skulls

006, SPIDERDUDE AND SKULLDUDE!

SKULLS / CHAPTER SIX
SPIDERDUDE AND SKULLDUDE!

———

"MR. STARK, YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO COME HERE."

Silas can tell he's approaching the final destination of Spiderdude (he's campaigning for him to change his name) when he hears some over-the-top apology.

"Oh, I'm not here, kid. Thank God this place has Wi-Fi." The voice is strangely good-quality to say it's being piped through a glorified speaker trapped inside a metal suit.

As he makes his way over the hill and catches sight of him apologising even more to Iron Man (apparently, Spiderdude knows the Avengers - maybe Silas can become friends with Thor, like he always wanted to), he realises something the second he sees him: he isn't wearing his mask. Silas might finally be able to figure out who this awful job-stealer is!

Unfortunately, Spiderdude meets Silas' gaze before remembering that his superhero identity is under threat, and scrabbles to stretch the Lycra back over his face.

"You OK?" He asks breathlessly as Silas moves slightly closer, and the dark-haired boy nods as he sits down next to the red-and-blue Lycra-clad boy.

"Yeah-- Oh my god, are you alright?" Spiderdude's suit is torn in places and bright red blood is bubbling through a cut on his arm. Silas instantly feels terrible for (mostly) leaving him to fight alone, and allowing him to get dragged away by the very people he should be protecting him from.

The more he thinks about it, the worse he feels. The whole point of heroes is that they should save each other from the people who want to hurt them, and Silas couldn't do that because he was so disgustingly self-absorbed in what he wanted and not what the world - or, at least, the city - needed.

"Hello? Earth calling Skulldude? You made this really weird noise like you were choking or something." Spiderdude waves a hand in front of Silas' face, snapping him out of his (again, really self-absorbed) thought spiral.

"I'm-I'm fine." He stutters, nodding a lot as if that'll cement the statement and make it come true all of a sudden.

"Look, forget the flying vulture guy, please." The voice instructs, and Silas directs his gaze up from the floor and to Iron Man, who's still idly floating in the air.

"Why?" Spiderdude questions, half-shrugging as he continues to stare. Silas is hyper-aware of how his leg is touching the leg of the other hero: despite how, according to all known laws of the universe, anyone who replaces you should become your arch-enemy, he can't help but find himself falling slowly for him, like how Spiderdude slowly fell from the grip of that bad guy.

"Because I said so!" shouts Iron Man, and then again, a little more distant. "Sorry, I'm talking to a teenager."

Silas knows he shouldn't really laugh, since Iron Man could probably pulverise him in a second, but something about Tony Stark being anywhere except here and still finding the opportunity to shout at his apprentice.

"Can't you just be a friendly--"

"Neighbourhood Spider-Man?" Silas interjects, causing the aforementioned Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man to crack a smile and the empty Iron Man suit to roll its eyes.

"End call." Stark deadpans, and they both continue to find the situation a lot funnier than it warrants as the suit disappears back to Stark Tower.

It's quiet for a while: they stare up at the stars, and don't really talk to each other. Moments like these, when they can do whatever they want without having to worry about being needed for anything, are the ones Silas revels in the most, especially when they're with the best goddamn people.

"You know earlier, when you called me Skulldude?" Silas starts, tracing his finger along the edge of a shooting star. Make a wish, one that isn't for a boyfriend.

"Yeah?" He turns to look at the other boy, and even through the Lycra, he looks adorable (or so Silas assumes - to be fair, all boys are adorable, and everyone else, since being a walking bisexual crisis is his secondary job).

"I just thought that was odd, because I call you Spiderdude in my head. Have I said that out loud before?"

Spiderdude giggles softly, before lying back and staring upwards. "Skulldude and Spiderdude. We're like a team."

word count: 755!
this chapter was so cute
to write oml (also this is
the shortest interval
between chapters you're
going to get, enjoy it)
thanks for reading!