Anemoia

n. nostalgia for a time you’ve never known.

~

Flash Thompson's P.O.V
"Well we can't do anything for a few days. Flash you should tell your parents that you're still alive, then you kids can go and play Scrabble or something" Tony Stark said. He looked distracted.

"What are you going to do?" Peter asked.

"Huh, oh I'm going to see if this Ryan's theory has any substance"

"I'll help you"

"No, It'll only take a minute, you go"

"Are you sur-"

"Yeah I'm good"

Flash saw the hurt in Peter's eyes but he covered it up quickly. He recognised that look.

Peter was seriously going to be the death of him.

*

The teenagers left the room together. None of them knew what to say to each other. They were used to weird situations but none had come close to this.

MJ broke the silence "By the way, Peter you should probably tell Ned your fine. He's semi freaking out"

Peter agreed and made to leave.

Flash was pretty sure he knew what Peter was thinking so he said. "I'll come with you incase Ned tries to call"

He followed Peter until they were out of earshot.

"Peter, stop being a dumb bitch" Flash said.

"What?"

"Your upset that Tony Stark didn't want your help"

"wHaT nO- yeah a bit. I know It's stupid. But I can't help it. I kinda wanted to talk to him about everything."

"You realise this is really hard on him-"

"Yeah, obviously"

"But like really, really hard on him. His son is in a crazy situation, he changed bodies with some guy from school, somebody wants to kill him, and the only lead we have is a article written by a nutcase theorists about two druggies. And you told me he has bad anxiety and it terrified of losing his family. On top of that he thinks he has to act strong because he's Tony fucking Stark. It probably really hurts him to see you struggling, knowing there is not much he can do to help."

This was how a parent should be reacting.

"Yeah, you're right"

Peter had gone through some serious shit but at least he has a family.

"Thanks Flash"

Stop it, you can't think like this.

"I mean it"

Deep down Flash knew how his parents would have reacted if he tried to tell them his situation.

"And if there's anything you want to talk about I'm here"

Peter's tone made it clear he knew what Flash was thinking.

"Anyway. I should go text Ned or he might have a heart attack"

Flash forced a laugh. "Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll go catch up with the others"

He tried and failed to walk away at a normal pace. As soon as Flash turned a corner he stopped and leaned against a wall.

Why was his life so different to everyone else's? Flash thought about the last time his parents had acknowledged his existence. It had been 6 months ago, they bought him a new laptop, a new phone. They had family movie nights, game nights. They filled his head with empty promises, they apologised.

Over and over and over again.

But in the back of his mind Flash was waiting for the day when he was once again invisible. Nothing. A murderer.

That day came a week later, these random bursts of affection never seemed to last longer then that. But always without warning or reason.

On that day he woke up alone in the house. No note, car gone. His parents disappeared.

A month later when they returned,  Flash tried to asked where they went but his questions fell upon deaf ears.

It was like every other time this had happened. Except this time Flash made a promise to himself. This was the last time he was going to fall for his parents shit.

*

Flash stood up straight. It was dangerous to stay in his own thoughts for two long. Especially as his thoughts were so full of hate and regret.

He needed to be around people to bring him back to reality despite how much as he wanted to curl into a ball and cry about how unfair his life was.

After he opened a few random doors, Flash found his way back into the kitchen where Shuri, MJ and Morgan were sitting around a table, laughing at a story Shuri was telling.

Flash put on his best fake smile, took a deep breath and joined the group.

*

Peter entered the kitchen 10 minutes later. "Ned was about to march down here to see if I was ok" he laughed.

"Aww" Shuri said "MJ I think you should be worried Ned will take your place as Peter's girlfriend."

"Ned is the official protective friend™"

"Anyway, Peter we've been waiting for you. We're going to bake something but Morgan wants to bake cupcakes. MJ, red velvet cake. Flash, cookies and I want to make brownies."

"I'm sorry, but cupcakes are obviously superior"

*

The kitchen was a mess. A whole bag of flour was over the counter top because Shuri decided putting it in a bowl normally was overrated and tried to yeet it in.

Morgan's face was covered in chocolate, whilst she constantly denied eating any.

MJ was having a sword fight with Peter using kitchen utensils m

And earlier Peter spilt the entire bottle of red food colouring into the cake mix so it disgusting.

Flash loved it.

In addition to having crap parents, Flash always felt like an outsider in his friendship group. But he loved the chaotic mess that was this group.

*

When the cakes were finished. They looked awful but tasted surprisingly good.

Flash was learning more about everyone. Even though he had known Peter and MJ for a few years. They never really talked much.

That's kind of a lie. They talked at decathlon practice but he was always a dick to them. He wanted apologize but he didn't know what to say.

It just felt like he was hanging out with friends. Flash had almost forgotten the reason he was here until Morgan said to him "Petey can you pass me that napkin please? Oh, I'm sorry Flash I forgot you weren't Peter. This is really confusing." She giggled.

Yep Morgan it really, really is.

Wow that chapter's kind of a mess 🤷‍♀️.

Just to warn you this book is probably about to start to begin the end if that makes any sense.

Basically I'm getting close-ish to the end.

But don't worry it's not ending yet.

PS I'm adding like, obscure words at the start of chapter that describe it