The World I Knew [Discontinued]

Angle 2

Hope knew Peter wasn't happy with being left alone while she, Bruce, Natasha, Okoye, and Bucky went to scout out the city to find where the signal had come from. She knew he didn't want to be alone, and part of her wanted to stay back with him, keep him company, and make sure that he didn't do anything stupid, or that he wouldn't hurt himself by doing something or other.

That might've also been her wanting to stay away from the danger, even with five robots protecting the small group. Let the adults take care of this sort of stuff. She and Peter were too young to be handling stuff like this. Zombie apocalypses, stealing food and water to get through the week... it was all a little outrageous.

Hope glanced at the time in the corner of her visor. It was 3:00 in the afternoon, roughly, on a Wednesday.

Let's see... if the apocalypse hadn't happened, she would be at the pool right now, getting ready to do some laps, her hair pulled up in the cap, snapping goggles on, and arms lined up and ready to dive.

But nope!

Instead, she was here, walking along a street, ready and waiting for a zombie to pop up out of nowhere and tear her organs out.

Yup!

How awesome!

Geez, Peter really was starting to get to her.

She just wasn't sure if that was good, or bad. Because, well, despite all the times she said she hated him when it was just the two of them, she couldn't help but feel the opposite. She loved that he was playful, and that he teased her--though she didn't know if it was specifically her, or if he was like that with anyone else, because she'd only known him for a short amount of time, and he'd had barely any exposure to anyone else.

Hope loved how cool he was, how even in meeting the Bruce Banner, someone he'd told her was one of his role models during one of his rants in the car, he was cool and managed to still express excitement, even if he hadn't been able to move.

She was impressed by how well he could control himself even in times of great pressure, like when Bruce had to treat his wounds and drain them of the infection. Peter had shown incredible self control, and awareness, being able to hold her hand gently, even when he was in so much pain, she couldn't even fathom how hard it was not to squeeze her hand. He'd shown such awareness of his own strength, and where that strength was being put into, that he didn't even tighten his grip on her hand in the slightest, he just kept it slack.

And then he crushed metal under his own hand when it became a little too much to handle.

It was hard not to imagine what he could've done to her hand, had he not been careful enough to keep her safe in the time of her own carelessness. At least he had been coherent enough to know.

Well, perhaps he hadn't been coherent, because he'd passed out moments later.

Still, amazing self-awareness, even under intense pain.

And then there was his tolerance.

Hope had learned that Peter lost his parents, then his uncle, even before the apocalypse during one of his rants in the car. And then he'd lost everything else when the zombie virus did take over, and yet she hadn't seen him cry. Not once. He'd been through shock temporarily, she knew that, but he never cried. Not in pain, not in anguish, or guilt, or grief. Hope never saw a single tear.

Instead, she watched him smile. Beyond everything. He still made jokes, still laughed, still was a good, happy-go-lucky kid. And even though she'd realized it while he was sick and sleepy, she was still reeling from it.