Miles, Nica, & Bobby, backdated to Saturday, May 14

[x-otoxic.livejournal.com]

Nica and Bobby aren't happy with Miles after their Saturday afternoon adventure, but he does what he can to make things right between them again.


Miles had been standing outside the door to the suite he shared with Bobby for a good five minutes. Not struggling with the lock or doing anything else, just standing there. He couldn't bring himself to see Bobby. He'd never seen his roommate — his friend — so hurt or betrayed before. How could Miles ever hope to apologize, especially when he wasn't sure he had really done anything wrong? He sighed and leaned his forehead against the cool door. Maybe if he just waited long enough, Bobby would forget all about it.

He likely would forget about it, given enough time, but that hadn't happened yet. Bobby hadn't been thinking directly about Miles just the same, until he opened the door to find his roommate standing outside of it and leaning his forehead against the door. He made a face that he thought resembled a "..." speech balloon in anime and just stood there, because what the eff?

Miles would have faceplanted (or more likely, toppled on top of Bobby and done nothing to help his mood) had his cursed personal alarm bells not warned him to brace himself when Bobby opened the door. So the first thing Bobby saw was Miles leaning one arm against the doorpost, like he was there to pick up someone for a date. "Bobby. Hey."

"Hey," he said reflexively, because that's what you said when someone said hey to you. Bobby wasn't really the best at the whole silent treatment thing. Still, he didn't really have anything to say at that moment that wasn't snark, and Miles hadn't given him much to work with, so he continued to say nothing. He did step aside a bit though in case he wanted to enter because he still lived there and all.

A moment of silence passed between them. A long moment. So long that "moment" wasn't even the right word anymore. Miles remained where he was, glued to the floor, his legs refusing to move just as his mouth refused to make any words beyond "Hey," which he said again. Dammit.

Who knows how long this would have gone on for, if the door to the suite hadn't opened and Nica walked in. "We need to talk," she said without preamble, before taking in the scene. "Er, unless you're, um, busy or something?"

"Not at all, quite the opposite, actually," Bobby said, waving her in with one hand. There hadn't really been any talking at all up to that point, though he wasn't sure how much she'd seen or heard. "Wait, are you talking to me or to him? Or do you mean both of us?"

"Well, mostly the Spider-Man, but I figure we both are after the same thing." Nica's eyes narrowed a little. "An explanation."

Miles ran a hand tiredly down his face and nodded. "Fine, fine." He slipped past Bobby to get into the room and waved Nica to follow him. Once inside, he discarded the jacket and shirt he wore, revealing his costume underneath as it had been earlier in the day. Though the costume's pants were on under his jeans, too, but he hardly thought a striptease would be appropriate now. "Okay, what do you want to know?"

Nica glanced at Bobby with a nod towards his desk chair, and took a seat when he assented. "Well, the obvious question for me is why the fuck you didn't tell us. Seeing how we're supposed to be a team and trust each other and all that bullshit."

"Yeah, what she said," Bobby added, plopping down on his bed. "Only, y'know, throw in an extra part that we're also roommates and all that bullshit too." While not knowing something like that about a teammate sucked, not knowing it about your own roommate was the bigger deal for Bobby here.

"They're called 'secret identities' for a reason," was Miles's petulant answer. "Mira, look. I mean, it sounds dramatic, but I've made enemies. That's why the mask. So I can't let it get out. It's the same reason we haven't told anyone at Bayville what we really are. The only people I told here are people who need to know for everyone's safety. Professor X, Scott, the Gen X mentors, and just a couple others. My parents don't know. Becky doesn't know. Which is the hardest damn thing, not telling my girlfriend."

"That's ridiculous," Nica snapped in reply. "You honestly think we'd have blabbed if we'd known? That we can't keep a secret? Our whole fucking lives are a secret!"

"And you don't need to be burdened with mine on top of yours." Miles leaned back against a window, arms folded over his chest, but more defensive than defiant, his shoulders slumped, his eyes cast down.

"Well, thanks for making that decision for us," Bobby muttered, rolling over to lay face down on the bed with and burying his head into a pillow. He was getting tired of all the BS and was pretty much in 'whatever' mode now. Which was all he could think of to add at this point in the conversation. "Whtevr," came his muffled voice.

"Bobby, come on." Miles frowned and turned his attention to the more rational Nica. "I'm sorry, okay? That I made you all think I don't trust you. I dunno what else to say."

"It's a start." Nica allowed, letting her posture relax just a little. "But I think you and Bobby have some stuff to hash out."

"Mmmmrrrph," Bobby muttered, shrugging from his prone position on the bed. He knew that she was right but he wasn't exactly in a talkative mood at the moment. There'd be lots more talking to come in the not too distant future but for now he just wanted to ignore everything.

Which was not Miles's preferred tactic. He wanted to face things head on. "'It's a start.' Ay. What else, then? Do you need to know my whole origin story? I got bit by a spider, no lie. Some experiment OsCorp was trying to do, that my uncle stole because turns out he's a super thief. Which is a whole other story. But other Spider-Man also got bit by a spider at OsCorp, so we know it's a whole thing. But I'm also a mutant, so I also have the zapping and camo."

"Yeah, it's a start. You break someone's trust, you don't just ask for forgiveness and it's all rainbows and unicorns," Nica retorted, nettled by his tone. "And it isn't as easy as telling us you won't do it again. It's gonna take time for us to trust you again like we used to." Her tone and expression softened slightly. "Which isn't to say you've fucked up for good. I count you as a friend, which means I'm not going to dump you the second you screw up." She untangled herself from the desk chair by the simple expedient of going intangible and floating upwards. "I'll leave you guys to have roomie time. You need it."

Miles watched her leave, frowning, before turning back to the still-sulking Bobby. Now with just the two of them in the room, he felt comfortable changing into something less spidery and triggering. "Can we please talk for real? Please?" he all but pleaded, tossing his costume onto his bed before rummaging through his drawers for shorts and a t-shirt.

"'Oo frrst," came Bobby's voice after a few seconds, still coming from underneath the pillow. He didn't really want to talk but clearly Miles wasn't going to just let it go. Nica was right anyway, they did need to talk, Bobby just didn't want to at the moment. He did move the pillow a little to better hear Miles though, which was progress, even if only in the slightest.

Which Miles greedily grabbed hold of. "What do I need to do to make you not hate me? I can handle it from pretty much anyone else, but not you. What do you want me to do to repent? Please tell me, Bobby."

"I don't hate you, I just..." Bobby said, finally emerging from behind the pillow. He knew he didn't hate Miles, he was just... disappointed wasn't the right word, because Miles didn't really owe him anything. He didn't know what it was, so he just sighed. "I dunno. I just want you to trust me, I guess."

"I do. I will." Miles sat on his bed, facing Bobby, pulling his knees to his chest, making his small frame even smaller. He didn't look like Spider-Man there, just a teenager distressed at the thought of losing the world he'd carefully crafted for himself. "I dunno, I kept this secret from everyone for so long that maybe it was just easier to keep it. I'm sorry I didn't think of what that'd mean to anyone else."

"I can kinda understand that, I just..." Bobby shook his head and shrugged. Why was it so hard to put into words? They were only roommates so Miles didn't have to tell him like everything, but still. It hurt, but why? Was it possible they were more than that? They were teammates, he told himself, so maybe that was it.

"I dunno. Just... let's forget about it, and here on out we're cool, yeah? I mean, I'm cooler because I'm the Iceman and all but still." He smiled just a tiny bit and flicked an itty bitty snow ball at Miles because he totally deserved that much at least, yup.

Miles the cold wetness from his check and glared at Bobby for all of a second before relief flooded through him. He could have melted into a happy puddle on his bed, he was so happy. "Yeah, man," he agreed, "the coolest."