Flower Child (Peter Parker, MCU)

Aftermath

"Talia" - King Princess

Breathe in. Breathe out. In. Out.

As the oxygen mask provided clean air for her lungs, Lila wished she had some lip balm. Or a mint. Or perfume, or deodorant, or new clothes, or really, anything that could get the smell of rubble, smoke, and dust off of her. Her lips were chapped, smoke sat on her tongue, dust covered her hair and skin, and her side ached. It ached badly. A paramedic that arrived to Delmar's Bodega told her that she had bruised ribs. It was unlikely that anything else was really wrong, but at the very least, her ribs were going to be hurting her for a while.

Lila couldn't seem to care much about herself in that moment. She was more worried about Mr. Delmar, who was currently trying to make sure his cat Murphy got the appropriate care he needed. When he was satisfied that Murph was being taken care of, it was then that Mr. Delmar allowed himself to be attended to. Lila watched as paramedics did routine breathing exercises with him, the same exercises they just practiced on Lila, to see if anything was wrong with him. It was fortunate, Mr. Delmar seemed to be in just the right spot to make it to the other side of the explosion unscathed. The same could not be said for his store.

With a trembling hand, Lila removed her oxygen mask, and began profusely apologizing to Mr. Delmar, for how his shop had been completely decimated by the blast. He smiled softly at Lila, his beard twitching and his eyes blinking furiously (whether it was from smoke or it was from her kind words, it was unclear), and insisting she keep her oxygen mask on. He was also pretty insistent that the paramedics treat her first, and wouldn't leave her side while they inspected her for other injuries. At some point, the police, who had arrived just seconds after the fire department, pulled Mr. Delmar aside, and started asking him questions about what had just happened to his store. Another officer told Lila she would have to wait until her parent or legal guardian showed up to question her, but not to worry, she would be out of there as soon as possible.

And so, as Lila pet Murphy, who sat on her lap while Mr. Delmar talked to the police, she was left to her own thoughts about the situation. There wasn't much she could remember: a flash of purple light, an intense heat, and something heavy colliding with her. The next thing she knew, Spider-Man was above her, gently moving hair out of her face and lifting the supremely heavy shelf off of her body. She also remembered being carried out of the fire, something that hadn't happened since-

No. She wouldn't go there. She absolutely refused. If Lila kept comparing the explosion of Delmar's Bodega to her mother's death, Lila might fall into a pit of anxiety she wasn't sure she could dig herself out of. And she needed to be strong for Mr. Delmar's sake. He had, in fact, lost much more than Lila did, her sitting on what used to be part of a wall was enough proof of that. So, she silently accepted the help of yet another paramedic, who removed her backpack from her shoulders as gently as possible, handed her an ice pack for the growing bump on her hairline, and two white pills to take the edge off of her aching ribs. The kind woman helping her then asked if there was anyone in the area she could contact, to which Lila nodded. Pulling out her cellphone from her pocket, which was cracked to oblivion but still functioning, Lila called her dad.

Three agonizing rings, and then, "Hey, Tulip, what's goin' on?"

Finally, she couldn't help it, the tears sprung to her eyes the instant her dad's chipper voice could be heard. He was having a good night, he was doing so much for the Osborn's, for Landry's, and she was going to have to ruin it. "Dad?" Her voice was croaky from the smoke, and it broke a little as she tried to hold back her tears.

"Tulip?" Her dad asked again, his voice instantly changing. Almost like it was sobering up at the sound of her raspy tone. "What's wrong?"