risk (tom holland)

seventeen

The nightmares didn't come tonight. I don't even know if I dreamt at all. I could feel Peter's warm skin on mine and I felt safe, secure, happy.
I had nothing to be afraid of.

My eyes fluttered open and Peter's soft brown ones were already open, watching me. "Hi" I smiled a bit. "Hi." He replied, my head hurt from the burst of light that my eyes began to adjust to.
I rolled over and looked at the clock "11:43 AM"
"Hm, not bad." I said.
"How long have you been up for?" I rolled back over. "Like 2 minutes. Ross is getting restless." He said lifting up his arm and there I noticed him under Peter's forearm, waiting for food.
I stretched my arm upward and into the air, and he did this thing that he does sometimes. I never paid attention to it before, but this time it made my heart ache.
He placed his hand on my arm and slid it up my wrist flatly, the locking his fingers with mine and pulling it toward him to kiss my hand.
I squeezed his hand in mine. "I love you." I whispered before getting up.

I showered and Peter used some of the clothes I had taken from him, he fed the cat for me and we left.
I didn't notice until our conversation went down, but I was holding his hand.
We walked down the sidewalk but his hand was comfortably, casually holding my hand and it made so many emotions pass through me, I had to focus on keeping my legs strong, my heart was going EEEEEEEEEEEE
like fan girl at a concert. I was in love.
"What do you think?" He asked me pulling out of my daze. "Sorry?" I asked for clarification. "That cafe up the street?"  He pointed with our entangled hands. I nodded "oh yea sure, looks cute."

We sat across from each other and we practically drilled the other with questions, it had been a long time since we had done this and we both kept repeatedly apologizing for it. I asked him hundreds of questions about Spider-Man, and in public the code name was Randal. (Dont ask)
"What did Randal do last night?"
"How did Randal stop them?"
"Did Randal call the police?"

While he asked me questions about work, about MJ, he kept stopping so he could encourage me to eat the blueberry pancakes he ordered for both of us. It didn't sit well with me for a while after we ate, but I thanked him repeatedly for paying.

We walked around for a bit his hand tensed in mine.
"What?"
"I gotta- I gotta go. I'm so so sorry, you'll be okay?" He looked around frantically finally setting his gaze to the left of us.
"I'll be okay, be safe." I said and I kissed our hands before he let go and practically ran off.
"I love you." He called
"I love you too."

I went over to Ned's place, "you look better." He smiled. "Feel better." I replied. "You and pete worked shit out?" I snapped my head over to him. "Yeah." I sighed in relief. "Good." He smiled.

I made us dinner around 5, Peter still wasn't back yet, and I was a little worried about him. I flipped the chicken over in the pan, the oil sizzled and splashed my arm a little "ow." "How's MJ?" Ned asked me, I peeked around the island kitchen to give him a look. "Why does someone have a crush? She's single" I wiggled my eyebrows. His face went red, I clearly took him off guard. "I-I just, NO, what ohmygod." He shook his head and I laughed.

"Where is peter?" He asked me. "A meeting, he left just after noon." I said but I couldn't help the uneasy feeling in my stomach, lying to my best friend about our other best friend was a horrible thing. The chicken smelled good, but I was so worried about peter that I didn't realize I should've turned the heat down, a good slash of oil hit my forearms, "ahh!" I winced a little. "You okay in there? I wonder what's taking him so long-" and the front door opened. "Oh hey Peter." I heard Ned say.

"We were just talking about you- what thE FUCK HAPPENED TO YOUR ARM MATE?" Ned yelled, I ran out of the kitchen and saw Peter running a hand through his hair. A thick jagged gash along his large right bicep came into my view. "Oh my god." I awed. He snapped his head over to me, his eyes widened a bit. "Oh hey Lynn." He smiled.
Ned was in the bathroom digging for his med kit.
I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him into the kitchen.
"What the fuck? Five hours? a giant gash, what happened? How in the fuck will you explain this to him?" I whisper-yelled.
I forced him to run the cut under water.
He put his hand up and slowly put it down telling me to relax. I took a deep shaky breath and took the chicken off the pan.

Ned ran back over and started firing questions at him. "We have a big plexi glass table, and some idiot walked into it and the corner ran right into my arm as I was standing up to come home, it looks a lot worse than it is." Peter talked so calmly even I believed him. And once all the blood was washed from the surface of his skin I could see how that mark could match the story, I relaxed when I saw Ned nod.
Ned helped him clean and wrap up his arm as I put the food onto three plates.

I gave Peter a look. He needed to tell Ned , all these secrets made me feel sick, Ned was trustworthy, he was his best friend and roommate,
I knew my place though.

I calmed down, Ned relaxed and we ate. Peter stood up, "mind if I borrow her for a bit?" He looked over at Ned.
He shrugged and nodded. "I'll see you around." He went back to his phone.
I looked from him to Peter with confusion.
He held out his hand, I put mine in it and he yanked me up quickly.

"What's going on?"
"I left you earlier, were going out now." He shrugged leading me out of the apartment.
"Where are we going?" I asked, he shrugged again.
"Oh I have an idea!"  I called out.

It was my turn to lead and I dragged him through the streets and down the boardwalk. He didn't seem to mind though, he kept his eyes on me and conversed with me almost like he knew where we were going.
It was dark now and when we got to where I wanted us to be, you could see the stars,
The beach.
We sat on the sand

"Why here?" He asked. I shrugged.
It was a bit cool out but nothing too bad, he put his arm around my shoulders and we listened to the waves for a while. "You know I love you right?" He blurted out suddenly, it caught me off guard.
"I love you too." I answered.
"No- you know that, that I love you?" He asked again, this time he was looking at me.
"Y-yes." I answered confused.
He looked away when I stuttered.
"I love you." He said calmly. telling me. reassuring me.
"I love you." I replied still looking at him.

I grabbed his face and kissed him roughly, and when he kissed back it felt like a firework went off in my heart.

The bright pretty light and then the big boom, you can feel it in your stomach in your chest. Boom. it's sudden, but you don't mind it, and then it sprinkles and fades away, but everyone around you is still going "oooooooo"

but when he pulled away and I opened my eyes. I anticipated the next firework.

"Lynn-"

"Yes Peter."

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

"yes Peter."