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𝐶𝐻𝐴𝑃𝑇𝐸𝑅 𝑇𝑊𝐸𝑁𝑇𝑌 𝑆𝐸𝑉𝐸𝑁 𝑇𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑂𝑛 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝐿𝑒𝑓𝑡
☀︎︎
It was funny, how confidence worked. Even at the slightest of inconveniences, Eddy would find his personal store of it dwindling, pouring easily from a hole in a box, like sand from a timer. Beneath a mask, as his alternate persona, he could fake it easier, on the rarer occasions that he needed to, but as himself and only himself, it was harder to hide. The constant switching between the two- from the strong, attractive superhero to the awkward boy who looked like he was out of his time- was exhausting, and had as big of a hit on his self-esteem as anything could.
As Split, his charms seemed to become effortless, with flirtations slipping from his tongue as frequently as greetings. Without the mask, it wasn't so easy.
As Eddy finally slid away from the decathlon group, finding his room, he threw his backpack onto the spare bed and flopped face-first into the other. He groaned into his pillow- like a child, he would say, had it been any other time. With Peter on the weekend-long trip, his time would get so much harder. It wasn't that he didn't like Peter. No- he very much did. In fact, that was the problem: he liked him a little too much.
He couldn't quite explain or describe why he liked him. Perhaps it was his kindness, his eagerness to involve him with everything as if they'd been friends as long as childhood. Or maybe it was his intelligence- God was he smart! But perhaps it was for the simple fact that Peter loved his blazers when all he'd received was teasing for it. That one small gesture said so much about the boy.
It took five short minutes of thinking for Eddy to find his way to his feet, walking himself to the corridor and finding his way to Peter and Ned's door.
Eddy's hand hovered above the door, his knuckles held to knock. He paused, pulled his hand back for a moment before he replaced it against the door. But then, before he could force himself to knock, the door swung open, revealing a wide-eyed Peter Parker in its place. He looked once from Eddy's face to his lingering hand.
"Hey, Eddy? You good?"
Eddy blanked, his whole body freezing. "Um, I was just- I was going to ask if you wanted to do something- with me. Pointless wasting the night, you know," he managed to stumble through his words as his arm reached behind his head, to lay at the small of his neck. "I hear there's a pool. And good pizza across the road, if we can sneak out."
Peter looked overwhelmed. He smiled, then his lips parted and closed again as he tried to conjure a few words to say. It was then, that Eddy already knew he'd been turned down.
"I was going to study... in the business centre," Peter said, throwing a thumb to point over his shoulder as he stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind.
Eddy noticed the school bag on his back and the slouchy jumper he wore. "Oh, right."
Peter hurried to get another few words in catching him by the arm before he could leave. "It's not that I don't want to do something with you, I really, really do. It's just- I need to study."
"No, that's fine. It's a good idea, actually," Eddy said as he glanced at the hand that wrapped around his bicep. "Alright, I'll- I'll see you."
Eddy turned on his heel and disappeared back behind his door.
"Fuck sake, Eddy."
☀︎︎
Eddy woke with fright as a sharp zap hit his wrist. Though his eyes were slightly blurred from sleep, he glance at the band that wrapped around his lower arm, feeling around it with his thumb. His inspection came back fruitless- until he nudged it forwards, revealing a dull, throbbing red light below it, casting his skin in a pinkish light.
"What the hell?"
As he removed his hand, it zapped him against, the feeling that spread up his arm somehow more urgent. A pit formed in his stomach, worry and anxiety filling it easily. Eddy reached for his phone.
The boy answered immediately. "Hey Ned, I'm not feeling well, if I'm not down in the morning can you tell everyone to go ahead without me? I'd rather not be disturbed."
"Yeah, no bother. Hope you feel better."
"Thanks, Ned."
Throwing his phone down on the bed, Eddy moved his other hand swiftly to remove his shirt before he brought his hand down upon the black band, watching it spread, glistening like pixels as the suit covered his body tightly. The wrist band that remained buzzed, flashing a bright red, seemingly confirming his suspicions. Spiderman was in trouble.
Eddy stepped forward, emerging into the swirling darkness, his mind, at first, blank of any picture or idea. He didn't know where or why he was going but he knew who to. Just as it had happened that first time with Peggy. He slipped forward, his body pulling him along as if his feet could float, his eyes closing upon the image of Spiderman.
When Split emerged from the darkness, he found his feet pulling him backwards, almost hurtling him from the back of a moving van. He let out a cry of surprise, throwing his arms out to catch the ridge, readying to teleport once again. But then a silver web pulled him backwards, sliding him across the slippery roof.
"Split?" Spidey's incredulous voice found him above the whipping of the wind.
"What the hell is happening?" Split shouted, his chest heaving.
"Bad guy."
He managed to squawk out the two-word explanation before the man in question swooped down from the dark sky, blazing eyes staring down as he came flying low. His wide, mechanical wings almost nipping his shoulder. Spiderman threw out his arm, grabbing a bag with his web, catching it in his hand.
"Hey, Big Bird. This doesn't belong to you!"
The Vulture turned, green eyes narrowing on the boy and the bag on his back and sped forward, wings tilting him forward.
"Oh, God."
As he threw his wrist out again, his web's fell flat, landing meekly at his feet. Spidey tried it again with his opposite hand, reaching the same effect. Vulture paused for a moment, as if in mocking, before he raced forwards, swooping down to push him from the side of the van.
"Suit lady! What was that?" Spiderman shouted as the bag was ripped from his grasp. "No, just set it back to normal!"
"Spidey, what're you doing?"
He grappled with the side of the van, desperate to pull himself up. Split jumped, knocking Vulture to the side by only a few feet and Spiderman found his way to his feet.
"We're going to have to steal that back."
Split sprinted forward, teleporting at the last minute, landing mid-air where he could grip onto Vulture's left-wing. He swung around it, flipping himself until his legs pointed forward, driving his feet into his legs, crippling them as he pulled at the bag. Tossing the bag into his opposite hand, Split swung himself a second way.
"Look out!"
The words of warning came too late from Spiderman. His eyes widened as the second wing came down upon his face, throwing him back against the roof of the truck, spinning over himself with the back still tucked under his arm. As he staggered, he expected the fall to stop, but then he went down, slipping through a thin layer of purple matter, crashing down into the truck, his snapping backwards with bug boy landing on top of him.
