Saving Grace || Peter Parker

Part 19

Nadia woke up, she woke up smoothly and without nightmares. She stretched, head lulling back as her eyes closed, releasing a sigh of relief.

Before she could get out of bed and make herself look presentable, a knock sounded at the door.

Peter waltzed in, all smiles and joy as he took her in. With her chaotic bed hair, tired eyes still half shut with sleep and her tank top, one strap falling of her shoulder.

"Get dressed" he said, leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest.

"Why?" She croaked, coughing to clear her throat.

"I'm taking you out"

She raised her eyebrows "oh?"

"I'm taking you anywhere that has significance to me. I know everything about you, it's time for you to learn about me" his smile was contagious, he looked so carefree and happy that it was hard to refuse.

"Okay" she smiled too.

After he departed her bedroom, she started to become nervous. Butterflies in her stomach and a heated face kind of nervous. She went through her closest about ten times before she settled on mom jeans and a crop top, with one of Peter's flannels to go over the top.

She did soft makeup and kept her hair down, she hesitated walking out of her door. But then she rolled her eyes at herself you're literally a Russian spy, an assassin, get it together she whisper to herself.

Peter was no better, phoning Aunt May in the morning for outfit inspiration, the right thing to stay and how to compliment her. He had been of his game lately, he needed to get on top of it.

They exited their bedrooms at the same time, eyes pinned on the other. Nadia raked her eyes over him, attempting not to smile as she saw his shoes, the ones she said she liked the other day.

He was the same, attempting not to just take her then and there when he saw the flannel. She looked good in his clothes.

"You look beautiful" he said, voice low.

"Thanks, you clean up well yourself" she laughed, stepping forward to just grab his hand and walk, sick of the tiptoeing around each other.

"So, what are we doing today?" She asked, swinging their hands as they walked the streets of New York.

He looked down at her "I'm taking you to a restaurant in China Town"

She beamed "I love Chinese food"

"Good"

They side stepped people, weaved throughout cars and took the easiest short cuts, known from their time as the famous vigilantes they were.

Walking down a narrow street, the restaurant came into view. Red lanterns sparkled above them, even if the day light shined through it still looked pretty.

They pushed the glass door open, Peter's hand placed on the small of her back, thumb rubbing at the scar that was under her shirt.

They had reservations so it was an easy job to get to their table. Peter, always a gentlemen, pulled her seat out for her and allowed her to sit before rounding the table and sitting in his own seat.

She smiled at him "we're really doing this?"

He laughed "we are"

She nodded and hummed "tell about you then, Peter Parker"

Taking a sip from his water he thought "what do you wanna know?"

"Your ambitions maybe? Your dreams?"

"I thought you didn't like all the cliche, cheesy, romance film esc"

She nodded "you would be correct. But the girl always gets the guy with these types of questions"

"Fair enough. I want to be a big photographer. Taking pictures of peoples happiest moments, freezing time, forever able to look back at it"

"That's cute" she said, looking through the menu.

"Cute?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, I would've thought you might wanna do something with science" she shrugged.

"I'm done with science until I need it" he said.

"Why's that?" She asked, closing the menu.

"You really wanna know?"

"I'm here to get to know you, мальчик-жук (bug boy)"

He smiled at her "well, when I first was-" he looked around to make sure no one was listening "-bitten, there was a scientist who tried to recreate something similar- kinda anyways. He tried mixing his dna with reptilian dna, tried to create something my father had discovered. It didn't exactly work since he turned into a giant lizard"

Her mouth opened, a surprised laugh releasing "дерьмо (shit)"

"Then he tried to turn the entirety of New York into lizards. It was crazy. I stopped him though"

"Of course"

"But I'd rather stay away from science, I don't want to accidentally create something terrible"

She nodded "I get it"

"You do?"

She hummed, thinking of her reality "some people back from my...home, they've had similar experiences"

Before she could continue, a waitress came over and asked for their orders. They ordered dim sum to share, Nadia ordering beef chow mein and spring rolls, Peter ordering Wonton soup and egg rolls.

"Anyways, indulge me on these scientists" Peter said, head resting on his hand as he looked to her.

She nodded "okay, well there was Dr Bruce Banner. Total sweet heart, infatuated with my eldest sister"

"Did they work out?" He asked

"No" she smiled sadly "life got in the way. Anyways, he was exposed to heavy doses of gamma radiation."

Peter's eyes widened as he sat up "shit, was he okay?"

She scrunched her eyebrows together "I mean, he lived. But he had an alter ego of sorts as an aftermath"

"Alter ego?"

"His name was Hulk. He was a big, green monster. When Banner would get angry, too angry to control it, he'd 'hulk out'. It's difficult to explain but you'd understand if you saw it"

"Shit, well another reason not to be a scientist. Anyone else?"

She laughed at him, picking at the free bread bowl "I thought this day was about you?"

"It's about us, plus I wanna know these things"

"Okay, okay. Well there's Tony Stark. The genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist. CEO of Stark Industries and Iron Man. He created a robot by the name of Ultron- Banner helped create him actually. The robot was supposed to be an AI system but it evolved. It was supposed to be a defence, protection mechanism to make the world a safer place but it was too intelligent and instead tried to wipe out the human population. Tony had good intentions but the wrong execution"

Peter leaned forward even more "that's crazy, your world is crazy"

She agreed with him, wholeheartedly "they aren't even the worst parts"

They moved onto a different conversation when their lunch was served, smiling and laughing at each other.

They left the restaurant in content, full bellies and happy smiles.