Be Mine

"no, not so typical love song"

Happy Sunday! Picking off in ch2 where ch1 left off :)

This chapter's lyric is from "Alfie's Song" by Bleachers.

Enjoy!

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BRAM POV

What else was I to do?

I dialed 9-1-1.

Nine-one-one, what's your emergency...

"A teenager has collapsed in the street," I said, tucking my phone between my cheek and shoulder as I picked the stranger up off the ground.

"They look really unwell. They're not responding to me. We're by the Oscorp building."

Whoever was on the end of the line assured me help was on the way and ended the call.

Ridiculous as I felt, I took the unconscious kid's pulse, and then murmured, "Hey, you don't know me... But please don't die..."

There was a lanyard around their neck, and I peeked at it. Peter B. Parker , it said in bold, above a student passcode and a set of pronouns ( he/him/they/them ) assumingly scrawled there by Peter himself. To the left of the card was a picture of what he most likely looked like when not grey-faced and ill on the side of the road.

An ambulance pulled up for the kid- who was now pale enough to match a white crayon with a sweatshirt and jeans- so I rented a bike and pedaled down to the hospital.

As ridiculous as that felt, too.

Google Maps took me off the main road and into an ER parking lot. I texted my dad with a curt update of where I was, but I knew who I really needed to call and talk to.

"Hey, Bram!"

"Simon?"

"The one and only."

"You'll never believe what just happened to me."

"Okaaaaay..."

"I'm going down to the bookstore, right? This sick-looking teenager is huddled in an alley, and when I ask them if they're okay, they say they need their boyfriend and then drops at my feet. I call nine-one-one, and now I'm about to walk into an ER and look for this random stranger again and see what's up. But I've never even met them before, I don't know if they even go to our school, and they looked super sick, too."

I could hear Simon breathe in like he was about to go on a rant reaction to match my own, but after a beat, the phone crackled and he only said, "What hospital?"

"I'll send you the address. Can you come over?"

"See you in ten." Beep.

Simon was the best.

With a deep breath, I pulled open the door to the hospital and walked in.

It was a clean enough place, chilly though. I was far too self-conscious to ask the receptionist for help, so I wandered around the next floor. I looked for the kid, peeking through windows. Finally, I saw him in room 412.

It was empty save for him, so I walked in and sat in the corner chair, feeling totally awkward. So much time had already passed by now in complete silence, so I logged onto my phone and checked my email. I even felt strained enough to click into one of Simon and I's stupid email threads from back in May, when classes were pretty uneventful. We'd just spam each other messages on the thread, which each of us still always kept saved in Inbox for comfort or a laugh. (Simon didn't know I figured that out, though.)