feathers ↣ w. worthington iii

(13) Sometimes A Hug Is All That You Need ♡

hey everyone ♡  i'm gonna do a little shameless self promo here: check out my twilight/paul lahote fanfic! i've worked so hard on it for about a year and it's 100x better (in my opinion of course!!) than this fanfic. if you like twilight then please go check it out and let me know what you think! it would really mean the world to me :) alright that's enough for now! enjoy this quick chapter and have a blessed and amazing day i love you all ♡ ♡ ♡

"And when we die and float away into the night, the Milky Way; you'll hear me call as we ascend. I'll say your name then once again." Thank You for Being a Friend by Andrew Gold

Peter stared up at Lilli for a few agonizingly long seconds before he blinked and shocked himself out of his reverie.

"Yeah, of course, take a seat," he said hurriedly, gesturing to the chair. Lilli smiled politely and sat down across the table from him. She crossed her legs and placed her hands in her lap, where she started fidgeting with them.

"So... we still haven't talked yet. How've you been?" Lilli asked tentatively. She hoped he wouldn't be as rude as Warren. She desperately wanted to make amends with him and have them be best friends like they'd used to be.

"I've been good," Peter responded. His face remained unreadable. "How about you?"

"Same here." A silence fell between the two and Lilli searched for something, anything to say. She couldn't think of something as her head felt completely devoid of any thought. But when Peter started standing up, Lilli frantically blurted out a "Wait!"

Peter stopped moving halfway through standing up and froze in a strange squat. He looked at Lilli questioningly. "What?" He asked.

"I lied. I haven't been good, at all. Every single day I beat myself up for being a coward and leaving you two back in October. I can't forgive myself for it and I am so, so sorry." Lilli burst out, looking at Peter. He held her gaze but didn't say anything as he slowly sat back down. Lilli shook her head, saying, "I can't ask you to forgive me or say it's okay, because I know it's not, and I'm not sure I would forgive myself if I were in your shoes. I won't even ask you to say anything now or ever. You can ignore me for the rest of our short and miserable lives. But I just wanted you to know that I'm so sorry."

Lilli's eyes were so clouded over with tears that it was impossible for her to see Peter. She could only see a tan blob for his face and a silver blob of hair. Her throat was burning and she couldn't swallow the large lump that had formed in it. Pictures of Peter's face when Lilli had told him she was leaving were spinning through her mind, and his pained cries out to her were echoing through her mind. She hated herself for what she'd done.

Peter clearing his throat brought Lilli back to the present. She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her crewneck and willed herself to stop crying. She blinked blearily at Peter as he opened his mouth.  "We talked about it as a group, and I've thought about it a lot," Peter said, his voice sounding hoarse. He cleared his throat again before speaking. "And I do forgive you, Lilli. I really do. I know you were scared."

"You forgive me?" Lilli asked, a sob escaping her throat when he nodded.

"I do, Lils. You're like a brother to me, I couldn't ever hate you." Peter said, laughing a little. Lilli laughed too, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Brother? I'm a girl," she said, smiling happily.

"Eh, I don't know. You're more like a brother," Peter responded, shrugging.

Lilli laughed, wiping her eyes again. Suddenly the table between them felt like a separation; like something keeping them apart. Lilli ached to touch Peter again. "Can I hug you?" Lilli asked.

"Of course," Peter responded, smiling. They both stood at the same time and enveloped each other in a tight hug. Lilli melted inside Peter's warm embrace and felt just as safe and comforted as she always had when they'd used to hug. His soothing warmth calmed Lilli down and sent a wave of relief and happiness through her.

Peter didn't hate her. No, it was more than that: he forgave her.

It was the best news Lilli had heard in a long, long time. No more nightmares of him hating her would plague her and no more worry would bother her. She knew they weren't back to normal— not by a long shot. But they were back to a fresh start and that was all Lilli could ask for.

The pair finally pulled away and Lilli wiped her eyes again before sitting back down. She smiled when Peter sat down in the chair next to her instead of across from her. He laid his head on her shoulder and they both gazed out of the window and onto the front lawn.

"I'm sorry I wasn't talking much to you," Peter said suddenly. "I just didn't know what to say. I didn't want you to think I hated you but I couldn't think of a way to tell you."

"No, you don't need to apologize for anything, Pete. It's okay," Lilli responded. Peter nodded and fell silent. Lilli was quiet too, but only for a moment. A question she'd had for six months flew past her lips before her mind could stop it. "What happened that day? After I left?" She asked. She bit her lip, hoping she hadn't offended Peter.

Peter sighed, shifting in his chair. "Well, nothing happened at first. We just packed our things and decided to come back here instead of going to the Chaos base that we were going to go to before the whole Kezing situation. But then things got ugly." Peter paused and seemed to be thinking of how to tell her what happened. Eventually he continued. "Three Kezing agents found us. They were especially rough ones. One had this deafening mutation, one was made of rocks and at least seven feet tall, and the other could teleport just like Kurt. We took down the teleporter first, and then we each took one. I got the rock dude and Warren got the other one. By the time I'd finished off my guy, Warren was down on the ground. I snuck up on his guy and we took him down. Warren could barely hear, and the only reason he wasn't completely deaf was because he could heal faster than the other dude could hurt him. Once we dealt with them, we got the hell out of Rochester. We came back here and Cas was gone and everything had fallen apart. We're just starting to get back together again."

Lilli sat quietly, thinking everything over. Peter and Warren were lucky— they could've easily been killed. Obviously Warren had sustained some more permanent damage, but he was still alive. Yet, Lilli couldn't help feeling guilty and knowing that they would have fared a lot better had she still been there.

But it was in the past. There was nothing Lilli could do now. She sighed. "I'm sorry," she said as she laid her head atop Peter's.

"Water under the bridge," Peter responded. The two elapsed into silence, and sat quietly as they watched the younger mutants frolicking on the sunny lawn. Lilli was in a complete bliss. She felt comforted next to Peter and safe in her old home. No thoughts floated through her mind and her head felt completely empty and devoid of any worries. For just a moment, the world stood still. For just a moment, Lilli was at peace.