#hctf

— you meant so well.

HYPOTHESIS CONTRARY TO FACT ↳ chapter one :: the story [ read here ]

“Ready to get started?” There was a squeak of hopefulness to his voice that was already beginning to irritate her, especially when it was paired with the matching, raised eyebrow look. He tightened his backpack straps, fiddling with the loops on the ends of the cords for a moment until he realized it was distracting her. Once he stopped, her eyes shifted up to his face and she raised her eyebrows. 

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” her answer prompted a bright smile to break out across his features. Seemingly relieved that she was going along with him, he momentarily rolled up onto his tip toes which annoyingly made him even taller, then shot her with his finger guns. She let out a deep sigh through her nostrils, bordering on the acceptance stage of who she had been partnered with: the happy go-lucky kid from Queens who never had a negative thing to say about anyone -- even her. 

HYPOTHESIS CONTRARY TO FACT ↳ CHAPTER SIX  ::  FRAME OF REFERENCE [ READ HERE ]

"I'm a teenager, Mom. We're allowed to say yeah." Molly defended herself. Her fork balanced lightly in between her fingers while Angie fixed her with an unamused look. Moving on, Molly asked, "How was your day?" prompting her mother like she was supposed to. It got the focus off of her, and let her mother talk about the one thing she really loved: her job. And art. That was also up there.

"Is your father home yet?" Angie asked after finishing talking about her day. Molly shrugged, which wasn't a good enough response for her mother, who then reprimanded her daughter again, "Don't shrug, Molly."

"I don't know." she responded verbally, slightly annoyed by the chastising even though her non-verbal response meant the same thing, "He's your husband." she reminded her a bit sassily.

"Watch it, Molly." her mother warned with a serious look. Molly hesitated, wanting to say something back, but then decided against it. She turned back to her basically empty plate, finishing up the scraps so she could clear her spot.

HYPOTHESIS CONTRARY TO FACT ↳ chapter four  ::  nothing [ read here ]

With the unrelenting emotion drowning her, she reached for the school supplied laptop that was in the study room. There was only one way to get past this annoyance: by checking the facts. Midtown didn't do a lot in terms of blocking certain sites or whatever mostly because they knew their students would find a way around the firewalls. No one could stop you from looking at porn or the schematics for the Stark building. Anything that was readily available on the internet was accessible for Midtown students.

First, she started off with something she already knew was true. Confirming that it hadn't been a spider that bit Peter. She remembered learning about the arachnid family not too long ago. The way their bodies worked, how the webs were made and used, and what to do if one bit you. The research she was doing was purely to prove her point that he hadn't been bitten by a spider. Google confirmed her suspicions. Molly: one, Peter: zero.

I’M GLAD I KNEW YOU.

HYPOTHESIS CONTRARY TO FACT ↳ CHAPTER SEVEN  ::  SETTLE DOWN [ READ HERE ]

“Well, what can you do, Peter?" she was rather exasperated by his non-answers to her questions.

"I don't know!" he raised his shoulders up, eyes going wide, "All I know is that I got bit by that spider and now I can hear, see and do things that I shouldn't be able to hear, see or do." he admitted, eyes still as wide and his cheeks a little pink in color. Like he was embarrassed by it.

Molly considered him for a moment, then turned to face front for a moment. A beat passed, then she quickly turned and threw her fist out and toward Peter as if going to punch him. In an instant, Peter contorted his body to avoid her fist. The only issue was that since she hadn't set her feet, and there was nothing but air for her fist to go into, the force of her punch tugged her forward.

Tripping over herself, the floor came into view and she went to catch herself on her hands. But before she could, Peter caught her. Well, steadied her. Made sure she didn't face plant into the linoleum flooring.

She was back on her feet in a blink of an eye. With her hands on his forearms. And his hands on her hips. Close enough to each other that she could look at him and see how the light made little flecks of gold dance across his irises. The way he looked at her made her heart tightened behind her sternum. Soft concern. No one had ever looked at her like that.

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO?

HYPOTHESIS CONTRARY TO FACT ↳ chapter three  ::  eye roll  [ read here ]

“It's about something that happened during the scavenger hunt. At Oscorp. Yesterday." he continued in the same hushed tone. She glanced up at him again, making it quicker than the last time so not to be pulled into his eyes again.

"I already told you I put your name on the paper." she sighed rather heavily. This happened a lot. Whenever she had to work with a partner, they always had to triple check to make sure she had given them the credit for the work they hadn't done. Of course Peter wanted to make sure he got his due credit too. Whatever. It was a small price to pay for a perfect grade.

"No, no, no, no. That's not it." he shook his head while the hand on her desk waved back and forth, "It's actually something...else?" his voice went up at the end which made his statement sound more like a question.

Sighing, she propped her elbows on top of her desk so that she could place her hands over her face. God, how she wanted to be done with conversation. There wasn't anything else she could think of that could be bothering him about the scavenger hunt. They had finished first, with all the right answers, and he was getting full credit. Why was he continuing to put her through this torture?