05| band aids — pulp fiction

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PIPER REMEMBERERS HER FIRST BLACK EYE VIVIDLY. She was ten years old staying with her third foster family. Her foster brother was pestering her for playing with her dolls saying she was such a "priss". When he grabbed her beloved stuffed bear Gus and cut half his face with scissors, she grabbed hold of him, wrestling him for the bear. Long story short, she ended up hitting her face on the side of the bed frame with a phone call from child services for a new foster home.

Piper looked in her bedroom mirror, placing a pack of peas over her swollen plum eye. The slash on her head wasn't deep enough for stitches, so a large Captain America band aid rested on top of her forehead. After the whole incident, the police escorted Piper back home. Lucy ended up dealing with the police's questions due to Janet's slur of words. You can believe the amount of scolding Piper received from her sister once they left but ended with a hug. Lucy couldn't imagine her little sister going through all of today defensless.

Piper should be happy that she made it home alive tonight, but anger poured through her veins. How could something like this happen? How could she have just let her friends be taken? How could she be so weak.

As these thoughts whirrled through her head, she almost didn't hear the sudden thump coming outside her window. She snapped out of her own head, grabbing the bag of peas for her eye for defense. She creeped towards the window, seeing a black figure linger outside. She shut her eyes, raking a deep breath for motivation. Then in a blink of an eye she went in for the strike.

"Hey-hey! It's just me!" Peter squealed, putting his arms up in defense.

Piper dropped the bag of peas and shoved Peter back, "What the hell is wrong with you?! You can't just randomly go through people's windows in the middle of the night especially after what happened tonight!" She screamed.

"Shh! You're gonna wake everyone up." Peter hushed, pushing past the angry ginger. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright, okay?"

"Oh, like you care! Where were you, huh? It was like the moment we were all in trouble you just left!" Piper scowled, not caring if the whole neighborhood woke up at this point.

"Listen, I know me not being there was a douche move, but who do you think called the cops? The moment you ran off I called them immediately and tried to find more help." The lie slipped off his tongue like honey.

Piper's face softened. "I-I'm sorry for yelling at you." She huffed, sitting down onto her book nook, "Just tonight was insane. I can't believe some guys kidnapped Ned and Hope. And for what? It was like they wanted them for a reason."

"Yeah, I definitely did not expect my Friday night to go like this." Peter sighed, plopping himself next to her. His eyes drifted towards hers. His stomach twisted looking at her beaten up face, "I can't believe they did this to you."

Piper laughed, "A couple bruises never hurt anyone. Plus, I'll get to wear this Captain America band aid around for a while."

"Oh, c'mon!" Peter gasped, picking up the multi avenger band aid box. "Out of all the avengers in this box you choose Captain America?"

Scrunching her nose, the beaten up girl laughed, "Well, I didn't really even look. I just kinda grabbed one out of the box."

Peter scoffed, rummaging through the box. A smirk appeared onto his face as he picked one out of the box. "Mind if I change it?"

Piper sighed, "I guess not."

She shifted her body so that he could get a better glance. With caution, he slowly peeled off the band aid from her forehead. Peter's eyes went soft when he saw the slash in her skin and couldn't help but think she still looked beautiful.

Piper chuckled when she saw who was on the band aid, "I didn't know you were a fan of Spider-Man."

Peter grinned, "I mean how could I not? He's the neighborhood super hero."

Peter gently placed the new band aid on her forehead. Piper's cheeks began to heat up from the sudden touch of his cold fingers. The two looked at each other almost like they were analyzing one another.

"Well, thank you!" Piper nervously laughed, yanking away.

"Uh, yeah of course." Peter awkwardly chuckled, pushing himself to the other side of the room.

The two stood on opposite sides from each other like they carried some type of plague. Piper's breathing slowed down a bit. As long as she didn't get to close he wouldn't get hurt, right?

click

Piper looked at her door to see that a light had turned on from under the crack. Piper eyes went wide, "Someone's awake you need to leave like now."

"Oh, yeah I–" Peter couldn't even finsihed his sentence before Piper was pushing him towards the window. Peter climbed out with ease, making his way towards the fire escape.

"Wait, Peter!" Piper whispered, "Get home safe, okay?"

Peter grinned and gave her a nod of reassurance. Piper watched as he climbed down the building. She watched him the entire way until his figure blended into the night. She let out a sigh, shutting her window tight. However, panic rose in her again as she heard footsteps coming towards her bedroom. She swiftly hoped under the blankets and shut her eyes.

The door creeped open, Janet standing in the dim light. She walked over to see her foster daughter beaten and bruised. She let out the breath that she had been holding in and kissed her gently on the forehead. If only she was this sober to do it when Piper was awake.