Roommates and sleepovers (Peter, then Annie eventually)

[st_x5_494]

Alec liked Sunny. Not in a like-like sort of way, but she had fire in her he could definitely appreciate and she ever wanted to take him to bed to sort out any further aggression, he would totally be willing to do that. But after that and a run - he hated arrival day - he ended up back down the hall to his room. He pushed over the door and saw Peter lying face down on his bed. Alec was almost tempted to just back out of the room.

He didn't.

"Well, that's not a good sign." He sighed. "What happened? Did you fall and hurt your face again? Maybe you farted in front of Liz?"

Comments

[st_arkintern]

"Makes sense," Peter concedes. He pulls back the covers for Annie to crawl under. "Did you have a bedtime back home?"

[st_ayedhidden]

"Eight o'clock on school days. 9:30 on weekends," She answered, smiling.

Annie crawled in excitedly. She thought the bed seemed automatically more comfortable than hers. She curled up on her side, hugging her plush toy.

[st_arkintern]

Peter tucks her in, then lays down on top beside her.

"Where'd you get your toy?" he asks, pointing to the little spider-plush.

[st_ayedhidden]

She rolled on her back and held up the toy toward the ceiling.

"It's part of a set I had since I was born," She answered. "I don't have Hulk anymore, but I still have Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, and Captain America. But Spidey's my favorite."

She smiled and hugged him.

"I bring him to school in my backpack," She explained. "It's why I still have him here."

[st_arkintern]

Peter can't help but smile a little at Annie.

"What happened to the Hulk?" he asks.

[st_ayedhidden]

"It was ruined when I was a baby," She said. "I don't know how though."

Her parents didn't want to answer that question when she asked it.

Annie smiled, but soon the smile turned into a yawn.

[st_arkintern]

"If you want, we might be able to find you or make you some replacements," he says. He's not good at sewing, but he's pretty sure Corbie is. That might also help with the "too much bed space" problem she mentioned before.

"Is it okay if I turn the light off now?" he asks.

[st_ayedhidden]

"Okay," She said. I'd like to have them all back again, that would be nice. "And, yes. That's okay too."

Annie was already starting to feel really sleepy.

[st_arkintern]

Peter gets up off the bed and turns off the lights, then climbs back onto the top of the bed and lays down.

Truthfully, he's not very tired, but he figures it might help Annie to have someone to lay down next to until she falls asleep. Then he can probably migrate over to the couch.

[st_ayedhidden]

Annie falls asleep quickly. She was already tired from the hour and events of the day. For a while her sleep is restful. She slept curled up with the Spider-Man plush toy and her breathing is even.


Around midnight, her breathing changed. In her dreams, there was a big shadow. She could never escape the shadow. It had the most horrible, throaty laugh. Her body twisted and turned. It wriggled. Eventually she found herself in the fetal position lying on Peter's ceiling. The shadow was still chasing her. Annie made whimpering sounds in her sleep.

[st_arkintern]

Peter eventually wakes up to the sound of the whimpering. When he looks at the bed, Annie is no longer there, but her Spider-Man plush is.

"Annie?" he asks, panicked. He checks under the bed, then in Alec's room. It doesn't occur to him to look up until he hears her whimper again.

Peter crawls up along the side of his bedroom, then up onto the ceiling. "Annie," he says gently. He doesn't quite touch her to rouse her yet. "It's okay. It's Peter."

[st_ayedhidden]

Sometimes in her dreams there was fire. There was fire tonight. Before she could look into the fire, she heard Peter's voice. The spell of the nightmare vanished and Annie opened her eyes. She looked around quickly and then saw Peter.

Annie swallowed hard and tried to look calm.

"I'm... on the ceiling again," She said, frowning. "Sorry."

[st_arkintern]

"Don't apologize," Peter says, still positioned in a crawl on the ceiling. "Were you having a nightmare?"

[st_ayedhidden]

Annie was a little different. Her whole body seemed to be able to stick to the ceiling. She nodded quietly.

"I always have the same one," She replied. "A big shadow thing. It comes and takes me away most of the time. And laughs a lot."

[st_arkintern]

"I have nightmares like that," Peter says. "Nothing about shadow things, but other ones."

He wants to tell her that no shadow monster would ever come here, and if it did, everybody would protect her, but... Peter knows that nightmares aren't logical, and no amount of reassurance was likely to make a difference.

"It's okay that you have nightmares," he says. "They're never fun, but they're nothing to be ashamed about."

[st_ayedhidden]

Annie nodded. Hearing him say such a thing seemed to calmed her down. If I was home right now, dad would scoop me up and carrying me back down.

She shifted on the ceiling. After a brief pause, Annie started to climb to the wall and then down.

[st_arkintern]

Peter crawls down beside her. Normally he'd just jump down, but he wouldn't risk Annie following suit.

[st_ayedhidden]

Annie climbed back into bed and reached for her plushie.

"It doesn't happen all the time, I promise." She said quietly.

[st_arkintern]

"It's still okay if it does," he says, sitting down on the bed next to her.

He pauses, watching her clutch the plush Spider-Man.

"Do you want a hug?"

[st_ayedhidden]

Annie looked at Peter while a beat passed and she then nodded. She wanted a hug really bad.

[st_arkintern]

Peter gives her a hug. A tight one, but not one so tight that he'll hurt her. One that's just the right amount of firmness so she knows that he's there and that everything's going to be okay. The kind of hug his parents gave him when he was little, and the kind of hugs that Ben and May gave him later.

[st_ayedhidden]

Peter's arms around her made Annie feel safe and she smiled groggily. If Peter was a little bigger, she was sure he would feel just like her dad back home.

Annie didn't make a move to leave his arms. She enjoyed the warmth they provided.

"I love you," She murmured sleepily.

She wasn't aware it slipped out. She felt so tired.

[st_arkintern]

Peter doesn't say anything to that because he's not exactly sure what he can say to it except I love you back, and he doesn't want to make it any more confusing for her than it is already.

So instead, Peter just holds her as long as she needs to be held.

[st_ayedhidden]

The comfort of Peter's arms are enough for her to drift back to sleep. Her body relaxed completely in just few short minutes.

[st_arkintern]

Peter gently rests Annie down, tucks the plush Spider-Man near her, then pulls the covers over her.

Peter dampens his lips and looks down at Annie. He has no idea what he's doing, but he's doing the best he knows. He really hopes that it's enough.

Peter crawls back onto the couch and pulls his own blanket over him and soon enough, like Annie, falls asleep.