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Miles was expecting Liv to do something crazy while he was gone, why else would she come out of hiding? But no, she didn't do much else except pack up her lesson.
After confirming that Olivia truly wasn't up to any evil, Miles and Ganke went back to their bathroom stall- where they split the sandwiches from three days ago on astonishingly clean marble floors. Maybe overly prestigious schools are good for something, bathroom eating and gossip sessions.
"So, let me get this straight: Aaron worked with Dr. Octavius-"
"-Call her Liv." Miles took a pause to savor the banana peppers and chilis. "Octavius is too many syllables."
"Okay so Liv, worked with Aaron Davis-"
"-Who was my uncle."
"Who was also the Prowler?" A quizzical bite from Ganke followed. The spicy sandwiches were not going to make it out of this conversation alive.
"Yup."
"Yeah, yeah, okay. But how did they make the jump from bioengineered insects to quantum theory based dimension jumping?"
Miles clutched his sandwich a little harder, Ganke giggling at the mask's eyes widening.
"That's what I'm tryna figure out- but bro! How did he acquire the radioactive material to give to Liv in the first place?"
"Ooh, good question...which we might need to find the answer to."
"Might? I don't see my Uncle for years, then come to find out he both indirectly made me Spiderman and tried to kill me twice?" Crunch.
"M' gettim' a damn answer."
"...We could ask the doctor herself."
Miles stopped eating, put the sandwich down, and lifted up the rest of his mask. Miles was going to tell him thirty reasons why that was a terrible idea- but Ganke wiped the sauce off the corner of Miles' mouth before he could.
Ganke jolts his hand away, Miles sat a little dumbfounded. "Oh- uh, sorry!"
"Está bien, Ganke."
Miles put Ganke's hand back on his cheek. It's a small thing, a small, lovely thing that Ganke appreciates since Miles doesn't seem all that scared to love him anymore.
"A-anyway, we should probably track down Liv before she fully leaves huh."
"Yeah..." Miles puts the sandwiches back in Ganke's bag, and off they hustle to find Liv.
It wasn't too hard, she always did like a good laboratory. That is, if Alchemax was anything to go by.
"Excuse me, Dr. Octavius?"
Her hair turns around before she does, it even smells like the tropics. "Oh, Mr. Morales. What seems to be the matter?"
"Well, uh- you mentioned your coworker and...he was my Uncle."
That look in her glasses. She missed him too, wouldn't tell a kid that though.
"How do I say this...Aaron was a good man affiliated with bad people. No one really knew how he made his money, just that he had it."
Liv, just say he's an assassin.
"How'd you two know Fisk?"
"Don't know how Aaron got with Fisk, nor how he got the substances for the spiders- all I know is that he worked at Roxxon before he came over. I was head scientist at Aleksei's Chemicals, then Fisk bought it- kept me as the head, and made it Alchemax. Had to pay the guy some homage."
Wait, Aleksei? Aleksei Sytsevich? Focus- that's not the point, Miles!
"But yeah kid, I don't know much at all. Especially after I cut contact with Fisk- rather, him with me."
"Wait, if Fisk isn't paying you then- you get by on these lectures?"
There's a bit more force than she meant to add when she slammed the book closed on her desk. Olivia Octavius, you're lying to me.
"Yeah, pretty much. It's good money though, legal money rather. Anyways, I'll probably circle around here later this month for another lecture. Is that all?"
"Yeah, I just thought you'd know what happened to him, that's all."
"Oh- sorry I don't have more. But that's all I got on your Uncle. Have a good evening, Morales."
"You too."
Miles didn't wait for her to put the rest of her stuff away, yet she still watched him go.
Poor kid.
Miles got back to his room in record time, boba in hands- Mocha with chocolate tapioca for Ganke, matcha and honey pearls for him. He places each of his culprits names on the corkboard, with Uncle Aaron at the center of it.
Then here come the strings- red, white, blue, yellow- their newest edition? A worn out magenta. Miles steps back from the corkboard, Ganke sips from the sideline, looking up every so often to find that Miles has done absolutely nothing to connect the suspects to his uncle. Then, this fucking idiot takes out a little green expo marker and puts a dot in corners- like he did anything worth noting in the past three hours and fourty-five minutes.
Miles turns around in his chair, marker still in hand. "I've connected the dots."
Ganke threw a sock at him but as exepected, Miles caught it. "You didn't connect shit."
"I've connected them."
"Miles, what exactly did you connect here?"
"Don't worry about all that! I'm sure I'll figure out the plot. Now, get me that clipboard- or notebook- just something with paper."
"You writing it is gonna make it worse, remember? You tried taking notes one time and failed a test. "
"Okay, and? We can't use notes on tests."
"It was open-note."
"Not the point! Point is-"
Ganke tossed the other sock at Miles, landed straight in his mouth! Yes! Thank goodness it was a clean pair. Miles spat it onto the floor beside the bed, staring at Ganke like he'd eaten the last burrito (which he has done before).
"Point is, you need sleep Miles."
"No, I need to figure this out."
"I'm sure you do, but..." Ganke traces the eye bags forming under Miles' eyes. It's two in the morning and Ganke's skin still looks flawless, not an inch of sleep deprivation anywhere. Not in his voice, not in his face, then again he's used to it. Used to this. Miles still isn't used to this upfront worrying Ganke's being doing lately- or has he always done this and never asked about it?
"You look tired. You haven't been to bed in days."
"Oh you're one to talk-"
Ganke's eyes went low, pinning him to the mattress with more force than expected. He leaned down, whispering into Miles' ear as he'd done many times before.
"Then shut me up."
Miles could only stare wide eyed at the window and wall. That? That was hot, and his dick agreed with him too.
It's pretty dark in the room, but he could feel the warmth in Miles' cheeks as he gave him a peck. Had- had he done it? Had he finally done it?
"Are you blushing, Morales?"
No response, which meant that he was. Ganke thought he may have been too harsh but it turns out- he likes that. He likes that a lot. A lot more than he thought he would.