Always and Forever, My Friend (Miles Morales [Dim. 42] x F! Reader)

Chapter Nine

TW:  Stalking (not romanticized, I do not condone this behavior), Peeping Tom behavior, Miles and Uncle Aaron feel a little silly (they commit a federal crime), descriptions of wounds and medical procedures, and obsessive/possessive behaviors in a toxic way.  Proceed with caution :)

Ever since that day when Miles was called into the principal's office in sixth grade, watching as the tears streaked down his mother's face as she told him the life altering news with a broken voice, Miles lived in fear.  While his face never showed it, his mind was constantly consumed with the paranoia of losing someone else he loved.  That's why he was so protective, why he did everything he could to make sure Y/n was safe... at least that's what he told himself when he started following her home.

In sixth grade, it started off small, just like every unhealthy tendency does.  He simply followed her after school, keeping a safe distance to make sure he would go unnoticed.  But as they both grew up and their feelings evolved, so did his obsessive tendencies.  Starting in eighth grade, he would make up an excuse to run an errand just so he could find her and watch her, whether it be when she was out with family, hanging out with Mike, or running errands herself.  All in the name of keeping her safe, of course.

So when his uncle offered to train him to be the next Prowler, he happily accepted.  Like a virus, his obsession spread, infecting every part of his life until it became a symbiote.  He was his obsession, and his obsession was him.  Though when his uncle pressed him on the matter, he quickly denied, claiming it was all in the name of protecting his beloved.

But that didn't explain the nights where he would crouch on the ledge of the building across from hers and watch her through her street facing bedroom window.  That didn't explain why he would climb to her windowsill and watch her sleep for hours on end until he felt confident she would be safe for the night. That didn't explain why sometimes he would even pick the lock and wander around her apartment in the dead hours of the night, even going as far as to stand in her doorway and watch her mumble and twitch in her sleep.

Of course he was able to justify it to himself, saying that it was because of her father that he had to do it. He could sense that her father was a threat, someone that he had to protect her from, and while he was right, in no way did his reasoning justify his actions.

That's why he felt the need to hide behind the mask whenever he did those things. He knew that if she ever caught him in the act, the mask was something that he could fall back on, something that would allow him to still be close to her. It was a coward's ideology, but it was still an ideology that worked.

Luckily, he had never been caught, though there had been a couple close calls, ironically, with the man he was trying to protect her from. But it was all worth it because he at least knew she was safe. Like an alcoholic drinking himself into a stupor, these were simply habits that had become a part of his everyday life.

But that wasn't why he was on the ledge of the building across from her's tonight after the hangout with his friends. He and Uncle Aaron had planned out an attack on the Alchemax lab that just so happened to be near her apartment complex, and this was where they decided to meet. Still, he took the chance to watch her as she scrolled mindlessly on her phone, unaware of the watchful eyes gazing from above.

"Miles, I need you to pay attention," Aaron's robotic voice scolded him, snapping Miles from his daze. "This is important. This could possibly stop the Sinister Six from getting resources for months-"

"Calmate, tío, te escucho," Miles reassured with a sigh, turning his back on her bedroom window as he made his way over to his uncle.

[Translation: Calm down, uncle, I'm listening/ I hear you.]