#cosmicwip

“I see you staring,” Sweetheart said, a smirk creeping onto their face.

“Says the person with their shirt almost completely off,” Milo scoffed. “What do you expect from me, Sweetheart, look at you!” “I expect for you to be able to keep it in your pants for more than—” they glanced at the clock, taking some careful steps towards him “—five minutes.”

“Hard to, around you,” Milo shrugged. He reached out, dragging Sweetheart to him once they were close enough. Their hands didn’t hesitate before finding his shoulders, a giddy smile on their face. “I haven’t gotten a welcome home kiss yet, by the way. In case you were worried.”

“Kinda busy when you got home,” Sweetheart defended.

“You could always make it up to me,” Milo suggested, lilt in his voice as he leaned closer to them.

They rolled their eyes, closing the distance between them. Milo groaned, melting into it. The past few days have been busy for the both of them, and it didn’t give Milo the chance to hold them like this. If he could stop time to stay here, he would in a heartbeat. 

Milo pulled Sweetheart flush against him as their arms wrapped around his neck, hands playing in his hair softly. There was the smallest noise of concern from Sweetheart when their hands started to slide down and reached his shoulders, likely reacting to the way he involuntarily flinched at the pressure on his sore muscles. They pulled back, only to be chased by Milo.

“Mi,” they said gently, tilting their head so that his next attempt at kissing them missed and landed on their jawline. “When you said you were just tired—”

“‘M fine,” Milo muttered against their skin.

“How much have you actually pushed yourself this week?” Sweetheart asked.

“Forget about it,” Milo said, peppering kisses down their neck. “Just need to hold you close. I’ll be okay.”

“Milo,” Sweetheart reprimanded, pushing against him lightly. He complied with a sigh, leaving a parting kiss in the junction of their neck and shoulder.

“I’m fine, Sweets,” he tried to argue. “Don’t gotta worry about me.”

The unimpressed look on Sweetheart’s face told him his arguments were useless. “And you complain about how pent up I get while at work,” they say, a teasing lilt to their voice.

“In my defence, how I am now is how you get after, like, two days,” Milo said, grinning, “at least I got through the week.”

Cass was going to do this. They got settled in their new apartment—a bachelor pad that was the cheapest around—they secured an awful job, and they wrote out what they were going to say to Milo. Now, they just needed to go to that coffee shop he works at and tell him. Tell him that they’re madly in love but he doesn’t remember because the wizard guy took all memory of Cassiel Grandwood away.

Simple.

Sort of.

“Hi, my name is Cassiel Grandwood and I—Fuck, no. Hi there, you don’t know me but I’m Cass and—”

Cass groaned, rubbing a hand down their face. They sounded like a fucking idiot like this. Who were they to say that Milo would even want this? Yes, he did beg them to come find him once everything settled but that was back when Milo knew who Cass was. They felt like they shouldn’t do this. They felt like turning around and forgetting all about the pretty brunette. They felt like throwing up.

They slowed to a stop outside of the shops doors. Looked at the stained glass hard. Took a few deep breaths, shook out their arms, and walked in before they could convince themselves to turn around.

The bell dinged above them. It was warm and welcoming here. It always has been. The shop was almost empty, except for the back window table where Asher and David sat. Cass’ heart stuttered at the sight of them. Telling them was another problem for another day, they reminded themselves, right now, they were focused on—

“Hi! How can I help you today?”

Cass could have sworn that their heart stopped. 

Milo stood behind the counter, his honey brown eyes watching them. He looked better. There were still a few bandages that covered him here and there, but they look like they're healing just fine. He looks happy, too. As happy as he can be working a minimum wage job in senior year of high school, but happy nonetheless. 

Cass stuttered, took a breath. They couldn’t take their eyes off of him.

“You okay, sweetheart?” The nickname punched a hole through their lungs.

“Yeah,” they wheezed before catching themselves and clearing their throat. “Sorry. Hi. Um, I’m Cassiel Grandwood and…”

Cass trailed off without meaning too. They thought about how many times Milo had been put into danger because of them. How much their friends were in danger. Their eyes flickered to the visible bandages on Milo’s body, to David and Ash in the corner, to the way that Milo raised a brow at them. How much more pain and suffering would they all have to go through just by knowing Spiderman? How many more close calls, blood, bruises? How many more times are they going to have to look Milo in his eyes as he pleads them to not do this whole Spiderman thing anymore?

How many times were they going to have to sacrifice something close to them for Spiderman?

Maybe it was better that Cass wasn’t remembered. 

“I’ll just take a black coffee. Medium,” Cass finally finished.

“Alright, Cassiel Grandwood,” Milo huffed, amused.

Cass watched as he got to work behind the counter. He always moved with such ease. Like he knew what he was doing, and when he was supposed to do it. Cass was always jealous of that, even if they knew the truth behind the facade. It’s what made them fall in the first place, take the chance to get to know him.

“Grandwood,” Milo said. “That, uh, Grandwood Grandwood? The rich guys?”

“Yeah—I mean, no, I—” Cass took a deep breath, “Distant relatives.”

“I see,” Milo said. It was clear that he doubted Cass’ words, but that’s alright. He doesn’t need to believe them. He’ll never know the difference.

“What do I owe you?” Cass asked.

“Forget about it. On the house,” Milo said, sliding the cup over. 

“I couldn’t—”

“I insist,” Milo cut them off, easy smirk appearing on his face. “Seems like you need a pick me up today.”

Cass opened their mouth, only to be cut off by him again.

“And, if you won’t do it for yourself, do it for us,” Milo nodded to the back table. Asher and David were looking at the two of them now. “You know. MIT buddies.”

“What?”

Milo pointed at the pin on their bag strap. The one they got with an acceptance letter to MIT. It must have gotten sent before everyone forgot who they were. Or maybe, the school doesn’t know who any of their students are, and they were just—normal. Another name in a long list of applications. They didn’t question it.

“You going in September?”

“Uh, yeah. First year.”

“Well, same here. We missed the mixer, so I don’t think we’ve met, but—”

“No, don’t worry, I wasn’t there either.”

“Hey, another thing to bond over then,” Milo said, chuckling.

“Seems like.”

They stood in silence for a moment, looking at each other. Milo cleared his throat.

“I’m excited. Not normally excited like this, but it’s a nice change. I just, you know, expect the worst when it comes to these things.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Cass said. “Expect disappointment and you’ll never get disappointed.”

Milo’s eyebrows drew together in his confusion and surprise. He was looking at them a bit differently now, and Cass couldn’t put their finger on what they were seeing.“Yeah. Yeah, that’s—how’d you—”

“Lucky guess.”

“Huh.”

“I should go,” Cass said, feeling the awkwardness now. They grabbed the coffee, slipping a ten dollar bill onto the counter. “Places to be. Um, I’ll… I’ll see you around?”

They were out the door before they could get an answer, the bell chiming their farewell. The cold and snow stung at their face. Their eyes started watering because of it, or that’s what they told themselves.

It would be a miracle if they saw Milo Greer again. They’d avoid him with everything they had if it meant it kept him safe.

But, if for some reason, he keeps cropping up into their life… maybe at that point it’s fate, and they really shouldn’t question it.