"Oh I beg you, can I follow?
Oh I ask you, why not always?" 
- Lykke Li

  Harper woke up to a soft knock on Peter's door. Peter wasn't even moving. She thought he was really cute, with his slightly open mouth, and she couldn't bring herself to wake him up. Instead, she put on her shorts and one of Peter's printed shirts. She unlocked the door as quietly as possible and joined May on the other side.

  "He's still sleeping," Harper whispered.

  "Oh, I see. Breakfast's ready if you're hungry."

Harper's stomach growled slowly and May noted she was wearing one of her nephew's shirts. Who else could have a t-shirt with a mathematic joke on it ? She saved the information for later : she'd have to talk to Peter, later that day.

  "So, what did you guys do last night ?" she asked on an innocent tone while she was handing Harper her plate.

  "W-we only watched a movie," Harper stammered. 

  She was usually good at hiding the truth and yet, she was now drowning in her own thoughts. Her mind kept going back to what had happened the night before and how wonderfully good she'd felt, cuddling up next to Peter. 

  "You went to bed late, I guess."

  "Huh, yeah, kind of, w-why ?"

  "He likes sleeping, but...well, it's usually quite easy to get him out of bed," she said, barely hiding her smile. She tilted her head up. "Speaking of the devil..."

  Harper felt Peter's hand in her back and she looked up at him. He kissed her quickly, scratched his tired eyes and then said hi to his aunt May.

  "Seems like that movie was exhausting," May noted.

  "Huh ? Oh, yeah."

  May tried her best not to burst out laughing when she looked at them. They looked furtively at each other and any idiot could've guessed why. She shook her head as she handed Peter his plate. Young people never seemed to understand that whatever they might do, grown ups had done it before.

***

  "Harper ? Is that you ?"

  "Yes Mom, I'm coming !"

  Harper hurried back to her mother. She found her sitting behind her desk and a mountain of paperwork.

  "What's all that ?" she asked, intrigued. 

  "That's what I wanted to talk to you about." 

  Pepper Potts looked serious in a totally non-reassuring way and Harper didn't dare to ask questions. She sat in a comfortable chair in front of her mother.

  "We managed to keep the reporters away, as you already know," she explained. "Your father almost sued some of them. They're staying away from the house, but we chose to sell it."

  "What ? What do you mean, sell it ? And where will we live ?"

  "In the Avengers facility, here in New York." 

  "I don't get it."

  "We can't protect you well enough here. At least, you'll be safe there, with me, your dad and the other Avengers. You couldn't be safer in case...in case she'd find you."

  She couldn't say her name. Pepper couldn't say Helen Grey's name. She couldn't imagine this woman still being alive after she abandoned her child, after she left Harper to suffer through a life full of doubt and fear.

  "We don't even know where she is."

  "Which is why we need to be even more careful. You get it ?"

  Harper ignored her question. 

  "Can I still go to class ? At least ?"

  Pepper looked down at her files. 

  "No. It's too dangerous."

  "But Mom ! I can't just...stop going."

  "Because you're going to miss class ? Please. You don't even need them. You have your father and he'll help you. You'll learn a lot with him."

  "I don't give a damn about class, you hear me ? I can't... Peter, he..."

  "Oh, I see. Come here."

  Pepper signed her daughter to come closer : she was already tearing up. She hugged her daughter and even let her sit on her lap, just as she did when she was still a kid. She was just bigger now.

  "You won't stop seeing Peter, I promise. You really love him, don't you ?"

  Harper nodded slowly, eyes closed. Yes, she loved him. It was one of the only things she knew for sure. She took a deep breath. 

  "Last night we...well, you know."

  "No, I don't know so tell me," Pepper joked.

  "You know damn well what we did," Harper mumbled, rolling her eyes to the sky.

  "You grew up so fast, sweetie, and now you're... Did it go well ?"

  "Very well," she answered as her cheeks turned red.

  "Good. I promise you we'll find a way for him to come at the facility once in a while. I don't think he'll leave us the choice anyway : he'd go there on foot if he had to. 

  Harper let out a laugh, amused at her mother's joke but also sure she was telling the truth. 

  "When are we leaving ?"

  "Tomorrow night. Your Dad's already there. That way you can go to school and say goodbye to your friends."

  Harper nodded and thought about the next day. It would surely be filled with too many emotions. She hoped she could spend as much time as possible with Peter before her moving away. She got up and left the room before she chose to chill for a while : tomorrow would be a long day.

***

  She would miss Midtown High School, even though she hadn't spent much time there. As the decathlon team gathered, Harper waited for Peter outside the door. They'd decided to have lunch in a deli not far from school. The bell finally rang and students started getting out. Peter didn't wander for a second and hurried back to Harper. He kissed her quickly before he grabbed her hand.

  "You've been here for long ?"

  "No, barely five minutes. Let's go."

  They started walking in the hallway peacefully, if it weren't for their dear classmate.

  "Hey, Parker, did you pay her so that she'd put up with you for that long ? Because, honestly, that's the only explanation I can think of."

  "Excuse me ?"

  "Hey, Flash, do you know what I would pay you for ?" Harper asked, already pissed off.

  "Huh..."

  "For you to shut the fuck up."

  Peter's eyes opened wide, surprised at his girlfriend's quick comeback. It wasn't her style to act so defensive : she had something on her mind and Peter could tell it was completely something else than Flash's childish jokes.

  "Uh, I... You shut up !" Flash answered, looking even more upset when heard M.J.'s laugh. "You might be Iron Man's daughter, but that doesn't mean you can talk to me like that."

  "I'll talk to you however the hell I want to, you hear me ? Now get out and get off our backs."

  "What if I don't want to ?"

  He crossed his arm on his chest like an upset kid.

  "Then I'll make you."

  "Make me ? Why not," he retorted with a raised eyebrow. 

  "I meant make you shut up."

   Harper sent her fist right into Flash's face. It wasn't a hard punch. It was actually as hard as slap. Flash, offended but impressed, scowled and left in the opposite direction. Harper felt quite proud and turned around to look at Peter.

  "I've always wanted to do that," she whispered, smiling.

  "You're so violent," Peter said, putting an excessive look of shock on his face.

  They walked quietly for a few minutes and once they sat in front on each other in the deli, Peter cleared his throat.

  "Flash isn't the only one getting on your nerves, right ? What's going on ?"

  "I...I didn't want to talk to you about it last night but now I have to." She breathed out. "I gotta leave Midtown High."

  "What ? Why ? To go where ?"

  She could already see question marks in Peter's eyes, just like hers last night.

  "My Dad wants me to go live in the Avengers facility," she whispered. "He thinks I'll be safer there. My absence is temporary, I think," she added. "It's just...we need time to find my birth mother."

  "W-what about me ?"

  His lips burned with that question. How would they be able to see each other ?"

  "Mom said you could come as many times as you wanted. I won't be allowed to leave that place but... Well, I'd get if if you didn't..."

  "Stop it already," he interrupted her. "Buses are there for a reason. And May has a car ! I'll come as many times as I can. But not too many times though or Ned's gonna say I'm going missing too much."

  His attempt at humour worked out and brought a smile to Harper's face.

  "Anyway, I don't want this to change anything between us," she said. "Because I...I love you, and that's not being away from here that'll change that."

  On top of the table, Peter linked his fingers to hers. He was tracing circles on her hand with his thumb.

  "I'll be there. Do you know how long you're going ?"

  "I-I think it's permanent. I'll come back to school but..."

  "Oh."

  "They're selling the house once it's completely empty. We have to get our stuff to the facility and, well, taking all the weapons out of the cave would be great."

  "Yeah, or the new owners will be surprised."

  "Yeah, to say the least. Anyway... I'm going tonight."

  "Tonight ?"

  As the conversation went on, Peter felt like he was going six feet under. First she told him she was leaving. Then she told him it was for good and now she was telling him it was effective immediately. You could say Harper knew how to go from smaller to bigger information.

  "I'm sorry. I should've called you yesterday when I found out but... I had to process it, so... I used to be sad, you know, about our house in Malibu being destroyed. But now I realise that thanks to that, I won't be away from New York. From you.

  Peter smiled : if Harper had left town, he didn't know what would his reaction have been. After their meal, they got back to school. Their emotions made them a little more careless than usual. They didn't even notice that behind them, under a blond wig and sunglasses, someone had been following them.