— • —
Peter stared back at Luna with wide eyes as she stood at his front door, a broad grin on display. "I did not booty call you," he mumbled in embarrassment, stepping back to allow the girl to step into his apartment. His cheeks only further reddened when Luna paused in front of him, motioning with a single finger for him to step closer to her. Following instructions, he shuffled forward, allowing for Luna to lean up on her tippy toes and press a kiss to his nose.
She pulled back with a slight smile. "Sure you didn't," she teased, tapping a finger against his nose before whirling on her heel.
"I didn't!" Peter protested, shutting the door before following Luna further into the apartment. She didn't stop until she was in his bedroom, pausing to kick her shoes off in the corner before getting herself comfortable on his bed. "I was just... suggesting that you come over."
"So why mention May?"
Peter's cheeks burned. "You...you like having privacy."
Luna propped her head against her hand; an eyebrow quirked at Peter. "Do I?" Peter nodded quickly. "Hm, I guess I do. Well, we should probably take advantage of this privacy, since I treasure it so much."
Peter couldn't help the smile that spread across his lips as Luna proceeded to wiggle her eyebrows at him mockingly. With a chuckle, he kicked the door to his bedroom shut and made his way across the room to settle into the bed beside her. Upon being joined, Luna grabbed ahold of Peter, pulling him as close to her as possible. Peter half expected Luna to instigate an impromptu makeout sesh somehow but was left bright-faced when her lips began peppering kisses across his face.
"Luna," he muttered under his breath, only to be hushed by the said girl as she continued to cover his face. A smile tugged at his lips when she pulled back for a moment, fondness present in her eyes before she lowered herself once more to place a chaste kiss on his slightly puckered lips. "Are you done?" He asked sarcastically, despite the cheesy smile fighting its way onto his face.
Luna grinned. "Well, since you asked..." Peter laughed as Luna's head dipped once more, her lips barely brushing his cheek before Peter was cupping her cheeks, forcing her to meet his eyes once more. "Gosh, a girl tries to show some love for her boyfriend, and he treats her like she's committing a crime."
Peter rolled his eyes, lifting his head slightly to press a kiss to her cheek before lowering once more. He watched with a dazed smile as Luna's cheeks turned light pink, her fingers moving up to twirl around the curly strands of his hair. For a moment, Peter lost his train of thought, only focusing on the heavenly feeling of Luna's gentle touch. Then the cold metal of her charm bracelet brushed against his temple, and he suddenly remembered what he needed to speak to her about.
"Did you tell Mia?" Luna's eyes flitted down to his, and she nodded slowly before her eyes focused on the single strand of hair curled around her middle finger. "How did that go?"
"Mia had a crush on you," Luna thought aloud, the memory replaying in her mind. When the words first left Mia's lips, she couldn't deny there was a distant feeling of utter disgust there, an image of her best friend and her boyfriend intertwined in an intimate manner manifesting in her mind, but now the thought was hilarious to her. Judging by the way Peter's face screwed up, she could tell he also didn't like the idea of the two of them together, which settled an unknown fleeting feeling in the pit of Luna's stomach. "Well, she had a thing for Spider-Man, but she said she's over that now that she knows that's you."
"Mildly offended, but deeply relieved," Peter mumbled more to himself. "Did she believe you guys easily, since you had no proof or anything?"
His words made Luna suddenly conscious of the photo folded in the back pocket of her jeans. Peter could feel her tense up, her fingers no longer gently scratching at his scalp with each twist around a strand of hair. He stared up at her questioningly, hands gently squeezing her hips as a silent way of asking what happened. Without a word, Luna retracted her hand from Peter's hair and pulled the photo out of her pocket.
Her eyes trailed over the image one last time before turning it for Peter's view. She watched as his eyes went from confusion to shocked, to downcast in a matter of seconds as he processed what he saw in the photo. His eyes dragged up to hers eventually, a deep frown resting on his lips. "Where did you get this?"
"Danielle," Luna answered immediately, allowing Peter to pluck the photo from her fingers and get a better look at it. "Do you remember that?"
Peter's frown deepened as his eyes scanned over the photo, taking in every detail about the scene. How could he possibly forget what was happening the moment this photo was taken? He could practically see Luna's chest rising and falling rapidly as she tried to get her words out with a confidence that just wasn't there. He could still feel the ache in his chest as she spoke to him, desperately wanting to tug her forward and wrap her in a hug, yet knowing she'd want him to do anything but.
"Vividly," Peter breathed out. Forcing his eyes away from the photo, he focused on the Luna in front of him, the one that wasn't angered at him for his carelessness, and instead stared down at him with knitted brows and eyes of concern. "So, Danielle knows, what are we gonna do?" He expected Luna's face to morph into one of thinking, where she pulls her lip between her teeth and her fingers tap aggravatingly on any flat surface. But that never came, instead she stared down at Peter with... remorse?
Then it dawned on him.
"You knew she knew," Peter breathed out, Luna wincing at the astonished tone. "Seriously, Luna? You didn't ever find it necessary to tell me that someone outside of the inner circle knew my identity?"
"I found out when we weren't in a good place; you can't blame me for that," Luna retorted.
Peter's eyes narrowed. "And what if she told everyone? Then I could have blamed you?"
"Well, she didn't," Luna quipped back, Peter biting the inside of his cheek to keep from responding with an equally snippy remark. "Besides, I wasn't going to let that happen. As long as I did what she told me, she wouldn't dare tell a soul, or else I'd ruin her entire life."
While Luna intended for the words to comfort Peter, all it did was further irk him. "She threatened you?"
"Are we going to let this girl cause a fight between us when we have her only piece of proof in our hands right now?" Luna pointed out, gesturing to the photo that'd been discarded to the side. "C'mon, Peter, let's not do this right now."
Peter fell silent, his eyes darting between Luna's pleading eyes before ultimately heaving out a sigh. "You're right..." He picked the photo up from where it lied beside them, eyes not lingering for a moment longer than necessary, the scene in it bringing back nothing but negative memories. "We should get rid of this, though."
Luna nodded in agreement, plucking the finger from Peter's fingers to stare at it. Peter watched with a frown as her eyes narrowed in on the photo, before turning it slightly to examine it further. "She was really able to capture my frustrstion pretty well, even in the dark." When she glanced up, she met Peter's pointed look that said 'seriously?' "Sorry, is it too soon? You know I use comedy as a coping mechanism."
Despite trying his hardest to remain solemn in what was meant to be a serious discussion, Peter found himself cracking a smile after a moment. Luna's sheepish expression aided in breaking down his tough exterior, her cheeks burning with embarrassment at her attempt at a funny comment about a not so funny situation. Peter found himself wrapping his arms around her upper half, pulling her down to lie flush against him. Luna let out a low huff at the impact, before shifting slightly to get herself more comfortable, Peter's arms practically cradling her head by the time she'd moved to her comfort.
"Luna, we're such a mess," he thought aloud, fingers absentmindedly twirling around her hair. "Have you ever realized that?"
"Yeah," Luna answered immediately. "But we're badass, so who cares?" Though it came out slightly muffled, a result of her face being mushed against Peter's chest, Peter still understood her words perfectly. Reluctantly, he released his hold on her, allowing Luna to raise her head to meet his gaze. She wore a wide grin, tousled hair aiding in making her appear all the more adorable. "We're tight as fuck, have you ever realized that?"
"Yeah?" Peter was amused now, watching as Luna propped herself up, before nodding excitedly. "How so?"
"Uh, lemme think." She mockingly tapped her chin with her index finger, before her mouth fell open, finger going up in the air as if she'd just had an epiphany. "How about you taking down a man in a flying bird suit while on a plane, and somehow got him out of there alive." She tapped his chest with two fingers, Peter's lips quirked. "You, sir, are a super badass." She then dramatically flicked her hair over her shoulder. "Not to one-up you or anything, but I've beaten up a grown man without any super spider powers... so."
Peter snickered. "Yeah, yeah, not to one-up me or anything, you super badass."
Luna grinned, her hands resting on his chest, fingers splayed out. "Dude, we're so cool."
Peter's face suddenly screwed up in distaste, causing Luna's smile to falter. "Did you just dude me?" Her brows knitted together in confusion, as Peter shook his head. "I don't like that. It sounds weird to be dude'd by my girlfriend."
Luna rolled her eyes. "Okayyy...Uh, how about, babe, we're so cool."
Peter responded by lifting Luna's hand and pressing a kiss to her knuckles, causing her cheeks to flush as she withdrew her hand. He wasted no time retaking hold of her hand, finger twisting the ring on her middle finger around. "May wants you to stay for dinner," he informed her.
Luna blinked rapidly. "Oh, she knows I'm here?" Peter nodded. "Damn, here I thought we were finally those teens that sneak each other into the other's room and..." Luna trailed off, unsure of how to finish the sentence with Peter staring at her with raised eyebrows. "Nevermind." She cleared her throat, trying her hardest to ignore the heat creeping up her neck. "So, she wants me to stay over for dinner?"
Peter nodded. "Yeah. She heard me tell you I love you on the phone, and not only did she give me the talk, but she insisted next time you come over that she's making you stay."
Luna's nose scrunched up in disgust. "Gross. Andrew gave me the talk too, and lemme tell you; it is not ideal to have your gay brother give you the talk when he has little to no idea what he's talking about."
The boy snorted. "I can imagine."
The next few minutes were filled with silence, a comfortable one at that. Neither Luna nor Peter found it necessary to fill the space with talk, finding joy in just the presence of one another. Peter was focused on twisting Luna's hair around his fingers in every possible way, while Luna kept her head pressed to his chest, listening to the soft thump of his heart. Sadly, that didn't last all that long as the sound of the front door opening broke the silence, following by May calling for Peter. Luna was quick to roll off of Peter, not wanting to witness the utter embarrassment that would be May catching her sprawled across Peter like some sort of clingy child.
May pushed Peter's door open gently, a smile immediately spreading across her lips as she saw both Luna and Peter lying on his bed in the most innocent sense ever. "Hi, Luna, how are you?"
She perked up, grinning at the older woman. "I'm great; thank you for inviting me for dinner, by the way!"
Her eyes widened at that, and she clapped excitedly. "Right, that, I wanted to extend that invitation actually." Both Luna and Peter shared a look of confusion, the two teens unsure of what May was referring to. May smiled sheepishly, hands clasped together in a pleading manner. "Since you two are getting pretty serious, I figured it's about time I met Luna's family, right?"
Luna swallowed harshly, a lump forming in her throat at the thought of a family dinner. She can already hear Andrew and Diana fighting over who gets to embarrass Luna first. "I'll ask if they can!" She chirped out, despite wanting to do anything but. May smiled widely, before dismissing herself to the kitchen to put away groceries she just bought. Luna immediately turned to Peter, her eyes pleading. "Please tell me I don't have to actually invite them."
"I mean... unless you want to lie to my poor, sweet aunt, who's oh so eager to meet the love of my life's family–"
Luna cut Peter off with a wack to his chest, sending a death glare his way despite her heart hammering at his choice of words. "Alright, Shakespeare, I get it." With her glare still settled on her boyfriend, she called her Mother, who was conveniently at the top of her recently called list. She waited a moment as it rang a few times, and just when she was ready to hang up and declare it a miracle, it stopped ringing.
"Hi, Little. Are you still at Peter's?"
Luna tensed up, and Peter gave her hand a gentle squeeze in an effort to ease her nerves. "Yeah, I am, Ma. Are you home?"
"Yeah, just about to order pizza too, you're missing out."
"Actually, why don't you come here for dinner?" Luna blurted out quickly, the question sounding more forced than anything. There was silence on the other end, and giving Peter's hand a tight squeeze, she inhaled sharply before continuing. "Um, Peter's aunt said she wants to meet you guys since me and Peter are getting serious. It's totally okay if you can't–"
"That's a great idea!" Luna's face paled. "Sadly, Diana and Andrew are both out tonight, but I would love to come over for dinner."
"Oh, uh, okay. I'll text you the address and time?"
"Okay. See you later, Little."
"Bye, Mami." Luna hung up the phone, still dazed by what just occurred, her eyes faraway and she stared straight ahead of her.
"Luna?" Peter's voice broke her out of her daze, and Luna's eyes refocused to see Peter's soft, doe eyes staring into hers. "It's gonna be fine, okay?"
Luna bit the inside of her cheek. "I hope so." She flushed at she sighed, her eyes meeting Peter's with a sheepish look. "C-Can you braid my hair? I'm kinda stressing right now."
Peter grinned, immediately sitting up. "Of course." Luna followed suit, sitting up before giving her back to him. Pulling all her hair to one side, Peter readied to divide the hair into three sections but paused for a brief moment. He quickly leaned forward to place a lingering kiss on the side of Luna's neck, the intimate nature of the peck sending a shiver down Luna's spine. "This is gonna go fine, Moonie, I promise."
Luna could feel her lips quirk up at the nickname, and when Peter's fingers ran through her fingers, she couldn't help but let her eyes flutter shut, replaying the sound of the words 'love of my life' leaving Peter's lips. If he said it was going to be fine, then it was going to be fine.
— • —
ROSE'S NOTE!
hold, officially lifted!
welcome back luna & peter, you were deeply missed
now, i still have to write iw so no worries if you haven't seen endgame yet, that won't come for a bit
still need to tie up some loose ends in this book (i.e. danielle & ernie) then we'll be moving on to bigger things, but i'm just soooo happy to finally be writing peter and luna again. they are probably my purest, most wholesome couple and i love them for it. i'm so happy to be able to write them as a (mostly) normal couple for the time being, its what they deserve