𝙸𝙽𝚃𝙾 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚂𝙿𝙸𝙳𝙴𝚁𝚅𝙴𝚁𝚂𝙴

Chapter 8*

"Hey," he said, crouching down beside me. "Are you okay? You didn't break anything, did you?"

I shook my head. "No..."

His gaze moved from me to what was in my hand. His eyes widened a little. I looked down, mad at myself for not taking proper care of it. "It's broken... It's all my fault..."

"Hey, come on," M/n said, placing his hand on my shoulder. "It's not your fault."

"This... This was the only one..."

He didn't seem surprised by that. Rather, he seemed more worried for me than for the broken device in my hand. "Was it something important?"

"Yeah..."

He nodded. "I see... You didn't hurt yourself too badly, did you?"

"No... I'm okay," I replied, seeing him let out a sigh of relief.

He smiled at me. "That's good. I'm glad."

M/n outstretched his hand to me, pulling me up to my feet. Once I found my balance, little snowflakes began dancing their way down to the ground. We both looked up to see that it'd begun to snow.

"We should probably head back... The snow will be piling up soon..."

--

We both walked down the sidewalk in silence. Occasionally, when I wasn't absorbed in my own thoughts, I'd glance toward M/n. He had a somber expression on his face and... something like guilt and sadness.

I wondered if the news about Spider-Man were still on his mind. But it didn't quite explain the guilt I sensed from him. I slowly stopped walking until I came to a stop, and sure enough, M/n hadn't been paying attention enough to notice.

His gaze was straight ahead, not a smile or happy expression in sight. "M/n?"

Still, he kept walking, so I called out to him one more time. He stopped in his tracks and turned to the sound of my voice, eyes widened slightly. "Sorry," he said as I walked back over to him. "I was just... a little lost in my thoughts. What is it?"

"Well..." I said. "Couldn't help but notice that look on your face. You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, flashing me a half-hearted smile. "I'm okay. It's been a long day, that's all..."

It wasn't a very convincing response but I took it for now. "If you're sure..."

After a while longer of walking, it was beginning to get dark out. By then, we had stopped by the cemetery where Spider-Man had been buried. Our gazes lingered on the gifts and balloons all set out beside his grave from behind the metal fencing.

Without a word, we both slipped past the gate and walked toward his gravestone. There were many, many gifts laid out for him, multiple of which were Spider-Man-themed. M/n took a step forward, his face contorting into one of regret and misery.

His hands tightened into fists. After a while, he sighed and averted his gaze from the gravestone. "We should go... It's getting colder out..."

He then turned to walk away. But before he could get very far, I spoke up. "I, uh... think I'll stay here a little longer..."

M/n nodded in understanding. "Sure, Miles... Just, uh... call me if you need anything... I'll be around..."

"Okay..."

I watched as he trudged away in the snow, leaving behind a trail of footprints. As his figure grew smaller in the distance, I turned my head back to the gravestone. My gaze trailed from the newspaper to the engraving on the stone.