An Old Aching Heart (Father!Miguel and Reader)

Chapter 18 - Borrowing grief

"Hey, guys"

Hobie's head whips round to the source of my voice. Miles does the same.

Their dark eyes widen and gleam with gladness at my arrival. "Y/n! Welcome to the pity party!" Hobie says. Miles sniffs and nods.

I sigh and sit next to them on the ledge, looking down at the traffic below. "I like your universe, Miles." I smile, giving a thumbs up. "I like it too, I guess" he awkwardly responded. "That's why it's so hard." He sighs, putting his hands on his face.

"Talk to me, boy." I say. Miles was in between me and Hobie. Hopefully it made him feel more secure.

"If I don't save my dad, my universe will be safe. But my mom... I..." He begins to say, before sucking in a large breath and tried putting on a stony face, despite the cracks. "If I do save him, what then? What, every human, animal and plant dies because Spiderman was too selfish to prevent the crumble? I can't have that, no way! But I also can't have my dad dying... It's..."

"A paradox" Hobie says, putting his arm around Miles' shoulder. "It's hard." I breathe, also putting my arm around his shoulder.

Miles sniffs.

"You can cry. You're young, you deserve it." I say in a sympathetic tone, rubbing his back. "But if I was to give any advice, it'd be not to borrow grief from the future. It'll only bring pain, anguish. Trust me, I know." I look directly at him, just at Miles.

"I lost my dad." I shrug. "It doesn't stop hurting, being Spiderman. It never will, but it gets manageable."
"You sound like you've given up, Y/n" Hobie says, nudging me slightly.

"Sometimes I think there's a difference between giving up, as you say, or discovering what's really important and protecting it with everything you have. And I think your dad, whoever he may be, is really important."

Miles turns his head and looks straight at me. "I will help your protect what's important." I nod, giving a crooked smile. He lets out a breath and little taps my shoulder with his head, resting it.

"Hobie told me about you going off with Miguel. What happened?" He asks, looking off into the starry night.

"We decided we have similar goals." I reveal. "However, I think this whole situation is not as straightforward and concrete as we believe. You do physics, yeah?" I ask.

"In school, yeah"

"Then you must've learnt that time is not a straight, rigid line. It's malleable, bendy and fluid all at once. There must be a loophole, y'know? Like how if you were bitten by a spider from another universe, how come the spiders universe didn't collapse if that universe's Spiderman's first canon event didn't happen?" I ask, not really speaking to anyone, going off on a tangent.

"Wait a damn minute."

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A/N: Short chapter for all of you. Sorry for all the delay, I was at my Nan's 🕺