st_hotflashes | Be Careful What You Ask For (Closed to Peter)

Be Careful What You Ask For (Closed to Peter)

Liz walked numbly through the Inn after having spoken with Emma. It was as if her body were on autopilot as her mind couldn't really focus or process anything directly. What it all meant, how she felt, if she was around to see it happen - these questions were like vague fog in her mind that she couldn't quite grasp.

She thought, ever so briefly, that she might find herself in front of Kitty or Piotr's door, but it was Peter's door she came to a stop at. Liz swayed a little as she stood there, staring blankly at the door. She did that for a good five minutes before she was able to will herself to lift her hand and knock. It was a quiet two rap knock.

When the door opened, when she lay eyes on Peter, the numbness seemed to ebb a little. She stared at him silently, then slowly her face began to twist and contort as anguish spread through her features. She didn't move an inch except for her face. Everything suddenly felt intense and Liz stood there, stiff, and started to cry unabashedly. Cried with every fiber of her being.

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"Yeah," Peter says softly. "He told me that, too."

That was actually one of the people Peter'd been thinking of when he said that he felt lucky.

"Why'd you ask if I talked to him lately?"

She shrugged softly. "I just thought maybe you guys talk more." Because they were both guys. "I know Illyana won't talk much about him... I don't think she hates him even if she comes off like she does."

"It probably doesn't help that they're from different realities," he says. "Did you know that?"

"I only figured it out when Piotr told me about his sister." Which was why, she figured, that Piotr seemed to want there to be more with his sister here.

She paused. "I'd like to think that, even if I met another Maria or someone, from a different reality, that I'd still be friends with them."

"Yeah, me too. With Ned," he says. Not with Maria, obviously.

Peter lets out a yawn. "You feeling tired yet?"

With the question, Liz realized that for the a while now her head had been feeling a little hazy. Not quite a headache, but a sign that her body wanted rest. Crying and the general feeling of what she learned today had taken their toll on her.

"Yeah. We should, um, maybe get ready for bed?" She paused, thinking. "Can I use your shower?" She felt like her face was covered in tears and she always found a shower could help her center her thoughts.

"Yeah," Peter says quickly, trying not to imagine Liz in his shower. "That'll give me time to get changed."

She scooted to the end of the bed and then stood up, making it to the door of the bathroom before she paused again. Liz turned looking a little sheepish. "Do you, um. Do you maybe have a shirt I could borrow?"

"Oh yeah, yeah, of course."

Peter hops off the bed and digs through his top drawer, pushing away Alec's not-so-secret booze cache. Peter tosses Liz a shirt.

"I have some shorts, too. Some comfy ones, so they're not going to be bad to sleep in."

Peter rummages through his drawer.

She looked at the shirt and the smile was genuine. It was a little dorky, but Liz found it incredibly endearing.

Liz watched him look for shorts. She didn't think they would fit her, but she let him look for them. It was a bit distracting watch him find shorts for her while looking at his ass.

Peter finds a pair of drawstring shorts and throws it to Liz. "That okay?" he asks.

Liz nodded. "Yeah. It's, um. Great." She smiled timidly before entering the bathroom.

There was a pause as the shower turned on - Liz had paused at the edge of the shower, thinking about how it felt like she had been in it before, though it had been Peter and he had been...

Eventually the shower turned off and several more moment passed before Liz re-appeared. Peter's shirt hung off her a little, passing her waist more than it did for him. His shorts were big too, but the drawstrings helped keep them on. She put her neatly folded clothes on the nearest chair, her bra hidden between her shirt and pant - before she pulled off the elastic holding her dry hair - she had skipped actually washing it.

She clasped her hands in front of her, looking over to Peter with another timid smile.

When Liz emerges, Peter is sitting cross-legged on the bed, wearing a dressed in a t-shirt and another pair of drawstring shorts. Normally, he'd just sleep in a shirt and his boxers, but it felt weird to fall asleep with just that with Liz in his room.

The dirty clothes that were on the floor have been tossed into a hamper, along with the clothes he was wearing earlier in the day.

Peter smiles back, pushes himself off the bed and reaches for one of Liz's hands.

Then leads her to bed.

She still didn't know why it felt so different, but it did. It had to be that it was Peter's room, right? Still, Liz was strangely nervous and was glad that Peter came to get her.

Liz smiled, following him to the bed quietly. She wondered if he felt nervous too, but he probably wasn't over thinking it like she was.

She slid tentatively into bed. The pillows smelled like Peter. It was grounding and her smile warmed again.

Peter pushed out of the bed as Liz climbed in. He was nervous, too, but he didn't really know why; it wasn't like they hadn't slept together before.

"You want me to adjust the thermostat?" he asks, though he's already headed there now.

She offered a small smile, small only because she felt silly for being nervous.

"Um, I'm okay." You'll probably keep me warm enough - the thought pushed itself in without her meaning to and she ducked her head to hide an upcoming blush.

"Okay."

Peter crawls back onto his bed, then presses his lips together.

"Did you need a water or anything?"

She suddenly let out a soft sort of giggle on and exhale. "I'm okay, I promise."

Liz reached out to take his arm in hers and suddenly the moment of giggles was gone again and replaced with nerves.

"I don't know why, but I feel nervous." She blushed, embarrassed by the admission.

Peter crawls under the covers then rolls over onto his side so he can still see Liz's face.

"I get it," he says. "It's kinda weird staying in someone else's room."

He knows that from experience.

"Nervous about anything in particular?"

She slid into the covers and went on her side, too, facing Peter. "I don't think so.... Maybe I'm just overwhelmed a little." Liz smiled warmly. "This is the first time I've been in a boys bed and not the other way around." Somehow that was different. "And everything sort of smells like you and it's... Really nice."

Peter feels a sudden burst of self-consciousness; he hopes he smells okay. He's pretty sure that she wouldn't say that it was really nice if he smelled bad, though.

"We can sleep in your room if you want."

She shook her head perhaps a little more quickly than would be a normal response. "No. No... I like it here. It's.. it feels safe."

Liz smiled again and then scooted forward, kissing him slow and soft and warm. She felt her chest flutter and had to work against the urge she felt to press herself against him and kiss him some more.

She pulled back her head, her lips tugging naturally against his own. "You make me feel safe." She smiled to him, then slowly she turned over and in a moment of boldness, reached for Peter's arm and guided it over her body.

Peter smiles. He smiles so much around Liz that it makes his face hurt. When Liz shifts his arm across her body, he doesn't protest or withdraw. He just leaves it there because it's comfortable there. It was if that's where his arm belonged, like two puzzle pieces snapping neatly together.

"I'm glad you feel safe," he tells her, because he is. He always wants her to feel safe around him.

Peter closes his eyes for a second; even with Liz functioning as a distraction, it's becoming more and more difficult to resist the lull of sleep.

"You're really pretty, Liz," he says sleepily.

Every time they slept together, Liz finally understood why people liked to sleep in the same bed all the time. Sure, she had had sleep overs with Maria, but this was different, and not just because Maria flailed around in her sleep.

She smiled at his compliment. Peter had a habit of making her feel pretty.

Liz could feel Peter's body get pulled into sleep. She could hear his breathing slow. Normally this would help her fall asleep too - it certainly had after the roof incident and the day after when he surprised to by staying the night again. This time, though, Liz couldn't feel the draw just yet. She stared out into the darkness and when she was certain Peter was asleep, she let herself quietly cry again.

Eventually sleep overcame Liz and she fell asleep encased in Peter's arm. Sometime in the middle of the night, Liz dreamed.

In her dreams, Liz was standing in the middle of Time Square.

The scene was familiar.

People walked this way and that way around her, all on a mission and all ignored her for they had places to be. She spun in circle and called out for Peter, but there were too many people, too many cars, and her voice wasn't loud enough. And then everyone walking around them paused, like some sort of massive tableau, and the world went silent. In front of her was Peter, standing several feet away on one of the street corners. He was staring at her silently. He calmly called her name and she started to move to him, but she heard her name again. She turned where her feet seemed glued and there was Max on the other corner with the same calm expression on his face.

Before when she had these dreams, and she had them fairly often, she had never been able to move. She never picked a side.

Liz looked at both of them. Before she could move, Max and Peter were suddenly standing closer. And then from behind Max, Tess seemed to appear, smug and pregnant. Max turned to Tess and lovingly placed a hand on Tess' pregnant belly.

"Max, how could you?" Liz mumbled in her sleep, her voice still pained even though it was riddled with sleep.

Max didn't seem to respond to her question. He leaned in to kiss Tess and Liz felt her heart break.

She gasped for air softly.

Liz took an angry step in his direction and he lifted his arm and sent a blast of energy at her. Liz went flying back violently.

Liz's muscles tensed as she jerked back a little, Peter's body cushioning the blow.

She didn't hit the street lamp like she should have. Liz opened her eyes and Peter held her in his arms, smiling down at her. 'You okay Liz?' Liz nodded.

She looked at him and he smiled, leaning down to kiss her while she leaned up to kiss him, but their lips didn't meet since Peter's head snapped back out in front of him and suddenly Peter was in his Spider-Man outfit without the mask and he shot a web out to help them avoid a blast from Max.

Max didn't look like he was going to give up, even if he remained where he was and Tess was by her side. He looked at Liz and his voice said, 'I love you.'

Liz felt a rush go through her and she climbed out of Peter's arms. "No Max. No you don't. If you loved me you wouldn't have slept with her. You always hurt me, somehow. I can't anymore. I'm in love with Peter. He's the one. You're not."

In her sleep Liz mumbled, "No Max...You always hurt me....I'm in love with Peter...Goodbye."

"Goodbye"

And as she said goodbye, Max and Tess seemed to fade away and all that was left was her and Peter in Time Square.

Peter isn't sure whether or not to wake her up or not.

She'd roused him him awake the moment she jerked, and groggily he propped himself up to look down at her. It didn't obviously seem like a nightmare, the way Alec's did.

He can only make out a little bit of her mumble. Just the I'm in love with Peter... Goodbye part. Peter wonders if she's dreaming about Max.

Peter brushes a few stray hairs out of Liz's face, then settles down next to her. He wraps an arm around her, plants a kiss against her back, then closes his eyes.

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