LOSING GAME ³
━━ What else is new with Peter Parker?
THE day ended successfully, and the Osborns made it home safely after school, upon arriving they were met with an empty mansion. It was no surprise that they were greeted by the butler instead of their father, each of them knew that was a fantasy that was never going to turn into a reality. Sylvia had already come to terms with it (not really, but she liked to believe she had) and so she never expected anything from Norman, unlike her big brothers, well, unlike Harry because Harvey really lived in his own world. The next day, Sylvia got up and got ready for school, she descended into the first floor of the mansion and made her way towards the kitchen to grab something to eat. What she wasn't expecting was to find Harry helping their father off the ground.
Sylvia approached them rapidly, her face morphed into one of horror as she made eye contact with Harry, who only shook his head at her as if saying 'Don't ask'. "Help me, Sylvie." The sandy blonde Osborn dropped her bag on the floor and rushed to her father's left side. "Help me get him on the couch. Come on, Dad, work with us."
Norman Osborn groaned, to Sylvia he looked hammered, but she wasn't sure, so she didn't draw any conclusions. They moved him onto the couch and Harry knelt before him, Sylvia sat beside him and rubbed his back, both siblings shared a concerned look before averting their attention from him.
"What were you doing on the floor?" Harry wondered.
Norman opened his mouth to respond, but closed it upon realizing he had no idea how he even ended up there. "I... I don't know." He gave him a clueless look.
"Have you been there all night?" Harry seemed genuinely worried and Sylvia didn't blame him, after losing their mother, Norman was all they had.
Their relationship may seem rocky and sometimes nonexistent, but they loved each other in their own messed-up way.
Sylvia rubbed his back and said in a soft voice. "I'll go and get you some water. Be right back."
She jumped to her feet and made her way out of the living room and down the corridor that led to the kitchen, she found Harvey sound asleep on the table. Sylvia rolled her eyes at her brother but paid him no attention, she grabbed a glass and filled it with water, the noise woke up Harvey.
He heaved his head from the table and stared at Sylvie drowsily. "Are we leaving?"
"You're unbelievable." She closed the faucet once the glass was semi-full and turned to her big brother. "Did you know that our father passed out on the living room floor?"
Harvey blinked, that seemed to wake him up. "Wait, what?" He perks up on his chair. "What happened?"
Sylvia inhaled deeply before exhaling, she shrugged. "I don't know. He doesn't know. He just woke up there... God."
Harvey and Sylvia made it to the living room expecting to find Norman and Harry and maybe even Bernard, but instead, they found a woman. Both siblings approached them, Harvey stood next to Bernard while Sylvie approached her father and handed him the glass of water. She sat down next to him and stared at the raven-haired woman dressed like a businesswoman.
"Anyway, as I was saying... they found Stormm's body this morning in the lab." Sylvia's eyes widened at the mention of a dead man, she glanced at her father's shocked expression but noticed something else, it was fear. "He's been murdered, sir."
Norman shook his head, clearly, in denial, Sylvia reached out to him and rubbed his back. "What are you talking about? I... "
"But that's not all," the woman added, "the flight suit and the glider..."
Norman's face darkened at the mention of it, he asked in a deep, low voice. "What about it?"
She took a deep breath. "It's been stolen, sir."
The woman stared at him apprehensively, the room fell silent as everyone stared at Norman expectantly, but he remained frozen in his seat. There was clearly something going on inside his head, Sylvia took notice of his REM, he was thinking of something that had completely tuned out everyone in the room. Seeing as he wasn't going to say anything, she shot Harry a discreet look, the older brother immediately understood what she meant and turned to the woman.
"Thank you for letting us know, Ms. Simkins." Harry shook her hand, he motioned at Bernard, who was ready to escort the lady out of their home. "Bernard will walk you out."
Simkins glanced at Norman before turning around and following Bernard, the siblings all shared a heavy look, not knowing what to do. Sylvia, being the one good at calming people, comforted her dad with words telling him that everything was going to work out.
"You need to rest properly, preferably this time in a bed." Sylvia helped him up, and Bernard helped him up the stairs, letting the kids know that they were running late for school.
Harry cracked his knuckles anxiously. "M-Maybe we should stay. Make sure-"
"Absolutely not." Norman stopped climbing the stairs, staring at his children, his world. "I'm just tired, nothing a good nap won't resolve. I promise by the time you get back I'll be on my feet and ready for the day, now go. Bernard will take care of me, won't you, pal?"
Bernard nodded. "Of course, sir."
The triplets watch Bernard help their dad up the stairs before disappearing down the hall, Sylvia lets out an exhausted sigh. Harvey shrugged and turned to his siblings. "Well, you heard the old man, let's get going."
He turned around and playfully hit Harry on the chest as he passed by him, Sylvia picked up his leather bag from the floor and grabbed Harry's. She handed him his bag and gave him a gentle smile. "Let's go." Harry sighs, puts on his backpack, and shoots one last look at where Norman disappeared before hugging Sylvia's shoulders and making their way toward the elevator.
"He'll be fine, Harry," Sylvia reassured him. "He's quite resilient."
SYLVIA slowly ate her food as she read The Neuromancer by William Gibson. She interrupted her reading for a brief moment to twirl her fork around the spaghetti and gave it a bite. They were surprisingly good. Her honey-brown eyes glanced around the cafeteria, meeting a few glances from curious students. Sylvia let out a tired sigh before averting her attention back to the book, she sipped her juice box contently knowing nobody was going to disturb her. She didn't want to waste her only free period doing small talk. She loathed small talk. Sylvia was the type who would rather endure an awkward silence than a small talk.
She knew sooner or later she would have to start making friends, but she didn't want to. Sylvia was good with the ones she already had, her brothers and Peter, she didn't need more. The sound of footsteps approaching her distracted her from her reading, but she didn't think they were heading her way, so she just resumed her reading. But then the sound of a tray sliding against the surface of the table, followed by a body taking a seat in front of her, gained her attention in a snap.
Bambi eyes met ocean ones. Peter Parker sat before her, looking brighter than usual, she quickly noticed how sky-clear his eyes were.
Where are his glasses? She wondered.
"Hi," Peter breathed out, giving her a shy smile. "I hope you don't mind--"
Sylvia was ready to ease his doubts when a jock walked past them and bumped harshly into Peter's shoulders. "'Sup, you freaks?"
He met Sylvia's cold eyes and winked at her before following his path until he reached his table that was just a table away from them. Peter let out a sigh, Sylvia turned around to find him giving her an apologetic look.
"Just ignore him," Peter advised her. "Between us two, he's more of a freak than he probably realizes."
Sylvia set her bookmark where she stopped reading and closed the book, setting it on the table beside her tray. "I wouldn't necessarily go with a freak. I think douche would best describe the likes of him."
"Well," Peter tilted his head to the side, eyes twinkling with amusement, lightly chuckling, "would you look at that? I think we've given him a fitting profile. He's a freak and a douche."
The youngest Osborn scrunched her nose as she boasted a smile. "My god, we're mean, but he deserves it."
Peter starts digging into his food, and Sylvia is nearly done. Her tongue itched to ask him questions, she tried to pinpoint what was different about him today. Besides not wearing his glasses, which according to Harry, he never took them off, without them, he's equivalent to blind.
"Hey, so," she leaned a bit forward and Peter looked up from his tray of food to her, "if you don't mind me asking of course, what happened to your glasses?"
Peter blinked, not expecting her to notice. "My... my glasses...?"
Sylvia nodded, observing him with attention. "Harry mentioned you rarely take them off. Have you switched to contacts instead?" She interrupted herself with a chuckle, leaning back slightly as she covered the side of her face from the absurdity of her question. "Duh. Of course, you are. Ignore my stupid question."
"Whoa, no, it wasn't stupid." He reassured her, Sylvia felt her cheeks warm up a little as she removed her hand from her face. "You were just being curious. A natural human response, motivated..."
"Motivated by the desire for more information." She finished for him. "Yeah, I'm aware of the definition. So, this brings me to my actual question: What's so different about you?"
Peter was at a loss for words but quickly gained his composure. "Has my lack of glasses piqued your interest, Miss Osborn?"
Sylvia chuckled. "I apologize if I'm coming off as a bit too much." Peter only chuckled and glanced at the book beside her. "I just wanted to compliment your eyes. They're beautiful. And I don't know, there's just something different about you today."
"Yeah, well," Peter chuckled, nodding at her as he said, "I did wake up with some big changes."
The youngest Osborn furrowed her eyes at the excitement radiating from Peter, it was so weird as it was contagious, which is why Sylvia's smile was bright yet confusing. Peter went ahead and started to dig into his lunch, munching on the cafeteria's french fries, which personally for Sylvia tasted like paperboard to her, she would instead stick to her pasta. The teenager blinked and immediately glanced down at her wristwatch and noticed she had 15 minutes left before lunchtime was over, Sylvia grabbed her book and stuffed it in her bag. Peter glanced at her, eyes questioning where she was going, Sylvia smiled and pointed at her bag.
"Hey, I have to use the restroom." She moved her bag to where she was sitting. "Do you mind watching this for me? I won't be long."
Peter nodded. "Sure. No problem."
"Thanks, Pete."
HARVEY tapped his pencil annoyingly against the table, leg bouncing anxiously. Time seemed to move oh so slowly for the twin, he glared at the clock's needle and wondered what he could do to make it tick faster. The poor teenager was painfully famished, and he needed something to eat fast, life was just not helping him by making time go slower. Harry, on the other hand, was relaxed since this wasn't his first time getting detention. The Osborn twins were known to be troublemakers much to Norman Osborn's dismay, Sylvia was the saint, always a goody-two-shoes and daddy's girl even though Norman had a complicated relationship with each of his kids.
"For the love of Mary, can you just chill?" Harry groans, interrupting Harvey's staring contest with the clock pinned against the wall.
"Not until I get some food into my system."
Harry leaned over his propped-up left arm, hand balled into a fist as it supported his head. "Dude, you ate in the morning. You're the only one who ever eats breakfast in this family."
"Is there something you wanna get off your chest or what?" Harvey snapped, but he was obviously joking, he always was. "Hmm?"
Harry rolled his eyes and lifted his hands, surrendering. "I'm just saying, man. Jesus."
Just five more minutes.
Five more and he will be bolting out that door like Speedy Gonzales ━━. Chocolate-brown eyes darted toward the door as he noticed people running in groups with excited looks. Harvey arched an eyebrow as a quizzical frown adorned his sharp features. The sound of an empty stapler followed by the pull of a cabinet broke Harvey's focus, he glanced at the teacher and noticed his disdainful expression. With a grunt, the forty-year-old teacher pushed the chair back with the back of his knees and rose to his full height, his eyes fell on the two Osborn brothers.
"I'll be right back. Ran out of staples." The teacher reached the door, but before leaving he glanced at the clock and turned to them. Signaling at the clock, he said. "Once the clock marks one o'clock, you're free to go to lunch, in case I haven't returned."
Harry pursed his lips together and nodded at the teacher, the forty-year-old man left the classroom. "Should we bail?"
The eldest Osborn turned to face his brother with a deadpanned look. "It's just 3 minutes left till one. Come one, man. I'm starving here."
Harry thought that after all these years together, he would grow immune to Harvey's constant chattering, though it couldn't be farther from the truth.
The twins frowned simultaneously, eyes wandering around the room aimlessly. "Do you hear that?"
Harry nodded, "Sounds like chanting..."
Harvey stood up from his seat and made a beeline to the door, he leaned his ear on the window screen of the door and listened. "Fight! Fight! Fight!"
"Bro, someone's getting their a━━."
The door swung open, hitting Harvey on the side of his head. "Ow━━ dammit!" He stumbled back and pressed his fingers against the sore spot before turning to face his aggressor.
"Sylvie?"
Harry noticed her scared and worried look, he felt something pulled at his heartstrings which had him walking over to her immediately. Sylvia opened the door wide and took a step toward her oldest brother, Harry placed his hands on her shoulder, urging her to tell him what was wrong.
"It's Peter..." Sylvia confided in him, eyes wide with urgency and worry. "Flash is fighting him."
The Osborn brothers both shared a look, a mutual understanding. "Let's go protect our friend."
PETER Parker was facing two bullies. His body– almost naturally– fell into an upright stance, shoulders, and arms were relaxed while he brought his hands up to his chin, elbows bent. His front arm covered his exposed upper body, while the arm that was positioned at the back was close to his cheek, protecting his cheek and eye. Sylvia stood between Harvey and Harry, her heart was beating loudly in anticipation, it no longer beat with worry about Peter as she was quick to notice the orthodox boxing stance his body took. It made her wonder; What else is new with Peter Parker?
"Harry, help him!" Mary Jane Watson asked her eldest brother, a look of distress adorning the redhead's pretty face.
One of the bullies leaped forward and threw a punch directly at Peter's face. The latter didn't miss a beat and swiftly deflected the punch by swatting the fist and then throwing a punch, the bully threw his head back from the force and gripped his chin as he stumbled back. Peter, just as Flash, looked surprised, it seemed it was unusual for Peter to defend himself.
Harry seemed to notice this as well, "Help who?"
Flash and his friend both shared a look, signaling an unspoken understanding. "Oh, no, they won't."
Before anyone could say anything and those bullies could do any more damage, Harvey took action as both bullies lunged at Peter. Harvey threw his arm with force and rammed it against Flash's buddy - hitting his throat. The force of the smack caused the bully to stumble back and land on his back, Harvey quickly got on top of him and started punching him. Flash saw this and took a step forward where Harvey and his friend were but before he could decide whether he would attack Peter or save his friend - Peter decided for him.
Peter grabbed Flash's t-shirt and slammed him against the lockers - poor Peter Parker seemed surprised and excited by the fact that he was actually standing up to his bully.
"You're dead Parker!" Flash threatened. Face flushed and fuming.
"I actually feel very much alive," Peter replied, casually smirking. "Thank you."
In response, Flash only leaped forward and threw a punch with strenuous force. Harry noticed a teacher approaching and quickly pulled Harvey up.
"Hey, I wasn't–."
"A teacher's coming." Harry hissed, he pulled him by his collar like an owner pulling their dog's leash. "Come on."
Harvey glanced at Sylvia and she gave him a reassuring nod and mouth at him. "Go."
Sylvia turned away from her brother when she heard the crowd gasp. She saw Flash on the floor, a teacher's food tray had fallen on his face and Peter remained standing- the winner of this fight.
"My office. Now."
The youngest Osborn glanced at Peter in utter shock. She noticed he was staring right back at her with the same disbelief but Sylvia caught another emotion drowning in his ocean blue eyes.
Fear.
And she wondered - what could've happened to Peter Parker that made him change overnight?