(3rd Person POV)
October 4th 3:45 pm
That day Eliza had all of her classes, which meant that by Friday she had to complete all of her missing assignments from all of the subjects. Math, Science, English, History, and Photography.
Peter had agreed to help her with all of them, because that's what best friends do for each other.
After the school day ended, they stopped by Peter's apartment to grab a few things. They said hi to Aunt May, who bombarded Eliza with hugs, saying that she had missed her a lot because she was spending most of her time with the Avengers.
"I'm so sorry I haven't been around lately, just been pretty busy I guess," Eliza said. May waved a hand.
"Of course, you are a superhero after all," she said. Eliza laughed nervously. Peter came out of his room with his old camera that Ben had given him and a few textbooks.
"Ok, we've got to get to work." he said, referring to the combined 53 assignments she had missing.
"Right- um, all of my stuff is at the compound," she said while pointing behind her.
"Ok let's go then," he hiked up his backpack onto his shoulder and they each kissed May on one of her cheeks, before going out the front door and out on to the street.
They passed Delmar's Deli and stopped to get some sandwiches and snacks, to prepare for a major study session.
"Ah Eliza! Hace tiempo que no te veo, ¿cómo estás? (Ah Eliza! Haven't seen you here in a while, how are you?)" Mr. Delmar said, smiling brightly.
"Estoy bien, lo siento, no he estado en un tiempo. (I'm doing okay, sorry i haven't been around in a while)" Eliza said.
"No need to apologize señora, what can I get you two?" Mr. Delmar asked.
"Number 3 and Number 5 please," Peter said.
"Number 5 with pickles and smooshed down flat," Eliza said, glancing at Peter. He smirked back at her, happy that she had remembered his order.
Eliza walked over to the chips stand and got herself some gummy worms and Cheetos, and Peter some sour patch kids and Doritos. They paid for their snacks and walked down the street, their arms full of food, textbooks, and cameras.
They arrived at the Avenger's compound, waddling up to the front steps, and kicking the door open. On the couch sat Wanda, Rhodey, Steve, and Bucky.
"Hey guys...what are you doing?" Bucky asked. Peter popped his head over the stuff in his arms so you could only see his eyes and forehead.
"Homework!" He glanced at Eliza and smiled, she grinned back. Bucky watched Eliza's mood light up, just because Peter was around. It made him happy.
"Hey Steve I want to talk to you about something..." Bucky said. Steve looked at him with concern and Bucky took his hand, leading him out of the living room.
"Ok, we're going to my room. See you in six hours!" Eliza yelled out, and they ran to her room.
Peter giggled and shut the door, then threw all his stuff onto her bed. Eliza stood with her hands on her hips, looking at the pile of stuff. She organized it into food, school, photography, and random shit that got put into the mix somehow.
"What the fuck is this?" she asked, holding up a dvd of 'Barbie of Swan Lake.'
Peter doubled over laughing, holding his stomach for support and rolling around on the floor. Eliza soon joined him, tears of laughter in her eyes.
"I-I c-can-t oh my god. w-why d-do you even have that?" Peter said through laughs.
"fOr mEMoRiEs gEeZ," she said.
When they calmed down a bit, they got started on the algebra assignments. Peter took a bite of his sandwich and flipped through the book, trying to find where the last lesson was that she did.
6:30 pm
"IT'S JUST THE RADICAL EQUATIONS IT'S NOT THAT HARD OH MY GOODNESS!!" Peter yelled and Eliza tried her hardest not to laugh. She wrote down the problem, √x + 7 = 16.
They had blasted through most of the book really fast, because a lot of it was review. Peter was pacing around the room, with gummy worms in one hand and balancing the text book in the other. Meanwhile, Eliza was sprawled across the bed, laying on her stomach and writing down the answers.
A few minutes later, they finished all the math assignments and decided to take a victory dance break. Just because.
"Please believe don't you see the things you mean to me, oh I love you, I love you, I love, I love Olivia," Peter sang out.
"Is Olivia even a person? Is Olivia an emotion? Is she a place? We don't know." Eliza said, making Peter cackle. After they rocked out to Kiwi and a few other songs, they started on the science work.
Last year they had taken Chemistry, so this year they took Physics. The assignment was on simple harmonic motion, which both of them were particularly skilled in this arena, because they used it a lot while making their web shooters, along with figuring out how to swing around the city without crashing into buildings.
Eliza grabbed her web shooters from her desk, and flipped the plate so that it showed the wires used to program the linear motion. She messed around with it for a while before giving up and telling Peter that they needed to go to Mr. Stark's lab where the complete diagram was.
"You've been inside his lab? That's awesome!" Peter exclaimed. The two of them walked out of Eliza's room and made their way to the lab.
She was about to open the door, but then through the front door came Tony and a Pepper Potts, who had a tiny baby bump.
"IT'S A GIRLLLLL!!!!!!" Tony screamed, throwing his hands in the air and running around. Pepper laughed at him and turned to the teenagers. Eliza ran up to Tony and gave him a big hug, then one to Pepper. Peter looked really confused about what was happening.
"Oh I forgot to tell you, Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts are having a baby," Eliza muttered. Peter's eyes widened and a smile crept up on his lips.
"THAT'S SO COOL!! I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!!!!" Peter gave Pepper a huge hug, and she embraced him back. Tony smiled widely.
"Okay, the doctor said you have to have a shit ton of rest, so let's tell the others and then get you to bed," he winked at Pepper and she rolled her eyes.
"In a second," she turned back to Peter and Eliza, "How are you guys doing? I haven't seen you in a few months."
"We're doing science homework," Peter shrugged.
"You're doing your homework?" Tony asked, "Finally." Eliza playfully glared at him and Peter took her hand, leading her into the lab.
"It was nice to see you Ms. Potts! I'll talk to you later!" She called out to them while being dragged away.
Peter stood in the doorway of the lab, mouth hanging open as he looked at all of the Iron Man suits. Eliza glanced at him, and admired the way his eyes danced with passion while looking at the suits he had fantasized about since he was six years old. His eyes met hers and they softened a little, both of them feeling... content.
This was an emotion they only found when with or thinking about one another. Content. Defined by the dictionary as: in a state of peaceful happiness. And that's what it was. When they saw each other across the room or even in their dreams, it was finally peaceful. No stress from whatever else was going on in their lives, just Peter. and just Eliza.
Peter kissed her forehead and walked further into the lab, while she stood in the threshold, smiling like an idiot.
(~time skip~)
October 7th 9:05 pm
Eliza had finished her all her math, science, history, and english assignments for that week. Now all that was left was Photography. The photography assignment was to capture nine moments of:
Music
Opposites
Love
Water
Reflections
Silhouette
Sunrise
City Lights
Candid
"Okay first one...music. Oh I have an idea! It's a two in one, opposites and music. I'll just take a photo of my record. 'Laughing on the outside' by Bernadette Carroll." Eliza said.
"Perfect," Peter said. He looked down at the list, "Okay next one is love." There were a few minutes of silence while they both thought. Peter was thinking of Eliza's eyes, and they way they sparkled when she looked at him, but his thoughts were interrupted by the girl herself.
"Ah! I've got it! Okay just give me ten minutes," she got up and ran out to the living room. Clint was sitting in a chair, watching tv. Her laptop was on the L-shaped couch, so she plopped down and got to work.
Peter got bored in her room after about three minutes, so he got up and sat next to Eliza on the couch. He studied her face while she worked, her tongue was in between her teeth and eyebrows furrowed in concentration. One of her legs was underneath the other, as her fingertips dragged the curser across the trackpad.
She finished the photo and showed Peter. He let out a laugh and she smiled.
"Where did you get that photo??" Peter asked. Eliza shrugged.
"I think it was last year, then I just added these hearts. Technically it's love," she said dramatically. They talked about the picture a little more, then Peter went back to watching tv with Clint, and Eliza scrolled through her phone, smiling once and a while, presumably at a meme.
Peter grabbed his own camera and took a quick photo of Eliza, without her knowledge. She heard the shutter of the camera and glanced up from her phone, to see Peter smirking down at his camera. She crawled over to where he was and looked at the picture.
"You're fucking beautiful," Peter muttered, but Eliza didn't hear.
"What?"
"He said that you're fucking beautiful," Clint spoke up, crunching on popcorn. Peter's face heated up so he looked like a tomato. So did Eliza's.
"I-uh-I-" he stuttered, trying to think of something to say.
"Um- th-thank you," she cleared her throat. "Well at least we have a candid one now." She pointed out.
"Y-yeah."
"Um the other ones we can do tomorrow before school if you want," Eliza shrugged.
"Sure."
-----------------------------------------
(Peter's POV)
I was walking down the street with Eliza, and we were holding hands. We were both smiling widely, going in the direction of the school. She had one earbud in her ear and the other was in mine. We were listening to '18' by One direction.
"We took a chonce," Niall Horan said.
"What the fuck is a cHoNcE???" Eliza screamed, probably making the other citizens on the street concerned for her mental well being.
I laughed loudly, she was so amazing.
We arrived at the outside of the school building, and she was about to go inside, but I pulled on her hand, making her spin around and into my arms. She giggled and wrapped her arms around my neck, while my arms snaked around her waist to keep her warm.
She pulled back from the hug and I looked into the blue and green eyes that I loved so much. Her face was glowing with happiness as I leaned in so our noses were almost touched. Our lips brushed for a split second before she gasped and started to cough up blood.
My face fell when I saw her stumble to the ground, a knife sticking out of her back. I screamed at the top of my lungs and my knees gave out.
I looked around, trying to find whoever it was that had thrown the knife, when I turned around, the wind was knocked out of my lungs and everything dusted into grey.
October 8th 4:25 am
My eyes snapped open. I felt every surface of my body covered in a cold sweat. I was breathing heavily and my heart was racing. I ran a shaky hand through my hair and threw the covers off of me. I looked around and tried to acknowledge where I was. I was laying in Eliza's bed at the compound.
I didn't even remember what had happened in my dream, just that Eliza wasn't safe. My eyes widened.
Eliza.
I looked behind me at the bed and saw that it was empty, and she wasn't there. I must have fallen asleep while we were studying or something. But where was she? I scrambled to my feet and searched the bathroom and the rest of the room for her.
I ran out of the room and looked to my left and right. I heard some clattering in the kitchen and followed the noise.
There in the kitchen stood Eliza, making grilled cheese at four am. Something only she would do. I sighed in relief and walked over to her. She looked up.
"Hey man, I twas gonna give you a grilled cheese you want?" she said. I didn't answer, I just ran up to her and gave her a huge hug. She was surprised at first, but then reciprocated. "Oh, this is nice."
We stood there for a few minutes before she spoke up again. "Hey Pete you wanna tell me what's going on?"
I released her from the hug and she looked at me with worry. She brought her hands up to my face and wiped a few tears from my eyes that I didn't even know were there.
"I-uh. I just h-had a bad d-dream," I sniffed.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Um, I don't really know. B-but y-you died," I said softly, not meeting her eye line. She tapped on my forehead twice. Then on my temples, cheekbones, jawline, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and palms. I breathed in and out slowly.
"Better?" she asked quietly and I nodded, finally looking at her. "I'm not going anywhere."
She let go of my hands and went back to the grilled cheese while I watched her. I noticed her camera sitting on the corner, the red light beeping every other second.
"Are you recording a video?" I asked.
"Hehe, yeah. Cooking with Eli, for my eyes only," she winked and I laughed. She flipped the grilled cheese and I sat on the counter.
She finished with the grilled cheeses and handed me one on a plate, then jumped up onto the counter next to me. I took a bite.
"Woah! This is really good," I exclaimed.
"Yeah, the senses help with timing the perfect flip so that you don't burn it. Also with knowing how to make the perfect cheese stretch," she said and took a bite, munching on it.
"Huh."
"So is this just a thing now? We wear each other's clothes?" she asked.
"What?" I asked, confused.
"You're wearing my hello kitty pj pants," she said and I looked down.
She gasped, "You know what you should wear? My crop top! Dude dude dude you would look so good you have no idea."
I gasped as well, "That sounds awesome cause then we can end toxic masculinity forever. Just like our king, Harold Styles." I clapped my hands together.
"He did pull of long hair better than basically 99% of the female population so..." She said, going over to the sink.
"I think I like him more than you do."
She snapped her head around and yelled quietly, because she didn't want to wake up anyone else, "nOt tRuE. Now gET OUTTA MY KITCHEN!"
I ignored her. "The straightest boy band out there. One addition. Who's in that band again? I know the church boy, all payne and no liam, larry stylinson, and... ringo! That's his name!"
She snorted while cleaning up the kitchen.
"Oh I forgot to turn the camera off," she said, and walked over to it, pressing the stop button and putting it around her neck. "Okay, now we have to do a bunch of other pictures before school starts, so let's get going."
We got dressed in some sweatpants, sneakers and I gave her one of my sweatshirts. She smiled gratefully, and we snuck outside. I also made sure to bring my web shooters just in case.
It was still dark out, and we needed a photo of the sunrise, so it was perfect. I had my old camera around my neck, occasionally taking pictures of my best friend or the sky. Sometimes when she was looking up at the stars when we used to stargaze, I could see them in her eyes. When they turned a dark blue color, the small lights of the city would reflect, making them look the night sky.
I gasped, "I have the perfect idea for the reflecting one!"
We took the picture and her face lit up when she saw it.
"Oh my goodness it's so cool! Miss. Byers will love it," she exclaimed. I would probably keep a copy for myself too.
I used my web shooters to swing us towards the Brooklyn bridge. Because Eli didn't bring hers, she had to hold onto me. I didn't have any problem with it though, because I liked to have her in my arms.
When we got there, Eliza took a few pictures, to which then crossed off Water from her list.
"Woah Eli that's really good," I said, looking at the photo. She smiled sheepishly and looked away.
"Thank you," she said. I stared at her a few second longer until I noticed something.
"The sun's coming up, let's go!" I said, and grabbed her hand, leading her to an overpass. I sat over the railing at the sun made its way above the horizon. It started out as a bright yellow, but then slowly shifted into a beautiful orange. We both snapped a few shots of it, and they were amazing.
"Ok now the last one is Silhouette..." she trailed off, jumping off of the overpass that we were sitting on. We walked down the street, trying to come up with ideas.
"Peter?" someone called my name.
Both of us turned around to look for the voice, it was Liz.
"Oh, hey Liz!" I said. She came closer to us and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. I felt a little awkward because Eliza was right next to us, but I don't think she cared. Liz didn't go to our school anymore, because last year she was a senior, and now she was a freshman in college.
"What are you guys doing?" Liz asked.
"Um..." I started.
"He's just helping me catch up with my homework and stuff," Eliza cut in. I gave her a grateful look and she smiled, "it's a photography assignment."
Liz fake smiled and looked her up and down, "Why are you wearing his sweatshirt."
Eliza's eyes grew wide and she looked down. She started to take it off, "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, you're his girlfriend, you should probably have it anyways, here." She held it out and I stared at her.
"Relax, you're acting like I'm gonna punch you in the face of something, I'm not." Liz reassured, and I sighed in relief. I wouldn't be surprised if she did, although Eli would most likely block it.
"Sorry, you're just a little intimidating," she mumbled. There was an awkward silence as she put the sweatshirt back on. She looked really good in it.
"Well," Liz said, "I've gotta get to class." She checked her watch, "It's 7, so I guess I'll see you later. Peter?"
"Bye, love you."
"Love you too," she muttered, and then walked off.
"We've gotta go." Eliza said, referring to the time. I nodded in response.
On our way to school, she was flipping through the photos on her camera, trying to choose one for a silhouette. I peeked over her shoulder and spotted one.
"This one, definitely."
(~time skip~)
3:25 pm
Eliza turned in all of her assignments, which brought her grade back up. She was in a really good mood, so after school, we went to the compound and had some ice cream. We were laughing at something Dwight had said on the tv, when Dr. Banner came running into the living room.
We looked up at him, his face was pale and and all sweaty.
"He's coming for you Eliza, we need to get you into surgery right away," he said shakily.
readers: how many one direction references are you going to put in this chapter?
me: