"Spill."

Lou Ellen looked Will dead in the eyes, her plastic spoon pressed against his chest like some sort of threat. They were sitting at a small table in the froyo place they often visited after school. Cecil was somewhere in the shop (probably still filling his froyo with every topping imaginable). Lou Ellen tapped her spoon against Will's chest again, clearly trying to wring an answer from him.

Will laughed weakly. "Spill what?"

"My god, Will. Don't play dumb. You come to school, act funny all day, then drag me and Cecil out to get froyo? Something's up."

"I did not DRAG you guys to get froyo. I asked if you wanted to and you responded very enthusiastically that you would."

"Regardless. This isn't normal. It's Nico related, isn't it?"

Will opened his mouth to answer, but no sound came out. He fiddled with his bracelets. "Hm."

"Knew it." Lou Ellen beamed. "So, what is it?"

"Nothing."

"You confess your love?"

"No."

"Ten bucks says they kissed "ACCIDENTALLY"." Cecil chimed in as he sat down, stirring his monstrosity of froyo and absurd amount of toppings together.

"No."

"Jesus, are you gonna make us guess EVERYTHING? I repeat: spill." Lou Ellen said.

Will exhaled. "Don't make fun of me."

"We will." Lou Ellen and Cecil said in unison.

"Great." Will twisted his bracelets again. "So...we hung out last night."

Cecil grinned. "Oh?"

"Shut up! Not like that. We just talked, and maybesortofcuddledjustalittlebit." Will said very quickly.

"What?! Will, that's amazing!" Lou Ellen said, grabbing Will's hand from across the table.

"Yeah. I mean, it would be. But...I wasn't me." Will responded vaguely, not meeting their eyes.

Lou Ellen furrowed her eyebrows. "You mean-"

Cecil gasped. "Nico's in love with Spider-Man but not you?"

Will slapped a hand over Cecil's mouth. "Not so LOUD!! And he's not in love with anyone. But essentially...yes."

Cecil pulled Will's hand off. "Sorry. That's...wow. VERY Miraculous Ladybug."

"You're telling me." Will groaned.

"So...what are you going to do?" Lou Ellen asked, twirling her spoon.

Will shrugged miserably. "I don't know. I mean...should I tell him?"

"Well-" Lou Ellen began.

"But what if when he finds out Spider-Man is you, he doesn't like you anymore?!" Cecil interrupted.

"Cecil!" Lou Ellen hissed. She must have kicked him under the table, because he yelped and scooted away from her. "That wouldn't happen."

Will frowned. "It COULD."

"But it WON'T." Lou Ellen countered. "If I found out the superhero that saved my life and cuddled with me on rooftops was also the hot boy in my first hour class, I'd be head over heels."

"Wouldn't that be cheating on Cecil?" Will said, half smiling.

"Save it, Solace." Lou Ellen grumbled, not denying the accusations.

Cecil seemed to have recovered from Lou Ellen's kick, though Will could see a faint blush on his cheeks after his remarks about him and Lou Ellen. "Okay. So...tell him that you're Spider-Man, then."

Will tried to think of a worst-case scenario retort, but surprisingly found himself without one. "I...guess I could?"

"Don't be weird about it, though. Like you were when you told us." Lou Ellen added. "We thought you were like, dying. You were so ominous."

Cecil nodded in agreement. "Right. Just tell him. Maybe during one of your little cuddling sessions."

"That has only happened ONCE." Will muttered.

"Twice. Remember when he was at your house?"

"That was totally different!!"

"Mhm."

Will seemed ready to argue over this, but his phone buzzed just as he was about to speak.

"Bet it's his boyfriend." Lou Ellen whispered to Cecil, who giggled like an idiot.

"It's my mom, actually." Will said, staring at his phone with a confused look in his eye. "Says "come home. we need to talk.""

"Someone's in trouble!" Cecil sang. "What'd you do?"

"I'm not...sure." Will said, standing up and slinging his bag over his shoulder.

"Well...don't die." Cecil advised very helpfully. Lou Ellen hummed an agreement.

"Thanks, guys." Will rolled his eyes and exited the store.

As he ran back to his apartment, which fortunately wasn't too far away, he mentally ran through everything he had done wrong in his entire life. He was a pretty good kid. He had hardly done anything bad, or at least not anything REALLY bad. Unless she had found out about his little double life...no. He refused to even think about that possibility.

He arrived at his building and quickly ran up to his apartment (a lot quicker than waiting for the slow ass elevator). As he approached his apartment, he tried to slow his breathing and act casual. His mom wouldn't have any reason to BE suspicious of him if he didn't ACT suspicious.

He slowly went inside, kicking off his shoes and setting his backpack down by the door. His mom was sitting in the living room as if she had been expecting him. Well...he supposed she had.

"Hey, Mom." Will said, trying to mask his nervousness. "Um..what's up?"

"Sit down, Will." She said slowly. This wasn't good. Will sat down on the couch, bouncing his leg up and down anxiously.

"I'm not going to drag this out." His mom said, meeting Will's eyes. "So I'll just say it. I know you've been sneaking out."

Will's natural deflective impulse kicked in, and he blurted out: "No, I haven't!" Which was a very stupid thing to do.

His mom's gaze narrowed. "Don't lie. The landlord recently got smart locks installed on all the windows and doors, for safety purposes. They send alerts to tenants when they're opened. And I have been receiving one of those notifications about your window twice every night."

Smart locks on the tenth floor windows seemed like a stupid idea logistically, but Will doubted arguing that would get him anywhere. After a few seconds of rapid fire thinking, Will decided his best option to escape this conversation and any further questioning was to simply admit it.

"...Fine. I have been sneaking out." He said, trying to lay on a thick apologetic inflection. "I'm sorry."

Obviously, this just released a whole other torrent of questions from his mom. He really should have seen this coming.

"Where have you been sneaking off to, then?" She demanded. She seemed mad. Will supposed that made sense.

"Um...nowhere?" He responded.

"Tell me, Will. What, are you going to parties?"

"Mom, I have three friends."

"So? Maybe you're out doing drugs with them."

"Do you seriously think me or my friends are on drugs?"

His mom paused at that. "Well...no. But why are you sneaking out so often, then?"

Will hesitated, tapping his fingers on his knees. "I can't...tell you."

"William Andrew Solace. I'm your mother. If you're sneaking out every night, I need to know what you're doing. It's my JOB."

"You aren't going to like my answer." Will said quietly.

His mom took this as an opportunity to try to read him. "Will...something's been wrong with you for a long time. I can tell. And now I find out you've been sneaking out..." His mom hesitated. Her voice shook. "You've been different ever since your father.....passed. Is it related to-"

"No!" Will said, too quickly. He wasn't technically lying. He hadn't been acting different because his dad was gone. He acted different because of what caused it. "It's not related to Dad. It's...me."

His mom looked confused. "It's...you? Is this a trans thing?"

"No!" Will buried his face in his hands. Half his mind was screaming to TELL HER. Tell her what he'd been doing every night, why he acted distant, why he was always sneaking out. The other half of his mind screamed that that was a terrible idea and she would hate him. Which didn't necessarily seem logical, but was still terrifying.

Will gestured vaguely. "It's...I've been...going through things. Things have been...happening." God, he was bad at this.

"I don't know what you're saying." His mom said flatly. Understandable.

"You know! My life, it's been...a lot. Confusing. I've been..." Will trailed off and took a deep breath. There was no getting around this. He would have to tell her. No matter how terrible it would be. "I've been hiding something from you."

"Clearly." His mom responded dryly.

Will rocked back and forth, trying to steady his nerves. He could do this. He HAD to do this. "So. The reason I've been sneaking out every night. The reason why I've been acting so...weird. It's because...I'm..." God, he couldn't do this.

His mom raised an eyebrow. "You're what, Will?"

"I'm Spider-Man!" Will blurted out. Fuck. He had said it. He had actually said it. No going back now.

His mom stared at him for a long moment, speechless. Finally, she managed to ask him a simple question. "Really?"

Which seemed like kind of a bitchy response to your kid telling you the biggest secret of his entire life. But Will guessed that his confession did sound kind of like a half-baked made up excuse. He nodded. "I'm- I'm serious."

Shock ran across his mom's face as she slowly realized that Will, in fact, was not lying. "For...for how long?"

"For the past year and a half, Mom."

"Who else knows?"

"Not many people. Lou Ellen and Cecil is all." Will bit back that he was planning on telling Nico. He felt that may offend her.

She seemed to be speechless again, but Will could see traces of emotion in her face. Fear. Sadness. Worry. It made him feel nauseous. He shouldn't have told her, he shouldn't have told her, he shouldn't have...

His mom interrupted his thoughts. "If this is all true...why didn't you tell me?"

Wow. The one question Will didn't want to answer. "I wanted to." He said. "But I didn't know...I didn't know how you'd react. I know that it sounds scary. And it is, a lot of the time. I just didn't want you to have to constantly worry about me, and especially after what happened to Dad..." Will could feel his throat closing up. "I just...I thought it was better to keep it from you."

His mom stood up and sat with him on the couch, holding one of his hands. She seemed to have slightly recovered from the initial shock, but Will could feel her shaking. "Will, honey..." She trailed off, as if she wasn't sure what to say.

"Are you mad?" Will asked quietly.

"No! No, Will. I just...wasn't expecting...this. I need to process it."

"I get it. It's a lot."

His mom took a breath. "I just want you to be safe."

Will flinched at the soft sadness in her voice. "I want to be safe, too. That's why I do this. To keep everyone, including me and you, safe."

"I...know. I understand." His mom pressed her lips together and gave him a sad look. "You remind me of your dad, Will."

Will sniffled, trying valiantly to keep tears from falling. His mind went back to that night. The night his dad died. How he had been there. He could have stopped it, right? He didn't know. His mom didn't know. She didn't know any of it, what had really happened. He couldn't tell her that, not now. She was processing enough. "Thanks, Mom." He managed, his vision slightly blurring.

His mom nodded, squeezing his hand. She gave him a worried smile. "I'm glad you told me, Will. Even if it'll take me a long time to process it. Even if I'll worry for you...at least I know."

Will nodded absently and stood up quickly. He had barely heard what she had just said. His ears were buzzing. "I...yeah. I have to...go. I feel dizzy." Her earlier words echoed in his mind as he started backing towards his room.

"Will-" His mom started, but Will had already disappeared. He stumbled into his room, trying to steady his breathing. In, out. In, out.

You remind me of your dad, Will.

Dad. God, he missed his dad. It was his fault, his fault...breathe. In, out, in, out, inoutinoutinoutinout-

Will's knees buckled under him as he started hyperventilating. He pressed his back to the door and buried his face in his knees, trying to block everything out. Breathe. In, out. In, out-

His attempts at calming himself were useless, and his mind slipped back to a day he entirely did not want to remember. The day his dad died.