Broken

Chapter 14

Peter's POV

Charlie and I have been getting a lot closer over the past couple months. We've already finished Supernatural so if we're not in the music room we're most likely talking about ships and what we think will happen in season 15.

"I swear, if one of them die I'm going to lose my collective shit," her dramatic ass says. I get up and make my way to the kitchen to make myself a sandwich even though it's like, 10:30pm. Superhuman kids gotta eat. Especially after patrol.

"As if you ever had your shit together in the first place," I counter. Moments later a knife flies past, inches from my face. I look back at Charlie and she's giving me the signature Romanoff smirk. "Ya know, you're exactly like your mom," I say, not too bothered about the knife. After all, I knew it was coming.

"Sure ya did, Parker."

"Spidey sense. And stop reading my mind, bitch."

"Jerk." I sit back down and we continue watching some crappy daytime show that's on. "I'm booooorreedd," Charlie moans. I sigh and get up, leaving the room. "Hey! Where are you going?"

"Music room. Coming?" She bolts up and races ahead. I chuckle to myself at her eagerness. I've more or less excepted my crush on her by now, I'm just able to push down the feelings as I know nothing will ever come of it.

Charlie's POV

I sit at the piano whilst I wait for Peter, who no doubt decided to walk down the stairs. I decide to play something that I learnt with Peter's help.

Halfway through the song I feel a presence behind me but elect to ignore it. Once I finished I forgot about said person, a slight squeak on the tiles reminding me they're there. I turn around calmly and see Peter advancing towards me. "You're getting better," he whispered into the calm atmosphere.

"Learned from the best," we both chuckle a little and he joins me on the rectangular stool. He gestures to the multiple sheets of music on the music rack of the grand piano.

"Wanna try it?"

I groan. "But I can never get it right!"

"That's why we practice." He nudges me playfully and readies himself to play the chords. He gives me a nod in confirmation and I return the gesture and we begin to play.

I play the melody and Peter and I sing in perfect harmony. As the song finishes my fingers linger on the perfect white keys. I feel his eyes on me and I turn my body to his, looking into his gorgeous chocolatey eyes.

We sit there in a comfortable silence, enjoying each other's company. I realise how long we've been sitting like this for and quickly move away. I clear my throat a little and am about to ask Peter if he wanted to play another song. Before I can get the words out, though, I feel him hold my chin between is index finger and thumb. He angles my head towards him and gently places his lips onto mine.

I pull away out of shock, confused as to what might've just happened. "Shit, shit, shit," he mutters to himself. "I'm so sorry, did I do something wrong? Shit, I'm so fucking sor-," I smash my lips back onto his, desperate for the feeling again.

The simple kisses soon turned into rather heated make out sessions (what? We're hormonal teenagers). After about an hour in the music room we decide to make our way back to Peter's room as it's bigger and we often spend the night together anyways.

Peter changes in the main bedroom into pyjama shorts and I grab an old shirt of his and change in the bathroom. When I leave, Peter enters and I clamber on top of the bed, almost immediately falling asleep.

Peter's POV

As I leave the bathroom, I notice Charlie asleep already to the left side of the king size bed, her frame looking even tinier in comparison. I quietly make my way towards her and carefully climb into the bed, making sure she seems comfortable. I lay there for a few moments, listening to Charlie's steady breathing, her bright red locks sprawled across the pillow and partially my stomach. I slowly succumb to the warmth of sleep, thoughts of today leaving very soon.

—————Time skip—————

I'm awoken by movement next to me in the early hours of the morning. I check the clock next to my bed to see the harsh red light reading '3:41am'. I feel Charlie moving again and turn my head towards her, trying not to make any sudden movements. Her face is one of pain and distress, and I immediately recognise the signs of a nightmare. I jump out of the bed and run towards her side, attempting to shake her out of the hell inside her head.

I shake her for 3 minutes straight but to no avail. I'm contemplating getting Miss Romanoff to come and help when Charlie suddenly bolts up, heavy panting and tears starting to form in her eyes. I immediately wrap my arms around her and whisper reassuring words into her ear.

After another 5 minutes her breathing becomes more steady and I loosen my grip on her slightly. "Are you okay?" I whisper into her hair, wishing that it wasn't so dark so I could see her face more clearly.

She sniffles before replying, "yes, I think so," but I know she's lying. I can hear the very slight waver in her voice.

"Nice answer, but I was looking for the truth," she buries her head in my chest, trying to hide herself from my questions. "We don't have  to talk about it. I don't want it to seem like I'm pushing you into answering."

"It's okay," she whispers quietly, almost so that I couldn't hear her. "Just a nightmare about HYDRA," she brushes it off as if it's nothing but I know her better than that.

"Anything you wanna tell me?" I try and get answers out of her as I know how it feels to have things like this bottled up. "Talking really helps, ya know," she nods subtly into my chest.

"They- um. They used to- uh... they used to chain me up to. To a pole," she hesitates a lot, and I can almost feel the fear radiating off of her body. "They would- um..."

"You don't have to keep going-."

"No. You're right. I need to get this off my chest," she takes a couple deep breaths and continues. "They would- umm- w-whip m-m-me," she eventually splutters out and I pull her impossibly close, tears gathering in my own eyes.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that," she shakes her into my chest, pulling away slightly to look at me.

"It's not your fault. Never was, never will be," I pull her into my chest again and pepper kisses on the top of her head.

"Doesn't mean I can't feel bad for you," the tears start to fall down my face.

"I didn't tell you for your pity," she whispers impossibly quiet, but, ya know, spidey senses.

I decide against saying anything further and start getting back into bed, yet refusing to let go of Charlie the whole time. We fall asleep in the knot of our limbs, holding each other close for reassurance and comfort. And we stay like that for the rest of the night.