Miles' POV
Making my way out of my dorm, I began walking down the hallway. Looking up, I spotted M/n stepping out of his dorm as well. He was scrolling through his phone, one of his earbuds already in. I speed-walked towards him.
"Hey, M/n," I called out to him.
He looked up at me with wide eyes before his expression went back to normal. "Hey, Morales."
"Come on," I said. "Call me Miles."
"Okay," he replied, nodding his head. "What's up?"
"You had breakfast yet?"
At that, he shook his head. "No, I haven't, actually. Why?"
"Since you haven't had breakfast, how 'bout we grab some together?"
"Oh. Sure."
I continued making conversation with him on our way to eat. Turns out M/n's a pretty fun guy to be around. "I'll see you around, Miles."
"I'll be keepin' an eye out!"
--
The teacher slid my graded test sheet toward me. On it was 0/100 written in red marker.
"A zero?" I asked in fake disbelief. "A few more of those and you'd probably have to kick me out of here, huh?"
She looked at me, her expression serious as she tapped the end of her marker against her desk. "Maybe I'm just not right for this school--"
"If a person wearing a blindfold picked the answers on a True or False quiz, at random, do you know what score they would get?"
"50%?"
"That's right."
"Wait--"
"The only way to get all the answers wrong is to know which answers are right", she said, adding a one and a zero next to the zero that was already written. "You're trying to quit. And I won't let you"
I rolled my eyes, seeing as she already figured me out entirely. "I'm assigning you a personal essay. Not about physics. But, about you...and what kind of person you want to be."
--
Sighing, I sat at my desk, looking down at my notepad. Written at the top was 'Great Expectations'. I had no idea what to write down. Getting an idea, I snuck out, leaving the school. I made my way to my Uncle Aaron's apartment. From outside, I could hear a song by Biggie Smalls playing loudly.
"Ha, sicker than your average, Poppa twist cabbage off instinct--"
"--Don't think sh-- stink, pink gators, my Detroit players--"
"--Timbs for my hooligans in Brooklyn--"
When I got to the window, I snapped a picture of him and sent it. It said 'I'm watchin' you' along with stickers placed around him.
"--Dead right, if the head right, Biggie there e'ry night, Poppa been smooth since days of Underoos--"
"--Never lose, never choose to, bruise crews who, do somethin' to us, talk go through us--"
"Uncle Aaron! Hey!" I called, squishing my face against the glass of the window. "Were you scared?"
He chuckled and got up to let me in. Once I got inside, I started throwing hits at his punching bag. "You want that? Huh?"
At the other side of the apartment, my Uncle Aaron was busy preparing some snacks. "What's up with school?"
"It's going great. Tons of friends."
"You can't tell me it's all that bad there. Smart girls is where it's at. Place must be full of 'em", he said before laughing again.
I laughed along with him, throwing a few more punches before heading over to the couch. "No, there's no one."
Uncle Aaron turned back to what he was doing, still amused by Miles' answer. "I can't have a nephew of mine out on the streets with no game."
"Hey. I got game," I replied. "It's just..."
"Just what?"
I buried my hands in my pockets, looking away as I shrugged. "It's not a girl...", I muttered.
He chuckled. "Not a girl? Come on, Miles. So, this guy then."
"I don't know. He's kinda into me."
"Into you? You got him into you?", he asked, laughing again. "So, what's the name of the guy you gotcha eyes on?
"It's M/n..."
"You know about the shoulder touch?", he asked, sitting beside me.
"Of course I do," I said, chuckling from my spot on the couch. "But, uh... tell me anyway."
"Tomorrow, find that guy. Walk up to him and be like", he started, putting his hand on my shoulder. "Hey."
I laughed, pushing his arm away. "You serious, Uncle Aaron?"
"I'm telling you, man," he replied with full confidence. "It's science."
"So, walk up to him and be like... Hey."
"No, no, no. Like... Hey."
"Hey."
"No. Hey."
"He-eyyyy," I said, messing it up a little before laughing at my lame attempt.
"You sure you my nephew, man?"
Before we could continue, my phone vibrated. "Is that him?"
I turned the screen on to see it was a message from my dad.
Dad
Done with that homework?
"Ah... I should probably go," I replied, my mood deflating. "Still got a paper to do tonight."
Uncle Aaron must've seen the sketchbook because he reached over for it. "Yo, you been holding out on me?
He took it into his hands and looked at the graffiti I'd drawn out. "You throw these up yet?"
"Nah, man. You know my dad," I told him. "I can't."
"Come on. I got a spot you ain't gon' believe."
"Nah, I can't. I can't. I can't--"
--
"--We're gonna get in so much trouble."
"Hey, man," he said. "Tell him your art teacher made you."
We walked through the tunnel inside the subway, me trailing behind my uncle. "Hey, how'd you know about this place?"
"Did an engineering job."
I watched as he ran and climbed over the fence. He looked over at me. I also ran forward but didn't quite make the jump. It took a while, but I finally got over it. "What's up?"
"Yeah, man. I knew we were related."
We continued forward until he lifted a switch, turning on the lights. "Whoa", I said, stepping further in. "Brooklyn!"
My voice bounced off the walls, creating an echo. "There's a lot of history on these walls."
While I set my backpack down in front of the clean white canvas of a wall, Uncle Aaron began taking the spray paint cans out of his bag. "This is so fresh."
He threw a pink spray can my way. I caught it and hit the cap against the floor, opening it. Music started playing on the boombox as I shook the cans, hearing the sound of the marble inside hitting the sides.
"And now, you on your own, Miles," Uncle Aaron said.
I sprayed a line of vibrant pink, taking it from one side of the canvas to the other. "Whoa, slow down a little. That's better."
"--Don't know who I am, when I'm coming so you sleep--"
Narrator's POV
"See, what you got now?" Aaron said as he observed. "Makin' mistakes is part of it."
"--And you can't beat that--"
Too absorbed in spraying the vibrant colors on the wall, he didn't notice the spider sliding down on its string of web. The word 'Alchemax' on it along with the number 42 on its body.
It crawled around, moving and jumping in between the cans of spray paint laying on the ground.
"The real Miles comin' outta hidin'."
After a bit more observing, Aaron finally got up from where he was seated and walked up to him. "Now, you can cut that line with another color."
"--You can get with this, or you can get with that--"
"--You can get with this, or you can get with that--!"
Without either of them noticing, the spider crawled its way up Miles' body, creeping up under his jacket as he continued spraying colorful paint onto the wall.
"--I think you'll get with this, for this is where it's at--"
When he got to a section he couldn't quite reach, he turned back to his uncle. "Little help?"
Miles was heaved and positioned to stand on Uncle Aaron's shoulders, who ensured the boy wouldn't fall as he continued to paint.
"--Who was quite the contrary, Talkin' bout Mary--"
"Did you want drips?" Aaron asked. "'Cause if you do, that's cool. But if you don't, you gotta keep it moving."
"That's intentional," Miles replied, opening up another can.
After finishing it, he stood in front of it, his uncle outlining his figure in white, creating a drip effect. They then sat down on the bench in front of it and admired the piece.
"Wow," Aaron said, looking at it proudly.
"Is it too crazy?"
"Nah, man. Miles... I see exactly what you're doin' there, man... Yeah."
At that, Miles smiled, beaming with pride at his work. Then, Aaron spoke up. "You know, me and your dad used to do this back in the day."
"Stop lyin'," Miles said, unconvinced by his words.
"It's true," Aaron replied, turning to look at him. "Then he... took on the cop thing and... you know. He's a good guy, just-- You know what I'm sayin'."
Miles looked down. The spider from before was on the hood of his sweater. It quickly scurried down into it. Just then, a phone went off. Presumably, his uncle's as he reached into his pocket and took it out.
"Alright, come on. I gotta roll," he said, standing up and leaving.
Miles grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. He quickly turned and took a picture of his artwork. Once he looked away, he saw the spider right on his hand, which made him gasp. It quickly leaned down and bit him.
After its bite, Miles looked at it annoyingly, before just smacking it away. He walked away as if nothing happened.
Miles' POV
I parted ways with Uncle Aaron. As I was making my back, I heard the sound of a ball hitting the ground. Peeking around the corner, I saw M/n inside a fenced court, which surprised me. I watched as he threw the ball towards the hoop, making it into the ring without touching the sides.
The ball bounced to a stop. M/n grabbed the chest area of his shirt and wiped his face. Deciding not to seem like a stalker any longer, I stepped out, pretending I had been walking by. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him turn to me.
"Miles?"
I turned to look back at him, acting surprised. "M/n? Hey!"
"What are you doing out so late?" he asked, getting closer to the fence.
I also walked towards him, meeting his gaze from the other side of the barricade. "I could ask you the same question."
He motioned me towards him, so I walked towards the gate and made my way inside the mini-court. "Why are you playing so late?"
"Well..." He started, leaning against the brick wall as he looked at me. "I couldn't sleep, so I decided to come out here. You?"
"Honestly... The same as you."
"That so?" he asked, his gaze trailing to my backpack. "What's with the big bag then?"
"Oh. This? Uh..." I replied, trying to come up with a good lie. "I was just--"
He tilted his head a little, waiting for my response. "Just doing a little street art..." I mumbled.
M/n chuckled slightly. "Haven't done that in a while..."
"What did you say?"
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it," he responded with a grin.
The moon illuminated his features. I felt awestruck for a moment until I realized I had been staring too much. A silence hung over us, making me a little uncomfortable.
"I didn't know you played basketball", I said, trying to bring up a topic.
"Yeah..."
"Do you play on a team?"
He hesitated for a second before speaking again. "No... I'm not. I play it, but I'm not on a team."
I was curious now. "Why don't you join one? You seem pretty good at it."
He turned to me and chuckled half-heartedly. "Thanks... But, for now... I'm just into streetball."
"Streetball? Really? That's cool!"
He smiled, sliding his hands into his pockets. "You really think so?"
"Yeah! So, have you gone against anyone?"
He laughed as I threw my fist in the air, pretending to fight someone. "I did, a couple of times."
"Did you win?"
"Most of them, yeah."
I continued listening to what M/n told me. Afterward, I challenged him to a game. I lost to him, but I wasn't mad. It was fun playing against him. He also seemed to enjoy himself as he was grinning a lot the whole time we played.
Eventually, M/n decided it was time to head back. We sneakily snuck into the school after he told me to quiet down because we had been laughing uncontrollably just a second before.
Soon, I stood in front of the door to my dorm room. I turned to him. In return, he smiled down at me. "I had fun, Miles..."
I smiled back at him. "Yeah... Me too..."
"Let's do this again sometime..."
"Yeah...", I said, my voice coming off a little dazed because my attention was fully on him.
His smile was enhanced by the moonlight coming from the window next to us. "I'll see you tomorrow, Miles...Night..."
"G...Good night..."
I watched as he walked off, hiding in the shadows. With a blush on my face, I quietly opened my door and walked in. Flopping down on my bed, I became a little dazed. I got to learn more about him. My mind drifted off to earlier, which only made me think about M/n even more.
But then... A thought occurred to me and my eyes widened. It was only now that I remembered what my Uncle Aaron said.
"Tomorrow, find that guy. Walk up to him and be like...Hey."
My heart began beating wildly in my chest. The nerves hit me like a ton of bricks all at once.
I can't do the shoulder touch with him! He'll think I'm weird! And totally creepy! But...what would he say if I did do that... No, wait! What?! What am I thinking?! Am I seriously considering this?!
Turning on my side, I buried my face in my pillow. My mind began creating an image in my head that only made my heart beat harder. I imagined what it would be like if it was M/n doing the shoulder touch on me. Surely, it wouldn't be as awkward as me doing it to him!
Just go to sleep!!!