Smoothie Run
“Noir, I want you to work on your long-range combat skills. Peni, I think that learning some close combat would be beneficial in a situation where you need to fight without Sp//dr.”
Miguel was wrapping up today's training session, critiquing and complimenting the skills of the young spider heroes. Overall he was pretty pleased with the result of the training, he had put the teenagers through multiple obstacle courses, some of them having two of them compete against each other while others were done one person at a time. He enjoyed watching the group of close friends exchange banter with each other, at multiple different times one of them would try and get Miguel to agree with their side in the silly argument, to which he would say that he was a neutral party.
Once he had finished talking to the group about the training, everyone made their way out of the training room. Normally, Miguel would head to his office and the group of chaotic teenagers would go off to hangout or separate to their home dimensions, but instead the group of teens walked beside him as he headed to his office, giving light conversation along the way.
“Hobie, you have to admit it. I beat you in the training course!” Pavitr whined, using his hands to make large gestures as he dramatically debated with Hobie. “Miles! Back me up here, man” Miles shrugged at Pavitr when he turned for help.
“Miguel said Pav won by twelve seconds, can’t argue with facts Hobie” Miles commented as he sent a questioning look over to Hobie, waiting for a retort from the brit.
“I don’t believe in winners, plus I don’t listen to Miguel anyways” Hobie remarked, holding his head up high and sending a smirk over to Pavitr who had his jaw hanging open and was stuttering to come up with a response.
Miguel was enjoying listening to the playful banter of the group, even contributing with small remarks when he was brought into the conversation. Mostly by saying he is not an “old bloke” and he isn’t a vampire he just likes the dark.
The longer they walked to his office the conversation switched topics multiple times, going from the training to which of their universes had the best video games. With the noise around him turning into white noise, he retreated into his thoughts.
After the movie night he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the kids, especially Miles.
When he opened the door and saw the kid standing there half of him expected Miles to just make up some excuse about how he had to go do something. Instead the kid just sat there until Lyla made herself known and got Miguel to ask for help.
Spending time alone with Miles, he could see how the teens eyes would dart around him nervously, how anytime Miguel opened his mouth fully to speak his eyes would dart to the pairs of fangs that laid there. Seeing the kid so nervous around him made him feel so guilty about everything, but as soon as he was about to apologize to the kid their alone time was interrupted.
It was probably for the best though. He would have screwed up apologizing somehow or even if he did actually apologize Miles could never forgive him after everything that happened.
Still, something inside Miguel wanted the kid to feel safe around him, it wanted all the kids to feel safe around him. It bothered him every time he was around the kids, he worried about if they got hurt while fighting villains. The idea of seeing Miles, or Gwen, or Pavitr, or any of them bleeding made the spider half of his brain scream to get rid of the threat.
Shock, he was starting to think maybe Peter was right, he was getting attached to these kids.
And he didn’t know whether to be happy or terrified at that idea. After all, he still has nightmares of what happened when he tried to have a family again. Part of him knew that it wouldn’t be breaking the canon to spend time with the kids, but anytime he was finally not worried about the multiverse and he was about to be happy a little voice whispered about what could happen.
That was always enough for Miguel to retreat back into his office, to put up the emotionless barrier between him and everyone else. But once he had started to spend time with Gwen, Miles and the rest of the kids, the idea of leaving them and just being alone made him mad? Guilty? Sad? It was a weird feeling that didn’t feel good but something told him that it was bad.
A nudge on his shoulder broke Miguel out of his thoughts, he looked up to see Gwen, who was the one to get his attention, Miles and Pavitr looking at him with a confused look. He returned the look before muttering a quick, “What?”
“You kinda zoned out on us,” Gwen said, the blonde teen's eyebrows were creased and he could feel her eyes scanning his tired face. “Are you alright?”
At the question he instinctively straightened up his posture and raised his eyebrows to make him seem more awake, “I’m fine” he tried to make his voice louder and more confident in his words but the lie was obvious.
The cheerful voice of Peni Parker joined in on the conversation, “That’s what everyone says when they aren’t fine” she stated pointing an accusing finger towards him. The small girl was riding on the shoulder of Sp//dr her face also showing an unnatural concern while she looked at Miguel.
“That doesn’t make sense, ‘I’m fine’ means that I’m fine, just a bit tired that's all” He remarked, the more time he spent around the kids the more he noticed that they were starting to read his actions and words like Peter did. Honestly, he didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing.
“Oh! I have an idea!” Pavitr jumped, the teen raised his hand like he was answering a question while his face displayed a huge smile. “You should totally come with us to get our after training drinks, we were planning on going to a smoothie place in Gwen's dimension today.” The teen slung an arm around Hobie, looking around at the others for their reactions to his idea before his brown eyes turned to Miguel.
“I don’t know…” Miguel muttered. The idea honestly sounded quite fun, but he did have work to complete. Though taking a break from working sounded amazing, he had been focused on reports and getting anomalies home for the past few days he had mostly been surviving on caffeine and cafeteria empanadas. Something fresh like a smoothie sounded pretty good.
Once again his spiraling train of thought was broken this time by Hobie bumping him with his shoulder.
“Stop thinking so much,” Hobie said, his accent making Miguel have to focus on understanding his words. “I can see your wrinkles growing, keep doing that and look even more old” The comment arised snickers of laughter from the others while Miguel gave the teen a glare, to which Hobie just responded with a shrug of his shoulders.
“I am not old” Miguel groaned, he wasn’t old and he didn’t understand why the group of teens, especially Hobie and Gwen, insisted on labeling him as an ‘old man’.
“Good, because we don’t want to get smoothies with a grandpa” Gwen quipped, Miles poorly hiding a giggle at Miguel's confused expression.
“I promise you’ll like it Miguel” Miles said once he had stopped snickering. “They have all sorts of stuff to put in your smoothies, even cute little umbrellas” The teen held up his fingers to show the size of the small umbrellas before looking up and smiling at Miguel.
The contagious smile was returned with a small upwards quirk of his lips. With a forced sigh shrugged his shoulders before he caved in to the peer pressure.
“Alright fine, But if I hear one more old joke I’m sending you all back to your universes”
Miles and Pavitr exchanged a high five, the others whooping and cheering, Gwen and Hobie gave each other a look of accomplishment that didn’t go unnoticed by Miguel. Peni was clapping her hands gushing about all the flavors and combinations of smoothies she wanted to try while Noir walked next to her asking questions about the fruits that didn’t exist in his dimension.
They group quickly discussed a meeting place that they would all travel to in Gwen's dimension after they changed out of their spider suits. Once all of the kids had left, Pavitr double checked with Miguel that he wouldn’t bail on them, he started swinging over to his apartment.
Using his bright red webs to traverse around headquarters, he found himself with a strange feeling about the spontaneous plans with the teens. It didn’t feel bad but his thoughts kept betraying him, telling him that it was just an action of pity. Because why would they want him around, their strict boss who was only there to give orders and receive reports.
Was that really how they saw him? Just their boss, nothing more.
The idea made his chest tighten, did he want that? Sure a bit more respect from the snarky teens would be nice at times, but he had grown to enjoy their little quips and comments. Even if his age was exaggerated multiple times a day or the design of his Spider-Man suit was teased, it never made him irritated, well not in a bad way at least.
His feet landed with a harsh thump on solid ground.
Plus Hobie Brown had made it annoyingly clear that his assistance with missions was just him helping out his friends and he wasn’t working under Miguel's orders. While that was slightly irritating, the teenager stole his technology and used the advantages of spider society. It was a refreshing reality check to be treated like a regular person and not some big intimidating monster that would kill you if you breathed the wrong way.
Jess had told him multiple times that he should smile more so he’d look less like a half dead zombie. If Miguel did smile or even talk while showing too much teeth there was always someone around him that their eyes would obviously dart to his venom baring fangs. As a result of that he had adapted to talking with his mouth opening a minimal amount.
He unlocked his door and made his way to grab some civilian clothes. There wasn’t much to choose from, Miguel spent most of his time in his spider-man suit and didn’t go out much. Though, after some quick searching he settled on a simple gray sweater, navy blue jeans, and a black jacket.
Doing a quick fix of his messy after training hair in the bathroom mirror, Miguel looked into his red eyes. After the whole transformation he hated to look at himself, he could deal with the sharp fangs and curved talons but the blood red that consumed his brown eyes bothered him the most.
He had heard people say that ‘eyes were the windows to the soul’ before, so what did that mean about him?
Smacking his hands on the counter surrounding the bathroom sink, He reached over to run some cold water over his hands. He splashed the icy water over his face, drying it off with a hand towel before he headed out of his apartment, grabbing a pair of sunglasses and putting them on.
Once Miguel was standing in the hallway he pulled up the location in Gwen’s universe that they had all agreed to travel to. The bright orange hexagons of the portal made him thank the sunglasses for blocking the harsh light.
The familiar pull of the portal tugged on his body as he traveled through the multiversal portal, the neon colors speeding by made him squint even with his sunglasses.
He was greeted with a short fall onto unforgiving concrete once he exited the portal, sharp pebbles dug into his palms when he attempted to catch himself. His advanced hearing picked up on a mix of laughter and panicked dialogue coming from in front of his current position on the concrete.
“Would of been nice to be warned about the altitude of the portal” Miguel grumbled, picking himself up off the ground and looking over to the group of teens. He dusted off his hands, the little cuts caused by rocks already sealing themselves up, and patted off his clothing so he didn’t look like had no hygiene skills.
“Sorry about that Miguel!” the voice of Peni Parker chirped, the young girl was wearing her usual school uniform with the addition of a rose pink sweater on top. She sat on top of a large garbage can next to Noir who wore a black turtleneck and pants with his signature trench coat.
By the looks of it Miguel was the last to arrive at the meeting place which looked like an unnaturally clean alleyway. Gwen’s universe was quite a sight to behold, the world around them behaving like a mood ring, shifting colors from corals and oranges to blues and greens.
“Oh yeah,” Gwen said, walking over from where she was leaning against the building wall. “I forgot to warn you about the drop, are you alright?”
“It’s fine, sorry to keep you all waiting” He responded, adjusting his sunglasses so they rested comfortably on his nose. Hobie and Pavitr joined in standing next to Gwen, Pavitr giving Miguel a quick greeting while Hobie didn’t seem to acknowledge him at all, opting to clap his hands together before announcing something.
“Alright, now that everyone’s here let’s go,” Hobie started walking towards the exit of the alleyway, the teen’s civilian clothing didn’t look that different from his Spider-Man suit mostly just missing the Spider-Man like elements.
The group followed after Hobie, Gwen and Miles walked close next to each other while Pavitr walked in the middle talking about what he thought the new smoothie special would be this week. Noir walks next to Peni although the black and white Spider-Man was looking at Gwen's universe like it was golden, likely taking in all the new hues of color.
Miguel lagged behind the group, still saying relatively close but he wasn’t within touching distance with anyone. He saw Miles look over his shoulder in the middle of speaking with Gwen, after exchanging a few whispered words the duo slowed their steps until Miguel was next to them.
“Thanks for coming, Miguel,” Miles smiled. It was unexpected, well at least Miguel didn’t expect that to be what the teen was going to say. “Ya’ know I never really properly thanked you for the whole spanish homework help.” The teen stuck his hands in his pockets, fiddling with what looked like a pen from the way it moved around in the fabric.
“Miles told me about that!” Gwen butted in, pointing at Miguel with her finger, a similar smile worn on her face as well. “I was talking to him about my drumming problem and how you helped out with that.” The group turned a corner, up ahead he heard Pavitr say they were almost there.
“You both needed help,” Miguel shrugged, he thought it was strange how Gwen so openly spoke about her mental troubles. Though it did make sense that Miles would know by now, they were close enough that the two probably used the other for support.
“I’m not the best but I did what I could. I would suggest getting a better tutor if you need more help with your Spanish homework Miles, I’m not qualified to do that” He said, his words came out a bit muffled due to him trying not to flash his teeth at the innocent bystanders.\
“Dude, give yourself a bit of credit” Miles said, adding on a small laugh to lighten the situation. “I got the best grades on those assignments then I’ve gotten in like a month.”
Miguel responded with a small smile towards the two teens, by now they were approaching the entrance to the smoothie place.
It was a pretty small establishment with a fenced off outside section that a few people sat at working on different activities. A little bell rang out once they entered, Pavitr and Peni both rushed to examine the new items on the menu while Noir inspected the foods that were offered.
He was planning on waiting for everyone to order before ordering for himself, but Gwen grabbed onto his wrist and dragged him over to what looked like a make it yourself station. Hobie was already busy creating an abomination of a smoothie, while Miles started on picking out some pre-cut and portioned fruits.
“The smoothie bar is the best deal,” Miles explained, stopping to share some fruits with Gwen.
“Yeah, they have a pre-made menu but you get more for your money this way” Gwen commented, busy loading up her smoothie ingredients into a cleaned blender. A bag of sliced mangos was pushed into his hand by Miles, who gave a short smile.
“You better get started, once Peni gets over here most of the good fruits are going to be gone”
With that the teen left to work on his own drink, leaving Miguel to look over the available ingredients to create a smoothie with. All of the different fruits were cut up and divided into their own individual bags organized in woven baskets that had their own name tags with little doodles of the fruits. Further along the table were other toppings and add-ins including nuts, spinach, and different types of butters.
He grabbed a few bags of fruit and headed over to the blending station. A young employee had just finished cleaning a blender and shot Miguel a friendly smile as they handed it to him. He gave a small smile and a nod in return, muttering a ‘thank you’ before turning to blend his drink.
After contemplating the nutrients of the ingredients in his smoothie he had decided on a peach and mango smoothie with a few added handfuls of spinach, it didn’t affect the taste at all just adding a green-ish hue to the liquid, mixed with a base of coconut water.
With the newly made smoothie in hand Miguel made his way to the seating area of the shop, the group of teens had claimed a large round table and when he noticed Pavitr and Peni waved him over gesturing to a seat in between Hobie and Miles that they probably saved for him.
He sat down in the chair, looking around to see what everyone else had gotten. Hobie apparently made a smoothie bowl, Peni had what looked like a strawberry smoothie, Noir had gotten something with blueberries, Pavitr was holding an orange colored smoothies with multiple umbrellas sticking out of the top, Gwen and Miles who were sharing smoothies had gotten a pineapple smoothie and one with a purple-ish color that Miguel couldn’t decipher what was in it.
“What did you get Miguel?” Miles asked while pinching his eyes shut while rubbing the inner corners of his eyes. “Hehe, sorry brain freeze”
Miguel scoffed, taking a quick drink of his smoothie before speaking, “Mango and peach, with some spinach.”
Miles nodded with a pained ‘cool’ muttered out before continuing his grumbling about the stupid brain freeze.
“Press your tongue against the roof of your mouth” He instructed, gaining a confused look from the teen pressing him for context. “It helps relieve the pain, trust me”
He watched as Miles lowered his hand from his eyes and pursed his lips, an intense furrow to his eyebrows showed that he was doing his best. After a few seconds passed the teens face relaxed and Miles looked up at Miguel with a surprised smile.
“Whoa… that actually worked! Thanks!” The teen celebrated, going in for a high five but awkwardly changing it to a shoulder pat before returning to chugging down his drink.
Miguel once again smiled, he had been doing that a lot lately, drinking his smoothie as well. He kept his head tilted down the lights in the small shop which were very bright and one was hanging right above their table which wasn’t pleasant for his eyes. Adjusting his sunglasses he found himself watching the rest of the teens at the table.
They were all talking about random things, the topic switching back and forth quicker than he could keep up, but being able to see all of them smiling and all in one place created a warmth in his chest.
The feeling coming from his chest seemed familiar, usually when something felt familiar it was bad but this time something told him that it meant safety and comfort. It clicked in his head seconds before the first rumble of the sound could fully form, using a loud fake cough to conceal the short start to the animalistic noise.
He had started to purr.
Miguel's sudden cough caught the attention of Hobie, who was sitting on his left, the Brit raised an eyebrow before speaking to the man.
“You good?” The teenager was looking at him up and down, his facial expression was hard for Miguel to read because he never knew if the teen was being sarcastic or serious.
“I’m fine just choked a bit” Miguel cleared his throat for emphasis, tapping his palm on his chest to chase away the remnants of the purr.
“Mhmm…” Hobie hummed. “Why you wearing sunglasses inside? It ain’t even that sunny outside.”
The topic change was greatly appreciated but the new topic wasn’t all great either. Miguel stayed silent for a second, gathering his thoughts for the response but the pause was interrupted by a second voice.
“Yeah I was wondering that too.” Miles pitched in from the other side of Miguel, gaining the attention of the others. Pavitr and Peni still had a mini conversation before everyone else seconded the question.
“Is it a style preference?”
“Are they to hide your eyebags?”
“Is it for a mysterious effect?”
Though he didn’t enjoy that his glasses were the new topic of the table it was probably for the best that Miguel just told them and didn’t make up some lie.
“No, rude, and no” He pushed up the glasses from where they had slipped off his nose. “My eyes are hyper sensitive to light so wearing sunglasses helps me be able to see without my regular mask. Plus, they also hide my eye color to avoid any unwanted questions.”
“Oooooohhh!!” Pavitr drawled the teen smacked his palm against his forehead. “That's why your office is so dark! I always thought you were just sad or something”
Well that wasn’t entirely untrue.
Similar comments of agreement and realization were said by the other teens at the table. Noir saying something about the glasses still adding to a mysterious aura around him and Gwen gave a short compliment about them.
Miles tapped his finger against the table, “Wait, so are you alright right now? The lighting here is pretty bright, is it hurting you?”
Wait what?
He looked over to Miles to search for any sort of joking expression or sarcastic look in the teens eyes but all he found was a saddened expression that had settled over the usual smiling face of the teen. A pang of guilt rang through him for making the kid worry, something growling at him in the back of his head to fix it.
“No, no, no,” He stuttered, still taken back by Miles’ words. Why did that tone feel so wrong, Why did someone caring for him feel so criminal.
“I-It's fine really,” Miguel confirmed, both for himself and the kids, holding his hands up and pulling the glasses to show his eyes for a second. The bright light flooded into his eyes causing him to fight back a reflexive squint so he could give the teens at the table a reassuring look before quickly setting the glasses back down.
“See?”
It was painfully obvious that they all knew that it wasn’t completely fine but he received a mutter of ‘okay’ and a few apologies that he quickly shut down, it wasn’t any of their fault that he had screwed up eyes.
The rest of the trip together went splendidly, Miguel talked a bit more than everyone, Hobie taught Noir some British slang, Miles shared a quick doodle he had done on a napkin depicting Miguel and his unique suit design. The drawing was gifted to Miguel before Miles had left to go to his home dimension, he had to fight back another feeling in his chest as he admired the wonderful drawing.
Weeks passed with different training courses and visits to everyone's dimensions for after training drinks. Miguel joined them on occasion, sometimes having to deal with multiversal problems but later in the day one of the kids, usually Miles or Pavitr, would stop by his office to give him a coffee or a snack from wherever they went that day.
Visits from the teens became more frequent, sometimes accompanied by Peter B. the teens would linger around in his office for a while after turning in reports about missions. For the first time in a while he found himself smiling more and whenever he was around Miles or Peter or any of the trouble seeking teenagers his chest always felt lighter, like a weight was lifted off only to be returned once he was alone.
Miguel battled more nightmares, the kids he had grown attached to appearing more and more in the cruel scenes his mind made for him, but it was fine, nightmares were normal and it was just something he had to live with.
At least now he had smiling faces to look forward to.