Penny for Your Thoughts
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
v.i.v
Claire walked past the doorway to the kitchen for the third time in the past twenty minutes. Peter was still in there, sitting at the counter and staring at his empty ice cream bowl. She knew he was worried about exploding and destroying New York, but she personally thought that he needed to relax for a little bit and think about something else. Stressing out about it wasn't going to help anything.
She leaned against the wall just outside the kitchen and listened for any sign of movement from him. All Claire heard was the sound of her own breathing.
Finally having enough, she put on a smile and walked into the kitchen. Peter glanced up at her and smiled slightly before looking back down at the bowl. Claire walked around the counter and leaned against it with him, staring at the bowl. She could see the little bit of chocolate ice cream drying on the sides of it. She nudged him slightly with her elbow and he turned to look at her. She pulled out a deck of cards from her pocket.
"Pick a card," she said, fanning out the deck in front of him. He looked at her suspiciously before choosing one that seemed to be somewhere in the middle.
"Look at it," Claire told him, "Memorize it and put back." She fanned out the cards again and looked away. He did and she gathered up the cards.
"What are you doing?" he asked, as she shuffled them.
"Just watch," she said. She tapped the top of the deck three times and lifted it up for him to see. "Is this your card?"
"No," he said. Claire put the card back on top of the pile and tapped it three times again before picking it back up.
"This one?"
Peter shook his head. "Same card as last time: Ace of Hearts."
"Damn," Claire swore and put the card back on top, "I thought I had it down."
Peter tried to smile, even though it didn't reach his eyes, and took his bowl to the sink to rinse it out. Claire sighed and picked up the dish towel sitting on the island. When Peter turned around, Claire held it up in front of him, turned it around so he could see the back and covered her right hand with it. When she pulled it away, she was holding a soft red ball. Peter's brow furrowed and she smiled slightly, taking it as encouragement to continue her trick.
Setting the cloth back down on the counter, she held the ball in her right hand and placed it in her left, closing both hands into fists. She opened her left hand, which was empty, and then her right, which contained the ball. Peter finally laughed.
"How'd you do that?"
"Magic," Clair answered, pulling a penny out from behind his ear.
"You can't do real magic Claire," Peter insisted with a small smile on his lips, "Tell me how you did it."
Claire gawped at him. "This coming from a man who can fly, read minds, regenerate, and go invisible?" she pointed out.
Peter opened his mouth to argue back, but paused. "Good point, but you have to have some trick to it."
Claire shrugged. "Yeah, but I'm not telling." She picked up the top card from the deck and looked at it. "Your card was the seven of clovers? Interesting." She handed it to him. "Keep that. It'll bring you luck someday."
Peter looked at the card and smiled, pocketing it. He picked up the dish towel and handed it to her. "Show me that again," he said.
Claire smiled. She knew magic tricks would work. They always did for her. It must be a family thing.