Forever

36

Bree wakes one morning and pulls on her sweats while watching Pietro sleep peacefully in the bed beside her. She goes out into the kitchen and leans on the counter with her phone.

This morning, she woke to plently of good and bad comments on a picture she had posted the night before of her standing in Tony's lab with his focused face in the corner. Of course, there was love for the girl and her father, but then comes the hate. People saying that she doesn't deserve a dad like him and that they should all just disown her because there's no point to her even being there if she's not doing anything for anyone. As if they could be a hero themselves.

Bree sets her phone down and folds her arms on the counter to lay her head in them with a numb and broken sigh.

Eventually, she lifts her head and turns around to face the fridge and cabinets. She hesitates before continuiously staring between each open door and the floor in front of her.

She decides to go sit on the couch instead and not too long later, about an hour, Pietro comes out of the room and moves behind her to slowly runs his hands down her arms while leaning down to her level.

"Goodmorning." He whispers beside her ear as she places her hand on the side of his head.

"Hi." She says as he wraps his arms around her.

"Did you eat?" He asks and she hesitates for half of a second.

"Mhmm." She nods.

"Are you lying?" He wonders and she shakes her head while squeezing her eyes shut.

He sighs in disbelief and kisses her temple before heading towards the kitchen. He watches her hang her head while picking at her fingers and decides that is, in fact, lying and gets not only him, but her a bowl of cereal as well.

"I said, I did." She furrows her brows as he reaches the couch with the bowl out in front of her.

"Why're you lying to me?" He shakes his head and her brows slowly relax. "You've never done that before, let's not start it now. Princess, please, eat?" He urges, soft and firm.

She takes a deep breath before doing as told and he sits next to her with a sigh as she just stares down at the bowl in her lap.

"I just..." He sighs and she side-eyes him a bit. "I want you to be healthy."

"I know." She states just above a raspy whisper.

"Do you?" He raises his brows, keeping his voice low to not freak her out and she nods while holding back the tears with her hair falling around her face.

He bites his bottom lip with wrinkled brows and turns forward as a single tear falls from her eye, going completely unnoticed by him.

Eventually, she finishes eating and takes both of their bowls to the sink while he watches her with the TV on in the background. She starts heading back and is about to pass him to sit in her spot when he grabs her hand to pull her down to straddle his waist.

"Why're you not eating?" He pushes his fingers in her hair while cupping her cheeks and she sighs.

"I am." She nods quietly.

"But you're not." He breathes while nodding with raised brows.

"It was one day." She tries to excuse with a shrug.

"No, it wasn't." He shakes his head while letting go of her. "You haven't eaten breakfast in days and barely anything for dinner. I don't think I've ever seen you eat lunch." He shrugs as the tears pool her eyes again and she turns away while squeezing her fingers.

"I don't want to."

"Why?" He turns her back to him.

"Because I hate it." She motions to herself as the cries begin to flow. "I hate it so much, I hate myself so much." She shakes her hands up and down. "I hate her." She sighs as the sobs begin.

"Bree." He sits up a bit with his hand on her cheek and side of her neck.

"No." She interrupts. "You wanna know why? It's because I hate her." She states fast. "I wanna get rid of her, but I can't."

She tries to take a deep breath, but is just stopped by a more painful sob. She hangs her head, unable to catch her breath as she attempts to move away.

"Bree, calm down." He pulls her back and she shakes her head.

"I can't..." She stutters while pulling on her hoodie. "Breathe."

"Take this off." He moves her hands.

He pulls the hoodie off of her, leaving her bare from the waist up, and tosses it away. She covers her mouth, but he moves her hands and pulls her down to his shoulder to hug her tight with her arms around his neck.

He begins to 'coo' her with his hand on the back of her head and arm around her waist, to where she is eventually able to breathe, though it is shaky and broken. Her hands slide down his chest until her arms are folded between them with dry tears stained on her face.

He slowly moves to lay flat on the couch with her still straddling his waist. He starts rubbing up and down her back and sides, soft and gentle. She turns her face into his neck and he pulls her hair behind her shoulder to get it out of their way for him to press his lips to her forehead.

"I just want you to be happy." He whispers and she closes her eyes with a rigid deep breath. "Why is it so hard?" He sighs in sorrow as the tears pool his eyes. "I wish it wasn't so hard for you."

She nuzzles herself in while squeezing his hoodie and he hugs her a bit tighter while trying to keep his fearful tears a secret from her.