeff finally relented, shooing Miles away with an amused look when he cheered.
Miles packed some clothes and a comfy blanket, pulling his favorite hoodie over his head along with his Spider-Man mask before swinging down to Foam Party, ignoring the looks he got before ordering two dozen assorted donuts.
He waited for his order with the others, waving at the little kids that gawked at him with a tiny grin and taking a picture with a girl he used to go to Brooklyn Middle with– Melissa Mayfield or something like that– before his order was called.
Miles swung onto the closest high rooftop, pushing up his sleeve to punch in the number for Margo’s universe, Earth-22191, into his watch. The portal opened, a comforting, color-changing one that didn’t match Miguel’s old gold portals in the least, reminding him more of Hobie and his ever-changing color palette.
He dove into the portal, no longer discomfited by the sudden sensation of falling as he straightened himself out and landed smoothly on the floor of Margo’s theater room.
“Miles! Hey,” Gwen greeted with a bright smile that made something in his chest warm until he saw Hobie fake gagging next to her and rolled his eyes.
“If you wanna be an ass, you don’t get any of my donuts, Hobie,” Miles threatened, snorting when the older teen gave him an exaggerated wounded look and was subsequently smacked in the face with a pillow by Margo.
“Don’t ever make that face again, Brown, you look ridiculous,” the girl shot at him, back leaning against the legs of a girl Miles now knew to be Gayatri, Pavitr’s girlfriend.
She was super nice and astonishingly good at Mario Kart for a beginner, collectively kicking their asses the last time Miles hung out at Gwen’s dimension after a bit of explanation. Miles still got a kick out of the memory of the offended screech Gwen had let out when Gayatri dropped a blue shell that pushed her into last place and forced her to endure Pavitr’s goading for the rest of the evening.
“You always look ridiculous, ya ankle-biter,” Hobie countered, tossing the pillow back at Margo.
“I know your Daddy long legs lookin’ ass, ain’t calling me short, Hobart!”
Miles couldn’t help but cackle at the combined usage of that insult and Hobie’s real name, the others joining in as the two of them continued to bicker, hurling insults that grew more and more creative back at each other until Peter arrived in the room with Mayday in tow.
“If my baby’s first words are anything bad, just know that I’m throwing you all under the bus with MJ,” he announced as he sidled over to Miles, squeezing his shoulder in greeting. “Hey, kiddo.”
“Hey, Peter, hey Mayday,” Miles greeted with a tiny grin, letting the baby crawl over from Peter to him as she babbled happily. “Are you staying or are we watching Mayday for you?”
“Hobie offered to babysit so MJ and I could go on a date,” Peter grinned as Mayday climbed onto Miles’ head and stuck herself there, his hands supporting her as she began purring happily. “You know, she only ever does that around you or when she’s sleepy. It’s adorable.”
Miles blinked. “The purring?”
Had he not asked anyone about the purring thing yet? He really had forgotten it in the haze of everything, becoming accustomed to it as he did with all the other oddities that came with being Spider-Man.
“Yeah, it’s adorable, like a little tiny cat. I would totally get her a kitten if MJ wasn’t so allergic,” Peter said a little wistfully.
Miles hummed in agreement, reaching over his head to tickle Mayday and earning an endearing little giggle. In some ways, Peter had been right about the fact that holding Mayday was kinda rejuvenating.
Miles didn’t do babies but she was the exception– she was Peter’s kid after all.
Peter left soon after and their group of six plus Mayday settled down to watch Spiderwick since apparently it only existed in Miles’ and Margo’s dimensions and it was kid-friendly. Mayday saw creatures scarier than the weird goblins in the movie on the daily anyways.
They watched a few more movies after that, like Shawshank Redemption and White House Down for the sole reason Margo knew Hobie would hate the latter before Miles’ began to fall asleep, his head leaning on Gwen’s shoulder and Mayday carefully tucked into his lap.
The sound of her purring was soothing, a soft vibration that slowly lulled him to sleep, barely aware of the fact that he was making the same sound, making him feel warm and fuzzy as he leaned more into Gwen’s side.
It took her a moment to notice, realizing that the soft rumbling sound was no longer only coming from Mayday, it was coming from Miles too. Gwen couldn’t help the way her lips tugged into a barely suppressed grin– it was too cute.
She leaned closer, laying her head over his and closing her eyes as she listened to the comforting sound of Miles purring. She’d tease him about it in the morning but now she was warm and comfortable with Miles pressed into her side- she didn't want to move.
Neither of them noticed that they’d fallen asleep with their hands entwined in one another until Pavitr sent a photo to the group chat the next day.
If the photo was saved on their phones, well, that was no one’s business but their own.