#web weaver

It was a pair of well worn sneakers that halted your sleep deprived morning. Scuffed along the edges, creased at the top, and a stark navy blue check on the side that contrasted the now off white—previously perfect but worn down due to running block after block in Metropolis chasing after a story that paid way less than it was worth. And they were planted right on your worksheets.

“Oh shit—Sorry!!” The owner of the shoes panicked and backed up, and you chanced a glance up at them. It was unsurprising to see the culprit; bright blue eyes, now surprised and wide, combed, floppy hair, and a sharp outfit that sat between business casual and Saturday errands, but definitely didn’t call for sneakers. Something only the eager photographer and reporter Jimmy Olsen could pull off.

Someone both fresh yet seasoned enough to get away with it.

Someone you looked up to, despite familiarity.

Someone who was now leaning down on one knee to help gather your scattered papers, whatever expensive cologne he sported filling your nostrils each centimeter he lowered.

And you were gaping up at him like a fish.

“Uhhh—“ Was the only sound that came out of your mouth, your stupid, gaping mouth. Whatever halting sound you wanted to let out was overshadowed, and it didn’t even mater because now he was face to face with you on the dirty, scuffed ground of the Daily Planet floor.

Jimmy was quickly gathering whatever papers he could that scattered across the floor, the white printer paper fresh and warm in his palms.

And you were just staring.

The worst part about the aghast ogling wasn’t that it was obvious, but that it was happening in the first place. You knew Jimmy, you’d worked with him for months. He was nice, funny, charming and clearly handsome enough to warrant this type of reaction. He sat with you in the break room on the second floor during lunch, usually with his friends Lois and the big guy Clark, but with you nonetheless. You literally sat with your desk pressed against the back of his, and spent half of the day joking with his friends when lack of newsworthy stories allowed. So why were you being so weird?

But as all of those scrambled thoughts circled through your head, they simultaneously didn’t matter because you could see his dark freckles climb along his cheeks and nose, and the light from the large windows behind him made him glow in a halo—

You didn’t want to know what you looked like right now. The thought struck you like a slap in the face. Papers previously neat were now half out of your hands and sliding onto the floor gradually, adding more to the pile.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you, honest.” Jimmy said with an awkward chuckle, noticing your silence and taking it as annoyance. His eyes glanced up to gauge your reaction, only to furrow his brows and pause his own movements too. A small smile lifted the corners of his lips, eyes flicking across your frazzled features with a teasing glint in them. Hair frizzy and glasses crooked, most likely from the result of whatever happened to make you end up on the floor, and you had a cute confused look on your face, nose and eyes scrunched under your lenses like you were looking at the sun. Probably just assessing the situation and how you ended up here, but the look was aimed at him unblinkingly an it was comical.

Jimmy’s eyes darted down to your hands, watching the stream of thick papers in your loosening grasp spill slowly onto your thighs, then the floor, before landing back on your face. “Are you okay?” It was sincere, brow raised, but laced with.. trying not to laugh.

That brought you out of whatever stupor you were in and your own eyes widened, looking down to catch the waterfall of white reports before they became even more out of order. “I swear I didn’t see you either!” You let out a high, awkward laugh and scrambled, almost apologetic. As if you stepped on his papers. Then, as if catching yourself, your brows pressed together and your eyes grew round. “I mean not that I didn’t see you, of course I see you, I just didn’t know you were like.. standing there..” You trailed off, faltering as the absurdity of what you were saying finally reached your ears.

You went to grab a paper closer to him and he reached out at the same time, fingers brushing, and your hand shot back as if the touch shocked you. Jimmy was grinning the whole time, shaking his head almost fondly as he watched you ramble on. It was almost as bad as Clark—no, it was probably worse. But a reminder of his dorky best friend.

Why was he partial to dorks?

“It’s fine.” Jimmy said between laughter, “You didn’t hit your head, did you?” He tilted his own as he waited for your response, hands busy.

Finally, your eyes found his again as you sat back more on your heels, cheeks pink. The smile that he offered made you relax and flush in unison, your internal thoughts buffering between being soothed and sparking in haywire. “Oh, no. Not this time at least.” It was meant to be a joke, but it fell flat because that was definitely a possibility with you. Your hand absently rubbed your thigh in self soothing. “I just tripped on Cat’s chair leg.. again.” You said sheepishly.

“Sorry, sweetie!” Cat’s voice rang from across the room at the coffee stand.

“S’okay!” Your neck extended to try and see her behind your shoulder, voice cracking a little.

Jimmy’s stupid amused smile didn’t leave his face as he watched the exchange, and he offered up the stack of paper he collected when you turned back to him. “You were in the chairs way, huh?” He mused, the joke an ode to your kindness. You’d probably blame yourself before an inanimate object.

That earned him a grin as you took the papers. “Thank you. Exactly!” You chirped.

The exclamation with your lopsided smile and crooked glasses was a headshot to his functioning brain riddled with this odd, ever sprouting fondness for you, so he had to look away. Jimmy cringed at the papers as you took them, noticing the big grey footprint stamped on the front.

“I’m sorry—I can reprint those for you.” He offered, slowly standing up. A hand was stuck out for you to take, and your palm was clammy in his as you gripped it, easily pulling you to your feet.

Dusting yourself off, you shook your head. “No, it’s okay. These aren’t official papers.”

Jimmy nodded, shrugging. “If you’re sure. At least it’s a wake up call to clean my shoes.” He laughed awkwardly, hands in his pockets.

“We have the same pair, by the way!” Looking down at both of your feet, you grinned and stuck out one of your identical sneaker clad feet to tap one of his. “Look, twins!” Another tap before you stood normally again. They were a common pair of Nikes, something small only you would notice.

Jimmy faltered for a second, a hum escaping, looking thoughtful for a moment. The idea of you dropping something under your desk that linked with his, which you often did, and bending down to pick it up you’d noticed his shoes were identical to yours. Or perhaps you noticed at lunch one day, when Jimmy stationed his crossed feet on top of the break room table before Lois arrived and pushed them off. The notion of the girl currently grinning in front of him noticing such small things and storing them for later made him ache, but he wasn’t sure why.

Jimmy blinked and stopped himself before the daydreams multiplied.

“Great minds.” He said. Hands still planted in his pockets, Jimmy started backing up. His eyes still lingered on your face, and if he didn’t turn around soon he’d be the next victim to run into Cat’s chair.

“Your, uh, your glasses,” He said slowly and reached up to tap his freckled temple, “they’re lopsided.”

You scrambled to move your papers to one arm, reaching up and straightening them. “Oh shoot—thanks.”

Another fond shake of his head—Lois would say she can hear the marbles in it rattling around if she was nearby—and he turned, walking steady to his desk and talking loud enough for you to hear over his shoulder. “You’re morphing into Clark day by day!”

Your smile stayed on your face as you watched him, until you realized what exactly he said. A frown slowly replaced it. Clark? Of all people? He was awesome, sure, tall and nice, and you were.. well, also tall and nice. Okay, maybe he wasn’t too far off. But you weren’t totally sure if you wanted to remind Jimmy of his awkward best friend.

Sighing, you turned in a circle as if your body didn’t know whether to head back through the entrance of the place, or go to your desk. You settled on trudging to your desk.

Jimmy barely beat you, sliding into his desk chair as you almost sulkingly walked through the space between Clark and Lois. The two had their backs to their own working stations, facing each other across the way to furiously debate something. They paused and looked up as your silhouette floated between them, Clark’s brow furrowing in worry and Lois’ raising in question, but you were focused on your seat across from Jimmy, aiming to plant yourself right there and disappear into the cheap fabric

“Well, jeez, don’t look too excited to be here.” Lois muttered, earning a pointed look from Clark, followed by a ‘hey, stop’, ever the empath.

Hearing Lois, Jimmy’s ears perked up the same way his eyes did when you dragged yourself into his field of vision. A question sat on his face as he watched you slam your papers down on your desk, wondering why you looked sunken in compared to a minute ago.

“Hey! You two,” Lois piped up again, Jimmy hesitantly swiveling around to look at her, eyes lingering on you before his head turned to follow his body. “Someone fixed my computer router overnight. Like, magically. Any ideas?” She asked, motioning back to her old desktop their boss, Perry, still hadn’t replaced.

A beat of silence, Jimmy shrugging, Clark glancing suspiciously at you, before you sighed. “It was me.” You finally met their gaze, still standing before your desk and offered an awkward smile.

“Aha! I knew it!” Clark grinned with a finger in the air like the dork he was. Lois and Jimmy looked surprised, fully facing you.

“What- you?” Lois asked in disbelief and you just nodded.

You liked Lois, she was smart and quick and gave you half of her fruit at lunch sometimes. However, your awkward behavior often came off wrong, and you grew nervous around people you wanted to be friends with but didn’t know how. Fixing her router was quick and easy, something you did a million times over on your Uncle’s own dinosaur computer, and you figured it was your own form of sharing fruit.

Clark laughed triumphantly, like he won a million dollars. “I said it was her, and you thought it was Jimmy!” The big guy’s grin made your smile turn a little more real.

It was Lois’ turn to give Clark a pointed look. “I should’ve known it wasn’t him, he can’t tie his own shoe.” She grumbled.

“Hey!” Jimmy whipped his neck around and defensively retorted, “It could’ve been me!”

“Oh yeah? You’re the one who broke my camera last month!” Clark shouted accusingly.

“Well—it was slippery! From your big clammy hands!”

“And she—“ Clark pointed at you, ignoring that comment, “fixed that too. Which, thank you by the way.” He added the thanks sincerely, as if he didn’t thank you a million times before and buy you coffee for two weeks straight since you refused to accept any payment.

All three heads turned to you again, almost expectantly. Still standing you scratched your head, face scrunched to the side a bit. “What?”

Jimmy was the first to mutter softly, “I didn’t know you fixed things.” It was almost thoughtful, and it didn’t help that he looked like a puppy staring up at you from his seat.

You shrugged, looking anywhere but him. “Yeah, I like to.. build things. Computers, fix them. Cameras too. Anything, I guess.” The hand previously scratching your head motioned as you spoke before it landed against your side with a soft thud.

“Well, thank you.” Lois finally piped up with a small smile. “I really appreciate it. Perry probably wouldn’t have replaced it.”

You nodded in acceptance with a smile, a sheepish ‘anytime’ passing your lips. A beat passed before Lois and Clark turned to each other again, and you toon that as your cue to finally take a seat.

“You were in here last night? Alone?” Jimmy’s voice sounded from behind your computers. You slid your wheeled chair to the side, seeing him already peeking through the generous gap between the desktops next to both of yours. A little private alleyway between your desks.

“Oh—yeah,” Your brows rose, surprised at the sincere question. “I couldn’t sleep, and I remembered Lois slapping her router all day. It was kinda itching at me; I didn’t have anything better to do.” Shoulders shrugging, you pushed your glasses up as a way to distract yourself from his gaze.

Jimmy nodded, thinking for a moment. “It’s not safe without security, you know. Old ass building.” He stated simply, like he was dancing around saying something else. Blinking a few times, a few stutters came out of you, but he interrupted. “I’m usually here pretty late. But if I’m not, you can just call me, I’m always awake—like, always.”

The way he said it like it was something you could easily do. Just call him. Call him, because he’d rather be here in his dingy workspace than at his home, just so you wouldn’t be alone. Was that what he was implying? Maybe this was a normal thing friends did—make sure the other doesn’t get mugged in the dark streets of Metropolis at midnight, nor harmed if someone decided to sneak in the empty building after you with no security to stop them.

That made enough sense.

However, his straightforward words accompanied with a stone face made it a little more serious than just a friendly offer.

“Okay, sure.” Your cheeks were rosy as you nodded.

“Okay?” He pressed uncharacteristically with raised brows.

“Yeah, alright.” Your voice was small as you nodded.

Jimmy paused, jaw working thoughtfully, he himself wondering why he even said that, why he even cared so much outside of general safety. He scrambled to add in one short breath, flushing slowly up his neck, “Just a suggestion if you want.” In lightning speed he slid back to his normal spot carried by the sound of mechanical wheels against the floor, disappearing and leaving you to stare at the wall.

There wasn’t much time to assess whatever the hell that was, because suddenly the familiar click of expensive loafers was heading in your direction. Your boss, Perry, was a stickler for staying on task, and the four of you were the main ones who were always off task—or maybe just you and Jimmy. Either small talk between you two that should’ve been awkward by your bumbling but Jimmy didn’t let it, you surfing the web, bouncing from ten Wikipedia’s on whatever physics bullshit Perry caught you drooling at, or gossiping about that Superman guy Lois or Jimmy always seemed to bring up in a knowing tease when Clark was around. You were usually eavesdropping then, feeling like you were left out of an inside joke.

Most of the time Lois said she was in the line of fire by association with you and Jimmy, as you were the usual suspects, and Clark was just.. there, getting distracted by any conversation that wafted his way, even though he clearly didn’t mean to.

You scrambled comically to shove your off-assignment papers into a manila folder that was obviously too thick, a flurry of white, and in the struggle one slipped away and floated off of your desk. Landing right in front of Perry’s perfect shoes. Of course.

“Cross-Species Genetics Convention: Need to Know,” Perry said monotonously as he picked up the title page of the article you printed, one of many. “Really?” He raised a brow down at you, placing it on your desk.

“Uhhh,” You flushed and snatched the page the moment he gently placed it down. “Just keeping up with Metropolis’ local news, that’s all.”

Perry shook his head, a scoff following. “You would be into that.” He mumbled, and Jimmy snorted across from you, earning a look from the boss.

Moving along, the Chief stopped next to an empty cubicle, leaning against it as he addressed your sector of the room, heads turning to listen. “Alright, people! Listen up, we have a scientific convention rolling into town and egos to stroke. I need a handful of you in field to cover the event.” Perry ordered, looking from face to face.

Jimmy rolled back a bit in his chair, arms crossed and too smug. “Easy enough, geeks are boring and simple.” He grinned. You slid your article deeper into the manila folder.

“Hey!” Both you and Clark shouted out softly. You both shared a look when you heard the other, dissolving into shared smiles from across the way. Jimmy and Lois fondly rolled their eyes.

“Well,” Perry pressed, ignoring you and Clark, “these geeks need money to fund their toys, and they have a lot of it. They’re paying handsomely for puff pieces on their research stands.” Perry crossed his arms, and a couple groans sounded from the back—definitely Steve and Cat.

Sighing, Perry turned to where you sat, and a stern clip of your name came from him. Heads turned to watch you peek from behind your desktop monitor again, pushing your glasses up. “Uhhh, yeah?” You answered sheepishly.

“You seem... familiar with the event, I want you out there today.” He took a few steps closer as he spoke. “Which booth have you been reading about?"

“Dr. Connors’? Oh- Cross species genetics, it’s a new booth this year. He’s got a weird reputation but I’ve read some of the stuff and—” You babbled on, just the idea of going there making you haywire.

Perry snapped his fingers in familiarity, cutting you off. You're not sure if you imagined a few sighs of relief. “Yes! He’s one of the big ones. Just go poke around, ask questions, take pictures.”

A quick nod, an attempt to hide the eagerness you felt. “Okay! Sure, okay, yeah.” A smile, an awkward falter from the Chief as if he was unsure whether he liked your enthusiasm or not. He floated past behind you, muttering a ‘you have fun, kid' and went on to assign Cat something next.

“Soo, Geek convention, huh?” Jimmy’s pestering tone snapped you out of it. He was looking at you expectantly, the corner of his mouth upturning in a teasing smile when your attention was on him.

“I wouldn’t call it that,” you mumbled, hands moving as you spoke, “Just a group of people exchanging big ideas, furthering science along—”

He pressed the pointed look across the table.

"Okay, fine! A Geek convention!" You threw your head back.

Fingers tapped on the table, Jimmy's cheeks pinching fondly. "You know, I'm learning quite a bit about you today," He mused, him shuffling closer to his computer, working but making room for your conversation.

Sneakers flat on the ground, you drug yourself closer to see him better. "Oh yeah? What have you learned?"

A shrug, he forced himself to pull his attention back to the photo he'd been editing. It was like it took effort; like he wanted to keep his gaze just on you. "You fix things, you could possibly be into some evil scientist shit, and you print articles to physically read them instead of online like any normal person--"

"I like to annotate them!"

"Open an illustrative word document." He laughed boyishly, head shaking side to side.

Lips pursed, you leaned back into your chair. "So you're saying I'm weird?" "Nah, Steve is weird," Both of you glanced over at the mustached man on the phone, shouting way too loud into the receiver, then back to each other, sharing a look of agreeance. This time his gaze didn't falter. "You're a little... not normal." He finished with a chuckle, but it wasn't mean, it was almost appreciative.

"Abnormal." You offered, failing to tamp down a smile.

"Abnormal—but in a good way.” He agreed.

Your chair rolled back as you readjusted to your desk, trying to contain your glee that he even had an opinion of you at all. “Yeah, yeah, sure.”

Shela Sexton / Escapade: A trans mutant superheroine figuring out her place in a bigoted world In a subversion of the usual mutant metaphor, Shela's parents accepted her mutanthood wholeheartedly... only to disown her when she came out as transgender. You can read her debut in Marvel Pride 2022.

Natima Ngoza / Beisa: A trans woman born in Mohannda who fled to Wakanda when running away from her judgemental family. She's a love interest for T'Challa and a take on the Catwoman archetype. Read all about her in the underrated 2023 Black Panther run!

Cooper Coen / Web-Weaver: A Spider-hero from Earth-71490, Cooper Ceon saved his classmate/crush Peter Parker from a spider bite on a high school field trip... only to be bitten himself. You can read about an adventure of his on Fire Island in Marvel's Voices: Spiderverse.

Gwen Poole / Gwenpool: An aroace Marvel Comics superfan iseaki'd into the Marvel Universe. With the power of meta knowledge, she will find her own place in the canon she loves so much. You can read her realizing she's aroace in ARomancing of Gwendolyn Poole (get it?), part of the Love Unlimited Infinity Comic.

Jean-Paul Beaubier / Northstar: Gay French-Canadian mutant sports superstar and Marvel's first textually gay superhero. You can read about him taking on anti-mutant bigotry in his home country in Alpha Flight (2023).

Rachel Summers / Askani: The sapphic daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey from the Days of Future Past timeline. You can read about her and her girlfriend fighting bigots in the British wizarding community (I wonder what THAT could be an allegory for) in Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain.

David Alleyne / Prodigy: Bisexual mutant supergenius. New Mutant, Young Avenger, X-Men, and most recently a professor at Empire State University. You can read about him and his boyfriend in the Young Avengers arc of the Marvel's Voices Infinity Comic.

Bobby Drake / Iceman: Founding X-Men and jokester who realized he was gay later in life. Bobby... He's gay! You can read about him bringing Rogue home as a fake girlfriend to meet his bigoted parents in Uncanny X-Men #319. While this story is before he came out, I think it is an EXCELLENT showcase of his character.

Xuân Cao Mạnh / Karma: Lesbian mutant hero and founding member of the New Mutants. Depending on how you define "superhero," she's arguably Marvel's first lesbian hero. You can read about her relationship troubles, as well as her reunion with her once-lost brother, in Karma in Love, part of the Love Unlimited Infinity Comic.

Charlie Webber / Sun-Spider: A pansexual Spider-hero with EDS. Originally a fan-submitted Spider-sona, she's grown in relevance and even had a speaking cameo in Across the Spiderverse! You can read her story in Edge of Spiderverse #4.

Logan Lewis / Nightshade: Sapphic teen genius and legacy hero to the original Nightshade, a redeemed supervillain. You can read her solo adventures as part of the Marvel's Voices Infinity Comic.

Billy Kaplan / Wiccan: The gay son of the Scarlet Witch... to grossly oversimplify the situation. He also may kind of be God? Good for him! Read about him in Young Avengers (2013).

Teddy Altman / Hulkling: The gay son of Captain Mar-Vell and Skrull princess Anelle. A Skrull/Kree hybrid, he was sent to live on earth for his protection - y'know, Superman stuff. Read about his wedding to his husband Hulkling in Empyre!

Ms America Chavez: The multiverse-travelling latina lesbian of the Young Avengers, Ultimates, and West Coast Avengers. Read about her helping her CLOSE PLATONIC FEMALE FRIEND Kate Bishop raise the baby landshark Jeff in It's Jeff! Yes, that is my America recommendation. I also love her role in Ultimates, but this is funnier.

Aaron Fischer / Captain America: An unhoused gay man and champion of the marginalized, selected by Steve Rogers to have the title of Captain America. You can read about him in Avengers Academy.

Justin Jin / Kid Juggernaut: The Korean-Canadian gay himbo grandson of Jin Moon-Ho, the original Juggernaut who Cain Marko took the name/powers of. Read about him summoning Doctor Strange to ask him about PreP (yes, that happens explicitly on-panel - it is awesome) among other things in Avengers Academy.

Raven Darkhölme / Mystique: The shapeshifting sometimes-nemesis and sometimes-ally of the X-Men. While she may not care about things like "human lives" and "the law," she does harbor a lot of love for wife Destiny - as well as their adopted daughter Rogue and biological son Nightcrawler. There's a lot I could suggest here, but I'm going to pick Marvel's Voices: X-Men as I ADORE the Mystique/Destiny flashback story in that.