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xp_logsMiles considers finally telling his parents the truth about Spider-Man after an accidental public powers display, but reveals another secret instead.
If asked how he thought we would have spent his 19th birthday, Miles would not have responded: "Saving a man's life from a falling stack of girders and only surviving because of superhuman reflexes and strength, and then spending the rest of the day between filling out insurance paperwork and being interviewed by local news for accomplishing the miracle." Not that such heroics were atypical to him, they were just usually done behind a mask. And though the news and even insurance seemed placated with Miles's story, that he was in the right place at the right time, and the adrenaline rush galvanized him to save the other worker, his father was less impressed. He had been there, too, just a couple feet away from Miles. He had actually been facing the scene of the accident, while Miles's back was turned. The only reason Miles even knew what was going on was because of the abrupt alarm of his spider-sense. Jefferson's suspicions of his son threatened to unravel all the lies Miles had carefully assembled.
So Miles had come to a decision on the train ride back home. "I'm gonna tell 'em everything," he explained to Bobby, who was lying on his bed with him, and Ganke, who was busy pulling up every news article he could find about the day's incident, presumably to add to his My BFF is a superhero! collection. "No more secrets. Just the truth."
Ganke looked up from his phone and shared a Look with Bobby. "You're fucking crazy, dude."
Bobby blinked and then looked back over at Miles. "Seriously? Like, everything everything? The whole, thwip thwip?" He made little gestures to accompany his sound effects, just in case there was any mistaking them for something else.
"It's time, right? Like, it's been five years. And more than three years at Xavier's." Miles smoothed the wrinkles on his bedsheets to give his trembling hands something to do. "I can't keep lying. I hate it. It makes me break out and I want clear skin, good grades, and flourishing crops." Ganke chuckled at the quoted meme, which made Miles smile a little. "I mean, how bad can it go, anyway? They're the best parents."
"Boys!" Jefferson bellowed from the kitchen. "Dinner time!"
"I guess we'll find out," Ganke said with a shrug, and followed the other two out the room.
It always made Rio happy to have a houseful of kids. Men, really, she corrected herself. College students, no longer small children to look after. She watched the three come into the dining room, and had to smile. Yup, they were growing up.
"Did you all wash your hands?" She motioned to the table. "Mijo, set the table please. Ganke, help me bring the food out. Bobby, sit."
They did as they were told, eyeing one another the whole time, as if communicating telepathically about what Miles was about to unleash. After he set the last plate, Miles sat next to Bobby, across from Ganke, and reached for his boyfriend's hand, yearning for some reassurance that he was doing the right thing.
Bobby sat as he was told, reaching out to take Miles' hand once it was sought out. He even consciously cooled his palm just a little, enough to counteract any sweating or nervousness, or so he hoped. It was about all he could think to do in the moment at least.
He eyed Mrs. Morales and Ganke as they brought the food out, inhaling the fantastic aroma of it all, and tried to think about that instead. "Oh Em Gee, Mrs. M, that shiiii- sure does smell delicious." Whoops.
Miles mouthed "Thanks" to Bobby, then dropped his hand when Jefferson came around and took his seat, followed a minute later by Rio.
"Miles, it's your birthday, will you say Grace?" his father asked in a tone clearly implying it was not actually a question. So the birthday boy agreed, taking Bobby's hand again, and his mother's, and closed his eyes.
"Thank you, God, for blessing us with family and friends to, uh, celebrate this awesome day, my birthday," Miles began, struggling for the words. "And for keeping us safe and healthy, please keep it up for another year. In Jesus's name. Amen."
Rio gave another shake of her with a gentle smile. "Amen. Hijo, maybe it's time for us to start going to church more often. Father would be happy to see you again," she chided, lifting the tamales platter to Jefferson. "Ganke, start with the salad, please."
While food passed around the table, Miles took a few deep breaths to steel himself and loosen the vice clenching his heart. "Actually, I do have kind of a confession to make. I've, uh, been keeping something from you for a while. It's a big thing. About me. And I'm sorry I haven't told you before." The words poured out of his mouth as he spoke, like he had faucet left running. "Pero like, I wanted to tell you. For a long time. I don't like lying to you. I just hope you'll understand why I did. Especially after what happened today, you know? It's really scary and I didn't know what to do about it for a long time. I thought I had to do it by myself. Ma, Dad, I'm . . ."
"We know, mijo," Jefferson said softly as he set down a platter. His expression was neutral, carefully crafted not to belie any hint of emotion. He examined his son, who wanted nothing more than to disappear under that gaze. He actually could have, but that would defeat the purpose of all this.
"You do," Miles said, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. He reached for Bobby's hand again.
"For a while," Jefferson affirmed. "You're not exactly Mister Subtle."
"I'm not. I'm not?"
"And your mother and I want you to know . . ." Oh God, here it comes. Miles squirmed in his seat, bracing himself for impact. Instead, Jefferson's whole body relaxed and he smiled brightly. "We're both very happy for you and Bobby."
A moment passed in silence. "You're who in the what now?"
"We are happy," Rio repeated slowly, "for you and Bobby. As long as you two remember to finish college before settling down and adopting children, Don't think you get out of cheating me for nietos, hijo! I want to be an abuelita some day." She turned and looked at Jefferson with a smile. "And this means I win, papi. I really thought you would've been a teenage dad, cause you're so handsome." She leaned over the table and pinched Miles' cheek, taking advantage of the complete shock on his face to do so. "Now, let's eat, please. It's going to get cold, and tamales are best when they're steaming."
While Miles sat in shock, Ganke glanced between him and Bobby, and then burst out laughing. He smacked the table with such force he nearly flipped over his plate and sent his food all over the floor. He had the good sense to look abashed at the near disaster, but one look at Miles and Bobby had him in hysterics again.
"That's not what I . . ." Miles looked at his mother, then his father, and back, and reconsidered his original plan. He had been worried about holding back the truth, but maybe telling the whole truth would be too much. Maybe this was just enough truth for now. "You know what, never mind. I'll take it."
Bobby tried not to laugh along with Ganke because, let's face it, if there was one thing Bobby Drake liked it was making with the funny, and seeing someone else having a laugh only made him want to join in. He was too shocked to do so, though, especially given Miles' reaction, because he knew what his boyfriend was really trying to do. Still, it was positive that they were supportive of their relationship, so it wasn't all bad news. He reached over and squeezed Miles' hand, hoping that would let him know he was ok with it too, then reached out with his other hand for the tamales.
"Yeah, speaking of taking it, I'll take some of those hot tamales please, Mrs. M." Might as well dig in because hey, things could totally be worse.
Rio smiled widely at Bobby while equally glaring at Ganke with a skill that only a mother could use. She stood up and started tidying up before she passed the tray of tamales over to Bobby. "Of course. I have two beautiful boys to feed now." She made a tsk-ing sound. "And Bobby, you are as bad as Miles. So skinny. How are you boys going to survive if you never eat anything? Maybe I should make some more, to send you home with it. Sí, that's what I will do. Eat. I will put some more on to boil." And without allowing anyone to argue, she disappeared into the kitchen.
"Estamos orgulloso de ti." Jefferson's smile never dimmed even as Miles fretted and Ganke split his sides. Like Bobby, he took it coolly and in stride. He reached over and patted Bobby's shoulder. "You, too, Bobby. Welcome to the family. Now do what Mami said and eat."
"Muchas gracias," Bobby replied, his mouth already mostly full of tamale, and he tried his best to both say that correctly and to not spill any of the sweet, sweet food from his mouth. Yup, his boyfriend had a pretty awesome family indeed.
~*~
Later in the evening, Miles and Bobby retreat for some private time to reflect.
Miles settled on the blanket he had brought up to the rooftop of his parents' apartment building, and then tore off the plastic case around the remaining half of his birthday cake so he and Bobby could dig in. After all that happened during dinner, he felt they had earned the calories. "Sorry if that was, you know, weird," he apologized, smiling wanly at his boyfriend. "Not exactly what I'd meant to happen."
Not waiting for a form, Bobby formed one out of ice and used it to remove a chunk of cake. Mmm, cake. "Nah, brah, it was fine. I mean, your folks are awesome, it was just a misunderstanding, that's all." It wasn't like they'd rejected Miles, which was the important take-away in Bobby's mind, it just wasn't for what he'd intended to reveal, but it was still a good thing. Plus, cake.
"You ever thought about coming out to your parents?" Miles asked lightly, forking a piece of cake for himself. It was not a topic they had discussed before. In fact, they had not talked much about Bobby's family in general. Friends for years and Miles still did not know much about that part of Bobby's life.
"Not really," he replied around a piece of cake. Bobby finished chewing that and wiped most of his mouth - he missed a few spots, whoops - before saying anything further. "We don't really talk all that much, I guess? Not that you aren't important or anything, they know we're friends and all. Or that we were friends, and that we're close, and stuff." He hadn't spoke to them in a few months now that he thought about it.
Miles reached over and brushed off the last few crumbs with his thumb, then on impulse leaned in for a quick kiss. Because it was his birthday and Bobby was sitting right there and he could. "It's cool. I'm not exactly clamoring to tell everyone, either. Tonight was a fluke. So, you know, I'm not gonna be all, 'You better tell them or I'm gone!' like they do on TV all the time, know what I mean?"
"I do," Bobby said with a smile. It was his boyfriend's birthday, after all, so after a second or two he leaned over and gave him another kiss, just because. " I do want to tell them, and I will, I'm just not sure when." He'd probably be going home again Christmas time, that was when he usually saw them the most. There had been some summer visits in the past, but not for the last few years. Especially not now when he had Miles.
He was not sure why, but hearing Bobby say that, even as vague and non-committal as it was, made Miles's heart skip a beat. Good thing it was not daylight so Bobby could not see him blush. "It's actually sucky school starts again so soon," he said, changing the subject. "It's not going to be as easy getting up to Salem as often. Definitely not with my schedule this semester. You're gonna have to come down here more."
"Yeah, it is." Bobby readily agreed with that, even if he wasn't in school himself, because it meant less Miles. Which was a bad thing no matter how you looked at it, but they'd still have weekends and stuff. He took another forkful of cake and chewed thoughtfully for a bit. "Oh yeah, I'll be able to, I have a pretty good hold on my schedule now and stuff." He'd been working there for a while so he should be able to realign things to maximize his Miles time, hopefully.
"What do you got going on? You'd mentioned thinking about classes before. You gonna . . .? Not pushing, you know," Miles hastily disclaimed, "Just, you know, if you are then you should. Been trying to convince Gabo forever, too, now he's got his GED."
"Nah, I know, it's all good," he replied, waving away any concerns about pushiness. "I've been thinkin' about going back to school, maybe looking at... well, I've helped out with the books a bit at work, y'know?" Accounting was the last thing Bobby Drake would've thought he'd enjoy or been good at if you'd ever asked him, but life was funny like that. "I know how fucked up that sounds, right? Hah."
Miles gently elbowed Bobby, but smiled at him, too. "No, I think it's great! Ay, it means we're both numbers guys. You do finances and I'm stats. It's like we're made for each other." When he realized what he had said, he hastily forked another piece of cake and stuffed it in his mouth. "That's a little much too soon. Sorry."
"Hah, no worries, bro. I mean, we are together now and shit, so." He scratched his head and tried to come up with another way to put it. "I guess it just adds up, huh? Hah." Math puns. So good, by which he meant bad, but that made them good. Shh, his logic was flawless to himself and probably no one else. "Dude let me have some more of that cake," he said, changing the subject from his bad jokes to the great cake they were sharing, reaching over with his fork for some more.
"You can't help yourself, can you?" Miles asked with a grin. "Those puns just come out. It's like you have joke Tourette's. Which is a thing, I bet you."
"If it is, then I'm patient zero, guaranteed," Bobby agreed. "You just better hope it's not contagious, haha." Because he was always around Miles, after all, and he had no intention of changing that any time soon.
If asked how he thought we would have spent his 19th birthday, Miles would not have responded: "Saving a man's life from a falling stack of girders and only surviving because of superhuman reflexes and strength, and then spending the rest of the day between filling out insurance paperwork and being interviewed by local news for accomplishing the miracle." Not that such heroics were atypical to him, they were just usually done behind a mask. And though the news and even insurance seemed placated with Miles's story, that he was in the right place at the right time, and the adrenaline rush galvanized him to save the other worker, his father was less impressed. He had been there, too, just a couple feet away from Miles. He had actually been facing the scene of the accident, while Miles's back was turned. The only reason Miles even knew what was going on was because of the abrupt alarm of his spider-sense. Jefferson's suspicions of his son threatened to unravel all the lies Miles had carefully assembled.
So Miles had come to a decision on the train ride back home. "I'm gonna tell 'em everything," he explained to Bobby, who was lying on his bed with him, and Ganke, who was busy pulling up every news article he could find about the day's incident, presumably to add to his My BFF is a superhero! collection. "No more secrets. Just the truth."
Ganke looked up from his phone and shared a Look with Bobby. "You're fucking crazy, dude."
Bobby blinked and then looked back over at Miles. "Seriously? Like, everything everything? The whole, thwip thwip?" He made little gestures to accompany his sound effects, just in case there was any mistaking them for something else.
"It's time, right? Like, it's been five years. And more than three years at Xavier's." Miles smoothed the wrinkles on his bedsheets to give his trembling hands something to do. "I can't keep lying. I hate it. It makes me break out and I want clear skin, good grades, and flourishing crops." Ganke chuckled at the quoted meme, which made Miles smile a little. "I mean, how bad can it go, anyway? They're the best parents."
"Boys!" Jefferson bellowed from the kitchen. "Dinner time!"
"I guess we'll find out," Ganke said with a shrug, and followed the other two out the room.
It always made Rio happy to have a houseful of kids. Men, really, she corrected herself. College students, no longer small children to look after. She watched the three come into the dining room, and had to smile. Yup, they were growing up.
"Did you all wash your hands?" She motioned to the table. "Mijo, set the table please. Ganke, help me bring the food out. Bobby, sit."
They did as they were told, eyeing one another the whole time, as if communicating telepathically about what Miles was about to unleash. After he set the last plate, Miles sat next to Bobby, across from Ganke, and reached for his boyfriend's hand, yearning for some reassurance that he was doing the right thing.
Bobby sat as he was told, reaching out to take Miles' hand once it was sought out. He even consciously cooled his palm just a little, enough to counteract any sweating or nervousness, or so he hoped. It was about all he could think to do in the moment at least.
He eyed Mrs. Morales and Ganke as they brought the food out, inhaling the fantastic aroma of it all, and tried to think about that instead. "Oh Em Gee, Mrs. M, that shiiii- sure does smell delicious." Whoops.
Miles mouthed "Thanks" to Bobby, then dropped his hand when Jefferson came around and took his seat, followed a minute later by Rio.
"Miles, it's your birthday, will you say Grace?" his father asked in a tone clearly implying it was not actually a question. So the birthday boy agreed, taking Bobby's hand again, and his mother's, and closed his eyes.
"Thank you, God, for blessing us with family and friends to, uh, celebrate this awesome day, my birthday," Miles began, struggling for the words. "And for keeping us safe and healthy, please keep it up for another year. In Jesus's name. Amen."
Rio gave another shake of her with a gentle smile. "Amen. Hijo, maybe it's time for us to start going to church more often. Father would be happy to see you again," she chided, lifting the tamales platter to Jefferson. "Ganke, start with the salad, please."
While food passed around the table, Miles took a few deep breaths to steel himself and loosen the vice clenching his heart. "Actually, I do have kind of a confession to make. I've, uh, been keeping something from you for a while. It's a big thing. About me. And I'm sorry I haven't told you before." The words poured out of his mouth as he spoke, like he had faucet left running. "Pero like, I wanted to tell you. For a long time. I don't like lying to you. I just hope you'll understand why I did. Especially after what happened today, you know? It's really scary and I didn't know what to do about it for a long time. I thought I had to do it by myself. Ma, Dad, I'm . . ."
"We know, mijo," Jefferson said softly as he set down a platter. His expression was neutral, carefully crafted not to belie any hint of emotion. He examined his son, who wanted nothing more than to disappear under that gaze. He actually could have, but that would defeat the purpose of all this.
"You do," Miles said, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. He reached for Bobby's hand again.
"For a while," Jefferson affirmed. "You're not exactly Mister Subtle."
"I'm not. I'm not?"
"And your mother and I want you to know . . ." Oh God, here it comes. Miles squirmed in his seat, bracing himself for impact. Instead, Jefferson's whole body relaxed and he smiled brightly. "We're both very happy for you and Bobby."
A moment passed in silence. "You're who in the what now?"
"We are happy," Rio repeated slowly, "for you and Bobby. As long as you two remember to finish college before settling down and adopting children, Don't think you get out of cheating me for nietos, hijo! I want to be an abuelita some day." She turned and looked at Jefferson with a smile. "And this means I win, papi. I really thought you would've been a teenage dad, cause you're so handsome." She leaned over the table and pinched Miles' cheek, taking advantage of the complete shock on his face to do so. "Now, let's eat, please. It's going to get cold, and tamales are best when they're steaming."
While Miles sat in shock, Ganke glanced between him and Bobby, and then burst out laughing. He smacked the table with such force he nearly flipped over his plate and sent his food all over the floor. He had the good sense to look abashed at the near disaster, but one look at Miles and Bobby had him in hysterics again.
"That's not what I . . ." Miles looked at his mother, then his father, and back, and reconsidered his original plan. He had been worried about holding back the truth, but maybe telling the whole truth would be too much. Maybe this was just enough truth for now. "You know what, never mind. I'll take it."
Bobby tried not to laugh along with Ganke because, let's face it, if there was one thing Bobby Drake liked it was making with the funny, and seeing someone else having a laugh only made him want to join in. He was too shocked to do so, though, especially given Miles' reaction, because he knew what his boyfriend was really trying to do. Still, it was positive that they were supportive of their relationship, so it wasn't all bad news. He reached over and squeezed Miles' hand, hoping that would let him know he was ok with it too, then reached out with his other hand for the tamales.
"Yeah, speaking of taking it, I'll take some of those hot tamales please, Mrs. M." Might as well dig in because hey, things could totally be worse.
Rio smiled widely at Bobby while equally glaring at Ganke with a skill that only a mother could use. She stood up and started tidying up before she passed the tray of tamales over to Bobby. "Of course. I have two beautiful boys to feed now." She made a tsk-ing sound. "And Bobby, you are as bad as Miles. So skinny. How are you boys going to survive if you never eat anything? Maybe I should make some more, to send you home with it. Sí, that's what I will do. Eat. I will put some more on to boil." And without allowing anyone to argue, she disappeared into the kitchen.
"Estamos orgulloso de ti." Jefferson's smile never dimmed even as Miles fretted and Ganke split his sides. Like Bobby, he took it coolly and in stride. He reached over and patted Bobby's shoulder. "You, too, Bobby. Welcome to the family. Now do what Mami said and eat."
"Muchas gracias," Bobby replied, his mouth already mostly full of tamale, and he tried his best to both say that correctly and to not spill any of the sweet, sweet food from his mouth. Yup, his boyfriend had a pretty awesome family indeed.
~*~
Later in the evening, Miles and Bobby retreat for some private time to reflect.
Miles settled on the blanket he had brought up to the rooftop of his parents' apartment building, and then tore off the plastic case around the remaining half of his birthday cake so he and Bobby could dig in. After all that happened during dinner, he felt they had earned the calories. "Sorry if that was, you know, weird," he apologized, smiling wanly at his boyfriend. "Not exactly what I'd meant to happen."
Not waiting for a form, Bobby formed one out of ice and used it to remove a chunk of cake. Mmm, cake. "Nah, brah, it was fine. I mean, your folks are awesome, it was just a misunderstanding, that's all." It wasn't like they'd rejected Miles, which was the important take-away in Bobby's mind, it just wasn't for what he'd intended to reveal, but it was still a good thing. Plus, cake.
"You ever thought about coming out to your parents?" Miles asked lightly, forking a piece of cake for himself. It was not a topic they had discussed before. In fact, they had not talked much about Bobby's family in general. Friends for years and Miles still did not know much about that part of Bobby's life.
"Not really," he replied around a piece of cake. Bobby finished chewing that and wiped most of his mouth - he missed a few spots, whoops - before saying anything further. "We don't really talk all that much, I guess? Not that you aren't important or anything, they know we're friends and all. Or that we were friends, and that we're close, and stuff." He hadn't spoke to them in a few months now that he thought about it.
Miles reached over and brushed off the last few crumbs with his thumb, then on impulse leaned in for a quick kiss. Because it was his birthday and Bobby was sitting right there and he could. "It's cool. I'm not exactly clamoring to tell everyone, either. Tonight was a fluke. So, you know, I'm not gonna be all, 'You better tell them or I'm gone!' like they do on TV all the time, know what I mean?"
"I do," Bobby said with a smile. It was his boyfriend's birthday, after all, so after a second or two he leaned over and gave him another kiss, just because. " I do want to tell them, and I will, I'm just not sure when." He'd probably be going home again Christmas time, that was when he usually saw them the most. There had been some summer visits in the past, but not for the last few years. Especially not now when he had Miles.
He was not sure why, but hearing Bobby say that, even as vague and non-committal as it was, made Miles's heart skip a beat. Good thing it was not daylight so Bobby could not see him blush. "It's actually sucky school starts again so soon," he said, changing the subject. "It's not going to be as easy getting up to Salem as often. Definitely not with my schedule this semester. You're gonna have to come down here more."
"Yeah, it is." Bobby readily agreed with that, even if he wasn't in school himself, because it meant less Miles. Which was a bad thing no matter how you looked at it, but they'd still have weekends and stuff. He took another forkful of cake and chewed thoughtfully for a bit. "Oh yeah, I'll be able to, I have a pretty good hold on my schedule now and stuff." He'd been working there for a while so he should be able to realign things to maximize his Miles time, hopefully.
"What do you got going on? You'd mentioned thinking about classes before. You gonna . . .? Not pushing, you know," Miles hastily disclaimed, "Just, you know, if you are then you should. Been trying to convince Gabo forever, too, now he's got his GED."
"Nah, I know, it's all good," he replied, waving away any concerns about pushiness. "I've been thinkin' about going back to school, maybe looking at... well, I've helped out with the books a bit at work, y'know?" Accounting was the last thing Bobby Drake would've thought he'd enjoy or been good at if you'd ever asked him, but life was funny like that. "I know how fucked up that sounds, right? Hah."
Miles gently elbowed Bobby, but smiled at him, too. "No, I think it's great! Ay, it means we're both numbers guys. You do finances and I'm stats. It's like we're made for each other." When he realized what he had said, he hastily forked another piece of cake and stuffed it in his mouth. "That's a little much too soon. Sorry."
"Hah, no worries, bro. I mean, we are together now and shit, so." He scratched his head and tried to come up with another way to put it. "I guess it just adds up, huh? Hah." Math puns. So good, by which he meant bad, but that made them good. Shh, his logic was flawless to himself and probably no one else. "Dude let me have some more of that cake," he said, changing the subject from his bad jokes to the great cake they were sharing, reaching over with his fork for some more.
"You can't help yourself, can you?" Miles asked with a grin. "Those puns just come out. It's like you have joke Tourette's. Which is a thing, I bet you."
"If it is, then I'm patient zero, guaranteed," Bobby agreed. "You just better hope it's not contagious, haha." Because he was always around Miles, after all, and he had no intention of changing that any time soon.
