strangetrip | Eggspecations (Closed to Peter, then Kitty)

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Eggspecations (Closed to Peter, then Kitty)

Liz had eventually found her egg and inside was her uniform from the Crashdown Cafe. It seemed like it had been freshly laundered, but there was no doubt that it was hers and not just some random uniform from the diner. For a few days she just left it alone, wondering what she was supposed to do with it. She wasn't about to wear it while she served people, if only because she was sure someone like Odo would be pretty upset by that, being an alien and all.

Her mind kept going back to how Peter had said he wished he saw what it looked like. Maybe the egg was more for Peter than for her. Liz decided it wouldn't hurt to show him.

She put on the uniform complete with antennas. It was almost surreal to see herself in the uniform after so long. She stood in front of a mirror for a while before she exhaled and headed out to find Peter. She was kind of hoping he was in his room so no one else had to see the uniform, but after a few knocks on his door, she figured he was out. She ended up walking around the inn longer than she had wanted to in her uniform until she found him. His back to her, she welled up the courage inside of her.

"Peter." She offered a sheepish smile.

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Peter's happy to hear his hunch was on-point.

"You should open it," he urges. He's curious to know what it is, too.

With his encouragement, Liz carefully ripped open the side. It looked like photographs. When she pulled out the pictures, there was a group photo she hadn't seen in a while.

"Oh wow. That's, um. That's kind of embarrassing." Though her expression was fond as she looked at the photo. "This is at the Crashdown."

Liz pointed to the guy on the right. "That's Michael. He's an alien. He's a really nice guy but doesn't act like it a lot. And that's Maria. She'd be really embarrassed. She regrets her short hair phase." She pointed to the blonde at the back. "That's Isabel. She's Max's sister. She's really popular and into all the social clubs at school." She was the quintessential popular girl.

"And that's... That's Max." And obviously her.

Edited 2018-04-07 16:48 (UTC)

"Oh," Peter says, because how can he really compare to Max? He's really good-looking, like an actor or something.

"It's really great to see what your friends actually look like," Peter says. "And now you have something to keep around to remind you of them."

It's true; he's genuinely happy that she has a photo of them because he knows that Liz has wanted one for a long time. But at the same time --

-- maybe it would have been better if he hadn't seen a picture of Max.

Liz was so focused on the pictures in front of her she wasn't picking too much up on Peter's reaction.

She lifted the front photo and put it in the back revealing a prom photo of them in the diner. She would have been embarrassed but her eyes focused on the blonde in the middle. Tess.

"This is..." She paused, stealing a glance a Peter. "This is prom. Um. That's Alex." She pointed to the guy on the far right. Her other best friend. "He really likes Isabel." He had been so happy to go to prom with her. "That's Kyle." She pointed to the guy behind Tess. "And um... That's Tess." Her voice lowered a little as she pointed to the blonde next to her.

Edited 2018-04-07 17:04 (UTC)

This is all kinda just reminding him of Homecoming. He and Liz probably would have took photos like this if things had turned out the way they had.

"Tess kinda looks like Lilith," Peter observes. He turns and looks at Liz, trying to detect some shift in expression as she looks down at Tess. Was she still upset with her? It sounded like she might be.

Liz wanted to say she wasn't holding a grudge, but Liz couldn't help it. Tess really rubbed her her the wrong way. "Thankfully Lillith sounds different. And she's started to not use that look a lot. I guess it's, um. A spell? She looks kind of like that red woman walking around." Zahra, Liz thought her name was.

The next photo was of her and Max. She paused, but felt uncomfortable looking at it with Peter there and turned to the next one which had Tess and Kyle again. She exhaled a little. Why did she get this photo in particular?

"Tess isn't... She's not a bad person." At least as far as Liz knew. She was just... Liz couldn't quite let herself be her friend.

Peter forces himself to look down at the photos instead of over at Liz; she quickly flicks over the picture of her and Max (for which Peter is equal parts unnerved and relieved), then stops at the picture of Tess and Kyle.

"If she's not a bad person, what is she, then?" he asks.

That was a good question. Liz paused to think about it. "She's... She's nice." Probably to most people anyways. "She gets along with Kyle and everyone." Another slight pause. "It's not really her fault she's destined to be Max's wife, you know?" Or that Max responded to her the way he did. "I just.. I can't seem to let myself be okay with her.... Maybe that makes me a bad person." If she were being 100 percent truthful, she hated Tess.

Edited 2018-04-08 12:38 (UTC)

"It's okay to not be okay with people," Peter says, reaching out to brush a stray hair out of Liz's face "There's people I'm not okay with, and that doesn't make me a bad person. And it definitely doesn't make you a bad person, either."

Liz thought she might actually hate Tess, but she wasn't ready to even admit that to herself.

She nodded, offering him a small smile. He seemed to always know what to say to make her feel better.

Deciding to move on, she flipped to the next photo and paused for a different reason. The photo looked different with time and date on it this time. Next to her there were the words "Subject 2: Liz Parker". Under the woman was labeled "Special Agent Tapolski" and near Alex was labeled "person of interest."

"I..don't understand." She frowned. She definitely didn't remember taking this photo. She picked it up and flipped it. There was an FBI stamp on the back.

Picking it up also revealed the next photo which was labeled, again, with her as subject 2 and over Max was "subject one: Max Evans". Liz didn't see that part though, not really, since she felt a vice grip in her chest. She was sitting next to the boy she loved and there was a photo of her lying down on the ground with Max. It felt like when she got 'caughy' by Max in bed with Kyle. Liz couldn't quite breathe and, after the initial shock she tried to get rid of the photo by turning to the next one which was even worse, but looked the exact same with the FBI logo on the back and everything.

There was a storm of emotions. She had given up Max. The reminder of this moment, where she had been happy, was cruel. But then also Peter was seeing these photos and that was cruel and the worry that she had almost convinced was gone - how Peter might not feel like he was number one - came flooding back.

"I, um." She was at a lost for words. The photos were abandoned to the side of her as she stood up. "I'm sorry -" this wasn't fair to him. She turned around and closed her eyes in a grimaced. She felt as if things were changing suddenly, panicked on what Peter was going to think or do or say. She started to walk back to collect her shoes.

The first photo -- the one with the FBI stamp on the back? That's all it took to creep him out. And the second photo, of Max clearly covering her? It felt like Liz might have been in a lot more danger than she ever told him. Peter has to remind himself that whatever was stalking Liz back there, it wasn't here. Liz was safe here. And he'd continue to make sure she was safe.

He almost managed to squelch those feelings by the time Liz got to the third photo, and that managed to completely annihilate them, swallowed up by a massive feeling of insecurity. Insecurity Peter knew shouldn't feel, but felt anyway.

"It's fine, Liz," he calls after her, pushing himself off the pool's ledge. It's not true, but he doesn't want her to be upset. Barefooted, he maneuvers himself so he's in front of her. "It's fine."

She hated this feeling. Like things had. Just gotten steady and good and then they weren't again. It was just like back home when Tess showed up. And then when the Skins showed up.

"no, it's not okay. That's-" she gestured behind her to the photos strewn on the pool side. "That's cruel and unfair." Whether she was talking about to her or to him, even Liz didn't know. Maybe both.

"You shouldn't.. shouldn't have had to see that." Her arms folded over her chest, hugging herself. And maybe she was upset someone seemed to be watching her too, but that seemed less important at that very moment.

Edited 2018-04-08 17:40 (UTC)

Peter isn't sure if he should hug her right now because it looks like she might not want that right now with her arms folded over her like that.

"It's fine," Peter insists. "You didn't know what was in those photos. And all that stuff? The FBI stuff? Liz..."

Peter presses his lips together.

"...I'm just glad that you're away from that now." Not her friends -- the danger.

"I didn't even know they were taking photos of us like that." She glanced away, off to the side of the inn for a moment. It made sense, though, if she thought about it. Tapolski had been in their school and they had even fooled Sheriff Valenti.

Liz sighed and looked back at Peter, a frown on her lips. He was being so understanding. Did he really feel that way or was he just saying that because he was a nice person?

Feeling defeated, her arms lowered as if she were tired. "I don't - I don't even really care about that." Not at the moment, anyways. It weirder her out, sure, but she felt uneasy for other reasons. "I'm just... I wish you hadn't seen..
Seen those." He hadn't made the same particular expression that Max had made, but it almost felt, to Liz, as if he had.

"I wanted to see your friends, didn't I?" Peter asks. "I got to see them. I'm -- I'm glad I saw them."

It's a half-truth. He is glad to put faces to the many different names that have permeated Liz's stories the last few months. But as Liz anticipated, he wasn't exactly elated to see her and Max kissing one another. It was uncomfortable. It made him feel insecure. And maybe worst of all, it made him feel jealous. Over someone who wasn't even here. Someone who was part of Liz's past and not part of her present.

Peter moves back to the pool's edge and begins to pick up the photographs one-by-one.

She turned and watched him quietly as he picked up the photos. She was sure she looked a little ridiculous if anyone looked out at the pool and saw them, but all she could focus on was Peter. She knew how she'd feel if the roles were refused. She knew how she felt about Max and Tess. At yet he was being so -nice- about the whole thing.

She watched him, the words of Jackson and Alec playing over in her head.

Once Peter gathers the photos, he straightens the photos so they're properly lined up.

And when he does so, he notices that the photo of Liz and Max kissing is at the top and quickly re-arranges them.

Peter straightens and approaches Liz, photos in hand, and offers them to her. "You're not going to want to leave these behind."

"I don't want them." Her voice came out soft and a little hoarse. Part of her did want them, just like part of her missed home and her friends and her parents.

She looked at Peter, her expression trapped somewhere between panic and despair. Liz could feel the turmoil swirling in her chest.

"I don't want them." As if repeating herself would take away the doubt. "I just want there to be you and me and this place and - and no Max or Tess or Liz or - or" She threw up her hands out in front of her in a vague gesture because she didn't know what she was saying, but at the same time thought she was being clear and she just didn't know.

Her lips pressed together as they struggled not to frown and did a bad job at it.

"I'm just. I'm just tired of feeling like I'm just here, you know? Like, I got shot, so Max saved me. And then I was this person who knew this secret no one else knew and knowing it was fine, but then there were FBI agents at our school and I helped with that and then I got kidnapped and, fine. Sure. Then other aliens who are not as nice. And then Tess shows up. And then Max from the future. And every time I'm supposed to just - just be okay with everything and go along with it and help and be dependable Liz. But then I came here and I met you - I've never met anyone like you before. And you're - you're - well I've never had anyone make me feel the way I feel when I'm with you and I thought maybe here I'd just be able to be me, you know? Liz Parker. And the only thing I wanted to deal with was some homework and meeting people and being your girlfriend."

Somehow she felt a little lighter after saying all that, but she was also surprised because she hadn't meant to say most, if any, of that."

Peter bites his lower lip. What is he supposed to say to that? Even now he's still trying to process all of it, and he doesn't have any immediate answers, because everything feels like it's too much all at once and he never, ever feels like he knows the right thing to say.

Instead, he takes her hand into his own and opens it, then places the photos into her hand. His hand presses down over hers, folding her hand over the stack of photos, and keeps it there because maybe right now isn't the best time to give her a hug, but he wants her to know that he's there and that he cares and sometimes he feels like his words don't do a good job of that.

"All the things that happened to you -- you shouldn't have to throw all those things away because you don't feel like you can't be you because of it. Those things all of them -- you are who you are because of them."

He gives her hand a little squeeze.

"You don't have to be dependable or strong or anything with me. I want you to be you."

She stood there, unable to find words after saying so many. She hadn't really expected to say all that and some of it she wasn't even aware she felt. Did she feel that way? She must have.

His hand felt warm against hers, like he always did. A warmth that had the ability to permeate through her skin and spread like a slow rising tide.

Liz took a step closer, closing the small distance between them. The advice she was given still swirled somewhere in the back of her mind and coupled with her ever-growing want to demonstrate to Peter he wasn't a consolation relationship.

At that moment, holding his gaze that made her chest flutter almost every time, her free hand moved to take his free hand and with little forethought, placed his hand over her breast. He had avoided it when they made out and even now, she could swear she felt the warmth of his hand through the fabric of her clothes. "I am yours Peter."

Peter immediately jerks his hand away, then lets his other hand -- the one that was holding her shut over the photos -- drop down to his side. His mouth hangs open slightly until he's actually aware of it, and then he closes it.

Panic rises up in him and when he finally opens his mouth again, he spits the words out:

"I've got to go."

And with that, Peter Parker runs off, leaving his shoes -- and his girlfriend -- behind.

Liz was stunned. Stunned at her actions and stunned at his reaction - though she told herself later she shouldn't be. Liz was left along by the poolside, feeling like an idiot.

She gathered up enough wherewithal to stuff the photos in her apron, pick up Peter's shoes, and head inside. She had no idea what she would do with his shoes, but she ended up finding herself in front of Kitty's door, her eyes stinging from threatening tears that would immediately fall when she opened the door. She was still dressed in her diner uniform and holding on to Peter's shoes.

How could I have been so stupid.

Kitty's own egg sat in the corner of her room, unopened. She knew it was hers, because it was the last one left and she'd asked Sam if he wouldn't mind carrying it for her. She'd open it when Passover was over. Somehow it just seemed weird to get an Easter gift during Passover.

She wasn't thinking about that when the knock came, though. Truthfully, she hadn't been thinking about much of anything. "It's open," she called from the bed in her new room she liked so much better.

For a split second she considered not entering, though her hand was on the doorknob. Maybe she should just go and - well, she didn't know what she was going to do, but she'd do it. But the she opened the door and when she stepped inside and saw Kitty, that's when the tears released.

"I ruined it. I'm so stupid. I - I'm so stupid." She buried her face in her hands.

Having lived through her own teenaged melodrama, Kitty was (just for a moment) tempted to say Yes, you are, just to see if Liz's shock would stop the tears. But that was a Yana tactic, not a Kitty tactic, and so instead, she got up, closed the door behind Liz, and steered her to sit down with an arm around her shoulders.

"Well, an alien waitress wouldn't have been my first choice for sexy roleplay, but I'm sure he'll get over it," she said lightly, while her hand stroked over Liz's hair.

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Liz and Kitty

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