*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
(LOTTERY)
CHAPTER━━ TEN
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 恋人┊͙✧˖*°࿐
MEG WAS standing in Lenny's Deli, staring intently at the selection of drinks in the freezer. She couldn't decide what to pick and was debating between a snapple and a ginger ale. Although she was in her free period. She would eventually have to return to school in thirty minutes meaning she couldn't take all the time in the world like she wanted.
As Meg stared into her reflection on the clear freezer door of the deli, she took a moment to appreciate how much she had grown into her looks in the past year and four months. Her hair was no longer curly like it used to be, but instead straightened and cut short, barely grazing her cheekbones. She had cut it herself just two weeks ago, much to her mother's initial dismay, but it had grown on her since then.
Meg's brown skin was the same as always, but she couldn't help but notice the faint smattering of moles on her face. Her mother had always told her that they were beauty marks, and Meg had started to believe it in the past few months. She always felt a sense of confidence whenever she looked at her reflection, knowing that she was growing into her own and becoming comfortable in her own skin.
She finally reached for the ginger ale when she turned her head and noticed some mostly white with black spots lunatic jumping on top of the ATM. The ATM itself, at least the bottom part of it looked to sucked into some black portal which white with black spots lunatic was jumping on it in order to push the ATM through it.
She took off her headphones immediately at the sight, her headphone being the reason why she didn't focus on the sight literally a few feet away from her, much sooner. She was listening to music way too loud which her mother always scolded her for, which Meg now sees the reason in it, the whole time she's been oblivious to a robbery going on due to her music being loud.
"Get yourself out of here!" yelled Lenny who had a bat in his hand and tried to hit the lunatic but missed and hit the ATM instead.
Meg watched in surprise as the lunatic started to argue with Lenny.
"I've never robbed anyone in my life. Please don't make this is a bad experience for me." The lunatic said.
"Bad experience?" Lenny questions. "I'm trying to run a business here!"
Meg pulled out her phone to call the police but before she could dial 911, though, she felt a tug on her arm and was pulled into another aisle.
"Woah, what the heck?" she said, turning to face Miles.
He was upside down on the ceiling and had his mask pulled up to his mouth.
"Hey, Megara," Miles said, with a mouthful of food. "Sorry about that. I had to pull you away."
Meg laughed at the sight of him eating a beef patty in midst of all this. "Wow, you think this one's an easy catch don't you, Wonderboy?"
Miles chuckled. "Please, I've dealt with worst. The guy doesn't even know how to steal a machine. Which is a good thing for me, bad thing for him. You can stay this time around."
"Stay?" Meg repeated, surprised.
She's surprised since Miles never lets her stay around whenever she's around when he's confronting a bad guy (not that she sticks around either.)
"Yeah, stay and watch the show," Miles said, grinning.
Meg looked back at the bad guy again. He didn't have a face and was all white except for the black moving spots on his body. He didn't look particularly intimidating, but she knew that looks could be deceiving. "Are you sure he's harmless?" she asked, still feeling uncertain.
Miles nodded confidently. "Yeah, he's pretty incompetent. I've dealt with worse."
Miles walked (upside down) closer to Meg, inches from her face before leaning down to her ear. "Also are you still coming to my family's get together to congratulate my dad on his promotion on soon to being Captain?" He whispered, and it took Meg a second to register his words due to their close proximity before nodding.
"Yeah. Yeah. I'll be there." She answered Miles, looking everywhere but into his eyes (well, eye mask.)
"Good." Miles smiles and for some reason not noticing Meg's flustered state. "Because I wanna talk to you about something."
Meg watched as Miles disappeared over the shelf, swinging on his webs to confront The Spot. She couldn't help but wonder what he wants to talk to her about during his dad's party. Despite this, she enjoyed watching Miles and The Spot struggle against each other, which ended with Miles accidentally moving back onto a pineapple and getting his own web on his face which he tried to take off causing him to stumble outside.
｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
Meg walked into her dorm room after her last class for the day finished. "Sup, Barbara." She greeted her roommate Barbara Rodriguez.
Barbara is a friendly Latina girl with curly black hair and a warm smile. She often wears bright and colorful clothes that reflect her bubbly personality. Meg often shares her pink beanies with Barbara, who always wears them with great enthusiasm.
Her and Barbara got along pretty good. At first when Meg still a loner (though she still considers herself one, since she only talks to Miles and Barbara.) due to her keeping to herself that caused Barbara keep to herself but the second Meg attempted to talk to Barbara, Barbara was more than ready to talk to her.
Barbara was on the top bunk putting eyeliner on with one hand and her makeup mirror in the other hand. "Hey chica, you doing anything?" Barbara asked. Meg was leaning against the door, kicking off her Jordans when she looked up at Barbara. Barbara closed her makeup mirror, done with putting on eyeliner. "I was thinking you could join me and my friends in going roller skating today. One of my friends canceled on us and we need one more person to fill in."
Meg shook her head at the offer, and kicked off her Jordan's. She walks over to her dresser to change out of her uniform. "Sorry, I can't. I'm going to Miles family's get together. He invited me first." She informed while she digs through her dresser until she finds a cute outfit for the get together to change out of her uniform with.
Barbara frowned in disappointment. "Oh okay, I'll just ask Jill if she wants to come instead." She says, pulling out her phone to probably text Jill. Meg pulls out a cute green crop top out of her dresser and stares at it. Hmm, this with jeans would look cute. She puts the green crop top on her shoulder before searching for a denim jeans. "I forgot he's your boyfriend." Barbra admitted.
Meg paused in searching for a denim jeans. She furrow her eyebrows at Barbra. "Miles?" She asks and Barbara nods. Meg goes back to her dresser. "He's my uh...I don't know." She mumbled, before finally finding a denim jean and putting that on her other shoulder.
"Sounds and looks to me like a situationship."
"Situationship?"
"Situationship. Yeah ya'll are like mad close and before you even say anything I know there's platonic friendship with girls and guys but you two are on a whole another level. I be seeing ya in the hallways holding hands, flirting, and even in here cuddling. And that romantic tension? Ooh girl." Barbara giggled and Meg smiled to herself, feeling flustered. "But I think ya'll sort it out and actually define ya'll's relationship." She advised.
Meg told Barbara to have fun rolling skating before exiting back out her dorm and into the schools hallway to go to the school dorm bathroom in order to change.
While walking to her school dorm bathroom she couldn't help but think to herself? If that's the conversation Miles wants to have with her at his dad's party.
A talk about their situationship.
｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
Meg got on the bus just in time. It's a twenty-minute bus ride from the school to Miles' Brownstone. She knows because she's been to his house plenty of times and met his parents as well. She settled down in a seat at the back. She picked at her nail polish, her eyes watching the neighborhood go by.
A news notification on Meg's phone made her take it out of her purse, her eyes widening when she read it.
The Daily Bugle: Spider-Man having seen an hour ago fighting a white spotted-like man in the Alchemax construction site! Footage here!
Meg's heart dropped to her stomach as she saw Miles fighting the aforementioned man. They were at an Alchemax construction site and the person who was recording it was a construction worker going the opposite direction. Her held a hand over her mouth as the spotted man and Miles' mid-air collision with the ladder that Miles' dad was on broke the ladder causing him to fall off.
"Oh, my god," She muttered, as Miles' dad screamed but Miles, while mid-air fighting with the spotted man, grabbed his father with his web and put him safely on a terrace similar to one she and Miles was on a year prior.
Eventually, the spotted man kicked his own butt and sucked into a black hole somewhere.
Meg shook her head with a smile, locking her phone. She was so proud of him. Miles, Miles Morales was a hero, even if no one knew it. She did. She sent him a quick text, biting her lip.
[Megara 💜]: I saw you fight that dalmatian guy. You a hero I guess
Meg then pressed the stop button on the bus and got up from her seat. The bus slowed to a stop and then she got off, walking towards the Brownstone up the block with a party on the rooftop. It was now 5:56.
Her dunks tapped against the concrete of the side and a text notification showed up on her phone.
[Wonderboy 0_O]: thanks megara 💜😘
Meg stopped in front of a brick brownstone. It was beautiful, way better than the little apartment she grew up in with her mom and siblings.
[Megara 💜]: I'm in front of your crib, you on the rooftop already?
She looked up at the sound of music and saw where the vibrant party was happening on the rooftop. She walked up the stairs and pressed her orange painted nail against the doorbell, hearing it chime from behind the glass.
"La puerta está abierta!" The lady in the intercom informed them, and even though both Meg understood what she said in Spanish, she still decided to kindly translate with further instructions. "The door is open, just follow up to the rooftop."
She thanked the lady and pushed open the door. As they climbed the stairs, she couldn't help but feel nervous. What if what Miles wants to talk about isn't about the state of their relationship? But what if it is? But she pushed those thoughts aside, reminding herself that she was here to have fun and support Miles.
As she reached the rooftop, the party was in full swing. People were dancing, laughing, and drinking. There were balloons and decorations everywhere, and a table filled with food and drinks.
"Meg!" Miles' mom, Rio, spotted her and walked over, giving her a hug. "Good to see you again, mi hija."
"Good to see you too, Mrs. Morales," Meg smiled, returning the hug.
"Have you and Miles finally made it official yet?" Rio teased, nudging Meg with her elbow.
Meg rolled her eyes playfully. "No, not yet Mrs. Morales."
"Well, you two are always together," Miles' dad, Jefferson, joined in the teasing. "When are we going to see you as a couple?"
"Miles and I are just friends, Mr. Morales," Meg answered, trying to hide her blush.
"Speaking of Miles, do you know if that boy's coming anytime soon?" Rio asks, shaking her head at her son's tardiness.
Just on cue, Meg received a message from Miles.
[Wonderboy 0_O]: I'm getting my dad's cake. I'll be there in 5 minutes.
As she was about to tell Miles' parents that he said he will be there in five minutes, Rio's sister unexpectedly handed Rio the microphone, urging her to make a speech. Rio felt hesitant but took a deep breath and spoke to the crowd. However, she surprised everyone by inviting Jeff to make a speech as well. Jeff's beautiful words expressed his gratitude toward Aaron, who was memorialized across the street on a building wall, followed by expressing his gratitude towards Rio. There was still a hint of sadness in the air when he goes on to express his gratitude towards Miles but he had not yet arrived. Despite the emotional moment, the partygoers continued to celebrate, and Meg decided to text Miles.
[Megara 💜]: You're in big trouble, wonderboy by your parents, first you're late then you miss your dad's heartfelt speech about you. 🙄
[Wonderboy 0_O]: gimme a sec
She decided to step out and wait for him. She stood in front of the door to the rooftop. And a few minutes later, from leaning onto the railing she watches as Miles quickly and skillfully changes out of his Spider-Man suit to a jersey and sweats while also leaping up skipping tons of the stairs with two cakes in hand and now on the floor where the door to the rooftop is.
Miles' eyes widen not expecting Meg to be standing there but she isn't fazed.
"Have you been practicing?" She asked him, tilting her head to the side as she helped him out by taking his mask off of him due to him having his hands full with holding the two boxes of cake.
"A little." Miles lets out a breathily chuckle, looking down at her. Which Meg hasn't gotten used to because one day they're the same height. The next day Miles was a few inches taller than her and also muscular.
But a lot can happen in a span of a year.
"Figured." Meg nods as she puts his mask in his bag.
Miles grins, taking in Meg's outfit. "You look amazing," he says.
"A crop top, jeans and purple Jordan's I personally wouldn't qualify as an amazing look but thanks." Meg smiled before going on her tippy toes to give Miles a peck on the lips.
"Come on, let's go inside," Miles says, opening the loose rooftop door with his back. "I want you to meet some people."
Meg follows him back through the door. Miles gets a Spider-Sense that his parents are nearby and tries hiding his face with his hoodie while also keeping Meg close to him. Unfortunately, he couldn't keep her that close to him as he got closer to his parents because he needed to put the two boxes of cake down.
Meg silently communicated with Miles through their telepathic connection, a recent discovery they made after initially uncovering it while watching Spider-Man fight the Goblin a year ago. Miles knew he wasn't tripping when hearing Meg reply to his thoughts.
She asked if he was hiding from his parents, knowing full well he could hear her thoughts and respond the same way.
Yes.
"Want me to fall back?" she verbally asked. She could see the look in his eyes; he really didn't want her to, but she knew that she had to. "It's okay," She smiled, letting go of his hand.
She watched from afar as Miles was confronted for his lateness once more by his parents. But he kept trying to walk away from them although they wouldn't let up and followed him around.
"Gah, it was an emergency!" Miles exclaimed, feeling stressed. Meg was standing nearby, just a few steps away from the DJ booth, catching his eye. He was trying to reach her, but his parents were giving him a hard time about his recent behavior, while his aunt kept popping up out of nowhere. In an effort to distract his aunt, he walked away, hoping to lose his parents and get to Meg, but they appeared in front of him just seconds later.
"Oye!" His mom, Rio, called out, getting his attention.
"Aaah!" Miles screamed, startled by their sudden appearance.
"Who are you running around with anyway?" Rio questioned.
"Is it Ganke? I never liked him," Jeff chimed in.
"Yes, you did," Miles reminded him.
"He calls me by my first name," Jeff shot back.
"Ugh. We hate that," Rio groaned. "At least Meg is way more respectful and calls us by our last name, plus she speaks Spanish!" Rio gushed. "Wait, is she the one you've been running around with? I know you two have something more than just friendship."
"I have more friends than just Ganke and...uh, Meg," Miles corrected himself.
"Like who?" Jeff asked.
Subsequently, Jeff and Rio scolded Miles for his carelessness and publicly grounded him for two months. Meg followed Miles into his room to console him.
She softly knocked on his door a few moments after he shut it. "If you're here to give me three months, Dad. Then I know." He said from behind the door.
"Actually, it's me and I just wanted to check on you if you're okay," Meg replied. Miles opened the door upon those words. "But if you want your space I under-"
"No. Come in." Miles stepped to the side to let Meg come in. Her eyes took in the bedroom as she walked in. Miles closed the door behind her before throwing his puffer jacket on his bed and sitting on his bed.
"You wanna talk about it, Wonderboy?" Meg asked, leaning against his door.
Miles looked down at his sketchbook on the floor before grabbing it and then closing it. "Nah, not really. Can- can you just hold me?"
"I can do that." Meg replied as she walked over to him and sat down beside him. He let out a deep sigh as she wrapped her arm around his shoulder and leaned her head against his shoulder.
"Promise me something?" Miles asked after a moment.
Meg gave him a small smile and replied, "Sure."
Miles turned to face her; their foreheads pressed together. "Don't change."
Friends don't have their forehead pressed together in this manner. Meg thought to herself in a way that Miles couldn't hear it though.
Jeez, they really are in a situationship.
"Why would I change, Wonderboy?" Meg asked with a chuckle. "We're gonna be juniors soon, but let's not worry about that right now. No matter what happens, we won't change."
Meg then suggested they listen to "Hummingbird" together, one of Miles' favorite songs outside of "Sunflower." They both put in one of his AirPods and got lost in the music until a bright light interrupted them.
"Miles! Miles! Miles! Oh hey, Meg. You got a minute?" Gwen's voice called out.
"Oh! What?" Miles immediately took his AirPod off and so does Meg, who quickly sit up on the bed.
"How is this possible?" Meg wondered.
Miles sputters, "W-W-Gwen?" simultaneously. Meg giggles as he grabs his flying underwear. "How'd you-How did you? How did you get.." When he snatches up more of his flying belongings, Miles babbles. Gwen descends and sits crissed crossed next to Meg. "How have you been?" After some time, Miles asked her clearly.
Miles started to conceal what he perceived to be his humiliating items. Meg is his good friend, so he knew she never made judgments on anything other than the fact that he puts milk before cereal. But with Gwen, she's his friend yeah but he hasn't seen him in a while so it's different.
"It's a long story." Gwen mulled. She asked before getting up from Miles' bed, "Is this the room you grew up in?"
"Uh, it is." Miles stuffed his trash into his nightstand drawer. "But uh my dorm room is very adult." He assured while getting up and throwing the pink squishy that Meg was about to reach for to hold, out of his bedroom.
"Hey! I wanted that." Meg frowned at Miles. Though she understood why what Gwen thought of his room mattered to him. He didn't want to come off as a mess. He was the same exact way when Meg came over to his house for the first time. All awkward and bashful and saying a million sorry's about his messy room which Meg assured him was fine considering she's seen worse.
Meg received a sheepishly apologetic smile from Miles. "Sorry, Meglet." Unsurprisingly, whatever annoyance Meg had faded and her heart melted at the little nickname.
"Right, no, of course." Gwen played along while gazing at the stuffed animals Miles had placed atop his dresser. Meg won those for him at the Coney Island amusement park over the course of several hangouts since she is a ring toss goddess.
Gwen then noticed a collectible that Miles had on the same shelf and then did a common mistake by ripping it open to put it on the shelf much to the cringe of both Meg and Miles.
When Gwen webs his open sketchbook in her direction, Miles yelped. "Hey!"
Then Gwen inquired. "Are these your drawings?"
"What? No no." Miles tried to deny it as he leaned against his sketch board. He was still a little insecure about his art regardless of how many times Meg told him how amazing his work is.
"These drawings of Meg are amazing." Gwen complimented, as she skimmed the plentiful pages of drawings of Meg. "And I see that you two are going strong. I'm happy for you guys."
Meg and Miles glanced at each other but neither of them corrected Gwen.
Gwen saw one sketch including her and the other Spider-people and said, "I missed you too." to Miles before handing him back his sketchbook.
"Okay, so what are you doing here?" Miles asked, putting his closed sketchbook back on his bed. He then stepped towards Gwen. "I thought I mean I thought I'd never see you again." He admitted.
Gwen ignored his question and sat on the window ledge before asking back to Miles, "Wanna get out of here?"
"I'm grounded." Miles heaves with a sigh.
"Bummer." Gwen flips back, now outside. Miles rushes to the window and sees her standing on the building wall vertically. "Is Spider-Man grounded?" Gwen further asked.
"Um." Miles looks back at Meg who is sitting on his bed busying herself looking through his sketchbook and at drawing she's seen countless times but never got tired of looking at.
"I mean I.." He points back at Meg, he was planning on spending the rest of the day with her due to them cooped up in his bedroom maybe he even sneaked out as Spider-Man and re-doing one of their hangouts where he swung across the city with her. It might take a little (okay a lot) of convincing from Miles considering Meg swore to never do that again. But then Gwen gives him a defiant look through her mask which causes the thought of changing his plans to arrive in his head.
"Go," Meg spoke up, looking up from the sketchbook and at Miles who once again turns his head to look at her.
She understands how much it means to him to be with a fellow Spider-person who shares similar experiences in their job. Although Miles is grateful for Meg's support, they both know that she cannot fully comprehend the challenges he faces as Spider-Man.
Miles tilted his head with a facial expression that read Are you sure?
Meg nods with a small smile which cements Miles' change of plans.