Saving Grace || Peter Parker

Part 25

Pacing around his bedroom, Peter was trying to come up with ways to cheer Nadia up.

If he was honest, there wasn't much he could truly do. He knew loss firsthand, he knew grief intimately; he had practically shook hands with the grim reaper, so it came as no surprise that he knew a little of what she was going through.

But everyone grieved differently. Some cry. Some laugh. And some are numb. It doesn't mean that how you're grieving is wrong, it's just something special that is a part of you and manifests to the surface.

But Nadia was slipping slowly into a deep hole, an obsidian pit prepared to swallow her whole. He couldn't sit back and watch, not when the Nadia he had grown to adore- the bold, daring and sarcastic Nadia- was loosing the spotlight she had inherited ever since arriving here.

He walked into her bedroom. She was sat at the edge, staring at a book in her hands with a ghostly smile translucent over her lips.

Since their conversation in the training rooms a few days ago, she had started to become more verbal, more Nadia esc but it wasn't all there still.

"Hey" he softly spoke, knuckles rubbing over the wooden door, the soft streak of wood under his skin anchoring him to not run away again.

She smiled up at him, patting the seat beside her and shuffling over slightly as he sat.

"How are you today?" Peter asked, handing her a bowl of cereal.

She took it gratefully, slowly spoon feeding herself before placing the bowl in her lap.

She thought for a moment; her eyebrows pinched, face scrunched and melting, almost as if tears were brining but ...no. It was fond.

"I'm doing good- better. I meant better. It's all still weird and confusing but I don't feel like dying today". She attempted at a joke, laughing to herself as she got it out, Peter not so much laughing but instead very worried.

He grabbed onto her hand, fingers interlacing as his thumb stroked the back of it. He couldn't bare to meet her eyes. He couldn't bare to work out if she truly did feel like dying. If she wasn't over exaggerating. If she laid herself bare, in front of him, and her eyes told her she would rather die than be there with him- than try.

He'd hate himself for the thoughts waltzing into his head. He hated himself now for even thinking about it, for making such a vulnerable situation about himself when she was the one in dire need. But he couldn't loose her.

"Peter I'm joking" she told him, lifting his head up by the chin, her fingers dancing softly against his jawline. He came into here to cheer her up yet here he was. "I'm doing okay, I promise."

He wordlessly nodded, bringing her into his arms and squeezing her tight as if she'd melt away in his embrace.

She laughed, hitting at his arms slightly, but a smile made its way onto her face.

She would be okay.

He knew it.

"I still can't believe it" he shook his head, an amazed sigh slipping through his voice.

"What, that my sisters dead?" She asked, raising her eyebrows slightly.

"No, stupid" he said, pushing her slightly "that you're from a whole different reality"

She made a noise 'ahhh' in understanding, standing up to stretch her tight limbs.

"Me neither, it's really weird"

He nodded his head, pulling her to stand between his legs as his arms roamed her body.

"You're beautiful" he whispered, eyes fluttering up to meet her wide eyes gaze.

She bit her lip in response, getting shy and giggling slightly as she punched his shoulder "shut up"

It was working. He was distracting her. But she didn't mind. Thanos could be stood behind her and all she'd be able to focus on would be Peter Parker's mesmerising stare, how his eyes trap you into their territory and drown you in an abyss of love and warmth.

No, she certainly didn't mind.