strangetrip | [GP/EP] Check-in Day

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[GP/EP] Check-in Day

It was a musical day at the Madonna Inn, both inside and out. Curnen had taken her usual place up on the roof and was singing charms to the sky to keep any wanderers from getting lost (though that part of it was not immediately obvious). Unrelated to that, Sunny was on the dance floor in the bar, summoning songs of her own with her knife to keep her moving before she went to do her shift at the library later. It was one of those days where if she thought about it too hard she’d start thinking about that empty bed in her shitty room and the person she most wanted to be there.

This of course eventually seeped into her magic. She knew better. Maybe she’d even wanted that to happen.

Because just once, between different pop hits and dance beats came a rather unexpected French love song. She sighed and rolled her eyes, but the exasperation didn’t last. Before the lyrics started up she was waltzing. By herself and not caring how it might have looked. And for those three and a half minutes, she dared let herself hope for the slimmest chance that Orlu might come through that door.

She didn’t let herself hope too hard, though. There was admitting to feeling things and there was setting yourself up for certain disappointment. She’d lived too long with disappointment to do that to herself.

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She was staring down at her hands on the dresser handles when he joined her. She nodded and then nodded again, her expression riddled with concern and worry - a mixture of what happened to him and what was happening now. She nodded again.

Peter sets a tentative hand on Liz's shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded again, her lips pressed together. Liz was still sort of processing.

"You were... you were on the outside of a plane." The idea still was hard to really wrap her head around. Just the sheer feel of the wind around him and when he almost got sucked into the plane jet - Liz's hands on the dresser handles tightened.

"How were you not scared, Peter? You should have..." Liz couldn't even say the word.

How can he even begin to explain this to Liz? He doesn't know. He knew it was dangerous from the moment he tethered himself to the Vulture when he left the ground. But while he was on that planet, there wasn't a moment he felt scared. He was just so focused on stopping him that the fear that should have registered didn't.

It's too hard to explain, so instead he just settles.

"I don't know," he says.

She took in that answer quietly, still processing.

"...I'm scared all the time." Well, not all the time. Her gaze remained focused on her hands. "When I got shot and I was dying, all I could think about was how I wasn't ready. That I hadn't even passed my SATs yet and here I am, about to not exist anymore." She paused. "And even when it was stupid things like, like trying to expose Topolsky, I was scared because it wasn't safe, you know? Even when I jumped off a bridge and we weren't sure how deep the water was... Every time I was scared."

Peter tries again.

"When you're doing the stuff I do, you don't -- you don't have time to be afraid," he says. The only times he was really afraid that night were when he was in the car with Eddie and when he was trapped under the building. Times where he couldn't do anything. But when he could do something, he wasn't afraid. He couldn't be. He couldn't afford to second-guess himself.

She listened and took it in and then found herself turning to look at Peter with a bit of a hesitant, but hopeful expression. "...You'd ask for help, right, if you needed it?" Her eyes seemed to plead for him to say yes.

"Yeah," Peter says, nodding. "Yeah, of course. Ned -- Ned was trying to get in touch with Happy so that I could have backup."

It didn't do anything to ease her heart like it thought it would. She wondered if this was what parents felt when their kids went missing. She wondered if this was how her parents felt when she was late coming home or had been gone for a day or two without a cover story.

Liz turned and embraced Peter tightly. The sort of tight embrace that wasn't just for comfort, but was as if to say I never want to let you go. She pressed her head against his chest.

"Remember... I'm your Spider-woman." She spoke it against his chest, wanting him to know she'd always try to help.

"Yeah," Peter says, wrapping his arms around her. "I know. Seriously, Liz, don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

Peter knows that he has no idea what he's doing, but it seems like the right thing to say.

"I don't think I can stop worrying. I love you way too much." Her arms around Peter tighten. She knew it was selfish of her, but at that very moment, Liz Parker never wanted Peter to go back home again. She never wanted him to need to be Spider-Man ever again.

And a part of her hated herself for such a thought.

"... I'm sorry I saw that." A much smaller, softer voice against his chest.

"There's no need to apologize," Peter says, running a hand over the back of Liz's head. "You can't help it. I'm not angry, so it's fine."

He's not. But he wishes that Liz could stop worrying. He might not know what he's doing, but he was good at thinking on his feet -- and that's saved him so many times already.

She still spoke against his chest since it was easier to admit things that way without looking into his eyes.

"Sometimes I worry you'll stop kissing me or -" Well, maybe sometimes she worried he'd distance himself completely.

"You've already seen so much of my life," Peter says. "I don't know why you think that's going to suddenly change."

She wasn't sure what the answer to that was, but she did know she felt like there was something that might change. Like the possibility was there, even if she couldn't pinpoint what it was.

Liz shifted a little, looking up, and then leaned in to kiss him. She wanted the comfort, but perhaps it was a bit of a test too.

Peter gets the feeling that Liz is feeling insecure and he doesn't want her to be. So when she looks up and leans in to kiss her, there's no hesitation from him.

In fact, his kiss lasts a little longer than it usually does.

There was, perhaps, a moment that Peter could feel where Liz went from a rigid ball of nerves to something more relaxed. Her muscles suddenly un-tensed and her body almost melded to his, pour against him like he had the key to life.

And it was at that very moment Liz realized that the insecurities she had been holding onto were from Max and from back home. Peter was different. He didn't lie, he didn't mean one thing and say another, and he'd always be there for her. Peter was the real deal.

Even if there might be others back home, they would always be second best to Peter. Always.

Her eyes met his as they pulled back from the kiss.

"I love you, Peter Parker."

Liz would trust Peter implicitly from now on.

"I love you too, Liz."

Peter smiles, then takes Liz's hand and leads her back to the bed. He takes a breath and then asks:

"How much of it did you see?"

She sat down, thinking about it.

"You were on the side of a big airplane. You, um, you talked about your... Girlfriend's dad and how you had to fight him. And-" she pressed her lips together -" and you weren't in your suit."

Liz couldn't really decide what was scarier really.

"and you fought. You almost ended up in those turbine jet things." As she spoke it was clear Peter being in danger worried her to her core. Despite managing to keep her tone as normal as possible, her eyes held this terrifying notion she'd lose him someday to death. "The plane crashed... The fire was so hard and it was hard to breathe..."

"Oh," Peter says to that, because what else can he say to that? He really wishes that she hadn't seen that. It was probably worse in some ways than that time he was trapped under all that rubble.

"I didn't tell you. The Vulture was Liz's dad. Other-Liz."

"I thought-" Liz stopped herself since it didn't matter. She had been confused since she thought Other-Liz and he weren't technically dating, but that was in the past anyways. "I'm sorry... That must have been awkward."

Liz brought her hand up to a part of her body she remembered hurting more than the rest, "I didn't know you could survive something like that..."

Sure, a building on top of you was hard, but somehow a gigantic plane crash felt different.

"Yeah, I found out when I showed up to her place for Homecoming."

Peter had tried to cover for himself, but it hadn't worked; Eddie had figured it out easily, and laid down the law. The law which Peter promptly ignored and ended with him trapped under a building and on the outside of a plane.

"Yeah, I'm pretty durable," Peter says, patting his chest. "That's why I'm serious when I tell you that you shouldn't worry."

She reached out and pressed her palm against his chest where he had just patted it. Liz didn't think there'd be a time where she wasn't worried a little - if she didn't worry, then did she even care? But she nodded. "I'll try harder not to." Her hand still lingered.

Peter's smile is brief. Eager to change the topic he says:

"I should probably go grab our stuff. You think you'll be okay?"

A lot has happened today. Between her almost fainting and then her seeing that memory... Peter wouldn't blame her if she didn't want to be alone.

Liz nodded. She was still a little embarrassed, truth be told.

"If you want to come back later... we can watch Blade Runner again and you can teach me how to say the monologue. I'll try to live up to your skills." She smiled to him.

[GP/EP] Check-in Day

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