Pointe Shoes and Spider Webs

101. In Control

Daphne cherished every second of her – literal – free time. Every day at school, all the evenings spent in Peter's arms, the ballet classes, the rehearsals for the Swan Lake performances... Spending Saturday evenings at Avengers Tower became a fun habit and she got to get to know a lot of the Avengers quite well over time. She frequently visited Emma's bakery with Peter and resumed taking over shifts for Marie at the store. Daphne did everything she could to lead the most normal life she could allow herself to have. Yes, Loki still visited monthly to check up on her and being friends with the Avengers isn't exactly considered normal, but hey, she felt normal.

At some point, near the end of March, Peter mentioned he started feeling heat around Daphne again. The fire was coming back. It scared him more than he liked to admit, but Daphne knew. Loki handed Peter the second vial and Daphne was present when Peter took it, this time. Knowing how it was made, had her feeling a little awkward about it, but Peter didn't mind. The taste was still horrible, but he was doing it for a reason. For her.

Something Daphne was incredibly grateful for, was that her curriculum went back to normal. Her classmates supported her through thick and thin and she did the same for them. Sarah was a little wary of Peter and Daphne dating again, but ultimately let it pass, since she found Peter cute. Sarah was easy to please. Fortunately for Daphne and Peter. The nerd classes and the art class got along rather nicely, but there was always room for some healthy rivalry. This often ended up with people pointing fingers at Peter and Daphne, who received the nicknames Romeo and Juliette. It didn't take long before the entire school called them that. Even the people who didn't know their real names.

As much as there were a lot of positives in the months leading up to summer, there was one big downside: the speed at which time passed. Daphne mentally crossed out the days on a calendar in her head every time her alarm went off and it's safe to say she hated how quickly April came by. The month marked the start of terrible insomnia. Whenever she slept, she'd have nightmares about Somm. With that, came the anxiety and paranoia. Starting conversations with strangers was a no go. Replying to strangers trying to start a conversation as well. When Daphne wasn't at school, she was either at the ballet school, Avengers Tower or with Peter. She was only ever at home when she was a hundred percent certain her father would be there too. She was never by herself. Alone. Peter noticed her shift in behavior first, when Daphne started holding her backpack on her chest again. A nervous habit she didn't seem to have shaken after David got locked away permanently. Peter asked her about it and she did come clean about her fears. She explained that it felt like David was back, even though he wasn't. Somm wasn't even here, Peter would've felt the lurking danger. But the idea that he might be watching her, waiting for her, had Daphne act like this again.

Daphne didn't want to be alone. Ever.

The second Tony caught on to Daphne's anxiety, he wanted her out of New York. ASAP. He realized that's where Somm knows to find her and what might be adding to her paranoia. Of course, she still had to finish her school year and there were rehearsals she'd have to attend, but surely, he can take her away from Manhattan for one short week, right? Just to get her to cool down a little. No strangers around. Only a couple Avengers and her father. Tony pretended the Avengers were offered the vacation in the same way as she was, but he actually did prefer having some kind of wall of protection around her. If shit goes south when they're there, Tony won't be able to beat a sorcerer by himself. Even if Peter is there as well, he had to keep a realistic mindset. He announced the vacation in May, right before the school's finals, so that Daphne would have enough time to mentally prepare for it and arrange with Madame Touha that she'd be out for a week after the last day of school. He informed the Avengers that anyone who wanted to come with was welcome to, but with a certain look on his face that most of them caught on to. It was going to be busy in his Summer retreat.