AN: Thank you all for the continued favorite and follows!
Intertwined Thread: Thank you so much! I hope you like this one, there's a lot more Peter and Perse goodness.
WhyAreTheGoodNamesGone: Thank you so much! And I hear you, I do struggle with this and I try to correct them when I find them. But I recently added a grammar corrector, so I hope this chapter is a bit better because my brain doesn't catch them all. Thank you for putting up with it otherwise lol.
Zebralord23: You're on the right track! We'll learn more within the next few chapters about this strange "connection" she has with Vision, but it definitely does have to do with her powers and being able to sense the Mind Stone.
19vanelkc: I'm glad you've been liking the story! I made this chapter a bit longer since I know the last one was like only 9 pages.
Shion Lee: Peter is really cute lol. But Perse is awkward and doesn't like to often acknowledge that she finds anyone cute. I just really enjoy that as Nyx, she's bold enough to just say and feel that way, but her inner self/Perse self won't allow it.
Thank you all for the reviews, I enjoyed receiving them :)
and here you are living
despite it all
-Rupi Kaur
Mrs. Diaz assigned a project for the class: pick a dialogue from any TV show or movie and translate it into Spanish to present to the class next week. She also took it upon herself to create the partners, pairing everyone in twos based on seating. So Mrs. Diaz paired Peter and Perse together, since Michelle sat in the third row and was paired the person across from her. Perse found herself being okay with this, even a little excited. She tried to hide her blush from Michelle, but the stony girl definitely noticed. It didn't help that Peter gave Perse a toothy grin, making her gut do flips.
The bell rang, and everyone quickly filed out except for the three friends who always took their time getting out of class in order to avoid the horde of students outside.
"So, since we're partners, I was thinking you could come over? To figure out a dialogue? I mean, I have band practice and all, but you know, after." Peter asked.
Perse's palms started to sweat, and she couldn't explain why. She didn't want to think about why. Next to her, Michelle grinned (although it looked more like a grimace).
"Today?" She said meekly, avoiding eye contact with Peter. Perse started to fiddle with the strap of her backpack, another thing that Michelle noted.
"Yeah." He replied, completely unaware of his friend's mini meltdown.
"Okay." She nodded, finally making eye contact with him. Those brown eyes brightened, and Perse couldn't help but smile at him.
"Okay, great! I get out at 4, I'll text you my address later." Peter grinned, separating from the group to head to the band room. Once he was gone, Michelle stared pointedly at Perse.
"What?" The grey eyed girl finally mustered, trying to sound innocent. But Perse knew what Michelle was thinking.
Michelle simply looked straight ahead, face impassive. "Nothing."
"Oh, shut up." Perse bit back.
Michelle found her mom's car and walked ahead. Before she opened the car door, she turned around to outline the shape of a heart with her fingers towards Perse with a big smile on her face. Perse wanted nothing more than to flip her off in that moment, but didn't want to do that with her friend's mom potentially seeing.
Perse got in her own car, a tinted SUV driven by none other Happy Hogan. The past two weeks, the man had gotten less grumpy. Perse attributed that to her making him breakfast as consolidation for dropping her off at school so early in the morning. Although, she might get back to square one in just a moment.
"Hey, Hap?" Perse started tentatively as the man tried to make his way through the traffic of cars.
"Don't call me 'Hap.'" He said, honking at a car.
"So I have to do this group project," She started, watching for his reactions, "Which means I would be working on it after school with my partner. Starting today."
"How does this relate to me?" He asked, bored.
"Well, I was wondering if–"
"If I could drive you."
"I'll make you lunch?"
Happy stared at Perse through the rearview mirror. He seemed to age 10 years in just that moment.
"Why aren't you going right now after school?" He almost sounded like he was whining. Perse would have laughed if she wasn't so stressed. Why was she so stressed?
"Well, he has band practice right now–"
"He? You're asking me to take you to a boy's house? Oh hell, I'm letting Clint deal with this." Happy exaggerated, making Perse blush as she furrowed her brows in annoyance.
"I think the fact that my partner is a boy shouldn't matter. It's 2016." Perse folded her arms across her chest, feeling the heat rise in her face even more. She was trying everything in her power to avoid this topic, especially because it was about Peter Parker.
"Listen, take it up with Barton. If he gives the okay, I'll drive you." Happy promised. "After you make me food."
–
"You want to go to a boy's house?"
"Oh, my God."
"I. I'm not ready for this. A boy?"
"Clint."
"Did your parents ever have a talk with you about the birds and the bees?"
"Clint!"
Perse never thought it possible to see an Avenger blush out of extreme discomfort, but there's a first time for everything.
"It's just a school project." Perse's shoulders slumped, wishing that she could crawl into a hole and die.
She sat down on the couch of Clint's own floor of the Tower, now burrowing herself in and covering her face with a throw pillow. The layout wasn't all that different from Perse's own room, but noted that he sure did love the color purple. The walls were a shade of lavender, the throw pillows a dark purple, and she was willing to bet his bedroom was more or less the same color scheme.
Clint stared down at her for a long moment, looking conflicted. Clint Barton is a fairly young man–just barely going through his thirties–but he already has a good amount of grey hairs. He's fairly certain that being the guardian of a 14 year old girl would only increase them. He paled when a question entered his mind: Was she already sexually active? Yes, it was young, but it happens. He wasn't that far off when he lost his virginity in high school. So he was deathly afraid of what the answer might be.
"Are you already…having. You know."
"Oh, my God, Clint!" The pillow fell at the shock of hearing Clint's words. Perse's face turned beet red and her voice went up an octave. "I am not having s-e-x if that's what you're asking! This is hell, please, just let me leave."
Clint couldn't help but laugh despite the intense anxiety he was experiencing (which he was sure partly came from Perse because her eyes started to faintly turn blue). This was the worst thing to go through with a kid, and he never in a million years thought he would have to deal with this. Maybe he should let Natasha deal with this. She was more blunt and also a woman. He just didn't want to be the one.
"Okay, okay, okay, okay. You can go. Let's just. Forget this conversation happened." Clint waved her away as he spoke, and she quickly got up with no qualms.
–
The drive over to Peter's house was tense. Although, that was mostly because of Perse. Her talk with Clint stressed her out, and it started putting thoughts in her head that she did not like at all. Every time she thought about Peter now, she would feel her cheeks get hot. The last time she felt like this was in the 7th grade, when she was obsessed with a boy named Bobby. He was popular and kind, always greeting everyone including Perse. He moved away in the 8th grade, and with that her crush faded fairly quickly. Perse tried telling herself that she wasn't developing a crush on Peter, that it was just the idea planted by Clint because he started overreacting like some sitcom dad. Yeah, that was it.
When Happy pulled into the curb, he placed the car in park. He never puts the car in park when dropping Perse off. He unbuckled his seatbelt. Perse sat in the passenger seat, staring at Happy incredulously. He noticed and sighed, opening the car door.
"Come on, kid, I don't got all day. He wanted me to walk you up." Happy said.
"You have got to kidding me." Perse deadpanned, getting flustered and now sweaty. This is terrible. All of this over a stupid project.
They went up to the gated door, Perse trying to regain her cool. She pressed the buzzer next to the Parker nameplate. Crackling came over and then a slightly fuzzy voice of a man came through.
"Parker residence!" The voice said jovially. This had to be his uncle.
"Er. Hi, this is Persephone Perez. I'm working on a project with Peter?" She said nervously, starting to hold on to a strand of her hair as she spoke. Beside her, Happy shuffled his feet as he looked up and down the street. His paranoia never settled, and Perse could always sense that. She prayed that he wouldn't get a heart attack one day.
"Right! Perse right? Come on up!" Then a loud buzzing sound came through the door and Perse quickly went to open it up.
The pair went through and walked up to the third floor, Perse still playing with her hair. Last door on the right down the hall. Right as Happy started to knock on the door, Perse quickly spoke up.
"Your last name is Kosmos with a 'K'!"
"What–why?" He said, looking down at the girl.
Before she could explain, the door opened to reveal a man that had to be Peter's uncle. He seemed to be around his 40s, with brown hair, but some greys here and there. His cheeks and nose were slightly ruddy, contrasting from his pale skin. He wore a red plaid button up and a smile that made the corners of his eyes crinkle. Warm brown eyes ran in the Parker family.
"Hey, there. Ben Parker." He greeted, voice deep and just as warm as his eyes. He put his out for Happy to shake, which the latter did with a smile plastered on his face.
"Harold Kosmos." Happy replied. Mr. Parker couldn't tell, but Perse definitely noticed the cringe.
"And you must be Perse." Mr. Parker smiled down at Perse, and put his hand out for her to shake as well. "I've heard a lot of great things about you." This made Perse blush slightly, and she cleared her throat of the lump that tried to form. She wondered what Peter had to say about Perse. A part of her hoped none of it included what has happened to her in the past month.
"It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Parker. I'll come by again to get Perse before dinner." Happy said, trying to match the jovial demeanor of Mr. Parker. Perse wanted to laugh.
"Oh, please, call me Ben! And if it's alright with you, Perse is more than welcome to stay for dinner." He said, looking back to the girl. Her blush receded, but now she seemed so small and meek. It wasn't that Mr. Parker–Ben–was intimidating to her. She was just deathly afraid of stepping into that apartment for some reason. The nerves ate away at her.
Happy looked down to Perse, knowing her body language enough to know that she was uncomfortable. He smirked, and looked back up to Ben. "Oh, Perse would love that! Thank you." Perse's head snapped to the man, mentally shooting daggers at him. He looked back down, playing innocent. "Just send me a text when you're done and I'll come get ya." He walked down the hallway, practically skipping. She knew it was payback for her making him come to drive her down here.
"Well, come on in!" Ben greeted, stepping aside fully to let Perse into the apartment.
She walked in, noting how homely everything was. Pictures cluttered some parts of the wall, on a stand. Everything was in a wood or dark brown decor, nothing white or modern at all. A homemade quilt on the couch. She could faintly smell apple cinnamon, and found that it came from a candle in the kitchen. The space itself was a little cramped, but not that different in size to her old apartment.
"Peter is in that bathroom taking a shower. He didn't realize you'd be here so fast coming in from Manhattan." Ben said, closing the door behind him. Perse had Happy and his erratic driving tactics to thank for that. "You can make yourself at home, he should be out soon."
Perse nodded, but still felt out of place. She sat on the couch, at the very end of it, on the very edge. She finally let go of her hair, just staring at the small flat screen that was playing the first Jurassic Park. Al loved this movie. He loved a lot of movies, actually. He was a big movie buff; he knew the dates, directors, actors, and more of all the movies that played in the apartment.
Peter's uncle sat at the other end of the couch, a beer in hand. "So, you know the movie?"
"Yeah," She nodded slightly, "It's really good." They were silent for a few moments, and Perse could have left it at that but instead she cleared her throat and spoke up again. "If the animatronic T-rex was exposed to water, it would malfunction. And it would happen randomly, so it would scare the cast and crew all the time."
Ben looked over at Perse, his eyes twinkling as he chuckled. He masked it well, but he couldn't help but feel pity towards the poor girl. He was the one that took Peter and Ned to her parent's memorial service (and also theorized to potentially be hers as well if her parents were to be any indication of what might have happened to her). Peter was distraught, despite only knowing Perse for not even a full week. Peter has a big heart, but Ben also now understood something about Perse: she has a big heart too.
"Is that right? I think I would have crapped my pants if that thing randomly came to life." Ben said, making Perse smile (although it came off as more of a grimace).
"Perse, hey!" Peter emerged from the hallway, dressed in sweatpants and an oversized sweatshirt. The ends of his wet hair curled, which surprised Perse because Peter always kept his hair gelled back so she had never seen these little curls before.
"Hi." She said awkwardly, getting up from the couch.
"We can brainstorm in my room." He said, leading the girl into the hallway.
"Door open!" Uncle Ben called out, making Perse blush and Peter as well.
"Sorry." He muttered, opening the door (and keeping it wide open).
His room was a cluttered mess. The walls were covered head to toe in posters and pictures, a corner of dirty laundry that he was currently trying to pick up and toss into the basket, action figures of various Star Wars, Star Trek, and Doctor Who characters, and notebooks and papers strewn about the room. Perse could easily guess that Peter barely had any time to clean up his room and it was pretty funny watching him trying to do so now.
"Sorry." He repeated, chuckling nervously.
"It's okay." She said, standing awkwardly to the side. Why was her heart racing? It needed to stop.
"It's really not, I'm a mess." He sighed. "I mean. My room is a mess. But no, yeah, I'm a general mess too."
Perse laughed, and in doing so, actually relieved some of the tension she was holding. What was she freaking out over? Screw Clint and Happy, thinking all the wrong things about her being at a boy's house. This wasn't just any boy, this was Peter Parker, her friend.
The two sat at Peter's desk (with Perse on the chair and Peter taking a knee next to her) and started brainstorming what to make their dialogue from. Of course Star Wars instantly came up, to Perse's automatic disapproval.
"That's too common! So many people are probably going to pick Star Wars."
"No, everyone will pick something like 007 or 21 Jump Street."
"I think Star Wars is more probable than 007, Peter. Did you just list off two movies you think cool kids watch? You do realize that Star Wars is the most popular franchise in the world, and that we go to a school for nerds, right? That's going to be everyone's number one pick."
"Well, I don't see the problem in that…" He actually pouted and grumbled. Like a child! Although it was endearing.
"Well, I do. How about the Office?"
"Oh, so you wanna go with your fav instead! I see how it is!"
"Okay, so we'll pick something that is neither of our favorites! Neutral shows or movies only."
They ended up settling on Smallville, a TV show the two were familiar with and liked. They went to work on translating. Mrs. Diaz had said that looking up the Spanish version of anything would be cheating. Peter and Perse were both brown nosers, so they decided not to cheat. It took them a long time to get through completing the translation because one of the two would get distracted and off topic, giggling about something ridiculous that was said.
"I still can't believe I saw the Nyx. And what an actual goddess by the way." Peter spoke up after a moment of silence.
"Still on that!" Perse groaned, her usual quiet self actually erupting for once. Peter stood straighter at hearing her be more loud, eyes slightly widening. He grinned, liking that this new side of Perse revealed itself to him. She only reacted that way because she felt flattered and also some other feeling that she couldn't describe at hearing Peter call someone else a goddess. Although, it wasn't someone else. It was her. But he didn't know that.
"Of course I'm still on that! It was only four days ago! I'm still hoping that she'll appear again, but nothing. She's mostly been spotted in upper Manhattan."
"You've been keeping track of her now?" Perse questioned. She felt the butterflies betray her at hearing that Peter was now becoming more invested in her nightly activities.
"What? No. I just noticed on the news this morning." Peter said, getting flustered now. Perse laughed at him. He rolled his eyes, looking back down to his paper of now-completed dialogue. Peter ran his fingers through his hair, which was now dry and more curly than before. Perse really liked his hair this way.
"Sure." She drawled out, teasing him further before falling into a fit of laughter.
Suddenly, a knock came on Peter's door and Perse's laughter quickly died down. The loudness she was exhibiting disappeared, her smile slightly faltered. Perse never came off as cold or standoffish to people, just shy. Peter hated seeing her revert to that.
"Hey, so Aunt May has to pull a double at the hospital tonight. Which means Perse here has the luck of missing out on my wife's cooking. But I'm only slightly better, so does spaghetti sound good? It's one of the few meals I can do better than anyone else." Uncle Ben said, leaning against the doorframe. He had stood there for a few seconds before he knocked on the door. He saw how Perse and Peter were interacting, and smiled to himself. She was a sweet kid.
"His spaghetti is pretty great." Peter attested.
"That sounds great. Thank you again, Mr. Parker." Perse replied.
"Just Ben is fine." He smiled before walking off to start dinner.
"Your uncle seems really nice." Perse said softly, looking back to Peter.
His face softened, a smile on his lips as he glanced back to the now empty hallway before looking back to Perse. "Yeah, he's pretty great." That smile slowly faded, though. "He took me to my parent's graves a few months back. It was the first time I'd gone since…It was weird."
"How old were you?" She asked, keeping her voice soft. She reached a hand out and gently rested it on his shoulder. He welcomed the touch.
"I was 5. I can still remember them. Bits and pieces, but. It's starting to get harder to remember." His voice cracked and he looked away, but Perse didn't miss the two tears that spilled over.
"I can't imagine it." Perse said, almost quickly. She wanted to do everything in her power to try to make him feel better, but she didn't know how. "To remember. I-I don't remember. It hurts, the wondering, but to remember what you're missing…that has to hurt, too. But they're nice memories, right?"
He nodded, wiping away the stray tears.
"I'm sorry. That you don't remember your birth parents."
"Eh, it's okay. We both got lucky, we found some pretty great people to love us." She said, now rubbing his back a few times before she pulled away.
The anger towards Hydra flickered within her, at the thought that she had a great life going. And it was ripped away from her. But the anger receded like a tidal wave, until it eventually went away. She reminded herself that that chapter of her life was over, there was no more Hydra to worry about, to be angry about. And now, Perse found Clint. He took her in. She couldn't say that there was love between the two, but it was obvious they cared about each other and for right now, that was all that Perse needed.
But Peter didn't know all of this. Peter only knew the evil lies. In his eyes, he wondered what it must have been like to live under that household. He couldn't imagine a man to murder and kidnap whilst providing love. But Perse had said that Al didn't do it. He wished that she would explain what she meant by that–he wished she said what she knew. But he didn't want to push her. That kind of trauma had to be difficult to talk about.
"Yeah, we did." He said instead, face starting to brighten again. "I don't really like talking about my parents. I think it makes it easier, you know?"
"Yeah. I completely get that." She said. "But you always could. With me. If you ever feel like it."
"You too. About your foster parents. Only if you're comfortable, though. Not even about what happened if you're not ready. But, if you want to talk about them, you can if you want."
Perse smiled, warmth spreading inside of her. "Yeah, that would be nice."
They fell into a comfortable silence, staring at each other for a beat before looking back down to their respective dialogues and correcting any translations that needed correcting.
Half an hour later and Uncle Ben called them into the dining room for dinner. They sat at the table, Ben giving the two teenagers large helpings of his spaghetti, and man was it good. She even went for seconds, much to Ben's pleasure. And although it was hard to get her out of her shell, she peaked out a bit as Ben continued to try to foster conversation with her. Peter helped as well, since he did most of the talking when he noticed Perse start to struggle to maintain the conversation. She was grateful for the obvious effort Peter's uncle was putting, and warmed up to him bit by bit. By the end of dinner, Peter picked up the plates and Perse offered to help with washing them. Ben excused himself to go take a shower and get ready for an early night in. Before he did, however, he spoke to Perse at a moment when Peter wasn't paying attention.
"You're welcome here anytime, kiddo. For however long you like." He said, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder before walking off. Perse wanted to cry, but kept it together. A part of her wished she could stay here forever. Become a part of the Parker family. But another part of her knew that she would miss the Tower–Clint, Tony, even Happy (and all of his attitude). Becoming aware of that made her realize that those people started to mean something more to her than them just being the Avengers.
"I should probably let Ha-Harold know to come get me." Perse said, almost slipping and calling "Harold," Happy.
"Okay." He said, sounding a little disappointed. "Wanna find something to watch while you wait for him?"
"Sure."
They ended up watching a competitive cooking show, laughing at the cattiness of some of the competitors. At one point, Perse's foot accidentally touched against Peter's. She panicked, and froze up. Peter didn't make any move either, or acknowledge that he felt her. She looked down to her bright red socks, that had a heart stitching over the top. She suddenly hated these socks. She looked back up to the TV screen, unaware of the glances that Peter would spare towards her.
He then got up from the couch, and Perse instantly drew her feet back. Relief washed over her, but then came a slight pang. Did she accidentally make him uncomfortable?
"I'mma get a glass of water. Want one?" He asked, clearing his throat.
"Uh. N-no, I'm okay. Thanks." She said, avoiding eye contact with him. She hoped that she hadn't made things awkward, she typically had a knack for that.
A buzzing noise came through, and then, "Hey, Mr. Kosmos here. For Perse."
Perse jumped up to go quietly answer into the intercom, "I'll be right down, Hap."
Peter came out of the kitchen with a glass, putting on a nice face. In reality, he wished that Perse could stay longer. But it was a school night, and he was fairly sure that her foster guardians wouldn't allow her to stay over too late at a boy's house. Uncle Ben had given him the talk hours prior, and that was the worst moment in his life. She was just coming over for a project, for crying out loud!
"Your ride's here?" He asked, sounding dejected.
"Yeah." Perse replied in the same tone.
They walked together to his room so that she could collect her things, purposefully being a little sluggish. Peter stood at the door, running his fingers through his now slightly frizzy hair and biting his lip. Perse had her back facing him, shoving her notebook and Spanish textbook in her bag.
"Would you wanna come over tomorrow?" He asked abruptly.
Perse got up, backpack slung over her back. She didn't respond right away, which Peter mistook for hesitance to say yes.
"You know, to work on the project some more." He reasoned, scratching the back of his head. A small blush appeared over his cheeks and neck. "I mean, I have band practice again, but afterwards. And Uncle Ben could pick us up, so that your foster people don't have to drive you back and forth so much."
"Yeah." She said, smiling. "We gotta practice the dialogue, after all."
"Right." He grinned.
Peter walked Perse to the door, and they heard the intercom buzz twice.
"That's Mr. Kosmos." Perse sighed, knowing that Happy was getting annoyed for waiting.
"With a 'K.'" Peter said, remembering the Skype call. He opened the door for Perse.
"So pretentious." Perse replied, walking out.
"See you tomorrow, Perse."
"See ya."
Perse walked down the hallway with a little extra pep in her step and a torrent of butterflies in her stomach. Peter leaned against the doorway, smiling to himself for a moment before returning to the living room.
"I don't want any cooties you may have, okay?" Happy immediately said once Perse got inside the tinted SUV.
"Yeah, well, I don't want your cooties." Perse retorted, buckling in. "You know, you guys are all the dirty-minded ones."
"No, you know who are dirty-minded? Teenage boys. They're only after–"
"Please don't finish that sentence."
–
The next day before school started, Harry sat down next to Perse as per usual. He opened up his bag and handed back the girl's copy of Invisible Man, as well as another book. Wuthering Heights. The spine was perfect, as if it had been barely cracked open. In fact, the book itself was perfect. It wasn't a normal copy of the book. This one was in dark brown leather with gold boarding and lettering of the title.
"Make a home out of this one." He said lightly, "This copy is my dad's. But he never read it. He only really had it for decoration. I think you would appreciate it more than him."
"Thank you, Harry." Perse smiled.
"This book was actually my mom's favorite." Harry said, a hint of sadness in his voice that Perse picked up on. After Perse had learned that her Harry was the very same Harry Osborn related to Norman Osborn, she decided not to bring it up to him. She figured that they had gone so long not bringing up his celebrity, and it was for good reason. Perse remembered the news of the untimely death of Emily Osborn a few years ago.
"Thank you." She repeated, this time more softly. She noticed that his blue eyes seemed more green today.
"Yeah." He said a little hoarsely. He cleared his throat, trying to rid himself of emotion. Harry Osborn didn't like thinking about his mother often. "Hey, are you doing anything after school today?"
"Yeah, I'm actually gonna work on a project with Peter." She replied, gently placing the book in her bag.
"Oh." Harry replied. He blinked his eyes rapidly, but made sure to regain his composure. "Maybe some other time?"
"Definitely." Perse grinned, completely unaware of Harry's reaction. "How about this weekend? We can go see Girl on the Train? It has Emily Blunt in it, and she's great."
"Yeah, that sounds good." Harry smiled. Perse was completely naive to the fact that it sounded like she was asking Harry out on a date. Persephone Perez is usually naive to these kinds of things.
The bell rang and they went their separate ways. School went by in a flash, and Perse spent every moment she could on reading her new book gifted by Harry. She tried thinking of what parts that Harry's mother would have enjoyed, and if Harry had read the book himself. She was afraid to ask, in case it was too sensitive of a topic for him. Their friendship grew, but it was still new, so Perse didn't know what his boundaries were yet. Michelle also didn't waste any time teasing Perse that he gave her a romance novel in art class.
"It's not like that!" Perse groaned, annoyed how everyone suddenly perceived her to be some sexual being.
"Don't get your panties in a bunch." Michelle snickered. She was working on a watercolor of what looked to be someone getting stabbed. It looked elegant, but also muddy almost, like the painting was from the perspective of someone crying and seeing it happen.
"Your panties are in a bunch." Perse muttered under her breath, arguing like a child would.
By Spanish, Mrs. Diaz let everyone pair up with their partners and work on the dialogue the whole class period. In reality, it was just everyone chatting and barely working, including Peter and Perse. They argued about sweet potatoes, laughed over an episode of the Office, and then barely went over their actual assignment. At the bell, they got up and started walking towards the band room together.
She had already told Happy this morning that she would be heading straight to Peter's house. She expected him to complain, but he actually cracked a smile!
"Fine by me. I can actually live my life for once."
"Living your life consists of watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians and eating fancy cheese with wine."
"Whatever, just don't come back home with a baby."
"Happy!"
She had caught him doing that once, and never let him forget. She was also excited to tell the rest of the Avengers when she saw them again, because then everyone could join in on shitting on him for it. It would be sweet revenge since he was still teasing her about Peter. Her thoughts were drawn away when Peter brought up Nyx.
"I haven't seen her in a while, I hope she's doing okay." Peter said, almost dreamily. Did Peter have a crush on Nyx? The thought made Perse blush.
"She was on the news two nights ago for stopping a mugging." Perse rolled her eyes, trying her best to not act like she was in fact Nyx. It was strange to talk about herself as if she wasn't talking about herself. And she was always afraid that someone would connect the dots, even though there are no dots to connect.
"Yeah, I saw!" He grinned, and started going over the news report of it.
"I think you're starting to let this get to your head, Parker." Perse said, stopping Peter from his gushing.
"Get what to my head?" He tilted his head, scrunching up his nose. "Nothing's getting to my head. It's just pure fact. She called me cute. A badass superhero called me cute. That's all."
"That's all." She repeated, grinning. "God, you're insufferable."
"No, I'm not." He said cheekily, actually skipping as they walked into the band room. "You can either sit in the corner or out in the hallway if you want." He went for his locker to grab his case.
Perse decided she didn't want to look like a weirdo hanging out in the corner and feel so out of place, so she opted for the hallway. Before she walked out, she saw him pulling out a trumpet. A memory flashed of Jimena. She used to play trumpet in high school. Al used to play trumpet as well. That's how they met. Highschool sweethearts.
She sat on the floor of the hallway as the band started their practice, starting on her homework for her other classes. There was one trumpet that she could make out over the others, or maybe she really didn't, but it seemed like it. It felt like she was hearing Peter over all the others, like she knew it was Peter. "I'm going crazy." She muttered to herself.
An hour later, Peter is the first one out of practice, lugging along his trumpet case. "Come on." He smiled.
Perse followed after him as they made their way to the front of the school where a red Ford truck was waiting for them. Uncle Ben had his regular charming smile as the kids got in the car, squeezing in a bit. Peter sat in the middle with Perse taking the actual passenger seat. Their shoulders and thighs were touching, something that Perse was hyper aware of. Peter did most of the talking on the way to his apartment, rambling about band practice, gossiping about the other trumpet players and some of the clarinets.
Once they got to the apartment, Uncle Ben gave them their space and retreated to his room (although he kept his door open and Peter's door remained open as well). Perse and Peter got to work…for roughly an hour until they gave themselves a "well-deserved break" and went to the kitchen to scrounge for snacks.
"Hey, would you wanna keep working on it this weekend?" Peter asked through a mouthful of BBQ chips.
"Oh." Perse said, chewing and swallowing the Hot Cheetos she made a quick grab at when she found them in his pantry. "Well, I'm actually gonna hang out with Harry this weekend."
"Oh." Peter replied, eyes slightly wide. His voice slightly went up, trying to sound nonchalant. "For school?"
"No, just to hang out." She shrugged, feeling her cheeks get a little hot. She found herself hoping that Peter didn't think that she was going on a date. "I think you and Harry would get along. You could tag along with us." It just rolled off the tongue, and she didn't regret it. She just hoped that Harry would be okay with it as well.
Peter let out a bark of laughter that slightly startled the girl known to strike fear into people's hearts. "Yeah, right."
"Really!" Perse said sincerely, giving Peter puppy dog eyes. "He's a nice guy." Peter only rolled his eyes. "You just see that he's an Osborn; he's more than that."
"…I guess." Peter relented, not being able to say no to the face she gave him.
"It'll be great." She enthused, popping another Hot Cheeto in her mouth. Peter didn't feel as convinced, however. But it meant spending more time with Perse, so what the hell.
As the two moved on to a different topic, they were completely unaware that in the building across from them was a man listening to everything they said. He had followed them from school, tailing the old red truck. Not even the man driving had a sneaking suspicion. That's because he's really good at what he does. In fact, he's the best of the best. So he was mostly peeved that he was stuck on kid watch, instead of dealing with more important matters. But his boss stressed that this was important. That in order to achieve salvation, they needed her.
AN: Aawww shit. Member when Perse was followed? He's back :) But hey, we got MORE Peter and Perse! Again, I want to stress that Harry and Perse will not become a thing, but Harry is attracted to Perse because she's a damn goddess okay and there's a particular way I want their beginning to be so just bear with me until we get to it. I am basing their friendship over one that I had in real life, which started out a little confusing until it was firmly established that we love each other but just in platonic way. Also, Perse is becoming more aware that she's crushing on Peter, but she's still refusing to admit the fact. Reminder that this a SLOW burn story, so get ready for some oofs (but I won't leave you guys high and dry the whole time, I love me some fluff and cute moments too much to do that). And I couldn't help myself to include Clint and Happy acting like such overprotective dads over hearing that she's spending time with a boy.
Incorrect Quuuootee:
Peter, texting Perse: You wanna come over?
Perse, replying outside: I just left your house.
Peter:
Peter: Wanna come back?
(from incorrect-into-the-spiderverse on tumblr)
