Pointe Shoes and Spider Webs

77. Day Six

Day six. Daphne is bored out of her mind. She gets too much time to think and it's eating at her. She feels like she's locked up in the Tower and she absolutely hates it. They didn't let her go home because there's always a doctor on site at the Tower and they want to regularly assess the concussion. At least that's what they said. Daphne's convinced they also didn't let her go home so she wouldn't be home alone when her dad was at work. She'd be vulnerable. Easy to take away.

She hates to admit that she did like the fact that she didn't have to spend too much time by herself. When she's alone and awake she has a lot of time to think. Too much time. She mostly spends her days resting and sleeping, but whenever she was awake, there would always be someone at her side. Usually, she would wake up with Natasha or Bruce by her side and when Peter got back from school he'd take over.

After three days, Natasha finally allowed Daphne to dance. She brought in a portable barre, set it up in the room and they did basic barre exercises that wouldn't put too much pressure on Daphne. To Daphne's dismay, Natasha cleared out the barre every time she left. She knew Daphne would just continue doing exercises she isn't ready for. So, even though Daphne looked forward to the little classes, it always left her feeling empty afterwards. Unfulfilled. She wanted to do more than just pliés, tendus, degagés and ronde de jambes with an occasional passé or pas de cheval. Her foot never went above the knee and her upper body never did anything interesting. Bo-ring.

Natasha is a surprisingly good teacher. Strict; as would be expected from someone who was raised doing Russian ballet. She gave Daphne some tips and they discussed choreographies and variations. Daphne would try to drag out the classes as long as she could. Unfortunately for her, Natasha is great at reading people, which means the second Daphne got tired, Natasha put her back to bed. She'd see through Daphne's attempts to stay up longer every single time, which only resulted in Daphne's frustration growing further.

Spending time with Bruce was a whole lot different. Daphne's fairly certain he only really spends time in her room because she's afraid of what she is and he gets that. In a way. She doesn't talk much about it and Bruce might be a doctor, but he's not a psychologist. However, he does explain to her how he deals with who he is and what he can become. Acceptance techniques and how to properly guide yourself through panic attacks or anxiety waves. Daphne appreciates it, but she's unsure if her brain is actually doing anything with the information he's giving her.

Peter always tells her about his day at school and does his homework at her side. He seems to rush it in order to spend more time to actually be with her, but she doesn't mind watching him bent over his books. She'd lay on her side in her bed and Peter would be on the floor with his legs tucked in. She'd notice if he got really stuck on certain questions, which often happened when he had to do homework for more cultural subjects. History, English literature, et cetera. He'd be wary of asking her for the right answers, but Daphne insisted he'd involve her in this. He would never ask her anything too complicated and if she wasn't sure about an answer, he'd just google it.

Her replies still have a slight delay and it takes her a while to process long sentences, but she's getting better and better at it every day. The headache is still there, but it's easing up as well. At school they know she has a concussion and that she has to stay in bed, but they don't know how she got it. She hopes with all her heart they won't ask about it when she gets back, but she doesn't have high hopes.

Even though Tony told Peter he's not allowed in bed with Daphne, he did it anyways. She'd feel the calmest in his arms, so the second he would finish his homework he'd slide in the bed with her. They'd talk or nap. She still had trouble looking at screens, so when Peter would put up a film on his laptop, she'd just lay on his chest with her eyes closed, listening to the dialogue and music. Peter would lazily draw shapes wherever his hands rested, but she loves it the most when Peter plays with her hair, absentmindedly, yet gently pressing kisses on her crown.