Tick Tock

Twelve

"I don't know," Peter said, then yawned. "Wanna go to bed?"

"Sure." Charlie said, then hesitated. "What if it is the future, and in it, I die?"

Peter, who had been stretching, whipped his head towards her. "Don't say that! You're probably the one who beats the leader senseless." He replied.

Charlie pondered that. "Hm. You're probably right. I'll slow him down to kingdom come!" She laughed, making the motions with her hands, but exaggerated. "How's your foot?"

"What - oh, right." Peter said, lifting his pant leg up, revealing a diminishing bruise. "How's yours?"

"Mine's gone." Charlie said. She frowned. "Wait, lemme try something."

She reached over and lightly pinched Peter on the arm. "Ow." He stated bluntly.

"I felt that." Charlie breathed. She had a matching pinchy feeling on her corresponding arm. Peter was making this face that said what-the-actual-hell-are-you-talking-about that, when Charlie thought about it, was damn cute. She found herself unconsciously smiling dreamily at him.

"What does that mean?" Peter asked whilst his milk chocolate eyes switched from his arm to hers.

"I think we have some sort of connection?" Charlie guessed. "It could be possible that I have another power that I didn't know about."

Peter opened his mouth to say something, but Azul beat him to it. "Incoming call from Tony Stark." Charlie rolled her eyes, then tugged her phone out.

"I have to take this." She said to Peter, who waved at her. "I'm just gonna go to the hallway."

When she left, Peter picked up his mask and put it on. "Karen, you there?"

"As always, Peter. How's your new roommate?" Karen asked. Peter leaned over to rest his elbows on his knees.

"She's great. I just feel like there's something there, y'know?"

"Are you referring to female anatomy?"

Peter flushed under the mask. "No! Why would you think that? I meant she's pretty. She likes the same stuff I like, and I want to tell her I like her a lot, but I don't know how."

"Tell her tomorrow on the way to school." Karen suggested. "Charlotte is single."

"Karen, what would I do without you? Thanks for the advice about Charlie."

"Why are you talking to Karen about me?" Charlie asked. Peter yanked the mask off and flung it to the floor, staring at her like a deer in headlights.

"I, uh, wanted to know more about you, so I asked Karen. I had no idea you had to go through that." Peter tried, garnering no reaction from Charlie who still silently stood in his doorway.

"Azul, does Karen have access to Tragic Backstory?" Charlie asked, keeping her eyes on Peter while she said it.

"Mr Stark has restricted Karen's access to the file named 'Tragic Backstory' for security reasons." Azul replied. "You can, however, grant Karen access to this file if you wish."

"Thank you, Azul. Peter, its too late for this. Can we just go to bed?" Charlie asked, ascending the ladder to the top bunk.

Peter was too happy to oblige, switching off the lights, then relying on his enhanced sight to get to the bed without stumbling over anything.

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Charlie awoke to the smells of eggs, bacon, and toast. She cracked an eye open and saw Peter. A shirtless Peter. With abs. She should've seen this coming from a mile away, with him being a superhero like herself and the fact they were sharing a room, but she was still pleasantly surprised that she got to wake up to this.