Lanie sighed sadly as she watched her sister finish loading her boxes into her car's trunk. The day she had been dreading for years finally arrived; Betty was leaving.

Even though Lanie knew she wouldn't be alone, she still felt as if a piece of her heart was disappearing, slowly but surely. Lanie was afraid that if another person left their home, they wouldn't come back, no matter how much Betty reassured her of her fears.

Betty closed the trunk and met her sister's eyes, both of theirs watering. They both stepped forward at the same time with their arms extended and wrapped one another in a tight embrace.

"I'm going to miss you so much, you know that, right?" Betty asked, her arms still hugging her sister close.

Lanie nodded as she pulled away. "Are you gonna miss Mikey?"

"Are you kidding? Hell no, I will be so glad to not have to share a bathroom with him anymore," Betty joked, the two girls laughing as Mikey muttered some not so nice words a few feet away. "You know I'm joking, Mike, come here." Mikey sighed as he joined them in their hug, the Peterson siblings sharing one last hug before Betty left the nest.

"Well, I guess I should get going now," Betty announced, her eyes lingering on the door of their apartment building. Lanie knew she was hoping their father would come out and join them on saying one last goodbye to Betty, but he must have felt his brief goodbye earlier that morning while getting ready for work was satisfactory.

"I'm sorry Dad isn't here to say goodbye," Mikey said, Betty shrugging. "It's fine, Mike, he did this morning. It's good enough."

"Call us the second you arrive?" Lanie asked.

"I'll call as often as I can," Betty smiled at her siblings before giving them one last hug. "Now I got to go before I end up staying here and not going to my dream school."

Lanie and Mikey waved at their sister as she drove off, and they didn't stop until her car was out of sight heading north.

•••

"Hey, Lane?" Mikey knocked on her bedroom door before slowly opening it, his head poking in. "I was thinking of going out tonight, just to get some fresh air and such. Wanna join?"

Lanie gave her brother a soft smile and nodded. "Sure, we could both use a distraction. Anywhere in particular you want to go?"

"Not really, just out," Mikey shrugged. Lanie got out of her bed and grabbed her bag before following him out the door. The two siblings wandered around Queens, Lanie allowing her brother to go into one of his favorite stores in town to cheer him up. Even though Mikey annoyed his sister more often than not and pushed her buttons to the point where she'd want to scream and punch him, his smile always lit up her heart; she loved seeing him happy.

While Mikey walked throughout the store, Lanie stood in a corner by the front and went on her phone. She smiled when she saw her latest pictures of Spider-Man in an article on The Daily Bugle, her name written in small print under the image of New York's latest superhero swinging through town.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a hooded figure walk into the store. Normally, Lanie wouldn't care who walked in or out, but something about the figure felt familiar to her, and she wasn't sure why. When her eyes trailed up, her heart stopped, memories flashing throughout her brain. Somehow, the figure reminded her of the man she saw kill her mother, his wicked grin embedded into her mind, haunting her forever. She slid her phone back into her pocket and followed him, her curiosity getting the better of her.

Lanie tried to not make it obvious as she kept a few feet behind him, following him into the shoes aisle as he picked up a pair of sneakers. He turned his head to look at another pair on the right and her heart stopped once again when she saw his face.

"Lanie? What are you doing here?" Peter Parker asked, quickly turning his head back to face forward. Lanie's heart slowed down once she realized that it was just Peter, and not the man she feared.

"Oh, hi," she replied breathlessly as she took a step towards him. "Mikey and I took a walk around town and ended up here. What about you?" As she got closer, she noticed the right side of his face was dark, and it didn't look like a shadow. "Is your eye okay?"

"What?" Peter replied frantically. "W-What do you mean? Of course my eye is okay, why wouldn't it be—?" Before he could finish his sentence, Lanie yanked back his hoodie and let out a small gasp. Peter's right eye was bruised and swollen, a bleeding cut on his upper lip.

"Peter, oh my god, how did this happen?" She asked in a quieter voice, her fingertips delicately touching his bruise. He let out a small wince, his injuries obviously sensitive to the touch.

"It was nothing," Peter mumbled as he pulled his hood back on. "Just some thugs in the street trying to take this lady's bags, I tried to stop them but they got me first. I came in here after running from them so they wouldn't see me."

"Are you sure you're okay? You should get this cleaned up," Lanie asked, eyeing his lip.

"I'll be okay, thanks," Peter replied. "I have a first aid kit at home in the bathroom cabinet..." Lanie raised an eyebrow in question as he trailed off. "Shit, if my aunt saw me come in like this, I wouldn't make it to the bathroom. Maybe I'll just buy one on the way home."

"I don't think my dad's home, you could come inside and I can help you," Lanie offered.

"Are you sure? I don't want to intrude."

"It's fine, no worries," Lanie assured him. "Let's just find Mikey so we can head back to my place."

•••

"Coast is clear, Dad's not here," Mikey announced after walking through their apartment before letting Lanie and Peter in.

"Thanks, Mike, I'll take it from here," Lanie gestured for Peter to follow her into their bathroom as Mikey headed into his room. She opened the bathroom cabinet as Peter sat down on the toilet lid as a substitute chair. She grabbed a small, damp towel and cleaned the blood off of his cut.

"Okay, I'm going to put some alcohol on here, so fair warning, it might sting a little," Lanie warned.

"On this small cut?" Peter questioned before she dabbed the towel onto his lip, which twitched slightly.

"Don't want it to get infected," Lanie pulled the towel away from his face. "I think you're good, just be careful hiding that bruise from your aunt."

"Do you have any makeup or something that could cover it up a bit?" Peter asked. "I just really don't want her freaking out."

"I can try," Lanie offered. She grabbed her makeup bag from one of the bathroom cabinets and went to work. She tried as best as she could, but it was still obvious enough that his face was bruised.

"Thanks, Lanie," Peter smiled at her as he looked at his eye in the mirror. "It already looks better."

Suddenly, the sound of keys jangling came from the front door, Lanie's heart pounding in panic. "Shit, my dad's home! Stay here, I'll be right back," Lanie quickly stepped out of the bathroom and shut the door, standing in front of it as her father walked through the door.

"Hey, Dad, how was work today?" Lanie asked as he walked inside, placing his briefcase on the kitchen counter.

"The usual," Victor shrugged as he made his way towards her. "Why are you blocking the bathroom door? I need to get in there, please."

"Sorry, I was just about to go in," Lanie stalled. "Yeah, just before you walked in the door, I put my clothes in there and was about to shower, called dibs before Mikey."

Victor sighed. "Fine, just let me know when you're done, I left my headache medication in there and wanted to bring it to my bathroom."

"You got it," Lanie nodded. She waited for her father to walk away into his bedroom before opening the door and whispering to Peter, "Quickly, I can try to quietly get you to the front door so he doesn't see you."

Peter nodded as the two scrambled towards the front door, Lanie quietly opening it and closing it behind him after Peter ran out. She sighed, immediately feeling relieved that he was gone unnoticed, hoping to never have to go through that again.

Unfortunately for Lanie, that night was the first of many she'd be cleaning up after Peter Parker.

•••

A/N: not too many people read this story but i felt like updating it 🤷🏻‍♀️ but once i started writing i had no idea what to write so sorry if this sucks

anyway i hope you enjoyed this chapter! if so please don't forget to vote comment and share because i love your feedback!

thanks, until next time ;)