Chapter Text
Soul marks were a strange thing. Some people were born with one and others without.
Those who were born with one, met their soulmate no matter how far they lived, even if on different continents. Two soulmates who hadn't met during their lifetimes were unheard of.
It was not a judgement of anyone's character. It was pure chance.
The population of people possessing soul marks versus those who didn't was almost an even fifty-fifty. Scientists hadn't been able to determine any specific reason or probability due to which some children would display soulmarks with the onset of puberty instead of others.
If you were born with a platonic, blue mark over your heart, it was considered highly fortunate, since it meant you would have someone, a best friend, a parent, a mentor, a sibling, a relative or a child who would love unconditionally and who you would love unconditionally.
Red, romantic ones were a bit more complicated. If you had a red soulmark, was there even any point in seeking out other romantic relationships? People waited miserably for years, without having a relationship with anyone, but according to them it was worth it when they met their soulmate.
Some people flaunted their soulmarks and others considered them private and sacred, often wearing soulmark patches on their chest if they didn't wish for anyone to see it, even doctors or lovers.
(Some people without soulmarks wistfully wished that they had one.
If your soulmate felt some intense emotion, you knew about it. It could take a while before you could parse out their emotions properly but everyone with soulmarks eventually learned how to. And there was comfort in touching each other's marks, a warmth scarcely felt elsewhere. You could truly know another person.
However, others were perfectly content at the thought of not having to be tied down to someone specific for life--especially in case of romantic soulmates. Some people also considered being able to, at times, know what another person is feeling, perhaps against their will, as an invasion of privacy.)
The soulmarks lit up when the hearts touched each other for the first time-- essentially, when the two people hugged for the first time and their chests made contact against each other.
(People hugged quite a lot for this reason.)
Even if one person had developed a soulmark and the other had only begun showing the signs of development, or both soulmates had partially developed marks, that so-called 'meeting of the hearts' could trigger one or both of the underdeveloped soulmarks to progress to completion.
Peter Parker had never understood his soulmark.
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When he was fourteen(and a half), as was usual for all adolescents who would develop soulmarks, the skin over Peter's heart had started changing colour. At first it had looked like a smudged purple bruise and then it had started shifting towards blue.
As someone who had not yet developed any major crushes, he had been perfectly delighted by the blue.
He had hoped and hoped it might be Harry, since what could be cooler than having his best friend as his platonic soulmate? It would have also been cool if Aunt May or Uncle Ben had been his soulmates but they were each other’s and absolutely in love.
He had known it was statistically likely that it would be someone he didn't really know yet but a guy could hope! Waiting seemed boring.
And then, as over the next several months the blue smudge had slowly, slowly , started turning into an actual shape, he'd been bitten by a radioactive spider on an Oscorp Field Trip.
And while he had been too busy riding the high of his new powers, he hadn't been careful, he had been arrogant, he let that thief get away, he didn't take responsibility and Uncle Ben died.
He let Uncle Ben die.
His fault.
Every single tear that Aunt May shed was his fault.
(She had lost her soulmate . Because of Peter. Because of Peter's carelessness. He didn't dare tell her the truth. She might hate him. She would be right to, but Peter was too much of a coward to tell her how Uncle Ben's death was really his fault, how he could have stopped his murderer but didn't. But every moment she tried to comfort Peter because he couldn't stop crying, he felt more and more wretched. What right did he have to cry? He should have been the one holding her up. Comforting her. His powers let him hear her crying at night and he hated it. He tried to make her smile and felt useless.
She had carried on. Through the heartbreak. She had taken care of Peter who was the cause of all her misfortune.
She was the strongest person he knew.)
And then Spider-Man had been born.
It was his responsibility that no other person suffered what he did because if he didn't use his powers for good, there was no point to his powers.
If he didn't stop the bad things that were happening around him, anyone that got hurt was his fault.
He had got the job at the Bugle to help his aunt.
Then Harry's mom had succumbed to her disease and his best friend had been broken too. Just like him.
In between all of this, he had completely forgotten to pay any attention to his developing soulmark.
And then one night after he had snuck home through the window after patrol, when he had taken off his spider suit, for a second he had thought he was hallucinating.
Running to the mirror however, had proved it to be true.
Beneath his spider suit, on his chest, above his heart, his soulmark symbol had been fully formed.
A Spider.
What.
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Peter Parker had never understood his soulmark.
He was Spider-Man. If his soulmate had had a spider on their chest, that would make sense. Why on earth did Peter have a spider on his chest?!
(For a very short while, as a fifteen year old, he had entertained the ridiculous notion that the Black Widow might be soulmate. Obviously that had been silly, but his fifteen year old self had still been sort of crushed to google it up and find that Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton were apparently platonic soulmates.)
It seemed like a terrible joke to him now. As if the Universe was mocking him. During his particularly dark moods, he had considered that perhaps he didn't have a soulmate. Perhaps his rotten Parker Luck made sure that he would never have a soulmate and still had the Universe give him his own mark, as if saying he was the only one who could love was himself and if that wasn't the greatest joke of all time, he didn't know what was. There were not many people other than some of his villains that Peter despised more than himself.
MJ tried to dissuade him of these ideas. She said that this was his massive guilt complex making him self flagellate. That she loved him, whether as his girlfriend or even just his friend. That Harry loved him, that Aunt May loved him.
But how could he not feel guilty? When he had failed so many times, in so many different ways. When every single person who had gotten injured or heaven forbid, died , in the crossfire of his fights with his villains was his fault ??
How could he be a good person when he had actually entertained thoughts of killing his villains so that they couldn't cause more destruction? When he had thought about how easy it would be.
(One punch at full strength and Electro, Scorpion, Vulture, Shocker, Kingpin, Tombstone, Mysterio-- they would all be dead. If he was more vicious, he could even probably kill Rhino.)
Yes, it would make things easier for him, it might prevent more people from getting injured, but that didn't give him the right to kill anyone. A better Hero would have figured out how to save everyone while not hurting even the criminals beyond a certain amount. A better Hero would be able to reform his enemies, inspire them to be better people.
(There would be no more Max Dillon, Mac Gargan, Adrian Toomes, Herman Schultz, Wilson Fisk, Lonnie Lincoln, Quentin Beck. Maybe not even Aleksei Sytsevich. It would take him a few months at most if he truly went to hunt them down. It plagued his dreams. How much power he had, how easy it would all be.)
Peter was not that hero. He was not good enough. He never had been.
(Peter hadn't even been able to make Felicia permanently give up crime.)
He had only become a hero after losing someone he loved. He had been selfish enough that he hadn't been able to learn how to take responsibility for his powers without getting someone killed.
Sometimes, Peter thought, perhaps it was a good thing that he wouldn't have a soulmate. Because they would be another person he loved, who would be vulnerable and another person he would inevitably hurt.
MJ and sometimes even Harry tried to tell him it was not true, but they didn't have soulmarks.
MJ tried to say that maybe it was a scientist who did research on spiders, or just someone who had a pet tarantula and although she cheered him up sometimes, it didn't last for long.
Sometimes he wished that he didn't have a soumark either. At least then he could be certain that the Universe wasn't taunting him on purpose. He wouldn't have to be stuck in this limbo state of wondering.
(It seemed like he might be the first person with a soulmark in recorded history, who might not end up with his soulmate because the Universe, instead of giving him a soulmate, might have decided to mock him by putting his own mark on his chest. With his luck, Peter would not be surprised.)
(He hid his soulmark under soulmark patches, not because he considered it extremely private or sacred, but because sometimes, he didn't wish the see the mockery the Universe might have made of him.)
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The blue smudge that told the nature of his soulmark had appeared on Miles' chest by the time his dad saved Spider-Man.
It was statistically more likely that his soulmate would be someone he hadn't met yet of course, but he had still gone around hugging everyone that he knew to have a platonic soulmark, as soon as the smudge had appeared, just in case it was someone he had already met.
(His parents didn't have soulmarks and Ganke's was a romantic red smudge. And his uncle didn't really like to talk about his soulmark.)
Since whichever of his classmates would have soulmates had all started developing their soulmark smudges by now, it would have activated the non developed soulmarks had he actually met his soulmate, but alas. It seemed he would have to be resigned to waiting.
And then on his way to City Hall, he had gotten to see Spider-Man up close!
He had swung by, less than three feet away from Miles!
It had seemed like everything was perfect. Which of course, as he would soon come to learn, was almost always indication for things about to go wrong.
Li and his Demons bombed City Hall and-- and--
His dad was supposed to be celebrated. Awarded. They had planned to go out to Puerto Viejo for dinner.
And now..... now because of those Demons... Miles would never get to talk to his dad again.
When he had seen his dad... he didn't think he had ever felt rage like that before. It almost scared him.
He didn't know how Mami managed to stay calm and talk to all the people who came to his dad's funeral. People they didn't even know, showing up as if his dad's death meant something to them. Miles didn't understand how she could possibly stay so strong. She never let him see or hear her cry. But he had seen the tear tracks on her face. His father's death had clearly destroyed her and he hated Li for doing this to them. But he had no powers. He could do nothing to bring justice to that evil man.
His mother was the strongest person he had ever known.
(He had done his best not to think about the fact that his own Uncle didn't show up for his brother's funeral.)
And there, he had met Peter Parker(The name had sounded vaguely familiar). He had brushed the guy off like all the other people coming to offer their condolences as if that would somehow make things better.
He hadn't known then that this would turn out to be one of the most important people he would ever meet in his life.
He had been enraged when his mother agreed for him to go volunteer somewhere because this random guy suggested it. What could he understand about losing his father like this?
(They whispered that his father was a Police captain. Such risks were expected in his line of duty. As if he wasn't perfectly aware of that. His father hadn't been killed in the line of duty. His dad hadn't been on duty. He would never feel his father's strong arms wrap around him, never hear his father's voice again, because some bastards who had gained powers decided they could do whatever the hell they wanted with them. Because apparently getting innocent people killed for your own revenge seemed like justice to them.)
But then Peter had stood up for him. Peter had seen the way Miles had been upset at the funeral and hadn't really brought up his father again like everyone else seemed to want to. He hadn't been condescending by telling Miles that it was all going to be okay.
And then Miles had met Aunt May who was one of the sweetest women he'd ever known and he'd found out that perhaps Peter did know what Miles felt like. Perhaps he felt it far more than even Miles.
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Between the Demons, Sable's army, The fire, helping run Feast, The Devil's Breath crisis and doing his best to support Peter after losing Aunt May like Peter had done for him after he lost his father(As if he could ever even come close to everything Peter had done for him), he had completely forgotten about his soulmark.
(It also just so happened that he seemed to have gained some truly insane powers during this period, seemingly out of nowhere and he had no idea what to do about them.)
When he finally had the chance to look at the fully formed mark on his chest, a gasp left him.
It was a spider! A spider!
His mind suddenly flashed back to that spider that had bitten him at FEAST. He hadn't thought of it much till now but... was it possible that… that.... he had got his powers from there?
It seemed like a really random thought at first, but it was starting to make sense. Who could stick to walls and jump really high? Who was really strong? The powers he was developing were similar to whose? Spider-Man of course!
(Also, Miles had broken so much stuff that at this point, he was just doing his best to touch everything with featherlight touches and coming up with stupid excuses as to how things broke. And his mother had not been happy about his bedroom door. Having to live in his room without a door to close for two weeks was an absolutely horrible experience that he was not keen on ever repeating. How could someone ever regulate what strength they would pick up an object with?! And the worst part was that he couldn't even let himself hug Mami and Ganke as tightly as he wanted to. What if he hurt them?)
Why would a random spider's bite give him powers? He didn't know but he didn't have a better theory either.
A heady rush filled him, making him excited for the first time in weeks.
He suddenly had Spider-Man like super powers. This started happening at some point after he had been bitten by a weird spider. His soulmark was in the shape of a spider!
Could it really be possible?! Could his soulmate be the actual Spider-Man?!
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Miles had been sitting on the fact that the actual Spider-man might be his soulmate for a few weeks now. He couldn't tell anyone about it either because then he'd have to explain his powers to them too and he was afraid that his Mami and Ganke would both freak the hell out. Ganke less so, but still, he'd be worried that Miles hadn't gone to the hospital after that bite--in his defense, people had been literally dying of an epidemic, so being sick from a spider bite had been quite possibly the least important thing at that time(although, looking back.... he should have probably gone for a checkup if he felt sick for any reason at all.... so yeah. Not telling Mami or Ganke).
And yeah, Miles would have still dismissed the whole 'Spider-Man may be my soulmate' theory as completely ridiculous, except he had powers now!
There had to be some form of correlation right?
But what was he supposed to do with that knowledge? He didn't have any way to get it proved right or wrong!
It had been so cool to have Spidey teach him how to throw a proper punch(He still could not believe he had managed to take down a full grown man before he even got his powers. All thanks to Spidey.) and it had been even cooler when he had recruited Miles to be his eyes and ears at FEAST(Ganke had thought he had been joking) but he'd never really gotten around to getting his number.
(He tried not to remember how he had seen Spider-Man almost die on the operating table. How he had had to stand next to Dr. Michaels and hand him whatever he needed for the operation. How he had seen inside Spider-Man, seen his ribs poke into his organs, how Spider-Man had woken up mid-surgery because they didn't have enough anesthesia to put him under--)
(He had seen Spider-man's chest then. His soulmark had been covered by one of those thin soulmark patches and everyone had left it well enough alone.)
Miles had called Miss Watson and she had just informed Spider-Man about it. Should he call her again? Would that be weird?
Wait. Didn't Peter know Miss Watson? And of course, he used to take pictures of Spider-Man as a teenager. He still dropped a few really cool pictures on occasion, which sent the Spideywatch twitter and subreddits into a frenzy. Was it possible that he himself had a way to contact Spider-Man?
(It had taken Miles an embarrassingly long time--especially because Miles had so many of his pictures placed around in his room-- to connect that the Peter Parker he knew was the same cryptid Spider-Man photographer who the online Spider-Man fan community had a love-hate relationship with. Love because they would have never gotten the best shots of Spider-Man without him and hate because he used to sell them-- and still sold them when he got them on the rare occasion-- to the Daily Bugle of all things. Thankfully Miles had got the confirmation that it did not stand for Peter's own feelings about Spider-Man.)
Peter had been staying at FEAST for the majority of the past three months as he searched for an apartment and Miles hung out with him often when he went to volunteer there, and even though Peter had been living somewhere else for the past week, he had still been showing up to FEAST almost every day. So maybe he could go there and ask him if he also had Spider-Man's number somehow? Or if not, at least he could help Miles figure out what to tell Miss Watson while asking for Spider-Man's number.
But then he would have to explain why he wanted so desperately to talk to Spider-Man and about the soulmark and his powers....
Right then, his phone rang. And speak of the Devil...
"Hey Miles, you okay?"
"Yeah, what's up man?"
"I don't know, I just felt like you might need to talk? Sorry, I can't explain it."
See, this was a very weird thing about Peter. For the past few weeks, it seemed like he could always tell if Miles needed something or that something had happened with him the moment he spoke to Miles even if it was over the phone! And now he could apparently magically sense when Miles needed to talk to him?! He was pretty certain Peter hadn't been this perceptive when they had first met!
"Hey, it's no problem, if that's not the case." Peter continued on the other end. "I was just checking in."
"No, uh, I do kinda wanna talk to you. I think. Are you at FEAST?"
"You think?" Peter asked, amused. "And no, I'm not as FEAST. I finally got that apartment. So I'm going to be a bit busy moving in."
"Text me the address, I'll come help you move stuff in." Miles said.
"No, no, it's fine Miles, I can move everything in by myself, you don't need to--"
"I want to come help you." he insisted.
"Alright, then." Peter replied after a pause. "Thanks."
He almost sounded slightly surprised, as if the thought of someone insisting on volunteering to help him was out of the ordinary. That seemed really sad.
And he decided right then. He was going to tell Peter about his powers. Even if it turned out he didn't know how to contact Spider-man.
He was clearly the best choice. He was an adult, he was really nice, he could definitely keep a secret(He always looked like he was hiding something) and he was really smart too. Peter also definitely cared about Miles and would probably do his best to help him. And even though he did freak out about Miles' safety sometimes, Miles was pretty sure he would be more chill with the whole powers thing than either his mother or Ganke.
(And Miles didn't know if he could trust Uncle Aaron with this. His dad had had suspicions about his uncle's involvement in some illegal stuff. And in that case, if he had developed some Spider-Man like powers, he should probably not mention that to his uncle.)
Now, the only question was..... how exactly was he gonna phrase the whole thing to Peter to make it seem less crazy?