It's a Little Strange

14. BROKEN

A/N: The long awaited next chapter! I'm so sorry that I am late because I hit writer's block and my life has been a mess- everything is wrong!! But the feedback and support of this has helped me pull through, so thank you everyone!!

Also I didn't really bother with editing and I never want to look at this chapter again :)

.

.

.

.

.

Peter would never have imagined that he would wake up with his arms entangled on Michelle's body. All he saw when he first woke was the light hitting her skin and the collar of the striped PJ shirt she wore. Then, he felt the vibrations of her chest inhale and exhale. Every three seconds. Inhale. Three seconds. Exhale.

His cheek was smashed against the cotton material of her PJs, making his right eye squint. Peter's arms were tightly wrapped around her torso, holding her tight against his body. He felt one of her hands lazily draped on top of his head, her fingers still entwined in his curly hair. Her other hand cupped the side of his cheek. Peter had no idea how he ended up halfway on her body with his head resting on top of her chest, but damn it felt so relaxing. This was the first time in awhile where Peter felt at peace. He didn't want it to end.

"Hm..." Michelle drowsily hummed. She turned her head, her chin resting on top of Peter's. Her dark eyes were still closed but she opened her mouth to speak. Michelle whispered "Peter...?"

The sound of his name in her tired voice was going to be the death of him. He hoped that she couldn't hear or feel how fast his heart rate picked up. What was happening to him? "Yeah, MJ?" he tried to keep his tone soft and quiet to not disturb her too much.

"This isn't- this-" Michelle swallowed and tried again, "This isn't real, is it? You're not actually here. That would be crazy, right?"

"Yeah, it's crazy," he said. He didn't want this to be a dream. Peter wanted it so badly to be real, to be real with her. It was the only thing that made sense in his life. The only thing he knew that he wanted. He noticed that the pads of his fingers touched her bare skin on her stomach from underneath her top. Peter circled his thumbs across her skin gently. It wasn't scandalous or anything inappropriate. He just thought he needed to feel everything. He needed to know for sure that this was real. His smile was small. "But I like this."

"Me too." She released a sigh and she let her head drift off to the side to fall back asleep again.

Peter didn't remember nodding off again, but he woke up to Michelle poking his cheek. He blinked awake rapidly and lifted his head up from the top of her chest. She simply said, "Get off of me."

He obliged and scooted away from Michelle to the edge of her bed, his back pressed against the wall. He watched as Michelle sat up, pulling the sheets with her as she sat straight before she rubbed her eyes.

"Hey," Peter said, his stomach churning. He was so nervous, so anxious in front of Michelle now, it was insane. Her hair was more frizzy than last night but still so incredibly cute.

Michelle lowered her hands and turned her head to look at him. "Hey."

"Um... good morning, MJ."

"Mornin' Parker." Michelle adjusted her legs to sit in the standard criss-cross-applesauce position that they had learned ever since kindergarten. "So, uh, are you going to tell me what happened last night, or are you going to snap at me like you did at school?"

Last night. A mess. Peter had never felt so much despair and pain since Uncle Ben. It was consuming him. Suddenly, Peter didn't feel happy anymore. The darkness was taking over his heart. He felt himself begin to panic at the dying face of Charlie Callahan but Michelle sat in front of him, expectant and breathing. She was real. She was certain. She was hope.