I wanted to touch on a few things I mentioned in the last chapter, that sort of elucidate things I mentioned. Just a heads up, this actually takes place between chapter one and two. The next chapter will take place 2 months after chapter 2. Confusing, but I wrote the other chapter first.

INTERLUDE 1: The Shipping.

Derek was nervous. Mr. Reilly had asked him to stay after class. His grades were good. His behavior hadn't been disruptive. He had also shut down any bullying he'd gotten over his mom's death. Mr. Reilly had been ruthless in that regard. They had never seen the usually lazy teacher so angry. He had called the bullies parents, and told him how despicable he found their children, and submitted a formal request over expulsion for disgusting behavior towards peers. None of those students were still at Gotham High. It was part of why Mr. Reilly was his favorite teacher. He straight up told one of the bully's parents to fuck off when they started screaming at him over how he could push for their expulsion. He told the guy if he felt the need to defend the act of insulting someone's dead mom, then they could step outside and Ben would beat some sense into his ignorant neanderthal skull. The fight lasted 4 seconds. Derek's dad had thanked Mr. Reilly, and invited him to have dinner with them as thanks. It had been a rather somber affair, but Ernie's presence had become Derek's lifeline. Mr. Reilly had actually offered to teach him martial arts as a way to cope with the tragedy and an outlet for his frustration.

Derek agreed, given martial arts training would help him be a better hero as Sideways. Ernie agreed with his assessment. Though, Mr. Reilly's style was really weird. It was almost acrobats meet jeet kune do. It was impressive but kind of strange. No matter what he did, Derek wasn't really able to land a hit on him. It was like he had some kind of danger sense.

Derek shook his head. It wouldn't do to get lost in his head. He had to talk to Mr. Reilly. Derek found himself outside his teacher's office, but was hesitant to go in. He had a funny feeling this wasn't actually about his schoolwork or their lessons, which concerned him. He was about to knock on the door when it swung open, revealing Mr. Reilly in his teacher clothes. He was however, now wearing flip flops. He had an eyebrow raised, and he had some big glasses on his face. All in all, he looked like a lazy guy pretending to be a productive member of society.

"You should probably try mumble less when you're standing outside someones door. And to answer your questions, there's a reason why I have an interest in you- That sounded a lot less creepy in my head. Let me put it this way. I can prove to you that I want to help you, Derek. Just like I have with before. Will you please trust me? You can leave if you want after and I won't approach you again, though I don't think that will actually happen. Shall we chat?" Mr. Reilly gave a wry grin, which Derek had come to realize meant his teacher was being genuine despite his general awkwardness. He nodded and entered the office, taking a seat while Mr. Reilly closed the door behind him.

"So...this is going to be a bit like ripping off a band aid. I'm a meta human like you."

Derek blinked a few times. He hadn't expected that, though he hadn't really had any expectations to begin with. "Are your powers like mine?" He asked carefully. That got Mr. Reilly to laugh to himself.

"No, kid. They're not. But I can still teach you how to use them more effectively, and look badass while you do it." Mr. Reilly spoke in what he termed 'the mentor voice'. He had come up with from Peter's memories of Captain America, and he thought it was pretty on point.

"What if I say no? What will you do?" That made question seemed to make Mr. Reilly blink.

"Why would I do anything? I'm a superhero, dude. Well, vigilante. Whatever, semantics don't matter. My point is that I can help you from my own experiences, so you don't make the mistakes I have. Okay?"His tone was...sad. Vulnerability was a foreign look to the normally sarcastic and lazy, but ultimately nice teacher.

Derek looked at his teacher. He didn't know it, but he was looking at a man who'd seen his fair share of cruelty and had even committed some himself.

"So before I agree, what vigilante are you exactly?" Derek asked curiously, because he honestly had no clue, though he doubted Mr. Reilly was Batman. He wasn't quite broody enough.

MEANWHILE AT WAYNE MANOR

"Jason, were you calling me broody in your head again? You're just as broody as I am."

"Bruce, I have no idea what you're talking about."

BACK AT THE PLOT.

"I'm the Arachnid. Yeah, I know. Lame name. It's a work in progress." Derek was excited now. He'd been following Gotham's newest vigilante, though he was just rumors at this point. "Tell you what. Why don't you suit up and I'll show you a few ways to use your rifts to move like I do. I even made you some web shooters for if your powers stop working. Consider them a good faith gift. Sound good?" Derek just nodded, excited to finally have a tangible way to be a real hero.

If only he knew how much work he was going to have to do.

Xxxxxx

One week later...

Ben observed Derek as he rift danced through the air. Sure it was excessive, but it was a good way to establish the limits of his powers, build up endurance, and look badass all at once. The way Derek was moving was a mixture of Ben's own webslinging moves and something you'd see in the Game Portal. He would open rifts with a combination of his feet and hands and essentially shoot himself through the sky using his own momentum built up from between his rifts. It was really, really cool. It was sort of self-defeating when you could teleport, but being seen by people while doing hero work was important. It played into the psychology of making people feel safe. See a hero, and you don't feel like there's as much ambient danger lurking in the shadows. While this was opposed to Batman's approach, you could argue that the presence of a 'visible' hero was good for Gotham as well.

Ben shook his head, before checking his watch. He was late. He was supposed to have his first coffee meet up with Patty, who he totally hadn't engineered an encounter with because of how cute she was. No, that would be...awkward and strange. (That's totally what he did). Though, getting hit by her car was probably not the best way to do that. Whatever the case, he had a date, and he needed to shower before then. He then opened the line into Derek's coms system that they'd installed in his suit.

"Alright, Derek, it's time to go home. I've got a date, and before I go, I want to make a suggestion." A few moments later, Derek landed from a rift just beside Ben.

"Okay, Teach. What's up?" Ben scratched the back of his head, because this was going to be awkward.

"Okay, so you're going to ask Ernie out, because I know you like her. I can tell you're crushing hard on her."

"W-WHAT?!" Was Derek's eloquent response, his tan face turning beet red.

"You are going to ask Ernie out, because I'm tired of you getting moody because you're not as close as you want to be."

"But what if she says no-" Derek tried to ask but was cut off by his teacher.

"Are you kidding me? That girl is crazy about you. You've been friends since you were kids and she hasn't made a move because she thinks you like her ditzy ass twin sister." Derek was silent at that for a moment.

"Should you really be insulting your students like that?"

"Yes. Because 70% of your classmates are idiots that make me want to bludgeon myself to death using my desk. Don't change the subject. So you're going to ask her out, on the phone call I assume you guys have nightly." Derek was still blushing, but nodded and he had a noticeable pep in his step as he moved to form another rift.

"One more thing. Don't half ass it. And use these." Ben handed Derek some movie tickets. They were for a showing of the new My Hero Academia movie that was coming out this weekend.

"Why did you have these?"

"Because you're a dense guy who needs a little push in the right direction. Also, I'm not blind. I see her drawing anime characters instead of taking notes on Fridays. I don't care, because she's got the top marks in the class. Now call her, and make it romantic. See you later."

With that Ben jumped off the roof towards his apartment and Derek walked into his rift.

They both had plans to make or enact, and not much time to do it.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Patty was sitting in the cafe looking mildly annoyed. It was a little busy in the Jitter's coffee chain, but she'd found seats for both of them. He walked in wearing a button down shirt and slacks, and his newly dyed blonde hair was cut into a high and tight style. She, on contrast, was wearing her work outfit, which consisted of a pencil skirt, a blouse, and matching jacket. Her hair was pulled into a messy ponytail, and she had these big nerdy looking glasses that just seemed to accentuate her looks. From their conversation when she'd hit him with a car, and their interactions while Ben was in costume, she was a very intelligent woman, though she was slightly awkward in a rather endearing way. All in all, she was captivating, at least in Ben's eyes. He made his way over to her, before he spoke to get her attention.

"Hey, sorry. I got caught up in traffic." This prompted her expression to brighten a bit, before her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Did you just make a joke about me hitting you with my car? Also, I still don't see how you weren't hurt by that." She spoke in disbelieving tone, though you could tell she was amused as well.

"I mean, I got to meet you, so I can't really complain too much about you smacking me with a Volvo." Ben replied smoothly. He still wasn't sure about how she'd take knowing he was a vigilante, so he kept that bit to himself.

"I'm not sure whether to be flattered or insulted." She was a bit flustered but you could tell from her smile that she wasn't unhappy with the attention.

"Can't you be both?"

"I suppose so. Still, I'm glad I was able to convince you to a coffee date instead of a hospital trip." She laughed at his joke, filling the air with a light melodious chuckle. Ben himself felt a little flustered at that, red tinging his cheeks slightly.

"Oh? So this is a date? This probably doesn't surprise you but I haven't actually dated much. I'm too focused on my job, or maybe I just don't get out much." As she spoke, she whirled around a straw in her coffee, stirring up the creamer into the caffeine. He was surprised by how insecure she sounded. Ben took this moment to reach a hand out to hers, and rested it there. She was surprised, but she didn't remove hers from his.

"Well, hey, hopefully this won't be too disastrous, eh?" Ben spoke while waggling his eyebrows, prompting a giggle from Patty. "There it is."

"What?" Her smile was still there but her eyebrows were furrowed in confusion.

"Your smile. It's very pretty." Ben was laying on the suave lines, and Patty was turning beet red.

"Well, thanks. Maybe you'll get to see it more often, Mr. Reilly." She replied genuinely, though slightly flirty.

"I'd like that, Ms. Spivot."

xxxxxxxxxx

Derek rifted into Ernie's room, because he felt this was a face to face conversation to have. She was not too happy about that, but when she tried to slug him in the face, he pulled her into a hug, which confused the hell out of her.

"I'm sorry." His words were genuine which confused her even more.

"What's wrong, Derek? Is everything okay?" She spoke softly, not trying to be as demanding as she usually was when she wanted to know something.

"Do you like me?" At this, she turned beet red, and tried to pull away, but he held her fast. "Please, Ernie. You're my best friend. No secrets between us right?"

"...yes..." She whispered.

"What?" He genuinely hadn't heard her, but that just seemed to fire her up even more.

"I SAID YES, DAMNIT! I LIKE YOU! MAYBE MORE!" As soon as she spoke, she clamped her hands over her mouth, and she started blushing like storm. Derek couldn't help it. He hugged her and started laughing. "Hey! What are you doing!"

"I like you too, Ernie. I don't know why you think I wouldn't. We've done practically everything together since we were kids. Why not love as well?"

"Y-you mean it?" She was overwhelmed, and really not prepared for this. She never really expected her feelings for Derek to go anywhere.

"Yes." He said simply and leaned down to kiss her. Her lips were soft, and sparks shot down his spine when they touched. They lingered together for a few minutes, before they pulled their faces away, before resting their foreheads together.

"That was everything I had hoped it would be." She spoke happily, though in her still lazy yet forceful way.

"Oh. I guess I need to ask you out officially. Wanna go see the My Hero Movie? I have two tickets to the Friday showiNG-!" He was cut off as she began to squeeze the life of him.

"OMG THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!" Derek just laughed.

It was the first real laugh he'd had since his mom died, Ernie noticed, and she remembered how much she liked the sound of it.

To be continued...