two sided | peter parker

LI | evanescent

『ev·a·nes·cent | adj. | soon passing out of sight, memory, or existence; quickly fading or disappearing』

"YOU REALLY CARE FOR HER, DON'T YOU?" Peter's head tilted up at the voice, identifying it as the man who wielded a strong shield, acted like a Dad, attempted to censor all curse words, and apologized after realizing how young he was during the fight back in Germany. He blinked, looking behind the couch where Steve stood.

Nodding lightly, his lap was occupied with her head resting on it. Her eyes were closed, the movie still playing on the TV, but her face was towards Peter's abdomen, protecting her from the flashing lights on the screen. "Yeah, I really do." He admitted softly, running a hand through her hair in a lulling manner.

Steve gave a small smile in response, knowing that he didn't have to warn the younger superhero to watch after her and take care of her. It was obvious that Peter was set on doing that already. Looking around, he raised his eyebrow at a small box set on the table with a ribbon around it. The edges were slightly torn, but nothing else showed any signs of use.

Not being able to help his curiosity, he was bound to ask. "What's that?" Peter followed Steve's gaze, his brown eyes landing on the box. On the side that wasn't facing Steve, a small note with another few lines of familiar and old handwriting from a few weeks ago, at the very least. "W-We were cleaning out their room and Eden and Chip apparently left gifts for some of them."

This caused him to tilt his head further, eyes faltering slightly at the sound of their names, but readjusting quickly soon enough. "Ebony already opened hers, Faye refuses to touch hers, and Y/n tried, but failed." Peter said quietly, now moving on to messing with her hair and making tiny braids. He was pretty good at it from his own experiences with Rebecca.

Steve just nodded again, leaving the conversation at that and silently wandering somewhere else, most likely on search for Bucky or Sam. The slight tugging and curses from Peter slowly awoke her, the girl tiredly fluttering her eyes open at the sight of the man who she hadn't defined a relationship with just yet.

"Peter?" His eyes averted from her hair to her face, a small smile growing onto his lips at the sight of her. Even with messy hair, a wrinkled shirt, and large eye bags, he swore that he looked just as pretty and delicate as she would in a dress or with makeup. He hummed instead, going back to messing with her hair.

Y/n smiled gently at him before sitting up and moving back to give him a better angle to make different styles out of her hair. "So, you can do this, but can't tie your own tie?" She mused, quirking a brow with a smug smirk as his face turned a light pink shade and he stammered with an embarrassed stutter.

"Th-That's a different field of work."

"A Windsor knot isn't hard, Peter."

"Sh."

She rolled her eyes with a light scoff, tapping her fingers onto her thighs before reaching for a book on the table. Y/n froze briefly when the gift grazed her arm, the girl staying in that position until Peter straightened her up and made sure half of her didn't hang off of the couch. "Easy, easy." He said softly.

Y/n didn't say anything, feeling guilty for having not opened it yet. Not only that, but if this was Chip's last wish and she couldn't even fulfill it? Y/n as absolutely and truly a failure in her own mind. Distracting herself, she focused on the feeling of Peter's fingers in her hair as they moved from braiding and massaging her scalp every so often.

"I never really got that fresh start, huh?" She started, Peter humming in reply and looking at her slightly before moving back once he registered her question. He pouted cutely and continued to do the duties of any good boyfriend or husband, "You will, whether it's today or the day you wanted it to be; you'll get a fresh start."

It was her turn to hum, a low one with a heavy slice of doubt accompanying it. Peter ignored it, knowing that he was the only optimistic one in the relationship currently. Y/n brushed aside the fact that he was braiding her hair, leaning fully back so her face was looking up at his neck and chin. 

Her action only caused him to let out a high pitched whine that was absolutely adorable, followed by an extended yelp of her name. "What are we?" Peter snorted, taking on her sarcasm and copying something that she'd probably do. He shrugged, smiling at her and leaning down to kiss her forehead.

"We're homo sapiens."

Y/n rolled her eyes and reached her hand up, lightly smacking Peter's left cheek with an amused grin. "I mean legitimately, Parker. We've kissed, argued, hugged, cuddled, and now this. What are we?" She repeated, saying it in a serious tone with a hint of a comedic tone somewhere hidden in there.

Peter sighed, leaning back. He was never really looking forward to the definitive talk, but now that it was here, he didn't really like to see where it was heading. Worst possible scenario was that they argued and he was kicked out of her life permanently. Best possible scenario is they start dating again and get married, and as far as the future takes each of them.

"Whatever you want us to be."

Her jaw fell slack. "Are you really sure about that?"

He smiled. "Yeah, of course."

Her eyebrows furrowed briefly before she broke into a grin. "I want to be with you, but not like stuck stuck, more like a loose term for a couple." Peter didn't really mind, knowing that he'd still have her in any way, shape, or form. He knew how to respect other people's requests and in a healing stage for something like that so recently? 

Y/n would definitely need time.