Gifted Children

Chapter 25

Isabelle woke up to a peaceful morning, although she was disappointed when she opened her eyes. She had hoped that she had not lost her hearing and would wake up to hear all of her friends. She went to go and see if Peter was awake, but his blanket didn't have him under them. Isabelle began to panic and got out of bed quickly. She put on some loose short-shorts and a cut-off. She ran down the stairs to the kitchen.

Peter was in the kitchen, starting to make some breakfast. He saw Isabelle run into the kitchen, her face full of worry. As Isabelle turned the corner and saw Peter, she let out a relieved but surprised gasp. Peter walked around the kitchen island and looked at her with a worried kind of smile. He lightly grasped her arms and looked at her intently.

She pointed to her head, then to him, then pointed her thumb away. He knew what she meant.

"I thought you left."

He went and got the notepad, which was on the kitchen counter. 

'You thought I left you? After I promised Mr. Stark?' He handed her the notepad with a questioning smile.

'I don't know. I just didn't know where you went and got worried.'

He gave her a big smile and then wrote, 'Sooo you were worried about me?'

She looked down from the note and blushed, which Peter noticed.

'No... What are you making?'

'Some breakfast. Wanna help me make some for both of us?'

'Sure,' she handed it back to him with a smile. He took her hand excitedly and led her around the island to the stove. She chuckled at his eagerness to make breakfast. As they got to the stove, Peter wrote, 'What do you wanna make? We've got bacon, eggs, or pancakes.'

'I'll make pancakes.'

Peter nodded kindly at her after he read her note. Isabelle opened the cabinet that she knew had the pancake mix, but she was too short to reach it.

She tapped Peter on the shoulder, and he turned around slightly confused. She pointed to the top of the cabinet and he slightly chuckled as he walked past her and got it for her. He handed it to her and she walked back to her mixing bowl. She began to mix some of the pancake mix, but then she saw the notepad slide over to her. 

'You should make the pancakes with chocolate chips :)'

She looked at him with raised eyebrows. He had a silly smile on his face. She playfully rolled her eyes at him as she went back over to the cabinet to get some chocolate chips. The chocolate chips were also at the very top shelf, but Isabelle wanted to try and get it herself. She managed to get on top of the counter and grab the chocolate chips but slipped when she tried to get back down. She immediately felt someone catch her, which made her look up. She saw Peter's kind face but in a worried expression. He put her down and immediately grabbed the notepad.

'You should've just asked me to get it for you.'

'I didn't want to interrupt you. I thought I could get them by myself,' she gave him the notepad with her head down.

'I'm cooking eggs. You can interrupt me whenever you need to,' he handed it to her with a kind smile

Isabelle didn't write anything else, but just gave him a small, sad smile and turned to go back to her pancakes. He didn't stop her and went back to his bacon and eggs.

After a while, Isabelle got done with her pancakes and turned to tell Peter. She turned around to see that Peter had already started setting the table. She also just realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt, only a pair of comfy looking sweatpants. She smiled and walked over to the table, where she quietly set the plate of pancakes down. He heard her set the plate down and looked at her with a smile. They quietly set the table and sat down to eat. Peter brought the notepad just in case they wanted to talk while they ate.

'What are we going to do after we eat?' Isabelle wrote down on the notepad.

'I don't know. What do you want to do?' He gave her the notepad back.

All of a sudden, as Isabelle began to write something, Stark walked into the room.

"Sorry to interrupt your breakfast, but her hearing piece is done," Stark said as he walked in and pointed to Isabelle.

Isabelle obviously couldn't hear him, so she continued to write down what she wanted to do. Peter noticed and lightly shook her arm to get her attention. She looked up and saw Stark. He just held up the device and pointed to his ear. She stood up, and he directed her to his office. 

Peter told Stark, "I'll just wait here."

Stark pointed to a chair for her to sit down. She silently nodded and sat down. Isabelle felt him put something into her ear and press something to the top part of her back and the back of the left side of her head. She felt Stark's hands work around her right ear, where the device was. She felt him turning up a dial on the device, and she began to hear the sound of Stark tapping his foot. 

He walked in front of her and looked her in the eyes.

"Can you hear me?" He asked Isabelle.

Isabelle just looked at him in awe for a couple of seconds, hearing his voice for the first time in 24 hours. 

"Yeah," she said breathlessly, so excited she could barely speak.

Stark looked at her with a happy expression on his face and immediately hugged her tightly. Isabelle had never even seen Stark show the tiniest bit of affection to anyone, so this was odd for her. 

"Thank god. Glad to have you back, kid," he said with a slight laugh.

"Glad to be back. Even though I didn't leave."

Stark just laughed. "Go and see Underoos. He seemed pretty worried about you."

"Underoos?" Isabelle asked with a laugh.

"Just a nickname. Now go."

Isabelle left the office and walked down to the kitchen. Peter was pacing around in the kitchen, although as soon as he saw Isabelle walk down the stairs he looked ecstatic. He picked up the notepad and walked over to her, but she pushed the notepad away and looked him in the eyes.

"It worked," she said with a large smile.

Peter's face lit up when he heard what she told him. He picked her up (on account of the super strength) and twirled her around in a giant hug.

Her hair was up, although there was a large tuft of hair that fell in front of her face. As Peter put her down, he tucked that piece of hair behind her ear. He noticed the earpiece in her ear and studied it. 

"Is it that noticeable?" Isabelle said with a slightly uncomfortable laugh.

"No, no. It's just crazy. That's what helps you hear again. That's-that's crazy," he said with a cute smile.

They both just looked at each other for a while, and then Isabelle realized that Peter's hands were on her hips. She put her hands on his, which made him take them off of her, but she reached for them again and held them in her hands.

"I-u-uh," Peter began stammering.

Peter stopped talking and kissed Isabelle. He surprised Isabelle, as she didn't expect it to happen so suddenly. He pulled away and looked at her with an anxious smile.

"S-Sorry I, uh, I just didn't know what to do," he managed to stutter out.

Isabelle lightly grabbed his jaw and kissed him again. Peter deepened the kiss, putting his hands on Isabelle's waist lightly. Just as she pulled away, she heard Stark behind them.

"Geez, I leave you two alone for two minutes and you're all over each other," he told them with a laugh.

Isabelle looked down and blushed, but Peter confidently told him, "Well, if you would've been here you would've had to see us," with a smirk.

"I like the confident Peter," Stark said to him.

Both Isabelle and Peter laughed, then walked up the stairs to Isabelle's room. 

"So what's it like to do your web-swing-thingy?" Isabelle asked him.

"Wanna find out?" Peter asked her.