dauntless parties - peter hayes
hi!! here’s another peter hayes fic, which i’ve decided to post in full on tumblr instead of just linking to my ao3. also i’d like to remind everyone that i’m still taking requests!
Word Count: 3,324
Pairing: Peter Hayes x Reader
Description: Peter always comes to you when he’s hurt, tonight is no different. No War AU
Warnings: Very brief sexual references, blood, injury, mention of alcohol.
Music echoed throughout the infirmary, the only sign of the Dauntless party happening a level below, the one you were so unceremoniously disinvited to when you’d been called to work the night shift. It seemed to be taunting you, and as the hour grew darker, and the fluorescent lighting grew stronger, you could feel your own annoyance grow
You supposed you wouldn’t care much if you had any company, but all the beds were empty— Dauntless would rather die than miss a party, apparently— and the other nurses saw no reason to stay when you could clearly hold down the fort on your own. It was just typical, really, for them to do this. What kind of a job was a nurse for a Dauntless, anyways? Someone had to do it, but why you? Of course, you knew the answer; they couldn’t think of a better place to put an Abnegation transfer.
The thought made you groan, throwing down the book you’d been flipping through aimlessly. If they weren’t going to respect you, why should you respect them? There weren't even any patients there, there hardly ever were; no self-respecting Dauntless would be found in the infirmary unless they absolutely needed to be there, and, to their credit, they rarely did.
Besides, tonight was a party, the only people getting hurt were idiots. Idiots who probably didn’t even deserve your attention. Idiots who—
Banging at the door interrupted your internal rant, but before you could even see who was there, Peter came stumbling in, and suddenly you understood the purpose of you being here tonight. Idiots like him, of course.
You could tell the extent of his injuries from the way he smiled at you, goofier than Peter had ever mustered before, or had ever wanted to. Still, he wore that same smug look he always had, and seeing him so bold in such a vulnerable state left you with the urge to roll your eyes. Unfortunately, telling him off would have to wait, overwhelmed by your need to help him— whether that comes from your Abnegation roots or your medical training, you don’t know, but you can’t be bothered to think too deeply about it, especially now— and you find yourself rushing towards him to take a better look at the damage.
“I think I just need some rest,” He says, leaning heavily against the wall as if he intends to fall asleep where he stood.
“You need stitches,” You correct him, ignoring the way he winces as you poke at the gash above his eyebrow. “How did you even get that?”
“Fist fight turned into a knife fight,” Peter groans, allowing you to lead him to one of the beds. He sits on the edge, clutching his side. “Who brings a knife to a party?”
“You do,” You say with an amused sniff. You know fully well Peter is only playing dumb with you because he wants your sympathy, and because he doesn’t want to admit to losing a fight he probably initiated himself. If you knew him, which you did, the other guy was fairly cut up as well, but no one had as good a reason to make a trip to the infirmary than the boy in front of you.
“Just lay down,” You sigh, and he listens, though his pained expression shows it’s not with much ease. You begin to rummage through the cabinet for the supplies you need, watching him from the corner of your eye. It’s been such a long time since you first saw him this way, but the memory feels fresh.
You’d been in initiation together, fought each other even, though fighting you rarely seemed to earn him more than a scratch. Looking back, you figured that had been a good thing. You passed initiation, but not by much, and that kept you off Peter’s radar for the most part.
It had been a fight with Edward that left you caring for him that first time. He had too much pride to go to the actual infirmary, and so you found him tending to his own wounds in the bathroom, late at night.
“Tell anyone about this, and you’ll be dead,” He had said as you wrapped a bandage around his bruised knuckles. His words were so cold that even the memory of them made you shiver.
You knew you shouldn’t have helped him, but you really shouldn’t have continued to do so after Edward lost his eye just a few days later. Peter made no attempt to hide this side of himself from you, but still, it became a habit for you to tend to his injuries, to take care of him. It happened again and again, until his threats disappeared and were replaced with words you could almost call compliments. Even after initiation, he came to you for help. Soon, you realized he would only come to you. Something in you warmed at the thought.
You weren’t sure if you hated the way he made you feel, but you were sure you wanted to. Your wants, however, seemed futile in the wake of his presence, like your caring for him was a tsunami washing over you, swallowing you up.
Even now, as you return to him, he looks at you with his big, doe eyes, and you want nothing more than to punch him. You’re sure he knows what he’s doing (when doesn’t he?) but you don’t say a word.
You unscrew the lid to a bottle of pills the Erudite makes especially for Dauntless fighters, some magic cure-all that your father would probably claim kills brain cells. You hand feed a couple to Peter, to which he has no protest, and you can imagine the looks you’d get if you weren’t alone. The thought makes you laugh to yourself.
“What’s so funny?” He asks, blinking up at you through a swollen eye.
“Just you,” You say as you return the pills to their place in the cabinet and lock it. With a second glance at Peter, you realize the Erudite science has proved you useless again, and sigh as you put the needle and thread back too, opting for a bandage instead.
“I thought I was your favorite patient?” Peter asks, giving you his best puppy-dog eyes, but you only scoff.
“Maybe if you got hurt less than twice a week,” You say as you begin to apply ointment to the cut above his eyebrow. He sucks in a breath through his teeth, but doesn’t complain. If you had any less willpower, you might’ve apologized.
“So,” He says, his need to be a nuisance greater than any pain that could be inflicted on him, “What I’m hearing is you hate to see me hurt.”
“You always hear what you want to, don’t you? I hate to see anyone hurt,” You make sure to apply his bandage with a little more pressure than necessary. “It makes my job harder.”
“So cynical,” he tuts, shaking his head. “Have you ever heard of proper bedside manner?”
“Dauntless doesn’t care much about the patient's health, Peter,” You tell him, and he smiles. Of course, it’s that cruelty that made him so fit for Dauntless in the first place.
“Then how come you’re always so sweet to me?” He says sarcastically, and you frown, glaring at him. “When you’re not jabbing at me with a needle or wrapping my bandages too tight, that is.”
“Any jabbing or lack of blood flow is for your own good,” You say, though it’s a struggle not to laugh as you think of the times you’ve had to give him stitches, and how he’d look at the needle like it was a grenade. You were sure he’d rather be looking down the barrel of a gun.
“So you do care?” Peter grins so wide it looks like it must hurt.
“Only as much as I’m required to,” You stand up, making a move away from his side, but before you can take even a step further, he grabs your hand.
“Sit with me a while longer,” He says, pulling you back to where you were. You listen, as if you could even try and will yourself away, and you can tell by the cheeky look on his face that he takes some kind of pride in this.
The build between you had been so slow, you’re not sure either of you could pinpoint when you became aware of his hold on you. It seemed likely he’d known for far longer than you, maybe even since that first night on the bathroom floor. Peter was manipulative, he was cruel, you knew it as well as anyone else, it was completely reasonable to assume he’d been exploiting this little crush you had on him. The thought made you feel sick.
“Are you alright?” He asks, and though you can tell he’s trying to be nice, he still looks at you as if you’ve swallowed a bug. Maybe it’s a symptom of his injured state, or maybe it’s the years of fake niceties catching up with him. Either seems entirely possible.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” You say, looking around the room for an excuse to leave his side, though his hand is still clasped firmly over yours, as if he can read your mind. “Maybe you should eat, any alcohol in your system will delay the healing process and food could—”
“I didn’t drink,” Peter interrupts you, and you eye him suspiciously. “Seriously! I don’t trust my drunk self at a Dauntless party, not after what happened last time.”
“I wouldn’t either,” You say, though you’re secretly glad for that reassurance. The few times you had seen Peter drunk made you cringe now, especially the times he found it appropriate to drape an arm around you, whispering incomprehensible innuendos in your ear as you smiled awkwardly at curious passersby and hoped none of your friends found you. Apparently he thought it was amusing to humiliate you, despite all you’d done for him, but you couldn’t be mad at him when any scolding you tried just left him grinning like an idiot. “You’re impossibly annoying when you’re drunk.”
“Really? I thought you liked me hanging off of you,” He sighs, as if disappointed. “Besides, you’re not much better.”
“What?” You ask, the shock so clear in your voice that he laughs.
“You don’t remember?” Peter looks at you with a smirk. “I guess I’m not surprised, you were pretty out of it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“That party just a couple weeks ago, when the power went out?” You know what he’s talking about, or at least, you heard about it.
“I thought Christina took me home,” You say, though now that you thought about it, the night was too blurry for you to confirm that with yourself.
“Maybe,” he shrugs, “But you’d been dancing with me all night, and when I got back to my place, you were there waiting outside my door.”
“Oh god, we didn’t—?”
“No, no. I told you, I swore off drinking at parties months ago,” Peter shakes his head, and you breathe a sigh of relief. “I just took you home, stayed with you most of the night.”
“Really?” You ask, finding it hard to believe he’d ever do something like that.
“Well, it was free entertainment,” He says with that wicked look in his eye. “You tried to flirt with me for at least a couple hours. I didn’t know you were so persistent.”
You feel yourself go bright red, not able to imagine the things you must’ve said. You’re about to apologize when he stops you.
“I imagine I’m worse though,” He laughs, “With the way you look and all.”
You’re a bit taken aback by that, but he seems unfazed, as if what he’s said is completely normal. He looks at you the way he’s always looked at you, but his words still make your heart beat a little faster, no matter how casual he seems.
“It was nice, though, when you danced with me. It seems like you’re always avoiding me,” He says after we’ve been quiet for a moment. He doesn’t seem sad, or even angry, more just curious, or maybe amused. Like he’s satisfied with his reputation. “Is it because of your friends? Or because of me?”
“You’re not exactly nice to them.” Or me, You consider adding, but don’t.
“Why should I be nice to them?” Peter laughs as if the idea is ridiculous. “I don’t like them.”
“Oh please, you don’t like anyone,” The words taste bad in your mouth, but you know they’re true, and you rip your hand out of his grasp. This is his greatest talent, of course, getting people riled up. He seems to relish in it. “Not even your lackeys.”
“They’re idiots,” Peter says dismissively, and you can’t help but feel wounded. If he thinks of the people he calls friends as idiots, what could he possibly think of you? You must seem like a total pushover to him, and though you hate to care about his opinion, the thought hurts you deep in your core. You feel as if your stomach might turn inside out.
But before you can worry yourself to death, he says, “You're wrong, though.”
You lift your eyebrows and fold your arms across your chest, urging him to go on, but too afraid to open your mouth out of fear of what you might say. You don’t want to stoop to his level.
“I do like some people,” You watch intently as Peter places a hand on your thigh, much more innocently than you thought he was capable of. “I like you.”
When you open your mouth to speak, it’s as if your tongue has been cut out. Your mind is screaming at you to say something, anything, but you simply cannot. This feels as if it goes on for hours before Peter looks at you with the most obnoxious grin, and suddenly, your voice returns, as if your very being simply couldn’t allow him this win.
“Wipe that smug look off your face,” You snap, but he only laughs. “I’m serious.”
“I bet you are,” he says, and though you’d never take this from anyone else, you find yourself only minorly annoyed by Peter, again. Really, if he was anyone else, you probably would’ve killed him by now.
“I should’ve gone to that damn party,” You think back to your inconsiderate coworkers with a glare at the door. “Maybe you wouldn’t have ended up here.”
“I think I would’ve ended up in your apartment instead,” He says, almost wistfully. “Though, it’s not too late for any of that.”
With a glance to the clock on the wall, you see he’s right. It’s not even one yet.
The look he gives you, like always, leaves you wanting nothing more than to even have a clue as to what he’s thinking. At least now, you have a better guess.
“How about this,” Peter starts, a mischievous glint in his eye that leaves you more excited than it should. “I don’t tell your superiors you left your post, and you give me one dance.”
“Nothing explicit,” You add, and he rolls his eyes.
“Fine,” He says, “But you might not be able to resist.”
You groan in disgust, but as he stands you take his hand and allow him to lead you out of the infirmary.
—
It’s almost funny, the way you walk in together, with your arm looped around his. What’s even more odd is that Peter was the one to insist upon it, but you see its deeper purpose in the looks you receive. You can tell from the skip in his step that he loves the attention.
Despite the fact that you’re completely sober, something comparable to the effects of alcohol had seemed to wash over you in the time it took to walk from the infirmary to the Pit. The worries that have plagued you for months now don’t even cross your mind; the betrayal you took part in every time you helped Peter, your Abnegation background haunting you even past initiation, not even the unexplainable affection you felt towards the boy next to you could weigh on your thoughts now. The music is too loud, the lights are too strong, and Peter is standing too close.
“Peter, what are you doing back here?” An angry voice calls from behind Peter, and, in just a moment, you’re whipped around along with him, face to face with Tris. She looks angry, to say the least, but with Peter’s presence that’s a given. When she sees you, though, her expression becomes unreadable.
“I got fixed up,” He says, gesturing to you, a wide grin spread over his face. You realize Tris is injured too, though far less than Peter is, and it becomes apparent she’s the one he’d fought with. “Figured I better come back with a date, too.”
“I thought you were working tonight,” Tris says, completely ignoring Peter.
“I was,” You admit, “But I couldn’t let him back out here unsupervised.”
“We always end up together at the end of the night anyways,” Peter says, prompting you to jab your elbow into his side.
Tris eyes you up and down, staring at you as if Peter isn’t even there. At first, you worry she’s giving you some kind of death glare, but you quickly realize she’s deciding whether or not to leave you with Peter.
“We’ll see you later, Tris,” You say finally, not giving her any time to reply before you’ve tugged
Peter away from her. A second longer and they might’ve been at it again, and you aren’t gonna end the night without the dance you’d promised Peter.
“So eager,” He says, whisper-shouting in your ear once you’ve read the center of the crowd. All around you are people dancing. or fighting. though some of it is hard to tell apart.
You roll your eyes at him, but don’t make any protest when he pulls you in close. You take cues from the rest of the crowd when it comes to dancing, your heartbeat too loud in your ears to be able to properly hear the music.
This isn’t the soft, romantic dancing you’d heard of Amity couples doing, Dauntless would never allow a slow enough song for that, but you wouldn’t have it any other way, and you can tell Peter feels the same. He keeps you pressed to him so tightly you’re afraid you might melt into one person. You’d expect the sweat between the two of you to make you at least a little bit uncomfortable, but instead it has you excited, so completely aware of every sense despite the fact that all of them are being overwhelmed.
At some point, you find yourselves in the center of a very rowdy group. It doesn’t bother you, really, but you can tell from the scowl on his face that you’re a few seconds away from losing his attention completely.
You place your hand under his chin and turn his head so his eyes are back on you. His gaze softens, though not in the same way it does for strangers and unsuspecting victims. You’re almost sure you’ve got that difference down now, or at least you’d like to think that you would after all the time you’ve spent with him.
“We should get out of here,” Peter says, though you have to read his lips a little to understand him.
“I think you’re right,” You agree, allowing him to tug you away from the Pit entirely.
You suppose you don’t realize where he’s leading you until you’re at his door, but another part of you was sure where the two of you were headed. Either way, you know you aren’t mad about it.
You are, however, surprised when he holds open the door for you.
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Alternate pt.3
Warnings: mentions Jason's creepy encounter, mentions him literally being a murderer,
This is a really short chapter, the next chapter will be far more eventful than this one.
Series Masterlist
~☆~
You decided not to bring up what happened the night before, how when you stepped into your room, Jason Todd was waiting for you. It was creepy. The way he knew who you were, where to find you... playing with your hair? It was all weird.
Apparently. It didn't go unnoticed by those around you. Tim, who you sat next to at breakfast, had leaned over into your ear to ask if you were alright. You snapped out of your trance and gave him a big smile, telling him you were fine.
After breakfast, you rushed to Bruce, hoping to get some answers from him. He was going down to the batcave and gladly let you join.
"So, I have some questions." You told him, looking down at your feet as you walked.
"Ask away." He smiled, trying to ease your uncomfortable feelings out.
"Is Jason a psycho in this universe?" You asked, finally looking up at him. "Or is he normal, well as normal as he can be as a killer?"
Bruce was taken aback. Why were you asking about Jason? His son that he hasn't talked to in months.
"I would say he's normal, er, minus being a killer." He replied. "Why?"
You thought about if you should tell the truth or not. On one hand, Bruce had offered to keep you safe, yet the Red Hood had crawled through your window without you knowing it.
"He was in my room last night." You whispered, looking away from Bruce.
"What?" The older man stopped in his tracks, staring at you.
"Yeah, he was in there, and he knew who I was." You informed, eyebrows furrowing from anxiousness. Bruce started walking again, only this time he was going in a different direction. You ran to catch up with him, wondering what was going on. He had told you to stay in the dining room and to sit down in the chair you've sat in for the past two days. One by one, you watched as all of the residents in Wayne Manor huddled into the dining room, even Alfred. Bruce had come back moments later, an annoyed Damian at his side.
"What's wrong, Father?" Damian asked, sitting down in a chair.
"Yeah Bruce, what's wrong?" Dick was now questioning.
Bruce pinched the top of his nose and let out a sigh, "Who here has talked to Jason?" He demanded. Everyone looked around and shook their heads.
"Shit." Was all Bruce said before rushing out of the room.
"What was that about?" Stephanie asked, already looking at you.
"Why are you looking at me?" You questioned, and now everyone was looking at you. You let out a sigh before answering. "He was in my room last night...and he knew my name."
A collective "WHAT?!" was yelled.
"I don't know guys, okay?"
"He hasn't talked to anyone here in months." Dick informed, looking around at his family then at you.
"How does he know, Is the question." Rachel spoke, lightly chewing at her thumb. "Is there anyone you know that he could get this information from?"
"He's a crime lord and knows a ton of heroes and villains." You sighed, "How should I know?"
"Perhaps he's going over Bruce's calls again." Tim whispered, "he's done it before."
"Father hasn't said a thing to anyone." Damian finally spoke.
"He called me." Dick told his younger brother. "I mean, it's no big deal." He nervously laughed. "He won't do anything."
Everyone in the room turned to look at Alfred, "Have Jason and Bruce fought?" Stephanie asked the older man.
"Not to my knowledge." Alfred said.
"Then you have nothing to worry about." Dick smiled at you as he slapped a hand onto your shoulder.
"He's been listening to my calls again!"
~☆~
Taglist: @burningkidanchor
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