Adventures in Babysitting ↠ Peter Parker [1] ✓

20 | Scared Of Your Own Shadow

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ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
xx. SCARED OF YOUR OWN SHADOW

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  RETURNING TO QUEENS, SURPRISINGLY, was one of the last things Riley wanted to do. The trip as a whole left her feeling uneasy. It wasn't the fact that she helped her team win the Academic Decathlon, nor was it entirely the fact that her friends — her only friends — nearly died on the Washington Monument. It was the fact that Riley was scared of her own shadow.

   After meeting her biological father, Riley felt as though something was always watching her. She knew that Fury and Maria Hill were regularly keeping tabs on her and she knew that Tony was always checking up on her; however, this was something different. This was something that dated back all the way to the death of her mother. This was something that dated back all the way to the day she and her father developed their powers.

   Rob O'Dair was a shadow. He had admitted that he had been keeping tabs on her, but for how long? Had he been stalking his own daughter for the past 13 years? It made Riley think about her past more than she normally did. It made her think about all of those allegedly paranormal experiences she faced where she made Natasha and Clint check her room for ghosts as a child because she was sure that something was hiding in her closet. It made Riley think about the days where she could have sworn she left the bathroom door closed, only to find it wide open moments later. It made Riley grow utterly paranoid of everything, for she had no idea if she was truly alone.

   Skipping school was another one of those instances that made Riley feel like a normal kid, but remembering why she was skipping immediately destroyed that feeling of teenaged rebellion.

   "It took you long enough," a male's voice almost jokingly greeted Riley as she slipped into an alleyway.

   "I don't understand why you made me meet you in Staten Island, Rob," admitted Riley, her hands in her jacket pockets.

   "I have to catch the Ferry at 11," Rob O'Dair explained. "And I told you that you could call me Dad, mija."

   Riley cringed at the word "Mija." Oddly enough, it felt wrong hearing it from Rob.

   "Yeah, I know. I just... I'm not used to it yet."

   "We've been meeting up everyday for the past four days," pointed out Rob. "Surely, you're used to me being in your life again." When Riley didn't respond to this, he continued, "So have you figured out how to find the energy core?"

   "Why can't we talk about something else?" she quietly wondered. "I mean, you're my dad. Don't you wanna... I dunno... do all that father-daughter bonding stuff?"