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milimeters-morales · 4 months ago

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chapter 9 of my transfem miles fic!

Chap 1 / Chap 2 / Chap 3 / Chap 4 / Chap 5 / Chap 6 / Chap 7 / Chap 8

Wordcount: 4k+

Warnings: trans kid gets called slurs and beat up (the beating up isn't shown happening). to skip, stop reading once the whole park section ends (the linebreak), and pick it back up again at "Kenneth smiles, showing off their bloodied teeth" because I don't recc skipping the entire section tbh. but you can do that if you want, just go to the next linebreak.

“I’m just saying, I’ve been through worse--” Miles starts, shutting up at the pained look on his parents’ faces.

“No extreme Spider-Manning,” his dad tells him, crossing his arms. “And take one of my jackets. It’s getting cold out.”

It’s not, Miles thinks as he grabs his dad’s smallest coat from the rack. It was still too big, the sleeves were going past his hands, but he kind of liked that.

“And take my scarf,” his mom adds, crossing her arms too.

Dang it, they’re mirroring! Now he’s definitely not going to win any argument he makes now.

“It’s not that cold out,” he tries.

“The weather is unpredictable,” his mom replies instantly, like she had that excuse prepared.

Ughhh. You crack a few ribs, break one nose, and nearly (well, literally) pass out from exhaustion one time! Okay, maybe more than once, but that’s besides the point. He’s not made of glass-- he’s still here, isn’t he? Did he die?

No, but he probably would if he said anything other than, “Yes Mother and Father, I’ll run home as soon as the wind gets too strong for my fragile bones!”

“Fix your face,” his dad tells him as he makes his way to the door.

Miles schools his expression, not even realizing he was scowling like someone personally insulted him, and sighs.

“Don’t you sigh at us,” his mom says, “we’re just trying to make sure you’ll be alright.”

“I am, Ma. I’m just going hang with Ganke and Gwen.”

“The second, and I mean the second--“

Miles really considers interrupting her to speed this up. And that’s the difference between him and a dead Miles, because a dead Miles definitely would have already done that. Add another reason to the “Why Miles Would Have Gotten Into Visions Anyway” list, this for sure counts.

“--hurting, you come home, okay?”

“Yeah,” he nods and shrugs.

She narrows her eyes, and his dad tilts his head.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Once he’s finally out of that house, and breathing in the fresh air on the street, Miles takes off the scarf, puts it in the jacket pocket, and ties the jacket around his waist. It really isn’t that cold, his parents are just extra worried since he came home with kind of bad injuries yesterday.

When he woke up to get breakfast (after texting Ganke that yes, he was fine, and no, he wouldn’t be a “rich widow”), his mom and dad were hovering more than usual, and his dad looked anxious to even clap him on his shoulder like he usually did in the mornings.

It’s not like he’s never shown up injured before, he’s come home with worse! Sure, they don’t usually know, but it’s not like he was going to die. He was just a bit roughed up.

They must’ve seen some disturbing story on the news, or something.

_____

“How was the fudge?” Gwen asks him as he shows up to the candy store. They had all agreed to meet here, as some sort of “reward” for Miles.

“Oh, I didn’t eat it yet,” he answers, “how’s Brick? That guy you helped me with?”

Ganke snorts at the name as he grabs some sour gummies.

“Right,” Gwen nods, “he’s apparently back to normal? Spider-Doc called me in and let me see him, but he wants you to come in and double check.”

“But I didn’t see him when he was normal.”

“That’s what I said probably happened,” Gwen gestures towards him with more nodding, “but he said Brick would probably want to see a familiar Spidey anyway. So yeah, he looks normal, but he’s exhausted and not really cooperative. That bracelet can only last like, two weeks.”

Miles gums and grabs some plantain chips and a slushie cup. “Alright, why can’t we visit now? It’ll only take a few minutes, right?”

Gwen shrugs. “Wait, can we take you?” she asks Ganke, reaching up to grab a bag of chocolate pretzels for him after seeing him go to stand on his tip-toes.

“Short ass,” Miles laughs, dodging the punch to his shoulder. “But I don’t know, I’ve never seen anyone else bring civilians to what remains.”

“Oh my god, you sound so ominous when you call it that,” Ganke laughs, making his way over to the counter. “And I don’t wanna go anyway.”

Gwen reluctantly grabs her own snacks, complaining about none of them being sweet or salty enough to actually be worth it. They all pay for their candy (with Ganke’s money, he’s sure to remind Gwen and Miles) and leave, walking down the street and chowing down.

“Alright, so Margo and Doc had found the dimension Brick was from, but don't think it’s a good idea to let him go back yet because we don’t know about the other effects-- if there are any-- of the super steroid,” Gwen explains as she chews her strawberry wafers. “Not what its name by the way, don’t call it that. Doc gets annoyed and starts explaining exactly what the drug is.”

“Isn’t that a good thing to know?” Miles asks, looking down each alley they pass.

“Miles, it’s like fifteen different ingredients with names longer than the pi,” Gwen rolls her eyes, “Anyway, Doc’s waiting ‘till Brick’s coherent enough. Might take most of the day, but just wanted to let you know.”

Miles nods, eyes catching on someone. It was some kid, he thinks, just playing on a phone. Why did he focus on--

“Ohhh!” He whisper-shouts, quickly looking away and back to his friends, “that’s Kenneth!”

“Who?” Gwen and Ganke ask at the same time.

Shoot. “Nobody, just some kid I helped as the other guy,” Miles explains hurriedly. “They don’t actually know me.”

“Aw, but you two look like you’d be friends,” Ganke replies, still looking at Kenneth. “God knows you need more normal ones. No offense, Gwen.”

“I get it,” she says, also still looking at Kenneth. It’s like these two all of a sudden forgot what manners are!

“Stop staring at them! Come on,” He hisses out, feeling shame claw at his back and shoulders. He steers the two to the other side of the street, not so subtly checking if Kenneth looked up at any point.

“Jeez, that perfume lasts long,” Gwen comments, “you smell like a romance novel cover.”

“I hate that I know exactly what you mean,” he replies.

“Why are you so on edge anyway?” Ganke asks him. “Something happen? …Other than yesterday?”

“My parents… they’re just… protective,” he decides on. “C’mon, let’s just go before it gets too crowded.”

_____

Of course, because Miles can’t have anything, the cat cafe’s grand opening was too crowded and left him and Gwen overstimulated, irritated, and wanting to escape. Gwen and Ganke didn’t even get to choose ridiculous names to call the cats instead of their actual ones, which usually would’ve had Miles thanking every deity he could think of for this miracle, but it was just awful this time.

He let Gwen scurry off to Hobie’s dimension to calm down, and dropped Ganke off at home, apologizing for ruining the day. The boy told him he didn’t ruin anything, and kissed his cheek before heading inside. Miles didn’t really believe that, but it’s fine, he can act like he does.

After a few stress bites and scratches, a loose brick crumbled into dust, and some breathing exercises, Miles is ready to be Spider-Man for the rest of the day.

At some point, he ends up in the park helping a few parents set up a pretty expensive looking birthday party (which earns him a cupcake, score!) and goes to swing off again, but a little girl calling out to him seconds before zipping closer to cling to his leg stops him.

“Spidey, you smell good!” The little girl missing-- who’s missing one of her front teeth, now isn’t that cute-- smiles up at him. “You smell like my ma!”

Normally, this sentence would be extremely weird, but considering he just saved a woman wearing the strongest perfume in the world yesterday, it’s justified. It’s reached normal strength levels today, from what his parents said, so that’s a small positive.

Miles laughs, “Aw, thank you! Where is your mama?”

“Norah says she’s busy far away!”

Miles nods, “And who’s Norah? Is that your sister?”

The little girl giggles, “Nooo! That’s my other ma! She’s super tall!”

Miles nods again, “Ohhh, I see! My bad! Let’s go find her, she must be wondering where you are!” Offering his hand to the girl, whose hand is impossibly small in his own, he begins to walk where she came from.

“So what does she look like?”

“Umm,” the girl says, whipping her head around as she searches around, “she’s got red hair like Ariel. And her favorite color is green!”

Luckily, someone with red hair that vibrant is easy to spot in the park.

Norah’s eyes widen as she turns from the man she’s talking to on a bench and sees her daughter being guided to her by Spider-Man. “Hi honey, are you okay? Why are you with Spider-Man?”

“I’m fine, he smells like Ma! Smell him!” the little girl excitedly informs her mom, running and hugging her legs.

“Oh, no thank you, I believe you,” Norah laughs, brushing her hair out of her face.

And man, that kid wasn’t lying at all. The woman is tall, so tall that Miles has to actually move his head a considerable amount when he looks up at her.

“Go back to playing with Micah and his friends, honey,” Norah runs a hand through the girl’s short hair before she takes off to a sandbox, “and don’t wander off this time!”

“She probably means the perfume you’re wearing. It smells a lot like what my ex used to wear,” Norah gives him a warm smile after sighing. “I didn’t even know they still sold that scent! She always got it from like, a reseller.”

Miles smiles and shrugs, “I don’t know if they do, but a woman I saved was wearing it. Guess it’s still that strong, huh?”

“Ahh, that makes more sense,” Norah says, the man behind her humming and nodding.

…Why did that make him feel kind of weird? Put on the spot, almost?

“We won’t keep you,” Norah says, going back to sit on the bench.

“Alright! Have a nice day!”

Miles swings off, feeling strange.

Sure, he hasn’t met any guys that wear perfume, but it’s the same thing as cologne. Something to make you smell good! He knows it’s not that common, but women wear cologne all the time. Right? So, a man wearing perfume wouldn’t be that weird.

“God, why are you so defensive…” he mutters to himself.

____

Later that night, when he’s expertly convinced his parents he won’t get into any fights (but come on, be serious), he’s trying to calm down after being held at gunpoint by a would-be mugger that looked way too young to fully understand what they were doing.

It turned out fine, but still. Gunpoint. You’d think after nearly 2 years, he could take it like it was nothing.

Anyway, he’s swinging off the stress, when he hears it-- the telltale sounds of a fight.

He rockets down to a nearby rooftop and peeks over the edge, eyes widening when he sees Kenneth-- again! The kid was cornered by four much larger people. At least one of them must’ve been an adult or something! Kenneth was sneering-- that’s blood, that’s blood-- at the group, fists balled at their sides and shaking.

Darting down, Miles lands between Kenneth and the four others, spreading his arms out. “What, you got a problem?” he asks them loudly, stepping forward. Two flinch back at his sudden appearance, the other two looking surprised but not moving. “You deaf or something?” He narrows his lenses in the way he knows people don’t like and revels in those resulting furrowed brows.

“You defending him?” one of the men asks, sounding genuinely surprised. Is this man serious?

“Them,” Kenneth spits out from behind Miles.

“You beating on a kid? You ain’t got anything better to do with your lives?” Miles can feel the adrenaline pumping in his veins, teeth grinding and chest getting tight. He takes another step forward, sending one of them running off with mutters about “not getting tased”.

“Pussy!” Kenneth shouts after the runner, and Miles doesn’t feel the need to say anything about that. His focus is on the three excuses of--

Calm down. Kenneth’s safety is more important than his anger.

“Spidey, you know that’s a man, right?” the second man asks him.

“A tranny,” the third man spits out.

The word hits his ears like a pot of boiling water spills onto his feet, like he’s being hit with that truck all over again. There’s mini explosions in his chest, and it feels like his head literally empties, leaving only… scribbles. Incoherent, angry, scared scribbles.

Miles lets the electricity in his veins glow bright enough to cast shadows against the walls. “You’re being assholes. Get lost!”

The third man leaves, grumbling, and dragging the second with him despite the difficulty since the second just assumed they could all win the fight against Miles if they stuck together.

“Oh, not only are you assholes, you’re stupid too? Pick a struggle!” Miles rolls his eyes at the two retreaters. “What, you really wanna try it? You?” He looks the final man still standing in front of him up and down and tries to put as much disdain, disbelief, and annoyance in his voice until it practically drips with all three. He scoffs to make it hurt a little, in the way everyone else at school does when someone asks for a girl’s number, “Yeah, right.”

The man sneers and quickly stomps out of the alley after the others. “...kind of man wears perfume, prolly one of ‘em…” he mutters as he leaves.

A few moments pass, and once Kenneth breathes out a heavy sigh of relief, Miles finally relaxes, breathing out a sigh of his own.

“I am so sorry about that,” he apologizes, letting the electricity die down and turning to face Kenneth. Now that he’s close up, he can see blood dripping down from their nose and a bruise on their cheek. “Look, I’ll walk you home.”

“Thanks,” Kenneth smiles, showing off their bloodied teeth. Yeesh. “I don’t actually think I could’ve won that one.”

As they’re walking down the street, Miles keeps a hand on Kenneth’s shoulder, wondering if he should take them to urgent care just in case.

“I’m still real sorry you had to hear that,” he tells them, “those jerks don’t know a thing. Grown ass men… how old are you?”

“I’m fourteen! My birthday was last month,” Kenneth happily informs him. The baby fat on their cheeks makes Miles’s heart ache, and he struggles to smile. Did he used to look like that? Only fourteen, and having to deal with adults hating them to the point of beating them up for the way they dress and identify. Jesus. Maybe they’re more alike than he thought.

“I just turned sixteen,” Miles admits.

“Really? Is that why you do that deep voice thing?”

Embarrassment makes him falter in step, nearly face planting on the ground. “Uh, no, I…”

Every possible answer he could give is embarrassing! Why did he even bring up age in the first place?!

Kenneth smiles and seems to consider him. “Y’know… if… I totally get it, if you do the voice for… other reasons. I mean, I know some guys who do that, but you already sound fine.”

“Thank you,” Miles takes the compliment with only the tiniest bit of confusion. Kenneth thought… ohhhh. Ohhhh.

Should he correct them?

Yes, duh.

…

But he doesn’t really want to. Kenneth isn’t entirely sure that he’s transgender, just guessing, right? Is this bad? Is he doing something wrong right now not clearing this up?

He feels like he was just put on the spot in the middle of class or something. He shouldn’t be so anxious, this is ridiculous-- Kenneth’s the one that just got attacked!

But this is obviously also bad... but he's just so hesitant, for some reason.

“I won’t tell anybody, if you are like me,” Kenneth says softly, blood dried on their face but a sparkle in their eye, “don’t worry.”

____

Miles unlocks the door to his family’s apartment, still talking with Gwen.

“--can’t believe it’s still on me either! Anyway, how about next weekend? The cafe probably won’t calm down for a week, and there’s a new garden here, the kind that offers tours and stuff. I saw some pictures online-- Hi Dad,” Miles says, nodding to his dad as he makes his way to his room.

“Miles? What’s that smell?” his dad asks him from his spot on the couch. He swings an arm over the back of it and fixes Miles with a quizzical look. Without his glasses on, his squinting looks even more suspicious.

“Uh, still that perfume,” Miles answers, wishing he got the power of teleportation instead of his super-anxiety. “I gotta go, let me know what you think,” he rushes out into the watch, quickly taking it off and shoving it into his jacket pocket.

His dad gets up and walks over, sniffing the air. “Oh, you… found another bottle?” he asks hesitantly, crossing his arms and tilting his head, “Jesus, that is strong.”

“Everyone else says it’s not,” Miles reassures him, “apparently they don’t even make this anymore?”

“I see why,” his dad mumbles, “so how… how was it?”

“How was what?”

“Going around, smelling like perfume all day. Nobody gave you any trouble?”

Miles hears that protectiveness in his dad’s question, and thinks about Norah and that man she was talking to, the men that attacked Kenneth, and his mom saying how she could say she was the reason for it yesterday. It all made him feel weird, like he was expecting something that he wasn’t even sure of.

“Nah. I mean, some people didn’t expect it, but nothing mean.”

“Okay, that’s good,” his dad nods, “want some spaghetti? Your mom’ll be home in a few minutes, come help set everything out.”

After dinner, which was only partially ruined for him and his dad because of his mom’s ER horror stories that she’s brought home today, Miles gets ready for bed. Well, a few hours of relaxing and maybe another patrol then actual bed.

As he’s walking back to his room after his shower, legs freshly shaved and piercings cleaned, his dad stops him to ask him something, but stops mid-question with wide eyes. Miles smiles, unsure of what’s wrong, and tilts his head. Stuff about hair and a mustache are all he can make out of his dad’s incomprehensible (excited?) sputtering.

“How didn’t I see this earlier! I was right across from you!” His dad’s loud and all up in his face as he turns it every which way in search of more hairs.

“Maybe you just need new glasses,” Miles shrugs, trying to pull his face free as gently as possible.

“Rio! Get in here!”

Miles resists the urge to roll his eyes.

“What? What, is something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong--”

“Miles is growing a beard!”

“Whaaat?” His mom’s sleepy eyes widen, a tired but proud smile growing on her face as she lightly slaps his dad’s hands away to replace them with her own. “Ahh, I see them! You’re growing up too fast!” She playfully slaps at his arm, “Stop it.”

“I’ll slow down,” Miles sighs exaggeratedly, head hanging like he’s just so inconvenienced.

“How didn’t I notice this? Can’t believe you’re growing into a man,” his dad places the heels of his palms on his forehead, eyes wide. “Next thing I know he’s off to college, getting married--” he starts rambling as he paces in the living area.

“Dad, really?” Miles puts his hands on his hips. “It’s just a little hair. It’s not even on my chin.”

“--us in a nursing home-- Just a little hair?! This is--”

“You’re really calm,” his mom whispers to him as they watch his dad continue to gesture wildly and wear down the floorboards. “You’re not even a little excited?”

“I freaked out about it earlier,” he whispers back with a small smile.

“You and your father, I swear,” she huffs with a shake of her head.

____

As he’s suiting up again after he’s sure his parents are asleep, his watch buzzes. Putting his glove in his mouth to free both hands, he grabs it to see a message from Margo.

|Margo Kess 22191-B: hey Gwen invited me to your garden thing next weekend but said she forgot to check with you 2 see if it was okay?

|Miles Morales 1610-B: It’s fine! We’ll have to get there pretty early like 9am maybe

|Miles Morales 1610-B: what time would that be for you

|Margo Kess 22191-B: uhh let me check

|Margo Kess 22191-B: that’s like 1pm for me :v dw

|Miles Morales 1610-B: alright that’s good!

|Margo Kess 22191-B: : thanks! Gwen would have told you herself but she broke her phone

|Miles Morales 1610-B: fight gone wrong?

|Margo Kess 22191-B: she said everything was 2 loud and fast so she just crushed it in her hands this morning :/

|Miles Morales 1610-B: Oh it must’ve been from our trip to this cat cafe

|Miles Morales 1610-B: turned out to be a bad idea for us!

|Margo Kess 22191-B: i hope the garden doesn’t turn out 2 be like that </3

|Miles Morales 1610-B: sameee

Once he’s fully dressed, he grabs a random jacket. It was a little too big, must’ve been one of the newer ones his mom bought him after his growth spurt.

It’s a nice night , he thinks as he perches on the roof of a library.

A cloudless starry sky, a nice breeze, and-- hold on, is that his physics teacher?

Mrs. Chesterfield and some man are walking together out of the J-Mart across the road. Oh man, should he say hi? No, right? No. That would be kind of weird, and she’s been a little annoying lately anyway. He doesn’t actually have anything to say to her anyway that wouldn’t expose who he is.

The man she’s walking with spots him and gives a small wave. Mrs. Chesterfield notices and gives a small wave as well, but with a pleasant smile.

Miles waves back, watching as they leave in their car.

So weird. He knows, realistically, his teachers have lives outside of school, but to see them with other people, and doing what, going on a snack run? To see them do something so normal is just plain strange. He wonders how they clean their houses…

A quiet sound of paper ripping pulls him out of thoughts, and a faint whisper makes him look behind him. Hobie’s in the courtyard below, swiftly closing the portal behind him and jumping up to the roof to sit next to Miles.

“Relax,” Hobie tells him, “just checking on you.”

“Why?” Miles scoots over to put some comfortable space between them, “Did something happen?”

Hobie is quiet for a moment, mismatched eyes boring into Miles’s own and making him look to the side, before turning and facing ahead.

Alright, so he’s not going to get an answer?

“You can tell me, it’s fine,” he insists, but when Hobie doesn’t want to do something, he just won’t. Miles learned that the sorta-hard way when he kept expecting Hobie to continue conversations instead of letting an awkward silence take over. At first, it seemed like Hobie was just toying with him, but Gwen explained that Hobie was “just like that.”

The two sit in silence, Miles looking for a conversation starter. Something (most likely) happened, and things tend to be… pretty bad in Hobie’s dimension.

As his eyes flit about, they land on the skirt Hobie’s wearing. It’s one of the old lady skirts Miles bought for him, but it’s been torn haphazardly at the end and stained with something, probably bleach?

“I like what you did with the skirt,” he says, smiling. “Did you do the same with the other ones?”

Hobie shakes his head. “Gave ‘em away.”

“Oh, that’s nice! I was actually at a shelter a few days ago, I think I’m gonna go again to give some people my old clothes,” Miles says. Okay, so he wasn’t thinking that until now, but it still sounds like a good idea. Maybe he’ll see that manager lady again.

His mind drifts to the old man that kept arguing. Ugh.

“S’good,” Hobie mumbles. “You and the others, you know you can come to me, yeah?”

Shit, was he not visiting Hobie’s dimension enough? Yeah, he doesn’t visit that much, but he thought Hobie preferred it that way!

“Yeah, of course! I’m sure the others know that too,” he nods, “well, you might have to remind Margo. She’s never even visited me before, and she’s only coming next weekend because Gwen asked her to.”

Hobie taps on the roof, “I meant, if your parents start that bullshit. But that too, that too.”

Miles’s anxiety turns to confusion. “Why would my parents get that mad? I mean, Spider-Man was an unpleasant surprise, sure, but--”

Hobie gives him a sad(?) look, which makes him stop and think. Does he do anything that--

Oh, DUH!

“I mean, I don’t think Mom and Dad would get mad at me dating Ganke, of all things to get mad at me about,” Miles rushes out, playing with the sleeves of his jacket. The anxiety comes back, settling in his legs and shoulders.

“I don’t wanna say don’t trust them,” Hobie says slowly, as if explaining bad news to a toddler, “but I want you to have a backup. Just in case.”

“Just in case,” Miles repeats, considering the possibility. “I just… I mean, I don’t think they’re like that. They’ve never said anything about… hating gay people or anything…” But what if…

“I don’t want you to freak out,” Hobie tells him quickly, squinting. “It’s just always a possibility, and I don’t want you to be lost if worse comes to worst. It’s smart.”

Miles brings his knees to his chin. His parents are good people, they wouldn’t hate him for something like this. They love him! But… he knows a lot of people say that, and don’t know for sure, and get a nasty surprise. He’s heard stories online and on the news that turn out even worse.

“I’m not freaking out,” he says aloud, more for himself than Hobie. “I just never considered it before, y’know?”

“Yeah. I know,” Hobie sighs. “I know.”

“Shit, man…” Miles says after a few moments of silence. “So… what should I do? I can’t just run away from here and leave my dimension without a Spider-Man.”

Hobie taps again. “That’s what you have us for.”

He briefly meets Miles’s eyes, and though he doesn’t smile, the warmth is there. It’s almost too much, but thankfully Hobie looks away first. “Just wanted to make sure you knew.”

“...Thanks,” Miles smiles. “Do you want to join me tonight? Or do you wanna go give the others the same talk?”

Hobie stands up, stretching his arms high above him. “I can tell ‘em after. Lemme get changed.”

Score!

A/N: past me was again not pleased with this chapter but it literally looks fine? it's short and sweet! well not sweet 100% but i feel like it's nicely packaged with a simple bow. kenneth nation sorry for hurting our cousin

#miles morales #transfem miles #spiderman #trans miles morales #atsv fanfiction #fanfic #atsv #spiderverse #spider man #m&m posts #hobie brown #gwen stacy #jefferson morales #rio morales #kenneth kingston #my writing

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