Peter doesn't make it home.

~~~

Miles doesn't understand.  Peter is an idiot.  A while big ass idiot.  He shouldn't have stayed.  Why didn't he go? 

"Why did you do that?!"

Peter shrugs.  He looks exhausted and worn out.  He doesn't seem scared.  Not even after what Dock Ock had said at the Alchemax lab earlier.  Miles can only imagine what it's like to have the atoms in your body torn apart and stitched together like that.  It looks very painful and he doesn't envy the other spider-people.

"You're so stupid, y'know!"

Peter chuckles.  "Heard that before," He says as he continues walking down the street.  Miles following close behind.

"You should've just gone!  I had it under controll!"

"What's done is done, Miles.  There's no changing that!" Peter says, starting to sound slightly irritated.

Miles stops walking.  "What about MJ?" He asks, causing Peter to stop abruptly.  He visibly stiffens at the sound of MJ.  "Didn't you say wanted kids?"

Peter sighs, deflated, shoulders sagging.  "It's too late for that now."

Miles swallows the urge to cry.  "I don't want you to die," He says, voice cracking.

Peter turns around, and for the first time since they left the collider, he looks at Miles.  He looks at him with sad eyes and a frown.  "I'm sorry, kid," He says as Miles wraps his arms around the older man.  He hasn't known Peter for long, but he's grown quite attatched to him.

Peter pats his back as the teen sobs, soaking his suit in wet, salty tears. 

"It's okay."

Miles embrace tightens.

Luckily there aren't many people around right now.  It is in the middle if the night, after all.  He imagines this is quite a scene to witness.

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know.  Find somewhere quiet and out of the way and just wait, I guess."

There's a moment of silence as Miles thinks before he lets go of Peter and looks up at him.  Bruised and beaten, but at the moment, very much alive. "We could go home to my place?" He suggests.

Peter grimaces.  "What?"

"My mom probably won't mind," Miles says.  "My dad might, but we can probably convince him--"

Peter sighs.  "I can't do that, Miles."

"--and I don't want you to be alone."

Peter looks at him for a moment, dumbfounded.  Miles sniffs quietly. 

"Oh..."

Miles' phone rings.  He takes it out of the pocket in his suit.  "Sorry, I have to pick this up.  It's my dad."

---

"Mom?"

"Miles?  Miles, how are you?"

Miles waves awkwatdly at his mother, stil clad in his Spider-man suit.  "Hi," He says, smiling innocently.  "Has dad come home yet?" He asks.

Rio shakes her head.  "No.  Not yet.  Why?"

"Do you think, uh, that my friend Peter can come in?" He asks, taking a step aside to let Peter into her field of vision.  He's also still wearing his suit.

Rio's eyebrows furrow as Peter does a small wave at her.  "Hello."

She squints at him, studying his face until his body distorts into weird shapes and colors in front of her.  Her eyes widen in shock, Peter's moans of displeasure barely audible over the sound of the glitching.  When it stops, Peter grips the railing as if he's going to fall over, breathing shallowly.

Rio gapes for a second.  "Of course, come in!" She says, carefully guiding the strange man into her home. 

"That was unpleasant..." Peter mumbles as Rio closes the door.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" She asks.

"He's not from around here," Miles says.

"What?"

"An alternate dimension," Miles explains to her.  "And he missed his ticket home so can he please just stay here for a while?"

Rio looks down at her son.  At his smile, that she now sees is a sad, forced one.

"It's okay, I can just go--"

"What is going on?" She asks, looking between the two of them.

"Peter--" Miles looks down at his feet before looking up at her again.  "Peter is gonna die.  And he's going to be in a lot of pain, and I don't want him to be alone.  I promise I'll explain everything and you can ground me until college, just please let him stay."

Rio sighs, running a hand down her face.  What a fucking shitshow these last few days have been.

"Peter," She says.  He perks up at the sound of his name being spoken.  "Would you care for some tea?  A cup coffee?"

"Coffee would be great," He responds.

"Great.  Follow me," She says, leading them into the house.  "I just have to call my husband."

---

Miles' mom, Peter thinks, is really nice.  She reminds him of aunt May and her endless hospitality.  God, he misses her.

"Oh mi," She says, sighing.  "I'm sorry."

She looks at Miles understandingly.  Peter feels bad for the kid.  Just lost his uncle and has to deal with this shit.

"Unbelievable."

Miles' dad on the other hand, slightly, just slightly, terrifys him.  He understandingly wasn't very happy about finding Spider-Man, who's supposed to be dead, in his home.  He had however been kind kind after they had managed to explain the situation.

"Yeah," Miles, who bad changed into a set of normal clothes, suit hung over the back of a chair, says, staring into his cup of tea.  "It's been a rough couple of days to say the least."

Peter still wore his.  He doesn't have any change.  Not that it really matters anyway.  He's not going to need it soon.

Peter chuckles, dryly, a ghost of a smile on his lips.  "You could say that."

Jefferson chuckles too, but there isn't really anything funny about it.  They all know that.  He supposes that's what they have in common.

"How," Jefferson hesitate for a moment.  Unsure of how to ask.  "How long do you have left?"

Peter shrugs.  "I don't know.  Can't be too long now."

Suddenly, Peter gasps as sharp pain takes over his whole body.  The others can only watch in horror.  He manages to knock over his cup in the process, lukewarm coffee spilling onto the table.  Miraculously nothing gets on his suit.  He grips the table and the back of his chair as he blinks.  He swears it gets worse every time. 

Miles' hands hower over him, unsure of what he can do for him.  "Are you okay?"

He takes a couple of steadying breaths, willing his heart to slow its rapid beating.  Rio rushes to get something to clean up the mess with.

"I'm...  I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it, Peter.  It's not your fault."

Rio finishes whiping the table and throws the coffee stained paper towels in the trash.

"Would you maybe like to lay down, Peter?" She asks, sounding concerned.

Peter nods.  Normally he wouldn't just accept an offer like that.  Escpecially not from people he didn't know, but he really feels like shit right now and there's nothing more he'd like. 

"Yeah, sounds good."

He gets up on shaky legs and slowly makes his way into the livingroom, towards the couch, Miles holding a comforting hand on his back.

Peter doesn't deserve this.  He really doesn't.  Miles' family have been way too kind to him and they don't even know him.  Miles will become a great Spider-Man, he's sure. 

If that's the one good thing he leaves behind he's happy with it.  Miles will be in good hands with May, his parents and the other spider-people if they ever figure out how to travel between the dimensions.  He just wishes he could be around to witness it.  Even if he hasn't been the best teacher.

"You've all been too kind to be,"Peter says.  "Really--"

"Nonsense, you saved our lives.  This is the least we could do for you."

"I apreciate the gesture.  I--"

Miles yelps as Peter crumbles to the ground, wondering if it really can get worse than this.  Can't it just kill him now instead of prolonging his suffering like this.  Better to just get it done with, right?

"Peter!"

"I think--"  Peter lays there for a while, wheezing.  "I think I'm just gonna lay here for a while if you don't mind."

And Peter does stay on the floor for the rest of the night.  They stay up with him.  Keeping him company as the glitching gets progressivly worse, catching him off guard each time and reducing him to a near whimpering mess.

What's dignity when you're literally dying anyway?

He's learned quite a bit about the family.  Rio works at a hospital.  Where, he can't remember, but it's somewhere in Brooklyn.  Jefferson works in the NYPD.  Or PDNY as it's called in this dimension.  And Miles likes doing street-art, but he's not really allowed.

In turn, Peter has told them his entire life story.  From his parents, Ben, getting his powers, MJ, villains he's fought and he might've even mentioned Flash at some point.

Might as well, right?

It's not until the wee hours of the morning that it finally happens.  Peter's not sure what the time is, but he's pretty sure the sun is about to come up.  He feels bad for keeping them up like this.

It starts small, lile a small zap, and he thinks that's it, but then it comes back, stronger and longer until it's going full force.  All he sees and feels is white hot pain.  It's worse than anything he's ever experienced, and he broke his back once.  He's vaugely aware of his high pitched screaming. 

He hopes MJ is doing okay at least.  She deserves nothing but the best.  Hopefully she won't miss him.

Miles turns away, face hidden in the fabric of his mother's clothes, squeezing his eyes shut.  She holds him tight.

And then it stops.  But Peter isn't there anymore.  Like he was never there.  Leaving the family to mourn a hero that this dimension never knew they had and a hero who's dimension will never see him again.

"I love you! I'm so proud of you!"

It gets eerily quiet then.  Miles clutches the fabric of Rio's shirt, sobbing loudly.

"Wait, do I want kids?"

It just wasn't fair.  Peter didn't deserve that.  He was supposed to go home to his dimension and finally start taking care of himself.  Then he'd talk to MJ and they'd get back together and have kids.  Or something like that.  Miles liked to imagine so at least.

What was he going to say to the others if he ever got to meet them again?  Surely that would happen.  Peni is from the future and she's like crazy smart.  If none of the others did she definitley would.

Miles doesn't to to school that day.  His parents also stay home and they spend the entire day mostly just sleeping.  He doesn't feel like doing anything else.

10/06/2019, 1813 words

This physically hurt to write.  I just heard the word "painful" and was immediatley inspired.  Oops.

Feel free to come with suggestions!  God knows I'll need it sometimes.

Cover at the time og this chapter being published:

If you've never read anything by me before; Hi, I'm Maren.  I'm currently 16 years old and I love in Norway.

I have a couple other books I'm working om that you might find enjoyable

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