sparkinyou | Brooklyn - Sunday Afternoon

There was something comforting about being in Uncle Aaron's apartment. Miles always felt like he could be looser, more relaxed. There was a twinge of guilt that he somehow felt more at home and himself than he was with his father. Then again, Uncle Aaron never asked about homework.

Currently Miles' uncle was standing over a sink and Miles pretended to pummel a punch bag hung from the ceiling of the apartment.

"What’s up with school?" he asked over his shoulder.

Miles sighed as he threw a couple of weak-ass punches at the bag. To his Uncle's credit, he hadn't asked about school all weekend. But it was still something he didn't want to face up to. "Going great. Nothing weird or awkward about it," he said in a tone that meant the exact opposite.

Uncle Aaron chuckled as he put the last dish and the drying rack and walked over to hold the punching bag for Miles. "You can't tell me it’s all that bad there. Smart girls is where it’s at. Place must be full of 'em"

Miles laughed halfheartedly. "No, there’s no one. There’s no one."

His uncle's response was one amusement. "Hey, I cannot have a nephew of mine on the streets with no game."

"I got game!" Miles protested as he went to flop down on the couch and pulled out his sketchbook. 'I just got there. You know how it is. Besides everyone there looks like they came out off a fashion runway. Or another planet."

Or another dimension. Or another timeline.

Aaron was trying not to laugh at his nephew's antics. "Man, you don't you know how to handle the pretty people. It's all about attitude."

He gave Miles a smirk. "You know about the shoulder touch?"

"... Of course I do," Miles lied. "But tell me anyway."

Aaron laughed. "Yeah. Okay. So when you see someone you like? Walk up to them and go-"

He placed his hand on Miles' shoulder and cocked an eyebrow. "Hey."

Miles burst out laughing "You serious, Uncle Aaron?"

"I'm telling you man, it's science," Aaron laughed.

"So I walk up to someone and be like... Hey," Miles said touching his uncle's shoulder and dropping his voice down an octave.

"No no no... like hey"

Miles scrunched up his face and tried to cock his eyebrow."Hey."

"No. Heyyy”

Miles was just laughing too hard to be serious now. "HeeeeEEEEEeeeeeeEEEEEyyyyy."

Aaron burst out laughing. "You sure you’re my nephew, man?"

Miles’ phone then started vibrating. Taking it out, Miles mood immediately deflated. It was his dad. "Done with your homework? What about that essay your science teacher assigned?"

I'm finishing it tonight he texted back.

"Is that one of those pretty people?" Aaron asked trying to catch a look at the phone.

Miles shook his head and started to pack his bag; putting his sketchbook to the side. "I should probably go back to school. Still got a paper to do tonight."

Aaron immediately caught sight of the open sketchbook, particularly the one Miles started in class the other day. "Yo, you’ve been holding out on me. You throw these up yet?

Miles shook his head as he continued to pack up. "No, man, you know my dad. I can’t."

Aaron smiled and went over to grab his jacket. "C’mon. I got a spot you ain’t gonna believe."

Miles laughed and shook his head. "I can’t! Dad'll kill me."

Aaron smiled and grabbed his nephew's backpack. "Come on, tell him your art teacher made you."

There was no arguing with Uncle Aaron. And truthfully, Miles didn't want to argue. Part of him knew that if Aaron saw the sketchbook this would happen.

As Miles followed his uncle into the NYC subway system underneath Brooklyn, he realized that his uncle must had been planning this for a while. Passing through multiple fences, property signs and other security paraphernalia, Aaron led him to an abandoned subway station. The walls were covered in graffiti in way way or another except for one place that was completely painted white.

As if a certain uncle had found this place for a specific nephew and prepped the spot for him to use for some of his art.

"How did you find this place?" Miles asked.

"Did an engineering job down here," Aaron said pulling back a tarp to reveal a collection of spray paint and an old beat up tape player. "There’s a lot of history on these walls. Time for you to add something for yourself."

Miles smiled as Aaron tossed him a can of spray paint. "You're on your own now, Miles."

Miles knocked the cap off and shook the can as Aaron started the tape player and offering advice.

"Whoa, slow down a little... that's better... that’s perfect."

Miles pulled up a few more colors, working with the palette he had down in his sketchbook working on the background elements.

"The real Miles! Coming out of hiding!" Aaron called out encouragingly, "Now you can cut that line
with another color. That’s it!"

Miles smiled and continued to work into the evening, the hours getting later and later but feeling like no time had passed all. It never did when he was painting or hanging out with his uncle.

"You want drips? ‘Cause if you do, that’s cool, but if you don’t you gotta keep it moving," Aaron advised.

"That’s intentional!" Miles called out as he finished his silhouette on the wall. "Hey, can you trace my outline?"

It was the final step. Miles stood up against his silhouette and Aaron outlined the shadow Miles had put up with a light color.

When they were done the took a step back and looked at Miles' piece. "Wow," he uncle said approvingly and gave his nephew a bit of a side hug.

"Is it too crazy?" Miles asked, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"No, Miles I see exactly what you’re doing here, man," Aaron said looking at the wall in pride.
"Yeah. You know me and your Dad used to do this back in the day."

Miles scoffed and gave his uncle a look. "Stop lying."

Aaron chuckled. "It’s true. Then he met your mom and took on the cop thing. I don’t know. He’s a good guy, just... you know what I’m saying."

Miles looked at his uncle; seeing regret and nostalgia on Aaron's face. Miles knew his uncle and his dad had been close at one point but neither of them would talk about what split them apart. Miles was about to open his mouth to ask when Aaron's phone buzzed with a text message. Immediately Aaron was all business.

"All right, come on man. I gotta roll."

Miles grabbed his bag and looked back at his mural as Aaron headed out. Taking a moment to appreciate it, Miles took out his phone and took a shot of it. Just as a spider crawled out from underneath his sleeve and bit Miles' hand.

"Ow."

Miles swatted the spider and flicked it to the ground. After all, it was just a bug bite, right?

Right?

He followed his uncle out of the room and then took the last Portalocity portal to Fandom. It had been a long day and as much as he didn't want to go back to school, he'd catch hell if he missed any classes. He made it to his room safely and crawled into bed and fell asleep.

...not having any idea what was happening to his body as a result of the spider bite.