st_hotflashes | Late Night Knocking

Late Night Knocking - Peter

Liz had ended up going out to the spot she had shown Peter months ago and she just sat and thought and cried and repeated. When she finally made it back to the inn, she took a long shower and tried to sleep, but as the night waned on and she continued to toss and turn, Liz found herself in PJ bottoms, Peter's back-up shirt he kept at her place, and his hoodie. She hovered outside his room door wondering if he was asleep. Wondering if she should knock. Wondering.

After a moment, she knocked softly.

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Somehow the fistbump makes her blush. Maybe it was the fact it was such a simple gesture and she hadn't know what it was - she figured it must be something that became popular in the future.

"One day Flash is going to realize you're amazing." Though she had a sneaking suspicion that maybe Flash already knew and that was why he picked on Peter. Most bullies were like that from her experience. "Not that Spider-Man isn't cool, but so is Peter Parker."

"I don't know if I believe that," Peter admits. "He's been giving me a hard time since middle school." Flash didn't seem inclined to let up now that they were in high school together, either.

"Bullies are usually bullies because they feel threatened." She looked at him. "I know I'd feel a bit of competition if you and I were in some sort of competitive science thing. You're brilliant." She meant it too. She wasn't just complimenting him.

She realized she was still sitting on his lap. She leaned forward and kissed him, then carefully slipped off of his lap. "How are you and Annie, doing, by the way? I see her come into the clinic once in a while to talk to Loki."

Peter reaches for Liz's hand as she slips off his lap.

"She's been doing okay. I--" Peter takes a breath there. "I had to persuade to leave during the fight the other day. She didn't want to go."

She considered that for a moment. She spent her time in the clinic which had arguably been less safe than the temple, but she remembered afterwards when Annie came looking for Peter ever so briefly.

"Sounds like someone I know." She squeezed his hand. "She did, though, right? She listened to you?"

Peter nods. "Yeah, eventually... When I came back to my room she was sleeping under my bed. She really was scared I was going to get hurt."

Peter smiles thinly. "I'm not really sure what to do sometimes."

It was definitely scary when Peter was out there and she couldn't help him. It was probably even more so as an eight year old and then tripled that because Peter was her dad.

"My mom still says that about me sometimes." She offered what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "I think... I think you're doing a good job. I know she really loves you."

Peter looks down, embarrassed, and rubs the side of his nose, the way he always does when he's embarrassed.

"You really think so?" he asks.

She nodded. "I'm not sure saying that, either. Her face lights up when you're around and she wants to make you proud. Those are good signs." Plus she was protective of him, but Liz didn't say that necessarily.

"Thank you," Peter says appreciatively. "I'm really glad."

He looks less glad and more relieved.

"Did you want to spend the night tonight?"

"If you'll have me." She smiled just a little. She was already mostly in his clothes, but she couldn't quite bring herself to go back to her room right now, either. The further she got from her life right now, the better.

"I was waiting for to show up before I went to bed." Peter was in PJs, but he had been waiting up. He had a feeling that Liz would probably stop by.

She flushed a little, but the smile warmed. "Am I that predictable?" It was okay if she was, of course.

"No," Peter says, shaking his head. "I think we just know each other that well."

She leaned over and kissed him softly, then she slipped off Peter's hoodie. She wouldn't need his hoodie if he was around.

"I'm grateful for that." She meant knowing him well. "This is... the safest place in the whole inn to me."

"I try to keep it safe," Peter says, crawling back to the head of the bed and sprawling out over the comforter. Peter lets out a long yawn. "We should go to sleep, though. Muffins tomorrow?"

Liz was pretty sure she'd feel the same about the room even if it was crawling with monsters, but she didn't say that. Instead she joined Peter further up the bed and lay on her side facing Peter. "Muffins sound good."

She leaned over to kiss him softly. "Good night." She wanted to thank him, but she he'd say something about that.

Peter returns the kiss with one to Liz's forehead and pulls her closer. It's very nearly fall now and things are starting to feel colder, but when he draws Liz closer to him, it feels warm. Almost uncomfortably so.

But Peter still holds her because he finds some comfort in being close to her, and he thinks maybe she does, too. And no matter what happens in the future, this moment will still exist for the two of them, even if neither one of them remembers it.

When Peter finally dozes off, he dreams of taking Liz home to meet May.

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Late Night Knocking - Peter

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