Later that night, after getting my next juice box and Mum and Dad had finally been forced home (because visitation times), I pulled out my phone.

One of them must have muted the alarms, because even as I watched it my phone buzzed constantly with new notifications. It was already giving me a headache.

I unlocked my phone and went into my instagram. Admittedly, I hadn't posted that much. Just the occasional nice scenic picture or me doing backflips. Wasn't all that much.

But just with that little bit, the internet hawks had caught on to me. I checked my profile page and-

Holy crap. Five million followers!

And counting, because in the time it took me to even go across to that page I had gotten twenty more followers.

I scrambled to get into my settings and turn off all notifications. Maybe making a private instagram would work better. I didn't even want to think about how many messages I had gotten.

Which reminded me…

Me: Hey Ganke, I'm alive!

Whole I waited for a reply, I took a snap of my feet lying in bed. I'm sure my new fans would be delighted.

I already hated this so much. People would expect more updates from me and just… no.

Should I even put a caption on it? Mm, maybe I should. Even the brief snippets I had heard on the news put my condition from anywhere between death's door and nearly out of here.

Getting better, not gonna kick the bucket

#Spiderman2.0

Seconds after I posted it, there was a flood of likes and comments. How the hell did people comment so quickly? I wish I knew.

I hesitated a moment, but gave in to my curiosity and clicked into the comments.

Spidermansuperfan29467: Oh my god!! He's in hospital!!

-View previous replies (5)

Spider1man4thew4n: He's still worse than Peter

Spidermansuperfan29467: Miles is the better spidey!

Randomhousewife: I wonder what kind of sheets those are

Riyakiki45: Does anyone know which hospital room he's in?

-View previous replies (6)

Axelle29Vesle: Somewhere facing the park, no idea what room

AlienorHeidi: Skinny boi

And with that, I clicked away. Noping right out of there. Not today, never today, maybe next week.

I clicked back into the messages and found Ganke again. He had replied! Huzzah.

Ganke: You wouldn't believe the chaos you've caused at school. People are actually paying attention to us now?

Ah, good ol' Ganke. School had been the last thing on my mind. Oh crap, I was going have to do catch up school work. When I go back to being Spider-man, would they even let me out of class? The whole "I have to go to the bathroom" thing was going to be way less effective.

Hey headache, didn't miss you.

Me: This being famous thing is getting worse and worse

Ganke: Yeah… Uh, just don't turn on the news?

Me: Too late. They're running themselves around in circles. Pretty funny actually.

Ganke: My Mum has the news on 24/7, I get a headache just listening to snippets

Me: I had that thing on for five minutes when I woke up before I got sick and tired of my own name

Ganke: If people finding out Peter was Spiderman 1.0 got people going, having an alive Spider-man 2.0 has pushed everyone into a rabid frenzy

I rubbed at my temples. Yeah, I didn't want to think about fame for a bit. Let's steer this into safer territory.

Me: What did I miss last month?

Ganke: Uhh, lots of assignments and boring learning. I'm sure you'll catch up in no time

Me: Fingers crossed. Hope no ones been bothering you outside of school?

Ganke: Not yet, but I can see the pap's connecting the dots. I promise I won't star in any documentaries

Me: You better not

A pause.

Me: Oh god, people are going to want to interview me

Me: Ganke, save me

I could almost hear his laughter coming from the other end. Even with the future looming over me like a storm cloud, I smiled.

Ganke: You're going to have to get your own PR agency

Me: Ganke, please

Me: I'm suffering

Me: In my hour of need, you've deserted me

Ganke: Sorry to break cold hard reality to you

Ganke: Someone had to

Me: Now you're just being mean

Me: Think you'll be able to see me soon?

Ganke: Yeah, probs. I think tomorrow or the next day. How is your room anyway?

I leaned back, enjoying the fluffy comfiness in the pillows. How was my room? Big, green, and if I only had to be here a week it would be more than good.

Me: Fit for a king

Ganke: Really? I thought they would have stuck you with the commoners?

Me: Ha! I wish. I only just got my phone and I was super bored before

Me: Nah, my room is fine. The best thing is theres a window

Ganke: Yeah I saw the pictures. Do you still have a crowd?

Me: I don't want to get up and check. You check, I'm sure a super fan is livestreaming

Ganke: C'mon, be like the Queen and give your subjects a wave

I glanced over at the window. There was probably like twenty people more. I wasn't going to check, but I would put my bets on twenty.

Me: I gave them an appearance like an hour or so ago

Me: They can handle it

Ganke: Aw, but I want to see someone faint :(

I snorted.

Me: I'm not that famous

Ganke: You say that now. Wait until you're out of the hospital

Me: That's not ominous at all

"Guess who?" I heard a very familiar voice coo. I leaned back into my pillows, grin blossoming on my face.

"Finally made it, huh?" I teased. "Almost thought you had up and abandoned me."

Ganke pulled up a seat and sat down next to me, looked left and right, and chucked something crinkly on my lap. "Don't tell anyone, but I snuck you in a donut."

My eyes widened in glee, "Donut? Ganke, you are the best! How can I repay you?"

He leaned back, looking me up and down "Getting some meat back on your muscles for one thing. You look like a skeleton."

"Who would've thought being almost starved to death would do that to a person. You would almost think they would be fat," I commented absently, digging the donut out of its package. It was a glazed donut too, the best kind.

"Uh, um, yeah." Ganke shifted uncomfortably. I felt a pang of regret for my bitter words. "My Mum's grabbing hospital coffee so you better be quick, or else she'll confiscate it."

I stuffed the whole thing into my mouth, chewing it as fast as humanly possible and swallowing. "What donut?"

Ganke laughed, "Dude, you looked like a seagull or something. That was super gross!"

I folded my arms, "You found out my secret. I was never bitten by a spider, it was a seagull this whole time."

"Why am I not surprised?"

We both giggled. I had missed this. Glad I got to hang out with Ganke again. That reminded me…

"What day is it?" I asked.

Ganke frowned lightly, "Saturday dude. I think Mum would have let me out of school to see you anyway."

"That's just crazy dude, there's like zero way she would ever do that!" I said throwing out my arms.

He laughed, "turns out she thinks its really cool that we're friends now. Don't worry, I made her promise not to jump in front of any cameras."

"That's a relief at least. I don't even know how I'm going to face cameras dude. I'm like, the worst person for that," I groaned, scrubbing at my face.

"You're not overly photogenic either." He was unfazed by my scalding look. "You should keep your mask on all the time to avoid the cameras."

"I only ever go out for Spider-Maning most days anyway, so it wouldn't be the hardest thing to do." My stomach gave an ominous rumble, which I ignored. "That reminds me, has school said anything?"

Ganke rubbed at the back of his neck. "Well, when you first went missing they did briefly mention you in assembly? Just saying not to be alarmed and you would be found. I think they were trying to keep it on the down low."

I snorted. "Yeah, this whole thing is definitely on the down low now. No one knows a thing about it. Nope, not at all."

"It's almost like no one knows about you at all. Oh, by the way, your insta reached ten million followers this morning," Ganke happily informed me.

I resisted the urge to scream into a pillow. "See, this? This right here? This is exactly why I didn't want to be famous! I will never be able to walk down the street without being recognised. I can never go to the corner store to get milk again."

Ganke leaned over and gently patted me on the back, "There, there. At least when someone tries to brag about their thousand followers on twitter you'll always overshadow them."

"Glad to see our priorities are-"

And then I severely regretted the donut.

I was on the floor in front of a trashcan before even I had realised it, throwing up everything. It hurt like hell, my throat screamed at me. Yeah, the donut hadn't been worth it.

When I came up for air, panting heavily, I found myself with a nurse soothing patting my back. I looked back further and found Ganke hovering nervously.

"Now you can put 'helped Spider-man' on your resume," I joked to the nurse.

She smiled, though her eyes lingered. "How are you feeling?"

"This is a pain," I mumbled, leaning back over the trash can. At least it seemed to be over. My stomach felt pretty empty. And so of course, now it decided I was in fact hungry. The gross taste of vomit still lingered and food was the last thing I wanted! Body why?

"Let's get you back in bed." She helped hoist me to my feet and wobble over to the bed. My cheeks felt hot. This being injured/sick thing was… humiliating.

Don't think about how you cried in front of a camera that was streaming to the whole of the world. Don't think about people seeing you sobbing. Just, don't.

The nurse got up, grabbed another trash can and put it beside my bed. "If you feel like throwing up again, don't be afraid to use this. It is a bit worrying that you threw up."

"That was my fault," Ganke mumbled, drawing the nurse's gaze. She frowned, and before she could ask he continued. "I gave him a donut. He's so skinny."

"Ah, yeah that would explain it. His stomach isn't used to big meals, especially stuff that's full of calories and sugar like donuts. We need to reintroduce food slowly so his body doesn't rebel, yeah?" The nurse explained, gently but firmly.

"Drinking just juice sucks," I mumbled, leaning further back into the pillows.

She gave me a sympathetic look. "I know, but you'll be upgrading soon, promise! I'll get you some mouthwash to get the bad taste out of your mouth."

She hurried off again. Ganke immediately spoke up, "I'm sorry-"

"Nah, I ate it. It was pretty delicious on the way down," I reassured, giving him a small smile. "Let's eat all the donuts in the world in like, a couple weeks."

By the end of the week, I had gone from drinking juice, to chicken soup, and today I had been given a peach. Just a peach for some reason. I wasn't complaining in any case.

I had finally gotten around to looking at my emails. There had been everything from companies wanting to sponsor me, to news outlets, fans with nice messages (which I had made sure to save) and after an immense amount of digging - a school email.

They wanted to talk about my education, in front of the board of trustees. Yeah, that smelled like trouble.

But it had to be done with sooner or later.

My weight began bouncing back fairly quickly, but it also left me in an odd position where I had abs but barely any muscles behind it. It made me look like a stick figure with extra squiggly lines on my stomach. Yeah, not attractive.

So, a week and a half later, I was finally allowed home.

As soon as we knew, Mum had packed my bag for me and gotten out of work for the occasion. I was so looking forward to sleeping in my own sheets.

What I was not looking forward to was the paps.

"Over here!"

"Miles! What happened during the month you were-"

"Miles! Miles!"

"Are you going to continue being Spider-man?"

There were flashes from all sides, blinding me. I grabbed my hoodie and covered my head. Could these people not for five seconds?!

There was a hand on my back guiding me along, which I was immensely grateful for. Thankfully the walk from the entrance to the car was only a couple of paces, and the silence in the car was so good I sighed in relief.

"Can I take back this fame?" I mumbled, letting my hoodie drop back down as the car pulled away from the curb.

Mum snorted, gently rubbing soothing circles into my shoulder. She was sitting across from me. I think she was the one who had guided me into the car. "It is a pain, isn't it?"

I peered at her, "People have been pestering you too, huh?"

She shrugged, "Just some more paps at home. After awhile they become background noise. They'll get tired of you soon enough."

I couldn't have stopped myself from laughing at that, even if I wanted to. "You calling me tiring?"

"I'm sure some other celebrity will do something embarrassing soon, Miles," she said, not answering my question.

I nodded after a pause. "Yeah, makes sense, makes sense."

We escaped into our home with barely a second to spare before the vultures tried to swoop inside. But once the doors were closed and the blinds were put down, it didn't take long for them to lose the scent and quiet down.

Dad was already home. He gave me a big hug but then gave some excuse for why he was going to be in the study and Mum had to join him. It was pretty obvious that they were just giving me some privacy.

They were trying. It left a pit of warm fuzzies floating around my stomach.

I was glad my room was on the other end of the house, in a striking moment when I realised just how open my room was with the window just above my bed. Being away from prying eyes felt like such a mercy.

The first thing I did once I stepped into my room was lay down on my bed, inhaling the smell of washed sheets. Ah, home sweet home. I really had missed this.

When I finally got up, narrowly avoiding being crushed by sleep, the second thing I did was dig out my spare costume and just… stare at it.

This thing had caused me so much grief, and so much joy. I wasn't going to give it up, no way in hell, not after every hurdle I had leaped across to stay in this thing. But, it did hurt to think about my other costume.

I was glad that my last costume was buried in the trash somewhere. I intimately knew where that costume had been torn and dirted. I didn't need a physical reminder.

I took a deep breath, and before I could think about it for too long, I pulled it in.

It was almost hilarious what space was left in it, like I was a little kid putting on a shirt three sizes too large. I guess it at least gave me motivation to gain weight? As soon as I filled this thing out, then I would go out on patrol.

Oh crap, that's right. Parents and fame.

That was not a conversation I was looking forward to. I just hoped they wouldn't try to outright ban me from it.

I bit my lip, should I?

Yeah I should.

I got bigger shoes to fill

#Spiderman2.0

There, that should give the hawks something to feed on for awhile.

I was about to take it off and hibernate for a thousand years when my phone started ringing. I stared at it suspiciously, had they found my phone number? I really hoped the public didn't have it. That would be a nightmare.

I picked it up anyway.

"Uh, hi this is Miles here."

"Hey Miles, it's May. Sorry I hadn't been able to come see you before, had a couple things on. How are you?" May asked, her voice tinny through the receiver.

"Oh! Hey! I'm doing ok. Bit overwhelmed, but it's fine. Do you have a 'superhero's guide to having your secret identity revealed' hiding around somewhere?" I joked, sitting back down on my bed.

She laughed, "No, unfortunately not. Got any plans for all this fame?"

"Does wanting it to die off count as a plan?" I sighed, rubbing at my eyes. I had been having so many naps these past few days.

"I guess. But it could help you in the long run, if you do it right-"

"You saying you want to be my PR Agent?" I asked, eyebrows shooting up.

"Oh heavens no, I'm not tech savvy enough for that. I could be your unofficial supervisor, if that positions open," She said.

"I think the world has decided that they're my advisors anyway. I think I saw a tweet from Taylor Swift for me floating around somewhere. I barely even want to look at my own email at this point," I complained.

"Got any possible sponsors? Might make you some good pocket money," May suggested.

I frowned. "I don't know, I don't want Spider-man to be… political? Or aligned to anything bad? Peter's first few years he got some pretty harsh backlash just for existing so I don't want to-"

"Miles," May interrupted. "Listen to me, and listen to me good. Spider-man is yours now. I trust you to do right by my son, rest his soul. I'm sure he's proud of you, too."

I looked out my window. There was only a small alleyway there. No sunlight could reach down here, to my window, but every night when I had gone Spider-maning, I had always enjoyed climbing onto the roof and catching the last bit of sunshine. I sighed.

"It's hard."

"I know."

"I wish I hadn't been kidnapped."

"It was a pretty awful thing to happen, Miles. You're allowed to take your time with this."

"I… I don't know what I'll do. Everyone knows I'm a kid now and I even cried on camera."

There was a small pause on her end. "I know this won't help much, but I was having some tea with my neighbour, Anna, when the video started playing. I almost didn't think it was you for a moment, but I knew that fighting spirit anywhere. Seeing you cry was heartbreaking, but even the Daily Bugle had nothing to say about it. It's shown people the more human part of this job."

I brought my knees up to my chest. "I… well that's unlike the Daily Bugle."

She tittered, "Oh, it really is. When you're feeling a bit better, consider going on some news show. Get your story out there, because everyone wants to know what happened. But take your time, there's no pressure Miles. We all want what's best for you."

"I know," I whispered.