st_arkintern | (no subject)

(no subject)

The first sign Annie slept over is the blanket trailing over the floor from beneath the bed. Peter had missed it when he groggily shoved himself off the mattress, but his feet didn't when they hit the ground. Peter woke up quickly after then, and was on the floor in an instant, peering beneath the bed to confirm his suspicions.

Annie.

Peter's mind immediately goes blank; he's not sure what he should do, or if he should do anything. Eventually, though, the cogs in his mind start turning and he reaches out to scoop her up from beneath the bed to set her down on top of it. Things had changed, but it didn't mean that this had to, too.

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Annie's body shifted when she was placed on the bed. It was a much more comfortable surface than the space under the bed. She clutched onto the old Spider-Man stuffed toy that she had ever since she was a baby.

About twenty minutes later, Annie started to stir. She was first confused by the soft surface she was on and then she was confused why it seemed to bright. When she opened her eyes, Annie realized she was on Peter's bed.

She didn't move a muscle except her eyes which scanned the room and fell onto Peter quietly. Annie couldn't bring herself to say anything just yet.

Peter's the first to speak.

"Hey," he says, softly. "Saw you fell asleep beneath my bed."

He knows he should say something else, but Peter's not sure what to say. Instead, he attempts a smile that doesn't quite make it all the way there.

"If you're still tired, you can go back to sleep there," Peter continues hurriedly. "I don't mind. If you want to go back to your room, that's okay too."

Annie didn't say anything at first. She lay there watching him quietly as her eyes looked over him as if they were scanning him. Her expression was neutral, but her eyes held a hint of sadness to it. It could have been resignation instead.

"Can I tell you a secret?" She said finally in a quiet voice.

"Yeah," Peter says, and he nods. "Yeah, sure."

Peter pushes himself off the soda and sits down next to her on the edge of the bed.

She kept curled up. It felt safe that way.

"I think you're dead back home," She said in almost a whisper. "Not... Not you, but... my dad."

Annie still felt an emptiness when she had to admit that.

"I heard Mr. Hawkeye tell that to my mom," She explained. "That when Regent takes someone, they don't come back and they're found dead, usually.... that's way happened to Mr. Stark, you know. And everyone else. It's why you don't talk about them anymore. I think you were sad."

Annie took a deep breath. It seemed hard to breathe fully lately.

"I guess... I guess I was hoping that I could spend time with you here while you're still alive," She said. "Because... when I go back home you're not around anymore and I don't want that to be true. I want you to be safe. I miss you."

Peter could kick Hawkeye for saying that in front of Annie, but Peter doesn't say anything to that. Instead, he pushes himself further onto the bed so he's closer to Annie and crosses his legs beside her.

"I lost my parents when I was about your age," he says. "So... I guess, I kinda get how it feels. I was really sad that they weren't around anymore -- that I couldn't do the things that I wanted to with them. I was angry, too, because there were all these people who had parents but wanted nothing to do with them. And I was always, always wondering if there was something I could have done to change things, even though realistically, I know now that there wasn't."

She shifted her head enough to look at him, but she felt secure in the way she was lying so she didn't move much.

"How did you get over it?" She said. "How did you make it stop hurting so much?"

"You don't ever really get over it," Peter says. "There's times now where I miss my mom or dad. It just gets easier, like when you practice something over and over again and eventually it's not as hard as it used to be."

Practice being without him

She squeezed her toy lightly and went quiet while staring out to the other side of the room. She let her thoughts go over everything back home and everything that had happened at the Madonna Inn.

Annie opened her mouth, then closed it. She hesitated. She tried to push the word out. She struggled.

"Peter?" She finally said awkwardly.

She tried not to reveal that saying his name rather than his formal title hurt, but her eyes gave it away. Saying his name out loud felt like a blow to her chest. She forced herself to push through it.

"Can we still.... be friends?"

Peter.

The name hits him a lot harder than he ever thought it would.

"Yeah," Peter says, his voice cracking a little. "Yeah, of course we can."

Annie's eyes went up to him. She couldn't help feeling wrong all of a sudden. She closed her eyes and squeezed them tight. She was trying to stop herself from crying, but a few wet tears emerged from the corners of her closed eyes.

Peter feels his chest constrict tightly at the sight of her. He thought that after the talk with Tony and Liz and him and Annie that the hardest parts were over.

It felt like the hardest part was happening right now.

Peter pulls Annie into his arms and hugs her tight.

Peter's chest was hard and warm. She didn't care what Tony said about it, it still felt familiar. Peter was smaller, but sometimes he felt just like how he did back home. He was funny and optimistic. He still had a strong sense of right and wrong. He gave good hugs.

It took a long time for Annie to control herself again. She lost herself in self-pity and had to find her way out again. Maybe this is what he means by practice...

She didn't make to move from his arms.

"What do I do now?" She asked into his chest as a whisper. "Everything's... everything's different now."

"I don't really know either," Peter admits. He doesn't. Even now, everything feels new and uncomfortable and Peter isn't sure what to make of any of it. "But... we can try to figure that out together?"

"Can I... still love you?" She asked, finally shifting to look at him.

"Yeah, of course," Peter says. "I still love you."

She closed her eyes momentarily and fell quiet. She could faintly hear Peter's heartbeat in his chest.

"Can we still train?" She asked. "And... have movie nights? And can I come over if I have a bad dream sometimes?"

"Yeah, definitely," Peter says, nodding. "I'd be sad if we didn't."

"But I should call you..." She said, trailing. "...because you're not really -- and so it'd be... wrong and confusing."

"We could come up with something," Peter suggests. "Like a special nickname."

She tilted her head to look to Peter.

"A special nickname?" She repeated.

"Yeah, like a nickname that we both use for each other," he says. "One that no one else knows about."

She considered the idea. Every nickname that came to mind was probably too close to 'dad'.

"Do you have one in mind?" She asked. "Mr. Stark gave me a codename of Charlotte."

"Why Charlotte?" Peter asks, trying to buy enough time to think of something. "Oh!" he says, as it suddenly comes to him. "Like Charlotte's Web, right?"

She nodded.

"He said he needed one too." Annie replied. "So I told him he could be the Architect."

"Because he builds things?"

"And he sees the big picture too." She said softly. "He said he liked it."

"I think it's a good name for him," Peter says. "You feeling any better?"

"A little." She admitted.

Annie thought about her conversation with Loki.

"Loki says I won't feel completely better for a long time." She added. "And... I still don't know what to call you."

This seemed easier when he suggested it.

"I'm drawing a blank, too," Peter admits. "You have any ideas?"

She looked thoughtful.

"Mom called y--my...dad... um. Tiger." She said. "but I don't know if that's something I want to say."

Peter can agree, calling him anything that others probably called her father wasn't a good idea.

Peter lets out a low hum as he thinks. And then it comes to him in one sudden spark of enlightenment.

"How about PB?" he asks. "It's short for Peter Benjamin."

"PB." She said, testing it out.

It didn't have the same sting as 'Peter' did and that was good. She knew it would never feel like 'dad', but Annie remembered what Loki told her too.

"Okay. PB." she said with a nod. "And you can call me...."

Annie's nose scrunched as she thought.

"AMP?" She wondered out loud, "It's sort for my name too."

"AMP," Peter says, smiling. "I like it. Do you like it, AMP?"

The nickname caused Annie to smile. She nodded somewhat sheepishly.

"I like it," she said. "It'll still get some getting used to, but... It feels special."

"Nicknames usually take some getting used to," Peter confirms. Even being called Pete took some time to warm up to.

"You wanna get dressed and then we'll go have breakfast together?"

Annie shifted onto the bed more. She nodded.

"Okay," she said. "I'd like that... I really want waffles."

"Good," Peter says. "Because waffles are my favorite, too."

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