FOUR I TRUST YOU

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      If Lyra was being honest, she didn't feel very different. She had been too young to see what happened to her mother once she bore the curse, but feeling so regular felt wrong. She expected to at least feel a little different, but the only thing different was that her father could no longer look her in the eyes. Oh, and the teenage boy that hung out on her fire escape almost every night since her birthday in an attempt to break this totally ancient curse that seemed fairly unbreakable, but ya know. Semantics.

"So, if anyone was going to know anything about this curse that's like still alive today, who would it be?" Peter asked as he twiddled his thumbs, laying on the fire escape as he looked up at the stars. Lyra was beside him as she sat on the windowsill, her eyes glued to the same sky. It was almost midnight and there was probably crime happening that Peter could be stopping, but instead, he was here. Lyra didn't know why he was so content to waste his time on something like this for her, but she appreciated it nonetheless.

The girl shrugged, "My grandmother, maybe. She didn't survive it, she was just lucky enough not to inherit it. We hoped it would skip a generation since my mom got it but no such luck, as you saw. I'm sure she'll know something."

"Cool, down to skip school tomorrow so we can go visit her?" Peter suggested. It was odd to see him in the Spider-Man suit with the mask off. It felt like two worlds colliding -- a shy teenage boy and a hero.

Lyra shook her head, "No, she would have my head for ditching. We can take the subway to hers after, though, if you really want to."

"I do want to," the boy nodded, his eyes drifting to meet hers for just a moment before they both returned their gaze to the sky, "I really really want this to work out. Breaking the curse, I mean, uh, yeah. It's just so..."

"Unfair?" the girl finished, having a feeling that was what the boy was going to say, "Tell me about it. I'm the one that actually has to die."

"No, no, you're not gonna die, stop talking like that," Peter sat up, moving to lean up against the railing so quickly his hair fell into his face. Lyra laughed, reaching out to push it back into place. As soon as she realized what she had done, she drew her hand back quickly as though it burned. Thankfully, Peter didn't say anything except she did notice a faint pink fill his cheeks.

She sighed, "It's the truth. My mom died. My great-grandmother died. Everyone died except for the ones that didn't get it. I don't even know why this is happening to us. I guess I'm lucky I got it so young, I won't have a chance to carry on the bloodline. It's for the best, really."

"There's always a loophole to curses," Peter reasoned as if real-life curses were something that happened often in this day and age. Spoiler alert, they weren't. They were pretty much going into this blind considering her dad refused to tell her any details about the curse and her mom was six feet under. So, they did not have enough information to even try and act like they knew what they were talking about.

"Who taught you that?" Lyra scoffed, pulling her legs closer to her in a position that made her feel safe, "Sleeping Beauty?"

Peter shrugged, his face saddened as he spoke, "Well, something tells me this one can't exactly be solved with true love's kiss."

"Yeah, no," Lyra spoke pointedly, "We can talk to my grandma, that'll get us started. Right?"

The boy nodded, finally looking at her, "Yeah, right. Gotta start somewhere, right? Hey, what's that?"

Confused, she furrowed her brow as she asked, "What's what?"

The boy reached out to where he had gotten a glace at her forearm. She had it covered initially with her sweatshirt, but as she got overheated she had rolled up her sleeves. He reached out and grabbed her wrist gently -- almost as if he was afraid to hurt her. Rubbing his thumb over the scar, she realized what he was talking about. The scar had turned black and looked like it was starting to spread. A small shadow seemed to surround it, like water spilled on fresh ink.

"Shit, it's already spreading? It's been like... three days," Lyra's voice became frantic as she realized what this meant. It only got worse from here, she didn't have to know much about this curse to know that. "Fuck, Peter. Fuck."

"Hey, hey," the boy's voice was gentle as he turned to face her, his knees against the cold metal of the fire escape as he pulled the girl into a hug. It was odd, to be held. Lyra couldn't remember the last time someone had just... hugged her. It was nice. After the coldness from her father and her friends acting completely normal since they had no idea what was happening, she needed this. Even then, it was a dangerous thing to be understood and Lyra had to keep that in mind.

"I'm not ready to die," Lyra spoke, her voice so soft it almost couldn't be heard above the ambiance of the city below. "I'm terrified, Peter."

He nodded, his eyes meeting hers with a sadness she knew mirrored hers. Peter pulled away from her, but his touch was still warm on her wrist as his hands rested holding her arms. "I know, but you're not going to die. Not if I have anything to do with it."

"You can't promise that Peter, and you know that."

"I don't care," the boy deflected, "I told you we were gonna find a way to break this curse so we will. Do you trust me?"

She didn't know why considering they had barely spoken to each other in their few years at Midtown, but she did. She did trust Peter because no one had ever looked at her like that when it came to her curse. Even her own father had given up on her already.

After a painstaking moment of silence, she nodded, "I do. I trust you."

"Then we'll make this work."

i love peter he's such a sweetie anyway now that I'm done with my UH duology, I'll be able to focus on this story more woo!!