1 | ISSUES ( Peter Parker )

24

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR | LIAR LIAR

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her blood is dancing, she wants to live, and there is no life here.

-from the complete stories "in exile" // anton chekhov

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"Wh--what are you-- you doing here?" Peter asked Bella, his voice rising several octaves from what it typically was.

"What am I doing here?" Bella echoed, her voice also much higher than normal. "What are you doing here? You lost the Stark Internship!"

"Yeah, about that," Tony said, cutting in. "There never was an Internship. He's Spi--"

"No shit Anthony!" Bella screamed, throwing her hands into the air. "I want to hear him say it!"

Peter looked stunned and borderline afraid. Hearing Bella shriek in anger like that was striking and so out of character for her. It was then that he knew he had truly screwed up ( well, it wasn't like he didn't already know it, but something about seeing Bella with a face as red as a fire hydrant really made it real ).

"I--" Peter faltered, glancing at Tony, Happy, and freaking Nike. Discomfort twisted at his stomach when he realized that Bella intended to have this very personal conversation in front of them. "Bella can we please talk somewhere else?"

Bella narrowed her eyes at him. Her lips were shined over with lip gloss ( probably that one shade that tasted like cotton candy; Peter knew it was her favorite ) and she had them pursed out in obvious annoyance. Peter sent her a pleading look, hoping she still liked him enough to give in. Eventually, her eyes softened and she nodded curtly.

"Let's go," Bella said, her voice sharp and snappish.

Without looking back to see if he was following, she took off down a hallway to their left. A few awkward-silence-filled moments later, Bella stopped at a door and pushed it open. Peter felt his eyes go wide as he looked around -- they were in a bedroom. From the various items scattered around, it looked like Bella's bedroom.

Bella sat down on the bed and scratched at her neck. Her shirt's collar shifted, revealing black material beneath.

"You're Poltergeist," Peter found himself saying.

Bella rolled her eyes.

"Hey! Wait a second-- you can't be mad at me for not telling you when you were doing the same thing!" Peter exclaimed.

Bella shot off the bed, her hands in fists at her waist.

"I don't care that you didn't tell me you were Spiderman!" she screamed. "I care that you missed dates and cancelled last minute and abandoned me at homecoming. I care that you were a bad boyfriend for the past two months. I care that you lied to me!"

Bella was crying angry tears. Her face was as red as it was before and Peter could practically see the smoke pouring out of her ears. All Peter wanted was to hug her, but he knew that would just make things worse... and that he most likely wouldn't get out of it unscathed.

"Bella," Peter whispered, his voice catching and breaking on the consonants in the middle of her name. "I-- you don't know how sorry I am."

"I hate you," Bella seethed. "I hate you because I know I can't be mad at you for this. I can't be mad, I know I can't."

"Yes, you can," Peter said quietly. "I-- I made a mess of things, Bells."

"Yeah, no kidding," she said, chuckling darkly. As soon as the words tumbled from her lips, Bella looked at him, eyes widened in panic. "I didn't mean-- you didn't-- I-- Peter--"

"It's okay," Peter told her, trying his best to smile. "It's the truth."

Bella didn't say anything. Instead, she looked down at her hands and twisted her fingers together.

"This is the part where you break up with me, right?"

Bella's eyes shown with pain and Peter blinked back his tears.

"I mean, I should... right?" Bella said. "But-- I don't want to. I'd rather just, like, start over. You know?"

There was a certain vulnerability across Bella's face that Peter hadn't seen in a long time. The last time she looked at him like that was when she asked him if he loved her. And, God, did he love her.

Sniffing, Peter hurriedly wiped under his eyes to keep himself from crying even more. Taking a deep breath, he nodded at her.

"Start over," he repeated.

"Yeah."

Her voice was soft, trembling. She sounded scared, as if any second the ground beneath her feet would crack and give way, swallowing her whole.

Peter stepped closer to her, unsure of what to do next. Her heard Bella exhale as she shuffled towards him. They stood a mere inch away from each other. Briefly, Peter considered just leaning down and brushing his lips against hers. Instead, he just hugged her. Something within Bella released as she let out a shuddering breath against him, her body curling against his.

Things were beginning to feel all right again. Peter smiled against Bella's neck.

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two chapters left kids. well, one chapter and an epilogue technically. either way, there are still two more installments of this chapter left.

also, look at my lil frog baby in that gif !!!

-peterparrker