To All Those Brave and Lovely

Decathlon

Nora knows that Peter is nervous, even if he won't admit to it.  She finds the fact that he's even a little unsure about the coming decathlon rediculous (regionals, he had said, all excited, almost to the big leagues), considering he's the smartest person she's ever had the chance to meet in her entire life.  And yet, here he was, sitting at the table just pushing food around his plate instead of eating, hands shaking so bad that she has to put the last lego into place, trying to rub away the itching in his eyes that's only there because he hasn't gotten a good nights sleep in over a week.

"Alright,"  She says finally, when MJ's practice flashcards are scattered all around his bedroom and he looks so panicked that Nora is half afraid that he's about to burst into tears.  "We're done for tonight."

"No!"  Peter bursts out, gathering up a group of questions that he'd already been asked and answered correctly three times that night alone and dumping them into her lap.  "Just a little longer, please?  Last one, I promise."

"You're going to do fine."  She catches at his hands, because they are shaking, and she knows the signs of an oncoming panic attack when she sees one.  "You know all of these.  You've known them for weeks.  You and MJ and Ned have this in the bag."

"You think?"  His eyes are shining.  Other boys might have been embarrassed about this, but Peter isn't, just lets his vovice crack without mentioning it and leans against her to hide the fact that he might be crying.   Its the product of too many late nights in a row and too much pressure, and Nora is slightly tempted to go to MJ and tell her that she needs to have a serious talk to Peter about taking care of yourself.  

"I know you will."  They are impossibly close to each other, and they are all alone, and Nora is thinking that thing tha she only lets herself think when it's in the middle of the night and can't sleep, or in moments like this where she's caught off gaurd- that Peter is super sweet, and smart, and that maybe if she would lean in and close the distance between them he wouldn't mind, even if it complicated things with him and Stark Industries.  "You always do amazing."

He stares at her, eyes roaming across her face and down to where his hands are still being held still by hers, and Nora can actually feel when he makes the shift, when the thought in her becomes something that they might actually be about to do- until Ned bursts through the door carrying yet another lego set, throwing the door open so hard that it bangs against the wall and startles Nora so bad that she jumps across the room, suddenly terrified that it was Aunt May back early from work.  "Guys, you are not going to believe-,"  He pauses in the middle of his excitement, noticing for the first time the cards on the ground and Peter's glare and Nora's red face.  Ned has the grace to look ashamed of himself, even though Nora is almost certain he doesn't have a clue why they're looking like that.  "Did I interrupt something?"

Peter is silent.  Nora gets to her feet with effort, brushing off invisible dirt and fixing already straightened clothes.  "No, I was just leaving."  Lie.  She'd have to stand on the corner and wait for Happy for at least a half hour.  But that's better than sitting here, with Ned oblivious and Peter unable to look her in the eye, her still trying to figure out if what she thought was about to happen had really been about to happen, or if it was just that she wanted it to.   Nora crosses the room to grab her bag, ducking down to kiss Peter on the head (which is, admittedly, weird) before walking out.  "You guys are going to win, okay?  I can feel it."

Nora replays the moment in her head a lot on the drive home, with the panic in his eyes and his hands between hers and the look on his face when Peter turns to her and makes a decision, one that felt like something was going to change between them but maybe nothing would have, because they are just two kids that are two shy and scared to really do anything.  She doens't talk much to Happy, who keeps asking her about her day and finally asks if she and Peter got in a fight, and when she tells him no, nothing like that he looks back at her with an knowing sort of smile that was both comforting and infuriating all at once.  But now she's back at the tower, with Tony sitting across from her on the couch, and she doesn't have the energy to worry about a possible relationship at the moment.