When Violet woke up the next morning, the only thing she could feel was hot and secure. When her eyes opened, the only thing she could see was the black material of Peter's shirt, and she realized that the heavy feeling on her hip was his hand cupping it gently, keeping her close to him even in his slumber. She may not have had spider senses, but she could hear his heavy breathing and the steady thrum of his heartbeat from her position next to his chest. The two showed that he was still very much sleeping, warm and comfortable.
She let herself enjoy the little moment while he was still asleep, before she rolled over, just far enough on the bed for his hand to fall off and land on the sheets. The miniscule moment seemed to wake the boy out of his sleep, and she automatically shut her eyes, slowing down her breathing since she knew he could hear it. She knew it was childish of her to pretend to sleep, the action similar to a child trying to get their dad to carry them up to bed, but she did not want him to assume that she had actually enjoyed being so close to him.
Peter groaned quietly as he woke up, and she could feel the bed dip as he rolled over and pulled back his arms to stretch out all of his taut muscles. It was surprisingly hard to keep herself breathing properly when she was trying to focus on calculating his moves before he made them, but she tried to make do. Until she couldn't.
"I know you're awake, Vi," he grumbled sleepily, his tone still a lace of groggy.
She let out a heavy sigh at being caught, and she rolled over, her eyes immediately meeting his half-lidded ones. "I'm not awake. You're not awake. You're dreaming. Back to sleep world, Peter," she attempted feebly.
He chuckled, a deep one that came straight from the chest, before he reached over to give her elbow a playful pinch. "Shut up. Ask how I could tell you weren't sleeping. Please, I wanna tell you." Peter flipped right back over on his side to face her, propping up his head with his knuckles.
Violet turned back on her side to look at him, propping her own head up and letting her hair fall over her shoulders. "Okay. How could you tell I wasn't sleeping, Boy Wonder?"
"Your breathing and heartbeat, obviously. You can keep them all as slow and steady as you want, but the natural sleeping heartbeat is horribly slow, something you couldn't manage without being close to death. And breathing is heavier, harder, which is why snoring exists, kinda. You can't mimic it without being deep into the world of sleep." The last two words were a mockery of her former attempt at getting him to forget anything happened, and she reached out with the hand not propping up her head to sock him in the shoulder.
The girl dragged herself up to sit up on her bent legs, gently shoving him at the hip. "Come on, Nerd-i-locks. We have school, and I smell Aunt May's cooking. She never fails to make me want to get out of bed."
Peter groaned, reaching out to grab her elbows and pull her to him, obviously still lost in the idea that what happened the night before was a recurring thing. "Not me. I want to sleep."
The action made her freeze, her heart jumping in a way that spooked her, and she immediately attempted to pull away from him, causing her to simply roll off of his body and land with a hard thunk on the hardwood floor. Stunned by the quick motions but not numb to pain, she groaned as dull pain shot through her spine, grabbing her arm as she sat up.
"Violet? You okay?" Peter had sat up and was sitting on the edge of his bed, before he slid off and leaned down to touch her elbow, his eyebrows furrowed.
His concern made her scoot back from the touch and she nodded vigorously, standing up and brushing off her clothes, ignoring the throbbing that she knew would reside sooner or later. "Yep," she chirped, way too chipper for her taste, "let's go!" Without giving him a chance to recover from the quick-moving situation that had just occurred, she unlocked his door with a press of a button, practically throwing it open and sprinting down the stairs.
She wheeled around the corner with a big smile at the sight of Aunt May. "Aunt May! What's for breakfast?" She cheerily questioned, peering over the older woman's shoulder at the stovetop.
"Somebody's happy this morning." Aunt May mused, giving Violet a look before turning with her pan in hand, pushing the girl behind her with an outstretched elbow so that she couldn't burn her. In one swift move, May swept an omelet out of the pan onto a separate plate, setting the rubber spatula she had been using onto the pan so she could use her now-free hand to hand the plate to Violet. "Omelets. Eat up, honey."
Trying to ignore the swirling in her stomach at Aunt May's assumption that her and Peter had had a nice night in each other's company, she quietly thanked her as she took the plate, grabbing the salt shaker and a fork off of the kitchen island before going to sit in the seat she had deemed hers for the stay. Just as she sat down, Peter lumbered his way into the kitchen, his hair tousled and his pajama pants hanging loosely around his long legs. In order to fight the urge to check him out, she shoved her mouth full of her breakfast, letting herself focus on the perfectly-buttered goodness that was his aunt's cooking.
"Sleep well?" Aunt May questioned at the sight of Peter's seemingly exhausted state, handing him his own plate.
He leaned over to place a caring kiss on his aunt's head, taking the plate and nodding. "We did, thank you," he answered for both of them, giving Violet a weird look before moving to sit in his seat next to her. The awkwardness between them was enough for the girl to know that he had realized her tense nature upstairs, and she cleared her throat before simply filling up her mouth again.
Anything to not speak.
They ate breakfast in silence as Aunt May cleaned up the kitchen from her cooking, before she reminded them to wash their own dishes (even though they always did) and then departed for work. Violet practically flinched when the door shut, knowing that she was now alone with Peter, and braced herself for his blunt questioning.
"So, what was that?" Ah, there it was.
She took a large gulp of her water before raising her eyebrows at him, setting down her glass and giving him an oblivious look. "What was what? Breakfast?"
"Yeah, because I have no idea what omelets are," he deadpanned, giving her a blank look. "No, I'm talking about you jumping from me like I set you on fire. What's wrong?"
She couldn't bring herself to outright tell him that when he touched her, it did feel like he set her on fire, but not in a bad way at all. It sent what felt like an electric shock traveling through all of her nerves, making her stomach churn in a way that made her feel queasy and happy all at the same time. It was the scariest feeling to her, to be falling for the only person she had gotten close to in years. She didn't want to lose her best friend for doing something as foolish as letting romantic feelings get in the way.
"Nothing, Peter. I just got a lot going on," she mumbled, pushing around the last bit of omelet that was on her plate awkwardly.
Violet could feel Peter's eyes burning into her head. "I can tell," was all he replied with before he stood up, grabbing both of their plates. "I'll do the dishes. Go get ready for school, yeah? It takes you longer anyways." He gave her a sweet yet tense smile before making his way to the kitchen, setting their dishes in the sink and starting the water so it could start to run hot.
She got up from her seat before staring at him for a couple seconds. He kept his head dipped down to keep his eyes on the task at hand, a hand absently reaching for the dish soap and squeezing the bottle until dark blue soap lay in zig-zags across the plates. Her eyes made a naughty dash up to the exposed muscles of his bicep, and she wondered just how he got so defined. He didn't necessarily seem like the type to work out, but maybe web-swinging counted.
Before she could be caught staring, she turned and skittered her way up the stairs, stepping into Peter's room. She opened one of her backpacks before pulling out a simple pair of jeans and a black turtleneck, along with a change of underwear before slipping into the bathroom connected to his room, locking the door behind her.
Violet took a glance at herself in the mirror. Dark circles were prominent beneath her eyes, a result of the stress and late nights she had been having, and her lips were pulled down into a frown that just reflected horribly back at her. Her dyed hair, once a nice light purple, was starting to fade, some of the blonde beneath it starting to peek out. The purple that was left was molding into a grayish color, and it made her realize just how much she hadn't been working on herself amongst the stress she had been under.
She got dressed before walking back into his bedroom, grabbing her make-up bag and going back to the mirror in the bathroom. She kept the door open this time, not wanting to keep Peter from doing anything he needed to do to get ready.
As she smeared black eyeliner on her waterline and then winged it out beside her eye, the aforementioned boy stepped into the bathroom, taking up all of the space right next to her. "Excuse me," he politely murmured as he grabbed his toothbrush, wetting it beneath the sink before putting some toothpaste on it. Without her asking, he grabbed her toothbrush as well, wetting it and putting toothpaste on it as well before handing it to her with a small smile. She grinned back at him before taking the toothbrush, setting her eyeliner down and starting to brush her teeth.
Deciding to give her some room, he moved to sit on the toilet, staring up at her. "So, what's the plan with your parents?" He questioned, concern lacing the outside of his doe-like eyes. "If you have one. No pressure, Vi, I like having you here," he added sweetly, and her heart tightened just a bit in her chest.
Violet leaned against the doorframe before shrugging, pulling her toothbrush out of her mouth. "I don't know. I mean, obviously I have to speak to them, and I highly doubt my father's leaving until he has a talk with me, but I really don't want to deal with it. There's already so much going on, with school and your Spider-Man thing and everything, that I really don't think I can handle it right now. My life was stressful enough before he came about, you know?" She knew she was rambling a bit, but she also didn't feel ashamed about it. Talking to Peter when he gazed up at her like she hung the moon and seemed hung up on every word coming out of her mouth was so simple.
He scratched the side of his mouth before standing up, spitting into the sink and washing out his mouth. She copied his movements before turning to face him, setting her toothbrush in the cup designated for them before turning back to face him.
"Come here," he mumbled, holding out his hands. Unable to resist the half-lidded, pleading eyes of the boy she couldn't help but adore, she stepped forward, locking her hands around his neck as his own cupped her hips. "You're the strongest person I know, Violet, and I know you'll figure this out perfectly on your own. But I'm here if you need me, okay? And you're allowed to stay here as long as you like. It's nice having you around all the time."
The last bit came out as almost a husky whisper, and she felt her heartbeat pick up the pace. "Peter," was all she could whisper back, and she attempted to step back, but he simply pulled her back with a tighter grip on her hips.
"Don't. Don't run. You're not the type to run, Violet." Peter sighed softly, before raising his hand, brushing it along her collarbone, just light enough for goosebumps to rise on her skin. "You can't lie to me and tell me you don't feel it. I feel it, and I hear you feeling it." His finger skirted down to the dip of her sternum, right where her beating heart lay. "This is beating just for it."
He stretched out his hand so that his palm was resting against her chest, and his other hand rose from her hip just as hers fell to his waist. Both of his hands moved up to her neck, pushing her hair back before cupping her jaw, lifting her head so that the shorter girl could gaze up at him. And before she could blink, his head was dipping down, his lips on a very obvious path with a very obvious goal in mind.
His lips brushed hers, testing the waters and sending goosebumps rising across every inch of skin on her body. Her knees felt weak, and she could've sworn that she was two seconds away from falling onto the cool tile floor of the bathroom. Her breath caught in her throat as he leaned down again, and she finally let her head rule over her heart.
"I can't," she mumbled as she turned her head, a hand raising to wipe her lip as she stepped out of his soft touch. "Come on, Peter, let's just go to school."
The two, although tense with the moment that had just occurred, finished getting ready for school before starting their walk to the subway station. It was oddly quiet as they rode the subway, and she scrolled through her phone aimlessly to try and ignore the tension that she knew she had created by refusing to kiss Peter, despite everything in her body telling her that it was the right thing to do.
The day went by agonizingly slow, with Peter ignoring her most of the time and therefore leaving her to sit in the gym and do homework in her free period when she was usually sitting with him, laughing about their days. By the end of the day, she was dragging her feet, her shoulders feeling heavy even before she put her homework-loaded backpack on.
Despite him avoiding her all day, she still sat leaned against the wall outside of school until he made his way out, kicking his Converse against the concrete as he glanced around. The glasses that he had told her was his father's were perched high on his nose, and yet he reached up with a middle finger to push them even higher.
Violet stood up even straighter when he reached her, and immediately they fell into step beside each other to make their way home.
It was tense for a bit before Peter spoke, his voice as normal as ever. "Hey, so, Gwen invited us over to her house tonight for dinner. She said her mom is making branzino. Did you want to go?" He looked down at her as he walked, and she glanced at him hesitantly.
The last time they had mentioned anything about Gwen, Peter had been head over heels for it. Like, he couldn't stop speaking about how smart and talented she was, and how excited that she had even alluded to going out with him sometime. Now, just hours after attempting to kiss her, he was inviting her to his former crush's house for dinner? She felt like she was intruding.
Noticing her silence, he stopped walking, reaching out for her elbow so she would stop as well. She turned to him, and he tilted his head down to look at her. "Please, Violet? I'm sorry for making this so awkward between us. You're my best friend before anything, and I really want you to be there. Please?" The last bit came out pleading, and it made her nod before she could even think.
"Of course. I've always been a fan of seafood," she joked, grinning at him.
Rolling his eyes, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder to pull her close in a hug. "You wind me up," he teased.
"You love it, though," she effortlessly chirped back.