↹ HEARTBREAK // M C U ↹ DISCONTINUED

0.2

In the course of a few weeks, Harry Osborn had attached himself to her side like a tic. He was always around the corner, it seemed. Trying to invite her to hang out after school or work— it was weird. Jet lived a solitary life. She went to school, work, then came home and spent most nights building overly complicated lego sets and watching TV. Sometimes, she'd go wild and walk around the park for an hour if it was nice out. She didn't 'hang out' with anyone, unless debating Star Wars v. Star Trek online with people she'd never met I.R.L. counted.

Still, Harry had a personal chef that made him snacks after school and a five-star dinner every night. Jet only knew how to make food that came from a box or a can. The people at the pizza place around the corner knew her order by heart.

And, as it turned out, they went to the same school. Jet had only started at Midtown that semester when her mom moved her back to New York from Chicago. She mostly kept to herself, but Harry seemed stuck to her like glue. He had a whole group of friends that she always saw him in the hallways with, but he had been ditching them at lunch to eat with her on the bleachers. Since the snow had melted, she liked to be outside as much as possible. And sometimes she got to watch the freshmen pelt each other with dodgeballs. It was quality entertainment.

After school, he'd always offer to drive her home or invite her over. Taking the subway could end up with her stepping in piss on a good day. Whenever she did come over, they always kept to the living room and he insisted on playing music or cranking the TV. It was weird, but she tried not to think too hard about it.

She didn't have . . . friends. She had classmates and coworkers. And the stray cats that she left scraps for. Harry flirted heavily and made everything into a joke. But, he was . . . nice. He bought her lunch when she forgot her wallet once.

And even without the overly-friendly son of the CEO, something was weird with Oscorp. She wasn't usually one to butt in where she didn't belong. She didn't usually care about what was going on in other people's lives. But, something was bugging her.

Like, the reason Harry needed Vita Ray information. Vita Rays were used when making Super Soldiers, way back in the forties. Jet had looked into them after she first saw them typing up notes. They were unstable and more often than not, it ended with dead men and women rather than a new Captain America.

And Jet realized, after weeks of beating Harry at video games and pretending she didn't wait for him at lunch, that she didn't want him to die. And didn't want whatever he was wrapped up in to get her in trouble too. She was supposed to be keeping low, not befriending a celebrity. If her mom found out, she'd be dead. Or sent back to Alaska for another year of 'home-schooling'. And she was really tired of having to catch and clean every meal.

She waited until they were in his apartment, listening to some scratchy-voiced singer Harry liked. Her mom always told her to be the smartest person in the room. She couldn't be smarter than Harry if she didn't know what he was experimenting on. The Chef had left to pick up groceries for dinner and it was just the two of them.

"Why do you look like you're about to spontaneously combust?" He asked, opening his second grape soda of the day.

"Harry." She cleared her throat. "Are you trying to become a super soldier?"

He choked, purple fizz coming out of his nose and dripping onto his jeans.

"What?" He burst out laughing, dropping his can of soda onto his dad's white carpet. "A— Jesus, where did you get that idea?"

His eyes darted to the left. Jet noticed the shelf full of awards. A glass face blinked red back at her.

Oh. They were being watched. Jet's mom would kill her for being so clueless.

"Nevermind. I just— I had a weird dream. And you were, like, a supervillain." She fibbed, faking embarrassment. "Just had to double-check."

Harry laughed again, but this time it wasn't as strained. He relaxed a bit, picking up his now emptied can. "We should relocate before Luigi gets back. I'd rather be out of here when dad finds out I ruined his new carpet."

"Sure," She agreed easily, reaching to pull back on her raincoat. "We can go to my place. I just got the new Deadlock 5 on my Xbox."

Jet didn't have an Xbox. The only reason she knew the game's name is because her lab partner wouldn't shut up about it that day at school.

Harry texted his chef, sliding into his shoes and digging his wallet out of his backpack. He looked up at me, reaching for his keys. "I can drive."

The look in his eyes said he couldn't.

"What, little rich kid too scared to take the subway?" She joked, tossing his keys back on the counter. "Come on, live a little."

They didn't talk until we were around the corner. Harry slumped, leaning against the alley wall.

"Harry?"

"There aren't any cameras back here. A couple of kids knocked them out a few weeks ago, dad hasn't noticed yet."

"We should get back to my apartment. We can talk there."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have— "

A loud bang sounded from above us. She jerked back, looking up. Sitting on the edge of a fire escape, a kid no older than twelve stared intently at them. At Harry, in particular. Black hair, skin so pale it was ghostly, and blue eyes that seemed to glow in the setting sun.

"Norman Osborne?" He questioned, holding up a piece of paper.