Work Text:
It’s not something they notice at first. After all, there’s a collider to take care of and the glitching just keeps getting worse. Anything that can’t be blamed on that can be pinned on spider-sense.
Most teams require years to learn how to work together as well as they do pretty much immediately. You can’t pin that all on being a spider. You just can’t.
They really should have known something was up.
Miles notices something, when he’s down there in the collider facing Kingpin. It’s like there’s this mantra in the back of his mind, chanting you’ve got this, you’ve got this over and over again in Peter B’s voice, and he might hear Gwen under that begging him to be careful.
When his dad yells ‘get up, Spiderman!’, he doesn’t know if he’s the only one who’s yelling.
Then the collider explodes, and the moment is shattered.
/----------/
It takes a few days for Miles to realize something is going on.
He’s sitting at his desk, working on a doodle in his notebook (another design that may or may not go up on a wall) when it happens.
He glitches.
It’s pain unlike anything he’s ever known, and he’s curled up on the floor clutching his own chest and there’s someone’s voice in his mind saying hang on kid, just breathe, it’s gonna be okay –
He wakes up in the school clinic, his roommate scared and waiting for news, and he passes it off as a panic attack. Thankfully everything had settled down when Ganke returned to the dorm. The nurse tells him to talk to his doctor – he might need an anxiety medication – and he says he’ll talk to his mom before rushing back to his dorm.
It isn’t until he’s sitting on his bed, trying to wrap his mind around what just happened, that he realizes that voice was Noir’s.
/---------/
The glitches start happening more frequently.
Miles is scared. He’s goes to Aunt May for help.
She doesn’t really understand it either. “I don’t think Liv’s collider has been turned back on.” she muses. “And either way, the glitching was their response to being outside of their own dimensions. You shouldn’t be glitching.”
“I know.” He stares down at his shoes, watching with detachment as they flicker in and out. Sometimes the invisibility thing still goes haywire when he’s stressed or afraid. He wonders if the others are experiencing this. He wonders if they know what’s happening to him.
That last thought is silly. They’re not here, they can’t know.
Except –
The first time it was Noir. The second, Ham.
Each time, each glitch, a different voice talks him through the pain, brings him back to reality. Peter, Gwen, Peni – he’s heard all of them, sometimes more than one. Last time – the worst time so far – he had five voices in his head, talking at turns, soothing him through the agony.
May gives him a hard look. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”
Miles just nods. He’s a terrible liar anyway. “When I glitch, I can hear them.”
“Hear them?”
“Yeah. They talk me through it, keep me calm until it stops.” He looks up at her. She’s leaning against the fridge, cup of tea in her hands, and he’s sitting on her kitchen counter (and how he’s getting away with that is beyond him, but he’ll take advantage of it). “Do you think that’s real?”
May is actually considering that question. She finally shrugs. “Who knows? I mean, they’re real. But I’ll dig around and see what I can find. Maybe my Peter knew something about this.”
/-----------/
That night, he dreams.
There’s no surroundings – just blackness, and Gwen standing there in it, staring at him.
This isn’t right. You shouldn’t be dealing with this.
Are you glitching again?
No. I’m not.
Good. I’m glad.
Her fists clench, but she doesn’t reach out to him. Have you told anyone?
Miles shrugs. Passed it off as an anxiety attack the first time. No one has ever seen it happen, though. I keep getting lucky. But I talked to Aunt May.
Lucky. Right. She’s pacing now, and Miles wants to reach out and touch her – he’s never seen her this agitated – but this is just a dream.
Right?
She sighs. You shouldn’t have to deal with this alone. I’m gonna find a way back, Miles.
But then you’ll start glitching, too!
That doesn’t matter. I’m not losing you.
He wakes up with a cold certainty that this was no dream.
/---------/
One night, it happens in a dark alley while he’s wearing the suit.
It’s Jefferson that finds him, curled up and whimpering in a puddle.
Warm hands gently turn him around. “Are you hurt? Can you tell me – whoa.”
The glitching finally subsides enough for Miles to get his voice back. “I’m – I’m fine, it’s okay.”
You are not fine! It’s Peter’s voice this time, almost screaming and verging on hysterical. Why is this happening?
Jefferson can’t hear it. He helps Spiderman sit up, bracing him against the alley wall. For once, he doesn’t have his lights on. Miles dimly wonders if he’s called it in yet. Will more cops arrive?
But his dad makes no move for the radio. He’s just looking at Miles with that concerned look in his eyes, like he knows he needs to help but doesn’t know how. It hurts almost as much as the glitching.
No matter how they’ve been recently, Miles has never been okay with lying to his dad.
“You don’t look okay.” the officer says finally. “Not a physical injury?”
A shake of the head. “No.” He decides to risk it – tell at least part of the truth. “Apparently I’m not allowed to have normal panic attacks.”
His petulance startles a laugh out of Jeff. “I guess not.” He adjusts himself so he’s sitting beside the small figure. “You wanna talk about it? What triggered it?”
“Not really. Not yet.”
“Okay. You think you’ll be alright heading home if I leave you?” A quick glance his direction. “If you want a ride home, I promise, I’m not gonna arrest you.”
Part of him really wants to take Jeff up on that offer. The rest of him isn’t ready to tell his secret, not yet. Maybe not ever. “I’ll be fine. Once I catch my breath.”
“Okay. I’ll stay here until you do.” He falls silent, but only for a moment. “If you can tell an attack is coming on, find me. If I’m not around – “ he pulls out a small scrap of paper and hands it to Miles – “this is my address. Go there. My wife can help you. I promise, you’ll be safe there.”
Miles thinks he might be crying. It’s hard to tell with the mask, even to himself.
“Thank you.”
/-----------/
The glitches keep coming, and with every glitch, the voices in Miles’ head get stronger. He starts to hear them outside of glitching, just fragments, the faint sound of a voice when the speaker is too far away to hear the words. The more he hears, the more he’s convinced. He just can’t figure out the how or the why.
He hasn’t done much crime-fighting since the glitching started. There hasn’t been much big crime for him to fight, nothing like Kingpin. He patrols the city and pins criminals to walls with his webs, then he goes and informs a cop – mostly Jefferson – about the incident.
The worst glitch is also the last.
He’s in mid-swing when he feels it coming. It’s only a few seconds warning, not enough time to get home but enough time to land (sort of – at least he wasn’t 20 stories up when he fell). The landing knocks the wind out of him, forcing him to curl up in a ball and pray no one can see him flickering in and out of reality while his body screams in agony.
Strong arms pick him up from the sidewalk, tucking him against a warm chest before placing him gently in the backseat of a car. He can faintly hear a voice speaking to someone, and he recognizes Jefferson’s deep tones.
At least he’s safe.
There’s no more time for test runs. We have to do this now!
Think the portal can take all of us, doll?
What kind of engineer do you think I am? Of course it can!
It doesn’t matter. We’re going.
Peter, Noir, Peni, Gwen.
He’s going to die. He should have told them in the collider.
Instead, he thinks it to them with all he has and hopes they hear him.
I love you guys.
/------------/
Jefferson takes Spiderman home. Rio is already there waiting for them. They’re worried – from what they’ve seen, this is the longest an episode has lasted, and it’s showing no signs of stopping. She starts swearing when she sees the boy, his head tucked in against Jefferson’s shoulder, and she opens the door and ushers them inside.
“I don’t know how to help with this, mi amor.”
Her husband just shakes his head and sets the boy on the couch. “I know. But he’s safer here than he is out there.” Rio just nods and places a blanket over Spiderman, watching despondently as the boy simply whimpers. He’s fading out beneath her hands. Tears sting her eyes.
“Jeff!”
“I know, I know.” His voice is quiet, but there’s a hint of something in his eyes, and she knows he feels just as helpless as she does right now.
Before they can figure out how to proceed, the living room begins to glow. They both snap to attention, Jefferson moving to stand between what looks like a doorway and the couch. His hand drops to his gun, but he doesn’t draw it yet.
The glow vanishes, and five people stand in his living room. They all look – wrong, somehow, and it’s not just that four of the five are wearing costumes. The youngest can’t be more than 10. The oldest still isn’t even Jefferson’s age.
And there’s a pig.
Jefferson breaks the silence.
“I was wondering how long you would take.” And he steps aside to clear the path to the couch.
The youngest one is the first one there. She lifts a device from her pocket and quickly attaches it to Spiderman’s wrist. And the glitching –
Stops. Finally.
The spiders breathe a collective sigh of relief. The one dressed in white and pink looks like she might fall over, but the one all in black keeps her steady.
The girl grins. “Well, that guess worked.”
“But why?” the oldest demands. “He belongs here. We don’t!”
Jefferson just sighs. “I’m going to put on some coffee. We’re going to need it.” He heads towards the kitchen while Rio returns with a glass of water. She sits down next to the Spiderman, who’s finally starting to come around.
“Here, drink this, mijo.” she says gently. She manages to get the boy to sit up, but he balks at taking the mask off.
“I – “
“It’s okay, Miles.” Jefferson says. He’s standing in the doorway of the kitchen, watching the scene with relief. “We know.”
There’s a very long moment of silence where everyone just stares at Jefferson. Then the pig starts laughing.
“That’s the fastest I’ve ever seen a cover blown. Good job!”
That startles a laugh out of Miles, which in turn sets off almost hysterical laughter from the rest of the group. One by one, the masks come off, and now Jefferson can see the tearstains on Miles’ face as he accepts the glass of water from Rio.
He doesn’t miss the way the oldest flinches at that.
The introductions are quick, as is the explanation. Jefferson already knows part of it. The collider brought them all together the first time. Peni brought them back this time.
“Interdimensional travel isn’t completely uncommon where I’m from.” she explains. “I just had to figure out the stabilizing effect. It’s pretty common, even when you jump intentionally.” She holds up her wrist, showing off something that looks like a watch. It’s the same thing she gave Miles. They’re all wearing one. “This keeps us from coming apart by the atoms when we leave our dimensions.”
Miles nods. He’s still sitting up, wrapped in a blanket and held securely between Rio and Gwen with Peni sitting in his lap. “So why was I doing it?” he asks, and his voice is so tired it makes everyone flinch.
“We don’t know, Kid.” Noir says. “We’re just hoping the goober keeps you as steady as it’s keeping us.”
“We’re sorry we took so long.” Gwen murmurs. “We had to make sure it worked first.” Miles just rests his head against her shoulder and nods, eyes sliding shut.
“I’m just glad you’re here.”
/----------/
The gang stays.
Miles, Gwen, Peni, and Ham somehow all fall asleep on the couch in a tangle of limbs. Noir and Peter stay awake, Noir sitting in front of the couch and Peter standing and facing the front door. They’re relaxed, but still on guard.
Something has hurt one of their own, and they don’t like it.
Do you think it has something to do with this?
Peter’s fists clench. How long did it take him to realize that he could hear his fellow spiders? Right around the time of Miles’ first glitch? He thought he was imagining things, something so damn painful couldn’t possibly be happening to the kid, it didn’t make sense. Then again, the rest of it didn’t, either.
He shouldn’t be hearing Noir’s thoughts. But he is, just as he’s picking up on bits and pieces of the others’ dreams. Miles keeps trying to have a nightmare. Peni and Gwen aren’t letting him. Ham’s dreams aren’t making a damn lick of sense, big surprise there.
Noir’s voice breaks into his thoughts again.
You should tell him.
Peter gives him a dirty look. Tell him what? He doesn’t like talking this way – talking like this makes it real, and he doesn’t even know what it is yet – but the last thing he wants to do is wake the others.
Noir is completely unimpressed with his glare. The way it affected you. Listening to him –
Shut the hell up. Peter cuts him off and looks away. They all heard him. Gathered as they were in Peni’s apartment, waiting for her to put the final touch on Miles’ goober, they heard it. The fear, the pain.
The resignation.
The kid thought he was going to die.
And Peter – Peter can’t handle that. Miles thought he was going to die, and Peter was too far away to help him.
It’s not like you took it any better. he finally says sullenly.
Noir actually has the balls to laugh at that. It’s silent, echoing inside his mind, and as weird as this whole situation is, it just feels right. Like so much else that involves the spiders.
None of us did. he admits. We’ll have to tell him that someday.
Peter snorts. The kid is not allowed to die.
Noir nods. We won’t let him.
It’s silent for the rest of the night, but Peter can’t help but watch Miles until dawn.
/---------------/
When he thinks about it, Miles can remember a moment.
When his Peter Parker died, there was something – like a twinge inside his mind, like something fragile broke before it had the chance to become strong. In the chaos of what followed, Miles had almost forgotten about it. When the guys went home through the collider, it felt like they had taken pieces of him with them – and he couldn’t forget about that.
Maybe that’s why he kept glitching. Maybe his atoms just realized that this wasn’t home home anymore. More like a vacation spot that was almost home, but not quite.
There’s never been a universe with more than one Spider. Maybe there’s a reason for that.
As Miles wakes up to the smell of breakfast, hearing his mom and dad heckle each other as they prepare the meal, with Peni still tucked up into his arms and Gwen sitting on the arm of the couch playing with his hair, feeling all of them in his mind, peaceful and safe –
Miles thinks of what those reasons could be, for only one Spider.
He thinks those reasons can screw themselves.