Beyond

Friends

"You're back!" Miles smiled brightly as Lance sat next to him on the bench just outside of school.

"Yep." Lance grinned. "And better than ever."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Lance wasn't going to elaborate and he could tell that it was bothering Miles by the mild glare he received.

He wanted to tell him everything but he just couldn't, he couldn't bring himself too do it.

Not yet anyway.

"We need to talk." Gwen stated the moment she appeared.

"Morning." Lance smiled.

"Morning." She nodded back, a small smile coming to her face. She seemed very nervous and Lance knew that she was worried about something. "Now tell me honestly, did we freak you out?"

Straight to the point. Absolutely no beating around the bush with her.

"No." Lance said shaking his head. "No, you guys can't scare me away, I promise."

Gwen still didn't look sure.

Miles was tense next to him. "So you're cool with who we are and such?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know, I guess that we just assumed that you wouldn't be."

"I'm very cool with it. But I have so many questions." Lance smirked. "Think you guys can answer them?"

"Yeah, now let's get out of here."

They headed to the roof where Lance tried not to unload all of his questions as once.

"So, how did you guys get your powers?" He asked leaning on the wall.

"Got bitten by a weird spider." Miles shrugged as Gwen nodded.

"Details guys, details." Lance grinned.

"I was on a school trip." Gwen explained. "I was with my best friend and we were talking about something and got seperated from the group. We got lost and ended up in some weird lab. He didn't get bitten but I did."

"Who was he?"

"Peter, he... He died." Gwen whispered looking down. "That's the problem with power, there's this great responsibility and you have to understand that sometimes you're not enough."

Lance gently took hold of her hand and offered a squeeze. "I'm sorry."

"So am I." Gwen whispered.

"I was spray painting in an alleyway when a spider landed on my hand. I didn't notice it was there until it bit me." Miles shrugged. "I woke up with these weird powers and I couldn't control them."

"So how did you two meet?"

"I got my powers first, Peter helped me through it and then I ran into Miles who was panicking about his powers." Gwen smirked as Miles pouted.

"Not everyone gets things perfect first try." Miles shot back.

Lance rolled his eyes. "So you guys knew each others secret identities from the start?"

"Yeah, we would have told you sooner but we didn't know how to tell you and we were worried about you."

Lance looked down at his feet. "I've lost friends too. That why... A lot recently has reminded me of them and... I miss them a lot."

Gwen squeezed his hand as Miles patted his shoulder.

"Got any other questions for us?"

"Yeah, the web stuff, what is that exactly?"

"Peter helped us to build our suits and our web shooters." Gwen explained quietly. "He was so clever, he got offered a job at Stark industries."

"Did he accept it?"

"Yeah, he was going to work for Tony Stark, maybe even work with him when something went wrong." Miles whispered. "He was a really good friend, and that's why Gwen and I haven't really had many other friends."

"We're too scared to lose them."

"I'm not going anywhere." Lance promised them both. "I'm tougher than I look."

"What are you guys doing up here?"

The group jumped and turned to see Flash standing at the door.

"Taking in the view." Lance shrugged.

"Sure you are." Flash huffed. "So um... You kinda ruined my streetcred."

"You're welcome." Lance replied.

"And now I have no friends."

"Great going Lance."

"You wanna hang out with us?" Lance offered raising an eyebrow.

Flash looked away, he looked uncomfortable. "I don't know."

"Look, join us at lunch if you want." Lance smiled. "You don't have to jump from one group into another."

"Right." Flash nodded.

"You weren't coming up here to attack Lance were you?" Miles asked with a frown.

"No." Flash assured. "Look Gordon isn't a nice guy, I just fell into his group a long time ago and I never realised how bad it was."

"You weren't hurt too bad were you?" Lance asked stepping towards him.

"No, I used to do boxing when I was younger, he hardly touched me." Flash answered.

"You were bleeding."

"Not as bad as Gordon's fist, he broke his knuckle." Flashed shrugged. "I think it was when he punched the ground."

"He deserved it." Gwen said getting a frown from all the boys. "What? He did."

"I wouldn't want you to be a judge." Lance chuckled. "You'd just be like, fair enough, moving on."

"That's how life is." Gwen reminded. "We can't change things to always go in our favour."

"Doesn't mean that we should justify bad things happening to people, no matter what they've done." Lance shot back.

"And you've never wanted to get revenge for people who have hurt you?"

"I haven't got the right to." Lance answered.

"Alright you two!" Miles cut in tugging Lance back. "Let it go and move on."

"You two fight like a married couple."

"We do not!" Lance grumbled crossing his arms.

"I think I'll stick around, you guys seem like fun."