This plot has been given to tomsobrien

Brantley Parker stood in her infamous pair of worn down overalls, her thick, brown hair thrown back into a ponytail. Her thumb moved gently over the focus lens on her camera and she searched through her photos, desperate to find decent ones for her class this semester. The apartment was anything but quiet on this early Monday morning as Aunt May had turned her favorite jazz music to its highest volume and began to dance around the apartment, happily dragging Peter Parker along with her. The woman was always cheerful in the darkest of times, which made Brantley look down at the countertop in disappointment that her uncle would not be here to see her and her brother off to their first day of sophomore year. "Come on, Brantley! Get up in those overalls and dance the morning away," Aunt May laughed, placing her hands on her niece's shoulders and looking at the camera in her hands with a large beam.

"We should really be going, May," Brantley muttered, shovig her camera aside and plopping off the stool to her feet. "Such a pooper," May frowned. "Ready for tenth grade, sis?" Peter asked, slinging an arm around her shoulders and kissing her cheek. She rolled her eyes and grabbed her backpack off the ground. "Sure, bro. I absolutely love the idea of one thousand good-for-nothing assholes bumping into me in the hallways!" she sarcastically remarked, earning a side-glare from her aunt. "Go before you're late," May pushed, shoving the two's backs until they were standing in front of the door.

"Oh, wait!" she cried, making them halt in their place. "I need a picture! Oh, I love pictures!" she squealed, pulling her phone from her pocket, earning groans of disgust from the two siblings. May narrowed her eyes when she saw that they made no effort to act homely and placed a hand on her hips. "This household has no room for frowns and pouts! Smile!"

Fearing their lives, the two teenagers fakely smiled and squeezed together for one picture. Peter, in his odd combination of a collared shirt underneath a sweater, wrapped an arm around his sister's waist, while she tucked her arm behind his back, then stuffing her other hand into the large pocket of her denim outfit. They heard a click and saw a flash before relaxing and rushing out of the apartment before they could be bombarded with more pictures.

While flopping down the stairs, Brantley glanced up at her brother and noticed an uneasy feeling across his face. She didn't know why he was nervous to go to school, it's not like he was Spider-Man and needed to protect the streets every hour. "What's wrong?" she wondered, his eyes suddenly widening at the blunt question. "What?" he asked. "Oh, no, nothing. Uh, I should be asking you," he mumbled, tossing his sister a smile. "You alright?"

She shrugged and stuffed her hands into her pockets, "If you get to say nothing than so do I," she blatantly argued, making peter roll his eyes and hop quickly down the stairs to match her pace. "Come on, Brant. I know you," he urged, a hand wrapping around her wrist. "I'm fine, Pete. See? No dark circles. I'm fine."

Truth be told, she covered her dark circles with eye makeup early that morning before Peter awakened so he wouldn't notice. He didn't need to concern himself with the fact that his sister had nightmares nearly every night about Uncle Ben's death. He didn't need to know that she felt so deeply alone that she hugged her teddy bear so tight in fear it would walk away. He didn't need to know.

"If it isn't my favorite siblings!" a new voice chirped from the second floor that they had finally reached. As if on perfect timing, like always, Nari Ghim joined Peter and Brantley in well synced steps. She linked her arm around Brantley's and handed her a large thermos of coffee that the two normally share. Brantley took a large sip before sliding it back to her best friend. "Hey, Nari. How's your dad?" Peter inquired, genuinely wondering about the health of her father that had suffered from a car accident weeks prior. "He's getting better, thanks!" she smiled.

"We're on our way to hell, why are you so damn happy?" Brantley grumbled while taking purposely exaggerated steps down the wooden stairs. "Because I've had nothing to do for like a week and summer needed to end," she snapped