^^took me forever to finish this(totally didn't trace or anything from an actual room-)^^
I had just gotten back from Westview and was grimly sitting in front of Pepper at the dinner table, not ready to have this conversation.
"You want to move out?" She asked in a hushed tone, trying to hide the hurt in her voice.
"I have a saving account under my alias with enough money to afford it and live in it for a long time, all I need is for you to co-sign the lease," I calmly explained though I winced internally at her reasonable offense.
"Is this really what you want?"
"I do not know but... I cannot stay here, in this house. I do not belong and right now I am dealing with a lot that I need to deal with alone," I sighed quietly with many contractions that I referred to and she looked down, not knowing what to say so not saying anything at all. I continued. "You did not sign up for this, Pep."
"You're not a burden, Hailey-"
"Pep, all you wanted was a new job at a high tech company and now you have a daughter you need to take care of while running said company. You do not need me to enter the mix making you stress about if I get caught or something," I scoffed and she looked away with the shake of her head.
"And you'll be fine?" She asked, knowing there was no way she'll change my mind or stop me from leaving. I gave her a small smile and reached my hand over to place it in hers.
"I swear."
After our talk, I flew to Peter's place, already having promised him to meet him there after not seeing him for two weeks on a potentially life threatening mission. When I knocked on the door however I was immediately greeted by May with frizzy hair and a rather frazzled look on her face.
"Hailey!" She exclaimed before throwing her arms around me which took me back and I froze until finally registering her affection. I returned the hug awkwardly, a bit too late but she did not seem to mind.
"Hey, May," I smiled into her shoulder until she pulled away and pushed me into her apartment hurriedly.
"Are you okay? Peter didn't explain anything," she turned to glare over her shoulder as Peter and Ned scurried out of the hallway to meet me.
"It is fine, I am fine. It was... well, it is a lot to explain," I laughed weakly and paused. "Also I legally cannot talk about most of it," I added causing May to make an 'o' face.
"Didn't you get arrested though?" Ned blurted out making me and Peter glare at him as May took a double-take at me.
"Dude," Peter hissed at his friend as I mouthed 'what the hell' at him.
"What?" She exclaimed incredulously, staring me down for answers.
"It was not an arrest, per say. It was just... a containment issue which I might have broke out of," I explained sheepishly as she continued to stare at me before whipping her head at Peter who gulped.
"You knew about this?"
"I knew you would freak out so-"
"Of course, I was going to freak out!" May shot back and took my face in her hand to check for cuts or scraps.
"It really is not that bad! When I was five I was incarcerated for like six months-" I laughed but immediately shut up when May's eyes widened even further.
"What?" She yelled again and I thought her eyes were going to pop out of heir sockets at one point and I scrambled to fix my mistake.
"In their defense, I paralyzed a man-" Oh my gods, Hailey stop talking.
"You did what?"
"He was sex trafficker and it was only for three years!" I defended making her pause for a few seconds, debating as we all watched her reaction carefully. She opened her mouth, then closed it, setting a hand on my shoulder and looked me in my eyes.
"Good job," May settled on as we all stared at her until I broke out in a grin but it quickly fell when she got a quizzical look in her face. "What were you doing around traffickers at five years old?" Peter, Ned, and I stared at a wide eyed look, opening our mouths to answer her but only weird stammers came out of all our mouths.
"Uh... I-I was kinda... used as...bait...for the first five years of my life," I stammered out awkwardly.
"WHAT?"
...
"Well, that was awkward," I muttered to Peter as we sat on ledge of the roof of his apartment complex.
"That's an understatement," he mumbled back before turning to me with concern. "So what happened?" I groaned theatrically and leaned my body onto his side, my head snuggling into the crook of his neck.
"I hate magic. And the government. And magic."
"You said magic twice."
"I really hate magic," I emphasized and rubbed my eyes irritably. "After the town was officially freed, I gave Darcy my number in case something like this happens again. She seems to get into situations like this more than once," I explained and Peter nodded in understanding.
"Well I'm just glad you're okay," he said with a small smile and kissed the top of my head lovingly.
"Me too," I returned the sentiment with a smile before taking a deep breath of the cool, fresh, non-brainwashing air. "I have decided to move out of Pepper's house. I already got a good deal on an apartment near midtown, not too shabby but not too expensive it draws attention," I informed him suddenly making his eyes go wide in surprise at the sudden drop of information.
"What? Why?"
"I just think it is time to have a home, a real one. I have waited sixteen years for it, I like to think I deserve one," I answered honestly with a small, sheepish smile and he nodded in encouragement, returning it. "I do not know what it is like to have one. But I want to."
"You will, I promise," Peter swore confidently, wrapping his arm around me as we watched the sun set in front of us. "You will."
"You know it is expected for a partner to help their other partner with moving in to a new place, right?"
"I figured as much," he sighed in defeat making me snicker at him and curl up deeper into him, interlocking his hand that dangled off my shoulder lazily with mine contently.
...
"You are going to break my desk, give it here!" I snapped at Peter who ignored me.
"I've got it, I've got it! Geez..."
"At least use two hands, you are going to drop it," I scolded as I held a pile of boxes in my arms using my super strength.
"Even if I do drop it, which I won't, I'll catch it before it hits the ground!" Peter argued as he held my fancy white desk under one arm, holding it with his hand under the bottom and supporting it with his side. I rolled my eyes as I continued to climb the buildings stairs to the entrance. I heard a yelp behind and turned to see Peter holding the edge of the desk in an uncomfortable position, only inches away from toppling from the stairs.
"I told you to use both hands. You break it, you buy it," I joked, continuing up the stairs with a smirk.
"Shut up," Peter grumbled making me snicker as I heard the rustle of him reposition himself with the desk before following me up. "What number are you?" He asked, referring to my apartment number.
"Uh... penthouse, actually," I answered, pulling up a blank for just a moment which was odd. I never pull a blank. Weird. I ignored it as I opened the buildings glass door and held it for Peter.
"Of course, why did I even ask?" He mused as he walked through the door, making me roll my eyes at him again. The front desk employee stared at us with his mouth agape as we casually carried a 130 pound desk and three huge boxes with one hand.
"We do CrossFit," I lied nonchalantly as we continued to the elevator. He stared at us as Peter awkwardly slid my desk through the elevator doors making it barely fit as we crammed into the somewhat small space. I grabbed my key from the pocket of my jeans and inserted into the PH button on the wall. We awkwardly waved at the employee as the doors closed making him shake his head out of his thoughts and continue working. We immediately started laughing as soon as the door closed in amusement at the mans disturbed face.
As we waited patiently to reach the top floor I suddenly was hit with a wave of anxiety.
"You are going to make fun of me, are you not?"
"Why would I make fun of you for having a penthouse? I thought you were going to make fun of me?"
"Why would I make fun of you? That would a huge bitch move! I just thought it was tradition to make digs at the girl who profits off of late-stage capitalism," I argued as we both looked at each with complete confusion. Suddenly, the elevator doors opened to reveal the most perfect penthouse for me ever.
"You know what? I am not going to make fun of you but I am going to brag about my impeccable choosing," I smirked as Peter continued to gape at the large, open space. "Are you going into septic shock, darling?" I asked, setting down the boxes in my hands in the middle of the room to unpack later. Peter promptly shook his head to shake away his thoughts and set down my desk away from the elevator.
"I'm just shocked at how fitting it is for you to buy a castle since you're such a princess," he shot back sarcastically causing me feign offense.
"Wow, jealous much?"
"Yes." He replied quickly and loudly looking around. "Random question, totally not related to this at all but do you have a sugar baby position you would like, say, a superhero to fill? Possibly insect based?" He pondered making me burst out laughing.
"Yes actually, I was wondering that exact same thing yesterday," I said seriously, pointing at Peter. "But do you think Ant-Man would say yes? I mean, he does have a girlfriend, right?" And when I tell Peter looked offended, that is an understatement.
"How dare you replace me with-"
"Have you seen him, he is a babe," I half-joked making Peter scoff dramatically causing me to laugh even more.
"I can't believe this. I am generously donating my precious time to help you move-"
"In my defense, I did say I was fine doing this alone but you insisted-"
"First of all, you practically begged me to help you. And you decide to tell me you want Ant-Man as-" Peter started again after I interrupted but could not finish his sentence without laughing at the absurdity of this exchange. "As a-" he stopped again, trying to finish his sentence but failing, giggling slightly.
"Oh my god, come on. We need to finish this today because I am not paying for another day for the truck," I laughed as I dragged him back into the elevator with both of us giggling like idiots.
Midway through the elevator ride Peter started shaking his head.
"I can't believe you want to cheat with Ant-Man," he said like he was scolding a child.
"Shut up, idiot. Who would not?"
"Fair point."
"Exactly."
We got downstairs with the receptionist still staring at us as we walk back to the moving van.
"Okay, we get the big stuff first and small stuff later?" Peter planned looking at me for approval causing me to nod. We begin to grab as much as we could and haul it back to the penthouse. We continued this system peacefully for fifteen minutes before making it a competition to see who could carry the most stuff without dropping anything. Which probably traumatized the receptionist but she'll cope.
After a while, we made a huge dent in the boxes, getting my bed and my couches when we were scrambling to beat each other. When we were close to finished we finally got to...
"Dum-E! Oh, I cannot believe Pepper packed you to come with me!" I exclaimed, seeing my robo-friends turned off in the back of the truck.
"You do know you're talking to an extinguisher, right?" Peter whispered next to me like I was crazing making me glare at him. I hugged Dum-E ecstatically making Peter look at me even weirder. "And now you're hugging it. Okay then."
"Shut up, no one asked for your judgement," I snapped making Peter raise his hands in defeat. "Grab some boxes and I will get Dum-E, I will show you inside."
When we get inside I immediately set Dum-E gently down on the floor excitedly with Peter doing the same with a couple of the last boxes.
"Ok, what did you want show me?" He asked as he walked to my side with a raised eyebrow.
"This." I pressed a button on Dum-Es base, bringing him to life in all his awkward glory. He shook his 'head' slightly before adjusting it to look at me. He hummed excitedly making me cheer and hug him again as Peter still looked at me weird. Dum-E looked around the penthouse curiously before cocking his head to the side, making a confused hum.
"Oh, right you probably no idea what is happening. Uh... well you are in my new apartment that I live in now and I was wondering if you could be my new assistant?" He hummed happily making me cheer again.
"Wait wait wait. Where did you even get him?" Peter asked incredulously making me pause for a moment as I searched for the right words.
"Well...father built him a long time ago as well as his brother, U, but when they got destroyed father could only rebuild Dum-E," I explained in a sad type of bliss as I remembered hanging out with them when I was younger. Peter and I shared a sad look, placing a hand on my shoulder in comfort before I shook my head out of my thoughts. "In a sense, he is like my older brother," I smiled as Dum-E happily whirred.
"You have so many siblings."
"Oh, you have no idea. Now come on, we have to get the rest of the stuff."
"We're done..." Peter cheered in a tired whispered, shakingly punching the air in exasperation.
"Yay..." I mumbled back, high-fiving each other as we slumped on my new couch sloppily dropped in the middle of my living room. We both leaned on each other with my head lazily placed on Peters chest as we both rested our eyes.
"Team work," I cheered, void of any emotion in my voice.
"Woo-hoo..." He replied monotonously as I paused for a moment.
"...Peter?"
"Yeah, Hails?"
"You do realize we have to unpack now, right?" We both looked over to see the sea of boxes on the floor and as Dum-E slowly but surely unpacked a box next to him.
"Nah... Dum-E's got it," he said, waving me off confidently. We watched Dum-E lowly pick up a framed picture of me and Peter and turn to set it on the coffee table before dropping it halfway there, shattering it on the tile. I slowly looked over at Peter.
"...Goddamnit."
"Please just kill me already."
"You first," Peter grumbled back as we slumped on the coach, finally finished.
"No you, bItCh," I half-joked causing Peter to look at me. "What? I cannot trust you to kill me after I have killed you because of your stupid moral code."
"How, in this situation, could I kill you if I'm already dead?"
"I do not know, maybe like...strangle each other at the same time?"
"But what if one of us loses air first and stops choking the other? And you don't even need air?"
"Fine! We would...shoot each other at the same time like a suicide pack?"
"But what if one of us shoots too early?"
"Then they shoot right before they die."
"But if it's a fatal shot they aren't going to be able to stand or process that they need to get the shot in."
"Peter, it is not like when you get shot you immediately die you have a good few second left."
"Well if it's in the heart wouldn't yo-"
"Are we seriously debating the logistics of a suicide pact right now?"
"You started it," Peter pouted making me roll my eyes at him.
"You'r- you are a child. Anyway, do want to get some food? You are probably starving," I offered, slipping up for just a moment before catching myself causing Peter to furrow his eyebrows. He straightened himself on the couch which pushed my head off his chest as he looked at me weirdly while I kept a straight face. Shit, shit, shit, shit!
"No I'm good...did you jus-" He started but was interrupted by his stomach growling loudly.
"You do not sound good," I chuckled, trying to brush past my mistake. "Come on, we can stop by this new drive-through place near here! It looks really goo-" I decided calmly as I grabbed my wallet that was left on the coffee table and walked to the door only to be stopped by Peter grabbing my hand. I froze in place, looking behind me to see his concerned face.
"Are you ok?" Three words with the most genuine concern I've ever heard. Three words that almost made me crack, then and there. Almost.
"Yeah, of course. Why would I not be?" He gave me a look. "Besides me getting my heart ripped out of me, getting shoved into a new body, becoming an orphan but technically I always was, watching my friend have a mental breakdown, becoming an aunt and losing my nephews in the same month, and having to watch my brother die again." I paused for a moment as he continued to look at me with that stupid sympathetic, begging look. "But...what kind of teenage girl haven't gone through that? Especially getting their heart ripped out! I mean come on, have you seen teenage boys?"
"Hailey..."
"What is it with people and saying my name before trailing off?" I exclaimed irritably with exasperation just before electricity ricochet off my body, making the light above us explode. "I'll pay for that," I replied without hesitation, a habit after doing it so much at my therapist.
"You're glitching again?!"
"To be fair I never actually stopped glitching I just...didn't do it this much."
"How much is this much?" Peter asked lowly making me look at the ground awkwardly.
"Uh...a bit more much?" I answered like a question making Peter stare at me with betrayal in his eyes.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I was waiting until I actually knew what to tell you!" I exclaimed exasperatedly, surprising Peter for only a moment before going back to his concerned face. "I...I don- I don't even know what's going on or how this is even happening and that scares me, Peter. My body and my systems aren't...cooperating and I... I didn't want you involved," I admitted, disgusted in my helplessness as I looked away.
"Involved? Hailey, we're in this together. I just...we're in this together and you need to tell me these things, you need to talk to me." It felt like he was lecturing me and I really didn't need to be lectured. And thus, I gave him a very sane, calm explanation for my actions.
Nah, I'm just kidding.
"You say that, you say that we should communicate and talk and be honest but you haven't even spoken to me about what you're thinking!"
"He was your father, Hailey. How can you even expect me to talk to you-"
"He was your father-figure but he definitely wasn't mine. He was my creator not my father, Peter, and we both know that. And you should know that is not an excuse to act like a hypocrite and lecture me about something you do!" I huffed, breathing deeply to try to calm myself down instead of glitching all over the place. We both stood there, staring at the other, breathing deeply in aggravation until I took a single calming breath to make my voice come out even.
"I know you idolized my father so obviously I am going to refrain from talking shit about him or complaining how I now have to deal with a failing body to you. Common fricking sense especially since I was too busy dealing and processing it myself and- now that I'm actually hearing myself out loud I can see how much of a terrible excuse that is seeing as though I had enough time to process it to blatantly lie to you and make self-pitying excuses for my obvious poor communication skills and- oh my god I'm becoming my father," I realized mid-sentence, horrified. I blinked and gaped at nothing as my body started freaking out and the buzzing soon got louder. Peters unreadable face soon turned into a look of concern.
"Are you-?"
"I have no idea. Oh my god I didn't tell you I was dying and then yelled at you, what the hell am I doing?" I demanded to myself putting my fingertips to my temple feeling my head pulse like usual but instead with a loud buzzing drowning out Peters voice so I could barely hear him. The side of my chest felt like it was cramping, the soreness growing across my entire rib cage. Great timing, terminal illness!
"Hailey, Hailey, calm down and take a deep breath, okay? It's fine and you also made good points, I shouldn't have been a condescending asshole to you when I found out what you've going through. We're going to figure this out together like we always do, yeah?" He assured cupping my face to make me look at him as I tried to tune out the loud static forming in my head.
"Yeah. Yeah, yeah you're right," I mustered out only concentrating on him as the static started to subside. I chuckled lowly. "You're always right."
"You need to lay down. C'mon, we can talk later but right now you need to focus on...not dying," Peter said like it was a question before supporting me by wrapping an arm around my waist and helping me to my bed. The rest of the night was a blurry, loud mess in my head as I came down from my mindless anger.
It would only get worse from here on out.