『 b e a u t i f u l b o y 』

HIS HEAD WAS HURTING AGAIN.

Starting at a screen for hours and finding no clues of what he was looking for, he already felt himself about to pass out on his desk chair. [Name] closed his eyes for a moment, bending his head under the disappointed dim light of his room.  It was his favorite part of the night, or it should have been: the moon being covered up by the dark clouds, the headache growing more serve.

He pushed himself away from his desk, chair swiveling around to another section of his room. The boy stubbornly ignoring the throbbing sensation and began typing in another computer. [Name] felt his eyes falling like malfunctioning shades, fingers slowly began to stop typing.

"[Name]. I think you should really get some rest."

He tilted his head to the side. A hologram lightly illuminating his face that showed pure exhaustion. He tried to seem as if he was wide awake. It didn't seem to work as the miniature figure gave a deep frown.

"What did I say about staying up late?"

[Name] looked away from the hologram, finding his fingers entertaining.  "[Name]?"

He sighed in defeat, slowly turning his head back to the figure.  "Sorry, Delilah. Couldn't sleep was all."  Watching her frown turn into a thin line, she softly spoke, "you worry me too much.  But I did promise to help you find him."

[Name] felt his lip twitch up upward. Delilah was a digital assistant created by his father and she always stuck around even after he passed. The teenaged boy never understood why she did so, but he was glad to have someone around.

"Thanks by the way. Surprised you still stuck around to a mentally drained teenager with trauma." Delilah rolled her eyes as a short laugh came out of her lips. "Very funny. That aside, I do have some news to tell and it's not pretty."

She put her hand out and shifted it to the left of her, a holographic screen appearing for the both of them to see. "I've detected a being roaming around Earth-616.  Since then, the dimension has been glitching in different areas of their New York.  Don't have a lot of details yet, but we should definitely check it out."

"Okay, let's go." Before [Name] could even get out of his chair he heard Delilah say, "after you get some rest." He slumped his shoulder against his chair, a small frown apparening on his tired face. "Don't give me that look. Don't worry, I'll keep in eye on it and give you any new details in the morning."

"And if it gets out of hand when I'm sleeping?"

She quickly replied, "I'll notify you right away."

"Hmm. Okay, good night. I'll see you in the morning then." [Name] got out of his chair, feet dragging against the wooden floor and slumped himself onto his blankets.

"Good night, [Name]."

Delilah switched the light off and disappeared from the room.

- - -

Nearly five hours when [Name] went to sleep on his messy bed, a sound of clicking against a keyboard had woken him in the early hours of the morning.  He mumbled through his lips in attempt to stop the noise.  It seemed to continue on.  The boy erupted a grown in his throat, turning his body to the corporate.

There stood a small yellow hologram typing away on his computer.  "Good morning.  Did you sleep fine?"  Delilah asked without batting in eye at him. 

[Name] squinted his eyes at her from across the room.  "What are you doing in my room so early in the morning?"  After a few seconds passed, he pulled on a fresh set of clothes and went straight to his swivel chair.  He rested his palm against his chin and raised a brow.  "Hello?  Delilah are you there—"

"Shh!"  She suddenly said.  "I'm in the zone right now.  Almost done with the upgrades to your gizmo."  [Name's] eyes grew wide at her statement.  "Upgrades?  Why would it need any upgrades?"  He watched her stretch her arms above her head, turning with a happy grin.  "It had a few flaws from it being used too much.  So I decided to add a few new things to make it run smoother when you're entering different dimensions."

He crossed his arms against his chest, leaning back onto his chair, frowning.  "Have I really been using it that much?"  Delilah nodded her head.  "You've been using it several days at a time with no break.  I was worried you'd be stuck in a alternate dimension with no way in contacting me."

"I see," [Name] said, "I'll be more careful then."

Delilah smiled genuinely. "I know you will."

It was quite for a moment. Then he spoke, "any updates on this being you were talking about last night?"

"Yes."

She swiped her hand to the side and a screen appeared, wide enough for [Name] to see. "The being is a radioactive spider from earth-42. Some scientists from Earth-616 were testing a machine that allows objects and living things to travel into different dimensions. It seems it worked." Delilah typed away on her keyboard, finding a video of the scientists inspecting a spider that appeared after testing the machine. "Now they're planning to make a bigger one."

He sighed, steepled his fingertips. "Any information on why it's being built?"

Delilah nodded. "A guy named Kingpin lost his family." She pulled a photo of the man out of her files on her screen. "He's trying to bring them back with said machine."  The teen furrowed his brows in thought.  Bring them back?  Impossible.  The only way of bringing them back was to pull them from another dimension. Even if the man's plan worked, it wouldn't end well.

"Where is the spider being held?"

She typed again, searched, showed him the information. "It's currently in Alchemax—"

Delilah stopped her movements, hands retreating against her chest, mouth slightly ajar.  [Name] seen her troubled expression and leaned closer to the hologram.  "What's wrong?"

She hesitated a reply.  Shaking her head no, she quickly began typing on her keyboard.  "This isn't good.  We have to get you down there fast."

The teen didn't get a chance to reply as he noticed a device floating his way.  It then latched onto his wrist, causing him to wince in discomfort from the sudden tightness.

"Delilah what's—"

"The spider escaped the facility."

"What!"

"And there's a new being in that universe and it's bigger than the spider."  Delilah began clicking multiple screens, making them larger for [Name].  "It's a person.  And it's just not any ordinary person."  She swiped away all the other holographic screens, keeping one in view.

"It's a spider person."

The teenager took a step back, hands racking his hair back. He faced towards Delilah and saw her worried eyes. "Could you get my suit ready?"

She nodded her head. "Already on it [Name]."

Her fingers typed away on her keyboard, activating [Name's] suit onto him. "Who knows how many portals are going to open up." Her blonde hair whipping in every direction her head turned to each holographic screen. "We have to stop that machine before the dimension demolishes completely."

[Name] nodded and adjusted his spider-suit. "Any information of where this spider person is?"

"Gwen Stacy.  Seems like she's heading towards a school called Brooklyn Visions Academy."

He brushed the strands of hair from his face.  He's just woken up a totals of 10 minutes, and already he couldn't keep his thoughts from spinning in circles.  But his eyes dilated slightly, his expression unreadable.  He said, "think you could put me as a new student in the school files?"

"Roger that, [Name]!"  Delilah saluted two fingers his way with a wide grin.  Again, typing into her keyboard. The teen pulled his mask on as he prepared himself. [Name] has jumped into many dimensions yet the adrenaline is something he could never get rid of. The thought of not knowing what lies ahead or if he'd ever come back, seemed to always make his heart beat faster.

And he did it alone. He thought letting people help would get them hurt. [Name] wasn't too good with big organizations either. He knew they never end up well. He's learned that in the past. It's something he'll always hate.

Of course Delilah was always there. So he was not completely alone. She's the only person he would allow to help. Even though she would tease and be the one to make (playful) arguments first, he knew she would be right there when he needed a hand. She couldn't physically tend him when he was badly injured. He knew she didn't like it when he ignored his wounds and slap a bandage on it while saying he's fine.

Even still, their bound never seemed to break.

"[Name], you ready?"

He placed his hands on his hips and smiled. "Ready as I'll ever be."

Delilah smiled in return. "Good luck out there."

[Name] brought his wrist up, pushed a few buttons on his goober, opens a portal. Before he could leave into another dimension, he turned to where his desk sat. His eyes landing to a picture frame that was decorated with stickers and glued on glow in the dark stars. In the frame was a man holding a boy that looked to be around seven years old. Both laughing and covered in different tones of paint on their clothes and faces.

The frame was a Fathers Day gift. He gave a small huff as he softly mumbled: "Te amo, papá." [Name] placed his index finger and forth finger on his masked lips, gave a peck, placed them onto his father in the frame. "I'll see you soon."

With that, he nodded towards Delilah and jumped into the vibrant of many colors, of a portal.

- - - - - - - - - -

ngl felt like this chapter was dookie 🤕

but please give me any feedback. It would be appreciating to know if it needs any editing or if I need to add anything :D ‼️

anyways. . .
steven, my beloved 🙏