slideshow (1)
"Miles." Ganke prods him with the broom, but the boy's out like a light.
"Miles," He's moved on to chucking lego pieces at the top bunk. "-you gotta go to school."
Alright, that's it. What normally gets him up in the morning? Then it dawns on him: get him back.
Ganke climbs the ladder Miles never used, just to straddle the poor boy where he laid. There were a few bruises he had to cover up still, but let's give him a few more shall we?
He put on a turtleneck when he got up- a scarf for good measure, too.
"Glad to see you back in class Morales! I was getting worried about you." Mr. Ditkovich smiles, "You're not off the hook, you know that right?"
"I know..."
"I'll get you your late work, have someone help you finish it."
"Help me finish-?" Wham.
Five packets. At this point...maybe he should just drop out. Can't he get a few brand deals or something? Act in a movie about him? Get a sponsor on youtube? Anything!
"Those are from the three mornings you missed, along with your exam on the top. You're lucky I made it take home for you."
"You caint give me no pass or nothin'?"
"You don't get a pass unless you're Spiderman. Now get that done by the end of the week."
Miles punches the air as he makes his way over to Ganke at the back of the lecture hall. Fighting the urge to singe his papers to ash (and failing), Ganke quickly stuffs them in the folder with the rest of his late work- acting like he didn't notice the little brown patch flaking at the corner.
"Don't worry, you can copy off me for the exam."
He swipes his watch, pictures of his score and answers flashing by. "Got the corrections too."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
Riiiing.
"Alright class, I won't bore you today. I have a guest speaker that will do that for you."
Those footsteps aren't as malicious as they used to be, but the sound of her yellow flats pierced Miles' ears all the same. He watched that mangy bush of purplish-brown hair emerge from the side door at the bottom of the hall.
Really Liv? I gave you four years and all you did was grow more hair? I expected better.
"Introducing Bio-physics and the principles of genetic engineering, Dr. Olivia Octavius."
His heart's beating fast as it did the first time she tried to kill him back in 2018. Granted, she hadn't been up to any true evil in a while. After Kingpin went to prison, she went back to making educational videos and taking up lecture halls for a bit more change in her pocket. Not that she needed any, she'd taken over Alchemax in his absence.
"Bro you good?"
"Yeah, I mean, she tried to kill me but-"
"-What do you mean 'she tried to kill you'?"
Miles glances back at the front, praying she'll stay there. "It's a long story, but-"
"Mr. Morales! Since you're talking so much, how about you start us off."
You son of a bitch. You actual piece of shit. No matter, he will not be bested by a man whose hairline peaked at the same time he did.
"Well let's start off with the question, what is biophysics? Biophysics is the junction between the application of physics to biological sciences, the methods used apply greatly to genetic engineering- a subset of biophysics where-"
"-Alright Morales, that's enough." His classmates snicker, Liv beams as she changes the slide.
"All of what your classmate said, before you cut him off Professor, is correct!" Y'know what, Liv may have tried to kill him, but her slight animosity towards Ditkovich already redeemed her.
"Intros out of the way, I would like to rehash an old project I worked on for this lesson. Alongside my coworker Aaron Davis- rest his soul-"
Pause.
"-we tinkered with cross species genetics to create what we once called 1610-VSR, colloquially known as Alchemax 42. I provided the spiders, he provided the radioactive material."
Get out, get out. His blood ran colder than the room. He could've heard a pin drop- probably did hear one in the next classroom over.
"The original spider was a hybrid as well, a Red widow, Black widow, Metallic blue jumper, Brazilian wandering, and a Crab spider. Based off these five we created a mock sheet of powers one would have if they were bitten by one of them- aided by living proof of Spiderman footage! Wish he was here to-"
If she's foaming at the mouth all the way over there, what the hell would happen if she get a hold of him? Dissection? Strapped to a chair like Peter B? Ripped apart nerve by nerve?
"Young man, are you feeling alright?" Liv's glasses were on him now, a mischievous glint in her lenses fanning off the projector.
"Y-yeah! Just scared of spiders, that's all."
"Well aren't you glad you're not Spiderman. Like I was saying-"
This is too much. Ganke knew it too, squeezing his hand when fight clips roll in.
"As you can see, Spidey often pulls his punches because-"
"-a spider can exert over a hundred times its own strength on its prey, transfer that to the base strength of a human and he'd kill someone." Miles mutters, Ganke listening clueless and lovestruck. He can't keep doing this.
He's just gonna have to shut up the rest of the lecture, no matter how bad he wants to get up there and teach the class his damn self. No matter how long she droned on, she still wouldn't get everything right.
Wait...
"Bro what if I come back in the suit."
"Miles no-" And he's gone.
He's an idiot alright. But as soon as he struts through the door with that suit on, Ganke had to admit to himself that this was his idiot.
"Good morning everyone! Hope I'm not too late Dr. Octavius." A boy in the back gets smacked awake, 'holy shit' he whispered, opening snap up. That voice changer's going to put in work this fine morning.
"Spiderman! Goodness, we were just talking about you." You don't say Liv, you don't say.
"Perhaps Spiderman would like to crash the lesson and explain what he can do?" The class is practically begging for the hero to stay, he would too- shit.
He can't give away too much about it- so he'll just confirm that she's right on most, if not all of it. She's got ballooning on there- really Liv? Really? Webs do not come out of my ass!
"Right, so- yes. I've got many powers, most of what's listed is right. Increased speed, strength, vision, development of stetules on palms and soles- control of Van der waals forces-"
"-You do? I didn't predict that."
"Biophysics is merely an estimate of the state of the living Dr. Octavius. Can't predict nor explain everything with it. But enough about that, how about the cool stuff?" Now he's gone.
"Crab spiders natural camouflage-" He grabs the phone of that boy in the back, scared the piss out of him. "-turned into my invisibility! "
"Fascinating." That clipboard scribbling was not a good sign, nor was the pale green light from underneath her lab coat.
"Right, so about that super strength. It goes up to ten tons normally, not sure how far it goes." It's thirty or thirty five, she don't need to know that though.
"Let's test it out!"
He flicks the lens and destroys the projector, delaying two weeks' worth of assignments for the entire class. He starts grabbing other shit off his shelves, that block of steel? Dented. That hunk of Tungsten? Poof!
Ditkovich yelps in horror, his possessions leaving right in front of his eyes. Octavius cackles- did her hair just move on its own? Or did he move it subconsciously? Either way, that's not good. The little tingling in his veins was also not good- he had used it- albeit a little. Let's hope she wrote off those sparks as being from the projector.
"Right, I've gotta bounce- hope I didn't disturb you all too greatly." Go, go, run and come back tomorrow.
"No no Spidey, you've been an excellent help. Thank you for coming!"
Thank God she didn't consider how venom would manifest in the body, he didn't need Miss Sid the Science Kid putting a water hose in one of those tentacles.
"Ayo Spiderman, can I get a picture." God damnit Germaine.
"Spidey say hi to snap."
"Jaleel Edmonds it is 2022, who still uses snap?"
"Wait, how you know my name?"
Lie, quick! "Dr. Octavius briefed me on you all's names. Anyways, do you guys want a picture?"
His classmates ran Ditkovich over, scrambling to the front of the room for an unnecessary amount of photos. Ganke took his rightful place on the floor next to him, arm looped around him and all. Dr. Octavius even got a few with the hero, just to gloat to her coworkers about it later.
"C-class dismissed." Utterly defeated, Ditkovich grovels over the remains of his projector- cherishing Spiderman did it so he had time to relax.
But Miles had no time to, darting off to the bathroom. Stumbling over the toilet, he slumps over the bowl unsure if he'll puke and shoots back up at soft knocking. It's Ganke, he knows it. Grabbing his arm, it's now that he's grateful the bathroom doors here touch the floor.
"Hey hey hey relax-" Miles' hand twitching- he gets shocked a little bit but he doesn't mind. Feels kind of good honestly.
"-How can I relax? I've been in fight or flight mode for two hours."
"Well...how do you get out of fight mode?"
"Realistically? I can't. But, there's drawing, singing, beating my meat-"
"...Ayo?" Ganke stares incredulously, Miles snickering.
"I most definitely did not mean to say that."
"Well, here's another way." Ganke pressed him up against the side of the stall. No fair, he should be doing that. He went in for a kiss but Miles pushed him to his neck, "Not right now Ganke."
"Come on." Ganke pouts. He really thought that'd work too.
"Come on? We're at school."
"We're alone at school."
"School ain't the place to mess around, that's just nasty."
"Then where is the place?" Uh oh.
Now, which one of these stories doesn't make him sound bad. He's got the time him and Starling were messing around on a rooftop while on patrol. The fling with Harry Osborn in a sauna at Oscorp's summer party (definitely don't tell him that). Anything he did with Gwen, and he does mean anything- oh, he's got it!
"The subway."
Ganke stares over his glasses, full of judgement and half of wonder. "Now Miles..."
"-Let me explain! I had angry sex with Phin in an abandoned subway track after she found out I was Spiderman and her the Tinkerer."
The absolute whiplash Ganke got hearing that was more than Miles could've got from any villain.
Okay, maybe he did pick the worst story.
"Let me explain again-"
All Ganke's thinking about is that they could've had angry sex back in the bathroom when Miles came back from fighting Venom, when he wouldn't admit for so long that he'd loved him since the beginning of the year. When he wouldn't love him for so long but couldn't hold it against him because it was just fear talkin' it's shit like it always does. Fear that kept him from being fully comfortable, kept him pacing in their apartment- jumping at creaks in the floorboards that have always been there.
He wants Miles to feel safe, but he doesn't say that. He, in his longing, says:
"Why didn't we get to have angry sex?"
"Ganke, trust me when I say this." Miles places his hands on his shoulders. "You. Would not. Have been able. To walk."
"And that's a risk I'm willing to take." Miles put his head in his hands and sighed.
Y'know what? He should've expected that.