*                    *                    *

IT WAS THE FINAL TRAINING PRACTICE FOR MALEA AND PETER, seeing as the next day they would be starting their journey onto Germany. Today, for the last practice, Malea decided on taking Peter to the small creek behind their local park to train. They had finished their training, and were packing up.

It was a quiet and quaint place. Really the only thing you would see in their would be dogs and their owners, runners, or perhaps even a couple hoping to take a nice stroll. All of these however were in small amounts either way, so really it was an abandoned area.

"You know, I've always loved coming back here." Malea said, zipping up her training bag. Peter looked back at her, a small smile outstretched on his face as he tied his shoelace. "It's always so quiet and peaceful here.. you can always come here and hope to find a place to relax and think straight."

"And why would you, of all people, need a place to think straight?" Peter asked curiously, sitting himself down on a tree stump.

"Doesn't everyone, I guess? I mean, I'm sure you've needed to think your mind through some times."

Peter scoffed, "Yeah, well I'm Spider-Man!" Malea laughed.

She playfully threw a hand towel at him, "Don't get cocky!"

Peter chuckled. "But really. You don't seem like the kind of person who would be in the condition that they would need to have some special thinking time."

Malea sighed. "Well, not every 8 year old has to witness their parents dying in a fire."

"Hang on.. WHAT?!" Peter's eyes widened.

"Hey, it's not anything worth telling, really."

Peter slouched his elbows down onto the log, leaning back, "you know, you've already started- you may as well continue. I'm all ears," he said, then holding his water bottle to his lips.

Malea sighed, a small laugh escaping her lips, "It all happened when I was 8. It was the night I found out that I had powers, I was a mutant. It's really hard to explain.. just, you know that feeling? Where everything latches out and you use complete control of everything.. that was it. Because of my idiotic, uncontrollable younger self, my parents perished in the fire that I had set. Me."

Peter looked down at Malea's hands. They were gripping onto the tree stump with unrecognizable force.

"And you know what?" Peter could feel a slight quiver in Malea's voice. "I got out in time, but my parents didn't. My parents are now gone.. and it's all my fault." The minute tears escaped her eyes, Peter folded his arms around her.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, you're okay, Malea." Peter's hands stroked her hair softly, as he tried comforting her.

It felt nice, Peter's body against her own. She only wished she wasn't sobbing like a maniac, that is. She pulled away after some time, rubbing her eyes, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be crying like this." She looked back at Peter, who still had the sweetest facial expression. "Thank you."

Malea hopped onto a small bit of wood sticking out from under a tree. After her and Peter conversed a bit more, they decided it was time to go back home.

Just as she was about to step off the branch, she felt her foot stumble a bit, and before she knew it, there was enough time for her to mumble 'shit' under her breath before she fell to the ground.

And she was so sure, that it would have ended with her head crashed on the woodland, but no, it didn't. Instead, there was a firm hand supporting her waist, and she looked up, her eyes meeting with that of Peter's.

Their faces were far too close for it to be normal. But for that second, or two, they stared deeply into each other's pupils, and it was as if they were frozen in that small period of time.#

Malea broke away quick enough, thanking Peter. But they both couldn't stop thinking about how, in those small seconds, how long it felt. And that how they felt like they were the only two in the world, and that nothing else mattered but them, in those seconds.

* * *

ngl i kinda enjoyed writing this chapter 💞💘💓💖