(backdated) A talk - Peter

[st_hotflashes]

Liz hardly used to phone she got in Europe, but she did use it for pictures. She understood why comparatively her flip phone was not as good because you had access to all sorts of memories in one place. Currently she was sitting on her bed flipping through pictures of her and Peter I Europe and at the inn, resisting the urge to lean over and send him a message over the journal. When he was ready, he would come find her... right?

On the table was the drawing Piotr had made for her - she and Peter in New York looking happy and holding hands. It lay face up on the table as Liz hadn't decided to put it up yet or not. It was a complicated choice.

She sighed and flopped onto her back, looking up at the ceiling. Things always seemed so complicated.

Maybe she should go find Maria.

Comments

[st_hotflashes]

"It's okay." And it was. The whole thing was complicated so it made sense to take time. Liz had gone camping by herself for a week, after all.

Though there was this lingering question she had been wondering for a while now.

"But, um.. is it going to be weird if I kiss you?"

[st_arkintern]

Peter blinks.

"What, like right now?"

[st_hotflashes]

She paused and flushed a little as she lifted up her hands and shook them slightly. "It doesn't have to be right now. I mean, it could be, if you wanted it. I just meant, in general?" Like, would Peter just think about what happened when they kissed? Would she? She didn't think so.

[st_arkintern]

"In general?" Peter repeats, blinking. "I mean, it'd be fine, right?"

Peter looks uncertain -- not because he's uncertain about he feels, but he's not certain if it's the answer that Liz is looking for.

[st_hotflashes]

"This is silly." Was it a statement or a question? Was she saying it to Peter or herself?

Liz could practically feel Maria's eye roll.

She looked at Peter and for a moment looked rather rigid and tense and not like someone who had been dating him for almost a year now. And then Liz suddenly leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. It was tense at first and then, when she felt the warmth of his lips, she relaxed.

And the best part was, when she kissed him, she only thought about him. No worries about other boys or any sort of hang ups. It was just Peter and the feeling she had when she was around him usually.

When she pulled back, Liz was smiling.

[st_arkintern]

When Liz pulls back Peter is smiling, too.

"That wasn't weird, right?"

It didn't feel weird to him, at any rate.

"You gonna tell Maria we're okay now?" If there's anything that he's certain of, it's that Maria has been entirely apprised of the situation already.

[st_hotflashes]

She flushed. Peter was right - Maria did know. Liz nodded.

"Yeah. I'll tell her... I sort of had to talk her out of finding you and Brad and lecturing. For what it's worth, though, she didn't think you'd let something like this get between us."

[st_arkintern]

"Maria was right," he says. "She's not like... mad at me, is she?"

It seems weird that he'd be worried about what Maria thinks, but... he is, because Maria is Liz's best friend. He's pretty sure she feels the same way about Mr. Stark.

[st_hotflashes]

She shook her head. "I think she might be angry at Brad, but she said she was going to talk to him." God help Brad.

Liz paused, thoughtful. "You're glad I told you, right? I mean... Someone said maybe I shouldn't tell you because it wasn't like the kiss meant anything, but."

[st_arkintern]

"I'm not sure," Peter admits. It took him awhile how to figure out how he felt after it happened; how could he be sure how he would have felt if he were placed in an entirely different situation? "But I think I would have been more upset if I found out later and you hadn't said anything at all. Like you were hiding something from me."

[st_hotflashes]

She nodded. "I sort of did it because I know how I felt." She, unfortunately, had been in the other version of what happened. "And I made that promise not to keep things from you, and I meant it."


Liz pulled a strand of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. "I know you didn't ask, but... Just for the record, I didn't see anything when he kissed me." Somehow that seemed important.

She leaned back onto the bed and looked up at the ceiling. "Sometimes I wonder if it's easier to be an adult, but then I remember that a lot of people here have similar problems... So I guess this sort of stuff never really goes away."

[st_arkintern]

That had been one of the things that Peter had been wondering about. Her seeing parts of his life seemed like something that was just for them, even though she had it with Max before him. It didn't feel right to be possessive of someone else like that, and so Peter tried to ignore it because he didn't want to be that kind of guy.

Still, he felt relived knowing she didn't see anything anyway.

"Yeah... the problems probably only get bigger from here." That wasn't a very comforting thought, but... "I guess that because we handled this, future things won't seem as big of a deal as if we hadn't."

[st_hotflashes]

She went up on her elbows to look at him. There was a slight smile on her lips and playful mischief in her eyes. "You mean like when girls start getting tattoos of Spider-Man on their body and want your sign on their body?"

[st_arkintern]

Peter grows red. "I hope not," he says, thinking vaguely of that time that Liz and her friends played Fuck/Marry/Kill in the gym together. At least if someone was approaching him asking for a signature, he'd probably have a mask on, so no one would be able to see precisely how embarrassed he was.

[st_hotflashes]

Liz always thought Peter looked cute when he blushed. Her smile warmed. "Well, I wouldn't blame them. If I wanted to get a tattoo, getting the little spider symbol would be what I chose. Somewhere small where only you knew about though." She paused. "Like the bottom of my foot or something."

[st_arkintern]

"It'd still be embarrassing," Peter admits. "But it'd be less embarrassing if it were you."

[st_hotflashes]

Lucky for Peter, Liz wasn't sure she'd ever be decisive enough to pick a final design or a location so the probability of a tattoo was low.

She sat up and then hopped off the bed, reaching for Peter's hand. "Let's go have dinner together and then we can come back and watch a movie of your choice. Okay?"

[st_arkintern]

Peter nods. "Okay."

He clasps Liz's hands in her own and leads her to the door. Right before he opens it, he gives her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Airbud okay?" he asks, and he steps through the door.

[st_hotflashes]

She smiled and nodded. "Airbud sounds great." Even if they could probably re-enact the whole thing from start to finish by heart.