keepitgoing | etraya Inbox.

There are no lies between super-villain and super-hero (—there are so many lies between super-villain and super-hero,) so I can tell you I think he's a little too soft, so, that concerns me, you know, for Spider-man sake. And he's a bit of a dork, but he's starting to grow on me. Spider-man, though, seems like he's going to be a permanent rock in my boot, the goody-two-shoes. Trust me, I have experience with these hero types.

(She's going to turn too, so she can look at him, but her eyes are on the mask. For a moment, she considers giving it back, giving him the choice to put it back, but nope.

She wants to talk to Peter, not the goody-two-shoes!!!... But she's half-offended, as her expression shows.)

Of course I remember. I just met you. I'm not that crazy, Peter.

Spider-Man's gotta be a rock in someone's shoe; it's how he gets his exercise in.

[Which is to say, he has... no good defense at being called too soft or dorky. That's usually the side of things he falls in, and sometimes it definitely bites him on the ass. But... it's nice, to be soft. It's definitely nice to be dorky. He's not even sure he can control that last one even a little.

...

Oh. Right.]

Uh... Right. Yeah. Of course. Why wouldn't you? That'd be weird if you didn't.

[Pete...]

Does it gotta be mine, or can he turn a blind eye? Asking for a friend.

(There is no friend. What are friends? Some of us are very busy working and building weapons and raising a drug empire and saying 'fuck you' to Piltover repeatedly to have had built friends, okay.

But maybe don't lie to her, it gets her to sit and give him a weak kick as if she was warning him against it.)

You suck at lying. I hate lying. If you're going to lie to me, the least you can do is make sure I don't ever find out. Spit it out. Why wouldn't I remember you.

[Peter sits up, frowning with that usual look that implies it's horrible conversation to bring to a dinner table. A metaphorical dinner table, anyway. It's not really... something he's talked about to many people. He'd mentioned it to one or two people a long time ago, but they're gone. Fresh slate, no fear of depressing the shit out of someone else.

0 days since Peter Parker said something awful, apparently.

Sighing, he grudgingly offers:]

Back home, there was a magic spell that went super wrong — honestly it's a weird and long story why it even needed to happen in the first place, but... the only way to undo the damage the rebound from that spell caused was that everyone in my universe forgot who Peter Parker was.

...

(He makes her so sad sometimes. Forgetting is not something she's keen on, he hangs on to things like her memory is infused in them, too. Music, objects, things she's made to represent people in her life and their losses.

It is horrifying to imagine a world where she could look at something and not pull a memory from it. Why is everything about him so...

Undeserving?

She could argue that she'd love that, much like his five-year break, but probably... She wouldn't.)

... I'm sorry.

(What else can she say? She even loses all the bravado and growling she has in her with this new piece of information.)

Can you just... Remind them? A do-over.

... Nah, I don't think so. It wouldn't really be fair, anyway.

Like, imagine someone just shows up in your totally pleasant life and tells you that you were friends? That you were boyfriend and girlfriend? That some stranger knew you like that? No, that's...

[He huffs, fidgeting with a few wayward bits of rock at his side.]

It'd just be confusing and scary.

(He's right, and that will be a thought she will have time and time again, but here is the thing. She doesn't care much about right or wrong, she kinda just is.

That means some of the arguments he has are valid, and yet, she is going to throw them right in the trash.

This is one of them. She hates it. Congratulations, Peter! This is a feeling that she will have very often.)

No shit, everything is confusing and scary, Peter. If I were you, I'd do the same, some people would be much better off, including— ugh, the stupid Firelight. If I were them? Her? And if I found out? I'd explode you.

(She's very honest, that we can appreciate... She also knows she hasn't told him about Ekko or anything, but she talks to him like he has been there all along.

It's hard to keep up, sorry, Peter!)

[Oh, but that totally gives him an out. For a second, anyway.]

Okay, okay. Exploding me. I got it.

Fire-what?

[Because that's interesting, and maybe it'll get her to not think about the very sad state of his life currently.]

(Because she catches it, she squints her eyes to let him know that they're revisiting this. Might not be today, might not be tomorrow. Might be right after she answers.)

This group of masked pains in my ass (because they're her version of superheroes—) who like to ruin my work (villainous activity—), and are now sucking up to me (—refusing to give her up and coming to the rallies because she is a hero???). Their leader was my only friend growing up, before Silco, but he— I guess he tried dealing with me, and one day, he stopped trying. Here.

(But that reminder of masks brings her attention back to his, and with a roll of her eyes, she gives it back along with a sigh.)

You didn't distract me of that one, by the way. You bottle everything up, don't you?

[Oh... The Firelights sound pretty interesting.

He takes his mask, studying the face as he holds it in both hands.]

... I feel like you're trying to distract me from distracting you.

[And he supposes it could work. Wetting his lip, he looks hesitant.]

And I don't... I mean — I don't...

I prefer to call it compartmentalizing.

(Honestly? Peter would love Ekko. They'd probably be best buds, with their aerodynamic method of transportation, masks, and stupid altruism. Ugh. The eyeroll she gives has nothing to do with the conversation but with the thought given.)

Yeah, well. You stop me from impulsive homicide, I tell you that separating things into several bottles isn't different from bottling it up. We all got our roles to play, see?

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