Into the Light | Peter Parker x OC

Chapter Seventy-Four

he kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her.

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peter thought he heard crying coming from ada's room.

but when he peeked inside, she wasn't in her bed. and that was when he realized it was coming from the bathroom.

"ada?" he asked worriedly, letting himself into the room. he stopped in front of the bathroom, listening. sure enough, the sound of her sobs were coming from inside the bathroom.

"ada, is everything okay? what happened?" he asked. his heart began to beat faster. ugly thoughts protruded his mind. what if she was doing something...terrible in there? "ada, please open the door!"

he heard no reply and the sobs grew louder. peter began to panic. his mind began to feed him terrible ideas of what she could be doing in there. he desperately knocked on the door, but when he tried the doorknob, to his surprise, it was open.

"ada? ada, are you decent?" he asked, "i'm coming in there, okay?"

he paused, but when he didn't hear an answer, he quickly twisted the doorknob and rushed inside.

ada was sitting inside the bathtub, fully clothed, but sobbing hard as she hugged her knees to her chest and rocked her body back and forth. the tap was running water and the tub had just overfilled moments ago and the water was spilling over the rim, onto the tiled floor. peter quickly took action, turning off the tap and pulling her wet hair away from her face. she was crying so hard, she couldn't breathe.

without hesitation, peter got into the bathtub with her, ignoring the mess the water was making, and pulled her shivering body close to his. she trembled with sobs against his chest, but peter just caressed her head and held her closer. he'd left her alone for only one night and she had unraveled.

"it's okay, it's okay," he whispered, closing his eyes tightly as if that would make call of this go away, "you're okay, i've got you, love, i promise. everything's gonna be okay."

he kissed the top of her head and squeezed her body tightly against his because maybe, just maybe, if he could hold her tight enough, he could ease her pain.

adelaide gasped for air and clutched tightly onto his shirt like a lifeline. she wanted to say something, but she couldn't even breathe.

so they both stayed that way in the tub as adelaide cried herself into pieces.

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now it's been a few days since this incident and a couple weeks since tony died. all this time, griffin has been recovering in the hospital but the minute he was cleared to go home, he got in a cab and drove to the cabin. he found pepper there who told him that adelaide had moved into her apartment on park ave and asks him if he could convince her to come home. he tells her that he'd try but he knew his little sister and he knew she was not one to listen to reason.

they were in the middle of lunch when the elevator opened and griffin walked inside. peter had only met ada's brother a few times, but it had been brief. to see him now, real and standing in front of him, it was strange in the very least. he knew about ada's past, but he hadn't known much of griffin's past except that he used to work for thanos.

it was strange. he had been gone for five years and in that time ada had gained a brother and a sister and changed her last name to stark. he hardly recognized her anymore. even worse, he wasn't sure where he fit into her life anymore, if at all.

so it made sense that peter didn't trust the man entirely yet.

"griffin," adelaide breathed, standing from the kitchen island to greet her brother. griffin embraced adelaide tightly as she buried her face in his chest, squeezing her eyes shut. peter watched them wearily. how much had happened in the last five years? how much had he missed? the last he saw of griffin, he had been trying to kill his sister.