Forever

66

"...unnecessary violence. Your lies cut deep, you watch me bleed, oh. I'm dying for some silence. The words you speak are killing me violently."

To hear words so strong being sung by such a selfless, sweet and tired woman breaks the heart of the man who holds hers. Pietro can't stand to hear the pain in her voice as Bree lets go of all that she has locked in the back of her mind.

"Don't think that you understand, you've all got blood on your hands. You tied me in front of a train and you can't look away. And if I find my early grave, you swear that you're not to blame. But you've slipped the rope 'round my head. Can't take it back when I'm dead. And if I ever get happy, I can count on you to put me through your unnecessary violence."

He sits in the chair behind her as she sings and grips and gently rubs her side. He's leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and his hand over mouth, tears pooled in his eyes from her lyrics.

Every once in a while, she has to stop to correct and line up the beat with the melody and he takes these moments at a chance to give her a bit more affection. He doesn't do it while she sings as to not distract her or mess her up in any way. Instead, he waits.

"That sounds beautiful, Princezna." He whispers while reaching his hand to her thigh.

"Thank you." She takes off the headphones.

He turns her chair around to face him and slides his hands up her thighs to hold her hips as he leans forward on her chair around her legs.

"You know?" He starts softly with a raised brow. "I could just handle them all myself." He shrugs and she slowly grins down at him. "A little beat down won't hurt anybody."

She nods a bit and he smiles slightly with a small chuckle before pulling her into a hug with his head on her chest. She lays her cheek on the top of his head and pushes her fingers in his shirt to rub his back.

"I'll do it." He mumbles and she presses a kiss to his forehead while playing with his hair.

"No."

-  

In the middle of the night, Bree still lays awake in bed, unable to sleep with a grumbling stomach. Pietro remains fast asleep beside her as she pushes herself to sit up. She slooches tiredly as she looks around for a moment.

She comtemplates between getting up to grab something small to eat or forcong herself to starve as usual. She hangs her head with a pouty lip while picking at her nails in her lap.

After taking a deep breath and sitting up, Bree slowly and quietly slides to her feet on the hardwood floor and tip-toes her way towards the kitchen. She opens the fridge and pulls the sleeves of Pietro's hoodie into her fists to squeeze them tight in front of her.

Staring into the fridge, her eyes fill with tears of exhaustion. She can't force herself to eat, but she knows she has to. It's just so hard to do something her brain is telling her is so bad for her, though it's the other way around. Taking a simple bite of anything completely distorts her view of herself in the mirror.

The light from the open door shines into the bedroom, waking Pietro from a good nights sleep. Lying in his front, he furrows his brows in confusion to see that she's not asleep beside him and the brightness falling on the wall. He turns over and pushes himself to the end of the bed to see her standing in the kitchen alone.

He flips the comforter off and moves around the bed to head closer to her. She closes the doors and puts her fists to her eyes with her head hung.

"Bree, what's wrong?" He gently grabs her bicep from behind.

She takes a deep breath as the tears begin to spill and turns a bit to grab onto his arm. He wraps his other arm around her neck and pulls her side into his front and she hugs the one she grabbed to her chest.

"What's going on, Baby?" He places his hand on the side of her head with a soft voice.

"I'm trying." She sobs and he sighs with wrinkled brows. "I can't. It's so hard."

"I won't pretend to understand what you're going through or what you're feeling." He shakes his head. "I'll never know what your mind is like or how bad it is for you, but I want you to know that I love you." He states as she buries her face in his arm. "I'm here for you. I will support you and push you as much as you need to get better and be happy. At least be the happiest you can be. Okay? Are you hungry?" He asks and she nods a bit while turning to hug his waist. "All right."

He lets her hug him for a few minutes, until she's calmed enough for them to let go. He turns on the dim light under the cabinets, above the counters, and she sits on an island stool in front of him.

Now, he knows he's not the best cook, being that, before Hydra, Wanda was the one to cook everything. But she did teach him a few things, especially the easier noodle dishes. Which Bree happened to love before everything went to Hell again.

He cooks in on the stove in front of her while talking and quietly joking around with her. She smiles as he goes on with her hands cupped around her neck to hold her hooded head up.

He nods her towards the couch when he's done and pours a little less than half of the portion of noodles into her bowl, knowing that even if she tried, she wouldn't be able to eat too much, being that her stomach truly did shrink during the time she was alone. He takes hers to her and sits beside her to pull her legs up over his lap. He switches on the lamp behind him and turns to her to see her looking down at her bowl in silent contemplation.

"I didn't mean to wake you up." She looks up at him with wrinkled and guilty brows. "I'm sorry."

"Princezna, you can wake me up from the dead, if you need help." He places his hand on her cheek. "It doesn't matter where I am or what I'm doing, I need you to be okay first. Not eating means, you're not okay. And I am so, so goddamn proud of you for even opening that fridge." He shakes his head while scooching closer as a stray tear slips out. "You have no idea how proud I am. It only been a few days and you're already wanting to make yourself better and that takes a lot of strength. That takes a lot out of you on its own, I know it does. It's amazing."

She turns her face slightly into his palm and hangs her head with a quivering lip and grabs his wrist. His brows furrow and he leans in to press his lips to her forehead for a long moment. He sits normally again with his one leg folded beneath him, the other foot on the floor, and she takes a deep breath while wiping under her eye before she takes her first bite and he grins a bit, worried, but pleased.