44 ||study buddies

"Man, studying is a bitch."

Anderson-Marnell Apartment, November 2016-

Alison woke up on the sofa with a soft pounding in her head and a craving for coffee. She was exhausted and disoriented, and seeing the clock read 2AM most definitely did not help her confusion.

Groaning, the girl shifted from her position to place her feet on the floor, one of her hands still holding her throbbing head. The lights in the kitchen were still on, murmurs of a conversation going on around that area.

Looking to her left, Ali saw her brother crashed out on the lovechair, his mouth wide open. Chuckling softly, the girl rose from her seat, the pain slowly dulling to a small annoyance as she walked over to give Charles a small and tender kiss on his forehead.

"Oh my god. You're awake."

Turning around towards the kitchen, Alison saw Jackie nursing a mug of what probably was some sort of tea, Christa sitting beside her. Alison's guardian cousin looked exhausted, her hair in loose and messy knots, her glasses on the coffee table.

"Hi." Alison stated with a plain tone, unsure if she should take a seat at the table with her two cousins from opposite sides. "I see you've met the other side of the family's cousin." She joked dryly, staying standing in her place by Charles.

Jackie sighed, gesturing for the girl to come and take a seat. "I know that you have regenerative cells and all, because you really shouldn't be on your feet. Christa told me you collapsed from a headache of some sort when you got here. Sit."

Ali gave a long sigh, walking to the table where he cousins sat, pulling up a chair. "Can I get some coffee or any type of caffeine? My head is killing me." She complained, sitting down and sticking her feet up on the table.

Jackie shook her head, tapping the side of her mug as she did so. "You know that it'll only make it worse." Her tone shifted to one that was parent-like, sighing again as she spoke. "Alison, where have you been? It's been over a week and-"

"It's a long story." Alison cleared her throat, tapping her fingers on the table in a nervous and jittery way. A nervous look was plastered on her face, her lips pressed into a thin line. "Jackie, I need you to pack a bag for you and Charles."

"Bag?" Jackie questioned, her face scrunching up in confusion. "What do you mean that I should- wait, what do you mean grab a bag for Charles and I-" She rambled, frustrated by the fifteen year old's abruptness.

"You need to leave here. You're not safe here." Alison repeated, Absinthe's grim words replaying in her head. "Absinthe said that she was going to kill everyone I loved and then-"

"Absinthe? This is what this is all about? Alison, I think it's time to involve Mister Stark or someone, maybe Clint." Jackie thought out, her worried mind thinking to a solution to the problem. Pulling out her phone, Jackie pulled up the number for Tony Stark, about to press the call button.

"No, do not call Tony Stark!" Alison hissed, smacking her cousin's phone away from her. "If he finds out- if anyone other than the people who know find out- then I'm going to be screwed, royally at that."

"Plus, no can do about Clint." Christa interrupted, disagreeing as she shook her head. "House arrest. And even if Tony found out- which, I agree with Alison, bad idea- I'm sure everything would be a lot worse. The Sokovia Accords messed everything up, and not in a good way."

Alison turned to her cousin, a pleading look coming onto her face. "Look, Jackie, I know it's 2 AM, and you think I'm delusional because it's this early- but for Charles' sake, go pack a bag, grab Charles, and drive to Boston or some place to go as far as you possible can to be away from here, and don't look back. I don't want you guys caught in the crossfire of everything that goes down."

Jackie gave her cousin one last glance, grabbing her phone and leaving the apartment key on the coffee table. "I know a safe house that your mom and Clint set up on Jersey that was ex- S.H.I.E.L.D.. I'll take him there."

Alison sighed in disbelief and relief, curling into her seat with a new sense of exhaustion and ease. "Thanks Jackie. I promise as soon as this is over, I'll explain everything." She promised, her eyes following Jackie, who was standing up from her seat.

"You better." Jackie remarked, pushing her glasses up her nose, grabbing a hair tie to throw her hair up into a messy bun. "Or you're grounded for life."

"Life might not be just longer if I don't figure this out in time." Alison grumbled, looking over at Christa with a yawn. "Let's get some coffee and some paper, and let's get a proper plan in motion."

Christa eyes filled with a new sense of determination and energy from coffee, a small smile forming on her face. "Don't you know? Late nights and scheming plans are my favorite thing to do. Let's go, Breakout."

The girls hadn't come up with anything but a few rough ideas by the time 4 AM had rolled around. And around 4:30, both girls had crashed, the caffeine in their systems finally wearing off. Alison had been running on energy drinks, while Christa had been running on coffee. Neither had benefited from the surge of caffeine, instead crashing way too early.

The girls were asleep on the table when Jackie gently awoke Charles at 6 AM with the lie that they needed needed to go Black Friday shopping. What Charles didn't know when he groggily agreed to go with Jackie was that there were two suitcases in the back of the woman's car, ready to drive the two away to safety.

Alison woke up five hours later to the ringtone that was unmistakable- as it was the personalized ringtone to Skylar Stark. Groaning as she heard it, Alison rubbed her eyes, yawning as she answered the call. "Hello?"

"Thank god, you dipshit! You finally answer your phone after a goddamn week!" Skylark exclaimed, screaming through the phone. "I swear, you better get your ass over here right now or I'll-"

"Here? What do you mean get over here? It's only like 8 AM in the morning." Alison protested, rubbing her eyes with a heavy yawn. "Study session isn't until noon, right?" She questioned, her voice still raspy and groggy.

"It's 11 AM, dumbass." Skylark sighed, irritation evident in her voice. "Have you been reading any of the texts in the group chat recently? Ned has something to do later, so we bumped it up to 11."

"Yeah, well, I've been a little busy." Alison fired back, reaching out her arm to shake Christa awake gently. "A super villain like Absinthe keeps a girl like me on her toes." She fired back sarcastically, Christa groaning as she woke up.

Christa stirred, her brown fluff of hair a frizz of bedhead hair. "What time zone is this?" She joked, looking at the empty coffee mug in front of her. "Australia or Berlin? Maybe Bern even?" The girl suggested, her sarcasm mildly amusing to Alison.

"Alison Marnell, you better haul your little super speeding ass over here. Now." Skylar yelled through the phone, her voice irritated at her best friend. Waiting for a moment, Skylar gave a small and inaudible groan, hanging up before Alison could say anything more.

Dropping the phone on the coffee table, Alison let out a heavy sigh. The dial tone echoed through the apartment, Alison standing up from the table. Looking down at her messed up dress and feeling the bandages on her face, Alison took a deep breath in. "Well, I'm going to shower."

Thirty minutes and a venti Starbucks later, Alison and Christa were driving to the apartment of Peter Parker, following the Waze that had been set to get them there. Christa was at the wheel, Alison still tying her wet hair up into a messy bun, the two girls never stopping their chatter.

"AP Euro? And Chemistry too? Dude, that's like hell on earth for finals." Christa declared, turning into a side street that would help them get to the apartment faster. "How have you not ripped your hair out yet?"

"I don't know." Alison admitted, her hair tie gripped in her mouth. "Plus advanced math, my finals will be some great times in a few weeks. Which is why were studying." She added, pointing out the obvious to Christa.

"Just wait." Christa cracked a weak smile as she came to a stop at a traffic light. "I've heard that junior year is even worse. Well, I should know." The girl stopped herself, laughing a little as she shook her head. "I am a junior."

Turning back onto the main road, the girls found the apartment complex, pulling into an empty parking meter spot. Slamming the car door shut behind her, Alison walked into the complex, her Ugg boots a step up in comfort compared to the heels she had been wearing the night before. Ali didn't even try to disguise the cuts in her face, only using foundation to try and mask the bruises on her face. Alison pulled up the text from Skylar that gave the apartment address for Peter's humble abode, nodding to Christa when she found it.

The apartment complex looked much more comforting and homely than Alison's, everyone smiling and waving at the girls. When Alison and Christa finally got to the floor that Peter's apartment was on, it wasn't too hard for the girls to figure out which apartment was his.

Probably because there was a sign that said-
SHH! Study session in progress!

Alison stepped up to the door, not even having to knock twice before someone opened the door. That person being Skylar, who actually sighed and screamed at the same time. "Alison Marnell! You are in some deep horseshit now!" Pulling the girl inside, Skylar gave a strange look at Christa, before stopping for a minute. "Wait, why is-"

"It's a long story." Alison sighed, seeing the boys on the sofa, waving for a second at the girl. Alison turned back to Skylar, rubbing her temple as she did so. "Just let her in. She's like my cousin-guardian replacement for Jackie right now. Clint trusted-"

"Cousin?" Skylar, Ned, and Peter chorused in at the exact same time, their eyes widening with shock.

Alison took a deep breath in, exhaling silently. "Can we just study, please? If you want me to explain everything later, but I just want to get this godawful final studying and projects done first."

"And food." Christa added, sitting down at the table where multiple AP Euro and AP Chemistry were stacked. "Because I just pulled an all-nighter searching for a plan and some answers, and I am famished."

In reality, none of the five teenagers did anything productive. Everything that had happened by the time it was 2 PM, 2 or so hours after Christa and Alison's arrival was just questions about the first week, the cousins bombarded by the onrush of questions.

"Wait, how's she your cousin?"

"Where the hell did you go last Thursday?"

"The bracelet was going mad last Thursday, and I was really worried. What happened?"

Alison was overwhelmed by the still onrushing questions from her friends. Trying to process everything, Alison answered every question as they came in. "Isn't it obvious? Hawkeye's my uncle." She scoffed, answering the first question. "Last Thursday? Honestly, I was either here or at a place called the sanctum sanctorum. Although I was in a vision set up for my by Abby the Asgardian."

Pausing for a moment, Ali contemplated the answer to the last question. "Um, same answer as the second question, I guess?" The girl winced, taking in a deep breath. "Look-you guys can keep asking questions but that won't-"

"Wait, Wait, Wait." Skylar interrupted, waving one hand out in front of her as she spoke to silence her friends that were in a circle around her. "Absinthe? She's back? As in-back, back?" She clarified, confused by what Alison had said.

"Yeah." Alison sighed, shaking her head. "I saw a glimpse of her on the patrol night out with Peter, too, but I wasn't sure if it was her or not. My suspicions were confirmed on Thursday night though." Alison sighed, leaning back into the sofa where she was lounging with Christa, who was shoving her face full of Cheetos.

The rest of Alison's friends were situated on the floor, books sprawled out and forgotten on the floor as soon as Alison had arrived. When Alison spoke and told her friends about Absinthe, sky,at heaved an irritated sigh.

Skylar massaged her forehead trying to get the headache forming at the edge of her brain away. "Dude. This is why you have to tell my Dad. Now. You're clearly in some deep horseshit and if you don't tell him there might be-"

"Consequences?" Alison fired back at her friend, cutting off her sentence. "Believe me, I'm a,ready facing the consequences of not stabbing another pole into her side yesterday."

"Or making sure the pole went all the way through her side." Christa grumbled, licking the orange cheese powder from the Cheetos off of her fingers. "That would of most definitely settled the situation."

"You've fought her twice in one week?!" Skylar exclaimed, shaking her head with an even more astonished look. "And now there's even more reason for you to talk to someone about it. There's no reason-"

"She threatened everyone I love, Skylar." Ali huffed, crossing her arms in a stubborn way. "Any my friends, and my Uncle's family. I can't snitch if she's going to kill your dad too if he finds out. I already sent Jackie and Charles away." Her voice cracked, her expression trying to push away the sadness at the edge of her mind.

"I don't want anything to happen to you."

Standing up from the sofa, her friends speechless, Alison walked over to the kitchen, opening up the fridge of the Parker's to see different kinds of sodas inside. "I'm taking a 7-Up." She declared, not caring if anyone said anything.

The silence was awkward as Alison popped the top of the soda, taking in a sip. "Now can we stop talking about the super villain in my life and get back to-actually finally- start studying?"

The group was full of a chorus of yeses, the teens finally getting started on the thing that all of them had come to the Parker's apartment to do. The studying way easy, the group focused on the projects and assignments they had for their classes. Questions were flying through Skylar, Ned, and Peter's heads, not vocalizing the countless more queries about Alison's past week that they had.

Peter and Alison were in the same period for their math class, which they had a project in presenting a mathematician and their work. Peter had chosen a more unknown mathematician, but their accomplishments were impressive.

As Alison was gluing on the title for their project, Peter nudged her, whispering softly. "Hey. Are you really okay? It seems like a lot has gone down and I- I want to be a good friend. And superhero partner." He added, a small tinge of pink flushing into his cheeks. "Do you need anything?"

"I just need this to be over." Alison admitted, smoothing out the paper she was gluing. "I'm tired of looking over my shoulder and thinking she's there. I mean, she's really nothing compared to the Vulture, 'cause he had that whole gang and underground crime boss world. With Absinthe, it's just me. And her, of course." Ali rambled, double checking that the paper was placed on correctly.

"Alison." Peter looked at the girl, a sense of sorrow in his eyes. "Absinthe's legitimately threatening your family. She made this personal. And while Vulture may have been one hell of a threat, he didn't make things personal until he figured out who I was was."

Alison slumped back onto the wall, the two working in the corner of the room. "I just- I just don't get her desk. If I did something to her, I mean, I would totally get it. She's just doing it cause 'her father ordered her to.' Why would she go to such extreme lengths to show me a new part of my family only to tear it away? And me with it?"

"Spite?" Peter suggested, shrugging. "Maybe she's trying to take away the thing she never had." The boy suggested, cutting out a picture of the mathematician that the two were doing the project on.

"Then kill me."

"Yeah." Peter stated absentmindedly. "Then kill you." He looked up, seeing Alison's laughing face at his mistake. "No, no, no! That's not what I meant. You know what I-" Peter stopped his rambling, an even more embarrassed look coming to his face. "But, either way, I know you're going to win."

"Why?"

"Because you have the one thing that Absinthe doesn't have. And that's friends and family who would sacrifice anything to help you." Peter answered genuinely, reaching over to place his hand on Ali's shoulder. "Besides, I got your back."

Alison nodded, swallowing back a sob as she glued down the picture that Peter had cut out seconds before, pressing it firmly onto the posterboard. Pushing down the undeniable truth, Alison held in the thought that was truly running through her mind about what would come next with Absinthe.

That was that if Peter or anyone else got involved, they'd probably die. Right after Absinthe killed her.

God, being a superhero fucking sucked.

<~*~>

wow another update?

ash is on a roll!

yes yes I know I stayed up til 1 AM to finish this but skksndnjsskanbabd

I was watching the office and the good place what else could I do

plus, next chapter is very important and I REALLY want to get to that :)

anyways that's enough said. I hope y'all enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next one!

bye

-ash