This kid was going to be the death of him.

by TerrificMango

Summary:

“The way you’re acting, it’s like you’re Spiderman’s dad or something.”

“What- I- I’m not acting like his dad!” Jefferson protested. “I’m just trying to look out for the kid. Someone has to.”

Maria just gave him a look. “That’s exactly like something a dad would say.”

Notes:

Based off of this tumblr post: http://cynicalwindmill.tumblr.com/post/181257445839/silvermoonphantom-ironinkpen-concept-after-a

Chapter 1: the birth of spider-dad

After one meeting, Jefferson Davis thought the new Spiderman was a little short and had a bit of a weird voice, but didn’t really think twice about it.

After two meetings, Jefferson realized the new Spiderman was really short for a hero, like he was younger than he’d thought, and the voice sounded almost fake, like he was trying to make it sound deeper on purpose.

After three meetings, Jefferson decided the voice was definitely fake, which made him wonder what on earth the new Spiderman was trying to hide.

After four meetings and seeing numerous interviews on television, Jefferson finally realized that the new Spiderman was a kid. And not a college kid, maybe not even a high school kid, but a kid probably around the same age as his son.

That was when the trouble began.

______________________________

“This new Spiderman...I think he’s Miles’s age,” Jefferson said suddenly one night.

Rio paused in washing the dishes where she stood at the sink. “What makes you say that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’ve talked to him face to face,” he admitted. “It’s just, he’s too short to be an adult, and his voice always sounds like he’s trying to make himself sound older on purpose. He really seems like a young kid.”

Rio started washing the dishes again, but more slowly this time, pensively. “What are you going do about it?” she asked carefully.

Jefferson rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know what I can do about it, really,” he admitted. “It doesn’t sit right with me to have a young kid out there fighting villains, but it’s not like I can just tell him to stop. I doubt he’d listen to me.”

Truthfully, up until just a few weeks ago, telling Spiderman to stop superheroing and having him listen would have been a dream come true for Jefferson. He’d never liked the vigilante and thought New York would be better off with justice left in the hands of qualified, accountable professionals. Now the same was still true, but for vastly different reasons.

“It’s just, being a superhero isn’t just fun and games. I saw his fight with Kingpin,” Jefferson continued, his mind flooding with memories of the event. “At one point, Kingpin knocked him down, and he didn’t get back up for nearly half a minute. It was terrifying, and that was with me just watching it. No kid should have to go through something like that.”

“I mean, the old Spiderman was still in high school when he first started,” Rio said quietly. “It’s not like this is something new, Jefferson.”

“Yeah, but-“ Jefferson sighed. “You know what he did, right after the fight? He hugged me and then told me he loved me. How am I supposed to interpret that? Especially now that I know how young he is?” 

A terrible thought suddenly struck him. “What if- what if the reason he acted that way towards me was that he was actually upset? He’s a child, maybe he actually was really scared during that fight.” He turned to Rio. “What if he was just trying to reach out to the only person nearby at the time?”

Rio’s look of surprise turned into a worried frown. “If he’s as young as you think he is, I wouldn’t be surprised. This was his first fight as far as we know of, after all.”

“God…” Jefferson pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “Does anyone else know about his identity? Is there anyone he can even talk to about all of this?” He started to pace. “How about his parents? Do they know how much danger he’s putting himself in?”

“The only one who can tell you all that is Spiderman, Jeff,” Rio said helplessly.

“But how am I supposed to do that?” Jefferson said. “It’s not like I could just point blank ask Spiderman about his parents.”

______________________________

“Do your parents know that you’re Spiderman?”

Spiderman froze and just stared at Jefferson, blinking a few times. Around them, people rushed around, cleaning up the wreckage from the Lizard’s latest rampage. “What?”

“I mean, uh-“ Jefferson stumbled. He hadn’t meant to just blurt it out like that. “This is a dangerous job. I’d think your parents would have a right to know that you’re out here risking your life so much. Do they know?”

“I- well, uh-“ Spiderman stammered, and his voice came out nervous. His whole body had tensed up, Jefferson realized.

Jefferson instantly backtracked. He didn’t want to scare the kid off. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry about your identity. It’s okay if you don’t want to answer.” He turned to leave.

“Wait.” Jefferson turned back to see Spiderman staring quizzically at him. “So you just genuinely want to know about my parents, because you don’t know? There’s no other reason?”

“Why would there be another reason?” Jefferson said, bemused.

“Oh. Wow. I mean, it’s nothing,” Spiderman corrected himself. He let out a nervous laugh. “I thought you were talking about something else.”

“O-kayy,” Jefferson said. The awkwardness of asking Spiderman about his parents was suddenly starting to hit him and he actually wanted to leave, now -

“And, uh, to answer your question…” Spiderman said slowly, making Jefferson stop. Spiderman shifted his weight, crossing his arms.

“My parents don’t know,” he said quietly. 

A beat passed, and then Spiderman turned and jumped, swinging off into the night. As he disappeared into the horizon, Jefferson just stared after him.

______________________________

“His parents don’t know, Rio,” Jefferson said, plunking down into a chair. He dragged his hands down his face. “Oh my God...his parents don’t even know he’s Spiderman. Can you imagine?”

Rio’s eyebrows knit together. “But even if they don’t know he’s Spiderman, they must notice him disappearing all the time, or getting injuries. How could they not tell?”

“I don’t know. I have no idea how he’d be able to hide something like that,” Jefferson said, shaking his head. “What really worries me is that it seems like there’s no one looking out for this kid. If his parents don’t know, what happens if he gets seriously injured or disappears? He can’t take care of everything on his own.”

A subdued expression fell on Rio’s face. “You’re thinking of the old Spiderman.”

Jefferson nodded. “Yeah.” He sighed. “You know, they say he died alone, and most of his friends and family didn’t even know his identity until after he had already died. I just can’t imagine something like that happening to a kid so young.”

There was a silence between them, filling the kitchen.

“But he’s not going to listen,” he said finally. “Even if I try to get him to quit being Spiderman, he’s not going to listen to me. Those superhero types never do.”

“Well, you never know,” Rio offered. “Maybe you could get him to stick to small stuff. Just minor crimes, not big things that could get him killed.”

“Maybe you’re right, Rio,” Jefferson said slowly. “Maybe that’s the only way to get through to him.”

______________________________

But, well. Easier said than done.

The next time he saw Spiderman, it was at yet another crime scene. People were rushing around, escorting out the villains, taking care of the victims- and Jefferson had a job to do too, but when he saw Spiderman standing alone, he could only think that this was his chance to talk to the kid. 

“Have you ever thought about...you know...not being Spiderman?”

The moment the words left his mouth, Jefferson could feel Rio rolling his eyes at him. Well, he never claimed words were his strong suit.

Spiderman just stared at him. “What?”

“I-“ Jefferson coughed awkwardly. “Well, you know, this is such a dangerous job for a kid your age. Are you sure you couldn’t use your powers for something a little more safe?”

Spiderman squinted at him. “I can handle it,” he said after a pause.

“Well- yeah, I know you can,” Jefferson said. “But that doesn’t mean you can just keep putting your life at risk.”

“Actually, I think it kind of does,” Spiderman replied. “It’s my job to protect people and that’s what I’m going to do. You...you don’t have to worry about me.” He turned to go.

A wave of frustration hit Jefferson, and on impulse he reached out to grab Spiderman’s shoulder. “Just, just look. I have a son who’s about your age.” Spiderman’s eyes widened and his mouth started to open, but Jefferson cut him off. “And I know you’re doing the whole thing with the voice to try and sound older, but it doesn’t fool me. I know you’re a pretty young kid.”

Jefferson sighed. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt. I don’t want you to get killed out there because you think you’re invincible.”

Spiderman was staring up at him, his eyes wide. He started to shift a little and Jefferson quickly took his hand off his shoulder, feeling a bit sheepish. He still had to get one last thing in, though.

“Look, I know saving people is your whole deal. I know I can’t convince you to stop that. But please, just listen to me and be careful, alright? Stay as safe as you can.” Jefferson stared down at Spiderman, willing him to make this easy.

There was a long pause between them. Finally, Spiderman looked away. “Y-Yeah,” he said quietly, and if Jefferson hadn’t known better, he could have sworn he heard his voice crack. Spiderman took a deep breath. “I’ll- I’ll try.”

They just stood like that for a few seconds, and then Spiderman turned and was gone again, swinging off into the horizon. It left Jefferson wondering whether he had actually gotten through to the kid. Either way, though, he knew that now he would have to do whatever it took to make sure this new Spiderman didn’t get hurt, because it didn’t seem like he was going to stop heroing on his own anytime soon.

God. This kid was going to be the death of him. 

Notes:

After seeing into the spiderverse I looked at my sister and said “I need to write a fic for this RIGHT NOW” and lo and behold I am here folks

Also there is a serious lack of identity reveal in this fandom as of now (which is weird because I would have thought it would be super popular immediately) so anyway I gotta rectify that. Hopefully I will be able to update this semi-often because I’m on break right now, but looking at my past track record...all bets are off. ahahaha.

tumblr: cynicalwindmill

Chapter 2: dad instincts ACTIVATE

“Okay, that’s it. What is it with you and the new Spiderman?” Maria finally said to him one day.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jefferson answered. They were sitting together in a patrol car, and had just been listening to the radio when Spiderman came up in a report. It hadn’t even been about him- just an offhand mention that he was swinging around in the middle of another report- but Jefferson had still snapped to attention for any news on him.

Maria groaned. “You know what it means. You used to be Mr. I-Hate-Spiderman all the time, and now suddenly you’re constantly looking for news about him and volunteering to help out every time he catches a villain. I know you go out of your way to talk to him at basically every crime scene. What gives?”

“I don’t talk to him at every crime scene,” Jefferson said uncomfortably. He wasn’t being that obvious about it, right? 

Maria raised her eyebrows, her expression dripping with skepticism. Jefferson sighed and knocked his head back against the seat.

Truth be told, Jefferson was doing everything Maria had described and more. It was just that it was the only thing he could think to do. He had already given Spiderman his whole lecture about being safe, and Spiderman had seemed to take it seriously (or at least he hadn’t laughed off Jefferson’s concerns right off the bat, which he had honestly half expected the hero to do). But Jefferson had quickly realized that even if Spiderman had been sincere about trying to be safer, he had no way to tell how that actually translated to his heroic activities. Spiderman didn’t exactly broadcast what he was doing every minute of the day; a lot of the time, the general public- Jefferson included- didn’t even know that Spiderman was fighting some new villain until he had already defeated them. That left a lot of gaps in Jefferson’s knowledge of what exactly that kid was out there doing, too many for his liking. Was he being any more cautious than before? Was he staying out of situations that (in Jefferson’s opinion) were too much for him? Or was he just recklessly throwing himself into danger in the same way that he had been before? Jefferson had no way of knowing.

So he had ended up essentially hounding Spiderman down any and every time he popped up, trying to check up on him and make sure he was okay. Jefferson had given up any hope of convincing Spiderman to actually give up the superhero business completely at this point, but this was the next best thing he could do to make sure the kid stayed safe. He knew that the way he was acting looked a bit weird from the outside, especially whenever he volunteered to be part of the patrol sent to deal with a Spiderman situation despite being all the way across the city, but he hadn’t thought it would be that noticeable.

Maria was waiting for an answer. Jefferson just shrugged awkwardly. “You know, it’s just that the new Spiderman is pretty young. Like, a lot younger than the old one was. I just think that someone should make sure that he’s safe.”

Maria snorted. “Okay, I get where you’re coming from, but still- keep Spiderman safe? Spiderman? ”

Jefferson groaned. “Okay look, if you have to know- I have a son the same age as him. The same age as what I think he is, anyway. So that’s what I think every time I see him out there fighting crime. I can’t help but get a little concerned about him.”

Maria laughed a little bit more, shifting in her seat to face him. “So let me get this straight- the new Spiderman reminds you of your son, and that’s why you’re out here every day chasing him all over the place and getting worried about him every other minute.”

“Well, yeah…” Jefferson said defensively. He hadn’t thought Maria would find it so funny.

“God, this is so great. It’s like you’re Spiderman’s dad or something.”

“What- I- I’m not acting like his dad!” Jefferson protested, spluttering. He definitely hadn’t expected this kind of reaction.  “I’m just trying to look out for the kid. Someone has to.”

Maria just gave him a look. “That’s exactly like something a dad would say.”

“Ugh…” Jefferson pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. He wasn’t being like a dad, right? He just had a healthy amount of concern for a teenager putting himself in so much danger regularly. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

Right then, the radio crackled back to life. “Spiderman’s been sighted fighting some muggers over by Linden and Pennsylvania. Requesting units to support and apprehend the criminals when he’s done.”

That was a little far from there; he could go to the scene, but it would look ever so slightly odd. Jefferson looked sideways at Maria. She was pointedly avoiding his gaze, casually inspecting her nails. 

“Come on. We both know you want to go,” she said without looking up.

Jefferson dragged one hand down his face, but he still started up the engine. Outside the corner of his eye, he could see Maria starting to smirk at him.

“Stop that. It’s not that weird.”

“Yessir. Sure it’s not.”

By the time they got over to the right location, with the muggers webbed to the side of a building, there were already a few other of his coworkers there. Some of them gave him weird looks, but he could care about that later. The most important thing was that Spiderman was still here.

“Hey! Spiderman!” Jefferson called out, getting out of his car. Spiderman turned from where he had been about to swing away, releasing a just-fired strand of webbing with a flick of his wrist. When he saw Jefferson, he raised a hand in greeting.

“Hi! What’s up, officer?” Spiderman said brightly as Jefferson made his way over to him. Spiderman had stopped using that horribly fake accent ever since Jefferson told him he knew it wasn’t real, but even now his voice sounded a bit strained, like he was still trying to alter it. It made Jefferson wonder what the hero was so worried about- but prying into Spiderman’s identity wasn’t really his priority, right now.

“Ah, nothing much with me, just normal stuff on the job,” Jefferson said absently. He was looking at the webbed up muggers, who by now were being escorted to the patrol cars by the others. 

“Muggings are good, that’s quick and easy to take care of and usually not as dangerous as some of the other stuff you do,” Jefferson told Spiderman, who nodded just a little. The first time he had caught up with Spiderman after a fight to lecture him on safety, he had seemed taken aback by it and like he wanted to leave, but now it had become so regular that Spiderman seemed to expect it whenever Jefferson showed up at a crime scene.

Jefferson caught sight of a gun being held by another officer, having taken it from the muggers, and he frowned. “Guns are still bad news though, especially if they’re hiding it at first and they’re able to just pull it out on you with no warning, so you still have to be careful. I’m assuming that your suit isn’t bulletproof-“

“Oh, I know it is,” Spiderman said casually. Seeing Jefferson’s slight look of alarm, he hastily added, “And that’s not because I’ve gotten shot, I just...know the person who made it.”

Jefferson briefly wondered at the fact that Spiderman hadn’t made his own suit (who else would have made it for him?) but he moved past it toward the pressing matter at hand. “Well, even if that’s true-“ and Jefferson was skeptical, he didn’t see how a set of tights was going to block a bullet, “-that still doesn’t mean you should rely on it to completely protect you all the time. You need to be just as careful as anyone else, no matter how many fancy powers you have. You understand?” Jefferson had, frankly, lost count of how many tips like this he had given to Spiderman. He could only hope it was making at least some progress in getting the kid to be more cautious.

“Uh huh,” Spiderman said, his head bobbing. “I mean, uh, yeah. I will do that. Yes.” He flashed a finger gun at Jefferson before seeming to instantly regret it and awkwardly putting his hand down. 

Slow, but sure, progress.

“So uh, you got anything else for me, officer?” Spiderman said, looking up at him. It made Jefferson briefly wonder if Spiderman had anywhere to be, which immediately triggered another thought.

“Yeah. Do you finish your homework before you go out fighting crime every day?” he said without thinking.

Why did he always just blurt out questions wherever Spiderman was concerned? 

Spiderman’s mouth dropped open. “Do I what? ”

Oh god, why had he done that. “You know, you always seem to be out heroing in the afternoons when most kids are doing their homework,” he said awkwardly. “Do you get all your homework done before then, or…” Jefferson suddenly frowned at him. “I feel like I’ve seen you around during the times when school is going on. Do you skip-“

“I don’t skip school!” Spiderman protested. He scratched the back of his neck. “Or well, not often. It’s just when something really big is going on that I have to.”

“You can’t just leave school to be Spiderman!” Jefferson said, scandalized. “What do your teachers think?”

“I...may just tell them that I’m sick most of the time,” Spiderman mumbled.

“I can’t believe this,” Jefferson said, crossing his arms. “This isn’t the sort of example Spiderman should be setting- are you even done with your homework tonight?”

“...nnno? But it’s not even that much,” Spiderman said slowly. Jefferson gave him a disapproving look. “Fine, fine, fine, I’ll go do it right now, I swear,” Spiderman said, putting his hands up in defeat as he started to back out of the alley. He shot off a web at a nearby building.

“See ya, officer!” he said as he jumped up to swing away.

“Stay safe! And do your work!” Jefferson yelled after him. He watched him swing around a corner and disappear- and then he slowly put his head in one of his hands. 

“Oh my God…” Even beyond all the dangers of being a superhero, which had been enough to worry about on its own, this kid was skipping school and taking time away from his homework to be Spiderman. It was like all the different things he had to worry about with this boy kept multiplying. He could feel a migraine coming on.

Suddenly, he remembered he wasn’t alone there. He turned around quickly, and realized that all of the other officers had already left (thank God). But there was one patrol car still left. Jefferson’s stomach dropped.

He walked over to his patrol car and opened the door. There, Maria was still sitting in the passenger’s seat. She just raised her eyebrows at Jefferson, an air of smug self-satisfaction about her.

Jefferson got into the driver’s seat. “Not one single word.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Maria replied, but she kept grinning as they drove away.

______________________________

It took a few days, but Jefferson eventually decided that he, officially, had three tiers of priority when it came to looking out for Spiderman:

1. Physical safety. This was obviously the most important one, since he really, really didn’t want the kid to get seriously hurt out there while fighting a villain. The only good news was that Spiderman seemed to be taking at least some of Jefferson’s advice to heart, if the slight lessening in the amount of insanely reckless stunts was anything to go by (like when he tried to fight off twenty of the Lizard’s mooks at once in the middle of Times Square, like what had he been thinking? ). 

It was a relief because, frankly, Jefferson had no idea if anyone had actually trained this kid in all the Spiderman-ing he was doing, or if he was just winging it based on the way the previous Spiderman had acted, which had honestly been even more dangerous.

(Also, would it kill him to take it a little bit slower with the webslinging? Jefferson saw him swinging around town a lot, and he was definitely sure that that speed was unsafe, even for Spiderman- never mind his habit of randomly dropping down onto the streets and running between the cars while webslinging. One time he had landed on the road right next to Jefferson’s car in the middle of a patrol, and it had nearly given him a heart attack.)

2. His life outside of Spiderman. Jefferson was not going to let Spiderman’s grades drop just because there was some bank robbery on 39th Street. This was, admittedly, complicated by the fact that Jefferson had no idea what Spiderman’s civilian identity was and couldn’t actually check on his grades or whether he had really done his homework or not. He hoped that just getting on his case about it regularly would be enough to convince him to stop blowing it off to be Spiderman, because Jefferson definitely wasn’t going to let the kid damage his future just for some superhero gig. At the very least, it had seemed to work the other day, since Spiderman had promised to do his homework after Jefferson had started lecturing him about it.

(Or at least, he had said he would. Spiderman wouldn’t lie , right? Spiderman couldn’t lie.)

3. Finally, there was Spiderman’s emotional health. Which was the most difficult to approach out of all of the three.

Jefferson would be the first to admit that he wasn’t the best at helping other people out with their feelings. It wasn’t his strong suit, and that was even when it was a normal situation and not something crazy like trying to counsel Spiderman. But it was a huge lie to say that he wasn’t worried about this kid- between having to fight every day, seeing all the civilian casualties and damages that came from battles, and of course, the terrifying fight with Kingpin, Jefferson wasn’t sure if he’d be able to handle this job, let alone all that burden being placed on the shoulders of someone so young. Spiderman always seemed confident in public, but Jefferson was sure he couldn’t be completely unaffected by it all, and it...it hurt his heart to think about what this kid could be going through, with no one to talk to about it.

The fact that Spiderman had hugged him and told him he loved him was what he kept coming back to, he supposed. That had been the event that had really made him first concerned about how Spiderman was holding up, and now he kept replaying it in his mind, trying to figure out what had been going on in his head in that moment. Spiderman hadn’t tried to hug him since then, or even acknowledged that it ever happened, and Jefferson wasn’t about to bring it up. (Not that he wouldn’t give Spiderman a hug if he wanted it- maybe it was because he already spent so much time worrying about him, but sometimes he saw Spiderman at crime scenes and he really looked like he could use one.)

Jefferson mentally reviewed that last thought and sighed, rubbing his eyes. Maybe Maria was right.

 

Notes:

First off, I am really sorry for the long wait for this chapter! Right after I posted the first one, things got really crazy for me with college apps and then with academic decathlon (because yeah I’m a nerd lol). I was originally hoping for this chapter to be longer, but eventually to decided to just post what I had because you guys have waited long enough haha. Because the academic decathlon thing is still ongoing, I can’t promise when I’ll get the next chapter out, but I’m hoping that I can post it within the next two weeks.

Also, I have just been absolutely stunned at the amount of response this fic has gotten. Thank you all so much, all of your comments are so sweet and they’re what motivate me to keep writing!!

Thanks for reading!

Main blog: cynicalwindmill
Writing blog: cynicalwrites

Chapter 3: dadness increasing by the second

“You’re bleeding!”

“What?” Spiderman looked down at his arm, where a rip in his suit exposed a nasty gash.

...And dark brown skin. Jefferson’s mind stuttered over that for a second, but he shook it off. This wasn’t the time to be speculating about Spiderman’s identity.

“Oh, yeah,” Spiderman said in surprise, then he just shrugged. “It’s not that serious, I’ll be fine.”

Jefferson wasn’t listening. “Wait here,” he said, rushing to his patrol car. He came back with his first aid kit, already fumbling to get it open- he hadn’t done this since the basic first aid training back in the police academy, but he was hoping memory would serve him right.

“Ah-“ Spiderman said quickly as Jefferson pulled out a bandage of the right size. “You don’t need to do that-“

Jefferson interrupted him. “Can I see your arm?”

Spiderman protested a little more and then finally did as asked. He stared at Jefferson as he slowly bandaged up his arm. Finally, Jefferson finished up with it and Spiderman pulled his arm back, inspecting the bandage.

“Huh. Nice. I mean, thank you,” he added hurriedly.

Jefferson closed the first aid kit and then frowned at him. “So, what do you normally do when you get injured?” 

Spiderman scratched the back of his head. “Oh, I usually just treat it myself…”

“ What? ” Jefferson gaped at him. “That’s not safe! Do you even know how to do this stuff?"

“Yeah, I do! My m- I mean, I know a nurse, and she taught me how to do first aid!” Spiderman protested.

“Why don’t you just go to a hospital or something?” Jefferson demanded. 

“I can’t go to a hospital or people will start asking why I’m injured all the time!” Spiderman answered.

Jefferson opened his mouth to retort and then closed it as the implications of that sentence slowly processed. 

“...Does nobody else in your life know? Nobody that would know why you were injured?” he said quietly.

Spiderman stared at Jefferson for a while. Finally he said, “Only one. I know a few people through this...work...that help me sometimes, but they aren’t always around or have the time to help me, so usually I just take care of it myself…” He exhaled and looked down, avoiding Jefferson’s gaze. “Only one person from my normal life knows. And he doesn’t really know any more about this stuff than I do.”

“I’m guessing that he’s not an adult, then.”

Spiderman was still staring studiously at the ground. “Yeah. He’s a friend. My age.”

Jefferson swallowed. His mouth was dry.  “Kid...you know this would be so much safer if your parents knew. Or any responsible adult. The more people who know, the more people who can help you. You know that, right?”

And there it was. The moment Jefferson mentioned telling his parents, Spiderman clammed up. Got tense, just like that first time Jefferson had brought up his parents months ago. Jefferson didn’t know anything about what Spiderman’s situation might be like, but the message was clear- telling his parents, at least for the moment, wasn’t on the table.

But God, what was Jefferson supposed to do? This kid was hiding his injuries and treating them all by himself instead of telling anyone about it, just to keep his identity secret from everyone else. When he got injured, his first thought wasn’t to reach out to someone else for support, it was how he could prevent everyone else from finding out that he was hurt- and the conclusion he had reached was for him to handle everything by himself. Him. This young kid, this child who should be worrying about homework and friends and chores and- and anything but how to treat his own injuries while making sure no one ever found out about his double life. Spiderman said he knew people (presumably adults) through his work- how come none of them had stopped him, stopped this kid from doing something no kid should have to do? Did none of them see how inherently awful all this was?

Jefferson felt like the air had been knocked out of his lungs. He’d never thought about what Spiderman did with his injuries. Even when he knew he hadn’t told his parents, he’d just assumed naively that it was still being taken care of safely. He’d never imagined it would be this bad.

How could it be that there was only one person in Spiderman’s ordinary life that he trusted enough to tell them his identity? To tell them that he could get seriously hurt or killed on any given day? When obviously his parents would want to know what was happening and help-

The pit of Jefferson’s stomach suddenly went cold. He was acutely aware he still knew next to nothing about the boy behind the mask. All this time he had assumed Spiderman had parents who would care if they found out, but what if-

What if he hadn’t told his family because he had the kind of parents who wouldn’t?

Jefferson realized with a start that neither of them had said anything for a short while. After Jefferson had asked him about his parents again, a thick silence had grown between them, Jefferson lost in thought while Spiderman seemed to still be trying to figure out a response.

Spiderman’s mouth was moving soundlessly, trying to articulate what he wanted to say. “I- the situation with my parents is complicated-

“It’s, it’s okay,” Jefferson interrupted him quietly. “You don’t have to tell them if you don’t want to.”

He didn’t want to press Spiderman any more about his parents, not when it was clearly a touchy subject. He didn’t know anything about his civilian life, anything at all, he realized. He didn’t want to push him to do things when he didn’t know anything about his situation. And he wasn’t going to convince Spiderman to reveal his identity to more, non-parents people late at night on 86th Street, not when he’d probably already messed up this interaction a few times. But how else could he ensure this kid was safe? 

Jefferson made a snap decision.

“I know some people at this hospital.” He fumbled for a piece of scrap paper in his jacket, wrote down the name of Rio’s hospital, and handed it to Spiderman. “Go here, so you can get actual medical treatment for your injuries.”

“What?” Spiderman looked down at the name of the hospital, and his eyes widened. “But- I don’t want to bother- and I don’t have the money to pay you-“

Jefferson wanted to tear his hair out. Why were superheroes always so stupidly self-sacrificial? He’d explain the situation to Rio and she’d take care of it. And anyway- “You’re literally Spiderman. I’m sure you’ve saved a bunch of the staff already. They’ll probably treat you for free.”

Spiderman still looked uncertain. Jefferson groaned internally- he swore, convincing this kid to adopt the slightest modicum of safety was like herding cats- and looked him in the eye. “Look. Promise me you’ll go. I’ll talk to them, make sure they don’t ask about your identity or anything like that.” He tried cracking a joke. “If nothing else, it’ll help me sleep at night.” (Okay, maybe not entirely just a joke.)

Spiderman stared at him for a couple more seconds and then sighed, looking away. “...Okay. I promise,” he said slowly, finally.

Jefferson resisted the impulse to say thank god out loud. Instead he nodded and said, “Good. That’s good.”

They stared at each other for a few seconds, and then Spiderman jumped up and swung away, because it seemed like that was how all of their conversations ended.

“Stay safe! Make good choices!” Jefferson shouted after him. 

______________________________

Jefferson opened the door to the apartment and walked into the kitchen, sitting down on the couch with a sigh. 

“Something happen today?” Rio asked, pouring out a cup of water.

“Not really,” Jefferson said, taking off his coat. “Oh, except- I made Spiderman promise to go to your hospital for his injuries instead of just treating them himself, so he might start showing up there soon.”

Behind him, Jefferson heard the sound of spilling water. He turned around to see Rio still holding the pitcher over the now overflowing cup, staring at him. 

“Come again?”

Notes:

so it’s been a real hot minute since when I last updated huh *laughs nervously*

So I had planned this chapter to be a lot longer, but right after we got finished with county for acadec we went straight into preparing for the state competition, which made me even busier. Eventually I decided that I wasn’t really going to be making much more progress until after acadec was over and that you guys had been waiting long enough, so I decided to just post what I had, hence this. After acadec is over, though, I should be a lot less busy and hopefully can post with some modicum of consistency lol

(To all of you guys who wished me luck for acadec, thank you!!! Our team won county for the first time in the county’s history and broke the county score record as well, which was just !!!!! State is soon, so I’ll update you guys about the results of that too!)

Chapter 4: area man accidentally adopts superhero, more at 11

Jefferson didn’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the road, everyone at work had suddenly seemed to learn that he was looking out for the new Spiderman. And it came up everywhere.

Out on patrols…

“Green Goblin is near Clarendon and Utica, but we’ve evacuated the area and, uh, Jeff’s son is fighting him,” the report came over the radio. It was backed by muffled snickers.

“And if you’re listening, Jeff- don’t worry, your son isn’t injured-“

“For the last time, he’s not my son!” Jefferson retorted, which only led to even more laughing. He resisted the urge to put his head in his hands.

At crime scenes…

“Hey, good job, Spiderman!” Jefferson heard Cole’s voice, bright and sunny, come from behind him while he was occupied talking to a paramedic. “Don’t worry, your dad’s right over there-“

“Hey!” Jefferson said, turning around, all thoughts about the case instantly forgotten. Cole was clearly having a hard time keeping from bursting out completely in laughter, while Spiderman was standing there stiffly, looking like someone just dumped a bucket of ice water on him. Well, no wonder he was uncomfortable, they were making jokes that weren’t even true!

“I’m sorry about that, Spiderman. They’re just messing around,” he apologized quickly as he rushed over.

Spiderman was nodding very fast. “Uh huh. Yes.”

Even just working at his desk, minding his own business …

“Oh, you want to know about Spiderman?” a coworker said to some eager young reporter touring their building. He jerked a thumb back at Jefferson, sitting at his desk. “Then why don’t you ask Spiderman’s dad over here?”

“That’s a joke, that’s not true, I’m not really Spiderman’s dad-“ Jefferson said hurriedly as the reporter rushed over to him, pen and paper in hand.

Maria stood off to the side, smirking at him, the entire time that he was arguing with the reporter that no, it wasn’t an accidental slipup that they were now trying to cover up to prevent the truth from getting out, he really wasn’t Spiderman’s dad. Once he finally managed to convince the reporter to go away, he sat back in his chair and glared at Maria. “This is all your fault.”

She gave him an innocent look. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You didn’t have to tell everybody ,” Jefferson said, steamrollering right past her denial. “And I know it was you, because everyone seems to know now that this is all because Spiderman reminds me of Miles. You were the only one I told that to."

“Well, even without me saying it, it was pretty obvious.” Jefferson gave her a look . She just laughed and clapped him on the back. “Lighten up, this is the most fun our department’s gotten in ages. Now we have our own resident Spider-dad!”

“Please don’t call me that.”

“Whatever you say, Spider-dad.”

The only good thing to come out of the past few weeks was that at least Spiderman was actually going to Rio’s hospital now. Rio had reported no sign of him in the first week, which hadn’t done anything good for Jefferson’s anxiety, but thankfully after that Spiderman had started showing up regularly. Worryingly often, actually, which was a whole other problem in and of itself.

The realization that Spiderman got injured all the time and couldn’t even tell most of the people he knew in real life had...changed things. He’d been concerned about the kid from the start, but the conversation that night had rattled him more than he’d like to admit. It had slapped him across the face with how very easy it was for him to get hurt.

“He’s a very sweet kid,” Rio said over dinner one night. “Always so polite. People are always falling over themselves at the chance to treat Spiderman and get to talk to him whenever he comes, but every time he insists on waiting so that he doesn’t take time away from another patient. I understand why you got so attached to him,” she teased. 

Jefferson scratched the back of his neck. “How often does he go there?”

“Maybe every week or two?” Rio said. She propped her chin on her hand with a frown, looking into the distance. “He only comes in for things that are more significant, but every time he has a lot of smaller cuts and bruises to go with it as well. I think he’s basically always getting banged up.”

“Do you see him every time he comes in?”

Rio let out a breath, but she was smiling. “Practically yeah. Since I’m the one who first told everyone he’d be coming, it’s like I got assigned as official Spiderman nurse. Whenever he comes, the first thing they do is call me over.”

A more subdued expression fell across her face. “I...get what you mean about him reminding you of Miles. In person they’re a lot alike,” she said slowly. “Sometimes I almost feel like…” She trailed off.

Jefferson frowned. “What?” 

Rio paused, then shook her head. “Never mind.” But she had a look on her face, that one Jefferson knew, that she got whenever she was trying to figure out a problem. Like you could see the gears spinning behind her eyes. 

Jefferson dropped it. He’d let her figure it out. 

______________________________

Injuries aside, dealing with Spiderman didn’t seem like it was going to stop being a handful anytime soon. Like when Jefferson got a late night shift and caught Spiderman stopping an attempted kidnapping at 3 am .

“Spiderman?” Jefferson said, at first in confusion, then he crossed his arms. “Why are you out this late? You should be asleep!”

Spiderman froze and swiveled around to face him. “Okay look, I swear I don’t normally do this, I was just really busy today and missed the time I normally patrol.”

“But you still need to sleep!” Jefferson said, aghast. “How much longer are you going to stay out here?”

“First off, my roommate sleeps like 2 hours a night and he’s fine,” Spiderman argued (deliberately avoiding the question of when he was going to go home , Jefferson thought with a scowl). “Second, I’m 75% sure that I don’t have to sleep as much now that I have spider powers. I definitely don’t feel as wiped out as I used to when I don’t get enough sleep.”

Jefferson kind of...couldn’t argue with that. The kid was a superhero, after all. But it didn’t mean he had to like it. He changed tack. “Why were you busy? Do you have a lot of homework?”

“Oh. I- sort of?” Spiderman scratched the back of his neck. “I have this big history project due in a few days, it’s taking a lot longer than I thought it would.”

(“How long does he usually do this for?” Nick whispered to Cole as they stood off to the side, watching their coworker talk to Spiderman. Everything else at the site had already been finished up. 

“Just five or ten minutes, usually,” Cole replied. “He’ll finish doing his thing in a bit, you’ll see.”)

“Well, maybe next time you should start it when it first gets assigned, so you’re not doing it at the last minute,” Jefferson couldn’t resist saying. “And then you wouldn’t have to fight at this time of night. Seriously, this is when all the really dangerous crime happens!”

Spiderman huffs. “Isn’t that the whole point?”

“Not for you it’s not.”

Notes:

WOW, I’M NOT DEAD! Crazy, huh?

I’m really sorry for the long gap. I had part of what I planned for this chapter written for a while and kept trying to finish the rest of it so I could post all of it, but right now I’ve got more stuff going on than ever and at this point I decided to just post what I had since you guys have already been waiting so long and to show that this story’s not dead.

I’m going to be honest with you guys, I’m still not going to be able to continue this story for a bit, not until I get some other things wrapped up. I’m working to get back to it as soon as possible though, and I promise I’m not abandoning this story. The response to this fic stunned me, it’s gotten more attention than anything else I’ve ever posted and the comments that still come in even when it’s been a year since the last update are so lovely. I want to do everything I can to repay that.

Also, I was originally planning this to be three chapters which it has quickly ballooned beyond so I’m actually running out of funny dad-related phrases to use as the chapter titles. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

(also- I don’t know if any of y’all still care after a year but since I said last chapter that I’d give updates about how acadec state went, my team got 4th in the state!! I got 4th individual in my category and was like 15 points away from being on the podium :/ moral of the story is join academic decathlon it’s what the cool kids do)