Pavitr had always been able to handle everything.
He was the perfect nephew, he did excellent in school, and he was an amazing Spider Man.
Simple.
Right?
It was supposed to be simple. Because he could handle it! He just had to push himself as far as he could go, to reach his potential. Putting others first was his job as Spider Man and as a Prabhakar. His parents would want him to push himself, to carry on the family name and bring pride to them.
He could handle it. He’d handled it this long right? He’d been Spider Man for the last six months; he got the gist by now. He could handle that too! It was easy, stop petty thieves, stop crime lords, stop rakshasas popping up and trying to destroy humanity, stop interferences in canon so the whole multiverse doesn’t collapse-
“Pav you good?”
Pavitr snapped back to the present, realizing he was pulling at his hair and definitely about to have a panic attack.
“Hey, hey breathe with me,” someone said, taking his hands gently. They’re hands were long and lanky with lots of calluses he noticed.
He breathed more slowly, feeling his heart stop beating as fast and slowly started to take everything in. He was in his room, the window open, the sun streaming through, the sounds of traffic coming through it along with his Auntys television in the other room playing some old Bollywood film like always, the smell of idlis and rasam cooking, and Hobie sitting on his bed next to him holding his hands.
“Oh,” he squeaked, quickly letting go of his hands, awkwardly picking up his diabolo and starting to spin it.
It helped to be able to play with something in his hands, when he was younger he would tug on his hair a lot more which his Aunty constantly scolded him for. He thought he’d finally gotten over that bad habit.
“You okay?” Hobie asked gently.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Pavitr replied quickly, “Just gotta finish this paper and then we can go swinging, I promise.”
“Pav you know that’s not what I’m talkin’ about,” Hobie sighed, “C’mon man, why’re you always tryin’ to avoid this?”
“Avoid what? I don’t avoid things haha, what makes you think I avoid things? Crazy, me avoiding-”
“You are literally avoidin’ it right now,” Hobie grumbled, “Cmon, what’s so bad about it? Let yourself be honest a little, who gives a fuck what happens for once? Just lay it out there.”
“It’s different.”
Hobie groaned, flopping over on his bed dramatically, “You said that all the time, what does that mean to you though.”
Pavitr sighed, nudging the other spidey so he’d sit up properly for once. (He doesn’t of course but hey at least he tried.)
“It’s just a lot to deal with.”
“What?”
“Life.”
Hobie hummed in agreement, “Felt that.”
“I just kind of wish that, I don’t know, I just got an off day?” Pavitr said as he spun the diabolo in the air and caught it.
“Why not take one then?” Hobie asked.
“Dude, this is literally due tomorrow.”
“Psh, cmon’ it’s just pointless busy work to get you ready for being shoehorned into some boring ass desk job feeding all your energy into capitalism for the rest of your life,” Hobie said waving him off, standing up reaching out a hand, “Cmon’ what’d you want to do?”
“Hobie, I literally have to do this right now,” Pavitr huffed, pulling him back down to sit next to him, “We can do stuff after.”
“Ah, see you’re too Goody-Goody, that’s what’s causing you all this anxiety.”
“Hobie, I can’t not get good grades, I’m a dead man if I don’t finish this, Aunty Maya will literally kill me.”
“Hm, compromise then, break now, feeding into the system later.”
“Fine,” Pavitr sighed, “But only if we’re back in an hour.”
Hobie pumped his fist in the air, “Hell yeah, cmon’” he called as he hopped out the window, “It was getting way too stuffy in there.”
“If I get in trouble for not studying, I’m totally blaming you,” Pavitr whined as he pulled his mask on.
“Nah, your aunt loves me, wouldn’t believe you for a second,” Hobie waved off as he did a flip and stuck to the next building. Pavitr rolled his eyes as he swung to keep up.
“Not so sure she will if I fail.”
“Pav you’re not gonna fail cause of one assignment, try to relax for once, you can handle this,” Hobie reassured.
“What if I can’t,” Pavitr said, stopping as they land on the roof of a building, “What if I can’t handle any of this?”
“Then you can ask for help,” Hobie answered simply, “You can call and I’ll come runnin’”
“I wouldn’t want to drag you into my messes, Hobie,” he said as he crossed his arms, trying to avoid looking directly at the other boy.
“Hey, look at me,” Hobie said, stepping a little closer to him, “I’m coming to help you whether you like it or not.”
Pavitr laughed a little at this, “Really?”
“I’ll come runnin’,” he repeated, more firmly this time, “I mean it, if you need my help you can ask.”
“Same to you,” Pavitr smiled before racing ahead swinging off the building leaving Hobie yelling behind him which was very amusing.
Everything felt a lot lighter as they raced across Mumbattan together.
Same to you.