Chapter Text
Betty Brant doesn’t experience shock the way others do. It rolls off of her, like droplets of water. If the droplets don’t roll off of her, they usually just disappear, drying out into nothing but air.
(There is a reason she wants to become a reporter, after all.)
When she sees her kindhearted classmate being revealed as Spider-Man, the droplets stay on her like glue.
The first thought that should fill her mind is probably something like, ‘what the hell, or, ‘oh my god’.
Instead she just feels her mind go blank, unable to find the right words for the situation at hand.
She glances around the room and sees that her fellow peers seem to be thinking the same thing that Flash had uttered. Holy fuck. When her eyes fall upon Ned, she doesn’t see the shock that everyone else seems to be feeling. She sees something deeper; an expression that only someone in the know would’ve worn.
She glances back up and winces when Peter slams his hand on the wicked man's throat.
When the screen goes black, Betty promises silently that she won’t treat Peter differently for having a moment of weakness.
(Whether or not she’ll be able to hold that silent promise is another thing.
Only time will tell.)
“Holy fuck!” Flash exclaims, mouth and eyes wide open.
“I only have her left. Did you know that? I’m sure you knew that. But you didn’t care, did you? You don’t give a shit. You only care about yourself, and your god damned projects, and about ruining lives, and about taking and taking but never giving back.”
“I- I didn’t-”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!”
Flash had pushed Peter. Flash had tripped Peter. Flash had hit Peter.
Flash had been an absolute piece of shit to someone he thought of as a hero (because Peter fucking Parker was Spider-Man, of all people), and feels the regret blossoming from the black pit that is his heart.
“Dude, Parker could’ve ended you if he wanted to,” Jason Ionello tells him in a hushed whisper after the live video ends.
Flash goes white, and simply whispers back, “Nah. He’s too much of a pussy.”
Not even Flash believes the words that come out of his mouth after what they’ve just seen.
(Most nights, after his father had finished punishing Flash for being the piece of shit that he is, Flash nursed his wounds with tears in his eyes and hoped that Spider-Man would come rescue him.
Now, he hopes that Spider-Man won’t kill him before his father inevitably does.)
Liz knows something is wrong when Cindy Moon sends her a message full of concern.
just watched the news, are you okay?
Liz stares at her phone in total confusion before deciding to check the news to know what the hell Cindy is talking about. She pulls up The Daily Globe on her phone for the latest news. Her world stops spinning when she sees the headline.
Spider-Man Unmasked: Spider-Man or Spider-Boy?
by: Barney Bushkin
Updated: 2 minutes ago
Underneath is a picture of Peter Parker. Her head spins and spins, and the only thing that goes through her mind is images of her own father trying to murder the boy that was supposed to be her homecoming date.
Her phone vibrates, and she sees a new message from her own mother.
Get ready, we’re gonna go see your father once I get home
She closes her phone and takes a deep breath.
(Liz ends up staying at home.)