Havoc | Peter Parker ¹ ✓

3 | two can keep a secret

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chapter three
TWO CAN KEEP A SECRET
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LENA DOESN'T KNOW WHAT time it is when she's finally able to crawl into bed. Her back aches from how long she's sat in her desk chair, furiously typing an outline for her AP Gov class that's due tomorrow. Instead of using her own ink, she'd decided to email it to herself to print it at school the next morning. Plus, she's too tired to bother with the walk across her apartment while her parents are sleeping. The floorboards would creak and she doesn't want to risk waking them. And, to her exhausted mind, it's a hell of a long walk.

Her entire body seems to sigh in relief as she flops down onto the sky-blue covers tucked into her mattress, the usually uncomfortable springs feeling like a cloud. A sigh blows out from her mouth. She lays there for a second, staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars on her ceiling before remembering she has to change her alarm to ten minutes earlier so she can head to the library and print her outline.

But as soon as she props herself up on her elbow to do so, a car alarm blares through the night, and she heaves a tremendous groan from deep in her throat as it causes her to jump. God dammit.

"What the hell is going on out there," Lena hisses to herself, not entirely like a question. She throws her blankets off of her before beginning to peel off her jeans — she hadn't bothered to change into pajamas before attempting to sleep — and yanking on the black jumpsuit that is her sad excuse for a costume. She clips a chunky belt onto her waist and easily pins up her hair to slide the platinum blonde wig on. After so much practice, gearing up has become second nature and hardly takes any extra time at all.

Graham has this down to a science, ironically. He'd thought of everything. Obscuring her true hair color, the mask, even the voice changer he'd bought from a practical joke shop down the block. That way, her true identity is as hidden as can be while still being comfortable.

Okay, so the jumpsuit sucks, but whatever.

It's both a blessing and a curse that her room is so small. Luckily, she's able to grab everything she needs in a short amount of time. Unluckily, Lena seems to bump into every single piece of furniture she owns. Her mattress is shoved in the corner of her room and sits on a plain metal frame that she's frequently banged her ankles on over the years. Across from it, against the far wall, is her white desk, where mounds of books continuously lay. A large poster of Wonder Woman — Lena's idol — hangs above it and is easily the most noticeable thing in her room. She also has an absurd amount of vinyl records stowed in milk crates beside her desk. The player itself sits on another crate beside them. Finally, her most prized possession, her overstuffed bookshelf, is beside her bed. It's filled with classics she's collected over the years — everything from Little Women to her current obsession, Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.