CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR | P9: TRAUMA CLAWING AT FLESH
**
Mira Rohan couldn't stop pacing.
As her plane remained unmoving, still stuck at JFK for the layover, she couldn't stop pacing as she tried to get through to either Peter or Tony.
The fact that Tony had gone to Peter's apartment made it crystal clear to her that he knew he was Spider-Man despite all of her attempts to keep his identity secret. Six months of lying to protect Peter for nothing because Tony knew the truth.
Feeling the atoms of a car pull up, Mira didn't hesitate, she bolted out of the jet, wide eyes quickly focusing on the car that was pulling up.
The instant she saw him she was moving, pink twisting around her fingers and feet.
"PETER!"
She used her powers to float down toward him, quickly throwing herself at him, Peter quickly caught her mid-flight, his arms automatically wrapping around her waist and tugging her close.
"Hey M-" He squeezed her back tightly, not noticing Happy Hogan's furious gaze as he held onto her tightly "-I'm okay. Recruited by Iron Man but it's awesome!."
"I didn't tell-" She whispered, burying her face into his shoulder, her hold on him still tight, her actions reflecting just how scared she was at him thinking she had told Tony about his identity despite promising months ago she wouldn't "I promise, I didn't tell him. Peter, I wouldn't-I didn't I promise."
"I know." Peter smiled into her shoulder squeezing her back just as tightly "I trust you."
Two hands clapping together caused the pair to jump apart in panic.
Mira sighed as she spotted Happy glaring at her and Peter, with a glint in his eyes that screamed absolute murder "Where the hell is Uncle Tony?"
She was going to kill him!
"Given the look on your face right now-" Happy quickly tossed over the sandwich he had been told to pick up before picking up Peter to bring him along "-he decided to take a different path to Germany. Can you two get in the jet now?-While standing at least 10 feet apart!"
Both Tony and Rhodey had told him to watch out for any wondering teenage hands between Peter and Mira.
With Mira currently distracted by her sandwich, Peter who had never been on a plane before let alone a private plane furrowed his brows in confusion as he stared at the massive plane in front of him, his phone tightly grasped in his palm recording every detail of this trip "Woah!"
Happy rolled his eyes as he forced open the boot of the car "Come on, I'm not carrying your bags. Rohan grab one of them please."
Letting her eyes focus on Peter's bags Mira couldn't help but find herself confused as she took another bite of her sandwich, just how long did he think they were going to be gone? He had packed enough clothes for a minimum of six months despite the fact this trip to Germany should only last at max two days "Pete, you really need to learn to pack effectively, this is not it."
Instead of being offended as she picked up one of his bags Peter just smiled quickly taking it from her so she didn't have to carry it "May said the same. Next time you pack for me."
"No thanks, I overthink everything as is, if I was packing for you, it would make me crazier-"
"-You're not crazy. Not even a little."
Their eyes met soft smiles slowly appearing on both of their faces.
"No lingering gazes people!" Happy snapped as he fired up an air horn causing both of them to scream clutching their ears in agony.
Despite the fact both of them were blushing like children, they were also too focused on the air horn ringing through their ears, followed by the spray of water in their faces to be embarrassed or truly process what they were feeling.
Mira sputtered as she wiped the water from her cheek, eyes widening in disbelief as she spotted the spray dog training bottle Happy had aimed at the two of them, finger hovering over the trigger ready to pounce "Water spray? Isn't that what people use for dogs?"
"Rhodey requested it once he found out you two would be on the same flight."
She rolled her eyes "You have got to be kidding me."
Another spray of water collided with her face from the bottle that Happy still had aimed at her "Nope."
Scoffing, Mira just started moving toward the jet "Parker, let's go!"
"Wait!" Peter cried as he swiped up his last bag "Should I go to the bathroom before we take off?"
Mira froze, staring at Peter in disbelief before slowly it started to click "OH MY GOD!" She exclaimed, "Parker, you've never been on a plane before."
"Is that an issue?"
A camera was aimed at her face, jumping between her and Happy.
Happy huffed in annoyance as he spotted the familiar camera once again aimed in his direction "He did this the entire drive here. Narrated too."
Snorting at the reveal, Mira quickly grabbed Peter's wrist yanking him in the direction of the plane "There is a bathroom on the plane Parker."
Peter's eyes widened in astonishment, happily letting her drag up the stairs leading to the jet with his final bag in hand "Hey M, why do they call him Happy?"
Happy Hogan seemed like the most miserable person ever to exist.
"No one knows."
Whoever had seen Harold Hogan and then given him the nickname Happy had to be someone who didn't understand human emotions, Mira was certain of it.
Making her way back into the jet, Mira used her powers to send all three of Peter's bags flying into one of the above-head compartments while jumping back down to lay across the couch she had claimed as her own during their flight back from Vienna, focus now completely on her sandwich and the bag of Hot Cheetos Happy threw in her direction.
While Happy moved to his chair on the other side of the jet as far away from the teenagers as possible, Peter was clearly losing it right now.
Excitement flooded his veins as he ran around the jet, taking in every little detail like an overzealous five-year-old on Christmas morning.
"M! Did you know private jets didn't have a pilot?! "
That wasn't true, it was only Stark Industry jets that didn't need a pilot.
"It's so awesome! But is it supposed to sound like this?"
Just as the engine roared to life, the camera was aimed directly at her face causing her to groan quickly shoving her hand against his phone as she took another bite of her heavenly sandwich "Pete seriously? You do realize no one can ever see this right?"
Without lowering his phone, the camera still focused on her as she continued eating, Peter just dropped down onto the leather chair opposite the couch she was lying across "I know. But still, it's for you and me to look back at in a couple of years."
A small smile started to form on her face at his words.
"Evidence of how awesome we are together."
**
SCHKEUDITZ, SAXONY | GERMANY
Pietro and Wanda were not answering their phones.
It officially had Mira panicked as she followed Happy through the hotel, an over-excited Peter just a few steps ahead of her, eyes jumping around in amazement as he glanced at every door they passed. Peter was in heaven right now, being able to work with his childhood hero but Mira was in hell.
The prospect of having to fight her friends made her sick to her stomach.
"M! Look at this place!"
Mira managed to shoot him a weak smile as placed her phone back into her pocket, dread bubbling in her stomach, spreading through every bone in her body.
Happy sighed at the crestfallen look on her face quickly squeezing her shoulder supportively before quickly glancing between her and Peter. His gaze narrowed in an instant "You two will be on opposite ends of the floor." Tony had made sure that Mira was in the furthest room away as possible from Peter, even if Tony liked the kid, he was still a teenage boy who had photos of Mira all over his room so the billionaire wasn't taking any chances "Now go get in your suits."
Mira froze.
"Tony found Steve already?"
When Happy just responded by shoving her hotel room card into her hands she groaned shooting Peter a quick smile before she made her way reluctantly down the hall dread flooding through her chest.
Unlike Peter, she wasn't excited right now.
She was terrified for a hundred different reasons.
She hated that Peter was being dragged into this.
She hated that Tony had figured out who Spiderman was, hated that Steve didn't trust any of them enough the come to them. Did he not have enough trust in any of them to believe that they would help him even if the accords disagreed with what he was doing?
Pushing open her door, she sighed as she spotted the pink and white suit laid out on her bed.
Dropping her bag onto the floor, she kicked her hotel room door shut with her foot before slowly approaching the suit that was keeping her from curling up into a ball and getting a few hours of sleep.
There was no time for sleep or rest.
-There never was for her.
Mira honestly couldn't remember the last time she had gotten more than 3 hours of sleep in a single night between all of the nightmares about the St Louis Incident.
With a heavy sigh, she reluctantly swiped the suit off the bed making her way to the bathroom to change.
White and pink quickly replaced the yellow sunflower mini dress she had been wearing and Mira found herself frozen as she tossed her dress aside, eyes glued to her reflection in the mirror. Even without her mask and hood pulled up, just wearing the actual suit instead of some replication in a moment of panic had her gulping.
The creak of the window opening caused her to tense up.
In less than a second her bathroom door slammed open and she swung the bookcase in the corner of the room at the figure hanging upside down at her window.
"M!"
Two blue and red hands quickly caught the bookcase.
"ITS ME!"
Mira froze at the echo of his voice. The familiar atoms of his body vibrated in her ears, atoms she knew like the back of her hand.
In an instant, she let the bookcase fall to the ground, her eyes widening as she stared at Peter who was sitting on her window seal in his brand-new suit. One so drastically different from the suit he had been wearing for the past six months. It was a skin-tight one-piece suit almost like spandex, there was a spider in the centre of his chest, red and blue moving through the material, each burst of colour perfectly placed.
- Had his arms always been so ripped?
Forcing her gaze away from his suit-covered arms which torturously kept drawing her attention no matter how much she tried to think about literally everything else, Mira watched as he yanked the new mask off his head. A small smile formed on her lips as she spotted the curls she rarely saw break free. Peter had natural curly hair like his mother had but since she had known him he had always used gel to pin them down straight.
-She loved Peter's curls.
"Sorry." She squeaked as she clicked that he was still holding the bookcase she had tried to attack him with, quickly illuminating it in pink she lifted it out of his hands, settling it back in its original place "Just a little on edge."
Her words caused Peter to pause as he climbed into her room, finally taking in the trembling hands, the stress in her eyes and the way she kept fidgeting, unable to even stay still for a single second as the clock ticked down. Every tick taunted her, reminding him how little time they had before they would have to leave. It hit him like a freight train. They were possibly going to have to fight people she loved today. People who had stood by her side and helped her at her worst moment when she had to face off against her own father. These people weren't just famous heroes to Mira. They were people she had heavily relied on since she was 12, people who had helped train her to stay safe, the people who had been the ones to come to her defence when the reveal about Marcus Rohan came to life.
If it hadn't been for the Avengers, Marcus Rohan would still be controlling her. Would still be preparing her for a life she had not a single say in.
"Mira-"
Mira didn't hear him, too lost in her own thoughts as she continued pacing back and forth, fingers running through her hair, mind completely lost in the whirlpool of terror "Pietro and Wanda aren't answering-Steve won't talk to anyone-everyone is lying and keeping secrets-it's like someone took a sledgehammer to everything-"
"-M-"
"-Everything was good! And now it's all falling apart-" A stray tear started to drip down her cheek, hands trembling as she pressed them into her chest, heart pounding faster and faster with every word that tumbled out of her lips, panic clawing at her through "-It's all falling apart again!"
Marcus Rohan punching his fist through Rhodey's suit. Tossing his own friends aside like years of friendship meant nothing.
"-I can't do this again-I-just-I can't breathe-I-I-"
It was St Louis all over again.
The Avengers fighting within themselves. Harsh words being exchanged, two different opinions clashing, cruel words quickly switching to fists and violent blows. Blood spilling out, bones breaking as trust was completely shattered into a million pieces. Glass shattering, ripping through them all, staining them. A line in the sand that had completely ruined everything, no chance of going back to normal. A heavy cloud that never vanished left hanging over her for the rest of her life. One moment haunting her, clawing at her brain, carving into her soul, unable to ever truly be mended no matter how many band-aids were placed over the wound.
The small scar on her stomach felt heavier.
"-Mira, you need to breathe-"
Peter was in front of her, gloved hands cupping her face forcing her to focus on him as she continued to heave no longer able to figure out how the hell she was supposed to get oxygen into her body.
Concerned eyes scanned her face closely "M, focus on me okay? The atoms in my body." He moved one hand away from her face taking her dominant hand and placing it against his chest right above his heart "Focus on the constant beat and breathe slowly."
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
More tears dripped down her cheeks, Peter using the gloved hand still on her face to wipe them away as they fell. There was a constant beat under her palm, one that never faltered, always consistent, no chance of suddenly going off course like the rest of her life kept doing. A shaky breath escaped her as she looked back at him, soft brown eyes connecting with dark brown that reminded her of tree roots or bark in the best way possible.
Peter offered her a small smile his thumb softly stroking over her cheek "There we go. You're okay. I got you."
Peter was solid, he never upset her, or let her down, he was only ever honest with her, never breaking his word. He came to her locker every morning with a sandwich, would only ever curse in Italian under his breath instead of English to not risk insulting someone, he would sneak in through her bedroom window during every patrol to excitedly tell her about whatever bad guy he had just defeated.
He was a rock.
Another deep breath escaped her chest, this time a little less shaky "-I don't know if I can fight someone I love again Peter."
Her father had ruined her.
His face fell at her words, not upset at her for being scared of the possible fight that would go down today, but hurt for her. Hurt that this was all happening so soon after St Louis, it wasn't fair, nothing about this situation was fair. He hated that the world kept knocking her down every time she managed to feel a little more settled.
"It won't come to that." He really hoped that Mr Rogers listened to Mr Stark when they arrived for Mira's sake "But, either way. You got me and I got you."
It had been the two of them since the second they met, Peter knew it.
Mira sniffled as she leaned her cheek into his touch, her soul lighting up slightly the longer she listened to his soothing voice, a voice that knew her probably better than anyone other than Sammy. Even if Sammy knew her better, Peter understood her better than anyone else on this planet because they were able to lean on each other as kids with powers that put a lot of weight on their souls.
"I'm sorry."
Peter hated that it was still her instinct to apologise when she was upset "Please don't apologise you have every reason to feel this way. I used to get panic attacks after Uncle Ben, it's normal. It's good, it's human."
Her fingers tightened against the material covering his chest before she let her head fall to where her hand was still resting above his heart. Peter's arms wrapped around her, chin perched on top of her head, fingers twisting the ends of her long dark hair as he held her, ears glued to the pounding of her heart. Listening intently as it slowly started to return to a normal pace, no longer on the edge of exploding out of her chest.
"I'm scared too." He admitted "But, I know you will be there with me. Makes it better."
Mira smiled softly through her blurry eyes "I hate that Tony kidnapped you but kind of grateful right now."
Pulling back from the embrace, she couldn't help but smile up at him, his smile matching hers as he used his thumb to wipe away the remaining tears from her face, one arm still wrapped around her waist keeping her close.
"Where you go...I go I guess."
Mira snickered a little a teasing brow raising as a sly smirk started to appear on her lips "What?"
Peter lightly tapped her nose as he spotted that familiar smirk taking form on her lips "I saw it on a movie once don't make fun of me-"
"-but it's just so easy-"
"-M!" He whined before shaking his head in amusement "Just, it works. Wherever you go, I go too. That's the rule now."
Mira loved it.
"Where you go, I go." She promised her smile just growing brighter with every passing second, worries sinking to the back of her mind. Dread starting to settle down so it wasn't constricting the air around her lungs.
"Am I interrupting something?"
The sudden amused voice from the doorway caused the pair to scream, only for their eyes to widen as they spotted Natasha Romanoff clad in her Black Widow suit leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed over her chest. The sly smirk on her lips as she eyed their entangled limbs and closeness had another scream cracking out of both teenagers.
Their embrace did not look as innocent as it was from an outside perspective.
In an instant, they leapt away from each other getting as much distance as possible, both of their cheeks burning matching bright shades of red.
"-This isn't!- " Mira sputtered in horror as she gestured to herself and Peter "-This isn't what it looks like!"
"-She was upset Miss Romanoff!-" Peter looked like a deer in the headlights right now "-I wasn't-just-just being a friend I swear! Please don't shoot me!"
Unlike Marcus Rohan who would always look ready to tear his head off just for being in Mira's room with her, Natasha Romanoff was just smirking at him clearly amused by the utter state of panic she had created with her mere presence.
With a glint in her eyes, Natasha shifted her focus to the still-blushing Mira who was hiding her face in her hands "Don't panic kids. Just came to get you Nibblet..." Her eyes jumped over to Peter as she walked further into the room making sure to shut the door behind her "Happy know you snuck into her room?"
Peter gulped rubbing the back of his neck nervously "Uh-Yes?"
Natasha hummed her grin never faltering "He is getting ice so you have about three minutes till he realizes. But before you run out-" She moved over to Mira, standing beside the girl and nudging her shoulder teasingly "Nibblet introduce me to your friend."
"Nibblet?" Peter mouthed slightly his lip quirking slightly causing Mira to roll her eyes. Given how many embarrassing nicknames May had for him, he so did not get to make fun of her right now. His pet names were so much more humiliating!
"Nat, this is Peter, one of Midtown's best and brightest. He's second in his class."
Peter bit the inside of his cheek, grinning over at her "Second? M, you sure about that?"
"100%"
Somehow, if possible, Natasha's smile was even bigger as she watched the two go back and forth with slightly flirty teasing. Even if neither of them recognised what they were doing was flirting, it's what it was.
-Rhodes was going to freak out.
Letting her eyes scan the boy that Tony had brought into this, something that had pretty much guaranteed that Mira was going to make his life a living hell for a while, a teasing smirk slowly started to form on her lips "So this is the famous Peter?"
Mira groaned, dropping her face into her hands in embarrassment. She hated her life so much right now.
"He's a cutie. You didn't mention that detail Nibblet."
"I should have let Bucky throw me out of that window."