Work Text:
Peter unlocked his apartment door and walked inside. He closed the door behind him and carried the grocery bags into the kitchen.
“Rose, I’m back,” he called into the apartment.
Usually, Rose would greet him at the door. It was only getting mildly easier to be separated for a few hours at a time. And that was only when Peter knew where Rose would be and when she was expected back. When Peter was the one that had to leave, it was a bit easier on his nerves if Rose was staying at home the entire time. Though by the way Rose was always right on the other side of the door when he got back, he imagined it was just as difficult for Rose to be apart.
Peter stopped unbagging the groceries and listened for a moment. There was no noise in the apartment.
“Rose,” Peter called out again. He walked quickly down the hall and peered into the spare room. Nothing. He opened the bathroom door. Empty. Peter tried to keep his nerves under control as he opened the bedroom door. He sighed in relief when he noticed a Rose sized lump under the covers. “Rose,” Peter whispered. He didn’t want to wake her if she was sleeping but the blinds were wide open and Rose wasn’t one for napping in the middle of the day.
He walked into the room and sat on the bed. “Hey, you alright?” Peter asked, concerned.
“Fine,” Rose mumbled.
“What are you doing?”
There was a beat of silence. “Hiding.”
Peter lifted an eyebrow. Rose wasn’t one for hiding. Not from blood thirsty assassins out to get her or from the occasional spider in the apartment. This was a whole new side to Rose that Peter hadn’t seen before.
“Why are you hiding?”
Another small pause. “I did something stupid.”
Peter furrowed his brow, thoroughly confused. “Rose, come on.” Peter tried to pull back the covers but Rose yanked them down before he made much progress. “Rose-” Peter was more surprised than anything. Rose was acting almost...childish. He’d find it more funny if he wasn’t worried that there was something actually wrong with her. “So you did something stupid,” Peter tried to reason. “I do stupid stuff all the time.”
“I know,” Rose was quick to point out. Now there was more of the Rose he knew.
“And you-” Peter snapped his mouth shut. He was about to say that Rose loved him despite the stupid things he occasionally did. They hadn’t said the L word yet. Most of the time Peter felt like they didn’t have to actually say it out loud. They knew they were there for each other, always.
Peter shook his head, a topic for a different time. “Come on, it’s me. You know the stupid thing won’t matter to me. What did you do?” Peter gave it a second to see if he had convinced her. “Did you…hit someone?”
The lump that was Rose turned towards him. “No!”
“You have priors,” Peter pointed out.
“Do you really want to have the background check discussion again?”
“I was reviewing the case study, it was there! I- alright, alright, fine. So it doesn’t involve violence. Then what?” Peter tried to think. He’d only been gone four hours. Rose had texted him that she was going to take a quick trip to the mall. She’d come back an hour ago. There was only so much opportunity for Rose to fuck up in that window of time. Though maybe he shouldn’t underestimate her.
“Did you…max out a credit card?” The lump on the bed moved in what Peter assumed was a shake of her head. “Did you get a tattoo? Something pierced? Dyed your hair?” The lump on the bed stayed oddly still at the last option. Bingo. “You dyed your hair? Let me see.”
Peter shifted on the bed, tugging at the covers again. Peter was already imagining what Rose looked like with her new hair do. Did she go blonde? Red? Something more out there, like pink? Peter shook Rose’s shoulder just to be shrugged off.
“No, I look stupid.”
“I’m sure you don’t,” Peter said. He started bouncing up and down on the bed, poking at Rose’s side. “Come on. I want to see.” It did something to him to know Rose looked different now and Peter didn’t know. He was also dying to reassure her that she looked just as beautiful now as she had before. Because Rose was beautiful, no matter what she changed on herself.
“Oh my god, you’re like an eager puppy,” Rose groaned, swatting at his hand.
Peter let the comparison go since Rose was turning over on the bed and finally flung the covers down to her waist.
Peter tilted his head. Her hair color was exactly the same, if shaded a bit brown with the sunlight. He stared for a few more moments, trying to find the change. He glanced at her face and bare arms, thinking maybe he’d guessed it wrong.
Rose sighed and sat up in bed. That’s when Peter saw it. Instead of Rose’s hair falling evenly to her shoulders, there were bangs that framed her face. Rose nervously ran her fingers through her hair, making the bangs more apparent. She had the most adorable angry pout on her face and her head was tilted down, avoiding eye contact. Peter reached up to hold her chin and have her meet his eyes. Peter’s heart clenched when he could finally see her. The bangs softened her face and the afternoon sun made her look like she was glowing.
Rose sunk back on the bed and started yanking the covers. “I look stupid,” she groaned. Peter caught the covers before Rose could fully cover her face.
“Wait, no,” Peter argued. Rose tried to wriggle out of his grasp but Peter got on the bed and straddled her hips for leverage. He pinned down both her arms to the bed. Rose glared up at him. “You look beautiful.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Fuck off,” she grumbled.
“I’m serious. You look great. You could come home bald and I’d still think you looked beautiful.”
Rose furrowed her brows. “Is that supposed to be a compliment? Of course I wouldn’t look good bald. That just proves that your opinion can’t be trusted.”
“Seriously?” Peter groaned. “Rose, you look beautiful.” He released one of her hands and cupped her cheek. “You just need to give it more than an hour to adjust to the new look.”
Rose kept glaring at him for another few seconds before relenting. “Yeah, alright.” Peter smiled. Mission accomplished.
“You know I’m never gonna let you live this down, right?” Peter teased.
“Fuck. Off,” Rose repeated, shoving him to the side of the bed.
Peter laughed as he went down. He lifted his head to watch Rose messing with her hair in the mirror. She caught him looking in the reflection and stuck her tongue out at him. Peter howled with laughter. He loved her.
Peter jumped off the bed and went up to Rose. He threw an arm over her shoulder and guided her out of the room, away from the mirrors. “You look great,” he said again. He kissed the top of her head to emphasize his point.
“Thanks,” Rose mumbled. She looked up and smiled at him.
They unpacked the groceries Peter had left forgotten, throwing jabs and teasing each other. Peter’s face nearly hurt from so much smiling and laughing. He couldn’t wait to continue spending his days with Rose and learning more and more about her.