𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿-𝗺𝗮𝗻: 𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘆 [ 𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙞 𝙖𝙪 ]

echo .26

it was the next day, after richard and nini's exchange. the girl's leg was bouncing up and down and she focused on fiddling with her fingers. ricky noticed that she nini did not touch her food once and their lunch period was about to be over. he put his hand over her thigh, stopping it.

"hey... what's wrong?" ricky asked with a soft voice. he was talking really quiet so their friends would not hear. the girl shrugged her shoulders, not knowing what to say.

"just tired and i'm not that hungry," she simply answered. her eyes never left her fingers.

ricky glanced to see what nini was focusing on. he let out a sigh and put his other hand over hers, catching her attention. "you know you can tell me anything, right? like... literally anything. I don't care if it's about taylor swift o-or... like ... what flavor of icecream you ate yesterday! i wanna know it all. you can talk to me, neens. i promise."

she melted into a smile and took in a deep breath, "i just... keep thinking about that," nini answered, referring to her kidnapping with richard. the girl was reluctant to tell ricky about her conversation with richard last night. she never knew if richard was right around the corner.

ricky nodded his head, softly smiling at her. he pulled the girl in close, letting her rest her head on his shoulder. "you have me, mr. stark—who's literally ironman, happy, your moms, our friends, and even the entire new york city police department, watching over you. you're not alone, baby."

"i never said i felt alone..." nini quietly answered. she looked up at ricky's eyes, "i'm scared."

"i'm not gonna let him hurt you."

"i know," nini breathed out, making ricky furrow his eyebrows together. before the girl could continue, the lunch bell rang. ricky was persistent to continue the conversation but the girl quickly ran out of the lunch room. red gave ricky ricky a questioning look but he only shrugged his shoulders.

+

ricky tried to find nini throughout the whole day but she was smart. the girl knew what hallways to avoid and the times where she would run into ricky. by the end of the school day, ricky got a text from nini. she went home, stating she was not feeling well.

ricky put his phone in his pocket. disappointment and confusion warped his mind as he tried to figure out what nini was so scared of. ricky knew she was scared richard was gonna hurt him. although, ricky wondered why she was suddenly thinking about it now.

nini is so set on ricky's death.

it scared him too.

he never wanted to admit it to nini but fear was slowly taking over his life. it was still hard for the boy to rest or focus on anything. it felt like he was going to die any second.

"hey dude," red greeted while him and ashlyn came up behind ricky.

"uh... hey," ricky answered in a weary voice. red and ashlyn exchanged looks of uncertainty.

"you okay, ricky?" ashlyn asked, "you look pale."

"ash!" red quickly said, shooting the girl a look. she only shrugged her shoulders in response.

ricky nodded his head and forced a smile at the two, "i gotta run. i'll see you guys later," was all ricky said before running off.

the boy made his way into an empty alley.

he threw his backup to the floor and quickly took off his clothes, revealing his spider-man suit underneath. he made sure no one was looking as he changed and hid his backpack.ricky took in a deep breath as he pulled the mask over his head.

he slung a web at the top of the building and slung himself up. the boy swung through the streets, clinging onto any tall buildings or lamp posts. he was repeatedly yelling out "venom", desperate to find the boy.

he could see people pulling out their phones to record. they stopped to watch spider-man call out venom, or richard, to fight. they were eager to see the battle again. no one has seen venom since the kidnapping. ricky felt a call from tony vibrate on his watch.

"oh great, time to get scolded," ricky muttered to himself. he sat on the rooftop of some building and answered the call, "mr. stark, sir. hi."

"hi? hi? you wanna tell me why you're swinging around new york trying to fight venom right now."

"that is a great question for an answer that i do not have right now," ricky replied with an awkward chuckle. he could feel tony rolling his eyes through the phone.

"kid, what the hell are you doing?"

"i don't wanna die."

"really? cause this sure does look like it," tony replied, "calling out venom?? you're literally asking for it. like asking to die."

ricky sighed, "i need it to be over, mr. stark. it's taking over my entire life...it's affecting people around me too."

"we'll figure something out, kid," ricky heard mr. stark promise once again. the boy shook his head.

"i can't wait around for my death date," ricky said, "sorry mr. stark."

"wait!! don't hang up—" ricky hung up. he took out the tracking device in his sleeve and threw it to the ground.

ricky spent the rest of the day searching new york city for venom.

+

"fuck," ricky breathed out of frustration. he stood at the top of the empire state building, looking over the entire city. ricky took off his mask, trying to control his breaths. he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "why can't i find you?" ricky whispered to himself.

all of a sudden, he sensed something behind him. ricky quickly turned around to see richard standing from afar.

"maybe because i don't wanna be found," richard answered, slightly smirking at the boy. he started stepping closer to him, "i'll give it to ya, spider-man. you sure do have a lot of grit. i mean searching an entire city for one guy?? just the thought of it makes me tired."

ricky stood his ground, "i'm not scared of you."

richard let out a chuckle, giving him a pity smile. "i never said you were."

"what do you want from me?? why did you kidnap nini?!"

"well if i tell you now, it'll ruin the fun."

ricky didn't say anything. he punched richard in the face, making him stumble backwards. richard ran back up to ricky, punching him in response.

the two of them danced in circles as they argued and beat each other. ricky would get four hits in while richard would answer with five. richard with make a few cuts on ricky's skin while ricky made a few scars on his. their strength was a match.

it was always just a battle over life.

the question was: whose?