Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man


"Wow." Paul breathed.

"Yeah." I had no other words to say. The things I told him worried me for the fact that he might think I was a psychopath. I told him everything, from the day I almost hit the wolf with my truck, to just what happened this morning. Of course, there was one minor detail I left out, and that was the fact that for a second I thought that Sam could possibly be…

I couldn't even think it, for it just sounded too crazy.

"You've been busy." He chuckled, though in his eyes, I saw how he truly felt about what I've done. The confusion as to why I would ever put myself at such a risk, and the disappointment that followed behind. It pained me to see it, as the guilt just seemed to build up the more I stared, knowing that the boy who sat next to me really would've been broken if he had found out that I died today in that woods.

"I'm… I'm sorry. I know it was completely and utterly idiotic to do something like that, I just…"

"You just thought that if you killed it, you would have avenged you're father." His saddened smile gazed down onto me, and I could only sigh in response.

"Seth, I really was telling the truth when I said that it was a bear that did it – that gave him the heart attack. The chief of police saw it himself." His words were truthful, as he rubbed slow circles on my back.

"…Okay." I felt defeated. "I believe you." I really did, because I knew one thing for certain. Paul would never lie to me. Maybe get other people to do it for him, but I knew he couldn't handle saying it to my face.

"So this mean's that you'll stop trailing that wolf?" He asked. He could only sound hopeful as he said it, with good reason to. I sat still for a moment; really thinking over what accepting those words meant. I knew I could accept them.

"Yes." Was the only thing that came out.

"Good." He let out another breath, and I could almost visibly see the relief he felt when hearing my words. He let his body fall back onto the bed; body spread out completely relaxed. I followed, feeling as my head landed on the crease of his arm.

"So, does this mean no more zombie Seth?" He questioned, turning his head to me. I felt a slight sting, as the guilt that seemed to faded shot right back up again.

"Yeah." I mumbled with embarrassment. "I'm really sorry about that." He moved his forearm up, and I felt my head rolled onto his bicep. The tips of his fingers mindlessly began to play with my hair as if to soothe me from the pain.

"You keep apologizing for things that aren't you're fault." He murmured.

"But it was my fault." My voice shook slightly. How could he say it wasn't? I abandoned my family to recede into a cocoon like state, completely unable to take care of myself or the ones who had needed me most. It was the most selfish thing I had ever done.

"You're wrong." He whispered. "Everyone deals with things differently. You just needed time to recover." I felt a smile creep up onto my lips. I turned my head up to look at him.

"Thank you for taking care of me, by the way. You're amazing, you know that?" I questioned.

"Oh, I know." He pretended as if my words hadn't even phased him.

"Cocky." I playfully slapped his chest, which made him nudge his whole body into mine, while huffing out a laugh that was truly music to my ears.

Time didn't seem to exist as we laid still, not moving an inch. Feeling Paul this close really set something ablaze inside of me. I knew though that this meant something different to him. I wished that he felt it the way that I did, but I knew that such chances were slim, even as I knew the fact of his attraction to men. Something I had never expected, but I'm glad, because even if they were slim, I still couldn't feel myself able to give up fighting to be with the boy next to me.

I glanced back up at him, and as I saw his closed eyelids, all I could do was admire the face that I've known all my life. Such perfection seemed almost impossible to be able to exist, but Paul did it so effortlessly.

I could tell he'd fallen asleep, as the steady rise and fall of his chest easily gave it away. I sat up, putting my hand onto his chest, shaking it back and forth in an attempt to wake him. He stirred, his eyes peaking open as he barely managed to mumble a 'Hmm?'

"You need to lie down properly." My voice was gentle. He complied sluggishly, and I helped him lay in a more comfortable position – emphasis on help, as I could barely move his heavy body.

As he flopped back onto the pillow, he was out like a light. I could barely manage to muffle the laugh that tried to escape me as I reached over to switch off the lamp by my bed. I got close next to him before hauling the blankets over us. My head was back to resting on his bicep, but it wasn't enough, so I turned my whole body to lean into him, wrapping an arm around his stomach. The heat that I felt by doing this was ridiculous, but it strangely felt more comforting than ever. I wondered if my guilt would ever ease, as I knew that what I was doing was probably crossing a limit. Such a position would be completely okay if I saw him as friend, but I didn't.

Right now, I saw him as the boy I was in love with.

The morning sun peaked in through the faded curtains, though it did not bother me like it usually would. It was the first morning in a while in which I had felt completely rested.

I looked to my side, only to see the spot that was once filled now empty, and in it's place was a white slip of paper. My brow furrowed as I propped myself up, reaching out with my free arm to grab the note.

Sorry, had to go run some errands. Meet you later this evening? – Your friendly neighborhood Spider-man

I couldn't help the heartfelt laugh that left me as I read it.

"Paul Lahote, you are truly absurd."

I trotted down the stairs with a bright smile. Walking into the kitchen, I noticed my mother sitting at the table, paper in hand.

"Morning!" I said cheerfully.

This caught her off guard.

"Morning, hun. What's got you in a cheery mood?" She asked, clearly surprised. This was probably the first time she'd seen me smile in a month.

"Nothing in particular." I hummed, opening the fridge to take out the jug of orange juice. I reached into the cupboard, taking out a big glass and filling it to the brim.

"Thirsty?" She smiled.

She was probably relieved that I was in a good mood, so I didn't want to dampen it by saying that I had completely forgotten to drink or eat anything at all yesterday. I wanted her to know I was taking care of myself again. I knew how much she worried, and she already had enough stress as is.

After my father's passing, my mother took over his role on the Quileute council . But the thing is, she also kept her old job as a store clerk, so now on the on days, she would be off to the council , and the off days working behind a register. I could tell it was taking it's toll on her, and I wished that there was something I could do to help out – anything to help take any pressure off of her.

And that's when I thought of an idea.

I was seventeen. I was able to work at a job – at least part time. Maybe this is what I could do to pay her back for everything she's done for me, and also like an apology for literally abandoning her for a whole month.

"Hey mom," I asked, sitting down in the chair next to her. Her eyes shifted up to me; her gaze peaking out just above her reading glasses.

"Yes?"

"Why don't I take over you're job down at the convenience store – part time at least?"

"Oh honey," She put her hand out on top of mine. "There's no need for that. I'm doing quite fine as is, so you really don't have to worry."

"Mom, I want to help out. I… know things haven't been easy ever since…" My voice died down. "Just let me help out, please."

"Seth, I really don't know-"

"Mom, I want to do this."

She seemed caught off guard by my determination, and she guiltily looked away, looking like she was going over things in her head. She turned back to me with what looked to be her moment of weakness.

"You really want to?" She asked.

"Yes." Was all I said. She sighed at this.

"Well when would you want to start – today?" She questioned, wincing at the thought as she probably would think it was too soon, but I could tell that if I did, she would be grateful for the day off.

"Sure!" I put more excitement then needed into my voice. She tried to cover the smile of relief that reached her lips.

"Okay, I'll call Janet to see if it's okay." She stood from her seat, walking over to the phone to make the call. Janet was the store's owner. She was a very kind woman who was around my mother's age, and I did on the occasion see her from time to time.

As my mother began talking, I thought to how I was slightly proud of myself. I was being spontaneous – something very out of character for me – which made me feel excited. Moments passed as my mother talked, which by the sound of it, was going pretty good.

"Yes, yes, okay. Thank you so much, Janet. I really appreciate this. See you." My mother then hung up the phone before turning to me. "She said she would love to have you on board, though if you want to start today, you're going to have to go in within the hour for at least a bit of training."

She didn't have to speak any further. I ran up to my room to grab my keys before heading back down stairs for my coat.

"Leaving already?" She asked me, surprised again.

"Yeah! I want to make sure I don't make an utter fool of myself before starting my first day at work." I gave her a brilliant smile, which only made her walk up to pull me into an embrace.

"Thank you." She spoke, her voice gentle.

"Of course." I replied, wrapping my arms around her.

We stayed like that for a few moments before she let me go. I said my farewells as I left the house.

The sun was bright in the sky as I drove on the main road through the town. I felt a bit anxious knowing that I was about to try something completely new, and quite possibly make a fool of myself while doing it, but it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, I felt a tad excited as I pulled into the small parking spaces in front of the store. I stepped out of the truck, closing it behind me before taking a deep breath. I hopped onto the sidewalk, quickly hurrying to the doors. I hauled on the handle, holding the door open for a person who was just leaving. They politely thanked me, which I gave a smile before entering.

"Ah, Seth!" Someone called to me. My gaze turned to land on the front counter, where I recognized Janet, who was standing behind it with a welcoming smile.

"Hi!" I said, walking up to her.

"How've you been?" She asked, though I could tell it wasn't in general, as she gave me the obvious sympathetic head-tilt.

"I've been fine, thanks for asking." I didn't let the indirect mention of my father ruin the mood.

"Good, good!" She spoke. "So I hear you want to help out you're mom?" She asked, eyeing me knowingly.

"Yes." I gave my most convincing grin.

"Excellent! Well we still have about an hour until you're mother's shift would usually start, so lets go over all the things while we have the time."

In that hour, she taught me the most basic things, such as where the most popular items were located in case a customer asked, and making sure to ask and check for ID when someone tries to buy any tobacco or alcohol (This was particularly strange, as I would've thought that minors weren't allowed to distribute such things, but she assured me it was okay.) The hardest thing was getting use to the cash register, so most of the time was used for that. By the end of it I felt pretty confident, though I couldn't help the feeling that I was going to mess up majorly.

"Now, I guess it's time for me to leave you to it then." Janet spoke, looking pleased by the progress we made. "And don't worry about being overrun by customers, Sundays are usually our most slowest." She gave a reassuring smile, which helped calm my nerves.

To my surprise, things went quite well. My first hour was slightly dysfunctional. I kept apologizing to customers as I tried my hardest to keep up with everything – my biggest problem was getting the register to open just as swiftly as Janet had been doing it when teaching, but I soon got the hang of it. The hours seemed to fly by faster than I'd had thought possible, which I quickly learned that I was actually quite enjoying myself. The radio on the shelf next to me was playing songs that I knew well, and I hummed along with them when I was alone. This too surprised me, as Janet really wasn't kidding when she said that Sundays were their slowest days, as for the most part, I would've guess that within four hours, there were only twenty customers.

I was fiddling with the necklace I wore (the one Paul gave to me back in March) when another customer came strolling in through the doors. When I looked up though, I only got a peak at the back of their head as they straight away went to the fridges in the back of the store. It was when I was analyzing the wooden bear on the necklace that a familiar voice spoke up.

"Oh, hello Seth."

I looked up, and to my shock, it was Paul's father.

"Hello, Chris." I said, surprised to see the man.

"Long time, no see, yeah?"

I smiled. "Yeah, it has."

"When did you start working here?" He questioned.

"Today's actually my first day. I'm taking over some of my mom's shifts since she took over my father's job on the Council."

"Oh, voluntarily?"

"Yeah! I knew that she's been having trouble keeping up with both jobs, so it was only fair that I help out."

"Well that's very kind of you." He said frankly, which I politely thanked him. I then looked down to the items he had on the counter, which was about three packs of steaks.

"Oh, are you having a barbeque with a few people?"

"No…" He looked away, chuckling slightly. I quickly realised my mistake.

"Oh god… he's going to eat all of that?"

This seemed to make him laugh. "The boy's got an appetite, that's for sure."

"No doubt about that." I laughed.

"Gonna be a late barbeque though. Got called into work, so it looks like his stomach is going to have to hold off for a few hours." He sighed.

The sudden urge to help the man out hit me, which made me began questioning where all this generosity was coming from – not that I was complaining. It felt nice to do.

"Hey well, I'm suppose to be seeing him later anyways. Do you want me to do it?"

"Oh Seth, you don't need to be bothering yourself with this." He tried dismissing me.

"Chris really, I don't mind." I gave him a more serious look. He seemed to contemplate my offer for a moment before giving me a smile.

"Well that would really be helpful. Thank you, Seth."

I beeped the steaks for him, which he then paid for by credit card; making me feel slight relief as I wouldn't have to fiddle with the register.

He thanked me again as I bagged the things, and then told me that he would leave them in the fridge before taking his leave.

I felt somewhat excited for the visit, as I couldn't remember the last time I had been in Paul's house. The rest of the shift seemed to go by slowly, and I felt my excitement spike as Janet entered the store again, which meant that it was ending.

"How was it?" She asked.

"It was actually pretty good!" I replied honestly, which seemed to be the answer she wanted to hear.

We went over a few things, such as what weekday shifts I would be taking over for my mother, and after that I was free to leave.

I roared the truck's engine to life, before swiftly pulling out of the lot. I knew my mother would want to hear how it went, so I went home for a quick second, which would also give me time to change into warmer clothes, as the day was getting cooler.

As I stepped into the house, I saw my mother's head peak out through the kitchen doorway.

"You're back! How did It go?" She asked, eager to know.

"Really well! I think I'm going to enjoy it there."

"Oh, that's so good to hear." She seemed relieved. "And don't worry, you won't be working for nothing." I looked up in question, only to realise what she was saying.

"Oh, no mom. That's fine, really." I didn't need the money, and I knew that she needed it to pay the bills.

"Seth, the council has already raised my salary anyways. I know you're worried about the bills, so don't be. We'll manage just fine."

I wanted to put up an argument, but I could already tell that I wasn't going to win it. I only sighed before heading upstairs to change. As I returned, I called out to my mom, telling her I would be back later, and then was back out the door again.

As I pulled into Paul's driveway, I parked the truck and jumped out, practically skipping up to the door. It was unlocked – I'm guessing by Chris – so I didn't have to use the extra key that they kept hidden under a rock by the door.

I stepped inside, feeling as if I was entering uncharted territory. There was no sound in the home, so I assumed that Paul hadn't returned just yet.

It really had been a long time since I had last visited, but everything looked the exact same as it always had. To the left was the living room, where their very expensive looking plasma tv was. In front of me was the kitchen, which was only separated from the living room by a half-cut wall. I wasted no time as I made my way in, making a b-line straight to the fridge where Chris said the steaks would be.

I pulled them out, before searching through the cupboards for some pans. When I found them, I put them on the stove and turned on the dials before plopping down the steaks. As I waited for them to cook, I decided to explore the house. I walked around the downstairs area, which one thing that caught my eye was the large bookshelf they had, which seemed to be filled with books on Quileute history. I paused, thinking back to the old tales that I'd once read, and shaking my head at the silliness of it all. I retreated back to the kitchen, flipping the steaks once, and then went back to exploring.

The next thing I explored was the upstairs, and more specifically, Paul's room. When I opened the door, I couldn't help but feel the nostalgia that seemed to hit me. I remember being in this room a lot as a kid. Usually after primary school, I would come over on bus everyday with Paul, as my parents both always had work, and considered Leah old enough to stay home alone, but not old enough to be able to look after me. I made my way over to the bed, which was unsurprisingly unmade. I sat down, looking around at everything, and reliving all the moments the two of us had in here as kids.

The room smelled like fresh leaves and moss – the way Paul smelled. It was relaxing. I stood up again, and made my way over to the rusted desk which held many things on top of it, ranging from school textbooks to dirty pairs of socks. One of the things that caught my eye was a journal-like book laying on top of all the mess. With questioning curiosity, I opened it.

The first page had many scribbled out sentences on it, though not completely unreadable. I made my way back down to the kitchen with the book in hand. I simultaneously began flipping the steaks while reading.

-I don't know what to-
-I cant understand anything that's ha-
-Today was-
Sam thinks I should keep a journal on what has happened. I don't know where to begin. I guess I'll write whatever comes to mind? Like I'm taking to myself? That seems kind of crazy, but nothing about this week has been anything remotely sane.

My eyes narrowed at the page. I began to question what he meant, and I questioned whether turning the page to read more was an invasion of privacy, but I knew that if I kept reading, it could give me the answers to what had been going on between Sam and Paul. With a guilty conscious, I continued.

My body feels… incredible. Like I could take on a whole army. It scares me though. Because after changing back, the fatigue can be overwhelming. I like it though. It feels… addicting in a way.
I still can't control it. Sam say's I'll get better in time. I hope so. It's making me feel angry every second. I can't remember the last time I really felt happy. Hell, even writing this, it's taking everything in me to not shatter this pen to pieces. Last night my father asked me to not leave dirty dishes in the sink, and I had to leave the house just to scream and punch trees in order to calm down.

I felt extremely anxious. By the sounds of it, it sounded like Paul is taking something. Drugs maybe? Steroids? Was that the reason he had put on twenty pounds in a month? He wrote everything with such vagueness. He wasn't mentioning the topic directly, as if he were ashamed of it or something, which only father made me think that my guessing was correct.

I skipped ahead a little in the journal.

Today we were chasing it. It was the first time I'd seen it, and Jared was right about how disgusting it smelled. We chased it through the woods. It was just as fast as – if not quicker than – us. I really thought we could've caught it too if he hadn't' have showed up. What the hell was he doing so far in the woods anyway? And he came so close to it. When I got home I had practically gagged into my toilet from how bad my nerves had been after seeing that.

Everything was still so vague. I tried my best to decrypt it, but nothing made any sense. What were they chasing? Who was he?

The steaks looked about done, so I flipped the stove off and took out a few plates to put them on, before wrapping them up in tinfoil and putting them in the oven.

I began flipping pages again, only to stop when I caught sight of my name.

I imprinted. At least, that's what Sam thinks. He's asking the council if it's possible. I don't know what to feel. My instincts are telling me to be happy, but everything just feels so scary, and when I get scared, I get angry.
If Seth knew, I bet he would be angry. Probably punch me in the face, call me a faggot or whatever, then never speak to me again. I hope he doesn't hate me after this.

I felt myself become choked up. What was this 'imprint' thing he talked about, and did it somehow help him realise he liked guys? And did he really think I would hate him after finding out? I turned the pages again, trying to find more entries on my name.

Tonight was weird. In the best way possible. Me and Seth are friends again, and it makes me happy. I'm happy. I was starting to think that this emotion completely disappeared. It feels so good. It feels so natural to be around him. He stopped me from being angry. Something even Sam couldn't get me to do. As I had that filthy excuse of a man's neck in my hands, I really thought that I was going to phase, but Seth stopped me, and I couldn't have been more grateful. I was about to reveal the tribe's secrets. Century long secrets. But Seth stopped me. He saved me.

I was at a loss for words. I had helped him keep the 'secrets' of our tribe? What secrets?

I flipped the pages once more, but something slipped out and fell to the floor. I stared down, looking at the tiny white piece of paper. It almost seemed to resemble a photo. I steady hands slowly reached down, peeling the paper off the ground. I stood back up, and flipped it around.

As I stared down at the paper in my fingers, I felt nothing. No words, no emotions, no thoughts. Nothing.

It was a photo. One that had snow in it. Snow and trees, the two major things. But there was more than just snow and trees. There was fur, there was paws, there was tails, and there was animal like bodies the size of bears.