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edited: 2/20/2021
...
ENIGMA WAS A TORNADO of emotions as she slipped into the shadows of her house.
She'd always known Spider-Man, but knowing his name, seeing his face -- just another awkward boy who roamed the hallways of her school, it -- it opened a whole other set of emotions she couldn't understand. She felt surprised, she felt all-knowing, she felt... fond of Peter Parker.
But the annoyance remained.
She tugged her mask off as she closed the window of her room, flicking her wrist and pulling off her hood. Tangled black locks fell against her suited back, and she turned around tiredly, head spinning and chest tightened from the hectic evening. Dark pupils reaching fluttering eyelashes, she met a pair of faded green ones not too far away.
Somewhere, her heart dropped a million feet.
"What the hell, Justice?!" she screeched, dropping her mask and voice coming out in faint stutters. Her step-brother sat in a similar reaction on her bed, harshly gripping a Stitch stuffed animal to his chest in shock. "You can't just -- this is my room -- I -- what the fiddlesticks are you doing?! You--"
And Justice lost it.
He fell into a fit of laughter, cuddled by many (embarrassing amount, really) plushies and stuffed animals, a bowl of popcorn falling against his chest as he cackled loudly -- very loudly.
"Shut up," she hissed, but couldn't deny the smile that quirked up at the sight. She'd seen happy before, yeah, but the image of him laughing this way; because of her of all things, made her heart and gut clench in a way that seemed only slightly familiar -- the way she'd felt last night. But this time, she didn't try to push it down. She let it overwhelm her as a wave of memories she'd worked so hard to lock up flooded out amongst her eyes, right there in her rubbery suit.
"Come on, Ice Queen, you won't even watch Frozen with me?" She hears his light chuckle as she shoves him away, slamming the door behind her. Even then, even always, the one emotion she couldn't seem to mask was anger. Anger. Surprise, bewilderment, confusion, she could hide, but anger? It was such an overwhelming, pure feeling that reverberated to a full when it came to her, she couldn't keep that seeping into her voice, her composure, her words.
So she always let Justice know just how much she didn't want to be in his presence. And ever since... then, she'd closed herself off, she just was that way but she hadn't been that way before. Sure, she hadn't worn her heart on her sleeve or anything, but receiving a brother ‒ a brother, by marriage ‒ had had their own struggles, and there were just certain ways she had to cope, even if it meant not acknowledging his existence, and yet, still being... even if she wouldn't admit it to his face, aware of it.
