Work Text:
“Are you ever gonna stop working?”
Miguel didn’t immediately grace Miles with a response, far too focused on the mess of circuits and wires in front of him.
Miles’ gizmo had all but broken during the job he was on earlier this afternoon (it was supposed to be an easy one, just a quick triest to Earth-616 to help with the clean up from the latest anomaly–Peter had a sick daughter and wife to attend to, so once the renegade Hobgoblin was rounded up he swung off with hardly a goodbye–but it grew very complicated very quickly because it was Miles’ life mission to give Miguel a daily heart attack, apparently) and the only function that even half worked was the genetic stabilizer.
Miguel had been hunched over his work desk all day, painstakingly putting the gizmo back together again while anxiously waiting for Miles to get cleared from medical.
Four broken ribs, a fractured ankle, a cracked sternum, and a smattering of bruises and cuts.
Fairly minor injuries, considering an entire shocking building fell on top of him.
“Did you get cleared?” Miguel asked.
There wasn’t any point in Miguel asking outside of his own piece of mind. Spider-Ma’am was ruthless about keeping people in the med bay until she was satisfied that they were healed enough to not immediately injure themselves again. Miguel couldn’t even begin to count how many times he had been frog marched back to a cot by the older woman.
“ Yes , I got cleared.” Miles answered anyway.
Miguel finally looked up from the gizmo.
Miles was hanging upside down from the rafters by a web, close enough to Miguel that he could feel the warmth of Miles’ carefully taken breaths against his own.
Miguel felt that tight ball of worry settle and loosen at the sight of Miles.
The younger man wasn’t breathing as delicately as he had been when Jess first dragged him back through a portal, but it was still shallow enough that Miguel knew Miles must still be hurting. If it had been an external injury Miguel could smear some of his venom across it to numb it, but nothing short of a lethal dose of morphine would kick back the pain for broken bones.
There wasn’t anything for Miles to do except soldier through it.
“Just checking,” Miguel looked back down at the gizmo. He had half of it put together and the other half strewn across the desk. “I know what your stubborn ass is like.”
“Man, I can’t even sneak past Spider-Ma’am while I'm invisible ,” Miles said. “Her spidey sense is some next level shit.”
Miguel hummed in vague agreement.
“Seriously though–” Miles continued. “--when are you gonna stop working on that thing?”
“When it’s fixed.”
Miles didn’t look the least little bit amused when Miguel looked back up at him.
“I need to at least get the dimensional jump mechanism working, Miles.” Miguel explained. He braced one palm on the table, dropping his other to his hip. It was only now that he noticed that Miles had traded out his tattered suit for something a little more comfortable–Miguel was pretty sure that was a pair of Gwen’s leggings, but the sweatshirt Miles was wearing was one he copped from Miguel a few weeks ago. The gray jersey fabric was riding up Miles’ leith figure, pooling around his chest and showing off the toned lines of his stomach and a rather impressively deep set bruise on his hip. It took a moment too long for Miguel to tear his eyes away from the dip of Miles’ pelvis and meet his honey glazed eyes. “You can’t stay here for too much longer.”
“Why?” Miles looked genuinely confused. “I have overnight stuff at your apartment.”
“You also have class tomorrow morning.” Miguel said.
“I can skip.”
Miguel frowned.
“Comeon—it’s just my physics 101. I know all that stuff already,” Miles countered. “And there are much better things I could be doing than sitting through a boring lecture.”
“Yeah?” Miguel tilted his head. “Like what?”
“Getting fucked by my hot ass boyfriend, for one.”
Even though Miguel had been expecting it, he still felt his cheeks warm. “You need a better reason than that, arañito.”
Miles frowned. His cheeks were starting to flush from how long he had been upside down, but if Miles was bothered by it he didn’t show it. “Are you telling me you don’t want me to lay naked in your bed all day so you can have your wicked way with me whenever you want?”
“You broke four ribs.”
“That’s not a no.”
“ Miles .”
Miles smiled, as pleased as the cat that got the canary.
“Stop.”
“Stop what?” Miles asked innocently.
“Whatever you’re thinking, déjalo.” Miguel pointed a vaguely threatening finger at Miles’ nose. “I need to get this done—even if I let you stay the night, that day pass isn’t going to keep you stable for much longer.”
That was, perhaps, one of the biggest annoyances of Miles’ intermingled DNA. It was such an infuriatingly specific signature that the generic genetic stabilizers didn’t work all that well for him. There was a time limit to it. An expiration date. It would only work so long before the natural laws of the multiverse kicked back in and Miles was left a sporadically glitching mess.
“You have time for a break, don’t you?” Miles asked. “I want my daily dose of boyfriend cuddles.”
Miguel couldn’t quite stop the fond smile that tugged at his lips. “ ‘fraid not.”
Miles heaved out a dramatic sigh.
“Ay, mi pobre niño,” Miguel gently cupped Miles’ cheeks in his palms, tracing over his jawline with the pad of his thumb. “Life is just so hard for you, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Miles agreed. He leaned into Miguel’s touch, nosing along his wrist. “Papi, it’s so hard.”
Miguel hummed, following the long elegant lines of Miles’ throat with his fingertips. He was incredibly tempted to just say shock it and put Miles’ gizmo aside so he could give the younger spider what he wanted. It was always a challenge to say no to Miles, especially when he was like this–nothing more than putty in Miguel’s hands–but he really did need to get the gizmo fixed. It wouldn’t be long before Miles started glitching, wrist band or not, and Miguel didn’t want him to deal with that on top of the lingering pain of broken bones.
“It’s gonna be a lot harder if you don’t let me fix your watch,” Miguel said sweetly.
“Ugh– fine ,” Miles pulled back just enough for Miguel to see the scowl on his lips. It didn’t quite have its intended effect with Miles still hanging upside down. It was adorable, actually. “But I want a kiss as compensation.”
“You do, do you?”
“Yes, I do.”
Miguel hummed, sliding his fingers back down the line of Miles’ neck. He traced along the line of Miles’ artery, the dip in his throat, the gentle curve of his jaw. It was moments like this where he wished he shared Miles’ artistic talents, so he could put this memory down on paper with permanent ink and paint. “You’re being awfully needy right now.”
“I just had a six story apartment building fall on top of me,” Miles countered. “I’m allowed to be.”
“Of course,” Miguel agreed.
He cradled Miles’ cheeks between his palms, then pulled him into a kiss.
It was awkward.
The angle wasn’t quite right, the space between them just off enough to really make them work for it. Miguel’s nose bumped into Miles’ chin, and Miles wasn’t staying entirely still even with Miguel holding him, his body swaying with his webs movements. But it was…it was nice. It was really, really nice, something chaste and innocent. Miles and Miguel had kissed many times before this, but this felt like the first one all over again. It was what Miguel imagined a first kiss ought to be like, fumbling and unsure and as sticky sweet as wildflower honey.
It was really damn nice.
At least until Miles’ lips parted and his tongue darted out, trying to coax Miguel into doing the same.
Miguel pulled back with a huffed out laugh. “You are an unsustainable little brat .”
Miles grinned. “You love it.”
“You’ll see just how much I love it if you don’t let me finish fixing your gizmo,” Miguel said.
Miles’ eyes lit up. “Promise?”
“ Vete .” Miguel shooed him away, swallowing back another soft laugh. Miles was always such a bright bundle of energy, even after breaking four ribs and cracking a sternum and fracturing an ankle. Miguel loved it. He loved him . “Let me work.”
“Okay, okay, alright–” Miles shot off another web, using this one to right himself back to an upright position. “See you back at the apartment, papi!”
Miles swung off before Miguel could protest.
He stared after the path Miles took, then shook his head in an achinging, gentle fondness.
Oh well.
What was one missed physics 101 class anyway?
Miguel glanced up at the monitor screens as an alert chirped, a gentle sound that wasn’t meant to alarm more so than it was to quietly draw his attention, then did a double take in surprise.
EARTH-1610: MILES MORALES
CANON EVENT SM-2002 COMPLETE
EARTH-928: MIGUEL O’HARA
CANON EVENT SM-2002 COMPLETE