Hanging On By a Web

7

It was the third day Gio had been at Hobie's without returning home or contacting anyone. He didn't know how he was gonna cover himself for this one, and neither did Miles who popped a portal into earth-138 while Gio and Hobie were in the middle of making out. Miles stepped through the portal and almost immediately did he regret his decision as he watched his brother scramble away from Hobie Brown who was smirking like he had just won a prize. Miles' mouth was stuck open and he closed his eyes with a sharp intake of air.

"¡Que mierda, Giovanni! I'm going to make the conscious choice to pretend that never happened and grill the hell out of you later, Hobie Brown. Anyways, you need to come back, SPA called mamí and said you weren't in your dorm and so now she's going crazy looking for you, dad is pissed bro. Besides, something is happening and I'm not sure what." Miles exclaimed, covering his eyes while Gio and Hobie burst into momentary laughter until the last statement that he made which made Gio pause in his tracks.

"What happened?" Gio asked hesitantly, Miles dropped his hands and sighed.

"Weird tremors? Ganke caught em last night and it shook like all of Brooklyn, he said it pinpointed to Alchemax."

"Que rayos, I'll be back later?" Gio offered, trying his best to stall for time so he didn't have to go back through that portal with Miles. Hobie caught on and side eyed Gio.

"Giovanni man, I think you need to go back." Hobie said politely, he knew it probably wasn't his place but there was some use in trying he supposed, Miles nodded in agreement.

"I just, I can't right now, please Miles, just tell mamí I'm okay and I'll come home soon."

"Uh huh, and you think that's gonna fly? Nice try bro, let's go, Hobie good to see ya man." Miles fistbumped Hobie and held out his hand for Giovanni who hugged his knees and was unmoving. Miles bit his tongue, unsure of what to say to him.

"Look, I can't keep covering for you, come tomorrow evening dad is gonna have every officer in New York searching for you, besides, he's already like on edge with the whole captain thing. I need you back G, por favor hermano."

"I'll come back tonight, what time is it at home?"

"Nine, AM, mamí's at work and so is Dad, I gotta head to class man, please, come home. If not for me for our parents." Miles sighed and closed the portal, going back through the way he came. Gio slumped and rubbed his eyes, admittedly he was exhausted and really wanted to go home to see his mom and yes he did have a shot tomorrow that he could not miss so it was likely that he'd leave tonight and just make up some lie about where he'd been and what he'd been doing. Hobie looked incredibly concerned and turned his full attention to Gio, crossing his arms.

"You're not running are you Gio?" He said with a suspicious look, Gio said nothing and was unmoving.

"I wouldn't say running, just, avoiding the issue is all." Gio shrugged, acting like it really wasn't that big of a deal.

"You can't run, you know that right? Whatever is going to happen is going to happen and unfortunately there's nothing you can do to stop it."

"I know. I'm not running, but like, I can hold it off though. If I stay then nothing bad can happen, right Hobes?"

"No, Gio," Hobie reached under his bed and pulled out a box, crossing his legs and holding it tenderly in his lap. He took a heavy breath and his face fell solemn, hesitating to pull the top off of the box but doing so anyway and setting the lid next to him. "Do you know why it's important that we go through these awful, shitty things? Do you want to know why?"

Gio's stomach turned as he nodded, scooting over to sit next to him. Hobie pulled out the top item which was a picture of his family, except there was a beautiful woman in the middle that Gio didn't recognize. All of the kids were younger, even Hobie hadn't begun to grow out his locs yet but Gio could still point him out from the attire he was wearing, his face was more soft and he looked a little less tense than he sometimes looked.

"My mum, there she is," Hobie pointed to her, "She was my everything, I was so close with my mum and I told her everything, she always made sure to tell me that she was proud of me and that I was a special kind of kid. She was a lot like me too, you know, encouraged my political uproar, always sent me with a safety bag when I went to dangerous protests, she'd help me build signs and pen letters, well I say pen but more help me clip magazines and shit. She was fucking awesome, the best woman and the most incredible mum." His face turned into a soft smile, his eyes twinkling at the picture as he set it down and pulled out another, he was older in this one maybe two years ago and it was only him and his mum, smiling at the camera so wide that it stirred a grin in Gio, he could feel the energy that she was giving off and it was so heartwarming, just love. She wore a studded jacket like him and they both held up peace signs with an arm around each other. "What a woman..." Hobie's voice trailed off as he pulled out another. It was an art piece to Gio's eyes, it was a man who had been graffitied with red.

"But this ugly fuck is Ozzy, the most power hungry American fascist who came here trying to take down the patriarchy which, fuck the patriarchy too, but like English pride or whatever. Anyways, he and I quickly became 'best friends' and believe it or not I had a friend who I fought alongside. His name was Karl and we were close mates. It was during a riot, organized and put on by me and Karl, so many people showed up to use their voices and fight Ozzy. My mum had showed up to the riot, I could blatantly see her, like everyone else around her was dark and dull but she was in screaming technicolor and part of me just couldn't look away, I could feel her there and she was so loud in my head, I think she knew it was me too, like, she had a suspicion that wow this bloke is so much like my son and sometimes he's gone for just random hours of the night and-sorry off topic."

"No, it's okay, I'm just listening." Gio replied hastily so that he would keep talking, one part of him enthralled in the compassion that Hobie's voice held and the other curious as to where this was going. "Whenever you're ready."

Hobie took a deep breath and nodded to Gio.

"Anyways, Ozzy and his militia of Americans, no offense to you at all by the way, quickly became violent and we were trying to stay peaceful, but quickly our group, cleverly named the spider-army fought back and it was utter chaos, my only thought was to take out Ozzy, I'd never thought I'd kill someone, I like to think I'm a semi nice guy, yknow, but he needed to die, and just as I raised my guitar, which chopped his noggin clean off, I saw it out of the corner of my eye. Karl tried to stop it but there was no use, he wouldn't get there in time. One of his cronies shot a round point blank into my mother's chest; a killing shot, I watched her body go limp and fall to the ground. I, agh, fuck sorry, give me a second." Hobie paused and wiped a stray tear away from his eyes, looking upwards to stop anymore from falling, Gio sat quietly and rubbed his thumb over Hobie's hand as a sign of support. Hobie gave a weak smile and continued after clearing his throat.

"I webbed her up and took her to a park, her favorite place to be and I just, held her. She wasn't crying, she wasn't really moving, just, there. And I cried, I held her and cried. I'd never felt so weak, defenseless or powerless in my entire life. I took my mask off and she smiled, she said 'I knew that excellent spider-man was you, couldn't have been anyone else except my boy.' It broke me, and then the infamous line, 'don't forget Hobart that with great power comes great responsibility, though I know you'll always use it for good my son.' And that was it, she died. What I'm trying to say though is it made me stronger. It gave me a sense of willpower and a stronger desire for justice. So that innocent people wouldn't be subject to oppression and despair, to protect those that need it the most. If I had known, I probably would have ran too, but it's the ambition and bravery to jump headfirst into the deepend knowing that something bad could happen, but doing it anyways because it's the right thing to do. It shaped me, and even though the memories suck and the nightmares still traumatize me to this day, I wouldn't change a thing, because through every horrid moment, there's a good one hidden beneath, or a better one waiting to happen."