Lucy

AUTHORS NOTE: Hey guyssss hope you enjoy this is a twilight fanfic x shadowhutnersx oc. Im gonna jump a lot between povs sometimes 3rd person but most of the time ocs pov so i hope its not messy i do it without noticing so imma just give that warning lol. Sorry if some parts are cheesy just tryna fit in the twilight universe theme, feel free to recommend scenes of funny things to add because there's a plot and whole story planned out but i mainly wanna give you guys a good laugh too. We started off at a slow start just to settle in dynamics and backstory for now. Please enjoy!

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The air was damp and chilly, the sort of cold that would just settle into your bones under your clothes lounging there without bite. I rested my forehead against the car window and watched a single raindrop race down the glass trembling whenever the tires struck a crack in the road before being swept sideways by the cars movement.

I had always hoped for something wonderful to find me. 

What else could a child do after learning that her existence had been an inconvenience? You either accept the smallness people assigned to you, or you spend your life waiting for something extraordinary enough to prove them wrong.

Ordinary has always been my biggest fear.  So for years, every new beginning had felt like a clean slate, a brand new opportunity for that wonderful thing to finally arrive, but hope eventually became a dream and the dream with enough time and disappointment became something close to delusion.

And so here I was,

Forks, Washington. Population: 3120. The forecast: rain with a bit of rain and more variety colder rain. Not that I minded, I liked the rain and that blue like melancholy cozyness it brought with it.

The trees blurred beyond the window as we drove down the road in the middle of the forest. The silence inside the cruiser had stopped feeling awkward twenty minutes ago. Now it was merely comforting. My father, Charlie kept both hands on the steering wheel jaw tight in place. He was the chief of police in Forks, he was a quiet awkward man, with a simple life. At least I knew where I got it from, but from there on I knew very little about him.

I was the product of one night stand. Or a blessing as my mother likes to call it, I call it I'm a bastard born out of wedlock nice to meet you too, it's a real party killer though apparently. Charlie had recently divorced his wife when it happened. His other daughter had been taken to Arizona, he had been drunk and lonely and my mother was stopping by the town and kaboom. Nine months later his surprise second spawn was born.

I had met him only a handful of times as a child. Quick visits to forks, occasional telephone calls and birthday cards here and there. He had never been cruel or cold but it was just a distance that always remained. But now I am going to live with him as it turns out. It was March, the middle of the semester and my mother had received an incredible work opportunity she couldn't turn down which happened to be abroad though and the opportunity did not include me. 

And as luck would  have it though, my arrival nearly coincided with my half sisters, Isabella, according to Charlie, who would be coming from Arizona next week.

I barely knew Isabella in all honesty. We had met a few times, so few I could count them in my fingers, we were kids last time I saw her , I was 8 she was 9 I think. 

The engine hummed beneath us as Charlie turned onto a narrower road.

“Your hair is um blonde” he commented

“Yea it lightened up in the last years” i replied softly

He nodded once after this attempt of conversation lasted there.

The cruiser slowed as a small house emerged through the rain. It looked almost exactly as I remembered it. Although memories from childhood had a way of exaggerating things. The house seemed smaller now I guess. Last time I was here I was 8.

Charlie parked in the drive getting out, winning me to the luggage carrying it on his own, leaving me to carry my small pink duffle bag. Inside the house it smelled faintly of old wood and coffee . Almost nothing had changed, the same pictures remained on the shelves, same worn sofa on the same spot, even the same curtains.

Charlie carried my bags upstairs as I followed him down the narrow hallway and into the bedroom. Two beds stood parallel to one another with a window between them.One side  of the room had been prepared with purple bedding and the other was light pink with a folded quilt and a small lamp on the bedside table between both beds.

“Your mom mentioned you like pink”  Charli mentioned looking back at his kid searching her face for any reaction that it was a good call.

I felt less heavy in the chest for a split of a second as I nodded with a smile, yes to which Charlie seemed satisfied as he nodded back.

“Theres space in the wardrobe. Might need another dresser once Bella gets here, but we'll figure it out.”

“Okay”

“And cleared some shelves in the bathroom for you guys.”

I nodded once more smiling politely,

“Right.”

Charlie looked around the room for a second before nodding and leaving her to it. She settled down her douche bag on the bed with small flower details adorning the fabric with embodiment of pink. She opened the bag taking out her sketch book first putting it on the desk she sat down taking in the room and the moment looking at the other bed soon to be occupied and something anxiously crawled tugging her chest and gut.

She took in a deep breath before looking at the window as raindrops hit themselves sliding down as she herself plop down into the bed. She laid down listening to the rain tap against the window and for the moment she was alone. That part at least she knew how to survive.

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My first morning in Forks began with an argument. Which in my defense was not entirely my fault. My phone had rang while I was attempting to force my curls into something less boring and flat but I kept tugging on them accidentally, making me overstimulated already. Then my mothers contact appeared across the screen. I could've just ignored it and I considered it, but guilt was faster then self preservation as i picked up.

“Hello?”

“Morning baby, how did you sleep, how was your first night?” she asked brightly, the more light she sounded like in the last 17 years of my whole existence.

“Fine”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yea  a little the rain got a bit strong” I muttered, still tugging at my hair to braid from the top.

“And Charlie? Is everything good?”

I looked around the half unpacked bedroom.

“Yea he bought me pink beeding”

“Oh. good. I told him you would like that.”

 She paused for a  second

“Baby I need to tell you something..the process to bring you here is a bit too complicated. It would take  a while to eve do the applications.. and i think it would be too unstable for now to bring you across seas incase I get changed ag-”

“You said this would only be for this semester and I would move in with you in summer” I interrupted her realizing where she was getting at

“I know baby but being honest with you its gonna be indifinate… I’ll talk to your dad about it later but I don't know why you are even mad I mean your dad has also a responsibility with you I've had you for the last 17 years he seems capable of having you for the rest,  its not like your being homeless eith-”

“Fine fine fine I get it, it's whatever” I stopped her before she could get into another one of her ultimatums. 

“Dont raise your voice at me” she warn through the phone.

“It's not like I'm no longer your problem to deal with so you can just hang up if you don't like my tone” I snapped at her.

A knock sounded against the open bedroom door. Charlie stood in the hallway already in uniform. His eyes moved from my face to the phone clenched in my hands now.

“We should leave in five,” he said carefully

“I know”

“Everything alright?”

My mother heard him as she began calling out to him from the phone

“Is Charlie there? Let me speak to him”

“No.”

“Lucy-”

“What? You forgot to give him the warning policies before shipping me off to him?” I snapped into the phone

“Eyy” charlie warned as my tone hardened with my mom “take it down a notch kid pass me your mom.”

To that I snapped.

“Oh so now you want to play dad?”

The silence that followed was immediate and heavy.

Charlie became very still, my mother said my name sharply through the phone, but her voice felt muffled beneath the sudden pounding in my ears. The regret came at once flooding through my chest climbing to my head feeling it of words to say but wouldn't come out. 

Charlie looked towards the floor, his jaw shifted once before he nodded.

“We leave in five,” he repeated walking out of the room.

My eyes closed as I slowly turned back to the mirror, raising the phone back into my ear to hear my mothers screaming and scolding.  As I stared back into my reflection my finger ended the call cutting her off. For several seconds I stood alone before finally picking up my bag going downstairs.

Charlie was waiting already inside the car looking blanky and distantly out the window. I took in a breath of courage before opening the door and into the awkward heaviness that lingered inside the car. I sat inside avoiding his eye which he made it easy as he refused to look at me driving in silence. 

My lip started to hurt from how much I kept sucking and biting on it out of a bad habit I never grew out of. After a bit realizing the school was still not in sight, guilt was eating me from the inside out with each beat, for being my first day here I was already starting things off to shitty wasn't it?

“I'm sorry” I mumbled, finally turning my head to him.

He immediately looked back taken a bit surprise before nodding and looking abc into the road

“It's alright kid, just big changes I understand." he replied as Forks High School came into view. I had almost convinced myself that I could exit the car quietly and disappear into the building and have a more calm day than how it started like.

Then I noticed the students in the parking lot. Every face seemed to turn towards the police cruiser as it neutered the parking lot. 

“Shit” i breathed out earning a look from charlie,

“What?”

“Can we drive out and can you drop me off a street away?"

He looked at me with pure confusion.

“Dad, the police car is taking a lot of attention. It's already bad enough that I'm new in the middle of the semester. Give me a fighting chance by letting me blend into the building by coming in walking.” I pleaded dramatically.

He gave me a look having had enough of my bullshit for this morning as he continued driving towards the entrance.

“Charlie.”

“You’ll live kid, I need to get to the station, you can do your popular plans once you learn to drive yourself.” 

I took in a breath as some students glared at the car waiting to see who came from inside.

Charlie rested one hand on the steering wheel turning at me

“I know this wasn't in the plans,” he said.

I stopped reaching for the handle.

“For you or me,” he continued “And Bella coming next week is going to make things crowded. Probably strange."

“Thats one word for it.” 

He nodded

“I know you’d rather be with your mom”

The guilt in my chest shifted tugging once more at my heart.

“I didn't mean what I said earlier.”

“Some of it, you did”

I stared at my knees playing with the hem of my sleeves.

“You miss your mom, that's okay. I know you barely know me. I barely know you but we can try.  We are getting off to a rocky start but you're already here.” To Charlie that was the speech of a lifetime the most he would ever open up and speak that openly and sentimental in his life and in response. 

I gave him a small smile. I know it was an asshole move but something in me felt like it burned anytime I would touch emotional depth situations. And right now I just couldn't touch the actual emotional depth of the situation so I nodded smiling quickly giving him a quick okay. I pushed the door open stepping into the parking lot.

“Love you kid.” Charlie called out sincerely to try for the talk he just gave me to mean something.

I closed the door crouching slightly to see him through the window of the car giving a quick half smile,

“I know dad” I said quickly wanting to leave the touchy feeling situation buried behind, already starting to turn away. I was able to make it maybe six steps.

Ok yea no that was it for Charlie, a scoff left him as he nodded his head a petty annoyed smoked finding his lips as he grabbed something from inside the car.

Suddenly the loudspeaker intercom of the police car crackled making my body freeze in the spot.

“You have to say I love you back” Charlie's voice echoed across the car park through the cruise's external speaker making every head that wasn't turn already turn. I quickly spun around with pure disbelief and horror ain't no fuckign way. There was Charlie leaning towards the radio with an expression of mild satisfaction.

“Dad” I called, horrified “No. Please” I practically begged 

“I wanna hear it”

My social life had not merely died, it had been dragged into the street and publicly executed before it was given a chance to exist.

I rushed back to the window of the car looking with wilder eyes full of fear as I tried to pull at the passenger door to get in and stop him, only to find it locked. I started knocking against the window pressing my face against it 

“Stop.” I plead.  

Charlie rolled the down two inches smirk turning into a full on grin.

“Come on kid, I can stay here all day” he said away from the speaker.

'

“Dad, please. This is social annihilation” I hiss as people are already looking from every corner of the parking lot. Charlie lifted the speaker again

“I LOVE YOU DAD”  repeated a bit louder waiting for me to give in

“GODDAMIT YOU STUBBORN OLD MAN” I tried the door handle again repeatedly this time to get in to hide myself. Within the milliseconds of humiliation I gave up, taking a step back looking at him in horror.

“Dad I love you” he said with an innocent smile tilting his head enjoying every bit of this. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. My life was gone .

“Love you too” i finally said through my teethed that grated against each other almost more like a groan

“Copy that” he said with chuckle starting to drive off leaving me standing there like a goddamn fool

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As I walked through the halls, snickers of kids who saw what happened in the parking lot reached my ears. I could only tighten the strap of my bag against my shoulders and walk faster.

Forks High School was smaller than most of the schools I had attended, which somehow made being new worse. In a larger school a person could disappear , here everyone seemed connected by an invisible web of gossip, curiously and mild boredom. My mothers work had moved us around for most of my life. I had become familiar with the roles people occupied in every school: athletes, overachievers, theatre kids, asshole popular girls, quiet kids, etc.

The faces changed but the arrangement and personalities usually stayed the same

By lunch the closest human interaction I've gotten has been correcting my name to teachers from Lucille to Lucy. I carried my tray through the cafeteria beneath another wave of cruise glances and chose an empty table near the edge of the room.

The sandwich was cold and the chips were nonexistent inside the bag. I picked up the bread and observed the room. There were the athletes taking up enough space for twice their number. The academic looking people. Table of girls , etc. But then I noticed the table in the far corner by the windows. Five students sat together, each of them unnaturally pale, porcelain like skin with dark black eyes and weird perfect posture. I observed them for a moment taking each individual in. One blond boy seemed constipated..that's my sign not to eat the food here…one with a bag of eggs? I mean pop off bulking I guess… the girls seemed nice, one had short hair with pretty style and seemed cheerful. I always liked that type of person, the blonde one was gorgeous…then my eyes moved to the next guy just to find him staring back at me already.

I narrowed my eyes looking him head to toe

why the fuck is the emo hair one looking at me? The fuck you looking at egg face. I thought to myself. His jaw tightened before he looked away.

Ye thats damn right punk look away hoe I thought to myself thinkingI had intimidated him with my gaze…yeah definitely don't like that kid.

I was snapped out of my haze by the sudden presence of an actual emo hair kid taking the seat across from me.

“Hey you Lucille Swan right?

I stared at him with widened eyes for a second 

“Lucy” i corrected him a bit stern my voice

“Just lucy” i clarified a bit softer

“Right. Cool. I’m Eric, I run the school paper with Angela over there” he pointed at a girl that waved at us from another table full of students that were already staring at me although it felt more like sizing me up.

I nodded and half assed smiled

“Lovely” is said with a very much forced smile wondering why I was being talked to.

Eric either failed to notice my discomfort or chose ignorance as he kept talking.

“We here for anything you need, tour guide, lunch dateeee, shoulder to cry on. I can personally if you wish give you a tour after school…school, town-” he began giving me a smirk and weird eyes.

“I’m gay” I blurted.

His mouth remained open for half a second.

Technically, it was only half a lie. My bisexuality was simply being called into emergency service.

“OH-” He shifted in the seat. “um…like fully or” he tried testing the waters for some fuckign reason.

“I love pussy” my brain farted through my mouth in a self defense mechanism. He could only stare at me for a second as I could only stare back too.

“But my sister is probably straighter than I am,” I continued to word vomit my way out of this. “She’ll be here next week. I'm sure she would appreciate the tour, lunch date, shoulder to cry on thing. All that”

I lowered my eyes to my sandwich.

“Well that's one hell of a headline for your feature” he said a bit baffled

My head snapped up. He gave an awkward laugh 

“I mean you and your sister being new. We thought it could be a front page sort of thing”

I felt my heart drop into my ass as my eyes widen once more and I blinded slowly maybe I heard wrong

“Please no” i breathed out shaking my head fuck no repeatedly “I think my dear old sister knowing her so very well would absolutely love all this conversation I think you should retry this whole convo with her when she gets here, she would appreciate it way more than me” I said quickly and awkwardly as I was begging fro this whole interaction to go away.

I was going to hell. I owed Isabella a fatass apology and I did not even know the woman.

Eric nodded and rose from the table with the cautious smile of someone retreating from an unstable animal.

“Okay.I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Wonderful”

He returned to his table. The group immediately leaned towards him in whispers before they all started looking back at me. I could only close my eyes before picking up my tray and finding refuge in the bathroom stall earning an amused look from the table of porcelain dolls as I made my way out of the cafeteria.

Aren't I just charming? I thought to myself while eating my cold sandwich in the bathroom.

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By the end of the day I had art class. I actually enjoyed these classes. Usually in my old school I could just sit in silence and focus on drawing which I enjoyed and thought I was decent at.

So for the first ten minutes everything was perfect. Then the teacher announced that we would be working in pairs.

Yay.

She began reading names of the list. I stared at my sketchbook silently praying to be placed with someone quiet.

“Lucille Swan and Emmett Cullen.”

I raised my head and across the room the enormous boy with the bag of eggs looked up.

Oh God why

He stood unfolding to what appeared to be the approximate height of a bear and carried his stuff over before he sat next to me.

I nodded once in greeting as he endowed back with a board sincere smile

“I also love pussy” he nodded at me with full support and a smile like he was proud of himself for saying that. 

My eyes closed. So this was how I died. 

“Thats wonderful” I said in a strangled voice before looking back at my notebook blankly not knowing what the fuck to do next.

“I thought you should know"

“I'm deeply grateful,” I replied with what was left of my soul in my body. He nodded, apparently satisfied and picked up his pencil.

The worst part was that he seemed to mean it supportively.

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The day finally ended painfully as I ran out of the building into Charlie's car, slamming the door behind me.

“Speed it old man” 

Charlie glanced at me 

“Please dad” I squeaked out

He pulled away from the school as I sank into the seat and watched the school disappear behind.

“So” he said after a minute. “How was it?”

I could only look back at him with a glare he met before turning his eyes back to the road.

“I overdid it with the speaker, didn't I?"

“A bit”

“They gave u shit for it?”

“Honestly, no” I rested my forehead against the window “I sabotaged myself so badly afterwards that your contribution became irrelevant” I tried to joke looking out the window but feeling the weight of how bad today went.

He glanced at me

“I was going to ruin everything anyways,” I mumbled. “So don't worry” I mumbled putting in my earphones untangling the cable.

Charlie could only stare at his daughter for a second feeling a sort of pity and guilt as he turned the car around . She noticed they changed the street that was supposed to take them home

“Where we going” I asked taking off one earphone

“Picking up something"

“What?”

“You’ll see” 

Several minutes later, he parked outside a small diner. The windows glowed warmly against the grey afternoon. Charlie switched off the engine.

“Come on”

“Arent you supposed to get back to work?”

“They’ll survive.”

“You said you only had enough time to pick me up.”

H eopned his door.

“What are they going to do, fire me? I'm their boss.”

To that I gave him an involuntary chuckle which seemed to make him smile.

Inside the dinner was warm, smelled sweet and of fried comfort food at the same time. We slid into a table at the corner. I remember coming here as a child. The memory is not as clear but if I digged hard enough I could see parts of it clearly. Charlie picked up the dessert menu and passed it across the table

“They still got the double chocolate cake”

I stared at him for a second, he remembered? He took my silence though as confusion as he cleared his throat and explained out a memory that was one of my biggest treasures.

“You used to order it when you visited. The few times you came here”

Of course it remembered it as one of my favorite memories, my mom had left me with my dad for the weekend and bella had been picked up early so it was just me and him I was crying because I didn't wanna go so he drive me around to see the forest and ended the drive with dinner and a tall slice of chocolate cake and chocolate syrup i smeared all over my face along with the silent tears that still came as the sweetness of the moment made me bitter about leaving I think I was like 6?

“You were little,” he continued “You might not like it anymore. We can get something else if you-”

“I remember,” I interrupted “ I used to crave it when I would go back home and my mom would keep buying normal chocolate cake and insisting it was the same”

Charlie's mouth began to curve into a smile.

“It wasn't, not even close.”

“So cake?”

A smile touched my lips as i shaked my head yes.

He ordered two slices. When it arrived the cake was almost exactly as I remembered it, dark layers of chocolate beneath a shining coat of fudge. I took a bite and Charlie stole a piece of icing from my cake and pretended not to notice my glare, the tightness in my chest loosened slightly as the burning behind my eyes started threatening to let a tear out. I couldn't remember the last time I sat down to eat with my mom or shared a nice moment like this, in a way it felt weird to have your own blood everywhere around and at the same time to have no family with you. But maybe things could be different from now on, just maybe.

Next events involving the candle are based on personal experience.

Over the following weeks, Rose and Peter continued to collide with one another around the building. Sometimes she could swear it was less accidental, almost intentional the way he would be there the exact moment she was carrying something heavy, or her hands were full of groceries and takeout, or how he would always be on time when she would slip on the same last two steps of the exit. Like he was always there when she needed but always disappeared quickly afterwards almost as if he had regretted being there.

He would become strangely rigid around her. Shoulder raised, hands would lose whatever coordination and clumsily find themselves in pockets, and every sentence seemed to arrive in his mouth already strangled. 

Truth be told, she had been the last person Peter would ever have expected, much less wanted to see regularly. He could hardly have joked about enjoying her company without the words sounding absurd. Yet she was still someone from his past. Someone who had known him before everything had been stripped away and who during the final hours of that life he still ached for, had seemed to soften towards him, only slightly. He had assumed even that fragile progress had been lost with everything else. 

Then she arrived at the building.

For her safely, he had considered moving away. He had told himself that distance was the only way to keep her safe like he had with everyone else. That staying away was the only way to keep her beyond the reach of the disasters that followed him. But a quieter, more selfish part of him had won. The part that wanted this, that wanted a chance, however small and undeserved, to salvage something from the ruins of his former life and keep it to himself.

What did unsettle him though was how different she seemed. She was less hostile than he remembered, her sharp edges no longer turned towards him at every opportunity. She even smiled at him sometimes…genuinely smiled. Peter could not recall a single smile she had ever given him before that had not followed from some cruel remark, petty triumph or delivered attempt to provoke him. 

He knew it was selfish, so he kept lying to himself. Disguised it as a concern. He told himself that he was only keeping an eye on her, the same way he occasionally checked in Ned and MJ from afar.  She lived alone, after all. Someone ought to make sure she was safe.

But still the truth laid plain as daylight, he wanted to hold on to something, to have something from his life had once been, even if it was the smartmouth brunette whose favorite pastime was to ragebait him.

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The light had blown out for the 4th time this week.

The building surrendered to darkness with an abrupt mechanical click. A chorus of complaints immediately rose behind the paperthin walls, doors opening, someone swearing down the hall, a child crying somewhere in an apartment. 

In his apartment Peter stood motionless in the centre of it all. A cluster of exposed cables remained gathered in one hand. The screwdriver in the other hovered uselessly above the opne electrical panel besides the kitchen. His mouth tightened into a thin guilty line.

“Fuck…” he murmured into the darkness.

A faint spark snapped between two wires. Peter flinched and slowly separated them. He had only meant to redirect enough energy to test the piece of equipment spread across his desk. In his defense the building's electrical system technically should have been able to handle it wasn't his fault whoever installed it made such a shitty job. He disconnected the remaining cables and listened as irritated voices travelled through the walls. But surely another sound grabbed his full attention from across the hall. A sharp cry of pain which immediately followed by a string of curses and violent clatter of something being dropped and again the small strangled noises of pain followed. Peter lifted, hesitating before slowly walking to the door poking his head out hearing silence. He pulled his head back into his apartment starting to close the door as another curse was heard, he froze closing his eyes  a grunt in annoyance escaped him as his jaw flexed knocking his body was gonna betray him as it moved on its own back into the hallway. 

He stood out her door for a second trying to hear in before gently knocking.

“Rose?”

There was movement inside, followed by what sounded like something being kicked out of the way.

“Yea?”

“You okay in there?”

A pause before the lock shifted, the door swung open. Instead of pitch blackness; warm light spilled from inside from candles and fairylights running off batteries.

Rose stood in the doorway with one hand braised against the frame, the sleeve of her oversized sweater concealed most of it. The wool around her wrist however was blacked and uneven, very much burnt as the smell of burnt wool filled his nostrils.

“Hey yea sorry I was lighting a candle and my sweater caught aflame” she explained casually out of breath 

His eyes widened a bit as his mouth opened to say something and closed again, taken by surprise to the lack of panic.

“You burned?” he finally decided upon asking

“Nah, I mean yea but like nothing serious I think.”

“Can I see?”

The question came quickly, but his voice softened around it. Rose hesitated for a bit before lifting her arm pushing the sleeve up exposing her wrist. The skin had begun to reddened and glossy under the candlelight…there was something pasty in her skin.

“Tooth paste?”

“Yea you never learned that lifehack?”

“No I can't say I have-” he said stranged out before laughing. Narrowing his eyes to see better in the dark at her hand.

She smiled at him the way he looked so focused on checking her arm, for a stranger, well a neighbor he was quite friendly. If he doesn't turn out to be some psycho then he would be one of the few decent people she's met in a long time.

She bit her lip shifting her weight against the frame of the door before getting courage to speak.

“Hey um do you wanna come in? I already had some food on the way and I got some tools that wont blow up the building I was actually working on something if u wanted to do hat…or not that sounded stupid”

His head snapped up meeting her hopeful eyes.

“You knew it was?” 

“I mean the scent of burnt cables coming from your place isn't exactly subtle.” she joked.

He laughed slightly too before recognising her offer 

He considered it for a second freezing in palace with a blank expression breaking from her gaze focusing on the floor.

He shouldn't he truly shouldn't

…and he wasn't going to

“I'm sorry I gotta finish a thing I'm working on but maybe another ..time.”

Her face reddened as she pressed her lips together nodding 

“Ye no of course no problem bye” she said quickly slamming the door on his face as he stood frozen in place, hand still slightly up from where he was holding her.

“Great, amazing progress Peter.” he muttered to himself.

-------------------------

Days that followed, encounters that followed. Full of petty door slams, and petty avoidance too. Rose began timing her exits with almost militant precision. If she heard Peter moving around in the hallway she waited behind the door until his footsteps disappeared down the stairs. When they did cross paths, she greeted him with a brief smile devoid of warmth. It was somehow worse than when she had been openly hostile..

Peter told himself this was good. That she was keeping her distance. This way was for the best, she would stay out of his life for good other than the occasional bumping. And he would stay out of hers like he's been doing for the last years…but still he couldn't help himself listening for her door whenever he passed through the corridor, he would notice faint music from her apartment, her voice probably talking to herself she always had that stupiud annoying habit that drove him insane back in high school. Sometimes he would slow down outside her apartment for no reason beyond the possibility that she might open it.

One day he found her struggling with the lock to her apartment, a paper grocery bag balanced against her hip while she attempted to locate her keys somewhere in her purse. Peter hesitated at the opposite end of the hallway. He could have just gone into his apartment ignoring her completely, instead he made his way to her.

“Hey”

Rose glanced at him briefly before returning her attention to her bag. “Hey” she said flat enough to discourage further conversation but Peter had already made his mind.

“Do you need help?”

“Nope”

As the word left her mouth the bag shifted falling forward and a glass jar tipped over the edge. Peter caught it before it could fall.. Rose stared at the jar than at him

“Thanks” she muttered

“Youre welcome” he placed it carefully back inside

Peter rubbed the back of his neck. “So about the other night-”

“Theres nothing to worry about” she said rapidly as she finally found her keys inserting them in the door.

“You know I wasn't saying no because I didn't want to come inside”

The key stopped turning.

“I said I don't care,” she said with red cheeks.

He huff slightly recognizing that stubborn look she had giving into a tiny smile.

“Im not always very good at being around people.” he explained

“You don't say" she said raising an eyebrow

His small smile turned into a full one. Her own expression almost softened before she seemed to remember that she was annoyed with him. She pushed the door open and stepped inside.

“Well good luck fixing that,” she said.

The door closed.

Peter remained in the wallway, blinking at the wood. After a second she swallowed his sanity and his judgment as his hand raised, freezing and hovering for a second before he knocked.

“Hey um Rose?”

The door swung open immediately, she leaned against the frame looking him up and down expectantly 

“Yes?” She asked, trying to sound casual.

“I actually ordered a bunch of food, well more like one pizza but I don't think I can finish it alone”

Her eyes glinted smiling instead of her lips as she looked back into her apartment then back at him

“Mmm I don't know I got stuff to do.”

His grin widened as he shook his head, she's as petty as he remembered but now it didn't annoy him as much as he was expecting to.

“Ok what if I put it this way. Would you do me the honor of sparing me a depressing evening eating alien cold pizza?”

She hum considering it before biting her lip from curling into a smile

“Mmmmm if you put it that way I see why not”

After that, encounters like this initiated against Peter's better judgment, turning into late night hangouts, coffee runs, little hangouts which meant nothing which were already too far than he should have allowed. He began finding himself spending more time in her apartment than he intended.But it was he had to admit a nice break from the daily headache at work…which was turning lately into an actual migraine he had been trying to avoid for the last weeks….

-------------

Peter's head was splitting open, that was the only explanation his disordered mind could produce as he staggered along the corridor, one shoulder colliding with the wall hard enough to fracture the plaster. Every sound in the building seemed to detonate inside his skull from the metallic complaints of the pipes, a television murmuring three floors below, the frantic scratching of a pet, someone coughing outside on the street, he heard all of it.

The hallway stretched before him in nauseating distortions, rushing away and contracting again as though the building itself were breathing. His body could no longer decide whether the world was moving too quickly or not moving at all. Peter reached his door with his fingers catching the handle but his knees struck the floor before he could turn it. Pain lanced through his spine as he folded in on himself, pressing the heels of his hands against his temples trying to keep his head together. His breath tore out of him in dry brutal gasps. Heat crawled beneath his skin, feverish and electric gathering around every nerve until even the friction of his clothes became unbearable.

Something was terribly wrong. Not injured but what the hell was happening to him?

His body felt like a stranger to his mind, too powerful and alert every sense of his body maxed out. A broken sound tore out of his mouth in pain as he dragged his knees against his chest pressing himself against the nearest door, barely aware that it was not his own. The wood after a second shifted beneath his weight. Then the door swung open making Peter fall backwards.

“Peter?”

The voice reached him from what felt liek a great distance movement around him happened but he was truly out of it. Hands seized his arms before his head could strike the floor.

“Peter!”

For one moment, the frightened cry became something else, a memory or rather the various memories of his name being called. May screaming his name through smoke, MJ shouting across the scaffolding, Ned laughing from the either side of a classroom. All voices belonging to people who could look directly at him now and see no one. 

His eyes snapped open and there Rosabelle Thomas hovered above him. Dark curls spilling over one shoulder, disordered from sleep and those dark eyes which were now bigger from concern. She was kneeling close enough that one harsh breath and her chest would meet his. Her fingers gripped at his clothes  trying to seat him up standing off from him.

Peter could only stare at her before closing his eyes again as another pain struck his skull.

“Hey” her voice softened, although the panic remained beneath it.

“Look at me look at me you're not ok.”

“Im fine” he answered with a hoarse and unconvincing whine. “Just a migraine”

“A migraine???” she asked rather offended if he really thought her that stupid.

“Yeah a bad one” he groaned.

He started to sit up before his knees buckled for a second. Rose caught his shoulder before he could fall again.

“Stop moving for Christ sake”

“I need to get home” he whined his hands, finding her arms that held on to him.

“Seat your ass down before you crack your head open”

“Already feel like it”

“Yea exactly seat down” she said demandly, already pushing him inside the apartment by his shoulders. Despite being barely tall enough to reach his shoulder her determination to manhandle him inside won as Peter let her push him inside guiding him into the apartment. 

The apartment smelled like extinguished candles, paint and under it, her scent came out strong into his nostrils, cinnamon and vanilla. Rose pushed him down by the shoulders into the nearest chair

“Stay.” she commanded him, giving his shoulder a slight squeeze.  Even her touch for some reason seems to burn him, every sense in his body aflame and maxed out.

She moved around the apartment before coming back with a wet cloth pressing cooly against his burning skin as she took a seat next to him. Then she began torturing him with questions.

“What happened?”

“Nothing” Peter was able to respond in a strangled manner as he held back another headache.

“Did something happen while you were out?”

“No.”

“Did you take anything?”

His eyes narrowed. “No”

“Maybe we should go the hospital-”

“I said I'm fine” he raised his voice at her, startling them both. Rose drew her hand back as Peter shut his eyes, guilt already cutting briefly even as the pain in his head was stronger.

“I need to sleep.” 

He gripped the arms of the chair and stood and his right knee buckled once more falling over on his knees but before the rest of his body followed his hands flowed out on time to steady himself, they flew out grabbignon to her thighs. 

Rose's breath stopped for a second as he remained needling before her, his head bowed and his fingers locked around the soft warmth of her legs. One palm landed just above the bend of her knee; the other rested higher, his thumb pressed into the inside of her thigh through the thin fabric of the sleep shorts.

She swallowed, forcing her body to remember how to breathe.

“Peter?” she asked softer as he groaned, keeping his head hanging low.

Rose leaned forward, trying to see his face. Her fingers hovered uncertainly beside his cheek till her fingers touched his jaw followed by her palm which cupped the side of his face. Slow and gently she guided his face upwards till his eyes met hers.

Rose went still. He saw the exact moment she understood that this was not a migraine. Sweat gleamed at his temple. His breathing remained harsh, his chest rising beneath his shirt with every labored inhale. His jaw flexed as his grip on her thighs tightened the slightest bit. There was something wounded in his expressions but also something darker had surfaced beneath it almost as if his eyes darkened the tiniest bit.

Her thumb rested at his jaw slightly almost letting go of him as something in her shivered from the look in his eyes.

“Peter,” she whispered, “I don't think you're okay.”

The world queued, not slowly but entirely as if in a snap all the outside world noise he was listening into at the same time vanished. Not vanish actually but replaced, everything was replaced by a new noise. A pounding noise, that layed under her chest. The way her pulse sounded beneath her flesh, the warmth gathered beneath his hands, the way her breath was becoming uneven like his.

His senses were still accelerated but focused on something new. Her.

“No,” he breathed out

Her eyes searched for him. “No?”

“Im not okay”

Rose's expression softened despite the warning trembling through her body. Her palm settled fully against his cheek. Peter turned his head instinctively into the touch melting into it a part of him of whatever this was taking control finding her touch a need. After all these years in a fake way he finally had someone from his past right here right across the hall  where she was under his grip. Whatever the hell had gotten into him,twisted inside of him felt comfort in having her here, being able to recognize her scent, her voice, the rhythm of her heart. As selfish as it was he wanted her near, in his life once more, and this new side of him that was battling to come out breaking through his skull needed her all of her.

The intrusive thought crept for a flash making his stomach turn in disgust on himself but reason was slipping as his hand left her thigh. His fingers slide around the beck of her neck a bit harsher than he expected. Her breath caught as he leaned closer watching every detail on her face engraving it in his mind. Peter held her there with unintended force, his palm spanning her nape, his thumb resting beneath her ear rubbing slightly on her skin. 

He leaned closer, the top of his nose passed beside her cheek. Heat radiated from her skin onto his. Her curls brushed his forehead, carrying the scent of shampoo and paint.

“Peter” she whispered his name again

God he loved being able to hear her saying his name after all these years. His ears that were still listening to her heart notice the sudden spike in the pounding that seemed heavy against her chest. Peters gaze dropped to her throat then traveled down her collarbone and chest. A fine golden chain rested against her collarbone, disappearing beneath the neckline of her shirt, each uneven breath shifted it slightly over her skin.

His fingers hooked beneath the chain, his knuckles brushing against the warmth of her skin at her cleavage. He drew the pendant from beneath her shirt, settling the pendant of a rose quartz in his palm warmed by her body.

It was a smooth pink quartz, he remembered damn too well that Goddamn necklace swinging around her neck  in every little outfit she wore to school, the way it played in her fingers as she would mock him in class how it would lay against her chest in low cut shirts being able to feel her, her body, her touch.  He played with the quartz in his own hand. Peter stared at the stone lying against his hand, beneath it his fingers grazed the upper curve of her chest with every frantic breath she took. He could feel her heartbeat not merely hear it now, hard and swift against the back of his knuckles.

A low sound gathered in his chest before he could suppress it, a groan escaped him as he swallowed, forcing himself to look away. Her hand slid from his cheek to his wrist making his hold tighten at her neck. Peter lifted his eyes to hers. There was fear there, but also something else. Her gaze moved helplessly over his face. Lingering on his mouth before returning to his eyes. The movement was minute and still every altered cell in his body reacted. 

He moved closer until there was barely an inch remained between their faces. His body settled between her legs pressing himself slightly against her body. Instinctively her knees tightened for a second around his sides.

“Tell me to go,” he said, his breath striking her lips.

Her eyes flickered, losing focus from his darkened eyes to his mouth, unable to decide which one to settle on. 

“Peter you’re sick…” she managed to whispered out

“That isn't what I said.”

“...you can't even stand correctly Pete.”

“I am now aren't I?"

“.....youre kneeling smartass” she said forcefully trying to sound annoyed

The corner of his mouth curved for a second seeing the old her still buried somewhere in there.

The ghost of Peter, the real Peter surfaced for half a second with that gesture. Then his thumb shifted beneath her ear, and her answering shiver erased it.

“Tell me to go, Rose.”

Her fingers tightened around his wrist knuckles going slightly white. She should just say it, she should've said it a bit ago. Instead she could only whisper, "You're hurting me.”

Peter released her within the second. The room crashed into existence and everything flooded back into his mind. Traffic roared beneath the window, people voices everywhere, a glass dropping somewhere in the building, the impact exploding through Peter's skull.

He staggered backwards, nearly overturning the chair.

Rose remained seated, one hand pressed to her neck where he had held her, a form of shock and fear mixing together in her face as seh could only watch him.

Peter breathed heavily as the pain kept erupting and blooming but for a second of his sight focusing the sight of her neck cleared making him pause. Faint marks forming beneath her fingers from his own. Then horror eclipsed everything else.

“Ros-”

“Im sorry im so sorry”

He forced himself upright too quickly, catching the edge of the table when the floor lurched beneath him

“Peter wait-”

“Im sorry”

He could not remain there. Not with her scent surrounding him and her heartbeat still racing in his ears. Not with the way she looked at him which seemed to affect him more in whatever state this was. He couldn't stay knowing that whatever twisted thing was taking over his body was in such need of her.

He reached the door disappearing into the hallway and into his own apartment.

….”what the fuck,” she breathed into the silence.

“What the fuck is happening to me” Peter breathed on the silence of his own apartment.

--------------------------------------

A rapid series of knocks sounded the following morning, not loud enough to be alarming but still loud enough to not ignore. Rose opened the door with one hand still wrapped around the handle peaking slightly out. Peter stood on the other side. Whatever predatory, feverish creature had occupied his body the night before appeared to have been gone. He was clean with no traces of any illness and his usual puppy eyes bright smile. A brown paper bag occupied one hand while the other held a cardboard tray containing two coffees.

He offered her a stranded boyish smile,

“Hey…good morning.”

Rose stared at him in disbelief

“Monring?”

“I brought you something.” he thrust the bag towards her fast enough she almost didn't notice the insane nervous grip he had on it. Her gaze traveled from the offering to his face. Peter's smile became an unsure expression as his face tightened.

“So, um…” He glanced down the corridor “About yesterday.”

Peter began waiting and expecting to be interrupted but Rose only folded her arms and waited. 

“I was really sick,” he continued, “Like crazy fever sick, delicious even. Like I felt like I was dying, which sounds dramatic, but I'm pretty sure that's what dying must…feel like.” The words died slowly in his mouth followed by a small nervous chuckle which was more like a nervous huff.

He swallowed looking down at his shoes.

“I’m sorry Rose.”

At the sound of her name, something shifted across her face, narrowing her eyes for a second before shaking the expression off.

Silence followed for a while before she looked down away from his gaze. 

“You scared me…” she said quietly, making his chest hurt, a panic gathering beneath his ribs.

“I know…and I'm so so sorry Rose. That's the last thing I would ever want to do to you”

She finally glanced back at him, the sincerity in his face maintaining her anger inconvenient.

“Look, I just…I just think we've become good…friends, and I don't want to lose that. I don't wanna lose you, in all honesty.” he began explaining a bit panicked and worried like someone who will break into tears to which her expression deepened but in concern.

“ And I know I crossed a line. I'm sorry I wasn't in control of myself, which is not an excuse for what I did. I frighten you, I grabbed yo-”

She grabbed the bag from his hands in order to shut him up before he could continue.

“Parker, it's fine.” she said softly, giving a half smile, raising one hand to his arm giving it a comfort squeeze. 

“Just don't scare me like that again” she added, squeezing a bit tighter, making him chuckle.

Her attention shifted to the bag, opening it up peering inside. Her face light immediately. In the bag were two banana bread cinnamon rolls (just did the recipe myself totally recommend)

Rose looked up sharply.

“Where did you find these?”

Peter shifted his weight.

“The bakery that's like 6 blocks from here”

“How did you know I liked these?”

Panic surfaced across Peter's face before being rapidly buried beneath a helpless smile and an attempted shrug

“Lucky guess?”

Her face brightened up with another one of those smiles he liked seeing more of as her eyes shined.

As the waves and tides crashed at the beat of the storm. The sides of the boat didn't stand a chance to begin with and rocked to the sides violently. Men scattered aboard on useless attempts to steady its rhythm, as they preoccupied themselves with useless tasks before their cold deaths, something slitter through the water glittering under the foam, splitting through the waves sharper than any ship.

The sea itself had decided to team with the skies on the decision to sink these men. As lightning struck with thunder. Crackling strokes of sharp lights across the sky caressing its sails with a growl of rage from the clouds.

Warmth started to kindle and glow the corner of the sail quickly expanding at the rest of the fabric. Orange flames ablazed the ship.

Men jumped overboard seeking for death in the cold rather than in the hell the boat had become.

Screams muffled with the blasts of the waves drowning their sorrow prayers before drowning their actual bodies.

As the prince fell over with one harsh rock of the ship, his body was met to the bone with needle sharp pain by the piercing ice cold water, lungs locked tight refusing to inhale as the razor-like pain intruded his nerve system.

Soon the burn became numb alongside his consciousness blurring as he sank under the violence above the ocean.

His body slowly dragged down by the dark void the ocean opened up to be, claiming him into the depths.

On his way down, shines of opalite glimmer from above, cruising the thick waters with ease, the figure that had been skittering across the surface earlier now descending down to him. 

Scales that shined like opalites dipped in gold at the corners adorned the strong tail that swam its way to the prince. Her fins were like silk, like a betta fish fin, beautifully delicate, impossible to believe that fins that resembled flower petals could hold force.The same scales spread from her tail to parts of her abdomen to her breasts. 

The sea creature caught up with the Prince, swiftly wrapping her arms around him, hands if that's what you could even call them as they webbed across each finger, clawed tightly into his chest keeping a tight grip on his body as her tail struck the water accelerating them up, breaching into the surface with a half conscious gasp off his body. 

Above the surface the sea was still drenching on fire and death, the Prince drifted unconscious in her arms across the scene, cradled by the waves which slowly rocked them to a more gentle rhythm as the storm apeaced. 

By the first rays of  daylight they had arrived on shore. The sky painted in pinks and oranges ever so beautiful, as if the skies apologized for sending a storm so violent.

She crawled into the sand with one arm and all its strength, the other still wrapped around Jaycaerys pulling him to shore. Tail wiggled to get them closer, now on the surface scales catching the light, glimmering beautifully. 

She grunted and groaned as she managed to get his dead weight and hers off to the sand away from the slight foaming waves. The sun was starting to rise from over the horizon displaying its first rays upon them. The sight of her shining tail is remarkable but dull to her eyes, compared to the real sight in front of her. His face softened in sleep caressed by the warmth of the sun revealing every detail on his face for her to see and engraved into her mind. Her hand raised without her wanting to but she couldn't help herself as she traced with her fingers his hair away from his face slightly rosing his cheek and jaw, hand lingering its touch on his chin as she watched his lips parting slightly, breathing softly.

If her sisters could see her…she just broke the major law of her existence, of her species, and went against her very own nature. And yet she didn't regret it one bit.

Velaryons had old tales, tales for children Jacaerys had thought every time he heard it even as an infant at sea. Tales of creatures in the deep sea, creatures with bodies of angels to deceive you and tails strong enough to drag you under to drown and devour. Daughters from the tide and sea foam, the Nāiades. 

Stories tell of this creatures devouring men as they see the wickedness and corruption in their heart, this sirens enchant ships with their voice driving them to their doom, there's so much to tell of this creatures, how in season they change their tail for human legs to mix along mortals to reproduce but have to give up the price of their song as long as they are human, how a bite is poisonous enough to kill a men within 2 minutes it's only cure 3 drops of the creatures blood, how a mermaids kiss strips her from her tail as she's chosen land over sea, how consuming mermaid blood ties you to one for life but betraying her condemns her to die, how a mermaid can only fall in love in her whole immortal existence once madly and desperately, and then the one favorite that make people believe in them desperately to seek this thing, the tale how a mermaid's tear can grant you one wish anything you want bending laws of reality,old magic and life.

All foolish tales he had thought annoyed when the conversation dragged out at sea and yet here he lay unconscious in the sand saved by the supposed demon of the sea.

Her face lowered slightly hovering over his casting shadow across his closed eyes, her golden wild curls styled by the sea fell over like a curtain washing down beside them. Her hand rested upon his chest as it raised up and down with each weak breath. The other that had lingered upon his chin remained there as she shifted hesitant for a moment but something had taken over her stronger than any sense of sanity or logic, getting closer her breath hitching as her lips lingered nothing away from his-

What the hell was she doing, she thought to herself unable to fight her body from whatever trance she had entered.

Before her lips could even grace his, his eyes fluttered slightly open, not fully conscious yet making her snap out of it, backing her head off hovering over him still but letting light spill into his face.

His eyes fluttering open where the color of gold against the light, a treasure she would gladly die seeking. As he slowly came to all he could see at first in his blurry vision was the outline of a face, a face ever so delicate and beautiful his heart even in that state failed to beat for a second. One moment she was there the next she had flashed off, he fought against his own body trying to compose himself opening his eyes fully seated up in the warm sand. 

There was no one around, no sign of anyone, just the sea crashing its waves at shore and the sky warmly greeting him with its colors.

“You’re gonna forget who I am. It's okay. I'm gonna come and find you and I'll explain everything…I promise” Peter forced the words out quickly, like saying them faster might make the hurt less.

She stood to the side listening as something unfamiliar twisted at her gut and chest.

Her hand shit out and caught his arm. 

“The fuck you mean forget you Parker?” 

He looked at her but she had already released him shaking her head as if refusing the words could stop them from becoming true.

“It's gonna be okay.”

He turned away.

“Wait Pet- PETER” she screamed after uselessly as within seconds she would forget any memory of him. 

She ran after him. After the boy she has spent years fighting, resenting, only to understand him when it was already too late. After the last person she had ever expected to do something good for her.

Light tore across the sky. Her next step faltered as she landed head first.

When she came through she no longer remembered why she had been running nor why tears ran down her face.

------------------------------------------

The hallway was gray.

Cold, cracked stone covered the floor, while long stains of water damage crept across the ceiling and down the walls where the paint had begun to peel. Every sound carried through the paper thin walls, though none quite managed to overpower the groaning pipes.

Perfect.

She adjusted the box in her arms and continued down the hall. It was one of the heavier ones, packed badly enough that its weight kept shifting against her chest, blocking nearly all her view.

She only needed to reach the corner. Apartment six…lucky number she thought to herself. The box began slipping. She threw it upward for half a second, attempting to readjust her grip as she turned the corner-

Just to walk indirectly into something solid

Well someone solid.

The impact sent her stumbling backwards. The box struck the floor with a heavy crack, spilling its contents across the hallway.

Books. Journals. Tangled wires. Old tools and pieces of unfinished technology scattered over the stone.

“Shit”

She dropped to her knees immediately, grabbing whatever she could reach before anything rolled beneath the radiators.

“Im so sorry,” a voice rushed out above her “I wasnt-I mean, I was standing there, obviously, but I didn't think you were going to- Not that this is your fault.”

“Great. Thanks”

“No, I didn't mean-”

She looked up.

The rest of his sentence died.

He was around her age, perhaps a little older as he seemed it in the eyes, tired eyes. He had unruly brown hair matching those tired eyes, they were dark brown a deep rich dark brown. All color seemed to drain from his face as he stared at her.

For one fleeting second,something almost hopeful broke through his expression. The beginning of a smile he seemed unable to stop graced his lips.

Then it vanished as his face closed so quickly she wondered whether she had imagined it.

“You okay man?” she asked weirded out.

“Yea” he breathed out too quickly.

Her eyes narrowed before returning to the mess . “Right.”

The stranger crouched beside her and began gathering the fallen belongings.

“Sorry,” he said again, quieter this time.

“Its fine, Nothing looks broken.”

His attention shifted toward something that lay against the wall. 

A pocket watch.

His breathing stopped as his eyes locked onto to it a warm memory flashing through him.

She quickly reached for it, but he was faster picking it up first. His thumb passed carefully over the faded engraving on its surface, handling it with an intimacy that made discomfort prickle along the back of her neck.

“Can I have that?” she asked rather demandingly with her hand stretched out.

His eyes snapped to hers

“Ye, sorry” he let out quietly, placing it into her open palm.

Their fingers brushed and something small and electric moved through her, too sharp to be static, too familiar to make sense of it. She imminently pulled ehr hand back glancing down at the watch

The watch had opened slightly during the fall. Before she could force the damaged clasp into place, he leaned closer.

“You have to press the crown first.”

She looked at him, making him freeze.

“How do you know that?”

“I-” His gaze dropped to the watch, a distant memory replaying for a second of his hands fixing it to make it close that way. 

“Most of them work like that.” he finally said 

“No they dont” she muttered looking back down to her watch as she pressed the crown. The cover clicked shut effortlessly.

She looked back at him, he had returned his attention to the scattered contents of the box, suddenly very interested in winding a loose cable around his hand.

“Lucky guess,” he muttered.

“You’re weird.”

A faint smile touched his lips.

“Yeah, I get that a lot.”

They finished collecting the rest in silence. He placed her journals into the box alongside the old tools and tech.

When he stood, he lifted the box with him

“Ive got it.” he said already turning around as she tried reaching for the box

“I can carry my own stuff.” she replied as she tried once more to grab on to the box for him to turn it away once more.

“Which apartment?" he asked, completely ignoring her protests, giving her a glance.

She huffed but let a ghost of a smile grace the corner of her mouth for a second.

“...number six.” she let out flatly

His eyes brows raised, recognition flashing through his face 

“Oh lucky number” he said without thinking with a quick smile before dropping it quickly, turning to find the door fast as if that just didn't happen.

She only furrowed her eyebrows, something in her chest felt heavy and her brain was fighting to find for something to be found empty.

THye got to the door as she hesitated before unlocking it, pushing it open. He stepped inside only far enough to place the box beside the wall. His eyes moved around the empty apartment lingering briefly over the windows and the half unpacked bags on the floor.

There was something unsettling in the way he looked at everything.

Not soy but almost nostalgic.

“New to the building?” he asked 

“No, I've lived here twenty years. I just enjoy emptying the place and removing everything keeps it interesting” she said with all seriousness before breaking a small smile

“What you think, wonder boy.” she added as she turned to place her pocket watch into the counter of the kitchen.

“Right,” he nodded once. “Stupid question” he chuckled

“A little” she smiled

His eyes narrowed with the tiniest amusement and curiosity at the way she smiled. He barely ever saw her smile before.

She could only stare back into the way he looked at her. There was a certain intimacy in the way he held her gaze that set whatever weight in chest she felt earlier heavier as something old within her pulled.

She swallowed before breaking the silence and breaking away from the moment.

“So you gonna tell me your name?”

“Right my name” 

“Ye usually people got those”

He chuckled as he looked down thinking for a second. Something in him found a split second of courage as he looked back into her eyes letting the words come out before his brain could stop him.

“Peter.”

The name landed strangely, not recognition, but again that strange dull pull beneath her chest, as though something inside her had heard it before.

She studied his face. Peter watched her carefully, something guarded behind his eyes.

“Have we met?”

His expression didnt change but something in his eyes did.

“No”

The answer came softly, almost a whisper as he swallowed looking at the window  then back at her. She continued staring at him. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket shoulder drawing inward.

“I just have one of those faces.”

“Yea…I guess” she laughed it off or at least tried to before it died off.

Another silence settled between them.

Peter glanced toward the hallway.

“Im across the hall,” he said “So, if you need anything…anythign at all”

“Ill know which door not to knock on” she said once more with that serious sarcastic tone before giving a half smile.

He smiled again but this one carried something melancholic and nostalgic beneath it as if he's heard this whole tough act before.

“Yea” he said “Okay.” he scoffed with a slight grin.

He turned to leave. Her gaze turned to the pocket watch on the counter.

“Peter.”

He stopped immediately turning around. 

“Yes” he asked quickly

“Thanks for helping.”

His face softened for a second he looked at her as though she had given him far more than a simple thank you.

“Anytime.”

He stepped into the hallway and pulled the door gently closed behind him.

She remained where she was staring at the peeling wood.

Peter.

The name continued echoing faintly inside her head, searching for a memory that was no longer there. Across the hall Peter walked into his own apartment closing the door behind him before pressing his back against it sliding down to the ground closing his eyes.