[BOOK 2 OF THE HAVOC SERIES]
❝i don't like you because
you're spider-man. i like
you and you just happen
to be spider-man.❞
in which lena santos just
wants a break, but nick
fury has other plans for her
and her friends.
[ spider-man: far from home...
┌────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────┐ chapter two THIS IS A ROBBERY └────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────┘
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───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
THE NIGHT IS PEACEFUL, with the sound of clinking cutlery on ceramic plates filling the Rivera family's small dining area. Lena has always appreciated her parents' phenomenal cooking skills— especially when it comes to traditional Filipino food. Tonight is no exception. She'd helped Ma cook one of Pa's favorite dishes, Filipino spaghetti, for his birthday, complete with a thick rice soup called arroz caldo and Ma's signature bibingka for dessert.
Pa can barely stop smiling long enough to eat his meal. It's contagious, making Lena have to cover her mouth as noodles threaten to escape. She's glad to see him so happy— his time spent alone had put a damper on his mood. Most of the time, he'll try to put on a happy face for them, but she knows her father. There's a part of him that will always remember that overwhelming sense of loss that he had to deal with for five years.
Ma shares the infectious joy and grins endearingly at her husband. "What is it, John?"
Pa sets down his fork and sighs. The action ages him, reminding Lena yet again that he's older than he'd been before the snap, and today marks another year where the gray in his hair will continue to spread and the lines in his face will deepen. She tries to hide her sadness with an encouraging pat on his shoulder.
"I've spent the last five birthdays alone," he begins, a shadow passing over his face. "Year after year, I sat in this very spot in an otherwise empty and silent apartment, wishing you two would walk through the front door. And after last year... I doubted if that would ever happen." His brown eyes go watery. "Now you're here."
Lena's heart pinches. She scoots her chair to the side until she's close enough to him where she can rest her head on his shoulder. Automatically, his hand reaches up to rest on her arm as his chest shudders with the overwhelming effort it takes for him not to cry.
"Nothing like that should happen again," Lena says gently.
Pa squeezes her arm again, almost as if he's trying to reassure himself that she's really there. "Can you promise me that?"
She's stumped. She knows she can't— ever since superheroes were introduced into their world, nothing has been normal. And that dates all the way back to when Steve received the Super Soldier Serum in the '40s. As long as people like her continue to exist, nothing will ever be normal.
Or maybe this is their new normal.
The television volume is low enough to not disturb their dinner, but for the first time since they began their meal, the news anchor's voice punctures Lena's bubble of peace.
"A memorial statue is being designed to honor the fallen or retired heroes of the Avengers. Among those depicted in the sculpture will be Natasha Romanoff, Vision, Steve Rogers, and Tony Stark. While it's still in production, it will be placed—"
