"But take it easy on me baby
I know that I crossed the line
I'm hard to please, but baby
Real love is so hard sometimes
Yeah, I'm sensitive, I'm sensing' that you're bothered.
I can feel the energy shift in your apartment."
~ H.E.R

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

"You're gonna make enemies.
People will get hurt.
So I want you to promise me
something, okay?
Leave Mila out of it.
Promise me that."

Peter paces around outside the restaurant he should've met Mila in about twenty minutes ago muttering to himself, "What are you doing?"

He groans looking at her laugh with her family and friends then shakes his head looking away.

Mila laughs as Phil and Flash talk about their crazy fan who showed up to the last basketball game with a cutout of them both.

"She asked us to sign them! I was like uh yeah sure I guess."

Blair rolls her eyes, "She's living every girls dream I guess."

Cora and Mila giggle as they watch their jealous friend. Blair snaps her head over to them glaring.

"Don't say a word."

Mila holds up her hands in surrender, "Wasn't planning on it."

"Hey honey?"

Snapping her head over beside her, Mila looks at her mom and smiles, "Yes?"

Helen smiles back at her glowing daughter, "Is Peter still coming? The waitress should be back to take our order in a minute."

Mila frowns picking up her phone.

No messages.

No calls.

She puts on a fake smile and shrugs, "He's probably just running late. No big deal."

Helen nods and turns back to Simon and Howard. Gwen hearing the conversation looks at Mila with a questioning stare.

Mila shrugs dropping her smile.

Something catches Gwen's eyes as she looks beside Mila towards the door of the restaurant. Gwen then smiles softly and points to the front.

Mila gasps softly looking over, seeing Peter look inside then frown and move out of sight. Mila's heart sinks as she instantly can tell that something was wrong with her boyfriend. She wondered what happened and hoped it wasn't anything too serious.

"Hey Peter's outside. I'm gonna go see if he's okay." Mila whispers to her mom.

Helen nods watching Mila hurry out the door.

As soon as Peter made eye contact with Mila, he knew he was screwed.

He paces back and forth by an alley while running his hands down his face muttering, "What are you doing? What are you?"

"Peter." Mila steps out the restaurant throwing her jacket on. She gives him a weary look while bringing her hand to his face. She lightly rubs his cheek with her thumb as he closes his eyes and leans into her palm.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

Peter shakes his head bringing his hand up to hold hers as her other hand grazes the other side of his face.

She looks into his frantic eyes and frowns, "Are you all right?"

Peter sighs, "Ror... I-I don't know what I'm doing."

Mila's heart completely drops.

This again.

She wasn't prepared for this.

Her hands drop to her side and her face completely falls making Peter immediately hate himself.

"It's my father, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

It was like a bullet was shot into her heart. Mila felt the pain already and he hadn't even said those words yet.

Peter's eyes flicker looking around, "I see him everywhere I go. I can't... I don't know... I-I don't know what to do. And I can't get him out of my head."

"Yeah, but we've talked about this-"

"I know, but, Ror..."

Mila's eyes fill with tears as she pouts trying not to let any fall, "It's not his choice-"

Peter sniffles shaking his head, "Mila... I promised him that I would keep away from you."

Peter frowns as he sees Mila flinch slightly. He looks into the window that reflected all their friends and Mila's family.

"I promised to stay away... And now I'm gonna come and eat dinner with your family. He's not here and I am. I'm just going to sit in front of your mother and act like I'm not the reason why her husband is dead."

"You're not, Peter. It's his job. He knew the consequences and he was okay with that. He died for a good reason. He helped save the city. And i-it's not the first time you'll be sitting with my family-"

Peter throws his head back in frustration while running his hands down his face. He walks over to a dark spot in the alley way and shakes his head, "Mila... How can I do this? What does this make me?"

Mila bites the inside of her cheek staring at Peter as she steps in front of him, "I don't know, what does that make you?"

"It makes me not able to live with myself."

Mila leans against the brick wall looking ahead as she stands beside Peter. Both of them trying to figure out what to say next. Neither looking at one another.

Shoulder to shoulder.

In silence.

"I don't know what I'm doing..."

Mila sighs as she feels Peter look over at her. She frowns, "Peter please don't..."

"Mila I can't..."

A tear slides down Mila's cheek as she looks over at Peter, "I thought you loved me."

As Mila goes to leave, Peter grabs her arm lightly and pushes her against the brick wall, leaning down so their foreheads were touching.

"I do, I do..."

"Then why isn't that enough?"

"Because what if something happens to you just like it happened to him because of me?"

Mila moves out of his arms and wipes away the tear from her cheek, "Okay."

"No, wait, wait-"

"Listen..."

"No wait." Peter stands with his back on the wall as Mila stands in front of him, hands in her jacket as she wears a blank face.

"I cannot let that happen."

"Listen to me. You're Spider-Man... and I love that. But I love Peter Parker more. That's worth it to me. If it's not worth it to yo-"

Peter shakes his head with tears in his eyes, "Ror I-I can't lose you too."

"If because you can't lose me, we can't be together, who does that work out for, Peter?"

"I-I'm sorry, Mila..."

Mila chuckles painfully while nodding slowly, "Wow... You have done this to me
again and again, Peter. I can't live like this. You break up with me then everything is okay a few hours later or a day later or a week later... You can't do this again... so you know what? I break up with you, Peter.
I break up with you. You've done a lot of things to me, that made me feel like you broke my heart. But this by far... hurts the worst. I told you we can work through this. We can get help and figure this out... You won't even try..."

"Ror-"

"Please don't call me that."

Peter nods letting out a painful sigh, "I'm trying to save you."

"I'm not in danger Peter."

"I don't want you to ever be."

Mila nods looking away from him, "Okay."

She doesn't say anything else and doesn't give him one more glance as she turns around and walks back into the restaurant.

Peter let's out a huge breath as tears fall down his face watching her go. He walks over to the restaurant window and sees Mila walk to the back with Gwen, Blair, and Cora on her heels. Shaking his head, he walks off into the night as Mila stands in the bathroom stall sobbing while her friends and sister try to figure out what was wrong.

...

(Play Hard to Love Song)
~ A Week Later ~

Peter sits on his bed, elbows on his knees as he stares across the room at a picture of Mila on his wall. He doesn't even flinch as the doorbell rings.

"Hi sweetheart..."

"He's upstairs."

Peter hears Aunt May reply but he doesn't wonder who it was she was talking to. He could sense her a mile away. He knew her smell. He felt her presence.

KNOCK KNOCK

The door swings open as Mila steps into the room. Peter's eyes look her up and down as he stares at the black hoodie she was wearing and black jeans.

Her attire was black. And her aura screamed darkness. But of course he was the one who did this to her.

"What are you doing here?"

Mila shrugs with a blank stare, "Bringing you your stuff back"

"Mila..."

"Don't... please just don't. Not now. I broke up with you. I need to do this in order for me to be okay. Do you not understand that? I can't keep going through this... it's a carousel of breaking my heart. I know you don't mean to but you do. And I can't deal with that anymore. I need space... From our relationship, our friendship. From you. So here..."

Peter takes the box from her as he tries not to say anything else that would cause them both to breakdown. He sees a shoe box on the top and frowns.

"Mila I don't think this is mine."

Mila shakes her head, "No keep it. I don't want it. I don't need it. I have no use for it... maybe it'll help you figure things out."

Peter's jaw clenches as he nods. Mila takes in a deep breath and looks over at his wall. A tear slides down her cheek making her quickly wipe it away. Peter frowns as he places the box on his bed and stands awkwardly with his hands in his pockets.

Mila turns to walk away but freezes then lets out a curse. Quickly turning around she runs into Peter's already open arms.

Squeezing him tightly hoping to remember this feeling, Mila closes her eyes as she feels him rubbing his hand down her back. Peter leans down and kisses the top of Mila's head one last time. After one more second, Mila finally pulls away and takes two steps back.

"Okay..."

"So this is it?" Peter asks

"It?"

"This is everything? In the box?"

Mila looks down at her shoes and nods, "Mhmm."

...

Later that night, Peter sits in his empty room holding the shoebox that Mila had left for him. Meanwhile across town, Mila sits on her bed looking through pictures of herself and Peter as she wears his favorite flannel.

She couldn't bare to give it back. Her heart couldn't take it. This was the hardest thing to go through.

'Dear mom,

I miss you.'

Peter frowns looking at the letter in his hand. Glancing down at the other papers in the shoebox Peter realizes that all of these were to Mila's deceased mother.

'Hey mom.

I know you had a duty... a responsibility... but I can't help but be upset that you forgot that you also had a child. A loved one. Did you remember? Did you care? Did you only think about the city?'

'I'm sorry for what I said in the last letter. I just... I really miss you mom. And I understand. I'm not mad anymore. Sometimes you have to do tough things and be put in tough situations... that's life. I don't blame anyone. I don't blame you. I used to blame George... but after seeing what he was going through after losing you, I knew that he felt the same way I did... like I was missing a part of me. But I'm okay now. I understand you lose people in life and that's okay now. I can't wait to see you again mom.'

Peter sniffles as a tear runs down his face. Shaking his head, he looks over at a picture of him and Mila.

Holding a photo that showed herself and Peter, Mila can't help but think back to the day that was revealed.

~Flashback~

"Parker would you hurry up?"

"Don't rush me woman."

Mila giggles rolling her eyes. Throwing a scarf around her neck, Mila stares at herself in the mirror then jumps as arms wrap around her waist.

"Peter!"

"Sorry pretty girl. Well don't you look beautiful."

Mila blushes as Peter grins down at her.

"Ready to go pretty girl?"

Nodding, Mila grabs Peters hand and the two make their way downstairs and out the house. After a little walk, the two finally find themselves in their desired destination.

"Peter meet my mom..." Mila bends down to kiss the headstone that sat in front of them, "Hi mommy."

Peter smiles longingly at Mila before looking at Mila's mother's headstone, "Hi Mrs Williams. It's nice to finally meet you. You've got a beautiful insanely intelligent daughter here. She's gonna do big things. I'll try my best to make sure she exceeds in everything she does. Keep her safe... happy."

Mila looks up at Peter and grins before holding out a hand to him. Peter takes her hand as she pulls him closer to her. He wraps his arm over her shoulder as she wraps hers around his waist.

"Mom this is Peter. Yes that Peter..."

Peter chuckles kissing her cheek as she blushes.

The two spend half an hour sitting with Mila's mother, just telling stories and basking in the joyful ambience. Peter helps Mila up off the ground before looking around the cemetery.

"Hey you wanna see your dad, Mr Stacey?"

Mila freezes and side glances at him before shaking her head, "No I'm okay."

Peter frowns, "Wait why? You not ready yet?"

Mila chuckles lowly and humorlessly as she tries not to make eye contact with him, "No I am. I just don't think you are."

~Flashback over~

'I don't think he's going to get over this anytime soon. I think losing George has terrified him. Made him think that he is going to lose me. I'm scared to think what he'll do when he can no longer hide the fact that he's not okay... that he doesn't see my dad when he looks at me. I know he can. I can see it in his eyes. I can see the pain. The disappointment. He thinks he's to blame. I just wish he would see that he's not at fault... I know it took me a while but for some reason I just feel the worst about this whole situation...'

Peter gulps as he picks up the last letter in the box. It looked freshly written. And had tear stains all over it.

'You both did your best. You tried. He tried. You were both there for me when I was in trouble. You're both my heroes... I love him, dad. And I love you. And I miss you daddy. But I'm okay now. You can rest now. I hope that Peter can soon too.'

Is your heartbroken? 🙃 so is mine!!! 😭

I cried writing this. It hurts.

What would you have done if you were Peter? Stay away from the person you love knowing you're a danger to them or try to work through it?

Do you think it was right for George to ask of the promise to Peter in his last words?

Future predictions?

Any special requests...