promisebreaker | Muse Write Prompt Set 21

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Muse Write Prompt Set 21

[I love sleep. My life tends to fall apart when I’m awake, you know?—Ernest Hemingway]

Peter had a girlfriend. Because he had girlfriend, he should take her out on dates. That was what a boyfriend did. Dates were how a couple defined themselves as a couple. He knew this because he heard other people talk about dating. It was practically a synonym for committed relationship.

The thing was, Peter and Bethel tended to stay at home a lot. They watched movies and marathoned entire seasons of television on DVD. They played video games and ordered take out. A lot. What they didn’t do a lot was go out on dates. Peter was pretty sure that wasn’t normal. Dinner and a movie was normal, so that’s what they were doing tonight. Dinner had been a success; they’d eaten at their favorite Chinese restaurant, the place they got take out from nearly every night.

Now they were walking along the sidewalk toward the movie theater to see the premiere of Skyfall. Bethel was so excited, she was bouncing on her toes as they walked. She’d been talking about James Bond for weeks now and Peter was pretty sure that if Bond showed up looking for a new Bond girl, he’d be minus a girlfriend. He didn’t mind much because one: fictional character, and two: if Bond were taking applications for a sidekick in a nonsexual sense, Peter would put in his application. He thought he had a pretty good chance with the whole spidey powers gig he had going on.

They were about halfway to the theater when they heard a scream. Peter already had an apology in his eyes and he started to shrug out of his jacket and had it to her.

“Just go.” She rolled her eyes as she shoved him in the general direction of the scream. He didn’t need anymore urging. He ran into an alley and if anyone had been watching up, they would’ve seen Spiderman shoot a web at one of the higher buildings and swing across before dropping off the side of the building.

Muggings were always touch and go. The one Peter dropped into involved a knife and a girl who wouldn’t give up her designer bag. The rescue took longer than Peter expected because the mugger had friends. By the time Peter had wrapped the muggers up, saved the damsel and her purse, ducked out of the way, changed and caught up with Bethel, the line for Skyfall was ridiculous.

In fact, it wasn’t looking hopeful that they were going to get into the theater. The movie started in twenty minutes and the line wrapped around the building. This wasn’t how he saw the date working out.

“I’m sorry.” He was prepared to go home, dejected and Bond-less. Maybe they’d put the old movies on at home and collapse on the couch. Their ‘dates’ seemed to work out better when they stayed at home anyway.

“Pardon? No. We’re not leaving without seeing this movie.” Bethel was giving him a look that practically broadcast ‘I’m with a crazy guy’.

“Bee…we can come back and see the late show.”

“Nope. You saved someone tonight, which is why we’re late. That earns you the right to see this showing of the film.”

That got a crooked grin out of him. “Spiderman saved someone tonight. Peter Parker just forgot his phone at the restaurant restroom and had to go back to get it.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “So Spiderman can get us to the front of the line.”

Now she was getting his bwah look. “What?”

“You heard me. I’m seeing this movie. Now use your spidey-ness to get us in.”

“Bethel…I can’t—“ Well, he could. It was possible. There was a whole discussion of the morality of it paired with abuse of power. In the end, he decided it was minor enough that it didn’t really matter, and they were late because he’d saved a girl tonight and caught two muggers that probably weren’t going to stop with the one girl.

Two minutes later, Spiderman escorted Bethel to the front of the line, spoke to the manager and was given free tickets, popcorn and sodas. Peter Parker took his place before the movie started and watched the movie with his girlfriend.

Overall, it was a very small abuse of power and the movie, had been worth it.

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"We should have gotten M&Ms," Bethel complained as they walked out of the theater. "I mean, yes, lovely movie, I'm still firmly in the camp that Daniel Craig shouldn't be allowed to wear a shirt--" She paused and patted Peter's arm fondly. "--Neither should you, love, no worries, but the whole movie all I could think about was how I really wanted M&Ms but I didn't want to miss any shirtlessness."

Of course, she could have brought that up during the movie, but she didn't want Peter to think he had to get up and go get them for her. Because she knew he would, he was adorable like that. If Bethel was damselling, he would save her, even if it was just M&Ms.

Which they had a huge bowl of at home.

So, really, the point was moot, she just needed to get it out. "Also," she added, confirming his earlier thought. "If James Bond ever shows up and says he needs a new girl, I'm sorry but I'll be leaving you immediately. Though I'll probably die, so I dunno, maybe that would be karma's intervention."

"Next time, we'll bring the bowl from home. You'll have to bring a bigger purse." He had expected the comments about Daniel Craig's lack of a shirt. She'd been preparing him for it for a while. "I'm not sure they'd let me in without a shirt. Daniel Craig, probably."

Yeah, he would have gone to the concession stand and retrieved M&Ms for her, probably during one of the shirtless scenes so that she could lust in relative privacy. He was a very good boyfriend.

"I'll just have to keep you away from places like London, Shanghi and Paris. I'm sort of invested in keeping you."

"Well, you can't keep me away from London, it's my homeland or something. I have all these majestic feelings and emotions about it." This of course, was a lie. Bethel wasn't even from London, she was from tiny town closer to Scotland and she'd lived in New York most of her life, keeping the accent out of spite alone.

She was Amy Pond before Amy Pond was Amy Pond.

"But I do agree with your investment. It's a good investment, bit crazy, but overall a good, solid, long term investment." She could keep going with that particular metaphor -- she invested in Hershey's -- but she stopped while she was ahead, wriggling under Peter's arm and grinning at him. "Thanks for spidering us inside."

"I could be in danger then." Possibly, you know. Probably not, because as far as he was aware, James Bond was still fictional, but maybe.

She was. It was sexy as hell.

Oh, wait. That got his attention. He looked down at her, arm tightening around his shoulders a bit. "Yeah? I mean, I sort of think so, but Im kind of partial since I made the investment. I'm not sure my opinion counts that much." The whole 'long term' part reminds him of something she said a few weeks ago when he was high on pain medication. He'd kind of been waiting for a chance to ask her about it, but he hadn't quite gotten around to it. This conversation presented the opportunity, if he could screw up the courage to ask her about.

"So...uhm...you know the other day when I was..." he scrubbed his free hand through his hair, "you sort of...proposed to me. Not that I'm going to hold you to it since I was high on pain meds and you were just messing with me for obvious reasons. I was just sort of wondering, you know, how serious you would be about something like that?"

Still fictional, Peter was safe. Plus, Daniel Craig was married, so Peter was safe there too.

Bethel had a tendency to tease, it was how she joked around, but she was serious when it called for it. Of course, her sense of humor was so dry and bland that sometimes the two got confused. At the moment though, she sort of thought she should be serious. Peter thought about his words, Bethel didn't, but she knew it took him a little more to bring things up.

"Yeah, I said we should get married," Bethel corrected. It wasn't a proposal, per se, but it was definitely an opening to one. She was in love with Peter, she knew that. When she was with him, she felt happy, centered, complete. He literally did have her at hello. She shrugged a bit. "I'm not against the idea. I mean, I'm not sure I would be any good at it since my mum was just complete rubbish at being a wife, or you know, a decent being." She frowned slightly, she didn't like her mother. Even twenty two years after her mother had left.

"Have you been thinking about that since you woke up that morning?"

Excellent! He preferred it that way.

Peter expected the teasing. He welcomed it even. He tended to ramble, stutter and turn into a verbal mess when the need for seriousness came around. He put too much thought into his words, so much that they came out jumbled.

"I don't think your competency at marriage has much to do with your parents. I think it has more to do with the person you marry." Of course, he'd had a great example of marriage in Aunt Mae and Uncle Ben. "Because, hey, you've got the decent being thing down really well. I mean, that probably has something to do with your dad, but still."

His brow wrinkled up and he hesitated, pursing his lips then twisting them to one side. "Sort of? I mean...not like all the time. Just, you know, sometimes I kind of think about --and, you know, sort of wonder what you meant, but that's not like--it's just sometimes. I'm not trying to pressure you about it or anything. I was just thinking that it was something I should, you know, have an idea of what you meant by it."

See, he rambled when seriousness was called for.

Bethel frowned a bit, stopping and lifting her hand to put a finger to Peter's lips so he would stop his rambling. He was starting to sound panicked.

"Peter. You don't even need to speak, you can just nod. Do you want to get married, to me, specifically?" To be honest, she wouldn't be fussed with either answer, she was content to wait if Peter started freaking out, but she was equally content to not wait. Really, either option was fine with her.

Did you want to give Peter a stroke, Bethel? 'Cause it's possible you might have.

HIs eyes went wide at her question. Please hold. His brain was currently imploding in little sections at a time. It took him a moment to respond and sorry, it wasn't a yes or no question, but so few questions were with Peter. He, of course, attempted to talk with her finger against his lips so it came out a bit mangled.

"Someday, I think so."

That was as short as an answer he could give her and remain honest about it. He loved Bethel. There was no doubt about that and he wanted to get married and have kids, eventually. He just wasn't sure he was old enough to be a husband. He had a lot of college left to get through. He also needed to figure out how to balance the Spiderman thing and his real life. He needed to run genetic tests so he'd know what to expect when he had children.

"Okay." And with that, Bethel started walking again, tugging a little on Peter's arm so he'd go with her.

Sure she would have preferred a definite 'someday, yes' not just an 'I think so', but she knew she'd thrown the question out of left field, she doubted if he thought that was the way the conversation was going to go.

After a moment, she spoke again, reaching up to grab hold of the hand that was resting near her shoulder. "Probably should have prefaced that question with I love you, shouldn't I have? I do, love you. By the way. In case you forgot, or were wondering. I know I'm not good at being all emotional and girly like that."

He went with her easily, walking by her side, his arm still around her shoulders.

It was a lot to take in, particularly for Peter, who's brain clipped along at 100 miles an hour anywya, making too much of everything.

He stopped walking when she said that, turning a bit so he could see her more clearly and placing his hand alongside her cheek, his thumb beneath her jaw. "I love you too. I don't care that you're not good with anything emotional. I'm--I know I think too much and ramble too much and there's so many words it's hard to understand what I mean. I get that. I just--do you want kids? We never talked about it because...we don't talk about those things."

Did Bethel want kids? She didn't know. The not knowing was frustrating to her, making her move her head away from Peter's hand. He had unwittingly pushed the one button that just repeatedly punched her in the stomach.

Her parents were happily married until Bethel was born. Then her mother had up and left, running away. Her dad had always claimed that she hadn't left because of Bethel, but she didn't buy it. Divorce was one thing, but what kind of woman signed away the rights to her own child? She was raised by a great man and her great man's best friend. Bethel didn't have any female mentors, no family members to look up to. She only had her mother.

Which meant she had no one.

For once, Bethel is silent, shaking her head. There was too much tied up in the question, it was an impossible answer. She sighed, exhaling and taking a step away from Peter. "Can we talk about this at home?"

No, Peter understood that. He had doubts about having kids as well simply because of his life and what he was. He wanted them, but he wasn't sure it was a wise thing. His brow furrowed as Bethel moved away from him, concerned about what was going on in her head. Peter glanced around the immediate area then back to her.

"Yeah, of course. Should I...pchosow...you know, or do you want to grab a cab?"

Webbing them back home would be faster, but he knew she wasn't crazy about heights.

Normally, Bethel would have said no. She wasn't crazy about heights the same way that that pigeons weren't crazy about car windshields. But he had said pchosow and he's saved a stranger's life and he's gotten them into Skyfall and let Bethel abuse his power.

He always wanted to show her the city from up high... He deserved it.

Of course, her eyes would probably be closed the whole time, but still. It was the thought that counted. "Pchosow."

He nodded, a little more subdued than he would be normally having just gotten the okay to web his way somewhere. He pulled her back into an alley, glanced around them to make certain no one was watching and curled one arm a bit tighter around her waist.

"Close your eyes and hang on."

Then he shot a web up high and they had lift off.

Bethel did close her eyes, clinging to Peter like a limpet. He was going to have a hell of a time prying her off him. When she felt the rush of wind against her she shrieked, managing to muffle it against Peter's chest. But still, it's a shriek.

Peter might be deaf for a minute or so.

He heard the shriek, but chose to carry on in favor of getting them both home sooner rather than later. He figured she'd rather get over this. Sure, he wanted her to like heights and enjoy this, but there wasn't any use in trying to force her into liking it. That would only make her fear worse. He did stop about halfway on the top of a building.

He wrapped both arms tightly around her, bowing his head to whisper to her. "Bethel, Baby, I'm not going to drop you. I swear."

"I know," Bethel muttered, her voice shaky and weak. She was well aware that it was an irrational fear and that Peter would never purposefully put her in danger, not ever. But it was still terrifying. "But what if you get stuck in an air pocket that pushes us down and we fall to our very painful, squishy deaths. Or, or, what if you get caught in a clothesline and we fall to our very painful, squishy deaths. Or we're attacked by rogue pigeons."

That last one was just Bethel grasping at straws really.

He kissed the top of her head, running his fingers through her hair and giving her a second to calm down.

"One strand of my web can suspend a semi truck in the air. If I get stuck in an air pocket that pushes us down, it will only push until the web is taunt and then we will hang out until the air pocket goes away. If I get caught in a clothes line, we will be tangled there until I untangle us and then we'll be on our way again. I'm way tougher than rogue pigeons. Besides, I know you have fortune cookies in your purse. We'll open those, crush them up and scatter them for the rogue pigeons to eat instead of eating us."

He knew.

"I know. It's an irrational fear because it's irrational, Peter." She shook her head a little, she wasn't going to be able to calm down until she was home and on the couch, probably with a big cup of cocoa and a blanket. She was far too high up to be calm.

"Let's, let's just go home before I think of more reasons this is scary."

"Okay."

He didn't warn her again, well aware that her nerves were only getting worse every moment they spent in the air. He wrapped his arm a bit tighter around her and shot another web out then swung off the building, moving faster this time with an increased need to get home. Once he was outside on their fire escape, he loosened his hold a bit. "We're home. You can open up your eyes."

And they'd managed it in a matter of minutes rather than the cab ride that might have taken a great deal longer.

Bethel was grateful for the lack of warning, it didn't give her time to internally freak out, if only for a moment.

She pried her eyes open and when she found herself on the fire escape she breathed out a sigh of relief. "I'm sure one day I'll be better."

Probably not, but she felt a bit bad, not enjoying something that Peter enjoyed so much.

"It's okay." It was something he'd like to share with her because he was literally the only person he knew who could share this sort of thing with her, but it wasn't a deal breaker. Besides, it always gave him a place to go to be alone and some solitude, which everyone needed from time to time, including him.

He slid open the window and let her duck in first then ducked in behind her.

"Hot cocoa? or tea?"

"Hot cocoa, am I really that predictable?" She leaned against the couch, getting her wobbly legs under control as she watched Peter move about the apartment.

She hadn't had any problem moving him in. His stuff fit in with her stuff and aside from the second guest bedroom that they turned into his mancave -- Bethel called it the Spidey Command Center -- not much had changed. Moving in had been the natural progression of their old married couple relationship, just like this conversation was probably another natural progression.

Bethel didn't much like this one though. She perched on one of the kitchen stools while Peter got the cocoa ready. "I do. Want kids I mean. But, I don't want to screw them up. I don't want to turn out like my mom, and as much as I prefer to be on the nurture side of things, my boyfriend is a radioactive spider bitten superhero so nature sort of makes it's case for itself."

Peter shrugged a little. She was, in a way. They both were. Tonight, on their date, they ate at the Chinese place that delivered them take out nearly every night. Predictable was something that defined them. It wasn't bad. It made it easier to be comforting. He walked to the kitchen and put the kettle of water on the stove then got down a couple of mugs. Hot cocoa with mini marshmallows went into the mugs while they waited for the kettle to boil.

Spidey command center had been necessary. He needed to be able to work on gadgets and sew up tears in his suit. Conversation was looking as if it was also going to be necessary. Of course, they could remain stagnent, but that wasn't going to be a good thing either.

"Bee, you would be an amazing, cool, awesome mom because you're an amazing, caring, loving person, but you've also got a point about the boyfriend side of things. There's the whole...genetic side of things and then there's...the dangerous side of things."

He perched on the kitchen stool beside her. "So, even if we figured out the dangerous side of things...I don't know what the genetics side of things would do."

"No, Peter, I didn't mean it like that." She frowned, turning to put her hands on Peter's thighs, leaning forward a bit. She could understand herself being worried about motherhood, but she couldn't understand Peter worrying about it. He was wonderful in every way, if this had been anyone else Bethel would just have said no, she didn't want kids. But with Peter, well, her mind had changed. She could see it, terrifying as the idea was.

"A, you're not dangerous, you save kittens from trees, mister, you've sort of screwed yourself on the bad boy front. And B, well, I haven't actually got a B, but if you think I can be a good mum in light of my own mum's stellar and abject failure, then you can see why I think you'd be a brilliant dad in light of the fact that you climb walls when you feel like it." She paused a moment, shifting forward so their knees pressed against each other. "I do love you, I don't say it a lot because my dad and I can be sort of taciturn like that, but I've seen you with your Aunt and Uncle, you've had the best people in the world teaching you about life and love and compassion and other nice things. There is literally no way you could be a bad father, it's impossible."

She didn't really know if that was the point, actually, she was pretty sure it wasn't, but it was the point she needed to make.

"No, I'm not dangerous, but some of the 'bad guys' I go after are dangerous." He scrubbed a hand over his head, considering the rest of the equation. He wrapped his hands around her wrists, his thumbs resting lightly over her pulse points. Peter had always sort of assumed that one day he would have kids. Uncle Ben had been fantastic with him. He wanted to be that to a kid. Besides that, Peter liked kids. He was usually pretty good with them.

"Gentically...I don't know what will...I mean...our kid could end up being able to climb walls."

Which brings a whole new facet to terrible twos.

"Well that is a moot point, as I've never been attacked by said bad guys because you're my significant other, so I'm afraid you've lost that point."

She didn't count the weird serial killer because well, that hadn't been Peter's fault. He'd ditched her that evening anyway, he couldn't use it as an argument now. She'd been stalked by that guy because Peter wasn't with her.

"Or. He could end up with a British accent, or glasses, or six fingers like that bloke from the Princess Bride." She raised her eyebrows as if asking Peter to get to the point. Bethel still actually needed her glasses, though she preferred contacts, so really, that was a reasonable possibility.

Wait? How did she end up on the side defending the possibility for children?

Peter considered her argument for a moment, his hands still on her wrists. The kettle whistled and he leaned forward, brushing her temple with a kiss. He made the cups of cocoa in silence and handed one off to her before taking her free hand in his and pulling her to her feet. He tugged her to the couch. He waited for her to sit down then sat next to her. He pulled one foot up onto the couch so that he could face her.

Peter had needed glasses before he'd gotten bit by the spider. Of course, he'd worn contacts until he'd found his dad's glasses then he'd worn those. The chances their kid would need glasses was high.

A goofy kind of smile slipped over his lips. "We'd have a really gorgeous kid."

Bethel was admittedly a bit nervous with all the silence and the moving to the couch with their cocoa. She knew it wasn't going to be anything really bad, because she was a girl and she didn't think it was likely that any guy would give their girlfriend a steaming mug of hot chocolate before they said something to piss her off.

But still, it did induce some butterflies in her stomach. Butterflies that were immediately annihilated but that smile. "I know, right! Cutest thing ever."

She didn't really know how James Bond had led to talking about marriage and kids, but now that they had gotten past the hard stuff, she didn't really mind. They probably needed to talk about important things like that. If they were going to ponder the merits of marriage, the should probably know where each other stood on some things.

It hadn't really occurred to him that the silence and the moving to the couch would make her nervous. He'd just been thinking about getting them both settled.

Excellent to know that the smile was good for that. He'd remember that. "Absolutely. You know...when we decided to have one." He furrowed his brow, aware he was probably sticking his foot in his mouth. "I mean, I'd want to be married for a little while before we had kids. That's sort of the thing. I don't feel qualified to raise a puppy, much less a kid right now, you know?"

Yeah, they needed to talk about the whole gambit of things, but yes, Peter did want to marry her, if it wasn't obvious by the words he'd just said.

"Oh." And those butterflies were back full force, making her stomach leap happily about. Bethel kept smiling though, that was a perfectly acceptable answer, especially as Bethel had a horrible track record with fish, so she didn't feel all that qualified either.

"Well that seems fair to me. I'd probably have to get a proper job first anyway." She pouted a bit at that, it was the reason she worked at a flower shop when her degree was in business management. She had a job at her dad's company already, she just had yet to actually... work.

Edited 2012-10-30 02:55 (UTC)

Good. He was hoping he hadn't said something really horrible there. This was working out much better than he had thought it would. He'd been a bit afraid that this would end up in an argument, or at the very least an impasse.

"And I want to get my doctorate first, so we've got time. Besides, we're both young enough that it's not a problem."

Even though Bethel was a few years older than him.

Bethel doesn't necessarily believe in marriage, but she knew Peter had good role models in that arena so she could see why that was on his list of things to do and it didn't bother her. It would make him happy and she had no real objection to it. Marriage before baby made sense too, it was sort of a tried and true practice.

She scoffed at his plan though, teasing. "Nerd. You are such a nerd. I'm going to marry a giant, epic, fabulous nerd."

Well. She cold actually get behind that really.

Peter couldn't help it. He was raised by old fashioned people who believed the best thing that had ever happened to them was their significant other. He was raised to get married and have kids in that order. Honestly though, the reason he wanted to get married before the baby was to have the experience of being newlyweds before they were parents.

"It's a good thing nerds make you hot. Otherwise, I'd worry."

"Oh, you'll be a proper doctor too, I can call you doctor!" Oh that would be fun, all Bethel would ever be at her job was Miss Tobias, which was not as fun as doctor at all.

Maybe she should become a doctor... no, that would involve far to much work than her lazy bones could handle. "Dr Parker, that sounds lovely."

He laughed at that. "I'll wear pinstripes, tweed and bowties just for you." He actually liked Miss Tobias quite a bit and eventually she'd get to be Mrs. Parker, which was, okay, not as fun as Doctor either.

"Thanks. I mean...I sorta like the sound of it. My dad was Dr. Parker so..." he shrugged. There was so very little he actually remembered about his father. He rarely thought about it because he'd grown up with Aunt Mae and Uncle Ben.

"Do you..." She paused, chewing on her thumbnail as she decided whether or not to finish asking the question. "Do you remember your parents?"

She herself didn't remember her mother, having left before Bethel could form real memories. Her dad had never begrudged her asking about the woman, but when Bethel was old enough to realize that she'd been abandoned, well... she stopped asking.

He pulled his lips between his teeth, pressing them together before he nodded. "A little. I remember the night they left me at Aunt Mae's and Uncle Ben's. Mom...I think she knew they wouldn't be back. Dad was...Uncle Ben says he was just like me." Which isn't actually his memory, it's his uncle's.

"He--he used to work at our dining room table. I would color next to him and pretend I was working too. Mom made us clear the table for dinner though. She--" his brow furrowed a little, trying to sort the memory. "She used to come into my room every night and read a story."

He'd missed those stories when she'd left and he'd never had the heart to ask Aunt Mae to read bed time stories to him. It seemed too much like replacing his mom. Instead, Uncle Ben had done that.

He looked up to Bethel. "Do you remember your Mom?"

He knew he'd been lucky in a way. His parents had left him because they'd wanted to keep him safe.

"No." She shrugged, after so many years she'd stopped feeling bad for herself about it and it because just something that was there. "Dad used to try to tell me stories about her, how wonderful she was and all that, but... I made him stop."

The fact was Bethel didn't like her mother. Not even that she'd abandoned Bethel herself, but that she'd left Bethel's dad. Bethel's dad who still loved her. He'd never remarried, or even dated, so Bethel didn't have to go through the process of meeting someone new and all that, it had just been the two of them and Lou for Bethel's whole life.

"Lou used to call her 'that stroppy cow'," she added with a smile.

Peter knew the basics about her mom's abandonment. They hadn't discussed it much because it didn't apply to their lives. Aunt Mae had practically adopted Bethel from moment one, insisting that she needed to eat more. Aunt Mae thought everyone needed to eat more, except Peter who she swore was going to eat her out of house and home. There was also Lou and Arthur. They had enough family around that it didn't seem to matter much.

"I knew I liked Lou."

"He'll be pleased." She put her hot chocolate on the coffee table and nudged Peter's foot out of the way so she could cuddle up against him.

The way the adults in the families were going, they would never be without food. Poor Bethel didn't even eat a lot, either. Her lack of appetite made up for Peter's enormous one.

His hot chocolate followed hers to the table and he stretched his leg out along the couch, opening up his arms to let her snuggle up against him.

It was an excellent thing since Peter couldn't cook. At all. Occasionally he was allowed to use the microwave in Aunt Mae's kitchen with supervision.

Once she was cuddled up against him, he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "So...one of these days, will you marry me?"

It was a proposal for a proposal to get married. Like a promise ring, but with words.

"Also, you should come to a frat party with me sometime or something because no one at college believes you're real."

Bethel reached up and grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch, managing to drape it over the both of them. It was lucky, usually she only got it to land in a heap. So she was pretty pleased with how it fell.

"Okay." Sorry. She was currently in a cocoon of comfortableness, all warm and snug against Peter, nice and happy. He can just take that okay for both the promise ring and the party.

Contrary to her antisocial tendencies, Bethel was surprisingly popular at parties. She was cute and British and really, spectacularly astoundingly good at beer pong and darts. She was a one woman party trick.

Peter might get jealous.

Yes. That would be fun.

Clearly this was a very lucky night for the both of them.

He'd take okay. It was a valid answer and a positive one. He bowed his head, resting his chin against her shoulder, perfectly content. He toyed with the edge of the blanket, but that was simply because he had to be constantly in motion.

Psh, he would stand over behind her and tell everyone in the room that was his girlfriend.

Bethel was comfortable enough that she was starting to get sleepy, her eyes closing and her body curling in closer to Peter's, fingers bunching against his shirt. She wasn't tired, but she was so content she body had a mind of it's own.

"Peter," she murmured sleepily. "When we get married, someday, later, can I be Mrs Parker or do you want to keep that for your mum?"

He was relaxing into the same comfortable, sleepiness. He smiled when she asked her question, snuggling her a little closer.

"I really hope you'll want to be Mrs. Parker."

Now that they'd both sort of decided that someday was good enough for them right now, all the anxiety over marriage had just disappeared. He knew he wanted to marry Bethel. He'd known for a while now. It was just one of those things that made him panic when he thought about it in a near future sort of way because he knew there was no way he could support Bethel and it mattered very little to him that she was rich. Even if he didn't have to support her, he wanted to be able to support her. He wanted to feel like he could protect her.

Bethel nodded slowly, a murmur of happiness humming against Peter's chest. "I do."

Her thoughts were running nowhere near Peter's -- partly because it would never occur to her that he would want that and partly because she wouldn't understand anyway. She was only thinking happy thoughts, in Peter's arms she was blissfully content, the steady beat of his heart lulling her to sleep.

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Muse Write Prompt Set 21

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