Dreams of Normalacy

[st_hotflashes]

Ned was excited. He could not believe that he and Peter got into the same university and had some of the same classes together! This was going to be the best and so far on campus neither of them had run into Flash, so he was sort of hoping Flash got into some other university other than MIT and neither of them would have to worry about the bully ever again. Of course, Ned sometimes thought about how if Flash wasn't there to bully them, who would take his place? Like Flash was some sort of Hydra creature and they were two nerdy versions of Hercules... well, Peter was definitely like Hercules. Ned just held the equipment or something.


"Dude, do you think the professor's going to be hard?" Ned slipped into a seat in the big lecture hall. They were early, but it felt safer than being late on your first day to theoretical physics class.

Comments

[st_hotflashes]

Liz laughed, letting her nervousness flow out of her as she did. "It's okay with me." She nodded, smiling. Then suddenly she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. It was a peck and then she withdrew.

"How about Thursday, okay? But, um. I should go. I have another class in the afternoon. I'll see you around, Peter Parker."

[st_arkintern]

Peter's face may have been warm before, but now it's hot; even his ears feel like they're burning. Shouldn't he be used to this by now? he wonders. But then he wonders why he should be.

It just feels like he should.

"Bye, Liz," he says, waving awkwardly at the figure.

And when he turns around to head to his room, he suddenly opens his eyes and wakes up.

[st_hotflashes]

Liz lay beside him with a smile on her lips. She woke up a few moments after him. She blinked a few times and she remembered she had asked Peter to stay the night. Her smile warmed. "Hey." She lay on her side facing him. He had bedhead, but she thought he looked incredibly handsome. Liz's mind recalled the dream happily, running over the moments that really stood out to her.

[st_arkintern]

"Hey," Peter says hoarsely, smiling back. "How long have you been up?"

[st_hotflashes]

"Just now." She reached out to smooth some of his hair back. "I have a really nice dream."

[st_arkintern]

"Yeah?" he says, leaning into her hand. "Me too."

[st_hotflashes]

She inched a little closer out of habit. She always liked the warmth he had in the morning. "What was yours about?"

[st_arkintern]

"I had a dream that the two of us went to school together at MIT," he says. "But it was weird, like we didn't actually know one another."

[st_hotflashes]

Her brow furrowed a little and she sat up some on one of her elbows as she looked at him. "There was an accident on a bridge?"

[st_arkintern]

Peter's eyes narrow slightly.

"...Yeah."

[st_hotflashes]

She shifted a little again, her mind starting to race a bit despite just having woken up. "And Ned was there and we both stayed in the same dorm?"

[st_arkintern]

This was getting really weird.

"...Yeah?"

[st_hotflashes]

She paused, searching his eyes for a moment as she thought.

"Did we.. um. Did we have the same dream?"

[st_arkintern]

"...I think so."

Peter wets his lips.

"Is this -- is this one of your powers?"

[st_hotflashes]

"I don't think so." Then again, she had no idea anymore because her powers were weird and all over the place.

Liz paused again, thinking back to the dream. Already some of the small details were starting to get fuzzy - like why movie they agreed to see.

"It was.. um. Really nice." She smiled a little. "I mean, weird that we shared it, but, really nice, if that makes sense."

[st_arkintern]

"Yeah, it was." Peter wouldn't ever dispute that. "It was like... what it'd be like if we'd met back home."

[st_hotflashes]

She flushed a little. "Hopefully with a little less kissing. I was... a little forward." Liz hadn't really been like that before. She wondered if it had to do with her brains knowledge of what it was like here.

[st_arkintern]

"I think it was the perfect amount of kissing," Peter says. He leans forward and gives Liz a kiss on her forehead.

[st_hotflashes]

Her flush remained, but her smile warmed. "Only because we probably subconsciously knew me. I'm not usually that forward on the first day of meeting someone."

She let her fingertips trail from his earlobe down the side of his face to this neck and then rounded his shoulder where her hand lingered. "but, um. It's nice, you know. That maybe if we lose our memories of this place, I will still only have eyes for you."

[st_arkintern]

"I hope we don't ever lose memory of this place... but if we do, yeah, I'm glad that things might happen like that."

Peter wraps an arm around her and rests his face against the front of her shoulder.

[st_hotflashes]

She smiled and nuzzled his head with hers. "I love you." She didn't want to forget it too, but at least Peter seemed more willing to accept maybe she could find her way to his world.

[st_arkintern]

"I love you, too," he says. "You wanna lay here just a little bit longer?" Peter isn't ready to get up yet. He is happy just where he is.

[st_hotflashes]

"Yeah. I'd like that a lot." She was definitely on the same page as Peter and she pressed closer to him. If this could be for the rest of her life, she'd be a happy camper.