°°°
AFTER A THRIFT SHOP stop, Eleanor and Peter walked to their respective apartments in defeat. They didn't have the words, or the actions. As they rode the elevator, Peter was the first one to break the silence they've been in ever since Tony Stark left them at the front of the building.
"Hey, um." He started, not daring to look at her. Eleanor instantly knew it was because they were two tears away from bawling their eyes out. "Could you just, walk me to my door? I understand if-"
Eleanor cut his chatter off by holding his hand. The pair felt broken, and this small form of affection made Peter's heart skip a beat. Without saying anything else, Peter just gripped her hand tighter.
"Together, remember?" Eleanor commented, pulling the nerve to look at him. His eyes were red from crying in silence, his hair was also messy. She swallowed a knot that had formed inside her throat, and continued: "We'll be fine. Take this a time to recover. A-and to rest."
The girl chuckled at the image of the two: Peter wore a NYC tourist tee and Hello Kitty pajama bottoms while Eleanor wore a basketball jersey with boy's boxers: Tony Stark made sure they both got their punishment.
The metal doors opened. The girl inhaled, and exhaled a breath. "Come on." She said.
They broke off the hand holding, and Peter stepped towards his door. He knocked, and someone that was out of Eleanor's view answered.
"Oh God, Peter, thank God you're okay." Eleanor detected her mother's voice, and the teen started feeling doomed. Her mother gripped Peter's arms softly. "May has been so worried. Have you seen-"
At that moment, Eleanor's mother had stepped out of Peter's apartment. Her eyes were just as red as Peter's, her hair was just as messy and she looked beyond desperate. Her mother's expressions changed as soon as her eyes landed on her daughter, they went from a cry to a stern look.
"You." Her mother pointed at Eleanor. "Let's go. Now." The older woman then walked past Peter and Eleanor, towards the stairs. Eleanor just faintly waved Peter goodbye, and accompanied her mother.
Her mother entered her apartment first, and Eleanor followed shortly after. The teenager closed the door and observed her mother pace around in the living room.
"You won't believe the shit I went through today. May and I called five police stations. None of them would help. And then the ferry thing- I called your friends, I even called Mr. Stark, Eleanor. Couldn't you just pick up your phone for at least once? Studying, my ass."
Eleanor was speechless. She just walked from being near the kitchen and sat on the living room couch.
"I got off work. May and I were already looking for the best pictures of you two for posters, I-" her mother stopped, her voice breaking and holding back tears. "Listen to me." The older woman faced her daughter, her hands together. "I want you to be very honest with me. Are you and Peter having sex?"
"Wait, what?" Eleanor asked, confused. "No, mom-"
"Then why are you both disappearing all the time? May told me he sneaks out at night, just like you do. The principal also called, he said you ditched your classes and detention. What am I doing wrong?" Her mother inquired, and the girl knew that was a question she wouldn't be able to answer. "You have changed, El. You've been keeping everything to yourself ever since-"
Amelia Page stopped arguing, and sighed at the lack of answers from her daughter. She sat down beside her daughter, and placed her hand on the young one's back.
"I'm sorry. Put yourself in my shoes." Eleanor's eyes were still fixed onto the ground, tears staining both of her cheeks as her mom kept talking. "I don't mind if you and Peter- P-Peter's a nice kid. He's always looking out for you, I-It'd be better to know that you're out with him than to not know anything at all."
"It's not that, mom. We're not dating." Eleanor spoke, as she played with her fingers.
"You know you can tell me anything, El."
Eleanor knew deep down she wouldn't hear the end of this unless she told her the truth. So, she did.
"Mom," the teen started, shifting her head to look at her mother. "Remember the explosion?"
Her mother nodded, giving her the lead to continue.
"R-remember how they said that I had deadly injuries, but when I got to the OR, everything was gone?" She asked, but this time, Eleanor looked down. "I've been feeling different ever since that day. I-I told Mr. Stark about it, and h-he ran some tests on me, and discovered my cell regeneration was off the charts. I-I have powers, or whatever you'd like to call them."
Her mother's hand fell from her back to the couch, as she sat there in shock.
"The internship was to mentor me, and to make me a hero." Eleanor continued, but her eyebrows knitted as she started to cry. "But I messed up, mom. I messed up and-"
The adolescent now broke down in tears, as her mother embraced her. The older woman clutched the girl tighter to her chest and placed her head on top of hers.
"Oh, honey." Her mother began. "Believe me, of all the excuses I thought you'd say, this was never on my mind."
They broke the hug as the teen chuckled. Amelia Page reached out to wipe a tear from her daughter's cheek and grinned.
"Your father would be so excited about this revelation." Her mother remarked, as the two laughed.
"Yeah," Eleanor said, and sniffed. "He probably would've used me as an energy reactor at his lab."
The mother and daughter smiled, as the older woman's hand went back to Eleanor's back.
"Wow, um," The older woman said. "That kind of explains the alarm clock. W-We'll get through this, El. This is all new to me, but I'm sure we can figure this one out, too."
She hugged her daughter one last time, and then she broke the embrace. "And go shower. You smell like burnt metal."
Eleanor smiled, and before she could enter her bathroom, she overheard her mother speaking again.
"And don't think you'll get out of this one easily. The school gave you detentions for three days. It'll give me time to think about my punishment."
The teenager just smiled at her mother and nodded, before she entered the bathroom.
After a long shower, Eleanor walked into her room in her pajamas, drying her hair with a towel. She sat down on her white, wooden desk, and looked for a specific book she had around. She then placed the towel on her chair, and reached out for a book with a hard, black cover.
She placed it in the center of her desk, and after taking a long breath, she opened it. Pictures of her when she was a baby appeared, and images of her growing up came as she swept the pages. Her eyes landed on a specific picture: one of her father and her at a science fair back at her hometown. She smiled at the memory: she had tried to make a moving solar system structure, but one night before the competition, it didn't work. Her father stayed up all night to fix it, and she had won 1st place. Her fingers grazed the figure of her father on the paper, as she let out a tear.
She knew Mr. Stark wasn't being mean, instead, he had all the reasons to take her suit away. He was trying to protect her, and Eleanor perfectly knew that if her father was in Tony Stark's place, he'd say the same.
Her hand traveled to the necklace that always hung on her neck, she caressed it as she looked at the picture. She then walked towards her bed, and laid down. She then made the mental commitment to not use her powers ever again, unless she felt ready. She closed her eyes and made herself comfortable to sleep, the city sounds from the outside making up a perfect lullaby.
°°°
"You've been quiet all morning, you okay?" MJ asked Eleanor, as they both sat on a lunch table.
Eleanor opened her bottle of water. "I'm fine." She returned as she took a sip, and closed it. "Just a lot of things in my mind."
"Hey, I know you're gonna say no, but there's this badass horror movie I rented the other night, I was thinking that you could maybe come to my place and watch it, but you have the Stark Internship-"
"No, uh." Eleanor meditated her answer. "I won't be going to the internship for a while, so I guess I'm free."
"Wow, that's new. Why?" Her friend asked, worried, as she took a bite from her apple.
"Mr. Stark won't be available. We can do the movie thing, but you will need to come to my place since I'm grounded and won't be able to leave the house in probably a whole year from now." Eleanor chuckled, and MJ was even more surprised.
"The hell did you do?" MJ wondered, to which Eleanor just shrugged her shoulders. MJ left her half-eaten apple on the tray. "Okay, don't worry, I'll show up at your place. Is 8 o'clock okay-"
"Hey, guys." Both of her heads turned to see Ned Leeds standing beside them. "Can we sit?"
"You don't have to ask, man." MJ replied, scooting away so he could sit.
At first, Eleanor assumed it was just Ned, but then, a familiar figure sat in front of her, giving a soft smile as their eyes met.
"H-hey, El." He spoke and gave another soft smile.
"Hi." She answered, her eyes lifting from her tray for a small fraction of time to glance at him.
"Hey, guys." Ned saved the day by starting up a conversation. "Are you both going to homecoming?"
"It's in two weeks, isn't it?" Eleanor asked back, and she felt Peter's gaze on her, as if he was waiting for her answer.
"Yeah. Well," Ned glanced at both girls. "Are you?"
"Probably not. But El may, Flash asked her to be his date." MJ explained, and the two other teens stared at Eleanor intensely.
"Wait, Flash asked you out?" Peter asked, and Eleanor almost felt that he said it in a disappointing tone.
"First of all," the girl started, crossing her arms on the table. "He did, but at the beginning of the year. He probably hates my guts now. Second, I won't go."
"W-why not?" Peter inquired once again, and Eleanor felt MJ's stare on her.
"I'm grounded, and I don't think anybody will ask me out."
"Come on," Ned continued, "We could go together, as a group."
"I don't know, Ned-"
"T-that's a great idea." Peter argued, "We need a night to just have fun. Don't we, El?"
Eleanor looked at Peter, and she knew he was right. Besides, what could go wrong? They really needed a night where they wouldn't be on patrol or following somebody.
"Alright, fine." Eleanor agreed, and eventually, MJ agreed as well. Time passed, everyone finished their lunches and they all walked to their respective classes. And before Eleanor could step into her Spanish Class, her friend grabbed her arm.
"Hey, what was that all about?" MJ inquired.
"What do you mean? Eleanor asked back, moving from the door frame so other students could enter the room.
"El, he's going to ask you out."
"He won't, we're going as a group. I'm not getting any of my hopes up." El replied, tugging on the backpack on her back.
"We'll see." She remarked and left to her own classroom.
Days went by, and Eleanor felt she got herself on track again. She exercised inside her room, attended detention, and went back to being one of the people with the best grades in her class. Her mother's punishment consisted of going to assist her on her shifts, earning some points to convince her to take Eleanor dress shopping. The walks to school with Peter became more interesting, since the hero topic was not an option, question games became something usual for them. They got to know each other even more. Eleanor's feelings for him had tamed for a bit, but she always felt there would be some part inside her that would look out for him no matter what.
Tony Stark didn't call her during those weeks. She'd hope to receive a call from him someday, saying she's ready and he'd give her the suit back, but that dream was way unrealistic. She actually missed him. Missed him being surprised about her taste in music, telling anecdotes about his Avengers adventures, him admitting that she was her favorite between her and Peter (even though she knew it was Peter).
A week later after her friend group decided to attend homecoming together, and also a day away from the event, Eleanor found herself knocking on Peter's apartment.
She had the dress, the shoes, the accessories, everything was ready. Peter was right, we do need a night to calm down, She thought.
"Hey." Peter answered the door, with a smile on his face. "What's up, El?"
"Hi, my mother wondered if you'd like a ride to school tomorrow, we would just need a ride back, perhaps May could just drive us home-"
"Yeah, about that.." he started, and he scratched the back of his neck. "I won't be going with you guys."
Eleanor's happy look on her face fell, all the expectations she had of having fun with her friends at the dance disappeared. "What? Why?"
"I saw Liz in the hall today, during class. I-I asked her out to the dance, and she said yes. Could you believe that?" He spoke excitedly, leaning on his door frame.
"Oh."
"I'm sorry," Peter said, "I know I should've told you guys earlier, but it just happened today."
"No problem." Eleanor looked up from the ground at him and smiled. "We'll see each other tomorrow, okay?"
"Of course. So, see you tomorrow, El." He waved and entered his apartment.
Eleanor walked up to her stairs, muttering profanities as she stepped down.
°°°
a/n: yes, this is mostly a filler, but the good stuff is coming in the next chapter! i also cleared out some things that were kind of confusing in the last chapters.
but still, any question you might have, I'm all ears!
please comment what you think!
also, what options do you have for eleanor and peter's shipname?? i'm curious
love,
-a.