DARK PARADISE. Miguel O'Hara

04. Peter Parker

PETER PARKER - Chapter Four
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JADE — looked at her watch, eyebrows furrowed as she traced her name with her fingers. She stood silently on the platform beside Miguel as he messed with the images before him, too lost in her own curiosity to look up. The room was quiet, not a word spoken between the two in a good amount of time, for they each had been doing their own thing.

When the silence grew a little too quiet, the girl finally looked up from the device on her wrist, watching closely as Miguel intently watched a video before him. His eyes were sad, his lips frowning. His shoulders sagged and his breathing was slow- expression solemn.

When Miguel noticed Jade's gaze, he ran a quick hand through the image, watching it disappear as he pulled up a different box.

Jade furrowed her brows. For the most part, Miguel had cleared things up. He had explained he had made the organization after things went south when he played with fate. While he didn't go into depth what exactly he messed with, Jade could tell it bothered him.

She saw the sadness in his eyes and the tug at his heart, but couldn't bring herself to question him.

Yet she still had so many questions. While it still had yet to be a full day, she still wanted answers. Particularly to the questions she had about her.

She didn't understand why Lyla had reacted the way she did and couldn't understand what their conversation had meant or why she already had a custom cuff around her wrist.

The questions were endless, flooding her mind. As she thought to herself, she found herself staring at Miguel, watching his fingers as they danced along from hologram to hologram.

Silence had been settled for a while, the girl not wanting to break it and question Miguel about the image before him.

So instead, the silence was broken by someone else, the voice new to Jade.

"Miguel!" It hollers, the call echoing through the large and empty space.

Both the man the shout was directed to and Jade turn to the source of the sudden sound. Jade's eyes land on a man in the distance. He wasn't too tall, about average height. He wore a small child strapped to his chest and a messy hairdo as he made his way forward.

He held the small girl's hands between his fingers, making her arms move with each step he took. He wore a smile when he got closer, carefully taking the child out.

Miguel looked at the man from the platform as he joined him and Jade, arms crossed. His expression seemed unamused and tired as the baby was shoved into his hands.

"Sorry, Man. Babysitter couldn't make it. Maydays with me." He fixed his hair with his hands, eyes looking up as if to try and catch a glimpse of the mess on his head.

"Peter-" Miguel begins, but is cut off as the child in his arms sticks up a hand, placing her palms on his mouth. He stops his words in their tracks, the girl using her fingers to hook his lip.

Miguel sticks his arms out, holding the kid away from him and looks at Peter, begging the man with his eyes to take May from his hands.

"Come on, Miguel." Peter says, adjusting the harness he wore. "I know you're not a fan of children or whatever, but you're obviously her favorite."

Miguel frowns, the expression only fading when the small girl is taken from his arms.

Peter places a soft kiss on her head then turns to Jade. "Here, hold my kid for a sec, would you?" He holds May tightly, going to hand the small child over to the girl standing before him, then pauses as his eyes wash over her face, only just now getting a good look at her. He pulls Mayday back, furrowing his eyebrows. "Miguel?" He asks.

Miguel raises an eyebrow as Peter slowly turns, then his eyes fill with panic as he realizes what Peter had noticed. He shakes his head, hinting for Peter to stop, but the man continues.

He sets May in the harness attached to his chest and meets Miguel's eyes. Jade watches as he scowls. "Why is she here?"

"I-"

"No- no excuses." He sticks a hand out, cutting Miguel off. The man scowls, looking down at Peter. Despite the obvious height difference, Peter doesn't cower to the man towering over him. "Put her back."

"Miguel, what is he talking about?" Jade asks, glancing between the two.

Peter looks over, letting out a sigh. "Hold my kid." He says, grabbing her from the harness and handing her over to Jade.

Once the child is secure in Jade's grasp, Peter walks over to Miguel, pulling off of the platform and to the other side of the room. While they grew farther away, their voices became quieter, Jade only catching a few words hear and there.

"I get you missed her... not the same... irrational." She heard. She looked at them as they argued, Miguel standing still before Peter, unamused. His arms were crossed as usual, eyes looking down at Peter as he complained to the man.

Peter spoke with his hands, point or gesturing to Jade ever now and again. She squinted, trying to work out what they were saying, the only clues she got being Peter's little game of Charades.

As Jade watched the pair in the distance, her attention is drawn to the girl in her hands. May places a hand on both a Jade's cheeks, messing with the face and making expressions to entertain herself.

Jade played along, crossing her eyes or puffing up her cheeks occasionally, May laughing every now and again in response.

Jade found herself smiling at the girl in her arms, the giggles filling a hole in heart she didn't know needed filled.

"Someone's made a new friend." Peter says as he walks up. His serious expression was replaced with a smile, the conversation from before being dropped in no time.

The only evidence of the argument he had had with Miguel was the anger in the taller man's eyes as he came up behind Peter.

The father took his kid back and replaced her in the harness. He placed a soft kiss on the top of her head then stepped down from the platform.

"Guess you won't have to baby sit after all, Miguel." He said. He didn't bother to turn around to face the man as he hollered, continuing forward. Annoyance was clear in his tone, but it didn't stop him from playing with his daughter's arms again.

From the platform, Miguel rolls his eyes, anger on his face present. He doesn't bother to stop Peter as he makes his way to the exit, but seems rather glad he was leaving.

However, before the father can make it out the door, the device on his wrist vibrates, lighting up. Jaden's does the same, startling her ever so slightly. Simultaneously the holograms around the platform illuminated and caused everyone to stop in their tracks.

"Don't go too far, Parker." Miguel says, looking at the illuminated box that hovered in front of his face.

Jade read the text.

'Anomaly detected.'

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I love Peter so much.
He's so entertaining to write for.

-Kaitlyn