Undefeated

Chapter Eighteen

I wake up to the sunlight streaming in through Peter's window, temporarily blinding me.

"We can not forget to get you curtains," I groan.

When my eyes have adjusted, I look at Peter. His eyes are closed and his features are soft. His chest is slowly rising and falling, and he is no longer tense. I haven't seen him like this in days, and I missed it. I slept through the night without having a nightmare, and Peter actually slept. I smile to myself as I cuddle up closer to him.

I wait until he starts moving to open my eyes and look at him. He yawns and opens his eyes, looking around the room before his gaze lands on me. I run my hand through his curls, pushing them out of his face.

"Hey," I say softly.

"Hey." He smiles, and there is no exhaustion in his features.

I kiss him, and when I pull away, he leans forward to kiss me again. I laugh into the kiss and sit all the way up, straddling him. When our lips separate, he's staring at me with heavy lidded eyes, and a sleepy smile on his face.

"We both slept." I lay my head back onto his chest.

"We did," he says, and I hear the smile in his voice.

I look up at him, and he looks down at me. We hold eye contact, trying to see who will break it first. There is a knock on the door, and we both look at it.

"Come in," Peter says.

May opens the door and smirks when she sees us together. I sit up, looking at her apologetically.

"I'm sorry! I just had a nightmare, and-"

"Don't apologize." May smiles. "I knew both of you would end up in the same room by the end of the night."

"So, you don't care?" asks Peter.

"Of course I don't care!"

A smell that I know all too well drifts into the room, and I jump out of bed, running to the kitchen. On the stove, there are chocolate muffins.

May and Peter walk into the room, and I turn around to face them. They smile when they see how excited I am.

"You made muffins?!" I ask.

"Your favorite kind." May smiles.

"How?"

"After Happy and I picked up the bed's last night, we passed a grocery store. I knew you'd be so happy if I made muffins, so Happy ran inside and bought the ingredients."

"Thank you!" I hug her.

She looks at Peter, laughing. "You'd think I just bought her a whole bookstore."

He laughs, smiling at me lovingly. I pick up a muffin and take a bite, practically moaning at the taste.

"You two eat up," May says. "We have a lot to do today."

•

We go to more stores than I can count, buying furniture and decorations for the house. We also buy essential clothes because most of Peter's and May's were donated after the blip, and all of mine were blown up.

We make one trip back to the apartment, May's car full of everything we bought today. Happy drives the moving truck with all of Peter and May's stuff that was put in storage and the furniture we bought today that wouldn't fit in May's car.

When we get home, we start decorating. It takes all day, and even though we will definitely be buying more, it looks good for now.

When we finish decorating the house, I get started on my room. I bought a white comforter, white pillow covers, and colorful throw pillows. I also bought white curtains, a desk, and a floating bookshelf. I push the desk against the wall at the end of my bed, and I hang the floating bookshelves on the wall my bed is on.

We decided that Peter would have the dresser in his room, and that we would both use it for our clothes. My desk also has more storage for me, and Peter bought storage bins to put next to his bed.

I bought my own skincare, hair products, hair tools, clothes, shoes, and jewelry. When everything is organized and put away, I print pictures off of my phone using May's printer.

The first picture I print out is a picture of Tony, Nat, and I all holding ice cream after we had finally convinced him to go with us to our favorite ice cream shop. Nat and I are smiling, and Tony is pretending to look bored.

Then there is a picture of the me when I was younger with my family in their suits after their first mission as the Avengers. The six of them are smiling at me, and I'm in the middle, posing like Iron Man.

There is also a picture of all of my family together one night when Peter and I had convinced everyone to have a sleepover at the compound. We are all laying down in a huge fort we made, making funny faces.

The last picture I print out is a picture Happy took of Peter, May, Pepper, Morgan and I when we were outside petting Gerald the alpaca. We are all smiling at the camera, and Gerald is behind us, looking like he wants to murder us.

I use clips to hang these four pictures on a string that I drape across my headboard. I put a Himalayan salt lamp, a jewelry holder, and desk organizers on my desk, and hang a mirror on the wall in front of it. I put a succulent and a painting Morgan made for me on each of my two floating shelves, and decide that I will also put books on them when I go to the bookstore.

I still haven't gotten on my phone at all, and I'm waiting to talk to Ned and MJ at school. I'm nervous to go back to school, but excited to fall back into a routine. Routines make me feel safe.

I wonder how different everyone will be. It's comforting to know I'm not the only one who lost five years of their life during the blip. I'm not the only one who lost people. I'm not the only one who's different because of it.

Peter and I haven't left each other's side. We sleep in the same bed every night, knowing that if we don't, we won't be able to sleep at all. I'm not use to depending on someone this much, but it's undeniable that I need him.

He is always there for me. He understands me. He loves me. He's mine, and I'm his. I know that no matter what happens, that won't change.

I remember being so embarrassed when I ran into him and fell on top of him the day we met. But when he helped me up and I looked at him, I felt something. I thought it was just attraction at the time, but now I know it was more than that. Maybe I knew I would fall in love with him. Or maybe I was just romanticizing an embarrassing moment.

We were both lost when we met, and after everything we went through together, we found our way back. As long as we have each other, we will always find our way back.