silk

“a lot more posh, that’s for sure. kind of like being stuck in time then you make a turn and you’re suddenly back in the present.” the continent definitely preserved their history, something which the united states severely lacks. but what did he know? he wasn’t a history major anyway. “i mostly stayed in london. everyone takes tea time seriously there.”

and there it was. he was wondering when cindy was going to bring up the bounty on his head. well it wasn’t really a bounty per se—but he did have a hit out on his head. “not really. and it’s definitely not safe. but i’ll be damned if i have to cower inside my apartment.” his grip on his glass tightened, enough to make a small crack, “they can come and try to kill me but if i have to crush them with my bare hands, i’ll do it.”

“Sounds like fun, I . . . haven’t been to many places so. Tea, you said? Do you like it better than coffee now?” Cindy wondered, knowing that the list of options on the menu sometimes confused her. Being stuck inside of a bunker didn’t really give her too many choices, so she grew to like whatever she had. It definitely made ordering from these coffee places way more complicated than it ever needed to be.

“With your bare hands, huh?” While he knew the risks associated with having a bounty on his head . . . it would’ve been safer for him to not be out here. While she could easily slip into the bathroom and change into her Silk costume to protect him . . . Cindy couldn’t ignore the stranger in the corner that had been staring at them ; and her silk senses did not get good vibes either. 

“i guessed that, but i wasn’t really sure,” he admits sheepishly in response. when she asks who his favorite villain is, he has to pause, thinking about what his answer would be for a minute. “oh, man, uh… well, i can tell you who’s at the bottom of my list, and that’s anyone with a goblin persona.” he says with a soft laugh. “but uh… i dunno, maybe black cat? i mean, she’s  a pain in my ass, but at least she doesn’t want to kill me. usually. and, y’know, no puns about ‘squashing the spider’ are nice. i’ll put up with the cat puns if i can avoid those cheesy spider puns.” he laughs. “what about yours? who’d be your favorite?”

“Why? What’s up with the goblins?” she asked, still learning about villains. Cindy was lucky that she hadn’t encountered too many dangerous characters yet, but she was also new to the whole ‘superhero fighting’ scene. “Black cat isn’t too bad, she’s not good but . . . I think she likes keeping you on your toes,” the brunette joked. “Hmm. I guess I would pick her as my favorite, too? At least you can reason with her.” Even if the feline had pointy nails and equally lethal fighting skills. 

harry winced. okay, that was totally insensitive. not that he meant to be insensitive, he just wasn’t aware of what’s been going on with cindy. he’s not exactly close with her either but he’s been trying to change that. “it’s probably not much but i hope i can help. well, when we get back at least.” he’s got oscorp resources he could use to help out cindy. besides, if she was as smart as peter said she was, then he could probably offer her a job at oscorp too.

“you dropped—oh, okay. that makes sense.” it didn’t really make sense to him but he’s not going to push. if anything, it brought up more questions than it did answers. “well i’m glad you and peter are still close then. we kind of lost contact when i was shipped off to europe but i came back and…well, here we are.”

“Thanks, that’s really kind of you,” Cindy admitted, especially since she hadn’t even known him that well. She probably needed all the help she could get with finding her family but . . . it also felt like something she needed to do on her own. “Yeah, dropped out. Europe, you said? How was that?” 

“i mean we had an instant noodle stash and a spam stash back at sanfo base. and like a variety of spices, you know? pretty sure we could pass off as an asian grocery store with all the food inside.” just remembering atlas base made amadeus miss it even more. and to think, i didn’t even want to lead the team before. “but if we had that, imagine what the avengers have in their tower. hmm. then again, they’re all from new york so i don’t know, maybe it doesn’t really check out.” ha, i speak as if i didn’t come from new york. but the image of natasha romanoff running around the tower with noodles in hand was a funny thought. “manors sound dumb. but that’s just me. palaces though, now those are nice.” and then he nodded at her, not even in the least bit disagreeing with his closest friend. “i’m just glad you’re here, you know? it makes this new world less frightening.”

“We could,” Cindy agreed, laughing. “That might be my next job if this superhero gig doesn’t work out.” Although it was meant to be a joke . . . part of her couldn’t help but think about having a backup plan. She didn’t know how long it would take for her to get the hang of these powers, but only time would tell. “Hey, nothing wrong with being from New York,” Cindy countered, knowing she had been raised in the bustle of the city. “Palaces sound even more expensive, something only royals can afford.” 

❪ ´ ･ . 🕷️ — ❛ if you want to know something about me, just ask. ❜ ┊@silkymoons​​  ❫

they’d been dealing with the rioters and helping civilians for… god, who knew how many hours now. it felt like forever, and his muscles were sore. it was nice to take a break, even if he knew it’d be short lived. seated on the rooftop, peter pauses, hesitating, as he thinks about what cindy had just said. ask her. the idea was so simple, yet something he’d… really never thought much of. “you wanna play 20 questions?” he says, half-joking as he looks back over at her. “what’s your…” he trails off. “middle name?”

Cindy pulled down her mask, finally relaxing as they sat on the rooftop. The breeze felt nice, and the views were even better. Heights didn’t scare her, not when they droned out all the sounds and troubles of the city. “20 questions? Sure,” the brunette answered. His question, however, caused her to smile since she liked having the upper-hand, for once. “You don’t know?” she waited for a minute before confessing, “I don’t have one.” 

harry was rarely ever jealous of anyone. if anything, people were jealous of him. but there were cases when the young heir could not stop the green monster (pun unintended) from appearing. it was obvious when norman favoured peter over him, it was obvious when gwen stacy got a higher test score than him. it was even obvious when peter had someone like may parker for family. and loathe as he may be to admit it, but he was feeling that again when cindy said she had a brother when all harry wanted before was a sibling. “i see. is he here with you?” was that even the right question to ask? honestly, he’d be a bit more delicate if he knew who cindy was.

but his brows furrowed at the mention of his high school. that was one part of peter’s life that he never experienced. he’d been shipped off to europe as soon as they finished sixth grade and only came back after graduating high school. “i see. he didn’t run into trouble, did he?” as tempted as harry was to ask what happened to his best friend in high school, he knew better than to push peter into a corner. but that doesn’t mean i can’t ask anybody else about it.

“No. I don’t know where my family is,” she admitted, the truth already sitting heavy on her heart. They weren’t in this world, that’s for sure . . . but she didn’t even know where to begin her search. The details and accounts of their lives had disappeared ; what were they doing all those years that she was stuck inside the bunker? Did they even try to find her? The questions were plentiful, but the answers weren’t. “Not in this universe, at least.” 

She shook her head, knowing this wasn’t exactly an ideal conversation topic. Cindy tried to appear cheerful, responding, “who? Peter? I don’t think so. You’d have to ask him though —” 

Shit, what was she supposed to tell him? That she got bit by a radioactive spider and didn’t return to school? That four years of her life had disappeared inside of a bunker? 

he started coughing as the spicy soup of their ramyeon went down the wrong pipe, practically inhaling his water as he imagined tony stark having a secret storage of ramen. “i’m fine,” he choked out before finally breathing properly. “you think it’s in the basement of the avengers tower? i bet it has four basement floors and one of them’s the ramen storage room.” it was a ridiculous thought but it was something to keep their minds off of things. he missed the atlas base in san francisco. now that had an instant noodles storage room from all across asia. “oh yeah, creepy rich guy has a manor. really big and imposing. charles xavier’s manor is bigger though and definitely warmer.” he slurped on his noodles again, thinking about the other people in their area. “then there’s hargreeves’ mansion.” he’s not one to judge what people’s homes looked like but he wasn’t going to deny how creepy both of them were.

“i’m going to be really frank with you, cindy, i’m not feeling too confident about this new world we’re in.” if he were back at base, cho would have started a video game war with lin lie (amadeus cho: 12 wins, lin lie: 10 wins) and keeping an ear out for trouble. “but i still think we’re going to figure this whole thing out eventually.”

“Careful,” she warned, knowing hot ramen and hungry stomachs were sometimes a recipe for disaster. The brunette resisted wanting to inhale her food, mostly because her mother always had comments about her table manners. Needless to say, some of her mother’s nagging stuck with her . . . and now she only had memories to rely upon. “The avengers tower? Maybe. We could ask any of the avengers and see if your theory checks out.” She doubted it, they were all too secretive for that. But there was something amusing about picturing Captain America hoarding his own pile of snacks. “Lucky them. Manors sound expensive.” Cindy couldn’t return to her own home, but more than that, she had gotten used to small spaces ; the bunker and her apartment being prime examples of that. 

“yeah, definitely don’t go out so late into the night. that goes for both of us.” not that he didn’t go out at night but harry had to keep up pretences. to everyone else, he was harry osborn, young heir of oscorp and norman osborn’s son. “if you thought hell’s kitchen was bad, this city’s way worse.” but harry lit up at the mention of peter, a smile on his lips as he remembered his best friend. “yeah, pete’s my best friend. he and i go way back when his father worked with mine. kind of like the brother i neve had, you know?” and then he realised he was rambling and probably revealed more than he needed to reveal. “sorry, you can ignore that. but you and pete are friends too, right? i’m not trying to offend you or anything but how’d you two meet?”

Cindy smiled, nodding along, pretending to heed his advice. Too bad part of being a superhero meant being partially nocturnal or running on caffeine. She was still trying to figure out her schedule with all this, but having a solid routine seemed impossible whenever her silk senses flared. “You stay careful, too.” Luckily, he happened to be best friends with the local spiderman, even if he didn’t know it. “Yeah? I had — have — a brother too,” Cindy replied, slipping up. She hadn’t found any traces of her family in this world, but that didn’t mean they didn’t exist somewhere, right? The brunette didn’t want to think about it, not right now. 

“hmm. you got a point there. i don’t think tony stark would stock up on instant noodles though.” cho immediately dug in, slurping his noodles and fake-cried at the first bite. “this is so good,” he cried out dramatically. in his defence, theatrics had always been a way to break the ice. “now that other guy, the creepier one? bruce wayne? i wouldn’t know about him. all i know about that guy is that he has a manor. oh to be rich.” cho wasn’t one to judge people—he was named amadeus, he had no right to judge—but he’s not going to deny the fact that bruce wayne was a creepy man.

he continued to eat his ramyeon, the company comforting him a bit. it was nice to be with a familiar face. “i know you’re worried, cindy,” he muttered as he looked at his bowl, “i am too. and i’m just as frustrated as you are that they’re keeping things from us when it concerns everyone else.” because if there was something cho hated more than pythagoras dupree, it being kept out of loop even if something concerned him and his friends.

“I don’t know, Tony Stark seems like the type,” Cindy argued, smiling. “I mean, it wouldn’t be weird finding him with a secret storage of ramen.” Given how quickly she was consuming her own ramen, nearly burning herself from the heat, it wouldn’t be a surprise if anyone was hoarding delicious noodles. “It is, must be a few flavor.” The brunette wasn’t too picky about food, not after spending 4 years locked inside of a bunker. These days, having too many options confused her instead. “Bruce Wayne has a manor? Must be nice.” Apartments were already so expensive in the city, it was a miracle she managed to pay for hers given her internship salary. 

harry liked to tell himself that he’s a pretty social person who could probably have everyone thinking he’s friendly when all he really did was have good pr skills. but he’s not going to admit the fact that he was still pretty clueless about interacting with peter’s other friends. not that he’s possessive over his best friend, but harry couldn’t understand where and how peter met his other friends when they pretty much knew each other like the back of their hands. well…kind of like the back of their hands. but anyway. “sure you are,” he answered instead with a brow raised, before staring at the untouched cakes on the table. maybe i shouldn’t have ordered the cakes. “holding up as much as i can. haven’t really talked properly to some of the people. you? hope you haven’t run into trouble yet.” petty criminals were everywhere in this new city—way worse than new york in his opinion.

Cindy nodded, almost unsure what to say. Conversing with strangers was . . . still a work in progress, much like her superhero quips. Still, why pass up the opportunity to practice? So she remained engaged, replying, “not yet. It’s . . . getting kind of crazy out there, isn’t it?” The burst of crimes didn’t go unnoticed, not when she was hanging on rooftops all evening, listening to the city and those who needed help. 

( “ so… do you think there’s any instant noodles left in the stores? or have they all been cleaned out by the billionaires? ” | @silkymoons​ | cindy moon )

cho let out an ungraceful snort, his eyes not leaving the pot of ramyeon. cindy was a nice girl, really smart, but also really clueless. not that he could blame her—she was stuck in a bunker for years, after all. “ha! i doubt those billionaires will touch the instant food aisle. they’re too rich for that sort of thing.” just imagining tony stark and bruce wayne cleaning out the noodles aisle was hilarious. “pretty sure they cleaned out the fresh produce though. man, you’d think they have their own farms or something.” he turned off the stove and opened the cupboard to get bowls and chopsticks for their noodles, his mouth already watering at the sight. “alright, come on, time to eat.”

Cindy nodded, settling into her seat, “thanks for the food.” She couldn’t remember the last time she ate, especially when this whole superhero gig that kept her up and running at odd hours. The false alarms that triggered her silk senses didn’t help either, not when she sometimes sprang out of bed to find that an emergency wasn’t really an emergency . . . sometimes it was a drunk girl hollering at her sober friends and refusing to get inside of a taxi. 

( “If you want to know something about me, just ask.” | @silkymoons​ | cindy moon )

he was curious, that’s for sure. but he wasn’t curious enough to find out about the girl in front of him. but she seemed nice enough—if not confused by new gotham. harry couldn’t exactly blame her. and it seemed like she was close with peter. “forgive me for asking,” he said softly as he set his glass of iced coffee down on the table, “but how are you holding up with all of this?” and how exactly does she know peter? but that was a question for another time.

Cindy recognized him, sort of. When Peter was showing her the basics of social media, she had seen pictures of him — them — together, and the brunette could only assume that they were good friends. Of course, that didn’t make this interaction any less awkward ; being the friend of a friend was probably worse than being a stranger. And being trapped inside a bunker for 4 years didn’t help her social skills either. 

“I’m fine.” A total lie. 

“guess not,“ nat replied, folding her arms over her chest as she let out a softened sigh. “it was a good idea though, kid.” she offered a quick smile as she turned to the other - looking her over for a moment before turning to look back the chaos that was unfolding all over the city. “people panic - it’s nature, but in a city that is only just a city, it will only end in bloodshed.” she frowned, considering her options. “we need to stop them.”

“Thanks,” Cindy replied, appreciating the feedback. Half the time, most of her plans were reacting to her silk senses that gave her false alarms. At least she still had some good ideas when her powers were working properly. “Stop the crime?” Okay, maybe that was a stupid question. 

Silk wasn’t really in the position to judge someone based on their superhero ( or super villain ) entrance into the crime scene. In this situation, it had been her trying to stop some thieves from looting the bodega. She had the issue under control, for the most part — the hooligans were all stuck to the wall, thanks to her webbing.