Forever

63

The pair wakes only a few minutes apart, both wearing Pietro's t-shirts and their different underwears and Bree looks at him from her spot beside him, lying on her back with her knees bent and hands folded in the sheets. He rubs his face before turning onto his side while laying his arm over her waist, to pull her closer and nuzzle his face in her chest. She takes a deep breath with a sniffle and buries her face in his hair for both to fall back asleep within minutes.

-

A few hours later, Pietro is sitting at the end of the bed with his phone in front of him, leaned forward on his elbows. He's seated right in front of the open door to the bathroom, where he can see Bree if he decides to look up, which is exactly what he does.

His eyes flicker up at her through his lashes as she slips off the t-shirt. As she pulls on a bra, his stares trail along her body and his brows furrow worriedly to see her health from the side. He lifts his head and moves to rest his palm on his knee while setting his phone down just as she finishes putting on her hoodie.

She puts her hair up too and, as soon as she's done, Pietro calls her names and she turns for him to nod her over. She grabs her phone and stands in front of him and he pushes his hands under the sweatshirt to hold her hips.

"You know how beautiful I think you are?" He asks softly and she furrows her brows a bit in confusion. "Without the makeup or whatever else you decide to do to make yourself look prettier to you, I'll still always think you and your perfect body is beautiful." He nods with raised brows. "Do you understand?"

She nods slightly while staring into his eyes and he cups her cheek to press a kiss to her forehead. He stands and she backs up a few steps as he steps around her to head out of the room, but not before he looks back at her to see her staring ahead with slightly furrowed brows and a sorrowful look on her face.

-

Dinner time rolls around and Bree sits in the island stool, watching Pietro make a noodle dish for her at the stove directly across from her with her chin in her palm.

"You look tired." He observes softly.

"A little." She confirms with a quiet voice.

"Early bedtime?" He offers and she nods. "You need to eat first, though." He states and she adjusts a bit, making him sigh, knowing exactly what that means now. "At least try." He hopes softly. "You don't have to push it, but I'd like it if you tried."

She folds her hands on her lap with her head hung slightly, a tightened jaw and tears fighting to pool. She nods a bit and fast with raised brows, not even trying to look up at him, and his brows wrinkle as he bites his cheeks.

He finishes what he was doing a minute later and puts some in a bowl for her before placing it in front of her. He places his hand on the side of her neck and presses a kiss to her temple before walking off to go shower.

However, he stops in the doorway to the bedroom to watch her as she rubs her eyes and slowly reaches for her fork with a heavy hand. Once she's able to take a bite, he stares for a moment, then heads to the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Bree drops the fork at the sound of the door closing behind him and sets her head in her hands. Her knees starts bouncing as she struggles to keep the cries in, locking her jaw and biting her lip. She squeezes her eyes shut and clenches her fists for a moment before banging them to her forehead a few times.

She slams them down on the counter as the tears break free and she takes a deel breath, trying so hard to relax her tense body, but all it does is hurt her more. She feels the hunger, but just can't give into it, it'll do nothing, but bad. Or that's at least what she believes.

Instead of attempting to take a second or even a third bite, she hesitates before wiping the tears off her cheeks and pouring some of the contents in her bowl into the garbage disposal. She handles all of that before sitting back down, like all is normal, taking deep breaths, in and out, the way Pietro taught her. Smell the flowers, blow out the candles.

A few minutes later, Pietro comes out of the bedroom in a new pair of shorts and a black hoodie. He takes a seat in the stool beside her and she looks at him for a moment before forward again.

"Are you full already?" He wonders and she nods. "How do you get full easily now?" He shakes his head in disbelief.

"When we were apart, I didn't eat, so my stomach shrunk." She explains and he tilts his head.

"Is that even possible?" He doubts.

"Mhmm." She grins nicely. "You can look it up. If you don't eat enough, your stomach starts to eat itself."

He stares at her for a moment with his tongue poking at his top lip, just surveying her features. He sees the red in her eyes that hadn't been there before and the glaze of dried tears on her cheek as she rubs her other cheek with a tired blink.

He pulls his sleeve lower down his arm and wraps it around his thumb to graze it over her tears, surely wiping them away as he stands. He turns her seat and lays his arms around her neck to hold her to his chest and rub her back. She closes her eyes with a sigh and hugs his waist while tilting her head down to bring herself closer.