Mig slammed his hands on the armrest, "Please!?"
"No. You are not going to block me out. We are going to talk. No matter how long it takes," Jess stated firmly, crossing her legs.
2 hours of silence came and went with Miguel glaring at the ground while Jess texted, continuing to keep the majority of her attention on him.
"Are you ready?"
He stamped his foot hard on the floor, "I have work to do! Why won't you let me!?"
Jess gave him a sympathetic frown, "You haven't really been to your house this week."
"What?"
"The safeties didn't kick in because you have been doing HQ stuff and patrolling," she shook her head, disappointed in herself for overlooking a flaw in her agreement with Lyla.
When he was doing his secular and spider-man work, ie being an adult, she tended to leave him alone. As long as he kept in contact he was allowed a week at a time to get all his company stuff done unhindered within a certain time slot before she would send Pete to get him.
However she had never set up a curfew as far as Spider-man or HQ went, as it wasn't uncommon for hero stuff to take all night. She hadn't counted on this happening.
But then again she also never really expected him to alter Lyla in a way to hide him being self destructive.
"Miguel, please. I need you to talk to me. Tell me what's wrong so I can make it better. Are you mad we left you to go on our trip?"
"I..no, I'm not mad," he mumbled just above a whisper, holding himself. Her pleading to understand him just made him feel so much worse.
A beep reverberated in the room as Peter walked in.
"Ok, I'm here. What's happening? Are we fixating again?"
Miguel gave Parker a passing glance, his face falling a little more.
Noticing that, Jess turned her attention to her fellow caregiver, "Peter, did something happen when you were watching him?"
"No. Everything was fine," the oldest shrugged, "Outside of his little issue he had early into our time, things were pretty smooth. We watched Little Bear, played various games, and generally had a good time."
She turned her attention back to Miguel, who still refused to talk.
"Ok, honey, I've given you ample opportunity," she shook her head, "Lyla?"
"Right here," the sprite had been waiting for her chance to speak.
"Tell me what happened, please."
"I'll do more than just tell you," Lyla began to play a video.
Miguel's eyes widened. How? Apparently he had forgotten his mama worked for shield and was well versed in getting through some of the most secure firewalls. Add a bored, geek husband and undoing lines of code was done over a lunch break.
The video only got a fraction of a second in before her owner shut it off.
"Stop that," Jess warned, "You had your chance, now its her's."
Lyla tried several more times to play it, getting shut off again each time. By the third time she was annoyed and decided to shut something of Miguel's down.
The man gasped, covering himself when his suit disappeared, leaving him nude in front of the other two. Blushing bright as if they hadn't seen it more times than either could recall.
"Now then," the floating figure tried for a fourth time, sure that he would busy himself trying to redress.
Unfortunately she was wrong as Miguel blocked her again, slamming his palm on the watch more forcefully this time.
Now Jess and Peter had it with this game. Jess stood, grabbing his hand and slapping the back of it hard.
"That is enough! When mommy is having a conversation you don't interrupt!"
"You're about to get yourself in trouble, Miguel," Pete warned his friend, "We're trying to understand and you're making it harder than it has to be."
Mig looked at Jess heartbroken. Mami never yelled at him. He lowered himself in the glider as his suit reappeared, his eyes watering dangerously as he blankly rubbed his reddening skin.
Lyla played the video, uninterrupted this time. It clearly showed Miguel and Peter having a good time. All was well, Miguel was being put to bed.
"Keep flashing that big smile and you're gonna break something," Pete could be heard saying.
As soon as those words exited his mouth Miguel's eyes popped open. The tiredness gone from his face as his expression changed from joy to shock to despondency.
Hearing the sentence all over again, reliving that night, Miguel gave way to sobbing.
Jess looked at Peter in disbelief, "What the fck!?" she mouthed, rushing to give her baby a hug.
"If I'm happy something is wrong," he wailed into her chest, "Whenever I'm happy someone dies or something really bad happens!"
"No, baby, nothing has happened," she shushed him, rubbing his shoulder.
"Something has to be wrong, there has to be a hole or anomaly and I'm not seeing it! Because I'm not supposed to be happy!"
"No, buddy! No, no, no," Pete shook his head, kneeling to rub his friend's leg, "When I said you would break something I meant like your jaw, not the multiverse."
"Parker's gonna get a whooping, triggering my sweet baby like that," she assured her little boy, "I promise you, we're OK. I can take care of myself. And daddy is capable of way more than you know. Nothing is going to happen to us."
He choked, holding on to her, "But, but, I'm not supposed to."
"I'm sorry, Mig, I really didn't mean anything by it. It was just a stupid figure of speech," Parker kicked himself.
"We'll deal with whatever comes when and if it comes," she peppered the top of his head with kisses, "We're ok. You can be happy."
"Everything is running smooth because of you already," Peter reassured him, "You've been doing swell these last few years. Nothing has happened that we haven't handled together, right?"
The man nodded.
"Don't take what I said to heart, you know I'm one of the dumb spider-men. I should have thought of a better phrase," Pete pat his knee, "Nothing bad is going to happen just because you're happy. Ok?"
Mig turned his tear streaked face to him, "Promise?"
"Promise," his caretakers spoke unanimously.
"Are you still my baby?" Jess cooed, stroking his hair.
"Am baby. Want you, need you," he sobbed, clinging to her smaller frame.
"Yes, you're my baby," she kissed his head again, "Shh, Shh. Mommy's here, Mommy is right here. I'm going to take you home so you can nurse and have bath time with all your toys. And mommy will put your favorite pjs on. That sound good?"
Mig calmed some as she swayed, "Watch Comfy Couch?"
"Yes, we can watch Comfy Couch. We can watch movies and TV and play with GG. And daddy will probably make a fun dinner, and I'll make broccoli," she rubbed circles in his back.
"That sounds fun, doesn't it?" Peter smiled at the nod.
"Come on, Pumpkin, let's go home," Jess wiped away his tears as he allowed her to stand. She made sure to give Pete a glare that sent ice throughout his entire frame. Not being allowed to babysit again was probably the least of his worries.
X
"You're not getting your crib back, Duckie," Virgil stated over the whining, "You're gonna get a hunchback, you're getting too big for it."
"Nuh uh! I want my crib! I don't want that!" Gunner cried, shaking his father's leg, "I want my crib!"
"You haven't even tried your bed," he sighed, hearing the tell-tale sounds of the portal, "Hey Sweets, did you bring Miguel with you?"
"Yea, I got him," she called back.
"MI mi!" The toddler hurried to the front, his tantrum forgotten.
"Dinner will be ready soon enough," he called, mixing the spaghetti sauce.
Gunner looked up at Miguel's downtrodden face, "What's wrong?"
"He's not having a good day," Jess rubbed her boy's back.
"Daddy, Mimi is sad!" He quickly clung to Miguel and reached up, attempting to rub the small of his back, "It's ok, it's ok. I'm here."
Virgil peeked from the kitchen, "Ah h3ll," he hurried in, "From one to another. What's wrong, Bubs?"
Mig sniffed, hugging Gunner as Daddy cupped his face.
"What happened, honey?" Virgil wiped at his tears.
Jess shook her head, speaking to her husband in German, "《Some dolt triggered him》"
The man nodded, "It's ok, you're home now. Ok?" He tenderly smoothed his hair back, while the toddler attempted to wipe his eyes.
"I'm gonna get Mimi in his pjs then we'll be down here to eat."
X
"Here, here," Gunner handed his brother his dragon, "I got Invernio, he's gonna protect you and I got your paci," he pushed the soother in Miguel's mouth, "There."
Gunner put his own paci in his mouth and squeezed himself between Miguel and Jess. He took his paci out only to grab 2099's face and kiss his cheek and have his stuffed kiss him too.
"Don' cry now, wa'ch mo'ie," he pulled the cover up on both them, wiping Mig's stray tears.
"Do I get a kiss? I made dinner," Virgil mock pout.
"No, I wan' my crib," the toddler glared.
Daddy scoffed, leaning over and yanking the boy's bonnet down over his eyes, "Stink butt. Can I have a kiss, Bubs?"
2099 quickly leaned over, kissing daddy, then mommy, then his beloved GG.
"He loves me," Virgil turned to the TV, rubbing Miguel's back.
"I 'ove you, I jus wan' my crib," he grumbled around his paci.
Jess kissed her sons' heads and sighed. Her husband leaned over both the kids, gifting her a kiss on her cheek, rubbing her hand.
"《It's ok, Sweetheart, we'll handle it.》"
She kissed his hand, reading a text from Peter.
-How is he?-
"《When they fall asleep, I need you to trade places with me.》"
