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#honestly it makes a good alternate party name
six-improbable-things · 4 months
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out-of-context quotes from our last dnd session:
"stoned at the mining camp" (my current nickname in the party discord)
"the clucklefucks" (my most recent contribution to our quotes channel)
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bitchlessdino · 1 year
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i just read fuck marry kill and it was sooooooo good gah i love it , idk if its rude to ask thos but can u make a mingyu wonu and seungcheol version of it too? they are my baises and i would love something like that !! u can alternate the setting if u please :>
tysm 💘
-💫
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Pairing: fem!reader x ex!mingyu x seungcheol x wonwoo
Genre: smut
Word count: 5.6k
tags: poly, exhibitionism, voyeurism, degradation, pet names (princess), unprotected sex (except cheol), praise kink, spanking, clit slapping, fingering, oral (rec. and giving), u, pussy slapping, ass play, triple penetration
Summary: one dumb party game makes a comeback.
author note: tbh i initally wondered how someone could ask to replace some of the members in the original, but then I realized how grateful that it got the attention it did that another version was requested. these were honestly really fun to write and I'm glad to have found a way to tie in the last version and this one to make a spinoff!
“Fuck Cheol, obvious because he has the experience. Marry Wonwoo because he just seems like he knows how to treat someone well. And duh, kill Mingyu because he’s Mingyu.”
“You’re such a bitch.”
You glance back at the man you hypothetically killed, now giving you a cold dead stare, making you grin smugly before taking a swig from your beer. “Takes one to know one.”
He raises a brow, now leering at you, “I hope you’re alone forever.” 
You slightly slam your empty bottle on the coffee table, “And I can already tell you’re halfway there.”
He scoffs, crossing his arms, “Oh yeah, remind me again who approached who?”
“Remind me again who also dumped who?”
Mingyu was baffled. It had been months since you both had broken up and you still used that to pull over his head. You had your reasons for ending things, he knew that but had hoped to salvage some of the good left in your relationship with him. Once it was over, you mutually agreed on being friends, willing to forget about all that’s happened because you were friends first, but he knew that better than anyone, that shit was never easy.
“Uh, guys?”
Wonwoo’s voice, despite being as timid as it was, asserted attention with two words alone. Mingyu and you look at Wonwoo, still angry at one another, but melt at their friend’s concern, putting aside their petty disagreement. You exhale in an attempt of calming your heart rate and pat Wonwoo’s hand reassuringly, “We’re good. Just how we are. Mingyu gets it.”
Wonwoo was never one for conflict. He was the glue to hold this entire group together. If it wasn’t for him, the terror couple would've never made up the way they did.
“Yeah, we’re just horsing around, but that does remind me,” Mingyu is quick to turn the attention to Seungcheol, a cheeky smile bright on the younger man’s face, “You promised to discuss the details of what happened after the birthday party.”
The eldest arches a brow, amused by Mingyu’s statement, and decides to entertain the idea, “When the hell did I promise that?”
“You didn’t, but you might as well after I caught that group chat,” Mingyu scoots closer to him,  “Go on, tell us all about you having to share with three other dicks.”
Seungcheol clicks his tongue, already scolding him. “There were two other dicks, first of all. Secondly, it just happened. You can’t really plan a foursome.”
You peer over at him intrigued. “You technically can, but considering you just did it out of nowhere, I don’t know whether to be disgusted or impressed. I thought you’d be way more responsible and boring than that.”
His eyes shoot back at your assumption. “I am not fucking boring and you can be responsible in an orgy! We all knew what were doing, we all consented, and we were all clean–”
“Boring…get on to the part where three of your dicks were in her at once.” A flying head smack makes its destination to the back of Mingyu’s head and instantly he’s offended, glaring back at his assailant. “Hey!”
“Don’t talk about anything you’re uncomfortable with Cheol. It’s your dick, it’s your sex life,” You reassure.
“Well, it’s not just my story to tell so I’ll leave it at this.” All ears perk in his direction, even Wonwoo, who was quietly observing, couldn’t help but ponder on the rare experience Seungcheol had at that birthday party. “There is nothing more satisfying than seeing a pussy so full. I kid you not, I would do it over and over again just to see the look on her face.”
Not a dry eye in his audience. You hold your hand over your mouth in shock, Mingyu’s howling like the moon had just come out, and even Wonwoo was stunned at such an obscene statement, blinking into the distance like he’s in The Office. Seungcheol, filled with pride, picks himself off from the ground and dusts any dirt off. “I’ll be back. Too much beer. No one kill anybody.”
He ambles off to the restroom, closing the door behind him.
“Ah,” Wonwoo claps his sweater paws together, “there’s a game I was waiting to buy. I still have some time before then. Need to be first in line.”
He hurriedly gets up from the floor and rushes to his room, “I’ll be back! 20–30 minutes tops!”
You two are left alone and awkward silence fills the air. Things were never really the same since your relationship ended, but things weren’t ever really it when you were together either.
“Foursome huh?” You ponder. “Didn’t seem like his kind of activity but if he enjoys it.”
Mingyu scoffs, ready to start smth again. “What? Jealous he’s getting more action than you?”
“Not jealous, just worried. How can a human body take that much cock and still walk around all normally? Happy birthday to them,” you snicker.
“Don’t worry, you won’t have to worry about that many dicks wanting to be inside you.”
You glare at him, your teeth grinding behind your fake smile. “You sure talk a lot for someone as bitchless as you are.”
“Excuse you, I am fucking stacked with pussy right now, speak when you have your facts right, ‘mmkay?”
You let out a curt guffaw, “Please, you are so fucking lucky you had me when you did. No damn way in hell you could’ve gotten laid without me.”
Mingyu slouches, drawing his jaw open. “Wow. I get it now”
“Get what? How big of a loser you are?”
He shakes his head. “No...You miss my dick so bad.”
You make a show of yourself laughing, even physically doubling over. “In your fucking dreams, you human pandemic.”
“Admit it. You miss our sex. It’s why you’re such a fucking a bitch to me. To throw my game off.”
“Oh honey, you don’t need my help doing that.”
“Please! You got this territorial thing because we were each other’s first. You’re obsessed with me. I see that now.”
“Right, you’re drunk,” you pick yourself up from the ground this time and saunter off to the kitchen, “I couldn’t care less about who you sleep with. As long as it doesn’t involve me.”
“You’re such a liar,” he insults as he gets up to follow.
He positions himself by your side as you distract yourself in the kitchen, mindlessly looking for, well, anything. Why was every cupboard empty? You really have to remember to go grocery shopping with Wonwoo later.
“Am not,” You insist, no finding haven in the fridge, which also happened to be barren of things except half a dozen eggs, a carton of milk, and for some reason a box of m&ms.
“You can’t even look me in the eyes right now. Say it while looking at me.”
You scoff without looking, “I don’t have to prove myself.”
“Why? Because you can’t? Admit it.” His hand trails over your backside as you stall at the fridge, trailing underneath your shirt and sending chills.
You can practically count his breaths as his lips ghost over your ears, smiling against your skin. You almost let out a gasp at the close proximity of his hips pressed into your back, your heartbeat heightening, but immediately close your mouth shut, not giving him the satisfaction. That didn’t bother him though, your body language was enough. You were frozen under pressure, unable to fight back, let alone talk back, similar to how you used to get in the past only minutes before he gets you cum like the mess you were. 
His hand slides over your bare stomach, feeling you tense it up as a result. “You loved when I ate out your dirty little pussy. You begged for it. Remember?”
You shudder at his touch, gripping the handle of the fridge for safety, “Mingyu—“
“Don’t think I forgot how you moaned my name either,” he finds the top button of your pants with ease, unbuttoning it and pulling the metal zipper down, “Tell me to stop. Otherwise, I’ll just keep going.”
When you grow silent, he takes it as a sign to keep going. He presses his lips to the back of your ear, hand falling to your thigh and cupping over your clothed cunt. You dip into the fridge’s cold, taming the heat in your body, while Mingyu makes that difficult to resist. Your back arch, fitting seamlessly to Mingyu’s figure, soft, yet desperate, sighs escaping from your lips.
“Mingyu please…”
“Mmh, just like that…” he nibbles against your ear, slowly and cautiously he sinks his hand down your pants and finds your arousal, a thin film of it already coating his fingers, “your voice was pretty just like that. Whining about how you need my dick inside of you or begging to let you cum on my fingers. You were such a sweet little slut for me. Tell me you don’t miss that.”
You’re shaking so much, you could feel your legs seconds away from giving out. You shut the refrigerator close and turn to face him, leveraging yourself against the appliance’s cool exterior. He pins himself against you, sliding his digits between your slit, making contact with the clit, and pinching it between his thumb and index. You can’t help but crack a small moan, only loud enough for him to hear, and he just chuckles. “There you are. Old habits die hard don’t they?”
He does his best in reminding you of the old times, even rubbing your pussy how he used to, getting your sweat pilling on your forehead, or your voice getting raspy as if you were left to die in a desert. Fuck him for still having that effect on you. 
“Please…you’ll get us caught.” You plead weakly.
“You say that like you actually want us to get caught.”
He pulls out his fingers from your pants, sticking them in his mouth before sucking your juices from them. You watch in a hypnotized state, mouth gaping in envy, desperate to have his lips wrapped around you, your lips, your cunt, anywhere as long as it's your body. “Sweet. Just like how I remember.”
You gulp hard, staring back into his carnal gaze, and observe as he slowly pulls out his fingers and rests them against your cheek, parting your lips back with his thumb. 
“Am I interrupting something?”
As an impulse, you push Mingyu several feet away from you, hiding your undone pants behind a kitchen counter. The taller man can’t help but suppress his boisterous laughter threatening to seep out and only glances back at his friend’s sudden appearance in amusement, feeling like the victor in the situation. Meanwhile, you made yourself physically small, tucking away in the corner of the kitchen where he can’t see you panic while fixing your pants but inevitably fail. “S-Seungcheol.”
Mingyu lets his smugness show. “I don’t know. Is he, Y/n? Is he interrupting something?”
“No, of course not. Just caught me a…rough spot.”
Seungcheol rolls his eyes. “Look, if you guys are going to have sex and get back together. No one is stopping you.”
“Excuse me,” you feel rather insulted at his assumption, it was condescending entirely.
“Come on, it was bound to happen eventually. Save us, the tittering and whatever.”
You push past Mingyu to walk straight to Seungcheol, shoving his heavy build. “What I do with my body and my life is not up to Mingyu or you, Choi Seungcheol. Fuck you.”
He leers down at you. “Don’t get mad at me because you know I’m right, you brat.”
“Oh, because you fuck with a few extra people, you think you know everything, don’t you?”
“More than your ‘only Mingyu having ass’,” he taunts.
If Mingyu was the ex, and Wonwoo’s the innocent bystander, Seungcheol, in your case, was a shit stirrer. He pushes your buttons about the same as Mingyu some of the time. He was supposed to be your closest friend, your longest friend. Somewhere that had changed. You used to tell each other everything and now he was getting into threesomes? 
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, fuck you.” You push him back onto the couch behind him, having him collapse seamlessly against it before you’re straddling him.
Your lips latch onto him assertively, tugging and, no doubt, stretching his plain tee. If Seungcheol minded, he didn't seem to show it, and instead kisses you back, matching your aggression. Although initially startled, it doesn’t take him long to adjust to your pace. He handles your body as if he belongs to him, gripping you by the back of your neck as his other hand tucks around the shape of your ass, firmly squeezing it.
“You’re so, mmh, f-frustrating sometimes.” You manage to comment between your moans.
He snickers under his breath, hand running through your hair and pulling at its strands, tugging your head back, “And you can be a real bitch.”
Your blossoming attraction for him only made it all the more frustrating. You always did notice that he behaves a more particular way around you over the past few years. Somewhere between distant and insensitive. Whatever it was, you were gonna take it out on him, and maybe that’s what he wanted.
Scoffing, you grind against his bulge, harshly brushing it against your cunt. “I’ll show you a bitch.”
He grunts beneath your efforts, quickly returning your offense. His hands travel underneath your shirt, pressing into your flesh. His teeth bite down, pulling on your bottom lip, and you can sweet his smile as he does it. He thrusts up into you, rocking back at your core, waiting to fill out what you’ve been dying to entrust him with. The thought itself made you wet (as if you weren’t already from that little incident with Mingyu).
The man that previously had been watched was now the one watching. It was all face paced but it was like he watching in slow motion. He observes the placement of Seungcheol’s hands, and how they grabbed you possessively, even hearing the growl under the elder’s breath. Your moans grow louder when the man’s lips are suctioned around your neck, your nails noticeably digging as his hands slide lower to feel the bare ass beneath your jeans.
Mingyu sucks in his breath, repositioning the spot in his jeans. He impulsively licks his licks, unable to look away. “Didn’t expect that.”
“Me neither.”
Startled, Mingyu cups his erection as his eyes shoot up alert, finally noticing his four-eyed friend has emerged from his bedroom without so much as making a single wood board squeak. “The fuck? Did you come back from the shadow realm?”
Wonwoo shrugs nonchalantly. “The deed is done, and this is a thing now, I guess.”
Wonwoo just how Mingyu felt about you over the years despite the flaming misalignments with your personalities. He couldn’t imagine the thoughts running in his best friend's head right now.
He turns Mingyu in concern, seeing the man’s eyes glisten in the scene's direction. “You okay?”
Was he? He’s looking at one of his best friends furiously getting it on with his ex, neither of them giving a damn who watches and he should be furious. He should be enraged. He should be at least bothered by what’s happening, but no. Only one thing was furious.
“No,” Mingyu answers, “I’m horny.”
He leaves Wonwoo’s company to join you and Seungcheol on the couch, immediately taking your head back in a hungry kiss as Seungcheol finds solace back on your neck, finding weak weak points in mere seconds, and you can’t help but moan in Mingyu’s liplock. Wonwoo is at first confused about what to do, only able to watch at first until his curiosity piques.
In the midst of his observation, you’ve gone pantless, quickly followed by Seungcheol and Mingyu, and has quickly adjusted to double the attention. Seungcheol manages to pull out a few spare condoms from his wallet all too conveniently, handing one off to Mingyu, who was ready to whip his angry erection out any second. He then lays his eyes on Wonwoo, staring off in his direction, still suckling on your neck. He gestures to him to take the extra condom, nonverbally inviting him into the spontaneous mix.
The bystander hesitates, staring back at the silver wrapper as if it was a foreign object, unsure if he was really offered to join or had this situation become a common courtesy for a latecomer such as him.
“Take the condom, Woo. You’re gonna need it with what we’re about to do,” Seughcheol ushers against your flaming skin.
Wonwoo inches closer in baby steps, hand stretching out and grasping the plastic, and at the same time, you pull away from either man from the couch, turning your whole attention to Wonwoo. You grab him by his collar and smash against his lips. It’s strange, almost wrong at most, you were already occupying someone else’s lap, but in a strange way, empowering. His hand crawls up the side of your face to deepen the kiss, feeling your tongue explore his mouth just as you did the other two, while they were only able to watch. 
Exhibitionism, let alone orgy, was never on his bingo card. Sex for him wasn’t even that regular an occurrence for him, but he could see now the taste of what Seungcheol was talking about. There was something satisfyingly carnal about sharing someone. You play into their hands as if your life depended on it, but felt all that same arousal anyone else in that group did.
With that thought in mind, it invoked something in Wonwoo. Shivers ran down his spine the moment your hand goes to cup the bulge of his track pants, feeling him grow bigger in size when you slip past the waistband and slid beneath his briefs. His eyes fluttered at the soft sensation of your fingertips, teasing the precum squeezing out of the head.
“You feel so big, Woo,” you gasp out as your grasp travels down his length, “let me suck on it, please.”
The man shifts in his seat, delirious to the point of being mute, only able to nod triumphantly as you begin tugging the pants and underwear off, collecting the fabric at his ankles.
“Princess,” Seungcheol beckons, “why don’t you lay your stomach on my lap to get closer to Wonwoo’s cock.”
You nod obediently, satisfied with your new pet name, getting off of Seungcheol’s lap to place yourself back on again, this time your ass in view for Seungcheol and Mingyu to appreciate. Mingyu’s teeth catch his bottom lip, groping himself through his briefs. “Fuck.”
He can’t help but land a full-handed spank against your cheek, causing you to flinch after your grip wrapped around the base of Wonwoo’s cock and he feels a tight squeeze around his girth and he throws back his head from the sensitivity, “Gyu, for god’s sake.”
“Sorry, dude, couldn’t help myself,” the younger man chuckles, “but she likes that. You like all our attention on you, don’t you?”
You let out a light chuckle, a smug grin stretching over your face. “Yes, yes I do.”
Seungcheol couldn’t help fixating on your ass pulling your waistband down to the curve and sliding a dry finger up your wet slit, groaning at simply how gloriously wet you were. “Shit. You’re fucking soaked. You can take my fingers right, princess?”
“Mmh, yes, Cheol. Give it to me…”
As you’re spitting into your hand, stroking handfuls of Wonwoo in your hand, you can feel Seungcheol fitting two digits in your moisture and hooking them in place. He goes easy on you, mildly prepping you, while you drop your head and wrap your lips around the tip of Wonwoo’s length, swirling circles on to lap up the bit of his precum, your soft giggles vibrating against the spectacled man.
His gaze softens at you, petting your hair and caressing your cheek. “So…pretty…”
“Thank you,” you reply, taking half his size in your mouth, and feel how he hugs your cheeks.
Wonwoo lets outs hushed whimpers, exhaling out of his nose, his fingers impulsively finger through your hair and take grip. Through his shut eyes, he can feel the nodding of your head, the vigor of your tongue, and finally the head of his cock hitting your uvula, bobbing back and forth. “S-shit, like that, yeah…”
He can feel himself physically shuddering, glancing back at the lure of your eyes as your mouth collects every inch, every vein, and moan that escapes his lips. His hand guides you, pushing you deeper around his cock and the sounds of your efforts were euphoric, especially how they were followed by Seungcheol’s work, who found himself slamming his fingers back into you like a jackhammer. You slightly jump, vibrating around Wonwoo as you cried out obscenities.
“Mmph, more, please,” you beg, bringing a smile to both Seungcheol and Mingyu’s faces.
Seungcheol used another hand to give spanks on either one of your cheeks, playing with you like a set of drums. They get tender in his grasp, making them more fun to squeeze and there’s that pleasant way your backside jerks towards him, knowing he’s doing everything right.
It was then Mingyu had an idea. While his other friends handled you their way, he had no choice but to find his own choice of sport. He pulls himself up from the couch, excited to spring back into action, and goes on to grab something from your room. He disappears as quickly as he returns, a familiar transparent squeeze bottle in his hand. He goes on a knee to your side, squeezing the cold sticky substance on your unpreoccupied hole, squirting circles around your quivering rim.
“Remember when you thought we wouldn’t use this again? Looks like now’s the time. Are you ready for that?” He asks with a Cheshire smile as he closes the cap and puts the bottle aside.
You moan a confirmation, nodding your head complacently. His chuckles are sickly sweet as he draws his lips close to your ear, teasing his digit from entering. The moment it enters you mentally prepare yourself for the sensation, know damn well you could never get used to that. Mingyu groans at how you swallow his middle digit as he churns it inside you, another hand coming against your tender cheeks. “Fucking slut. Like us filling all your holes, hmm?”
There is no way you can physically answer as you feel yourself gag as you reach your limit with Wonwoo, who at this point doesn’t hear others and uses your mouth with only the thought of getting off down your throat. You finally croak out a yes before two of Wonwoo’s hands grip your head and slam you down the base when you least expected him to. Tears run down your eyes, your cheeks hot, feeling yourself suffocated, you dig your nails into Wonwoo’s thighs, white crescents appearing on his skin. 
He groans long and loud, jerking his hips as he’s dumping some of his load down your throat but pulls out from the overstimulation, having the rest shoot on your face. The translucent thick ribbons stain your cheeks and drip off your chin down to his thigh. Red face and a hot sweat beading from his forehead. Wonwoo finally collects himself enough to look back at you apologetically, visibly embarrassed.
“I’m so, so sorry, Y/n.”
Instead of letting him feel sorry for himself and you, you take Wonwoo’s hand and use it like a napkin, swiping his cum on his fingers. He’s stunned when he sees it, a quarry of your actions stuck and stopped at his throat until you take that hand and enter it in your mouth, your tongue catching his release. The man’s abdomen tense, letting your hand suck his fingers off clean and you hold them in there, filling your mouth with another body part of Wonwoo that day.
“Goddamnit, Y/n. You really can’t help yourself.” He comments blatantly lost in awe.
Your body curled up in Seungcheol’s lap helplessly, trembling, slick moisture seeping out of you at their mercy. The others can hear the anguish in your muffled voice, how close you get with fingers thrust inside you with only every passing second, only to have that ecstasy slip away as their fingers pull out. You whine in retaliation, their collective chuckles mocking you, even Wonwoo couldn’t help but find the scene amusing. 
“Can’t have you cum that quickly, can we?” Seungcheol taunts.
He roughly tugs up your body until your back is toward his chest, feeling your perspiration against his torso. He shrugs off his briefs and your underwear is quick to follow, the tips of his fingers now rubbing your arousal all around your entrance, adding the slick substance to your already lubed up rim. You mewl at his fingers, your hands gripping against his forearm but lacking the willpower to have an effect. His teeth graze your eye, pulling you by the cartilage. “We’re gonna fill you out so nice, you’ll beg for more…perfect little holes for us to use…tell us what you want, princess.”
You let out a shallow breath, “I want…to feel full. I want you inside me.”
His hand lands on his cock, hard and naturally aligned at your rim, before testing Mingyu's prep work, “Good girl…feeling so perfectly tight…”
Seungcheol can’t forget how it closed around him while he takes a long gradual stroke inside. He groans loudly, filling you until your moans give out. His hands plant against the backside of your thighs to lift them and fold them against you, pushing his length in. Your eyes rapidly shake, the white of them visibly, and you welcome Seungcheol’s cock with his name on your tongue. “F-fuck yes…more Seungcheol…”
Wonwon doesn’t know what gets over him when he finds himself staring back at your glistening folds, looking at your pulsing clit like it was the last m&m. His flaccid cock now twitching upright in his lap, he licks his lips, not taking his eyes away from you. “Seungcheol spread her legs out more.”
The elder man gave a knowing smile and did as requested, and your pussy stretches open, your clit more evident than before. Soon Wonwoo has mustered the strength to put his face up to your entrance and suck on the bulging nub like a straw, watching your toes curling as soon as he does. You can feel his subtle smiles against your arousal, the curve of it pulling at your folds.
“Shit,” you whisper, throwing your head back against Seungcheol’s shoulder, panting against the man’s cheek.
“Feels good, doesn’t it?” Seungcheol teases, “You haven’t gotten enough just yet.”
Mingyu gets up from where he sits, stroking his cock in his hand. He comes to your side, the tip of his length angles at your lips, and you look up at him in anticipation. He mocks you, tapping himself against your lips. “Beg for it. Go on. Whore.”
You sigh defeatedly, “Please, Mingyu…I need your cock in my mouth…”
“Isn’t that nice? You can shut up.” He chuckles to himself.
He takes hold of your head, prodding your lips apart with the head of his cock inside, and sees how easily it slides in your mouth. You moan around his girth, as the jerk of his hips pushed himself deeper inside you. It's almost how fast it happens just as you don’t remember how it began. All you knew was it felt amazing nothing like you ever felt. You never knew you could want this–no, you never knew how much you needed this.
“Want to fuck you, Y/n? Can I?” Wonwoo asks politely against your core.
You nod with your mouth full, coughing out Mingyu’s cock given the opportunity. “Yes, Wonwoo, I want you…I want all of you…please fuck me full…”
Saying that out loud was enough of a motive to flip the script. Seungcheol, still inside, lays flat against the couch, head propped against the couch arm. Wonwoo gives Mingyu a knowing look, letting his friend go first. Mingyu scoffs, “I’m coming for you, Y/n.”
“Not yet, you are,” You retort.
“And you said I’d never get be inside you again. Things can happen.”
Mingyu lets his cock slip around your arousal before he’s reunited with your fluttering walls, a nostalgic hum leaving his lips. “Fuck, that’s good.”
“Mingyu—You both—ah fuck, feels so g-good…”
Mingyu and Seungcheol carry a mismatched pace, their uneven breaths fill the air as you take it, take them. Your voice sounds of agony but rather the opposite, you couldn’t feel more bliss. Wonwoo mentally and physically readies himself, his cock almost back to full power. He joins the party when he feels the fire in him, thanking himself for getting a big enough couch, and hovering on top of you.
You hadn’t noticed it before but something was missing from the man joining, and not his clothing. “Your g-glasses…”
“Ah,” he smiles, “put them aside, didn’t want them to break.”
“Hmm, it’s n-nice looking you in the e-eyes for o-once.”
“I’ll make sure to make it happen more often…Tell me if I’m hurting you. If any of us do.”
You hum a yes, finding his lips reattach to yours soon after. Wonwoo gives himself one last stroke before its mere centimeters away from Mingyu’s, finding the right angle to join his friend. It’s not an easy feat sharing space, but he finds a way, pushing through to stretch you wide and open, collective moans coming from all ends.
“Holy shit,” you screech, “so many c-cocks…”
“You’re taking us so too, Princess. I knew you could do it,” Seungcheol exclaims.
Mingyu was getting a thrill out of this, “Of course she can, Y/n is a bigger dirty slut than she makes herself out to be. She enjoys it, hmm? Say it.”
“I en—love it. I love the cocks in me so much…”
“Shit, you’re so pretty for that,” Wonwoo claims on your neck, pounding now faster, “say that again for us please.”
“I love your cocks fucking me…fucking my pussy and ass…”
Mingyu missed how you gave your everything during sex, groaning louder and louder the tighter you try to clench, how closer he realizes he’s getting. “She’ll say anything to cum…don’t let her.”
Mingyu’s hand comes up from behind Wonwoo to slap your clit, pinching to hear you whine. “You cum too soon, we’ll just fuck you over and over again. I want white to cover every inch of your body, clear?”
“Y-yes…sir…”
“Perfect little whore.”
You feel the rutting in and out of you like clockwork, overwhelmed by all the different energies your body accepts. Your moans, your screams, or your tears could never tell the full story of the euphoria of your feeling. Your arms embrace Wonwoo, latching on his hair and face, kissing him on his swollen lips, and feeling hot to the point you could confuse it for inferno, or that you were part of inferno yourself.
Seungcheol swallows back his drool, blind in ecstasy flowing through him and now reaching up to the surface. His fingers dig deeper into your thighs and the sounds of skin slapping drown out his moans. Seungcheol clutches you against him as he whispers, “you okay with me cumming in your ass princess, hmm, is that what you want?”
“Yes,” You answer in a hushed tone, “please I want you to cum in my ass…”
You feel his relieved sighs on your neck, slamming his body into you harder. You’re stretched like elastic, wearing down at their rough touch, until Seungcheol does as promised, squeezing his load and shooting it up in gradually staggering pumps until he’s empty and drops his rubber covered cock out to drip back onto the fabric of the couch.
That had been your final straw, feeling your climax erupt only immediately after Seungcheol. “I’m cumming, I’m cumming, I’m cumming…”
Wonwoo kisses your cheek in response but doesn’t stop. Mingyu on the other hand slaps against your clit harder repeatedly, reveling in the wretched noise you make. “Cum all you want…we'll take it…like you’re gonna keep taking us.”
Wonwoo grunts alone by himself, Holding you against him like it's the last, helping Mingyu keep his word and fuck you senseless. He was a good friend, he was good at helping his friends. That friendly nature makes you weak to the sensitivity after, whining under their touch, shaking on top of Seungcheol, as he tenderly fondles your breasts in his rest. It feels endless, not like you’re complaining, but a somewhat bit of relief is obvious when both of the remaining men cum in you simultaneously.  Friends that cum together, stay together, you guess.
“You gonna take our cum?” Mingyu pokes, his cock ruts in you like a man with no control.
“Y-yes.” You choke out.
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, yes, I can take your cum, please. Please. Cum in my pussy, I need your loads in me.”
“Wait condoms? You guys aren’t wearing any?” Seungcheol voiced out.
Wonwoo shakes his head as Mingyu aguishly blurts out a “no.”
“Aw, fuck you guys.”
“Mmp, mmph,” that was the sound of Wonwoo biting into your shoulder, his sweet white dispersing into you perfectly with Mingyu to follow. Ther loads meshed well together like they do, becoming one with your climax, dripping out of your brim like oozing honey: sweet, creamy, sticky. The perfect symphony to showcase the perfect vessel, capable of catching their cum.
“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit—”
Mingyu moans out his climax just as you remember, just as voluminous and rich. He’d laugh if he knew how much you would think about hearing it again. Your tired bodies part from each other, panting loudly inches away from each other, staring mindlessly into the space in front of them. You were the particularly spent and Wonwoo, the first to notice and care, picks up by your knees and carries you, fulfilling his duties as your designated roommate. “You’re okay, right?”
“Mm, I’m good, Woo.” you softly respond in his arms, you turn to the other two men fatigued on the couch, “I’m taking a shower first, assholes. Only Wonwoo can join.”
Wonwoo smiles with a blush on his cheeks, while the others roll their eyes.
“What? Why only Wonwoo?” Seungcheol questions.
“He treated me nicer. Think about it the next time we all fuck.”
Wonwoo looks back at you with a surprised look before taking you away to the bathroom. You leave Mingyu and Seungcheol to look back at each other, pondering on your response, taking all the world, space, and time to process your words.
Simultaneously. “Next time?”
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sheisjoeschateau · 3 months
Text
"Oh, so we DO love Steve..." | PART I
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Steve Harrington x Bauman!fem!reader enemies to lovers, heavy angst, hurt/comfort, upside down mayhem, S2-S4, post S4 universe hot-take, end-of-the-world / dystopian setting, ugly fights turned smut (...but with hella plot). 18+
WHEN THE UNEXPECTED NIECE OF MURRAY BAUMAN GETS THROWN IN THE MIX, THE GANG HAS NO IDEA JUST WHAT THEY'RE IN FOR. SCRATCH THAT - STEVE DOESN'T KNOW. YOU GET ALONG WITH EVERYONE WELL. YOU BANTER WITH THE ADULTS, WHO APPRECIATE YOUR HELP. THE KIDS LOVE AND WORSHIP YOU. YOU'RE HELPFUL ALL AROUND. BUT AS FAR AS STEVE IS CONCERNED, YOU'RE JUST NUISANCE. AFTER ALL, YOU'RE THE REASON HE LOST THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE AND MISSED OUT ON A LIFE THAT "COULD'VE BEEN." IF YOU HAD JUST KEPT YOUR SORRY ASS OUT OF THE PICTURE... IF YOU HAD NEVER GONE WITH NANCY AND JONATHAN AFTER THEY LEFT YOUR WHACK-JOB UNCLE, MURRAY BAUMAN'S, BUNKER? HE WOULD BE HAPPY. SO F*CKING HAPPY. BUT HERE YOU WERE. YOU WERE BASICALLY THE COOLER (...AND SURE, MUCH MORE ATTRACTIVE) FEMALE VERSION OF MURRAY BAUMAN. YOU WERE SARCASTIC, QUICK-WITTED, TOO SMART FOR YOUR OWN GOOD, AND APPARENTLY BUILT FOR THE WAR. SURE, YOU WEREN'T AS BRASH AS YOUR UNCLE. BUT IN STEVE'S EYES, YOU WERE SOMEHOW FAR MORE OBNOXIOUS. HE DOWNRIGHT HATED YOU. HE WILL FOREVER HATE YOU... BUT WILL HE?
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT GIVE PERMISSION FOR MY WORK TO BE COPIED AND/OR REPOSTED ON HERE OR ANY OTHER PLATFORM, OR PUT INTO ANY AI PROGRAMS. THIS IS AN 18+ BLOG, MDNI.
An original fanfiction series, written by Misha St. James.
⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ SERIES MASTERLIST ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆
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I did not proof-read this after Tumblr gave me hell trying to share. So pls excuse possible typos. hehe
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Let's just get to the point, shall we?
Once upon a time, a young boy named Will Byers went missing. Later, he was found in an alternate dimension by the world's #1 mom and a cynical cop turned hero. A girl with a shaved head had telekinetic superpowers, befriend's Will's four loyal friends along the way and helping them track down their missing party member. Then, whatever the hell was on the other side - whatever was in this...upside down...took back Eleven. She'd been missing ever since that dreadful winter.
Fast forward to now: you're sitting in your uncle's bunker, looking at his wild display of efforts.  Papers, files, whiteboards covered in multiple words, arrows, sketches - all in different colored markers. Murray Bauman was on a mission, and he would be damned if that grumpy, cynical smart-ass known as Jim Hopper honestly thought that he could dismantle his efforts.  Nice try, chum. Game on. Thankfully, you'd gone to school with Barbara Holland. That's whose parents had assigned the task of searching for her to your uncle. Murray was asking you tons of questions, and you were glad to help. It meant spending time with the only family member you cared for, despite his wackiness. You guys got each other. Bantered well. Got shit done. Honestly, it was also a great way of drinking safely and not with a bunch of rowdy teenagers at some stupid party. You got along just fine with everyone at school. But damn, they could all be annoying.  ...especially Steve fucking Harrington, who was now the topic of conversation. You know, given that his house is where Barbara was last seen. "It just isn't making sense," your uncle huffed, raking his hands through his oily dark hair.  You sipped on the glass of vodka that your uncle had poured you, hissing at the strong taste. Leaning across the coffee table, seated on his couch, you tried to connect the dots with him. "I'm telling you, someone in that group of teens knows what's up. Or at least has an idea." Your uncle swigged at his vodka, defeated but ruthlessly trying to piece together his clusterfuck of scattered evidence across his wall. "Well then, guess we better grill 'em."
And that's how you come into the picture. When Nancy and Jonathan came to seek out Murray. And when they arrive, they're surprised to see you. They recognize you from school. Jonathan took several classes with you. In fact, the two of you got along well at Hawkins High. No, you weren't close. But you both were cool. Nancy, on the other hand, didn't know anything about you. Just that you took political science with Barbara, and got straight A's across the board. You could've been class valedictorian. But you were not looking for any sort of title that demanded pressure or attention. At least not in high school. Career wise? Sure. Not here, though. Not Hawkins. "Your timeline is wrong," Nancy is saying, making you and Bauman freeze.  Nancy is telling you that the girl with the buzzed hair is not Russian. She is, in fact, from Hawkins lab. And her name is...Eleven? So they do know something. And something turns out to be everything.
Jonathan sits you both down to relay everything to you both. And woof, does it give you guys a headache. Strangely, though... it makes a whole lot more sense than some mundane explanation of sorts. Obviously though, that puts you all in a tough spot where you'll all need to put your heads together. So the two classmates of yours stay, sharing in chilled Smirnoff and having to endure the hilarity that ensues between you and your uncle. You and Murray both banter well with the two of them. Jonathan finds you to be hilarious. Nancy finds you intimidating. Very intimidating. You’re quick witted, darkly humored and independent. But there is a reserved, mysterious sort of feminine energy to you, despite your more masculine strengths and bluntness. Over glasses of stiff vodka, you all come to the conclusion on how to go about exposing the truth about Barbara Holland's disappearance: water it down.
At the end of the night, you're all winding down -- you and your uncle having convinced the two lovebirds to stay. But when you're telling them they can take your uncle's guest room while you take the couch, Jonathan's asking if he can take the couch. You blink. Huh? ...surely Nancy is not still with --
"Okay, I'm confused," your uncle's saying. "What's going on here? Lovers quarrel?"
You cock an eyebrow, leaning back into the loveseat.
But Jonathan and Nancy are then talking over each other with weird, flustered excuses...saying they're just friends.
You and your uncle bust out laughing. And then you're shrinking back in your seat, knowing what's coming: one of your Uncle Murray's lovebird witchdoctor speeches that he barrels into anytime that two delusional people have convinced themselves that they aren't in love. Or at the very least, not into each other. 
Uncle Murray is breaking them down, one at a time. He's reading Jonathan like an angsty teen novel, seeing right through him and his brooding, mysterious energy.  Trust issues, thanks to daddy issues. Yikes, that makes you sip some more drink.
And then he's onto Nancy, saying that she's harder to read. But he manages anyway.  It's the Bauman way.
He's telling her that she's likely like everyone else, "afraid of what would happen if you accepted yourself for you who you really are." He looks at you. "Am I in the right ballpark?"
You nod, swallowing the last drop of vodka in your cup. "That...and afraid of that might happen if she didn't retreat back to the safety of someone familiar."
Nancy looks bewildered. But more than that, she looks caught. 
"Name?" your uncle is prodding, snapping his fingers.  "Name."
You and Jonathan both say it. "Steve."
Uncle Murray's face is priceless. He feigns adoration, putting on a baby voice as he repeats the name. "Dawh. Steve. We like Steve."
"Yes," Nancy laughs nervously.  Eek, you think.
"But we don't love Steve..." Your uncle's words floor Nancy.
And when Nancy's saying something about still being with Steve, insisting that she loves him, you roll your eyes. Even scoffing, getting her attention. Maybe if the vodka weren't in your system, you wouldn't be so bold. But Jonathan's mopey look just gives you more confidence.
"Boom, ladies and gents," you say with a grin. "Second lie of the evening." "The hell was the first one?" Jonathan asks, blinking. "You guys being just friends." You and your uncle say something along the same lines, simultaneously. You both laugh together, clinking glasses. The two not lovebirds just squirm awkwardly in their seats. Finally, you sigh. "Look. You guys don't wanna give up the ghost? Be my guest. I'll happily keep my bed." You stand up, ready to turn in. But not until casting them one last work, pointing a finger. "But if I were you two? I'd cut the bullshit and just share the damn bed." Murray snorts, rising to stand as well. He stretches. "Welllllp. I'm turning in for the night." You begin mounting the stairs, hollering: "Better act fast, kiddos. At least before this poison in my system knocks me out cold. Don't worry, Nancy, I don't snore. So if you do choose me, you're safe." "But that's so lame," Murray adds to that wryly, heading off to his room. You both tell each other goodnight, leaving the two angsty teens to decide their fate. All you know is that Nancy ends up walking out and not coming back, at one point in the night.  Yeah, thought so. Breakfast the next morning is even more hilarious. You and your uncle ask every single question that drips with innuendo that you ever possibly could. And it's worth every fucking minute.
Murray's gonna need to keep that couch cleaned. To your surprise, Murray sends you off with Nancy and Jonathan, but given that you want to go and see it all for yourself you don't mind. You’re basically his little spy.  Most uncles send off their nieces and nephews with some good advice, maybe a packed lunchbox or snacks, and a warm hug. 
Yours, however, sends you off with a full bottle of vodka, a thick wad of cash and some fun sarcastic banter. But he headlocks you in for a hug, and you cackle. He really is a nutcase, and man you can't help but love him. He is so not the parental type. Yet somehow, he's practically raised you. And in your opinion, you're pretty well-prepared for the world. More than most, in Murray's opinion. So off you go with Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Buyers, and they both honestly enjoy your company. It helps them get past their umm...well...awkward new reality. That new reality that comes post-sex, after a long ass time of playing the tip-toe game. The sexual tension between them is hysterical to you. But you keep your thoughts to yourself for now. The vodka did most of the talking for you last night.
When you both arrive at wherever the hell your destination is, it's dark outside. And if you're being honest, it's pretty creepy. You're somewhere near the woods, and as you all walk closer you're beginning to see lights approaching you...along with a handful of shadowed figures. 
Fuck, you literally just got here.
But then, after a tense several moments... Nancy and Jonathan call out to them. You jump, startled at the fact that they do it so confidently. But the name that they call out suddenly makes it all make sense. "STEVE?" "NANCY...?" And that's how you became a crucial part of the most royal pain in the ass, King Steve's, life.
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theminecraftbee · 3 months
Text
Impulse stares at the shivering doll in the hole. He grimaces. He looks up at Iskall.
“So like. Have you considered doing this in a less morbid way than making me kill a small copy of myself that is clearly trying to run away?” he asks. He can’t quite keep the combination of mild horror and sarcasm out of his voice.
Iskall peers into the hole. Iskall looks back up at Impulse. Iskall shrugs. “I mean, it’s not that bad, really. You do plenty of morbid things.”
“It’s begging me not to kill it, and it looks like me.”
“Yeah but it’s like. You know. Wooo. Piñata,” Iskall says, making an explosion motion with his hands. “And the candy—in this case experience and items—goes everywhere! It’s like a birthday party, yes?”
Impulse stares at the doll, which has covered its face as it realizes it can’t quite escape the hole it’s been put in. It’s kind of sad. If it didn’t also look exactly like Impulse, maybe it would be less sad, but now Impulse is imagining an alternate version of himself getting buried in a hole for the purpose of getting stabbed, and he’s gonna be honest, it’s freaking him out slightly.
“A birthday party?” he repeats.
“Yep, a birthday party where you kill yourself,” Iskall says, nodding.
Impulse scans his face. “You see nothing wrong with that sentence.”
“Why would I?”
“You know I’m beginning to realize why the vault gods are like that,” Impulse says idly, and then he stabs himself. There’s a single dying scream then, as promised, the doll explodes with so many items the very world itself hitches for a moment to figure out what’s happening. He stares again for a moment before shrugging himself.
“Honestly still less weird than having to take my armor off my corpse,” he says.
“That’s the spirit!” Iskall says. “Feel free to keep making them, yes? It is good of you to catch up so you can also fight Harold.”
Impulse considers asking what, exactly, the herald is. No one has explained yet. Then again, at this rate, the herald will know the exact time and date of his final, permanent death, so he decides discretion is the better part of valor and just starts picking up carbon instead.
That will be a later Impulse problem. Assuming this game doesn’t make him stab him. Not off the table, apparently. Especially if he can name dolls. He should check.
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canthelpit0 · 10 days
Text
Enemies (With Benefits) PT3
Pairing: Cold!Chris x Reader
Word count: 3.9k +
Summary: Chris and reader have always been enemies ever since they’ve known each other. neither knew why they had this burning feeling in their gut. So one day they decide to fuck it out. Until, eventually doing it regularly
Warnings: language, smut, mentions of weed, (implied) RichKid!Reader, jealous!Chris, pet names (cherry), choking, humiliation, heavy degradation, sub!Chris, dom!Reader, I think that’s all.
(A/N: I got this idea from this request. Tysm for the idea & inspiration. Hope this is good.)
PT1 PT2 PT3 PT4 FINAL
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I haven’t talked to Chris ever since that party.
wich wouldn’t be too shocking, since we hate each other. but I’ve been ignoring him fully. I wasn’t even responding to his mocking or arguing with him.. just…
The entire situation of us, two people who hate each other so much, and have for so long, hooking up, is extremely toxic.
And I’m self aware, I know that.
It just never bothered me before... But he was treating me like shit. And I’m done with it.
It’s been a week now, and I don’t think he cares that much honestly. At first he went on like normal making witty remarks trying to start arguments and disagreements, but since I didn’t respond he started to do it less and less.
It feels so refreshing not to have a headache everyday.
Only con is, that we share most classes. So i have to see his face all the time. Tho I just ignore him.
At first I saw him walking a round with charlotte, and honestly I don’t know why she is still talking to him after almost hooking up.
I don’t know what he was trying to achieve with that. But if the point was to make me jealous he is so bad at it.
I’ve been talking to Ethan a lot though.
And like I thought, he’s a nice guy, and he always shares his weed.
Even though I have enough friends, most of them are ‘lunchbox friends’. Well except for Matt and Nick, but I can’t really talk to them often considering I’m trying to avoid their brother.
I feel like most of my friends are fake. Wich they are.
We’ll talk and have fun in school, but if I walk past them at the mall they will act like they’ve never seen me in their entire life.
Ethan though. Ethan is nice. His skater friends not so much. Well I guess they’re just critical. After all I’m not any type of alternative at all, and I frankly, don’t know how to skate.
But at least they respect me. Probably because I’m wealthy but ih well.
Ethan and I haven’t done anything.
Other than kiss.
I walk out of history class, a class I share with Ethan. We walk down the hallway side to side.
When we get to my locker- wich is only two away from Chris’ -I unlock it to put my books in it.
All this time Ethan had been complaining about how his next class would be math and whatnot. I had noticed that Ethan was skipping less and less classes now. I never realized how many classes we shared because he was always skipping. But now he wasn’t. And the lack of tobacco in his system was making him itchy and I could tell.
Once you got to know him he actually got quite talkative.
I look over my shoulder to look at Ethan but see Chris in the corner of my eye.
Chris…
Chris.
Without thinking I grab the collar of Ethan’s sweatshirt roughly crashing my lips onto his.
Ethan, having not expected it, doesn’t do anything for a moment, before he kisses back.
Pushing me against the lockers behind me roughly. His tongue finds its way into my mouth as we start to make out.
In the middle of the hall.
My arms wrap around his neck holding him close.
He was kissing me like i was the only source of oxygen. And it felt good. I could tell he liked kissing me, and he wasn’t bad at it.
“Gonna suck face in the hallways now too?”
I pull away slightly. My breath was coming out in short and harsh pants.
I ignore the voice. Chris’ voice.
…Chris
Instead I stare back into Ethan’s eyes. I try to focus on the way his hands feel on my waist as he holds me against the lockers.
His grip isn’t too tight, but it was firm. His forehead pressed against mine as I stare back into his dark eyes.
“Disgusting.”
I look over at him at the disgusted tone. I scoff. My eyes lock onto Chris’ and it feels like electricity shoots up my spine.
Ethan looks a lot like Chris, but he doesn’t have the blue eyes.
The blue eyes that I-
I pause all the thoughts leaving my brain as I hear Chris let out an irritated huff.
And suddenly the feeling of Ethan’s hands on my clothed skin feels too hot. Even tho he unironically resembles Chris a lot, he isn’t Chris.
And god when did my standard become: Chris.
I tare my eyes away from Chris’ gaze. My eyes locking back onto Ethan’s dark eyes.
While Chris’ seem cold and icy, Ethan’s are warm and welcoming. But I don’t want to be welcome and the warmth seems too hot.
It feels like going out in a hoodie on the hottest summer day.
-suffocating
“Fuck off Chris. You’re not any better”
I say to Chris, while staring back at Ethan. But before I can hear Chris reply the bell rings.
I let out a breath. Out of the corner of my eyes I see Chris slam his locker harshly and leave. And once he does I leave a peck on Ethan’s lips.
I slide out of his grip chuckling.
“Imma go now pretty boy, I’ll see you later” I smile at Ethan.
I quickly take out my stuff for my English class and speed walk past him.
★ ★
I’m late to my class but I can’t help but not care.
I share this class with none of them.
Not Ethan, not Chris, not charlotte.
Wich was a relief. Because I don’t know what that was. Ethan has never done anything to make me feel uncomfortable.
Chris had.
So why am I comparing them.
Why do I feel like the lack of just simple bickering with Chris is giving me withdrawal? Why does his glare burn through my soul? Why does it feel wrong being near Ethan when Chris was there? And why the tell did it feel like Ethan’s touch burned?
Why did I want Ethan to be Chris?
Well no let me rephrase that.
Why did I want Chris to be nice to me.
He’s always been rude and mean. I knew what I was getting into. And I liked it, and it felt great. So why am I missing the attitude.
Am I that much of an attention whore?
My eyes trail around the room. I take in the whiteboard none of the words written on it register in my head. I look over the students, mostly only seeing the back of their heads, since I sat all the way in the back
I’ve never felt so loved, alone and hated at the same time.
I know Ethen likes me, and it feels like I’m using him for escapism. To distract myself. I’m leading him on..
I feel so alone. Literally the only people I would usually tell, are the brothers of the problem.
And I’ve felt hatred so intense from Chris. And I know he hates me, and I know that’ll never change
★ ★
He days seem to pass so fast, yet so slow. And at this point I don’t know what I’m doing.
I stick to Ethan. Sometimes I’ll make out with him other times I’ll just stay close to him. Especially when Chris is around.
And I can see that he is getting more and more pissed off.
I’ve been wearing more revealing clothes. Atleast as revealing as it can get with the dress code and all. Mocking the fact that Chris can’t do anything about it.
I was hanging out at home. Alone since my siblings were once again at a sleepover. It wasn’t like they were always at one. And I feel like they’re too young to party and I trust them.
I trust that they aren’t lying to me.
Anyway, since they’re only one year apart they share some friends. So they both went to a sleepover birthday party from one of them.
I’m sitting on the couch, for once enjoying the pice and quiet. I have a movie playing, but I’m drowning more in my own thoughts than watching the movie.
I pause when I suddenly hear the doorbell ring.
I think that maybe it could be my siblings? No neither can drive yet.
Maybe it’s a package. Did I order something? But no it’s midnight they wouldn’t still be delivering orders at midnight..
I get up anyway trading over to the door.
I mean if it’s a killer and I go out this way…. Oh well.
My eyes meet Chris’ as soon as I open the door.
I go to slam the door in his face, but he catches it roughly throwing it open.
“Cherry, please” he huffs. He walks in his sharp eyes trained on me. Chris closes the front door behind him.
“Chris get out” I sigh. I purse my lips glaring right back at him.
If he stays i don’t know for how much longer I can control myself. I feel like I’m having withdrawal symptoms. I miss the way he hates me.
“Cherry, listen” he snaps slightly. I raise an eye cockily. I shift on my feet and cross my arms. My glare doesn’t let up.
But Chris is looking at me different. He doesn’t glare, he looks at me with… desperation?
“What?” I snap back harshly.
“Cherry, please? Literally give me anything?”
Oh, so he is as desperate as he looks.
“Give you what?” I play dumb. My arms stay crossed. I keep looking back at him, his pathetic state only serving to piss me off more.
He can’t even drive, how the fuck did he get here. Nobody knows were fucking so he probably didn’t ask Matt. But Ubers are expensive at this time.
“You know what I mean. Cherry, I’ll literally get on my knees right now and beg.” He says that slightly jokingly. He doesn’t actually think he’ll have to go that far, but if he needs to he will.
“So, get on your knees than, Chris” I mock back, thinking that he wouldn’t actually do it.
But before I can blink he’s going down on his knees right in front of me.
I raise my eyebrow staring down at him.
He dramatically puts his hands together making a begging motion. “Please, please, please cherry??”
I look down at him. He looks so cute when his eyes don’t look like they want to bore through me.
He actually looks desperate and needy right now.
I know I said I wouldn’t hook up with him, and I’ve been doing good at ignoring him for almost a whole month. But god he looks so cute, so… god
I thread my fingers through his messy long hair. His wavy brown hair. And I suddenly pull him up. He winces at the harsh treatment, but he lowkey deserves it for being an ass.
I hate how he stands just a little bit taller next to me.
I crash my lips on his and it feels like fire works go off. I’ve kissed Ethan so many times these past few weeks but it never felt this good.
My arms wrap around his neck. My fingers play with the hair at the nape of his neck. Chris’ hands instinctively go to my waist. He holds me flush against him and I feel so comfortable under his touch.
I pull off of the kiss scoffing. My hand wraps around his neck harshly. I pull him down to my eye level while slightly choking him, and he just lets me.
“Hm? Did you not get your dick sucked by someone else?” I mock him, my tone is harsh and condescending.
“Did she not do it as good as I did?”
“Don’t flatter yourself” he grumbles under his breath. He has the audacity to roll his eyes at me.
My grip on his neck tightens and he lets out a sharp breath, one that almost sounds like a moan.
“And yet you still came to my house, got on your knees and begged for me?”
He falls silent at the harsh words. He purses his lip staring back at me with what looks like shame in his eyes.
I move him harshly, changing the place where we stand so I’m close to the door. I harshly squeeze his neck before letting go.
“Go to the living room, I’ll be right there” I nod to the living room behind him. Chris eagerly nods before going to the living room.
I sprint up the stairs and with in a minute I’m back again.
“You’re so fucking pathetic you know that?” I glare at him while towering over his sitting figure.
I go to slowly straddle his lap. His back is pressed against the back of the couch. He looks up at me with ever so pleading eyes. Looking at me like he was desperate, wich he was.
“Such a pathetic bitch. Going to your enemies house and begging to be fucked” I say harshly. My grip goes back to his neck as I choke him slightly. Not enough to actually choke him, but enough to make him lightheaded.
“Sorry, sorry” he closes his eyes for a moment before opening them again.
His eyes meet mine and he looks purely submissive now. It’s funny to me how he is so needy. Maybe I need to ignore him and make him submissive more often, because I like this sight.
I pull him closer by his neck kissing him again. His hands ghost over my sides not daring to actually touch.
I pull away abruptly, listening to his whine.
“Undress.” I says simply standing in front of him.
While I watch him undress I turn off the TV fully. The movie had been paused, but I hadn’t paid attention to it anyway.
He does as I say. He slips off all of his clothing. He’s left fully nude in front of me for me to look at.
He squirms under my harsh gaze. But he is turned on. It’s obvious by his rock hard dick. It’s already red and swollen, leaking pre cum, looking for some release.
I pull out the vibrator from my pj pants pockets. I had gotten it from upstairs. Chris never let me use it on him, unless he was being really submissive.
And since he was, I might as well have fun.
I press it to his tip gently, not turning it on anything yet. I look back at him. I capture his mouth in a kiss. And then turn the vibrator on. He actually flinches at the sudden stimulation.
The kiss is messy, mainly because Chris can’t focus. But The vibrator is literally on the lowest level.
I pull away from the kiss listening to Chris whines and moans. He keeps his hands at his sides. He knows better than to try to get it away. But he looks like he’s itching to just push it away, overwhelmed by the amount of pleasure.
“You look so stupid right now” I chuckle.
I put the vibrator on the secound lowest level. But that alone is high enough for Chris to physically hold himself back from flinching. His moans and whines turn into breathless whimpers.
“Answer.” I scoff. And before I knew it I slap him across the face harshly. The clap echos through the room.
I was letting my pent up enger out, but Chris was enjoying it. As soon as I slap him, his mouth falls open in a silent moan.
Chris didn’t seem like the type. But he had a raging degradation kink.
The sting of the slap traveled right to his dick. His length was twitching in my hand. He was sinking further and further into the couch. He was enjoying this.
“I know-“ he breathes out. But I cut him off by turning the vibrator on higher.
His body practically jolts forward in pleasure. He tries not to come right then and there.
His hand grabs my wrist, the one that was holding the vibrator. “I’m close-“
“I don’t care Chris. If you come now you’ll have to go through the rest overstimulated.” I shrug. Then I abruptly turn the vibrator to its highest setting
He tries to curl his body in on himself but I push him back. And within seconds hes coming all over himself.
I keep the vibrator situated on his tip. I watch how he stays rock hard. His dick starts twitching as his whines get louder and needier.
He weekly pushes my hand off. But after A moment I take it off fully.
While he heaves for breath, I start to undress. I straddle him. When he feels me sink down on his tip his hands go to my waist out of instinct.
I sigh at the feeling. We haven’t fucked in what feels like ages. The stretch hurts. But still I purposefully clench around him to make it even tighter.
His eyes are clenched shut. He’s a moaning mess.
“Chris open your fucking eyes” I slap him again. His eyes flutter open.
“You look so cute all submissive” I taunt. I’m only half way down and I’m struggling. But he doesn’t need to know.
Before he can whine in answer I ram myself down. I wince at the feeling. But Chris’ moans are louder.
I start to gently bounce on him. But he is growing overstimulated quick.
I keep on doing that, my glare focused on Chris. Chris’ eyes shut tightly for a moment. He breaths harshly.
His eye meet mine again. He looks purely submissive. His head tilted down slightly, mouth slightly agape.
“Handsome boy, all needy to get fucked like this hm?” I wait for him to answer but he just whines and moans in response to my movements.
“Can you talk baby?” I ask, huffing. I grab his face, slightly squishing his cheek together with one hand. “Hm? You like getting fucked like this?”
He gasps when I speed up the pace. He blinks a few times, halfheartedly throwing back his head.
Another slap echos through the living room. His head is turned to the side his eyes wide. His mouth is agape as he tries to hold it together. “I told you to fucking talk Chris”
One of his hands goes to his cheek. He grits his teeth trying to formulate words.
But before he can, my hand goes to his neck gently squeezing as I start to ride him harder.
“So good- fuck-“ he breaths out harshly.
His eyes are half lidded. The rough treatment only serves to turn him on even more.
“Yeah, you like that?” I scoff. My hand snakes from his throat to his neck. I pull him in for a sloppy kiss. He can barely focus on anything, every sense in him overwhelmed.
I pull away from the kiss. My hands both move to his shoulders, To use as leverage to ride him harder.
Chris throws back his head, his eyes shutting. He only gets increasingly louder. My movements get harsher and more relentless.
I take one of his hands from my waits and position it at my clit. “Rub it” I demand. And as soon as I do he starts to rub it vigorously.
I clench around him, feeling my release wash over me. Chris’ hand on my hip gets harsher and harsher. I keep moving though, until I feel him twitch.
I quickly pull off an hover over him.
I sit down on his thighs, then start to jerk him off harshly. I put the vibrator back to his tip and turn it on.
Chris’ body harshly jerks forward. I put a hand on his chest and push him back.
And within a few seconds Chris is coming all over himself again.
We both pant as I stare at him. I keep sitting on his thighs as I watch him for a moment.
I lean down and leave a peck on his forehead. I pull him into me. My arms wrap around his neck, putting his face into the crook of my neck.
I pull away from him and slowly get up off of him. I pull on my panties, and pj pants again. As well as my top. Quickly getting dressed again.
I really don’t want to, but he needs to go. As much as I missed him, I made it a point to not hook up with him.
And now that I have, I might as well treat him like he treats me.
“You have to leave.”
He pause looking at me questioningly, It’s like he hadn’t expected me to tell him that. Like he expected us to just hang out and cuddle or something.
Which is not going to happen.
“What?” He questions, his tone sounding blunt, almost harsh.
“Christopher, I want you to leave” I say more sternly. I overpronounce every word to make sure his stupid brain understands it.
“Why” he scoffs frustrated. He stares at me like I’m crazy. Like I’m crazy for telling him to leave when leaving is literally all he ever does.
“Christoper.” I grit out my tone more harsh and serious.
I can’t help the loud scoff that I let out. I walk to the nearest bathroom. I grab a towel halfheartedly dampening it.
I walk back to the living room, where Chris sits mildly stunned. I throw the damp towel on him watching as he awkwardly cleans himself.
“What’s up with you” he sasses me. His gaze is judging.
“I hate you, Chris. I always will.” My words are harsh. And the more I talk the more I can see him narrow his eyes at me in anger, growing more upset by the second.
“Just because we fuck, doesn’t mean I like you. You’re a shitty person.” I take in a deep breath. I feel like I could say worse than that.
“I hate you, and you should leave.” I purse my lips. I watch his expression shift. His jaw clenches, and I can see that he looks like he is about to blow up on me.
The withdrawal symptoms of not fucking me were too much, but now he feels the rage. He remembers why he hated me so much. I can literally feel the hatred and anger radiating off of him.
His already sharp jawline only seems accentuated by the way he clenches it. He swallows his Adam’s apple bobbing.
Chris’ eyes narrow at me, but he just gets up and puts his clothes back on. He looked furious.
I hate him, so why would I let him stay, why would I forgive him. He got the Sex he wanted, so why was he so pissy about leaving?
Now fully dressed he walks closer to me, not touching me.
“What’s wrong with you?” He scoffs. His mood was now definitely sour.
“That’s how you always treat me Chris. Now leave” I snap back at him, getting just as angry as him.
“Okay cherry, have it that way” he gives me a halfhearted sarcastic nod. He then brushes past me to the door, opening it, before a loud slam echoes through the house.
I had sworn to not hook up with him anymore. And if I did that I’d treat him like he treats me. But why do I feel so shitty now?
Can’t a girl have sex and then he all giddy and want to cuddle?
Yes but Chris’ presence irks me. It’s disgusting. He is disgusting.
Masterlist
A/N: requests are always open. pls give me ideas on how to continue this <3 comment if u wanna be on the taglist
‼️please don’t copy my work/idea‼️
Taglist: @muwapsturniolo , @sturnad , @iluvm4ttsturni0l0 , @evie-sturns , @me09love , @fratbrochrisgf , @spideylovin , @chrissgirlsstuff , @stunza , @whicked-hazlatwhore , @sturniooolos
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gimmehyuck · 1 year
Text
a series of (un)fortunate events | l.mk
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summary. it’s been months since you've seen mark in person. when you have no choice but to be around him because of a wedding, you start to feel as if fate likes to see you suffer.
or, alternatively:
maybe fate just wants to see you happy.
pairing. rising actor!mark x fem!reader, feat. hyuck and ryujin
words. 9.4k
genre. exes to lovers; fluff with lots of angst sprinkled all over
warnings. reader has anxiety, honestly she’s a little bit miserable but i think we can forgive her for that, alcohol consumption, i asked my friend what the agents name should be and we both thought linda would be funny (sorry if your name is linda), cliche kdrama drunk scene bc i can
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you were frozen in time. mind completely empty. the literal embodiment of ‘not a thought behind those eyes’. it took a solid 45 seconds of ryujin calling your name before you snapped out of it and looked at her again through your phone screen. she was frowning at you and you couldn’t help but mutter under your breath a small, “shit.”
clearing your voice you apologized with a smile this time.
“i knew she’d react like this,” ryujin said to the other person sharing the space on the phone screen.
“i know… look,” donghyuck said to you after turning away from his now fiancé. “i told mark that he’s my best man because he’s my best friend, but i also told him to try and keep his distance. we both want the both of you there for us.” donghyuck was pouting a little, probably because he always got his way when he did that but you were mostly looking at ryujin. she was happy and you could tell, but her eyes were worried for you. and who were you to ruin this time for her?
“oh, of course babe. i can handle this, no worries at all!” you forced the smile to meet your eyes, hoping she’d buy it. she didn’t. but she admired your bravery in the moment and didn’t press you further.
“i’ll let you know the details, you’ll have to fly back home so don’t worry about the dresses or anything. i’ll take care of that for you!” she chirped.
“ryu, no! if i’m the maid of honor then i should help with this stuff!” but ryujin was already waving her hand dismissively.
“just focus on getting here, it’s going to be expensive enough to get plane tickets, let alone the back and forth. so we’ll make it one trip for the wedding and i’ll facetime you for everything.”
“at least let me plan the bachelorette party,” you argued. and ryujin smiled brightly at that.
“i wouldn’t dream of taking that away from you.”
after a few more minutes of honest congratulations and eye rolls for donghyuck, you hung up the phone and you sat back on the couch while you stared at the picture that was the home screen. running your hand through your hair, you sighed heavily. the picture of mark leaning against the short wall of the ice rink as he was laughing hysterically was staring back at you, the moment captured during your one year anniversary date. you had fallen while ice skating and he spent the first two minutes laughing before he pulled himself together to help you up. you had been recording at the time and it was your favorite picture.
even though it had been two months since you had left, you still didn’t have the heart to change it. just like you didn’t have the heart to fall out of love with him. this wedding would be the second hardest thing you’d have to do.
the first will always be the night you left.
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you took everything that you had originally thought back. this would absolutely be the second hardest thing you’d ever have to do.
when ryujin sent you the seating arrangement for the wedding and let it slip that you’d have to walk with mark down the aisle, you nearly cried.
you did cry, actually.
luckily you knew where the letters were on your keyboard so you were able to type out a ‘sounds good to me, babe :)’ without actually seeing since your watery eyes were making the keyboard all but disappear.
you angrily brushed them away, getting so frustrated with your emotions and scolding yourself because you would have to get this under control in three months time. you still didn’t understand the rush of the wedding but it wasn’t your wedding to plan therefore you had no say in the matter. shaking your head you went back to your laptop to search for plane tickets to korea when the late night show’s host saying mark’s name caught your attention and you quickly whipped your head up to watch the tv.
“tonight we have with us, the up and coming star whose debut movie will be releasing this friday, mark lee!” the audience clapped and the thought of reaching for the remote to turn off the tv did not cross your mind; the idea of getting to see him aside from the random magazine cover made your heart ache but in that moment you wanted to brave the ache if only to get to see a smile from him.
mark walked on the set and waved at everyone, a bright smile on his face that you had been waiting for. his blue blazer complementing his black hair, and you couldn’t help but think about how handsome he looked. you were far too entranced to tell yourself to turn it off now.
“so!” the host said, clapping his hands together as mark took his seat adjacent to him. “welcome to the show.”
mark nodded along, “thank you for having me.”
“the pleasure is all ours, isn’t that right?” the host said to the crowd and they began the applause all over again. you noticed mark’s ears turning a little pink and you knew he was getting a little overwhelmed with the love from strangers.
“your debut movie dive into you, your very first role as an actor nonetheless, was making waves,” the host paused with a raised eyebrow while the crowd - and mark - laughed at his pun; then continued, “of the sundance festival. how did it feel to win awards so soon after wrapping up production?”
mark smiled and nodded along in answer, “it feels like it’s not real honestly, but also like my hard work has finally paid off. i never really thought i’d be here. i never thought i’d get to see this part of my dream come to pass but here i am. i can’t help but feel nervous, but also excited, you know? the director, cast, and crew were all welcoming and amazing to work with. i’ll truly remember this moment forever, and be grateful for it.” the host nodded along with mark as he answered his question at length, and then as he spoke the hosts lips pursed and he began tapping his chin.
“you said something very interesting just then, mark,” the host commented and mark raised an eyebrow at him suddenly looking around trying to figure out what it was exactly that he had said, as if the audience could help him find it.
“what? did i accidentally cuss and not realize it?” mark gave a nervous laugh and you couldn’t help but smile at his awkwardness. you were happy to see that although he had achieved his dream, he was still the same mark.
“oh no! and besides. it’s late night tv, you’re allowed to cuss here and there,” the host laughed a little before leaning forward on his desk and mark leaned closer as if they were going to share a secret.
“what i was curious about, and i’m sure what everyone else at home is curious about as well, is what you meant exactly by ‘this part of my dream’? what’s the other half… or whatever fraction of your dream that hasn’t come true yet?”
and mark’s eyebrows rose, “ahhh, that…” he hesitated while he scratched the back of his neck.
“i just meant… um, i just meant that the other part being that i wish that my- my friends were able to be here and celebrate this milestone with me.” mark was lying through his teeth, you could tell because as he said the word friends, his nose scrunched a little and that was always how you knew he was either lying or withholding something. but these people wouldn’t know that about him, and the shows host accepted the answer immediately. his face gave a look of understanding and almost concern.
“oh yeah, you came from korea for this movie, didn’t you?” and mark nodded in answer.
“yeah, they’re all back home supporting me but it’s okay. my best friend is getting married in a couple of months so i’ll be able to celebrate then with them in person!” and the host grinned widely at mark and then the camera.
“well that makes me happy for you, mark, truly! oh, and it looks like that’s all the time we have for tonight. everyone go watch dive into you when it releases in theatres this friday!”
the credits began to roll and mark was shot smiling and clapping, leaning over to say something to the host that the camera mic didn’t catch as the show ended. seeing his smile and being happy like that made the heart ache worsen, and you rubbed at your chest trying to ease the metaphorical pain. you weren’t sure if you were ready to see him. you weren’t sure if you’d be able to keep it together for this whole thing.
but for ryujin, you’d try.
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fuck this. you couldn’t do it.
you really really couldn’t do it.
after landing in korea you connected to the wifi of the airport only to receive one message from ryujin.
5:50 pm my baby 👭: mark will be picking u up from the airport, hyuck and i had last minute kinks to work out for the wedding but i’ll come and get u tonight for the bachelorette party! i’m so sorry 😞
she even had the nerve, the audacity to send the sad emoji but all you could do was feel your heart racing from anxiety. so you quickly typed back in a panic -
that’s ok! i can just take a taxi, no need for mark to come!
but she answered immediately as if she were waiting for your response, and her only message was, “he’s already there!”
and you were going to fucking kill her. you were absolutely going to murder her before she even got the chance to step one toe down the aisle. you didn’t even bother responding to the text, your anxiety and frustration making an uncomfortable mix in your chest and if you weren’t already thirty seconds from a panic attack, your phone buzzed again and with sweaty palms you checked it.
6:05 pm ml 🐯🥰: ryujin gave me your new number, sorry if this is weird. but i’m outside in the blue car, take your time though.
6:06 pm ml 🐯🥰: this is mark, btw
you internally screamed as you read the message over and over again, the contact name being another thing you also didn’t have the heart to change like your wallpaper, truly thinking you would never see it pop up again. you abruptly sat on the nearest bench as you waited for your checked luggage to arrive at the baggage carousel, the people who were standing around you edged further away from you. flashing you concerned looks at your apparent mental break down, but you could hardly even blink. you felt your heart rising in your throat and you tried to breathe through your nose and out through your mouth.
you tried slowly counting to five.
you tried breathing in for a few seconds and breathing out slower.
as you sat, you tried every calming technique you could think of.
it wasn’t until an elderly lady placed a gentle hand on your shoulder causing you to jump slightly and she gave you a kind look.
“everything is going to be okay,” she said as she gently rubbed your back and then just… walked away. the sudden appearance and disappearance of her making your panic halt in an instant in the distraction.
then the carousel whirred to life, and you had to rush over to haul your bag off of the moving belt before you had to wait for it to come around again. you really should have let it circle around a few times, but that idea came to you after you had already set the suitcase on the ground.
the kindness from the older woman, and the knowledge that you would be able to thoroughly murder your friend in a few short hours helped you to steel your nerves as you exited the airport and quickly found the blue car mark was driving.
it was easy to spot because he was literally leaning against it while he stared at his phone. you hesitated a moment, taking him in and god did he look good in those jeans and that sweater. the thoughts getting away from you before you could stop them but immediately scolded yourself.
steadying yourself with a quick breath, you rolled your suitcase up to the trunk and he jerked his head up at the sudden movement.
“oh, hi. i was waiting for a response from you- but, uh, um, here! let me get that.” he said quickly as he reached for your bag to help you heave it into the trunk but you put your hand up to stop him, taking a step back to create space.
“it’s okay,” you said, a little too curt with him. “i can do it myself.” and mark instantly deflated, your heart jumping at the need to fix that look.
no, you scolded yourself and internally forced your heart to still. he’s not yours anymore.
you made sure of that.
mark stepped back and let you lift up the heavy suitcase yourself, dropping it ever so gracefully in the trunk. you closed it and tried not to make eye contact as you moved around mark to get into the passenger seat. when you shut the door you couldn’t stop yourself from looking in the side mirror to see him frown and he shook his head at himself. you breathed a sigh of relief out. the ‘ripping off the bandaid’ part over and done with.
he got in to his side of the car smoothly, and you prepared yourself for an awkward silence the entire ride to the hotel.
“we’re staying at the same place, so that’s cool!” mark said casually, trying to create some form of conversation, of peace. you didn’t respond to what he said, instead opting for a different approach.
“you didn’t need to come and get me,” you said quietly as you stared at the passing cars on the road.
“i wanted to,” he said just as quietly, and you flinched internally at what sounded like sadness. he said your name, and then hesitated. after a few moments of silence, you saw his reflection in the window shake his head slightly as he decided against saying whatever it was.
“never mind.” was the last word uttered of the drive.
the tension weighed heavily on your already wounded heart.
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fate had it out for you. she must really enjoy screwing you over. because what you kept thinking would be the hardest part… kept continuously turning out to absolutely not be the hardest part, as if she were taunting you.
exhibit d:
“what do you mean my reservation was canceled?” you asked the hotel concierge for the third time in a row, causing her to sigh in frustration at you, finally cracking her happy persona she had to wear for her job.
“ma’am, i really don’t know how else to explain it to you. it says here it was canceled, and your room was already booked by someone else.”
“well unbook it!” you insisted, all but yelling out at that point, completely fed up. “i didn’t cancel my reservation, so it must have been a system error. isn’t there anything you can do to fix this?”
“i’m sorry,” the woman said again. “we’re fully booked for a wedding that’s taking place in a few days.”
“i-“ you paused pinching the bridge of your nose tightly, taking a moment to deeply inhale. you were going to have to google better calming techniques. “i. know. because i am in that wedding!” you hissed between clenched teeth and when the woman reached for the phone in fear, to call what you presumed was the security, mark stepped in suddenly. he leaned against the tall counter, and his sudden closeness made you jerk your head up to make eye contact with him.
“i booked a suite with an extra bed, it may be a little… um, awkward but the bed is yours if you want it.” his ears were turning red, but his voice sounded genuine. as if he truly meant his offer and god you wanted to crawl into the nearest hole and never come out. knowing your options were limited to this or staying with your parents who lived two hours outside of the city, you really didn’t have any other choice.
fate was absolutely fucking with you just because she could, was the only thought on replay as you were getting ready in the bathroom for the bachelorette party that night. considering you had slept on the plane, you weren’t tired yet and you figured you’d be able to sleep off the jetlag with a nice hangover before the rehearsal dinner the next evening. putting the final touches on your makeup, you looked at yourself in the mirror.
you could do this.
you could do this.
you could do this.
you repeated those three sentences like a mantra to yourself over and over, trying to give yourself the confidence to leave the room and be in the same space as mark again, but it seemed like the universe had different plans as your inner musings were interrupted.
“you look… really pretty.” he said in the entrance of the bathroom, his body blocking the only exit from the room. you looked down to avoid the eye contact in the mirror he was giving you, and muttered a quiet, “thank you.”
he paused a moment more before saying your name, for the second time since you had seen him, and hearing his voice saying your name in that way as opposed to the first time… it almost made tears spring to your eyes.
“i just wanted-“ he started, but for the first time since you had been told of this wedding, something (because it definitely wasn’t fate) decided to take pity on you and give you a break because at that moment you got a text from ryujin.
9:45 pm murder victim (1) 🔪: here babe!!
and you instantly sighed in relief. cutting mark off from what you were sure he had spent the last hour building up the courage to say, you turned on your heel and said, “ryu’s here! gotta go.”
you brushed past him to exit the hotel room, not even noticing that you had forgotten the door key on your way out.
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it was three am.
or maybe four.
you weren’t sure.
you spent the first twenty minutes of the night scolding the hell out of ryujin in the back of the uber and she just took it with a grin.
“and just what is so funny?” you huffed at her, crossing your arms and allowing your brows to stay furrowed.
“it’s almost like the universe is telling you to get back together.” she sang, and wiggled her eyebrows at you. you threw your hands up in exasperation, drawing eyes from the driver through the rearview mirror. giving a slight bow of apology to him you turned back to ryujin only to roll your eyes at her.
“no, the universe likes watching me hit a newly discovered rock bottom. we’re not getting back together and i’m sure he’ll be happy to have me gone once your wedding is over.” ryujin only shrugged and you didn’t hear it when she muttered, “i wouldn’t be so sure.”
when the uber dropped you off in front of the first club of the night, your sour mood dispersed in a second as you headed inside.
you and ryujin, along with her other bridesmaids in her party, heejin, yeji, and jimin had bounced from club to club and you had thoroughly drank your cares away. you were no longer thinking about how fate was a bitch. you were no longer thinking about the doom and gloom you were feeling.
you were no longer thinking about mark.
except that last one was a lie because he was the only thought that occupied your brain through the night, so much so that ryujin had to cover your mouth with her hand to stop your rambling about him.
but as the dawn crept closer and closer, all of you were calling it quits. yeji had lost a shoe somewhere along the way and jimin had left thirty minutes before, taking a whiny yeji with her; heejin was finally getting into her uber after ten minutes of drunkenly explaining that no, she wasn’t in the building the street over, and yes the gps was actually wrong. it just left you and ryujin as you waited for donghyuck to come pick you up, knowing he was on standby for the designated driver role of the morning. ryujin held your hand and affectionately laid her head on your shoulder. you copied the action and turned so you could hug each other and sway back and forth, the scene cute if not for the fact that anyone watching could tell that you were both heavily intoxicated if the giggles coming from you both after each dramatic sway were any indicator.
“you know everything is gonna be okay,” she slurred a little too loudly in your ear and the phrase made you think of something but you couldn’t quite remember what it was.
“i know,” you giggled at her, grinning brightly and you both squeezed each other tighter. you couldn’t remember in that moment what needed to be okay.
“hey, that’s my future wife! if you wanted her you should have proposed first!” you both turned to see donghyuck smiling widely, as he leaned across the center console to be able to tease you both out of the passenger window. you answered by sticking your tongue out childishly at him and ryujin answered by kissing your cheek with a loud, exaggerated smack, leaving a red stain on your cheek from what was left of her lipstick.
“i could have had her years before you even knew her, and i’ll have her years after you. remember that!” you said while pointing your fingers at your eyes and turning them on him. he rolled his eyes and sarcastically mimicked your response before motioning for you both to get in the car.
the drive back to the hotel was quiet and for the first time that night you checked your phone.
11:03 pm ml 🐯🥰: hey, i just noticed you left your keycard to get back in the hotel
12:00 am ml 🐯🥰: i’ll sleep with my phone off of silent, just call when you get back and i’ll let you in
2:15 am ml 🐯🥰: please be safe, let me know if i need to come get you
your heart fluttered at his messages and you drunkenly smiled at how he still cared. you covered your mouth to hide your smile but the sober one in the car didn’t miss the way your eyes lit up in a way that neither he nor ryujin had seen on you in five months. he could only smirk to himself as he drove, promising to himself to tell ryujin about what he saw the next morning.
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you stumbled your way down the hallway, stopping and taking off one shoe as it was rubbing your foot painfully. then after a few steps you realized how silly it was to walk with one heel on and you clumsily leaned against the wall to pull off the other shoe. arriving to the door, you giggled at the idea of getting to call and talk to mark.
mark was here, with you.
you were here, with mark.
something you’d never thought would happen again and it made your heart soar. giggling again at that thought you pulled out your phone. hitting the call button, he picked up after the third ring and you sighed as you leaned against the door frame, allowing it to hold you up.
“hello?” his voice was raspy from sleep and it made butterflies erupt in your stomach.
“hi,” you giggled once more, and you internally smacked yourself this time.
play it cool or don’t talk yourself into sounding like an idiot, you told yourself.
“hi,” he parroted back to you. “are you okay? do i need to come get you?”
“yeah, can you please?” and you heard rustling through the phone.
“okay, i’m on my way. where are you?” he didn’t hesitate. he didn’t even sigh. he didn’t seem annoyed by having to help you. he seemed… almost happy in the way he said his words. as if you could audibly hear the smile. but maybe that was the alcohol letting you hear what you wanted to hear. you heard him walking around in the hotel room through the phone, and saw a light flick on from the little sliver of a gap under the door.
“on the other side of the door,” you smiled, laughing a little harder at your own joke and the door jerked open to reveal mark in all his sleepy glory. shirt wrinkled and hair sticking out at in odd directions. his relief, however, made way to his smile and he couldn’t help but stare down at you for a moment… but you, you were definitely still drunk. and who needs inhibitions to tell you not to do something anyways? not you, that’s for sure.
“my pretty maaaark!” you sang, as you threw yourself against him, or well, fell against him would be a better term for what happened.
he froze at the sudden affection from you, arms raised at awkward angles above your body before allowing his arms to lower and hug you back gently.
“i’m so sleepy, mark.” you slurred against his chest and you nuzzled your cheek against it, thinking about how soft this shirt was. he huffed a small laugh and pulled you further into the room so he could close the door.
“okay, let’s get you to bed then. c’mon.” and he helped you walk (in reality he half carried you) towards the shared bedroom.
“mark,” you called his name again softly. he glanced down at you and he noticed you were already looking up at him, arms still wrapped around his waist.
“mm?” he answered as he navigated you finally over to the bed.
“i’m so happy,” you said to him and somehow, fate again you assumed - that bitch - you simultaneously tripped over your own drunk feet and tumbled back onto the bed. your arms that were still wrapped around his waist gave him no choice but to fall with you, or well, on top of you. he caught himself instead of crushing you, an arm on each side of your head, caging you in.
he looked down at you and your body acting off it’s own accord by gripping his shirt tightly at his waist. you couldn’t help but stare at his face for a few long seconds, eyes going from his eyes, up to his hair, down to his lips, back to his eyes, and then back to his lips one last time.
“and why is that?” he asked, bringing you back to the moment before you tripped. and although your eyes had drifted back up to his eyes, he noticed that yours started to slowly flutter closed, as if you were fighting sleep but the alcohol was winning. your bright smile you gave him while you were thinking of the answer made his heart beat fast, but the words you said next made it stop entirely.
“because i get to be here with you, even if it’s just for a moment. i missed you so much, my mark, all marked in my heart.” you laughed softly again at your own joke, referencing back to a pickup line he had given you that made you say yes to his first request of a date. he couldn’t help the melancholy feeling that overcame him as he looked down at your sleeping form, the alcohol finally taking you from awake to asleep within seconds.
“i’m happy too,” he whispered though you didn’t hear it.
if only you knew how happy he actually was.
.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.
the next day, you surprisingly slept well considering it was 3 o’clock in the afternoon and you were still in your clothes from last night. the curtains were drawn tightly as to not let any light in, and you groaned at the headache that pulsed behind your eyelids. you knew the room was empty based on the the silence and you were grateful for it as you felt embarrassed by your actions the night before. why the hell would you say that to mark? if you wanted him to hate you, well, you were doing a damn good job of solidifying that. you searched for your phone amongst the blankets and pillows to check your messages.
11:15 am murder victim (2) 🔫: mark said earlier that you forgot your key, hope you ‘got in’ okay ;)
11:30 am murder victim (1) 🔪: hi babe, how’s the hangover? the rehearsal is at 5. text me when u get up, ily 😘
11:47 am ml 🐯🥰: i put tylenol by the bed with some water, i would have ordered you food but didn’t know what time you’d be getting up. see you later
your heart gave way at the kind gesture as you flipped on a light switch and squinted at the brightness, quickly finding the medicine and downing it in one go to quickly turn off the light again.
maybe he wasn’t hating you like you thought.
you gave yourself thirty minutes to try and let the headache lose the battle with the medicine you took and finally rolled out of bed to take a shower, doing everything you could think of to keep mark and his never ending kindness off of your mind. you got ready in record time, and somehow made it to the rehearsal on time with five minutes to spare.
you ran through the wedding fairly quickly, and you most certainly did not blush as mark took your arms in his to walk you down the aisle for the practice run. besides that, you didn’t get a chance to look at mark until it came to dinner with the wedding party for the night.
fate, and you couldn’t say you were mad at her this time, had allowed mark to sit next to you during dinner.
“so mark,” yeji had said as she stuffed a piece of broccoli into her mouth. “what’s it like being famous now?”
he groaned in answer. his hand moved ever so slightly to the right and his pinky was suddenly touching yours. your eyes widened but you didn’t move your hand away, allowing his hand to rest next to yours. it felt like something from middle school when you would get excited over your crush, your eyes laser-focused on where you were connected.
“i mean, of course i’m happy to have found success in it.”
success.
that word alone sent you back to The Moment five months ago.
success was all that you wanted for mark, you were happy to watch him as he acted on set. with the way his schedule had been lining up, you hardly saw him. so when you suggested that maybe you could spend the day with him on set while he worked, he didn’t say no to you. it made you happy that he made you feel like he was fitting time in with you even if he was insanely busy.
you missed spending time with him, and you really… just… missed him. his absence making your worries and self doubts grow more eminent but you were both usually good at communicating so it wasn’t a constant worry, but the worry was there all the same.
mark had just left you to begin another scene, leaving you sitting in his chair that was off to the side and you couldn’t stop your eyes from following him around the room, watching his interactions with his cast mates.
a body landing into the chair next to yours caused you to jump and you turned to see his manager sitting next to you, leaning to the side to be just on the verge of invading your space. she was a stone faced woman, perfectly presented down to the red polish of her nails.
you had only met her a few times but she seemed… nice enough. you couldn’t deny that she worked hard to get mark solid chances and auditions so you appreciated her as mark did.
the situation at hand made you uncomfortable for some reason though, your gut telling you to move away from her.
you didn’t listen.
“so,” his manager began slowly, not making eye contact with you, instead her eyes were following mark as yours had been doing moments before.
“so…?” you prompted when she didn’t begin speaking right away.
“we need to talk… and i’m taking the initiative because mark’s too kind and won’t do it.” this caught you off guard entirely. mark was keeping something from you? you were both good terrible secret keepers with each other and this seemed so unlike him.
but, you thought, his manager was with him when you weren’t so maybe…
“oh…” you said, and finally his manager made eye contact with you. the cold stare she was giving you sent shivers down your spine.
“look, sweetie. this… this relationship you have with mark. it isn’t working.” and she patted you on the shoulder as if this were good news. “it isn’t going to work for his image or his future. you know you’re holding him back from the future he could have. the future he deserves. why do you want to burden him any further than you already have?” she asked, voice dripping with a sense of sweetness that screamed condescension.
you stilled at that instantly. the thought that you may have been the problem the entire time you were together… that you were the reason as to why he couldn’t get auditions… you would be lying if you said it hadn’t crossed your mind.
“but mark never said…” you argued weakly, playing with your fingers all while trying not to make eye contact with the woman sitting next to you.
“of course he wouldn’t, dear. he knows you’re too… fragile.” she sneered at the last word, her disdain for you being glaringly obvious as the conversation carried on. your anxiety made you fragile? mark had talked about you to her?
when you didn’t respond right away, mind racing, mark’s manager stood up.
“if you want to be selfish, and ruin his chances at success then that’s fine. just know any future failures would be on you. if you truly loved him, you’d do this for him. you’d leave.” her voice changed sharply within that sentence, the word selfish becoming a thicker blanket on top of burden in your mind and it was like you couldn’t breathe.
the anxiety stemming from the words she had just said - the fears you had been harboring for months, the thoughts that you had been smothering like a fire in the back of your mind suddenly roared to life, and the sudden heat was too hot for you to handle in the moment.
the idea of mark possibly resenting you in the future for things you knew were out of your control, it shook you… and it was minutes of spiraling into yourself before you realized that his manger had been long gone and the director had called cut.
mark stopped by where you sat for a brief moment to tell you that he had to go to the the hair and makeup trailer and he would be back soon. the fact that he didn’t tell you that he loved you with a quick kiss like he usually would being the final nail in the coffin for you in believing every word.
you got up and left the set that day, going to your shared home with mark and realized there wasn’t much that you wanted to take anyway. your heart was shattered and everything you’d take would only remind you of him.
you had packed a suitcase, and sat for a long time contemplating if you wanted to leave a letter but then ultimately decided that if he was already feeling burdened by you, you’d be doing him a favor by not making it hard on him. or well, any harder.
allowing that memory to play all the way through for the first time since seeing him made you feel as if reality had punched you in the stomach, and it sobered you up quickly. the heavy weight of your anxiety was back and it settled on your chest. the bubble of happiness you felt at the slightest touch, at the first sight of him after being apart from him for so long… all gone in an instant.
remember you’re the burden, you did this for him, you chided yourself sadly in your head. you were the reason why you both were estranged.
you gently moved your hand away to rest it in your lap. mark cut his eyes to you suddenly but you missed the glance and you missed the way he was still looking at you as he said, “but i’m just happy to be here with you… with all of you again.”
he tore his eyes away from your face to look at yeji and she smiled knowingly, eyes darting from mark to you. the room felt small to you then, almost suffocating. the sudden appearance of someone to the table brought you to the present.
“dessert will be coming out soon,” the waitress said to ryujin.
your appetite was gone entirely, and you had to get out of there. you leaned over and whispered in ryujin’s ear that you loved her but you were heading up to the room. you felt the tears were coming, because reality was the bitch this time instead of fate.
the kindness mark was showing you during all of this was making your heart ache and it was bringing up the pain that you desperately fought off for five months. excusing yourself from the table, you told everyone goodnight and made a beeline for the elevator that would take you up to the room.
stepping inside and punching the floor number, you hit the close door button frantically and bit your lip to try and keep the tears from coming as long as possible. the doors were almost closed when a hand suddenly blocked it and it opened again, revealing mark and he stepped inside, awkwardly coughing at the dramatics of it all.
you stepped to the side of the elevator and didn’t look up from your fingernails that you played with to avoid eye contact at all costs. the awkward tension filled the elevator thickly and you could feel mark’s stare boring holes into the side of your head. when the elevator finally dinged with the arrival of your floor, you’d never felt more grateful for the annoying sound.
all but running from the elevator, you headed to the room only to realize that, fuck, yes you were actually staying in mark’s room and no, he wasn’t riding the elevator for fun. his steps sounded behind yours and you pointedly didn’t say a word to him as you both entered the room. his presence didn’t deter your tears that had been threatening to spill, in fact it only made them more prevalent and it was taking all that you could do to not let them fall. the click of the door being shut made you flinch a little in anticipation of what came next, and mark cleared his throat.
“so, um…” he began, hesitating while trying to find the right words on how to approach this before continuing. “i think - i think we should talk. you said something’s last night and it… it really has me confused and i just need, no, i deserve an explanation.” when he finished his sentence his words sounded pained.
you did guess that you owed him an explanation.
but you didn’t want to give it to him.
the same way you felt you deserved one as well, but you didn’t want the confirmation.
“i’m sorry, mark.” you said, voice barely above a whisper. and it was the only thing you had to say in that moment, anything over three words and your voice would have cracked. you kept your back to him as you walked over to the bathroom and shut the door, not wanting to see his face during this.
you really were a coward, you thought.
you heard mark approach the other side of the door and stop.
“you’re- you’re sorry?” he asked, and then with a hint of sarcasm, he finally decided to bring up the biggest and obvious elephant in the room. “you’re sorry for what? leaving or are you sorry for what you said last night? are you going to tell me you didn’t mean it now?” and you could only shake your head even though he couldn’t see.
“all of it.” you choked out.
“all- ha, all of it?” his laugh was dry. your silence was answer enough.
“you left me. you left me without an explanation. without a single note and then you changed your number! i thought you had just left the set but i came home to find you gone. what could i have possibly done that would have deserved that? what did i do?”
“it’s…” you started from the other side of the door, tears falling at the desperation in his voice. but mark was on a roll, months of pent up frustration and sadness finally boiling over.
“you were there with me and then you weren’t and you hurt me, y/n. you absolutely broke my heart, you know that? i almost quit the movie entirely.”
“if you had, then it would have been for nothing.” you cried from the other side of the door.
“what are you even talking about?”
you flung open the door suddenly, mark taking in your tear stained face, your eyes red and bloodshot.
“i left you for you, mark.”
“i don’t-.”
“you said i broke your heart, but i broke my own first. i left you for you!”
“i never asked you to do that!”
“you didn’t have to! she did it for you. i left so i wouldn’t hold you back anymore. i was holding you back, i was burdening you, i was keeping you from the successful career you worked so hard to achieve.” you placed your hand on your chest and took a deep breath, “i admit that i was a coward in not waiting, but i couldn’t handle hearing the confirmation of it all from you. so i did it for you, i left so i wouldn’t be selfish.” you spat out the last word like it was poison, the word that had been torturing you these past five months, all while pointing your finger at mark as if to drive home your point.
“she-? you… selfish? what the hell are you even talking about?” he asked, eyebrows fully drawn together in confusion. you scoffed.
“don’t act as if you hadn’t talked to her about me. about how you couldn’t tell me any of this because i was fragile.” your mouth twisted with that sentence, and your emotions didn’t know whether to be angry or sad. so you continued to cry because, yeah, that would cover all the bases.
marks mouth clicked shut as things started to come together in his mind. pieces falling into place and then he was suddenly livid.
mark was silent for a moment, his lips pursed and his eyes thunderous - you could only assume that fury was directed at you considering his eyes never left yours, and you swallowed nervously.
“y/n…” mark started slowly, his voice dropping dangerously low in his anger, “who exactly do you mean when you say the word ‘she’?”
you hesitated a little, never knowing mark to get this angry.
“your… manager.” you murmured and mark’s jaw clenched, and you felt your anger dissipate entirely as his took over. as the seconds ticked on, you watched as mark reached into his back pocket and withdrew his phone, he only broke eye contact for a second to click the name he was searching for and he brought his eyes back to yours. your eyebrows drew together in confusion.
who would he be calling during the middle of the argument - and finally you heard it when the other person answered the phone and you could recognize that sickly sweet voice anywhere. your jaw dropped and you made to stomp away when mark used his other hand to gently hold onto your arm, pulling you a bit closer than you were before to stand in front of him.
“mark, honey, i’ve been waiting for you to call! how’s korea? you just have to tell me all about it.” she asked loudly through the phone and you frowned at the way she spoke to mark.
“korea’s fine,” he chirped politely as if his eyes weren’t telling you otherwise. “my family is well, the wedding is going as planned, and linda, you’ll never guess who i ran into!”
“oh do tell, you know i love the gossip.” she laughed through the phone and you saw mark’s eyes darken.
“y/n.” the anger in which he said your name, but it not being directed at you, was both a relief and worried you at the same time.
the deafening silence from her end was answer enough for mark.
“and she told me the funniest story,” snark dripping from every word, “hilarious actually. but i think i’d rather hear it from the horses mouth, you know?”
“look, mark, sweetie, i’m sure she misunderstood or she must have been confused by our conversation that day, i only meant to tell her-“
“what?” mark interjected. “tell her that she was burdening me? holding me back? that i called her fragile? i think that’s exactly what you meant.”
she hesitated before answering, but her answering tone was the same as she used with you that day.
sweet condescension.
“well, yes. she was bad for you,” she said shortly.
“oh no, i disagree entirely. i think the one bad for me, was in fact, you.” and she sputtered on the other end of the phone and you couldn’t help the small upturn of your lips to hear her at a loss for words, the smile not going unnoticed by mark if the softening of his eyes were any indicator.
you realized in that moment how you let your anxiety and self doubts ruin something that was perfectly fine to begin with.
linda scoffed, the haughty sound coming in loud through the phone’s speaker.
“oh, please. you’ll thank me someday when you’re big and famous, dating some supermodel. someone at your level of fame.”
mark was silent, his eyes taking in your face and he knew how hard hearing things like this must have been for you. he knew of your insecurities, and he thought he did his best to reassure you but he realized the one time it mattered most, he let it slip through the cracks.
he realized his lack of presence in that moment ruined what you both had.
linda took his extended pause as agreement with what she was saying.
“see? you know that i’m right. anyway, mark, honey, let’s-!” mark cut her off mid-sentence.
“no, what i know… is that you’re fired.” he said calmly, and your eyebrows raised and your eyes widened and you opened your mouth to argue - yes, you hated the woman but she had helped him with his career. mark lifted the hand that had been gently holding your arm to place a finger on your lips, effectively shutting you up with a smile on his face.
linda screeched through the phone, an abrasive noise that sounded awfully like a dying cat.
“you can’t fire me, you ungrateful d-.” and mark hung up the phone, tossing it onto the counter of the kitchenette behind him.
you swallowed thickly now at the sudden silence that fell over the room. mark moved his hand from your lips to wipe the tears that had ran down your face earlier and you avoided eye contact with him then at the gentleness of his hands.
“mark, i…”
“you said you loved me, so you left. did you stay away because you loved me too? change your number for the same reason?”
you nodded, “i thought i would be making it easier for you…”
“do you still love me now?” your eyes snapped back up to his. you decided to be truthful.
“i can’t do anything but love you.” mark’s smile at your answer ignited butterflies in your stomach.
“and i…” he said stepping closer into your space, reaching down to hold your hand in his as he brought it to his chest, his heartbeat a steady rhythm that you could feel. “i have no choice but to love you.”
you felt tears well up again in your eyes at his admission, and you bit your lip to try to keep them from spilling over.
“you still… are you still in love with me?” your voice quivered, and you cleared your throat trying to tame the burning sensation that came with holding back your tears.
“without a doubt.”
“well, if you really do love me… if you love me like i love you then…” you looked between his eyes to his lips, and as you blinked the tears you had been holding back fell. and mark tilted his head, his playful smile making you smile with him through the tears.
“then kiss me.”
mark didn’t waste any more time, one hand tangling itself in your hair and the other cupping your jaw tenderly and you melted into the kiss, wrapping your arm around his neck and pulling his body flush against yours. five months of anger and sadness and longing pouring out in the movement of your lips. you were crying still but the tears were more out of happiness this time and mark continued to kiss you through it. he pulled away, resting his forehead against yours, lips centimeters from yours, his breath hitting your lips and you closed your eyes, both of you breathing heavily. his voice was soft when he spoke.
“five months spent wasted because i didn’t reassure you enough, i’m… i’m so sorry, y/n.”
“and five months gone because i was too afraid to talk to you… i’m sorry, too.” and you opened your eyes to see he had tears in his eyes this time and you let out a small laugh.
“did you miss me that much?” you joked softly, eyes shining with the happiness that you had pushed down finally seeping through.
“shut up,” he groaned and swept in to kiss you again.
that night, neither of you slept alone in your separate beds.
.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.
the next day found you and mark, surprisingly (to everyone else) friendly, almost flirty, with each other and it didn’t go unnoticed by everyone else in the wedding party. ryujin walked down the aisle to an overjoyed donghyuck and the proceedings went on without a hitch.
the reception was loud, and a bit wild as after the first dance, no other slow song was played. ryujin and donghyuck made it feel like you were clubbing, and if you danced with mark a tiny bit provocatively, no one seemed to notice or care.
during one of your breaks from dancing while you stood near one of the tables, you felt a hand tap on your shoulder and you turned to face them. once you saw their face, your jaw dropped.
“it’s you!” you couldn’t help the gratitude that laced your voice.
the old lady from the airport stood there, the wrinkles from years of smiling showing proudly on her face.
“see, i told you everything would be okay, didn’t i?”
you nodded, smiling and you couldn’t help yourself when you leaned in and gave the woman a hug.
“grandma? you know y/n?” it was mark’s confused voice that came from over your shoulder, coming behind you to rest his hand on the small of your back.
“oh, not really…” she gave you a secret smile, and continued, “but mark, dear. do tell ryujin and donghyuck it was a beautiful wedding for me, i’m sorry but i’m too old to stay up with the younger crowd nowadays.” she patted mark on the arm and said goodnight to you both, leaving you with a wink. mark looked back and forth between you and her and you only shrugged in answer, and you pulled him back out to the dance floor with a smile.
eventually, the night had to come to an end though, but not before the traditional throwing of the bouquet. you were pulled onto the floor with the other bridesmaids and the second ryujin tossed the flowers over her head, the other girls dispersed leaving you to be the only one standing to catch it. you were confused at first but when ryujin gave you a knowing smile, you couldn’t help but laugh at their group effort. and so you turned around to find mark smiling at you and clapping at the edge of the crowd, and you smiled brightly at him as if he hung the stars himself, newfound confidence in every step as you walked up to him.
you threw your arms around his neck and kissed him fully in front of the guests who remained, mostly the small group of friends who all knew each other well. mark wrapped his arms around your waist and lifted you slightly off the ground, while your friends cheered dramatically behind you.
breaking the kiss you smiled at mark before he set you down, and both you and mark turned and caught sight of ryujin and donghyuck sharing a highly triumphant high five.
it all clicked then, every step had been planned by your cunning best friend… and you couldn’t even be mad anymore.
how could you be, when it all turned out to be okay?
.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.
epilogue:
you sat at the table of celebrities like you belonged there, no longer feeling as if you were the misfit amongst them.
a year and a half had passed since ryujin and donghyuck’s wedding and with it came changes.
all of them, you could say, were good.
you battled your anxiety and won… well mostly won, you still had your moments but the second you called mark for reassurance, he was there in an instant with gentle words of affirmation, which you discovered was your love language.
you and mark got married six months after donghyuck and ryujin did, and mark’s reasoning was sound in his opinion.
“i spent five months apart from you, and i think i’ll die if i have to do it again. so i’m locking you down, babe.”
you couldn’t argue with him on that.
and now this moment, the moment where upon hearing mark’s name being called you stood up and cheered, clapping a little louder than the famous people next to you. mark kissed you quickly before running up on stage to receive his award.
it wasn’t an oscar… yet.
but the golden globe would do.
his speech went as he rehearsed with you in your bedroom in the off chance he won. being nominated was enough for him, he had said but you encouraged him to have a speech prepared, just in case.
you had no doubts he would win tonight.
you were right.
his speech was coming to an end, something you could quote with him word for word, until you heard him derail from what he practiced beforehand.
“and i just wanna say the biggest thanks of all to my wife. who, without her, only half of my dream would have been achieved,” he gestured the award to you and the smile he wore was lighting up his entire face. “without you, this wouldn’t matter at all to me. so this one’s all for you, babe. thank you.”
you stood and clapped again, accepting mark back to his seat with an excited hug.
fate - well, ryujin - may have had it out for you, but it was okay in the end.
and you could honestly live with that.
2K notes · View notes
t-lostinworlds · 1 year
Text
I Spy, No Spy | Peter Parker
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》 PAIRING: peter parker x avenger/secret agent female!reader
》 TROPE/GENRE: friends to lovers; fake dating-ish; fluff
》 SUMMARY: You're a trained spy, Peter was not. But you two ended up on a mission together where he was needed to be less of the chatty superhero in red & blue tights and more of a debonair undercover agent in a suit & tie. It shouldn't be too difficult, right? No mask, no web shooters. Just you and him pretending to be fiancés, hiding and making out in a closet to avoid getting caught—simple. Unless he included his overgrowing feelings for you, of course.
》 WARNINGS: peter being down bad & horny™️ for r (my fave genre of peter by the looks of it), slight self-deprecating peter, pet names (darling, my love, babe, angel), peter x suit x glasses (a dangerous combo), mediocre spy-ish stuff, canon typical violence (i.e. guns, knives, fighting, ass-kicking), slight jealousy/possessiveness (both parties), slight pettiness from r, closet make-out, little peter got excited (idk why i said it like that lmao it’s just a boner), cuddling w/ boob grab (not sexual lol).
》 WORD COUNT: 21.3k+ (is anyone still surprised)
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✘ MOODBOARD
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A/N: this idea has been in my drafts since sept or oct 2020? I think? basically i plotted this a decade ago a.k.a this happens after Endgame but before...anything else (NWH who? lol) this is more an alternate universe tho. i honestly have no idea how i feel about this but i did enjoy writing it. a pretty tame, fun lil spy au fic so nothing groundbreaking sksks anyways! i hope you enjoy!
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📍 BLOG NAVIGATION ✩ PETER PARKER MASTERLIST ✩ MAIN MASTERLIST ✩
⊱ ─────.⋅♚ *。・゚.★. *。・゚✫*.
The sun rays that leaked through Peter's bedroom window tickled his eyelids, making them flutter open as he yawned.
A tired smile curled on his lips as he buried his nose into his pillow. It was rather comforting, hearing the faint chirping of birds, the soft rustle of the tree just outside his room, and hell, even the chants in the far-off distance of people training.
It was a peaceful Saturday morning, and Peter really liked that.
To top it off, summer had just begun, so no college work to worry about in the meantime. He was finally having a much-needed break from obligation and responsibilities—well, not entirely since the superhero gig didn't really have actual breaks. But he was hopeful that today was a quiet day, at least.
There were plenty of activities that could take up his whole day. He could start with a morning run around the large stretch of land, maybe pack up some breakfast and eat it by the lake, located at the edge of the area. He didn't mean to sound like some guru, but he could really use being one with nature for a little bit. Maybe he could meet his friends for lunch if any of them were free, or maybe he could spend the afternoon relaxing by the compound's private pool—
"Good morning, Peter."
Peter jumped with a squeak, limbs tangling with his sheets, making him fall off the bed with a loud thud. Groaning, he slowly sat up on the floor, rubbing the back of his head to soothe it.
That was certainly one way to get the sleep out of your system.
"Emergency meeting in conference room A-One in ten minutes."
Well, so much for his plans to relax.
"Got it, FRIDAY."
It was still a bit odd hearing the A.I. as an alarm early in the morning most of the time. She was certainly very helpful though. From scheduling to reminders, simple google searches to more complicated equation-solving whenever he would need help.
FRIDAY was like the compound's own Alexa but much, much more advanced. Well, she certainly wasn't meant to be used as such but nobody could truly blame him for not taking the perks for granted.
And there were a lot of perks living in the place—the Avenger's compound, to be specific—and despite being here for almost a year now, Peter still hadn't gotten used to its extravagance, much less exhausted all its resources.
It was a drastic change from the little apartment where he and May used to live, and he wasn't talking about the size alone.
She was living with Happy now, Peter visiting over for dinner whenever he could. She was a bit reluctant to let him move out at first. It was expected when they'd practically been living together for a good chunk of his life. But he was grown now, so wanting to dabble into independence shouldn't come off as a surprise.
Sure, it was more him being available and closer to saving the world type of independence, but independence, nonetheless.
Plus, Peter simply wanted to give them as much privacy as he could.
Happy and May were like teenagers in love and the things he heard despite the thick walls thanks to his enhanced abilities…he'd rather not think about it. His super hearing definitely helped in making the decision.
He still hadn't stopped patrolling New York, of course. If it was a quiet day on earth—more so, the universe—he still swung about the city, stopping any petty crime he would come across. But when an Avenger's level threat would arise, Peter was now only a couple of doors down, equipped and ready to join the mission.
It was difficult to juggle: his normal life, attending college, being Spider-Man on top of being an official Avenger.
Nonetheless, Peter wouldn't have it any other way.
Maybe it was because he enjoyed the thrill of taking the superhero gig to the next level. Or maybe it was because he was granted the opportunity to live lavishly in the compound. Maybe it was the sheer feeling of accomplishment and pride to be able to save the world. 
Or maybe it was because he got to see you every day.
You, who Peter has an insanely huge crush—no, who he really, really liked.
He might even go as far as to say that he was falling for you.
The two of you had moved in at the same time.
He could still vividly remember how he'd just placed the last box on his bed when the building shook. He peered out his window to see what the commotion was about, just in time to catch the Quinjet landing on the well-kept grass. His brows had furrowed in curiosity when the door opened, watching Sam and Bucky come out first, then a third figure trailing right behind them.
Peter didn't really believe in love at first sight, but God did it feel like that when he first saw you.
Okay, maybe it wasn't exactly love—or maybe it was, who knows—but he really couldn't deny how intrigued he was of you, intimidated even. And that was when you walked into the common room in simple jeans and a pink hoodie.
He swooned the minute you smiled at him when you introduced yourself, his knees wobbling the minute you shook his hand.
It was later on that he found out that you were a former (more like forced) member of HYDRA, abducted at a young age, trained to be one of their elite spies, and brainwashed to do their bidding. Which was why it made so much sense how the one and only Bucky Barnes had a soft spot for you—quite surprising for someone who was known to be a huge grump.
You actually came from Wakanda that day, to erase whatever it was HYDRA planted into your brain. Now, you were a recruit on the team, willing to do good with the skills you now had.
You and Peter were around the same age—part of the young ones, as Bucky pointed out—so it didn't really take long for you to become friends.
Well, a friend he kept ridiculously fawning over, a friend who made his heart race whenever you were nearby, a friend who Peter didn't really want to remain as such.
He was thankful though, being your friend was better than being no one to you at all.
But still, it was difficult to suppress his feelings, especially when you were one of, if not, the sweetest and kindest person Peter had the pleasure of knowing.
Whenever he would stumble into the compound late at night, all badly beaten and bruised, somehow, you'd be the only one awake, helping him up to his own room where you'd then clean his wounds for him.
The first night it happened, you had said FRIDAY alerted you of his presence. You had rushed as fast as you could when the A.I. mentioned he was injured. After that, it simply became a routine for you both.
It was like an unspoken rule around the compound, how you were always the one who'd patch Peter up after missions—unless you weren't present, of course. There were even a handful of occasions where Peter would be the one patching you up, a rare instance where he'd be home from campus while you'd come back from an intense mission that rewarded you with fresh bruises and cuts.
He was convinced you were simply being nice to him, though. You did consider him as your friend and you were kind enough to help with an ailment or two. You were such a caring person overall. He was sure if it was any other person, you'd do the same. So, Peter wasn't exactly special in that regard.
But then you got assigned to help him train every weekend, which only made his overgrowing crush for you, well, grow some more.
It was a new requirement for recruits, learning how to fight without much use of technology.
From the wise words of the new captain: Gadgets and tech should be there as extra sets of tools, not as a replacement for your arms and limbs. If you rely on them too much, they're going to become crutches.
Bucky stared at Sam funnily at that—since his vibranium arm was both a tool and a replacement of his limb—but everyone got what he meant. Being able to take down bad guys with only your bare hands was definitely more helpful than not.
Peter didn't know if someone was secretly spying on him, or had overheard him gushing about you to Harley—or if said friend himself had ratted him out—that led to the two of you being paired together.
Bucky said that you were the best woman for the job to help improve hand-to-hand combat or overall fighting skills. You'd been training since you were young after all, and that was saying something. Peter was probably still learning his additions and subtractions while you had already mastered the art of jiu jitsu. Wanda added that the two of you were already close hence why you got paired together, simply to skip through that awkward phase of introductions.
Peter had a feeling the two were playing matchmaker. But he chose to ignore it.
Either way, it certainly didn't help his predicament.
Being so close to you in that regard, with you wearing those tight leggings and tank tops, grunting and sweating, your bodies getting tangled and just…yeah.
Training with you was enough to make his head—both heads, if being honest, but he'll keep the other one to himself—explode.
You were incredible.
So it didn't take much for him to get distracted by you during your sessions, either.
More often than not, Peter would find himself watching you in awe rather than trying to dodge your punches. You called him out on it a few times, and each time he'd turn pink, the tint on his skin turning darker when you'd order him to do push-ups as a means to discipline. You were strict at times, but he was still so lucky that you were also being patient with him when he couldn't get it quite right the first few times. Although, you being in command and in control only added to his endless list of things he was swooning over you for.
It was admirable the way you would have him so out of breath after a spar and he was the one with superpowers. You were being smart with it, tactical with the when, where and how to hit rather than just throwing a punch for the sake of it. You'd dance around him, gracefully, swiftly, strongly, each move precisely choreographed to outmatch him as if you'd already looked into the future to know what he was going to do next.
Peter was a goner the minute you pinned him down on the floor for the tenth time in that one session.
He didn't know if it was the smug smirk on your face, your knees on either side of his hips, the way you had his hands above his head, or everything all at once. But Peter's blood was definitely boiling with every touch, rushing up to his brain that quickly turned it to mush—or maybe it was rushing down. He really couldn't tell where the pulsing was coming from. If it was his heart or some other organ that gets filled with blood.
By then, he couldn't stop thinking about you, couldn't stop talking about you, head over heels like he was living and breathing for you.
Ned and Harley said it was an obsession at this point but in his defense, you were way out of his league.
And he hadn't even taken into account how you felt about him.
Sometimes, Peter would have an inkling that his feelings were reciprocated. With the way you'd smile at him, the way you'd say sweet things to him, and the lingering touches from time to time, how could he not?
But, what if that was his rose-colored glasses making them seem like something they're not? Was it truly acts of affection and adoration or was it Peter's brain just romanticizing the shit out of simple kind gestures done for a friend?
Then came the thought that you were sweet and kind to everyone. It was just who you are, a ray of sunshine through and through—a ray of sunshine that could kick your ass ten times over but still. He'd rather not give himself too much hope. It was safer to assume that you were only seeing and treating him as a friend and nothing more.
Besides, it was too far-fetched, someone like you feeling something for someone like him.
You'd walk down a hallway with your head held high, while Peter would keep his eyes trained on the tiles. You'd stare your enemy down with no hesitation, your presence commanding, threatening, both words and actions carrying that certain chill that would make anyone second guess crossing you. While Peter would dance around them to avoid proper confrontation, going for silly jokes and sarcastic quips to mask any nervousness he would sometimes feel.
You're one hell of a powerful, strong woman and that's without any enhancements or superpowers involved.
While Peter…well, he's just your dorky, other times clumsy, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
As he said, you were way, way, way out of his league.
So he really couldn't do much but admire you from afar—or up close, but discreetly—until he would grow the extra set of balls needed to actually do something about his feelings for you, especially with the possible outcome of rejection.
He'd like to believe he'd grown quite a bit of confidence after entering college. It was a slow progress but he did manage to break out of his shell. With the number of parties Harry Osborn had managed to drag him into, how could he not? He was quite glad that now, he was able to talk to pretty girls without much stuttering and blushing involved.
But somehow when it was you in front of him, he would suddenly revert to his old high school self again. His cheeks would either be red or pink, barely able to get his words out as he would sometimes stare at you for longer than he should, all awestruck and dazed with admiration.
Peter's point was painfully proven right once again when he saw you down the hallway.
You were wearing black leggings and a black tank top along with your favorite running shoes. It was your usual getup whenever you would train or workout. Yet no matter how many times Peter had seen you in them before, it never failed to make his heart skip a beat. It was nothing fancy at all, but God did it look stunning on you.
It was mostly unconscious, and well, his rational brain did sometimes take a backseat when it comes to you. But his eyes drifted over your body, from your exposed shoulders to your collarbones, flitting momentarily on your chest, before they went to your legs, your tight leggings leaving so little to his imagination as they hugged your thighs. He tried to move his gaze back up to look at you more appropriately but simply got stuck on your hips. There was a slight sway in them as you walked—in slow motion, he was sure of it—with such confidence, and the way you held yourself with power and poise was breathtaking.
Shit. Did the AC malfunction? Why is it suddenly so hot—
"Hi, Pete."
Your voice snapped him out of his stupor. But your bright, beautiful eyes and your so-goddamn-pretty smile all while you stood right in front of him was more than enough to have him swooning again.
"H-Hey," he squeaked, painfully aware of how hot his cheeks had gotten. Add the fact that he hadn't been out under the sun much, he was sure you could see how pink it was. That knowledge alone probably made it a shade darker. Then came the fleeting thought that you might've caught him practically eyeing you up—
He quickly cleared his throat, keeping his head down to hide his blush as he opened the door to the conference room.
"After you."
"Thank you," you hummed, reaching a hand out to squeeze his arm before you moved past him.
It took a lot for his knees not to wobble at the gesture, even more, when he caught a whiff of your shampoo…or was that your perfume? But if you had just gone on a morning run and taken a shower—no, that wasn't your body wash. You didn't look like you'd just got out of the shower, so maybe it was just your scent. God, you always smell so nice.
"Holy—get your shit together man," he grumbled to himself, hastily wiping his sweaty hands on his jeans, fixing up his hair before entering the conference room.
It was relatively empty—well, the whole compound was given that the rest of the Avengers weren't at headquarters in the meantime, caught in other obligations whether personal or otherwise. The only other person in the room was Wanda, sitting across from you.
"Pete," you called, tapping the chair beside you before he could even choose a seat to take. There were plenty of vacant ones. Trying to calm his raging heart, he walked over to your side and sat down. But each beat only grew faster when you tilted your head at him with a smile. "Did you go on a run this morning?"
"Oh—uh, no, not yet," he said, trying his best to keep his eyes on yours rather than let them wander, like…down your lips. Shrugging to seem unbothered, he added, "FRIDAY announced the meeting just when I woke up."
"I haven't either," you hummed. So, it was just your scent earlier, the same one that was filling up his nostrils now as you leaned a little closer to him. "Maybe we can go—"
"Another day, another robbery," Sam cut you off as he and Bucky entered the room.
You moved away from him then, leaning back on your seat, attention now on the captain. An unconscious frown made its way onto his lips, because yes, he was slightly—greatly—annoyed at the interruption.
"Only this time, it calls for a national emergency," Bucky added, taking the seat next to Wanda.
"Global, if we don't stop it in time," Sam sighed, connecting a flash drive to one of the USB ports installed on the table.
"Oh no, did they steal the president's nudes?" Peter joked, immediately shrinking in his seat when the two men shot him a look. "Sorry, sorry, bad joke and definitely not the time—I'll shut up."
"That was funny," you whispered, flashing him a smile and Peter's face immediately burned. He wasn't given much time to respond when Sam cleared his throat.
"As much as that would be horrifying, it's something much worse." He pressed a button on the table that made the hologram come to life. There was only one item shown, a rectangular, gold-colored device, probably the size of a credit card but thicker by half an inch. Sam pointed at it and said, "The Gold Codes."
"The Gold Codes?" Peter muttered, brows furrowed in confusion.
"The president's nuclear launch codes," you answered, always willing to help him out on things he wasn't too well versed on.
"Oh." Peter nodded, smiling at you appreciatively before his face fell, eyes widening in realization. "Oh. That's definitely worse than his nudes."
You laughed, and it made Peter's heart do flips.
"And of course, its partner, the nuclear football. But instead of it being a whole briefcase, it's been reduced to this—" Sam flicked through the hologram, a black device coming up beside the gold codes. It looked like a plain external hard drive, roughly the same size as a pocketbook. It wasn't that big so it was definitely easy to carry around and, by the looks of it, easier to steal.
"Technology advancing sometimes isn't the best," Bucky grumbled.
You sat straighter in your seat, forearms resting on the table as you eyed the devices. There was a furrow between your brows, lips pursed as you tilted your head.
Peter couldn't stop his smile.
He always found your thinking face adorable.
You turned to Sam after a moment and asked, "Don't they change the codes every day?"
"Yes, but as our hundred-year-old resident said, technology is advancing so the card automatically syncs up to any changes made," Sam explained.
"That's the stupidest thing ever," Wanda scoffed.
Peter nodded in agreement. "Why did these even get stolen in the first place?"
"The one who was carrying the nuclear football was a double agent," Bucky said.
"Classic," you scoffed. "And have we found where it is?"
Sam nodded at Bucky, the super soldier rummaging around a bag that Peter just noticed he brought with them. He slid across a black envelope with gold detailing, your brows furrowing as you took it in your hand.
"Oh wow, an invitation to a charity gala tonight at The Aces," you gushed, scanning through the glossy, black paper before you turned to look at Peter. You probably saw the confused look he wore because you offered him a sweet smile before explaining, "It's one of the fanciest ballrooms in New York, most of the galas they hold are very exclusive for the rich and the rich-rich, like filthy 'I can end world hunger but I'm an asshole so I won't' rich."
"Thanks," Peter hummed, smiling.
"I got you." You bumped his shoulder with a wink, which quickly made him blush.
"But it's a smokescreen," Sam continued. "The real party happens later in the night."
"That's what she said," Bucky interrupted enthusiastically, earning a heavy eye roll from Sam and laughs from you and Wanda. The technically old man looked around the room. "What? Did I say the joke wrong?"
"You got the spirit," Peter chuckled.
"As I was saying, they're holding a black market auction later in the night in the small underground theater a floor beneath the building." Sam continued, swiping up the hologram until it showed a floorplan of a theater along with a couple of photos of high-tech armor, guns, and a whole bunch of things Peter couldn't exactly name. What stood out the most to him, though, was the logos: Stark Industries, Oscorp, Pym Technologies, Sable International, and the likes. "Stolen technology and weapons being sold to anyone who has the money to buy them."
"So, it's like the dark web, but fancier," Wanda quipped.
"Stealing items and then selling them to the highest bidder," Peter hummed. "Sounds like the British."
You snorted, quickly covering your mouth when everyone turned to you with raised brows.
"Sorry," you mumbled, kicking him under the table playfully, probably as a warning to stop making you laugh. Peter only grinned proudly in response. He always felt proud whenever he made you laugh.
"Anyway, the nuclear football is easier to find. It's locked in a room along with the other items they're planning on selling," Sam started, flicking through the hologram to show a floor plan of the whole building. He circled the large room in the middle before tracing a pathway leading up to another, much smaller room. "It's located on the east wing, right side of the main ballroom. It has double doors so you wouldn't miss it, especially with the armed guards."
"And the card?" Peter asked.
"Would be much more difficult to retrieve. It's going to be with the person who orchestrated this whole thing. The problem is—"
"You don't know who it is," you finished.
Sam nodded grimly. "Whoever is the mastermind of this grand scheme has been quite good at maintaining anonymity. The only time they're going to reveal themselves, along with the codes, is during the secret auction, which you can't get into unless you're chosen to be there."
"If you think the gala was exclusive, the auction is on a different scale," Bucky explained.
"We don't know what code or secret handshake will be needed to be able to attend the auction. Our best course of action is to attend the gala, scope the scene, and hopefully, get intel on how to join the auction without much breaking and entering involved," Sam said. "I had Harley tap into the security system of the building and guess what?"
"You found an even bigger problem," you and Peter said at the same time.
Sam nodded. "The whole building is now armed with sensors fit to detect every single Avenger's superpower, any Stark-grade weapons and also, vibranium. Bucky's metal arm, Wanda's magic, my wings, so on and so forth. Neither of us could simply swoop in because the second those silent sensors go off, or any commotion will start, poof goes the codes along with our criminal."
Bucky shifted in his seat. "Even if we discard all of that and try not to use it, going in there as, quote-on-quote civilians won't work either because—"
"Everyone would immediately recognize who we are," Wanda finished.
"Since there are only two people here whose faces aren't known publicly"—Sam looked between the two of you—"Peter and Y/N, you two are going to be the ones to retrieve the codes and the football."
"W-What?" Peter choked, eyes wide as he stared at the captain. "Don't they have my powers in the sensors?"
"They only have it for your web shooters and suit, and as far as I know, both are detachable."
"But that's me, that's how I operate," he stammered. Going out there as himself wasn't part of his skill set. He'd feel too exposed without his suit. Not to mention he was going with you. Which of course wasn't a bad thing at all but it only added this pressure to not mess things up. He couldn't live with himself if he'd fail this mission, fail you—or worse, have you get hurt because he wasn't capable enough. "How am I supposed to be Spider-Man without those?"
"You have to give yourself more credit, Pete," you said, placing your hand over his own, the one resting on his thigh. Peter's eyes followed your touch before he met your gaze again, his blush prominent, heart thumping so loud he was scared you might hear it. "You're more than just a suit. And you need to remember how you've managed to make your synthetic web in the first place. So I'm sure you'll do fine with your brain alone. Even then, you still have other abilities, and you have me."
Peter looked at you fondly, a smile curling on his lips as he turned his hand so your palm was over his, squeezing it to silently say thank you. He wasn't even aware of what he was doing, not until he saw your smile turn slightly shy. It was the quick glimmer in your eyes that made him realize he was absentmindedly stroking the back of your hand with his thumb.
"Seconded." Wanda smiled at the two of you, chuckling when you and Peter jumped slightly away from each other. You pulled your hand away, Peter frowning at the loss of contact. But he shook his head, turning his focus back on the mission.
"Y/N here also said you'd gotten really good at your hand-to-hand combat skills," Bucky said, an all-knowing smile on his face as he glanced between you two. "So, I don't think you'd need your web shooters as much if ever it comes to a fight."
"Which we hope won't result in that," Sam quickly added with a reassuring nod. "The plan is simple: scope and mingle, assess the scene, try and get some information as to how to get into the auction. Once you've done that, sneak into the vault to retrieve the nuclear football. I've already assigned Harley to make a duplicate device to swap with the real one so it won't trigger the alarm.
"Then, you sit at the auction and wait until the codes come up. I'm sure it will be presented by the anonymous seller so by then, we will be able to put a face on the mastermind. Our agents should already be blocking every single exit of the building by that time so all you have to do is to retrieve the code calmly. Try and ease your way into the main stage, charm and persuade, or whichever way works. Any more questions?"
You and Peter looked at each other, before you both turned to Sam, shaking your heads.
"Good. We've already set your fake identities up, google searches running for miles, the last thing we need are photos, together, individually, candid and professional which would only take a few minutes. Your fake names are already on the guest list, your outfits and everything else you need will be waiting for you at the hotel you're getting ready at as part of the whole ruse," he instructed. "You two are the best and only shot we've got in this. Plan your moves wisely and rely on each other. We can't afford to lose those codes."
"Yes, Captain."
•••
The hotel suite was fancy.
Peter had never been in one this expensive-looking before.
It had its own living room, a minibar, a huge bathroom, a king-size bed, and then a massive window that overlooked New York City. He definitely indulged himself with their complimentary champagne, and given the fact that he couldn't get drunk, he mostly did it for the taste—which was flavored expensive, to those wondering. Hell, even the chocolate they had tasted expensive.
Then again, the two of you were undercover as a rich, engaged couple so it was part of the whole thing. You never know whose eyes and ears were for who in these types of missions.
But still, it was quite the treat and he'd be stupid not to make the most of it—without getting too distracted, of course.
Peter was now all suited up, not in spandex this time. It was a crisp, black, formal suit made with fabric he wouldn't dare guess the cost and a brand he couldn't even begin to pronounce. He had a white dress shirt underneath, paired with a black tie. The one he was currently having a hard time doing as he stood in front of the floor-length mirror in the living room.
He groaned in frustration when he once again messed it up. He didn't wear this kind of clothes often, so he really didn't have much of a reason to learn to master the art of…tying?
"Need help?"
Peter turned around, the breath knocked out of him once he saw you come out of the bedroom.
Wow.
Oh wow you looked gorgeous in red.
It was an off-shoulder, long-sleeved dress, your arms covered in lace as the fabric hugged your figure. The skirt was long as it fanned onto the floor with a really high slit on your right leg to show off the silver heels you were wearing. Your hair and make-up were done to marry the whole style, all while enhancing your natural features rather than covering them. Your red-painted lips though—
"Wow."
"Yeah," you laughed softly, your gaze falling over yourself as your hands smoothed the fabric of your dress. "I don't know who picked it but it's really pretty and it fits really nicely. Perks of having body scans for our suits, I suppose."
"You look beautiful," Peter breathed out, still frozen in his place as he stared at you in absolute awe.
"Thank you," you said, your sweet smile turning into a smirk as you eyed him up and down with a nod. "You clean up nice, too, Parker."
"Oh—uhm, t-thanks." He blushed, shaking his head before gesturing both hands at you. "But you, I—wow, you look, wow."
"Shut up," you laughed, your dress flowing as you moved closer to him. "Here, let me."
Peter wasn't even given much time to recompose himself when you once again took his breath away by simply standing so close to him. Every inhale was just filled with your scent, his heart skipping a few beats as he scanned your face, only a couple inches from his and God did you look even more beautiful up close.
His blush deepened when you reached for his tie, your brows furrowed in that adorable way he'd come to familiarize as you slowly did it for him.
Peter honestly didn't know what to do with his hands, yet there was some sort of pull that he couldn't resist, like an instinct as he gently rested them on your waist. He was distracted by how close you were, but not enough to miss the way your breath hitched at the contact. Testing the waters, he squeezed it gently, biting his cheek to stop his smile from growing when he saw your fingers falter.
But oh did the pride bubble in his chest.
You shook your head, finishing up his tie with a smile. It was Peter's breath that hitched this time when you smoothed it over his chest, your palms flat against the muscle, touch so sweet, skin so warm. You looked up, your smile faltering when your eyes met his.
He didn't know how long you stared at each other. He also didn't know who moved a little closer first, but he definitely wasn't complaining. Not when he was so close that he could count exactly how many eyelashes you had. And he gladly would've if your voice hadn't snapped him out of the trance that nobody could ever put him under but you.
"We should get going," you whispered, but you still lingered for a few more seconds, more than enough for his brain to run its course, thinking that maybe, his feelings for you weren't as unrequited as he thought.
It was the sound of a beeping alarm that broke you two apart.
"Come on, we can't be late," you said after a breath, flashing him a sweet smile before going to grab your things.
"Wait," he cleared his throat, patting around his pockets before finally retrieving a velvet box. You turned around just as he'd opened it, showing you the ring that resided inside.
Your eyes widened, lips opening and closing as you gawked at the sparkling diamond for a few seconds before you met his gaze. "Peter—"
"Oh shit! It's not what it looks like!" he panicked.
Peter did always find himself daydreaming about you often, and he would be lying if he said he hadn't already pictured something similar to this moment. But even he could recognize how many steps he'd basically jumped over by showing you a diamond ring. And as much as he would love to fast-forward to that part, he'd also like to take you out on a date first. Well, if he'd even get the courage to ask you that, anyway. 
"I-uh, you know, us, covering as an engaged couple? So, of course, uhm, you'll need an engagement ring?"
"O-Oh," you fumbled, nodding quickly before you offered him your left hand. "Yeah, of course."
Peter took it in his delicately, fingers running over your knuckles before he carefully slipped the ring on. Squeezing your hand, he reluctantly let go. 
"Did you pick this?" you asked, bringing your hand up to your face, fingers wiggling as you admired the ring.
Peter nodded. "Yeah, I did—well, Bucky helped."
"It's beautiful."
"It looks even more beautiful on you."
Your eyes snapped up to look at him, your smile growing as you hummed, "Charmer."
"It's the expensive suit." He shrugged, a teasing grin with a blush to match.
You laughed that lovely laugh of yours, adoration and pride swelling in his chest.
"Oh, Harley asked me to give you this," you said after a moment, pulling out a familiar pair of glasses before handing it to him. "He said it's all you need to do your magic."
"Nah, it's just a little tool kit I put together, really, kinda like a small computer so nothing magical about it," he chuckled, waving the glasses before putting them on. "It's carbon-based nanotech, passable through metal detectors. I've managed to look up what security system they had installed in the safe and there's sort of a minicomputer inside so it should be easy to bypass the system. I already have the program in here that would run through all the probable security codes so all I need to do is activate the glasses and it would automatically unscrew everything and connect to a hopefully pre-existing female micro-USB slot with the male counterpart in this old thing and—" he paused, face heating up as you gazed at him with a twinkle in your eyes. "What?"
"Nothing, just—you're amazing," you sighed, smile widening before you nodded. "Let's go?"
Peter ignored that way his whole body tingled at your praise and offered you his arm.
Not like it was a new reaction whenever he was around you, anyway.
"Let's."
•••
"Mr. Reid, the car is already waiting for you."
That was the first sentence Peter heard when you reached the hotel lobby. He looked behind him before looking at the man in a suit, pointing at himself in confusion.
"I'm not—"
"Lucas, honey, come on," you cut him off, slipping your fingers in his. You flashed him a knowing smile, squeezing his hand before you tugged him along as you followed the guy.
Right. Fake identities.
"Woah." Peter gawked at the car in front of him, leaning closer to you as he whispered, "Is that a Rolls Royce? Like, the new one?"
"Sort of. It's the Phantom Extended." You nodded with an amused smile. "The best way to blend in with the rich, don't you think?"
Peter was about to open the door for you but then the butler—at least, he assumed that was who he was—beat him to it. So, he opted on helping you with your dress instead, making sure it didn't get caught on anything as you settled inside.
"Thank you, my love," you giggled.
My love.
Peter luckily didn't slip on the expensive lambswool floor mat as he got into his seat.
It's pretend. Get a grip.
Once the car started moving, you pressed a button on the center console, the clear glass that separated the front and back immediately turning into an opaque white, completely secluding the two of you from the driver. He looked at you curiously, nervous—okay, and maybe a bit excited—as to why you decided you suddenly needed privacy. Peter had heard a lot of stories about what goes on in the rear cabin of expensive cars, especially with the partition up, so could it be—
"Did you get to read about our fake identities? The one Sam sent?"
Thinking with the wrong head again, aren't we, Parker?
"I, uhm, no, got too preoccupied with the ring and getting dressed," he admitted, looking at you guiltily. The mission had barely started and he was already messing it up. "I'm sorry."
"Hey, no, it's okay," you reassured with a smile, hand on his thigh, squeezing for good measure. He wasn't able to relish in the warmth of your touch for long as you shifted in your seat, turning around to face him. "I mean, everything is very last minute. I'll just tell you about it.
"Lucas Reid, the young 26-year-old and dashing CEO of Reid Enterprises. You inherited the company at nineteen when your father died of illness," you started.
Peter scrunched his nose. "So, basically, I'm a trust fund baby?"
"Sort of, but you do prove that you did the work," you said. "Company sales skyrocketed when you took the seat."
"What about you?" Peter gestured at your ring, blushing. "Well, apart from being my fiancée."
"I run my own fashion company." You shrugged, winking at him as you added, "Can't be living in my future husband's shadow now, can we?"
Future husband.
God how Peter wished for that to be true.
He shook his head, hands rubbing on his thighs. "Do we have a backstory? Like, as a couple?"
"Not much. Five years ago, we met in Milan during fashion week—"
"Let me guess, sparks flew right off the bat?" he chuckled.
"Love at first sight, obviously," you scoffed, rolling your eyes teasingly.
Not too far off from reality.
"Besides that, it's all the basics from there. Dates, extravagant gifts, and then two months ago, you proposed."
"Right," he started, bumping your knee with his lightly. "So, when's the wedding?"
You laughed, "We're not sure yet. Too busy."
"Of course," Peter sighed, rolling his eyes playfully. "Can't get me out of my office, now can you?"
"I have my ways," you hummed, wiggling your brows at him.
Peter was so sure his face had gone so red.
"You always do," he chuckled shyly, shaking his head before smiling at you. "Can we go over the plan real quick?"
You smiled. "Of course."
Peter knew what to do, obviously. He'd already gone over the plan probably a hundred times in his head. But he simply wanted to make sure he wasn't missing anything, especially something that could potentially jeopardize the whole mission. He couldn't afford even one single misstep, not when you and your safety could be put at risk—and the millions around the world that would suffer if those weapons got into the wrong hand, of course.
"We're almost there," you said once you've gone over the plans twice, eyes scanning across the windows. "It's just on the next turn."
Peter's heart quickened.
He didn't even notice that his emotions had gone evident on his face. Not until you squeezed his arm.
"You okay?" you asked, brows furrowed in concern.
"Yeah! Yeah, of course," he said quite unconvincingly. It was when he heard the ticking of the turn signal did his nerves shift to overdrive, his eyes wide as they met yours. "Shit, I don't think I can do this. I mean, I'm not usually out there with my face showing, you know? And I'm so so so not James Bond, I'm the farthest from James Bond I'm like, Lame Bond. I'm not smooth o-or charming or suave enough to be a spy—oh no. No, no, no, what if they find me out right away? I'm going to mess everything up and this is going to go horribly wrong and—"
"Hey!" you interjected, hands cupping his face, squishing his cheeks slightly as you pulled him closer, eyes boring into his with determination. Peter didn't know if it was the proximity that shut him up, or if it was your scent that overpowered his senses—probably both. "You're going to be fine. You've got this."
He gulped, nodding before letting out a shaky breath.
You smiled reassuringly, thumbs brushing over his cheeks, his skin turning redder with each caress. "Be observant, you don't have to talk. With this kind of crowd, trust me, the quiet ones are the most intimidating. If there's anything you feel like it's a bit off, trust your gut, and let me know, okay?"
"Okay," he breathed out, nuzzling into your palm absentmindedly, finding a sense of comfort from your warm touch.
"And if it gets overwhelming, just follow my lead."
•••
Peter got out of the car, nodding curtly with a tightlipped smile at the driver who opened the door for him.
He decided at the last minute that Lucas Reid was going to be a stoic, passively quiet CEO with a resting 'serious' face that only means business.
Peter straightened up his suit before he offered you his hand, the huge rock on your finger glinting underneath the city lights as your palm met his.
He gently guided you out of the car, helping you fix up your dress before offering you his arm. Your fingers curled around his bicep as you kissed his cheek with a soft thanks. Peter smiled at you warmly, pulling you closer to his side as you made your way inside the building.
Stoic and passive except towards his lovely fiancée, of course.
He might or might not have stumbled upon a few Mobster Spider-Man fanfictions on some website not too long ago. And he might or might not have taken some inspiration from it.
"Please take a basket to put your phones and any other electronic devices in and step under the detectors one by one," one guard instructed.
Adjusting his glasses, he pulled out his newly upgraded phone. It was sponsored by the Avengers obviously since he couldn't exactly rock up with his old, cracked one, with him being rich and everything. He smiled at the lock screen photo—it was of you and him, your lips pressed against his cheek, taken just a couple of hours ago to have photos to make this engaged couple gimmick believable—before he placed it in the basket you were holding up for him.
You smiled reassuringly before you stepped under the metal detector first, Peter following just closely after.
He let out a nervous breath when he saw how heavily armed the guards were. A variation of M17s and a couple of AK-47s were in the hands of fully uniformed men from head to toe. They look like your typical SWAT team, but Peter knew they were more dangerous than that, especially when their morals were as corrupted as he'd presumed.
He was an enhanced superhero, yes, but he sure as hell wasn't bulletproof. And as much as he could probably dodge a few shots, he would rather not take the gamble of finding out exactly how many he could avoid.
That wasn't what he was worried about, though. Because as he felt your fingers slip back into his, he was reminded of how vulnerable and defenseless you were. No superpowers, no bulletproof vests, still an amazing badass who without a doubt could take on two guys in a fight and win, but still a human who could get badly hurt by a simple pull of a trigger.
There were only so many bullets he could jump in front of you for.
"We're going to be fine," you whispered, squeezing his hand as if you could sense his worry. "I got your six."
Peter squeezed back. "And I've got yours."
The two of you stayed close to each other, arms linked as you headed towards the ballroom. But once the huge archway came into sight, you leaned closer to him.
"You go ahead," you whispered in his ear, squeezing his bicep. "I need to go to the bathroom."
Peter nodded.
He knew that some agents had already hidden some of your equipment hours before. Well, he hoped they successfully did, anyway. If not, then, you both might have to compromise.
Peter didn't know what exactly he was expecting when he entered the ballroom but it definitely wasn't as fancy as this.
The ballroom was grandiose in itself with its ornate marble columns and crown moldings, complementing the beautifully impressive murals that covered the ceilings. Even the red curtains that draped along the walls seemed far too luxurious for the mere fact that they were curtains for crying out loud.
Peter had never seen so many chandeliers hanging all in one space, not to mention, ones that seemed to be decked out in gold and crystals…or were those diamonds?
Everything was decorated with a color scheme of cream, black, silver, and gold, from the round tables and accompanying chairs. To contrast were various glass structures illuminated by some kind of light as they glinted and shimmered even from the corner of his eye. There was an open bar in one corner, a long table of finger foods and various desserts, and live music coming from the string quartet on a rotating, circular stage right in the center of a—is that an indoor fountain?
"Wow," you gasped as you appeared beside him, your eyes twinkling underneath the chandeliers. "It's gorgeous."
"Yeah," Peter sighed, eyes trained on the way your face glowed in awe as you admired the space. "Gorgeous."
Your smile brightened as you tilted your head, gaze meeting his. Then, your brows furrowed, stepping in front of him and eyeing the top of his head. "Come here. I need to fix up your hair."
Peter ducked his head without question, hands around your waist as he let you settle the mess of his windswept curls. He found the furrow of your brows absolutely adorable, but the way your tongue slightly poked out of your red lips made him want to just pull you in and kiss you senseless.
You tucked a few short strands behind his ear, gently pressing your thumb into his concha, the earpiece fitting snugly before he heard a faint crackle and then a deep voice.
"Parker, can you hear me?"
"Aye, aye, Captain," he muttered.
He heard a few snickers in the background followed by Sam scoffing sarcastically.
"My, aren't you two cute."
Peter's brows furrowed, confused eyes meeting yours. "What does he mean?"
"I answered the same way," you giggled, shrugging as you smoothed over his tie and buttoned up his suit jacket.
Peter's heart fluttered at that.
"We'll be on the line listening. Be discreet. Only communicate what's necessary."
You and Peter shot each other a look, grins widening into a knowing smirk.
"Aye, aye, Captain."
"Jesus Christ."
The line went quiet, presumably Sam muting their end until further notice.
Peter shook his head, chuckling before turning to you. "So, what now?"
"Scope," you said, waving back at a random woman who was making their way over to you both. You turned to him with a smile. "And mingle."
•••
Peter was so far out of his element.
He was already a terrible liar when under pressure, stuttering and blubbering until he would end up telling the truth. And that was around people he got along with.
Now how was he supposed to make small talk with the rich all while pretending to be rich himself when he clearly was not?
His best course of action? He didn't talk.
It fit well with the persona he'd created, anyway.
He was mostly following your advice—well, more like literally following you around. He was like your trophy fiancé in some way, and honestly, Peter wasn't opposed to it.
You were taking charge, and all he had to do was scope the scene, nod and smile whenever he was acknowledged while mostly speaking only to you.
From an outsider's point of view, he probably looked like such a puppy for his girl, only meeting your eyes, hovering by your side, his attention and touch always on you. A hand on the small of your back, an arm around your waist as he hung onto every word that slipped past your beautiful red-painted lips. For them, he was simply a man completely enamored by his soon-to-be wife. So it definitely sold this whole fiancé gimmick you two got going on.
Then again, it wasn't like he had to pretend that much, either. It wasn't hard to act all smitten with you because he already was. And, okay, he was playing it up a little. Peter would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy acting like you were his and he was yours, even if it was only for a mission.
Other than that, he also quite enjoyed indulging in the food and beverages that were paraded around by the waiters. It tasted so good, so obviously made with high-quality and expensive ingredients, but most importantly free. Could you blame him for taking advantage of it?
He was being an opportunist, he was well aware, which was why he didn't think much about downing the very tasty champagnes they offered, especially when he was free from any consequence that the drink brought—well, one of the consequences.
Because as much as he was immune to the buzz of the alcohol, he couldn't say the same for the effects it brought on his bladder.
It didn't really expand when his abilities got enhanced.
With how utterly gorgeous you looked tonight, it shouldn't have surprised him that the second he left your side, some men in this gala would take his absence as an opportunity to make a move.
He might've been acting like a guard dog, he admits, glaring at anyone who dared to glance at you wrongly. You were "his fiancée" after all, he was simply playing the part of your possessive protective husband-to-be.
That was what he told himself, anyway.
But still, when he came back after his little bathroom break, Peter wasn't too keen on what he saw.
You were talking to some dark-haired man wearing a bold, fully gold-colored suit and an even bolder beard. He didn't look old, but he didn't exactly look young, either. Or perhaps his facial hair played a part in that regard. He was—as much as he hated to say it—well-built and good-looking. If Peter was to guess, he was probably in his early 30s.
The interaction looked innocent enough, and Peter wouldn't have found it a big deal if this guy wasn't eyeing you up like you were a piece of meat.
"Amelia Devonché," the man greeted, his French accent thick, his flirtatious tone, even thicker.
So that's your fake name.
"The one and only," you said, smiling as you tilted your head. "Although I don't think we've been introduced."
"Halbert Auclair," he said, bowing as he held out an open palm.
Halbert? What kind of name is that?
"Pleasure to meet you," you hummed, slipping your hand into his.
"Pleasure's all mine. You look quite lovely tonight, mademoiselle," he crooned, bringing the back of your hand to his lips and kissing your knuckles.
Peter's jaw clenched, an intensely heated emotion boiling his blood, only relaxing slightly when he heard your fake giggle.
He'd heard your real one enough to differentiate the two.
"Why, thank you, monsieur."
Clouded by his emotions, Peter took long strides towards you, swiftly wrapping a possessive arm around your waist and pulling you to his side, kissing your temple and then, without thought, near the corner of your mouth.
Your eyes snapped to meet his, a fleeting look of surprise on your features before you quickly masked it with a smile. "This is my fiancé—"
"Lucas Reid, one of the youngest yet richest CEOs here today," Halbert interjected, offering his hand out to shake.
"Hmm," Peter said with a curt nod, his grip a little tighter when he shook it.
"Man with few words, I see," Halbert chuckled dryly, flexing his fingers once they were free from his hold.
Peter bit his cheek to stop a smirk, pushing his glasses up before slipping his hand into his pocket, looking at you with a much more relaxed smile.
"My fiancé isn't great with crowds. Always stuck in his office, he is. The only thing in his mind is the business, and well, me," you gushed, resting your left hand on his chest, tilting your head to flash him a smile. "Am I right, handsome?"
"Very much so, darling," Peter said, unaware of how his voice sounded. He was still running on jealousy that he couldn't help but gently take your hand from his chest, bringing the back of it to his lips and then kissing the diamond ring on your finger. He smiled at you sweetly as he ran his thumb over your knuckles. "You still owe me a dance, my love."
You blinked a few times, lips parting before you shook your head with a soft laugh, "Oh, yes! How can I forget."
"Have a lovely night, madem—"
Peter didn't even wait for him to finish his sentence as he gently ushered you towards the dance floor, just in time for the string quartet to play their version of Quando, Quando, Quando.
So…he didn't quite think this through.
Peter had no idea how to dance.
His boiling jealousy was quickly replaced with nervousness and dread as you guided his hands, one on your waist, the other curled around yours.
You were so blatantly staring at him that his nerves could only grow tenfold. It was only a matter of time before you realized just how jealous he acted. Hell, he only just realized it after the emotion had left his system. And despite avoiding your eyes, he could still sense it, how you were trying to figure out why he'd done what he just did.
Peter cleared his throat, "Something wrong?"
"Are you okay?" you countered, placing your hand on his shoulder before moving to the music.
He didn't know if he should be thankful or slightly embarrassed that you were the one leading the dance. But then again, there probably would never be a time when Peter wouldn't follow your lead—dancing or otherwise.
He'd follow you to the ends of the earth if he could.
It was working, though, bodies synchronously swaying to the sound of strings as if you'd done this plenty of times before. It was either a testament to how good you were at basically everything—a quick learner, a leader, a teacher and hell, a dancer—or just how well you two complemented each other.
Peter believed it was both.
"Yeah," Peter chuckled timidly, eyes trained on the ground to avoid your eyes and to make sure he wouldn't step on your foot. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"You just seemed…" you paused, hand squeezing his shoulder lightly. "Angry."
Peter blushed.
Jealous. Not angry.
"I'm not," he brushed off, shaking his head. "Got nothing to be angry about."
"Right," you hummed, and it sounded like you didn't believe him at all.
"Did I mess up?" Peter sighed, worried eyes finally meeting your curious ones.
"What? No. You just came off as quiet which isn't a big deal," you reassured, smile widening with amusement. "Where did that South London accent come from, though?"
"Wait." Peter blinked, frowning. "I did an accent?"
"Yeah, you did," you laughed. "Which I didn’t even know you could do."
"I guess I was too nervous to even realize," he admitted, chuckling. "I've been binge-watching The Great British Bake Off lately, maybe I just picked it up."
"So nervousness makes you do accents," you hummed, smiling. "Interesting."
"What?" He narrowed his eyes at you teasingly. "Don't tell me you like a British accent too, like, half the world apparently."
"It's cute," you admitted with a shrug. "But I like your accent more."
Peter blinked. "Really?"
"Yeah, I like the kid from Queens," you said nonchalantly.
Peter almost stepped on your foot. If you weren't a trained spy with quite good reflexes, you might've gone home with a bruised toe.
You shook your head, giggling as you pulled him back to the rhythm of the dance. "You're going to have to keep the charade if you speak to other people, now, though"
"Yeah, didn't really think about that." Peter scrunched up his face, clearing his throat before he looked at you shyly. "I really don't dance."
"Well, you're doing great so far," you hummed, pulling him closer as you wrapped your arms around his neck.
Peter secured his on your waist then, both of you gliding across the dance floor to the symphony of the strings as you held each other's gaze. It was impressive, really, that this was the first time you both danced together, but danced like two spiders spinning their silks in a synchronized choreography to create a large heart-shaped web.
Then, he felt bold, confident.
He didn't know if it was from that same pull from earlier tonight, his senses being muddled by your overpowering presence, your warm body pressed so close against him, or the sweet lure of the music that added something to the air.
Perhaps it was everything all at once.
But Peter couldn't help but lean even closer, the tips of your noses just a hair's breadth away.
"You are so beautiful," he whispered, his gaze fluttering across your face before meeting your eyes.
Peter reveled in the way your smile got shy.
"You've said that already."
"Once will never be enough."
You shook your head with a giggle, eyes twinkling, "And you said you aren't smooth."
"Like I said," he started, lowering his voice, shrugging with a teasing grin, "It's the expensive suit."
Peter's heart warmed at your sweet laugh, that certain pull growing stronger at the lovely sound. He dipped his head, noses touching before he pressed his forehead against yours. He squeezed your waist when your breath hitched, warm and inviting as it tickled his lips, tempting, oh so close—
"Ahem."
You both jerked back, eyes wide with surprise.
"Sam! You've ruined it!" Peter heard Wanda hiss through the earpiece.
"He was finally getting somewhere!" And that was Harley.
Peter's whole face grew hot with embarrassment, squeezing your waist, still keeping you close as he looked away.
He completely forgot about the comms being live and open to everyone back at the compound.
Then again, all of them had been suspiciously quiet until now. 
"Well, damn, I'm sorry? But this is an important mission, not a radio drama?"
"You just had to cockblock—"
"I'm surprised you even know what that means, you white fossil—"
You cleared your throat, smiling at Peter shyly. "Any intel?"
"I think that French dude is our bad guy," he answered swiftly, ready to change the subject or else his knees might go out.
"Auclair?" You raised a brow at him with a smirk. "How so?"
Peter might sound like he had a vendetta against the guy who shamelessly flirted with you. But, he did have a few points to back his claim.
"It's kinda weird how quickly he knew about us. Unless he stole the guest list and researched every single one of the names or he's the host. Also, he really made a point in stating how rich I am. You only do that when you want money for the auction. And if that's not proof enough—" Peter pulled a black and silver playing card out of his pocket, the same one Halbert gave to him during the handshake. "Seven of hearts, well, kinda. It's more arrows than it is hearts. All of them are pointing downward no matter which way you turn it. Look—" He turned the card, an almost holographic effect as the arrows remained south. "That's not how normal playing cards are. So I assume it means downstairs to the secret auction. And we've got about an hour max until it's seven. And if that's not obvious enough—" Peter showed you the back, tilting it to the light to expose the words 'Big Toys, Bigger Guns' in the middle in gold lettering.
"Cheesy, but it works," he finished.
"That's a really good catch, wow," you praised, grinning proudly. "Someone's getting the hang of this already, huh?"
"Watching those James Bond movies finally paid off, I guess," he chuckled, nodding at you. "Plus, I got a good teacher."
You smiled. "Keep a careful eye on him," you instructed, snorting a little when he all but glared when he found the man. You squeezed his slightly tensed shoulders. "Subtlety."
"I don't think I need to be subtle because he keeps eyeing you like he stands a chance as if the rock on your finger isn't big enough. You're my fiancée. So me glaring at some guy with too much beard who looks at you far too long for comfort let alone appropriate isn't out of the ordinary," he grumbled, shaking his head. "Men are pigs I tell you."
"Someone's committed to the bit," you teased, smiling far too bright for it to be innocent. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're jealous."
Peter quickly snatched a champagne flute from the tray when a waiter walked past, handing it to you with a small curtsy.
"You look parched, my darling."
You rolled your eyes but took the glass anyway, your grin telling him that maybe you like the accent more than you were letting on.
But she likes your accent more.
Peter couldn't stop his heart from melting at the thought.
He was also glad that his distraction worked, his jealousy hopefully forgotten as he guided you toward the bar once the song finished.
"Door's unguarded," you murmured against the glass, sipping gingerly before you handed it back to him. "Stay here and keep an eye out. I'll find us a key."
Peter nodded, sitting on one of the stools as he carefully and deliberately followed your movement. Not that he thought you couldn't handle yourself, but an extra pair of eyes will always be better than none. Also, he was being observant of his surroundings, his enhanced senses helping in making sure there wasn't anything suspicious going on, keeping him on high alert in case he needed to jump in.
He watched with pride as you slyly stole a keycard from a gullible enough guard who was too distracted by your flirting. It was an impressively swift sleight of hand that if he wasn't paying attention enough, he would've missed it.
Still, Peter couldn't help but roll his eyes at how stupid and easy these guards tend to be, any focus and rational thought out the window all because of an alluring smirk, a teasing touch and a glimpse of skin—the simplest seduction from one gorgeous woman.
But then again, he wasn't exactly one to talk. Because as innocent as a bright smile from you, Peter would literally do anything you ask him to.
He was far too focused on you that he didn't even realize that someone had replaced your seat, not until he heard his name—well, the fake one.
"Lucas Reid."
Peter turned, eyes landing on a woman wearing a gold dress, curled, long hair framing a somewhat familiar face. Peter wasn't blind, he could see she was objectively pretty. But she simply could never hold a candle next to his gorgeous fiancée—fake or otherwise.
"Greta Auclair," she said with a smile, holding out her hand.
Peter didn't miss the flirtatious undertone in her actions. How could he when she was so adamant on fluttering her eyelashes at him, or the way she wasn't subtle at pushing up her chest, the low-cut top doing so little to hide…it? Them?
Not that he was looking. It was simply in his line of sight.
"Auclair," he hummed, shaking her hand briefly as he tried to make sure his accent didn't sound so forced. He honestly didn't know why he decided to make things harder for himself. "Any relation to Halbert?"
"Twin sister," she waved off, flipping her hair to one side.
Peter nodded without another word, attention swiftly shifting to search for you in the crowd.
"I must say, I've heard a lot of things about you," she hummed as she leaned forward, fingers curling around his bicep, gold-colored, manicured nails glinting underneath the light as she squeezed the muscle. "Apart from being a quiet man, of course."
Peter's resolve faltered a little, the gesture completely catching him off guard.
What's up with this family and overstepping personal space?
"Good things, I hope." He smiled tightly, crossing his arms over his chest, subtly shaking her hand off.
"Oh yes, very good things," she giggled, hand on his thigh as she leaned forward with a smirk. Winking, she added, "Naughty ones, too."
Peter gulped as he leaned back.
"O-Oh, uh—"
"Lucas."
He quickly spun around on his stool to the sound of your voice, facing you fully. His eyes widened in surprise as you gently nudged his knees apart but he didn't even hesitate to make room for you to stand in between. He placed his hands on your hips when you pulled him closer, your arms snaking around his neck.
Peter didn't know exactly what was going on, but he certainly wasn't complaining. Besides, like he said before, he would always follow your lead.
Yet still, he looked up at you in both curiosity and confusion, trying to gauge what was going through your mind. But you certainly were better at reading people than he was. Or perhaps that was you simply being a master at masking your emotions. Because apart from the slight edge on your smile, he was coming up empty.
"You must be Amelia," Greta interrupted.
Your grip on Peter's shoulder tightened, eyes rolling with a scowl before you turned to Greta with a forced smile. "Yes, hi."
Peter's brows raised at your uninterested tone, even more when you didn't even bother prolonging the conversation as you turned back to him, body leaning closer.
Interesting…
"Can you help me find the bathroom?" you purred, tone seductively sweet to match the implication of your words. You pressed your chest against his, faces only inches apart as your fingers played with the hairs on the nape of his neck.
Peter short circuited.
He merely stared at you in awe, blood growing hot, heart pumping erratically as his grip on your waist tightened.
Peter would be lying if he said he wasn't at the least bit turned on.
"Please?" you added with a pout when he didn't manage to speak for a good few seconds.
It was the slight pinch on his skin that snapped him out of it.
"Of course, my love," he said, clearing the lump in his throat as he hastily stood up.
Peter wasn't even given the time to get his bearings straight when you immediately took his hand in yours, pulling him away from the bar and down the hallway. He squinted at the sudden brightness of the ceiling lights, greatly illuminating the cream wallpaper with intricate gold-colored patterns, similar crown molding from those in the ballroom, and various paintings hanging on the walls for guests to admire. The space was obviously still for public access, but it was relatively empty.
Once you two were alone, you didn't bother hiding your emotions. And Peter could clearly tell that you were angry.
It was making him slightly nervous.
"Is everything okay?"
You ignored him.
Peter frowned when pulled your hand from his and put some distance between you. He watched as you tensely opened a metal door, entering in haste without looking back. He ran after you to avoid getting locked out, the two of you entering another much smaller hallway that could only fit one person at a time. It was more of a tunnel, to be honest.
He never liked it when you were upset, especially during a high-risk mission. But most of all, he hated disappointing you, and with the way you were acting, he could only assume he'd done something wrong.
Peter was hot on your tail, carefully watching your every sharp turn, just to make sure he wasn't going to lose you. Though, it wasn't long until you two emerged into a hallway that was similar to before.
You were staring straight ahead, heels clicking angrily as the skirt of your dress rapidly swished with every harsh step.
Oh you were pissed.
"Did I do something?"
"You shouldn't be distracted on the job," you said, tone clipped.
"But I wasn't distracted," he defended, his frown deepening.
"Flirting, distracted, same thing," you scoffed, rolling your eyes. "It's not the time to woo girls. This is not a frat party."
Flirting? Woo girls?
"But I wasn't flirt—wait," he paused, his smile breaking out as realization dawned on him.
He could be quite oblivious sometimes, but he was not dumb. This wasn't going over his head, not when the way you were acting looked far too familiar. He'd seen the same thing happen only a couple of minutes ago, after all.
Because you weren't angry. 
Much like how he wasn't angry moments before your dance.
Peter stopped, looking at you carefully with arms crossed over his chest, smirking as he quoted your words,
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're jealous."
You halted in your tracks, shoulders straightening with a huff before you continued walking.
It told Peter everything he needed to know.
He couldn't wipe off his smirk, pride bubbling in his chest, confidence boosted that little bit more as he jogged after you.
"There's going to be two guards at the door," you instructed monotonously once he reached your side, eyes avoiding him. "I'll distract one. You take care of the other one."
Peter stood straighter with a salute, still grinning from ear to ear.
"Yes ma'am."
You rolled your eyes, but he didn't miss the way the corner of your lips quirked up.
•••
"Excuse me, ma'am, this area is restricted."
"Oh, dear! My apologies, is this not where the bathroom is?" you gasped, and Peter was impressed at how clueless you sounded. If he didn't know you beforehand, he never would've guessed that you'd be one of the most elite and smartest spies there ever was. "Would either of you fine gentlemen guide me to where it is?"
Peter heard the two guards grumble before one spoke up gruffly, "Go. I've got this covered,"
"Yay!" you giggled, clapping your hands excitedly. "Thank you so much!"
Peter couldn't stop his grin at how cute you were.
When you and the other guard were out of sight, Peter made a run for it. Guard Two only caught a split-second glimpse of him before his fist harshly connected with their jaw, wincing when he heard a faint crack.
"Sorry," Peter whispered with a grimace, standing straight and adjusting his glasses. "Didn't mean to hit that hard."
He quickly turned towards the sound of grunts and hisses, fists colliding against muscles and then a body falling onto the floor. He rushed towards where you disappeared, entering the hallway just in time to see you fixing up your dress. Your eyes met his when he walked over to you, your smile sweet yet proud.
"Need a lil help carrying this guy," you said, gesturing behind you.
He nodded with a chuckle, eyes trained on your face once he reached your side before his brows furrowed.
"You got a little—" Before he could think about it, he reached a hand up, thumb rubbing over the corner of your mouth, attempting to get rid of the smudged lipstick.
He couldn't help but stare, easily putting him in a trance as he smoothed his thumb over your bottom lip, pulling it away slightly before letting it plop back, your warm breath tickling his skin when your lips parted.
Your little outburst of jealousy earlier might've boosted his confidence a lot more than he'd initially let on.
"Peter," you murmured. "The guard."
"Oh! Right," he cleared his throat, moving over to the unconscious guard, hauling them over his shoulder effortlessly as if they weighed nothing. He walked over to the second guard, doing the same over his other shoulder. When he turned around, he saw you standing there, brow raised. He shrugged, smirking. "Super strength."
You shook your head, rolling your eyes, "Show off."
Peter laughed.
After carrying both guards into the room—unlocked thanks to their keycards and fingerprints—you busied yourself with their weapons.
Peter was looking through the various crates and boxes, all labeled with familiar and not-so-familiar logos, some in different languages, while others were completely blank. Some items weren't hidden at all, from high-tech guns in glass displays to alien guns in wooden crates, various iterations of vibranium shields, and holy shit, is that a Wakandan spear?
"Where the hell did they get all of these? This is so much ammo in one room—"
Peter's words died in his throat when his eyes landed on you.
You were leaning over, one foot resting on one of the boxes on the floor, your fingers grazing your leg as you carefully pulled your skirt up inch by tempting inch until your thigh was exposed to him. Your gun holster later came into view, the straps squeezing the supple flesh tightly and fuck—
Peter had never wanted to be an inanimate object so badly ever in his life.
He quickly averted his gaze when you pulled your skirt back down. He pretended to read the labels on some crates as he cleared his throat, tugging at the collar of his shirt because Jesus it's getting really hot in here.
"Take this," you said, walking over to him with your hand extended, your fingers curled around the barrel of a gun.
Peter's eyes widened as he looked at the gun and then at you. "We haven't gotten to this part of my training yet."
"Come on, you've seen some movies."
"Since when did movies become tutorials?"
You stared at him for a moment, shaking your head with a chuckle before holding up the gun before him to demonstrate.
"Safety on when you don't want to shoot, safety off when you want to shoot," you said, flicking the pin on the side of the gun. "Cock it only once. It's semi-automatic so after that, all you need is to pull the trigger for continuous shots. Grip with two hands, dominant hand tight around it, other hand on top. Don't try to be arrogant by holding it with only one, especially when you've never fired a gun in your life. Point and shoot, simple. Make sure you aim at the bad guy, though."
You took his hand and placed the gun in his palm, smiling at him sweetly as if you hadn't just given him a loaded weapon.
"Got it?"
Peter stared at you dumbfounded, gulping as he held it to his chest, "That's definitely not all there is to it when using a gun."
"Hey, don't worry," you said reassuringly, squeezing his shoulder. "It's just for precaution. You might not even need to use it."
Peter nodded with a sigh, staring at the gun in his hand before he slipped into the hem of his pants, snuggly kept there by his belt.
Rookie mistake.
"Make sure the safety is on before you put it there, wouldn't want an accident to happen."
Peter froze before he quickly pulled it out, aiming the barrel as far away from him as possible.
He groaned in utter embarrassment when you laughed.
"Can you just carry it for me?" he asked, pouting for good measure. "Please?"
"You're fine," you giggled, gesturing at your leg. "And I only have one thigh holster."
Yeah. I saw.
"I really don't want to shoot myself in the balls," he said, physically shuddering as he screwed his eyes shut. "And I think you're aware of how clumsy I get sometimes."
You laughed out loud, shaking your head as you moved back toward one of the unconscious guards. Peter watched you curiously as you started checking their suits, a faint 'aha!' leaving your lips before you started taking one of their jackets off.
Peter's brows shot up. "What are you—"
"Jacket off," you interjected, showing him a shoulder holster. He did as told as you walked back to him. You helped him slip the harness on, clicking buckles and adjusting the straps before taking his gun and slotting it in soon after. You tilted your head as you smooth it over him. "Better?"
"Much," he breathed out, smiling at you gratefully as he slipped his jacket back on. "Thanks."
You returned his grin, patting his chest before you went and looked for the safe.
Which didn't take too long.
"They could've at least made it inconspicuous, shit's too easy," you scoffed, gesturing at the safe that had a huge American flag on it, stars and eagles, too, as if it wasn't obvious enough. You looked at him with a knowing smile. "Do your magic."
Peter squatted in front of it, taking his glasses off and twisting the nose bridge. There was a soft whirring sound before the glasses turned into a mini, android spider.
Carbon-based nanotech will always impress him. Imperceptible to metal detectors all while never losing its function and durability.
"Of course it's a tiny spider," you muttered, delight laced in your tone.
"What?" He looked at you over his shoulder with a teasing pout, holding up the spider in his palm. "You don't like him?"
You purse your lips, shaking your head before meeting his eyes. "He's cute."
"And hopefully he works, too," he said, turning back to the safe before carefully placing the little guy on the keypad. It took a few moments for the mechanical spider to do its thing. Peter let out the breath he was holding when the safe opened without a hitch. He looked at you with a grin, gesturing at the device inside. "Voilà."
You scrunched up your face. "And that proves that you can't be good at everything."
"Hey!" he gasped. "It wasn't that bad."
"Just leave the French accent alone," you teased, though your eyes were shining with admiration. "But that brain of yours is definitely something else."
Peter blushed, waving your compliment off, "Nah, it's just—"
"Shut up, Parker," you scoffed playfully, but your smile was genuine. "You're incredibly smart and annoyingly amazing. It's not up for discussion."
"Thanks," he chuckled shyly, cheeks turning redder. He gestured at the nuclear football, before looking up at you. "You have the decoy, right?"
"Oh, right." You nodded, reaching into the neckline of your dress before you pulled the rectangular device out, showing it to him with a proud grin.
Peter stared at you, mouth agape.
"What?" you snorted, shaking your head at his surprised face. "I don't have pockets!"
"You could've asked me to carry it."
"I can't exactly bring you with me into the ladies' restroom now, can I?" you said, shrugging. "And I couldn't just hand it to you in the middle of the ballroom with all those people."
"Touché," he hummed, taking the device from your hands. His brows furrowed as he turned it in his palm. "Is it supposed to be warm?"
"It's been with the girls in the past hour or so, of course it's going to be warm."
"Jesus Christ," he muttered under his breath, shaking his head as he tried not to let his curious thoughts wander.
He was failing, though. Miserably so.
Because holding the device when it's been in your boobs made him wonder exactly how warm your boobs would actually feel if it was direct contact, right in the palm of his—
"What?" you asked, none the wiser, briefly. Because then it was immediate, the realization crossing your face, probably noticing just how red his face had gotten. "Oh my god—Peter!"
"Sorry!" he squeaked, hurriedly turning his back on you, focusing on the task at hand.
"My boobs are clean, by the way."
"That wasn't the route my thoughts went to," he grumbled.
"Yeah, I figured," you giggled. "Just wanted to confirm."
He rolled his eyes even though you couldn't see him.
Focus. You got this.
But just as he was about to switch the devices, you moved closer to him, bending over until you were at eye level with the safe, your scent overpowering to the point of being distracting.
"Y/N," Peter sighed, head hanging low as his hand fell onto his sides. "You're making me really nervous when you're breathing down my neck."
"Sorry! Sorry," you laughed, heels clicking as you moved further behind him. "I'll just…step back."
With bated breath yet careful fingers, Peter swiftly switched the devices, blowing out his cheeks in relief when nothing happened.
"Great job, Pete."
He shot you a smile over his shoulder and closed the safe, letting his spider friend reverse its steps before taking him off the safe, pressing its tiny tummy for it to turn back into glasses.
Peter put it back on, running his fingers through his hair before turning to you.
You beamed and held out your palm.
But just as he was about to hand you the device, he quickly pulled it back with narrowed eyes.
"Are you putting this in your boobs again?"
You stared at him in amusement. "I didn't grow any pockets at the last minute, so yes."
"Don't you think it's dangerous?" he reasoned, carefully waving the device to get his point across. "I mean, this is the real thing."
"It's not radioactive," you chuckled. "It's not going to suddenly blow up."
"We don't know that—"
"Hey, don't worry," you hummed, your reassuring smile turning mischievous. "I'll still have my boobs at the end of this mission."
Peter rolled his eyes. "I'm concerned about you, like, as a whole person."
"Yeah, I know, and that includes my boobs."
He groaned, "Is this becoming a thing?"
You shook your head, laughing, "No, no, I just didn't think I'd find out that you're a boob guy, during a mission, no less."
"I'm not a boob guy," he scoffed.
Peter was a you guy, to be honest, as in you as a whole person—eyes, boobs, lips, butt, thighs, everything included.
And personality, obviously.
You laughed, leaning close to kiss him on the cheek, throwing him off-guard that you were able to take the device from him without breaking a sweat.
Peter sighed in defeat.
He really wasn't any better than any of the guards in this building.
"Come on," you called, hands now free, the device properly hidden with 'the girls' as you opened the door for him. "We need to get going."
•••
You both were navigating your way back into the ballroom when the hairs on the back of Peter's neck stood up.
"People incoming," he warned, grabbing your hand as you pulled you down a hallway. His enhanced hearing just about picked up the sound of guns being loaded. "Armed."
"How many?" you asked, your free hand picking up your skirt as you walked even faster.
He tried to listen closely, calculating the footsteps that echoed down the hall sans both of yours
"Four," he confirmed, brow raising. "Maybe Five."
"That's too many. The minute they'll see us, they're going to get suspicious. It's going to be too late for both of us to take all of them down without at least one sending a signal," you rushed, testing out every door down the halls in hopes that you'd get lucky. "We need to find a place to hide."
"Shit," Peter cursed, looking from left to right of the hall. "They're coming from both sides."
"In here!"
He wasn't given much to process your words when you all but grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and pushed him inside a room. The space was quick to grow smaller when you followed suit, your dress knocking over a broom on your way in.
Of course it had to be a janitor's closet.
As if his life wasn't already filled with enough clichés.
Peter grabbed the handle to pull the door close, darkness swallowing you both as it clicked shut. He felt around the metal knob only for his fingers to fall on an entirely flat surface.
"There's no lock," he said, so deathly confused. "What kind of door has no lock?"
"Quiet!" you hissed, pressing your palm over his mouth.
Peter stared at you wide-eyed, his pupils slowly adjusting to the lack of light that he was only now able to gauge just how close you two were.
"Listen," you whispered.
He nodded, closing his eyes as he concentrated on distinguishing the voices.
"The guards have been knocked out."
"Nothing is missing in the room."
"Still, check everything. Be on high alert for anything out of the ordinary."
Peter's eyes snapped open, panic settling in as he heard the footsteps growing nearer.
"Shit, shit, shit!" he cursed, voice muffled by your palm. You removed your hand, eyes confused yet expectant. He explained in hurried whispers, "They're not suspicious of anything being stolen yet but they're coming this way. If we get caught, they're going to immediately find out what we're up to and we're doomed."
Peter watched as your face went through different types of emotions. First, it was worry, a flicker of panic crossing your eyes only to be replaced by something else entirely. The crease between your brows deepened, lips pursed as you tilted your head.
It was that all too familiar thinking face he'd grown to adore.
A second later, your brows shot up, eyes wide, and—if he didn't know any better—twinkling as if a light bulb lit up on top of your head.
"Not unless we make them believe we're just some couple needing a quick fix."
"What?" Peter asked, confused.
You only gave him a sheepish smile and a barely-there whisper of,
"I'm sorry."
Peter wasn't given the time to ask what you were apologizing for when you suddenly grabbed him by the nape of his neck and crashed your lips against his.
He stumbled, his back hitting the shelves. Although the way his head was spinning was definitely not because of the impact.
Peter groaned, kissing you back immediately and with fervor, his hands gripping your waist, head tilting as he pulled you closer.
He shivered when your hand moved down his chest before moving inside his jacket, only realizing that you were slipping the nuclear football between the holster, tugging the straps a little tighter to stop it from slipping out.
Then, you guided his hands, much like with your dance earlier. Yet this time, one landed on your exposed thigh as you hiked your leg against his waist, placing the other on top of your ass.
Peter felt like he was about to faint.
But with every bit of respect he had for you—which was a lot—he still hesitated. 
He was unsure as to how far he was allowed to go, deeply worried to cross the line of no return. He didn't want to make you uncomfortable by pushing your boundaries.
He also didn't want to ruin everything he had with you. Whether that was you being his friend or you being his teammate, he really didn't want to lose any of it.
Peter didn't want to lose you.
"It's okay," you whispered against his lips, probably sensing his inner turmoil. "Touch me, Peter."
That was the last thing that made any sliver of his self-control snap.
He growled, squeezing your ass and your thigh simultaneously, pulling your body flush against his as if you could go any closer.
Your gasp was met by a low groan, your hand fisting his jacket as the other took home in his styled hair.
The door swung open, a momentary stream of light illuminating the tiny room. There was a disgusted growl before the door slammed close, darkness covering you both again but neither of you stopped.
Peter gripped your hips, pushing you back slightly until you were the one pressed against the closed door. He cupped the back of your neck, arm curling your waist as he slotted his thigh in between yours in a desperate need to be inhumanly closer.
Your soft moan just about made his knees buckle.
It also made him feel daring enough to gently tease his tongue against your bottom lip. You let him in with his ease, both of you moaning as your tongues did their own dance inside your mouth.
It was intoxicating.
The faint taste of champagne mixing with the taste of you. 
It was something that Peter probably spent a great amount of time thinking about yet nothing in his imagination ever came close. No matter what his brain had conjured in the past, it could never do you justice.
It was addicting.
Your pretty little sighs in response to his soft groans, how you were everywhere, your scent, your taste, your overwhelming warmth engulfing his very being. Peter was drowning in all things you, the very thing that could make him breathe again.
It was too much, yet he needed more.
You were so close, but not close enough.
Peter's hands glided down your body until he was cupping your ass, their warmth settling on each of his palms. But just as he was about to tell you to jump up into his arms, you placed a firm hand on his chest.
Your lips detached with a soft pop, the back of your head softly thumping against the door. You gasped for air, hands fisting his jacket before you rested your forehead against his.
He really needed to remember the fact that he could hold his breath longer than any average human could.
Peter put his hands back on your waist, fingers squeezing as he nudged your nose.
"Y/N, I—"
"Like you, too."
Peter's eyes widened, head pulling back as he stared at you in shock. Whatever confession he had left his brain, a lump caught in his throat, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water as he failed to string any letter into words.
Oh boy he was flustered.
The thought of you, you, someone so confident, someone who is way out of his league liking him back, him, little nerdy, dorky, stumbly old Peter Parker, it made his heart soar.
"I'm a trained spy, Pete, I know how to read people," you giggled when he stayed silent for a few seconds. "It's written all over your face. You really haven't been subtle about it the whole night, either."
"I don't think subtlety is my specialty," he whispered, a shy smile growing on his lips as he pressed his forehead against yours, the tips of your noses brushing in the sweetest of ways.
"It really isn't." You nodded in agreement with a wide smile of your own.
"So I don't think I need to be subtle about this," he started, gaze holding yours. He was nervous, but if he didn't say this out loud, he might just explode. "I'm falling for you."
"You're so cliché," you giggled, his cheeks growing hot, his whole body melting, his heart jumping out of his chest and landing straight into the palm of your hand when you added, "I'm falling for you, too."
"Really?" he asked, surprised yet his voice came out a little shy.
It was obvious enough. The words had been said. But he wanted to make sure because this just seemed like one big lucid dream and he'd actually die if he were to wake up any moment now.
"I mean, I haven't been subtle about it either," you giggled, kissing him briefly yet sweetly, brushing your nose with his as you breathed out, "But yeah, I do. I feel so strongly for you Peter that I just—I feel nervous, I feel giddy, I feel safe and appreciated and I just feel so, so happy whenever I'm around you and I just, whatever I did in the past didn't matter because you accept me for me and I trust that you've got the best intentions, I trust you with my life, and you're just the sweetest most thoughtful and I'm just glad to have known you and—" you paused, shaking your head with a soft laugh, "I'm such a sap."
God this felt like a dream come true.
"I like you being a sap," he chuckled shyly. "But I'm just…me, though."
"Exactly," you confirmed, smile genuinely laced with pride. "You're brilliant, Peter Parker. How can I not fall for you?"
Peter's cheeks were starting to hurt with how wide his smile was, but he sure as hell wasn't complaining.
"You're so way out of my league," he whispered, arms wrapping around your waist.
"I could say the exact same thing to you," you giggled, pecking his lips. "But let's debate about this another time, yeah? We still got some codes to find and a bad guy to catch," you said, turning around swiftly to face the door before he could even have a chance to stop you.
"Wait, don't—" Peter sucked in a sharp breath, his grip on your waist tightening as his face landed on the juncture between your neck and shoulder. Your back was against his chest, bodies pressed up far too close. "—move," he lowly groaned against your skin.
"Oh."
Peter felt his whole body heat up from embarrassment. Because he knew you could definitely feel it behind you. He could hear the fast pace of your heart, and if that wasn't a tell-tale sign, he didn't know what was. And no matter how much he tried to pull away, even just slightly, the small space of the closet wasn't letting him do so.
"I'm sorry, I am so, so, so sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen I—"
He tried to move away from you again, but clumsily elbowed the shelf on his right instead which made a few empty buckets topple over from the top. He quickly pulled you back to avoid you getting hit by the falling cleaning supplies, but in turn, it made your ass press against him a little harder.
"Fuck," he groaned, body going rigid when you gasped. You probably think he was a proper pervert now. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that either. And I tried to control it I swear but it's just—my senses are enhanced and you're so close and that kiss was really hot and you're even hotter and your ass really feels nice in my hands—shit! I shouldn't have said that, I should not have said that. I mean not! Not that it's untrue, it's very, very true. You've got a really pretty and nice ass and I should really shut up goddammit—"
You cut him off with a giggle, head tilting to the side as your fingers reached up, burying it in his now messy brown hair.
"I feel flattered that a kiss got you this excited," you teased, earning a soft whine from him.
"It's not just a kiss when I've been wanting to do it for so long," Peter confessed, kissing your shoulder softly before he mumbled, "And it's not my fault that you're out here looking like a goddess."
"Look at you," you giggled, squeezing his forearm that was wrapped around your waist. "That expensive suit is really doing wonders with your smoothness, huh?"
"It brings out the suave in me," he hummed, grinning. "Makes my eyes pop, too."
You let out a sweet, hearty laugh.
Peter chuckled, heart warming as he buried his face into your neck.
"How about you take this because I really don't want to accidentally drop it," he started, pulling the device out of his jacket and handing it over to you, kissing your shoulder with a deep breath, "And just give me a second to calm down."
You giggled.
But what you said next did anything but help.
"Yes, sir."
•••
It was quarter to seven when you both made your way down to the underground theater.
There were fewer people this time around. Peter supposed it was expected. What, with a secret auction selling dangerous weapons, you simply couldn't hand out invitations like it's free candy. It could land in the wrong hands—well, right hands, in this case.
He fiddled with the card inside his pocket, free fingers pushing up his glasses, eyes narrowed at the guards by the entrance.
"Shit," he cursed under his breath, noticing how they were ushering people into the theater individually. "I think it's a card for each person and we only have one—"
Peter stopped when he found no sign of you.
"You're not supposed to disappear without letting me know," he said through his comms.
He heard you giggle in response, "I was supposed to be back before you even notice."
"Point still stands," he grumbled. "Where are you?"
Peter grinned when he felt a familiar warmth behind him, your arms wrapping around his waist as you rested your chin on his shoulder.
"Hi."
"Hi," he chuckled, taking your hand to pull you by his side. He circled his arm around your waist, brow raised. "Where'd you go?"
You smiled innocently, yet the proud glimmer in your eyes was unmistakable. You held a hand up, a black and silver card pinched between two fingertips.
Always ten steps ahead of him.
It made him want to push you against a nearby wall and kiss the living daylights out of you.
"Now, how'd you get that?"
You winked. "You know I have my ways."
Before Peter could respond, everyone suddenly turned around to the sound of a commotion.
"Sir, you're not allowed without an invitation," one guard said.
"But I had it!" a man with a stark white beard exclaimed, patting around his pockets, "It was here!"
"I'm going to have to ask you to leave, sir."
"Well, you just lost your highest bidder!"
Peter turned back to you, impressed. "You need to teach me how to do that."
"I can't teach you all my tricks—" your laugh died once you walked by a lamp, illuminating both your faces in this otherwise dimly lit entry hall. You pulled him back under the light, your eyes widening. "Oh shit."
"What?" he asked, worried. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's just—" you snorted, gesturing to get him to come closer, hand cupping his cheek. "There's lipstick all over your mouth."
Peter blushed, chuckling, "Would it be so bad to just leave it?"
"You look like you just ate a can of tomato sauce."
Peter pouted.
You shook your head with a laugh, thumbs brushing as much lipstick stain as you could. Just when he thought you were done, you cupped his face, pulling him closer to kiss him firmly on the cheek.
"There," you hummed, giggling, "Since you want my lipstick on you so bad."
"It's hot," Peter shamelessly admitted with a smirk.
You rolled your eyes but grinned anyway, taking his hand and pulling towards the entrance.
"Come on. Let's go spend the millions we don't have."
•••
It took a few more minutes for everyone to settle in their seats. You and Peter choose the front-right corner. It was near the stage but not at the center of attention.
As the clock struck seven, the main stage lights lit up. There were a couple of marble statues littered across—for decoration he assumed—and vases filled with wildflowers he could never name. Right at the center was a white podium, a huge projector screen behind it.
Then, a flash of gold appeared on the stage.
Peter immediately knew who they were.
"Welcome, everyone," the Auclair twins said in sync.
"Why is it always evil twins?" he said.
Obviously, he knew about Halbert, he was the one who gave him the card. But he didn't expect his twin sister to be in on it, too. But then again, the guy seemed to be all beauty with no brains.
And no, he wasn't biased.
"I knew there was something off about her," you scoffed, arms crossed over your chest, pout prominent as you glared at the stage. You were starting to look like you were throwing a tantrum. But Peter decided not to say anything.
Yet.
"I think you all know why we've gathered here so I won't bother you with unnecessary semantics," Greta started, waving her hand at the projector, now showing a live feed of the room you broke into earlier. "Any or all of those high-grade toys could be yours tonight, if you're willing to empty out your pockets, of course. But, to lift everyone's spirits up," Greta paused, giggling wickedly as she dug her fingers into the neckline of her dress, procuring the star of the night, and the bane of yours and Peter's existence.
"The Gold Codes and the nuclear football, available for bidding at the end of the night," she purred, waving the card around as if it wasn't one the most dangerous items on the planet. "We have to save the best for last, of course."
"So hiding things in your boobs is a common thing then," Peter said, catching the sour look on your face from the corner of his eye. He was trying really hard to bite back his smirk.
"So you found the codes before anyone else did."
"What?" Peter looked at you confused. "But I didn't."
"You did," you said, jaw ticking. "You just didn't know you were already looking at it."
It took Peter a moment.
"I was not looking at her boobs."
"Sure you weren't," you scoffed, rolling your eyes.
"Darling," he drawled teasingly, playing up the accent, the fire in your glare unmistakable as you met his eyes. He pinched your chin between his forefinger and thumb with a grin. "You've got nothing to be jealous of."
Huffing, you pulled your face off his grasp, "Shut up."
"You know," he started, daringly throwing his arm over your shoulder. You were never one to cross when you were angry. But Peter simply wanted to have some harmless fun. After all, this was the first time he'd ever seen you like this. "I still haven't decided if you're cute or hot when you're jealous."
"Don't tempt me to punch you."
He chuckled, leaning to press his lips against your temple. His smile widened when he felt your whole body relax beside him.
"So, what’s the plan?" he murmured against your skin.
You shifted in your seat, resting your head on his shoulder.
"We wait until the codes and the football are up for bidding," you mumbled. "Then, I'm going to be a show-off, placing a higher bet over anyone while moving closer to the stage. Once I'm in good proximity, cause a distraction and I'll swipe the codes."
"Got it," he confirmed, flinching in his seat when he heard the bang of a hammer.
"Your numbered paddles are under your seats. Now, let's begin."
Peter had only seen auctions in movies, and they always seemed to be the most boring thing ever.
He never expected them to be as anxiety-inducing as this one.
It was probably the fact that these were dangerous and deadly weapons, carelessly sold to anyone who had the money to buy them. 
His heart would sink every time he'd hear that fucking hammer.
Peter was fidgeting with the bridge of his glasses, eyes sharply trained on the stolen Chitauri gun being wheeled off the stage.
"Relax," you whispered, hand on his knee to stop it from bouncing. "We've got backup near the premises. Once we secure the codes, they'll immediately interfere. None of those weapons are getting out of this building."
"They're buying it like it's candy," Peter grumbled frustratingly. "As if lives won't be put at risk if it gets out there."
"Next up, Oscorp's drone satellite," Greta introduced excitedly. "Bigger, better, deadlier than the one by Stark Industries."
Peter's fist clenched. "Why do they always find the need to one-up each other?"
"Egomaniac billionaires," you supplied, hand curling around his fist, bringing his knuckles up to your lips before you intertwined your fingers together.
It helped him calm down a little.
"Things are starting to get boring, don't we think?" Greta laughed, waving around the controller. It was either she wasn't aware of how dangerous the device in her hand was, or she simply didn't care. Her wicked grin told Peter it was the latter. "So how about we do a little test run?"
"Shit," he cursed, sitting upright. "That's not part of the plan."
"You're the faster one," you said, tone calm as you tugged your skirt discreetly and pulled your gun out. "When I give the signal, immediately run towards her and secure codes."
"What signal?"
You stood up, gun raised.
Everyone froze as you shot at the wires that held the scaffolding that was hanging on top of the stage. It immediately gave way, dropping onto the wooden stage and blocking both exits on each side.
Chaos erupted then.
The people running towards the small entryway made it difficult for the guards to get in right away.
But Peter was still staring at you in shock.
"Go!"
He snapped out of it, taking long strides towards the stage, reaching the twins just in time before they could even manage to escape.
"Mr. Reid," Halbert chuckled darkly, pushing Greta right behind him before pulling out a revolver. "You should've bought a gun."
"Well, good thing I did," Peter quipped, reaching inside his holster only to find nothing. He looked up, eyes wide. "Shit. I dropped it."
"Oh my God—" Peter heard you groan in disappointment, and he could practically hear that eye roll.
He would've found the time to be embarrassed if Halbert hadn't started shooting at him. He dodged every bullet easily. His enhanced reflexes paired with how inaccurate this guy's aim was, it wasn't really much of a challenge.
And no, he wasn't showing off.
Okay, maybe a little bit.
Peter couldn't stop his chuckle when he heard the familiar clicking of an empty cylinder.
"Well, looks like I didn’t even need one," he bragged as he stalked towards Halbert, yanking the gun out of his hold before hitting him on the side of the head with the butt of his own gun, rendering him unconscious. He turned to Greta with a mocking tut, "Your twin isn't the wisest, isn't he?"
"No," she scoffed, smile widening as she glanced over his shoulder. "But he bought us time."
Peter saw the entryway clear of civilians, the armed guards swiftly invading the theater.
"Shit."
A flash of red caught his eye, your sharp heels clicking rapidly before you slid on the floor, picking up the gun Peter dropped. You knelt on one knee, gun in each hand, aiming it toward the guards and raining hell on them motherfuckers.
You didn't miss a shot.
He shook his head in awe, "And you said to hold it with two hands!"
"I've fired guns since I was twelve!" you said, tilting your head to throw him a smirk. "I think I can be an exception."
How could he argue with that?
Peter swerved to the right, heart thumping as the glint of a knife covered his periphery. He grabbed their wrist, pulling him forward in one swift motion and throwing the culprit towards the seats.
"Who brings a knife to a gunfight?" he huffed as he kicked away the knife that fell out of their hand.
Peter's attention got stolen by your growl.
His eyes landed on you just in time to see you grab a man's forearm from behind, using all your body weight and the right momentum to throw him over your shoulder, a pained scream when you undoubtedly dislodged his arm, the knife clinking onto the floor. You kicked the guy on the head, his eyes rolling back as he turned limp. You stepped on the knife's handle to fling it into the air, catching it with your left hand before flipping to your right, holding your skirt taught before cutting a new slit on your skirt. Then, you spun, red dress flowing with the motion as you kicked the guy running towards you on the side of his throat.
If Peter wasn't in love before, he sure as hell was now.
"What?" you panted when you caught his gaze, brows furrowed.
"That was so hot," Peter breathed out, your eyes rolling for the umpteenth time before they suddenly widened.
"Down!"
He ducked as you threw the knife, the blade soaring past him and landing into the guy's shoulder, the gun that was aimed at Peter's distracted ass dropping onto the floor.
He looked back at you in absolute wonder.
And did his pants grow a little tighter?
"Will you marry me?"
"Jesus—focus!"
"Is that a 'no'?!" he called out teasingly, elbowing one guy on the chin before hurling his unconscious body toward his allies. He called it the bowling move. Taking a gun from the floor, he turned to you with a pout. "Can't believe you'd reject me, babe!"
"Kinda in the middle of something here!" you yelled back, shooting a guy on the leg before knocking him out with the butt of your gun. You stood straight with a deep breath, tilting your head with your lips pursed before nodding behind him. "How about you help me get those codes first?"
Peter turned, seeing Greta dragging her twin towards the side exit.
"Oh yeah, right," he chuckled sheepishly before going after her. "My bad!"
Fully catching him off guard, Peter flew forward and landed on his chest when Greta swiped his legs. He rolled onto his back, narrowly avoiding the six-inch heel she dug into the floor where his head was supposed to be.
"So you can fight," he breathed out, doing a kip up to get back on his feet.
"I bite too," she hummed, winking. "And I've been wanting to sink my teeth into you, pretty boy."
"Uh, thanks?" he chuckled dryly, face scrunched up. He swerved the knife she threw at him, looking back only to see she got two more, one on each hand. He sighed, "Great. You throw knives."
"What?" she asked, tone mocking as she flipped one in the air, catching the blade in between her fingers with ease. "You don't like knife play?"
"That doesn't sound like fun," he grumbled, running towards her, swiftly ducking as she kicked her leg before grabbing her by the ankles.
Greta fell on the floor with a thud, yet she was quick to kick his knee with her other foot, Peter hissing as her sharp heel dug into his skin. She used this slim window to pull her leg forward, dragging Peter with it and making him land right on top of her.
"Quite a handsome face. Maybe we can go out for dinner sometime," she purred, running her tongue over her lip as she traced his jaw with a knife, sharp tip teasing his throat. "The real party happens later in the night, of course."
"Yeah, no thanks," he breathed out, pulling his head back and quickly grabbing her arms, flipping her onto her stomach in one swift motion. Peter pinned her down using his body weight as he knocked the knives out of her hands. He pulled her wrist towards her back, his knees tight on either side of her hips as he sat up. Holding her wrists with one hand, he undid his necktie with the other, tying her up securely before letting go.
"Kinky," she huffed out a giggle.
Peter rolled his eyes, pulling her up by the shoulders until she was seated on the floor. He walked around, dusting off his suit and adjusting his glasses—they got sticky tape on the sides to not let them fall off during fights. He thought about this ahead, thank you very much—as he stood in front of her.
"I guess it's true what they say about the quiet ones," she said, head tilted as she shamelessly ran her eyes down his body before meeting his eyes. "You're a different kind of man, Lucas Reid."
"The name's Parker," he said with a deep voice as he buttoned up his jacket with the utmost seriousness on his face. "Peter Parker."
You scoffed loudly.
Peter immediately spun, his landing eyes on your figure standing behind him, your jaw tight, arms crossed over your chest, a scowl on your pretty face with that fiery glare to match.
Oh you were pissed.
But Peter had a feeling it wasn't at him.
"You've been itching to do that the whole night, have you?"
"Maybe," he chuckled.
You rolled your eyes, nodding towards Greta.
"Just take the codes."
Peter stared at you like you'd grown a second head.
"What?" you asked, voice taut, so clearly getting annoyed.
"You take the codes."
"Why can't you do it?"
"Because I respect women?"
You blinked a few times before dropping your head with an exasperated groan.
"What? You know where it's hidden!" he exclaimed in defense, gesturing towards the bound woman. "I'm not just slipping my hand in there!"
"I have a feeling she won't mind," you muttered to yourself, but thanks to his enhanced hearing, he heard you loud and clear. "You've practically been humping each other."
Peter decided to keep quiet, scared that you'd actually punch him this time.
Though the glare you shot him was proof that you knew he heard you.
You shook your head, another eye roll before you walked over to Greta, bending at the waist until your face was level with hers.
"Let’s make this quick. Left or right?" you asked.
"Dégage, salope," she hissed.
You gasped, hand over your mouth in feigned shock. "Now, that's not nice."
"Wait, what did she say?" Peter asked as he stood by the sidelines, not too close but not too far. He was giving you the space to do your thing.
"She called me a bitch," you cooed, pouting condescendingly. "Fine. Since you don't want to make this easier for us—"
Before Peter could even question what you were about to do, you stomped on a knife, catching the handle mid-air and straight up slashing the blade in front of Greta.
"Woah!"
Peter downright expected you to have chopped her whole head off—okay, maybe slit her throat because the knife wasn't that big.
But nothing happened.
No chopping, no slicing, no blood, nothing.
Well, not until a split second later when Greta gasped, the top half of her—really expensive, he assumed—dress sliding down her body.
Peter looked away immediately, face hot as he screwed his eyes shut, turning his back on her for good measure.
"Jesus Christ, Y/N," he muttered, taking his glasses off to rub his face with his palm.
But he couldn't wipe his smile off.
Peter knew you could take the codes without having to cut her dress. You were simply being petty. And it was safe to assume it had something to do with the way Greta had been shamelessly flirting with him for the whole night.
Your jealousy fed his ego a little bit.
"You can look now," you said, tone low. "She's covered."
"Are you sure?"
You scoffed, "It's not like you don't want to see it, anyway."
Peter swiftly turned, only catching a glimpse of Greta now wearing Halbert's jacket with the matching gold tie gagging her mouth.
He immediately turned to you who was standing to the side, looking anywhere else but at him. He walked over, rubbing up and down your arms until you uncrossed them. He pulled you closer by the waist, nudging your nose while mirroring your pout.
"Don't be mad."
"I'm not mad."
"Then why did you do that?"
"I had to get the codes."
"Yeah, but it didn't have to involve boobage exposure."
"Boobage exposure," you snorted, the corner of your lip twitching as you finally met his eyes. "I feel like that's something you enjoy."
"I didn't even look!" he defended, his smile widening when you tried your best to hide yours. "I promise. I didn't want to, either."
You shook your head, sighing, "You're such an annoying dork."
"Your annoying dork."
That made your smile appear.
"My dork, huh?" you hummed, wrapping your arms around his shoulders.
Peter smiled, pulling you closer, tip of his nose brushing yours. "Well, if you'll have me, that is."
"Have you as what, exactly?"
"Your boyfriend," he said, slightly surprised by his own boldness. But then again, you two had already established what you felt for each other. The fear of rejection wasn't there anymore. Shaking his head with a smile, he added, "Wait, answer that on our date this Friday?"
"Love the newfound confidence, Agent Parker," you said, giggling. "And yes, to both questions,"
"I really like the sound of Agent Parker," he hummed, wiggling his eyebrows at you. "Am I a certified spy now?"
"Eh, if you don't drop your gun next time, then sure."
"Come on," he sighed, pouting. "I could use a name change, you know, like Spy-Dork-Man."
Peter burst out laughing when you physically cringed.
"Tell me one good reason why I shouldn't kick you because of that god awful pun."
"Because I'm your dork now, bad puns included, so you're going to have to get used to it from early doors."
"Touché," you laughed.
Peter looked at you adoringly, but just as he was about to kiss you, a sudden ruckus of applause made you both jump, stance on defense reflexively.
It was the team, right in front of the stage, clapping and wolf-whistling like a bunch of assholes.
Peter groaned, hiding his face in the crook of your neck as he wrapped his arms around you.
"About time you two solved this…tension you have," Wanda said as she reached the stage, gesturing at the two of you before she held her hand out to Bucky. "Hand it over, Super Soldier. She technically kissed him first,"
"Maybe I shouldn't have held Sam back from unmuting the line in the closet," Bucky sighed, pulling out his wallet and handing over twenty dollars.
"You had a bet?" you gaped at the two of them.
Peter turned to Sam. "You tried to interrupt us again?"
"I wouldn't have to if you guys didn't constantly forget that your comms aren't reserved for the two of you only," the Captain chuckled.
"You guys were so cute, though," Wanda said with a smile.
"The smooching sounds were a bit much." Bucky grimaced.
"Don't forget the abundant talk about boobs and ass," Harley laughed, appearing from behind everyone with a bag in hand. "Good thing you finally grew those balls though, Parker. I've grown really tired of hearing you whine about your obsession—sorry, I mean, crush on her."
"Shut up, man," Peter groaned, burying his face back on your shoulder to hide.
"Leave him alone," you laughed, rubbing his back in comfort.
"I wished I could've hacked the cams earlier so it would've been like watching a James Bond movie meets rom-com live," Harley said. "But the audio was good, popcorns still definitely enjoyed."
"Lives were on the line and you guys enjoyed popcorn," you deadpanned.
Sam laughed as he patted both of your backs. "Nah, we just knew you two got it handled."
"What are you guys doing here then?" Peter countered, glaring at them.
"Clean up," Wanda said, cracking her fingers before adding, "I also need to erase your faces off of people's memories because blowing your covers wasn't exactly part of the plan."
"And this guy practically gave out his real name," Bucky chuckled, patting Peter's shoulder before moving over to the unconscious men lying on the floor.
"I couldn't let the opportunity slip!" Peter protested. "It's probably going to be my only James Bond moment, I had to take it."
"That was pretty stupid," you said, scrunching your face at him with a laugh.
"I know that now, thanks," he grumbled.
"Here." Harley tossed him his web shooters and mask, and Peter felt a sense of comfort as he snapped them onto his wrists.
"Pete, you think you can swing us home?" you asked, slipping your fingers into his.
"Yeah, of course," he chuckled, squeezing your hand. He could definitely get used to feeling your affectionate touch constantly.
"Right, we're going to leave this to you guys, now bye!" you called out before you all but dragged him towards the exit, Peter's groan and your laugh echoing down the hall when Sam yelled,
"Use protection!"
•••
You both were honestly too tired to even attempt and continue what started in the closet.
Well, you did try to.
When you landed back at the compound, you both decided to go to your separate rooms and take much-needed hot showers first. But getting to your quarters in itself probably took around ten minutes, all because Peter simply couldn't help but stop every couple of meters down the halls, pressing you against the nearest wall to kiss you senseless.
It took you shutting the door on his face for you both to finally wash off the sweat and grime of the day.
After he was all cleaned and clothed, he didn't waste any time making his way out of his room. But when he opened the door, you were already standing there, fist in the air, mid-knock.
Peter chuckled as he grabbed your waist and pulled you into his room, giggles and satisfied sighs bouncing off his walls as his lips covered your own. He grabbed the back of your thighs and lifted you with ease, a murmured comment from you about him showing off his super strength as he carried you to his bed.
But the second you both hit the mattress, it was simply far too comfy and soft that the intense heat of the kiss gradually simmered into a mellow warmth. His body was covering yours, fingers intertwined, lips moving slowly, lazily yet just as sweet. 
And after a few more moments of you two languidly kissing, you ended up settling with cuddles for the night.
Now, here you were, being the little spoon with your back pressed against his chest, limbs tangled, bodies warm and snug under the covers. He was drawing lazy circles on your stomach, his eyes growing heavier with each rise and fall of your chest, the steady beat of your heart lulling him.
Peter thought you were already fast asleep. And he was just about to follow suit until you spoke up,
"Are your hands cold?"
"Not really," he murmured, voice a little rough. "Why?"
"You can always use my boobs in case you need to warm them up."
He groaned, burying his face onto your shoulder. "Are you ever going to let this go?"
"What?" you giggled softly. "You just seemed so interested in their warmth earlier. I'm allowing you to quell your curiosity."
Peter lifted himself a little, just so he could get a clear view of your face.
"Is this a genuine invitation for me to cup your boobs?"
"Only if you wanna," you said, turning to him with a soft smile, eyes half-lidded. "No playing, though."
He nodded with a laugh, settling behind you and gently sneaking his hand under your shirt, no pressure or anything so that you'll be able to move away whenever you wanted to. Then again, you were skilled enough to break his wrist, anyway.
But you didn't do that, not at all.
Instead, you shifted in your place, providing more space for his arm to fully wrap around your torso until he was cupping a boob in his hand.
You sighed, body melting into the mattress even more, your back warmly pressed against his chest as you nosed his pillow.
"They are really warm," he hummed, his whole body relaxing as he let his hand just…be there, without any malice whatsoever. "This is oddly comforting."
"Yeah," you mumbled, a loud yawn following suit. "Like stress balls."
Peter chuckled, "That's one way of describing it."
You hummed, yawning out a soft, "Good night, Pete."
Peter smiled. "Good night, angel."
The next response he got was your soft snores as you finally drifted off to sleep,
Peter didn't expect his night to end with you sleeping in bed with him, all cuddled up in his arms, let alone, with him cupping your boob—which he surprisingly found comforting and adorable rather than anything else.
But he did expect to fall asleep with a huge smile on his face.
And then later in the morning, the thing that would wake him up wouldn't be the sunlight anymore, it'd be your warmth, tickling his skin as you cuddle closer to him. A tired, yet satisfied smile would curl on his lips as he would bury his nose into your hair, breathing in your sweet scent. It was much more comforting, hearing your little snores and sighs, or even your occasional mumbles about whatever it was you were dreaming about.
It was new, but definitely something he could get used to.
It was going to be a peaceful Sunday morning with you, and Peter really loved that.
✫*゚・゚。.★.*。・゚♛ *.
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I absolutely hate these kinds of posts so I thought I'd do it to see first hand how many people actually like it and care about other people's opinions on their ships so...
my arbitrary ratings of non canon pjoverse relationships and why I think they would never work (or would) (scroll down for canon)
perachel: 3/10 nothing but platonic vibes, their brief stint felt more like an experiment than genuine romantic feelings or attraction; they both deserved better
percico: 1/10 a reiteration of an earlier post: their relationship would get bogged down by unshared feelings and grief, plus nico's crush was just a crush, and percy never had feelings in the first place
perlypso: 0/10 their whole interaction was percy being half dead and calypso being manipulated, not to mention she cursed him
pereyna: 2/10 any het relationship with reyna feels icky to me, she just seems so queer coded (which makes sense cause she literally joined an ace club), and percy was so focused on annabeth when they first met it just doesn't seem fair to either of them
pipercy: 4/10 this is a FRIENDSHIP I wanna see them figuring out they're bi together so much platonic potential
jercy: 7/10 honestly if I had to put these two with anyone else, I would choose this ship solely for the tension in mark of athena and that an alternate ship name is person
percypollo: 0/10 icky, pedophilic, and honestly kinda homophobic. percy would never enter a relationship with a god anyway
percy/literally any god: 0/10 see percypollo
lukercy: -1/10 imo there is no way to write this in a way that's not abusive, predatory, and just bad in general. i will not take the "enemies to lovers" storyline for this one either because there are some things that just aren't redeemable, and i consider luke's actions irredeemable. plus both their histories with annabeth make this ship very, very icky
pipabeth: 9/10 favorite non canon pairing, I can totally see a threesome with Percy, these two have such a great dynamic, only minus a point because I love percabeth too much
lukabeth: 0/10 sexist, icky, just all around a red flag
jasabeth: 2/10 nothing but platonic vibes
reynabeth: 4/10 they would be so powerful together, but feelings and emotional skills would be their undoing
jeyna: 0/10 see pereyna
leyna: 2/10 sibling vibes and see pereyna
theyna: 8/10 see reynabeth, but also I would love to see their similarities come to a head when they actually have to confront their feelings
apollo/reyna: 0/10 this is a thing?? ew???? reyna has such a huge issue with authority and the gods in general, it would never work, and see pereyna and percypollo
pipeyna: 7/10 would be good, but I need more info, though I think it would bring piper's jealousies to a nice full circle, especially if it was used in a way that helps piper figure out her sexuality
liper: 3/10 sibling vibes, I do not like
jiper: 5/10 that's right y'all, this isn't canon anymore! cute while it lasted, but they were completely made up and forced together by hera. that does not make a good, trusting relationship where one party is missing crucial details and the other remembers things that didn't happen, honestly i would have much rather they just ended it in lost hero when they realized hera was manipulating them
thaluke: 3/10 so much complicated history, I see them as ross and rachel from friends only worse
valgrace: 6/10 platonic mostly, but I can see it turning into something; I think they could definitely be good for each other; would love to see some healing centered stuff for them
valdangelo: 0/10 they barely interact, and their personalities are not the cute "opposites attract" it is straight up "we are both intensely traumatized, but in different, incredibly clashing ways"
haleo: 4/10 I can see it, but with sammy, it's just too complicated
fraleo: 5/10 I like the tension, but ultimately their personalities would clash too much
frazeleo: 10/10 this might be the only non canon ship I really wish was canon. separate, they are boring and clash with each other so much, but I think having the three of them together would provide a buffer when necessary while also keeping things fun and interesting
jasico: 3/10 very much a sibling relationship, seems to me like they were just shoved together because they were there
tratie: 10/10 floors me that they aren't canon
sally/poseidon: 2/10 sure it would work but she is an independent woman who wants less a man and more someone to love her and be there for her that isn't her son
ruegard: 8/10 would 100% ship it if i didn't love beckengard so much, plus i love the patrochilles parallels here
canon ships in order from least favorite to favorite:
zeus/hera: -10/10 sucks ass, their relationship is built on mistrust and a forced marriage, hera is quite literally shackled while zeus does whatever the hell he feels like while hera takes her anger out on anyone but him
god's/any of their affairs: 0/10 there's a reason none of them lasted
piper/shel: 4/10 another reiteration: ig it could be something, but it was literally a few paragraphs, and we know piper is experimenting with her sexuality, so it could be anything, not just a permanent romantic ship
caleo: 4/10 calypso needs some time to figure herself out and not be chained to a person or place; maybe they can try again after they both have some more life experience
frazel: 6/10 cute, but they're still pretty young, even by pjo standards, and compared to the other canon ships they're kinda dull imo, but i do love the awkwardness
beckengard: 9/10 absolutely love it, wartime romance, tension, dying for each other, trying for elysium for each other, only minus a point because one of them was a spy
sally/paul: 9/10 i love it, i'm so glad sally finally found a decent man, only minus a point because...adults
gruniper: 9/10 very cute, would be 10/10 but the start of their relationship felt kinda wonky to me like rick just wanted to pair grover with someone
solangelo: 10/10 adorable, checks all my boxes - opposites attract, healing from trauma, one extrovert one introvert, there is absolutely no downside
percabeth: 11/10 the OGs, the ship i use as a standard for all of my other ships no matter the fandom, still my absolute favorite ship, there was not a single bad track, they are so good for each other
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grumpycakes · 6 months
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SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE VOTE 2, DISASTER BOOGALOO CONT.
DAY 4 • October 20, 2023 • Third Vote, bye bye Jordan
< Previous (Day 3 Oops No Vote)
HOOO BOY MY DUDES.
So for some reason they planned this vote at 10am (cause they hate the west coasters??? Oh. Oh wait yeah, they probably wanted to make it more inconvenient so people want to get it done.)
Also C-Span hecked up??? And didn’t come on till a bit into ten and while the ALTERNATE CHAPLIN WAS ALREADY PRAYING.
This guy is NOT NICE CHILL LADY CHAPLIN. He sounds chill, but he said shit about "We need more of you (God)," and "[Lord] Lead us in your will." which again AGAIN. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. AT LEAST nice Lady Chaplin asks god to lead us for what is best for the people. WHERE IS OUR NICE LADY CHAPLIN.
They do the pledge and then do their "Call of the House" (head count buzz in to make sure they have a Quorum/majority of the reps). This also serves to find out what the total number is to base the needed votes for a majority. This is why they let the timer lapse around as long as it was going, to make sure they have all the votes possible for better chances at getting majority.
C-Span actually had journalist/reporters going today??? Which they hadn't all week. But good info was had that I'll add in the takeaways. Made me jump tho during roll call rofl.
We hear that one Republican is out on a """Fact Finding Mission to Israel""" and he is one that votes Jordan so, not great for that. Apparently NORMALLY there are 435 seats for a majority of 218 votes needed, but there's been 2 vacancies so that's why it's been 433. 2 Democrat Representatives are out (V. Gonzales and Payne, no word why but not really an issue). Roll ends with 427 Present (Which would mean 214 to have a majortiy but by final vote it was 429 votes, so really only 4 ppl MIA instead of 6 and 215 needed)
SPEECHES
lolol So McCarthy gave this nomination speech for Jordan and like, I know they don't hate each other but I hope that hurt.
Says, contrary to Dem talking points, Jordoran is an effective legislator (WHICH GETS FUCKING LAUGHTER, AMAZING)
Continues that the Speakership is about compromise and working long hours to get it done (implying Jordan can and has done these things) GETTING MORE LAUGHTER AND CHATTER and McHenry even fucking calls us to order about it lol
"Democrats are attacking Jim" because they don't want secure borders (my dude it is YOUR PARTY not electing him)
Called Jordan selfless (DOUBTFUL)
Quotes people who worked with or under him (stupid and ofc only the good ones)
Goes into an example of Jordan and like, man I hate the way McCarthy speaks/tells stories/way he talks. Grates on my nerves
We've got a job to do (yeah, yet you seem incapable so far)
Does more Jabs at democrats cuase he's exhausting and desperate to blame anyone but his party
BLessedly not the longest but still annoying
Clark, Rep of Massachussets is here to give us a speech (OOOooo she's new to me)
Blah blah 212 consistently, we rock and are united
Republicans are disconnected from the people
Pointed out Jordan voted against healthcare for Mothers, chlidren, elderly and Veterans (haha which got angry dissent noises, sucks to suck)
Also notes he voted against lowering the cost of insulin multiple times
That he's a reproductive healthcare extremist
Reminds us Jordan's an election denier, misinformation spreader, and a threat to our democracy
American people want us to work for them and re-open the house, but the republicans keep fighting each other instead
blissfully short and with a good pace and snappy delivery, I like you Clark
The fucking dems started chanting Jeffries name again and this time McHenry tried to gavel them back to order but tHEY STARTED CHANTING LOUDER FASTER TILL THEY DEVOLVED INTO CHEERING. and Honestly, go off since you have to keep coming back to this bs
VOTING COMMENCES 429 Present • 215 To win •
Jordan can only lose 3 votes
NOTABLE VOTES (key: *change in voing, + same as last vote)
Bacon - McHenry * (Voted for McCarthy last vote, AND WE'RE OFF)
Bilirakis - Jordan +
Bost - MIA/Votes Jordan on recall
Buchannon - Donalds + (-2 votes)
Buck - Emmer + (-3 Jordan can't lose any more votes)
Chavez-DeRemer - McHenry* (-4 murmuring from crowd cause Jordan has lost)
Cohen - "For the 18th time Jeffries" (gets laughter about it)
Conolly - Did his long sentence for Jeffries
D'Esposito - Zelden + (someone tried to clap about it rofl)
Diaz-Balart - Scalise +
Elllsey - Mike Garcia +
Ferguson - Scalise +
Fitzpatrick - McHenry* (NEW DEFECTOR WEE WOO WEE WOO)
Fox - MIA/Votes for Jordan on recall
Garbarino - Zelden +
Gimenez -McCarthy + (loll one of the few that doesn't switch to McHenry)
Gonzales (T) - McCarthy +
Gonzales (V) - MIA/does not vote on recall
Granger - Scalise +
Hunt - MIA/does not vote on recall
Isa - Votes for Jordan but is standing in the democrat side, so the house is temporarily confused at a vote for jordan coming from there, laughter ensues)
James - Donalds* (Voted for Candace Miller of MI last time)
Hearty cheers when Jeffries votes for himself, lack luster cheers and polite clapping when Jordan votes for himself
Kean NJ - McCarthy (NEW DEFECTOR WEE WOO WEE-)
Kelly PA - Scalise* (Oh we decided against Boehner this time???)
Kiggans - McHenry* (haha i'm loving all these people dropping McCarthy for his bud)
Kilde - gets claps for voting Jeffries, unsure why
LaLota - Zelden +
LaMalfa - Jordan + (sticking to it)
Lawler - McHenry* (voted for Granger last time)
MccCarthy - Jordan (gets none attention haha)
Miller-Meeks - McHenry* (Voted Granger last time)
Molinaro - Zelden* (NEW DEFECTOR WEE W-)
Payne - MIA/does not vote on recall
Pelosi gets claps for voting but they're not crazy
Rutherford - Scalise +
Scalise - Jordan +
Spartz - Jordan +
Stauber - Westerman +
VanOrden - MIA/Does not vote on recall (out)
Vargas - yells Jeffries and gets laughter for it
Womack - Scalise +
Recall happens and McHenry does the normal, talk to vote talliers if you missed voting or need to change ur vote.
429 Voted • 215 to win
Jordan - 194 votes (HE LOST 3 MORE PEOPLE)
Jeffries - 210 votes (2 dems missing)
Scalise - 8 votes
McHenry - 6 votes (McHenry laughs as he gets cheers for it and does gently call for order)
Zelden - 4
Donalds - 2 votes
McCarthy - 2 votes
Emmer - 1 vote
Garcia (M) - 1 vote
Westerman - 1 vote
NO MAJORITY, NO SPEAKER CHOSEN McHenry immediately calls recess
TAKEAWAYS AND NEWS
The thursday closed meeting was 4 HOURS and Jordan had a SECONDARY MEETING with the holdouts for 2 MORE HOURS after that. DURING that meeting Jordan was REPORTEDLY told "He'd never be speaker."
Spartz had said that she'd back Jordan one more time, but if he lost again she would vote for someone else.
Jordan supporters said something to the effect of, It's not Jordan's fault Republicans who don't vote for him are getting death threats, it's their fault for not voting for Jordan. (AND LIKE HELLO???) Another Republican lady was like, I get death threats all the time, and I'm sorry for them but suck it up, so .. a lot of sypmathy.
Gaetz and the other 8 repubs that voted to ouster McCarthy (sealing his fates as none of the dems would vote for him) have come forwar offering themselves if that's what it takes to get Jordan nominated. Offering that they'd take sanctions and removal from the conference (basically getting kicked out of the party though they're saying they'd still be repubs??? and it would kick them off of their committee seats... so could we do it anyway??? llol). Gaetz says that he thinks this BS is actually GOOD GOVERNING (sure Jan) and tHEN ASKS, What else do they want, except a pound of our flesh?" (Which like... they want NOT FUCKING J JORDAN AS THE SPEAKER)
Jeffries did a Press conference and offers bipartisan stuff but like, man am I sicsik of that being kinda empty cause the Repubs will never and the Dems wont sacrifice human rights, so it's a moot point.
A lot of Republicans were defending this BS by pointing out how may times McCarthy had to run the vote but like THAT WAS ALSO BAD AND A SHIT SHOW
It was PROJECTED that Jordan would lose 5-8, 10max, voters, he only lost three but still
THE LAST TIME SOMEONE GOT THIS LOW OF VOTES WAS 1923, FINNIS GARRET GOT 195 VOTES. JORDAN SURPASSED HIM... MAKING HISTORY....
Brian Tyler Cohen made a interesting correlation of Jordan being an election denier making sense as he was refusing to accept his losses.
AFTERMATH
The Republicans held another closed door meeting (THEY'VE BEEN CALLING THEM ""FAMILY MEETINGS"") where they held an anonymous vote as to whether or not Jordan should continue as the nominee. HE FUCKING LOST in his OWN PARTY'S MEETING.
HE HAS removed himself as a nominee. We are back to square one.
McHenry announced that they were taking a 72/weekend break and would be back on monday to do a candidate forum (to some dissent, and many lawmakers just WANT THIS DONE WITH)
The repubs that have offered themselves as tribute
(With the assumption that they are boilerplate Repubs. over LGBTQ+, Abortion, Taxes, Immigration, etc etc. *Election denier means they have made statements, did not support the ratifying of the electoral college votes, voted against impeachment and investigations.)
Tom Emmer - not an election denier at minimum, current GOP Whip (assistant leader)
Kevin Hern - Already tried before Scalise got nominated and dropped out (election denier)
Austin Scott - Was close to Jordan in numbers for the repub speaker nominee (didn't argue electoral college shit and has said USA voting is solid, but didn't go after Jan 6/trump)
Byron Donalds - the dude the Fuckaround 8 kiiinda backed against McCarthy in JAN. (election denier)
Jack Bergman - apparently wanted to challenge Jordan but didn't, JUMPED when jordan was out (election denier)
Jodey Arrington - only said he was considering, but apparently others have brought him up as an option (election denier)
Mike Johnson - has been calling around to see if ppl support him as speaker (election denier)
Pete Sessions - ALSO jumped when jordan was out (election denier)
FINAL THOUGHTS
So ends our sordid tale of Jim Jordan. May he feel stupid about this for the rest of time.
No Republican speaker is going to be good but jfc can we not have literal government destroyers????
I guess the pass on the budget was for 45 days, we have spent 18 (to be 20) of them on this bs.
SHOULD I KEEP NAMING THESE VOTE 2, DISASTER BOOGALOO since it is still technically the 2nd speaker vote of this congress, or should I name it something else now that Jordan is out?
Next (Starting Over) >
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ashperiences · 3 months
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Exploring, is it good? is it bad? Will it take you nearly two decades and 2 re-releases to actually finish this even though you were really into it every time?
Loved this little bundle of horrors, was going oooh at every new floor gimmick almost the whole way.
Getting myself a steamdeck drew me instantly back into the Labyrinth scribbling on the screen and running from enraged deer. There's a really gripping purity to this one that I don't think the later ones have matched, the amount that it allows its own quietness to hold it up is really admirable I think.
The arts evocative, the town does just enough to feel like a place and the obsessive explorer mentality is fed just enough little worldly connections to feel like you're part of some real process. Even little annoying things like forgetting an ariadne thread or switching your landsknecht between her axe and sword for different scenarios just feel like a connection to all the small maintenance and moments and expertise of taking on a profession.
Great and simple example of mechanics telling stories, illustrated perfectly in realising how you remember those desperate mad at yourself struggles back to the surface more than you ever would the successful instant teleport escapes.
All the room you have to get pulled into imagining your little guys internality or lose yourself in the flow of explore, discover, become stronger, push further mindset of it all pays off wonderfully towards the end too.
For all the simplicity on the face of this thing - just a dungeon crawler, just a few npcs to run into occasionally, a world of menus and dungeon tiles, kill monsters get stronger kill more monsters etc. I don't know that I've ever had a game make me so hesitant to accept a mission that I just left the menu and spent ages just wandering around trying to will an alternate path into existence or otherwise just avoid going back and acknowledging what I have to do to continue.
The way it takes your joyful explorer conditioned brain and your attachment to your imaginary friends and stamps on it is so sick. To progress you have to do something horrible, you're free to not accept the mission of course but once you do your image of all this becomes so immediately warped. It's honestly incredible because despite how jarring it is you can't say it isn't a logical progression.
The game takes the logic of killing as a profession and the drive to push on no matter your obstacles in the name of discovery and mastery and makes you confront the banality of actual cruelty that just stems from going with the flow, focusing on nothing but your own goals or just following orders.
The shock of it hits really well, the desire to reject it melting gradually into beleaguered acceptance that your party isn't who you thought they were, the knowledge that you are going ahead with this because you just need to know what lies beyond it, that your mindset as a player aligns with the force driving the adventurer (much as in real life) to atrocity lest they have to stop being who they are.
The game honestly barely lingers on it, to the men handing out these orders and their society this is another non-event, yet another successful expedition and victorious fighters. Its that coldness and suddenness that makes it work so well, the games not going to confront you with a moral question or judge you, mechanically it'll celebrate you even, but it knows that and it knows what it's asking you to do. Just like with your imagined characters the world of the game is willing to let you process and explain your own journey.
Hauntingly coldly present, left unjustified and uncommented on you are left only with dealing with the jarring disconnect between the fun low stakes heroism and the choice to quit or confront what a soldier for hire and a mastery of violence is ultimately for. Its one of my favourite little moments in video games and I think the people who quit the game cus they can't bear to go on with it are a real proof of its ability to tug on the players imagination. It's something that almost forces you to role play, every player reaction fits in as a part of the story. It never needs to harp on about big choices or morality, it doesn't need you to be important, it's your lack of freedom and the world's lack of interest in your dilemma that make it land.
It's evil as just another job to do going with the flow of the role you've found instead of evil as big decisions and uncomplicatedly powerful people's good or bad intentions.
While the game doesn't make much direct commentary, content to communicate without words, what it does go on to tell you is that your actions ultimately bring about the slow end of your own people too, dragons dogma ending style stuff about wrenching all the content out of a game leaving you in a lifeless world presented a little more economically.
I guess the true success of this one is that it left me just thinking about all the ways my party would've fallen apart, drifted into other things, ended up damaged people and etc. left as I was in the gap made in a world that allowed us to follow strength to its conclusion and never punished us with anything but our own quiet guilt.
Left to imagine those funny kids conditioned into killers and how everyone just gets away with it, how easily horror can be rendered down to just banal acceptance and how simple it is to push someone forward by offering something as a matter of course not to be thought about. Accept. Decline.
I love it, fuck that ice dragon also.
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So that plot bunny, idea, whatever, I mentioned: It's, mm. Can't decide if it should be an origin story for Agent Phoenix of sorts, or if it should be an Alternate Universe on it's own.
Essentially, Phoenix - a smalltown resident newly working for the local news station (not necessarily as a journalist, however much they wish it were so) - begins to notice something happening in their town. Seemingly overnight, a large company called "Zoraxis" has begun to buy out stores and vacant lots, slowly moving to occupy the town.
Phoenix, though not known at the time as Phoenix, becomes suspicious as the circumstances prove to be more fishy than previously thought.
And as such, being a wannabe-journalist as they are, they set out to investigate!
Which, of course, promptly goes wrong. Some time into observing Zoraxis operations (pretty normal, all things considered, but also definitely a little shady. Papers signed in diner booths, hushed conversations, an odd look on people's faces, money changing hands... nothing incriminating, but most assuredly suspicious.) they begin to notice a pattern - late night goings-on, hidden away from the prying eyes of the public.
So, Phoenix decides to do a bit of a stakeout at one of the warehouses the corporation had acquired. It's a last ditch effort, really, because all the snooping is starting to affect their work and they really don't want to lose this job.
Unfortunately, their persistence pays off! Late at night (or maybe in the early moments of the morning, because honestly it was too dark to read their watch), something shady starts going down. Some sort of delivery, a big truck with boxes of parts.
The drivers step out, and the guards posted at the door (sketchy looking people in dark, loosely fitting clothes who cycle out every once in a while, muttering about the chill in the air and smoking either in silence or in hushed conversation) quickly become distracted talking to the guy after a cursory look at the boxes. Something about money, or missing product, or something - both parties are upset, though the drivers seems far more outraged than the other two.
Phoenix, sensing an opportunity, sneaks up under the cover of night to get a peek at what exactly is being transported in all those boxes while the others are busy arguing, and... that's odd. None of these things seem like they should belong to the company, no matter how many different businesses they're dabbling in. It's all vials of strangely labelled chemicals and mechanical parts which, while perhaps looking like they could belong to a factory or lab, definitely don't belong in a warehouse like this.
As they make a note of it, voices are raised outside, and they peek out at just the right time to watch one of the guards draw a gun and one of the drivers collapse, the other backing up with panicked body language and oh shit they think one of the guards just spotted them.
Phoenix sprints off, followed by angry shouting and gunshots, but managing to get away unharmed. Unfortunately, they later realise they'd dropped their pen - which, of course, has the name of the news station on it.
But hey, at least those guys didn't get a good look at their face! It was far too dark at the time, they think.
And then those guards show up at their job.
And essentially I haven't really settled on if it should be Zoraxis or not - could be some other evil organisation, predating Zor or perhaps simply shut down later on, but! Phoenix eventually loses the job but keeps investigating because the stakes are much higher now and they Have To Keep Going (according to them, at least) which inevitably leads to them getting put in danger and eventually almost dying/getting hurt - at which point they stumble into/get picked up by the Agency.
I will take suggestions and questions because I Think It Would Be Fun
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mariana-oconnor · 9 months
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Black Peter pt 3
After my last letter, you may have assumed that the case was entirely concluded with the arrest of John Hopley Neligan by Inspector Hopkins, however it was not so!
You don't say!
"Stanley Hopkins's methods do not commend themselves to me. I am disappointed in Stanley Hopkins. I had hoped for better things from him."
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Oh, Stanley Hopkins. And you were doing so well. Alas, alack!
“What, then, is the alternative?” “The line of investigation which I have myself been pursuing."
Is this the thing where he was stabbing a pig corpse with a spear? I'm not sure that will stand up in court. But also he was saying that he couldn't do it in a single thrust, so I'm guessing that means that someone must have shot Captain Carey with a harpoon gun, rather than stabbing him with the harpoon, especially to stick him to the wall like that. They could have shot him from a distance away. Or he shot himself and this is all an accident.
We literally only have one named suspect at this point, though, and he can't have done it because he's already been arrested for it.
"‘Sumner, Shipping Agent, Ratcliff Highway. Send three men on, to arrive ten to-morrow morning.—Basil.’"
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OK, so yes, this has to do with the stuff he was doing before.
The young detective was in high spirits at his success.
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“It seems to me to have only one drawback, Hopkins, and that is that it is intrinsically impossible. Have you tried to drive a harpoon through a body? No? Tut, tut, my dear sir..."
Yeah, Stan. How could you have gone through this entire case and not attempted to stab a pig with a spear? Shoddy police work. Buffoonery. Utter clown show.
The precursors here of the modern forensics you see being performed on crime shows to this day. Literally down to using pigs because they're the closest equivalent to human flesh available.
But yeah, Stanley. Go stab a pig. It will also help you take out the anger you undoubtedly feel right now.
"My friend Watson could tell you that I spent a whole morning in that exercise."
This makes it sound like Watson was watching him do it. Which... different kind of date, I've got to say. Watson would probably do it, though.
His hopes and his ambitions were all crumbling about him. But he would not abandon his position without a struggle.
Come on, Stanley. You're better than this. Don't risk putting an innocent man in jail.
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The first who entered was a little ribston-pippin of a man, with ruddy cheeks and fluffy white side-whiskers.
OMG it's Father Christmas! Was this his response to Carey's daughter's Christmas wish. Full service Santa Claus to the rescue.
I'm not sure if this is a first, but it feels like it: a character being compared to fruit rather than an animal. (A pippin is an apple). This is honestly kind of an adorable description, so I automatically don't think it's the guilty party. But he's great. Love him. Perfect character, no notes.
The second man was a long, dried-up creature, with lank hair and sallow cheeks.
Are these guys going to get progressively more unpleasant descriptions? Or is it going to be more the good, the bad, and the just right. Goldilocks and the Three Sailors.
The third applicant was a man of remarkable appearance. A fierce bull-dog face was framed in a tangle of hair and beard, and two bold dark eyes gleamed behind the cover of thick, tufted, overhung eyebrows.
Clearly a criminal. Although usually 'bull-dog' is reserved as a descriptor for police officers. Is this guy related to Lestrade?
Seems kind of mean that Holmes lured them all in with promise of a job, though. Rude. While they're busy running after an opportunity that doesn't even exist, other positions are being filled. They need to make a living, Sherlock.
Holmes leaned over his shoulder and passed both hands over his neck.
Did Holmes just come up behind the guy and put his arms over his shoulders? Really? That's such a weird way to do this. How do you even get handcuffs on a guy that way? Wouldn't it have been easier to do that from further down?
“I must really apologize, Hopkins,” said Sherlock Holmes; “I fear that the scrambled eggs are cold."
Cardinal offence. Cold scrambled eggs are practically a declaration of war.
“I make no complaint of being man-handled in this fashion..."
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"You say I murdered Peter Carey; I say I killed Peter Carey, and there's all the difference."
There is a distinction, that's why there are different words for it and everything.
"I knew Black Peter, and when he pulled out his knife I whipped a harpoon through him sharp, for I knew that it was him or me."
Self defence. Well, I'm fine with that. Seems pretty cut and dried. He had a knife. Really, he did only have himself to blame.
"Peter Carey was master of the Sea Unicorn..."
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"So far as I know, the man's name was never mentioned, and on the second night he disappeared as if he had never been."
Seems a likely story.
"Only one man knew what had happened to him, and that was me, for with my own eyes I saw the skipper tip up his heels and put him over the rail in the middle watch of a dark night, two days before we sighted the Shetland lights."
I mean, technically that's two men: you and the murderer. Unless the Skipper was a woman... which I'm pretty sure they weren't because it was Captain Carey, so... two people knew what had happened to him. Three including the dead guy, who probably doesn't count as he was dead, but he knew while it was going on. So... not to be pedantic or something, but really 'Only one living man knows' or 'Only three men knew'... Not that I'm pedantic at all.
"I guessed that he had done the deed for the sake of what was in that tin box, and that he could afford now to pay me well for keeping my mouth shut."
Oh no. Like, rule number one of being in a murder mystery, my dude. Don't do blackmail. It's the most direct path to death in these things. The second rule is never say out loud something that indicates you might have seen something but 'just need to check' before you tell anyone. Either way, you're dead.
This guy actually survived, but he did become the culprit, so... blackmail. Never worth it.
Though I think we're all agreed that he did the world a favour.
“Now I'll tell you the queerest part of the whole story."
You mean that wasn't the part where you admitted you didn't mind being tied up and manhandled by three other men? Seriously?
"For my part I walked ten miles, got a train at Tunbridge Wells, and so reached London, and no one the wiser."
I have questions. For instance, earlier Cairns says 'I stood there, with his blood splashing round me...' And he doesn't mention cleaning himself up at any point. Did he miraculously not get any of the 'splashing' blood on him, or was he just exaggerating the gore (although it was stated earlier to be a very gruesome crime scene) or did everyone just ignore him on the train covered in blood because this is the British public transport system and it's none of their business?
"I say again that if I killed Black Peter the law should give me thanks, for I saved them the price of a hempen rope.”
I mean... this is once again the old 'if you kill a killer the number of killers in the world stays the same' thing. You'd have to kill more than one murderer to actually save them any rope, if they hang you. At the moment they're just even. And given that they wouldn't have caught Carey anyway, they're technically down if they do hang you.
"This room is not well adapted for a cell, and Mr. Patrick Cairns occupies too large a proportion of our carpet.”
The reduction of carpet space is, of course, the main reason why keeping a prisoner in your sitting room is a bad idea.
"I was convinced that the initials ‘P.C.’ upon the pouch were a coincidence, and not those of Peter Carey, since he seldom smoked, and no pipe was found in his cabin."
I did forget about the initials on the pouch. Even though I remembered the pouch because I thought Carey didn't seem like the kind of man to share his tobacco.
"If it were a seaman, it could only be a seaman who had been with him on the Sea Unicorn."
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"I spent three days in wiring to Dundee, and at the end of that time I had ascertained the names of the crew of the Sea Unicorn in 1883."
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Every. Time.
I therefore spent some days in the East-end, devised an Arctic expedition.
Hey! You know what creatures you might see on an Arctic expedition?
?
Do you know?
??
Do you?
???
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What? What did you think I was going to say?
“You must obtain the release of young Neligan as soon as possible,” said Holmes. “I confess that I think you owe him some apology."
Do they make cards that say 'Sorry I imprisoned you for a crime you did not commit?' Also... when did gift baskets become a thing?
"If you want me for the trial, my address and that of Watson will be somewhere in Norway—I'll send particulars later.”
Are they... actually going on the Arctic expedition? Are they taking Mr Lancaster of the apple cheeks? Are they going to explore the fjords?
Did you really organise an actual Arctic expedition? Are you going to pretend to be Captain Basil the whole time?
(Also, does Watson still have his practice, or did he just give that to the guy who lived next door?)
I believe I have read The Norwood Builder, which is coming next, because I recognise the title. We shall see how much I actually remember. Probably not a lot, going by what I've remembered of the ones I know I've read so far.
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wardenparker · 2 years
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From Dorne, with Love - Epilogue
Oberyn Martell x female reader Co-written with @absurdthirst
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Your little sister is marrying her fairy tale princess on the exotic desert island nation of Dorne. Your soon-to-be sister-in-law’s playboy uncle is the other member of the wedding party along with you, but will your opposite approaches to life drive you apart before the ceremony even begins? Or is it possibly the beginning of a future you never thought possible?
Rating: Teen for the chapter, but this is an 18+ blog! Word Count: 3.9k Warnings:  Honestly, none. This is just pure fluff. Summary: A little slice of life from the future of the Prince and Princess of Dorne. Notes: I cannot begin to say a big enough thank you to everyone who came along for this journey with us! It is such a joy to love and be loved by Oberyn 💖 And to have that beautiful happy ending that is so worthwhile in a fic. Thank you all for reading!
Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3 ~ Part 4 ~ Part 5 ~ Part 6 ~ Epilogue
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“Braciole for table twelve is up! Branzino for table nine is up! Let’s keep moving guys!” The lunch rush on weekends is always busy. It’s usually busy right through every single weekday, too, but weekends are booked solid for the next seven months at Paradiso and watching your staff hustle to make that demand worth your customers’ while is a thing of absolute beauty. 
“Yes chef!” Is a phrase heard hundreds of times a day as they push through every demand with spectacular efficiency and grace, and there is almost nowhere in the world you would rather be than in this kitchen, unless the alternative being offered is anywhere at your husband’s side. He’s the reason you named your restaurant paradise and the first reason you smile every morning. He’s been the most wonderful support in your lives together and you honestly don’t know where you would be without him.
“Maron!” Oberyn calls out to the boy who starts sprinting to the back to his Momma the second he hits the building’s back door. “Don’t knock anyone over!” He grins as Joss curls against his neck sleepily where she has just been woken up from her nap and is not quite ready to greet anyone.
The loud banging of the kitchen’s swinging door and stampeding of small feet on the busy floor is something you’d been anticipating for hours, knowing that your nine-year-old son has more energy than most whole armies. “Momma!” His voice is louder than the din around you, and he is attached to your side before you can blink. 
“Hello, my little love,” you have one arm around him instantly - the young prince has been the spitting image of his father since the day he was born and it makes you smile to ruffle his hair and be answered by the same disgruntled look as your husband would give. “Did you leave your Papa and little sister behind somewhere?”
“They’re too slow!” He pouts and gives you another hug. The kitchens have been where he could always find you here since he was a toddler. “Do you have cookies?” He asks, turning his big brown eyes up at you pleadingly. “I’m hungry.”
“I don’t know, my love. Running in the kitchen is naughty, and naughty boys don’t get cookies.” The way you raise your eyebrow at him makes him pout even more heavily. “But I guess we can make an exception if you promise not to run the rest of the day.”
“Fiiiiiiiine.” Maron has perfected eye rolling at his tender age and uses it expertly. Knowing full well he will get away with it because you find him completely adorable.
“You are too much like your father.” You can’t help but laugh, ruffling his hair again and leading him by the shoulder to the other side of the kitchen where the airtight container of biscotti and amaretti cookies are kept well out of reach of princely fingers.
“Dashing? Handsome? Or charming?” Oberyn asks with a delightfully smug grin on his face as he opens the door to the kitchen. Joss perks up in his arms when she sees her second favorite human. “Momma!”
“Good at getting his way.” You tell your husband, with an expression that says you know exactly what your son was doing, you just don’t care too much. In one swift motion you lift your little girl out of his arms and place a soft kiss on Oberyn’s lips then one on your daughter’s forehead. “Did you have a good nap, sweet girl?”
“Nuh uh.” Her fierce little shake of her head is obstinate, even if she’s starting to become more alert. “Papa made me get out of the pool for nap time.” She tattles, glowering over at her father.
“Uh oh.” Her ferocity makes you grin, like always, and you press kisses to both of her cheeks as you bounce softly with her in your arms. “Sounds like Papa’s in trouble with his baby.”
“I am.” Oberyn confirms with a grin at his youngest daughter. She was a complete Papa’s girl until he made her mad. Which was at least once a day, but he always redeemed himself by bedtime. “How is your day?” He asks you, picking up a berry from a station and popping it into his mouth. “The restaurant looks full.”
“People like to be able to say they’ve had a princess cook for them.” It’s always been your favourite joke about Paradiso’s popularity, even though there are plenty of people who walk in and out of your doors every day who have no idea who the chef making their meals actually is. “How were your meetings this morning?”
He bobbles his head slightly. “About as well as expected.” He grins when Maron passes Joss a cookie, the boys is always looking out for his little sister. “At least they are done though and all we have to do is relax and enjoy the weekend.”
“My parents are coming into town and you think we get to relax?” One suspicious eyebrow raises itself at him. “Do you know something I don’t?”
Chuckling he leans over and kisses you again. “They are here for your birthday and to see their grandbabies.” He reminds you. “They have mellowed with age. Or I have just gotten used to them.”
“They have mellowed because of the grandbabies.” In the years since Maron and Joss were born your parents have made it a point to visit Dorne a few times a year, and have started talking about retiring to the island where their children and grandchildren all live. “But you’ve probably gotten used to them, too.”
“Although I don’t mind when you get exasperated and come find me for some angry…comfort.” He smirks at you, little ears making him less vulgar that he would normally be.
Letting Joss down when she wriggles insistently in your arms, you slip into Oberyn’s waiting embrace with a mischievous grin. “I’m sure there will be plenty of that. Birthday comfort, too.”
“There’s also weekend comfort too.” Oberyn reminds you, the spark not fading between you despite ten years and two children.
“How about some bath comfort after we put the kids to bed tonight?” You keep your voice low and waggle your eyebrows at him salaciously since you know both your kids are too busy with the sights and sounds and smells of the busy kitchen to pay attention to their boring parents right now.
“I think that can definitely be arranged.” The prince smirks and steals another kiss. “Plus I have to wake you up right on your birthday.”
“You have a plan, I assume?” Every year you and Oberyn have always made a great show of walking each other up with intimacy on your birthdays. You always try to do something a little creative, though in your opinion it would take a miracle to outshine any of Oberyn’s performances.
“I do.” He murmurs, glancing over at the kids as they try to scarf down as many biscuits as they can before you take away the tin. “I want to see if I can put you to sleep with my tongue and wake you up with it.”
“I have the best husband in the world.” An indulgent hum passes your lips as you hug him close, only raising your voice to add: “And two little loves who are going to spoil their very special dinner with Grammy and Gramps if they keep eating the cookies for Momma’s customers.”
Both Martell children groan but know that their mother is serious and don’t reach for another cookie. “Fiiiiine” Maron huffs. “I was full anyway and Joss’s tummy is smaller than mine.”
“It’s uncanny.” You point a finger at Oberyn, always playful when pointing out how like him his only son is. “Let me take off my jacket and grab my purse and we can go.” By this hour your parents’ flight should have landed and your driver should be bringing them to the palace directly, giving you just enough time to get home and wash up so you don’t smell of kitchen before dinner is served.
Oberyn takes the tin away from the kids and winks at them while looking around the restaurant. You had grown it into a success that had nothing to do with the Martell name and everything to do with your talent. He is beyond proud of you, having watched you take on motherhood, a role in the royal family, and the running of your very own restaurant with remarkable flair.
One quick check in with your senior sous chef and you’re dropping your chef’s jacket on the back of the chair in your office and grabbing your purse to meet Oberyn and the kids at the back door where you know his driver is waiting with the car. “They’re going to be packed all weekend, but Allendry promises not to call unless the sky is falling.” You tell Oberyn when you climb in beside him.
“You should really consider hiring another chef.” Oberyn tells you for probably the twentieth time. “The restaurant can handle the overhead considering you don’t even take a salary. And it would free up more time with the monkeys.”
“Actually.” Nuzzling into his side as the car takes off, it seems like this might be the perfect time to let him know what you’ve been contemplating for a few weeks now. “I’ve been thinking about doing a few promotions in the kitchen. Moving up Allendry, making my saucier a sous chef, and taking on a new prep cook.” You doubt it will come as a surprise to him, but the request had made you nearly burst with pride when Oberyn and Ellaria’s oldest daughter had come to you with her plans for culinary school a month ago. “Elia has decided she wants to be a chef.”
There is a pleased hum and a smile on Oberyn’s face as he hears about one of his Sand Snakes plans. “I don’t doubt it, she is always hounding you in the kitchen. I swear I find all of them, Ellaria too, at my table more since I married you.”
Some might have considered the tight friendship you forged with your husband’s former lover to be unorthodox, but the fact is that you and Ellaria get along very well. You value her ferocity and she counts on your steadfastness, and the two of you growing close so quickly had bonded your young children together as well. “I’m honestly glad she came to me. Even if she didn’t want to work in my kitchen, I could have at least helped from a distance. But I love that El wants to learn what she can from me. I just hope she didn’t pick up all my tricks already through osmosis.”
“You will do wonderfully. And she will be a sponge.” He predicts, looking over at where the kids are sitting. Maron is reading his younger sister a book on the drive home. “I haven’t thanked you for them lately.” He realizes, grinning at you.
“Are you thinking about thanking me the way you thanked me for Maron and suddenly we were expecting Joss?” Slipping your fingers through his, you bring the back of his hand to your lips to kiss.
"Don't I always?" He asks with a smirk, although both of you had decided that two children were enough, since he begrudgingly admitted he was getting older. The salt and pepper look has gradually crept into his hair and the thin line of a beard he sports. After Joss was born, he had gone to get a vasectomy, refusing the doctor's suggestion that he let you get your tubes tied during birth.
“Always.” You nuzzle into his side as much as your seatbelt will allow and keep your voice low so that the kids won’t hear you and immediately prove you wrong. “They are fairly wonderful, aren’t they?”
"Of course they are." He chuckles. "You're their mother, they couldn't be anything but wonderfully stubborn and passionate. Creative and kind." He winks at you. "They get their looks and smarts from me." He teases playfully. He loves them just as much as his other children, and as the babies, they were spoiled by all their older half siblings, but were remarkably well grounded. 
“Their humility comes from you, too.” The way you roll your eyes at him is fond, though. Pure love inside the teasing. Oberyn has given you everything you ever dreamt without ever batting an eye - never making you doubt your worthiness or that his love might have a cost. Ten years of his unconditional and unwavering love have been fully committed to you - nine for Maron and five for Joss. How could they ever doubt their worthiness when their parents tell them every day how truly loved they are?
"I'm a prince." He elegantly shrugs a shoulder in unabashed disconcern. "I have no need for humility. As much as I exasperate my brother, he puts up with me." He reaches out to grasp your chin, tilting it slightly. "And my princess seems to like me, so I am favored by the Gods."
“Your princess loves you desperately.” This declaration, quiet as it is, still elicits a small groan of embarrassment from both of your kids and you grin. “And your youngest children seem to tolerate you the way your brother does, so everything seems just as it should be.”
"They will understand when they get older and fall in love." He grins back at you, feeling the car slow down as the driver comes to the gates at the palace. "Although I hope not too soon, right Joss?"
“Nuh uh.” His youngest child gives her usual, obstinate answer for anything she dislikes and makes a face. “Nymmy said it feels like butterflies in your tummy but I don’t want butterflies in my tummy!” She looks horrified at the prospect, actually, and lowers her voice conspiratorially. “Do people eat the butterflies?”
Oberyn can't help but laugh at the very literal way that his daughter took Nymira's explanation for how it feels to be in love. "No, my littlest sand snake." He shakes his head, mirth making his eyes dance even though she's scowling, thinking that she is being laughed at. "No one eats beautiful butterflies. Nymmy just meant that it makes your tummy feel happy. Like when I throw you up in the air and you giggle and demand that I do it again?"
“Oh.” That seems to mollify her a little, and her small mind reviews the facts with thoughtful precision. “In that case?” She looks up at both of you with an expression of determination in her little eyes. “I would like to be in love soon, please.”
"Shit." Oberyn is very liberal and relaxed with his children, letting them find themselves however they wish to. But the idea of his youngest being determined to find love at the tender age of five was going to wreak havoc on the palace for months to come. She will dog the footsteps of every man or woman she sees as a potential for that love until she grows bored of the idea. "So soon, little one? Just remember, we cannot be in love with family. We are not Lannisters."
You barely manage to stifle a laugh at his dig at his family rivals, but Joss seems to just take it as sound advice and nods accordingly. “May I be in love with Hobard?” She asks permission very carefully, as though it were something she could just decide on and not something that would happen to her naturally in time without her ever having a say in it.
"I see no problem with that." Oberyn smiles at her fondness of the older man who has seen and experienced so much in the palace. "Remember, though, his love for you might be different. It might be like the love your Momma and I have for you. And it's perfectly acceptable to love like that too."
“Okay.” And just like that, Joss shrugs her little shoulders and looks over at her brother. “Will you read more?”
Oberyn blinks and looks over at you with a slightly exasperated expression. Maron starts reading to his sister again and Oberyn leans over and nuzzles your jaw before he speaks. Murmuring in your ear, he chuckles. "We are going to be run ragged when she gets older."
“Just as long as she doesn’t make us grandparents at fourteen.” You whisper back pointedly, but turn to plant a soft kiss in his lips as the driver turns off the main road to the long drive of the Old Palace.
"Birth control is a modern miracle." He hums in agreement, looking over at the kids. It was a miracle none of his children had made him a grandfather by mistake, but they had all been careful so far.
“I think Obara might be close.” Tucking your head against his shoulder as the car glides down the long drive is a comfortable feeling, one that is embedded in your muscle memory from countless outings together. “She was very unsubtle about asking some questions about family heirlooms when we talked a few days ago. Either she’s planning ahead, or she’ll have news for us soon.” Oberyn’s oldest daughter had married a few years ago, but there had never been any talk of children until her most recent phone call. Under the flimsy excuse of asking about your birthday plans, she had managed to slip in a few inquiries about Martell family heirloom baby blankets and the rocking chair that still stands in the nursery.
“Hmmmm.” Oberyn smiles at the idea and completely approves. “We will have to throw a party for her when she does announce it.” He doesn’t mind the idea of grandchildren at all, there is nothing he loves more than the sounds of children running through the palace. It’s happy and exuberant, the sounds of life and love.
“Catering baby showers might become a new specialty for Paradiso.” Your staff had gone all-out for you when you and Oberyn were expecting Joss, as if to somehow make up for the fact that it had not yet opened when Maron came into the world. It had been a beautiful party, and much more relaxed than the official celebration that Mellario had thrown for the public eye. That was an elegant soirée. But Lily, Aja, and Ellaria had worked with your restaurant staff to throw something much more playful in private.
“I can see that doing really well.” Oberyn smirks. “A lot of babies are born in Dorne.” He reminds you. The small country did have a proclivity for multiple children in most households.
“I could recreate the menu they made for me for Joss’s shower.” The idea burrows inside you easily, nestling in the part of your heart reserved for nostalgia attached to pregnancy instead of the reality of morning sickness, swollen ankles, and bed rest. “Call it a party fit for a princess.”
“Obara would love that.” Oberyn can’t help but turn and place his hand on your stomach even though he knows there isn’t a baby in there. He had constantly had his hand on his child through both of your pregnancies. “First we have to let her announce.”
“I’ll try not to get ahead of myself.” You can’t promise not to get excited, of course. You would never lie to him like that. For all your early worries, being a stepmother to his older daughters had come naturally, as has your friendships with his former lovers. It was like there was a space in his life, sized exactly right for you to step into - and you had never looked back.
"You will be a very happy grandmother." He teases, winking at you. "Not even forty years old yet." The way you already dreamed of a bigger family makes his heart swell. 
“I’ll have many years with all of my husband’s grandbabies sleeping in my arms.” It draws nothing less than a wistful sigh out of you and you grin guiltily. “I was just about to leave a newspaper article about reversing vasectomies lying very subtly on the kitchen counter, too. She has excellent timing.”
His brow shoots up in surprise, not expecting that to come out of your mouth. It wasn't like the two of you hadn't talked about his vasectomy before he went and got it done. The car pulls to a stop in front of the house. "Baby fever?" He asks as he opens the door to get out and help you out.
“Maybe a little.” Stepping out of the car and into his arms, it’s as easy as breathing to lean in and kiss him. “At our age, though, it’s probably better for me to get grandbaby fever.” As young and spry as you feel on your best days, you are still nearer to 40 than not.
He snorts and turns back to help Maron and Joss out. Maron also wanted to help Joss in and out of her booster seat, playing his role of big brother to perfection. "It seems like the appropriate time to get that fever." He chuckles. "We have both of them out of diapers and dressing themselves."
“You haven’t been without a small child around you in your whole life.” Joss reaches for you despite having both her father and her brother at her beck and call, and you gladly lift her into your arms to carry her inside. “I would hate to start now.”
Maron runs ahead, yelling his thanks when Hobard opens the door and disappears into the house, feet slapping on the marble floors. "You would hate it, huh?" He jokes, hand on your back as you walk inside the large palace that was simply home to your and his family.
His teasing just garners a small smile from you, and you thank Hobard as you pass him into the palace, having promised yourself years ago that you would never take this life and its advantages for granted. “You would be sad if there wasn’t at least one little one running around. Admit it.”
"I love all my children." He admits. "I have loved seeing their innocent joy, carefree laughs." He nods towards the stairs as the two of you walk towards them. "I doubt with as many children as I have sired, there will ever be silence in these halls."
“So much the better.” You promise him. 
And as if to prove it, Joss chooses this moment to nearly blow your eardrum out, screaming “Grammy!” when she spots your mother at the top of the stairwell. You set her down on two determined feet before she can flail her way out of your arms or kick you, and she is off like a shot to get her special Grammy hugs that only your mother can provide.
He chuckles when you press your hand to your ear. "The joyous sounds of children." He reminds you with a grin. "Do you want me to entertain while you clean up?"
“I won’t be long.” The two of you hustle upstairs but are no match for your little Olympians, who are already hugging their grandparents fiercely. 
This is the life you dreamt of - your beautiful home, your standout restaurant, your happy and healthy children that you love with every fiber of your being. And all of it because ten years ago, the man you now call your husband wouldn’t let you give up on reaching for the future.
______
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loonie-tics · 8 months
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The Conservatives Are Going to Win the Next Election
Perhaps the most remarkable responses in the Abacus poll were in answer to the question of whether the government had a “good plan, a bad plan, or no plan” to deal with a number of issues. On issue after issue – cost of living, housing, economic growth, immigration – few (25 per cent or less) were confident the government had a good plan. Larger numbers said they had a bad plan. But the largest single group in most cases believed they had no plan.
and
(Even today, while just 17 per cent of respondents told Abacus they believe the Liberals should be re-elected, another 33 per cent believe it’s “time for a change, but there isn’t a good alternative.” Still, 51 per cent believe “it’s time for a change,” whatever the alternative, which is telling enough.)
Barring anything really remarkable happening, the Conservatives are going to win. That's just the long and the short of it. The current housing crisis is just too much to overcome, and to be fair, the Liberals have done nothing at all to help. Jagmeet Singh's plan to help people is to give prospective home buyers more money, further inflating house prices and even further separating haves and have-nots. The left in this country is broken. The NDP isn't leftist, it's leftish at best.
If Poilievre has any sense, he'll ignore the transphobic and conspiracy theorist side of his party and not include the policies they voted on at the party convention. The younger people of the country are already with him, and they could rightfully make the point that while the Conservatives have some bad social policy, the lack of affordable housing affects trans people at least as badly as everyone else. It hits everyone including immigrants, people of colour, students, whatever group you could care to name. Healthcare is increasingly unavailable to everyone, let alone specialized healthcare that affirms one's gender.
It's honestly a nightmare—I don't think Conservatives will make a meaningful difference to housing in this country, but at this point people are willing to give ANYTHING a try in the hopes that things might get better, and I honestly cannot blame them.
When Stephen Harper was PM, it was easy for me to criticize the people voting for him as selfish and uninformed, willing to throw fellow citizens under the bus. But people need places to LIVE. I'm not going to castigate a 25 year old for thinking they deserve a place to rent or buy at a reasonable cost and turning to what seems to be the only port in a storm.
We knew the Liberal party was a busted, Neo-Liberal, corporatist party that threw scraps to the poor and benefitted the rich, but it's truly disappointing to see how lacklustre the NDP has been in the last couple of years.
I think we might be able to get away with a minority Conservative government if we're diligent and vote strategically, but I think that may be the best we can do.
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anonymous-harpy · 3 months
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Oksy I guess I'll share the list of OneShot ideas I have
"Anniversary-NSFW" Cooler/Geliaden
This one is actually mostly domestic fluff, but the flirting is extra thirsty at times so ya know.
"Bean Soup-SFW" Cooler/Geliaden
It's a coffee shop AU if you couldn't tell and also built around making one specific selly reference has the main pickup line. Geliaden would be a barista, I think I was going to have Frost as another Barista (My notes are atrocious) and Cooler and Frieza were business sons. Cute but also awkward.
"Heartache-NSFW" Cooler/Geliaden
No smut, but a touchy subject. Instead of Geliaden having issues with feeling like he's not good enough at being a parent, Cooler is the one struggling over the twins. I haven't done this before except the brief doubts Cooler had when Geliaden was carrying and because I was going to dive into their childhood trauma I was not going to put it into The Royal Lounge.
"Office Party-NSFW" Cooler/Frost
I don't think I need to elaborate on this one, I've just been sitting on it right at the start of the s m u t scene and haven't touched it in... A couple months? Yeeeeaaaaahhh
"Talented Liars" Cooler/Frost
The name is very much a placeholder. It's an alternate cannon basically where Cooler gets into the first tournament (i think. Again, atrocious notes that I did not fully flesh out yet) and he and Frost get kinda chummy. Cooler would be less of a sweetheart in this one, because I've been interested in writing him with a slightly different personality. the same honestly goes for the Office Party fic. And because I only have a basic premise for it I haven't decided if it's SFW or NSFW
Name Missing NSFW Cooler/Geliaden/Perfect Cell
No name atm and I feel that subject is self implied by the ship. I only have my notes for uh, the sequence. ;)
Then I have a few shots that are on my computer that I am not going to turn on just to look at, and I have two requests to work on.... One of which is getting two shots if and only because I came up with two ideas and I liked them both so much that I'm writing both.
Also I'm pretty sure I have a multipart one-shot I'm supposed to be working on still, but the notes don't exist in my current Google doc so I'm not sure what's going on with that at the moment
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a chat with a politician...
(This is in reply to the politician's post to get out for early voting. The names have been redacted and I know I will get trouble for this reply. It seems I always do.)
ME: We shouldn't have any. In person only. Stop the fraud.
MR. POLITICIAN:  I’m assuming you don’t approve of alternate voting options, well neither do I. So, how do we get to the “vote in person with photo ID model,” FREE? FREE, we must win the majority in the Senate and the Assembly using the current rules one time. The reason we want to do this FREE, is because the Majority Party (Democrats for the past 21 years) make the rules through legislation and then they pass it. This is a low turnout cycle, FREE. We expect a turnout between 16 to 22 percent. What would happen if we could convince all our low propensity Republicans to vote this cycle, casting their ballot with any of those options that would encourage them to vote, FREE? FREE, we would win. Then I could introduce legislation that would required voting in person with photo ID. The fact is, you can’t wish for it, you can’t complain for, you can only work for it. Will you help me?
ME: how many times, MR. POLITICIAN , do you need to write my name, MR. POLITICIAN , in a short reply to my legit comment, MR. POLITICIAN, because it is offensive, MR. POLITICIAN , that you need to write it 6 times, MR. POLITICIAN , and it shows a great deal of disrespect, MR. POLITICIAN , which is how we got to this point in the first place MR. POLITICIAN, disrespect of the citizen and voter, MR. POLITICIAN. Neither the them0crat party or the republican party have any respect for the citizens or the voters in this country and that, MR. POLITICIAN, is why the republican party does not do well in the state. Will I help you do what? Get a higher paycheck? More power to do whatever you want, which does not coincide with the good of the citizen or the state or the nation? I read the news, I watch the news, I hear the news on the radio. Its a disgrace. Laws are written and disregarded and the constitution is used like toilet paper by most politicians. You are all so out of touch with the citizens. But honestly I don't think its that you are out of touch with the citizens as much as none of you seem to care at all, as long as you can collect your big paychecks as citizens struggle to make ends meet. How many illegal votes were cast at the last election? Where are the laws in that? What right do any of you have to take away the rights of the parents in our schools? Where is the law in that? How do you change the constitution without the knowledge of the citizens? YOU DON'T HAVE THAT RIGHT. Maybe if the republicans upheld the constitution instead of allowing the them0crats to disregard it, the republicans would fare much better, but instead the republicans just sit by silently as the laws of this nation are trampled on and the citizens and our families are being destroyed more and more each day, as they collect the same large paychecks. If you and I were together and I killed someone, but you never tried to stop me and never said a word about it, you would be considered an accomplice. This is no different MR. POLITICIAN.
(tune in next time for MR. POLITICIAN'S reply or my investigation and arrest.)
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