the siren |peter parker x siren!oc|

Serenity: Part 13

They fell asleep watching an endless loop of YouTube videos, superheros upon superheroes from the perspective of an onlooking civilian. Peter drifted off only after she did. He was going to return to the air mattress, but by the time Lena had finally fallen back asleep, he felt that any sudden movement might jerk her awake. So he laid his head back on her pillow, her head sitting on his left shoulder blade.

Laying next to her made his dreams empty. He wasn't forced to watch the same replay of Lena's parents falling in love and being murdered. For once, waking up to his alarm at 6 in the morning felt like a chore. The apple ringtone dragged him awake rather than being something he waited for.

When he opened his eyes, she wasn't next to him. He found her in the bathroom, brushing her teeth, her hair lightly tousled, almost longer than-

He snapped his eyes back up to the mirror, blinking as hard as he could.

She opened the drawer and handed Peter a toothbrush, probably a spare that Mr. Stark had provided. Peter noticed that she put a lot of weight on her arm, almost falling as she handed Peter the toothbrush.

"Hey you're getting better at standing," he said, a little awkwardly, putting toothpaste onto his brush. She didn't respond, not even in his head, just continued to brush, spit, and crutch her way back into the bedroom.

"Everything all right?" his voice was muffled from the toothpaste, which he spat out, "Are you okay?"

Nightmares. A little...

"Shaken up?"

Sure.

Peter didn't have to be at school until eight, but he usually woke up at six to account for the subway. It took him a moment to realize that he would most likely be returning to school in the same clothes he had left in, which would either go unnoticed or be dramatically projected by Flash Thompson. He looked at his reflection in the mirror, wondering if taking off the blue flannel shirt and wearing just a t-shirt would look less like he hadn't changed at all.

As if she had been reading his mind, Lena crutched over, holding something in her hand. She handed him a black, crewneck sweatshirt, prompting him to take it. He smiled and pulled it over his head. The inside of it smelled like her shampoo.

Not that-

Not as if that was important or significant in any way. It was just a fact. He had had his head buried in her hair all night. He was bound to recognize the smell.

He said goodbye, wishing Lena good luck on her work that day, and closed the door to Mr. Stark's car, watching as she disappeared in the rearview mirror. He heard Happy chuckle from the driver's seat. Chuckle. He was unsure if he had even seen the man smile.

"Something funny, Mr. Happy?"

"Oh what? Nothing Peter. Nothing," the hint of a smile was gone as soon as it had appeared. Peter, still exhausted from staying up so late, rolled his eyes and shut up, leaning his head against the window to possibly catch up on some sleep, allowing the Beatles to take him to dreamland.

He woke up to Happy saying his name in a dull but aggressive voice. His eyes drooped open to the unfortunate doors of Midtown Tech, where he rolled his eyes once more, thanked Happy, grabbed his bag, and walked up the steps to get to Calculus, pulling an earbud out of his ear in case someone tried to get his attention.

When he got into his first class, everyone was whispering, but it was blatantly loud. He didn't think much of it initially, but when he sat down, the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He already could hear everyone in the room, but it was odd that his senses would warn him about some measly gossip that was going around. He pulled the remaining earbud out in an attempt to hear them a bit better.