who knows, at this point!

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i'm not proud of how i acted next.

similarly to a caged animal, i fled. though Gwen's grip was entirely innocent - concerned, even - i ran.

don't try this at home, kids. unless you're spider-man, of course.

wrenching my wrist from her fingers, i can thank my lucky stars (and myself) for never once removing my trusted satchel, and dove out the window. for a second, Gwen had attempted to follow, grabbing desperately at my fleeing hand. but out of the corner of my eye, i had watched as Hobie found her wrist, stopping her. instead, he stood and watched as i ran. in fact, i think i may have caught a small nod.

despite lightly bashing my shoulder on the stairwell, i made it out, leaping and swinging as far from the eerily familiar building as possible.

luckily, this Brooklyn isn't much different from my own, minus a few historic districts. being that it was only 2015, i figure they haven't been built yet.

regardless, i made my way atop a vaguely familiar skyscraper, perching where i now found dozens of cigarette butts and empty waterbottles. fucking litterbugs. i picked them up, i promise. perks of being spider-man!

there, i tried my best to breathe. and think. both went poorly, to be honest.

i thought about my mom. about how i now couldn't get back to her, without that stupid gadget. i thought about how she'd arrive home that day i left, finding my ever-present satchel and the child attached missing. she'd freak. i was probably already reported missing. great.

i thought about Hobie. unfortunately. why had he let me go? why had he stopped Gwen from pursuing me? i had hoped, in that moment, it was an attempt to protect me. but some tiny part of me is screaming that he's simply giving up. i had failed them. i'm not his problem anymore.

i looked down at my wrist, and i think it was around then that i remembered.

i was trapped.

with no gadget, i was as useless as the next dimensional inhabitant, doomed to be stuck in the wrong place, glitching unendingly. my mystery band, the one that glowed purple and green, felt like it had shone at me, then, mockingly.

i sat in this depressing state of hopelessness for far too long, and watched as the sun began to climb past the skyline, shooting through the skyscrapers in beams of crystalline light. Gwen's dimension was picturesque in ways i can't even begin to describe here.

it was like...watercolour.

i'd never been much of an artist myself, but i'd played around with watercolours on multiple occasions, and the light was as though it had been stroked onto the sky in one fell brush, encapsulating regal shades of yellow, orange, and red. the buildings stood against this in striking contrast, deep shadows painting them to be thin, long, sticks of black against the sunrise.

the city utterly shone at me.

as much as i wanted to panic about being sheer dimensions away from my own, i couldn't help but smile a little.

"pretty, isn't it?"

i just about jumped three feet when i heard Hobie's cockney accent erupt from behind me, letting out a stifled squeak. he chuckled,

"chill, i'm not here to have a go at you,"

this was not reassuring. then again, reassurance isn't homeboy's strong suit.

i was once again split into two opposing spider-men - one that desperately wanted to seek comfort from my friend, my best friend, and another that wanted nothing to do with him. god, i was angry. and funnily, it was like they could feel it.

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