Two best friends in a room... they might kiss... or end up completely killing each other.
Tasm!Peter Parker story.
Book [3] of the Paracosm series (but can also be read as a stand-alone).
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⋆ seven ⋆
Peter Parker comes to visit Madison Kennedy every day till they discharge her eight days later. By the end of it, he's sick of hearing how 'miraculous' her recovery is, but at the same time, it's been strange to watch. Peter might not know much about normal biology, but burns shouldn't heal that quickly at that intensity. Not completely gone, but enough to be significant, for her to almost look like the Maddy that Peter knows and loves.
But she doesn't feel the same. As she steps into her house after regaining control of her limbs, it doesn't feel right. Everything looks identical to how it was before she left. But she doesn't. She feels completely different.
That is, till Gabrielle settles in.
Perhaps Peter knew how Madison would feel about it, mentioning the extra travel distance to work every day, but Gabby was quick to brush it off. And despite any other protests, she wasn't to be deterred. It's how Madison finds suitcases by the front door when she heads downstairs the next day, immediately scoffing and heading back to her room.
It's a miracle, how much she's recovered in such a short time, but her sister doesn't seem to think so. In fact, it's just given her more reason to follow after Maddy every second of the day, flicking her pink hair back as she makes food that her sister barely eats, putting on shows that she refuses to watch, starting conversations that she refuses to partake in.
It's not just Gabrielle, either. May stops by during the day sometimes to check on her when her sister is at work, and often she stays for dinner. It ends up making the table pretty crowded, with Madison, then Gabrielle, then May, then Peter.
Peter, who stops by every afternoon to try play uno or cook food or hand some new high school gossip. Peter, who constantly carries a smile or a joke to try cheer up the silent girl. Peter, who never stops carrying the guilt in his chest, trying to do anything he can to fix it.
Some things just can't be fixed.
He can't stop casting glances over at Maddy as they sit at dinner a few days later, May in a spiel about a funny thing one of the patients at the hospital had done and Gabrielle engaging with it as much as possible. Madison just sits there, fork fiddling and moving her food around on the plate awkwardly, barely eating any of it.
Almost as if she senses Peter's gaze on her, she looks up. Their eyes meet. Just for a split second. Then she looks away, turning her attention back to her plate, as if completely absorbed in the details of the drawings around the rim.
Peter's not quite sure why he's disappointed, but it doesn't stop it from creeping up inside him, gritting his teeth before turning his attention back to his meal.
None of them see the way Maddy bunches up the ends of her shirts in her fists, some kind of uncontrollable anger filling her up at the painful sensations that follow it. But she concentrates on them without meaning to, the feelings increasing, the woman trying to focus on something to distract herself, stop the anger from growing...
