risk (tom holland)

five

my heart skipped almost three beats.
I felt every hair on my body stand on end.

I could feel my heartbeat in my head.
I grabbed my baseball bat from behind my front door,

Three taps again.

Knock
Knock
Knock

How? I thought, BIRDS? no, birds don't knock. Birds peck,
Unless those government feather bots are coming for me. Something is wrong.
I felt fear make my bones shake, my hands gripped the bat until my knuckles turned white.
I creeped around the corner and jumped in front of my window.

Peter gasped in surprise. Hanging his head over the edge of the building. I dropped the bat on the floor and opened my window pulling him in, as he easily swung his legs down and in.
"WHAT THE FUCK PETER?" He laughed and fell onto my bed.
But I gripped the collar of his shirt and lifted him up.
"What were you thinking? I could have beat your head in. How did you get up here? What are you doing here?" I fired questions at him glaring up at him.
He simply smirked down at me and put two cold hands on my arms.
"It's alright, I just peeked down from the roof, I wanted to surprise you" he spoke softly. "Worst case I'd fall on my face on your balcony anyway. Then you could've beaten my head in all you wanted"

I let out a deep breath and took my hands off the collar of his t-shirt.
I looked back at up at him and in the moonlight I saw a heavy scratch on his right temple, and one across the bridge of his nose.
"What happened?" I gasped. I lightly touched his face.
"I'm just clumsy." He said carefully, his voice didn't fail to make me calm, the tone making my heart slow.

"Comere." I said grabbing his wrist. I pulled him into the bathroom.
"Never again." I warned him.
"I could've hurt you." I said.
"I don't think it's that easy to hurt me." He smirked.
I just shook my head. "Ok clumsy" I turned on the light and I saw the dried and fresh blood on the cuts on his face.
"Oh peter." I sighed. He let me touch his face, as I gently put my fingertips under his chin to keep his head steady.
He sat on my bathroom counter and I stood between his legs being as gentle as I could, dabbing the wound carefully, cleaning the blood from around it.
He watched me in amusement.

My cat pranced in, jumping on the counter and laying on Peter's lap.
"Meet Ross." I said to him. I didn't stop cleaning his face though. Peter pet Ross, but didn't take his eyes off me.

"You gotta be more careful." I told him once I was done. I didn't realize how close I was to his face. He was just looking at me. "I didn't know you had freckles." He practically whispered. I immediately backed away out of nervousness.
"Thankyou Lynn."

He hopped down from the counter putting Ross on the ground.

I walked into the living room and cleaned up my kitchen.
"I have something for you." His voice was soft.
I spun around.
I felt nervous about only being in shorts.
He looked down, taking a step towards me.
He stuck out his empty hand, so I followed suit, he gently put my ring back on my finger.
"Oh, thankyou peter. Wow." I smiled at my ring and then up at him.

"Tea?" I offered, breaking the silence.
"Only if you're making." He said looking around.
"Always."

I changed the channel and threw him the remote.
He caught it and he wasn't even looking at me.
"Wow. Nice reflexes." I awed.
"Oh, thank you." He said quietly.

"What's a pretty girl like you living on her own for?" He asked, looking at the TV. I choked on my own spit. "Where's your boyfriend?" He asked, not really paying attention to what he was saying.

My heart crawled up onto my sleeve and sat on my palm.
I threw it at him. "I don't have one." It hit him and he turned at my answer. "I'm shocked." I blushed madly.
"What makes you think I need one? I can handle myself- but What about you, where's your boyfriend?" I asked jokingly.
"That's true, I don't know- just crime rates and stuff- and Unfortunately, I'm single right now." He said flipping through channels. My heart ran back to me and gave me strength.
"Unfortunately? Yeah right." I muttered. He turned his head in my direction. I could tell he was smiling. But I focused on pouring the tea.

I sat on the couch and put the tea on the table, I patted the couch and Peter sat beside me. Ross running to sit on top of him. "Why wouldn't Indiana Jones tell Short Round to do that?" He asked me. I looked over to him. His perfect face and warm eyes darted around the screen.
I giggled a bit. "I-I don't know, cause he's a kid."
When I said kid, I saw his eyes flicker to the ground for a moment, but back up at the TV.

It was dark now and raining. "You can crash here if you want" I mumbled, I think- i wasn't sure I was like half awake. Peter might've grumbled back but we were definitely both too tired to care.
I felt my eyes begin to sting from being open for so long, I began to slouch, I tried to keep my eyes on the screen but they began to flutter closed. Soon I felt my head fall onto Peter's shoulder but I was practically already asleep. I wasn't even fully conscious, or awake enough to even think about it.

And I fell asleep, 
The slow of my heartbeat
with less care about my problems than ever before.