I Can't Make You Love Me || Peter Parker x OC

Chapter 5: Sunday Mornings

Peter's perspective

We went back and forth with the awkward exchanges for several hours; blushes and forced coughs peppered throughout to spice things up a bit and relieve a little of the tension that filled the room like water in a fishtank. Our bodies had moved several times so that we were more comfortable, but we still remained closely-knit in our little blanket burrito. Currently, her head was on my chest as I lay flat across the length of her huge sofa.

"Wait, so you actually scaled the Washington Monument? You?!" Her eyes were wide with either awe, shock, or just plain bewilderment as she tilted her head up to me. For the past 10 or so minutes, we had been asking each other questions and telling stories that went along with our answers. She asked me, in my opinion, what the stupidest thing I had done was, and I had started up the story of the Academic Decathlon trip and the adventures in the elevator shaft.

"Yeah. Don't act so surprised, jeez." The little chuckle that I let out to accent the rhetorics of my answer caused her head to rise and fall in time with my chest. The image, for as simple as it may seem, sent weird little sensations through my now still chest. Everything about her and her apartment seemed so pristine and calculated, so it was almost relieving to see her so relaxed.

"Well it doesn't surprise me considering you're a super-spider-human, but still... you actually did that!" Her gorgeous pale-green eyes were practically glowing with some cocktail of emotions that I couldn't even begin to pin down. The orbs of a sea-glass color were truly mystifying to me and I couldn't help but stare at them.

Apparently she noticed my focused gaze.

"What are you looking at, Peter?" Even with the tilt that her head already took to be able to see me, she inched it to the side further to add more question to her inquisitive statement. The gesture made her face take on the same innocent nature of a puppy and that same fluttery feeling filled my chest once more.

"Just, ah... zoning off." I couldn't tell if I was actually blushing or not, but I felt that horrible burning feeling that sticks in your throat when you get in trouble or tell a really bad lie.

"Well, you seem to do that a lot, so far as I can see." She flashed me some sort of dangerous look before slicing the intensity down with a flickering wink. "I'm just messing with you, lighten up." This time a full smile cracked her face, but I noticed the hesitation and resistance that her muscles put up in retaliation of the action. I felt a small frown tug at my lips at the conflicting sight, but I pulled the tails of my lips up before she could notice, but I couldn't shake the mental image.

"Hey, is everything alright? I know that at this point it's probably the stupidest thing that I could ask you, but I really don't want to play what happened out there as nothing. I mean, don't get me wrong, you've been nothing but kind to me, but I want to get to the bottom of what's got you so upset." As soon as my whole stupid lament was out, the mental scold came to fill in it's vacancy.

A defeated sigh came flooding into the open space that used to be her smile. Her face fell like a sack of flour and she rolled her head off of my chest, settling into the tiny space between my side and the edge of the couch cushion. Wanting to make room for her and to open up more for her to talk about what was wrong, I turned to my side, using my bent arm as a pillow. She just settled into the now larger space, refusing to meet my eyes.

"It's nothing new. Just like I said earlier, I'm being more emotional than usual. Don't worry about it, okay?"

I worried.

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Anneleisa's perspective

Stupid feelings, and stupid attachments, and stupid everything. Peter thinks I was trying to kill myself, and is probably only staying here out of pity, and here I am letting myself think that he actually cares about me. I keep trying to tell myself that he cares and that he's staying for something other than a mission, but I know it's just a lie. But man does that lie make me feel good.