I feel it too
The coldness of the night embraced her like an old friend.
It was a strange feeling nevertheless. She had no old friends; all her friends were new.
But it was always cold in the white room. The controlled temperature was always the same, but it was a degree or two colder than she’d like it. They weren’t particularly inclined to please her back there, but she had a feeling they would do something as small as raising the temperature slightly if she asked. Still, she doesn’t think she ever complained about it. She never wanted to be comfortable there, to feel at home there, to stay there. And yet she stayed, for way too many years.
“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked.
She didn’t have to turn around to know it was Peter, leaning against the doorframe that led into the balcony. She’d recognize that voice anywhere. She shook her head negatively.
The question brought her back to her very first night at the institute, when they both stood in that same balcony after a sleepless start of the night, until he convinced her to go to bed and cuddled her until the morning. She smiled sadly at that precious memory, because deep down she feared she might be losing it soon.
He stepped into the balcony and leaned, his elbows in the railing, just like he did that night, but closer to her this time. Because they have gotten closer in the meantime.
“Can you see them from here?” he asked, sounding as lost in thought as she was. Almost as if he wasn’t talking to her, but to himself.
“No.” she confessed.
She did come to the balcony hoping she’d see Tracker and his crew beyond the walls of the property, but one could barely see the walls itself, hidden behind hundreds of trees. She felt relieved that she couldn’t see him, that he wouldn’t disturb the view of the lake she liked so much. That’s how she wanted to remember it: Trackerless. If she got to remember it, that is.
“I- I got you something.” Peter said nervously, and the fact that he said got instead of bought didn’t go unnoticed.
He had told her all about his tendency to steal, how he did it just because he could, not because he needed to. It was like a habit; one he couldn’t seem to shake. He told her how he wanted to stop and how he stole less and less each time.
She really couldn’t judge him; stealing was how she survived in the world before meeting him. She’s done far worse than that. All in all, it reminded her that he was real, that despite his superstrength and superspeed, he was still human. A small flaw in someone she thought was otherwise perfect. Not perfect perfect, but perfect for her.
She turned to face him with a smile as he pulled a necklace from the front pocket of his pants. No box, no package, this was definitely stolen. But he did it with good intentions, and she thought that counted. It was good enough for her. It was beautiful.
“It’s my heart” he said as the little silver heart pendant dangled in the moonlight.
“And you wanna give it to me?”
“It’s already yours” he said softly and it was so cliché she should have puked. But she didn’t. She thought it was adorable. She thought he was adorable. And kissable.
She turned around and held her hair up as Peter fought bravely to close the necklace behind her neck. Once he finally managed, she turned back around for him to see it. She wanted to ask him if it looked good on her, but the way his eyes glistened said it all.
“I love you” it slipped form his lips, but he made no effort to take it back. He chuckled and shook his head in disbelief, as if he was only learning it now. And then he looked at her. Simply looked her in the eyes, in that Peter way that always made her speechless, and she knew she couldn’t doubt it. She knew he meant it. She knew it was real. Because she felt it too.
She’d like to say she knew from the moment she kissed him in that record store, say she felt something in that moment, but that’s not the truth. Back them Peter was just another someone she was going to use. But he was so much more than that now.
If she could pinpoint the moment she started to fall, it would probably be the day he painted the ceiling of her room black. He did it without asking if he should or if he could, and she would never have asked that from him, but it showed he cared. It showed he listened, and he worried. Showed that she was at the forefront of his mind. And it had been this way since that day. She always seemed to be a priority to him, like he was to her.
And they know it is rushed - they’ve only known each other for two months - but Peter’s life has always been rushed. And even though Summer has a way of slowing him down like no one ever could, he taught her how to rush, and so they met halfway. Like two souls intertwining.
“I love you too” she said, cupping his face with both of her hands. And she was sure of it. She had no doubt about it. She knew that what she felt for him could have no other name: it had to be love. Pure and simply love. Love at last.
She loved him like she’s never been hurt. She smiled at him like she’s never been sad.
He’d given her his heart, and she knew hers belonged to him too.
She kissed him before he could see the single tear that escaped from the corner of her eye. It would only worry him, and there was nothing to be worried about. There was nothing sad about that tear.