hello hi i am thinking. that parker brings pancake the cat to practice her fun Laser-Evading Acrobatics and pancake goes absolutely ballistic

sleepovers with peter (and ned)

summary: in which you have a sleepover with your dork of a best friend and your boyfriend peter.

content warning: peter parker x fem!reader, fluff, set after spider-man homecoming (friends to lovers, mutual pining)

note: this is from my old tumblr account adoringparker i decided to post it again but change some things up :)

REQUESTS ARE OPEN! (let me know if you want to see more content like this <3)

masterlist

the entire thing being ned and yours idea because you've all been having so many exams recently and barely hung out after school due to revising and peter’s schedule.

peter being hesitant because he was worried that something bad could happen in new york and spider-man wouldn't be there to stop it

you reassuring him that the world can survive without spider-man for one day

oh man you were wrong

you three started the sleepover right after the school bells rang !!!

going to delmars to get sandwiches before you all went to peters place (forgetting the fact that there's only two beds in his room)

you and ned making fun of peter because has to state that the sandwich has to have pickles and be squashed real flat

“peter parker picked a pack of pickled peppers”

"why are you guys ATTACKING me.”

also getting slushies, peter trying to be creative and get red and blue to match the spider-man colours, ned getting red and you mixing cola and cherry to ‘make a cherry cola slushie’

“that is so disgusting y/n”

“shut up pickle breath”

going back to peters apartment and greeting may with a hug (she loves you <3)

“how's my favourite sweetheart doing?”

peter immediately cutting in like the dork he is

“i'm doing pretty good may!! how are you doing?”

teasing peter back

“she likes me more than you pete i’m her favourite”

eating ur sandwiches at the table while talking about what happened in school

“man today’s debate was so easy!”

you and ned throwing lettuce at peter in response “that’s because everything is easy for you smartass”

“did you hear that flash showed photoshopped pictures of him and spider-man during bio and said they went to a party together last night?” “that- i don’t even know how to respond to that..”

going back to peters room once ur done

ned wearing the spider-man top you jokingly bought for him to annoy peter for his pyjamas

“hey pete what'd you think abo-“ “WHY DO YOU OWN THAT”

peter walking in with his messy brown curls wearing his star wars shirt and grey pyjama bottoms but still being able to look fine as hell

peter forcing you to wear his sweater

“do you feel cold? you could wear my sweater- i mean if that’s what you want-”

you walking back into peters room after changing in the bathroom to be greeted with peters cutest smile ever

his eyes would be full of love he feels as though he fell in love all over again

he pulls you into him and hides his face in your neck while hugging you mumbling “you're so pretty in my sweater” ¥]!|¥\$]€{$]

having a star wars marathon and quoting the movies

“i have brought peace, freedom, justice and hot guys to my new empire-” “y/n that’s not the quote!!” “yeah but LOOK AT HIM?”

ned and peter reenacting the mustafar in front of you with rulers instead of light-sabers

“only a sith deals with absolutes, i will do what i must.” “you will try.”

ned winning the ‘light-saber’ duel

“god your such dorks” “and you love it”

ned falling asleep after the third movie bc it's already midnight

peter being antsy about not going on patrol tonight because he still feels like something wrong could be happening right this moment

you searching the latest news articles to see whether anything is happening to reassure him

“see everything is okay-” you get cut off by a bunch of sirens

worst. timing. ever.

him shooting out of his seat very quickly due to the spider reflexes, muttering a quick "i got to go" and kissing you on the forehead before putting on his suit and swinging out of the window

you worrying about peter bc he could be hurt

him coming back home at 4 am in the morning with cuts and bruises on his body

"so did spider-man stop the bad guys?" "he did"

tending to his wounds and scolding him for not being careful enough

him being so tired that he begins to say weird things as you continue to clean his cuts and bruises

"hey y/n, y/n y/n baby listen to me y/nnnn, angel, baby, pretty girl, you’re so pretty i love you”

him asking you to make him hot chocolate at 4am in the morning

resulting in the two of you sitting at the table drinking hot chocolate talking about life

"do you think we're going to stay friends after high school?" "of course we’ll stay friends!”

him talking about your future together not aware of the feelings it's giving you because although the smartest person ever, peter could be so clueless sometimes

"do you think we're going to have dogs or cats?" "w-what i-"

falling asleep on the living room couch with ur head on his chest and his arms around you tightly

waking up to the smell of May's choc-chip pancakes !!! (that ned mostly helped with)

wow i wished i had this

Silence (Part 3)

Masterlist//Series Masterlist

Peter Parker x Stark!reader

Summary: You and Peter have been best friends ever since he stepped foot into the avengers compound. After a year of being friends you realize you’ve developed a crush on him, but he doesn’t feel the same way... at least, you don’t think he does.

A/N: This took way too long to post but it’s finally here! I wrote this super late at night and I feel like it’s all over the place but I hope you still enjoy it. Also I’m getting to requests next so if you sent in a request don’t worry I’m not ignoring you lol I just wanted to get this out first. 

Warnings: language, angst

~~~~~~~~

Slowly, you walk downstairs, dreading the day to come. As you enter the kitchen, you see Peter smiling at you, finishing up the pancake batter.

Cheerily, he says, “Hey Y/N! You’re just in time, I just finished mixing up the batter.”

Maybe you’re wrong to get mad at him. He doesn’t realize how much of an asshole he’s being, and you can’t blame him. To him, the two of you have always just been friends, so inviting his other friends to come hang out with you is no big deal to him. But it’s just not something you can get over. He’s been your crush for a whole year, how are you supposed to get over it that fast?

You smile back weakly, walking around the counter to help him fry the batter. There’s a bit of an awkward (well at least to you it’s awkward) silence between you two, which is extremely rare, given that you two are best friends.

“Oh! You know what, I almost forgot something!” Peter exclaims, breaking the silence, “Your good morning hug!”

“Oh, Peter, you don’t have to-“

“Oh, come on, it’s our thing!” Peter cuts you off, pulling you into a tight embrace.

To be fair, it was your thing, but now it felt, well, weird, with him liking MJ and stuff. Fuck, today is gonna be hard.

You want to hug him back, but instead, you push him away, detangling yourself from his arms.

“What the fuck was that for?”

Thankfully, the pancakes were starting to turn a dark brown, giving you the perfect excuse.

“The pancakes are gonna burn, dumbass!”

Peter turns to look at the now smoking pancakes, “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!”

The two of you rush to get the pancakes off the griddle, salvaging as much of the charred batter as possible, bursting out into laughter.

With the two of you hysterically laughing, for a second it’s like nothing has changed.

But then his phone rings. He pulls his phone out of his back pocket and checks who’s calling.

“It’s MJ, I should probably pick up,” he says apologetically.

You nod your head and force another smile.

“Hey Peter, I just wanted to let you know that I’m leaving to pick up Ned soon and I wanted to ask if we should meet you at the tower so we could all go to Delmar’s together?”

No. No no no no, absolutely not.

“Yeah that’s a great idea!”

Fuck.

“Okay, um, see you there then. Does thirty minutes sound good?”

“Sounds good to me! See you soon MJ!”

“Bye Peter, see you later.”

He hangs up the phone and stuffs it back into his pocket.

“That was Mj, she-“

“Yeah, I heard.”

That may have come out a bit more harshly than you expected it to.

“Oh, is that okay? I’m sorry I should have checked with you first-“

“No, Peter, don’t worry about it. It’s totally fine.”

“Oh okay! Great! Um, well, we should eat the pancakes before they get cold, well the ones we have left at least,” he chuckles.

You smile, grabbing two halfway burnt pancakes and putting them on a plate, drizzling syrup on top. Peter does the same.

You want to avoid more awkward silence while you eat, so you suggest putting on the TV and eating in the living room. Thankfully, Peter agrees, and the two of you settle on the couch.

By the time the show ends and you finish your breakfast, MJ texts Peter, telling him that she and Ned just arrived.

As if on cue, FRIDAY announces, “Two guests have just entered the premises. My systems recognize them as Ned Leeds and Michelle Jones. Should allow them inside?”

“Yeah FRIDAY, go ahead and let them in,” you answer.

“Of course, Miss. Stark. Access granted.”

“Peter, why don’t you go meet them downstairs. I’ll clean up the dishes.”

“Are you sure? I can help if you want-“

“No, no, it’s fine. I need to take care of something before we leave anyways. I’ll be down in just a sec.”

“Oh, um, okay.”

Peter heads downstairs while you take both of your plates to the sink.

Truthfully, you don’t actually need to do anything before you leave. You really just need a few seconds alone to prepare for the rough day you know is coming. You take a deep breath and go downstairs, grabbing your purse and saying goodbye to your parents on the way down.

Peter, Ned, and MJ are waiting at the door, happily conversing about today’s plans. The ones that you already made. The ones that Ned and MJ weren’t supposed to be a part of.

Nevertheless, you force a smile and wave at them, “Hey guys! Ready to go?”

“Yeah!” they all say in unison.

The four of you head out the door, starting your long and painful walk to the nearest subway station. You could have driven, but you were the only one with your official license (Peter was too scared to take the driver’s test even though he was old enough, and MJ and Ned weren’t old enough to get their license) and you really didn’t feel like being the chauffer today.

The walk actually starts out fine. The four of you make good conversation, and you feel a little more at ease about today’s events. Peter and MJ really just seem to be friendly with each other, not really flirting at all.

Until the sidewalk narrows.

It’s only wide enough for two people to walk, so you hang back, expecting Peter to stay with you. But instead he speeds up, walking with MJ, leaving Ned to walk with you.

“Are you kidding me?” you whisper under your breath.

“Huh?” Ned inquires.

“Oh, nothing, sorry.”

“Oh! No problem! So, how have you been…”

You and Ned make extremely awkward conversation for the rest of the walk, mostly with him just rambling on about random stuff. You’re only halfway paying attention to what he’s saying, too busy eyeing Peter and MJ walking in front of you, smiling and laughing with each other.

You really don’t want to have anything against MJ, she actually seems like a great girl. Sure, she’s a bit weird, and extremely dark at times, but she seems like a nice person nonetheless. But you just can’t shake the fact that Peter is picking her over you. Constantly.

Finally, after the excruciating walk, you arrive at the subway station. MJ and Peter are still walking together, a little too close for your liking, but what can you do about it?

You walk onto the subway and sit down in one of two empty seats, just hoping that Peter will sit next to you. And thankfully he does.

Finally, you get to talk to just him, like you were supposed to be doing this whole day.

Then, the lady sitting next to Peter gets up and off the subway, and MJ slips into the seat before someone else can take it. Peter turns to her, and they resume their conversation from earlier.

What. The. Fuck.

It’s like the universe is against you for some reason. All you want to do is spend some time with Peter, without anyone else butting in. But instead you spend the entirety of the subway ride listening to Ned continue to ramble on about some organic chemistry project he’s doing for the science fair, trying your best not to cry or burst out in anger.

The four of you get off the subway and walk into Delmar’s. You already know what you are going to get, so you let Ned and MJ order first.

Ned orders a #1, and MJ orders a #8.

You step up to the counter, “Hi Mr. Delmar, I’ll have the usual please.”

“You got it Miss. Stark, a #5 with pickles, just how you like it,” he motions to Peter, “I’m guessing the same for you Mr. Parker?”

“No, actually. I’m gonna have what MJ’s having. A #8 please today Mr. Delmar.”

Is this a joke?

You and Peter always order the same thing. You always have ever since Peter first brought you to Delmar’s. It’s like he was rubbing it in your face that he likes MJ and not you.

Mr. Delmar hands the four of you your sandwiches, and you sit at one of the few tables in the small store.

Of course, Peter and MJ are still happily chatting, now with Ned joining in. You eat in silence, pretending to be interested in their conversation as you don’t want to come off as rude (even though you really want to be rude to them). At this point, all hope for having a good day is lost. You aren’t being included in the day you planned, and your heart shattering crush on Peter is no help.

The entire way back home is just as agonizing. Despite your many attempts to walk next to Peter, he always finds a way to stick with MJ. At this point it seems like he’s just outright avoiding you, and it hurts.

Were you being that awkward at breakfast this morning? Or does he just like MJ that much?

Either way, you aren’t happy with him.

When you arrive back at the compound, Peter, Ned, and MJ all rush to the movie room, arguing about what movie to watch. You trail behind, telling them that you have to go up to your room really quick and that you’ll be back in a minute. Honestly, you’re not sure if any of them heard you, but you rush upstairs, just needing to be alone.

As soon as you reach your room, the feelings you’ve been bottling up all day immediately rush out. In a matter of seconds, you are a mess of tears and sobs, all of the pent-up sadness and anger flowing out.

“What seems to be the problem Miss. Stark? You seem to be in distress,” you are suddenly startled by FRIDAY.

“Oh, it’s nothing, FRIDAY, I’ve just had a hard day.”

“Would you care to talk about it? Unfortunately I do not have the capacity to comfort you emotionally, as I am merely an artificial intelligence system, but it is scientifically proven that vocalizing your feelings can help with the coping process.”

“Promise you won’t tell anyone?”

“Of course, Miss. Stark. I am programmed to keep secrets very well.”

“Okay, well, I like Peter. Like a lot. But he doesn’t like me back. And he’s been ignoring me all day for MJ and I’m so mad at him because today was supposed to be our day. And he fucking ruined it,” you rant, still sobbing.

“I am deeply sorry about that Miss. Stark. Would you like me to alert someone for you to talk to? Miss. Romanoff or Miss. Maximoff perhaps?”

“No FRIDAY, it’s fine. Thanks though.”

You feel so stupid, talking to some smart computer system about your problems instead of an actual person, but it did feel good finally letting your feelings out in words.

However, as the tears started to subside, the sadness slowly turned into anger. You thought about today’s events, how Peter had purposefully ignored you for MJ on what was supposed to be a day with just the two of you. You had put so much effort into today, planning out each little thing, and you were so excited about it. You wish you could just go back to this morning and tell Peter not to invite Ned and MJ, or honestly, just forget about the plan entirely. It’s not like Peter would have cared.

Suddenly, you hear a knock at your door.

“Hey, it’s uh, it’s Peter.”

Of course.

“I just wanted to check on you. It’s been like half an hour, are you doing okay?”

“Yeah, Peter. I’m fine. I just don’t feel great. Probably the food or something. Just go back to Ned and MJ and watch the movie. I’m just gonna stay up here and rest.”

“Oh, I, um. I already told them to leave. I just noticed that you seemed kind of off today, and I didn’t want them to like, interfere or anything.”

So now he was being nice.

“Do you want me to come in? Maybe we can snuggle and watch a movie together. I know how much you like snuggles when you aren’t feeling well.”

You wanted so badly to say yes, to let him cuddle with you and engulf you in his warm embrace. But your mind (and your heart) trails back to today’s events, how he still likes MJ, and how he’s only checking up on you because “you seem off.”

“No, Peter. I just need some rest. Maybe another time.”

“Oh, um, okay then. Feel better Y/N.”

At this point, you don’t know what else to do but fight fire with fire. If Peter wanted to ignore you all day, then that’s exactly what you would do to him. You don’t care how nice he’s being, Today just pushed you to the edge. The combination of your one-sided crush on Peter, and him being a dick all day leads you only to one thing. Silence.

~~~~~~~~

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Peter Parker: @blizzardbabe

Series: @t-hollanderr @pure-ghost @allycat449-blog

Congrats on 600 followers!!!! How about Logan/Veronica and "Are you doubting my acting skills?" and/or any one of your 76 Danielle/Henry modern AUs?

Oh, Sarah, I’d do anything for you! I will eventually write a Danielle/Henry modern AU and it shall be dedicated to you, but for now, here is some Logan/Veronica friends to lovers inspired fake dating setup shenanigans.

--- Title: look at me like you like me Fandom: Veronica Mars Pairing: Logan/Veronica (side Wallace/Parker) Other Characters: Wallace, Parker, a frequent switching of tenses b/c this is barely edited.  Additional Tags: Should be a multichapter probably, friends to lovers (or idiots to friends to lovers??), fake dating shenanigans, Wallace sees all and knows all Word Count: ~1,800 ---

Sitting at brunch, her plate piled high with pancakes, Veronica Mars wonders just how long her best-friend thought he could get away with this. Logan Echolls (said best-friend) is currently walking slowly back and forth in front of the restaurant as he talks on his phone. He isn’t speaking, which means his mother is in the middle of a persuasive monologue. And everyone at their table knows what that means. 

“Charity gala?” Wallace asks. 

“My money’s on a distant relative’s wedding,” Parker says. 

“His parent’s anniversary is coming up,” Veronica says. “Could be their own party.” 

“What will they celebrate?” Wallace asks. “Ten years of sleeping in separate rooms and ignoring one another’s affairs?” 

“Regardless, I’m ready,” Parker says. 

Okay. Apparently Veronica’s isn’t the only one thinking about Logan’s go-to family event strategy. “You think he’ll ask you?” 

Parker frowns as she takes a sip of her coffee. “Why wouldn’t he?” 

Veronica draws a line in the air, connecting Wallace and Parker. “Well, for one, you’re married now.” 

“The people at these parties don’t know that,” Parker answers. 

The woman has a point. Veronica turns to Wallace. “And you’re okay with this?” 

“We’re living on two teacher’s salaries. If some wealthy man wants to be my wife’s platonic sugar daddy, who am I to stop him?” 

“I wanted to buy a new dress for your brother’s graduation anyway,” Parker says. 

“See! Perfect plan.” Wallace and Parker seal their agreement with a kiss and Veronica focuses on her pancakes. She cuts off a large bite with more force than strictly required and shovels the pancakes into her mouth. 

She isn’t sure why this whole conversation needles her. Something about Parker’s certainty, Veronica supposes. That it is going to be Parker who Logan calls on. To be fair, Parker and Logan’s arrangement pre-dates Veronica’s friendship with either of them. 

By the time Veronica met Parker their first year of grad school, Parker and Logan had been friends for four years. The pattern wherein Parker pretended to be Logan’s girlfriend at any and all society events his mother required him to attend was already well-established. Even after Veronica and Logan met, and it was quickly evident the two of them were destined to be platonic soulmates for the rest of their lives, it was still Parker that Logan turned to for help in these situations. Which, fair. Parker possesses levels of grace which Veronica can never hope to achieve. 

Veronica is much more apt to give a Hollywood director in his fifties judgey facial expressions when he introduces her to his barely legal wife. (A real thing that happened at an Echolls family BBQ. At least it still makes Logan laugh all these years later.)

It just didn’t occur to Veronica that it would always be Parker. Especially now that Parker is married. What is going to happen when she and Wallace decide to have a baby? How will they prevent word of Logan Echolls’ pregnant girlfriend from making the tabloid rounds? 

No. This is ridiculous. 

“She’s definitely not listening,” Wallace says, disapprovingly. 

“Some sort of fugue state?” Parker suggests. 

“Could be.” 

Veronica sighs. “What are you two talking about?”

“I wanted to know if it was all pancakes in general you seek to destroy, or if this one in particular had done something to upset you?” 

Her first instinct is to glare at Wallace. And then at Parker when she sniggers. Introducing the two of them to one another is the worst decision she’s ever made. But then she looks down at her plate. Sure enough, at some point she traded in eating her pancakes for cutting them into smaller pieces and then smushing them into the maple syrup. They no longer resemble an edible object.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Sure,” Wallace says, taking a well-timed sip of his coffee. His expression is all smug and knowing. 

Veronica is saved from additional Wallace stares and Parker sniggers by the return of Logan. He slides his phone into his blazer pocket and sits down beside Veronica, resting his arm on the back of Veronica’s chair. This is nothing new. Being best-friends with Logan means being comfortable with his rather tactile nature. But the look Logan’s action invites from Wallace is new. Veronica wants to spit at him. (Wallace. Not Logan.) 

(Portrait of grace, indeed.)

“What happened here?” Logan asks, gesturing to Veronica’s pancakes. 

“Nothing,” Veronica says. “What happened out there?” 

Logan’s fingers still from where he is lightly tracing the contours of her shoulder. “My mom and dad are renewing their vows.” 

For a moment all movement at their table ceases as they each take in this information. This despite Veronica's keen awareness of the fact that her guess was eerily close to being right. 

“I’m sorry. What?” she asks.

“That was about my reaction,” Logan says. “Want my bacon?” 

“Yes, please. They can’t be serious.” 

Logan slides his slices of bacon onto Veronica’s plate. “Serious about drumming up some positive PR, absolutely. Aaron was spotted looking a little too friendly with a married co-star. So, he and mom are going on a romantic getaway to Italy. When they get back they’ll do a backyard vow renewal.” 

“Logan—” 

The man in question holds up a hand, stopping Parker’s softly spoken entreaty. 

“No. I can’t do the talking about it thing right now. I can’t feel anything about it right now. What I need is a wedding date.” 

“Of course,” Parker rushes to answer. “Just tell me when.” 

“The weekend of June 11th.” 

“Absolutely. Deal,” Parker says, nodding enthusiastically. “Consider it—,” she trails off, her gaze somewhere over Veronica’s shoulder. 

“Consider it, what?” Logan asks.

“—Not something I can do.”  

“Why not?”

“That’s graduation weekend,” Parker explains. “I’m the faculty speaker.” 

“I’ll buy you shoes, too.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be,” Logan says. “This way I can get very drunk and not feel bad about it.” 

Logan’s arm returns to the back of Veronica’s chair. This time his hand sort of hangs over her shoulder and curls around towards her clavicle. It makes it impossible to ignore details about Logan’s hands — the surprising delicacy of his fingers, the length of them, the weird knot on one of his knuckles. 

“I’ll do it,” Veronica says. 

“Do what?” Logan asks. 

“Be your fake girlfriend for the sham vow renewal. I can do it.” 

She refuses to look at anyone at the table. Not Parker. Sure as hell not Wallace.

(Seriously. Does he know something? Was it that night they all played King’s Cup and the two of them stayed up talking until 3:00 AM? Did she say something she wasn’t supposed to?)

And absolutely not Logan. She scrapes the edges of the smushed pancake with the tines of her fork. 

“Veronica.” Logan’s voice is soft, but she detects a hint of incredulity. Which, maybe she’s wrong and he isn’t her best-friend and he doesn’t know her very well, because it raises her hackles. 

She drops her fork. “What? Why not?” 

“Look, I love you. You know I love you.” Veronica ignores the little skitter of her pulse at Logan’s words, furrows her brow, and concentrates on being offended. “And you know me better than anyone.”

“But?” She prompts. 

“But,” he says, “you don’t really—” 

Before Logan can finish, she comes up with a dozen ways to complete the sentence. There is plenty she doesn’t have —the class, the patience, the height, the sweetness, the glamor, the—

“—look at me like you like me,” Logan finishes. 

“Wait. What?” Veronica’s eyes dart from Logan to Wallace to Parker. Neither one of them appear surprised by Logan’s words. In fact, Parker is faintly nodding in agreement. “Of course I like you. You’re my favorite person.” She thinks about this. “When you’re not being a total asshole.” 

“I know that. But, your face makes it look like you want to slap me most of the time.” 

“Because I do.” 

“It’s just not the most conducive to convincing my mother to not set me up with the daughter of whichever producer she is trying to impress.” 

“I’ll change my face.” 

“Change it?” 

“I can look like I like you.” 

“Really?” 

“I’ve been in love before, you know.” Veronica’s hackles are now standing at full attention. “Are you doubting my acting skills?”

“I would never,” Logan says. 

“Good. Because I could be the sweetest goddamned fake girlfriend you’ve ever had.” Veronica turns to Parker. “No offense.” 

“None taken.” 

“I’ll even use pet names. Schmoopsie. Snuggle muffin. Sweet cheeks. What’s your preference?” 

“My preference is none of them.” 

Still, despite his words, Logan seems to consider it. Veronica takes the time to nibble on one of the slices of bacon from Logan’s plate. If she isn’t mistaken, Parker and Wallace kept shooting each other, what they probably believe to be, covert glances. What are those glances supposed to mean? Does Parker know something too? Damned married couples with their telling each other things. 

“My mom does love you,” Logan eventually says. 

“See, I already have a leg up,” Veronica says. “And I can absolutely rock a floor length gown.” 

“Can you?” 

“I was on homecoming court senior year.” 

“You were?” She’s not certain which of the voices speaking in unison sound more shocked, Logan’s or Parker’s, but regardless she is deeply offended. She’ll look classy and hot as hell and that will show them. 

“Yeah,” Wallace says, “Keith still has the picture hanging up in his house. It’s hilarious.” Veronica glares at him. “Hilarious, because of how great you look. Obviously.” 

“I don’t want to make you do this,” Logan says.

Veronica doesn’t have time to question why he would make Parker do this but for some reason wants to spare her.  

“Hey.” She reaches up for the hand still draped over her shoulder and laces their fingers together. Logan looks down at her. His eyes are all soft and heavy lidded; like they sometimes get when he’s sleepy. 

(She’s also noticed they can kind of look like that when she’s ranting about a coworker. Or, that one time she helped her dad install a fence and came over to Logan’s place after. Her hands were full of splinters and Logan was so careful and gentle, removing each one with a very expensive pair of tweezers.)

“This is going to suck. Isn’t it?” she asks. 

He nods. “Yeah. I think it will.” 

“Then let me be there for you.” He doesn’t say anything. “I’ll work on my face. Promise.” 

That gets him to crack a smile. “If you’re sure.” 

“I’m sure.” 

“Then great.”

“Great.”

“Did I just get replaced?” Parker asks. 

Veronica shrugs. “I like nice shoes too, you know.” 

Logan gives her hand a squeeze. 

Oh. Look at that. She didn’t even notice they were still holding hands.

meeting the fam

where y/n meets the peters second family (the avengers)

pairing: peter x fem!reader

status: just started dating

its been 3 weeks since peter and y/n started dating, they've been friends since august and after 5 months of knowing eachother, he FINALLY asked her out in new years, which couldn't be any perfect than what y/n imagined.

Peters been talking to Mr Stark about y/n the minute he had the chance to, one day Sam heard Peter not so subtly talk about his new girlfriend to his mentor.

"oh Mr Stark, she told me that she NEVER watched Star Wars because she never had somebody to watch it with, she said she knew she'd like it but she needed someone to fangirl with" Peter explains with his hands in the air while tony is fixing a device.

"and my stupid ass said I can fangirl with you, coz I'm like a Star Wars geek, and after I blurted that out, I thought she'd ditch me for good, but she didn't, YOU KNOW WHAT SHE SAID? she said she likes a man who's not afraid to say what he likes! I knew then that we would be somethin-"

"yOu lIkE a gIRl?" Sam blurts out cutting peter off.

and suddenly Thor comes behind Sam "since uh *puts a finger up* when?" *A/N: see what i did there ;)* peter looked at Thor confusedly.

"no guys, they're dating keep up" Tony says not looking away from his work

"ThEyrE DaTiNG??" they both scream, eyes wide, and mouths parted slightly.

"is it that hard to believe I have a girlfriend?" peter asks suddenly offended

"who has a girlfriend?" Steve finally entered. Sam and Thor wanted to explain the what they call 'miracle' but before they could say anything:

"peter, you old Capsicle" Bucky out of nowhere buts in.

"how'd you know?" Sam asks

"lets say the walls between the lab and mini kitchen is verrrry thin" Bucky replies stretching the 'really', peter looked at the floor blushing madly, walking slowly about to leave the lab

"now where do you think you're going, tell me more about your little Juliet, Romeo"

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Peters POV

so last Saturday I was LITERALLY being harassed with questions regarding me having a girlfriend, and to shut them up about it I had to introduce them to her, which is a bit nerve-racking, but hopefully y/n agrees.

I was in the elevator trying to figure out a way to tell y/n about the news. The elevator dinged and I kept whispering different sentence trying to find the right one to use.

I took the keys out of my pocket which makes a loud jigly sound since the floor is empty and makes every noise echo, but before  Iunlock the door, it swings open revealing a very happy y/n jumping at me crossing her legs around my torso and smothering me with light kisses all over my face and neck which makes me laugh.

"well hello to you too" i laugh, kissing her nose and she laughs.

"we can use words later, now i want AFFECTIONNNN and CUDDLESSS" she screams running to my room.

"use words later huh?" I smirk putting my keys and wallet on my desk.

"not like thaatttt, what happened to the innocent shy peter?" she says slapping my arm.

"he became more comfortable with his girlfriend?" he replies shrugging his shoulders, which made y/n/n smile, knowing I'm more comfortable with her now then before.

after taking my jacket off, she immediately grabs me and pulls us to my bed. I snuggle to her side wrapping my arms around her lower stomach while she plays with my hair and kisses me once in a while.

"happy?" I mumble since my face is close to the fabric of her, well my hoodie.

"very" she mumbles in my hair

y/n's POV

I lowered myself so I can cuddle peter more, I swung my right leg over his torso and snuggled my head to his chest more, so now he would prep me with kisses all over my face or whisper things to my ear, after a few minutes of silence peters calls my name

"yeah?" I reply looking up to see him clearly, his lightly freckled face, and brown doe eyes shining from the little light coming from his lamp, he looked...nervous? I tilted my head confused to why he would be nervous right now

"babe what's wrong?" I ask, both of us sitting now

"uhh" he would still blush and stutter when I give him a pet names, I giggled softly which made him focus again.

"I was talking to Mr Stark the other day..about..you and I didnt know Sam heard me, but he did then basically the whole compound knew I had a girlfriend, I-I tried to make them stop bombarding me with questions about us buttheywouldonlystopifiintroducedyoutothemsonowtheyexpecttoseeyoutomorrow" he blurts out nervously, he obviously looked scared of what I would say but then he continued "AND I know we've only dated for 3 weeks now and its too soon but I couldn't stop them-"

"PETER! its ok I'd love to meet your second family" I say smirking in the end and he blushed. I was obviously nervous, its the AVENGERS for Thors sake, but he was too nervous I didn't want to cause more pressure for him.

"o-ok! so you're ok with meeting them tomorrow?" he makes sure.

"yess, definitely" I say smiling, he looked at me happily and lunged at me kissing all over my face.

"you *kiss* are *kiss* the *kiss* best" he says looking at me adoringly, and then we carried on cuddling which lead to me sleeping at his place.

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I woke up to peter humming a song while touching my hair ever so lightly, I opened my eyes and saw probably the most handsome morning face I've ever seen.

"good morning" peter says with his raspy morning voice, he hates his morning voice he says its 'too manly' but I think its pretty hot.

"morningggg" I reply with a cheery tone, I wiggled out of his grasp which only made him hug me tighter, "pete, I need to stretch my limbs are stiff from the same position all night!" I giggle, then he finally released me from his comforting embrace.

suddenly peter had a sugar-rush-like energy and lunged out of the bed, did a couple of stretches in a funny way and went to greet his stunning aunt with a kiss on her head, before I went to greet aunt may I changed to something lighter than his hoodie, HIS SHIRT!

After changing, I went to the kitchen, greeted aunt may, and hugged peter from behind "you lookin sexy today" I whispered to hiM trying to make him blush, which worked!

"y/nnn" he whisper shouted, and hid his face.

"now would any of you like to explain why my nephew is very happy today? or is it just because his girlfriend spent the night?" may smirks. oh she definitely knows how to make peter blush.

"oh *laughs* I'm meeting the avengers today!" I say jumping slightly, may was freaking out with me and we started actually jumping up and down, while peter stared at us laughing

"well c'mon we're eating breakfast there!"

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while we were walking to the compound peter sensed my nerves and held my hand reassuringly, I gave him the 'thank you' look and he smiled in return.

once we entered the compound, the cool air brushed my face lightly, there were little squeaks coming out from our sneakers while we're walking, but then peter stopped and looked at me smirking.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y?" peter asks softly.

"yes Mr parker?" the A.I replies and I was completely blown away.

"where's Mr Stark and the others?"

"Mr Stark is in his lab and the rest are in the main living room"

"ok thanks F.R.I.D.A.Y...OH and meet my girlfriend y/n" he says

"well hello there Mrs Parker" F.R.I.D.A.Y says, I looked at peter confusedly and he had the same expression and cheeks turned crimson red.

"uh hey F.R.I.D.A.Y" I say waving awkwardly to no one.

"uhm F.R.I.D.A.Y? who programmed you to call y/n  M-Mrs Parke-er ??" peter asks clearly embarrassed.

"mister stark did, along with Natasha and Sam" she replies.

"god I'm gonna kill the-"

"Pete its ok" I laugh, rubbing his arms lightly.

once we entered the main living room everyone stopped what they're doing and looked at us

"h-hey guys..uh this is my girlfriend, y/n y/l/n" peter awkwardly introduces me, the room went dead silent, no one was talking they just stared right into my soul the suddenly after a few seconds everybody spoke loudly at the same time trying to introduce themselves first.

"oh my god hi hun! I'm Wanda"

"hello there lady y/n, I am Thor the god of thunder, its a pleasure to meet you"

"oh Don't go all princely on her, she's our cinnamon rolls girlfriend, I'm Nat by the way" she winks

"the name's Clint, also known as Hawkeye"

"James Buchnan Barnes, but you can call me Bucky, doll"

"Steve Rogers *shakes my hand* welcome to the family"

once everybody introduced themselves, peter kept searching around the room, looking for someone, everybody was trying to get to know me more, asking more intimidating questions, but I couldn't pay attention because he looked worried.

so I took his hand softly and rubbed my thumb over his knuckles trying to get his attention, once he looked at me I gave him the 'what's wrong' look.

"hey guys, do you know where Mr Stark is?" Peter finally spoke, bingo he wanted to introduce me to one of the most important people in his life, pressureee, hopefully I could live up to Tony's expectations and he would approve of me,

"he's in his lab" Bruce spoke, pointing at the third door in the hallway.

Once we got to the door, Peter looked at me reassuringly and kissed my head trying to ease my nerves, I gave him a nod telling him I'm ready and he opened the door.

"M-Mr Stark?" peter said, which grabbed Tony's attention, he looked at Peter then his eyes landed on me, he stared at me for a couple of seconds like he was analysing me, then a small smile formed on his lips, That's a good sign, right?

"y/n, its great to finally meet you" he says shaking my hand.

"hello Mr Stark" I say, not knowing what to call him yet so I just decided to be respectful and call him 'Mr Stark' like my boyfriend.

"oh please not you too, call me Tony" he says.

"Tony, love birds breakfast is ready! c'mon Thor's already eating half of the pancakes- wait THOR THOSE ARE FOR Y/N GODDAMNIT" Sam shouts, panicking which makes me laugh a little, tony looked at me, then at peter like he's telling him he approves, which gives me a sense of relief.

when we got to the LARGE dining room everyone was sat in their seats waiting for us three, "finally! the son got his approval from his father!" Sam joke in his awfully attempted baby voice.

"Our baby's all grown up" Wanda says giving him grabby hands to hug him, Peter was madly blushed from embarrassment but still gave Wanda her hug

"wait I want a hug!" Nat interrupts.

"me too!" Thor said, trying to embarrass peter more, which definitely worked. I couldn't help my self from grinning, I loved how the avengers, showed him this much affection.

"well, *stands up from his seat* I wanna hug y/n" tony says in a matter-of-a-fact tone, moving from his chair and hugs me, I obviously hugged back smiling.

"wait- I WANT TO HUG Y/N"

"ME TOO!"

"guys guys, *giggles* stop harassing my girlfriend with affection I think tha'ts MY job" Peter says giving me big hug, kissing my head, I hid my red face in the crook of his neck.

"thank you" I whisper softly

"for what ?" peter replies

"for trusting me to see the most important people in your life, Aunt may, Ned, MJ, and now the Avengers! thank you" I say kissing his neck.

"oh no its the PDA! please don't tell me you guys are THAT type of couple" Bucky says making fake gag noises, which is later interrupted by Steve

"what's PDA?" he asks genuinely curious, Peter face palms and shakes his head

"welcome to the family"

have a wonderful morning/afternoon/evening/night!

-quacksonlover

“Your stupid spider”

Superhero vs Villain!Reader Prompts

Request: Anonymous: Hello there! Could you write a Superhero vs Villain, where the reader is Peter Parker's best friend but also his enemy? You can use #3 if you want. By the way I love your stories and your writing. Lots of love.

Prompt #3: Truce? 

Pairing: Superhero!Peter Parker x Villain!Fem!Reader

Summary: Peter Parker is your best friend, and Spider-man is your enemy. You finally discover that they are the same person.

Warnings: Violence. 

Word count: 2446

A/N: Sorry for my spelling and grammatical mistakes, English is not my native language, I am learning.

"If you are really interested in how I discovered the identity of my greatest enemy, please read on."

You. An ordinary girl, born in Brooklyn to a single parent family who had moved into a small flat in the Queens area with her mother. No drugs, no alcohol, no tobacco, your obsession was pancakes and syrup. You didn't do any chores, and you didn't sneak out of the housework. After school you went home with your friends to do your homework. You liked reading, and you listened to music with headphones so as not to disturb the neighbours. In short, a teenager that many parents wish they had.

However, your persona wasn't all rosy, just because Y/N was like that, didn't mean your alter ego was too. You had a secret, everyone has secrets, you might think, but it wasn't just any secret, it was "The Secret", and no one knew it. That's why you could say it was the best kept secret in Queens, or at least that's what you thought until he came along. Spider-man.

Everything went smoothly, it took you a while to assume your powers, your teleportation, but when you got it you enjoyed your solitude in your night outings. You discovered the reality of New York City, the nocturnal and dark atmosphere of being hidden in the shadows, that is to say, you had fun as only you knew how to do. Nevertheless, since the arrival of that Spider-man, your fun was over. That man had in mind to destroy the true essence of the city and that was something you could not allow.

Your first meeting was at the top of Rockefeller Center, a night like any other after the end of one of the most intrepid police chases in Midtown West. There you were, watching the chase unfold, and there he arrived. Remarkably, due to the concealment of your costumes, neither of you could figure out who the other was, and your voice-impersonation skills helped you never get caught. All in all, that was one of many encounters you would have in the wake of Spider-Man's popularity. But still, your life went on.

"Are you telling me you're going to stand me up this afternoon for helping your aunt bake a cake?" you asked Peter between complaints. "You know we have to study for the chemistry test on Friday. And that I'm nothing without you in chemistry."

Although you tried to show him the most apologetic face in the whole world, Peter was not immune to it. 

"Sorry Y/N," he closed his locker after grabbing his books. "I promised May last week, it's very important for her to give a good welcome to the new neighbours."

You rolled your eyes but finally came to terms with your defeat.

"Okay Parker," you gave him a little push. "But you've been letting me down in the afternoons for three days now. You'll make it up to me."

You winked and Peter's cheeks quickly turned pink, he gave you a shy smile and nodded goodbye. He was adorable. It was actually good to be free in the afternoons, since Spider-Man had gotten in your way, you had a complex relationship, playing cat and mouse, trying to hinder each other's actions, and it was interesting that week.

Like the previous days, after finishing your chores at home, you put on your black suit and disappeared. Your power was complex, you didn't fully understand it yet and you knew it would take a while, but you weren't scared. You could teleport to a specific place, teleport to another person or object, and even open portals to other places. But these superpowers had played tricks on you, sometimes you appeared in places you didn't recognise and then didn't know how to get back, or you had to return home by taking public transport. Everything has its drawbacks.

Dusk was falling over the island of Manhattan, it was a busy spring evening in New York, big businessmen were leaving their offices, dog walkers were wandering into Central Park and a group of elementary school students were leaving the Museum of Arts and Design. You caught your gaze on the broad clock of a prominent building and instantly there he was, coming from 8th Avenue.

You smiled, you were in the mood for fun and what better way than to open a portal right in front of him to get rid of Spider-man and send him a few blocks further south.

"Woah!" he exclaimed, stepping into the portal and disappearing, not for long.

You started laughing, he always fell into your trap and yet he was still funny to you.

"Hello Miss Holes!"

Within two minutes it landed next to you throwing a spider web which you dodged opening a new portal.

"Too slow, stupid spider," you said with a grin hidden under your mask.  "And too predictable to be the mascot of the Avengers.

The two of you began a small battle on top of that building, as if choreographed.

"Hey!" he exclaimed somewhat offended, dodging a new portal. "I'm not the Avengers' mascot."

"Then why is it your turn to do the dirty work?" you ran off, shaking off his cobwebs.

"What...?" began Spider-man somewhat confusedly pausing over the rooftop antenna. "What dirty work?"

You let out a small laugh and in an instant you teleported to his side.

"You know," you began to lower your tone."Robbing old ladies, selling drugs in the neighbourhood - oh, you even helped a woman yesterday who didn't know where to find the underground," you squinted. "Spidey, you're so bored that the most exciting thing in your life is meeting me."

You were so lost for words that you didn't see it coming. In that instant a spider web, a bit slimy for your taste, wrapped around your mouth like a gag silencing your every word. You quickly tried to get rid of it with little luck.

"Thank goodness!" exclaimed your opponent alejándose de ti. "Much better. Sorry about that, but we'll be doing us both a favour."

You touched solid ground again, and raised your hands in the direction of the satellite dish, teleporting it in the direction of Spider-man, who quickly dodged it. From that moment on, your rage intensified, increasing the tension of the fight, which usually ended without a clear winner, only exhaustion won out.

"Woah! That was a close one!" he exclaimed, leaping ten metres above you.

Your throat squeaked, but no sound escaped because of the gag. You tried to get rid of it by teleporting it away, but it wasn't possible. At that moment you would have made it disappear forever if you could, but finally you stopped throwing objects at it, to disappear from there yourself.

It wasn't being a good day for you, maybe it also had to do with the fact that you were sure that your best friend didn't have to make any cake with his aunt May, nor did he have to accompany her to dance classes or anything like that, they were all excuses and you didn't know why he was making them.

In milliseconds you were back in your room, rummaging through your things to get rid of that gag and remove the mask from your costume. Nothing was any good. You had no idea what that spider's web was made of, but nothing could break it.

In desperation you tried again to teleport it, but you were unable to concentrate all your attention on it. You had only one hope left, Peter, he would surely know how to get rid of her, although you would owe him a lot more explanations. You closed your eyes, instantly you were inside his room, luckily he wasn't there, nor was he inside the house, everything was silent. So you assumed that he was not baking a cake with his aunt.

A couple of hours passed, just enough time to come up with a plan before Peter arrived.You had taken a handful of sheets of paper, you knew that when he came in he would be scared and might scream, so you summarised your story as best you could on those sheets of paper.

You heard the front door close, Peter was talking to May and heading towards his room. You took the sheets of paper and positioned yourself in the middle of the room, waiting for him to come in, as if it was the movie "love actually". It was an embarrassing situation.  You watched as the doorknob turned and there he appeared.

It took a few moments for his eyes to settle on you, but at that very moment both of them widened like saucers.

"How the hell...!"

You quickly raised your hand, trying not to make your friend squeal or panic, and pointed hurriedly to the sheets of paper you were holding.

Peter closed the door behind him with a stunned look on his face.

"Please don't shout," he began, reading the posters in a trembling voice. "I'm not going to hurt you."

You dropped a sheet of paper on the floor.

"It's me, Y/N," Peter's voice dimmed, and it took him a while to react. "WHAT?!!!!"

You quickly raised your arms again in a way to stop him from screaming.

" Whoa, whoa, whoa!" exclaimed Peter again. "What are you saying?!"

Dejaste que los carteles se cayeran al suelo y saltaste sobre él intentando cubrir su boca con tus manos. En aquellos momentos estabas segura de que su tía May entraría en la habitación en segundos debido al ruido. Peter seguía gritando cosas inentendibles bajo tus manos, con sus ojos castaños abiertos como platos mirándote. Decidiste destaparle la boca, ya que no servía para nada y volviste a por los folios para ponérselos nuevamente frente a él.

“¡Esto es una locura!” se llevó las manos a la cara, pero continuó leyendo los folios. “Spider-man me ha lanzado una de sus telarañas,” cambiaste de folio. “Y no puedo deshacerme de ella, tienes que ayudarme.”

Peter stood still watching you, his eyes were red with nervousness and his nostrils flared every time he took in and released air from his lungs. You knew it was going to be a shock to your friend, but you didn't understand how it was affecting him so much. You raised your arms, quickly pointed to the spider web gagging your mouth, you needed to get rid of it and then you would give him all the explanations he needed.

A blushing Peter slowly approached you, stepped around you and in an instant you felt no more pressure. At last you could rest, your jaw and mouth were sore, but it was no surprise to you, what was surprising was that your friend had got rid of the restraint in a second.

Puzzled, you turned to him, who was still in shock and looked a little frightened. He carefully brought his hands to the top of your mask and slowly lifted it, exposing your face.

"I can explain," you said calmly. "I..."

"Oh my god," Peter interrupted you, sitting up in his bed.

"Listen," you shook your head and sat down next to him. "I understand your reaction, it's crazy, I should have explained it to you a lot sooner, but- Wait, how did you get that obnoxious fabric off me so fast?"

Peter put his hands to his head and sighed.

"It's synthetic spider silk," he explained without looking at you. "It's got the gigapascals augmented, with its web you can hold even a car in the air, but-"

"Wait," you stared at him.

Your mind worked fast enough to grasp enough information and connect it in a couple of seconds. You slowly rose slowly from his side and looked at him with a frown.

"What?!" you exclaimed this time. "That's impossible!"

"Yes!" exclaimed Peter getting up and holding his hands to his head. "That's what I was thinking! It's impossible!"

At that instant the door to the room opened revealing a smiling May.

"Peter yo - Hey Y/N!" she greeted with a frown.  "I didn't know you were here. Are you staying for dinner?"

"Hi, May. No, no," you said quickly in a bit of a daze. "Thank you very much, but my mother's expecting me for dinner."

"Okay," she smiled looking you up and down. "Nice suit!" your cheeks took on a ruddy colour. "Peter, dinner in half an hour."

"Thank you May," Peter replied a little shyly.

His aunt closed the door again.

"That's why you were always making excuses for me in the evenings!" you reproached him."And the Stark scholarship! How could I have been so blind?" "And the Stark scholarship! How could I have been so blind?"

"I know, I know," said Peter, as he paced around his room next to you. "By the way, your powers - they're awesome!"

You motioned for him to lower his voice again. This situation was crazy, you didn't know whether to be relieved, to teleport, or to teleport him to a place far away. You leaned your back against the wall, closing your eyes so you could think clearly.He was your best friend, had you been hating your best friend all this time?He was your best friend, had you been hating your best friend all this time? He was your best friend, had you been hating your best friend all this time?  Peter stood in front of you.

"Hey..." he whispered caressing your cheek, the place where your spider web had passed. "If I'd known... If you'd stayed a little longer I'd have taken it off."

You crossed your arms over your chest and looked up at him arching an eyebrow. "This is too much."

You looked straight into those brown eyes, they had been a weakness for you since fifth grade. Besides, his gaze accompanied with the caress of his fingers on your cheek lowered your defences.

"Please stay for dinner. If you want, we can study chemistry later," Peter said almost pleadingly.

"Really?" you asked in confusion. "You want to study chemistry after everything that just happened?"

"Truce?" Peter arched a somewhat hopeful eyebrow.

"You're one of a kind, you stupid spider," you said, unable to hide a grin.

"You stupid spider."

Requests/Taglist Open (DM)

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Taglist:  @indigo123789​ @mycosmicparadise​ @imerdwarf​

Whoops! Wrong Way 2/8

Summary: Peter has been living at Avengers Tower for 2 years, known to the workers and Avengers as Peter Parker-Stark-Rogers.  When his teacher announces that they're going on a field trip to Avengers Tower, or SI,  he's going to have to attempt to survive a day of embarrassment and keeping a secret identity. 

Words: 2125

“Hey, Pete. You need to get up, you’re going to be late.”

“Go away…” Peter mumbles, trying to push Tony away from him.

“Pete get up!”

“Nooooo” 

“Steve’s making pancakes.”

Peter sits up immediately, “I’m up, I’m up. With chocolate chips?”

“Yup, the chunks.”

“Go away old man, I need to get me some food.” 

Peter pushes Tony away from him and runs out of the room, into the kitchen where the sweet aroma of pancakes and chocolate fills the air. Steve smiles at Peter while handing him a plate filled with pancakes and drowned in syrup. As Peter takes it, Steve reaches up to mess with Peter’s hair. Peter groans and steps out of reach, sitting down to enjoy the food. 

While eating more of the Avengers trickle in and join Peter. First Tony, who enters in and gives Steve a kiss before receiving his plate and sitting next to Peter, then Bruce, followed by Bucky, Wanda, Pietro, Clint, and Natasha. Each greet Peter tiredly before sitting down with their food as well. “Good morning, паук (spider).”

“Morning Тетя нэт.”

“You want me to take you to school?”

“Yeah, let me go get changed and then I’ll be ready.” “Okay, take your time, we still have quite a bit before you’d be considered late.”

Peter quickly gobbles down the rest of his pancakes and runs into his room to get dressed. Then, he grabs his backpack and joins Nat in the elevator to go down into the lobby. The two then get on the motorcycle and ride to his school. The 10 minute ride is spent listening to music in their helmets, something that Peter designed when he first started working with Stark. Then, when Peter gets to school, Nat takes the helmet from him, gives him a kiss on his forehead, and leaves after saying goodbye. 

Thus begins his day of terror. 

First, he got insulted and beat up by Flash and his goons. Luckily, they only got a few punches in before MJ intervened, which left him with only a few bruises that would most likely disappear by the end of the day. After that he fell asleep in calculus and got woke up by the teacher who asked him for the answer to a hard equation. Somehow, he managed to solve it correctly, despite being incredibly drowsy from sleeping, and save himself the embarrassment. 

His terrible, no good, very bad day continued at lunch when he realized that he had forgotten his lunch at home. Ned and MJ both offered some of their food, but he declined, no wanting to take their food. Because of his enhanced metabolism and usually needing to eat 3-5x more food than everyone else, he was left tired and weak for the remainder of the day. This also caused his bruises, which until then had almost been done healing, to be invisible but just as painful as before. 

In chemistry, his last class, he could hardly wait for the day to be over so that he could go home, sleep, and eat some of Steve and Bucky’s delicious food. Sadly, just as class was about to end, his teacher told them, “if you guys could stay a few minutes after the bell I have a very important announcement to make.” Peter groans and silently hits his head against the desk in pain. “Dude, are you okay? Was it, you know,” Ned makes a web shooting sign with his hands. 

“Way to not be obvious. And kind of. I was up late SM-ing and now I’m super tired and bruised from Flash and his goons.” 

“That sucks, but maybe his announcement is exiting.”

“Sure, because when a teacher tells you to stay after class it’s good.”

They’re interrupted by the bell and then their teacher rushing the announcement he wanted to make, “okay guys, you can go in a second. First, however, on your way out grab a field trip permission slip. This Friday we’re going on a field trip to the one and only… Stark Industries!”

The entire class erupted in cheers except for Peter, who slammed his head down on his desk again. Flash seemed to notice and decided to comment on it, “hey, Parker, you scared now that your interning lie is going to be exposed?”

“Shut up, Flash. Just because Peter’s smart enough to get an internship doesn’t mean you need to remind everyone of it every second,” MJ retorts. 

Flash stutters before being unable to find a good enough response and turning back to pay attention to the teacher. Thanks, Peter mouths to MJ. she offers a smile in response. Mr. Harrington continues giving the details about the field trip for the next 2 minutes. Then, he finally releases the class. However, just as Peter is about to leave he says, “Peter, can you stay behind please?”  

Peter glances nervously at Ned and MJ who shrug nervously and leave the room, although he can see them waiting outside in the hallway talking to each other about what sounds like a riveting conversation on Star Wars. “Peter, I know that you’ve been telling everyone about your “internship” at Stark Industries, and it’s fine to joke about it at school. But Stark Industries is a very prestigious place and you need to respect that. I’m going to have to ask you to not mention your fake internship at Stark Industries, just to save yourself and the school the embarrassment.”

“But, sit. With all due respect, I’m not lying about my internship.”

“And there you go again about it. If you mention it again and I hear, I’m going to have to prevent you from going on the field trip. I’ve already talked to the principal about it and she’s on board with it.”

“Okay sir.” Peter sighs in defeat. 

He grabs his stuff and exits the room. MJ and Ned stop their conversation as soon as they see him. “So, what did he want to know about?”

“He told me to not talk about my internship and that if he hears me talking about it again then he’ll stop me from going on the field trip. He thinks that my internship is fake.”

“What? But it’s not. You literally gave him papers signed by Tony, Pepper, and Steve.” Ned says. 

“I know, let’s just… not mention it anymore. Okay? I don’t want to deal with it. I guess, they’ll see when we go that I’m not lying.” 

“Okay, see you tomorrow.”

“Bye guys.” 

The friends split separate ways, and Peter goes to locate Happy. He spots the black car sitting out and smiles when the door opens and he hears Happy’s voice, “come on kid!” He walks to the car and gets in, throwing his backpack into the seat next to him.”

“How was school, kid?”

“It was fine, Happy.” 

“What? Did something happen? Usually when you get into the car after school you talk my ear off unless I have food for you, and even then you find a way to continue talking.”

“Yeah, just a rough day and I’m tired. Thanks for your concern though.”

They remain silent the rest of the trip, although Peter does notice Happy glancing back at him every once in a while with a worried look. When they arrive the two say their goodbyes and Peter enters Stark Industries. Instead of going through the scanner, like everyone else usually has to do, he just waves to the security guard and walks straight to the elevator. “Welcome back home, BabyStark. Would you like me to alert the other’s of your arrival?” FRIDAY asks. 

Peter groans at the nickname, “thanks FRIDAY. No, I'll find them myself. Who told you to call me that?”

“BirdBrain #1 has set the command.”

“I thought Mr. Stark told you not to listen to Clint.” 

“Boss actually approved of it. You have arrived at the penthouse.” “Thanks FRIDAY. And please don’t call me.” “Changing BabyStark’s name to Mini-Stark.”

Peter sighs, knowing that “Mini-Stark” was probably the best he was going to get. He thanks FRIDAY as he leaves the elevator. The people in the penthouse say their hellos to Peter, Bucky and Steve from the kitchen, Clint and Sam from the couch where they’re playing mario kart, and Wanda and Pietro from the corner where they’re listening to music and Wanda is reading a book. He smiles and nods before asking, “where’s Nat?” 

“Right here маленький паук (little spider) . You want to go train?” Nat answers, walking out from a side hallway. 

“Gosh yes. I need to get rid of some stress.”

“And the best way to do that is by getting beat up by a master assassin?” Sam asks. 

“Shut up, Bird Brain, before I use you as a punching bag.”

Sam stops talking immediately and goes back to focusing on the screen where Clint has just taken first place. Peter smiles at Nat and throws his backpack to the side before going back into the elevator to go down to the training level. 

-time skip to them about to fight-

“You remember everything I told you last time?”

“Take every opportunity I can, go all out, no surrender till they surrender unless you have to surrender.”

She laughs, “basically. Alright let’s go.”

They circle each other at first, each waiting to see if the other will make the first move. Natasha, tired of waiting, quickly moves forward and throws the first punch. Of course, Peter’s spider sense tells him what to do and he moves to the side, avoiding the punch. 

Unfortunately for Peter, that’s what she was anticipating. She takes the chance to kick him in the ribs, hard. He kicks her in the stomach, knocking her to the floor and giving him a second to recover while planning his next move. She kicks her leg out and sweeps him off his feet, causing him to fall down too. She leans back on her hands and pushes up, he does the same. 

They meet up, going back and forth exchanging punch after punch. Finally, she goes in for the kill, kicking him back and flipping over to knock him down. Finally, she gets him on the ground and they fight there for a second. One has the other down for a few seconds before they manage to flip or fight their way out and pin the other. Finally, Natasha manages to pin Peter to the mat and where he can’t move at all. He taps the ground twice and she lets him go, standing up before helping him up. “That was good, you lasted longer than last time.”

“Yeah, but I still can’t beat you.”

“You also haven’t been trained in this stuff since you were young like me. You’ll get here some day.” “Yeah, when you’re 80 and retired. And even then I probably won’t. I’ll get beat up by an 80 year old woman.”

She chuckles and ruffles his hair. Suddenly, FRIDAY’s voice comes on from the ceiling, “Metal arm would like you to know that dinner is ready.”

“Alright, thanks FRIDAY. We’ll be up in a sec.” They quickly get their stuff together and head into the elevator to go up to dinner. 

-time skip to the middle of dinner brought to you by laziness ✌-

“So, Pete. is there anything that happened in school today that you want to tell us about…?” Wanda randomly asks in the middle of dinner, disrupting all current dinner talk so everyone could stare at Peter.

“I- uh… no?”

“You sure?” She holds up a piece of paper that Peter recognizes to be the permission slip. 

Shoot. “Uh… that’s, I don’t know what that is. I think that’s old from the last time.”

“What is, Peter. Wanda, what is it?” Steve asks, confused. 

“It seems like our little spider here is going on a field trip.”

“Oh that’s cool. Where to?”

“Nowhere important. They’re always boring so it won’t be fun…”

“What, you think the place you live is boring?”

“Wait… oh my freaking goodness. Ah, this is golden.” Bucky rambles, finally understanding what’s happening. 

“Wait, Peter. Are you coming here for the field trip?” Tony asks.

“You own the place, how could you not know?” Peter says. 

“I mean, I accepted a school to come here, I didn’t realize it was yours. I wasn’t really paying attention to it. But this is going to be awesome… we’re going to embarrass you so much.” “What! No. You can’t do that. Pepper… please. Stop them.”

“I’d try Peter but you know they don’t listen to me anymore. I’m sorry you’ll just have to try and survive.”

“Ughh… why me?” he groans. 

“You’ll be fine Peter. We’re just going to have a little fun.” 

Sweet dream

Oh my I haven’t uploaded anything in a long time. I wrote this piece some time ago and didn’t get to upload until now. Hope you guys enjoy!

Pairing: Peter Parker x avenger!reader Word count: 2.4k Warnings: none

MASTERLIST

You were on your bed scrolling through your phone on news articles about yourself and the rest of the Avengers when you heard a knock on the door. You slowly brought yourself up, frustrated to leave the very comfort of your bed. You opened the door when someone grabbed your face and abruptly pulled you in for a kiss. That person pushed you all the way to your bed and you fell on your bed when the back of your legs came in contact with the footboard. They raised a hand to your neck and pulled you in closer to deepen the already passionate kiss.

You slowly opened your eyes to see your desk on your left. You were holding your bolster close to you as you can’t fall asleep without hugging something. You sit up from your bed. Everything you thought happened turned out to be a dream. You grumble in your head, cursing the fact that all your good dreams always get stopped when the good parts happen.

“I want to go back to sleep.” You thought as you fell back onto your pillow and sighed. Who was that in your dream though? You didn’t even know if it was a man or a woman. All you knew is that whoever it was, they had soft lips. But then again, doesn’t everyone more or less have soft lips?

Somehow, you couldn’t forget about it. It just felt so real. You knew very well it wasn’t though. Heck, the person who kissed you in your dream may not even be real. But it’s you. Once you are curious about something, it just grows and grows until you find an answer. The answer may be within the Avengers because you don’t really hang out with other people outside of the Tower.

You stood up from your bed and walked to your desk. You flipped open your journal to an empty page. That journal was to record your weight training and diet but it’s not like you had any other notebook lying around. You wrote down all the Avengers’ names and thought carefully.

Tony Steve Bruce Natasha Clint Wanda Vision Thor Peter Bucky Sam

“ That’s a lot of lips to go through.” You thought as you bit the top of your pen. You wrote the number 3 next to the married; Tony, Clint, Wanda and Vision. And you wrote the number 2 next to the people who like other people; Bruce and Natasha and Peter. Your heart ached mildly as you wrote the ‘2’ next to Peter’s name. After the whole thing with Liz, you thought you had a chance but one day he told you about his feeling for MJ, one of his closest friends. You saw her and she was really pretty. A little rough around the edges but that didn’t hide the beauty you saw when Peter showed you her picture.

The numbers were to indicate who you would be watching or attempting first. Hence, the first would be Steve. He’s physically almost 20 years older than you, but that isn’t going to stop you.

You closed your book and left it in your room as you walked past the living room, to the kitchen. It was 7:35AM. Which meant Steve would be coming back from his run right about now. To your convenience, Steve walked through the back door of the kitchen and again, to your convenience, Bucky and Sam followed behind.

“ Looks like I’ll have to do it at the same time. Great.”

“ You’re up early.” Sam said as he sat next to you at the dining table.

“ I had a weird dream so I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep.” You shrugged. You looked to your side so you could get a good look at his face, but he wasn’t looking at you.

As Steve and Bucky made breakfast, you and Sam spoke back and forth, with you turning your body in his direction so you could get a good look of his lips.

“ No, it’s not Sam. It’s just not him.” You thought as Steve set a plate of pancakes in front you. As you muttered a ‘thanks’, your eyes followed him and Bucky. They sat right in front of you which made investigations so much easier.

“ I’m just saying, it’s my hair, my business. I don’t need anyone to tell me what to do with my hair. Right, Y/N?” Bucky said and turned to you, catching you looking at his lips.

“ What? Y-yeah.” You stuttered.  The guys looked at you weirdly.

“ Okay. We’ve known each other for years, so if there’s anything you would like to tell us, we’re all ears.” Steve said.

“ Yeah. There’s no judgement here. This is a safe space.” Sam said and waved his hand around the table to signify that it was, indeed, a safe space.

You looked at all of them and you sighed. “ Alright. I’ll spill but please… no judgement okay?”

“ We promise.” Bucky said and held your hand.

“ Okay so, I had a dream last night. That dream started out normal. Then the dream took a turn when… when someone, well, kissed me.” You said that last bit in a small voice.

“ What? Speak up Y/N.” Steve said as they all inched closer to you.

“ Kissed me! When someone kissed me.” You said and covered your face with your hands in embarrassment. “ And now, I’m trying to find out who did it.”

“ Wait that’s it? I thought it was something serious!” Sam exclaimed.

“ So you’ve been staring at our lips, because you think one of us kissed you in your dream? Are you even sure it was a real person?” Steve asked you.

“ No, but if it was, I want to find out who.” You said as you crossed your legs and leaned back in your seat. The guys looked at you with narrowed eyes. They must have thought you were a little crazy.

“ We’re almost physically 20 years older than you.” Bucky said as he points at himself and Steve. “ What were you going to do if it was one of us?”

“ I don’t know I didn’t think that far.” You said and shrugged.

“ Were you going to go after the rest too?” Steve asked.

“ Well, yeah. I made a list and you three were the first because you guys are single and not interested in anyone as far as I know.”

“ Thanks for the reminder Y/N. It hurts.” Sam said as he raises a hand to his heart.

You gave them a thumbs up in response. You stood up from your seat, turned around and you fell back in your seat because Peter was standing right behind you.

“ When the hell did you get here??” You asked Peter in an unexpectedly shrill voice.

“ Just. Did I scare you? Sounds like I did.” He said and laughed. He patted your head and walked to the fridge. You wrinkled your nose at his actions, but your facial expression softened as you kept watching him. He looked like how he did every time he woke up. Unkept curly hair, a plain t-shirt and checkered pyjama pants. Sam used his finger to push your head down and you were soon gazing at your empty plate.

“ Stop making it so obvious.” He said and took his finger off your head.

“ Thanks.” You muttered, with your head still faced downwards. Unbeknownst to you, Sam and Bucky were exchanging glances and nodding to each other, while looking at Peter.

“ Hey Spidey. Y/N had this bizarre dream last night and she wou-mmphm-“ It took you a while to process what was happening but when you did, your hand went flying over Sam’s mouth to stop him from saying anymore because it could potentially destroy your relationship with Peter and you really didn’t want that to happen.

“ She would like your input about it.” Bucky finished his sentence and your eyes widened in a mix of disbelief and anger. You couldn’t believe they were about to tell him. They knew how much you liked the boy and they tease you to no end.

“ Uh yeah sure.” Peter said as leaned over the counter, with a glass of apple juice in his hand.

You stood up straight, realising that it was better to not kick the guys’ asses because - rational thinking. “ They’re just saying nonsense. I don’t need help with anything. Really.” You said in your calmest voice. “ You can just go back to drinking your apple juice and I will be in my room. Bye!” You said and tried to retreat to your bedroom but was stopped when Bucky pulled you by the collar.

“ Hang out with us Y/N! And don’t you want to know about what your dream meant?” Bucky asked sarcastically and pushed me into my seat. You pursed your lips and closed you eyes hard in frustration. You looked at the guys’ faces. Steve looked like he didn’t want any part of it and Sam and Bucky looked like they were getting a real kick out of the situation.

“ Two can play at that game.” You thought and said, “ Well, I had a dream where I saw two people kissing. It was a pretty weird dream, so I got curious… I’m suspecting that it’s Sam and Bucky over here but I’m not sure.” You said innocently. You saw the look on their faces and it was priceless. Steve almost spit out his drink.

“ How- no! That is ridiculous!” Sam exclaimed and stood up. Bucky was too shocked to say anything.

“ It’s my dream and I know what I saw. Now I feel terrible for not giving you guys privacy. I’m pretty clueless, you should give me a signal next time.” You said and put a hand to your heart, being sympathetic. “ Now that I’ve got it sorted, I will go back to my room. Thank you so much for helping me figure it out. I support you guys.” You said and placed your hands together as if you will pray for their relationship. This time, you successfully made your exit, leaving Steve trying not to laugh, Bucky rubbing his face in frustration and Sam speechlessly fuming.  

Peter grinned amusingly at your actions. He’s seen Bucky act the way he did only a handful of times and only you could make Sam that ticked off. Peter put down his glass and walked to your room.

You heard a knock on your door after crossing out Steve, Bucky and Sam’s name. You walked to your room door, opened it and there Peter was.

“ Hey. Can I come in?” Peter sheepishly asked. You made way for him to enter your room and you closed the door.

“ You really did something to them, Y/N.” Peter said as he chuckles.

“ It was my pleasure.” You said and laughed, remembering what just happened. “ Because it really happened. In my dream.”

“ Really?”

“ Yeah, it really happened.” You reiterated.

“ You’re lying.” Peter said to me as he cocked his head to the side. “ I know you are.”

“ I’m not! Why would I lie?” You said and scoffed, trying to evade his suspicions. The phrase ‘oh shit’ ran through your mind repeatedly.    

“ Because you always narrow your eyes a little when you lie.”

“ I- I don’t narrow my eyes.”

“ You just did! You were narrowing your eyes a lot when talking about Sam and Bucky.” Peter said and imitated your so-called habit. You opened your mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

“ I'm sorry, I'm not here to convict you or anything. I was just curious what your dream was.” Peter said and rubbed his neck awkwardly. You narrowed your eyebrows at him in suspicion. Why does he want to know so badly?

“ Alright, if you're dying to know. Long story short, someone kissed me in my dream. That's it.” You said, leaving out the part where you were trying to find out who it was.

“ Do you know who?” He asked in a rather small voice.

“ What? No, I don’t. I’m a curious person but I’m not that curious.” You said as you laughed awkwardly. “ Why?” You asked with your head a little tilted to the right.

“ This may be a bit hard to explain. Okay, you know how if a girl gets kissed when she’s sleeping, she kind of feels it when she wakes up?” He asked you but you just look at him weirdly.

“ So you think someone kissed me? In my sleep?” You asked and he nodded.

“ If you just think about it… I’m here. Talking to you. About the kiss in your dream. And only someone who really likes you would do that in real life. Any guesses?” He asked. You put it together and ran a scenario in your head.

“ You! Wait did you actually??” You asked in pleasant shock. You were a teeny bit happy he actually did it because it mean he feels something. But a part of you was a teeny bit angry because he came into your room and kissed you while you were sleeping.

“ Your room door was slightly open and I wanted to close it but… I’m sorry. I’m a coward and thought this whole thing up so you would find out my feelings for you.” He said as he paced back and forth in nervousness. You stood there in silence. You really didn’t know what to say but something had to come out of your mouth.

“ I… I can’t tell if I’m mad or happy. I really like you, Peter. For God knows how long.” You confessed and you couldn’t help but smile as you did. He looked at you longingly and lunged at you, startling you to take a few steps back. His hands reached your cheek and neck and pulled you in, your lips meeting in the middle. You blinked a few times before closing your eyes, immersing yourself in the moment you’ve always wanted to happen. His hands snaked down to my waist, my hips and then further down…

“ Hey there. Going a little too fast, aren’t we?” You said as you pulled his arms back to your waist.

“ Sorry, I- I guess I was too eager.” He said and laughed guiltily. “ I’ve been wanting you for a long time.”  

You looked at him dreamily and said, “ Well, I guess we could compromise. How about we start tomorrow? Not too fast, but also to make up for lost time.”

He planted a quick kiss on your lips, “ Can’t wait for tomorrow.”

Hey, you know... if you ever wanted to write another Parkner glee au (bc i found the other two you wrote and I'm obsessed) I think the Bash episode in s5 would be pretty cool. If you can't swing it, that's fine. Just a suggestion but mostly good job I love what you've done with the others 💖💖💖

Glee AU #3 – Bash (S5 ep15)

{TW: Homophobia, Violence}

 Ever since they moved to Boston together, things had been relatively calm. There hadn’t been any conflicts between any of the roommates, no terrible injuries, no issues with moving out, they’d been happily enjoying the adult life.

Harley and Peter were going to MIT, MJ going to Harvard, and Ned at Tufts University.

They were living in a decently nice apartment not far from all three of their campuses, and close to where Betty, Ned’s girlfriend, was going, Yale.

It was theirs in a way that most things weren’t. They paid for it all on their own, and they were continuing to pay rent, pay their bills, and buy groceries all with their own hard-earned money.

For Harley, the best thing about the past couple months in Boston was Peter.

They’d been dating since Junior year and now they’re living together, sleeping in the same bed, going to school together, having date nights all the time.

At first, MJ had said, quiet and concerned, that she was worried this would be too much for their relationship. She’d always been observant, and it was true that they were used to a lot of time apart. Especially with Harley spending the summers in Tennessee and Peter spending most nights Spider-Manning, they’d never really spent this long together.

But their relationship flourished.

Instead of feeling claustrophobic in their relationship, they basked in the time they could spend together.

They had more arguments, but they had a lot more time to communicate their problems and work through them. They were good for each other in that way.

The peace they’d all been basking in made it so surprising when the first headline appeared before them.

A friend of a friend was in the hospital after being beaten up in an alleyway, left unconscious in the rain, simply for being gay.

Peter hadn’t been Spider-Man in months. After Mysterio the summer before and the additional stress of moving to Boston and MIT, he’d made a deal with May and Tony that he’d put Spider-Man on the backburner unless absolutely necessary.

Everybody had expected, sitting around their dining room table, newspaper laid out on the center of the table, that Peter would be swinging through the streets to bring justice.

Instead, Harley found Peter in their bed, blankets tugged over his head like he was hiding from the horrors of the world.

“You okay, darling?” Harley asks gently. He sits on the edge of the bed and waits patiently as Peter slowly pulls the blankets off his head.

“No,” he says, eyes wide and glossy. “I know Travis wasn’t the only one with that way of thinking, but I guess it felt like the world was righter after Travis had changed for the better.”

Harley silently curses himself. Of course a headline like that would bring back unwanted high school memories.

Travis Wright had bullied Peter for three years, even going as far as threatening to kill Peter after he’d kissed Peter. A year or so later, after Harley and Peter had met, Travis had found Peter again, had admitted to being gay himself, had been projecting his own internalized homophobia on Peter, and told Peter he was becoming a better person.

“I’m so sorry, honey,” Harley murmurs, tugging Peter into a hug. “I promise you, you’ll be okay. We’ll keep you safe. We can have MJ’s boyfriend bodyguard you or something. Or we could even call Happy, get a real bodyguard-”

“I’m Spider-Man, Harls, I’m my own protection. I just- I worry about you. I know you’ve always been the kind of guy to fight back and you’re strong, but these guys- they’re always stronger and I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

Harley smiles gently at his boyfriend, kissing his forehead. “Is this the perfect excuse for you to walk me to class in the morning? I wouldn’t mind riding the subway with you.”

It’s a silly kind of joke to be making in such a scary time, but Harley’s always been the kind of person to make badly timed jokes.

It does it’s job, though. Peter offers a watery smile and links their hands together.

Peter does end up walking Harley from class to class, even if it means being late for his own, and even if it means nearly losing his job when he’s late.

He’d do anything to keep Harley safe, that had never been a question.

Except for the small fact that Peter’s a busy guy. He’s always been the kind of person to fill his workload to the very brim, to never give himself even a second of spare time.

So he’s not too surprised when one of the days, he’s waiting just inside the autoshop he works at, waiting for Peter to show up, when MJ hops out of a taxi instead.

“Peter called,” she explains, looping their arms together to start their trek back to their apartment.

If anybody threatening shows up in their path, they can just pretend to be dating instead, so neither of them are very worried about anything happening. And either way, it’s only a fifteen minute walk back to the apartment.

“Did he get caught up?” Harley asks, not a hint of anger or disappointment in his voice.

“A coworker asked him to cover her shift because her sister got in an accident. You know how he is. He called me on his break, very flustered and asked if I could walk you home.”

Harley frowns. “I’m capable of taking care of myself.”

“He knows that,” she says, squeezing his arm. “He’s just protective and he worries about you, about all of us, really. He’s even had Ned being careful not to take any shady routes home after classes.”

They make it home without any problem, unsurprisingly. Ned’s sitting on their couch, video game controller in hand. Betty’s stretched across the cushions, head in her boyfriend’s lap. She’s staying the long weekend at their apartment.

Harley immediately makes his way to the kitchen to start making dinner, and he hears MJ talking to Betty and Ned in the living room.

Maybe that’s why, when the call comes, it’s such a surprise.

It’s supposed to be a domestic, sweet Friday night with the five of them, eating Harley’s homemade dinner and bickering about which movie to watch.

It’s supposed to be the kind of night where everyone turns in early from a long week of hard work, followed by a late Saturday morning breakfast of Peter’s wonderful pancakes and MJ’s expensive coffee.

It’s supposed to be followed by Saturday Dinner Potluck where Flash and Harry come to visit, and Gwen sometimes makes it out to join them, and everyone makes a bit of food to share.

That’s not how it goes.

*

It’s late and the four of them are half-asleep around the living room, not worried about their missing fifth member, unsure when he’ll make it back from his late shift.

Harley’s phone rings from the kitchen, just loud enough to heard over the Friends episode that plays on the TV, more background noise to their hushed conversations than anything.

Harley extracts himself from the couch, coaxing MJ’s legs out of his lap and Ned’s head from his shoulder, socked feet padding quietly across the hardwood to the kitchen.

“Hello?”

As soon as the news is delivered, he slips into one of the breakfast bar stools, heart pounding in his chest as he utters a quick goodbye, fingers moving to dial Harry.

Harry, living just a few hours away in his own house with his boyfriend, answers his ringing phone, assuming wrongly that it’ll be Harley confirming Saturday Potluck.

Flash stirs against his chest when Harry drops his phone in horror and surprise at the news.

Tony’s asleep when his phone rings.

Pepper and Morgan are sleeping on the couch next to him, the credits of a Disney movie rolling on the TV.

The news is told before he can even get out a greeting.

He wakes Pepper, tears already shining in his eyes.

May’s working a night shift when she gets the call. It’s late and the worry spikes faster than imaginable. She’s gotten too many late night calls from any of the kids to know what it means.

The news still makes tears spring to her eyes and her knees go weak.

Harley’s been pacing the waiting room for nearly two hours by the time Harry and Flash burst through the doors, faces echoing Harley’s panic.

“Is he okay? What happened?” Flash demands, hands trembling as he grabs Harry’s and squeezes tight.

Harley opens his mouth to explain the story he got from the man who talked to them earlier, but nothing comes out.

“There’s been a few attacks recently,” MJ says, materializing at his side, hand on his shoulder. “A group of people who aren’t happy with the positive changes with gay rights who’ve been targeting people. I guess… There was this guy, Charlie, who was getting attacked in an alleyway, and- you know Peter. He’s never been the kind of person to stand by while someone else is in trouble.”

“Is he going to be okay?” Harry asks, paling when Harley and MJ are quiet for too long.

Harley swallows thickly. “He should be. He’s got Spider-Man on his side, and Charlie called the cops as soon as he got away. But the group, one of them pulled a gun.”

The boyfriends sink into a set of chairs across from them, knuckles white where they hold hands.

“But is going to be okay?” Flash’s voice is shaking almost as badly as his hands. “This isn’t even close to the first time he’s been shot.”

Before Harley can give an answer, not that he can really think of anything good to say, a nurse comes out of Peter’s room.

“Parker family?”

They must look like a strange bunch. Harley, MJ, Betty, Ned, Harry, and Flash, but the nurse barely even blinks when they turn to her.

“Is he going to be okay?” Flash repeats.

The nurse smiles. Not one of those plain and sad, sympathetic smiles, the kind of smiles that Harley was given when he was told his dad was never coming back. The kind of smiles that he was given when the principal at his first school told him there was nothing he could do about cruel words.

It’s not that.

It’s a genuine, good news smile.

“Yeah, he’s going to be just fine. His body’s still working through the anesthetics from the surgery, but everything went well and he’s all patched up. You can go in to see him, but I’d recommend not crowding his room when he wakes up.”

All eyes immediately turn to Harley. He’s Peter’s boyfriend, he’s not exactly sure if that takes priority over best friends, but he understands that they’re giving him the opportunity to see Peter first and his heart warms.

He nods quickly, thanking the nurse as quick as his clumsy tongue will let him, and his shoulders finally relax.

“He’s in room 248 whenever you’re ready.”

The nurse smiles once more before she heads back down the hallway she came from.

“Are you sure?” Harley asks when the two couples sit down again.

MJ smiles, patting at his shoulder. “Go see him. Come get us when you’re ready to. We’ll all be okay waiting for a little while longer.”

That’s all the reassurance he needs before he hurries down the hallway, awkwardly trying not to sprint, but desperate to see his boyfriend as quickly as he can.

He barely manages to slow himself when he bursts into Peter’s hospital room, eyes wide and burning with tears.

This is the one downside with being in love with Peter Parker.

Having to get used to seeing his loved one in a hospital bed too often, even if it’s never for very long. With Peter’s enhanced healing, he’s never been in the hospital for more than a couple days, but it also makes him think he’s invincible and jump into fights without a second thought.

Even now, in a scenario where Peter was supposed to be walking home from a shift at work, where he was supposed to join them in their living room, maybe offer to crack open a bottle of wine for them, snuggle up against Harley’s side.

Even then, Peter ended up in the hospital.

How much is the world going to throw at him for simple existing? How unfair is the universe for throwing this at him too?

Harley finally moves, eyes unable to stop staring at the cuts and bruises that litter his love’s pale skin.

He carefully slides into the space next to Peter in the bed, tears burning at his eyes as he gently presses a kiss to Peter’s temple.

“Nothing’s going to harm you, not while I’m around,” he promises.

He presses his nose against Peter’s neck, tucking his head in the crook of Peter’s shoulder, and he tries not to make it too obvious when the tears fall.

*

Harley jerks awake when he feels a kiss to his cheek.

His eyes dart around the room, remembering where he is and why, and the pain sparks in his chest, nothing physical but something so deeply emotional because his Peter was hurt.

“Hi,” Peter says, squinting up at Harley. His cuts have mostly healed, red lines left in their wake. The bruises have gone from the scary hues of black and purple down to softer yellows and greens. He’s half-smiling but there’s something awfully wrong about it.

“Are you feeling okay?” Harley asks, immediately regretting the words. “I mean, obviously you’re not, but I just- I don’t know-”

Peter winces and he rests his mouth against Harley’s jaw for a long moment to compose himself.

Eventually, he sighs and says, “I’ve been shot before and this isn’t my first being beaten up, that’s for sure. It’s not even my first time being beaten up for being bisexual. That was pretty much my whole junior year.”

Harley nods silently, gently threading his fingers through Peter’s hair. They’re close enough together, squished up in the hospital bed, that Harley can see the flush of Peter’s cheeks and the tears that pool in his eyes.

“But this felt so different. Travis, at least he knew me, right? He was never going to kill me, despite the threats he made. He was just a scared kid, you know? Those people, they saw a guy with a rainbow pin on his bag, and they wanted to kill him. They saw me protecting him, and they wanted to kill me too. That’s not- That’s not right.”

“It’s not,” Harley agrees because he isn’t sure what else he’s supposed to say. “I know, but Charlie, the guy you saved, he gave a full statement to the police, and it should be enough to track those people down and have them arrested.”

Peter sniffles, chin wobbling. “I’ve just never been that scared before. I was so worried for you that I wasn’t even thinking about me when I was walking home that night. I thought- I guess I thought I’d be okay because I’m Spider-Man. But I wasn’t Spider-Man.”

“I’m so sorry,” Harley says. He kisses his boyfriend’s forehead, grabbing his hand and threading their fingers together. Peter’s knuckles are busted, blood still staining his fingers.

*

Peter’s released from the hospital that night.

He’s still weak and beyond tired, but he throws on a brave smile as Harley helps him up and into the sweatpants and t-shirt MJ brought for them.

Harley hails them a taxi and he never lets go of Peter’s hand for the whole trip home.

“You okay?” Harley asks for the thousandth time when they reach their apartment door.

“I love you,” Peter says instead, kissing Harley before he smiles. “I’m good, I’m alright.”

Harley opens the door and leads Peter into the apartment.

The dining room, kitchen, and living room are all filled with people.

May, Gwen, Tony, Pepper, and Morgan made the four hour road trip to Boston. Harry, Flash, and Betty are still hanging around. Ned and MJ are setting the dining room table. Abbie and Macy got the nearest flight from Tennessee.

There’s food laid out across the table and MJ spots them first, lighting up in a smile.

“Saturday Night Potluck,” she explains, jogging over to pull Peter into a tight hug. “Don’t you ever do that to me again, you hear me?”

“No promises,” Peter says, but he’s smiling brightly and he looks so much younger, worry lines smoothing out and the nicks and faded bruises look more like tricks of the light, not a traumatic experience painted so much deeper than his skin.

Tony’s there next, but he doesn’t take it as well. “Are you kidding me, Parker?”

Harley can tell the anger comes from the right place, and he rolls his eyes. “You couldn’t wait even one day to reprimand him?”

“Was I stupid to think you’d be safe here?” Tony demands, completely ignoring Harley. “Was it stupid of me to think that sending you off to University would mean you’d be safe? What were you thinking, Parker? What if they’d all had guns, huh? What if- They could’ve killed you.”

“I know.” The smile’s faded from his face and it makes Harley want to punch Tony. “But I’ve been dealing with these kinds of people for as long as I can remember. I’ve got my healing, Tony. I can’t just stand by when things like this happens.”

Tony’s expression crumples and he tugs Peter into his arms. “Please, for the sake of my old heart, please don’t do anything like that again. I can’t handle getting anymore calls like that, okay?”

Peter squeezes Tony, but doesn’t bother making that promise.

Everyone knows, all too well, that Peter’s guilt complex mixed with his heroic compassion, he’d never be able to give up helping people. It’s just what he does.

“Saturday Night Potluck!” Ned calls out, arms spread wide to show off the arrangement of too many lawn chairs around their much too small table, covered in different dishes and foods. “Come eat!”

Harley smiles and wraps an arm protectively around Peter’s waist to lead him to the table.

Life is about weighing the good with the bad, and Peter, despite having been through so much bad, still has plenty of good constantly surrounding him.

He has his strange, inexplicable family. He has Saturday Night Potlucks and Friday movie nights. He has this.

Harley squeezes his hand.

He’s still here, still standing, still going to view the world in the same optimistic, hopeful way that he always has despite everything that’s told him not to, still going to stand strong and brave, still going to stand up for what he believes in despite the consequences he might face, still going love because love is enough to conquer hate.

He’s still here.

Taglist: @littlemissagrafina  @spideygirl2003 @romeoandjulietyouwish @c-artara @shadedrose01 @likeaphoenix13 @pj-hermes-tonystark-obsessed @you-get-killed-walk-it-off @kitkatwinchester  @emo-girl10  

Say You Love Me | vi

pairings: Peter Parker x Reader (both are 18+)

chapter summary: Peter came to Paris to visit Reader

warnings: fluffs, language?, reader is having a hard time with her art, intsy teensy jealous!peter

author’s note: so sorry if its short and late!! i’ve been trying my best to weave the plotline gently. enjoy, though! happy reading! (taglists are still open)

series masterlist || previous part 

-

it has been a month since you moved to Paris. needless to say, there was a lot of stress-crying, the feeling of homesick, and just plain happiness. but as of lately, your mojo has been off. you scraped a lot of paintings of your own because it doesnt feel right

when you told your newly best friend about it, he would push you (in a good way) to get out of that zone. he would definitely try to take you out to get some fresh air but it always ended up with the two of you sitting on the couch watching Netflix.

you haven’t had an art block since forever so it was shocking when you found out the next day that you feel as if you can’t paint or draw right. you ended up accidentally throwing your paintbrushes on the floor out of frustration and that was when Jules came in to check on you.

“is everything alright?” he said soothingly. you looked at him with crystal eyes that could shatter any moment. you took a seat and sob quietly.

“I don’t understand,”

“You don’t understand what, Y/N?”

“Why am I suddenly like this? at the peak of my career?” you muffled through your hands. Jules took a seat beside you and rub circles on your back,

“Hey, don’t be too harsh on yourself. you know everyone loses their inspiration every once in a while right?”

“I know but not this long,”

“Don’t compare yourself to others, Y/N. You’re you and thats enough,”

you sighed trying to make sense of the world again. you moved your hands to breathe right again. “Come on,” Jules stood up “We’re going to get ready and really get you out of this house.”

you smiled to Jules and said okay.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

you were sitting on your vanity trying to clean up your face and make it less puffy and dead. your bedroom door were wide open when you heard a doorbell ring.

“Jules! will you get that?”

no answer

“Jules!”

and still no answer.

you groaned and pushed yourself to the door with the most annoyed face plastered on. you opened the door slightly, “Can I help you?” and that’s when you saw a brown hair boy on your porch.

“Peter?” you gasped, shocked that your crush friend is right in front of you.

“Is that really you?” you cupped his face

“The one and only!” Peter smiles

Peter opened his arms to celebrate you with a hug, you hugged him, inhaling the smell of his cologne that you will never get tired of.

“What are you doing here? Are you here with MJ?” you pulled back from him and took a good look of him

“Actually, I’m just here by my own,”

“Y/N? who’s at the door?” Jules voice becoming more and more clear as he walks to where you were at. “Jules, this is Peter! Peter, Jules,” you introduced them both.

Jules took his hand out wanting to shake Peter’s hands but Peter just wave it off leaving Jules hanging.

“I’m guessing you don’t want to go out anymore?”

“Do you mind?”

“Not at all, Y/N.” Jules said with a smile and just like that he went out to probably eat or something leaving you and Peter alone at the small house. You invited Peter in and showed him the couch.

“So you and that guy?” Peter says with a hint of jealousy in his voice. You chuckled, “Yeah, well, no,” Peter raised his eyebrows, “He’s just my roommate and co-worker,” you said explaining to him.

“That does not make any sense. How is that allowed?” he asked

“Its just the company that I’m working with thinks that it might good to have a co-worker who leaves in the same house to help with the project.”

Peter formed his mouth into an ‘o’ signalling that he understood.

“Are you here by yourself?”

“Yeah,”

“MJ is coming here too later today! maybe we should hang out?” you suggested

“About that... MJ is not coming,”

“Oh no! what happened?”

“Nothing happened! She was never coming here in the first place,”

you had a confused look on your face,

“so she doesn’t want to see me?” you said with sadness laced in your voice

“N-no! She lied! for me!” Peter tries to assure you,

“W-what?”

“Truth is, I missed you. I felt like I could go crazy if I have to go another month without seeing you,”

He took a deep breath

“So I made her lie to you that she’s coming here so that you won’t know that it was actually me. I want it to be a surprise, y’know?” he said in his Queens accent.

you were frozen to your seat. you felt so... full? is that even a right word– you missed Peter too but you didnt expect him to go this long just because of a silly reason. you punched him on his arm,

“Ouch! what was that for?!”

“for lying to me!”

“It was for a good reason!”

“Still!”

you put on your best mad face to make him feel intimidated and you can tell it was working when you made the one and only young Avenger avoiding an eye contact with you.

you burst out in laughter,

“what’s so funny?” he said offended,

“I’m just joking! I miss you so much, Peter!” you said and embraced him with a hug once more.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

the whole day was well spent with Peter. the two of you ordered a take out food for dinner. you were sat comfortably on your pale blue bedsheets while Peter is taking in the view of your bedroom.

“do you like that one, Parker?” you teased when uou saw he was staring at a naked figure that was a part of your anatomy self project.

he blushed and rubbed the back of his head.

“These are amazing, though,” he said staring at the wall that was half full with your artworks and stickers. you love that part of your room, if marrying a wall was the norm, you’d marry it in no time.

“Thank you, it’s not done yet,” you said looking at your laptop trying to find a movie for the both of you to watch

“Are you going to finish it?”

“I was going to finish it this week but everything feels like hell,”

“Whats wrong?” he asked while dipping into the bed with you

“I don’t know, I can’t paint right these days. whenever I do, I just ended up tossing them in there,” you pointed to the dustbin

“Sometimes I wish I could just drink something that would make me have my mojo back, y’know?”

Peter nodded

“But you have to understand, Y/N. These art blank are just gonna get worse if you keep forcing it,” he paused looking for the right word to say

“You have to stop overworking yourself because you’re not a robot,” he held your hands

you smiled at him, “It’s art block, Pete,”

“What?”

you chuckled and “It’s not art blank, it’s called art block,”

“Yeah, whatever, they’re the same thing,”

“Right, but thank you anyway. I really needed to hear that from the right person.” you laughed.

he took your laptop from your lap and put on the most basic film ever; Shrek. you raised your eyebrows at him but he ignored it and said it’s a good film.

slowly and surely, you felt your eyelids getting heavier as you lay your head on Peter’s chest. breathing steadily as he wraps his arm around you.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

you woke up with coldness next to you that was once filled with Peter’s warmth. you rubbed your eyes and figured that he went home early. you went to the kitchen to meet the sound of pans clanking and something smells good.

“Good morning, Jules,” you assumed

“Good morning, Y/N!”

you rubbed your eyes again to see if that was really Peter standing or if its just an hallucination and thank God it was real.

“What are you doing?”

“Making pancakes,” he said while flipping he pancake on the pan

“Burned pancakes?” you jokingly said but you were fully aware that he had made you your favourite comfort food; chocolate chips pancake.

“Ha ha, very funny.”

“I thought you went back to your hotel room,” you said pouring yourself an orange juice

“would you be upset that if I did?”

“maybe.” you smacked your lips.

you head to the breakfast table that has already been set with forks and knife.

“Good morning, y’all,” Jules said through a yawn

“Morning, Jules,” you respond

Peter just stood there infront of the stove, keeping his focus on the pancakes.

Jules made himself a cup of joe and went to sit down with you at the table. Peter turned off the stove and set the plate down in front of you. it was awfully nice at how he stacked three pancakes together with a berries that has been cut and has been carefully placed into a smiley face.

“Looks delicious, Pete,” you kissed his cheeks and smiled

“If you want there’s more at the counter, Jules,” Peter said trying to be on his best behaviour

“Nah, I’m all good. I’m on a diet,”

“Yeah, right,” you said as you sliced the pancakes

Jules rolled his eyes while Peter had a disgust face on. what? do you think you’re better than my pancakes? Peter thought to himself. Jules excused himself to his bedroom. Now, its only you and Peter.

“When are you going back home?” you asked with mouthful of pancakes

“the day after tomorrow. I have a lot of things I have to do,”

you frowned not wanting him to leave, almost regretting that you had asked him that

“Would you mind staying here?”

“You know I can’t do that,”

“No, I meant, stay here until its time for your flight to go back home,” you suggested

“Where will I sleep?”

“You can take the bed! i’ll take the couch!” you eagerly said trying to convinced him

“I can’t let you do that,”

“Oh,”

“I can’t let you sleep on that couch, I’ll take the couch,” he smiled

you quickly embraced him and pulled back, you had a huge smile on your face. you can’t wait to spend the rest of the next few days with your best friend.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

say you love me taglist

@imawkwardandhereweare @canyonmoonspidey @thebadassbitchqueen @thequeenreaders @averyfosterthoughts @a--1--1--3 @prkrholland

Sixteen Going On Seventeen

inspired by @starker-sorbet​        

moodboard by @von--gelmini​ aka @starker-stories 

A snugglefic for @mrstarksbabyy​

With great thanks for the betaread by @mrstarksbaby​

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At 13, Peter made friends with the Thing that Lived Under the Bed.  But things change.  Nothing stays the same (not even  2000 year old demons.)

SEVENTEEN 

Chapter 1         Sixteen Going On Seventeen

Summer.  Peter’s birthday was fast approaching and Peter, for the first time in his life, found out what “16 going on 17” meant.  He had never lied, never fibbed or fudged his age.  All of his friends did it, but Peter never could.  It was a simple matter of math.  And math was above lies.

But by the end of his sixteenth year, Peter felt he deserved to consider himself seventeen.

For the very first time Peter had a job.  Not a “around the house” job where he got a five dollar bill for doing an extra chore, but an actual 3-day-a-week job from 8 to 5 with Mike’s dad.  Mike was there too, along with a very sullen Matthew who didn’t seem to be getting paid.  Mr. DeSlaughter knew more about mice, snakes and insects than any science teacher Peter had ever met, and he gladly sat in the cab of Mr. DeSalughter’s pickup truck as they drove all over Devil’s Hollow and beyond on extermination jobs, asking endless questions.  Mr. DeSlaughter was the only adult Peter had ever met who never got tired of his questions.  The DeSlaughter boys rode in the pick-up truck bed.  As it turned out, they were not as interested in his profession.

There was only one other individual who never tired of Peter’s constant questions, and Peter missed him terribly.

But working, even part-time, cut seriously into Peter’s reading time.  He had launched into a massive project searching out the history of the Post Family for the second time.  Armed with a summer job and librarians who actually liked him, Peter set out to purchase books from catalogs to help him in his quest.  He had hoped to visit the museum that had books on the artists that had stayed in the Post Homestead art colony, but there was no money for a New York City trip this year.  

But he had finally achieved a coveted interview with Matthew’s Mee-maw, an absolute wellspring of local knowledge.

But finding time to read all his new-ly acquired books became a trial.  Every non-working day was a working day for Uncle Ben.  Neither Peter nor the DeSlaughter boys knew WHY Uncle Ben and Mr. DeSlaughter chose that summer to teach them to use chainsaws, but that was the summer they had to learn to use chainsaws.  They cut wood, repaired fences and embarked in a dozen fix-it projects around both their houses.  More than once they attempted to put up a decorative fence around the place they called “The Sunny Patch,” that Aunt May saw from her kitchen window.  But the posts kept sinking and falling askew.  Peter in particular enjoyed learning how to build and repair fences and dog houses.  He had plans for a rabbit hutch in mind.

He was also looking forward to being taught to catch snakes.  Mr. DeSlaughter was an excellent snake-catcher, and had owned several pet snakes as a teenager, which his parents forced him to keep in the garage..  Peter dreamed of turning one of the empty barns into a herpetarium full of terrariums full of snakes and other terrariums with the mice that they would eat.  Yes, he had to admit to Mr. DeSlaughter, he *might* have trouble feeding live mice to his pet snakes.  But privately he knew that Ben and May would never set foot in his herpetarium.  Would never know how many of his snakes he fed to Tony.

Of course, learning the delicate art of snake-catching was proving fruitless.  All the snakes of Devil’s Hollow fled from Peter Parker in terror with surprising regularity. 

In the evenings Peter ate large meals and bragged of aching muscles.  He should have used his evening hours to read.  After all, every evening was free (now that all the expensive channels were gone.)  But he didn’t read much in the evenings.  In the evenings, he was lonely for Tony.

But for the most part, he had very little to complain about.   It was the “broke summer,” but it was certainly one of the happiest.

Uncle Ben and Mr. DeSlaughter were good friends now, and talked almost every day.  Aunt May seemed to be on the phone constantly now.  Because she was now friends with Mrs. DeSlaughter it meant that she had other phone-friends as well.  This suited her just fine.  Saturdays were now spent with “a houseful of children” (which was to say, two children, Mike and Peter) and that also made her very happy.  They sat at the massive Post Family table eating pancakes and arguing about Saturday Morning Cartoons.  Peter’s birthday was held on the back porch of the DeSlaughter house.  For the first time since New York City, Peter had a crowd singing “Happy Birthday To You” as he blew out the candles.

He wished he could say Thank You to Tony.

                                    * * * *

The first day after his birthday, it rained.  That was probably why Peter dreamt of Castle Dracula.

He started out under the decrepit portcullis, facing the shadow-filled castle, just as he always, but did not head toward the rose-strewn bedroom.  It would be lonely there without Tony.  Instead he headed toward the open courtyard for some morose stargazing.  Instead of looking at stars he examined the structures, the walls and gateways, with interest, remembering what Tony had said about the monastery where he had lived, about the towers, gates and bridges his kind had helped build.

Peter had been thinking about medieval monasteries lately.  Due to his new-found popularity among the librarians he had managed to check out  a massive 400 page book called Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality which had many surprising things to say about life in those monasteries.   It was a very long read (and hid, out of necessity, with the cover downward and under two other books about medieval Christianity) and Peter was already saving up to buy his own copy.  Or at least pay off the fine when he didn’t return it in two weeks.  As he wandered around the crumbling garden walls he thought about the surprising things he had learned in the book.  They were eye-opening, but nothing contradicted what Tony had told him.  Peter had some very choice words he would like to have said to the monk who forced Tony to live in his cell and be his lover until the day a stronger magician sent him away.

He also had some specific ideas about Simeon the Elder, but they were different kinds of ideas.  He thought often about what Tony had meant by the game of the “shy novice” and the “art of touch.”  He was thinking over those ideas in the darkness when he was startled by the sound of footsteps in the dark courtyard behind him.

There was nothing particularly frightening about the shadowy figure with the pale face, except that he was here at all.  The castle was for Peter alone.  Peter and…

“Tony?“I thought you were asleep!” Peter cried out, smiling and scolding at the same time.

“You are asleep,” Tony replied with a wry grin.  He wagged his finger like a rebuking teacher.  “I am living under your bed, waiting for you to talk to me, but you do not talk to me.

“I was lying lonely on my pillow,” he said, wrapping his arms around Peter and kissing him back.  “…waiting mournfully for my Master Doctor, my library-pilgrim, but he has forsaken me.” 

“I didn’t think I’d see you until August.  Oh I missed you.  How are you here?” Peter asked, kissing his cheek over and over again.  Tony had grey in his finely trimmed beard, but no stubble on his cheeks.  His arms were not muscular, but they were strong.

“The rain, the black clouds, the thunder.  They make me strong,” he crooned, finally catching Peter’s mouth in a kiss.  “And my novice-magician has fed me from my witchesmark, and he makes me strong.

“Take me to your bed and feed me,” he whispered against Peter’s mouth.  “Make me stronger.” -----------------------------------------------

The Master Post (not that one, the other one)

as always please direct comments, questions and constructive crit to @witchwayisright

-----------------------------------------------

my bday special random head canons with peter!

hi it's my birthday!!! as promised i'm writing a bunch of headcanon requests and they will all be here in this chapter MWAH <3 yuh let's get into it

-so first off my fave request

-so ur an avenger on a mission in the snowy mountains

-you and peter are teamed up ofc

-being you, you decide to get way too into the battle and not care about your own well-being

-peters yelling at you like

-"YOU BETTER NOT GET HURT"

-and

-"IF U DIE I WILL KILL YOU"

-but he really does care about u and he's scared asf

-anyways so

-you get hurt

-basically some creature

-who the fuck knows

-launched you in the air and into the freezing snow and knocked you out

-peter couldn't find you and immediately got nervous

-he was able to track you down with stark's tech and dig you out of the snow where you were lowkey freezing to death ok

-he pulls you up into his arms and holds you tight and starts crying because he doesn't know if you'll make it

-he swings over to the cabin tony bought just for the mission

-because we all know tony is extra asf

-bruce checks you up to see if anything's broken

-it's not

-you most likely just have a concussion and knocked out for awhile

-peter carries you bridal style to the living room where the fire is blazing

-he sits on the couch with you in his lap

-you have layers of warm clothes on

-he strokes your hair and makes sure your head stays up comfortably

-he wanted to be there when you woke up duh

-and when you do wake up your really confused and have a headache

-but when you recognize peter you automatically feel safe :)

-and he's like crying again bc he's so glad you woke up but also mad at you for going crazy

-he'll squeeze your hand a lot and cup your cheek to make sure you're actually there

-and he'll say "you scared the crap out of me y/n. don't do that ever again. promise me?"

-you promise and just cuddle into his side

-he presses several kisses to your head

-and you him in response

-u two just hold each other so close

-babies!

-okay next one!!

-SECRET DATING AS AVENGERS

-i LOVE this

-AIGHT

-after meeting peter you ask HIM out and ofc he says yes

-you guys totally hit it off ok

-like theirs just natural chemistry between you guys

-there's so much flirting and you get to know each other while having a picnic on the rooftop garden

-MWAH LOVE

-he kisses you on the second date and you m e l t

-and gosh he's so pretty like hot damn

-from then on you guys become a couple

-secretly

-because we ALL know the avengers love to tease

-especially sam, bucky, and tony

-nat would be here for it tho let's be honest

-you go to her for boy advice and she's so chill and begs you to tell her who u like

-she probably knows it's peter tho bc she's smart

-ANYWAYS

-you have to try really hard to keep it a secret

-and that's not easy living with the avengers

-you find yourself holding hands and then tony will walk in whatever room to get you guys for a mission and you pull apart real quick

-another time you and peter were in the movie room

-CUDDLING

-like awe

-you were cuddling duh and just holding each other

-sharing kisses every now and then

-your head was on his shoulder and his arm was around you

-then bucky and sam walked in

-with popcorn tho

-and you and peter scooted away from each other real quick when he heard the door open

-sam would tease u guys anyway

-"what's up guys? confess your love yet?"

-and bucky would be like

-"pretty sure we heard you guys making out a second ago"

-they obviously didn't hear or see anything but like to tease the only teenagers who always flirted

-but OH GOSH

-ONE TIME

-it was late at night

-like LATE late

-peter snuck into ur room ofc

-and you guys were just sitting on your bed making out right

-hands in each other's hair

-lip biting

-all that good stuff

-and nat just barges on because she knows u never sleep and likes to just talk with you or play a game or watch a movie

-this time u forgot to lock the door

-and she screams

-you jump up off peters lap and shut the door after pulling her in

-"i knew it i knew it!"

-she's smiling though and laughing

-shes genuinely happy u two are together

-but peters all blushing

-and shy

-because you guys just got caught making out by an adult

-she'll ask you a bunch of questions too

-and ur like "nAt u cant tell aNyBoDy pLEaSe"

-she promises bc she knows it's not her place

-shes great at keeping secrets bc she's an ex assassin

-but she's very happy for u guys and tells u to always be safe and all

-then you and peter go back to making out hehe

-ok my fave requested this next one hi ily

-ALL NIGHTERS W PETER WOULD BE THE BEST

-LIKE LITERALLY

-also this is best friend peter who has feeling for you but doesn't want to admit it so ur just friends but he loves u and u secretly love him

-so this is still avenger!reader bc u guys know i'm a hoe for this shit

-"i mean i'm not a slut but who knows"

-so u guys have a lot of energy one day bc u got a day off from training since tony and steve were out all day

-u slept in that day and could NOT fall asleep the next night

-u and peter had been texting late at night

-it's like midnight i'll say

-and u tell him to meet you in the grand kitchen

-so u bring urself and a blanket and run down to the kitchen in your pyjamas

-shorts and one of peters tee shirts hehe it's summer and it's hot!

-peter walks in with a big smile on his face and just wearing some shorts

-that is all

-yes

-ok so you dig into the freezer and get ice cream out for u guys

-i cant have dairy ahahha rip

-off track but let's go

-peter gets the spoons and you don't even say a word bc this is just how it always goes

-you migrate toward the living room and flip down on the couch side by side

-he is very close to you

-bare arms touching

-PREMARITAL ARM TOUCHING???????

-sorry

-he just groans bc he's bored as he hands you a spoon

-u guys always talk and eat ice cream

-passing the tub around

-peter eventually says something dumb

-like u know when u pull all nighters w ur friends and it gets to that point of the night when someone says something really dumb or weird and everyone just loses it?

-this ALWAYS happens with you two

-he deadass says something like

-"i think we have the same size feet"

-and you start cackling bc what the fuck

-"y/n no hold up ur foot to mine"

-so u do bc why not

-u do not have the same size feet ❤️

-but wow how intimate

-jk

-but you honestly CANNOT with this boy

-so you flick a blob of ice cream at his nose

-and it just immediately drips down onto his chest bc he tries to look down at his nose

-so now there's ice cream on his bArE cHEsT

-like that's hot

-jk idk u decide

-and he is literally whining

-"y/nnnnnnn what the hell?"

-ur just laughing softly but admiring his toned abs and chest

-"want me to lick it off for you?"

-peter just freezes not believing the words that just came out of your mouth

-"uhhhhh"

-he's stuttering and mumbling and BLUSHING SO MUCH

-he don't know what to do

-you laugh and say "KIDDING"

-bc again u say weird shit in the middle of the night

-u get up and get a paper towel tho

-peter is still very flustered

-kinda wishing u did

-but you come back and lean a hand on his shoulder and start cleaning the ice cream off his chest for him

-and he's just looking up at you bc

-god ur so pretty and ur practically on top of him rn

-peter probably gets horny i'm the middle of the night too let's be honest here

-but after that moment where peter felt like he was the main character

-everything is fine now and you continue talking

-eventually u turn on a movie and lay your head in peters lap

-much to his surpRisE

-and just watch the movie together

-he like doesn't know where to put his hands

-so he just lays on over ur waist

-he cant stop staring at u bc omg ur laying on his lap and omg ur so pretty and ahhhh

-when u laugh it makes him tremble

-and when the sun starts coming up u guys make pancakes and like

-y'all still aren't tired

-and ofc u spend the day together then eventually crash on the couch on top of each other

-it's very cute and tony takes pictures

-okay now for my own lil idea

-PETER WOULD BE THE BEST PERSON ON UR BIRTHDAY

-like the amount of love he would show u

-immaculate

-so ofc he would sleep over the night before bc he's in love ok

-u guys watch movies and cuddle and kiss

-at midnight he throws confetti on you and blows a horn

-he says hbd like a million times

-and he gives you a long passionate kiss mwah

-cuddles cuddles cuddles

-u sleep in each other's arms

-peter wakes up early before you to make ur fave breakfast

-he's practiced cooking so it's perfect for ur special day

-he presents it all pretty too

-then he goes to wake you up

-because you always told him to wake you up when he gets up so you can spend time together

-ur like that

-and he loves it

-he wakes you up by pressing kisses all over your face

-and rubbing your arm and fixing your hair

-you wake up with a sleepy smile and he just melts he's in love

-you give him a big hug and kiss his cheek

-then he tells you about breakfast

-he helps you walk to the table while covering ur eyes bc SURPRISE

-peter's presentation is very much adequate

-he has little gift bags lined up for you

-and balloons

-and streamers

-he just wants to make you feel so special :,)

-ur so grateful for him

-you give him big hug and kiss again bc UR IN LOVE TOO

-you sit together and eat and peter makes you open his gifts

-he made some homemade gifts too because how heartfelt it that

-he gets you one really nice present

-and a bunch of little ones like snacks

-maybe an inside joke gift

-AND PROBABLY SPIDER-MAN UNDERWEAR AS A JOKE

-you guys just burst out laughing when you open it and it's so cute

-he's just admiring you

-you spend the day either going on walks

-having a nice date

-or just staying in together

-lots of cuddles again of course

-peter parker is a cuddler

-ALSO

-MAKING OUT

-a must

-like ugh i yearn for bday makeouts

-he takes care of u so well phew

-it's very intimate and hot and passionate let's be honest

-MJ AND NED BUST IN YOUR APARTMENT WHILE UR MAKING OUT ON THE COUCH

-ned just screams

-mj was like "really? y'all knew we were coming over"

-but she's soft for u

-gives u the best hug and tells u hbd

-you guys have a mario kart tournament bc that's really fun

-snack snacks snacks

-the four of you have cake and they make u so happy

-after ned and mj leave it's more peter time

-yum

-more making out

-maybe sumn else😳

-he treats u very good to say the least

-overall it's a lovely birthday and peter is the best ok

thank u guys so much for the birthday wishes <3 i seriously don't deserve you guys ur all so sweet!!! hope u enjoyed this lil hc special mwah!

Peter's 18th Birthday - The Letter

"Peter, wake up." May said softly waking her nephew up very early "Happy birthday love."

"Thank you aunt May" they both hugged for a while, and Peter looked at the clock on his desk "Whoa, 7 AM?"

"I'm sorry for waking you up too early but Pepper said to be at the lake house a bit before lunch. So get dressed and come eat breakfast, after that we're taking off"

He got out of bed and took a quick shower and did his morning routine. He got himself a jeans, white tshirt and a denim jacket, plus some really nice new sneakers his aunt gave him the other day. When he got to the kitchen, May had prepared a really nice breakfast for him, and was now doing some dishes. He smiled, thinking how lucky he is for having her in his life. Peter hugged her from behind, and she got really surprised.

"Peter, what is it about?"

"I love you, thank you for everything." They remained silent for a while, till she turned to him and smiled.

"I love you my boy, and you make me the proudest and the most scared aunt in whole universe." She gave him a forehead kiss and a ass smack "Now please eat your food cause we gotta go"

Peter ate his breakfast very quickily and they both were soon on the road, driving to the Stark's Lake House. It was Peter's 18th Birthday, and Pepper Potts-Stark wanted to throw him a party, saying that was what Tony would have wanted. Everyone was going to be there, some heroes and other people he had met after becoming Spider Man, some friends and the family he created for him along the years. So there they were, driving on the road, listening to May's favourite bands and singing along to every song playing. It took a while, but they got to the house and May parked her car right next to the Black Audi that they both knew that was Pepper's car. After they both out of the car, they could see the front door opening very fast and a little girl with a yellow dress and braided hair running towards Peter, and hugging him on the legs.

"Peter!" She said with a big smile on her face

"Hey Morgan!" He said getting her up on his arms.

"Happy birthday!" She gave him a cheek kiss and his smile went bigger than it already was.

"Thank you! You're soooo grown up, what have you been eating?"

"Burgers. Lots of them. Hey, will you play with me today?"

"As long as you want me to."

"Yey!" Morgan screamed with an excitement tone.

"Mo, leave Peter alone, it's his birthday" Peter got Morgan on the floor and looked at the blond woman in front of them

"It's okay Mrs Stark." He said

"I told you already to call me Pepper." She said with a big smile on her face

"I don't think that's going to happen, Mrs Stark" They approached each other and gave a big hug that lasted for almost two minutes.

"Happy Birthday Pete."

"Thank you, Pepper" he said emphasizing her name.

"Oh, hello May. How are you?"

"Hello Pepper, I'm fine, and you?"

"Everything's well. Please, let's go inside!"

The house was very pretty and clean. Pepper must have organized it before they got there. Even Morgan's toys were organized in a corner, and Peter could see her playing at the swing outside.

"Is anybody here yet?"

"Happy and Rhodey. And I think they are in the basement getting some beer. It will probabily take a while for people to get here. But I wanted you to get here early because there's something for you that I kept for so many years till this very moment."

"What is it?" Peter asked curiously.

"May, if you excuse us, I'll get Peter to Tony's office for some privacy" Pepper said holding Peter's hand.

"No problem, I'll play with little Morgan for a bit."

Pepper led him to Tony's office at the back of the house. Peter's heart was pounding, and he was feeling something strange, but he wasn't able to describe it. So when they got there, there was a letter on the table. Peter sat on his chair and Pepper standed next to the table.

"He wanted to give this to you on your 18th birthday, but since he's not here, I thought it was my job to give it to you."

Peter opened it and saw Tony's handwrite. "It's a letter?"

"It's a birthday letter. I'll give you some privacy, if you need me, I'll be in the kitchen."

Pepper left and Peter chilled on the chair and started to read the long letter.

"Hello kid,

It was supposed to be your 18th birthday today, but I guess you're not around anymore. I would have planned a lot for you today. A big barbecue, with all of your friends and family, anyone you would have wanted. You want Barack Obama on your birthday party? Done. You want the hottest girl in your school in your party, falling head over heels for you? I would have done that. See Peter, I would have done anything you wanted. If you wanted anything in the world, I would have given it to you.

I see much of myself in you, the smartness specially. But I also see a lonely boy, that never had much of a father figure. Both your dad and your uncle were gone too soon. May is amazing, but you never had that person for you to take an example of as a male figure. For some time I wanted to be that person. But after a time, I realized I wasn't good enough to make you stick around for that. I failed Parker. I failed you.

There's not one single day that I don't relive that scene in my head, your words, begging me not to die. I didn't know what to do, but try to make you as confident and comfortable as I could. That didn't work. That guilt consumed me in every single way it could. It's been 3 years since that day. 3 fucking years that I've been thinking and working my ass off to get you back.

Pepper made a cake today. She wanted to. It's chocolate, your favorite. It looked very delicious, but I didn't get to eat it that much. A little girl devoured it but I'll get to her. I visited your aunt May today, and she looks as bad as I do, maybe even worse. It's a very difficult day, for both of us, for everyone who knew you and sticked around in the world and you weren't there anymore. She made pancakes, and they were already cold when I got there, just like her coffee. She seemed very distracted today, and she wasn't much herself at that moment. As May said, she lost her boy, and everyday gets harder and harder for her to stick around to this big bad world. You could feel how lonely she is, and I wanted her to feel better, and she's staying at our house for the weekend. I was just having a talk with her, and she said even though it was hurting so much, she was very proud of her boy, deffending the universe till the very end. You used to worry her very much kid, but she loved you very much. And I have to agree with her. I never got the opportunity to say it to you in person, but I'm very proud of you Peter. I saw your potential as a hero, but I didn't realized you were going to be something else.

You're not only May's boy, you're mine too. You're my son, the one I always wanted to have, but never got the opportunity to have. You are the most amazing kid I've ever met, with the potential of millions of men. I wouldn't trade you for anything in the entire universe. You're my universe. And I am so sorry that I didn't got to say it to you personaly, but I love you Parker.

In those 3 years, I had Morgan. You would have loved her. She has her mother sweetness, and my inteligence. But something about her reminds me of you, maybe how kind and funny she is, just like you. And she would have loved you too. When I tell her stories about my friends, she always wants to listen to more Spider Mans stories. You're her favourite superhero.

If you come back one day, please be good. Be her big brother. Be happy with everyone that's close to you. Love May, love that weird girl you're always talking about and that other guy that you insisted me to give him a job, and please love life. It is the most precious thing. Love life and be good. Please, come back and finally turn 18. I need to know that you had a normal and happy life. Get wasted, get laid, do anything you want.

I love you, and we'll be a family when you get back and that big purple shithead is done and everything's over and fine.

Love,

Tony Stark"

Peter was crying a lot by the end of it. Tony didn't even got the chance to say that in person. He was gone for a long time now and Peter missed him so much. He was his dad figure, and will ever be, no matter where he was. He folded the letter and kept it in his pocket.

"Pete?" Little Morgan asked from the door and Peter rubbed his cheek to dry the tears that were falling.

"Hey Mo."

"Do you need a hug?" She asked very softly

"That would be great." She approached him and have him a big hug, where Peter started to cry even more. "I love you little girl."

"I love you Peter" She said and he made her sit on his lap

"Do you see me as your brother Morgan?"

"Of course! You're my big brother. Daddy used to say that all the time, and mommy still says it."

"But you realize that they are not my parents, right?"

"That doesn't mean you're not my real brother. It's real if you want to."

"So little and so much to teach me. Thank you for making me feel better."

"How old are you Pete?" She asked with a smile on her face.

"I'm 18 now"

"Still not too old to play catch. It's with you!" She said running out of the office and making Peter laugh

"I'm coming!" He screamed and looked at a picture of Tony with Morgan on the desk "Thank you Mr. Stark"

"Peter!" Morgan screamed from outside and he came to catch here with one of his webs. "That's not fair! No spider things!"

"Sorry, but it's with you." He started to run away from her.

Tony was gone, but the left the very best behind. Morgan was the most amazing girl in the world and he was very happy to have her, as much as he was happy for having everyone by his side. That day was special, since everyone he loves was there by his side. For a while he didn't have a big family, it was just him and May. But that was the biggest gift Tony could have given Peter that day. A beautiful loving and caring family. And he wouldn't trade it for the world.

Alter Ego. Ch.2 “Organorum”

Peter Parker x Reader, slow burn fic, Enhanced reader.

Word Count: 1,986

Warnings: PTSD, nightmares, police being assholes…

Summary: “When you can do the things that I can, but you don’t, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you.”

A/N: I’m sorry, it doesn’t get happier for a few chapters, but it’s gonna be worth it, I promise! Send an ask if you want to be added to the taglist :) xx

Chap. 1 “Cruciatu”, Chap. 3 “Ipsum Invenies”

The sun is in its highest point when you hear the sirens, but you didn’t move, you stayed laying there in the ground until the paramedic got close, you see his mouth moving, but you can’t make out any words, two more people come and they get you in a stretcher, suddenly you’re in an ambulance, but you stay still, you haven’t even bothered in moving your eyes, you’re staring at nothing, blank thoughts, going through everything you’ve lived and how it lead you to where you are right now.

You get to the hospital, they get you in clean clothes and set you in a bed, it’s the first time you feel a soft surface under your back, you fall asleep almost immediately, you hadn’t realized just how tired you are. The sleep is restless, you see images of everything you saw flashing behind your eyelids, you see the uber driver’s eyes, you feel his kicking in your body, you remember the metal bands in your wrists and ankles, the green syringe, the pain burning in your veins. You feel the water coming through your nose. All at once.

Someone grabs you by the shoulders, they hold you firmly while another set of hands find their way to your forearm, you fight against those hands. Then you finally open your eyes to see a doctor holding you along with two nurses trying to set an IV on you. You breathe in and calm down a little. It’s their job, they’re only trying to help, so you let them.

The sedative works fast, before you know it you’re fast asleep once again, but you don’t have nightmares. Now you’re remembering the smell of pancakes in a sunday morning back home, your mother caressing your hair in movie nights, your little brother cuddling with you in your bed while you tell him a bed time story, you remember the feeling of pressing the shutter of your camera, being happy with a photograph, you remember the laughing with your friends while you drink a beer or maybe two, you dream with all the good you have had and you rest.

“She slept all day yesterday and still hasn’t woken up, I’m worried because we haven’t been able to identify her yet.” The murmur of voices wakes you from your peaceful sleep, you open your eyes a little. A doctor and a policeman are standing in front of your bed, you open your eyes completely. You get worried now.

“Oh, you’re awake! Nice. Do you mind if we ask you some questions now?” the doctor asks you with caution, you only nod your head and adjust your position so you’re sitting on the bed. “Do you know what’s your name?”

“(Y/N) (Y/L/N)” You answer with a weak voice.

“It’s nice to meet you. Do you know where you are?”

“A hospital?”

“Yes. Do you know how you got here?”

You answer negatively with your head. “I remember…” Your voice dissapears as all the memories come flashing to your head once again. You go on to explaining what you had to live through, and you realize just how terribly it damaged you when you break down crying and are unable to tell the whole story.

The doctor asks a few more questions about the uber driver, all through the while the policeman stays quiet arms crossed over his chest and just nodding the head. But you stay crying, sobbing while trying to explain your rape experience. Losing it when you remember how he treated you as nothing more than a trash bag.

You don’t tell them about the injection. And they don’t ask you how you got to the lake.

“Look, little girl. I need you to tell me how the guy looked but if you can’t tell me that, then I can’t help you. And you need to present a formal accusation towards someone. If you cannot do that, then I’m just gonna have to assume you weren’t raped.” The policeman talks down to you, firm and condescending. Not even a shed of empathy in his voice. “Oh, and you need to call someone. I don’t think you can pay the medical bill on your own.” And with that, he left the room. The doctor looked as shocked as you were, but no one said anything.

Yo wanted to cry, but you couldn’t. A few days went by after your talk with the policeman and you still hadn’t called anyone, and the man never came back to ask any more questions. Were your parents even notified of your dissapearence? You know your roomate must know, because of the text, but does she know you’re okay? You drop the topic when you get a headache and decide to take a nap.

Eventually even the doctor and the nurses stop coming around you, they don’t even bother in changing your IV until you complain about it and just then you decide it’s time to call someone. But not your family, you don’t know why, but you don’t want to deal with them right now, so you call someone you know can handle the bill and won’t make any kind of questions. Your ex boyfriend.

“I need you to come pick me up. I’m in the hospital… And I also kinda need you to pay for it. I’ll pay you back when I can.”

“Of course, you don’t have to pay me anything. I’m on my way. Wanna tell me what happened?”

“I really don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Okay, that’s fine.”

“Thank you.”

Sebastian comes about an hour later, but they wouldn’t let you go until the next morning, considering it was late at night. You didn’t speak to anyone before leaving, not even the doctor. Not really, he just signed you off and let you go. When you get to your apartment you really don’t feel like you want to be there, not for now, but luckily Sebastian offers you to stay at his place, so you do.

You didn’t even let him sleep in the same space as you. You wanted the couch, but he insisted you’d stay in the bed and he took the couch, but still you couldn’t really sleep. You tossed and turned all night. It’s past 5am when you get up, you dress in the outfit Sebastian bought for you to leave the hospital and you get out of the room, he’s still asleep, lightly snoring from the couch. You go to the door and open it as silently as you possibly can and you’re met with the hallway. His apartment complex is way different than your own. His is more luxurious and to start with, it even has an elevator which made your runaway easier.

Once you’re outside, you walk. You’re not sure where you’re going, but you walk in a straight line, following the sidewalk until you find a bus stop, you then sit and stare at the cars passing by, and you think. You think about what you’ve left behind, you don’t think it’s possible to be who you were before the accident, but you ought to do something, you can’t hide for the rest of your life. Your thoughts are interrupted when you feel something. You look at the street and you notice the car that’s coming is not slowing down even though there’s a lady crossing the street.

You don’t know how, but next thing you know is that you’re holding the lady and you’re both safe in the sidewalk, you let her go, she’s looking at you confused, almost scared and she gives you a weak smile before she leaves you standing there alone. You look around frantically and start running back to Sebastian’s place.

“SEBASTIAN, SOMETHING IS VERY WRONG WITH ME!!” You hadn’t noticed, but you were crying.

“What? No, nothing is wrong with you, you’re fine. I’m here. I’m here.” He holds you and you cry in his arms, you try to make words, but it’s useless, you don’t even know how to explain everyhting that’s going on, you don’t know how you did what you did, but it’s true that you’ve been feeling different since you woke up in the hospital. The world looks different and maybe it’s not just scarring from the experiences you lived through, maybe something did happen and it made your senses shoot up a hundred times and it made the world look like it would through a wide range lense in a camera. But what?

“I wanna go home.” You tell Sebastian, he looks at you and nods, gets some clothes on, gets his keys ahd you get going. He also walks you to the door of your apartment and waits until your roomate’s opened the door to leave. When your roomie finally sees you she throws herself over you and starts crying.

“I thought you were dead! Why didn’t the police call? Your parents are worried sick!”

“You told my parents?!” you get a little annoyed at that.

“Of course I did, were you expecting me to not say anything?! You were gone for TWO WEEKS! And your phone was sending straight to voice mail and there were no signs of you still being alive on social media, so your parents called, what was I gonna say? That you were in the toilet and couldn’t come to the phone for two weeks?!” You walk in the apartment and you think.

You cannot find a good excuse to not call your parents, but what are you gonna tell them? What are they gonna think of you? At this point you’ve realized no authority in the government is making an effort to look for you or the person that did this to you. Everything would be way easier if you had died. Why didn’t you die in the lake? How were you able to undo the knots on the lake but couldn’t act when the driver abused you? Why were you not given any real treatment in the hospital? It was always sedatives and things to keep you hydrated. Why don’t you have any bruise or wound from the incidents you had? How were you able to do that thing to save the lady this morning, when she was fairly away from you, in front of a moving vehicle, while you were having an emotional crisis? Why does the world look different? Why can you hear your neighbors moving around in their apartment? Why did you feel the danger aproaching the lady?

But then efverything falls in place, as if you were playing Tetris all this time.

The green injection.

…

Peter keeps going back to the place where he found the body everyday after his night patrol, hoping to see a clue. He has the news of all over the world notifications on, he even gave explicit orders to KAREN of tracking any information that pops up on the topic, even Ned is doing some research about it, but no one has anything yet. Maybe Mr. Stark is right and he should just stay away, what can an 18 year old do about this? He can’t even find a lead clue.

A notification from his phone is sent directly to the AI of his suit while he shoots a spiderweb to a building to move around the city. “KAREN show me that, please.”

“With pleasure, Peter.” and a second later he’s seeing a news article that says: Dead body of a student is found. It shows signs of torture. “According to the article the biopsy showed some strange substances that burned all the blood from the body. Peter, this is one of the cases you’ve been looking for. Should I call Mr. Stark?”

“NO!” He rushed to reply. “I mean, no… let me check it out and see the circumstances and then I’ll give him a call, cool KAREN?”

“You’re the boss Pete.”

—

Taglist: @caeruleum-in-caritate-lupus, @softstarkk, @peterparkerbabyy, @dottirose, @legit-fandom-trash, @carostar2020, @appreciating-chase-brody

make your heart believe

DO NOT TAG AS SHIP

Tony Stark had never been this happy.

He had of course found happiness before, but it always seemed fleeting. As soon as he made something good for himself, the universe seemed determined to rip it away.

So, he’d pretty much decided to stop trying.

But now, he truly felt like nothing could ruin his mood. Thanos was gone, the universe was safe, and somehow, by some wonderful, incredibly miracle, everyone lived.

His original teammates—the first family he made for himself—were back and better than he ever thought they could be. In the wake of half the world disappearing, it had been the grief that brought them back together. He’d been scared that everything would dissipate once the Earth didn’t need them to be a team anymore, but it didn’t.

After New York, when they first came together, he’d finally felt like he found the people he needed. Now, when he looked back, that group might has well have been strangers. They had nothing on the closeness and actual love he felt for them now.

Even better, though, was the return of everyone who’d been dusted. Okay, mainly Peter. Having the kid back was the best thing in the universe.

After Titan, he’d been a wreck. Somehow, he’d been one of the seemingly lucky ones—not only was he himself still alive, but so were his best friends and his fiancée. Pepper, Happy, Rhodey—he was glad they’d made it, so, so glad, but it barely made a dent in the agonizing grief. Peter Parker had been snuffed out as if he weren’t the brightest soul in the universe, and it had been all his fault. Surviving didn’t seem so lucky.

Seeing Peter alive had done more to right his world than any of the rest of the universe rematerializing.

Goddamnit, Tony had never felt so whole.

Maybe that was why everyone finally felt like a family. Maybe, all along, he was just missing Peter.

The rest of the team had taken to Peter immediately. Of course they did, it was impossible not to love the kid. They’d already heard all about him while they were trying to save the world, but no way could Tony’s stories do the kid justice. And Peter was ecstatic being constantly bombarded by the Avengers, who all vied for his attention pretty much constantly.

He’d been spending more and more time at the compound with all of them. At first, Tony had been worried that May wouldn’t want to ever let the kid out of her sight, and he’d been scared he’d never get the chance to see Peter. But May had been surprisingly understanding of Tony and Peter’s need to find stability around each other. Both the kid and his aunt were welcome at the compound anytime, and to Tony’s relief, they actually took him up on the offer.

It was good. Tony needed the kid around. It proved that he wasn’t dust on a distant planet anymore, and Tony could handle anything as long as it meant Peter was alive.

Criminals, aliens, Barnes drinking the last of the coffee—none of it could faze him.

Peter was here and alive and Tony was happy.

Saturdays had become designated Peter and Tony days. They texted and video-chatted throughout the week, and he still came over on Fridays to work in the lab, but Saturdays were their days. Just the two of them, no Avengers, no work, no superheroing, just good, old-fashioned bonding.

They started out the day with pancakes, since they were easy enough that even Tony could make them, and Peter could experiment with whatever toppings and flavors he wanted, since the kid was going to eat like twenty of them anyways.

Tony ate his own normal-sized plate of pancakes while Peter chowed down on flavor combinations that shouldn’t work, but he seemed to be enjoying them.

“Thanks, Mr. Stark,” the kid said around a mouthful of food. “This is really good.” He swallowed and beamed over at Tony with a smile that could power a solar system. It had to be Tony’s favorite sight, and he made it his mission to make sure it never went away.

He and Peter liked to do mundane things together. Last week they played laser tag, the week before they watched all the Lord of the Rings movies in one sitting, the week before they played board games that Peter loved when he was younger. Today, they planned to work on Peter’s driving, grab some greasy diner food, and spend the evening relaxing in their blanket fort, Peter with a book his scary friend had recommended, Tony with one Peter had recommended.

It was perfectly domestic, and every moment made Tony feel more stable and relaxed than he had in a very long time.

And when Peter fell asleep sitting up, Tony didn’t even hesitate to scoop him up and carry him to bed, pulling off his shoes and tucking him in before placing a light kiss on his forehead.

“Night, kiddo. Love you.” It was so easy to say.

Tony fell asleep easily that night, not a single nightmare plaguing him.

“Boss,” came Friday’s voice, jolting Tony awake. “Mr. Parker appears to be having a nightmare and is in distress.”

Tony nodded, immediately jumping out of bed. The nightmares, thankfully, were less common than Tony had anticipated, but that didn’t mean they were nonexistent. Fortunately, Tony had learned fairly quickly how to calm his kid down.

When he got to Peter’s room, the kid was already awake, sitting up and clutching at his blankets with white knuckles as he hyperventilated.

Immediately, Tony moved to sit next to him, Peter automatically reaching up to allow himself to be tugged into Tony’s arms. They’re ability to comfort each other had become routine.

“It’s alright, Peter, it’s okay. You’re okay. You’re safe. He’s gone. You’re safe, okay? I promise.”

“I know, I know,” Peter sniffed into his shoulder. “Can you…” he trailed off, chewing on his lip.

“What is it, kid? What can I do?”

“Can you… Could you maybe tell me about it? When—when you won? I’ve—I’ve never heard the story.”

“Do you think it would help?” Normally, he would immediately indulge Peter in whatever he asked him to do, but for some reason, the idea of recounting the story of defeating Thanos made his chest feel hollow.

“I... I don’t know. Maybe?”

“I don’t know, kiddo. Maybe we should just talk about something else, to take your mind off of it.”

“Yeah, okay.” Peter smiled up at him weakly and blinked tears away from his eyes. “You’re right, Mr. Stark.”

“Of course I am,” he said, and it felt like a success when Peter let out a short, wet laugh.

It didn’t take long for Peter’s tears to dry and for the kid to fall back asleep. Record time, Tony was pretty sure. He was getting good at comforting his kid. Peter’s head was pillowed on his chest, so he knew there was no way he was moving tonight, partly so he wouldn’t disturb his sleep, partly because having Peter there meant he was real and alive—and that was Tony’s favorite thing in the world.

But something still bugged him. It twisted in his stomach and spread unease through his limbs, until his comfort melted away and was replaced by a sense of source-less discomfort.

He should have been able to tell him. He should have been able to tell Peter about how he would do anything to bring him back from the dead. He should have been able to tell him how they defeated Peter’s nightmare.

So, what was the problem?

Tony lay in bed, Peter sleeping tucked into his side, staring at the ceiling, and trying to come up with an answer.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized—

He didn’t actually know how it happened.

It should be one of his best memories—the moment that grape-flavored bastard got what was coming to him—but he couldn’t find it. He didn’t even know who delivered the final blow or wielded the gauntlet and stitched the universe back together.

Those parts of his memory were made of static, nothing but buzzing, grey white-noise.

He looked down at Peter’s sleeping form, watching his chest rise and fall. Somehow, it didn’t matter that he couldn’t remember. Peter was here, and he was happy and that’s all that mattered. He deserved to happy for once. It had been a long time coming.

He ruffled Peter’s curls gently, relishing the way the kid smiled at the touch, even in his sleep.

But then he blinked, and for a split second everything seemed… off.

Like looking at a 3-D movie screen without the glasses, everything tinged with ghostly red echoes. He didn’t feel connected to the floor, to the bed, to Peter.

Then the world went back to normal. Peter sniffed in his sleep, nose crinkling up the way Tony always thought made him look like an adorable sleeping puppy.

He was so, so tempted to pretend nothing had happened, that it had just been a trick of the light and his tired mind.

But Tony Stark was never one to turn his back when something was wrong. He had to understand. Ignorance, he had learned, was not bliss but death and destruction. Peter, Pepper, all his teammates and friends—he couldn’t ignore it if there were even a chance that they were in danger.

Thanos. What had happened to him? What had happened to the gauntlet? To the infinity stones?

He… he couldn’t remember. He should remember. He should know.

He blinked and the red was back. He couldn’t feel Peter’s curls under his fingers. He couldn’t feel anything. A ringing in his ears grew louder and louder, shrill and deafening. He winced, plugging his ears but it didn’t do a thing.

Just when he thought it was certainly loud enough to rupture an eardrum, it stopped.

Tony lurched, falling hard backwards onto the hard ground.

Ground, not bed. He reached out, but Peter wasn’t there. The weight at his side was gone, the emptiness constricting at his chest.

When he opened his eyes, it wasn’t Peter’s ceiling he was looking at, but sky, orange and endless. Familiar red dust surrounded him. He could feel the soft grains under his fingers as he sat up, burning at his skin.

Peter was gone. Peter… had never been back.

His friends, the few surviving Avengers, were slumped on the ground surrounding him. He rolled Steve over, sucking in a sharp breath when he saw the other man’s eyes half-lidded and glowing red.

The others were the same. Rhodey, Natasha, Bruce, Thor, Clint—they were all trapped in whatever dreamworld they’d been stuck in.

The red… The reality stone.

None of it had been real. Months spent being happy and… and having Peter back… none of it was real.

No no no no no no

It… no…

Peter was dead. He was still dead. Tony had failed him, and what’s worse, he actually wished he hadn’t woken up. It wasn’t fair to the real Peter, who was still dead and gone, but he was tired, and all his grief was rushing back, even worse. He felt like he was drowning. Maybe, maybe if he closed his eyes he could go back.

But the stone wasn’t here. He’d broken out of its hold and there was no going back. He was awake now.

He was the survivor again.

Tony Stark had never felt this alone.

I Look Spooky but I'm Really Nice; the Saga Continues (Vatya/Sashea)

AN: Thank you to @mistressaq for Betaing my smut, this is the first and probably the last smut I’ll write as it took me forever and isn’t even good so I do apologize for that! This ace mermaid just isn’t made to write smut but I have a HUGE amount of respect and admiration for those that do!   Thank you to @artificialeevee for being my cheerleader and making me laugh and reminding me that my story could always be worse. Lol!   If you want to read part one, which I suggest, you can find it here 

Возлюбленная (Vozlyublennaya) means Sweetheart.

The Saga Continues Part I I gripped my phone so hard in my shaking hand that my knuckles were completely white. I broke out in a cold sweat, shivering and pulling the blanket tighter around me. I was terrified and then I got pissed. This had to be a joke. I jabbed in a response so viciously that I split my thumb nail. “FUCK!” At least it was the same one from last night. Me - Ok who is this? Pearl or Aja if this is one of you two…Keep in mind, I may be in a wheelchair but I can still kick your mother fucking ass! Unknown caller: living impaired 3a Living impaired? What the fuck did that mean? My head felt like it was going to split open as I tried to find deeper meaning in the cryptic text. I pulled myself onto my side and propped myself up on one elbow and rubbed my forehead. I grabbed the bottle of pain meds and shook out another one, it would make me foggy as hell but being unconscious seemed like a good option. My hands were shaking so badly I think I got more water on my bed than in my mouth but I managed to get enough to swallow the damn pill. A memory from last night floated into my head as I flopped back down. Didn’t I say something like “Listen Mr or Miss or whatever the gender neutral term is, listen ghost or spirit or living impaired, whatever you call yourself.” while I was freaking out and pacing circles across my floor? Didn’t see say she was stronger after 3. I might not need the ice by the time Katya got back, I felt like my blood had turned to ice. I bolted upright with a little panicked moan as I burst into terrified tears, throwing my phone across my bed like it would burn me if I held it a second longer, I was  breathing in tight little gasps of air, my heart thundering in my chest. I needed to get out of here. The adrenaline rush I was experiencing in my panic made me careless as I frantically struggled out of the tangle of blankets and flipped myself into my chair. I pushed forward and heard a crunch. “Fuck!” My foot must have fallen off the footplate or it wasn’t on there right to begin with and I had jammed my foot between my chair and my bed. It didn’t matter, I’m sure it was fine. I pulled it back up and zoomed towards the door, opening it so hard I had to catch it so it didn’t smack me in the side of the head. I turned in my chair reached my hand out to snag my purse while I kept wheeling with the other hand. I was trying to stop hyperventilating but I was panicked with that totally unrealistic sense of impending doom like you get when you’re a kid and your cousin dares you to stay in the supposedly haunted closet at your Grandma’s house for a whole minute that feels like 5 years. I was barrelling through the doorway, not watching where I was going when I collided with another person. “Ohmigosh, I’m so sorry!!” my hands shot out as I steadied the petite, bald girl  who was carrying an armload of books, some of which toppled to the ground. “I’m so sorry! Are you ok? I don’t think we’ve met yet. I’m Violet.” My manners took over but I reddened, realizing too late that I was a tear streaked hot mess in a zebra onesie who just almost killed someone in a panic to evade a fucking ghost. A shiver passed down my spine at the thought of the girl in the mirror. What had happened to her? Was she stuck in the mirror. Maybe she needed help or me to avenge her death like the cheesy episodes of the Ghost Whisperer with SJP. I wouldn’t mind being Sarah Jessica Parker but I wasn’t too keen on the ghost part of the situation. “Hey? Hello?” The person said, waving a hand in front of my face. I totally somehow missed that she had sat down cross-legged on the floor beside her mess of books. This way she wasn’t towering over me either, one of her hands resting on my knee which they removed quickly like she’d touched her hand to a flame. “Are you feeling ok? I only ask because you’ve kind of been staring into space for the past minute or two. I was trying to get your attention but I put my hand on your knee and it just occured to me that maybe you couldn’t feel that.” She babbled. “Could you? Oh wait, don’t answer that! that was an awfully personal question.” She smacked her open palm on her bald head with a THWAP! so loud that it made me jump. She muttered to herself, “God Sashinka, why must you be so awkward?” “No it’s ok, I mean I can’t but it’s ok, what I mean to say is that it’s ok to ask. If you want to, I mean if you have questions.” I babbled back like babbling was contagious then we looked at each other and both let out nervous little giggles. I took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly, “ok let’s start over and pretend I didn’t almost kill you.” I thrust my hand out, “hi, I’m Violet. Are you ok?” “Good idea! I’m totally fine! My name is Sashinka Velurovna but everyone just calls me Sasha Velour because that is too much of a mouthful for most.” She shook my hand with her delicate one and I noticed the paint flecks that spread halfway up her arms. “Hey, are you Russian by any chance? Are you in the art program?” “Yes to both? I mean my name kind of gives the first one away but how did you guess the art part?” “The paint gives that part away,” I smiled and pointed at the well manicured hand I was still holding before I let it go. “Oh yeah!” She smacked her hand on her head again. “Do you make a habit of hitting yourself over the head often Sashinka? You’re going to leave a mark!” “I do, my girlfriend always teases me about it! She says if I had hair, I’d pull it out with the amount of times I smack or rub my head in a day!” She turned serious as she checked her watch and once again smacked herself, albeit much gentler, “oh shit! My girlfriend! Let me just send her a text.” “Oh I don’t want to hold you up,” I backed up so I was halfway in my doorway again, I felt myself lean forward automatically so at least my body was still outside of my room. “There done!” She said triumphantly, putting her phone back in the pocket of her long flowing palazzo pants in a loud geometric print full of hues of red, rose, orange and yellow. If it were on anyone else, it would look hideous but on her spritely little frame, it seemed perfect somehow, paired with a simple red leather or pleather crop top. Oh shit, she was looking at me as I studied her, a small smile lifted one corner of her mouth. I felt my face flush as she turned serious. “So you looked pretty upset when we met.” “When I almost ran you over and made you a Sashinka pancake, you mean?” She threw her head back and laughed. “Yeah that. What happened? What can I do to help? You looked terrified! It’s nice to see some colour back in your beautiful face because you were white as a ghost when you came out of your room looking like some ax murderer was chasing after you.” I flinched at the word ghost and she peered past me into my room. She mouthed, brow furrowing, “is there someone in there? Are you safe?” “No there is no one in there.” right now anyway, I thought to myself and shifted my gaze from her concerned face. She looked up at my door and tsked. “Ahh I get it.” “Huh? What do you get?” “You’re in room 121. The mirror. I get why you are so freaked out.” My chin flopped open and I tried to think of a way to explain I wasn’t fleeing from text messages from a ghost. I sputtered and opened and closed my mouth a few times but no words would come out. “It’s ok, I don’t think you’re crazy! I believe in that stuff. I could bring my ouija board over if you want to borrow it, I’ve heard that she will talk with you.” “But…” I started but I saw Katya rounding the corner with her arms laden with food and 2 bags of ice. Sasha’s back was to her so I saw her first, then Sasha turned her head to see what I was looking at, in case maybe it was the ghost. Katya’s eyes went wide and she stared at Sasha as if they might be a ghost themselves. I thought she was going to drop everything in her hands so I grabbed the bags and food and put them on my lap. She looked down at Sasha in wonder. “Sashinka? Es that you?” A look of recognition flickered across her face and then Sasha’s smile was radiant as the sun as she jumped up like she was spring loaded and pulled Katya into a bear hug. They jumped up and down on the spot screaming and started talking in rapid-fire Russian, Sasha had very little accent when speaking English so I had just assumed that their family line was Russian and thus she was named the way she was. I was wrong. Katya holding her out at arm’s length and then pulling her in again. Happy tears streaming down both of their faces. I just sat and watched this happy reunion. After a few minutes of talking over each other, they both turned towards me smiling. “Why do I have the feeling you two know each other?” I asked sarcastically and couldn’t resist adding, “and that you were just talking about me.” They both laughed, they still had their arms around each other and were squished together like they were trying to meld into one person. I’m glad I wasn’t the jealous type…well much. When Katya spoke, she was breathless with glee, “dis es my friend Sashinka! Sasha’s family fleed away from Russia in night and ve never got to say goodbye and ve couldn’t write because the politsiya vanted to hurt Sashinka’s father who spoke out against government. I voke up one mornink and my best friend vas gone, vanished. Oh Sasha,” Katya pulled Sasha in again as she sobbed into their shoulder. “I never thought I vould see you again!” Sasha smiled through her own tears and corrected Katya, “your English is really good! I think you knew 20 words when we parted. Oh and the word is fled not fleed and they say Police here.” Katya nodded and muttered “fled, police, ok I got it! Thank you! I understand better than speak it! You almost haf no accent Sashinka! You haf been here in USA whole time? Are you steel in gymnastics?” Sasha’s face fell, when she spoke next I did pick up a faint Russian accent that had gotten a bit stronger, “No, I am not in gymnastics, I still practice but I wasn’t able to enroll anywhere because they were looking for us and we didn’t want me to be registered anywhere. We had friends who owned a gym and would let me practice there and my father continued to train me. I was homeschooled for the first 4 years after we moved, a lovely lady would come to our house and teach me english. My family was so scared. We moved to Canada! But we moved often, we would always keep in touch with the Russian communities in major cities and then it could make it easier to move. Father was so well known and respected but occasionally we would pick up and move if he thought bad people were getting close to catching us. I’ve not been able to say goodbye to a great many friends until we were able to use the internet. I looked for you! I swear I did! I watched you at World’s in the basement of a friends house but I couldn’t say that I knew you, I didn’t want to put you or your Mother in any danger. How is your Mama?” “She es better than she vas, still sick but ok!” Katya said excitedly, Katya rarely spoke about her Mother but I did know she had been sick a lot when Katya was growing up and Katya spent a lot of time going between the gym and caring for her mother. The pressure for her to win competitions to get the prize money as the sole bread winner of her house must have been an enormous weight to bear. She also was home schooled but mostly did it all herself online, that is why her english wasn’t as good as it could have been. She understood more than she spoke because she used to watch old english movies and shows her family had on VHS. I remembered nights of us snuggled up together watching Little House on the Prairie reruns and cracking jokes til our sides hurt. “I’m so glad that Violet and I met! I mean, I would have seen you eventually Yekaterina but the school is very big and it could have taken MONTHS to spot each other! Providence came in the form of a crying panicked girl barrelling out of her room at top speed. I have to go meet my girlfriend but if you could put your numbers in my phone, I’d love to catch up! Violet, I would love getting to better know you as well!” Sasha said as we passed our phones around so Sasha could put her number in. Once Katya put her’s in and handed me Sasha’s phone to do the same, she crouched down and picked up Sasha’s books for her, straightening them out. When we exchanged glances, she looked at me with worry clouding her eyes over for a moment. I smiled at her, hoping it might help. I think it did. Well I hope anyway! Cell phone numbers exchanged, Sasha surprised me by pulling me into a hug. “Thank you for making it possible for Yekaterina and I to reconnect. I can’t wait to tell my girlfriend!” Then she whispered, “if you want my ouija board, let me know. I can even come and show you how to use it since it’s not something you can use with one person.” “I’ll uh…think about it. Thanks.” Sasha swished away and Katya turned to me, her face still radiant with joy, the smile slid off her face when she looked at me. “Vait! Did Sasha say you vere upset? Vhy are you in hall in your Pyjama’s? I mean you look cute but vhat happened?” “I pretty much almost ran over her, I’m ok now. It’s nothing! Don’t worry my dear, I’m fine!” We were still both in the hallway. She leant over and gave me a kiss on my head. She still looked worried but I hoped she would drop it. “Should ve go back in room now? You look pale, are you sure you don’t need Doctor? Or Max?” She gently tucked a loose tendril of my hair behind my ear and studied my face. Going to the Dr or to Max’ office would mean I wouldn’t have to go back into my room. I chewed my bottom lip while I thought. “Violet?” Katya kneeled so her worried face was in front of me, her hands grabbed mine in my lap, “just tell me vhat happened? Please?” I sighed, wondering how I could bullshit myself out of this one. I looked down, I didn’t want Katya to laugh at me but I knew she was going to be persistent until I told her SOMETHING. I didn’t know if she would believe me. I couldn’t bear her thinking I was crazy. She cupped my face and made me look at her. “Tell me. Ve keep no secrets remember?” Shit, she had me there. We had poured our hearts out to each other on facetime while Katya was still in Russia. We both carried the heavy weight of many secrets and swore we would never keep anything from each other. That we both had one person who was safe to say anything to. I sighed and covered my face with my hands, peeking through my fingers at Katya like I was watching a cheesy slasher film, “but you are going to think I’m crazy though.” “You? Crazy? No!” She joked, pulling my hands away. “I feel like you don’t vant to go into your room, do you vant me to get you some clothes?” I nodded and added meekly, “and my cell phone please? It’s on my bed.” “Da, I vill be right back.” She caressed my shoulder comfortingly on her way past me. I took a deep breath and let it out. Katya returned momentarily with my backpack, handing me my phone and looping my bag on the back of my chair, she gathered up the bags on my lap. “I got you a pair of yoga pants, underthings, T-shirt, hoody because ve are just going to relax in my room today. Soon ve vill be starting our classes and you vill need to gather your strength after that nasty fall. I also got some things from bathroom and your medicine in case your head still hurts. You look like you need a nap Возлюбленная.” She was right, like I expected, taking extra meds was making my eyes droop. “Come. Do you vant me to push you?” I knew that if I said yes, that Katya would know how dizzy and tired I truly was. I HATED being pushed around. I was almost violently independent, when I was first injured I would snap at people who would try to help me up ramps but it was mostly because people wouldn’t ask, they would just grab my chair and steer me around while talking to me as if I was five years old. “Nope I’m ok.” “Ok, as long as you are sure. Come on.” Katya led the way to the elevator and up to her room on the Third floor and let us into her room. She stepped back and waved me in. Her roommate hadn’t arrived yet and all we knew was that her name was Trixie, what kind of name was Trixie? Hopefully she wasn’t a nightmare at least! For my Katya’s sake, she already had enough high maintenance in her life with me in it! “Ok, bed you! Do not pass go, do not collect 200$. ”I giggled, Katya was seriously obsessed with Monopoly. That’s why the board game cafe event today would have been perfect but I had fucked that plan up. Katya put the food in her tiny little fridge and surprised me by picking me up bridal style. I let out a surprised giggle. “Sorry, no grip bars in here, you just have a Katya in here.” I let myself relax in her arms, almost melting into her. “Fine by me. I like having a Katya.” I gushed sweetly, letting out a contented little sigh as she plopped me onto her bed. She went to move away and I grabbed her wrist, “would you lay down with me?” “Da, on two conditions.” She squared a look at me. “Anything.” I didn’t want to sleep alone in case I had nightmares. “That you will tell me vhat happened vhen ve vake up,” she grinned devilishly, “and I get to be the big fork.” I laughed, “I think you mean spoon although forking sounds like fun too.” I waggled my brows as we burst out laughing, then I let out a giant yawn. Well damn. “Let’s talk about forking later.” Katya reached over and pulled a drawer open, tugging out the first T-shirt she could find, wrapping the knotted plastic bag of ice into it. I curled up on my side as Katya climbed over me, hovering over me with an arm holding herself up over my body so she could cup my face and give me a deep, lingering kiss. I wrapped my arms around her neck and pulled my fingers through her silky, flaxen hair. When we pulled apart, we were both out of breath and I let out a plaintive little noise from the back of my throat. “Are you sure we can’t renegotiate the forking?” I whined as she climbed over me. I felt the vibration of her chuckle as she laid behind me, her breasts smushed against my back as she put the ice against the top of my head and pulled her thick duvet over us. Then she nibbled at the back of my neck while I squirmed. She scraped her teeth against me as she sucked small patches of skin low at the base of my neck, swirling her magical tongue along them. “You’re such a fucking tease woman.” I leaned back into her as she wrapped her arm protectively around me and pulled me even closer. I stifled a yawn but she saw or felt it. “Shhhh, go to sleep.” She reached up and pulled my hair elastic out so she could bury her face in my hair, inhaling deeply as she slowly ran her fingers through my freed locks. She softly exhaled a sigh by my ear, The bitch knew exactly how to get me, I stopped fighting and gave in to sleep, letting out a deep sigh of my own. I woke up and blinked blearily at the clock and was just about to close my eyes, just five more minutes, when I heard someone clear their throat. My eyes snapped open to be assaulted by pink. A girl with big, poofy light blonde hair was standing hesitantly in the doorway, shuffling from foot to foot, blushing and looking like she’d been caught in the act of doing something indecent. She was dressed in a short gossamer pink shift dress that almost looked like a nightgown with pink platform MaryJane shoes and a big pink bow headband. She looked like she had the whole makeup aisle from Sephora on her face. She was carrying an honest to God Barbie cosmetic train case and pulling two big Hello Kitty suitcases. “Hey, you must be Trixie. Come on in.” I whispered and reached behind me to poke Katya’s shoulder, “Kat, time to get up.” Trixie creeped quietly into the room enough to slide the door shut with a click behind her  as Katya mumbled something in Russian, she did that a lot when she was half asleep. “Yekaterina Petrovna Zamolodchikova, your new roommate is here love. C'Mon now.” Katya’s head shot up and she smiled. “Hello there Trixie! I’m Katya.” Katya pulled back the covers and scrambled over me to pull one of Trixie’s bags out of her hand. and bring it over to her bed. Trixie noticed my chair and gave me a sad little look, I hated that look but I was just as guilty of giving it when I could walk so I forgave people for it. It was human nature. “Do you haf more bags Trixie? Vhere are you from?” Katya said, pulling Trixie’s ample cosmetics train case out of her hand and putting it in front of the little vanity mirror at the end of her bed. “No I don’t have anything else, this is basically it.” She shrugged. “I’m from Wisconsin?” Her voice inflected upwards as if she was asking or if she wasn’t sure where she was from. “What about you?” “I am from Russia and dis es my girlfriend Violet and she is from Atlanta. Ve didn’t know vhen you vere coming or ve vould not have been sleeping! Violet just had a bit of an accident and needed to rest.” Trixie’s hands flew up to her mouth, “ohmigod are you ok?” I pushed myself upright and waved her off. “I’m totally fine! She’s prone to exaggeration Trixie!” I joked, trying to put the poor girl at ease. She was really sweet and looked so concerned. “Kat, could you please push my chair over so it’s not in the middle of the room.” Katya trotted over, pushing my purple chair over and putting the brakes on for me. She knew exactly where to put it, her hand couldn’t help but shoot out when I transferred and overshot my seat. I felt my face go crimson with embarrassment, I probably looked like such an incompetent poor disabled girl that Katya had to wait on. Great first impression Violet, an unkempt, zebra onesied, helpless girl.  Katya and I shared a look, she knew I was still so self conscious of this new body of mine, she smiled and me and pulled my hand up to kiss it and then leaned over to give me a quick kiss. Trixie just stared at us until she noticed we were looking back at her, she lowered her head with a shy smile as she turned a shade of beet red. “Sorry, I don’t mean to stare, I’ve just never seen…” She started sheepishly. “What? Someone in a wheelchair?” I snapped. Katya gave my hand a squeeze and put her other one on my shoulder as if to say calm down. “Oh no! No, no!” Trixie turned even redder, which I didn’t think was physiologically possible. “No I have a friend with cerebral palsy. I mean I’ve never seen…” She lowered her voice dramatically “…you know gay women…uh…lesbians. I mean, you’re both really pretty and I have always pictured the stereotypical butch femme. I’m sorry, I’m not good at this.” She babbled and looked miserable. Katya and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. “Awww she’s cute, can ve keep her?” Katya said as she plunked herself onto my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck. Trixie joined us in our mirth after a few minutes of stunned silence, relieved after looking like she was waiting for us to jump her. Her face transformed when she smiled, she was naive and full of hope and I hoped that no one broke her little heart. I felt oddly protective of the obviously sheltered girl. “We only dress butch on every alternate Tuesday and Saturday.” Katya deadpanned. “Really?” Trixie cocked her head to the side. This girl was too much. I smacked Katya on the back while she scream-laughed, “no Trixie! She’s just being a goof. You’ll learn quickly to not take everything she says seriously. Actually, anything she says really.” “Hey!” Katya exclaimed in mock outrage, swatting my shoulder, laughing. “She es the one not to pay any mind to!” I was feeling kinda flushed so I pulled the collar of my onesie in and out, enjoying the small gust of cooler air that fanned on my collarbones and chest. It was odd because I was generally a cold person, hence the fleece onesie at the end of August. Katya and Trixie were chatting amicably about something as I let myself fade out for a moment, the pain in my head screaming. “Violet? Are you ok?” Trixie asked, suddenly snapping me back into focus. I wiped a hand across my sweating forehead and gave a little nod, a wave of dizziness engulfed me for a moment until I stopped. “I’m fine! I just feel sticky and kinda gross.” “You need shower before you get changed?” I thought about going back to my room to use my accessible shower and shivered. Katya leant over and whispered, “if you don’t vant to go to room, I vill help you in bathroom down hall.” I loved that Katya knew me so well that she almost seemed like a mind reader some days. My brain fought with itself for a moment, my pride and how crappy I felt duking it out for control, my pride and independence won. I mean, I knew I’d have to face my room sooner or later. I sighed, “no it’s ok. I got it.” “I vill come vith you.” “No you don’t have to! Stay and chat with Trixie, I’ll be up again soon.” “But I vould like to keep you close, alvays but especially today.” Katya muttered worriedly as she tucked my hair behind my ear. I swear it was like a nervous tick of hers to play with MY hair. “Actually, don’t worry about me! I will be fine and I have to meet my friend Kim soon anyway so I’ll just nest a bit and unpack and be back later.” I was too tired to argue, I patted Katya’s hand, “ok whatever makes you happy love.” We exchanged numbers with Trixie, making plans to hopefully meet up for dinner tonight. Grabbing the second bag of ice and some of the food with us. My hands shook as I put my key into my lock, Katya swiped it from me and put it in the lock easily, giving it a twist. She walked in before me and looked around and waved me in. I headed in, turning to go to the bathroom and AWAY from the mirror but Katya held onto the back of my chair, “Oh no! You do not get avay dat easy.” She plopped down on the institutional-looking orange patent leather armchair that was beside my bookcase and pulled my hand into hers, leaning over so her elbows were on her on her knees. She rested her chin on her other hand and looked me straight in the eye. “First, tell me vhat happened. Please?” I sighed, I knew I couldn’t avoid the topic forever. “You know the urban legend that this room is haunted?” She nodded. “It’s not so much an urban legend as it is true. A girl appeared last night, she scared me and I jumped and that’s why I fell out of my chair.” “Vait! You actually SAW her? Did she talk vith you?” Katya said, a look of incredulity. “Are you sure you didn’t just fall and hit head and have nightmare Возлюбленная?” “No! I didn’t! She said boo but she texted me too!” I brandished my phone in her face, triumphant that I had proof. “Check it out, the unknown caller. That’s her. She even asks me not to get rid of her! Look!” She picked up my phone and scrolled, looking puzzled. She looked up at me, brows knitted and looked back down at my phone. She gave me a look that was a cross between confusion and pity. “Vi, Возлюбленная, someone is very much messing vith you my dear.” “That’s what I thought too but the whole ‘living impaired’ comment, it was something I said last night so short of someone bugging my room, NO ONE WOULD KNOW THAT!” I felt myself getting worked up but I couldn’t help it! I mean, I had proof! “So you ran into Sashinka because you vere trying to get avay from ghost?” I nodded as she handed my phone back, looking hurt, “vell then, you are trying to mess vith me and I don’t like it! No secrets, remember?” “Wha…” I sputtered, confused and indignant. “I’m not! I swear I’m not! You read them yourself!” “Violet, there is nothink there. Do not lie to me!” She barked rather sharply and then her voice softened and turned sombre as tears pooled in her eyes, “did somethink happen? Did someone attack you? Are you not safe?” I switched on my phone and frantically looked through my texts. There was nothing there! No texts from any unknown caller. “No, no, no!” I whined and burst into frustrated tears. Was I going crazy? “I SWEAR to you that it was there Katya! Do you believe me? Please tell me you believe me!” She pulled both of my hands into hers and took a deep breath. “I believe you,” I exhaled and relaxed until she added, “I believe that YOU believe it.” “No Kat…” I started. She stood and poked around the bump on my head before sitting down again and holding my shaky hand, “I think you hit head much harder than you thought. Maybe you should see Doctor? I’m vorried.” I felt so helpless and confused, maybe she was right? Not about going to the Doctor, my head hurt but I am sure that I didn’t do any type of damage. Perhaps I had dreamed it. I sagged in my chair, and rubbed my forehead. “Maybe you’re right but it felt so real Kat! Do you think I’m crazy?” I ran my hand through my hair, wincing when it ran over the tennis ball sized lump at the back of the top of my head. “No, I don’t think you are crazy at all my love! I know you vould not lie to me. Maybe you vill feel better after somethink to eat and a nice varm shower? Or vould you like me to tuck you into bed again?” She quickly added, with round eyes. “I vill stay vith you. I vill not leave your side, I promise!” I didn’t even know what to say or do. I was still in utter shock that I felt emotionally paralysed, unable to make any decision, to even speak. I felt like my brain was being traitorous IF I did dream it and if it really had happened, I was set against a very crafty entity that I was helpless against. For the second time today, Katya gently picked me up, pushing the bathroom door open wider with her knee. She set me down on the toilet, grabbed my onesie zipper, pausing to ask. “May I?” I nodded and she pulled it down, I shrugged the parting fabric off as she leaned over and kissed my shoulder and along my collarbone to the other side. I threw my head back to give her better access to my neck and jaw. My fingers played at the collar of her shirt, “Can I?” “God yes!” She whispered in my ear, sending goosebumps down my neck and chest as I peeled off her shirt and unclasped her bra, running my hands down her arms as I took it off and tossed them into the corner. I rested my hands on her waist and she hummed into my neck before I could even ask. I unbuttoned her skinny jeans and shimmied them down her hips. She wasn’t wearing underwear. “Naughty, naughty girl,” I purred. She grabbed at the fabric of my pyjamas as I kissed and sucked a line just below her belly button, marking her like she had me earlier. I nodded. She bent down and linked my fingers around her neck before plunging her hands into my pants, cupping my naked butt. I gasped. “Now who is naughty?” She chuckled. When she lifted me up, my onesie fell off at the same time she kicked off her pants. Katya held me against herself in a reverse piggy-back so my legs were straddling her above her hip bones, making them less likely to fall off. She stumbled and readjusted her grip, pulling me close protectively. Her velvet-skinned breasts pressed against mine, her nipples hard as she brought us into the large shower stall that was open on one side. A long shower bench sat under the showers spray. Katya reached over and pulled the lever, turning the shower on before sitting down on the bench. I was still spider monkeyed around Katya as I captured her mouth with my own, my hands roaming down her slick back and around to swirl my thumbs around her rock hard nipples. Her hands caressed my ass, knowing exactly where the feeling in my legs stopped and staying above it. Katya’s attention to detail and our open conversations about what felt good and what didn’t to each of us made her an attentive and passionate lover. Her lips left mine as she pressed open mouthed kisses on my collarbone and up my jaw, capturing my earlobe between her teeth and pulling gently before sucking on it. My eyes fluttered closed as I ground down on her. I massaged her breasts, alternating between giving her nipples a pinch or twisting them mildly. She moaned by my ear, sending a delicious shiver down my spine. She pivoted us and gently laid me down on the bench, stopping momentarily to just stare down at me while water bounced off me. She held eye contact with me as she knelt and pulled me so my legs dangled off the edge of the bench. She hovered over my body, her breath making the heat pooling in my belly intensify. I let out a needy whine. She moved deliberately slow, placing lingering kisses on my right hip bone and across my belly, stopping to swirl her tongue around my belly button. I grabbed her by the hair and guided her head in the direction I needed her to be before she could reach the other side. She chuckled, her breath tickled and I squirmed. “So impatient.” Before I could open my mouth to retort, she flattened her tongue and licked a wide stripe, causing me to curl my fingers around the edge of the bench to avoid falling off in surprise. She circled her tongue around my clit as my breath hitched, I held on to the bench with one hand as I slid the other up my side to play with my almost painfully erect nipples. Katya smacked my hand away as she pulled away long enough to say. “Shhh. I’ve got you.” While she sucked on my clit, she smoothed her palms up my abdomen and cupped my breasts, her thumbs toying with my nipple rings, occasionally tugging one. I moaned and writhed in ecstasy, one hand now tangled in her wet blonde hair. The hot water was running out so Katya slapped a hand at the knob. She crawled up my body, running her tongue along before circling my nipple, clenching the silver ring in her teeth and giving it a pleasantly painful tug as she inserted one and then two fingers, crooking them as she pumped them in and out. Her thumb circled my clit, sending me over the edge as I clung to the sides of the table while my back arched and the rest of my muscles spasmed. I’m sure my toes would have curled if they could as my whole body tensed and then released, my head falling back as I panted. Katya braced herself with one hand so her face was hovering above me; she was out of breath too. She slowly and deliberately brought her fingers up and sucked on them with a little satisfied, cocky grin. I was finally able to release my grip on the sides of the bench and brought my shaking hands to pull her face in so I could trail wet little kisses up her jaw and neck, her golden hair like a curtain around us. She moved my hair so she could put one elbow on either side of my head to brace herself so her whole weight wasn’t on me, I swear she thought she would crush me. I liked that she treated me like this precious, fragile ethereal creature when we were intimate. She pulled her fingers through my hair while we kissed until we were both breathless, our breasts pressed together as I cupped her ass so I could pull her in. She rutted against me, mashing our pubic bones together, trying to find some kind of friction. I pulled her face away from mine and whispered, “baby let me take care of you. Help me sit up?” She captured my lips in another deep kiss before climbing off of me. I held my hands out and she pulled me into a sitting position, I turned so I was sitting facing the wall as I forcefully pushed her up against it, grinning devilishly up at her as I slowly kissed one nipple, trailing between with kisses and then the other before nipping at them, making her breath catch. I put my hands on her waist, kissing her abdomen while she made a pitiful little noise like a cross between a moan and a whine. “Now who’s needy?” I teased as pulled her leg up and hitched it behind my shoulder, giving me full access. My fingers lightly trailed along her little tuft of blonde hair, my thumbs exploring along her folds before parting them to suddenly sweep my tongue across her vulva. Katya let out a huff of pleasure in response. I smiled before shifting my focus to her sensitive nub, alternating between applying pressure, soft laps and sucking gently. I wrapped my hands around her butt to pull her closer as she entwined her fingers in my hair. Katya rocked her hips into my face, throwing her head back as she moaned. I continued while pushing a finger inside her and then another, adding a third and bending them, enjoying the sounds of her falling apart reverberating off the bathroom walls. Her leg started to quake, she let go of my hair so she could reach behind and held onto the grip bar for support. Her face contorted, her mouth shaping into a sinful O, hot liquid squirted out past my hand and down her leg as she clenched around my fingers. I put my spare hand around her waist to keep her from toppling over. She relaxed her leg and wobbled to sit on my lap. She cradled my head against her chest as we both caught our breath and the pounding of her heart echoed in my brain. We were both completely spent as we put our arms around each other. “Holy fork!” Katya panted. “Yeah.” I let out a little giggle and she joined in. I nuzzled her neck and pulled her face to mine. I shivered against her and she stood up and turned the shower back on, hot water cascading down my back. Katya stood behind me and pulled my shampoo off the shelf, massaging some into my hair, being careful around the lump on my head. I am fiercely independent but having someone bathe you because they wanted to take care of you not because it was their job was intimate and freeing. I trusted Katya enough to give over control, I leaned back as her soapy hands roamed my body. I sighed contentedly as she wrapped me up in big fluffy pink towels. She threw my housecoat over her and then put my hands around her neck again so she could pick me up. “Chair or bed?” “Bed, definitely. You can be the big fork.” I teased with a little snort of laughter. “Goof.” She sniggered as she gently set me down on my bed. She backtracked to the fridge and pulled out our food she had bought earlier. She passed them to me and grabbed some bottled water. She grinned devilishly and dove at the bed as I let out a little squeal as she clamoured over me while I leaned back on my elbows. She turned back towards me, crossing her legs in front of me. I pulled myself up to sit facing her as well. Katya’s face fell. “What? What’s wrong?” I said, grabbing her hand. “Your foot. Violet, vhat happened to your foot?” I looked down and swore softly, the foot I had heard a crunch from earlier when I was evading what was probably a figment of my overtired, over active and over caffeinated brain was an angry, swollen and purple mess. “Shit!I thought I caught my foot on something earlier.” I yawned, “I’m sure it’s fine, just a sprain. It’ll be fine.” I didn’t want to explain what had happened because I didn’t want to think about it. I pulled the container of cheese and crackers over, hoping it would placate her if I ate something. She pursed her lips together but didn’t call me out. “Ve vill have to wrap it and keep an eye on it I think. You know you have to check these things Vi. It’s important to me that you are being careful. I don’t vant anything bad to happen to you.” She chastised gently as she pulled her own sandwich over. “I know, I know I should. You are totally right.” I yawned again, “I promise I’ll be more careful.” I pushed my half eaten food container onto my bedside table and chugged down some water. My eyelids felt like they were being weighed down by invisible sand bags. She tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and stroked the side of my face, “You must because I vould be lost and heartbroken if you got sick or hurt again. Now go to sleep.” She reached over me to put her empty container in the waste basket as I turned onto my side. She curled into me and draped her arm over me protectively. I didn’t have much of a chance to think about anything before sleep overtook me. I woke up to Katya trying to sneak off the end of the bed as her phone rang from the bathroom. I stirred and rolled over sleepily and she swore softly, “sorry I vas trying to get it before it voke you up. Go back to sleep love.” She disappeared into the bathroom, I heard her talking but didn’t know about what or who she was talking to. I put my head back on the pillow, shut my eyes and tried to go back to sleep but my brain was buzzing like there were bees in it. I looked at the clock, surprised we’d been asleep for 3 and a half hours. Katya poked her head back out and saw I was still awake. Frowning slightly, she pushed my chair over to the bed. Whoever was on the phone must have stepped away for a moment and was now back as she started talking in rapid Russian again. Probably her Mom. A few minutes later she pulled the phone away from her ear and covered the receiver with her other hand, “Trixie texted she can’t meet us for dinner, her friend isn’t meeting her til later so she’s gonna nap but Sashinka is vondering if you and I vant to go out vith her and her girlfriend Shea for dinner at the board game cafe! It’s ok if you aren’t feeling up to it, maybe we can reschedule for later this week.” “No, that sounds like fun to me! That’s perfect since we missed it this morning!” I propped myself up on my elbows, smiling at her look of happiness as she said goodbye to Sasha. I pulled myself up, only slightly dizzy this time and was about to swing my legs over the side of the bed when Katya’s hand shot out to stop me. “Let me look after your foot first.” She went over to her purse and pulled out a tensor wrap, I raised my eyebrow questioningly as if to say ‘do you always carry around first aid supplies?’ She shrugged and waved a hand at me, “Vhat? I’m a gymnast, I have all kinds of crap in here. You know the deal.” “Yep I do.” I had a whole variety of other supplies I carried around now, I thought somewhat morosely. “You ok?” Katya asked, cocking her head to the side. “Yep.” Katya felt around my foot and I grimaced, even though I couldn’t feel it. It just looked painful. “Does it hurt? You are making a face. Vhat is that face Violet?” “No, of course it doesn’t hurt but I remember breaking my foot during floor practice so it’s like my brain knows it’s supposed to hurt. I don’t know, it’s hard to explain.” Katya paused for a moment, “kind of makes sense. Your brain is still trying to connect with your spinal cord so it’s likely to misfire. I don’t think it’s broken but are you sure we shouldn’t–” “No I’m not going to the Doctor!” I interupted her before she could finish, she chuffed like a horse as she finished wrapping it up. “You are stubborn as a mule Violet. If it doesn’t look better or the swelling doesn’t go down in 48 hours, you are going to need to get it looked at even if I have to drag you there by the hair.” I chuckled and put my hands up, “ok! Ok! Geeze woman!” I reached my hand out to touch her arm. “I’ll be careful, ok? Thank you. You take such good care of me but you worry too much. I’m just fine.” ‘Aside from seeing things and a wicked headache, sure you’re fine Vi.’ I thought to myself. I got ready to go out, pulling out a pair of dark skinny jeans and a grey long sleeved T-shirt instead of the sweats Katya put in my bag. I could tell Katya wanted to change by the way she kept looking down at her faded and ripped jeans and wholey favourite sweater but that she didn’t want to leave me alone in my room. “Go ahead and change if you want to love,” I said, resolutely turning away from the long mirror and using my little vanity mirror across the room, opening the drawer and pulling out my foundation and a brush. The dark circles under my eyes had to go. I turned to flash her a smile, “I’m fine here.” “Are you sure?” “Yes, I insist. Go! Get! Should we meet in the quad in half an hour?” She smiled, “sounds good. Text or call me if you need me before then. I can be down here in a minute.” “I promise I will. Please don’t worry.” Katya was always interested or concerned with my welfare because she loved me but I hated the furrowed brow that had taken up residency on her face today. “Ok, I’ll see you soon.” She leaned over and gave me a quick peck and disappeared from the room. I let out a shaky breath, so the whole ghost thing must have happened in my head or from my fall but being in here alone was still kind of unnerving. I glanced quickly at the mirror through my reflection, nope, no booger monster in there. My head hurt, I shook a pain med out of my bag, downed it and went back to applying highlighter, contour and a quick smokey eye. I could swear I caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye but everytime I looked, nothing was there. After the fourth time, I chastised myself outloud in a whisper, “stop it Vi! You dreamt it up. You let all the stupid ghost stories and urban legends get in your head. You had a nightmare, it happens. But it wasn’t REAL! There were NO texts, you must have nodded off for a second and dreamt them. Katya is right, you whacked your head really hard.” I rubbed my temples and closed my eyes for a moment, “aaaand now you’re talking to yourself. Go you!” I added sarcastically, sighed and opened my eyes again to see my tired, stressed out looking reflection. I saw a flash of white across the room and spun around, but nothing was there. I slung my bag over my shoulder and pulled my favourite crimson leather jacket on. I tried to put on a pair of heels, since it was one of few wheelchair perks that I could wear them without getting sore feet (AN sorry about it lol) but I couldn’t fit my wrapped foot into it. I settled on a pair of Katya’s cute black knee-high boots that she had left here. Her feet were a size bigger than mine but it barely did up around my swollen foot. I left a light on and softly shut the door behind me, I would be early in the quad but at least I wouldn’t be here, freaking myself out. I wasn’t there long when Katya appeared, wearing a killer sleeveless scarlet dress that hugged her small but muscular frame and her shiny black high heels that we called her fuck me pumps. I was surprised she was actually wearing makeup, something she generally reserved for meets and then only because she had to, but tonight she had on winged eyeliner and a bright red lip. She made a passing comment of “nice boots” on the short walk to the cafe. I laughed and elbowed her in the side as we continued on. The cafe was crowded when Kat and I got there, the tables and booths crowded with students. The hostess at the door gave me a worried look after we said we had a reservation and gave Sasha’s name. She talked to another employee and then pulled us to the side, looking uncomfortable. “Sooo, I’m sorry you ladies will have to wait a few minutes, my manager said we just have to shuffle some people around because no one told us that you needed a table so we could pull out one of the chairs. We had you in a booth and there isn’t enough room to put your wheelchair at the end without it being a fire hazard Miss. I’ve been told to offer you a free game for your trouble. Again, I’m so sorry!” “It’s ok can go in a booth if you have a place out of the way to put my chair.” I offered, smiling at the nervous looking girl who was chewing on her lip ring. Her nameplate said Acid Betty and I wondered if it was a themey thing. She had an edgy look to her, but not gothy edgy since she was a riot of colour. Her tall multicoloured mohawk was seriously giving me Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony vibes and her bright makeup was on point. After a moment of scrutinizing her look, it dawned on me that she was a drag queen. I’ve always thought drag queens were so cool and admired their creativity, especially when I was heavily into gymnastics and not allowed to dye my hair, get piercings, tattoos or “alter our bodies in any way unbefitting to an athlete and more importantly a delegate of the United States of America.” It was pretty sad that I still remembered it word for word from the handbook and that I still hadn’t done any of those things now that I could. “I could put it in the staff room. It’s locked so no one will mess with it there. If that’s ok.” She offered, looking relieved. I nodded and she showed us over to a booth, thankfully they weren’t super high so I transferred rather easily, scooting in so Katya could sit on the outside. She handed us a free game voucher and games, drinks and food menus. “If you don’t see me when you want to leave, just ask for Acid and someone will come find me. I’m here til closing, is there anything I can get you before I leave and put your chair in the back?” “Do you have Monopoly?” Katya asked with a giant grin lighting up her face. Acid laughed, “we not only have Monopoly, we have a whole monopoly SECTION! We have pretty much every variation you can think of, the 80th anniversary collectors edition, Harry Potter, Dr Who, Star Wars, Disney, sports, Christmas, The Walking Dead to name a few. I think we even have a Canadian themed Monopoly around here somewhere.” “Ooooh goody!” Katya exclaimed and clapped her hands in glee, “be right back Возлюбленная!” I was left behind as I gazed around in wonder at the bookshelves lined with rows and rows of different board games, big and small. Some were so new, they weren’t even out of their plastic and some old well-loved ones that were battered at the corners. “Hey Violet!” Sashinka called, crossing the room hand in hand with a tall black woman with sleek black hair who was turning heads in a tight, sinfully short dress with an orange graphic print and a knee length bright orange faux fur coat. Sasha was wearing a red felt oddly taco-shaped hat that was definitely a statement piece and a white and black swirled dress. “Hey! Katya will be right back, she is looking at the Monopoly section.” Sasha rolled her eyes and chuckled, “it figures! She’s been obsessed with that game for as long as I remember. This is my girlfriend Shea, Shea this is Violet.” Shea slid into the booth opposite me and Sasha plunked down beside her. The Nubian queen offered her hand, “Shea Coulee, nice to meet you.” She had the cutest smile, her teeth weren’t straight at all but they were white and the exuberance with which she smiled was absolutely charming. “Violet, nice to meet you too.” Katya rushed up with the 80th anniversary edition of Monopoly clutched to her chest, sliding into the seat beside me. “I got one! Hi Sashinka! And you must be Shea! Nice to meet you!” Katya offered her hand and Shea offered her full name again. Sasha said something in Russian, the only word I caught was Monopoly, and Katya fired back at her laughing. Shea and I looked at each other, she cocked an eyebrow at me. “Do you speak Russian?” I shook my head, “nope, the only word I know is a few curses and the word sweetheart because Katya calls me it all the time. You?” She shook her head. “So are you a student at Stanford?” She nodded, “BA in fine arts, my major is fashion design with a minor in dance. You?” “Well I haven’t declared a major yet but I’m taking some Bachelor of Arts and Sciences courses. It’s a big decision.” Shea nodded and gave a laughing Sasha a little elbow. Sasha’s face fell and she covered her mouth. “Oh I’m sorry, we were being rude. English. I promise. Sorry Violet.” “Hey it’s ok, you both have so much catching up to do.” Katya put her hand over mine, “but ve can do that in English too.” Acid came back and took our drink and food orders as Katya giddily set up the Monopoly board in the middle of the table. I tried to order a salad but Katya gave me a look, I sighed and added half a wrap to my order which earned me a brilliant smile. She really was too good to me and worried way too much. I learned that Sashinka was also a fine arts major and that she spoke several languages besides Russian and English. That her and Shea had met the last time that Sasha and her family had moved when Shea had been doing an internship at a Toronto based fashion company. Their friend Trinity had introduced them about 9 months ago and they had hit it off immediately and have been dating ever since. After Katya won at Monopoly by owning at least half the board, we played Trivial Pursuit which Sasha kicked our asses at. Sasha and Katya quickly forgot that they should speak in English and there were little stretches of time where they would babble away in Russian, both tripping over each other’s words and laughing. Shea and I talked about our programs, classes we were looking forward to, dorm life expectations and dorm life reality. She was super friendly and easy to talk to. “Show off.” Shea teased. “Hey! Don’t be upset because I bitch slapped you with my intelligence dearest.” She joked back, throwing her head back in laughter and looking at Shea like she hung the moon. When we were ready to go, we decided we would walk back to the edge of campus together. Katya quickly excused herself to go find Acid and my chair after she insisted on paying for all of us. Sasha excused herself to go to the washroom. I scooted to the edge of the booth and swung my legs over the side. “You coming Violet?” Shea cocked her head to the side, offering her arm. Oh shit, she doesn’t know! This was the one drawback of transferring from my chair. “I…um…have to wait for Katya.” “I’m not gonna bite!” She laughed, “we can meet them outside. There’s a lineup of people waiting for a table.” Shea said coolly, giving me a look over her round orange glasses. She’d become somewhat gruff with me for the last hour or so and I wasn’t quite sure what I did to make her upset with me. “Um…Shea, I thought Sashinka would have told you…” I trailed off, if she was already mad at me, making her feel stupid was going to be the icing on the fucking cake. Shea crossed her arms and said sharply, “told me what?” “That I’m a paraplegic and I literally almost ran her over today. She didn’t mention it?” I had become used to being disabled as one of my identifiers. It wasn’t a bad thing, I was the queer, skinny, brunette girl in a wheelchair. “No she didn’t, so you can’t feel your legs at all?” She was grinning at me and I was more than a little creeped out. “Nope, that’s what paraplegic means.” I grumbled, “ok why are you looking at me like that?” She sat down again, still grinning, “Violet I’ve been flirting with you all night,” she laughed, “I’ve been playing footsie with you all night too! I just thought you weren’t a big fan of the chocolate.” She said cockily and raised her right eyebrow. I didn’t even know what to say. Thankfully Katya and Sasha were crossing the room again, Shea put a finger up to her lips and said shhhh. What a creeper! “You ok hun?” Katya inquired, parking my chair in front of me. I could feel Shea’s eyes on me as I moved into my chair, all of the hair on my neck and arms was standing up as I slid my jacket on. “Are you cold?” “Here, borrow my coat. I insist!” She said, pulling her coat off and making a scene of putting it over my shoulders. She whispered in my ear, “my number is in the pocket. Stash it before we get back to campus.” “Aww that’s so nice of you to lend her your coat Shea Shea,” Sasha gushed, pulling Shea’s hand into her own. Shea flipped her hair, “happy to help out.” The walk back to campus was filled with Sashinka and Katya jabbering on, sometimes in English and sometimes in Russian. Shea grabbed my chair at one point, “your arms must be tired. I don’t mind.” Sounding like she was doing me the world’s biggest favour. After telling her no nicely twice, I abruptly turned my wheels, breaking her grip. The stop caused the other two girls that were ahead of us to pause and Katya saw what Shea was trying to do. “Don’t Shea, Violet really doesn’t like people pushing her. She can do it herself. If she needed help, she’ll ask.” Katya said firmly, picking up on the tension between Shea and I. “Oh ok. I was just trying to be helpful. Sorry Vi.” She pouted. “It’s ok, I just really don’t like being pushed around.” I gave her a look as if to add that I wasn’t too fond of pushy people either. We reached the edge of campus where Sasha and Shea had to go the opposite way from Katya and my dorm. I peeled off Shea’s coat and handed it back to her. “Thanks for lending me your coat.” “You can keep it and give it back to me later. I don’t mind.” Shea said silkily. “Nah! Katya will keep me warm.” I retorted, Katya put her arm around my shoulders and nodded. “Ok fine. No worries.” She slipped the bright orange garment back on, putting her hands in the pockets and frowning. Probably because her number was still firmly in her pocket and not in mine! Sasha and Katya hugged while Katya marvelled “I still can’t believe it! After all these years Sashinka!” “I know!! Thank the Goddess that Violet almost ran me over!” Sasha joked, pulling me into a one armed hug while trying to keep her hat out of my face. Katya was hugging Shea, “it vas so good to meet you Shea! Ve vill all have to go out again soon so I can get to know you better since Sashinka and I did most of the talking tonight. Sorry about that.” “Violet and I had some interesting conversations, right Vi?” Shea teased. “Sure did! Yup! Nice to see you again Sashinka and nice to meet you Shae.” I said with a little yawn. It was a totally fake yawn but it had the desired effect of Katya saying goodnight so we could part ways with the other girls. Katya and I paused for a minute when we got into the building, unsure of whether to go to her dorm or mine. Katya’s phone rang, “Hello?” Katya paused for a moment, looking concerned. “Trixie is that you? Calm down, vhat are you saying? Vhere are you?” Katya frowned and paused again to listen and I mouthed ‘go get her’ to her. “I vill be right there. Stay put!” Katya hung up and gave me a peck on the cheek, “I vill message you as soon as I get Trixie ok?” She didn’t wait for an answer but ran out of the door. I hope Trixie was ok. I wondered what happened as I made my way to my room. I pondered all of the things that could happen to a newly transplanted country bumpkin and each idea was worse than the last. I pushed open my door, fumbling around in the dark to turn the light on, locking the door behind me and going directly to my PJ drawer and pulling out my snuggliest pair. I yawned widely and stretched my arms out, before changing and hopping into bed, I put my phone beside me for when Katya called and wrapped a blanket around myself as I cracked open my book. I woke up in darkness, I didn’t know where I was for a moment. My book had fallen over my face. I pulled it away and it was still dark. Ugh the bedside lamp liked to short out at the most inconvenient times, not that there was ever a good time for things to short out. I groped around in the dark for my phone but couldn’t find it. I could have sworn it was right beside me. I groped in the darkness for the lamp when my phone rang, making me jump. My phone wasn’t on my bed anywhere though. It lit up and was laying on the floor feet away. In front of the mirror. I must have knocked it off my bed. There was no way I could get to it in the dark though, I clicked the on/off switch on the lamp a few times but it wouldn’t work. I didn’t want to transfer to my chair in the dark to get my phone since I had managed to knock myself out and fuck up my foot already today, who knows what kind of trouble my currently accident prone body would get into in the dark. But I really needed to know that Trixie and Katya were ok and I knew Katya would worry if she didn’t hear from me after the day we had. My phone started ringing again. I grabbed my laptop and typed in a facebook message to Katya. Hey hun, my phone is on the fritz so I don’t know if you texted or called me, I kinda fell asleep for a little bit. Are you and Trixie ok? What happened? Message me back on here. I started scrolling through my facebook, smiling when I got a friend request from Sashinka Velurovna and then groaning when I got one from Shea Coulee. I would have to think about that one, I couldn’t very well accept Sasha’s friend request and not have her wonder why I didn’t accept her girlfriend’s. No, I would leave it for the moment. I needed to talk to someone about that whole situation but it couldn’t be Katya because she might tell Sashinka and she was so lovely, I didn’t want to be the one to break her heart with tales of her girlfriend’s treachery. As if by magic, Aja’s face popped up on the screen. I answered their facetime, pasting a smile on my own tired face. “Ayo Sis, what’s good?” Aja blurted and giggled. “Hey, on a scale from sober to falling off your chair, how drunk are you right now?” I inquired, wondering if I told them about the situation, if they were too wasted and would just fly off the handle in typical Aja fashion. “Well I’m still upright but definitely NOT sober sis!” They joked and then looked serious, “hey, what’s going on? It’s a Friday night before school starts Monday, you aren’t attached at the hip to a Russian blonde, you are in your fuzziest PJs AND you’ve been sleeping in your makeup.” Aja sat up straighter in their desk chair, “wait! Did you and Katya have a fight? Do you need me to shake–I mean talk–some sense into her? Because I can be at your place in 10 minutes.” I chuckled, Aja may not be Latinx by blood but they definitely carried the fiery personality inherited by their adopted family, “easy Cujo! Katya and I are fine. It’s this other girl.” “Uh oh.” I explained that Katya reunited with someone from her past and we went out and what Shea said. “What a fucking creep!” Aja smacked their hands on their desk, “and she tried to give you her jacket with her fuckin’ number in it after all of that?! How fucking bold is that!?” Aja crowed, you could almost measure Aja’s level of sobriety with the amount of times they said the word fuck or it’s variants in a sentence. They were pleasantly toasted but not sloppy drunk yet. “Ok you can tone down the awe and admiration a touch.” I added sarcastically, holding my hands out. She laughed, “sorry it’s just a bold fucking move. I mean, she was playing fucking footsie with you.” Aja snorted, “which is fucking hilarious Sis. I mean footsie with a paraplegic! I mean she didn’t know but still, the visual is amusing.” “Gee thanks. Why did I think you would be any help at all?” I laughed. “Hey, can’t blame a bitch for wanting to hit dat fine ass!” Aja leered at me and waggled her eyebrows at me. We both burst out laughing. “But it’s definitely an odd situation, are you going to tell Katya?” “I don’t know, she’s really excited to reconnect with her friend, I don’t want to create drama and make things awkward since we will probably be going out with them as a group again sometime.” “Maybe the girl will clue in that you aren’t interested and things will be chill next time?” Aja offered hopefully. She leaned her head to one side and studied me for a moment. “Are you ok girl? You look kinda pale and tired as fuck. Are you feeling ok?” I sighed, raking my hands down my face before rubbing my temples and reaching a hand back to gingerly feel around the top of my head at my scraped and raw scalp, the lump hadn’t gone down hardly at all. I winced, “I’m fine, just a bit of a headache, I’ve been a bit of a klutz in the past 24 hours and have fallen and knocked myself out cold last night and then this afternoon I kinda smashed my foot up.” “Jesus! Do we seriously need to bubblewrap you sis? Did you go to the Dr?” “What do you think the answer to that question is?” “I know! I know you hate them Violet.” Aja’s face got serious, “but maybe you SHOULD go? I mean, I know they’re a pain in the ass but you might have seriously hurt yourself this time.” “God did Katya call you to try and convince me to go?” A guilty expression flickered over their face for a fleeting moment. “Oh my God, she did, didn’t she? DIDN’T SHE?!” I put my hand over my eyes and then pinched the bridge of my nose, shaking my head. “Ok honestly, yes, Katya texted me. She seemed upset, said she found you passed out, that you had a nightmare or hallucination or something and said you didn’t seem like yourself. That you seemed scared. She worries about you, which I think is cute. She didn’t tell me to ask you to go to the Doctor, that was all me. Have you been eating?” “Yes! I had lunch AND supper today! And I ate yesterday too!” I added before she could ask. I sighed, feeling so tired, “Listen I know you guys worry about me and I appreciate it but I’m a big girl, I can make my own choices. I promise I’ll be careful. I have to go, my head is killing me but thanks for listening, enjoy whatever party you are going to tonight, stay safe. “Ok Sis, listen, don’t be mad at Kat, she just loves you a lot and wants to protect you.” “I know but I’m pretty good at protecting myself if you hadn’t noticed.” “I noticed, bye Sis, I’ll message you tomorrow.” “Bye Aj!” I waved and clicked the off button. I sighed and leaned back on my pillows. There was a ding and I sat up straight. Katya had finally responded. Katya - That sucks about your phone, I hope it can be fixed. Glad you got some rest, that is great! Trixie and I are fine, on our way back to the dorm. About a 20 minute walk away. Trixie got really lost and turned around when she went to meet her friend Kim and she said she thought some guy was following her. She went into a hotel and called her friend but she couldn’t get a hold of her and we are the only other people she knows here. The guy stopped walking for a minute when she went inside but then left. She sat with security until I could get there. Poor thing was shaking like a leaf so we stopped for coffee. I typed back; Geeze that’s scary, no wonder she was freaked! Wow 20 minutes walking? That is a lot of wrong turns! Hopefully the guy just thought she was someone else or it was a coincidence that he stopped. Make sure that she gets a whistle from the student centre just in case he comes back. Are you going to come over after you guys get back to your room? Katya - I think I should stay with Trix, she’s still pretty upset. Why don’t you come up to us, we can have a sleepover! It was tempting but I worried that if I kept running from my room at night that the nightmare that I had had would make it hard to sleep when I inevitably HAD to sleep in my room alone, like when Katya went to gymnastic meets. I knew I had to nip it in the bud. Me- I think I’m going to stay here, I honestly don’t think I will be able to stay awake for 20 more minutes! I’m so tired! Wanna meet in the quad at 8 to go for breakfast? Invite Trixie if she wants to come. Katya - switch that 8 to 9:30 and we have a deal! I haven’t slept in in forever! How is your head feeling? Me- sore but it’s totally fine! Nothing a little sleep and meds won’t cure. I’ll see you in the morning. Tell Trixie I’m glad she’s ok. Katya - I will, I love you, I hope you have a good sleep. Facetime me if you need anything. Restart your phone and see if it fixes the problem, it might just be a glitch. Me - I love you too! I will do that in the morning, I’m going to let it charge for the night first. Sleep well. Bye! Katya - bye love. I closed my laptop and put it beside my bed within reach. I rubbed my tired eyes, curling into a ball and felt the pull of sleep immediately tug me down.             —————————————— Life completely got away from me for the next few weeks with the business of school starting, social events and sometimes watching Katya practice and giving critiques. I didn’t think of the dream very often. Occasionally I would wake up to find something that was beside my bed suddenly sitting in front of the mirror but I used to be a sleepwalker so maybe now I’m a sleeproller? I reasoned with myself. When I DID sleep in my room, I was so exhausted from classes that I generally immediately fell asleep as soon as I got in bed. Shea had backed off, she still flirted but not as aggressively. I still hadn’t told Katya, even with our no secrets rule. I started finding little reasons to cut my visit short when we would get together with both of them, I would always insist Kat stay if she wanted to, saying I needed time to study. The problem was that Sashinka was fast becoming a dear friend and invaluable person in my life and I felt bad for not saying anything to her about Shea. I mean, chances are if she was willing to sneak around or flirt with me, she was doing it with someone else who might actually take her up on her propositions and Sasha loved her so. Being around them both tied my stomach in knots for days leading up to and after the event. So with all the stress and studying, I hadn’t really thought much of the nightmare. Until I got the flu while Katya was away at a meet. I had slept in the afternoon but couldn’t manage to stop barfing long enough to sleep more than half an hour at a time that night. I would randomly fall asleep hugging a bucket and wake up to use it, burning with fever. It was a comedy of errors earlier in the day when Katya had sent Trixie check on me, she had at least brought me the bucket but within 5 minutes of her arrival, I had used said bucket and found out Trixie was a sympathetic puker. I sent her away when she emerged, green-faced, from my bathroom tearful and apologetic. I had my book beside me when I fell asleep but when I was jolted awake, it was half way across the room again. Maybe I threw it? I thought for moment before I buried my head in the bucket. “Ugh, fuck.” Dragging myself into my chair to empty the bucket in the washroom. I was wheeling sluggishly back to bed, feeling like my muscles were on fire, when the lights went out. There was light coming from my phone screen, reflecting off of the mirror. There was a face reflected in the mirror but it wasn’t mine. She was pale with a cloud of white hair. “Hello.” She said in a high voice that echoed slightly, “Don’t pass out this time, please. I’m not going to hurt you. Dawn is soon, I can’t talk once the sun comes up. The text thing was a one time deal unfortunately, I just didn’t want you to get rid of me.” My vision blurred and I closed my eyes against the spinning room. This wasn’t happening. She wasn’t real. “Don’t pass out, please don’t pass out Violet!” The girl begged in a whine. “I’m gonna get in bed now.” I muttered drowsily at myself, since I was most definitely alone. I clawed my way into bed, out of breath from even that small amount of exertion, curling in on the bucket. The mirror was humming a song I didn’t know. “I’ve been trying to talk to you for weeks. You’re never awake and you’re really hard to wake up!” I didn’t respond, trying to firmly stay in my denial that this was even happening. “I mean, I don’t even know if you know how hard it is for me to manifest my voice.” She complained. “I really wanted to talk to you. I’m real and I need your help.” I started throwing up again, eventually resurfacing and setting the bucket aside to run a hand through my sweat soaked hair. My heart pounding in my ears was almost deafening as I muttered “you’re not real Sharon,” before my eyes fluttered shut again. I woke up to a ray of blinding sun shining on my face, I let out a grunt at the pain in my head and squinted before I brought a hand up to shield my eyes. What a crazy fever dream I had last night, I remembered parts of it, the girls high pitched whine as she tried to convince me she was real, I think I remembered her begging me not to pass out. I pulled myself up to sitting and reached for my chair but it was across the room, parked facing the mirror with the brakes on. Scrawled on the mirror, in some dripping crimson liquid that looked like blood were the words I’M REAL! S. I started hyperventilating and crying. I couldn’t have wrote that on the mirror in my sleep because how would I have gotten back to bed? “Oh God, oh God, oh God!” I put a shaking hand over my eyes, my head was pounding and my stomach was churning and I felt like I was going to pass out. I sent Katya a message, trying to distract myself from my racing thoughts. Me - hey when do you get back? Katya sent back a message immediately. I had to blink my eyes a few times before I could read it, the words were swimming around and it was adding to my dizziness. Katya - We are on the bus back, going to stop for breakfast soon. How are you feeling my love? Me - ugh, fever’s bad, head hurts, dizzy, can’t move except to barf Katya - Oh my darling, I’ll be home soon to take care of you. Katya couldn’t come here! There was no way in my current state of weakness that I could drag myself across the floor to my chair and clean up the mirror! I couldn’t have her laughing at me again, thinking I was cracking up under the pressure. I felt like I wasn’t getting enough air as I fumbled to type in Me -  NO! You can’t come here! You’ll get sick! And then the team will get sick and it will be all my fault! Please don’t! Katya was taking awhile to respond, they must have stopped for breakfast and she probably forgot her phone on the bus. I had slid back down, lying on my back in the bed with a frustrated sigh. I fell asleep and dropped my phone on my face a few times while I waited for her to respond. I rolled over onto my side with a little cry, “you’re such a fucking weakling Violet,” was the last thought I had before I lost consciousness. I woke to someone singing softly in Russian, there was a tinkle of water while she wrung out a cloth and pressed the cool material across my forehead. My eyelids were so heavy, I couldn’t open them. I sighed and tried to sit up while I croaked out, “Katya, I told you not to come.” I felt a hand push down on my chest, forcing me to lay back. Putting the cloth back on my forehead and smoothing back my hair. “Shhh, it’s not Katya. It’s Sasha. Just rest Vi.” “Oh Sasha, hi.” I said dumbly, finally gathering the strength to open my eyes to see Sasha’s concerned face over me. She chuckled, “hi yourself.” “Wait, how did you get in here?” I squeaked out. “Please tell me you didn’t tell Max I was sick, did you?” I added in a whine, trying to sit up again. “Would you just lay back down and rest kukolka! I didn’t tell Max, Katya called me in a panic when she couldn’t get in touch with you and asked me to get your key from her room to check on you. She said was going to be late getting home because the bus got in an accident.” “Oh my God, is she ok?!” I brought my hand up to my throbbing head, weirdly on the edge of tears. “Is she ok Sash?” “Shhhh! She’s okay! Katya is fine! It’s all going to be okay Violet, just rest dear kukolka.” Sasha frowned as she rinsed the cloth and returned it to my forehead. “You’re burning up. Maybe we should get you to the hospital?” I reached out and grabbed her hand, “no, please, no Sashinka,” I begged. My stomach rolled as I frantically looked for the bucket, Sasha pushed it into my hands and rubbed my back until I was done vomiting and feeling so spent I didn’t even have the energy to hold my head up anymore. Sasha started singing again and my eyes fluttered shut again. Later when I woke up, I opened my eyes to the most blindingly white sunlight. I groaned and shielded my eyes. I must have finally slept through the night or maybe I dreamt the whole waking up to a bloody mirror and then waking up to Sashinka taking care of me? “Violet? Oh thank Goddess!” Sasha exclaimed, she pulled my free hand into her own and patted it. “Just a second, let me turn down the light.” Turn down the sunlight? What? The light behind my eyes dimmed and I was able to blink open my eyes and lift my head to look around to see the white walls of the student clinic, an IV in the hand Sasha was patting again. I flopped my head back, “Sasha, you didn’t.” “I’m so sorry kukolka, so so sorry! I know you didn’t want this but your fever was so high and I couldn’t keep you awake.” I closed my eyes and groaned, imagining the fucking scene it would have caused to have an ambulance come screaming up to the dorm to take the poor disabled girl away. I opened my eyes and looked at Sasha’s remorseful tear stained face. “It’s ok Sasha, you were just doing what you thought was right. How long have we been here?” “Shea and I brought you here about 2 hours ago.” “You and Shea?” “Oh yeah, she told me to say she hopes you feel better soon, she wanted to stay but she had to work. She took the bus and left the car here so we can get back. Oh your chair is in the trunk! I’ll have to bring it in.” “Wait, we didn’t take an ambulance? How did you guys get me in here?” “You don’t remember?” I shook my head, “oh well, you woke up enough that we kept you upright and managed to wheel you out to Shea’s car but then you wouldn’t wake up when we got here and we were freaked out so we just,” she shrugged, “carried you in. How are you feeling? I was so scared! I have to let Katya know you’re awake, she’ll be so relieved! She was so worried!” “YOU TOLD KATYA?” I bellowed, much more furious about them freaking her out than being dragged here. “Violet, no! I HAD to call her, they were asking me questions like what your level of spinal cord injury is and when it happened? How long you’d been feeling sick? If you took any medication and I didn’t know the answer to any of them! They wanted to give you medication and I didn’t want them to give you something that was going to make you sicker if you were allergic or if it interacted with any medication you may be taking! Katya talked to the doctor herself. Please, please don’t be mad at me kukolka?” I sighed, “I’m not mad at you Sashinka. Where is Katya? And what do keep calling me?” “Katya will be here as soon as she can but when I talked to her, they still didn’t have a new bus and a few of the girls were still getting checked out. I don’t know when she will be home so you are totally stuck with me.” I was confused for a minute but then I remembered about the bus accident. “The accident! So some of the girls were actually hurt? How bad was it? Is everyone going to be ok?” “Katya said one of the girls broke her wrist and a few needed stitches but most of them just have bumps and bruises. However, one of the trainers was standing up when it happened and,” Sasha paused, furrowing her brow and chewing on her bottom lip, “I think she was really hurt though. Katya wasn’t sure how badly, maybe she’ll be able to give us an update?” “Yeah maybe.” I muttered noncommittally, “do you have my phone?” “No but you’re welcome to borrow mine, you can just hit redial she’s the last number I called.” Sasha said holding her phone out to me. “Do you want me to leave so you have some privacy?” “No no you’re fine Sashinka! So first I should probably ask you if the doctor said anything or have me meds because I guarantee you that’s going to be the first question that she’s going to ask me.” Sasha nodded, pulling out a piece of paper from her jacket pocket. “Yes I wrote it down kukolka, they gave you fluids and electrolytes, some nausea medication called Zofran, a medicine for fever and the same pain medication Katya said you take at home that I didn’t quite catch the name of. They said you were very dehydrated.” “I figured as much. I was trying to drink Gatorade but the more I drank, the more came back up so I finally just gave up trying. Hey Sasha?” “Yes, what is it?” “I have two questions. When can we get out of here? And what is a kukolka?” Sasha turned red, the blush spreading up her neck, sweeping across her face and over her bald head. “Oh that. Sorry it just slipped out, my Mama used to call me that as a term of endearment when I was sick as a girl, it’s probably a horribly patronizing thing to say to a grown woman!” “Why don’t you let me decide that, so what does it mean?” “Well it translates into little doll or dolly.” I grinned, “I like it.” “Good, I’m glad. Do you want me to go ask when we can go?” I nodded and she left the room as I dialed Katya’s number. Katya picked up on the first ring, rattling off a long trail of Russian that had my name in it. “Hey it’s me Kat. Are you ok? Did you get hurt in the bus accident? Sash said one of the trainers got hurt?” She let out a low little chuckle, “I should ask you how you are first.” “Too slow!” I teased, “no seriously, are you alright?” “I’m fine, I have a few stitches in the back of my head but it’s ok.” “No! That is most definitely NOT ok! My poor baby!” “No I’m really fine, Farrah broke her wrist and cut her knee up, she’s been crying ever since. I svear the Doctors vere going to give her an elephant dart to the neck at any minute but she fell asleep, probably from the pain meds. ”We both let out a little giggle, not that she was hurt but Farrah was a huge drama queen and the youngest person on the team. The bubble gum pink haired girl was always crying or moaning about something. “But the new coach Alaska was hurt the worst, she’s in surgery now. She was standing up facing the back when the bus was hit. She broke her leg in 2 places when she got it caught on the way down and she hit her head pretty hard and had to get some stitches.” I screwed up my face, “fuck ouch! Poor ‘Lasky! Is she going to be ok?” “Da, she vill probably not be able to work for a few veeks but I do have some more bad news on top of that.” “Oh no! What?” “Vell, ve haven’t been able to get a bus yet so it seems ve might have to stay here for the night. I am so sad because I vanted to be there to make sure you vere ok and to take care of you.” “I’m okay, I’m sorry you don’t get to come home tonight. I miss you. I am so glad that YOU are okay. That must have been so scary.” “I miss you too. So Sashinka said you vere really sick, I’m so glad I didn’t take your spare key vith me. I just had a bad feeling. Vhat happened?” “Well the day before you left, my stomach felt a little funny but when I woke up at dawn the yesterday I could not stop throwing up. I’m sure it’s the stomach flu, I thought it would be over by today but it just seemed to get worse. They gave me meds so I’m not throwing up anymore, well at least not right now. And they said I was dehydrated so they gave me fluids. I’m mostly just feeling weak and like I could sleep for the next 500 years so you aren’t missing much by not being back and maybe by the time you get home I’ll be feeling better.” “I hope so,” I hated hearing the worry that tinged her voice. There was a clatter and Farrah let out a moan and whined out Katya’s name. She started sobbing loudly. “I think that’s your cue you have to go. Text me later and if I’m not asleep, I’ll message you back. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. I’m a tough cookie.” “Shhh Farrah I’m right here,” I heard Katya whisper and then in a regular voice, “I vill text you later my love. Feel better and take good care of yourself. Thank Sashinka for me.” “I love you too, don’t forget to put some ice on your head.” We disconnected the call and I let my head flop back, closing my eyes for a minute. When I woke up again, Sasha was back in the room and she had brought my wheelchair. Her face was serene as she read a book named Maidenhair by Mikhail Shishkin. She looked up and smiled sweetly. “Hey, welcome to the land of consciousness again! How are you feeling?” I rubbed my eyes, “how long have I been asleep?” “Oh about an hour.” “An HOUR! Why didn’t you wake me? When can we get out of here?” My stomach lurched and I swallowed thickly. I wanted to go home so I was NOT going to bring up that I was feeling nauseous again. “They said to let them know when you woke up,” she gave me a knowing look, “maybe you should ask for a prescription for nausea meds to get you through.” “You are freakishly intuitive girl.” “And you are freakishly green, you look like Alphaba.” She teased as she swished out of the room. It was dusk by the time we were finally freed from the clinic, clutching a prescription for 2 antinausea meds and a strong recommendation to put some type of food or drink in my system. After stopping at the pharmacy, Sasha said she just had to pick up a few things from her and Shea’s place before we could go back to my own. I sat in the car for a minute and fought with myself for a few minutes before texting Sasha. Me - hey Sash, would you mind grabbing your Ouija board, you know, in case we get bored. She texted back one word. Sashinka - sure! She came out shortly after with the old-looking box under one arm and a small duffle in the other. When we got to the dorm, I was having a hard time transferring from the low car, my shaking arm muscles felt like jelly and there was nothing to grab onto. Sasha hovered for a few minutes, before gently asking if I needed help, I put my head down and sighed before nodding. Sasha pulled me into a hug and stood up, pivoting to set me softly in my chair. I was surprised at her strength despite her wispy frame. We got to my room and I opened the door, noticing immediately that the mirror was clean. Maybe I had dreamt it in my fever induced state. Sasha saw me staring, “I cleaned the mirror off. I figured you wouldn’t want to see that when you woke up.” “So it was really there?” She nodded. “So I’m not going crazy.” “No, I feel it. There is a trace here.” I cocked my head in confusion. She took a deep breath and sunk into the orange chair, “I am a sensitive. I can talk to them, ghosts that is. I’ve been able to do it since I was around 7 when I drowned in a lake, thankfully they were able to revive me but I’ve been able to see and hear people who are dead ever since. I also can sometimes sense other people’s emotions if they are strong enough. I know it sounds surreal and trust me, it feels surreal too but it’s the truth. I’m able to control it now but when it first happened, it was scary and overwhelming.” “I can imagine! Dying is scary enough! I can not imagine going through that as a child!” “So you’ve died too?” She looked at me, wonder and curiosity on her face. “Uh-” I probably should have worded that differently, “yes, I did. After my accident, I remember landing and then I couldn’t breathe. At first I thought that I just knocked the wind out of myself but then I couldn’t move and things went fuzzy. Then I was looking down at myself and I freaked out, I saw one of the trainers come up and yell for help but it felt like every minute I watched, the more detached I became from what was happening that by the time I was being brought back, I wasn’t really scared anymore.” Sasha nodded. My eyes were getting droopy again from the IV meds they gave me before it was removed. Sasha was suddenly beside me, her long fingers gently resting on my shoulders. “You need to go to bed dear Kukolka,” I opened my mouth, “no, no, no, don’t even start. I’m staying and it’s absolutely no bother. I can read here as well as I can at home. I’m not going to leave a friend in need just so I can sit at home and read.” She chastised firmly, giving me a no nonsense look. “What a crazy day! If I fall asleep, will you wake me up if Katya updates us about how the new coach Alaska is doing once she gets out of surgery? I hope she’s gonna be ok!” I fretted. I let her steer me to my bed, she kept a steadying hand on my back while I got in and then pulled the blankets over me.  Sasha left and returned with a cool cloth which she placed over my eyes, I sighed as she sat on the side of the bed and smoothed my hair back as if I was a young child. “I promise I will wake you with news kukolka.” She started singing the same Russian song as before, my limbs felt like lead as I relaxed into my mattress and tripped into sleep. I woke up to knocking on the glass, an incessant tap, tap, tap. I blearily looked at my alarm clock. It was 4:24 am, across the room Sasha was fast asleep, mouth wide open with her tiny frame draped across the arms of the chair. I had to pee so bad my bladder hurt, one of the hazards of IV fluids. I propped myself up on my arms and that is when I noticed my chair was halfway across the room again, brakes on and in the same position facing the mirror as before. The ouija board box on the seat. Sasha must have put them there for some odd reason. Maybe she had little Russian idiosyncrasies like Katya did, like always putting empty bottles on the floor, not kissing or shaking hands in doorways or making sure if I got her flowers that there was an odd number. Tap, tap, tap. Sasha stirred, sitting up and rolling her neck with a pained look on her face. She looked puzzled as she gazed at my chair and then she noticed I was awake. “Hey, how did you move your chair?” I looked at her in shock, I mean how could I have moved it? “I thought you did.” I muttered but Sasha was no longer looking in my direction, her vision firmly fixed upon the mirror, head cocked to one side as if she was listening to someone or something. I hesitantly turned to look, expecting to see the white haired girl but there was no one in the mirror. “Sasha?” “Hmmm?” She looked over at me with a dreamy expression. “Can you uh bring my chair over? I really gotta pee.” I let out a little giggle. She shook herself and pushed my chair over, she was preoccupied and kept looking towards the mirror. We both jumped at the next tap, tap, tap and I expectantly looked at the mirror, frowning when she wasn’t there. “Should I get that?” Sasha asked once I was in my chair and halfway to the washroom. “Huh?” “I think someone is knocking on your window dear.” “Oh that! Yeah, it’s probably someone who forgot their key!” I said as I slammed the bathroom door shut in my haste. I was surprised to come out of the bathroom to find Sasha sitting on my bed cross-legged, there was another person facing her with their back to me until they turned towards me. “Ayo Sis!!” Aja announced with a giggle, they were definitely drunk. “Aja? What are you doing here?!” “Pearl kind of kicked me out. She had someone over and needed the room to themselves if you know what I mean. So you were the only person whose room I knew I could get into at 4 in the morning and who hopefully wouldn’t be too pissed that I woke them up at 4 in the morning?” There was another tap, tap, tap and I went to go over to the window to pull the curtain up, “did you bring friends with you or what?” “Or what.” Sasha said in a whisper, staring at the mirror. The girl was there. “Well hooooly shiiit!” Aja said as they fell off the bed. Tap, tap, tap. Sharon looked at us and then at the dusty Ouija board. “Oh I think she wants us to play!” Sasha exclaimed as if it were the most normal thing in the world to want to talk with a spiritual entity that’s trapped in your mirror. Sasha pulled my side table out to the middle of the room, dragged the orange chair over. Sasha looked at Aja who was still staring at the mirror, open mouthed and sprawled out on the floor. “You in?” “Fuck yeah! Of course I’m fuckin’ in!” Aja scrambled up and pulled over a folding chair from the corner. Sasha pulled out the board and a small white candle, lighting it and turning off the overhead light. She swirled the planchette around in a figure 8 a few times while Aja and I joined her at the table. We added our fingers to the board as Sasha said, “we invite communication from the spirit world, specifically from the girl in the mirror of room 121.” The heart shaped hunk of wood under our fingertips jumped. “You’re moving it!” Aja accused me until they saw how round my eyes had gone but I still shook my head for good measure. Sasha started spelling out letters and stringing together words. “S…H…A…R…O…N, oh your name is Sharon?” Sasha looked up at the girl in the mirror who nodded frantically. “Oh look she’s spelling something else! H…E…L…P. Oh no! She needs help! How can we help? What happened to you?” Sasha had tears in her eyes, “you’re so sad, I can feel it. You’re poor heart!” Sasha finished on a little sob as the tears overflowed down her face. “I D…O…don’t H…A…have. M…U…much T…I…time. She said she doesn’t have much time!” “Yeah she told me she can’t communicate after sunlight.” I blurted, the other two just stared at me in shock. “What? She told me last night.” “She can talk?” Aja sputtered and glared at Sharon, “why are we doing all this bullshit then?” “Because I guess it takes her a lot of energy to manifest her voice?” I looked up at Sharon to see her look of delighted surprise that I actually took in what she said. “She spelled out the words long story, not enough time, tomorrow? But I can…” Sasha paused, thinking as she bit her lip. “You can what? Spit it out sis!” Aja commanded impatiently. I let out a little chuckle. “Well I can try to channel her. I did it for my aunt once when I was 17.” “Are you sure that’s a good idea Sash?” I asked. “I have to try!! I mean I can feel her heart just breaking, I can’t wait a whole day to hear what happened! You can get the story and tell me when I get back.” “When you get back?” “It’s hard to explain. I’ll just center myself and let her speak through me.” Sasha withdrew her hands from the board and took some deep breaths and lowered her chin to her chest. At first I thought it hadn’t worked. Sasha was still, it looked like she wasn’t breathing. “Sashinka?” I said in barely a whisper, my voice shaking. I was about to take my hand of the planchette and reach for her when she sucked in a big breath of air, her head still down. When she looked up, her face was almost unrecognizable as it transformed into a malevolent grin. The harsh change in Sasha’s features made me gasp. “Hey, thanks for the ride.” She laughed, it was high pitched and evil sounding, devoid of any actual mirth. She was feeling her body as if to confirm she was real. “So what happened to you?” “I’ll ask the questions.” Sharon barked, the sneer marring Sasha’s face was so uncharacteristic that it made all of my hair stand on end. She turned her cold eyes on me, “where is Alaska?” “Alaska?” I asked, perplexed as to what Sharon would want with Alaska, maybe they were friends? I knew Alaska had been a student here before she came back as a coach. She had blanched after she found out which dorm and room I was in. “You said she was hurt. Where is she?” “I don’t know! At a hospital somewhere between here and San Francisco. What do you want with Alaska? What is she to you?” “She is my destiny.” Sharon said cryptically as she abruptly stood up, grabbing Sasha’s phone, purse and keys. Aja and I both sprang into action. I wheeled to the door, blocking the exit while Aja approached Sharon. “Listen sis, this isn’t cool. Why don’t you tell us your story and then give us Sasha back and we’ll bring Alaska to you when she gets back to town?” Aja said in a calm voice. Sharon moved so quickly, Aja didn’t have time to scream when Sharon picked them up by the neck, her strength clearly superhuman and spat through gritted teeth, “I am NOT your Sis! And I am NOT waiting.” She threw Aja across the room, they landed on my bed first which broke their fall a but before bouncing off and crumpling to the floor where they lay unmoving. I wanted to go to them but I was frozen by fear. Sharon turned her cold glare on me, “get out of my way Violet.” She commanded in a cold dull voice. “I don’t want to hurt you but I will if I have to.” “No! I’m not going to let you do this! Give us Sasha back!” I crossed my arms and sat back in my chair. “We will help you get a message to Alaska but this isn’t the way.” “It is the ONLY way!” Sharon exploded at me, “don’t be stupid Vi, STEP ASIDE!” “NO! I’m not going to let you do this!!” “You don’t understand,” Sharon said in a softer voice, sadness crossing her face. “You can’t possibly. I need to see her!” “I can’t let you go Sharon.” “You have no choice!” Sasha’s face contorted with rage as she backhanded me across the face with such force that I was knocked from my chair as I landed with an oof, putting a hand to my throbbing cheek. Sharon looked at me in disdain as she left, taking my wheelchair with her. She stopped for a moment to announce, “you’ll get this back. This is so  you can’t follow me. You can’t stop me, I’m unstoppable!” She laughed as she slammed the door behind her.