Flower Child (Peter Parker, MCU)

Wouldn't be Forevermore

evermore - Taylor Swift ft. Bon Iver

Lila had stopped crying twenty minutes prior and sat in a type of trance. The wounds on her body stung and burned, and she was practically drowning in exhaustion, but her mind was stuck and refusing to welcome any kind of emotion besides shock. The only thing she was sure of was Peter's presence enveloping her, with one arm wrapped around her shoulders and his other hand tangled tightly in hers.

He was talking to May, who had come from the bathroom and tended to Peter's injuries. Lila could feel both of them look at her and back to each other, but nothing in her could care. She couldn't find the will to listen to their hushed whispers, or even open her mouth to let them know how badly her body ached. She simply placed her head on Peter's shoulder as she fixated on a blank stretch of the wall opposite the three of them.

Every time she blinked, she was faced with what happened until slowly, while May and Peter talked quietly, Lila blinked less and less. Her stare grew more empty and she felt like she was slipping back into a shell that she didn't want to be trapped in. Just when the panic started to rise to the surface, May's face intruded on her dissociation.

Lila blinked, startled. May just smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. Everything about her eyes screamed worry for the girl she was staring at. "Lila. You have dust in your hair still, and I think it might be a good idea for you to wash your - um" -May's eyes flickered down to the bruises and burn marks shaped like handprints that were scattered down Lila's arms and neck and swallowed thickly- "your injuries. My bathroom is just around the corner, do you want to take a shower?"

The small, weak voice that held logic pleaded with Lila to say yes to a shower. She knew it would help with her injuries, and clean away traces of what had happened that evening. But she also knew it wouldn't clean away everything. May had smiled, nodded, and held out her hand before Lila even understood that she herself had nodded in reply.

Taking her hand, May pulled Lila to her feet. As she stood, Lila felt the cold wrap around her again. It wasn't a terrible cold, it was simply the absence of warmth. More notably, it was the feeling of not having Peter's arms around her. Knowing that security was gone had a pit growing inside Lila's stomach, and she checked over her shoulder at Peter. He didn't look too thrilled at the fact that she had gotten up either, but he nodded anyway.

She followed May into her bedroom which held her bathroom and nodded slowly as she pointed out her shampoo, conditioner, and soap. Confident that Lila could manage, May turned on the shower and warmed the water. Swirls of steam rose behind her as May turned to face Lila, "Okay, I'll leave you to it. Let me know if-"

"C-Can you please stay?" The fear she'd had all night wasn't going away so easily, and the thought of being alone terrified her. "Please, can you stay - stay close by?"

A mixture of emotions clouded May's eyes and she nodded immediately. "Of course," She said, not even batting an eyelash. "Of course, I'll be right - I'll be in the bedroom. Let me get you some clothes."

Lila sat on top of the toilet while she waited for May. The sound of the running water filled the silence that she was desperate to avoid, and if she concentrated hard enough, Lila thought it sounded like rain. She tried to think of the rain hitting her greenhouse windows, keeping her company as she took care of her plants...

Pretty Lila is friends with Spider-Man. Up in her greenhouse on the roof, she takes care of him-

Lila's gasp was masked by the water running and the door opening. May pulled her out of her memory by entering the bathroom with a pile of clothes. She set them on the bathroom counter and turned to Lila. Her expression was still hard to read, a mixture of pity, worry, and something Lila had not seen in a long time. The look of a mother worried about her child. "I'm gonna wait for you on my bed, okay? I'll be right out here."