Chapter Text
“C’mon, Miggy!” Peter teased, elbowing the taller with a snicker, accompanied by the cute giggle of Maydays. Miguel stared at the object of their conversation, shaking his head and pinching his eyebrows.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Stop being such a party pooper–”
“¡Cállate!” Miguel snapped, glaring at Peter. As the two continued to argue, they failed to notice the little girl climbing up Miguel’s leg. They didn’t notice until she was on his shoulder, waving at Mayday. Miguel froze, slowly looking over.
“See? She likes you,” Peter laughed, poking the girl’s face. She giggled, holding Miguel’s hair to hold herself up, “She’s got no parents around, Miguel, c’mon– We can’t just leave her here.”
“We can. We will. Peter, taking a random child from a random universe that we know nothing about could be catastrophic.”
“You’re telling me that little thing is gonna be the next Spiderman, so we definitely can’t take her to the Spider Society, where Spidermen go?” He raised an eyebrow as if Miguel was saying the stupidest thing he’s ever heard. “Your logic isn’t logic-ing, Miggy.”
“I told you not to call me that.”
“You’re avoiding my question.”
“What question? It sounded more like an argument- or some sort of statement,” Miguel glared. The little girl fell off his shoulder, and Miguel caught her, holding her afterward. “We’re not taking the kid home.”
“You can name her!” Peter offered.
“No, we aren’t doing that,” The taller one shook his head. “We aren’t taking her home, we aren’t naming her, she’s not a pet , she’s just a random child that we are not taking.”
“Loser…”
“What was that?” Miguel snapped.
“Nothing,” The older smiled, putting his hands behind his back. “You got a little something on your head, by the way.”
Miguel reached up to get the “little something” off. It was not a “little something”- It was the damn kid. Miguel groaned in annoyance, taking her off his head and holding her in front of him. “I’m not taking you home.” The girl giggled at that, grabbing Miguel’s face and squishing his cheeks together. “That’s not a convincing argument.” The girl blew a raspberry in his face. “... That’s… also not a convincing argument.” She just huffed, squishing his cheeks together again.
Miguel glared over at Peter, who was grinning. The brunette finally spoke, “See, I told you. She likes you.” Miguel couldn’t deny that. The girl adored him. Miguel didn’t feel the same at all. The girl was just going to be a bother. She was going to be a problem . She could cause a universal collapse– He just couldn’t take her. He wouldn’t take her.
The girl leaned in, hugging Miguel. Miguel huffed, letting her hug him, staying tense the entire time. He didn’t hug her in return. He just stood there. She pulled back with a big smile on her face.
Miguel rolled his eyes. The girl wasn’t even that cute of a kid. She looked about three or four. She couldn’t speak, just babbled at him (shouldn’t she be able to speak by now?). She had shorter brown hair with a tinge of red when the light hit it. She had deep brown eyes. Her outfit was shades of pink with no design– A onesie. She had no shoes on either. Her skin color was about the same as Miguel’s, maybe a bit lighter. She was probably Mexican.
She giggled again, squishing Miguel’s cheeks together again. He stared at her, shaking his head. “I’m not taking you home. You’re staying here.” The girl didn’t seem to understand that, smiling and pulling at Miguel’s hair. He glared. “Stop that.” She didn’t understand that either, opting instead to start climbing on him as she had once more. He just sighed in defeat, letting her do as she pleased.
He looked over at Peter, who was covering his smiling mouth. Mayday was dozing in her baby carrier, blinking awake anytime her father moved. Peter finally spoke, “You’re sure we can’t take her?”
“Yes,” Miguel stated firmly, “We’re not taking anything home, Peter!” His eye twitched before he turned around with a sigh. He set the girl down, staring at her. She tilted her head. He tilted his in return. The two stared at each other a little longer before Miguel knelt at her level. He poked his finger at the girl, who took it and held it tightly with a giggle. He stared more. They didn’t speak once, save for the girl’s incoherent babbles.
He wondered if the girl had a name. He wondered where her parents were. He wondered why she was alone. He wondered lots of things that he chose to ignore. She held his finger, unaware of his thoughts. Miguel noted that her small hand barely fit around his one finger. It reminded him of Gabri–
He moved his hand away immediately, standing up just as fast. He glared at Peter, “We’re leaving.”
Peter flinched. “What?”
“I said we’re leaving.”
“Why?”
“Because I said so.” Miguel glared as he spoke, walking towards the end of the alley and opening a portal.
“Miguel–” Peter started but cut himself off at Miguel’s harsh glare. “Right. Sorry.” He mumbled, going through the portal without another word.
Miguel was about to go through the portal when he heard scared babbles. He turned around and made eye contact with the girl. She had some tears running down her face, reaching out for him. He paused before shaking his head. No. He turned towards the portal and the crying got louder.
No.
He’s not taking the damn kid home.
He’s not.
It would cause an anomaly, and he’s not about to risk that. No matter how much she cried, no matter how much she shook, and no matter how much she babbled at him, he wasn’t taking her back to the Spider HQ.
He felt something grab his ankle. He looked down, glaring. It was the little girl, crying still. He glared even more. “No.” She crawled up his leg. “I’m not taking you.” He picked her up and sat her back down further away.
Absolutely not. He’s not taking the kid home, he’s not letting another possible anomaly happen because of him. He’s not doing it.