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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"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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