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eviesaurusrex · 2 years

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ꜱᴇᴄʀᴇᴛꜱ ʙᴇʜɪɴᴅ ꜱᴍɪʟᴇꜱ, ᴘᴛ. 1 | ꜱ. ꜱᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇ

GIF not mine!

Stephen Strange x Avenger!Reader

ask: Could you write a Stephen Strange x reader one shot (or longer if you feel it haha) where the reader is an avenger and she’s secretly dating Stephen? Like they’re sneaking around and staying at each other’s places (sanctum and tower/compound) and use portals in the mornings to get back where they’re supposed to be. Maybe a close call where Stephen literally kicks her off the bed and into a portal back to her own bed to avoid getting caught. Then later they’re found out somehow by tony/the team?

word count: 5.2k (and that's only part one, ooooooops)

warnings: fluff and more fluff, cursing, sneaking around the team, lying, one suggestive and kinda steamy (but short) scene

author’s note: I’m so excited about this ask! This will get a part 2 because I couldn’t contain myself, and I had to write this out with all the background stuff. I really hope you like how it went so far @clockblobber!

»pt. 2 is here«

Tiredness was settled deep within her bones, and every single muscle inside her body ached at the sheer thought of moving again. But YN felt the soft rumbling of the Quinjet’s engines increasing while the autopilot initiated the landing sequence to softly touch the ground again. The almost fifteen-hour flight in uncomfortable seats would be stuck to her for another few hours, if not days; she was sure of it. The mission may have been a success – taking down a cartel of experimental drug smugglers, with a side income through even more experimental weapons which were supposed to be destroyed alongside Hydra, had been easier than thought – but her body still was sore and covered in bruises, scratches, and beautifully blooming hematomas.

Guess a rib or two got a hit as well, the Widow thought while softly rubbing her right side.

Gladly, she wasn’t the only one beaten up, but unlike Steve and Bucky, she didn’t own the ability to self-heal within hours. Sometimes, she really envied them down to her very core. But now, she was too tired to even start feeling the jealousy about the super soldier serum running through their veins. Truth be told, she wasn’t entirely without an asset she had gained through otherworldly substances – not drugs – but those were hard to control sometimes, which was why the Widow often fully relied on her brutal training and skills in hand-to-hand combat.

One look in the direction of Nat, and she knew that her sister wasn’t very fond of her approach to the last situation. But hey, a woman gotta do what a woman gotta do. Easy as that.

As soon as the jet finally touched the ground, YN unbuckled the seatbelt and pushed herself up with a groan. The pain shot right through her body again and reminded her of the inevitable reality of upcoming days full of soreness. Assessing the level of pain and discomfort, she estimated two weeks tops. With a hot bath here and there, maybe less.

The thought of one of these alone made her almost moan in pure bliss. But, of course, the compound didn’t own such luxury known as a bathtub. God damn you, Tony.

With clenched teeth and jaw, the woman hobbled out of the Quinjet as soon as the ramp was lowered and granted a breeze of fresh air to invade the warm insides and cool her cheeks. Maybe a cold shower would suffice for now. But the woman didn’t come far before Steve’s voice dragged over the small tarmac in front of the newly built compound in Upstate New York.

“We need to debrief, and I need your report plus a medical evaluation of your status, YN,” the blonde soldier spoke up, always the authoritative fun brake (he wasn’t, but she was grumpy and needed a shower and some comfort in the form of her soft blankets and pillows). Without answering for now because she had her phone in hand to type a quick text, she raised the other hand and showed Steve the finger. Her body became used to the throbbing pain in every single limp again, and the Widow could walk a bit faster to get away from the now overbearing man she called one of her best friends.

“YN, I mean it. You’re not dismissed until you went to the medical wing and got checked out.” She could hear his heavy steps, and even though she still showed him the finger, she spoke. “Whatever, Steve. I need a shower and my soft bed, and I’m good to go, thank you very fucking much. See you tomorrow morning with that damn report in hand, bye.” Usually, she wasn’t this rude to him, and that pushed him to stop in his tracks.

Before scurrying inside the compound, she could hear the other’s talk.

“Did I do something wrong?” Steve.

“Nah, she is just grumpy because I stole her that one guy she loved to punch in the face.” Bucky.

“The one that laughed because she is a woman? Well, you fucked up good, Barnes. She really loves to take those down herself.” Nat.

An apology was necessary, she knew that, but… later. Her mind was too tired to do it now, so she just walked to her room, always close to one of the walls – just in case. With a heavy sigh leaving her lips, she pushed open the door to her cozy room and let the duffel bag fall straight to the floor before pushing herself to walk the last few steps, so she could fall face down first onto the soft mattress.

Which wasn’t the best idea she had had all day, and a strained groan escaped her lips at the same moment as the soft sounds of an opening portal filled her room. She barely realized it. She didn’t even move as steps started to come closer. She didn’t move a single muscle until the mattress dipped at the weight of another body settling upon it. Slowly, YN moved her head from the face-down position to the side to eye the man with the pepper and salt hair. He already looked down at her, forehead wrinkled and the all too familiar deep creases between his dark brows visible.

“Hey,” the woman spoke, barely above a whisper, and she closed her eyes soon again as one of his warm, big hands came close to her face to brush over her cheek and push a lock behind her ear. “Rough day?” She nodded but stopped suddenly at the ugly feeling of raw skin rubbing against the fabric of her comforter. Eyebrows furrowed, and a hiss escaped her. But Stephen was prepared – just as he always was. “Come on, love,” he mumbled in the softest of tones. “We’ll get you a nice hot bath ready, a cup of tea, and some snacks, while I stitch you up.”

With that, the previous portal opened again, illuminated the room in its soft golden light, and Stephen helped the tired woman up from her bed. He held both her hands and pulled her up onto her feet, steadying her with his arm around her slender waist. He could imagine what happened during that mission in Seoul, her state not an uncommon sight for his eyes but hard on him nevertheless. It was easy for him to get scratches and be beaten up – he didn’t mind that – but seeing her in that constitution was something entirely different. And this side was a side no one knew about – and no one would ever get an insight about.

Looking up to Stephen, she allowed him to scoop her into his arms and circled both her arms around his neck while pressing a soft kiss onto his cheek. “You are a godsend,” YN whispered against his skin, the tip of her nose caressing his skin in a feathery touch. The doctor smiled the one smile that was entirely reserved for her eyes and only hers. “Not an idiotic and presumptuous asshole anymore?” He had to tease her with the statement that the Widow had smacked him with the second time they had met. A forceless hit with the flat hand against his shoulder was the first reaction he got. “Thought we already had put that in our past. It was a miscalculation. An assumption made upon false input and intel.”

Stephen chuckled while stepping over the threshold of his portal, right into his bedroom in the Sanctum Sanctorum, the busy New Yorker streets underneath the big windows. He didn’t spare a glance at the golden streets out there, glowing in the light of the setting sun. Instead, he carried the woman in his arms straight into the adjacent bathroom with the bathtub she craved the most. “I just love teasing you, darling,” the sorcerer grinned while gently putting YN down on the bathtub’s edge, and with a flick of his hand, the two faucets opened and unleashed the water.

Soon the bathroom was not only filled with the soothing sound of splashing water but with the wafting steam and the smell of her most favorite bath bomb as well. In the meantime, Stephen had organized the promised tea and snacks – consisting of cheese, crackers, and strawberries – while preparing the first aid kit for the small surgery he would perform on the most severe cuts that needed some stitching. As she attempted to step into the waiting hot water to let her bones and muscles soak in the well-deserved break, the phone in the back pocket of her combat gear pants, that pooled in the center of the bathroom, started to ring. The sorcerer was quick to peel it out and hand it to his girlfriend, not daring to accept the call or send it straight to the voicemail like he would’ve preferred.

With a sigh, YN accepted the call; a fluffy towel wrapped around her naked body, and she could see the hits that had attacked her visibly on her skin through the full-length mirror opposite her. “What?” That was all she asked the unwanted caller – who needs a greeting, right?

Shuffling was heard on the other side of the call, and YN cocked an eyebrow as whispered voices pushed to her ear. She took a look at the caller ID and didn’t get it. “Whoever thought it would be the greatest freaking idea to call me can go and fuck themself. I just want some peace and quiet, for fucks sake. Is that too much to ask?” YN was pissed to an extent she hadn’t felt in a long time. Another round of shuffling until Thor’s voice spoke up. “Lady YN, this is Thor, God of Thunder.” Facepalming herself, the woman sent Stephen a helpless look. “You don’t need to introduce yourself, Thor. I know who you are. This is a call, not a formal application for a new job.” What, in the name of the universe, had she done in her past life to be graced with this group of insufferable people? She loved them dearly, but sometimes they were just too exhausting for her poor soul. “Yes, of course, Lady YN. Mr. Stark had specifically asked me to start this conversation in order to learn about the nature of your whereabouts.”

Groaning, she hit the edge of the full tub with her fist. “Stop being such a child and talk for yourself, Tony,” she demanded. “Can’t. Have to find your location.” Eye rolling, YN knew that he knew that she had never touched one of his phones and had made sure that her location wouldn’t be found by any of them. Not even the genius that was Tony Stark. “Yeah, whatever. Good luck with that. You lot could’ve just, I don’t know, asked if I’m alright wherever I am and put it aside because I’m a fucking grown woman. Gosh.” Stephen chuckled softly at her outburst while preparing the needle for the stitches. “Plus, it was never my idea to call. Ask our ancient ice sculpture who had the idea to check up on you and found your room empty and throwing a tantrum about it,” Tony added, and YN softly smiled as the sorcerer knelt in front of her on the plush bathroom matt to take a closer look on the gush near her left wrist. “For fucks sake, Steve. Remember when I told you that your overbearing nature isn’t cool? It wasn’t a joke; I meant it!” Her face twisted at the sudden burn under her skin, and saw the drenched cotton pad, Stephen softly dapped over the wound to clean the dried blood off. “I’m sorry, YNN. Really, I am. But you took some pretty hard hits, and I just wanted to make sure you’re alright. You are okay, are you?”

Sighing again, YN leaned her head against Stephen’s shoulder. “I am. And now I have to go.” – “Wait, YN, where are yo-…” – “Byyyyye!”

And with that, she hung up and threw the phone back on the dirty pile of combat gear. “They’re getting suspicious?” She shrugged at his question and let him take the fluffy towel away from her, so she could finally sink into the hot water. “I don’t know what’s going on in their brains. And I don’t want to think about it.” With closed eyes, YN leaned back in the tub, softly moaning as she felt how every single muscle relaxed. “I’m almost tempted to believe that you only agreed to date me because of my bathtub,” the man chuckled while sitting on the edge and starting to stitch her arm.

In moments like these, he used that bit of magic he needed to steady his hands, but it was the only exception he made. “You don’t have to do it, y’know? I can easily head to the med bay,” YN mumbled after Stephen had finished his task of taking care of her, and he bent down to press a lingering kiss on her forehead. “Don’t make a fool out of yourself, darling. It’s my pleasure.”

He wanted to leave to pack the first aid kit back at its usual spot, but her fingers intertwining with his made him pause. One look at her pleading eyes, and the man was lost, his mental to-do list burned to ashes at her feet. “Can you get in? I’d love some cuddles.” It was a shyly asked question, as usual, but just as usual, he started to undress even before he nodded. “Whatever you need, darling,” he whispered after settling behind the woman in the still hot water – her body between his long legs, her back pressed against his chest, arms entangled underwater, and her face nestled in the crook of his neck.

Her deep breaths and soft skin against his were all he ever needed after days of her presence gone due to missions or his own duties, and Stephen craved those few stolen moments in a world where nobody knew about them.

;

Morning came too soon, and YN dragged herself out of the comfort of the warm bed to gather her belongings in order to make a move as soon as Stephen was awake enough to conjure the portal into her bedroom. She just left the bathroom, the pile of combat gear now over her arms, as Stephen yawned and felt around on the other side of the bed where she had laid only minutes ago. The sorcerer wasn’t a deep sleeper, but she was a Widow, trained in the arts of stealth, so it was an easy task to sneak out without waking him up. But even after more than a year of dating, he seemed not to be used to it because at the feeling of nothingness next to him, Stephen sat up abruptly and frantically started looking through the room. His mouth opened to call her name, heart racing in his chest, until his gaze settled upon the woman, only clad in one of his shirts that reached her mid-thighs.

She smiled, combat gear already dropped to the floor, to walk over to him. YN stood next to his bedside, both hands cupping his jawline while her thumb soothingly caressed his cheek, while she pressed a kiss against the corner of his mouth, the feeling of his goatee present on her lips. She could practically feel how he relaxed at her touch and leaned into it, reminding her again that Stephen was as touch starved as she was. It wasn’t a real turn-on for folks if she talked about the abusive past she had to endure in order to become her strongest self. But hey, those foolish boys were nothing in comparison to the man in front of her.

“Bad dream?” She softly asked before pecking the tip of his nose with a soft, feathery kiss. The sorcerer shrugged nonchalantly, but he couldn’t fool her – and he knew that. Sighing, Stephen pulled her back into the bed, holding her close, and nuzzled his face in the crook of her neck. “I just don’t want to let you go again. Didn’t see you in four days.” It was a mumble, but YN could hear every single word and felt his lips moving against her collarbone. Slowly, she started to play with his hair – just the way he liked it – and scratched his scalp. “Caution, my love, or I could be tempted to think you’re touch starved and crave my presence.”

Stephen scoffed and pushed himself up with one arm to look into her eyes. “You know how it is, darling.” It was only a mumble because even though they opened up to one another like they never did before, Stephen was still wary if it wouldn’t bite his ass. But so far, the amazing woman underneath him never let him feel any doubts. She smiled softly up at him and pulled him in for a soft kiss. “I’m not sure if they’re ready. You know how they are. You know what Tony will say, something about not fraternizing with colleagues and all that bullshit, and you know that Steve will give you a hard time – shit, he would even give me a hard time about it.” The prospect of trouble in paradise alone made her nauseous. They constantly bickered, true, but it was all fun and smiles. With something like that, on the other hand… Stephen knew how it went.

“At least stay for a few more minutes?” He almost begged, something he would never admit, not even under torture, but YN kissed him gently and shook her head. “Need to write that damn report and get a going to the med bay if I don’t wanna get benched.” With that, the sorcerer released the Widow out of his grasp and opened the portal into her own bedroom. He stood on his side while YN scurried over onto her side but turned around to kiss him goodbye properly. “See you for dinner?” Stephen smiled down at her, nodded, and kissed her forehead. “Chow House?” Moaning, YN pulled him in for another kiss. “I know why I love you,” she grinned, and then she waved with a smile as the portal closed again, and she was back in her cozy room, the duffel bag now lying on top of the cushioned bench in front of her bed – its usual spot. Shaking her head, she made a mental note to thank Steve for it later that day.

;

Sitting at the huge glass table in one of the conference rooms inside the compound, YN listened intently to what Fury said over the video call, scribbling away notes inside that little notebook she always carried around for such occasions. She could feel a lingering stare settled upon her, and barely noticeable, she raised her gaze to catch Stephen staring at her over the cup of coffee he held between his softly shaking hands. A smile tried to tuck at her lips, but instead, she rolled her eyes as if he was as irritating as the uncomfortable seat she had sat on ever since the briefing started.

“Do I bore you, Miss LN?” Fury’s tone sounded bored himself, and YN showed him a pair of raised eyebrows. “No, sir. I’m just writing down what you’re saying. For later purposes.” Sam coughed and mumbled “Boaster” between his acts, and YN threw her eraser against his head. “Hey!” She smiled the sweetest of smiles and flipped him off. “I’m not deaf, Wilson.” Bucky chuckled behind his mug while Steve and Nat rolled their eyes, and Fury sighed exaggeratedly. “Behave, children,” he grumbled before continuing with the briefing about a new mission in Switzerland.

A half an hour later, the briefed team scattered over the compound after they had left the conference room, and YN found her way into the kitchen. Her stomach rumbled ever since she woke up to an empty bed because Stephen had to leave to get ready for said briefing.

On some days, it was exhausting to sneak around everyone, but it had its purpose. So far, they never had a close call, for which YN was more than grateful.

Softly humming, she rummaged in the fridge before moving to the cupboards after she decided that tea was more to her taste than one of the smoothies Pepper hoarded in one of the many fridges.

Suddenly, big familiar hands grabbed her jeans-clad hips and turned her around in one swift motion. Looking up, her eyes met the bluest ones of them all, and a smile etched itself on her face before she took a measured look to the entrance. After she gave herself an all-clear, YN pulled Stephen down to her level while pushing herself on her tiptoes and kissed him – hard and hungrily because the couple couldn’t stop showing their deep lingering affection for one another as often as possible, which was not often enough.

Labored breaths and lips crashing against one another were the only sounds in the kitchen – or the entire compound wing – and Stephen wrapped the woman tighter in his arms, pulling her closer and closer until their bodies were pressed against each other. His hands moved more south to grab the Widow under her thighs, long fingers stretching up to her butt cheeks, and he lifted her with astonishing ease up on the countertop. Settling there, YN wrapped her legs around his waist, crossed her ankles at his deliciously shaped behind, and burrowed her fingers inside his dark hair. The kiss grew more heated with every passing second, and a soft gasp escaped her mouth as Stephen pressed her lower region harder against him.

“I really hope you’re not thinking about canceling our dinner plans for tonight,” YN whisper-moaned at the friction between her legs and bit his lower lip gently. Stephen groaned at the sensation pulsing through his body – he still wondered how this woman was able to pull every trigger there was with nothing more than just a whisper of a touch – and kissed her again. “Why should I? I can’t wait for dessert. Maybe we should do dessert first, like responsible citizens,” he rasped, the raspiness in his voice always a trigger for her own pleasure. Gladly, Stephen didn’t know just yet how hot it made her hear him like that. If this man would ever gain the knowledge about that – it would be her downfall. Grinning, YN pulled away from his searching lips, teasing him. “Sounds like a plan, Doctor Strange.”

But before they could dive right back into the next heated kiss and continue this make-out session, approaching steps alarmed the Widow. With ease, she slid off the counter within seconds and positioned herself at the counter closer to the door before raising her voice.

“Oh, please. Stop prancing around and try to prove that you’re the smartest one. I can’t keep up with the bullshit coming out of that entitled mouth of yours. I have better things to do.”

Tony and Steve entered the kitchen, followed by a tired Clint, who clung to a mug of steaming coffee. The Stark was fast to assess the situation, and an icy expression settled on his face. “Is he annoying you again, YNN? I can do something about that, you just need to use the words.” Steve had his blonde brows furrowed and stared Stephen into the ground, but the sorcerer only shrugged and stole the tea she had finished preparing. “A simple conversation, that’s all. Keep your panties on, Stark, and thanks for the tea, LN.”

With that, the tall man walked past the group, mug in hand, and YN stared after him, mouth agape. “Hey, that was my tea, you tea stealing, obnoxious imbecile!”

Which meant in their secret language, I love you, idiot.

Steve turned towards her and shrugged. “Tell us, and we end him,” he offered, but all she did was roll her eyes and start to prepare another cup of tea while suppressing her heart from beating out of line.

That was a close call.

;

The soft tunes of the Best of Beethoven vinyl she had found in Stephen’s office echoed through the foyer of the Sanctum Sanctorum on a summer evening. The windows on the upper floor were open widely to let in the soft breeze from outside without getting the chills, and YN worked mindlessly in the perfectly stocked kitchen.

It wasn’t like that shortly after she had sat foot in the room supposed to feed hungry human beings. Instead, barely filled shelves and a half-empty fridge had greeted her, which was why many New Yorkers had seen a true Avenger walking their streets in a pretty summer dress – a sight none of them would have expected on this beautiful day or any days at all. But she didn’t mind the round eyes of kids and teenagers. The ogling stares of the male part of the grownup fraction were what put her on edge. But even them she could handle with closed eyes.

After a shopping spree in the grocery store down the block, YN had started to prepare dinner. It wasn’t often that she found the time and muse to cook, but when she did, she went all out because she wasn’t bad at it. Actually, she was quite good at the stove, even though she preferred baking over everything else.

The tune changed to Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61 – one of her favorites, even though the Red Room had forced her to start playing the violin – at the same time as the golden glow of a portal crept around the corner of the kitchen’s entrance. She just chopped the vegetables into the thinnest of slices as the soft but heavy feeling of fabric settled over her shoulders, and a red collar nudged her left cheek to get her attention.

“Well, hello to you too, Cloaky,” she greeted the magical relic, which resembled more a dog or cat than an ancient thing, with a smile. Soon after the first greeting, a set of arms wrapped around her, and a chin was planted on her shoulder. “Do I want to know how you got in?” Stephen asked, the grin audible in his voice. YN shrugged while chopping the rest. “Wong didn’t see me if that’s what you tried to find out.” Sometimes, her burglar skills were pretty useful, plus the building liked her – or Stephen had altered the spells that protected the Sanctum, but she liked the idea of a feeling and thinking building more.

“So, you thought instead of enjoying your first time off missions in the last couple of weeks, you break into the Sanctum to cook me dinner?” At her exciting nod, Stephen laughed softly and pressed a kiss to her temple. Cloaky settled onto her shoulders definitively – Stephen knew that it would stay there for quite some time now, but he couldn’t object because it was what he would do too – and instead, tried to help her, but YN hit his fingers. “Nope. You’re gonna take a hot, long shower to destress from whatever threat it was today you had to deal with, and after that, you’ll settle on that bar stool over there, drink a glass of whiskey and just look pretty and handsome while I wrap up dinner.” He would never admit it, but he loved it when she tried to boss him around. It was so different from the life she had lived before joining the Avengers and escaping the grasp of the Red Room, so it was his pleasure to let her boss around to her heart's desire. “Yes, ma’am. Anything else, ma’am?” She grinned up at him. “A kiss would be absolutely lovely.”

Stephen complied and bent down to taste her sweet, perfect lips, but Cloaky suddenly had other plans and pulled her onto the wooden floor. “What the…?” Both started, but Wong’s voice let her suck in the last word and hold her breath. The red cloak pulled her further to the kitchen island to hide her body against the wood and wrapped itself around the woman it was so fond of.

“Something smells divine.” Wong stopped at the frame between the kitchen and one of the many living rooms to eye Stephen. “You are cooking? Since when is this a possibility?” Stephen looked from the stove to Wong, back to the chopped vegetables and the casserole where YN had started to place the thin slices in an intricate pattern. “Yeah…” The sorcerer began and shrugged. “I saw something on my way home and thought it looked quite delicious.” Wong squinted his eyes suspiciously at the other sorcerer. “Aha.” YN on the floor really wanted to facepalm herself. “Well, let me know when the food is ready. I want to try it. I’m in the library upstairs.” And Wong disappeared as suddenly as he arrived.

Sitting up, YN patted the proudly moving cloak and shook her head. “Next time, you won’t drag me down to the floor, understood? That hurt.” Stephen helped her up and took Cloaky from her shoulders, and sent him up into his bedroom. “Another close call,” the man objected, and YN sighed. “I know, but I don’t know why we’re running out of luck all of a sudden. We were so good.” It didn’t sit right with her, and the realization that maybe, sooner rather than later, they need to come clean with everyone.

Stephen softly kissed her head and pushed a lock out of her face, tracing her jawline from her ear back down to her chin. He took it between his fingers, pointer finger underneath it to softly nudge it up, so she would look at him. “Whatever will happen, nothing is worse than being stuck in a fake octopus, smelling like plastic and trash, darling.” Eye rolling, the woman shoved against his chest. “Never remind me of that ever again. I had to soak for hours on end in that bathtub to get the smell off my skin.” Stephen smiled but cocked an eyebrow to see her nodding. And she did. “Okay, yeah. It won’t be the end of days if they knew, but… I don’t know how to tell them. Could we take some more time? Just a little while longer?”

Stephen could never deny her a single request, so he approved with another nod and kissed her softly on the lips. “Of course, love. But now you have to move your sexy bottom because Wong demanded food. I’m gonna take a quick shower and be right back.” With that, Stephen kissed her one last time and stepped through the portal – lazy sock – and YN continued with the veggy pattern inside her prepared casserole until an all too familiar voice startled her.

“I knew it!”

With wide eyes, the former assassin turned around to look straight into the very pleased face of non-other than Wong, and a curse fell off her lips.

One for them, minus one for us, she thought while explaining to the sorcerer how she came up with her altered receipt for Ratatouille.

Thank you so much for reading! As usual, comments, reblogs, and likes are much appreciated! <3

Taglist:

@poor-unfortunate-soul-85 @seasonofthenerd @onecrazydirectioner @meeksmusic83

1K notes · View notes

briefhandsstudenttoad · 8 days

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Doctor Strange Headcanons:

Hellooo does anyone want headcanons for other characters? :)

Happy:

He has a tea addiction

He acts like he doesn't like them but he is invested with both Peters' music taste

He is Morgan Starks Godfather after saving Tony's life

He was secretly relieved that Wong was now sorcerer supreme after the blip even though he moaned non-stop about it

He also secretly loves all of the avengers, though he'd never admit it

He's secretly a triplet

He was a vegan growing up and he tries to stick at it (but he's rubbish at it)

He is an activist for feminism, lgbtq and climate change

He's also kissed some guys before now but he still prefers women

Secretly talks to the cloak and refers to it as 'Cloaky' but gets angry if anyone else treats it differently to a precious artefact.

Massive girl dad and even though he never planned on children, as he ages he always regrets not having a child - expecially a daughter

Rolls his eyes so much because he's a mixture of sassy teenage girl and flirty

Secretly adores when the avengers ask for medical help for stupid things like paper cuts

Terrified of spiders

Sad:

(Kind of canon) He's SO insecure about his hands

He can't write any more because of them or do...lots of things

Morgan jokes about him always wearing gloves like Elsa but he low-key relates to her

He still hasn't been in a car after the accident and he isn't planning too

He always thinks of donna

He was abused as a child by his dad

After their mum and sister died, Stephen and his brother were moved to an all boys orphanage

His brother looks exactly like him but he's evil and he didn't see him after he left the orphanage and he hopes he never does again

He also thinks that his dad is dead even though he doesn't know for sure

HUGE insomniac like this man doesn't realise he hasn't slept for days till he passes out in the library

Physically incapable of asking for help

Hates conflict between the avengers - reminds him of his abusive childhood

Explicit:

Hasn't had sex since the accident, 4 years ago

Can't hold himself up on top because of his shaky hands

But he used to be a top

He was also a huge playboy

Can no longer "help himself out" because his hands throw him off

So instead he gets quite sexually frustrated

Giver not receiver although it hasn't always been that way

Has absolutely read fanfiction of himself but only because he finds it funny

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mikasadirtyscarf · 2 years

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Behind the scenes Scarlett>>>

#black widow #scarlett johansson #natasha romanoff #natasha x y/n #the avengers #marvel #captain america #steve rodgers imagine #bucky barnes #wanda x reader #wandavision #doctor strange

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swan-of-sunrise · 1 year

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A Spellbinding Wedding (Spellbinding-Verse Interlude)

Summary: (Y/N) and Loki’s big day has finally arrived, but will mischief and superhero shenanigans succeed in derailing the happiest day of their lives?

Pairing: Loki X Reader

Word Count: 10.9k

Warnings/Disclaimers: Almost 11k words of pure, tooth-rotting fluff lol

A/N: We’ve finally arrived at the wedding of Loki and the Cosmic Sorceress! If you haven't already, I recommend checking out the Spellbinding Playlist; I added a bunch of wedding/romantic songs I imagine they'd choose for their special day and they're all great, so go ahead and give it a listen!Thank you all so much for reading and for waiting like six months for this thing lol, and I hope that you enjoy!

A Spellbinding Wedding October 8th, 2016 Stark Mansion New York City, New York (Previous One-Shot)

“So, (Y/L/N), in just a few short hours you’re gonna be officially – pause for dramatic effect – off the market! Can you tell us what exactly’s going through the beautiful bride’s head right now?”

(Y/N) briefly paused her mascara application and pretended to ponder Clint’s overly-exaggerated question. “Whether or not it would be rude of me to drop that camcorder through a portal to Muspelheim and lock you in the basement until after the ceremony.”

The archer snickered before jumping up to sit on the dresser behind her and turning the camcorder around to directly address the camera. “As you can see, your mom gets a little cranky when she has to wake up early. Not sure if that’ll go away in the future or just get worse, so…either way, good luck with that, kiddos!”

“When you volunteered to film the ceremony and parts of the reception for us, I really should’ve questioned it more.” (Y/N) resumed applying her mascara while fighting back a smile. “At least any future children of ours will watch this, see just how ridiculous their Uncle Clint is and know that we weren’t exaggerating. Oh! Speaking of children, are Peter’s friends here yet? Tony was supposed to send Happy into Queens to pick them up an hour ago, but I haven’t heard anything about them since.”

“Yeah, they’re all hanging out in the old lab downstairs and Tony’s helping ‘em prep their sound equipment as we speak; you and Loki do know that there’s literally thousands of professional DJ’s living in New York you could’ve hired to run your wedding reception that aren’t sixteen and can actually drive themselves to their venues, right?”

“Says the friend of ours who practically begged to be the videographer even though he’s a professional archer by trade…” She mumbled under her breath, twisting the mascara wand back into its tube just as someone knocked on her suite’s door. “Come in!”

The door opened and Natasha popped her head into the room, her long red hair still wrapped in curlers, a clipboard in her hands and a comm link secured in her ear. The spy was taking her many duties as Matron of Honor very seriously, treating the day’s celebration as if it were a highly-classified mission and not a mid-sized wedding located at Tony’s family mansion; each of their teammates had been assigned specific duties and responsibilities and throughout the morning, Natasha regularly checked in with them to ensure that their tasks were going smoothly, which explained why she was shooting Clint the trademark glare she normally reserved for Hydra agents and invading aliens. “Last I checked, Barton, you’re supposed to be overseeing the florists in the garden and not raising the bride’s blood pressure right before the wedding.”

Clint jumped down from the dresser and raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, no need to go all Black Widow on me, Tasha.” He crossed the room and pressed a chaste kiss onto (Y/N)’s cheek before winking at her through the vanity’s mirror. “I’ll see you at the altar, (Y/L/N)!”

Natasha gave the archer one final glare as he hurried out of the suite while whistling ‘Chapel of Love’ and shook her head when the door closed behind him. “I swear, I’m gonna have to start using my Widow Bites on these people if they don’t start being more helpful…” The spy turned her attention to (Y/N) and her concentrated frown morphed into a smile. “Aw (Y/N), you look stunning and you haven’t even put on your dress yet! I’m serious, it’s like you’re glowing or-” She cut herself off and held a hand up to her ear to listen to a voice in her comm. “Wait a sec, Bruce says that the caterers just arrived. Did you want me to get you anything before I check in on them?”

“Is it too early in the day for a glass of champagne?”

“Not if there’s a splash of orange juice in it,” Natasha answered with a mischievous grin. “I’ll be back before you know it!”

The door closed behind the spy and for the first time that morning, the room fell silent. (Y/N) sat back in her seat and let out a sigh of relief; she loved her friends and teammates dearly, of course, but all she wanted to do was prepare for the wedding in peace and with as little stress as possible. The wedding was slightly larger than they’d originally anticipated, with over a hundred guests from Midgard, Asgard and Alfheim all gathered together at one of Tony Stark’s family mansions in the heart of New York City, and with the ink still drying on the three realms’ fledgling peace treaties, handling the guests and ensuring that they remain peaceful would be a difficult task to carry out on a day already filled to the brim with difficult tasks. So far, her friends were doing an excellent job with ensuring that everything was running smoothly but after living the life of a superhero for over a year, she knew just how quickly a situation could shift from calm to catastrophic.

“I wonder of Loki’s feeling just as anxious about all this as I am,” (Y/N) murmured to herself, giving the photograph of her soon-to-be husband she’d tucked into the edge of her vanity’s mirror a smile before setting her sights on her un-styled hair, hoping that the intricate task would serve to distract her from the butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

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“Brother, what exactly is this gloopy green substance?”

“It’s an avocado and green tea mud mask.”

“…And why have we applied it to our faces?”

“It removes impurities from the skin while unclogging pores and absorbing excess oil.” Before Thor had a chance to ask another question, Loki brusquely continued. “Yes, it’s meant to relax you and no, you cannot eat it.”

Instead of becoming annoyed by Loki’s shortness, his brother chuckled. “In that case, these mud masks must be defective because you’re anything but relaxed, brother.” With a defeated sigh, Loki removed the cucumber slices resting on his eyelids and sat up, tossing the slices into the nearby trashcan and making his way into the suite’s bathroom to wash the half-dried mud mask off; he was halfway done when Thor entered and leaned against the door-frame, a look of concern visible even beneath his own thick mud mask. “Loki, are you all right? You haven’t been yourself all morning, and it’s beginning to worry me. You’re not having second thoughts about the wedding, are you?”

“No! No, of course not,” Loki emphatically shook his head. “I’ve been waiting for this day for quite a long time, believe me, but I…well, it’s an awfully significant life change, isn’t it? I know that what I’m feeling is only a natural reaction to such a change, of course, but a part of me can’t help but wonder if I’m even deserving of this life I’m about to embark on with (Y/N).”

His brother nodded in understanding. “I believe that Wilson refers to them as intrusive thoughts; unwelcome, involuntary thoughts with no basis in truth or fact that can manifest as a result of several forms of trauma.” When Loki raised his brows in surprise, Thor sighed and rolled his eyes in mild exasperation. “Believe it or not, brother, I do listen to what others say when they’re around me. The important point to be made is that they’re wrong; as your designated Best Man, it’s my duty to ease these irrational worries of yours and I believe that I have just the thing!”

Thor disappeared into the bedroom and quickly returned with an ornate bottle and two glasses, and Loki’s jaw nearly dropped at the sight of the familiar flagon. “That’s one of Asgard’s last remaining bottles of the great Hoder’s spiced mead. It’s to be drunk on the most special of occasions and only with the Allfather’s express permission…”

“I took a page out of your book and simply borrowed a bottle on my way out of the palace.” The older man grinned proudly at his uncharacteristic act of subterfuge and Loki couldn’t help but chuckle. “The Allfather might not agree, but my brother’s wedding and all the happiness it will surely bring him is a special occasion.”

As Loki’s throat burned and he fought back the sudden tears brought on by his brother’s support, he watched as Thor poured the amber-colored liquid out into the two glasses and pressed one into his hand, the corner of his mouth curving upwards while he raised the glass. “Well then, to happiness.”

“To happiness,” Thor echoed, and the two brothers clinked their glasses together before downing the spiced mead in one go. “Another!”

There was a gentle knock on the suite’s door and Frigga’s voice called out, “Loki? Thor?”

“Oh, Hel!”

Both men scrambled to hide the evidence of their treasonous transgression, shoving the spiced mead and glasses unceremoniously under the sink and rushing out of the bathroom to open the door for their mother; the Queen of Asgard was dressed spectacularly in a pale turquoise dress and matching wide-brimmed hat, looking just as elegant in Midgardian clothing as she always did on Asgard. Frigga was beaming as she stepped into the suite and reached up to hold Loki’s face between her hands. “Oh, I can hardly believe that my darling little one is getting married today, and to such a wonderful young woman as well! How are you feeling, Loki? Have you eaten anything at all?”

“I’m fine, Mother, just a little anxious.” Loki matched her infectious smile with one of his own. “After all, it’s not every day that three realms of the cosmos come together to celebrate a wedding.”

“You don’t have anything to worry about, because your brother and your friends are doing such an excellent job at keeping everything running smoothly.” Frigga gave them both a knowing look. “Perhaps another glass of Hoder’s spiced mead will soothe your nerves? Now, be a dear and make mine a double, please.”

Loki and Thor exchanged a wide-eyed look of surprise as their mother crossed the suite and began brushing the stray pieces of lint off their suit jackets hanging near the window, humming a cheerful tune to herself as she did.

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Pulling back to admire her handiwork, (Y/N) smiled brightly and twirled Cassie’s chair around to face her vanity’s mirror. “There, all finished! What do you think, Cassie?”

Their flower girl-slash-ring bearer squealed in joy and turned to her with the widest smile on her glittering face. “It’s so pretty! I love it!” She threw her arms around her middle and tightly hugged her. “Do I look like a fairy from Alf…Alf…?”

“Alfheim? I’m not sure, actually, I’ve never seen a fairy there before.” Shrugging, (Y/N) glanced over at Elora, who was preoccupied with unzipping the large garment bag containing her wedding dress. “Elora has, though! Haven’t you, Elora?”

The General of the Alfheimian Army looked up from her task with a small shudder. “Unfortunately. The little beasts possess needle-sharp teeth and use their woodland magic to mask their presence right before viciously attacking any who dare trespass into their domain.”

(Y/N)’s eyes widened in alarm but before she could chastise the Alfheimian for her bluntness, Cassie clapped her hands together and let out a delighted laugh. “That is so cool!”

A knock on her suite’s door drew (Y/N) away from Elora and Cassie’s animated discussion of the various magical beasts that lived on Alfheim, and she opened the door to reveal Sam and Bucky; both men were already dressed in their suits, minus their floral boutonnieres, but her calm demeanor vanished when she caught sight of the panicked expressions they were desperately trying to mask. “Okay, what’s wrong?”

“Wrong? Nothing’s wrong, doll-”

“Yeah, everything’s goin’ according to plan, (Y/L/N), promise-”

“Nat had us come up here to…um…”

“To see if you needed any help with…anything.”

She arched an unimpressed brow that almost instantly silenced both men. “Do I really have to ask you two again?”

“…Scott lost the wedding rings!” (Y/N)’s jaw dropped and Bucky let out an indignant noise as Sam raised his hands in surrender. “Sorry, Buck, but she’s got the same death glare my mom used to give me! Yeah, Scott put the rings down and now he can’t find them anywhere, and he can’t even use the ants to help ‘cause he didn’t bring his suit along.”

The super soldier hastily added, “Nat’s trying her best to jog his memory, but…well, you know Nat. I think she might end up making the poor guy faint before finding out where he might’ve lost the rings.”

“Okay, okay…” Rubbing her temples in an attempt to quell the rapidly-growing headache, (Y/N) took a steadying breath and forced herself to remain calm as she began formulating a plan. “All right, my hair and makeup’s already done, so let me find some slippers and we’ll go find Nat and Scott. I might be able to use my Alf Seidr to try and find them-” Both Sam and Bucky breathed a sigh of relief. “-But not a word of this to Loki, okay? The last thing he needs today is any added stress…”

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Arching a curious brow, Loki examined the items laid out on the coffee table before glancing up at his teammates. “This is a Midgardian tradition? It seems a little silly that these random objects can determine the outcome of a marriage.”

“Yeah, it’s a good luck thing here on Earth, Lokes, like that old Saints jersey Sam wears during every football season.” Clint held up the camcorder and pointed the lens at Loki as he continued. “Your dad’s a pretty smart guy, kiddos, but don’t let that fool you; he once thought your mom was dying when she was only having a little brain freeze. Remember, Lokes?”

“Children, if you’ve ever wondered why your mother once attempted to hit your dear Uncle Clint over the head with a coffee-table book, then now you know,” Loki snickered as the archer flushed pink and rolled his eyes.

A reluctant smile played on Steve’s lips while he finished fastening his cuff-links across the suite. “I hate to say it, but Barton’s right about it being good luck here. ‘Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.’ Your mother gifted you a set of cloak clasps for today so that’s your ‘something old,’ your tuxedo counts as your ‘something new,’ Tony’s lending you one of his nicer Rolex watches for your ‘something borrowed,’ and your ‘something blue’ are the navy blue suspenders you’re wearing.”

Loki hummed in interest. “I suppose that a little extra luck wouldn’t go amiss…”

Just as he slipped the borrowed Rolex onto his wrist, a visibly panicked Thor burst into the suite and made a bee-line to Steve. “Captain Rogers, there’s an urgent matter that I must speak to you about!”

“If it’s that Tony wrote a borderline explicit speech to read at the reception, then we all know and Nat already took care of-”

“No, no, it’s not that, but we really should discuss this matter out in the hall-”

“What is it, Thor?” Loki asked, tilting his head in confusion as he took in his brother’s unusually pale face and arching a disapproving brow when he proceeded to badly explain away his concern. “Brother, surely you haven’t forgotten that I’m the God of Lies? Whatever it is, I’m sure that we’ll be able to handle it before the ceremony begins.”

Thor swallowed and anxiously bit his lip before blurting out, “A wizard is currently battling a space worm out on the lawn.”

“What?!” Loki, Steve and Clint all exclaimed in unison.

“It just appeared out of nowhere and started wreaking havoc across the grounds, but then a wizard stepped out of a portal and started fighting it! Stark and Rhodes are already on their way to help but it seems that the beast is indestructible!”

With his jaw clenched tight in mounting agitation, Loki stood from his seat and summoned his emerald-green magic. “Not if I have anything to say about it.” A shimmer of light enveloped his body and in the blink of an eye, his wedding attire morphed into his Asgardian battle armor and daggers appeared in his grasp. “The beast and this so-called wizard will soon regret the very moment they dared to step foot on this property.”

Steve shrugged off his tuxedo jacket and reached for the red, white and blue shield propped up beside one of the suite’s armchair. “Barton, keep the caterers and florists away from the lawn, and make sure the guests stay inside and away from the windows.”

“On it.”

“And not a word of this to (Y/N), all right?” All three men nodded in agreement and Loki’s grip tightened around the hilts of his daggers. “The last thing she needs today is any added stress…”

As the trio of men hurried outside, a part of Loki wondered if he’d been tricked into believing that a cosmic monster was in the process of battling a sorcerer and that it was all some sort of elaborate prank concocted by his brother and friends to ease his pre-wedding jitters. However, that spark of hope was quickly extinguished when Steve threw the back door open and was forced to jump back to avoid being struck by Rhodes’ flailing body falling from the sky.

“Oh, I’m definitely gonna feel that one for a couple of days,” Rhodes groaned in pain and allowed Steve to hoist his armor-clad body to his feet. “Either of you guys wanna tell me what an ugly-ass space worm is doing here in New York? ‘Cause it’s definitely not here to wish the bride and groom its best!”

The familiar sound of repulsor blasts intermingled with the booming roars caused all four men to turn and watch as Tony darted around the tentacles of an enormous pink creature and a dark-haired man wearing a burgundy cape conjured orange-hued magic to counter its vicious attacks. “Earth has second-rate sorcerers now, how delightful…” Loki rolled his eyes and turned to the others. “It’s an Abilisk, a cosmic creature that feeds off significantly-sized energy sources, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if that cheap magician down there summoned it here out of pure incompetency.”

“Let’s deal with the Abilisk first, brother, and then we’ll confront the wizard later!” With a burst of lightning, Thor flew off towards the enraged creature and attempted to slam Mjolnir against its skull, but he was quickly swatted aside by one of its flailing tentacles.

Loki and Steve exchanged a look with Rhodes before joining the battle; the Air Force colonel attempted to shoot it with one of his suit’s many guns but was unsuccessful due to the creature’s impenetrable hide and no matter how twisted its own tentacles became due to the super soldier’s impressive athleticism, the beast remained standing and overwhelmingly angry. After throwing a handful of emerald-green magic at a tentacle to stop it from slamming into Steve’s back, Loki looked over to see the bearded sorcerer performing a spell nearby. “Care to introduce yourself and explain why you’ve brought an Abilisk to my wedding?” He yelled over the creature’s deafening roars.

“My name’s Doctor Stephen Strange, I’m a Master of the Mystic Arts, the guardian of the New York Sanctum in Greenwich Village and I most certainly did not summon an Abilisk here!” The sorcerer shouted back as he threw two semi-circular protective shields at the Abilisk’s face, where they exploded on impact and disoriented the enraged creature further. “Someone here at this mansion opened an inter-dimensional portal and let this creature come through, and as soon I arrived to send it back, my sling-ring was stolen from me by an unchecked summoning spell!”

“Sling-ring?”

“Yes, it’s what allows me to channel the magic needed to open inter-dimensional portals between any two points within the universe and without it, I can’t send the Abilisk back to where it came from!”

Loki was quickly filled with a sneaking suspicion about the whereabouts of the sorcerer’s sling-ring, but he prayed to the Norns that he was wrong as he called out to the others, “Does anyone here have access to Romanoff’s comm link? I think she may be able to shed some much-needed light on the situation!”

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The air around (Y/N) crackled and hummed with magical energy as she used her Alf Seidr to sense her surroundings and a familiar tugging sensation in her stomach preceded a strange weight in her outstretched left hand. She opened her eyes and her excitement instantly turned to annoyance when she was met with the sight of yet another unfamiliar ring; the one resting on her open palm looked different from the rest, almost reminding her of a pair of brass knuckles but with strange etchings across its bronzed surface. “Well, this definitely isn’t what I’m seeking…” She tossed the object into the basket of other rings she’d inadvertently summoned while searching for the lost wedding rings and sighed. “Do any of you have any bright ideas?”

Scott, Natasha, Sam and Bucky all shook their heads from their spots across the laboratory, and the ex-convict was the first to speak. “I-I’m really, really sorry about this, (Y/N), I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s okay, Scott, I know you didn’t mean to lose the rings…” (Y/N) rubbed her temple in an effort to quell her raging stress-induced headache as she considered what to do next. “I’ll just have to try the spell again, then maybe it will-”

“Tony?” They all looked over to see a frowning Natasha listening to her comm link. “Okay, slow down, I can’t hear what you’re…wait, what wizard ring? Yeah, Scott lost the rings and (Y/N)’s been using her magic to try and find ‘em, but…” The spy’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped at whatever the billionaire was saying through the comm. “Oh shit.”

(Y/N) frowned. “What is it, Nat?”

Before Natasha could answer, the wall nearest to (Y/N) suddenly exploded and she had just enough time to summon a protective bubble of magic to encase them as chunks of stone and debris began raining down. The dust was beginning to settle when she flicked her wrists to remove the shield, her brows rising in surprise as she recognized her future brother-in-law extricating himself from the rubble. Thor’s blue eyes widened comically when he spotted her standing before him and he swallowed nervously before giving her a small wave. “H-Hello, Lady (Y/N). Shouldn’t you be off preparing for the ceremony?”

“What’s going on, Thor?”

“Nothing, nothing, just an intense arm-wrestling match with your delightful Alfheimian friends; for one so small, Myriani has quite the arm!”

“Thor.”

Natasha stepped forward and gestured towards the comm link in her ear. “According to Tony, there’s a giant space worm wreaking havoc on the lawn that you unintentionally summoned here with your Alf Seidr, and the only person who can get rid of it is a wizard-doctor who lives in Greenwich Village but you accidentally stole his magic ring.”

“God, just put me back in the damn ice…” Bucky groaned as he dropped his head into his vibranium hand.

Sam reached into the basket of rings and withdrew the odd-looking shape made of engraved brass. “I’m no expert on wizards, (Y/L/N), but this kinda looks like it could be magical to me.”

(Y/N) took the ring from Sam and with a wave of her hand, she transformed her silk robe and slippers into her Cosmic Sorceress uniform and marched through the hole in the laboratory wall. There was indeed a towering pink-skinned creature flailing its many tentacles as her friends and teammates fought their hardest against it; Tony and Rhodey were firing their suit’s repulsors and dodging its tentacles in the air while Steve, Loki and an odd-looking man wearing a red cloak tried all they could to draw the creature’s attention away from the mansion. Ignoring the guilt beginning to eat away at her, (Y/N) strode across the lawn and called out over the deafening roars, “Doctor, catch!”

The wizard-doctor looked over and raised his hand just in time to catch his ring, quickly slipping it into his fingers and rotating his hands in a circular motion to create a sparking orange portal directly beneath the creature; it released a final roar as it dropped down into the portal and disappeared, leaving the grounds of Stark Mansion silent. The stranger closed the portal he’d opened and breathed a sigh of relief before setting his sights on an embarrassed (Y/N). “Your royal highness, would you care to explain what’s going on and why you took my sling ring?”

(Y/N) fidgeted with her finger-less gloves and attempted to smile, but it appeared as more of a grimace. “First of all, I’m very sorry for all the trouble this has caused you, Doctor…”

“Strange. Doctor Stephen Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts and the guardian of the New York Sanctum.” They shook hands and she silently took note of the unique magical energy radiating from him. “You’re (Y/N) (Y/L/N), former trainee librarian turned Cosmic Sorceress, the Crown Princess of Alfheim, daughter of the Alfheimian Layeia Tilasdottir and the very-human David (Y/L/N), descendant of the esteemed Lady Astrid, designated representative between the Light Elves and the Nine Realms of the cosmos, and the Defender of the Realm of Alfheim.”

Taking a step back, (Y/N) arched a questioning brow and fought the sudden urge to summon her magic or even her sword. “For someone I’ve never met, you certainly know an awful lot about me.”

Doctor Strange shrugged. “I make it my business to keep an eye on beings that pose the largest threats to this world and I have to say, you’re quite high on my list.”

“Well, like I was saying, Doctor, all of this has a very simple if not embarrassing explanation-”

“(Y/N)!” They both turned to see Loki and their friends hurrying towards them; their tuxedos were covered in grass stains and an odd multicolored slime, and her fiancé’s emerald-green eyes were filled with worry as he gently held her shoulders and leaned down to meet her gaze. “Darling, are you all right? What happened?”

As the rest of their friends and even some of their guests began making their way across the lawn, (Y/N)’s embarrassment grew and she brought a hand up to partially hide her face. “Scott misplaced the rings and I thought I could use my magic to find them, but my anxiety must’ve led to me opening a portal and then the strength of my spell accidentally took Doctor Strange’s sling ring, and…well, you know the rest. I still have no idea why I wasn’t able to summon our rings; it’s almost as if something was blocking my magic…” Loki paled at her words and it was (Y/N)’s turn to be concerned. “Loki?”

“This situation, um…it may not entirely be your fault, darling.” Her fiancé chuckled awkwardly and rubbed his neck as he glanced over at where Scott, his girlfriend Hope Van Dyne and Cassie were all standing near Elora. “You see, I assumed that Lang might misplace the rings so before I started getting ready, I placed an enchantment on them and as an added precaution, I instructed Barton to give Lang an empty ring box and give the real ones to-”

“Hey, guys! Cassie had the rings the whole time!" Scott shouted and gave a giggling Cassie a celebratory fist-bump. “Either my little peanut’s becoming a better thief than her old man, or someone didn’t trust me with ‘em in the first place. Probably the second one, huh?”

With an incredulous laugh, (Y/N) allowed a chuckling Loki to pull her into his arms and shook her head in disbelief. “Does that mean we ruined our own wedding?”

“My dear, you both haven’t ruined a single thing,” Frigga reassured her as she walked up to them and gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze. “Your friends and guests are still here, all of them safe and unharmed, and the sun is shining brightly in the sky. Why shouldn’t your wedding continue as planned?”

A stern-looking Doctor Strange raised a hand and answered, “Because Miss (Y/L/N) here nearly caused the destruction of New York with her unchecked magic and a mass hysteria the likes of which hasn’t been seen since his invasion. Such an act, even one as accidental as you claim this one to be, cannot go unexamined and unpunished.”

(Y/N) bit her lip while Loki rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to counter his words, but his mother’s hand on his arm silenced him as she turned to Doctor Strange with a brilliant smile. “It’s very nice to meet you, Doctor Stephen Strange of Midgard; I am Frigga, the Queen of Asgard and mother to Loki and Thor. My dear future daughter-in-law has recently obtained an extraordinary amount of Alf Seidr that she’s still training to control and seeing as today’s her long-awaited wedding day, it’s quite understandable that her focus was shaken.” Frigga sympathetically rubbed (Y/N)’s back and took a moment to adjust her uniform’s purple-hued tiara before returning her attention to the sorcerer. “Now, I’m sure that a highly-skilled Master of the Mystic Arts such as yourself would be honored to utilize the Time Stone hanging around your neck and repair the damage caused by the creature, so as to ease Lady (Y/N)’s frazzled nerves and prevent any other unfortunate accidents from occurring.”

Doctor Strange blinked in surprise. “Um…”

“For your valiant defense of this realm, Asgard recognizes you as one of its trusted allies and speaking as the mother of the groom, I would personally be honored if you joined us for today’s celebration of Loki and Lady (Y/N)’s nuptials.”

“That’s, um…thank you, Queen Frigga, for extending an invitation to me…I-I’d be honored to attend…” The sorcerer’s cheeks flushed pink and he tried his hardest to avoid making eye-contact with the beautiful goddess in front of him. “I’ll start on the repairs right away…”

While a flushed Doctor Strange started using the power of the Time Stone to reverse the damages to their friends’ tuxedos first, (Y/N) turned to look between Frigga and Loki as her stunned expression morphed into a grin. “You really did inherit your Silvertongue from your mother, didn’t you?”

“So it would seem,” Loki replied and leaned down to press a kiss onto his mother’s cheek. “Thank you for intervening on our behalf, Mother.”

Frigga’s blue eyes twinkled with some mischief of her own as she gave them a conspiratorial wink. “Of course, little one. I was raised by witches who taught me many invaluable lessons, among which was that diplomacy and deceit are two sides of the very same coin.”

After the Queen of Asgard went to supervise the sorcerer as he repaired the lawn and floral arrangements surrounding the white gazebo that they’d soon exchange their vows within, (Y/N) spotted Clint filming the aftermath of the battle and giggled. “This’ll be a fun memory to share with our future children: How Mom and Dad’s magical shenanigans nearly wrecked their own wedding.”

Loki laughed. “After listening to Stark read me an online article chronicling several common wedding day horrors, ours was relatively tame by comparison.” He gave her forehead a lingering kiss before meeting her gaze with a tender smile. “Are you ready to get married, my love?”

“More than ready, sweetheart.” (Y/N) slipped her hand into her fiancé’s and swung their arms as they made their way into the mansion to finish getting ready for their wedding ceremony.

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An hour and over a dozen magical repairs later, Loki and Thor stood outside on the mansion’s veranda with Cassie Lang, keeping the flower girl-slash-ring bearer entertained and patiently waiting for (Y/N) and Natasha to finish their last-minute preparations so the ceremony could begin.

The guests were all seated and talking amongst themselves while they enjoyed the late afternoon sunlight breaking through the fluffy white clouds; the only people not seated in the rows of benches were General Elora – who would be officiating the ceremony, as it mainly drew from ancient Alfheimian customs – and Peter, MJ and Ned; the young woman graciously volunteered to play the guitar while they walked down the aisle, and her two best friends were keeping her company as she perched herself on a wooden stool beside the gazebo’s steps. Floral arrangements comprised of green and lavender Dahlias and branches of fern lined the aisle and hung gracefully off the ends of the sculpted wooden benches, while vines of green ivy and lilacs wrapped around the gazebo’s posts and railing. The interior of the gazebo was illuminated with dozens of twinkling fairy lights that were set to brighten as the sun started to set, and lanterns of battery-powered candles hung from each nearby bush and tree.

Embracing a mixture of Asgardian and Midgardian traditions, Loki was dressed in a tailored black tuxedo with an emerald-green cloak fastened to his jacket by the engraved golden clasps his mother gifted him, and he wore a floral crown of blooming laurels and leaves. On Asgard, one’s future spouse chose the flowers that best represented their intended and after much deliberation, (Y/N) picked the laurel for its many symbolic meanings; the laurel symbolized nobility, intelligence and an acknowledgement of the new phase he was entering by marrying her. Quite a flattering choice on her part, he thought with a reserved smile as he conjured another tiny burst of fireworks for Cassie’s amusement.

“Perhaps one day, young Cassie, my brother will show you how he can transform into any animal one could imagine,” Thor remarked to Cassie as he took a moment to readjust his green pocket-square.

The little girl’s eyes widened in amazement and she quickly turned to face Loki. “Can you turn into an ant?!”

Loki blinked in surprise as Thor stifled a chuckle behind his hand. “Um, well…now that you mention it, I haven’t actually tried.”

“Oh. I like ants. The ones that my daddy works with are really nice!”

Watching Cassie suddenly switch from talking about ants to twirling around in her soft green dress, a part of Loki hoped that his and (Y/N)’s future children shared the little girl’s quirky enthusiasm and unapologetic sense of wonder. The sound of the veranda’s glass door opening caused Loki to turn around and when he did, he was met with the jaw-dropping sight of his fiancée. (Y/N)’s off-white wedding dress – impeccably designed for her by Luke Jacobson – was relatively simplistic, with a fitted bust that cinched at the waist and flared out into a flowing skirt that reached the floor, but what elevated the entire look from simplistic to enchanting were its unique details; a lace overlay of hand-sewn floral designs was fastened onto the bust, branching out into fluttering sleeves that hung down to her biceps, and the only jewelry she wore besides her engagement ring was a delicate pair of pearl earrings she inherited from her late aunt. Her hair was arranged into one of her favorite styles and on the top of her head, she wore a floral crown comprised of white Camellia blooms; he’d picked them for her because they symbolized admiration, respect and everlasting love and devotion. A veil of lace-trimmed white chiffon was attached to the back of the floral crown, hanging gracefully down her back and barely brushing the floor. The finishing touch was the bouquet she was clutching in her hands; it was comprised of laurel, white Camellia blooms, lavender and lilac-colored roses and dusty green foliage.

“Darling…” Loki approached her almost reverently and stood before her with a dazed smile on his face. “I truly am the luckiest man in all the Nine Realms, to find myself marrying such an ethereal goddess as you.”

(Y/N) shyly ducked her head before reaching a hand up to straighten one of his cloak clasps. “You must be a mind-reader, then, because I was just thinking the same thing about you.”

His lips chastely caressed her knuckles as Natasha stepped onto the veranda with a small basket of multicolored flower petals and a small bouquet of her own; the Matron of Honor was dressed in a simple lilac-colored gown, with her long red curls pinned up in an elegant style by a single white Dahlia and glittering silver heels on her feet. “Save the kissing for later, lovebirds, we’ve got a wedding ceremony to begin.” Mindful of her gown, the spy bent down and held the basket out for Cassie to take. “Okay, Lang, just like we practiced.”

“I’m on it,” Cassie replied, toothily grinning and giving Natasha a thumbs-up before taking the basket from her and allowing the spy to quickly adjust (Y/N)’s veil.

“Are you two ready?” After Loki and (Y/N) nodded, Natasha held a hand up to her comm link and spoke lowly into it, “All right, kid, let’s do this thing.”

Across the way, MJ nodded and gestured for her friends to take their seats, spending a moment adjusting her guitar’s shoulder strap before beginning to softly play. The guests’ conversations started to dim down and with a nod of confirmation from the spy, Cassie walked across the lawn and started to slowly make her way down the aisle, scattering flower petals along the way while her father beamed with pride from his seat.

Thor leaned down to give (Y/N)’s forehead a chaste kiss and clapped a hand on Loki’s shoulder, his blue eyes sparkling with happiness as he allowed Natasha to loop her arm around his. “See you in a minute.”

Natasha winked at them and with that, the Best Man and the Matron of Honor began their walk down the aisle; when they ascended the gazebo’s steps and took their respective places, (Y/N) slipped her hand into Loki’s and he squeezed it tight as they crossed the lawn to stand at the end of the aisle. Once the guests all stood and turned to face them, Loki and (Y/N) exchanged a smile before starting down the aisle hand-in-hand; long before they knew it was Alfheimian tradition that the bride and groom walk themselves down the aisle on their wedding day, (Y/N) pointed out that since they’d both be entering into marriage with one another, it only made sense that they’d choose to walk down the aisle together.

While they slowly walked down the aisle as MJ played a gentle love ballad on her guitar, Loki looked out at their friends, teammates and colleagues standing amongst the guests to distract himself from the butterflies beginning to flutter around his stomach. Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Everett Ross and Doctor Helen Cho stood alongside everyone they invited from S.H.I.E.L.D., the director giving them both an approving nod as they passed by; Steven Grant – the quirky man they’d met while on vacation in Egypt and to whom (Y/N) was a devoted pen-pal – stood beside Layla El-Fouley, his alter Marc Spector’s stunning wife, and for the briefest moment, Loki could even see the skeletal figure of Khonshu lingering by one of the distant trees; their new and reluctant friend Doctor Stephen Strange, now dressed in a simple black tuxedo instead of his sorcerer’s robes, stood beside his fellow sorcerer Wong and attempted to not look as uncomfortable as he presumably felt amongst so many superheroes; Peter Parker and Ned Leeds were trying their hardest not to seem too excited to be sharing a row with Doctor Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis, and Loki could hear (Y/N) stifle a giggle when the eccentric woman winked and fired finger-guns at them; Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne’s attention was caught between watching Loki and (Y/N) make their way down the aisle and keeping an eye on Cassie standing on the gazebo beside Thor, while Bucky and Sam both smiled widely at them as they passed; Bruce stood beside his cousin Jennifer Walters, who was already flirtatiously eyeing an embarrassed Rhodey standing across the aisle, while Pepper elbowed a snickering Tony; Steve and Clint stood at one of the front rows, the super soldier beaming with happiness and the archer filming their procession with his camcorder.

At the front of Loki’s side of the aisle stood their Asgardian and Alfheimian friends and family. Fandral winked at him and Sif grinned widely as Volstagg toasted them with the chocolate bar he was snacking on and even the ever-stoic Hogun gave them an atypical smile. Queen Amirah of Alfheim stood beside her guards, Hagen and Myriani, and the afternoon sunlight make her blue opal tiara sparkle almost as much as her smile, and at the end of the row stood Frigga, who was dabbing at her tear-filled eyes with a handkerchief as they walked past and ascended the gazebo’s steps.

Elora patiently waited for all the guests to take their seats to begin. “We are gathered here to witness the union of Crown Princess (Y/N) Layeiadottir (Y/L/N) of Alfheim and Midgard and Prince Loki of Asgard, two halves of the same shining soul, in blessed matrimony. Do both parties stand here of your own free will to acknowledge the eternal bond shared by the both of you?”

“We do,” Loki and (Y/N) replied in unison.

“Then you may face one another, join hands and recite your written vows.”

After (Y/N) handed her bouquet over to Natasha and placed her hands in Loki’s, she took a steadying breath before smiling up at him. “Loki. Through all the tears and all the struggles we’ve overcome together, a part of me always knew that we were destined to make it here. My heart was yours the moment I first looked into your beautiful eyes and as I look into them now, I can see every ounce of the passion and devotion I feel for you reflected in them. Sweetheart, you’re my greatest love and the brightest light in my life, and I promise to love and cherish you from here to eternity as your wife.”

Loki swallowed the lump in his throat and forced himself not to cry as he started speaking his own vows. “(Y/N). Not a day goes by where I don’t count myself the luckiest man in all the Nine Realms to have the love of someone as utterly magnificent as you. In the beginning of our romance, I feared that you were too good to be true, that I couldn’t possibly be deserving of someone so pure and loving as you are. But here we stand, surrounded by our friends and family, and I feel proud and incredibly blessed to become your husband. My darling, you’re my lover, my best friend and my eternal soulmate. All I am is yours, and here before our friends, our family and the Norns themselves, I vow to be until the end of time.”

(Y/N)’s eyes were filled with unshed tears and although Loki’s gaze never left hers, he could hear the sniffles and rustling of Kleenex packages amongst their guests. “(Y/N), do you take Loki to be your husband, to cherish in love and in friendship, in strength and in weakness, in success and disappointment, to love him faithfully today, tomorrow and forever?”

“I do,” (Y/N) vowed and smiled widely up at him.

“Loki, do you take (Y/N) to be your wife, to cherish in love and in friendship, in strength and in weakness, in success and disappointment, to love her faithfully today, tomorrow and forever?”

Loki solemnly nodded as he vowed, “I do.”

“And now, for the rings.”

Cassie nodded, handing one ring to Natasha and the other to Thor before giving her father an excited wave, causing a ripple of giggles through the rows of guests; the spy handed (Y/N) the ring and her eyes flicked between his and the thin band she held as she recited the ceremony’s next words. “I present to you this ring as a symbol of my devotion.” She slipped the band onto his ring finger to rest above his gold engagement ring. “My body, my soul and my everlasting love I share with you always and forever.”

Accepting the ring that his brother handed him, Loki gave (Y/N) another smile before reciting, “I present to you this ring as a symbol of my devotion.” He slipped the band onto her finger above her sparkling engagement ring. “My body, my soul and my everlasting love I share with you always and forever.”

“May these symbols of your devotion serve to always remind you of your everlasting bond.” Elora’s golden-colored eyes were slowly misting over as she spoke, no doubt wishing that (Y/N)’s late mother and father could be there to witness their only child be married. “And now, by the power vested in me by my rank as General of the Alfheimian Army, it is my honor to declare you both married. Go forth and live each day of your lives together to the fullest. You may seal this declaration with a kiss.”

Beaming with happiness, (Y/N) stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against Loki’s in a brief but passionate kiss that he was quick to reciprocate. For one singular blissful moment, everything and everyone around them faded away and they stood alone on the gazebo, sharing a sweet and loving kiss that symbolized their long-awaited unification as husband and wife. The cheering and applause from their guests brought Loki back to reality sooner than he would’ve liked but after reminding himself that they’d have plenty of time to be alone later, he ended their kiss and gave his wife a mischievous smile before scooping her up in his arms and spinning around while she burst into joyous laughter.

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To say that the wedding reception was one of the liveliest parties (Y/N) had ever attended would be an understatement. From the moment they were declared husband and wife, she felt as through she’d been whisked straight into a dream that seemingly had no end to it; once they finished having their wedding photographs taken, they spent a half an hour by themselves in one of Stark Mansion’s many living rooms, enjoying several slices of pizza (and lots of kisses, of course) and taking time to relax for the first time that day while the guests filtered into the ballroom for the reception.

After (Y/N) and Loki snuck into the beautifully-decorated ballroom and made their rounds around the tables to greet their guests as they enjoyed their dinner, the trio of teenagers they’d allowed to be their DJ’s took their places behind their equipment and announced the bride and groom’s first dance as husband and wife; they both had fun watching their guests’ reactions when, instead of some sort of romantic waltz or ballad, they danced along to the fast-paced disco hit ‘You’re The First, The Last, My Everything,’ spinning and twirling so much around the dance floor that (Y/N) was thankful she’d removed her floral crown and veil and that Loki had dressed down to just his black tuxedo.

The guests took to the dance floor once dinner was cleared away and while Loki danced with Frigga, Thor asked (Y/N) for a dance. From there, (Y/N) danced with every member of the Avengers and their off-realm guests to a wide variety of music; she requested Big Band tunes for Steve and Bucky and slower songs for Bruce and the Warrior’s Three, while Tony, Clint and Sam happily danced along with her to some faster pop numbers. Natasha pulled her into a ladies-only group dance with Jane, Darcy, Helen and Maria, and after a brief dance with Everett Ross, (Y/N) had their trio of DJ’s pause the music so she could reveal her surprise for Loki.

“I’d like to start out by thanking you all for being here with us today,” (Y/N) began as she stood before the crowded ballroom. “As I’m sure some of you know, I had a difficult road to recovery after the Battle of Boston. Sam suggested that I take up playing the piano again as a form of musical therapy, but I was hesitant at first; you see, my aunt taught me to play when I was a child and I stopped when she died because I couldn’t enjoy the music without her. Loki…” Her voice momentarily caught in her throat at the unexpected emotions welling up within her, but spotting her husband standing amongst the crowd helped her to steady herself and keep going. “Loki stayed with me every single time I sat myself at the piano. With him by my side, I found the strength to enjoy the music again and slowly but surely, I started to heal. Loki’s always been there for me when I needed him the most, which is why I’d like to dedicate this next song to my new husband.”

Peter and MJ plugged in the last chord as (Y/N) sat down at the electric keyboard they’d set up for her, both teenagers ducking out of the way with a whispered “break a leg!” while she adjusted the microphone and straightened her posture; seeing the curious expression on Loki’s face and the eager anticipation filling his emerald-green eyes, (Y/N) gave him a smile and a little wink before she began to play.

“Sweet, wonderful you, you make me happy with the things you do. Oh, can it be so, this feeling follows me wherever I go. I never did believe in miracles, but I’ve a feeling it’s time to try…I never did believe in the ways of magic, but I’m beginning to wonder why…” A widening grin played on (Y/N)’s lips as the guests took to the dance floor and started to dance to the spirited Fleetwood Mac tune while she sang. “I never did believe in miracles, but I’ve a feeling it’s time to try…I never did believe in the ways of magic, but I’m beginning to wonder why…” While the guests continued to dance, Loki approached the electric keyboard she was seated at and watched her fingers fly across the keys with an unreadable expression on his face. “Don’t, don’t break the spell, it would be different and you know it will. You, you make loving fun, and I don’t have to tell you but you’re the only one. You, you make loving fun, it’s all I want to do…you, you make loving fun, it’s all I want to do…you, you make loving fun, it’s all I want to do…you, you make loving fun, it’s all I want to do…”

When the song finally came to an end, the crowd burst into applause and their three DJ’s were quick to select another pop song that kept everyone out on the dance floor. (Y/N) thanked the teenagers for their help and crossed the makeshift stage to where Loki stood but before she could say anything, his arms were around her and he was dipping her low as his lips captured hers in a reverent kiss; when they were finally forced to separate for air, her husband straightened them both up but kept his arms wound around her waist and gave her a tender grin. “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you sing, darling, and you sang that beautiful song just for me. Rest assured, I’ll treasure that moment for the rest of my days.”

“Thanks to our archer-turned-videographer, you’ll be able to watch it over and over until you get sick of it,” (Y/N) chuckled as she glanced past Loki to see Clint filming Natasha and Thor reenacting the famous lift from Dirty Dancing to the amazement of the dancers nearest to them.

Loki’s fingers gently took hold of her chin and guided her to look at him, and his love-struck gaze remained trained on hers as he slowly shook his head. “Never, my love. Now, how about a slice of cake and some Asgardian mead?”

Everyone gathered to watch (Y/N) and Loki cut their three-tiered wedding cake with one of his intricate daggers and after they’d indulged in their dessert, four of their grinning and slightly-inebriated teammates took to the makeshift stage; Natasha and Clint’s cheeks were tinged red, Sam’s sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and his bow-tie was missing, and Tony couldn’t contain his giggles as he stepped up to one of the microphones.

“Hey, guys! Great party, huh?” The crowd cheered and Tony nodded in agreement. “Well, you better hold onto your hats ‘cause it’s about to get even greater!”

(Y/N), who was standing beside Loki and catching up with both Pepper and Helen, looked over at her husband with eyes widened in horror. “He’s not about to give a speech, is he?”

“Not if he doesn’t wanna spend tonight sleeping on the couch,” The CEO replied before taking another sip of her champagne. “Trust me, he and I already had a lengthy discussion about what constitutes as appropriate wedding reception behavior.”

“In my experience, Mr. Stark tends not to retain information told to him in less than three sentences or in any tone other than pleasant.” The world-renowned geneticist let out a long-suffering sigh and watched the four Avengers setting up several more microphone stands. “Hence why he’s permanently banned from my laboratory.”

While Pepper gave Helen an understanding nod, Loki wrapped an arm around (Y/N)’s shoulders and gave her a comforting squeeze. “I’m sure that whatever they’re planning will be very touching…also, Romanoff stole Stark’s intended speech and vaguely threatened bodily harm if he attempted to improvise one; he may be an impulsive Midgardian, but he knows better than to find himself at the mercy of the Black Widow.”

(Y/N) chuckled as the lighting dimmed and all of a sudden, a spotlight landed on the two of them. “You see, the four of us up here got together and decided we wanted to do somethin’ special for our two good friends here. Like (Y/L/N) here mentioned earlier, she used music to help her out during her recovery and she’d play for all of us in the tower; so, we got together and figured that it was time we were the ones to play something for her…or rather, sing something for her. Hit it, adolescent DJ’s!”

The teenagers began to play an instrumental track of Frankie Valli and the Four Season’s ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,’ and Loki offered her his hand. “Shall we?”

With a smile on her face, (Y/N) nodded and allowed her husband to lead her to the empty center of the dance floor, slow-dancing along to the song’s pleasant introduction and biting her lip to keep from giggling when Tony and Sam started singing and Natasha and Clint provided their back-up vocals. “You’re just too good to be true, can’t take my eyes off of you. You’d be like heaven to touch, I wanna hold you so much. At long last love has arrived, and I thank God I’m alive. You’re just too good to be true, can’t take my eyes off of you…”

“Did you tell them that I like this song?” (Y/N) suddenly asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion as she examined Loki’s overly-cheerful face. “Because I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned to any of them that I like this song.”

Loki merely arched a brow and his emerald-green eyes sparkled with mischief. “Now, why would I do such an odd thing as that?”

“Pardon the way that I stare, there’s nothin’ else to compare. The sight of you leaves me weak, there are no words left to speak. But if you feel like I feel, please let me know that it’s real. You’re just too good to be true, can’t take my eyes off of you…”

As the small instrumental revved up for the chorus, (Y/N) was twirled around in tight circles and before she could question her husband further, his voice suddenly echoed throughout the ballroom and sang, “I love you, baby!” (Y/N) gasped in disbelief when she looked over at the makeshift stage to see Loki standing at one of the microphones, and she laughed when she realized that her dance partner was a clone created from Loki’s magic. “And if it’s quite alright I need you, baby, to warm the lonely night, I love you, baby, trust in me when I say…” Loki was grinning widely as he sang and when his eyes found (Y/N)’s, he gave her a sly wink. “Oh, pretty baby! Now that I’ve found you, stay, and let me love you, baby, let me love you!”

“You really are a trickster,” (Y/N) remarked to Loki’s smirking clone, who merely shrugged and continued to sway them across the dance floor.

“When our friendship first began, my darling (Y/N) took it upon herself to introduce me to all of Midgard’s greatest literary creations and being the dedicated bibliophile that she is, she more than succeeded.” The real Loki onstage smiled as he held onto the microphone. “Each and every novel and play she recommended provided me insight into her beautiful mind but when it came to watching the filmed adaptations of her favorite literary works, I was able to observe just how they affected her…which is how I know that (Y/N) adores the scene in a certain modern Shakespearean adaptation when the handsome lead surprises the heroine with a public show of affection.”

(Y/N) felt her face warm and a reluctant grin spread across her face as she glanced back at the clone she was dancing with. “10 Things I Hate About You was the first movie we watched together when I joined the Avengers. I…I can’t believe you remembered that…”

The clone leaned down and pressed a kiss onto her forehead while the real Loki onstage continued to sing. “I love you, baby! And if it’s quite alright I need you, baby, to warm the lonely night, I love you, baby, trust in me when I say…Oh, pretty baby! Don’t bring me down, I pray, oh pretty baby, now that I’ve found you, stay, oh pretty baby, trust in me when I say…”

When the song came to an end, the clone vanished in a shimmer of green magic and as the crowd clapped and cheered, an impressed-looking Darcy leaned towards (Y/N) and yelled over the din, “Geez, is there anything that guy can’t do?”

“If there is, then I’ve certainly never seen it!” (Y/N) chuckled and when Loki finally made his way through the crowd, she looped her arms around his waist and smiled up at him. “That was beautiful, sweetheart!”

“It was a challenge to keep our rehearsals a secret and I might’ve downed a shot or two of liquid courage beforehand, but I’m glad that you enjoyed it.” He pressed a kiss onto the tip of her nose and grinned when she laughed at the ticklish sensation. “You surprised me with a beautifully-performed song, and I surprised you with a slightly-less conventional performance; I suppose that great minds really do think alike.”

“Okay, here’s another oldie for all you oldies out there!” Ned Leeds’ amplified voice announced and the opening notes of The Village People’s ‘Y.M.C.A.’ filled the ballroom, causing the guests to eagerly take to the dance floor.

Nearby, Jane frowned and turned to Darcy standing beside her. “Wait, did that kid just call us old?”

“Join the club,” Both Steve and Bucky quipped as Natasha and Jennifer Walters dragged them past towards the center of the dance floor.

“Oh, I love this song!” (Y/N) grabbed Loki’s hands and started to sway along to the catchy beat. “It was in The Office, remember? It’s the song that plays towards the end of the Café Disco episode!”

“You’re right, but I’m still confused as to why a song about a worldwide youth organization inspires such a visceral reaction in Midgardians.” Loki studied the dancers around them in curious amusement. “And what about it has anything to do with weddings?”

She ducked under his arms and spun so that her back was pressed against his front, craning her neck so that she could meet his gaze with a grin. “It’s a catchy, cheesy song that has the easiest dance moves in the world to perform. Doesn’t that make it the perfect party song?”

Loki shrugged and spun her back out to face him. “Only if one has the perfect dance partner to go along with it.”

“Then I suppose we’re in luck,” (Y/N) quipped, pressing a kiss onto her husband’s knuckles before manipulating his arms along to the song’s iconic chorus and dissolving into a fit of giggles at the absurdity of the God of Mischief dancing along to ‘Y.M.C.A..’

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When the moon was high in the star-filled sky and the reception inside Stark Mansion was beginning to wind down, Loki and (Y/N) snuck off to the gazebo they were married in and swayed to the slow music playing in the distance, surrounded only by the beautiful flowers and twinkling fairy lights that decorated the structure. (Y/N)’s head rested on Loki’s shoulder and his eyes were closed as one of his hands held hers against his chest, directly over his heart.

“Do you think that we’ll see Doctor Strange again?”

Loki thoughtfully hummed and nodded. “I’m sure we will, but not for a long while; I believe that the superhero lifestyle unnerved the poor fellow and I doubt he wants to incite the anger of any of our friends. As long as you continue to train and master your abilities, there won’t be a reason for that second-rate sorcerer to bother you again.”

(Y/N) lifted her head so that she could meet his gaze, a single brow arched as her (Y/E/C) eyes sparkled with delight. “So, are you finally going to tell me where we’re going on our honeymoon?”

“And ruin the surprise I’ve spent two months meticulously planning? Where’s the fun in that?”

“Loki, I have to know what sort of clothes to pack!”

“Darling, I don’t imagine we’ll be wearing any for the majority of the honeymoon.” Loki’s teasing snickers quickly transitioned to laughter when (Y/N)’s fingers mercilessly tickled his neck in retaliation. “All right, all right, I surrender! On Monday, you and I will travel the Bifrost to Karapiro, New Zealand and spend ten days at Lakeview Lodge; we’ll have the opportunity to visit Rotorua, the Waitomo Caves and even take a tour of-”

“Hobbiton,” (Y/N) gasped and Loki’s grin widened as her face lit up with excitement. “We’re going to see where they filmed The Lord of the Rings movies?!” When he nodded, she flung her arms around his neck and nearly tackled him to the floor with the force of her embrace, but he was quick to catch her and hold her up against him while she laughed in delight. “I have the absolute best husband in the world!”

Loki’s heart leapt in his chest when she called him her husband and when she moved her hands to cradle his face, he tenderly smiled up at her and replied, “Well, the best wife in the world deserves everything I can offer her and more, does she not?”

(Y/N)’s expression softened into a look of loving adoration, and the feather-light touch of her thumbs caressing his cheekbones nearly made his eyes flutter closed in bliss. “You know, I think about that day we first met in the library from time to time. I replay the entire scene my mind – how I stumbled and how you were by my side in an instant to catch me, how our eyes locked and my breath was nearly taken away by the way you looked at me, how my heartbeat sped up when I realized how much I enjoyed having your arms around me – and when I do, I thank the universe for sending a mischievous and misunderstood trickster to steal my heart that day.”

“When I think of that fateful day, I find myself thanking the Norns for sending a kind and passionate lost princess to spellbind me, body and soul,” Loki huskily replied as his eyes stung with the prickling of tears. “And I pray that she’ll never set me free.”

(Y/N), her eyes sparkling with unshed tears of joy, gently shook her head and leaned forward to ghost her lips over his. “As long as the trickster holds her heart, she never ever will. So…” She held her hand up and stuck her little finger into the air with the hint of a playful grin on her face. “Pinky-Promise?”

Loki laughed and adjusted his hold on her so that he could wrap his little finger around hers. “Pinky-Promise.”

Their lips finally met in a passionate and unhurried kiss and Loki sighed at the heavenly sensation of (Y/N)’s fingers carding through his hair, holding his beautiful wife in a tight embrace and smiling through the love-filled kisses they exchanged beneath the gazebo’s twinkling lights.

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A/N: I honestly loved writing this and indulging in some of my own personal wedding dreams lol if anyone would like to see the different reference pics I used while designing the wedding, just shoot me a message and I’ll send ‘em to you! Thank you all so much for reading and commenting! I’ve created a Spotify playlist inspired by this series, and I’ll be updating it every time I upload a new chapter. Enjoy!

Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2wx8TZwpDN0l33tES3W3Nk?si=5fcb3ef04de544e7

Three’s Company (A Spellbinding-Verse Interlude)

“Spellbinding” Masterlist

Tagging: @nexiva @ravenclawbitch426 @cminr @confusedfandomwriter @momc95 @nickkie99 @austynparksandpizza @brooke0297 @a-laufeyson @outoftheregular @itscomplicatedx @0-artemis @vivloki @crowleysqueenofhell @groovy-lady @mostclevermiss

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lives-in-midgard · 1 year

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youandtom2 · 2 years

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An Avenger's Revenge (dark!Peter Parker)

PROLOGUE // SERIES MASTERLIST // MAIN MASTERLIST

Summary: Spider-Man was just one of the mighty, powerful Gods that rule the Earth. A night of death, betrayal, war and defeat turns him into a myth, a memory to be forgotten about by the other Greedy Gods that share this planet. Without his generosity, the world takes a turn for the worse and the people are desperate for a solution. With a rebellion on the horizon, it may be your only chance to rise up against the Greedy Gods and restore Spider-Man's legacy.

Themes: dystopian, futuristic, smut, angst, death!, dark concepts**, a tad bit fluff :) **T/W: will be specified per chapter - none in this one

a/n: ahhhhh here she is! my precious! hope you like :)

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There was two reasons why the deities came to Earth centuries ago. It would be hard to believe that there would be a reason at all, but alas, at the naivety of the human race, there were two. The first reason, and the most important one of them all, was the sheer abundance of untouched infinity stones buried deep beneath the surface; a currency that the deities yearn for. Rare and precious, infinity stones are a source of power to those who are strong enough to yield it and in a place where such strength doesn’t exist, not many deities considered Earth to be rich with natural, authentic infinity stones. It was mistakenly overlooked for years. However, on the night of a full moon centuries ago, a God stumbled upon the small planet and with such a find, word broke loose. All of a sudden, they all came swarming until Earth was held hostage, under the deities’ command with humans forced to feed their greed…which explains reason number two. The second pertains to the humans’ ignorance of the true value and use of the infinity stones because after all, what human could stand a chance in a race amongst the gods? Submissive and overpowered, the humans have been subjected to the deities' biddings, getting weaker and weaker while they grow stronger and richer. Reduced to nothing but servants, soldiers, miners and maids, it was a giant step backwards in societal evolution.

Centuries on, people living now can’t imagine a world without the deities’ rule. They call themselves the Avengers now. A poor choice in name you always thought but the reasoning derives from their promise to protect the Earth if anything, or anyone, were to attack Earth to steal their precious infinity stones. A false pretence to hide their greediness, the very greediness that demanded statues of them to be erected, eight columned temples built in their honour and at least one day every year to celebrate the anniversary of their arrival. It’s all very grand and ceremonious, but their opulence doesn’t stop there, oh no. Of course, a God is only deserving of a palace to live in, built by the subjects that serve them. They emanate such holiness that many claim that to look at the very spectacle can be overwhelming, that the impenetrable black iron gates stand to symbolise their power and it’s for that reason alone that deities remain absolute in their reign.

You work for one directly. The first God to step foot on Earth and the leader to all deities who arrived thereafter, Iron Man. Staff know him better as Tony Stark.

With the early morning sun casting an orange glow on the iron palace, you exit your bed chamber, climb the same 3 flights of stairs you see every morning and wander through the white and golden halls with your heels clicking against the marble flooring, dressed in your maids uniform. Reaching the main floor, you meet Ginny, another maid.

“How is he this morning?” You ask, walking alongside her as you both start the long journey to the dining hall.

“He’s quickly deteriorating. His doctor said it could be any day now. I wonder how it happens.”

“How ‘what’ happens?”

“The death of an Avenger. No one has ever seen how an Avenger dies. They’ve been here for centuries and none of them have ever popped their clogs.”

You snicker loudly, your smile quickly fading as you near the footmen standing by the door. Once out of sight, you whisper back to her. “‘Popped their clogs’, you make it sound like they die like any other human does.”

“Well I don’t know, maybe they do. I can’t imagine death is any more dignified for deities than it is for human’s.”

“Whatever, I don’t really care how it happens, we know now that it’s inevitable at this point. What I’m more concerned about is what happens after he dies, you know? We have seven other Avengers in this world, all just as greedy as each other and you know Tony was top dog, his death is going to mean a breach of peace.”

This has been a concern of yours since you first heard of Tony’s ailment. Questions fill your mind one by one and the more time ticks on towards Tony’s death, the more they are beginning to scare you. Your entire life’s purpose has evolved around your servitude to Tony Stark, Iron Man, the first deity to claim this planet, so without him, what good is a maid without her master?

Ginny shares her empathy as she too faces the same predicament and responds with a sigh. Grown together, you would hate to be separated and given a hand that isn’t as lucky as your first. You’ve played a major role in each other's past but with your future yet to be decided, you fear she may become somebody that you used to know.

Just as you are about to enter the dining hall to take to your stations, she grabs your hand and pulls you quietly into the corner.

“Look, you didn’t hear this from me okay? I overheard Matron mention something about Tony giving a public announcement later today. I think he’s going to pass us and the entire faction onto another Avenger.”

“What?!”

“Shhh! I don’t know for certain, but I think he suspects what we do as well. He knows that he has the biggest faction - he wouldn’t leave it leaderless and he knows the rest will all fight for it, so if he gives it all away, there’s nothing to fight for.”

“Who do you think it would be?”

“I’m not sure. We border Captain America’s faction but after the rival they had decades ago, I doubt he’ll be so willing to give it to him, and I just hope it’s not Doctor Strange. My cousin, Megara, works in his faction and I heard he’s incredibly overbearing and strict. Or…it could be someone completely new.”

“Well, whoever it is, I just hope they can treat us at least half as good as Tony has.”

Ginny sighs and purses her lips while a touch of sadness glosses over her eyes, evidently not finding faith in your optimism. “I know. I’m going to miss the old bastard.”

“Yeah, me too. Come on. We better go.”

Being the latest generation of a long line of maids, you’re lucky to have been given the opportunity to work directly for the leader of the Avengers, and he is - surprisingly - the most lenient of them all. You guess there was something about the guilt of enslaving a native species centuries ago that plagued him and over the decades he outgrew his reputation of being cynical, power-hungry and arrogant, and became the reverent leader that the other deities had no other option but to respect. Within any field of executive power, there is ranking and despite how omnipotent and divine these deities seem to be in their own right, they too abide by a hierarchy. Otherwise it would all-out war between the Greedy Gods. There are exactly eight of them residing on Earth each living within their own faction of the world which have been offered to them by Tony on one condition - ‘take what you are given and no fighting’ were his exact words, the very same inscripted onto the Avengers’ oath displayed on every Avenger temple. It’s the only rule the deity’s live by.

Despite being your master, Tony is the closest thing to a father figure in the sense that he provides and protects. Your biological father was sent away to the mines as part of the mandatory three-year conscription, but even after his conscription was completed, he chose to stay knowing that you and your mother were being cared for and he was happy with employment.

Conscription varies from faction to faction, for example, Tony has the largest faction with the largest population, so what Tony’s men dig in a year, Black Widow’s smaller faction may have to dig for 2 years to match. Another difference is the attitude. Here, it’s common for men to enrol voluntarily after conscription because Tony’s conditions are the most favourable in the world. He offers breaks and benefits, extra perks like insured healthcare and a pension, whereas Doctor Strange’s conditions, for example, are foul, laborious and completely inhumane but necessary if he wants to remain a competitor in the deity race. In simpler words, if you’re going to work for someone, you want it to be Tony. Not that you have a choice in the matter…

Just as you take your stations, Tony is wheeled into the dining room. It breaks your heart to see him so frail, an almost comatose body rolling up towards the table where a small bowlful of fruit, muesli and bread sit waiting for him. He doesn’t even get dressed out of his robe that hangs daintily from his shoulders, his glowing blue metallic heart on display; the thing that has been keeping him alive all this time. Its shine isn’t as bright as you remember it and its colour has been losing its vibrancy over the last few weeks, dulling to the same grey that stains his skin. His salt and pepper hair has faded into a soft white in patches but for a deity at this stage in life, vanity is the last thing he cares for.

“Morning, sir,” you and Ginny both greet. Tony passes you both a weak smile, not quite reaching his eyes. You both begin dishing out his breakfast, pouring his drink and brewing his coffee.

“Do me a favour girls, will you?” His voice is broken up by a hacking, wheezing cough. “Sit with me?”

You and Ginny mirror the same hesitance, knowing that doing so would be entirely inappropriate for people of your calibre. It isn’t lost in Tony’s eyes and makes one final plea. “Please. It may be my last breakfast, I would hate to spend it alone.”

Conceding, you sit by his right and Ginny follows seconds later on his left, the food remaining untouched. Formalities quickly simmer and sitting here with Tony and Ginny as the golden sunlight beams in through the 15 foot windows, you seem to be at ease but underneath it all, a melancholy aura floods the room.

“I…” Tony starts, sitting upright. “I…wanted to say thank you to you both. I know that hasn’t been said often - I’m aware of that - but today, I really mean it. Your families have served me well and I intend to serve you well after my…strangely imminent passing.”

Yet another silent conversation is shared between you and Ginny. This time it’s a look of ‘what is he going to say?’

Tony opens his mouth again but the words don’t leave his lips, stopped by a reluctance that consumes him. Your heart stops dead in your chest.

“My…passing leaves my staff, my faction and my inheritance vulnerable, and I have no doubt that the other psychos in this world will want to snatch it for themselves. Call it my better nature but I can’t…I won’t leave you in the hands of Rogers or Strange or even Thor, despite them being the obvious choice for a successor. So…” he waves his hand dismissively, “I’ve decided that you’re now Parker’s.”

“Spider-Man?” you confirm.

“Yes. Spider-Man. Peter Parker. He’s the only one I can trust to not treat my inheritance as an invitation for world domination.” He laughs half-heartedly and it descends into a fit of coughs and you’re by his side in seconds. The flickering of the blue metal heart catches your peripheral and you sense that something’s failing.

“Sir, we should-”

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Now, I’ve been assured that the transaction will be quick and peaceful, and that the conditions will be strictly adhered to and by Gods there will be a serious haunting if anything doesn’t go according to plan.” Tony’s chuckle brings about a smile to your lips. He really is serious about taking care of what he leaves behind. Part of you believed he was all talk.

“Sir? What have we to do once…once you pass?”

Tony reaches over and places a shaky hand over yours as if to reassure you. “Nothing. You are to remain where you are. My passing won’t change anything for you or this faction; it’s a condition I made clear to Parker if he truly wants to claim his endowments. Everything will remain the same except it’ll just be Parker walking around these halls instead.”

“What’s he like?” Ginny asks. It’s a question that circles your mind too.

“Young, fair, perhaps a tad naive for my liking, but…capable. That kid’s got some serious potential. He’ll be the first Avenger to own two factions, one of which is the biggest so girls, by all means, don’t let that get to his head and believe me, I know it will, so you have my expressed permission to humble him every now and then, got it?”

Everyone knows that his late arrival to the planet meant that Peter Parker owned the smallest faction. One that borders the most eastern side of Tony’s and across the water. His income of infinity stones is not nearly as substantial as the other deities before him and it often puts him in the firing line for endless teasing. You once heard of a rumour that the other deities nickname him ‘slim pickings’, taking only what was left of the unclaimed and the unwanted. Of course, Tony - being the reformed man that he is - chooses to take pity on him, taking him under his wing and showing him the ropes of what it means to be a God amongst commoners. And now he’s about to become your God.

“Sure.”

Content, Tony looks over solemnly to the map of the world displayed on the wall at the far end of the room. The framed, hand-painted map is a 2D landscape of the world showing the division of the eight factions, colour coded and labelled with the name of the Avenger that owns it. “I just wish the others were capable of being humbled too. I worry about how they’ll react when they hear Parker’s getting everything--”

“You haven’t told them?”

“Pfft, no of course not. Do you think I want Capsicle and Point Break squawking in my ear about what they’re not getting in my final days? Hell no! I can’t think of a worse way to go. I’ll leave that burden with Parker, it can be his first lesson.”

“And…what if they don’t accept it?” Your words speak the thought as it materialises in your head, and when Tony turns to you with a dejected sigh, you know the same thought has passed through his mind too. The truth is, Tony has been acutely aware of that possibility for a while, that in order for the desired outcome, it relies heavily on his legacy of being the ‘leader’ and whether or not the other Avengers will uphold that respect they have for him, even in death. It’s been years after all. Who’s to say that the Avengers haven’t been getting bored? Tony’s perception of his legacy may not be as revered as he hopes it to be.

“It’s fine,” Tony shrugs but it’s rather unconvincing. “Everything will go according to plan.”

>>>> Chapter 1

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theodorelore · 11 months

Text

𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

❋ spider-man

❋ iron man

❋ doctor strange

❋ matt murdock

❋ bucky barnes

❋ wade wilson

❋ wanda maximoff

❋ black widow

#platonic x reader #x male reader #spider man x reader #iron man x reader #doctor strange x reader #matt murdock x reader #bucky barnes x reader #wade wilson x reader #wanda maximoff x reader #black widow x reader

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random-writer-4884 · 2 years

Text

Marvel Fan-Fiction Requests Open!

Will not write:

Smut

Rape/Non-con

Racism

Sexism

Homophobia

Transphobia

Will write:

X Reader (Male, Female, Non-binary. Please specify otherwise fic will not be specified one way or another)

Character Ships (please Specify)

Mental illness (IE. Depression, Anxiety etc)

Eating disorders (please specify)

Disabilities (please Specify)

Chronic illness (please Specify)

Head cannons (within limitations)

Self-Harm

Platonic relationships

Characters I will not write currently

John Walker

Guardians of the Galaxy

DareDevil

Iron Fist

Captain Marvel

Ms. Marvel

Nick Fury

(Literally its just because I don't understand them enough to write them)

I reserve the right to refuse to write any request I do not want to.

MasterList

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eviesaurusrex · 2 years

Text

ꜱᴇᴄʀᴇᴛꜱ ʙᴇʜɪɴᴅ ꜱᴍɪʟᴇꜱ, ᴘᴛ. 2 | ꜱ. ꜱᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇ

GIF not mine!

Stephen Strange x Avenger!Reader

word count: 9.8k (send some help, please)

warnings: even more fluff, a bit of angst, nightmare, some good ol’ nightmare aftercare proudly presented you by Stephen Strange, more sneaking around the team, the team gets suspicious, cursing, curse words, Stephen being… Stephen, injuries

author’s note: pt. 2 is here!!!! Gosh, I’m still so excited about this ask and have to pour my entire heart into it. Thanks again for the request @clockblobber <3 This one is proofread but ignore mistakes if you stumble upon them – my brain is mush today, and I’m gonna go over it again tomorrow

»pt. 1 is here«

Typing away on her phone – Stephen had been at Kamar-Taj for quite some time now to deal with the new students of the mystic arts, and she had insisted that he saved all his energy for teaching them instead of visiting her every night – YN entered the living area of the compound after arriving from an intel mission only minutes ago. Scott followed close behind because his adjustable size had been crucial for the success of the mission, and with a deep sigh, he dropped into one of the armchairs unoccupied by the other present Avengers who had gathered for movie night.

YN didn’t even notice, too enthralled by the device between her fingers, and ran straightly into a walking Peter, who almost lost his balance. “Woah, hey there, Peter.” She grabbed his arm to prevent him from meeting the floor on a more intimate level and pushed the phone into the back pocket of her jeans. “Sorry, didn’t see you,” YN apologized while patting his shoulder softly. She always had gotten a soft spot for the young man and always looked out for him during missions, even though he could handle himself pretty darn good.

The brunette shook his head in protest. “It was my–…” But YN didn’t let him finish. “Nah-uh, I don’t wanna hear a single word.” She turned her head to be greeted by seven pairs of staring eyes, curiosity filled their irises completely – and she didn’t like one second of it. “Nevermind. You people prepared some decent snacks, or do I have to do the work again?” Because that had been the case during the last couple of movie nights which ended in ordering pizza and bickering about the choice of film.

They never really managed to watch more than one before it’s gotten worse and worse until Tony demanded the remote control sovereignty because he had paid for everything they used, while Nat and herself booed loudly because the Widows never were a fan of another Star Wars-filled night. Peter was always on Tony’s side – naturally – while Bucky and Steve kept themselves out of the discussion, still not really used to the “new” pop culture they had to face nowadays. At least Wanda, Clint, and Scott counted themselves as a constant part of Team Widow, and Thor, as well as Bruce, loved to hop between camps, always depending on the movie in question. Only Vision was indifferent, but everyone had gotten used to it by now.

It was utter chaos, sometimes even on the brink of anarchy, but YN loved it. She never had something like that in her life – at least, she couldn’t remember having a family – because she was never as lucky as Nat and never had a pretending family. Even though she wasn’t sure if she would’ve liked it very much. She always had lived her life within the confinements of the Red Room, always under the watchful eye of high-ranking generals and officers, always under the influence of a drug she didn’t want to remember. She had killed not only for Dreykov but also Hydra. She had met the Winter Soldier long before he had escaped his cruel purpose. And then, Nat had found her during one of her missions, months after the attack on New York, and Bruce and Tony had managed to get the drug out of her system. They had saved her and given her a life with a purpose, with a moral compass. YN had gotten another chance. And with that chance, a certain master of the mystic arts came into the picture – and the rest was history.

Blinking rapidly, YN escaped her thoughts and turned her attention back to the group. “The food is on its way, but we could use some more snacks,” Wanda told her, an apologetic smile on her face, but YN only rolled her eyes with a grin. “Sure y’all do. I’m gonna get you covered – but don’t you dare start the movie without me!” She made eye contact with Tony, who already held the remote in hand, and cocked not only an eyebrow but her head as well. “Try me, Stark,” she warned, and the man raised both hands in surrender. “We will behave perfectly.” Nodding, YN turned around, phone already in hand again, and trotted through the corridor into the kitchen.

Arriving there, the device started to vibrate, but it wasn’t an incoming text. With a soft smile, she accepted the call and settled the phone between ear and shoulder. “To what do I owe the honor of your call?” A greeting wasn’t necessary between these two anymore. Calling one another was as simple as taking Wilson down in combat training, unlike during the beginning of their relationship. Calls had been an utter nightmare.

A chuckle echoed through the speaker. “Do I need a reason to call the woman to whom I’ve pledged my love and devotion?” Softly laughing, YN grabbed a stack of bowls out of one of the many cupboards and spread them over the counter. “I see, you’ve read a lot of Shakespearian-sounding literature. Anything interesting?” She could hear Stephen’s grin from the other end of the world. “A few works weren’t that bad. I found spells I have never heard of before, and I think they could be useful if mastered properly. What are you up to, darling?”

In the meantime, YN had grabbed an assortment of snacks, and after ripping every package open, she dumped them in the waiting bowls, one by one. “Oh, nothing. It’s Friday, so we have movie night at the compound, and it will be a nightmare after film one. Just the usual.” She almost felt his sympathy physically. “I suppose Stark won’t give up the remote?” Scoffing, the Widow rounded the kitchen island to take a closer look into the freezer. “You can bet your sexy ass on it, love. Oh, yes. Come to me, ice cream!” She hadn’t planned for the outburst to leave her lips, but well.

With an evil chuckle, YN grabbed the last package of ice cream from behind a mountain of frosted vegetables – Nice try, Tony – and opened the foil to start eating it before returning to the living room. “Remind me never to hide any ice cream from you, my evil darling,” he laughed, and YN grinned happily. “It’s his ice cream. I would never dare to steal your ice cream because I love you dearly, my dear.”

Softly humming while eating the sweet substance, the woman leaned against the counter, totally unaware of the young man who stood just around the corner and heard every single word. She and Stephen talked for a few minutes more before they ended the call with the promise of a cozy weekend after she came back from her scheduled mission in Prague.

Meanwhile, Peter stood almost frozen in the middle of the living room, eyes wide and unsure where to start – and if he should say a word about the discovery he just had made anyway. But his mouth was faster than his brain. “Uhm… You always complain that YN is… is vanishing so often?” Instantly, Peter had gathered the attention of every single soul within this room. Steve furrowed his forehead, and even Bucky looked a bit worried while Tony straightened up on his spot on the couch. “Yeah? Talk, kiddo.” Peter scratched the back of his head and shrugged. “I think she has a boyfriend – or girlfriend! I’m totally open for both if she likes women more than men and if her partner in crime is a woman, that’s super cool because rainbows and love and–…” Scott patted his shoulder to silence the young superhero. “Think, that’s enough, Peter.”

The team exchanged glances before a bubbling laugh escaped from Tony’s mouth and let them look in his direction. Tears gathered in his eyes while his body shook with every laughter erupted from him. “YN and… and a boyfriend! Best joke ever!” Still laughing, Tony wiped the tears off his cheeks and shook his head. “Keep believing that, kiddo, but we know her a bit longer than you do. She would never have something like that because love isn’t her thing.” Nat cocked a copper eyebrow. “Love is her thing, but only on paper within books because men exhaust her – and she is only interested in them.” Steve seemed not to be convinced fully, but the creases on his forehead slowly erased themselves and Bucky leaned back on the two-seater they shared. “Not everyone needs love in their lives. Some only need certain needs satisfied, and…–“ Wanda threw a pillow against the former Winter Soldier’s head. “Bucky! He is still a teenager!” He raised both hands before crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“But…” Peter tried, but now it was Clint who patted his other shoulder. “Drop it, kid. She disappears to have time to herself. It gets crowded here, and sometimes, her thoughts run in the wrong direction. Can’t blame her. Everyone needs some peace and quietness from time to time.”

Unconvinced, Peter plopped down onto one of the two beanbags, the other entirely reserved for YN herself, and just a second later, three bowls floated through the doorframe into the living room. Before they could settle down on the coffee table between the seating area and flatscreen, Vision and Wanda took them out of the air and placed them down themselves. YN entered right after that, the other three bowls in her arms and a thankful expression in her eyes. “Thanks, V, Wanda. Wasn’t sure if I could master the landing.”

The red-haired witch smiled at her while the Widow rounded the couch and dropped her body onto the dark blue beanbag. “I told you it would get better with some more practice.” She sounded more than a bit pleased. YN grinned up at her. “Yup, totally.” She didn’t need to know that a certain sorcerer had helped her with the powers she mostly could only use with blunt force because no one in the Red Room had bothered to tame her. Years might have been passed since her escape, but those powers were gone for a while after her mind had reached the surface of consciousness. Probably a self-protection mechanism if Stephen was right with his educated guess. At least she could control them to a certain extent now. It would get better over time.

Another text from Stephen shifted her mood for the better after it had tried to take a detour back to the dark place it loved to sit and sulk. The movie was secondary, and even after the food arrived – sushi and pizza – YN barely looked up from her phone and was awfully quiet as soon as the bickering started anew.

Steve watched her closely and shock settled in his chest at the sight of a smile he had never seen on the face of one of his best friends before. Happy. Full of contentment. Her eyes twinkling and sparkling. She never was unhappy, of course not, but the soldier from another time knew the feeling she had always felt – the feeling of not fitting in. And suddenly, a realization crept up on him: Maybe that feeling had vanished somewhere along the road.

;

It was quiet in the compound. The world’s mightiest heroes had ended the day a few hours prior, soon after the Quinjet with YN and Sam had landed on the tarmac. It had become a ritual to wait upon arriving team members and to drink a soothing cup of tea to unwind from the previous mission and catch up on the gossip inside the compound.

Now, YN slept in the warm and loving embrace of a pair of strong arms, her head laying on a softly rising and falling chest, the sounds of Stephen’s deep slumber always the best method to lull her into sleep. But she started to move, softly at first, barely palpable. She rolled off his chest, and naturally, the tight embrace loosened around her body. Nails dragged over the comforter, ripped loose threads off the fabric while YN’s face contorted in confusion and fear, in agony and horror. Her breathing quickened, the heart within her rib cage started to race, and sweat dampened her forehead and back.

The dreams always hunted the Widow, but oh boy. The horrors of other nights were nothing in comparison.

The first escaping moan didn’t wake Stephen, not even the second one, the man too tired from long hours inside the Sanctum’s library to find one specific spell he had needed.

It was the scream that woke him with a startle.

“NO!”

Stephen didn’t need to turn on the light to see exactly where she was after tearing open his eyes. He pushed the traitorous blankets off his legs to scoot over to the moving and trashing woman. His hands almost didn’t grasp her arms because it scared the man how cold and damp her skin was. She had those dreams not as often as they used to come, but they were never this bad.

The next scream, so full of agony and blank horror, ripped his already bleeding heart to shreds. Stephen grabbed her upper arms softly, stroked them, caressed her face while pleading with her barely conscious mind to let her escape her own personal hell.

“YN, please. Please, wake up. I am here, nothing is going to happen. Everything is alright. It’s just a dream, only a dream. I am here, love. God damn it, let her wake up!” His voice sounded helpless, angry about the universe and himself, and with horror in his own eyes, he could see the light of the corridor suddenly shining through the slit between door and floor. Shaking her gently but urgently, Stephen tried it again while multiple hurried steps came closer to her door. “YN. YN! Wake up, love!”

With a violent gasp, her eyes finally teared open, tears staining her reddened cheeks, beads of sweat tracing her temples and contracting throat. Her eyes immediately found his face, but Stephen couldn’t mutter a single word. Instead, he left the bed in a hurry and hid in the bathroom – not his best move, but he didn’t care at the moment – and just in time, he closed the door only for another door to be opened. Hurried voices echoed through the room, and the sorcerer pushed both hands into his hair, running them through it over and over to calm himself and his rapid heartbeat.

He hated how helpless he had felt and still felt while others comforted his girl. He hated every single second of it and counted the moments until they left and closed the door again.

“Stephen…?”

Her small, shaking, and questioning voice pulled the sorcerer out of his spiraling thoughts, and without wasting another second, he ripped open the door. With a few long strides, he was back at her side, settling into their bed and pulling her flush against his chest. Stephen could feel the tears wetting his shirt, but he didn’t care. She could ruin every single piece of clothing he owned, and he would hold her anyway.

“I am here,” he whispered between kisses on her head. “Nothing is going to happen to you.” He could feel her short but stiff nod, almost as if she was a robot and didn’t learn how to move like a human. Both his hands stroked over her back - up and down, in a never-ending motion. Her body still trembled, and YN dug her fingers into the fabric of his shirt, clung to the man like a drowning woman clinging to a piece of driftwood. “I love you. I love you more than anything in this universe. I will always love you. It’s okay. It’ll be okay. They can’t hurt you.” He didn’t make any sense, but it didn’t matter.

After what felt like a never-ending eternity, YN stopped shaking like a leaf, her breathing slowed down again, and her hold on him was not that crushing anymore. “Sorry,” she mumbled, but Stephen was quick to brush through her hair and soothe the rising anxiety within her tormented mind. “Stop apologizing. There is nothing to apologize for.” He needed her to understand that, but his girl was smarter than anyone else – maybe except him.

She tried to find a more comfortable position but gave up because every single piece of fabric clung to her still damp skin. “Where did you hide?” Her voice was only a whisper, but the silence had settled back over the compound, so Stephen heard every single word and every single breath. “The bathroom,” he mumbled and pressed a soft kiss to her neck. YN’s soft chuckle was a good sign, and it put the beginning of a smile on his face. “Not your best move, love. Imagine one of them would’ve gone in there to get a cool cloth or something. What a sight that would be…”

He may roll his eyes, but Stephen was glad that YN could already joke around. That had always been a good sign.

The sorcerer pressed another kiss to her neck before looking into her barely lit face. “Do you want to talk about it?” Slowly, she shook her head. He knew she would decline just now, but he had to ask nonetheless. “Can’t. Need the sun to be up.” Her illogical fear of getting dragged back into the hell that was the Red Room still present in her overworking mind, and she knew how stupid it was. But Stephen never had judged her, not one single second. “Of course,” he said, caressing her face. “How about a shower?” She nodded against his neck, where she buried her face now, and Stephen picked her up with ease to carry her into his former hiding spot.

And that’s where they spent almost an hour under the warm water jet, her eyes closed, while Stephen softly washed her hair and did her entire hair and skincare routine. It always amazed YN how much attention this man granted her alone and how much he seemed to adore her. It was mind-blowing, really, and she desperately wished that this would be something lasting an entire lifetime.

;

Holding hands like lovestruck teenagers, YN and Stephen walked through Greenwich Village to enjoy one of the loveliest golden fall days they had encountered in a long time. She loved seeing the man next to her in casual clothes – a long dark jeans, grey shirt, and a dark green cardigan – though she wasn’t sure what about it made him look so irresistible. Maybe it was the domesticity of it, the warm feeling of home, and the comforting knowledge that one was deeply loved and valued. Or perhaps it was just his good looks and the eyes full of envy thrown her way by nearly every woman they’d passed so far.

Stephen gingerly pulled her closer to his side and put her hand around his bicep, wanting her as close as possible. Everyone should know that this woman wasn’t just an acquaintance, a mere friend who just happened to walk with him in the same direction. He could see the looks full of longing and the visible drool on some male’s chins. It was only natural that he did something about it, so he bent down and pressed a lingering kiss on YN’s temple to show the world what they needed to know. He was glad that reporters didn’t try to bother them anymore.

At least one thing Tony’s existence is good for, Stephen thought cynical, but different from his thoughts, his mood shone as bright as the fall sun over their heads.

“What are you up for today?” YN beat him to this crucial question. “Lazy walks around the block? A trip to Belvedere Castle? Exploring the new exhibition at the Louvre?” Her eyes looked as bright as the sky above them, and if the world paid close attention to the sorcerer now, they would’ve bared witness to the softest of smiles they’d have ever seen. But the world was blind, so the smile full of adoration and utter wonder over how his life had turned only visible for the one woman in his life.

Humming deep in thought, Stephen pulled one of her hands, which were both settled around his arm and in the crook between bicep and elbow, up to his lips to kiss her knuckles. “I’ve heard there is a new patisserie only two blocks further which happens to sell chocolate strawberries,” the man suggested, and pride and satisfaction filled his chest and body at the sight of her round eyes and the radiant smile stretching across her lips.

His past self wouldn’t believe his eyes. During some days, even he had difficulties comprehending the change he went through in order to become as worthy as possible for the woman next to him. Still, he didn’t believe to be worthy enough and was convinced that better men were waiting for her, but he couldn’t let her go. He was, again, too selfish, but she seemingly didn’t mind.

Maybe the universe granted him the happy ending after all.

“Can we go there? Like… now? Immediately?” Grinning, Stephen nodded but didn’t think of using a portal. He needed to savor every single second he could get with her – just as she did with him. So they walked the two blocks, side by side, softly telling each other about their respective days and just basking in each other’s presence.

The idyll got suddenly destroyed as YN stopped dead in her tracks and stared over the busy street to her right. She needed to bent around Stephen because the stubborn man never let her walk next to the road if he was with her, but she was sure her peripheral vision hadn’t tricked her. And the Widow was right: on the other side were Clint and Nat, talking about something which made the archer laugh.

“Fuck,” was all she hissed for now, and even Stephen caught up to her observation. But he couldn’t form a single word because the woman had already grabbed his hand and pulled him to continue their route for now. Her eyes were trained on the opposite side of the road while she gracefully avoided collisions with every approaching passerby. The sorcerer didn’t know how exactly she did that, but maybe it was her own little magic trick. He only followed her, always alternating between looking to the other pair of Avengers and straight ahead to nudge YN in a different direction if necessary.

“We need to turn the next one,” YN decided at the sight of Nat and Clint waiting for the streetlight to turn green. “And we need to be faster.” As soon as the words had left her lips, Nat turned slightly and looked in their vague direction. “Stephen, now.” They dived behind a group of tourists and sneaked into an alleyway but didn’t stop. Instead, their steps increased in speed, and YN guided them through a labyrinth of hidden shortcuts, backyards, and a tremendous amount of turns and corners. “You definitely have Google Maps in that pretty head of yours,” the sorcerer decided after another complicated combination of turning and shortcutting, and YN chuckled cheerfully while he had lost track after the second corner. “The first premise is always to know your neighborhoods better than the content of your backpack. And since I’m spending almost more time here than at the compound, I believed it was time to know my way around – just in case.” Grinning, YN guided them through another alleyway, but now, they stepped onto one of the main streets of Greenwich Village, the Sanctum Sanctorum already in sight.

Stephen turned towards her and cocked an eyebrow. “But what’s with the chocolate strawberries?” YN softly shrugged and circled both arms around his neck; his hands almost immediately settled upon her jeans-clad hips, pushed underneath the long cardigan she had thrown over the old band shirt she wore and which was her pride and joy. She rubbed the tip of their noses against each other and kissed him quickly. “We can get them later. What about that trip to the Louvre? I’m tempted to bet that we won’t see any of their faces in Paris,” the Widow whispered temptingly against his lips, and if Stephen weren’t already sold, he would be now.

But before he released her out of his grasp, he bent his head lower to kiss her properly – one hand tangled in her soft hair while the other pulled her smaller body against his. Their lips moved in complete sync, eyes closed at the blissful feeling of warmth and butterflies, breathing labored, hearts beating rapidly against one another.

Smirking, Stephen ended the kiss with one last sweet peck. He wasn’t sure what had happened in the last two and a half years ever since that woman entered his life and turned everything upside down, but he never would want it any other way.

“Now, we can go,” he spoke with a raspy but tender voice, and the portal opened just behind him to lead the couple into the heart of the city of love. He held his hand open, so YN could take it what she did with a bright smile on her gorgeous face. “Madame.” She curtsied with a soft grin. “Merci beaucoup, monsieur.” The reply escaped her in flawless French as she stepped over the golden glittering threshold, and she pulled Stephen with her before the portal closed itself and released the couple into a carefree Parisian afternoon.

;

“Sometimes you have the greatest ideas,” YN sighed, stomach full and on an endorphin high with all the sugar and love in her system. Stephen stretched his long, toned body over the comforter laying atop his four-poster bed, head propped up on one hand, eyes locked on the woman on the other side of the mattress, the remnants of their small indoor picnic between them. “Only sometimes, hm?” He teased her, and YN laughed wholeheartedly while taking one of the napkins and throwing it in the vague direction of his smirking face. “Oh, stop it,” she grinned before stealing the last chocolate strawberry and plopping the sweet fruit between her lips. Moaning, she chewed with closed eyes and let herself fall back into the pillows. “Best thing there is on this planet.”

His hand moved softly through the air, from left to right, his scarred pointer and ring finger sticking out while the rest was balled to a half-fist, and suddenly, the picnic disappeared. The sorcerer knew it would find its way onto the kitchen counter left from the sink. But he didn’t concern himself with the whereabouts of the dishes because as soon as the magic was executed, Stephen rolled himself on top of YN, arms resting next to her face so he wouldn’t crush her under his weight.

“You’re really trying to insult me even more?” It was only a rumble against her lips, and now it was her to smirk up to the sorcerer. “Yes, because I know what those tiny hits do to you – and what it will bring me,” she whispered back before kissing him softly, the sound of heavy raindrops loud on the windows of the Sanctum.

They had planned for a picnic in Central Park, far away from the privacy-invading eyes of nosy New Yorkers and tourists as soon as they lay eyes on the two Avengers. The forecast had been perfect all week long, but then, just after they had gotten ready and opened the doors of the grand building in Greenwich Village, the sky opened its gates, and the heaviest fall downpour in the history of New York made its appearance. Other people would’ve been crushed – other people as in YN – but Stephen didn’t graduate with honors when he would own nothing but simple-mindedness. He had wrapped YN in his arm, brought her back inside, and with a few flicks of his hands, the master bedroom was prepared for a cozy day indoors. They had watched numerous episodes of Golden Girls – YN loved the sitcom ever since encountering it during her post-Red Room recovery under the watchful eye of SHIELD – and she had even etched Stephen to play one of his old interviews for the prestigious Medical Journal. He didn’t like to dive into his old life, but he loved to watch the evident fascination on his girl’s face at the sight of his accomplishments. Stephen was nothing but a sucker for praise coming from this woman.

The feeling of her soft hands on the nape of his neck and her fingernails gently carding through the short hair there was everything Stephen needed or wanted in his life. It reminded him of his childhood, which barely happens anymore, but with her, everything felt light and bright, just as it did back then. Her chuckle at the feeling of his goatee tickling her lips was the sound he almost loved the most. It ranked somewhere between the tiredly mumbled I love you, Stephen when she was on the brink of sleep and the nicknames she used to call him. Nobody had believed that Stephen was a softy, he at the very least. But he was, and he didn’t want to change a thing about it.

“Thank you,” YN whispered between pecks of his lips and rubbed their noses against each other. She loved doing that. It always gave her a heart attack, for sure, especially when Stephen looked at her like he did now – as if she was the most important and gorgeous being on this planet – but it reminded her that her life was a different one now, filled with soft touches and warmth. There was still violence in it, definitely, but it was the good kind of violence. A violence born in the attempts to make earth a safer place, which was the entire opposite of her upbringing and early adulthood. And the man atop of her was a crucial part of it, and she loved every second. “For what?” His question almost got lost in the kiss they shared, lips moving more heated against one another while the tip of YN's tongue teased his soft bottom lip. YN shrugged and let Stephen roll over the mattress and, simultaneously, pull her on top of him. She propped her arms on his broad, strong chest - one of her preferred places on earth - and peppered his chin with soft kisses while searching for the right words. “For showing me love and how it is to be loved, and for always reminding me that this is my life now and not a dream I will wake up from one day and find myself back at square one. You’re completing me, love.” Her last words were barely a whisper, still too shy and insecure about expressing the depths of her feelings for this man, even though they had enough reasons to already know about them.

She was always scared of pushing him away with the intensity of her emotions as if her soul tried to compensate her for all those years without them, and YN probably would be scared for the rest of her life, even though no one had left her so far. Quiet the contrary. She had gained friends and an unexpected family, lifelong companions, and a relationship meant to be until her last day on earth, whenever that might be.

Smiling up to her, Stephen kissed her a second and a third time right after that, his fingers pushing soft strands of her hair out of her face with the beautifully blushed cheeks and behind her ear. "No, darling," he said lovingly and tenderly caressed the side of her face. Instantly, YN leaned into his touch, and Stephen thought his heart might explode right in this instant. "Don't thank me for that. You deserve every ounce of love I, and everyone else, can give you. And don't try to deny it. I know it's true." He looked up to her with seriousness in his bright blue eyes, capturing YN instantly like they always did. The couple just laid there, gazing into each other's eyes, before the woman on top of him cracked a small, shy smile and gently caressed his cheekbone with the pad of her thumb. "You are a wonder, Stephen Vincent Strange," she whispered, blunt wonder and amazement evident in her soft voice. "I will thank the universe for the rest of my life for the path it had put me on." Now it was Stephen who felt the blood rushing swiftly into his cheeks, and clearing his throat, he chuckled awkwardly, not sure how to handle the emotions now rushing through his consciousness.

Whatever she is doing to us, don't let it stop, and don't you dare ruin it, a warning voice spoke somewhere in his head, and the sorcerer almost snorted audibly. As if he would ever destroy the safe haven these two had created together in a world where peace was sometimes hard to find and even harder to hold onto and preserve. He would be quite the idiot if he'd pushed or scared YN away. But to his very luck, this woman was as fearless as an amazon, born out of the stories of ancient times when gods walked the earth and granted individuals the power to conquer anything.

She owned that force of nature within her delicate body.

The fingertips of one hand had started to slowly stroke over the length of her spine, while his other hand had found its home on her right cheek, cupping the soft skin and smiling as YN turned her head to kiss his palm. "I'm not good with words, you know that, but the feeling is mutual, darling. I never had luck with relationships of any kind and nature, never knowing what to do and what was expected from me. But finding you was the greatest gift life could ever grant me because we're learning this together, experiencing everything together, without judgment and accusations if something goes wrong. This-," Stephen placed a gentle peck on the tip of her nose, "-us, is my safe haven. You are my safe haven. I don't need more." A grin formed on her face, and she cocked an eyebrow, doubtingly, and the sorcerer sighed and chuckled. "Well, plus some space for my books," he added, and YN laughed as well. "And for all of your suits and ties. Not to mention the space Cloaky demands in your closet over there."

Pulling her even closer to him - if that was even possible - Stephen growled lowly in his chest before pulling YN's face closer to his to steal another heated kiss. "I'm trying to express my feelings for you, woman, and all you do is continue to insult me. It's not the proper response." Now it was her to steal a kiss from him, and he felt the grin on his lips. "When did you ever care for properness and social expectations, Mr. Strange?" Stephen grinned a devilish smile before he moved his head to start nipping at the soft skin of her exposed neck. "No one had ever spoken truer words, but it still is Doctor Strange, my darling love, even for you."

YN couldn't fight the urgent need to let her eyes fall shut at the tingling feeling that Stephen's lips and teeth on her skin created in the pit of her stomach, and a deep sigh, suspiciously resembling an excited moan, escaped her.

But the mood was ruined faster than hurricane Katrina had reached the North American shore.

The sound of hurried steps, loud voices, and an overall hectic group of intruders let the couple look up and straight to the massive wooden door of the bedroom. YN didn't even have the time to roll off Stephen to find the perfect hiding spot - she already had a few spots in mind - because the familiar sound of voices let her freeze for a moment too long.

What is Tony doing here?! And is that... Steve's voice?

Her mind screamed question after question, and just as the steps reached the floor of their shared bedroom, Stephen did something she would never have expected to be on his mind, or he even dared to think of: He opened a portal right at the edge of the four poster bed and threw her an apologetic look. Her own eyes went wide, and YN shook her head - slowly at first until it became faster and harder with every passing heartbeat. "No. Don't you fucking da-...!" But it was too late because just as the Widow tried to finish the threat laying on the tip of her tongue, Stephen pushed her off his body, off the bed, and straight into the portal.

YN hated the feeling of falling - he knew that fucking well! - and a shriek fought its way out of her throat until she hit the edge of her own bed in her room at the compound. She felt and heard a crack as her back hit the edge of the mattress because this obnoxious, massive, and idiotic specimen of a moron had miscalculated everything, and she hung upside down on the furniture. Her arms were stretched over her head, hands resting on the carpet laying in front of her bed to prevent icy feet in the morning, and a groan escaped her as soon as her back started to protest vehemently.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!"

The portal was long closed, but YN felt the urge to scream her frustration out in the open before another groan left her.

"Fuck."

Stephen knew very well that he had a lot of making up to do after what he had just done, but they had never been this close to getting caught by the remaining team, who was still painfully unaware of the couple underneath them.

"Why do you barge into my home on a Saturday afternoon? Are you feeling lonely, Stark? Sorry to break it to you, but I'm neither your wife nor your boyfriend, which you brought here as well, what a surprise. Rogers." The two men, plus Wong and Wanda, almost stumbled over themselves as they pushed open the door and entered his bedroom, just as the portal had closed itself after one movement of his hand. Too close, reminded the voice in his head, and Stephen knew that YN and he had to discuss this very prominent issue in their lives.

The arriving Avengers composed themselves again before Tony spoke up. "If you would have been so kind and answered the thirty-six calls and messages, we wouldn't have to come all the way here, Gandalf. But as you obviously fucked up your phone, because I can't think of another reason for not answering, we had to come to pick you up like a damn lost kid at the information counter in a mall." His gaze didn't even flicker to the phone resting atop the bedside table. The sorcerer had put it in flight mode to have some uninterrupted hours with his girl, but that little habit of his bit them both in the ass. They really needed to talk about the whole ordeal. "So, swing your lazy ass out of this bed and do your job. Earth called to get rescued again."

And with that, Tony left, leaving a sighing Steve behind, while Wanda observed Stephen too closely for his liking. The sorcerer raised an eyebrow, challenging her with a glare to keep doing that, and the witch started to smile a small smile before following Tony down the grand staircase. After a "We should get going" from America's Golden Boy, he left as well, leaving only Wong and Stephen in his room. The other sorcerer shrugged with an expression almost describable as apologizing, and he shook his head before changing into his blue robes with a looping motion of his hand and a snap of his fingers.

Cloaky was right at his side and put itself on his shoulders but pushed the sorcerer to a sudden halt as it motioned into the direction where the portal to YN's bedroom had closed a few moments ago. "We'll check on her, I promise." The ancient artifact seemed pleased for the moment, but Stephen dreaded the future encounter with his girlfriend because he could already imagine her words and could vividly picture the scene unfolding in front of him a few hours later.

And he was right.

After a successful mission filled with otherworldly beings - the reason why 80% of the attending team had been able to handle magic - Stephen returned with the others to the compound and delivered his report before slipping away. He needed to find YN to evaluate the damage he had caused with his little stunt, and he obviously wasn't the only one with that thought because the red fabric around his shoulders parted from his master to fly a few steps ahead, even though it didn't know where they should head.

Looking up toward the corridor's ceiling, Stephen contemplated if it was a thoughtful idea to ask Tony's AI. The Stark was nothing but thorough, so it wouldn't surprise the sorcerer if the douchebag made notes after each and every day about what each team member had asked. But he had to take the risk if he didn't want to waste countless hours searching the vast compound by foot.

"FRIDAY? It's FRIDAY, isn't it?" He had never used the AI, not a single time, even though he had been part of this circus for longer than he liked to admit. "How can I be of assistance, Doctor Strange?" At least she doesn't sound like Tony himself, was all Stephen could think at that moment because it would be so typical for this self-loving prick. "Are you able to locate people inside the building?"

Meanwhile, he continued walking without a destination yet. "That is indeed part of my abilities. Who do you wish to locate?" He turned a corner and found himself in front of an elevator, Cloaky already levitating in front of it. "YN," it was almost a mumble, but the AI still understood him. Thinking about it in more detail, Stephen really didn't want to know what FRIDAY could hear inside the personal rooms of the Avengers.

Maybe Tony never took notes because if he would, there was not even the slight possibility that he didn't know about them - and Stephen would be long strangled in a random corner of the compound.

"Miss LN is currently on the second floor, gym 03." The elevator immediately opened its door and Cloaky floated inside, beckoning Stephen to follow it with an almost annoyingly raise of its fabric's edge. Sometimes the sorcerer wasn't sure if the Cloak of Levitation still saw him as its master or if he preferred YN over him. Sometimes it even felt like it was their child and had decided to be a mama's kid after hanging long enough at its father's heels.

Maybe he felt a bit betrayed, yes.

"Thank you, FRIDAY." Stephen could be polite if he wanted. "A pleasure, Doctor Strange."

And with that, the elevator closed and brought him to the second floor to face the mess he had made.

He only had sat one foot on the floor, and the distinct sound of metal rushing through the air reached his ears. Swallowing thickly, Stephen followed the artifact, now knowing where it had to rush in order to check on its favorite person, while the sorcerer dreaded to enter the gym, where YN clearly handled pointy and sharp objects.

Probably with a picture of your face pinned against the bull's eye.

A throwing knife hit the target with a dull sound at the moment Stephen entered the gym, and he could see that YN had already drawn the next one out of the holster at her thigh. She flipped it gracefully in her hand, without even sparing one glance at it. He couldn't tell if she looked particularly angry or just tired, but at the sight of her next throw, he knew that something was off - and he would bet the last bits of his former fortune that it had to do with him. But Cloaky cleared the field for now and saved him from being punctured as it wrapped itself around her shoulders and almost lovingly nuzzled itself against her cheeks.

YN turned to him, cocking an eyebrow and casually playing with the delicate knife between her skillful fingers. "Look who's man enough to show up," the Widow smirked while patting the red fabric around her shoulders. Stephen stepped in her direction but stopped abruptly as the former assassin swiftly spun around and threw the last knife. She was already turned back to face him as the weapon was still mid-air and Stephen stared in utmost wonder as it hit the bull's eye nonetheless.

"You wanted to say something, darling?"

Her sweet smile couldn't fool the sorcerer, and the blunt show of her skill was nothing that scared him because he was certain of one fact: They would both never hurt the other, not even in their furriest rage.

But this game could be played by two.

With a barely visual flick of his right hand, Stephen gained a hold of her body without touching her and pulled her the last couple of steps to him until their bodies stood pressed against each other in the room. He wrapped an arm around her waist and started to play with her braided hair with the other hand.

"I came to apologize."

YN lifted the other brow. Even though they were in a pretty healthy relationship, it didn't happen every week that Stephen Strange uttered those words or even the magical sentence I am sorry which automatically implied that he admitted he did something wrong. That's why she waited patiently, hands resting on his upper abdomen.

A sigh left him. “I only had your best intentions in mind, primarily because we never talked about how to approach the topic in front of the others, and I figured you would preferrer to crack it to them in a more… neutral environment than our bedroom.” She hummed in agreement but still waited. Stephen eyed her face and let go of her braid to cup her cheek softly. “I am sorry, darling,” he whispered now, and after a deep breath, YN nodded. “Okay. But don’t you dare do that ever again, especially if your mind isn’t fully focused because I don’t feel the need to hit the edge of my bed a second time. My back still hurts, you moron.” And with that, she raised one arm to hit the back of his head softly with an open palm, but it was enough to convey the message.

Instantly, a worried expression settled on his handsome face, and the hand resting on her lower back started to trace her spine underneath the red fabric of the cloak that now clumsily caressed her other cheek. Stephen put pressure on his touch, feeling every vertebra pressing unyieldingly against his fingertips, and Stephen observed her face almost painfully close. She didn’t move a muscle, but he witnessed the slight furrow of her forehead and brows as his fingertips reached the middle of her back, where her spine gently curved.

Right at the lumbar curve, between L2 and L3, he thought while his fingertips continued the pressure in various places. It’s probably the ligament between.

“Does it hurt when I release the pressure?” His question was softly spoken, and YN still looked up to him, eyeing his face attentively. She cocked her head from one side to the other. “Kind of? It’s probably just the bruise, nothing to worry about. But hey, now we know that the bed frame is exceptionally sturdy.” YN grinned up at him, but Stephen only shook his head before taking her hand in his. “We’re going to the med bay to check you out, right now,” he decided, and the sorcerer’s mind was made up.

When it came to her, he needed to be 100% sure that everything was okay.

But they didn’t come far. Instead, they stopped dead in their tracks as the couple faced Peter and Scott, both staring at them with wide eyes after they had processed the meaning of interlaced fingers. Peter started to grin while Scott’s expression didn’t resemble joy over the newly found love. YN knew that mischievous look in his eyes, the glimmer of a stupid idea developing in his mind. “Scott…,” the Widow spoke warningly, but this son of an ant chuckled before spinning around and starting to run. “I will revel in your embarrassment, YNN!” He shouted over his shoulder, but YN couldn’t let that happen. She stopped holding Stephen’s hand, and the sorcerer couldn’t utter a single word before his girlfriend bolted right after the other Avenger. “And I will revel in your screams filled with pain and agony after I broke your flat ass, Lang!” Her angry words traveled over the corridor, and now it was only Peter and Stephen facing each other.

The young man started to grin again after the confusion and surprise had vanished from his face. “I am really happy for-…” But Stephen only needed to shake his head to one side to let him fall silent again. “Don’t, Parker,” was all he said before following the path YN and Scott had taken, the young hero hot on his heels.

This was certainly not how he had thought everyone would find out about them, and he had already played with images of Scott dangling over a cliff or freezing his ass off at the foot of Mount Everest within his mind. It wasn’t himself who the sorcerer was concerned – he couldn’t give less shit on the other’s opinion about him. But he knew how much it meant to YN because this bunch of mostly idiots was her family. Not by blood but by choice, and Stephen had never intended to overshadow anything about that. Now he feared that everyone would give her a hard time and what that would mean for her mental health.

Stephen was nothing but an over-worryingly boyfriend.

With a sigh, he followed the sound of steps and canceled Peter’s voice out entirely because he couldn’t handle all these questions now or ever. He liked the kid, he was a decent human after all, but his rambling nature wasn’t something Stephen particularly enjoyed. Instead, he focused on the shouting and watched after rounding the last corner as the catastrophe unfolded in front of his eyes.

First-row seats for your own downfall, wonderful.

YN panted heavily while hanging on Scott’s back to try and hold his gossiping mouth shut, but he was too used to it with a daughter at home. So, the inevitable happened only seconds later.

“YNN and Harry Potter are a thing!”

Immediately, the entire living area was silent as a grave, every movement ceased, and every single pair of eyes turned to Scott and the other arriving parties.

YN slowly slid off his back and threw Ant-Man a death glare – she would definitely try and step on him during one of their next missions – but she swallowed thickly at the stares moving between her and a certain someone somewhere behind her. The Widow knew that Stephen was here because she could feel his body temperature in her back only a heartbeat later, before his hands settled on her shoulders, softly stroking them with his thumbs.

Nat was the first to speak. “Well, that’s a surprise.” Clint cocked an eyebrow and threw Peter an approving nod. “You were right. Good ears, kid.”

Stephen felt as if he could touch her boiling anxiety under his fingertips and bent down to press a tender kiss to her temple while Steve marched a few steps in their direction before stopping again. His eyes searched her face, tried to read her mind, and settled on the sorcerer to evaluate the situation. But he spoke to YN. “Is he treating you right?” The woman didn’t need to think for even a second. “Better than the Queen of England,” she answered without hesitation, and Steve could see the tender expression in her worrying eyes. So he gave one nod of approval and settled back into the armchair.

Tony, on the other hand, seemed not pleased at all. He marched to the couple and weaseled his way past YN to shove Stephen a few inches back. “First, you insult her at every given occasion, and then you have the audacity to fuck her and play happy family?! Is your ego this massive?!” The Widow had spun around the second he had reached Stephen and had touched him, but instead of relying on violence, she grasped his wrist in a soft hold. She urged him with a pull to turn to her, to look at her and not to Stephen, but her face wasn’t as sweet as her touch. The Stark could clearly see the burning fire behind those irises who once had looked up to him with a terrified expression, unsure of what to expect after being finally her own person and having her very own life.

“You know I love you like the brother I never had, Tons, but if you touch him again, I have to kick your ass, and not even your precious suits will safe you then.”

YN didn’t have to raise her voice to convey the meaning to everyone, but especially Tony, because the Stark swallowed dryly. He had never thought to once be on the other side of the situation – not standing next to her and listening with utmost joy and pride as she threatened others but being the target of said threat. It was an unpleasant feeling, and he didn’t want to imagine how unpleasant it must be to feel her full wrath.

Meanwhile, Stephen stood there, a tender expression settling on his face – an expression never seen before by the others which threw them almost off their feet – and a pleased smile on his lips. “That’s my girl,” he told no one in particular in a mumble. YN heard it, though, and started to smile before throwing Tony one last warning glare and leaving him to stand next to her sorcerer again. “To make it official,” she raised her voice and gestured to Stephen, who already had his arm wrapped around her waist again. “May I introduce you to my boyfriend of one and a half years, Stephen Strange?”

The team’s eyes almost popped out of their holes at the mention of how long this had been going on behind all their backs, and Sam chuckled. “Never accept missions again which require detective skills. We suck at it,” he stated the obvious, while Steve almost choked on his coffee. “And I once called her my best friend.” YN grinned at him and shrugged softly. “I know what a gossip you can be with the right people around you, so… sorry, sweets,” she apologized, and Steve looked at her with a tender expression nonetheless. “I’m just happy that you’re happy. It always was the one thing I wished for you to find.”

Looking up to Stephen, who battled Tony in a glaring contest, a small but loving smile tucked on her lips, she nodded before turning back to Steve, who seemed more than content at the view of his best friend. “I am, Stevie. I really am.” Those words almost got swallowed by Tony’s exaggerated scoff, but Steve had the advantage of super soldier hearing, so he only smiled and didn’t stop observing the new couple while Bucky settled next to him. “She still will be your best friend, punk. Don’t go all brotherly tears now because your baby sister is grown up and finds her own life,” he chuckled while patting his best friend’s shoulder.

Meanwhile, Tony stared YN dead in the eye. “If he ever hurts you, I will end him personally. He only has to raise his voice in front of you, and I’m on my way. If his ego tries some bullshit, give me a call.” And turned to Stephen, he told sternly: “She has my number saved in her favorites.”

YN rolled her eyes. “Yeah, and I can remove said number out of my favorites. Plus, he is on this list, too.” And with that, she pointed to Stephen right next to her. Tony scrunched up his face. “Urgh, then please, I beg you, put me off that list if he is on there.”

“You are an absolute ass without reason.”

“Born like that.”

“It’s a shitty character trait. Do I need to call Pepper?”

Now, Tony stared down at her challenging face and gulped. “No…?” He morphed the one syllable into a question before raising both hands in surrender. “Okay, fine. I approve of this relationship.” The sorcerer scoffed. “We don’t need your stamp of approval,” he clarified, and YN warningly rubbed over his back. “We only told you because YN considers all of you family and didn’t want to lose you. So, toughen up, Stark, and swallow the bitter pill so we can move on from here because this woman deserves a dinner in the comfort of our bed and some episodes of Golden Girls after this day.”

She couldn’t comprehend his words because suddenly, Nat stood in front of her and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. She wrapped both arms around the fellow Widow and felt the redhead’s lips pressing soft kisses over her head. They may be close in age, but YN had always been the little sister in this relationship. “Thank you for choosing us as your family, Солнышко 1,” (1: little sun) Nat spoke in the soft tone entirely reserved for her most favorite people. “Thank you for accepting me, сестра 2.” (2: sister)

Nat squeezed her shoulder before letting go of her, and the Widow turned back to Stephen, one brow raised. “You said something about Golden Girls?” The sorcerer showed his signature smirk, and while a portal started to open in his back, he grabbed YN around her hips and threw her over his shoulder. A squeal escaped the surprised woman, but a laugh followed close, and grinning, she waved the other Avengers while Stephen carried her over the threshold of the portal right into the foyer of the Sanctum.

“Don’t you dare call or text us in the next 48 hours, Stark!”

This was a wild ride, wow. pt. 2 is finally here! I hope you enjoyed reading it :3 I really loved writing those two parts. As usual: comments, reblogs, and likes are much appreciated!

Taglist:

@poor-unfortunate-soul-85 @seasonofthenerd @onecrazydirectioner @meeksmusic83 @harpywritesfic @strangeions @mischiefmanaged71 @apple-and-berry @ben-er-ino @multifandomrandomgirl @lucimorningst4r @dark-academics-and-florals @hunterofshadows04 @janora00 @lejuveinlegroove @ohchoices @jyessaminereads

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theunreliablewriter · 2 years

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Taking Requests!

Hi, everyone! It has been ridiculously long since I’ve been on this account. School completely drained me of all motivation, which is the story of my life. I’m hoping to finally — finally — be finished in December, so fingers crossed.

Anyway, the semester is now over and Multiverse of Magic has reignited my obsession with Marvel. So, I am opening my requests! Our beloved witch is the main character I’d like to write for, as well as Natasha since she will more than likely always have me in a chokehold, but I will accept other characters as well — only for Marvel at the time being though.

If you decide to request, please check out this information to see which specific characters I write for, along with a few other guidelines. Also, the url of this account is still 110% true, so please keep that in mind (sorry).

Thanks so much! :)

#natasha romanoff x reader #wanda maximoff x reader #natasha x reader #wanda x reader #natasha romanoff #black widow #black widow x reader #wanda maximoff #scarlet witch #scarlet witch x reader #doctor strange #multiverse of madness #marvel #loki x reader #tony stark x reader #wandavision #elizabeth olsen #yelena belova x reader

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asherloki · 2 years

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I'm taking requests again cause I've got some free time !

The characters I write for:-

Sherlock

John

Lestrade

Molly

Irene Adler

Mary watson

Loki

Thor

Steve Rogers

Tony stark

Natasha

Doctor strange

Steven grant

Marc Spector

Jake lockley

Layla el-fouley

Wanda maximoff

I'll wait for the requests

I don't write smut (yet)

#bbc sherlock #loki x reader fic #john watson #inspector lestrade #marc spector #moon knight #steven grant #jake lockley #doctor strange #thor #mcu x reader #wanda maximoff #black widow

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mikasadirtyscarf · 2 years

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OMG

#natasha romanoff #natasha x y/n #doctor strange #steve rodgers imagine #bucky barnes #black widow #yelena belova #captain america #wanda x reader #wandavision #marvel #the avengers

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ynscrazylife · 5 months

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THE BAT IN THE SHADOWS 🦇🕸️ — CHAPTER THREE

Summary: Bruce Wayne is the happiest he’s ever been in a while. He has a beautiful wife, amazing children, and is stopping crime left and right as Batman. All that shatters when you, his wife, mysteriously disappears.

Pairings: Bruce Wayne x Wife!Reader, Batfamily x Batman!Reader, Avengers x Reader (Platonic)

Series Masterlist

It takes quite a lot to confuse Batman. Yet here he stood, reduced to speechlessness, as he stared at the odd group in front of him. The woman called herself Black Widow, said she was looking for his wife. Bruce thought he would’ve remembered if you mentioned anyone like this before.

“Then you’ve come to the right place. I’m also looking for her. How do you know Y/N?” Bruce asked, crossing his arms. They didn’t seem to be . . . Evil, but he had no clue who the hell they were or what you had to do with it and that was very annoying.

Black Widow glanced at her friends and another one of them, a man in bulky, flashy red armor, stepped up. “We used to be on a team together. Years ago. Until a mission went wrong and . . . She disappeared. I guess she landed here,” he said.

This did not help at all. In fact, it only made Bruce more confused. He was positive that you never mentioned working on a team before. “How long ago is ‘years ago’?” He asked next.

“About five now,” Black Widow answered.

Bruce felt like he was being slapped in the face. He had met you five years ago, when you were a rookie officer. You and he dated for two years, then married, and you were so skilled that you made detective within four years. Could this really be true?

“How can I trust you?” Bruce asked.

The group all looked at each other, seemingly coming to this conclusion that this masked man had a connection to you. Then, the archer pulled a paper out of his pocket and unfolded it, passing it to Bruce. He stared down at it, shocked to find that it was a photo. It was all these people, at some party, and . . . You. You were definitely younger, but it was clearly you, smiling and holding a drink.

Willing his hands not to shake, Bruce looked up at them. “I have a lot of questions,” he said bluntly.

“So do we,” the armored man said. “What do you mean that you’re also looking for her? Isn’t she here?”

Bruce took a deep breath, thankful that the mask covered his face, otherwise they’d see the tears pooling in his eyes. “She was abducted a few days ago,” he replied, forcing his voice to be steady.

“That explains the weird signal I detected,” another man said. He had a beard, a cape and looked like some sort of wizard.

Yeah, Bruce had a shit ton of questions.

It took some time for parties, the Avengers and Bruce, to get to really talking. They both had to give up information they’d rather not to learn more about the person they all cared about. The Avengers explained that you used to be on their team, until you went missing on a mission like they mentioned earlier. They said they scoured the world for you, until consulting with the wizard guy over here (who called himself Doctor Strange, Bruce didn’t comment on the weird name).

Doctor Strange said that he detected a signal not long after you had disappeared and, with his magic, found out what it meant: you were off-world. In a whole other universe. They’d been scouring the multiverse (which Bruce almost needed to sit down for a second after hearing), until finding a similar signal a few days ago which led them here.

So that meant . . . Both signals gave your last known location, told them that you had been taken. The first one was from the universe that the Avengers were from and the second was from this one, the one where Bruce made a life with you.

He was still utterly perplexed and didn’t completely trust them, but that picture . . . The timeline . . . It was tugging at something inside him. Bruce admitted that he had known you for these past five years, though he didn’t outright admit that you two were married. He was going to hold that fact close for as long as possible.

Finally, the Avengers led Bruce back to the point of origin, where they arrived in the forest. The masked man turned it all upside down, sadly not finding anything that could help.

But . . . He did have something they could help with.

“I don’t really want to do this,” he admitted, turning back around to face them. “But this is my only choice. My only clue to find Y/N. If I find that you’re messing with me . . .”

“We’re not,” a man, about Bruce’s height, looking like the American flag, said sternly.

Bruce sighed, forcing his shoulders to drop. “I have some footage to show you,” he said, really hoping that he wasn’t going for regret this.

As soon as the Avengers saw the footage of the store from earlier, Black Widow went pale.

“No, no, no . . . This . . . They’re inactive. This is impossible,” she said, gritting her teeth. Hawkeye placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as all eyes turned to her.

“What?” Bruce asked, his tone sharp and unforgiving.

“Play it again,” she snapped, leaning in close to the computer.

Bruce glared, but complied, restarting the video.

She took in a sharp breath, crossing her arms. “These people . . . Their uniforms, their behavior. It has the Red Room written all over them,” she said, as it dawned on the Avengers how serious this was.

“The Red Room? What the hell is that?” Bruce asked, his patience wearing thin.

#bruce wayne #bruce wayne angst #bruce wayne fanfiction #bruce wayne x reader #bruce wayne x fem!reader #bruce wayne x you #bruce wayne x y/n #dc batman #batman fic #batman fluff #Batman #batman x reader #batman x fem!reader #batman x you #avengers fluff #avengers x reader #avengers #dc marvel crossover

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thetriumphantpanda · 11 months

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Ghost of You | J. Miller (Chapter One)

Series Summary / Grief is a strange thing. In the beginning it had been all-consuming. There wasn’t a moment of the day where you didn’t cry, didn’t ask yourself why it couldn’t have been you instead. And no-one ever explains the guilt you feel when it isn’t anymore. When it’s just a dull ache and you can finally breathe again, when you can start letting people get close to you again. People like Joel Miller.

Pairing / Joel Miller x Female Reader

Word Count / 3.4K

Warnings / soft!Joel, reader is a widow, in depth discussions and descriptions of grief and depression, will have eventual smut, SLOW BURN.

Authors Note / I AM SO PROUD OF THIS LITTLE STORY YOU HAVE NO IDEA. I've wanted to write soft!Joel for so long so I hope you love it as much as I do! If you do enjoy it, reblogs, asks and likes are my drug so I'd love to know what you think! Also considering following for more!

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist

Grief is a strange thing. In the beginning it had been all-consuming. There wasn’t a moment of the day where you didn’t cry, didn’t ask yourself why it couldn’t have been you instead. There were days that you couldn’t bring yourself to throw back the sheets of your bed and get up. For the first month, you think you managed to shower three times. No point if no-one was going to see you. You hadn’t left your house since the day of the funeral, life had become a monotonous circle of waking up, soaking your pillow with tears until you made yourself sick, throwing on the same clothes as before and then doing the same thing but led on the couch.

People had reassured you it would get easier. That each day it would subside, little by little, and you cursed them for being right. The longer you sat with your misery, the easier it became. One morning, a few months ago, you remember waking up, only this time you didn’t roll over and place your hand on the empty side of the bed and cry when you realized your husband wasn’t there anymore. You got up and showered, taking 15 minutes to brush the matted mess of your hair, and you dressed in new clothes.

You managed to walk to the market hall and purchase food with your ration cards and Maria had almost fallen over when she saw you in the aisle. That was the worst thing though. You’d been absent from life in Jackson for almost six months, and whenever you left your house people looked at you. Some still had those sympathetic eyes, telling you they were sorry for your loss, but there were the others who judged you. How pathetic you were for falling into despair like you had.

It wasn’t as if he’d met a violent end, he was quite lucky, actually. In this world death came at the hands of evil, whether it was being taken and tortured by raiders, or torn limb from limb by infected. Your husband had died peacefully, drifting off in his sleep in the hospital. The doctors had said it was cancer, which seemed painfully unkind to him. He’d never smoked in his life and was probably the healthiest person you’d ever known, but when was life ever fair?

You could tell they whispered once you’d passed. How dare she be so upset when my husband was killed on patrol? How lucky you were to have been able to say goodbye and hold his hand as he passed, when someone else turned into one of those things all alone. So now it wasn’t grief that kept you behind closed doors, but shame. Shame at knowing you thought they were right, that not being able to pull yourself together was selfish. Selfish to all the people who had managed to carry on with their lives after losing someone, selfish to the community for not being able to pull your weight. You were stuck and you had no idea what to do about it.

The only way you could face leaving your home these days was on Maria’s comforting arm. She’d been your friend for years, she and Tommy seemingly the only people who understood you. Didn’t force you to do anything, let you come to your own decisions when you felt ready. No-one would dare look at you or speak in hushed tones whilst she was around.

The sun was soaking Jackson now, it was summer, and you were grateful for the warmth of the sun on your skin, everything felt better with the sun on your back. With summer came one of your favourites of life’s simple pleasures. Strawberries. In the market you picked up as many as you could purchase after buying your essentials. Maria walked you home, helped you put away everything and then left with a comforting hug.

You carefully placed a large handful of the fruit in a bowl, rinsing it under running water. You were about to sit down on your couch to eat them, but the sun was filtering invitingly through your front windows. You stripped off your jacket, leaving you in your simple tank top and jeans before opening your front door to sit on the bench on your porch. You had sunglasses resting on your face, Tommy had found them on a patrol trip a few months ago and you were grateful for the safety you felt from them. People couldn’t walk past and meet your eye.

You were finishing your third strawberry when Tommy walked past, a man you didn’t know on his left shoulder. He took a look to your house and smiled on seeing you sat in a patch of sunlight, he waved, which you return, then he turns to the mysterious man on his left to say something before they start walking over.

“It’s good to see you out, honey,” He smiled, walking to lean over the railing of your porch, “What’cha got there?” He asked, motioning his head to your bowl of strawberries.

“You want one?” You asked, picking the bowl up and walking over to meet him, he gladly takes the biggest fruit in the bowl, pinching the spidery leaves off before putting the whole thing in his mouth, “How about you?” You asked, extending the bowl to Tommy’s mysterious companion.

He takes a strawberry as well, doing as Tommy did, but he takes smaller bites of the fruit, like he’s savoring it, “This here’s my brother Joel,” Tommy speaks, Joel extends his hand and you take it, shaking it softly in greeting, “He arrived a few weeks back, he’s been getting settled with his daught… with Ellie, but I thought it was high time he started pulling his weight.”

He had a smirk on his face as he said it and you could see the beginnings of a smile on Joel’s face too, “This one’s a real taskmaster,” You say to Joel, a smirk across your lips, “You’ll be wishing we had a retirement age soon enough.”

“Can’t think where he gets it from,” Joel chuckles, “You were takin’ notes all the time we worked together before weren’t you?”

Tommy smiles and nods, “Learnt from the best,” There’s another round of chuckles from the men, “Listen, we should get a move on, but I mean it, it’s nice to see you out like this.”

“Thanks Tommy,” You offer a small smiled, “Here, take a strawberry for the road.”

Both men take another fruit gladly before the way and make their way back down the street, leaving you on your own once more. You slide the sunglasses back onto your eyes and take your place in the path of sunlight on the bench. You sit there for a while, eating your strawberries, thinking about all the times you and your husband had done the same, holding hands as the sunset, cuddling up into his side when the temperature dropped. You realized suddenly that you weren’t sad. That the tears that usually threatened to fall were nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was just a feeling of happiness, grateful that you’d experienced love in a world where it had seemed impossible. Sure, you wished he would reach over and take your hand in his like he used to, squeeze it and place a soft kiss to your palm, but you were no longer ruled by the grief that had consumed you all those months ago.

“She seemed nice.” Joel muses as he walks with Tommy.

“She’s lovely,” He replies simply, “Just had a pretty rough time of it recently.”

Joel hums in acknowledgement as his boots hit the ground in time with Tommy’s, “When you said it was good to see her out, what did you mean?”

Tommy sighs at his question, but not out of frustration like he usually did when Joel asked him questions, more out of sympathy, “Her husband died about a year ago,” He begins to explain, “Nothin’ violent or anythin’ like that, the doctors reckoned it was cancer, but she took it real hard, I don’t think she got out of bed for the first week, and then after his funeral she just kinda withdrew, she’s been all alone in that house for months, refuses to leave unless it’s with Maria because people talk.”

“People talk about her?” Joel is shocked, in a world where loss in inevitable, what makes someone else’s grief less worthy than others?

“We’re safe here,” Tommy says, steering him into a building at the end of the street, “But that doesn’t mean people don’t die when they’re out there,” He references his patrol men, he’d lost a few which he would always hold heavy in his heart, “Maria told me once that when she took her to the market a few months ago, some busybody wives were talkin’ about how unfair it was she got to say goodbye, that he’d been sedated and it was easy for him.”

Joel stops in his tracks, letting Tommy walk in front of him. They’re in the gun store, not for anything in particular, just so Joel knows where everything is so he can stop following his brother round like a lost puppy. His mind inevitably wanders to his own grief in this moment. The pain of losing his own daughter, the all-consuming feeling of ‘what is the point in life anymore?’ without her. The scar on the right side of his face and the hearing loss in the same ear when he’d tried to end it all. He hadn’t been strong, not really. If he hadn’t of flinched that would have been it, the easy way out, as some would have said. He’d struggled for a long time with his survival but that didn’t mean his was worth more than your grief, or yours more than his. It wasn’t that simple.

“I spoke to them, told ‘em if I heard ‘em gossiping again then we’d have no issues moving them on their way, but I suppose people are always going to talk, they just do it where we can’t hear them.”

“I’m guessin’ she knows?”

“Of course she knows, Joel, that’s why she shuts herself away, easier that way I guess.”

“Doesn’t make it fair though, feelin’ like you can’t leave your house because people are gonna judge the way your husband died.”

“She’s been better recently,” Tommy speaks, leaning against the table behind him, “Still won’t really go anywhere without Maria, but seein’ her today, it was nice.” Joel nods his way through Tommy explaining the signing out system for guns, follows him around to the stables where he shakes the hand of the young girl in charge of caring for them and then settles himself next to his brother at the bar for a drink. All the while, he can’t stop his mind drifting back to you and your loneliness, your despair at your loss, or the rotten porch step he’d noticed at the front of your house that might just give him the reason to get a little closer to you.

A few mornings later, there is a soft knock at your door. Your face contorts in confusion, Maria wasn’t supposed to come until tomorrow. Leaving the coffee pot to its filtering, you walk slowly to the door, opening it to find Joel stood on your porch, toolbox in hand and planks of wood resting against the railing.

“Good mornin’,” He croons, “Not interrupin’ anythin’ am I?”

You shake your head, “Can I help you?” You asked, wincing slightly at the defensive tone of your voice.

“Well, I hope you don’t mind, but when I passed with Tommy the other day, I noticed your porch step was rotting,” He points to the old timbers behind him, “I’m surprised you’ve not fallen through it already, so do you mind if I fix them?”

Your exterior softens and a small smile pulls at your lips, “Of course,” You say, “I’m just making some coffee, do you want some?”

“If you don’t mind sharin’, then I’d love some.”

You leave him on the porch to get started. Your mug is already set next to the coffee pot, you open the cupboard and instinctively reach for the only other mug you ever needed. It had meant nothing to you when you moved in. It was white and had a pattern of sausage dogs printed on it, but it had always been his. You hold it in your hands when you realise what you’ve done. His face flashes behind your eyes. He’s standing in front of you, his hair tousled from sleep, his voice still low and raspy. He thanks you as he takes hold of his mug, pressing a soft kiss to your lips. You set it back in the cupboard like it had burned your palms, reaching instead of the plain black mug at the back of the cupboard.

You rest your palms on the counter, closing your eyes to take deep breaths, feeling the weight of your body through to the ground. Once you don’t feel the wave of sadness flowing through you any longer, your quickly pour the coffee into the mugs, taking them out to the porch where Joel is currently working to take the rotten boards up, not that it’s taking much work, a little force from his hands and the wood in crumbling.

“Here you go,” You say softly, setting the mug down next to his toolbox, “I hope you don’t mind it black, I spent all my rations on strawberries this week, so no milk.”

“Just how I like it,” He says, looking up at you, “Thank you.”

You take a seat on the bench out front, it’s been a long time since you had the company of someone that wasn’t Maria or Tommy and it was nice to watch him work whilst you sat in the sun.

“Thank you, by the way, I didn’t realise it had gotten so bad,” You remark, and before you can think about what you’re saying, you add, “My husband always used to handle this stuff.”

You press your fingers to your lips as Joel’s movement still slightly, he knows what you’ve said, but he continues working, “It’s alright, this is what I used to do before all of this, so I’ve got an eye for rotting wood.”

“You were a builder?” You asked, desperate to steer the conversation away from your loss.

“I was, Tommy and I were contractors, worked on a bunch of different sites together, kinda annoying the world ended, we’d just booked a really big job, was gonna pay the bills and then some for once, my daughter had already spent the money on a trip to Disney.”

“Ellie?” You enquire, remembering the name Tommy had given.

He shakes his head as he sits back on his knees, coffee mug in hand, “No, she’s not mine by blood, she came along a lot later, I lost my daughter on outbreak day.”

“Oh,” You say simply, “I’m sorry Joel.”

“It’s alright,” He shrugs, taking a mouthful of coffee, “I struggled, for a long time, didn’t see how it was fair, but it’s been easier recently, all because of Ellie, and this.” He motions around to the town.

You’re silent for a while, your gaze flits between Joel working and the dregs of liquid in your cup. You understand in a way. The loss is different, but it’s loss all the same.

“What was his name?” Joel asks quietly as he’s rooting through his toolbox for some nails, “Your husband.”

“Mark,” You speak quietly, realizing quickly it was probably too quiet for him to hear, “His name was Mark.”

“Were you together long?”

“Eighteen years,” You answer, “He was my neighbour in the first QZ I was in, I’d lost my parents a few years before the outbreak so I was on my own, he moved in a year later and would always wake me up every morning when he stomped about to go to work,” You were smiling, recounting how you’d met, “One morning I’d had enough, I went right over there, pounded on the door and gave him what for. Said I was tired of waking up to the sound of his work boots every morning, and I guess the rest is history.”

Joel smiles as he reaches for his hammer, nailing in the new boards, “Love at first sight?” He asked, worried at first that it’s too personal a question.

“Something like that,” You offer in reply, “I guess it just kinda happened really, like most things do.”

There’s silence between you again as Joel hammers in the last of the nails. He stands up, pressing his full weight on the step, “All done,” He declares, shutting away his toolbox, “Don’t have to worry about you fallin’ through it now.”

You stand up to admire his handiwork, you must admit he was good at what he did. Efficient but thorough, the step had never looked so good, even when you’d first moved in, “Thank you Joel,” You place a hand on his arm and give it a gentle squeeze, “I really appreciate it.”

“No problem,” He bends to pick up his coffee mug and hands it over to you, “Nothin’ else need sorting?”

“I mean, nothing that risks death or serious injury,” You jest, “But there is something you might be able to help with.”

You gesture for him to follow you through the house, setting the dirty mugs in the sink as you pass through. You open the back door and motion for him to join you. The garden is a mess, there’s no beating around the bush here. The grass is out of control, but that’s because you haven’t been able to go and get your gas ration for the lawnmower. The decking out back is fine, Mark’s handiwork in the year before he died, but you point to the unfinished table and chairs in the corner, or rather the pile of wood that never got to become the table and chairs.

“Mark was going to build some table and chairs, you know, so we could have guests over or sit out here in the evenings, but he got sick before he could really start,” There’s a lump in your throat now and you’re willing yourself not to cry, not now, in front of a man you barely know, but nothing you do can quell the feeling inside of you and a few tears fall down your cheek, “God, I’m so sorry,” You sniffed, “I’ve done so well not to do this today.”

“Hey, it’s alright.” Joel soothes, he pressed a firm hand to your shoulder for comfort but keeps his distance, which you are grateful for.

He gives you a moment to compose yourself, watching closely as you rub the tears from your eyes and take a deep breath, “It would just be nice to have somewhere to sit where people aren’t going to watch me.”

Joel’s heart almost breaks at your words. He doesn’t know you, not in the slightest, but the thought that you felt like you had to hide away, in your own community, the place that was meant to make you feel some semblance of normal, was preposterous to him.

“I’ll build you something, don’t worry,” He reassures, “Tommy has me on patrol for the next few days, but as soon as I can, I promise I’ll build you the best damn table and chairs you’ve ever seen.”

You laugh now, through the remnants of your tears, “Thank you.” Is all you can manage to say.

He’s turning around then, you go to follow him, but he stops in his tracks, eyes admiring the trellis against the back wall of your home, full in bloom of sweet peas, “These are beautiful.” He comments.

“They’re sweet peas,” You inform him, “Maria found the seeds for me, said something about it being good for me to have something to put my energy into,” You shrug, “I guess she was right.”

You reach out and pluck one of the deep purple blooms, “These are my favourites,” You say, turning the bloom over in your fingers before you hand it to him, he looks confused, “Sweet peas are meant to symbolize kindness and friendship,” You explain, “Also fond goodbyes, but I think kindness is more appropriate here.”

He takes the bloom and tucks the stem into the breast pocket, the petals of the flower peeking out where you can both see it, “Well then, thank you,” He nods, “I’ll see you soon, sweet pea.”

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#Pedro Pascal #the last of us #the last of us hbo #Joel Miller #Joel Miller smut #Joel Miller fanfic #Joel Miller fic #Joel Miller fan fiction #the last of us fanfiction #the last of us fanfic #Joel Miller x you #Joel Miller x reader #Joel Miller x female reader #Joel Miller x f!reader #Joel Miller Pedro Pascal #GOY

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nevaeh-daughterofvalcarol · 6 months

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When will I see you again ∥ Carol Danvers x reader part 1

Summary - Carol didn't knew that loving someone would be so hard.

The way you met Carol was totally out of the ordinary.

It was on a fall afternoon, you were having a cup of tea, sitting on your doorstep admiring the nature around your lonely house when you saw a bright light arriving right toward the forest near by. Then the light crashed throught the tall trees and you heard a huge 'boom' causing your eyes to widen. You rushed back into your house to grab a gun then make your way to the forest and stalked carefully toward the place were the unknow light crashed.

Once you arrived there the view in front of you shocked you. It a space ship, probably broken and it looked pretty bad. You walked around the ship carefully, your gun still held up as you started to look around curiously. Obviously it wasn't the first time you heard that. As an ancient Black Widow in the astral scientist departement who escaped, you were used to see this kind of stuff. But this one looked so much better than the other you've seen before.

You awwed and lowered your gun a little and reached out to touch the spaceship when you felt a presence behind you. Turning around quickly, you pointed your gun toward a blond woman who stood in a perfect fighting stance.

"Who are you ?" You both asked at the same time and a smirk emerged on her face while you stayed neutral.

"You came on my land, crashing a space ship with a system worth of 2050 that can only be found in Tony Stark's tower or SWORD, I deserve explaination more than you do." You growled and the blond beauty lowered her fighting stance.

"I'm sorry I didn't knew the land were taken. Last time I came here no one lived here and I needed an emergency landing. I'm Carol Danvers by the way." She introduced and you stayed still.

"Are you going to lower your gun ?" She asked and you hesitated before lowering your gun a glare still on your face.

"Come with me." You simply answered and walked back toward your house.

That night you and Carol contacted her space base. Turns oit she was stuck for atleast a couple of months before anyone would come. And considering the damage on her ship, it would still take a few couple of months to be fixed.

So you being you, you offered her to sleep in your guest room for the main time claiming and quote 'a little bit of company wouldn't hurt'. The first few days were strange. You weren't used to have another being in your house but after three weeks everything felt normal again.

"Carol for the last time don't put everything in the fridge. You're not in space anymore !" You called with a laughter only to be greeted by a silent.

"Carol ?" You called and looked around your house.

It was isolated sure, but it was a big house, with a training room, a weapon room, a lab, four bed room, one huge living room, one office and three bathroom. And that was without counting the garage in which you store three motor bikes and two vans. That was the cool thing about being a SWORD agent.

"Carol ?" Your voice echoed as you entered in the training room.

There she was, only in a sport bra with a short, her headphone in as she was lifting the weight you had. At the sign you couldn't help but bit your lips as you caugh her abs and the way her muscle would tense up a little each time she was moving her arms.

"Like what you see ?" The blond cut you from your thought and you blinked before feeling your cheeks heat up.

"R-right sorry ! I wasn't- I didn't- I-" You stuttered and Carol smirked, moving closer to you until your body was stuck between the wall and herself.

It was weird. You never liked to feel overpowered by someone wether it was Dreykov, a doctor or even another Widow, you never liked to feel little. But now you had this weird feeling when Carol stood, a few inches above you, and you felt a sudden warmth on your cheeks.

"Do I make you nervous ?" She asked, her smirk still plastered on her lips.

"N-no ! I- um I wanted to tell you about the fridge and I got news, from Fury." You looked away and Carol stayed above you with a smirk for a few more second before moving away.

"You're pretty cute when you blush by the way !" Carol yelled as she stepped out of the training room and you blushed harder.

After taking five minutes to calm down, you made your way to you living room to see a hologram of Fury talking with Carol as the alien was standing clearly focusing on something.

"We think that he might attack them soon. So we hoped that you could find a way to reach them in time." Fury told, not noticing your presence and you frowned.

"The spaceship is not repaired yet how do you expect me to go on a different planet without it ?" The blond woman asked and you hide behind the door.

It has been week, to be honest you gave up on the team that was supposed to come to help Carol. Not that you wanted her to go, but other people needed her help and as selfish as you wanted to be you could not let them alone. For the past few days you've been working on her spaceship. Mostly at night when she was sleeping or when she was out on a morning run you would work in your lab. It was one of the perks of being training by the Red Room, you were smart and could work with basically everything. So yeah, you were trying your best to help Carol. And turns out you only needed a few more days before being repairing her ship fully.

"Listen, I'll try to do my best but I'm not promising anything okay ?" Carol replied annoyed and Fury gave her a tiny smile on the side with a nod before ending the call.

Stepping inside of the living room, you saw Carol sitting on the couch, visibly thinking about how she was going to reach the other planet in less than two weeks.

"Hey, what's wrong ?" You asked as you sat beside her and the other woman rested her head on your shoulder.

"Work stuffs. I need to get the spaceship going on but I won't be able to fix it on time." She roughly explained and you hesitated between telling her about your little work or not.

"I... I may be able to help with that ?" You expressed slowly and Carol looked at you with a hint of curiosity.

"I've been working on the space ship for the past few days. I wanted to surprise you. But seems like we don't have that much time anymore so hum, I just need to add the last thing to finish the total repair." You explained and Carol's eyes widden.

"Are you being serious ?" She asked and you nodded shyly.

That's how you found yourself standing in front of Carol's spaceship that you both carefully moved out your house's garage.

"Amazing." The blond grinned before looking around.

"How did you repair it in only a week. This is a masterpiece. Is that-" Carol cut herself and you nodded proudly.

"Your very own A.I base with voice command, print lock aaaand, it can also be use as a way to communicate throught the entire universe at your will." You explained and she awwed.

"You're amazing." She let out and you felt the blood rush to your cheeks.

"N-no it's nothing-"

"Y/n. Really. You are amazing." Carol told you with a smile.

"You too." You replied and you tried to ignore the butterflies in your stomach when you noticed Carol's neck turning red.

"Now we just need to finish the rest as quickly as possible."

꧁----------꧂

Now, almost six days later, you stood proudly infront of the spaceship as you wiped away some sweat on your forehead.

"YOU'RE GIFTED !" Carol yelled from inside the engine as the motor of the spaceship started and the light went on.

"THIS SPACESHIP NEEDED SO MANY RENOVATION THANK YOU Y/N/N !!" You heard and a giggle escaped your lips as Carol smiled brightly.

However, her smile quickly disappeared when she noticed the small frown on your face.

"Hey !" She called and you looked at her with troubled eyes.

"Is everything okay ?" The blond asked.

"I guess... But you'll have to leave now..." You explained with a hint of sadness and a frown appeared on Carol's face.

She hadn't think about that. In truth, Carol wanted to stay with you. Of course she wanted to. You were so kind, and smart, and gorgeous, and she felt so safe with you.

"I didn't think about that..." Carol trailed off and you sent her a sad smile.

"Right... Will I see you again thought ?" You called and the grin she gave you in return answered your question.

"I'll see you again." Carol replied and you nodded.

"Is that a goodbye word ?" You gave her a teasy smile and she laughed lightly, shaking her head slightly.

"It's a promise." Carol swore and you sent her a soft smile.

"Then I'll see you again Captain Marvel." You gave her a two finger salute and the blond mirrored your action with a confident grin as the space ship left the floor.

"You know, I'll see you again Space Widow." She answered before sending you one last smile before that the space ship took off into the sky.

It honestly just looked like a bright light into the sky for only a fragement of seconds. Yet you stood there for atleast thirty minutes, wanting for Carol to come back, telling you that something was wrong and that she needed you. But she didn't came back.

Atleast for now.

꧁----------꧂

"Agent Kovolsko !" A voice called and you looked up from your papers, stopping writing the lyrics for your new song.

You didn't wrote song often but it was something you quite enjoyed. And after not seeing Carol you felt like it was something you needed.

"What is it Belova ?!" You called and the younger widow barged in your room.

"Where is your bathroom again ?" She asked and you let out a small laugh before pointing toward the left with your head.

"Two doors down to the right." You told and the blond grinned.

You two met each other not long ago, a year maybe. You learnt about the destruction of the Red Room and when you decided to ask Fury if he knew anything about it he made you in contact with Natasha Romanoff, also known as the Black Widow. After meeting her, you decides to help free the last widows along with Natasha's 'sister'. At first you were confused but then you realize they were from one of those made up family by the Red Room and they found family in each other.

Smiling at the memory, you took your pen and started to write the first lyric of your song.

"Shooting stars never fly from me... My heart's on Mars it's kinda hard to see. You know, you know I'll see you again. You know, you know I'll see you at-" You sang softly while trying a few chord on your guitard but then you suddenly felt like something was wrong.

"What is happening ?" You called and then your head started to spin.

"Yelena-"

꧁----------꧂

Carol couldn't believe it. No. You weren't apart of those who disappeared that was just not possible.

Once the remaining Avengers went to kill Thanos. Carol only had one thought in her mind; going to you isolated house and cuddle in your bed after the both of you would have been too tired from working and share a kiss.

So right after they passed by Thanos, the super heroine exactly did that. She flew toward your house, followed by Natasha in the Quinjet who needed to check on her sister. Atleast that's what she told Carol.

"Y/n ?" Carol's voice echoed throught the house as the two women stepped inside.

"Yelena ?" Natasha called and the two heard the water running in the bathroom.

Rushing upstairs, Carol quickly opened the bathroom only to see that the water was still running. A rush of panic came to her as she remembered how you never let anything on, especially when you were out of the house.

"Y/n !?!" The blond half-alien called out running toward your room.

"Y/N ?!?" Carol called and then her world crumbled down.

Your room looked empty. The bed was made, the window closed but with open curtain, your pencil was laying on the ground while there was a bunch of papers by the window sit of the room. There was also a guitard lazily abandoned on ground and Carol took a trembling step toward the instrument. It was your favorite because it was the first thing you bought for yourself after escaping from the Red Room. She knew you wouldn't just let it lay around.

With an unsteady breath, Carol took the papers on your bed and she felt tears come to her eyes as she rode the words of your next song the title was 'Comeback Amor Right On Land (C.A.R.O.L <3)'. And this was enough to make Carol brust into tears.

Entering in your room quickly, Natasha had her own tears in her eyes. The ex-assassin crouched down beside Carol before taking her in her arms. They both had lost someone important to them. A sister and a lover.

꧁----------꧂

These were probably the five longest years Carol had in term of Earth time. She would go in space for missions, but whenever the later was over she would come back home. She would come back on land stay safe in your house. Because this is where you would want her to be. Or maybe you wanted her to stay in the tower with Natasha. But she couldn't let your house turn dusty. And here atleast she could wear your hoodies. She had to admit, they didn't smell like you anymore but it still brough her comfort.

During the big battle, you weren't there. Yelena was thought, and the moment she realized that Natasha was gone, she almost chocked Clint to death. Carol had to restain her and remind the blond assassin that Natasha loved her and wouldn't want that for them. But after the big battle. Carol didn't cross path with you. Strangely enough when she came to your house two days later, instead of getting the hug she was expecting, she was met with nothing but an empty house. No painting, no lab product, no book in your library. All of your things were gone as well as you.

You disappeared once again and Carol broke down on her knees once again.

Lonely

Part 2

#carol danvers #captain marvel #carol danvers x reader #captain marvel x reader #carol danvers imagine #captain marvel x you #carol danvers x female reader #carol danvers x you #Spotify

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youandtom2 · 2 years

Text

An Avenger's Revenge (dark!Peter Parker)

CHAPTER 2 // SERIES MASTERLIST // MAIN MASTERLIST

Themes: dystopian, futuristic, smut, angst, death!, dark concepts**, a tad bit fluff :) **T/W: attempted sexual assault

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

There’s noticeable unrest in the slums. The town square is riddled with the haunting sight of armoured men in navy blue, flexing their guns as a warning while their soulless eyes glare at you through their visors. They are figures of tall stature that emanate a foreboding presence like a lingering smell, and once you get a whiff of them, they’re hard to get rid of. As if he couldn’t be any more vain, Captain America’s men are replicas of him: personalities arrogant enough to don the armour that flaunts and flatters their physical strength. Inside those helmets are empty minds so very dependent on instructions and commands fed to them by Captain America, and no matter how sadistic the order is, they will do it with no questions asked. They terrify you because you know there are no limits to their actions. Guess that makes you terrified of Captain America too.

Their business here must be warranted, because why else would officials of Captain America bother with the outer slums of vagabonds and degenerates? Your feet land shaky steps, briskly walking past a group of them as they storm into a shack and shout demands that you can’t quite make out amongst the screams. Keeping yourself guarded lands a few suspicious eyes and you can only assume that someone here has committed a crime, and the guards are here to deliver retribution on Captain America’s behalf.

Furtively, you walk further away from the town square, just minutes from your shack. A step or three, a hop over the sinkhole, a swift turn of the corner and…

“Hey!” A demanding voice yells from behind. “Stop there!” Fuck, fuck, fuuuuck. It’s okay, you have nothing to hide, you haven’t done anything wrong.

A fast, hard hand tightly grips your shoulder, slamming the back of your head against the scrap metal of a stranger’s shack behind you. Why they have to handle you so viciously, you’ll never know.

“Got something to hide?” The guard asks with a condescending tone you don’t appreciate.

“No! Nothing! I haven’t done anything wrong!”

“I’ll be the judge of that. Spread your legs.”

“What?!”

“Are you deaf? I said spread your fucking legs. You need to be thoroughly searched.”

The moment the words leave his lips, your stomach plummets. The shock of what is going to happen robs you of your speech and as you stand shakily on weak legs, you can feel your skin paling. The guard swivels you around and detains your hands within his own, kicking your legs apart. A leather-clad hand snakes its way down your back and around your waist, groping and prodding even though he knows there’s nothing there. It snakes around to your front, resting just on top of your pelvic bone and you feel yourself sweating, murmuring pleas that fall of ignorant ears. Just before the unthinkable happens, a voice angrily yells from further down the alleyway and in seconds, you’re relieved from your living nightmare.

The man you see approaching the guard has no more authority over him than you, but his stride would convince you otherwise. Easily towering six foot three, he isn’t a man you would want to mess with. He’s dressed in the basic uniform every worker is given but they are clearly ill-fitted as the muscles on his arms and his shoulders stretch the thin material. His legs don’t share the same proportion and it’s because of that that you guess he’s a miner, or at least, was a miner. All arms and no legs.

“Get away from her you filthy pig.” The man brutally shoves the guard who falls quickly to the ground. You find your opportunity and spring to your feet, running behind the brute of a man who seems to be protecting you. “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”

The guard dashes to his feet and pulls a baton from his side with an angry roar, whipping it open ready to use. At the first sign of resistance, other guards come running and very soon, you and your saviour are outnumbered, a point you make very obvious to him. “That may be, but remember, the people outnumber the Gods,” he replies. That’s…certainly an interesting and optimistic view on things.

The growing number of navy guards doesn’t deter him for one second and knowing what’s ahead of him, he peers over his shoulder and murmurs words only you can hear.

“Better run, kid. This is gonna get ugly.”

“What about you? Why don’t you come with me?”

The guy chuckles. “I can take ‘em. Besides, we need to look out for each other, yeah?” The man promptly points to the side of his neck where he gestures to two small marks tattooed onto his skin; two dots that sit beside each other, a red one and a black one. Your eyes narrow at them having never seen such a mark before. They’re almost invisible if you don’t know what you’re looking for, but your eyes firmly latch onto them now that he points them out. You have no idea what they mean, but you don’t have the time to stop and ask. “Now go. Run!”

You don’t spare a second glance behind you when the ruckus begins. You don’t want to believe that your hero is the one crying out in pain, and although it’s very likely, turning around would only confirm it. So instead, you race on, panting and heaving with heavy breaths as you sprint towards your shack.

“Oh my Gods!” Alma screams as you come crashing through the door. “What’s happening, are you alright?”

“I…I…was getting…the guards, they…”

“Calm yourself dear, take a deep breath.” For the first time in weeks, Alma stands to her arthritic feet and wobbles her way to you, her ankle clearly causing her grief. “Here.” She scoops up a cup full of water and hands it to you, gone within seconds of touching your lips.

“The guards are in the square, I think they’re looking for someone, I’m not sure. On my way back, they stopped me, Alma, they wanted to…search me. They-” Your bottom lip begins the quiver, the words sitting anxiously on your tongue. “They were going to--” The words refused to leave your lips.

“Oh my dear, are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay. Someone helped me just in time. A man. A miner, I think. I didn’t know his name but he helped me escape.”

“Bless him. Generosity is rare around these parts, appreciate it while you find it.”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to find him to thank him. Captain Ass’s guards didn’t take too kindly to his ‘generosity’.”

“They never do. What did he look like? Maybe there’s someone around here that knows of him?”

Alma listens as you describe your hero and all the while she listens attentively but nothing of significance sparks her interest. That is, until you mention the tattoo on his neck.

“What?”

“Yeah, two dots on his neck.”

“Describe them in detail.” Her voice is stiff, biting words at you as you continue to silently question what it is about this tattoo that intrigues her so much.

“Um…” Your eyes scrutinise the tense hand on your shoulder as she waits with unblinking eyes. “One was black, the other red. They sat next to each other on his neck just behind his ear--Alma, why are you asking? What does it mean?”

Alma silently retreats back to her rocking chair, slumping carelessly onto the thing and sinking her face into her hands. Whatever it is that’s bothering her is consuming her, and it’s starting to consume you too. Your mind is bursting at the seams, waiting impatiently to get an explanation to your confusion, answers to questions and more keep coming the longer Alma tortures you with silence. A chorus of why, what, who, where, when, and how sings, backed by a throbbing pain that circles your head. With one final demand, Alma finally alleviates your curiosity.

“A long time ago, when I was a girl, there was an attempt of a rebellion against the Gods. At the time, infinity stone production was slow. The conditions in each faction were the same, everyone worked the same hours, everyone got the same benefits if any, until the people were sick and fed up of the Gods treating them like slaves, like tools, so…understandably, they started an uprising. It started in Captain America’s faction then somehow, word got across the waters and people seemed to believe in it, saw their opportunity for freedom and got involved. It started out peaceful, y’know, strikes, protests, demonstrations but nothing came to fruition. The Gods ignored them and nothing changed, no surprises there. So it resorted to more violent means; destroying temples, crushing infinity stones, bringing down Gods’ monuments, it was chaos like I had never seen before. My mother wouldn’t let me leave the house for weeks while my father, the fool, joined the bloody uprising and got himself killed. Anyway, to prove that you were on the side of the people, a mark was tattooed onto your neck. Two dots, one black, one red. One for unity, one for strength.”

“Like the one on that guy’s neck?”

“Similar. They weren’t placed beside each other, they were stacked; one on top of the other. I can only assume that the one your stranger had is just a remodelling of the old mark. A symbol for a new rebellion.”

“What happened with the old rebellion?”

“I’m sure you’re aware of the rivalry Captain America and Iron Man had, yes?” You nod your head, sinking down lower next to Alma. Of course you knew it existed, but you never knew why it existed. With a little more patience, Alma reveals more. “The riots became too hard for the Gods to ignore, especially when the mining and manufacturing of their precious infinity stones came to a complete stop, so obviously they had to respond. However, none of them could agree on how they were to respond. On one side, you had Iron Man taking pity on us, realising how harsh the Gods had been treating their people, and you know, the conditions were far worse back in my day. He was willing to offer us breaks, health care, more suitable living accomodations--”

Hang on, that sounds familiar. “But he did that, didn’t he?”

“He did. But, on the other side, you had, as you say, Captain Ass wanting to punish us for revolting. As a God, he felt disrespected and wanted to use what power he had against us to make sure it never happened again. And like Iron Man, he stayed true to his word. Work increased and food decreased, anyone caught with the mark was to be shot against the post. Captain America made it very clear that he was not going to accommodate any kind of rebellion in his faction. Iron Man didn’t agree with it.”

Helena’s words from earlier loops around your head. ‘That rival they had decades ago fucked him and us over completely.’ Tougher conditions, harsh punishments. The dots begin to align, ironically, and slowly the puzzle pieces begin to slot together. Even Tony’s decision to bestow the faction onto Peter makes better sense, because he knew Captain America would abuse the people that were left unpunished after the uprising.

Peter was on Tony’s side.

The message flashes before your eyes; it was never about power with Captain America, it was about revenge.

“So what about the others? Hawkeye, Black Widow, The Hulk, what did they do?”

“Some sided with Iron Man, some sided with Captain Ass. It was just potluck who decided to side with who. It was essentially the difference between life and death for some. It’s why every faction has different working conditions and I thanked every single second I was able to live in Iron Man’s faction, but with him gone and the possibility of a new resistance rising, I fear that we might not be so lucky this time. We made the mistake once before, we can’t afford to make it again.” Tears begin to well up in her eyes, rolling down her cheeks like rivulets. No one can express the sadness that shakes her voice more than she could, having those raw emotions stir in her as they did all those years ago. “Promise me you won’t get caught up in it all.”

For some reason, there’s something inside telling you that you don’t whole-heartedly mean it when you make that promise to Alma. Perhaps, considering all that has transpired in the last two years, it’s realising that none of it can be excused; the arrogance, the injustice, the greed. Maybe what you’re realising now is actually the same epiphany Tony had too late in his life, unintentionally passed onto you. What the Gods are doing and the heinous injustice they curse this planet with is simply unreasonable, and it cannot be allowed to continue.

And as the echo of a gun being fired from the town square reaches your ears, you make your decision.

~~~~~

The minute you enter the factory, you know something is wrong. The air is tight, and the atypical lack of voices in the room makes for a very unsettling atmosphere. Everyone has their eyes on their hands, not daring to stray for a single second, especially under the scrutiny of Captain Ass’s men. Looking around, their numbers have doubled.

A buzzer resonates around the room, signalling the start of the working day, and the conveyor belt starts to roll in infinity stones, dug fresh from the mines early this morning. You take to your station just to the left of Mina and immediately begin picking up the dirt-covered infinity stone, polishing it to a sheen. Too scared to do anything rash, you give her a subtle nudge with your elbow.

“Why is it all so tense in here?” You whisper.

“Captain America suspects that infinity stones are being stolen. So we’re all being watched.”

“What? That’s crazy, why would he think that? We can’t do anything with them, they’d kill us if we tried.”

“I know, but I think he’s so paranoid that he’ll assume anything.”

You hum, not fully content with Mina’s reasoning. It just doesn’t make sense. Infinity stones are practically useless to humans, unless you had a death wish, sure, but they are an invalid currency amongst the slaves. You can’t harvest their power like the Gods can, so why would someone be stealing them? For blackmail? Protection? Security?

“Is that why the guards were invading people’s shacks last night?” Memories of last night flash before your eyes. The guard. His hands. The bile in your stomach. Your saviour. The gun shot.

Mina nods, eyes cautiously peering up to the guards leaning over the ledge of the upper balcony, all identical to one another except for the General, who stands outside the factory owner’s office, watching with an evil grin on his face, dark features casting a shadow on you all. He’s Captain Ass’s right hand man. Some original’s call him the Winter Soldier and warn of his temperament, detailing the grim horrors they’ve seen him do with that daunting vibranium arm of his. It must be serious if he’s involved.

“Typical of him to blame us humans. Scum of the Earth we are, yet without us he wouldn’t even have his precious infinity stones. I’m fucking sick of it. It’s not fair and it isn’t right--”

“I know, Mina, I know. But you have to keep quiet--”

“Why should I?” Her voice raises and she whips around to face you, dropping her tools and the infinity stone onto her work table in a clutter. It’s only when your eyes land on the soft blue and purple haze circling her blurry eye that you realise why she’s getting so worked up. Apparently you aren’t the only one who had issues with the guards last night.

As it happens, a few surrounding guards begin to shuffle on the spot, growing more suspicious of Mina’s behaviour. They creep closer and closer as Mina continues her rant.

“We’re fucking starving here, all because the Gods are too lazy to harvest their infinity stones for themselves. How is that right? And why is nobody batting a fucking eyelid that Iron Man and Spider-Man’s factions have been destroyed, their people kidnapped and forced into slave labour.”

“Shh, Mina, they are, but here’s not the place to be talking about it.”

“What? What are you saying?”

You grunt quietly, accepting that Mina isn’t going to rest until you spill what Alma told you last night. But with the guards slowly enclosing in on the space around you, you quickly improvise a plan that will hopefully keep you out of trouble. As discreetly as humanly possible, you snatch both you and Mina’s polishing brushes, much to her disapproval, and snap them in two under the conveyor belt, the action hidden from the guards. With conviction in your step, you motion Mina to follow you towards a door in the corner of the room.

“Hey! Where do you two think you are going?” The mechanical voice of Captain Ass’s men sends a shiver up your spine, last night’s nightmare flashing in your mind again. Nevertheless, you swivel to face the guard with a face of steel, almost sneering at the Captain America emblem embossed into the uniform.

“Our tools broke. We need to get more from the store room. I’m showing her where it is.”

“Hurry the fuck up. You’ve got work to do.”

With a breath of relief, you grapple onto Mina’s arm a little tighter and with hurried ambition, you find respite in the darkness of the store room. A bulb above you struggles to emit even the faintest of lighting, but you make do, because what Mina is about to hear is more important than what she sees.

“How I would love to punch those guys in the throat.”

“Yeah, no kidding. Listen, I had a little…run-in with one of the guards last night. Before things escalated, this stranger helped me. I didn’t question why at the time, I was just thankful someone showed up. He told me to remember that the people outnumber the Gods, then pointed to a tattoo on his neck. Two dots, one black, one red, sitting beside each other.”

Mina looks blankly at you. She can’t seem to process anything you're saying until she can understand why you’re telling her this, but until then, her face stills in a scowling, narrowed-eyed look of confusion. “So…what--you met a guy with a tattoo?”

“It’s not just that! Alma knew what the tattoo meant. It’s a symbol for rebellion, an uprising against the Gods, proof that people are batting an eyelid at all of the things they’ve done.” God, what is it going to take for Mina to react to anything you’re saying? “Imagine it, Mina, justice, equality, freedom, no more working in factories scrubbing stones, no more sanctions, no more hungry days. What if this rebellion is our only chance of getting that?”

“And you’re sure it exists?”

“I’m certain. They could be the reason behind the infinity stones going missing. Less infinity stones, less power for them, right?”

The next time you hear Mina’s voice again, you notice that it holds a little more confidence and understanding, like it’s all coming together for her. Like she might have a little faith.

“And the people outnumber the Gods.”

“Exactly.”

“Okay.” Mina blows a sigh through her lips. “Okay, okay, we’re actually going to do this right?” Is she…pacing? “We’re actually going to join a cult to overthrow the Gods. No big deal. Right? You can just find that stranger that helped you, and then, y’know, viva la revolution.”

“Um…slight issue. I’m afraid my stranger is…no longer around.”

“What do you mean?”

“He was shot.”

“Oh.” A mournful silence fills the air. Without even saying the words, you both come to understand exactly what it means for you if you are to take such a risk of joining a rebellion. To succeed would mean freedom. To lose would mean facing execution. All or nothing. “So what do we do?”

You scratch the back of your head, afraid to admit to Mina that you don’t actually know and as you look around as if to find your answer, your eyes catch onto a glint in the corner. Something that caught the very small beam of light and reflected it back to you—

“Hello? Did you hear me? What are we going to do?”

“Oh, um…I-I guess we’ll just need to keep our eyes and ears out for the moment; anyone with the tattoo, who act suspicious or speak of anything about the rebellion. Remember, it’s two dots next to each other just beneath the ear. We should be careful and not jump to conclusions before we’re sure they’re part of the rebellion. I wouldn’t be surprised if Captain Ass’s has ordered secret spies to catch people out.” Mins murmurs in agreement, nodding her head. “And the other thing we should do is…hope.”

“Easier said than done,” Mina retorts. “We should agree on a meeting spot to report back if we find anything. Here won’t do, it’s too obvious. It’ll need to be at night too, under the cover of darkness and where no one is likely to go.”

“The watering hole. Quarter past midnight. Every Monday and Thursday. Tell no one. Deal?”

Mina stretches her hand out in front of her. It’s still slightly too dark to see what emotion she carries in her eyes. But her voice speaks of a confidence that you can only envy. “Deal.”

“We better go, we've been in here too long,” Mina warns, making her way to the door with a new polishing brush.

“I’ll follow right behind.”

The light from the main factory area enters the store room and reaches beneath the cabinets and shelves where you saw that glint earlier. Curious, you drop to your knees and sink low to the ground. What your eyes see is nothing like what you expected and your breath is quickly taken from you. Crawling across the ground in a single file is an army of spiders, dragging behind them broken pieces of infinity stones encased in cobwebs. The line stretches around the perimeter of the room, from one hole in the wall to another. You quickly decipher from the map of the factory in your mind that just on the other side of this wall is where the disregarded infinity stones are dumped. Stones that have been broken in transit, or are tarnished by other natural elements, but yet these little spiders, the same kind you found crawling across your arm the other day, are collecting them.

Your mouth hangs open in bewilderment, struggling to comprehend why they would do such a thing. The mystery quickly wraps itself around your brain, diseasing your mind with questions that don’t have answers. Although you’re coming up completely blank about everything else, if there’s one thing you’re absolutely certain on, it’s that there’s a purpose behind this and you won’t be able to shrug off these little spiders as easily as you did the first time you found them.

It’s just not part of a spider’s nature to collect infinity stones…

“What do you think you’re doing?”

You turn to find a guard filling the frame of the doorway, blocking the light to the secret beneath the cabinet. But the more you look, the more you realise it isn’t just any guard. It’s the Winter Soldier, standing tall with his vibration arm curled by his side. He has a wicked smirk on his dark features, no doubt conjuring up a plan that’s just as wicked to appease the sadist inside him, and you fear you may be involved. Those piercing blue eyes glow from behind his black hair draping over his face, and they have you in his sights. It’s incredibly intimidating. You feel like you can’t even take a breath without his permission.

“I…I d-dropped my brush.”

“And you expect me to believe that, do you?”

“Please, I-“

“Do you think I'm stupid?” He moves to take a step further into the room.

“No! No, of course not. I just came to get my brush, I promise."

The Winter Soldier grins maliciously, telling you that he doesn't buy your act for one second. A thick, heavy feeling of dread coils around your throat and you feel all the air leaving your lungs. With his vibranium arm grinding by his side, you fear that you might be standing at death's door.

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