Always and Forever, My Friend (Miles Morales [Dim. 42] x F! Reader)

Chapter Eight

A face stared back at Y/n as she looked in her bathroom mirror, only it wasn't hers. It was the face of a desperate beggar pleading for a moment of happiness as they stood before God. At least that was what she saw as she recited the words of her possible salvation.

To anyone else, this process would seem dramatic. The act of talking to one's self as they got ready to ask for their parent's permission to hang out with friends to the mentally stable would be labeled as a form of psychosis. But to Y/n, this was an important ritual, one often practiced so that the performance could be seen as fit in the eyes of her father.

Today's ritual was especially important, for a multitude of reasons. To start, today was the first day she was officially released from her grounding, the grounding that was caused by hanging out with a particular friend that she had cussed her father out over. The same boy who her father threatened to send her to boarding school over if he caught her hanging out with him.

But that wasn't her biggest issue with today. She could always lie and say that it was just her and Mike, simple as that. If you've ever been grounded, you know that that first day you get your freedom back is like a test trial, walking on eggshells for an audience you weren't even aware was there. Now imagine those eggshells were daggers stabbing through your feet with every step and you were told not to make a single sound, to simply take the pain in silence. That was how it was for her.

Again, this all may seem dramatic to those with the families that most of the youth could only dream of having, the kind parents who only raise their hands to wipe the tears from their children's cheek. But for the rest of those whose parent's words were laced with venom, whose only memory of the lifting of their parent's hand came with the sting of pain, they understand all too well.

And for her, the audience was none other than the warden who had damned her to her grounding in the first place. None other than the man whose blood runs through her veins. He was the only reason she had to recite this incantation. It wasn't like her mother would care. She only wanted her daughter to be happy, and so did he... well, as long as she obeyed his every command, that is.

Even now as she muttered the words under her breath, staring into the eyes of the person across from her, she couldn't help but hate the person who stared back. She hated her for not being braver, for not standing up to him and cowering into this shell of a person. But she couldn't really be mad at the reflection. After all, her cowardice was the reason she survived, and you can't blame anyone who just did what they had to to survive.

The sudden sound of her mother summoning her snapped her from her thoughts. With a sigh, she looked at her reflection one last time before she exited the bathroom, answering to her mother's beckoning call.

"Yeah, mom?" she asked as she entered the main area, taking note of her father on the couch drinking despite it being only four o'clock.

"Oh, I was just wondering if you wanted to help me make dinner," her mother gave her a polite smile, washing her hands and shaking them out. "Now that I work the night shifts, I thought this would be a nice opportunity to teach you how to cook. I know you've been wanting to learn for a while, plus I think it would be a good bonding moment for the both of us."

Seeing her mother''s sweet smile and the obvious excitement on her face as she offered made Y/n's heart ache. The amount of effort her mom had been putting into their relationship was the closest thing Y/n get to having loving parents, so having to deny her efforts felt as though she were being cut with a knife.

"About that..." Y/n smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck as she tried to settle her pounding heart. "I actually have to ask you guys something."