roommates 🕷 morales

three • the window

Outside of Visions Academy
10:03 p.m.

Miles took his mask off his face while breathing hard. He just got done swinging practically all over the city doing a nightly patrol he did every few days and was more tired than usual. He had been studying for a big test coming up in three days that had everyone in his grade in a panic since it was in physics. Even though Physics was his favorite class and he had one of the top five highest averages in the grade, he still worried. Being Spider-Man took up some of his study time but it's not like he could help it much.

He rested on the staircase to an apartment building that was next door. No one was living in the one he sat in front of so he didn't have to worry about someone peeking through the window and seeing him. It was practically pitch black out anyways with only a few street lamps casting a yellow glow onto the sidewalk. The alleyway below him had the sounds of meowing cats and rustling garbage bags in dumpsters. Right across from him was the window to his dorm where the curtains had yet to be closed since Olivia was still awake.

Olivia was studying, like everyone else probably was, and was nodding her head to the beat of a song flowing through the speaker that was a Christmas gift last year. She was writing something down in her notebook and notes were pulled up on her laptop that was taken earlier that day. He could tell that she was sleepy but she still continued to write the notes. Her hair was in a bun and she wore a hoodie that was obviously Miles' and some leggings. It was a hoodie he never wore, literally never, so he gave it to her since he didn't want to throw away a perfectly good hoodie. Every now and then she'd wear it as her pajama shirt like she was now.

Now he was standing, leaning against the railing with his chin in the palm of his hand. He watched her. It wasn't in a creepy way, more of a protective way. He was looking out for her. It was a moment of peace.

He sat back down for awhile and just rested on the staircase until he knew it was too late to be out. He had his eyes closed for awhile and fatigue had started to seep in. Slipping into the alley he changed back into his normal clothes, petted a cat before he left, and got back into Visions without being seen by anyone. When he opened the door to his room Olivia jumped in her seat.

"Jesus Miles! You scared me!"

"Sorry Liv! I didn't think I would."

She slumped in her seat. "I'm so caught up in these notes I tuned out everything around me. Where were you anyways?"

He gripped his backpack that was over his shoulder, it suddenly feeling heavy. "Was seeing my parents. I didn't realize what time it was till a little bit ago."

"Yeah, it's a little after eleven now. We should go to bed huh?"

Miles tucked the backpack underneath his bed and made a note to unpack it later. Olivia finally closed her laptop, put her notebook back in her backpack, and got into her bunk. The room was dark now with the light from outside coming out from the closed curtains and making patterns on the carpet. A quiet hum came from the ceiling fan above them that was always on unless they were both out of the room, having a background noise while sleeping was better than complete silence.

Every now and then Olivia would wake up in the middle of the night to find the window left partially open. When she looked below her, Miles would be gone. There were times when she opened the window while she was studying to let the outside noise in and maybe she just forgot to close it due to being so tired. She just figured he slipped out to go to the bathroom or get a midnight snack, never giving it much thought. She always went right back to sleep afterwards anyways.

To her it was just an opened window.

That night Miles didn't slip out he actually slept the entire time for once. The window wasn't open. The alarm on the nightstand went off at its usual time of seven a.m. but it obviously stayed silent on the weekends. Olivia was already awake and out of bed, doing her makeup at her vanity in the corner of the room. Sometimes Miles forgot how big their rooms were but it was actually the normal size of a dorm room. When Miles got up and stretched she turned around with her favorite eyeshadow palette in her hands.