this thing of darkness (i acknowledge mine)

when will you learn?

i Luv when actions have consequences... also, the flash&peter tag FINALLY earns its keep this chapter y'all

~*~

Sleep did not come easy to Flash that night. In fact, sleep did not come at all.

With the help of Venom, Flash had avoided returning to his house through the front door, as that mode of entry would have risked a consequential confrontation with Gerald. Instead, Venom landed them atop his balcony, the doors of which Flash had—unintentionally but thankfully—forgotten to lock. Despite lying down in his comfortable bed and taking what had to be one too many sleeping pills, though, the closest Flash came to getting any rest after his... adventure was merely the act of closing his eyes.

I can put you to sleep, if you'd like, Venom offered at one point, at least an hour after the sun had disappeared below the horizon.

Flash did not like how tempted he was to accept that offer. "How?"

A fiddle here, a poke there. Brains are delightfully squishy.

Flash snorted. "Never mind." Although the chances of Venom eating his brain seemed slim to none, there were certain things Flash didn't feel like risking.

After another 30 minutes of futile tossing and turning, Flash shrugged off his blankets and decided that if he was going to be up all night, he could at least make it a productive period. He flicked on the lamp atop his desk, pulled out all his incomplete homework assignments, and got to work. Flash briefly considered playing LoFi or other music on his phone, but he had a feeling having the device too near him might prove a dangerous distraction, so he kept it shut down on the other side of his room.

Not that Flash found it easy to focus either way.

The screams. The panic in the driver's eyes, the white hot rage that had burned through Flash's chest like acetone igniting.

He'd hated him. He'd been willing to let him—no, Flash had wanted him to die, had been desperate to watch the driver pay the ultimate price for putting his child's life at risk for selfish gain. Yeah, Flash knew exactly what he'd wanted.

What Flash didn't know was if he would have been able to live with himself after the fact.

You are being too hard on yourself, Flash. That man was evil! Irredeemable! The perfect snack to feel no shame about.

Flash shook his head, though a tired smile tugged at his lips despite himself. "It's not that simple, Venom. But thanks for trying."

Even with the flurry of thoughts racing around his mind like a blizzard, Flash managed to get a decent amount of homework done. Every time he decided to stop and try to sleep, of course, all he could see when he closed his eyes was the drunk driver. The girl, choking. Blood pouring from the stranger's shoulder, blood staining the concrete.

At least Flash was no stranger to all-nighters.

When Flash turned on his laptop to look over some old AP Bio notes, he was met with a flood of breaking news alerts, including multiple from the Daily Bugle. Though at this late hour—or early, rather—he doubted Betty had been involved in producing any of them.

When Flash saw the headlines, his stomach sank.

ALIEN TERROR ATTACKS DEFENSELESS MAN!

SPIDER-MAN SCARES AWAY MONSTER!

CURIOUS CREATURE CRASHES CIVILIAN CAR?

"Oh my God," Flash muttered, scrolling through an endless page of trending articles. "Oh my God."