❝ She's in my head and has you on her radar. You either leave and forget who I ever was, or live to kill me. ❞
❝ Is there a third option that doesn't involve losing you? ❞
. . . in which Rhea's fear of her own mother becomes so unruly that a masked...
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WAKING UP WAS no longer the pleasure it was for Rhea. She used to wake up every morning, eager to start her day and looking forward to meet the people at school she loved the most. But from now onwards, she would start each day afraid. Afraid of who she's going to be. Terrified of who exactly is in control.
It felt like weeks since she ran from Midtown after almost seriously injuring a friend, but it has only been 4 days. She honestly couldn't tell, because one moment she was living the 22nd day of the month, the day Eva could've got sent to the hospital, and the next thing she knew, she was on the 26th, today.
That thing living in her head was truly unruly. But disciplined enough to imitate her.
She checked her phone: 22 missed calls from Peter. 18 texts from Eva. 14 unseen messages from Ned.
Yet somehow, she saw her own responses to her mother's texts without remembering typing them. She doesn't ever reply to mom's texts this sweetly.
A soft knock interrupted her panic-driven thoughts, before her mother emerged through the doorway, the brightest grin plastered on her tinted lips as she approached her. "Honey, are you still sick? It's my day off, so you can lay off from school today, perhaps be fully recovered before going back."
The unruly feigned illness, and feigned love for her mother. Is she trying to help her turn her in?
And so, Rhea faked a smile, agreeing to stay home for another day of rest.
"I'll go out to buy some freshly made pancakes for us! It's your favorite, right, sweetie? I'll be back real soon." She skipped out of her room, gently shutting the door behind her.
Whatever the unruly did that made her mother like this in just 4 days, she must be smarter than Rhea is.
She hastily hopped out of bed, going straight to the bathroom to brush her teeth and freshen up before returning, and immediately noticing her desk being a bigger mess than she last remembered it. She sighed, quickly arranging the questionably opened notebooks, until one particularly caught her eye.
Written in big, bolded letters, "PETER PARKER IS SPIDER-MAN"
That was her handwriting. She wrote it, at the same time, she didn't. Holding the notebook in front of her face as if seeing it closer could change the words, she struggled to comprehend what on earth she just read, as if the cogs in her brain weren't turning fast enough and her mind completely forgot how to formulate thoughts.
And then a knock on the window almost scared the living crap out of her. A soft yelp escaped her lips as her startled eyes met a familiar face-
-Peter Parker, speaking of the devil. (Or angel, cause' Peter is a literal angel)
He was clad in his usual tee with Science puns on it, and seemingly reused denim jeans, along with his backpack. An awkward smile clouded his features.
She shut the book and threw it onto her desk, scurrying over to open the window, "How did you get here?!"
He pointed to the fire escape staircase that he stood on as if it was so obvious, which it was, "Fire escape."
"I'm on the 20th floor, Peter."
"Well, desperate time calls for desperate measures. You refused to answer the door yesterday, and the day before that," he defended himself light-heartedly, before his smile that Rhea loved faded. "I was... so worried, you know?"
She backed away so that he could come in, Rhea sitting on her bed and Peter on the chair directly opposite her. "I wanted to leave you alone for a day or two before checking on you, which I did, but there was still no response, so I got anxious that something might've happened to you," he explained, pursing his lips out of nervousness. "I'm just glad to see you here, safe."
PETER PARKER IS SPIDER-MAN, those words kept ringing in her ears. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Peter telling her about how she almost killed someone in the alleyway, even the simplest detail of him watching Spider-man stuff on his laptop during lessons and on many days, disappearing right after school, it was obvious the unruly one knew more.
"Peter," she began, clearing her throat before addressing it, "I need to ask you something, and you must be honest."
He sat up straight in his chair, slightly tilting his head to the side in subtle confusion, "Sure."
"Did you really witness me almost killing someone from afar? Or were you the one who stopped me?"
His eyes widened, and he stayed silent for a few seconds, unable to process her question, or rather, unable to process an answer. He wanted to lie, tell her she was wrong for thinking that. But he couldn't. He didn't want to lie to someone he cherishes so much that it actually physically hurts seeing her sad, angry, alone.
He likes her. He likes her to the point of desperate yearning when he couldn't see her for a day, let alone four days. And now she's finally in front of him, that's all he could ever ask for.
Slowly, he nodded, "I... stopped you."
For Rhea, it was her and the unruly. And for Peter, it was him and the masked vigilante. Only difference is, her identity isn't hers to control.
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qotd !! ; which mcu character would you honestly dislike if you knew them in real life?
