Pointe Shoes and Spider Webs

54. Forever

"Thanks, dad. Love you, bye-" Daphne quickly hangs up the phone. She's currently in the common room of the Avengers Tower and exhaustion is catching up with her. The adrenaline from what happened at the party subsided during the car ride to the Tower. The view is absolutely breath taking: New York by night. It's completely dark outside, except for all the bright, colored lights. It somehow reminds her of the car ride she had with Loki. She clutches her phone to her chest and bites the inside of her cheek.

"You okay?" Peter walks up to her and carefully places a hand on her bare shoulder. She flinches at the touch and doesn't look him. He immediately lets go of her again and stands next to her awkwardly. They're both still in their costumes. Peter knew he shouldn't mention it now, but she still looked beautiful. Like she was actually Persephone.
"Just lied to my dad about what happened tonight and where I am, so I'm doing absolutely amazing," she snaps. She told her dad she's sleeping over at MJ's and if there's one thing she hates, it's lying to her father.

"I'm sorry..." He looks forward too, not really focusing on anything outside. He didn't want to make her feel awkward by looking at her.
"Yeah." She takes a breath. "Not your fault." She frowns slightly, still looking out. It's quiet for a second.
"You wanna talk about it?" Peter mentally kicks himself in the balls. Stupid question.
"Would if I could." Her jaw is tightened and she sucks at her teeth. "When's Strange leaving?" Peter turns his head to her.
"He still has to check up on y-"
"No."
"No?"
"I don't want him near me." She's being awfully direct.

"Wha- Why?" Peter turns his entire body to her. She hasn't moved a muscle. Her jaw tightens further and she breathes. Peter frowns. "Can't say?"
"Can't say."
"He's a good guy, you know that right? He's with us." Peter reaches out for her again and this time she lets him touch her arm. It feels cold under his touch.
"I don't-" Her voice is cut off and her mouth is left opened. A pained noise comes from her throat as she tries to push out the words. She presses her lips on top of each other in frustration. Peter's eyebrows curl. His thumb caresses her skin slowly.

"You don't trust him?" She finally turns her head to look at Peter. She can't reply, but somehow the look in her eyes says enough. "Did the mist tell you, you can't trust him?" She wants to nod. But she can't. She just stares at him, her head stuck in place.
"Right. No 'yes or no' questions."
"Right..." She mumbles as her head turns back to look outside. Peter bites his bottom lip and sniffs as he lets go of her.

"I should've gone with you."
"To the bathroom?" Daphne cocks an eyebrow.
"Yeah." Peter nods. "I shouldn't have let you go by yourself."
"That's all hindsight, Pete," she scoffs. "I don't need help peeing."
"But Davi-"
"David wasn't supposed to be there." She fixes her posture. "Neither was that mist."
"I promised you I'd keep you safe and I keep breaking that promise." His voice cracks. Daphne turns to him.

"I don't need a babysitter. And you saved me. So, no apologies and no guilty feelings. Kay?" He stares into her eyes, feeling tears at the back of his own. His shoulders droop defeated.
"But the mist-" She squeezes his shoulders with her hands.
"Kay?" She asks again with a stern look on her face. His bottom lip quivers. There's a beat.
"Kay," he mumbles. Daphne sighs and lets go of his arms, only to pull him in for a hug.
"Why the fuck does this crap keep happening to us." Her voice sounds muffled in his chest. He embraces her and lets his hands rest on her neck and hair.
"I wish I knew."

Peter and Daphne end up sitting on the cold stone floor next to the window. Stark still hasn't come back from whatever he's up to and they're getting bored of waiting. Daphne's looking outside when Peter gently starts tugging at the pins in her hair, much like when they did the upside-down kiss. Daphne realizes he must really like her hair. She remembers the way he watched her when she was putting in her bun during their first private training together and whenever they kiss his hands always end up tugging at her strands, tangling his fingers in them.
"Is this okay?" he mutters. She nods slowly.
"Yeah..."

Daphne moves so she's sitting with her shoulder against the glass and Peter shuffles to sit behind her. She scoots between his legs so he has better access to her head. He carefully takes out one pin at a time, making sure he doesn't pull out even one hair. It takes a lot of self-control and restraint to be this delicate, but Peter decides to see it as a challenge. He places the pins on the floor next to him.

Daphne closes her eyes and enjoys the way he plays with her hair. It's comforting and sweet. The way his fingers feel on her head is something she never thought she needed until now. He holds onto the braid when he takes out the last pin and gently brings the braid down to her back. His hands creep up to the laurel crown on top of her head and he takes if off, putting it with all the pins. The braid's hair tie also ends up with the pins on the floor and he takes apart the braid strand by strand, de-tangling her hair by pulling his fingers through. It feels heavenly.

Daphne has to remind herself to stay upright and not fall asleep. When Peter reaches her scalp, he slowly takes his hands out her hair and takes any strays out of her face, tugging them behind her ears. She makes a discontent noise when she feels his hands moving further away from her head, which Peter meets with a chuckle.
"All done."
"Nooo..." She whines as she leans back into him, nice and snug.
"I can't play with your hair forever," he presses his lips on her crown and smirks into her hair, taking in the smell of her trademarked shampoo: pomegranate.
"Please, try..." she sighs. It sounds like she's falling asleep. He wraps his arms around her and holds her close to him.

"Forever's a long time, Daph," he mutters as he squishes his cheek by resting it on top of her head.
"Forever's all I want with you..." Daphne mumbles. Peter flushes a bright red. She always says things like this when she's sleep-drunk, but this stuff catches him off-guard every single time. He hums in agreement and closes his eyes, hearing her steady breaths and slow heartbeat. So much has happened. It doesn't even feel like it all happened today. Peter's grateful Daphne finally came down from her shock, enough so to fall asleep with him. He wants to stay right here with her too. Forever.