Familia ✧ MILES MORALES ❨o.h.❩

15 - Truth Hurts [⚠]

⚠ WARNING: Description of near-suicide in this chapter. Read at your own discretion. ⚠

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MILES KNEW HE WAS BEING CHILDISH BY IGNORING LUNA. 

She had been his friend for twelve years. They'd been through everything together - good times and bad. And sure, they'd had plenty of fights and arguments before. Part of him knew that some of this wasn't much different. 

But still, she had lied to him. She was in a gang. She had been running from the cops with a guy who had gotten into a gunfight with them, and from what Miles had learned from Cat, the guy had stolen something, too. Luna herself had tried to escape when she heard Miles land on the roof, as if she knew she couldn't be caught by him or the cops. And she had attempted to fight him off when he had tried to stop her. 

In other words, his best friend was a criminal - the very same type of people Miles was supposed to fight. 

Miles had so many questions for her. Why was she in a gang in the first place? Did her parents and siblings know? Hell, were they even in on it, too? And why hadn't she ever told him? They were best friends, they told each other everything. 

"Well, not everything." 

Miles' head lifted up in surprise as he was snapped back to reality. Tearing his eyes away from the open window, Miles looked at Cat, who sat across from him with a knowing look on her face. He'd been so absorbed in his thoughts that he'd completely forgotten that she'd taken him out to lunch so they could discuss more about Kingpin and Mister Negative. Now, they sat in a secluded, closed-off corner in an Italian restaurant near the top of a tall building in D.C.. 

Miles gave Cat a frown. "Hey, what did I say about the mind reading? Just because you're older than me and you're half-Atlantean doesn't give you the right to read my thoughts." 

Cat smiled, raising her drink to her lips. "I couldn't help it. You were so deep in your thoughts that I had to know what was going on in that teenage brain of yours." Her smile quickly fading, she went on, "But it's true, you don't tell Luna everything. I mean, you still haven't told her that you're Spider-Man and it's been what, four years now?" 

"I have my reasons for not telling her, Cat," Miles said in his own defense. 

"And she probably has her reasons for not telling you why she's in a gang," Cat replied. "Look, you haven't told her that you're Spider-Man because you want to protect her, right?" When Miles nodded, Cat nodded back and said, "Well, maybe she hasn't told you for the same reason." 

Miles shook his head. "I don't think that's it. Or at least, not the only reason." 

Cat was silent for a moment, going over his words. Then, she sighed. "Look, Miles... I think I may actually know why." 

Miles perked up. "Really? Why?" 

Cat shook her head. "You know I work with your dad on cases, right?" Miles nodded again, so she went on, "Well, there's this case he's been working on for years, as long as I've known him. I've helped him with a couple leads, but it's been cold so far." She sighed again, lacing her fingers together. "But... your dad has been chasing after the leader of the Dragón gang for the past eleven years. No one knows his real name, only the name El Dragón. But there are four other people in his gang with aliases. His second in command, La Fénix, and three others - La Osa, El Halcón, and La Mariposa. Everyone else goes by their real name."  

Miles frowned. "Okay, so how does that relate to Luna?" 

Cat met his gaze. "Think about it." 

Miles looked away, thinking for a moment. Then it hit him. The bandana Miles had seen Luna with that had the butterfly on the front. The way Luna was so secretive about what she and her family did when he wasn't around, even though they'd been friends for years. The fact that Jazmín was so wary of him whenever he visited. And the fact that each Reyes family member (minus Rubi) had a tattoo of a specific animal - the same animals that Cat had listed.