-Morales Apartment....5:30PM-
"I'm sure he'll be here Mr and Mrs Morales. Just give him a little time and-"
"No más excusas Grayson, ¿dónde está MI HIJO?" Rio was pissed, and she had every right to be. Miles was late. 30 MINUTES LATE. If being left behind to talk with the head minister wasn't enough to put Miles six feet under, then how about missing his father's speech?
A speech dedicated to being promoted to Captain of Brooklyn's NYPD?
Grayson replies: "Se lo dije hace 30 minutos señora Morales, fue a recoger las tortas-"
"ESO, fue HACE 30 MINUTOS." Rio Interupts Grayson: "Los pasteles no tardan mucho en hacerse y tienen letras simples colocadas en ellos, Grayson. Déjame decirte algo chico, me gustas, confío en ti y sé que mi hijo quiere ser tu modelo a seguir por XYZ, pero si mi hijo está haciendo algo que TÚ sabes y no quieres decirme, ¿cómo puedes ¿También te veo como un hijo si no puedo confiar en ti?"
That made Grayson teary. As though there was some paternal relationship between this young man and Miles's mother-Yet again, another foreshadowing of who Grayson REALLY was.
All of a sudden: "Miles! You made it!" Jefferson and Rio heard distant relatives call out and even speak with Miles!
"I guess it's best to hear it from the horse's mouth." Jefferson was the first to sneak behind Miles's back, followed by Rio. Followed by Grayson.
"Miles, your parents were looking for you ese," Cousin Manny tells Miles: "Where you've been man?"
"What'chu mean Manny?" Miles chuckles nervously: "I've been here the whole time-"
"That's a LIE and you KNOW IT." Rio tells Miles, making the teenager jump.
He turns around quickly: "Hi Mom! Hi Pops!" Miles chuckles: "I'm sure my buddy told you where I went, right?" He shows them the cakes, not realizing what was written on them: or mushed together to say the least.
"Esos son los pasteles más feos que he visto en mi vida." Rio tells Miles
"Right..." Miles replies: "I knew I should have used an uber." He whispers to himself before trying to hide from his parents
"What are you hiding Miles?" Jefferson asked his son: "I had to give a speech without you present."
"I know-I'm sorry-"
"No you're not." Rio tells Miles: "This was your father's celebration of being promoted to Captain. Everyone else made it here BUT YOU. And then you had Grayson cover for you-"
"Grayson, didn't I tell you I was going to get the cakes that were pre-ordered, but weren't pre-ordered because the lady never took the order down?"
"Yes." He replies: "Look man, I don't like confrontations." Which we all know, that was a LIE. Grayson didn't want ANYTHING to do with the wrath of a Puerto-Rican Mother.
Not even Goku, despite his fear of Chi-Chi, would want to be in Miles's shoes when it came to the wrath of the Puerto-Rican Mother.
"See-"
"Don't bring that young man into your mess." Rio tells Miles: "Your father worked hard on getting promoted. He studied for 8 months-"
"9! It was like giving birth!-"
"No it wasn't-"
"You're right, it wasn't like giving birth."
"On top of that, you left me to talk with the head minister by myself-"
"I had an emergency- you can blame Grayson for not being the pupil of the day-"
"Of course, blame ME when I just SAID that I don't want ANY part of YOU getting into Trouble-"
"If I'm going down, you're going down with me-"
"Not Cool Man!"
"Who else have you been hanging with besides Grayson!? Gankey?!"
"What do you have against Gankey!?-"
"He calls me by first name!" Jefferson tells Miles
"Ugh, we hate that." Rio remarks
"I have more friends than Just Gankey and Grayson."
"Oh yeah? Who?" Jefferson asked
"Well...There's Peter...He dipped out of town...And then there's Gwanda...She dipped town due to a family emergency..."
"Miles, danos a break." Rio remarks
"Is that Spanglish?" Rio gives Miles a death glare.
"You're making this worse..." Grayson mutters under his breath.
"Look, does it ever occur to you guys that MAYBE I'm doing some private-remarkable things when I'm not around you guys-"
"Nope/Never." Jefferson and Rio replies
"Look, I am 17 years old, I'm basically an Adult-"
"Oh really?"
"You don't even have a driver's license-"
"NEITHER DOES MOM-"
"That's because we live in New York and we're not leaving anytime soon." Jefferson replies, with Rio agreeing.
"It's my life-"
"It's not your life Miles." Rio tells Miles: "Es mio. Es de tu padre. ¡Son tus abuelos y abuelas los que dieron esta vida que daría cualquier cosa por revivir de nuevo!"
"Alright-Alright-Whatever-Whatever." This moment...Right here...would be the moment...Miles...Fucked up.
'Ooo...Shit.' Grayson nearly turned pale
"Whatever?" Rio asked
"You shouldn't have said that." Grayson whispered
"Whatever?" Rio asked again
"You really shouldn't have said that."
"WHATEVER!?"
"Now you're gonna get it."
"Can I say it? Please allow me to say it." Jefferson replies
"Say it."
"Thank you-YOU'RE GROUNDED!"
"WHAT!?"
"Oh yeah!"
"For how long!?"
"A Month!"
"A Month!?" Grayson and Miles said in unison
"Mrs. Morales, you and Mr. Morales gotta reconsider-"
"Didn't you say you didn't want any PART OF THIS?"
Grayson sweats: "I did say that..." He nervously chuckles
"You guys don't understand-"
"YOU'RE RIGHT! WE DON'T UNDERSTAND-"
"JUST LISTEN TO ME-"
"YOU GOT IT CHAMP! SAY WHATEVER IT IS YOU GOTTA SAY! WE DUNNO WHAT'S GOING WITH YOU LATELY!? SO YOU GOT THE FLOOR! TELL US WHATEVER IT IS YOU WANNA SAY SO BADLY!"
Grayson's heart was rapidly beating in his chest. If Miles told his parents he was Spider-man...
"....." Miles took a deep breath. The music stops. Everyone looks at the Morales family as the family argument reaches its peak. He rubs his face: "You know what? Nevermind. Come on Grayson. We can chill in my room."
"...Uh...Sure..." Grayson had a sad look on his face. It was hard to see Miles hide the truth from his parents. But telling them would put them in harm's way. What could Miles do? What could Grayson do? He couldn't do anything until Miles broke first. If he wasn't breaking, Grayson wasn't breaking either.
________________________________________________________________________________
"Man, this is some bullshit!" Miles shouts in anger: "Ugh..."
"Well...At least you get a break from fighting mutants and super-villains that wanna kill you."
"You're trying to find a bright side to this!?"
"Too soon?" Grayson cringed
"You know what? You're lucky. To have parents be cool with the fact that you're a hero and all. I wish I could have your life."
"...Miles...Trust me...You don't want that life." Grayson says it as low as he could so Miles couldn't hear him.
"You can look through my journal if you want." He tells Grayson: "Imma put on my beats. If you need something, throw something at me. Kay?"
"Um...Sure." When Miles places the Headphones on his ears...
"MILES!"
"Huh?" Grayson could hear a female voice call out Miles's name.
"MILES!"
There it was again!
"MILES!"
Grayson turned around...And he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
A LITERAL PORTAL.
And coming out of this said floating portal...Was none other than Gwen Stacy...
The one...
The Only...
Spider-Gwen.