pbandparker:
“Well you and May need to take turns. We can’t have both of you worried out of your minds,” Peter returned. “Figure out a shift system.” He shook his head, grin wide on his face. “I can’t have you spoil me rotten; I need to stay good, remember?” Now he was just being a little bit of a smart ass, but he knew Pepper could take it. In some instances, she could be worse - she had a bite and she wasn’t afraid to use it. At least, that was his field assessment.
“You got it. I know a lil’ bodega a few blocks from me that has some pretty good ones.” The convenience store had a lot of goodies, some of which Peter was planning on nabbing on his way past later on. “If it gets that bad I’ll let you know. I think if I got night terrors, Johnny wouldn’t let me sleep in the same bed. I’d have to get a doctor by then, huh?” While it was a joke, there was some truth to it. They still didn’t know what had gone wrong that day at the protest, or at least, he didn’t know.
Peter’s brows lifted when she told him that little secret, but he pretended to lock his mouth shut and throw away the key. “Don’t worry, I won’t say a word. Good to hear you’re feeling better, though. When do you think they’ll let you walk? Legally, I mean,” he added, his smirk as evidence that he was teasing.
Pepper couldn’t help but laugh as the smart ass remark, shooting Peter a ‘oh really now?’ look. The smirk on her lips took the sting out of the disbelief though, the redhead only teasing him. “It’s fine, I’ll just spoil you so rotten that you turn good again. That’s how it works, right?” She was grinning now, her hands falling away once his hair was settled.
The grin faded as the topic shifted, Pepper listening intently, aware that Peter would probably try to hedge and deflect with humour, for some reason that was the general MO of most of the men she knew so she’d gotten good at reading between the lines. “God forbid you couldn’t sleep in the same bed as your lover boy.” It was a gentle tease, but the hand that rested on Peter’s shoulder and squeezed gently was sincere. “Just don’t be scared to let me know if it comes up. We’ve all been there, especially in this ‘business’.” And she didn’t mean their day jobs. Pepper’s sleep issues came more from anxiety than night terrors, and weren’t as bad as they’d been when she and Tony had been seeing one another, but she still had nights where she couldn’t sleep soundly.
Happy to shift back to more lighthearted topics Pepper laughed softly at her godson’s antics and then sighed a bit, wanting to shrug but knowing better given her still-healing injuries. “They said two weeks, but I’m hoping it ends up being closer to one. I am beyond ready to get out of this room for good.”
