When Noir hadn't responded to his text, Miles had assumed the man was busy. It made sense, with him being Spider-Man and all. However, when two days went by without so much as a reply, Miles began to worry. Noir always replied to texts within at least an hour, if not sooner. And if, for whatever reason, he didn't, he always replied at the end of the day.
Miles had made a decision. He suited up and opened a portal to Noir's universe with the use of his dimensional wristband. Soon enough, he stepped into Noir's apartment and the portal closed behind him.
Miles went straight to work by checking every room for signs of Noir. It looked like he hadn't been home recently. After deciding that Peter was definitely not in the apartment, Miles started looking around for clues as to where the man might have gone. There was a notebook on the kitchen counter, so he started with that.
This was it. Scribbled notes about some sort of gang opperation were written in the margins. Miles read through each of them until he found an address. Now armed with that information, Miles left the apartment and began his stealthy journey to his new destination.
0000
It was cold. Really, really cold. He had been bleeding at some point, but he was sure the exposed blood had frozen by now. Noir tried his best to keep his eyes open, but it was difficult when all his body wanted to do was sleep and never wake up.
It had been a trap. They had known that he was coming. The job started out as an all night steak out. Then, he had moved in. That's when they caught him.
After an afternoon's worth of attempting to beat information out of Noir, the gang members decided to throw him into a meat locker and leave him to freeze to death. It was working. Nobody knew where he had gone, and he didn't see any possible escape. Noir's frozen limbs made it nearly impossible to break the chains that had been used to tie him up.
The detective was shivering violently as puffs of air made their way through his mask. He was going to die here. Even with his multiple layers, the cold seeped into every ounce of his body. Noir didn't know how long he had been in the locker, but it felt like an eternity. He found himself wishing that he could at least say goodbye to Aunt May and to his Spider friends. He was just going to die without anyone ever finding out what had happened to him. What a shame.
'Miles would be upset,' he found himself thinking. He didn't like that thought and attempted to think of something else. He would never have the chance to see another color. He would die in a dying monochrome world.
Noir felt his eyes begin to close once more, and decided to just accept it. He was dead anyway. Why should he prolong his suffering? Just as the detective was about to fall asleep, a loud bang on the room's metal doors sliced through the silence and jolted Noir awake. He stared at the door with tired eyes as his body continued to shiver violently. Another bang echoed through the room. After one more punch, one of the now dented doors flew off its hindges and skittered to a stop in front of Noir.
A dark figure stepped into the room and looked around. It took Noir a moment to focus, but he eventually recognized the markings on the costume. He tried to speak, but his voice didn't seem to want to work. That didn't matter, however, because when the two made eye contact, the other person was already rushing iver to him.
"Noir?!" Miles was at the detective's side in an instant, already tugging at the chains wrapped tightly around his arms. "Shit, dude. This is bad. Really, really bad."
It was right then and there that Noir decided he did not like Miles cursing. It sounded all sorts of wrong. Wait, why was he focusing on such unimportant things? By the time Peter snapped out if his thoughts, he realized that Miles was attempting to help him stand.
It wasn't going well. Noir's shaking made it hard for his legs to stay underneath him, so he kept falling back onto the ground. Eventually, Miles decided to just wedge himself under the taller man's arm an attempt to drag him out of the meat locker. Thankfully, this plan seemed to work, and soon enough, Noir was free of his frozen coffin.
"Peter, can you speak?" Miles peered at him worriedly as he tried to help the taller man out of the building.
"Sort of," The man rasped. His words were sluggish and slurred together.
"Alright, good. Listen. I'm gonna get you back to your apartment, and we're gonna warm you up, alright?"
"Mmhmm." Noir leaned heavily against Miles as he fought to stay concious. The entire ordeal felt very surreal to him. He wondered, momentarily, if maybe he was just dreaming and was still in the meat locker.
Miles nudged Noir's shoulder, causing the taller man to come back to reality. They had made it back to his apartment at some point, apparently. Miles had deposited him onto his bed by this point and was currently attempting to say something. His voice sounded far away, but Noir found he could still make out what was being said.
"You need to take your mask and boots off. The rest can stay on if you'd like." Miles had a very serious look on his face. Noir decided to do as he was told. "I'm gonna go find some blankets, alright? You just get comfy and relax." And with that, the kid left the room.
Noir rubbed tiredly at his face and tried to wedge himself under the few sheets he had on his bed. His shivering hadn't yet stopped, but it wasn't nearly as bad as before. As soon as his head hit the pillow, Peter was out like a light.
0000
Hours had passed by the time Noir sluggishly opened his eyes. Even without his glasses, he could tell that every blanket he owned was stacked on top of him. Even so, he still felt cold. Peter rolled over onto his side to find a chair set up next to his bed. There, half sitting on the chair and half laying on the bed, was Miles, deep in an exhausted sleep. The sight caused a small smile to form on Peter's face.
There was a moment of contemplation before Noir carefully pulled Miles the rest of the way onto the bed. The fact that the kid was still deep asleep, even after he had been moved around, said a lot about how tired he must have been. Something warm grabbed at Noir's heart as he lifted the covers and pulled Miles close to his chest.
He needed to be there for Miles. He couldn't die. Not when the kid needed protection. Sure, maybe Miles had saved him today, but they could take turns with the whole saving routine. It's what Spider-Man did, after all.
Noir mumbled a quiet, "Thank you," before he fell back into a deep sleep.