A/N #1: Be on the look out for a familiar easter egg ;)


Not long after the gang fight, both Kaine and Peter resumed their respective daily lives. They now wore their civilian clothes and were heading to a nearby Beans Coffee and Tea café, carrying their tactical sling backpacks. As they walked, there was no joy on their faces. It was the look of defeat. Their very first defeat after a month of successfully foiling the bad guys... And this was the first time they faced opponents not in their league. The shame wouldn't leave them alone.

The cousins sighed and entered the café. Suddenly, the sound of a lo-fi music playing, the cool breeze of the air conditioning units, the mixed scents of coffees, and the overall nature aesthetic eased Peter and Kaine slightly, making a calmful smile form on their faces. The two then spotted a familiar redhead with medium bob hairstyle, who was texting someone, her elbows resting on a wide wooden table. On it, there was an open Physics textbook, a notebook with scribbles on pages, with a black pen next to it. The sound of the front door opening and the bell ringing caught her attention and made her turn to the door, her eyes meeting the Parkers.

She chuckled and smiled, "Well, I hope the delay is worth it." The girl quickly typed something on the phone and sent it, before shoving it into a pocket of her black trousers.

The Parker cousins giggled and shook their heads, pulling out wooden stools from underneath the table. "Sorry, had to do something, Anna." The older one, Kaine, chuckled at his redhead friend as he and Peter sat down on their stools.

Her smile however disappeared. "Guys, this has been like what, the fourth time now? What have you been up to?" She sighed, with her eyes on her two friends, expecting an explanation.

Words wouldn't come out from the two for a moment. They glanced at each other, giving a nervous look. As if they were silently communicating that they need to come up with a believable excuse but fast. However, Kaine got an idea. At least, he thought so.

He then turned his eyes to Annabelle, "Well, we've been doing some important stuff. Like, really really important. Something... you probably won't understand." The teenager bit his lip, hoping it would be believable enough for his friend.

Instead, it made her raise an eyebrow, confused with Kaine's explanation. Not just confused, but curious at the same time. "Something I won't understand? You know you can tell me about it, right?"

"I know, Ann. But I can't. It's... complicated..." There was a hint of heaviness in his voice. He couldn't exactly tell the truth to his friend and it burdened him.

The redhead glanced away and sighed deeply, before returning her attention on Kaine and giving him a smile with disappointment underneath it. "Okay... If you say so..."

However, Kaine could sense that she was disappointed. And this made him feel a twinge of guilt, as he had to keep his and Peter's secret from her. It also made him remember her smile and his promise two months ago...

*

(At Four Seasons Hotel...)

It was a bright morning, rays of sunlight coming through the glass windows of the breakfast lounge. Everyone had started to fill the place, taking their food and drinks. Kaine, too, was waiting in line at the bar to get his and Peter's drinks.

As he waited for the man in front of him to finish his turn, he glanced at Peter, who was sitting at a nearby table, eating his wheatcakes. The joyful look on his cousin's face made Kaine shake his head. "Maybe I should ask mom to make some wheatcakes for Pete when we get back to Queens," he chuckled. He looked around for a bit, and a movie playing on a HD television to catch his attention. His eyes widened as he recognized his favorite childhood superhero flick, a nostagic smile painted on Kaine's face.

"Gosh, this movie again," he giggled, still in disbelief that it played during his vacation.

"You love it? It's my favorite childhood movie. Man, I remember watching it so many times," a deep feminine voice addressed to him, causing him to turn slowly. The line had dwindled, with him as the last one.

Kaine's astonished hazel eyes met the girl's forest green ones. She was a redhead with bob haircut around his age, working as a bartender.

"No freaking way. You love that Sam Raimi capeflick too? Shut up!" he said, astonishment in his voice, earning a giggle from the girl. This instant he wanted to know more about her. "Hi. By the way, I'm Kaine. Kaine Parker."

"Annabelle Adams," she introduced herself with a smile, "How can help you, Kaine?"

"I want two medium-sized glasses of orange juice with ice."

"Coming right up!" As she turned to prepare his order, Kaine looked at her in wonder, enamored by the color of her hair and eyes. "So, who are you with? What brings you here, K?" She brought the glasses and poured orange juice into them.

He liked the nickname she gave him and chuckled about it, "Well, I'm with my cousin. Just a vacation with the whole family." He let out a deep sigh, "I'm stuck with my dad though..."

Annabelle stopped for a moment, remembering something unpleasant. "Dad huh..." she said it in a bitter tone.

"I'm sensing some issues here. Wanna talk about it?"

She glanced at Kaine, now her smile was gone. "Never been close with him... He's an ass and he doesn't really spend time with me," Anna replied, her face darkening, as she looked back at the glasses and filled them.

"Why?"

"My dad is the owner of this branch of Four Seasons Hotel. He just manages stuff and that's it. No family time..." she sighed, picking a few ice cubes with a scoop and dropping them into the drinks. "He lives in his own apartment and I live in mine. We're not that close..."

For a moment, he could sense there was more than that. But he didn't pry further. "I'm not close with my dad either because of...issues with him," Kaine told Anna in a somewhat bitter tone as he recalled the past, "He did something terrible that I couldn't forgive him for a long time... Seeing and hearing him is like torture."

Putting the glasses on the bar counter, she shared a look of understanding with him. "I'm sorry, K. You don't deserve that pain."

"Me too. You deserve better things, Ann."

They both smiled. "Then we're on the same boat. Welcome to the daddy issues club, I guess," Anna chuckled softly. "Hm... Friends?" she offered her hand to Kaine.

"Friends," he nodded and accepted Annabelle's hand.

*

On that very day, Kaine had promised to himself that he would make her happy, to be a good friend. So that she would smile, not be hurt more. And he hadn't yet to fulfill it.

"I'm sorry, Anna..." He sighed to himself.

Meanwhile, Peter, who was listening to the whole conversation, felt a little guilty. But he thought that it was perhaps necessary. At the same time, thoughts were running in his mind. The younger Parker felt that this would become more complicated. Not wanting to feel down, he decided to shrug it off.

"Uh, I'm about to buy something. You guys want anything?"

Anna and Kaine turned to Peter, "Just the usual," saying it in unison, which made them glance at each other confusedly.

Peter couldn't help but giggle at the two. Afterwards, he walked away toward the customer counter, standing on the queue line while looking at the menu blackboards, admiring the café's aesthetic.

While waiting for Peter to return, Kaine looked at the wooden table and noticed Anna's open notebook. Upon a closer look, he saw parts of equations covered by scribbles. This made him shake his head and chuckle to himself, "You're really amazing, Anna..." He then turned his eyes to the redhead, a smile slowly forming on his face. A smile of seeing something adorable and someone lovely.

Anna realized that her friend was looking at her and smiling lovingly, as if he was mesmerized in her. Her forest green eyes met his hazel ones. She could feel his smile giving her butterflies. The very smile she had seen so many times. Just like usual...

"Earth to Houston, are you lost?" Kaine's friend giggled.

Her voice brought Kaine back to reality. He simply chuckled and still smiled at her, "Oh ma'am, I was."

"Pfft. You're such a dork, K."

The two giggled but they immediately covered their mouths. Moments later, they cooled down, yet they were still smiling at each other uncontrollably.

"Er, sorry to interrupt you two lovebirds," Peter's voice broke the moment which prompted Anna and Kaine turn to the former, "But my hands are full. A lil' help?"

The older Parker laughed and took his and Anna's coffee cups from Peter's hands. "Pete, don't say that ever again. I will kill you."

The younger one stuck out his tongue at his older cousin and giggled, which made his friends roll their eyes.

Moments later, they were doing their Physics homeworks. Kaine and Anna couldn't understand some of the questions of one exercise they were doing. Peter would give gestures, explaining how things were, or simply writing down formulas and equations as he explained it. Sometimes one of them wouldn't understand and the trio would laugh it off. And sometimes, they would just trade jokes and banter with each other.

It was all so relaxing and fun... Until their moment was interrupted by a Daily Bugle news report. It caught the attention of the trio, stopping their activity. It was the robbery that had happened this morning. Many eyes were on the TV screen, accompanied by whispers. This very report reminded the cousins of their defeat, taking away their joy. And what was worse, was that it made Kaine recall the terrifying moments he had seen before him. His hand slowly curled into a shaking fist of anger.

As Kaine's attention was still on the TV, there was a faint demonic laugh not afar from him. It prompted the teenager to quickly turn his head around, only to find nothing. He frowned his eyes and turned back, swearing that he had heard a laugh. Then, there was it again, this time closer and echoing... The laugh sent chills to his spine, making him froze in place. He widened his eyes in fear. It wasn't any random laugh. It was a laugh he recognized... The laugh of darkness–his dark side.

"It can't be... It can't be! This is not real! I defeated him!" He thought as the laugh became closer and closer.

Suddenly, an unknown figure put his hand on Kaine's shoulder, "Oh, I assure you. I AM VERY REAL!"

Kaine slowly turned around... And before his eyes, was a grey-skinned figure of himself with demonic red eyes, standing beside him. It was his dark side, the Other, smiling at him. A smile filled with malice and vengeance. Except now, his demon appeared bloodied and wounded, with "cracks" all over him after their last fight a few weeks ago.

"What's the matter?~ Surprised seeing your own ghost?" The demon's smile widened, showing his bloodied teeth, as blood kept dripping from his mouth.

"Kaine...? Are you okay?" Anna's voice brought her friend back to reality, shattering the hallucination.

The Other was nowhere to be seen. Slowly, Kaine realized that everyone's eyes were on him, filled with confusion–except Peter and Anna, who were also confused but had a hunch something was wrong with him. He sighed to himself and stood up and excused himself, "Sorry..." The teenager then headed outside the café to look for a nearby restroom.

"Kaine, wait!" Peter walked toward his older cousin and joined him outside, eventually followed by Anna.

The older Parker turned around and noticed his friends coming to him, "It's happening again..."

Peter and Anna's hunch was confirmed. They immediately pulled Kaine to their embrace, comforting him.

She then gave a warm kiss to Kaine's cheek, "It's okay, bud. I'm here for you.. We are here for you."

The group hug and the kiss melted Kaine's burden away, making him forget the earlier hallucination. He accepted the embrace and hugged them both.

And then, there was another faint laugh of his demon... Something told him that this would be the beginning of something bad, again.


A/N #2: More problems are coming for our heroes, especially Kaine himself They are gonna be dealing with more stuff in the future. (Fun fact: The flashback scene used to be a part of a scrapped prologue. It's loosely based off a moment in Scarlet Spider Vol. 2, where Kaine meets Annabelle, and how I met my close friend (he's an inspiration for this Annabelle). You'll see more of this flashback scene in a later chapter from Peter's perspective.)

A/N #3 (update): Kaine and the Other aren't meant to represent the DID community. It's meant to show the struggles between a person and their inner demons, which is shown through Kaine and the Other. I hope it clears things up!

That's it for now! Don't forget to save to keep in touch with this fic. I'll also appreciate it if you favorite it, comment it, and share this fic. Have a good day, y'all. And see you on the next chapter!