Divergent ─ Peter Parker

EIGHTEEN

Because it was her first laugh, after Thanos. Sincerely, not forced.

What drove Evangeline to stop eluding Junseo? Folksy, the Lady's-mantle. A bouquet of them, with a laconic blurb of Robert Herrick's poetry. Forbear, therefore, and lull asleep thy woes, and weep no more. And then, it hit her. Junseo witnessed her caving in, sobbing uncontrollably, noticing the burden that was too heavy on her shoulders after losing Eustacia and Bianca, basically everyone. Also, the guy next door she loved dearly.

Junseo reached her out, brushed away her tears, once again reassured that someone would eventually come up with the idea of ameliorating everything. He offered a piece of peace, and as the days passed, he got her willing to try. Again. Healing comes slowly, but it always comes, he added softly.

But, reality tends to keep changing. And Evangeline despised it because when she had slowly let go, something else fell apart. Peter Parker lived, Tony Stark died. Jillian Kim was saved, Natasha Romanoff wasn't. They won against the odds, they lost at the same time. The world mourned the fallen heroes, but she just missed her family.

However, again, she needed to keep moving forward, right?

"We've ignored each other since that day," she casually replied, offering a small smile as she took hold of the food. "None of us healed from it, not yet. Or probably never."

"Hey, don't say that. It takes time to heal—"

Evangeline interrupted weakly, "I don't think I will heal. Not this time. I mean with all the deaths I've witnessed, that seems impossible."

"You should have died a few years ago, didn't you? But, here you are," Junseo pointed out. "Everything happened for a reason."

Evangeline groaned, rubbing her temple tiredly. "Don't give me that crap again."

"I won't stop until you can finally think the way I do."

"The way you do?" the girl snorted as she rolled her eyes. "If you're talking about unleashing my full power to eliminate my adversities, I'm gonna skin you alive."

"Brutal," commented Junseo, pushing her shoulder lightly, playfully. "But, I'm serious. Things will never go back as it used to be, but it'll get better."

As they walked past a batten with another Iron Man's large and flashing graffiti, she halted, pressing her lips into a thin line. Then, she doubted everything again. "Doesn't it make you mad?"

"Sometimes." His movements were delicate as he grasped her hand, he stood before her, blocking the sight and smiling encouragingly. "But, life is not supposed to be simple, isn't it?"

Oh, Evangeline apprehended that, really. She just didn't want to, not yet wanted to take as gospel truth what was lost from her life. But, she remained gratified for his presence kept her sanity intact, a caring soul, willingly picked up the broken pieces and knitted them back, forming a new atmosphere for herself where she was less likely to be triggered. No, he was never a stand-in for Peter, she knew it and he realized that.

Junseo was her Blue Salvia, Peter was her Red Salvia.

Everything was just interlacing that way, her black and white universe with both of them devotedly getting hold of the crayolas. Although the girl still hung on a thin thread with fading hopes while straying in the memory lane, they were there—never left, always one call away. Peter, however, had his own ways. He watched over her, protected her while also dealing with bad guys as Spider-Man. They haven't talked yet, not quite ready.

But, Evangeline knew she had to.

It was bound to happen, after all. So, when faint noises filled the aerial of the Stark residence, familiar twos instead of one, she almost backed down if it wasn't for Junseo who stepped on her way. They whisper-argued, she nearly cried, he almost cursed himself for causing it, witnessing her eyes dimmed with another episode swelled within. What in the world did he think? Peter was basically a plethora of painful memories walking, of course, she would react that way.