TW: swearing, descriptions of vomiting, and descriptions of pregnancy pain/complications

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Reader's Perspective

Here I am crammed in an apartment, bored again. Granted, Miguel's apartment was like one hundred times nicer than mine, but there was only so much I could do. I had been listening to music on my mp3 for hours, writing crappy poems, potential song lyrics, and doodling in my notebook. Plus I had been watching a ton of TV (who knew Miguel liked telenovas so much?) After an hour and a half of that, I was good. My damn life was like a telenova, those characters ain't got nothing on me. Miguel had meals prepped and the refrigerator stocked for me, so at least I knew I was eating better and wouldn't be hungry.

Boredom warped into curiosity, and it got the better of me. I decided to snoop around Miguel's apartment. Not my proudest moment, but I was living with the man, so it would be better to know more about him.

He kept everything very pristine, almost like no one lived here. Granted, I don't think he got to spend much time at his home these days. He didn't have much in his drawers, a few casual civilian clothes (which he didn't wear much) and documents from when he worked at Alchemax as a geneticist. I didn't understand what any of them were saying, too much scientific jargon in a field I didn't understand. I was surprised that there were still physical files in this futuristic decade, but I guess nothing beats having it written down on paper when there's a network outage.

I really hope our baby inherits Miguel's intelligence and doesn't turn out to be a dumbass like me.

Under some neatly filed paperwork, I found some photographs, something else I was surprised to see in physical form. I picked up one of them to get a closer look. It was Miguel, younger, standing beside a man. They were both smiling wide, the man's arm slung around Miguel's shoulders. Studying it further I saw that the man looked kind of similar to Miguel - they had the same eye shape and noses, but he was thinner than Miguel, had a little bit lighter hair, and wore some goggle-things on his head.

I realized that this must be Miguel with his brother, Gabriel.

A wave of sadness washed over me, recalling what Miguel had told her about them not being on speaking terms. It was Miguel's fault for stealing girlfriends and fiancés from him (the fact that it happened more than once astonishes me). Family dynamics wasn't something I understood too well, considered I didn't have one. I made a mental note to look into Gabriel later, and kept digging through the photographs.

"Miguel if I find any pictures of your exes in here, I swear to god." I muttered to myself.

I instead saw about a dozen pictures of Gabriella doing various things: playing, eating dinner, posing in a ridiculously comical dress up outfit, playing soccer, and a few out of frame selfies with Miguel in them.

I dropped the pictures back in the drawer, a wave of nausea taking over me so suddenly that I sank to my knees. I had to run to the bathroom, clasping my hand over my mouth as I felt the bile start to creep up my throat. I almost didn't make it to the toilet as I vomited. It hurt, I had to catch my breath afterward, sobbing and laying down on the cool bathroom floor, trying to understand what came over me. My hormones had my mood going haywire, but I think the overwhelming feeling of empathy, grief, and fear had flooded my senses all at once, turning me into an emotional mess on the floor. I gripped my stomach, feeling a deep ache spread.

Miguel's little girl was taken from him, gone, obliterated. He was so happy, a different person before, and now he was angry a lot and overcome with grief. I was scared to experience the trauma of losing a child, I was scared that was going to happen to me.

I needed to get out of the house and get my mind off of everything, this was all becoming too much.

Miguel didn't want me to stress about the Spiderverse crap going on, he said there was a potential timeline disruption that could destroy a whole universe… you know, tough work day stuff. I could see the stress eating away at him, I swear I saw some gray hairs in his head this morning. I felt bad, literally thousands of Spider People were depending on him; technically trillions of lives if counting the regular people. That was a lot of pressure, more pressure I think than even I can comprehend.

And now there's the added stress of pregnancy…

I kept my hands on my stomach, thinking about the little twitchy sea monkey growing in there. Not sure if I was even mentally prepared to be a mother - there was so much happening so quickly it was hard for my brain to keep up with all the changes. I'm glad Miguel had some experience at least, but was he ready after already losing one child? Jess could definitely give me some pointers-

Jess!

I sat up from the bathroom floor, recalling my friend. I hadn't spoken to her in so long, I wondered how her baby was doing. I missed her and my friends dearly. None of them knew I was pregnant, I know Miguel wouldn't say anything to them and would most likely hide it until I started physically showing.

Fuck it, I missed them and wanted to see them so bad. Plus, I really wanted to know how Jess' baby was doing. I left the bathroom and dug out my favorite zip-up hoodie from my backpack and my leggings, popping a piece of gum in my mouth to get the gross taste out of my mouth. I noticed the leggings were a little more snug than usual, even being the stretchy kind I could feel it tighter around my abdomen. Maybe I was showing a little more than I thought? I wonder why I'm so bad at noticing all these changes that were going on with my body these past few months, damn my mental state must have been really bad.

I left Miguel's apartment, subconsciously twisting my dimension travel watch as I jogged through the building's hallways. I knew Miguel wouldn't want me poking around, but I needed some human interaction so I could stay sane.

I entered Miguel's platform room (I swear he never went anywhere else). He was going over something with Gwen, speaking intently about a plan to catch a villain. This villain must be a real issue, I haven't seen Miguel this adamant about capturing anomalies. Jess, Hobie, Peter B, Ben Reilly, and Pavitr were present, discussing the game plan.

I didn't want to butt in, I just stood there awkwardly, eavesdropping on their conversation. This person named Miles was mentioned a few times, I wonder what his deal was. It seemed like Peter and Gwen knew him personally. They seemed a little upset, and Miguel seemed irritated about something. I started to wonder if right now was the best time to have even shown up. That pain radiated in my lower stomach again, causing me to lean by a nearby wall for support. What the hell was this? It wasn't the worst thing I had ever felt, but it was definitely uncomfortable and a little alarming.

Lyla had spotted me, materializing by me and drawing everyone's attention from their conversation. I cursed under my breath, wanting to be inconspicuous. I took my hand off my stomach, wincing slightly as I leaned against the wall, trying to play it casual.

"Didn't expect to see you here!" Lyla told me with a little sing-song.

"Your timing is impeccable…" I muttered to her through gritted teeth.

"Sunshine!" Peter ran over to me, pulling me into a tight hug, May cooing in joy to see her father excited. "When did you get back?"

I stole a nervous glance over at Miguel, I could see the frustration on his face as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I got back like, two days ago?" I replied, patting May on the head.

Another sharp pain radiated through my lower stomach, I know I made a face, not being able to help but grip it. I tried my best to play it off.

"You good?" Hobie asked.

"Oh yeah, just got some mild cramps, nothing to worry about." I forced a laugh out, my tone slightly constricted from the discomfort.

Jess approached. Her stomach was huge and she looked very exhausted. She was slow to move, something that was unlike her. She smiled at me, tiredly, and I pulled her into a hug. It felt good to embrace her again, and I swear I was going to start crying. Pregnancy hormones were no joke. I heard Miguel land as he leapt off the platform, heading toward our little group huddle. I pulled Hobie into the hug, too, trying to shield myself from Miguel's wrath.

"Okay, that's enough." Miguel said, trying to break us all up.

"Why didn't you tell us she was back?" Jess asked Miguel, her tone accusatory.

"Can we get back to the task at hand?" Ben droned, annoyed.

"Seriously…" Gwen added, her arms crossed.

I felt bad, I know they were having an important conversation that I had completely derailed. Miguel saw how I was posed, my hand over my stomach, trying very hard to mask how uncomfortable I was. He stood in front of me, placing his hand on my stomach, kneeling down. I could feel the stares of everyone else, watching this interaction. Jess shot Peter a look, in that moment I knew we were busted.

"Miguel, what's going on?" Jess asked, also crossing her arms.

"It's nothing, Jess. I've just got a stomach ache, that's all." I tried to laugh it off. I don't even know why I was trying to hide it, it was like a knee-jerk reaction.

"Oh, I hate those." Pavitr added, lightheartedly.

Miguel wasn't good at masking his concern, keeping his focus on me. Lyla had materialized on my shoulder, looking down at Miguel.

"Do you want me to tell them?" Lyla asked him.

"Lyla, don't start." He snapped. He glanced back up at me. "Where is it coming from? Do you need to go back to the doctor?" His tone lowered talking to me.

"Tell us what?" Peter interjected.

Too much noise, it was too overwhelming with Miguel telling Lyla to be quiet, Peter and Jess protesting, Ben and Gwen trying to get Miguel's focus on what they were discussing before, Hobie and Pavitr watching in silence from the sidelines… I couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm pregnant." I blurted out.

A hush came over the small crowd. Miguel stood up, putting his hands on his hips, sighing deeply. Lyla made some fake virtual confetti fall, which Miguel waved off in annoyance.

"You're what?!" Peter echoed, his face distorted with shock, May let out a squeal to mimic him.

"Um, surprise!" I mocked a little cheer.

"Hang on, whoa-" Peter repeated.

"How far along are you?" Jess questioned.

"Almost fourteen weeks." I answered.

"Are you hurting?" She asked, her now putting her hand on my stomach.

"Yeah… it's like an ache in my lower abdomen."

"It's probably your ligaments, they're starting to stretch from your expanding womb. It's normal, but you should go get it checked just to make sure." Jess explained.

Her head snapped over to Miguel, who still had his hands on his hips, his eyes closed. She didn't say anything at first, but I know her intuition was always spot on. I glanced over at Hobie who seemed just as surprised as Peter, but didn't say anything.

"Who's the father?" Ben cut in.

"Ben-" Jess warned.

"What? I'm invested now."

"Do you have a plan? Do you need anything?" Peter asked me, approaching me and putting his hands on my shoulders. "Do you need a place to stay?"

"I'm okay, Peter, Miguel has me covered." I replied, graciously.

Peter looked over his shoulder at Miguel, other gazes from the group followed. I think people were finally starting to put two and two together. I watched the realization dawn on Peter's face.

"No way…" Peter said aloud.

Miguel's face went red, he turned on his heel and started to head back to the platform, telling Lyla to bring the model of their anomaly plan back up. Gwen stepped in front of him, her face scrunched up in anger.

"So you're allowed to break canon by getting a Spider Woman from another universe pregnant, and I can't go see my friend Miles without going through all this?" Gwen shouted at him. "You keep telling me you'll bring him here when it's safe to do so, but it's been weeks!"

"We'll talk about it later." He dismissed, brushing by her.

She didn't press the topic, but I could tell she was still upset. This whole thing was turning into an awkward disaster.

I felt bad, watching how upset she was, wondering why this Miles kid was causing so much friction. Jess and Peter hugged me again in congratulations, snapping my focus away from Miguel. Hobie placed his hand on my stomach, asking how I was. Even though I was still a bit overwhelmed, I was grateful for all of them checking on me.

Miguel's Perspective

This is not how he wanted them to find, but seeing her interact with her friends, and the support she was receiving, it made him soften. Jess walked over to him, he prepared himself for the criticism he knew was coming.

"So you and Sunshine?" She started, her eyebrows raised as she waited for an explanation.

"It just happened, I don't know what came over me."

That answer seemed to bother Jess: "Don't hurt that girl, you've put her through enough. It's hard enough bringing a child into this world, even more so when the circumstances aren't surrounded by love."

Miguel physically recoiled, upset by her answer.

"I do love her, Jess. I know I haven't been good to her at times, I tried my best to keep her away from me and it didn't work. I fully intend to take care of her, don't doubt that."

Jess seemed surprised by his answer.

"You do love her, hm. I knew it."

"We all did." Lyla added, materializing by Jess.

Miguel rolled his eyes for a second, placing his face in his hands. These women were driving him crazy with how right they were all the time. Miguel noticed Jess holding onto her own swollen stomach, her brows furrowed. She had been doing this for the past day.

"How are you doing?" He asked, worried.

"I'll be fine, you should be worrying about her." Jess responded, pointing her thumb over at his pregnant lover. "Those pains she's feeling are probably nothing, but she should still get checked out."

"Can you and Pavitr take her to the medical wing, then? I have to stay and go over assignments, and speak to Gwen so she doesn't do anything rash. You should get yourself checked, isn't your due date soon?"

"I'll be fine, Miguel. And why Pavitr?"

"He's very fidgety and seems bored, he needs something to do." Miguel replied, honestly needing a break from his high energy.

"Okay, but when I get back we need to talk about having a child born with parents from different universes and moments in time, and how that could eventually cause a rift."

"Yeah, I know."

He just couldn't seem to catch a break.

Reader's Perspective

Jess and Pavitr escorted me toward the medical wing. Pavitr hummed to himself, in his own world as we walked through the building. Jess was still moving slow, we had to take breaks a few times because she needed a minute. I was worried about her, but she kept assuring me she was fine.

We reached a long, empty stretch of hallway. I didn't recognize this area, and there was no one around. Pavitr went to stroll by me, I stopped him by gripping his shoulder.

"I know this isn't the right way, I've been to the medical wing a few times. I think we took a wrong turn back there." I told Pavitr.

"Why do you go there so much?" He asked.

"Other than pregnancy, I guess I get my ass kicked a lot." I shrugged.

I glanced back at Jess, only to find her nearly keeled over, clutching her stomach. Pavitr and I rushed over to her. She was groaning in pain. I noticed that in between her legs was soaked, my heart skipped a beat.

"I think the baby is coming…" Jess managed to murmur through the pain.

Notes:

I got the telenova idea from feyhunter78's fanfic Pink Pastels ❤️