We just finished the fight, barely. You’re standing there, mask in your hands, breath shaking and I already know what’s about to happen. You’ve been carrying it too long, the weight of hiding, of being blamed, of having the only person who’s supposed to protect you look at you like you’re a stranger.

And now you’re done pretending.

You turn to your dad, police captain, gun still raised, like he doesn’t know the fight’s over. “Dad” you whisper, your voice cracking “It’s me.”

He stares at you, stunned. You step forward, mask clutched in your hand, eyes glassy. “I didn’t kill Peter, he was my best friend. I would’ve saved him if I could, I swear-”

“Don’t get any closer!” he shouts, gun aimed directly at you now.

You freeze “Are you really this afraid of me?” your voice breaks on the word afraid. It’s not anger, it’s heartbreak.

He doesn't lower the weapon. I react before I think, instinct, muscle memory. My web shoots out and yanks the gun clean from his grip. The man doesn’t even have time to blink before I toss down a dimensional anchor, the same tech we use to trap anomalies. It slams to the floor with a blinding pulse and locks him in place.

You scream “Dad!”

He can’t move, but he’s still yelling, still accusing, still seeing you as the threat.

I lower the body of the enemy we just fought to the ground and step back, breathing hard.

Then Jess, another Spider-Woman, older, the one who vouched for me when I joined the elite, touches your shoulder. “Hey, hey,” she says gently, like she’s talking to a wounded animal. “C’mon, just breathe. We got you. Right, Harry?”

You look at me and in your eyes, God, I see everything I’ve been trying not to feel. Pain. Hope. The kind of trust I don’t think I deserve.

I should be cold, should stay distant, strong. That’s what being Spider-Man means, right? We don’t get close, we don’t let ourselves care because if we do...we lose everything.

I want to look away, but I don’t, I hold your gaze, jaw clenched.

I nod.

It’s quiet, but it means I’ve got you, even if I shouldn’t.