#dawter

SCREW JUMMY HERE COMES DAWTER

HogwARTS Club: Christmas Showcase @magicallymalted Dawn and Rosa belong to the lovely @potionboy3

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Rosa and Jupiter squeezed through the doors leading to the old theatre on the fourth floor, a ridiculous amount of plants floating around them.

How many times do i have to say it until you understand? / Prompt / Dawn DeHart x Peter Parker

A/N: This was supposed to be an angst prompt but I got more inspiration as a fluffy one, though it’s sorta angsty at the end, I guess? So here you go.

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Dawn rolled her eyes, leaning against Peter’s locker. She watched as he stood at the window on the other side of the hallway, staring at her with wide eyes. “Do you need me to say it again?” She asked.

Peter nodded slowly. “Yeah, I-I think you’ll need to run it by me again.” He brought his hand up to cover his mouth, eyebrows creasing into a ‘V’ to show she had his utmost attention. “I’m listening.

She sighed, shook her head. Her red waves bounced around ehr shoulders. “How many times do I have to say it until you understand?” She teased. Peter made a non-committal squeaking sound, waving his hand about. “Okay.” Dawn stood upright, used both of her hands to brush her hair back from her face. Held her palms out toward Peter. “We’ve got some homework we need to work on, right?”

“Right, yeah, yeah. You know, that…stuff we’re given at the end of every day.”

“And May’s going to be gone later tonight, right?” Dawn pressed.

Peter started to nod, looking very closely to a bobble head. “Yeah, I mean, she’s got this thing, this meeting. This meeting thing. That’ll k-keep her busy.”

“Okay. So, I want to come over to work on our homework.” Dawn raised her eyebrows implicitly, hoping, this time he’d get the point that it wouldn’t take either of them long to finish their homework and they’d have more time for other activities.

“While May’s gone?”

He seemed to be getting it.

“Right.”

“Yeah.” Peter took a few steps toward her. He cleared his throat, folded his arms. “That, that sounds like it’d be okay. Sounds nice.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” Dawn closed the gap between them and gave him a quick peck on the cheeks. “Sounds like a plan.” She looped her arm through Peter’s and guided the two through the hallway, smiling at the still-shocked faces of their classmates as they went, Flash muttering a, “What does he have that I don’t have?” incredulously as they went. She took a peek at Peter, seeing he was smiling.

As they walked, she felt the hilt of the dagger tucked into her knee-high boots rub against her leg with each step she took.

It was one of her good days. They came few and far between. She wasn’t going to ruin it.

Dawn reacted the moment she realized her bedroom door was opening. Her legs flailed beneath the sheets tangled around her legs as she worked to pull them up to cover herself and simultaneously free herself form them.

“Peter!” She cried.

Peter smiled sheepishly, crossing the threshold to her room, seemingly not noticing her attempts to hide herself. “I’m sorry,” he apologized quickly. “I know you don”t like to be seen when you’re sick.” Dawn flashed him an exasperated glance. “But, don’t yell at me until you hear me out.”

He crossed the room to her and thrust out the gift he hid behind his back with so much gusto that Dawn flinched, then laughed to herself, making Peter laugh in response.

Then she noticed the gift and turned it this way and that in her hands. Stared at it, eyes growing wide in amusement, excitement, and confusion. "A flowerpot?"

"Well, yeah," Peter replied. He cleared his throat, bringing up his hand to rub the back of his neck. “Because, well, it’s kind of like us.”

“We’re lot a mound of dirt?”

“No, like babies.”

Dawn snorted, her eyes roving over Peter’s face. “You might be,” she pointed out. “You’re the only person I know who still gets the kid’s menu.” She smiled teasingly at him, despite how horrible she felt.

Peter laughed quietly. “I mean...the flower...it’s like our relationship,” he said. “If we take the time to care for it; water it, give it light, talk to it then, then it'll be strong when it grows." He chanced a glance at her before looking away. “I mean, uh, I know how much you like to garden, and, uh, to look at flowers when you’re not feeling well so...”

"You came up with this?” Dawn asked.

Peter nodded. “Yeah, I did."

"By yourself?" She teased, certain that May had something to do with it.

"By myself.” He smiled like a proud kid showing their parent a good grade on a test.

Dawn’s face illuminated, looking closer at the pot of soil in her hands. There she was, looking at another week on bed rest due to a flare up and he went and did something as sweet as that? "What is it?”

"A Sunflower," he smiled brightly when Dawn lifted her gaze and smiled at him.

She understood the meaning behind it. Was touched he remembered how much she loved them. How she used it as a means to keep going. As a reminder of the best parts life had to offer. She became even more touched when he added, as if an afterthought, "I have one too."

Dawn set her flower pot on her desk and knelt next to it. She pressed her lips to it, both herself and the flowerpot perfectly bathed in sunlight. Dawn leaned back on her heels and said, “Don’t let it die.”

@captdnvrs @foxesandmagic

“Don’t you think we should head back to class?” Peter asked, though he continued to follow Dawn up the winding staircase to the top level of the school. He looked over his shoulder but didn’t stop.

“What? Have you never skipped class before?” Dawn asked, knowing very well that he had. Every knew Peter Parker had issues with attendance, ever since his Uncle Ben passed… ”You’ve got to learn to live a little, Pete.”

“I can live,” Peter said unconvincingly. He cleared his throat. “It’s just…we have that big project coming up and…well…you know…”

“I’m probably not going to be in school much longer anyway,” Dawn admitted. The words came out easier than she thought. God, why did she spend so much time that morning agonizing over it. She slowed to a stop, turning to face Peter as he stopped in front of her, eyebrows coming together.

“What? Why?” He blinked hard. “The—the competition—”

Dawn chuckled. She hadn’t cared about the competition in a long time, knew Peter didn’t either. He was too busy saving the city. She…well, she had a real excuse. The last doctor’s appointment hadn’t been so great, her parents decided it was a good idea to pull her from school. It was the best option; she’d be under their watch and they could continue with the other activities they were doing. “You guys can handle things without me.” She looked him in the eye. “It’s my last day here, Pete. I didn’t want to spend it in class wondering what I could’ve done differently…”

“Uh-huh.” He looked over his shoulder, as if waiting for a teacher to sneak around the corner to catch them. Or else, Dawn realized, he was still working on his Spider-Man stuff in class, anxious to get back to it. What else would make him so twitchy all the time? It was cute, she realized, how much he thought he was really keeping it all a secret.

He was cute.

“Anyway, I didn’t want to leave before I got the chance to tell you something,” Dawn said. She took in a deep breath. “I know—”

“—That I’m Spider-Man?” Peter broke in.

Dawn frowned. “What?”

His eyes widened. “What?” he repeated. “No! I thought…you know…I thought you were going to say.”

“That you were…Spider-Man?” She repeated slowly, watching with amusement as his panic continued to make him sputter.

“Yes! No! I mean, why would I be Spider-Man? He’s too cool and I’m…” he trailed off, trying to figure out what he was to say next. “Well, my Aunt May needs a lot of help so I have to leave a lot and I guess I can see why people would ask what I’m doing and…” he trailed off, repeatedly punching his fist into an open palm. “That’s not what you wanted to talk about. Right.” He pointed at her. “You didn’t come here to ask if I was Spider-Man.”

“No, I asked you here because,Peter—” Dawn closed her eyes. Took a deep breath, opened them again, looked at him softly. “I really like hanging out with you. And I know this stupid social hierarchy of school practically forbids me from even looking at you, but I can’t help it, because you’re you. Peter Parker.” She chuckled. “Not Spider-Man.

“Oh,” Peter said quietly, eyes growing wide.

“Yeah.” Dawn glanced over her shoulder, out the window that showed the skyscape of the city. She needed to hurry up, had to get the words out. “Uh.” She scratched her head, groaning slightly. The stress was going to cause a flare up if she wasn’t careful. “So, I wanted to say…” she looked at him meaningfully. “That…well, that, I—”

She closed her eyes as there was a sudden explosion, a bright light rendering across the New York skyline. Peter flinched, yelped, and backed away while Dawn sighed, her shoulders slumping. She should’ve moved faster, should’ve spit the words out instead of hemming and hawing.

A time limit, a countdown, she knew she had a limited amount of time and couldn’t even get that right.

“Whoa. I, uh, yeah, did you see–?” Peter pointed toward the explosion—smoke still spiraling into the sky—sirens screaming toward the source of the incident. “Of course you saw…um.” He pressed a hand to his mouth. “I think they’re going to evacuate the school, so, we should, uh…I need to…” he pointed over his shoulder, gazing back at Dan. “What you were going to say…Dawn…” he stepped toward her then stopped. “I think…I mean, I…” He swallowed hard, turned on his heel. “I have to go.”

Dawn nodded.

Watched him leave.

Waited until she saw in the very, very distance, a web-slinger heading in a diagonal direction toward the explosion.

Her lips pulled back in the corner.

It was alright that she didn’t get to say what she wanted to say.

She was going to see him in a minute, anyway.

*Sorry, too lazy to make a gif.

The wind blew around them, a particularly strong gust nearly threatening to knock Dawn back. She squeaked, bringing up her hand to hold her hat firmly against her blowing hair. Anything to shield her face from the bite of the breeze…a much stronger breeze than she thought possible. But how was she supposed to know standing atop a bridge brought a lot of wind?

Wasn’t the air supposed to be calmer the higher you got?

Like a spider, Peter crawled his way up the ledge of the bridge before plopping himself down next to her. Reaching up, he pulled his Spider-Man mask up until it rested on his head, his hair sticking up in all directions, cheeks rosy and eyes alight with excitement.

“Well?” He asked. He rubbed his gloved hands on the legs of his blue-red suit. He gestured to the New York skyline. “What do you think?”

Dawn opened her mouth to respond, but found herself unable to shake her head and smile. Laugh incredulously to herself. There was always something about New York that made her smile, there was almost never a smile on her face. But New York and seeing it from that view was…perfect.

And being offered to see it another way…?

“I can’t believe you dragged me into this,” Dawn sighed, folding her arms over her chest. She hunched her shoulders forward to shield herself from the continuously blowing wind. But it couldn’t dampen the excitement she felt, the unbridled joy that eased an easy giggle from her lips.

That was the point of life, wasn’t it? Excitement. Wonder. Waiting for the next thing to come?

“I didn’t drag you,” Peter reassured her. “I inspired you.” He shrugged, a hint of a confident, she’d say cocky, smile coming to his lips. He gave a tiny smile, gesturing toward the book in her hand. “It’s part of your bucket list, isn’t it?”

Dawn’s smile turned soft, compassionate, a smile just for him. She twisted the frayed and tattered notebook in her hand the spine worn from her constant opening and closing to add and erase from it. The perfect list of everything she wanted to do before the end.

An end she didn’t know would come sooner or later, but wanted to be prepared. And end that seemed further and further away he more she got to know Peter. And that, even if it came sooner, she wouldn’t mind too much simply because of him.

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