two sided | peter parker

LII | reckless

『reck·less | adj. | (of a person or their actions) without thinking or caring about the consequences of an action』

"I CAN'T OPEN IT," Faye said quietly, the box covered in peridot wrapping paper sitting parallel to her whilst Wren, Viva, and Y/n were sitting on different sides of her. Ebony and Peter would've been there, but Ebony's computer was acting up again and needed another upgrade; Peter happened to generously offer to install it and help her get the pieces at the mall.

Viva laid a hand on Faye's shoulder and spoke softly, her Italian accent laced within her American words nicely. "You'll be alright, bambina. This is your brother's last gift; I'm sure he wouldn't want you to be upset. You told me about your Christmases together, weren't you always so excited to open your gifts?"

The words made Faye shed a tear, one pooling in her right eye before spilling out and trailing down her cheek as she wiped her cheek. The tear spread slightly, but Faye ignored the small feeling of it. "Yeah, I was." That gave Y/n an idea of what to say next, nodding along with Viva and looking at the youngest.

"Eden wouldn't want you to be unhappy, Faye."

The girl blinked sadly briefly, reaching her fingertips over to gently tear at the paper. Slowly, rip by rip, she was able to reach from one corner to the other before freezing. Seeing a black box that must've looked familiar, Faye began to rapidly tear at the paper until she reached the box itself.

Lifting the lid, it was exactly what she expected. Growing up, Eden would often store his stuff into a black box. Whether it was a textbook, a stack of post-it notes, or something pretty miscellaneous, he'd always toss it into his black box. Taking out the items one by one, Faye identified them.

It was his yearbooks, then the family album, some picture frames, and lastly was a small journal that she didn't recognize. Opening it and reading it while everyone silently watched her, she clasped her hand over her mouth as tears freely streamed down her face. In the book, dozens of techniques and more that he'd learned over time because of Wisp.

"Even in his death, he's completely selfless. . . " Viva seemed to trail on, Wren nodding lightly from behind her while Y/n and the other two girls shared a glance. Faye held the book tightly and smiled painfully. Setting the book down afterwards, she stood up and grabbed another box. It was wrapped in a silver gift wrapping with a shinier bow.

Standing, she headed towards the door as Wren stopped her. "Wait, what are you doing?" Faye smiled bitterly and turned whilst her brown hair slightly swished with her movements. Her hand stayed still on the knob while the other arm held the box close to her chest to ensure that it won't fall.

"They got something for Tony and Pepper too, right? We can't just hide this from them."

Originally, the idea was to show Tony a bit after since he seemed to be taking the guilt the worst. The Stark had been constantly blaming himself and no matter who put their two cents in, it didn't seem to make much of a difference since his PTSD would just replay memories and his anxiety and depression would just kick him in the gut repeatedly. 

On the other hand, Pepper kept him calm, along with the help of the other Avengers that were considered awfully close to him. Sometimes, as Y/n would notice, they'd distract him by mocking him or by telling him an intense story so then Tony's forced to pitch in with dirty jokes or sarcastic remarks.

Everyone shared another look, knowing the other two aren't there to give their thoughts in about the decision. They just nodded calmly at Faye, knowing that following her around would just ruin the moment and dull her intentions in general. It was Faye's idea and she deserved to be fueled by her own motivation rather than someone else.

Standing up shortly after, Y/n reached over and slowly began to crumple some of the gift wrapping in her hands and dropping it into the waste basket in the corner of the room. The others copied her actions while Viva glanced back at Y/n quietly. "Did you open yours already? You're the only one left."

Y/n averted her eyes, stuttering lightly and looking away. She wasn't lying, she was being honest. After a long talk with Peter and another conversation with Tony about the event and how it was merely an unintentional accident, Y/n had managed to gather the courage to actually open the parting gift her best friend got for her.

Oddly enough, even in death, Chip seemed to read her so well. Inside her box, was a collection of notes and different bullet points organized with his small and slightly curly handwriting. On the paper were dozens of notes and reasons on why she deserved to continue living, and how it ultimately wasn't any of their faults, but just fate.

Y/n had come to terms with it slowly, understanding his perspective. That doesn't mean it didn't hurt to look back at it, especially since it comes to life all over again each night and each time she closes her eyes in general. Shaking her head, Y/n snapped out of her trance. Viva was still looking at her quizzically, biting on the inside of her cheek.

Y/n nodded her head with a dry laugh. "Um, yeah. I-I did." Viva didn't press on the subject or what the present held, letting go of the conversation. The girls slowly filed out as they all headed straight to their rooms, waiting for Faye to probably knock on one of their doors when she came back or retreating back to her room.

The h/c haired girl sighed, taking a quick shower and drying her hair with a fluffy towel. Peter seemed to be waiting for her, having not entered the room and letting out a loud yelp when she opened the door and he fell backwards. "Peter?" He smiled cutely, embarrassed yet still attractive as always. Replying, he grinned.

"O-Oh, hey there."