"Miles," his mother says, knocking on his bedroom door. "Hobie left in an awful hurry. You okay?"
"Yeah," Miles says, even though he's not sure himself. He leans back on his bed, head falling backwards in confusion.
"You want to talk about it?" she asks. Holds out her arms for a hug.
"I don't know," Miles says, slowly standing to wrap his arms around his Mamá, relaxing into her embrace.
"I like that boy. Don't let him get away. He's polite, and he's handsome, and your father and I love you no matter what." It seems his mother is testing how explicitly she can say she approves of Miles and Hobie dating without actually saying so.
"I like him too," Miles admits, glad to finally be able to talk about this. "I really like Hobie. But he's got a boyfriend already, and I also really like Gwanda. I don't know what to do. I don't know how to choose."
"Has Hobie said he and his boyfriend are okay with you being involved?" His mother breaks the hug to look him in the eyes, each hand holding on to one of his arms. "If you're messing around with more than one person, you need to work that much harder to make sure everyone knows what's happening. Breaking one heart is bad enough. I don't want your heart getting broken by everyone all at once."
"Hobie stressed the importance of talking, yeah," Miles replies, not quite making eye contact. "That's why he left so quickly. Because I wanted to just be with him right now, without talking to Gwanda first."
"You want to be with Gwanda still?" his Mamá asks, a tone of disapproval sneaking through her words.
"Gwanda's really awesome," Miles says, fully aware his mother won't really believe him. Hobie's an ex-model, a punk rocker, a polite tall Black boy with the best wicks he's seen in his life. Gwen's just some white girl who climbed into their life through Miles' window, at least in his parents' eyes.
"Okay, Miles, but don't let yourself get hurt. You're growing up, not grown up. Now go get your woman. And man."
He can practically hear the cogs turning in his mother's head as she processes that her son is a polyamorous bisexual. Not that he's said so in as many words.
"The words for what I am are bisexual and polyamorous," Miles says, suddenly aware of the fact that his father can probably hear everything that's happening. His house isn't exactly soundproof.
"Mijo, I could have told you as much if you let me know you were looking for words. Your Mamá knows things, remember that."
"You're not mad? Upset? Confused?"
At this, his father comes in, apparently done with eavesdropping.
"Dad," Miles says. "I know you like Hobie, and you don't like Gwanda. But I like both of them. I can't help it."
"Miles," his father says. "We love you unconditionally, and even if it were conditional, this wouldn't be one of the conditions. And don't think I like anyone who you're letting into your heart. Just make sure I get to talk to everyone you get involved with. I can't have them treating you wrong."
"I'll make sure," Miles promises, and collapses into his dad for a hug. "Can I go out? I need to talk to Gwanda."
"As long as you stay safe and get back in time for curfew, sure," his father says, and Miles breaks away from his parents to rush out the door.
"You're in a hurry," his mother says as he pulls his sneakers on. "Love you."
He runs down the block until he reaches an alleyway. Shoves his sleeves down and types in the number of Gwen's universe. She'll probably be at home, right?
He knocks politely at her door. Her father opens it. "Looking for Gwen, I assume?"
"Yes, Mr Stacy. Is she home?"
"Yes." He doesn't move out of the way.
"My name's Miles Morales, I'm a friend." Miles isn't sure if he's supposed to ask Mr Stacy to move out of the way, or just wait here, or go sneak in through the window. The third option is probably not what he's supposed to do, but he's beginning to understand why Gwen and Hobie don't come to the door.
"Gwen!" Mr Stacy turns his head to call into the apartment. "Some guy called Miles Morals is here to talk to you."
"Morales," he corrects, but Mr Stacy doesn't acknowledge it.
"Miles!" Gwen appears from somewhere behind her father, pushing him aside to wrap Miles in a hug. "Come on in. I'm sorry my dad's so protective. How are you doing?"
"I'm good," Miles says. "You doing good?"
"Definitely not bad," she says, pulling Miles inside. "Tell me when supper's ready, please," she tells her father.
Miles follows her into her room, where she closes the door completely. Damn. It's the small differences which make a family unique, he supposes.
"I've missed you," she says, sitting on her bed.
"Me too." Miles sits down beside her. "Hobie came to visit me."
"Did you have fun?" Gwen asks, brightening up, presumably at the fact that Hobie and Miles are clearly getting along now.
Shit. How is he supposed to say this? Just push forward and hope, he guesses. "I kissed him."
"Oh." She leans away from him, probably unconsciously. Any excitement she felt that Miles and Hobie were friends now is melting away. Jealousy? "You know he's never going to have you as his only love, right? He doesn't work that way."
"Yeah," Miles says. "He told me. Explained that I don't have to choose between if I want to choose both."
"I'm happy for you," Gwen says, strained. Jealous. "Hobie's a good choice. He's got a lot of partners, but they're all his beloved partners. He's a fierce protector."
"He wasn't my only choice," Miles says, quiet. He's rushed into this too quickly. But he can't exactly backpedal now. "See, I only kissed him once, because he pushed me off. Wouldn't let me kiss him again until I talked to you."
"Why would I matter?" Gwen asks, dropping eye contact. And then it sinks in. "I'm your other choice?"
"You were kind of my first choice," Miles admits. "Remember the sketchbook?"
"Yeah." She laughs at bit, at the memory.
"Am I wrong to think you want to choose me?" Miles asks, leaning in her direction.
"I do," she says, arms wrapping around him in another hug. She smells so much better than Hobie, like shampoo and house and less than a day's worth of body odour. Hobie's hot, but being homeless is not doing anything for his natural smell.
"Good," Miles returns the hug. "You're sure you don't mind me and Hobie?"
She ends the hug to think about it, holding him at arms' length. "I don't mind you and Hobie," she begins. Oh god. "You're two of my best friends. But you have to understand that Hobie's not super exclusive about who he screws around with. If you're going to be doing anything with him, you'd both better wear condoms, because I don't want to catch anything he might pick up."
Miles blushes at the implication that he and Hobie might do anything requiring a condom. And then the blush deepens when the implications of what Gwen's saying sink in. She doesn't want to catch any sexually transmitted diseases from Miles... which she could only catch if she and Miles were having sex to transmit the diseases.
"Not that you probably even need to think about that yet," Gwen adds. "Hobie loves romance just as much as he loves having sex. I think. And he's got enough other guys that he won't even need to refrain from pushing you."
"He was pushing me away, if anything," Miles says, trying to shrug even though Gwen's still holding him. "Just to confirm, we are dating now, right? Like, I'm your boyfriend. And you're my girlfriend."
"Yes," Gwen says, releasing him to punch him gently on the shoulder. "Someday we should talk about what screwing around will look like with us, because it won't look like straight sex or like gay sex. But that doesn't need to happen now. I think defining ourselves is more than enough."
"Hobie doesn't do definitions, does he?" Miles asks. It's a rhetorical question, but he'd still like to confirm that even if he's technically with the older boy, he's still just got one girlfriend.
"He communicates, though," Gwen nods. She leans over, into Miles' chest, and it makes Miles feel strong and protective, to have her head nestled under his chin. Makes him feel trusted, too - she's usually so guarded, but right now she's completely vulnerable.
"I'm so glad I met you," Miles says, wrapping his arms around her.
"I'm glad you met me too," she says, and he can feel her smile against his chest.
They stay there, just enjoying being teenagers in love who don't want to move, for a while. Eventually, Gwen's father opens the door - without knocking, Miles notices, that's another small difference - and tells them supper is ready. "I made enough for Miles to stay and eat with us, if he wants."
Miles released his arms from around Gwen when the door started swinging open, but she didn't move. She stares defiantly at her father, who's managed to look everywhere except at Miles.
"I would love to, but my parents are expecting me home," he smiles. What did Hobie do that worked so well on his parents? How can he do that? "Thank you for the offer, Mr Stacy."
"Now we've got extra food," he says gruffly, and Miles is certain he's got to be inventing problems now. Nobody he's ever met has been upset about having leftovers. Even the spoiled rotten rich kids at Visions are always happy to have free food.
"Lighten up, dad," Gwen says, finally getting up and breaking contact with Miles. His heart wanted her to stay there forever, safely nestled into him, but his brain wanted her to get away from him so her dad doesn't hate him.
"See you," Miles says, standing to follow Gwen out of her room, but Mr Stacy blocks him in.
"We're going to talk about your relationship with my daughter."
"Lighten up, dad," Gwen says, still somehow cheerful, washing her hands at the kitchen sink.
Mr Stacy closes his daughter's bedroom door, closing he and Miles in, and Miles is a little bit scared right now. Mr Stacy may not be a cop anymore, but some people are cops even without the badge.
"What do you want with her? Sex? Pretty arm candy to impress the boys? Someone to drag you upwards from wherever you are? Someone to drag down with you?" Mr Stacy, standing inches from Miles, is like a brick wall. An angry and suspicious brick wall. "You know she's not like most girls, right? She's told you about the circumstances of her birth?"
The part of Miles' brain that isn't desperately trying to figure out how to make Mr Stacy like him takes note of the fact that Mr Stacy talks about Gwen's transition like she's a prophecied Chosen One in a fantasy book.
"I know she's trans, sir," Miles says. "and I don't care. I just want to be able to be a normal teenager who has a really awesome girlfriend. And she's a really awesome girl, and we both like each other, so what else is stopping us?" Shit. That's way more confrontational than anything Hobie said to his parents.
"Don't drag her down with you," Mr Stacy says, and Miles decides he'd better say something now so he doesn't explode later.
"I don't know what kind of person you think I am, but I go to private school," Miles says. He can't remember if Visions exists in this universe, so he can't name-drop it, but he needs to stand up for himself. His parents would never forgive him if he let Mr Stacy define him like this.
"Oh?" Mr Stacy says. "Are you some rich boy who likes slumming it with the middle class, then? Think you're some Prince Charming here to sweep Gwen off her feet?"
It's somewhat of a relief to know Mr Stacy is determined to dislike Miles even if he's not a drug-dealing street kid. Not that private schools don't have their fair share of drug dealers. But it's still insulting.
"I'm there on academic merit scholarships," Miles says. "I know she's your daughter and you love her, but I think you could benefit from understanding that I love her too. Not because she has anything I want, but because I want her in my life."
"She likes you, and that's enough for me to let you in my house and invite me to dinner." Could this finally be the end? Might Miles be able to slip out now, run through a portal and go back home? "But I don't like you, and I'm going to continue to dislike you until she's broken up with you. Understood? Comprende ?"
If he didn't have to worry about keeping Mr Stacy willing to let him date Gwen, Miles would punch him. That's not even proper Spanish.
"Understood," Miles says. He needs to leave within the next five seconds or he's going to do something that will make his chances of being liked by Mr Stacy vanish completely.
Then, as Mr Stacy steps aside to let Miles leave, the implications of his words finally sink in. Mr Stacy will continue to dislike Miles until Gwen breaks up with him. Which means Mr Stacy considers their relationship to be serious enough that Gwen could break up with him. It's a small and hollow victory, but a victory nonetheless.
"See you, Miles,"Gwen says from the kitchen table, meal still untouched. Was she waiting for her father to join her?
"Bye, Gwen."
"You'd best be going now, Miles Mora les ," Mr Stacy says with so much emphasis on the last syllable of his name that the aggression isn't really passive anymore. He sits down, across the table from his daughter, and they begin eating. Gwen's watching Miles leave, but her dad's eating with extra emphasis. Shutting Miles out.
Miles is more than a little bit relieved to land back home in his universe. His parents welcome him back and ask him about why he likes Gwanda and Hobie as they eat.
"Well, Gwanda introduced me to Hobie because he supported her when she and her dad had a big fight," Miles explains. "I guess she figured it would be nice if we got along. And now we're getting along really well."
"Her dad's a police officer too, right?" Miles' dad asks, putting down his fork.
"Yeah," Miles says, not mirroring his father. This doesn't have to be a big deal.
"I don't think Hobie was being completely truthful when he said he just likes blue," his father clasps his hands together. "He's nice, but he might be too good to be true. And hearing he supported Gwanda in going against her father's wishes... I think he might be one of those ACAB kids. Don't let him turn you against the people who are here to help you."
"I'll be careful," Miles promises. "Hobie's just very immersed in punk culture. I'm sure he doesn't mean anything by the blue lace." At this point, Miles is glad he's not Pinnochio. That lie would have toppled his head forward into his dinner with the weight of his new nose.
"Tell me again how it went with Gwanda," Miles' mother interrupts. "She seemed very different in your story. I like that version of her."