Sunflower ━ Peter Parker

9 : Suspicions

And yet, the stars had decided her fate differently. She isn't meant to stand up on the podium with pride on her shoulders, she is just an audience who is meant to simply witness their joys. Mae can only dream of living the life that she wants to-- it would never be her reality.

Mae feels her anger burn from within as she thinks about the Lizard and her father again. The pressing reality is that she can't do anything to help Harry and that fact bites her mercilessly. The stars and moon may collide-- but there's no way in hell that Mae would let the Lizard wander freely when it is responsible for putting her father into this possibly irrevocable condition.

"Spider-Man..." The newbie hero's name escapes her lips. She sighs deeply, resting her chin between her palms. Mae feels like she owes him, which she probably does, considering how he is the reason why Harry Evans is still breathing. He wouldn't mind a favour, would he? Since the "vigilante" is all about saving people, he shouldn't oppose the idea Mae has brewed in her mind. Plus,  Mae is pretty sure that Spider-Man has found a nemesis in the Lizard-- just like she did.

But Peter may be against it--

"That doesn't matter!", Her conscious counters. This gets Mae to start thinking some more. Peter is one of her closest friends, and even though she doesn't really care for her approval, she needs him to be by her side through this. Mae knows Peter's kind heart won't deny her of his support-- but still she has to give it her all to convince him.

Mae swipes her palms across the bed, in search of her phone. Once she finds it, she immediately locates Peter's name in her contact list. It's four-thirty in the morning and even though he snuck in to check on her a few hours back, Mae doubts he's still awake. She decides to just message him instead, devising a plan in her head. He'll see it once he's awake.

'Let's meet up for coffee tomorrow. I'll bring along Gwen too.'

Mae's thumbs swiftly tap the keypad before she hits Enter. She can't waste another second on this by doing nothing. Pretending like nothing's wrong while her mom and sister go through hell to unmask the Lizard feels wrong. It's different for her this time. This is not just one of their many missions assigned to them by S.H.I.E.L.D, this involves her father. This is personal.

And she can't let this simply pass.

━━━━━━ 🌻 ━━━━━━

At seven thirty that morning, Mae doesn't really allow Gwen to sleep. Nudging her awake with more energy than she should have this early in the morning, Gwen wakes up drowsily, her cerulean eyes half-closed.

"What is it?" Gwen irritably groans, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

Mae, however, doesn't return the lazy energy. She clasps her palm around Gwen's wrist, jolting the blonde awake. Gwen widens her eyes, blinking them profusely as she tries to read Mae's expression.

"We have to go." Mae simply states with no explanation, her light eyes boring into Gwen's— as though it will convince the silver blonde haired girl.

"Where?" Gwen asks, releasing her wrist from Mae's grip. Now wide awake, she raises her eyebrows at her friend, demanding an explanation.

Mae huffs, throwing herself next to Gwen on the bed. "I told Peter we'll be meeting him. You know he snuck into your room at two a.m? But since you weren't there, him and I devised a plan without you."

Gwen raises an eyebrow, processing the information. "Peter climbed twenty stories at two a.m?" She repeats, the surprise in her voice evident. "And what plan are you talking about?"

"I'll tell you all about it on our way there." Mae promises, sitting upright on the bed. "Let's just hurry there now."

As the two girls leave the Stacys' home by eight, Mae realises that in her text to Peter she hasn't mentioned a location— or even a time. Judging by his unresponsiveness to the message, Mae assumes that he is still asleep.