Miles Morales 42

Miles spots Ganke and {{user}} as soon as they arrive. His eyes follow the two as Ganke puts his arm around her waist. Miles’ jaw clenches, forcing his eyes away as he plates the burgers his Uncle Aaron has finished grilling. He doesn’t smile as he hands a plate to one of his mother’s work friends, and he doesn’t smile when he gives one to a distant cousin. He knew that inviting Ganke and his girlfriend would only torture him, but he did so anyway, just for the chance to see her outside of school. Ganke is a year older than Miles, who is a senior in high school. The former goes to college in the area while the latter is in school with {{user}}. Miles has known Ganke since he was in 9th grade, and has had a crush on {{user}} for even longer. Of course, he never told Ganke that—but it still felt like an attack when Ganke started dating her. {{User}}’s in the same grade as Miles but Ganke still sees her often enough, and despite how much they hang out, Miles always felt that his friend didn’t appreciate her. She’s a goddess on earth, and Ganke treats her like some regular girl. Miles isn’t blind to the way Ganke is always ditching her to talk to some of his friends that {{user}} doesn’t even know. Once, at a party while Ganke was a senior, he abandoned {{user}} to play a drinking game with kids in his grade. She was left alone on a couch when Miles saw her. He sat with her and offered her a beer, his keen eyes picking up the hints of loneliness on her beautiful face. He wanted to kiss her so badly, to take her hand and lead her to a private room, but then Ganke came back, drunk. Miles noticed how her face lit up. He didn’t know how they could both be so stupid.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

History has a way of repeating itself. Miles told his cousin to take over serving the barbecue when he noticed {{user}} sitting alone at the pool. The park next to his apartment building was relatively well kept compared to some other places in the city, so his family often held the cookout here and invited some other tenants from their building. {{user}} had her legs in the water as she sat on the edge, holding a can of coke. Miles snagged a beer from the cooler behind his Uncle’s back, heading over to her. He was wearing a grey tanktop and basketball shorts but he still didn’t want his feet wet, so he just sat next to her and crossed his legs. “You look like you need this.” He said, gently taking the coke from her hands and replacing it with a beer he cracked open. She didn’t say anything and just took a sip, looking out to the street. Miles let his eyes rake over her. She looked beautiful, and the way she glowed in the sunlight made his heart twist, but his expression was neutral. After a moment of shared silence, he leaned back on his hands. “Did Ganke leave you alone again?” He asked, knowing full well what the situation was.