It had started out as a nice evening. The Spider Gang didn't have much more time before morning- the day they would all go home. Everyone seemed hesitant to bring that fact up. The idea of going back to being the only Spider-man/woman was hard on all of them. But, when six Spider-people with traumatizing origin stories are put into one room together for a long period of time, something is bound to come up.
Noir stared quietly at the rubiks cube cupped in his hands. It was such a colorful object, something the black and white man wasn't used to. He planned on memorizing the names to every color, as soon as he had the chance. Porker, who was sitting comfortably next to him, watched on with mild amusement. The pig, much like himself, still kept his mask over his face. Noir found himself wondering what color the pig was underneath his costume.
"Hey, Noir," Porker asked, ears twitching.
"Hm?"
"I'm sure Aunt May wouldn't mind if you took that back with you," The pig said, quietly.
It was a nice thought. Having such a beautiful cube, sitting on his nightstand, back home. "I'd like that."
Peter B., who had apparently been listening in, let out a snort. "Someone seems a little over-attached to a simple rubiks cube." Miles immediately elbowed the older man in the side. "Hey! What was that for?"
Miles pushed himself off the chair he had been sitting on and turned to find Noir, only to find Porker calling the taller man's name out an open window. "Nice going, Peter," Miles huffed, sending the man an annoyed glare. "Aw, come on. How was I supposed to know he would get upset?" Miles just gave him an eye roll and headed out the front door.
"Text us when you find him, yeah?" Porker seemed concerned.
"Sure," And with that, Miles took off down the street in search of the black and white Spider-Man.
0000
Noir let out an annoyed huff as he pulled himself up another fire escape. His trench coat billowed wistfully behind him when he heard a voice call out behind him.
"Noir! Hey, I've been looking everywhere for you."
Ah. It seemed as though Miles had followed after him. "What do you need, kid?"
"I wanted to make sure you were okay, 's all. You, um, kind of left in a hurry." The kid was looking at his phone, as though he was typing something.
"Eh, that's what we do best. Leaving before we're caught, that is."
The cell phone was pocketed and Miles looked up at Noir, before attempting to walk up the wall. His shoes slipped a few times, but the kid really seemed to be getting the hang of his new powers. "Why don't we go back? It's a bit cold out here, isn't it?"
Noir sighed. "Later. I'm not ready yet." He had been about to start climbing up further when a glitch wracked his body. He wheezed in pain as he lost his balance and fell. Somewhere below him, he heard Miles gasp. Thankfully, before his body could collide with the ground, Noir thwipped out a strand of web and held on tight as he came to a stop just above the ground. He let go of the strand and landed lightly with his feet when another glitch ripped through his body. His knees buckled and he collasped to the floor with a hiss of pain. As soon as the glitch passed, he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Go home, Miles. I'll be fine."
Instead of hearing the kid's retreating footsteps, he felt the Spider-Man in training sit down on the ground next to him. "I'm not ready yet, and I won't be until you are too."
"You're gonna freeze out here, kid." Another sigh left Noir as he pulled something out of his trench coat pocket before slipping it off and putting it over Miles' shoulders. "Here."
The small smile that formed on Miles' face did not go unnoticed. But, the idea of going back to Aunt May's was still too much for the time being. He felt so out of place among his new friends. Noir carefully pushed himself too his feet, rubiks cube tightly held in his hand, and wandered over to the apartment building in front of them. "I'll see ya later, kid." Another glitch ran through him, but it was a small enough one that he could ignore it and begin scaling the building's wall. He was out of sight before Miles even had a chance to protest. Miles let out a sigh and pulled out his phone.
[Spider-Artist] Lost him again. He's glitching pretty badly. You better apologize when we get back, Peter
[Porkburger] The glitching can't be good. I haven't had any for a while, so it must just be him.
[MilesStopChangingMyNickname] Yeah, yeah. I'll apologize. Also, you better be wearing your jacket
[MilesStopChangingMyNickname] It's freezing out there
[Spider-Artist] I am. And Noir gave me his coat before he took off again
[Spider-Artist] I'll keep you guys updated. TTYL
0000
Spider-Noir sat precariously on top of a rather tall building. He looked silently down at all of the beautiful colors this city held. He wished he could name them all, but the only color he knew he named correctly was red. The man sat there for quite some time, though he eventually lost track of how long he had been up there. Glitches shook his body from time to time, but none of them were too horribly painful. Well, that was until now, of course. A shout left Noir as a particularly bad one shook his body, forcing him to drop the rubiks cube he had held so tightly in his gloved hands. He tried to catch it before it fell, but he was too late. It was gone.
Just after dropping the cube, Mile's head appeared. The kid latched onto the edge of the building and hoisted himself up with shaky breaths. He layed himself down- stomach first- on the roof and took deep breaths. Noir was at the kid's side in an instant, checking him over for any injuries. "Miles, what are you doing up here? You've never climbed anything nearly this high."
In between breaths, Miles managed to get a few words out. "Here, you dropped this." The kid held his hand out to Noir and opened it, revealing the previously lost rubiks cube. Noir carefully took the cube and looked it over with surprise. "Good catch, Miles." "Thanks."
The two sat there for a short while as Miles caught his breath. Eventually, the smaller of the two sat himself up and bundled the trench coat he wore around himself. "Sure is pretty up here, huh?"
"..Yeah. There's nothing like it back home."
"You still have the phone we gave you, right? I can always send you pictures when you get home, if you'd like."
"I'd.. Like that. A lot."
Miles smiled and leaned against Peter's side. The older man looked down, baffled by the contact, before putting an arm around the kid.
"In my universe, there are three colors. Black, white, and red. Red contrasts pretty much everything. But, seeing it is never pleasant."
Miles glanced up at Noir with a look of confusion.
"Red means blood, kid. If something is red, it means there's blood on it."
"That's..... awful, Noir," Miles mumbled.
A dry laugh left Noir's throat. "Is it? Guess I'm used to it by now."
They sat like that for a while, watching over New York's blazing yellow lights and bustling streets. Only when the sun begin to rise, did Noir realize Miles had fallen asleep. He gently shook the smaller being awake. "I'm ready to head back. C'mon." Miles gave a small nod as he was scooped up into Noir's arms in order to begin their descend back to ground-level.
0000
By the time Noir finally walked back into Aunt May's house with Miles bundled up in his arms, it was around 7 am. Porker was at his leg in an instant, hugging onto it with full force.
"Geeze, pal! You had us worried sick!"
"I.. did?"
"'Course you did! Look- I'm just glad you're back." The pig's voice was purposely quiet, so as not to wake Miles.
Peter B. walked into the room, his face show previous signs of stress before it relaxed into relief.
"Hey- Noir. Sorry, about before. I.. shouldn't have said that," Peter said, earnestly.
"It's alright. Shouldn't have reacted the way I did. I suppose this universe just.. really overwhelmed me. 'M not used to seeing people so.. carefree and colorful."
Peter gave him a look of sympathy before motioning Noir towards the couch.
"Get some rest, We've got a big day today."
Noir nodded and walked over to the couch, as soon as Porker let go of his leg. He handed Miles over to Peter before collapsing onto the couch. He quietly pulled his hat over his eyes, held his rubix cube close, and passed out.