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#she looks like somebody's fiancée
yourqueenb · 10 months
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I really don’t understand this. Why would she just assume that he wouldn’t want the throne after everything that happened to him and Juliana? And why would she think it’s so easy to walk away even if he doesn’t?? This is stupid
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augustinewrites · 6 months
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“hotter than jennifer lawrence, you say?”
nanami can tell that gojo’s having a hard time holding back his laughter as his student nods enthusiastically. this is the last time he’ll ever let them drag him out for a meal again.
“yeah! and oh man…” 
the blond chokes when yuuji gestures vaguely at his chest. this is why he never stays at the school over his lunch hour. 
gojo, wisely, pats the boy on the shoulder as nanami coughs. “alright, that’s enough out of you. even though i agree, you better stop before the vein in nanamin’s forehead bursts.”
the conversation grinds to a halt, gojo visibly stiffening as nanami's gaze narrows dangerously. “did you just say…that you agree?”
before gojo can open his mouth to defend himself, yuuji pipes up once more to add fuel to the fire.
“but it’s true!” the boy insists through a mouthful of food. “i’ve never had a teacher as hot as—”
“as hot as who?” you ask, suddenly standing at the end of their little table.
yuuji shuts up immediately, face turning as pink as his hair and he averts his gaze to the table and mumbles no one under his breath. 
nanami watches gojo beam up at you, then very bravely lets his eyes drift down to your chest for a split second.
but it’s a split second too long, and nanami is about to reach across the table and knock teacher and student’s idiot heads together when you lean down to press a kiss to his cheek.
“come on, love,” you say, smiling sweetly. “you promised you’d take me to that new dessert shop in the city.”
he’d made no such promise, but he gets up to follow you anyway, stripping his thick, autumn coat off and draping it over your shoulders.
with that, he wraps a possessive arm around your waist, pulling you into his side. 
“yuuji,” he begins. “this is my fiancée. she teaches at the school.”
you glance up at him, confused. “yes, we know each other, i’ve taught—”
“we’ll be off,” he cuts in, sending gojo a sharp look before guiding you out of the restaurant. 
he doesn’t let go of your waist until you’ve walked at least a block. it’s only then that he exchanged your waist for your hand.
he’s suddenly very wary of any other pedestrians looking at you, wondering if they’re thinking about what’s meant to be for his eyes and mind only.
“at first you looked like you needed saving in there,” you hum, using your free hand to hold onto his arm. “but…it seemed like they did, with the way you were glaring at them.”
“i wasn’t glaring,” he lies.
“you glare, darling. you may not notice it, but others certainly do. shoko calls it resting bitch face—”
“i do not have a resting bitch face. this is my…thinking face.”
“oh? then what were you thinking about?” you inquire.
“you,” he tells you truthfully. “and how lucky i am to have somebody so beautiful to come home to. someone hotter than jennifer lawrence, even.”
you smile into the kiss he leans down to press to your lips, looping your arms around his neck to pull him closer and murmur…
“you’re going to get very lucky tonight.”
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vivwritesfics · 2 months
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Set The World On Fire
Chapter Six
Lando Norris had been incredibly angry when they met. Incredibly angry, but sweet enough to help her. Turns out he just needed somebody to talk to, somebody to be there for him.
He was easy to fall for, and that put her in a world of danger
Mafia AU
1.7K
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"You need to stop taking me places in a private jet or I'm gonna get used to the princess treatment," she said with a giggle as she looked out of the window, watching the clouds go by. Below them was nothing but ocean.
Lando put his drink down. "C'mere," he said, beckoning her over.
She left her seat and walked over to him. Lando patted his suit clad thighs and she sat down on his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. They hadn't been dating for long; it was the most intimate thing they had ever done.
Lando had his arms wrapped around her. "Get used to the princess treatment," he said. "That's all you're gonna get with me." He kissed her cheek as she laid her head on his chest.
That was how they sat together on their flight to Spain. "What's your sister's fiancé's name?" She asked, her hand resting over his beating heart.
"Carlos," he answered. "He's an ass."
She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure he can't be that bad, he is gonna be your brother in law, after all."
"Trust me, baby, he's the worst."
Baby. She liked that. She really liked that. "Tell me everything I need to know. Who's gonna be there? Who of your family should I expect to meet?" She asked eagerly.
Lando couldn't stop himself from smiling. It was something he had noticed, that the only time he smiled was when she was with him. There was no way he could get through the wedding without her.
"Okay, so you've got Carlos and his sister. I've only met them once, but from what I remember, they just whisper mean things between each other in Spanish. Then there is Carlos's parents, Sainz and Mrs Sainz, his wife. I'll try and keep you away from them. Everyone else? I'll introduce them as you meet them," he said, his hand moving across her thigh.
She suppressed the shiver that ran down her spine. His fingers were so soothing. "What about your family?"
Lando shook his head. "My mum is dead, my step mum is dead, and my dad is almost dead," he said, his grip on her tightening.
"Shit, Lan," she whispered, hands reaching up to run through his curls. "I'm so sorry."
"Don't apologise, I never told you," he mumbled.
His phone went off, but Lando ignored it. She kissed the top of her head and squeezed her. "Thank you for coming," he whispered. "I seriously couldn't do this without you."
It wasn't long before they touched down in the Sainz family's private hangar. It was full of other private jets, from the other families that had arrived for the wedding. Lando took her hand and led her out of the jet. There was a car waiting for them when they stepped out into the warm Spanish air.
Lando opened the door to the car for her. "Such a gentleman," she said with a grin as she climbed into the car. Lando followed her in and placed his arm over her shoulders.
Their bags were placed into the back of the car and their driver set off. The fact that they had a driver was crazy. "How do you and your sister know Carlos?" She asked, settling against his side.
It was hitting her just how little she knew about him. And with every passing moment, the number of questions she had just grew.
Lando thought on his answer. It was easy for her to assume that it had been so long since they met that he didn't remember. "Our dads did business together a few years back," he answered simply.
She let out a laugh, her body gently shaking against him. "Seriously, Lan. Who the hell are you?"
Lando squeezed her shoulder. "Have you seen Legend?"
"The movie?"
He nodded his head.
"Lando, are you telling me you're a gangster?" She asked him, unable to hide the laugh about to erupt from her lips.
"No! No, but I'm essentially Ronnie Kray," he answered.
"Ronnie Kray, the gangster that sold protection to people?"
Well, that was part of that he did. "Yeah, but I'm not a gangster and everything I do is legal."
He was a fucking mystery.
***
Lando felt incredibly guilty about leaving her in the hotel room. But Hamilton had called for a meeting and, being the representative for the Norris family, he had to attend.
"I'll be gone an hour at most," Lando said as he leaned over to kiss her.
"Lan, it's fine," she said and pulled a book from her bag. "Have fun! Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" She called.
Lando let out a laugh. That kind of high pitched shrieking laugh that she was already in love with. "I'll try not to," he said and kissed her again.
He walked out of the hotel room as she cracked open her book.
Lando couldn't hide his smile as he climbed into the car waiting for him. It was already full of other heads of family or their representatives. Lando sat himself beside Magnussen and Perez. Max Verstappen, representing the Verstappen family, sat opposite him, with Mick Schumacher beside him.
Mick was... different. He wasn't representing the Schumacher family. But his father died before he was ready to takeover the family. The Verstappens tried to take Mick and his family in, but Schumacher had a plan in place in case of his death. He didn't want Jos looking after his family, and had instead sent them to the Wolff family.
That was who Mick was representing. His name was Schumacher, but he was representing the Wolff family.
"You brought someone?" Max asked Lando as he sat down.
Lando slowly nodded his head. "Yeah, I did," he said, not elaborating further.
"Is she... aware of what's going on?" Mick asked.
Lando sucked in a breath. "No," he answered, looking at the other representatives. "She hasn't got a clue.
Max leaned forward. "Interesting," he said, wearing a little smirk. "What did you tell her?"
"She's called me a gangster, and we're gonna leave it at that."
Max sat back in his seat, hands clasped together in his lap. "Good luck with that," he said, turning his attention to the window.
It was obvious what Max was thinking. Of course it was a bad idea to take her to a mafia wedding when she had no idea what was going on. But Lando wanted her protected from that world. The less she knew, the more protected she was. She could still get out.
Perez shook his head. "Bad idea, man," he said. "I didn't tell my wife and I almost lost her."
Lando didn't answer him.
The car pulled up outside of Sainz's house. They filled out of the car, one by one. Three more cars were already outside of the house, and it was clear they were the last ones there.
Lando walked into the house with Max. Just a few years before they would have been talking and laughing like kids while their fathers worked. But now they were the ones working in their fathers steed.
"How are you holding up?" Max asked quietly as they walked through the Sainz house.
Lando let out a breath, just grateful that Max had waited until they were out of the car to ask. He looked around the Sainz house, the house he had been in just weeks before. "She's somewhere in here," he said. "I just wanna know how she is."
They walked into the Library. Several chairs were set around a table, most of them filled. In the corner of the room was a much smaller table, a chess set on it. Lando knew exactly who had set that up.
He sat down and Max sat on his right. Alonso was on his left and the other heads of family filled the table. Carlos was there, sat beside his father.
The most commanding presence at the table was Hamilton. He gave Lando a slow nod as a drink was placed in front of him.
As soon as they all had drinks, Hamilton stood, glass in his hand. "As per tradition, we are here to celebrate the union of the Sainz family and the Norris family. The trading routes between Norris and Sainz will be reopened, benefitting all of us. Lets discuss product and trading route."
Clearing his throat, Lando stood with the speech his father had prepared for him. "This decade of war between our family has affected The Norris family and it's ability to move our product into other Spain and other European countries. This union will not only help reignite our relationship with the Sainz family, but will aid in our strengthening our relationship with the Ferrari family."
He placed the cards his father had written out for him into his pocket. "I do think it's unnecessary to involve my sister in things."
Brown eyes snapped towards him. "Hijo de puta." (Motherfucker).
Having said his piece, Lando sat down. He wasn't paying much attention as other heads of families discussed what the reopening of the trading route would do for them.
After five minutes, he stood up. He wordlessly left the room, navigating his way down the hall and into the kitchen, towards the bathroom.
But somebody was already in the kitchen. The fridge door was open as somebody, dressed in most of a fine suit, pulled cold beers from the fridge. He held them in his arms, used his elbow to shut the fridge and turned around.
He nearly dropped them when he saw Lando. "Oscar!" He called.
Oscar rushed to put the beers on the table. He threw his arms around Lando and patted his back. "I didn't think I'd be seeing you until tomorrow," he said, his hand on his shoulder.
"Hamilton called a meeting," he said.
Oscar nodded, making a mental note to keep her in her room for the night.
"How is she?"
Oscar breathed deep. "She's... coping," he said. "We're gearing up for one last fun night before the wedding." He pointed back to the beers and Lando nodded his head.
"Look after her for me, yeah?"
"I will."
Lando helped Oscar place the beers into his arms and sent him on his way.
a/n: (wow i never do these, this feels weird) Sup guys! So i mentioned the Kray twins and, for those that don't know, they were london gangsters in the 1950's (check out the film legend its soooo good). It feels like a gamble putting mention of them in here and if anybody is offended, send me an ask and I'll change it! (i purposefully didn't mention Reggie for obvious reasons)
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starstruckmoony · 8 months
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Hello! May I request a muggle AU with Theodore, with this meet-cute prompt: "they're on opposite sides of a wedding party to the bride and groom" (prompt is from @/thewritersafterglow on Instagram). Thank you! I know this request is in good hands :)
aaaaaa thank you anon! <3 this is the first request i've got in a while (again tysm it made me very very happy <3<3) and i had lots of fun writing it so i hope it meets your expectations!
can't help falling in love.
masterlist , requests
pairing - theodore nott x reader
trope/tags - muggle!au, strangers to lovers-ish, fluff (side note - this isn't particularly realistic because i don't really know how weddings work in different parts of the world, so i kind of just went by how they function in my country and some bits and pieces i've managed to pick up from movies and such. i know it probably won't be accurate for everybody but i tried my best LMAO)
word count - 3k
warnings - language, drinking, smoking, cheesy at the end
when you recieved an envelope in your mail one fine morning in late may, you never would have expected it to be an invitation to your primary school classmate's wedding in the english countryside. you could still recall the wonderful memory of choking on your coffee and scaring the life out of your poor cat when you saw her name plastered in big letters in the center of the paper, right below a picture of her and her fiancé. it was a miracle how she remembered you existed. to be frank, you were kind of honoured, and you made sure to confirm your arrival almost immediately. hell yeah, you were coming. free food and alcohol? who in the right mind would pass on that?
so about three months later, sometime in mid-august, you found yourself inside of a crowded venue, sweating buckets in your silky green dress, without a fan, or anybody to keep you company. a few of your old classmates were there too, but not a single one of them bothered to offer you a greeting. what a bunch of arseholes.
you stood leaned against the wall in the very back where there were fewer people, attempting to cool yourself down by fanning the air around you with your hands as you waited for the godforsaken ceremony to finally start. to nobody's surprise, the bride was a little late, and the groom's family was in a mild state of disarray. it was kind of funny, but not as funny as it would have been if you weren't feeling so bloody hot. do they not have air conditioning in here? how do people get married in these conditions? and why does the best man look more terrified than the groom?
the loud sound of somebody's shoes scraping against the tiles right next to you shook you right out of your train of thought, and you placed your hand against your chest in horror, "jesus christ." you muttered under your breath, the unfamiliar man attempting to catch his breath scared the life out of you.
he glanced at you for a split second, appearing rather exhausted (aftermath of sleeping through five alarms and having to run to the venue because his friends were too lazy to wait for him), "sorry." he offered you an apology breathlessly, leaning back against the wall to steady himself. you thought that you were being overdramatic when it came to the heat and the current atmosphere of the wedding, but this man seemed to have surpassed you. he was rather handsome though, despite being drenched in sweat from what you assumed was running, also paired with the humid air inside. his eyes were strangely captivating, and he looked a little too good in that suit of his for it to be considereded legal. were you staring? you were probably staring. you trailed your eyes away, pretending to be entertained by the groom's father who was attempting to explain the situation to the guests. you cursed inwardly, realising that you'd be stuck in there for a long time.
you turned to the pretty guy again, deciding that you should, perhaps, talk to him, "you don't look like you wanna be here." fantastic start. those probably weren't the words he wished to hear in those circumstances, but your observations didn't seem to annoy him at all. he actually chuckled instead, "am i that transparent?"
"quite." you responded a little too nonchalantly than intended, taking a quick glance at the door in hopes that you'll see the bride come in. nope. you returned to your original position. how wonderful that was, more waiting.
"do you have any water in there?" the man spoke again, pointing at the purse you had tucked under your arm.
you took it in your hands and peeked inside, knowing that you most likely wouldn't have what he was asking for, "no," you shook your head, but continued rummaging through it, "i have this, though." you pulled out a tiny bottle of liquor and shrugged before shoving it into his face.
he didn't hesitate to grab it, he would have taken anything that was liquid enough. he drank it all, not that there was much, before handing the bottle back to you with a scowl. he coughed a little as the alcohol burned his throat, and you couldn't help but snort. 
"i don't know how smart that was." it wasn't, really, since it would only dehydrate him more, but it worked for the time being. he coughed again, falling back against the wall, finally able to breathe somewhat normally.
"you'll find out in a few hours," you didn't miss the smile that painted his features, and it encouraged you to carry on, "how do you know the bride... or the groom?" you questioned, wanting to keep the conversation going to kill at least some of the remaining time you had. you were bored out of your mind.
"the groom," he nodded briefly, "we went to college together, funny bloke, he invited me and my two other friends who are... somewhere in here," he stretched his neck as his eyes scanned the crowd for a short moment, "eh, whatever." he shrugged, and then reached into his pocket, but quickly retrieved his hand. it was still empty. you had assumed he reached for a cigarette before he was able to remember where he was.
"you won't go looking for them?" you queried, finding his neutrality over the whole situation slightly bemusing. it wasn't every day that a hot guy like him ditched his friends for you, and it was rather pleasant to think about. he was hoping he wasn't being so obvious about it, but you read him a little too easily.
"what, bored of me already?" he questioned, a hint of playfulness in his tone.
"i might be, now that you said that." you scowled in pretend disgust, drawing a breathless laugh from him. you shortly sunk into a not overly uncomfortable silence, both internally debating with yourselves about whether you should keep it going or not. you were kind of drawn to each other, after all. the consequence of attending a wedding without a date must have had an influence on it, you told yourself. he mustered a similar, lame explanation.
"i'm theodore, by the way." he decided to break the ice after a while, and you almost sighed in relief, "y/n." you shook his hand politely.
"nice wedding." he added, his face scrunching at the sight before him. the sarcasm in his tone was obvious.
"delightful, isn't it?" you offered the older lady that passed by you a forced smile, and then eyed her giant pink hat judgementally. you and theodore resembled a mean high school couple who had an opinion on absolutely anyone and everything, just standing there, laughing amongst yourselves and making fun of all the other guests and their stupid pastel outfits. it made sense why your classmates hadn't approached you, but you didn't let them occupy your mind any longer. you found yourself a like-minded companion for the night, one that was ten times funnier, and the prime example of eye-candy.
"imagine she never shows up." theodore said after you shamelessly fed one another with some interesting past gossip about the bride and the groom. judging by what he had told you, those two were a match made in heaven. and you could say that with your whole chest.
"god, don't plant that idea into my head. i spent my last three paychecks on this bloody dress." you snorted, dusting it off when you noticed that it had got a bit dirty.
"it looks perfect on you, though." theodore's little compliment took you off guard, and he must have noticed judging by the way he grinned.
"thanks." you felt yourself blush a little at his comment, and just as you were about to open your mouth to speak again, the bride's mother burst through the door, announcing that her daughter would be there shortly. you exchanged a relieved glance with theodore, fucking finally.
despite the long wait, the ceremony played out quite beautifully. the couple exchanged their vows, humourous and tear-jerking all at once. people laughed, people cried, somebody's baby did both. the best man hadn't forgotten to bring the rings, and the maid of honour looked happier for the bride than the bride. nobody backed out last moment, and nobody objected after the infamous "speak now or forever hold your peace". you left the venue with a smile on your face, pleasantly surprised.
theodore and his friends offered to give you a ride to an even larger venue where the reception was being held after you told them that you had arrived with a cab, and you happily accepted their offer. the two idiots he came with were just as unserious as he was, and you had soon found out that they all attended the wedding with the same intentions as you. eat food, get drunk (and then sleep in the car because mattheo wants to get wasted but doesn't want to run them off the road and kill somebody in the process).
the reception, thankfully, moved a lot faster than the ceremony. by some sheer dumb luck, you had been instructed to sit at the same table as theodore, lorenzo and mattheo. your shitty classmates were there too, so you assumed that the table was designed specifically for that - old friends from school that the newly weds didn't talk to very much, but still liked them enough to invite them.
so, after the grand entrance, loud clapping and cheering, a cute speech from the bride, more clapping and cheering, the best dinner you had had in a while, a few more emotional speeches, and even more clapping and cheering (hollering this time, too), the dj finally showed up. it was the part of the night you had been the most excited for. the first dance was absolutely beautiful and even brought a few tears to your eyes, but god, the moment you heard an onset of lower-than-nightclub-quality music blast from the speakers, your hopes had all gone down the drain.
the dance floor filled up in a matter of seconds, and you had never been more appreciative of the existence of wine. not a single song that was played in the span of fourty-five minutes was your cup of tea. and as different people's requests kept incoming, it only got worse.
theodore seemed to be having the same problem. mattheo too, considering he had about five shots in less than half an hour. lorenzo wasn't doing much better either. he was entertaining himself by making paper planes out of tissue paper and leaving them on the table like a strange art project.
"this music is terrible." theodore's voice was completely drowned out by the godawful sounds coming from the speakers, you couldn't hear a thing he was saying.
"what?!" you shifted a bit closer to him, covering one of your ears with your palm to subdue at least some of the noise.
"i said that this music was terrible!" he tried not to shout, but it would have been impossible for you to comprehend whatever he had said if he hadn't done so. yes, it was fucking awful. many people would disagree, considering how many of them were still on the dance floor, either fully wasted already or slowly getting there. at least the newly weds were having a good time, both slightly tipsy too.
"tell me about it!" you yelled back, rolling your eyes. you considered asking him to accompany you outside, for a smoke or something, though you didn't really need an excuse. anywhere would have been better than in there. but you chickened out before you were able to speak, continuing to sip on your wine in silence. silence, that was funny, mostly because of how unbearably bloody loud the music was.
lorenzo suddenly stood up, and he yelled something into mattheo's ear. the other stared at him in confusion, and then burst out laughing into his face. he turned to you instead, and you saw his lips move, but didn't understand a thing he was saying.
"huh?!" you and theo yelled out in unison, and lorenzo waved his hands dismissively at you, defeated. he pushed his way through the crowd on the dance floor and shuffled over to the dj. he threw an arm around the man, probably trying to make some friendly conversation. they seemed to be getting along.
perfect. you reached for the wine bottle, refilling your glass and taking large gulp. you were hoping that lorenzo had enough charm to sway the dj into playing something else. it took about twenty minutes of insignficant chit-chat for the man to finally nod and give him a thumbs up, and that's then the beginning of dancing queen blessed your tortured ears.
you gasped in shock, immediately getting up onto your feet and latching onto theodore's arm. he didn't really protest when you tugged at his sleeve and pulled him to the dance floor which got even more crowded than it was before. mattheo managed to fall out of his chair, but he followed the two of you and joined you in the mass of people.
"thank me later!" lorenzo yelled your way before a pretty girl grabbed his attention. the night got so much better from then on. the dj appeared to have whipped up a large playlist of abba's work, since the songs were playing one after another, each one bringing your mood up. you had completely blocked out anything that had happened before you heard the tune of the first song, and you had only returned to the table with theodore to refill your glasses before running back to the dance floor.
you couldn't recall the last time you had that much fun, singing your heart out, jumping up and down, showing off some ridiculous moves, letting theodore hold your hand and spin you around. the dj stuck to the same genre for a while, playing old pop songs, keeping everybody on their feet. some of them you didn't know, but you weren't about to sit back down after doing so for almost two hours, so you danced to them too nevertheless.
that is, until your legs started hurting a little too much for it to be tolerable and your throat had got a bit sore from belting several songs with the bride. your head was spinning too, courtesy of having so much wine. theodore took the opportunity to ask you to accompany him outside (because he really needed a cigarette) after some slow tune neither of you were familiar with had been put on.
you nodded your head took a hold of his hand as he led you out the door. you clumsily made your way down the stairs, laughing as you did so. the effects of alcohol were beginning to show themselves.
as fun as it was, getting out of there for a short while was a need. you slumped down onto one of the stone benches placed outside the venue, sighing comfortably as the chilly breeze of the night cooled you down.
you immersed yourself into another casual discussion, not a very significant one, as neither of you could even stand properly for too long without stumbling, but it was nice breather from the wild atmosphere inside. you liked talking to theodore, and even with your clouded thoughts, you knew you'd want to see him again after this. there wasn't a doubt in your mind.
"i thought i'd have to leave early." theodore laughed to himself as he took the last drag from his cigarette, and then tossed the burnt out stub onto the concrete.
"and make me stay here all alone?" you teased, although you probably would have left too if it wasn't for lorenzo and his skillful flirtation tactics or whatever the hell that was.
"who said i wouldn't bring you along?" his response made heat rush to your cheeks, and you put your head down with a breathless chuckle. you were quiet for a moment, trying to recollect your thoughts.
"you know, this might sound a little weird, but," you chewed on the inside of your cheek, not really able to think straight. you were tipsy, after all, "i'm glad i met you today," you tilted your head to the side, drunkenly observing him, "you're nicer than i anticipated." as backhanded as it sounded, that was the best you could do.
it was theodore's turn to blush after you said the words, and it didn't manage to go past you, despite him trying his hardest to hide it.
"yeah, i mean no– it's not weird, i'm uh," he trailed off, contemplating whatever it was that he wanted to say next. honestly speaking, he didn't know how to put it into words, "i'm glad we met too, you're–"
one thing that theodore hated was tripping over his words and not being able to be blunt with somebody he took a liking to, which is why he was so, very grateful to hear elvis' can't help falling in love coming from the inside of the venue.
you looked up at him when you realised which song it was, waiting to see if he'll ask you to dance. and he did, but he didn't lead you back in through the door like you thought he might. you stayed outside in the light wind, slowly swaying to the music, his hands on your waist and your arms around his neck.
you liked it better that way, just the two of you in your own little world with nobody else to disrupt you. you let your head rest on his shoulder, and his grip on your waist tightened just a little bit, like he was making sure you won't leave him. you smiled to yourself, god, that was the last thing you were planning on doing.
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callsign-rogueone · 2 months
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you're somebody else - b.s.
Brennan Sorrengail x Reader words: 1.7k 🏷: IRON FLAME SPOILERS. reader uses she/her pronouns. angst, angst, angst (but a happy ending!) blood, discussion of injury, scars and stitches. inspired by / titled after the song by flora cash
Your fiancé has been dead for six years. You’d read his name on the death roll, and burned his belongings in an offering to Malek. 
Now he’s standing thirty feet away from you with both of his sisters, breathing and moving, reacting to something they’d said.
He’s alive.
Your grip on your bag falters, and it falls to the floor with a soft thud. 
Everyone’s eyes turn to you. The younger of the two Sorrengail girls recognizes you instantly, her lips parting in shock as she takes you in for the first time since Brennan’s graduation from Basgiath. 
Her gaze shifts to her brother, whose eyes are now locked with yours. You look like you’ve seen a ghost, unable to pull your eyes away from the man in front of you. 
You make no move toward him; don’t leap into his arms like he’d imagined for years, don’t hug him as tightly as you can, don’t cry tears of happiness. Your boots are still glued to the polished floor of the hall. 
“Sweetheart,” he breathes, “I…”
You flinch at his voice, the sound you’ve only heard in dreams for the last six years.
The tall man standing beside him, who you distantly recognize to be Fen Riorson’s son, motions for the two girls to leave.
“It’s good to see you again,” Violet says softly. You’ve always had a soft spot for her, had written her letters after you’d gotten the news, sharing in her grief. 
Mira only gives you a lingering glance as she follows her sister, leaving you alone with Brennan.
“You’re hurt,” he says gently, seeing the tear in the right thigh of your pants and the bloody gash beneath it. “Can I mend you?”
You remain silent, but you nod once in affirmation.
You pretend the hands on your leg belong to anyone else, keeping your eyes forward while he kneels in front of you, working to close the wound.
He finally speaks. “My love, I’m so-”
“Please don’t call me that,” you interrupt, and he feels a pain rival to that of the arrow he’d taken to the chest, the one that should have killed him. 
He’s silent, letting you continue. You’ll likely have as much pent up emotion to release as his sisters did when they found out. Thankfully, you choose Violet’s path over Mira’s, eviscerating him with words rather than fists. His nose still doesn’t feel right; mending himself has always been difficult.
“I still mourn you,” you tell him. “I've lit a candle for Malek every night in your honor since I got the news. To have my life crumble around me, to find out we’re at war, that I’ve been on the wrong side the whole time, and then to find that for six years, you’ve been alive, but you never once thought about writing to me to tell me any of it…” you shake your head, pressing your lips together to hold in a sob.
You steady your breathing after a moment. “I’m glad you’re alive, Brennan, I really am. But my Brennan, the man I was supposed to marry, the one who wrote me love letters in ancient languages, is still dead. He has been for years.”
You reach into the chest pocket of your flight jacket, placing something cold in his hand and closing his fingers around it. He doesn’t need to look down to know that it's your engagement ring.
“Thank you for the mending,” you say, picking up your bag. 
He waits until your footsteps have retreated back into the hallway, letting loose a shuddering sob.
Marbh sends him a wave of warmth and empathy. If there is any being who knows how much it had hurt Brennan to be away from you so long, it is him.
“Your brother needs you, silver one,” Tairn relays to Violet, a resigned quiet in his tone that has the cadet slipping away from the group to run back to the assembly room.
When she arrives, she finds Brennan sitting on the floor, knees tucked to his chest, sobbing. It’s a sight she never wants to see again; it just feels so wrong. 
Brennan had always been the strongest of the siblings, the tree that could weather any storm, a perfect balance of their mother’s intense strength and their father’s calm intelligence. It was always her crying after an injury, Mira or Brennan taking her to the infirmary for Nolon to mend it, soothing her all the while.
It’s her turn now to hold him as he cries, murmuring reassurances.
“She’ll come around,” Violet promises, though there’s a nagging feeling in her chest that says you might not. “Prove to her that you are the same man she fell in love with, that you are still worthy of her, and she’ll come around.”
-------------------------------------------------------
You don’t speak with him for two days, only seeing him stand on the dais at Battle Brief. 
It had stung to hear Devera refer to him as Lieutenant Colonel Aisereigh. He’d changed his name. He really isn’t your Brennan anymore. 
He catches you at breakfast — none of your squadmates had come with you from Montserrat, so you’re sitting alone at one of the long tables.
You look up at him silently, letting him speak first. 
He lays a thick bundle of papers on the table in front of you. “The first year of letters,” he answers before you can ask, “that I was too much of a coward to send.”
You look down at the stack of aged parchment. There have to be at least twenty letters there — one a week since July, when he’d been sent to Aretia.
By the time you look back up, he’s gone.
-------------------------------------------------------
A week passes, then another. 
He’s nearly too busy to worry about you, between the arguments among the assembly, the arrival of the gryphon fliers and the subsequent issues integrating them, and his duties mending the injuries resulting from the animosity there.
Someone steps through the door of the infirmary, panting as they limp an injured rider forward. “She just collapsed. I don’t know what’s wrong.”
Brennan realizes it’s you they’re holding up, his heart pounding. He wraps an arm around your waist to take you from your friend, and his hand slips against your side, warm and wet with blood. 
He guides you onto one of the empty beds, pulling up the sticky fabric of your shirt.
The messily-wrapped bandage around your torso has absorbed all the blood it can, the row of stitches underneath torn open. You must have done this yourself in an effort to avoid him, and it didn’t hold.
At least the wound doesn’t seem infected.
He presses a clean palm into the skin, apologizing when you whimper and flinch away. “S’okay, pretty girl,” he soothes, brushing the hair from your forehead gently.
You don’t seem to hear him, your eyes still closed. Fuck, how much blood have you lost?
It’s easy enough to mend the wound, but it’s going to scar — it’s not fresh enough for him to make it disappear without a trace.
He washes the blood from his hands, pulling up a chair beside the bed and watching the gentle rise and fall of your chest as you sleep.
He has no idea if you’ve read the letters he gave you had changed your mind, or if you’d read them at all. You may very well have burned them. You’d be right to, after the way he’d lied to you.
You might never take him back. This may be his last chance to touch you, to feel the warmth of your skin against his. 
He takes your hand gently, intertwining your fingers and pressing a soft kiss to your knuckles, squeezing your palm three times — three times means I love you, you’d told him years ago.
His heart nearly stops as you squeeze back weakly; once, twice, three times.
—————————————————————
You blink the sleep from your eyes, your gaze settling on Brennan sitting beside you, an ancient looking book in his hand, pen between his teeth and a notebook covered with nearly incoherent scribbles in his lap.
Maybe he hasn’t changed as much as you’d thought.
The book and notes are quickly abandoned when he realizes you’re awake. “What the hell happened?”
“Godsdamned gryphon bit me because it didn’t like the order I gave it’s flier,” you explain, stretching your aching muscles. How long had you been asleep?
“And rather than seeking professional help, you stitched it up yourself?” He asks in that same stern tone he’d always used with you after you put yourself in danger.
This time you don’t find it endearing. 
“Yes, I did, like I have for the last six years every time I’ve been injured,” you snap. “The way people do when they don’t have a mender with them.”
He holds his tongue, realizing how many scars you’d acquired over the years. Since he developed his signet, he’d always mended even the smallest of scrapes for you, but now stripes of scar tissue run across your skin like rivers on a map, ghosts of past wounds, some healed better than others.
He imagines you sitting alone in your barracks room with a needle and thread, a folded shirt clenched between your teeth as you sewed the wounds shut.
“Please come see me next time?” He asks softly, genuine concern in his voice. “It could have gotten infected, or worse. And if your friend hadn’t been there…”
You sigh, guilt tugging at you. “Okay.”
“Thank you. Get some rest,” he encourages, turning to gather his things.
“I read some of the letters,” you say, and he turns back to face you. “I’m still hurt, but I’m not angry. I don’t think I could ever be angry with you. You’re a good man, Bren. You’ve done great things for these people.”
The weight on his chest lightens, but he stays quiet, waiting for another heartbreaking line.
“Can we start over?” You ask in a whisper, looking up at him. “Can we try to be us again?”
He smiles. “I’d love nothing more, sweetheart.”
Your heart flutters at the word, as if you’re hearing it from him for the first time. In a way, you are.
234 notes · View notes
screamforyani · 10 months
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family ties
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pairing ↠ miguel o’hara x (f) shapeshifter!reader
genre .. warnings ↠ angst, violence, recurring mentions of death and murder, shapeshifter!reader, non-spiderperson reader, enemies to lovers esque, parenting!au, neighbor!au
summary ↠ six years ago, your ex-fiancé and the father of your baby was killed in a fatal incident involving the head of alchemax. ever since then, you’ve devoted yourself to a life of crime to take care of your daughter. by day, you fall deeper in love with your neighbor, and by night, you come face-to-face with spider-man.
word count ↠ 14.5k
a/n ↠ most of this is set in mc’s universe so anything’s canon here. this is a repost!!!! feedback is appreciated!!!!!!
if anybody asked, you would tell them that doing a crime lord's bidding was nothing to write home about. it was assignment after assignment to keep a roof over your head and putting up with a nineteen-year-old (at least you think he's nineteen) with a reckless mouth. his tongue had gotten him into unimaginable trouble, that was for sure. not just him, but you. curse you for being benevolent enough to not let the poor kid die.
but on the other hand, it could sometimes be rewarding. sometimes.
the venue was sizeable and bustling with rich people. as expected, given the occasion. rod malone-fisk would be hosting an event with his daddy’s money, though most significantly, somewhere upstairs lodged their family’s priceless gemstone.
drawn to your partner’s chest, you could easily pass for a lovely rich couple eager to stuff yourselves full of expensive appetizers, which you had to subtly swat hobie’s hand to keep him from grabbing. he was sporting a tailored red suit to tone with your deep crimson gown, each of you donning masks to match (given that it was a masquerade). 
it was strangely foreign to see hobie outside of his typical punk fits. none of the boots and chains and leather jackets - which looked cool on him, not that you would ever admit it - though he still had his unshakable attitude.
your partner in crime scanned the menu with disdain. “have you seen the menu? what the hell is a beef bourguignon?”
“you butchered the shit out of that,” you told him none too politely, wincing at the horrid pronounciation. “and stop being a baby. i can make you something later if you want.”
hobie dramatically put his hand over his heart. “you know, you treat me like your own son.”
“somebody has to,” you mumbled under your breath.
hobie obviously heard that, and before he could make a comment that would more than likely blow your cover, marsai interrupted through your ear pieces, “um, guys?”
hobie, sobering, asked, “any updates, mar?”
“i just hacked the surveillance system. as expected, the door to the diamond room has tight security. now, i can get you a distraction in roughly two hours, but the rest of the weight is yours to pull.”
marsai was your guy in the chair and that was her way of saying that she could get you both in, but she couldn’t get you out. 
“got it,” you said. 
for half an hour, you and hobie pretended to give a damn about what rodney had to offer, other than his father’s precious gemstones. even through the mask you could tell hobie was bored half to death by the monologue and the second it was over he didn’t hesitate to drag you to the dance floor.
the plan was etched into your memory. including the initial, backup, and safety plan. you were just waiting for marsai to give you the go-ahead. biding your time, one would put it. then you’d bolt upstairs, steal the gem, and book it.
this boring event being a test of your patience was your only concern. it gave you too much time to fret, to worry about what meadow was doing and if she was alright. of course, she’s alright, you thought to yourself. you left her in the most trustworthy of hands. nobody else would do.
“marsai, you’re killing me. it’s been fifty-leven hours,” hobie groaned impatiently for only you and the woman in his earpiece to hear.
you snickered tiredly and added in agreement, “give me any more chances to drink vodka and i might not be able to walk in a straight line. let alone carry out the mask.”
“okay, okay. give me, like, five minutes.”
devon, your getaway driver, tapped into the line and said, “hurry up. i’ve been waiting outside for like an hour.”
“only an hour?” you asked curiously. to be honest, he had been so silent that you’d forgotten he was even there. 
“oh, yeah. i got hungry and went for a burger.”
hobie snarled, voice dripping with obvious envy, “lucky you.”
you laughed.
not even a minute later, the fire alarms began to cry, alerting everyone about a potential fire. you immediately made a beeline for the stairs in spite of the crowd of people flocking towards the exit. you wanted to throw your stilettos over the railing and possibly hit rodney square in the head.
hobie was right behind you. the diamond was in a room down the hall on the far right end of the corridor. it was the perfect place to corner a potential thief.
you looked suspicious running the opposite direction as everybody else, but fortunately for you and your partner, everyone was too scared for their life to question you. even if they noticed, they sure as hell wouldn’t stop and ask why. not with their lives in jeopardy. 
marsai announced in your ears, “most of the security have evacuated their posts, but there’s a couple coming upstairs. they’re not far behind you.”
“i’ll take care of it,” hobie said without leaving much room for argument. he spared you one little look before spinning on his heels.
you drew your gun from the slit in your long gown and continued to pace down the hall, never stopping no matter what. time was most valuable in predicaments like this and you had very little. you needed to be calculated. 
there was no security guarding the door when you arrived. piece of cake, you thought to yourself smugly. and jotted down a mental note to definitely reward yourself with a sickly sweet desert after tonight. 
barging inside, you instantly spotted the gem and wasted not another second to swipe a tiny device from your thigh holster, hurling it at the glass case. it ruptured on impact, shattering on itself. you swiped the jewel and turned.
another voice spooked you and abruptly said, “thank you. i’ll take that.”
the stranger didn’t even let you get a word in before he was snapping the priceless gem out of your clutches, and in a blink, he was running for the door. it only took one glance for you to recognize your unexpected company as the masked vigilante known as spider-man. 
you hated that guy. kind of. on the one hand, you weren’t against him making new york city a safer place for your daughter, but on the other hand, all he did was get in the way of your work and you needed to be able to provide for her.
you aimed your weapon, but spider-man was quick to smoothly slip to the side, quite literally dodging a bullet without even turning around once. “nice shot,” he taunted, pursuing his escape unscathed.
hot on his heels, your stilettos clicked loudly against the cool marble floor. spider-man couldn’t even made it out the door before you were on him, sending him off of his feet. he swore under his breath but never dropped the gem, and you feared he would destroy it with with his grudging clasp. before you could move again, he stole your gun no longer strapped to your thigh, grabbing it with his webs and tossing it across the room.
“how clever,” you snarled, snatching the gem and running the opposite direction.
the masked self-proclaimed superhero charged after you with featherlight, nimble steps that you matched with a graceful agility. you didn’t bother to try to take back your weapon, because you weren’t aiming to wound or maim and there was no need for a body count. 
the two of you danced around the broken case, careful not to slip in glass shards. it reminded you of children playing tag. with you holding the weapon now, you were undoubtedly it.
spider-man pranced around the glass, walking in a circle. he could have easily taken you down and he knew it. he was bigger than you, quicker than you, and stronger than you, but he didn’t particularly want to use his strength on you.
“i don’t want to hurt you,” admitted spider-man in a way that almost came off as a warning. he was stepping around you in the way someone would walk around a sleeping dragon.
you scoffed, “oh, don’t worry, baby. you won’t.”
the feeling was not mutual. you promptly grabbed some glass shards in your black gloves - never taking your eyes off of him - and chucked them his direction. the stranger missed them narrowly, dancing out of their way. you had to give credit where credit was due. this human spider was better than any opponent before him.
in the second it took him to skate out of harm’s way, spider-man inched closer to you, enough for the diamond to be at arm’s length of his body. you slid, the jewel taking to the air. he smoothly caught you and the diamond in his arms all in the same breath, and your shock granted him a few seconds leeway for escape.
for a second, you were too stunned to take action. then, you noticed he was getting away and it wore off as quickly as it came, with you right behind him. 
you took off one of your stilettos and chucked it towards him with superhuman speed like a weapon, and he swore again, whirling around quickly enough to catch the other one before it could strike him too. “woman, you’re insane,” he hissed, eyeing you darkly as you approached him.
“i’ve heard that one before,” you teased, eyes still on the prize. “do better.”
you reached for his mask and he quickly caught your hand before you could reveal his identity, though with your spare hand you snatched the jewel while he was off guard and made a beeline for the exit, your bare feet slapping against the floor. jesus fucking christ, where the hell was hobie when you needed him?
spider-man flung the broken glass case in front of the door with his webs in a final attempt to prevent you from fleeing, immediately giving chase. it was too bad that you had already suddenly shifted towards the window, making him stop short of the broken shards, and stood at the edge of the tall window with the gem pressed to your bosom.
“this has truly been fun, spidey,” you told him, just as you fell out of the window. 
and he would have caught you. he would have stopped going easy on you, would have wrapped this tango up if it weren’t for the fact that you were nowhere to be found. he peered out of the window and saw nobody falling to their death. he crawled up the building and swung from place to place, but it was like you had disappeared in the shadows.
literally.
crawling undetected across the gloomy crevices of the building before taking to the air, you made it to the other side of the building and to the getaway car.
hobie was sitting in the backseat and was baffled when he heard the gem drop just before he saw a jet-black raven that he recognized as your go-to bird identity. “oh, hey,” he said coolly. “how’d it go?”
you transformed back into your original form and hobie glanced away. it was never a process he wanted to look at. not some perfectly animated transition like in the movies. you ignored him and said, “devon, drive.”
“it’s about time,” devon said, speeding off.
“my bad. i had a surprise guest,” you droned, massaging the balls of your feet while hobie placed the gem in the front seat and even wrapped the seatbelt around what would’ve been its chest if it had one. which wasn’t the most brilliant idea, given that rodney was definitely going to report it missing and though the windows were tinted, the roof of the car was down.
devon pushed, “as in?”
“as in spider-man,” you replied coolly. jesus, your feet were killing you. marsai should not have let you walk around in stilettos for hours.  no matter the reward of your sacrifice.
hobie was none too pleased by the intervention. “how in the hell did he know we were going to be there?”
you could see devon’s baffled face from the rear-view mirror. “that’s something to have marsai follow up on.”
you shook your head, bemused and engrossed in thought. your first encounter with spider-man. how exciting. “he caught me when i was about to fall even after i threw glass at him.”
“you were about to fall?” hobie asked, amused. “what is it you always say? never get caught slipping? you quite literally-”
“never get caught slipping. i know. thanks,” you finished, finally clicking your seatbelt into place. 
“aw, shit. she’s in love with spider-man,” devon quipped, earning a sharp glare from the backseat.
hobie laughed. obnoxiously. 
“can you guys shut the hell up already?” you hissed. “i’m just surprised. he treated me better than the two of you even as i came for his life.”
“alright. don’t call us when he throws you in a prison cell,” hobie said blankly.
you rolled your eyes.
the drive was longer than usual because devon wanted to ensure that there were no cops tailing him, aimlessly coasting around town for a while until ultimately taking a very elusive route to your house where he eventually dropped off you and hobie, who didn’t hesitate to remind you about that dinner offer.
when you opened the door to your house, you barely even stepped inside before meadow forwent her coloring book and ran over to you, shouting, “mommy!”
“hey, baby,” you said, watching her short arms wrap around your leg. “how was your day?”
“it was fun. tt took me to the park and she said we can go again tomorrow!” meadow exclaimed giddily, literal stars in her eyes. nothing made you more soft than the sight of your baby girl at the end of a long day.
“that sounds like loads of fun,” you told meadow, gently patting her back.
meadow went to hobie next, calling out for him, and he picked your six-year-old daughter up in his arms. “‘ey up, cheeto. did you make any friends at the park?”
cheeto was the nickname hobie had given your daughter four years back after he saw her eating a bag of cheetos. for whatever reason, it just stuck. everyone called her that, even you every now and then.
“i did,” meadow said, noticably less enthusiastic than before. and it took a lot to get your daughter down in the dumps. she was just so full of life and you wanted her to hold onto that innocence for as long as she could. “but there was this bully. he wouldn’t let me get on the swings.”
that got hobie’s attention, as well as yours. he sat her back down, flexing his muscles and making punching motions. “what? do you want me to handle him for ‘ya? look, i learned some new moves.”
meadow was her giggly self again, watching hobie box the air. 
you, on the other hand, were not happy. you crouched to be eye-level with her and said gently, “if there’s somebody bothering you, cheeto, i can always take to their parents.”
“that won’t be necessary,” came another voice, and you quickly glanced up to see your best friend of many years, lani lee. she was also the one and only person you trusted to babysit your daughter, although you would consider letting hobie watch her for forty-five minutes maximum. “i already talked to the little boy and his parents. he won’t be bothering her any more. i made sure of it.”
“what would i do without you,” you said, standing up to pull your best friend in for a hug while hobie entertained meadow. 
“die of paranoia, probably.”
you rolled your eyes, though she wasn’t wrong. it eased your nerves a lot bit to know your daughter was under the watchful eye of someone like a sister to you. you pulled back, noticing she had her purse in hand, and asked, “you aren’t staying for dinner?”
“oh, no. i can’t. i have a… date,” lani said, the fleeting pause and her constant awkward glimpses between you and meadow making her implications obvious. 
hobie, who also got the memo, snickered. “a date, you say?” 
“stay out of grown folk’s business,” you and lani said simultaneously. 
“mind you, i’m nineteen! i can drink!”
“in london, yes. in brooklyn, no,” you said under your breath, almost hoping he didn’t hear you. you weren’t inclined to have this conversation for the umpteenth time.
“well, i’m gonna head out. you kids have fun,” lani said, slipping out of the house before hobie could make a quip. 
instead, hobie turned to you and asked, “yo, mind if i crash here for the night?”
“you know you can stay whenever you want, hobie,” you told him, heading to the kitchen to prepare dinner. 
“sweet. i’m going to go settle down and i’ll watch cheeto while you cook.”
that’s sweet of him, you thought. you acknowledged him with a nod and immediately washed your hands.
after steaming up the kitchen and donning a more casual outfit you called the youngins out for dinner. hobie, the gentleman he was, helped you set the table and the three of you ate dinner together as if you were one big family. you didn’t mind it. usually, meadow was fed and asleep by the time you got back from work, so you warmed up whatever lani had cooked and ate alone. if lani had time, she’d stay to chitchat, but what was even more rare was you getting home early enough to eat dinner with your daughter.
you made sure lani had whatever resources she needed to take care of meadow and herself. she insisted that you didn’t need to compensate her, but you didn’t care. you couldn’t thank her enough for stepping in when you couldn’t be there like you wanted.
meadow got sleepy after dinner, like she usually did after eating, and you tucked her in, whispering, “goodnight. mommy loves you very much.”
���goodnight. i love you, too. very much,” meadow said sleepily, snuggling her favorite stuffed animal. it was a dragon named cheeto junior, much to your amusement.
you giggled, pressing a kiss to her forehead and turning on her nightlight before shutting the door behind yourself.
then, you grabbed a plate you’d set aside and wrapped up and you even made a total of twenty steps to the front door before hobie appeared out of nowhere - you could of swore he was washing the dishes a minute ago - and asked nosily, “is that for the miguel guy you’re crushing on?”
“jesus fucking christ, hobie. i’m not crushing on him,” you said, maybe a little in denial. sitting at the table eating dinner with someone other than your shadow made your chest hurt, which factored into the denial. “he just helps out a lot. mows the yard and… stuff.”
“and stuff,” hobie repeated with air quotes, because apparently you needed an echo, as if you weren’t loud enough. “that’s rubbish.”
you groaned, “look, i’m just repaying the favor. not that that’s any of your business. go to sleep, kid.”
hobie threw up his hands, mumbling, “fine, fine. but only because i’m knackered.”
you slipped out the front door, somewhat antsy, not that you would ever admit it. you just got all jittery around miguel for whatever reason. maybe it was because he was attractive, which you had no problem admitting. very attractive.
you remembered the first time meeting him. 
it was a saturday and you were cleaning the kitchen, scrubbing down every surface and wiping every dish clear of stains and clearing out the fridge. you’d only taken your eyes off your daughter for a second before you looked back up and noticed her absence. 
your heart immediately sank with panic. “meadow?” you called out. 
no answer.
you had to have flipped over the entire living room and been on your way to her bedroom before you realized the front door was more than a little cracked just as you passed by the foyer, impenetrable fear spreading through your body like wildfire.
you immediately stepped outside of your house, frantically calling out, “meadow!”
“is this who you’re looking for?”
you spun around eighty degrees, spotting meadow walking through your yard with your neighbor. you sighed out in relief, rushing over to swoop your baby girl in your arms. “sweetheart, i’m so glad you’re okay,” you told her. then, you your tone turned chastising. “don’t you ever leave this house again without me or tt, you hear me?”
meadow looked confused for a split-second, but seeing your brows furrowed with worry and your features tensed with panic, she seemed to have understood that she had messed up somewhere along the line. “‘m sorry, mama.”
you sat her down, noticing the dollar bill in her hand. “now where on earth did you get that?”
“i asked mr. o'hara if i could have a lollipop but he said it’s very bad to take food from strangers, so he gave me a dollar.”
that was when your vision panned to your next-door neighbor, miguel o’hara, who was standing there with a small smile on his face. your eyes were watering and you tried not to let them fall, repeatedly telling him, “thank you.”
miguel shook his head, a palm flat on his hips. “it’s no problem. i just wanted to make sure the little girl got back home safe.”
ever since that moment, you’d been extremely grateful for miguel. to say nothing of the fact that he did a bunch of yard work out of the sheer kindness of his heart. he insisted multiple times that he didn’t need any reward, but you had to argue. there was a chance you might not have ever seen meadow again had he not brought her back to you. if you lost your daughter, you would have nothing left.
so, your idea of compensation happened to be food, which miguel didn’t mind at all. you loved to cook. you used to cook all of the time, every meal from breakfast to dinner.
that was a while ago, though. standing on his front door now with a hot plate in hand, you tried desperately not to go down memory lane. 
not too long after, miguel opened the door and spotted you standing in his doorway. “good evening.”
“good evening, miguel. this is for you,” you said with a polite smile, extending the plate. 
“thank you,” he said graciously, accepting the food with a matching smile. “may i ask what for?”
you didn’t really know the answer yourself. the yard had already been mowed and there didn’t seem to be any other issues that lani couldn’t take care of herself. “just in case you were hungry or something. but if you’re not, you can always save it later.”
“i’m starving,” miguel replied, smiling with his eyes. they were beautiful. much like the rest of him, you might add. his broad shoulders and dark hair and the way his muscles poked out of his t-shirts.
“well, then. that solves that,” you said with a laugh. “have a goodnight, mr. o’hara!”
“you, too!”
miguel watched you back off his doorway, just until he was certain you were safely back in your house. you could feel his eyes on you like a sixth sense, but didn’t dare turn around, shutting your front door behind you.
“you’re seriously telling me you weren’t checking him out?” came hobie’s voice from your couch. 
rather than startle, you took off one of your slippers and said, “you have until the count of five. one, two, three-”
“c’ya,” hobie said, darting down the hall. 
you shook your head and let out a sigh.
EARLIER THAT DAY…
miguel shook his head and heaved a breath. 
peter, who had taken a kind of passion to his job, was none too thrilled by the news. “you let a thief wanted in forty-two counties get away?”
“forty-three,” lyla chirped.
miguel glared, on the verge of letting out an animalistic roar. normally, this would be something miguel yelled at the others about, so it was a very unwelcome change of pace. “we have a back-up plan,” miguel reminded, pinching the bridge of his nose. “i’ve got it under control.”
“you sure that you’ve got it under control?” gwen asked, definitely pushing miguel’s buttons in ways that she shouldn’t have. “and not-”
“stop,” miguel hissed. “everyone go. i need to be alone.”
nobody wanted to contend with that tone, so gwen dragged miles out of the room in case miguel decided to take his anger out on him, with peter quickly following. jessica stayed behind, closing the door behind them, and lyla was, well… a computer.
miguel really did have a plan, because of course he did, he was never without one. in fact, not having a plan to follow made him lose his mind. so it was safe to say it wasn’t the fact that his mission had failed that was making him upset. it was you.
“hey,” jessica said, brushing his shoulder. “what’s on your mind?”
“i’m fine,” miguel said a little more harshly than intended, though it was to be expected with him. 
jessica snickered, putting her hands on her hips. “well, when you say it with that mean ‘ole tone of yours, i know you’re lyin’.”
look at him. a grown man sulking. it was hilarious, not that jessica would say that aloud. right now.
not too many people knew the actual plan. jessica knew. lyla knew, because of course she did, but miguel deliberately told the others that the plan was to catch you because you were a threat to the multiverse. which was the half truth, but the part about you potentially destroying the multiverse was just feeder for the birds. he didn’t want them to ruin things.
in reality, he did intend to catch you, but not because you were going to destroy the multiverse. he wanted you to help them save it. he’d been watching you for a while now, gauging your power. battling you for the first time was merely a test. he could have taken you down in no time if he wanted, left you for the cops to grab, but that would only put a dent in his plans.
miguel had seen what you could do. now, he was ready to bring you in.
TWO WEEKS LATER…
you were running, a bit more comfortably than last time considering this thiefing ordeal didn’t require you to wear painfully long heels and a dress with a huge slit down the front. just your typical mask. you burst out of the door that led to the rooftop, heaving, given that you’d just ran up what felt like fifty flights of stairs.
you were just about to shapeshift into your signature jet-black raven until you felt something stick at your feet and realized you couldn’t move. glancing down, you saw red webs, and threw your head back with a groan. not good for takeoff, you thought, in spite of the fact that you absolutely could not get caught. maybe you could still fly, but if the webs got stuck to your feathers, it was game over.
spider-man emerged from the shadows of night, moonlight glimmering on his suit. “going somewhere?”
“well, not anymore, looks like,” you grumbled, irritated. 
little did the police know, you had already dropped off the stolen item. so you would still get your next paycheck. though the expenses for having to get you out of jail could’ve potentially taken a toll on it, depending on how benevolent your boss was feeling.
spider-man chuckled, approaching you. “what did you steal this time? an emerald? a ruby?”
“wouldn’t you like to know?” you hissed.
“you got me there,” replied spider-man, although there was a kind of arrogance in his tone that really pissed you off. “i’m not letting you get away this time.”
you cackled, almost like a witch. “you can deter me, spider-man, all you want,” you told him, trying to break out of the webs, but to no avail. “but i’m unstoppable.”
spider-man took one look at you, struggling to free yourself from your restraints, and cackled. “here. let me help.”
you sucked in a breath when his talons started to protrude from the tips of his fingers, but they were gone after the mere three seconds it took for him to slash the thread of string to bits. you stepped back an inch, as if you were testing your freedom. then, you threw him a baffled look behind your mask. there was no reason why the same man trying to catch you just set you free. unless it was a trap.
now was your moment. you could have shapeshifted and been on your merry way, but something told you to stay put. just for now, as if you were going to miss something. 
“i think she went up here, boss!”
hearing those voices, your first instinct was to take flight, but spider-man had different plans and you quietly gasped when he shoved you behind a wall, placing a sheathed hand over your mouth. it was the only part of your mask that wasn’t covered. breathing issues.
there were footsteps. you glanced at spider-man, who was looking at you. the two of you said nothing, but there had to have been a billion thoughts warring through your mind and they each blurred into each other. 
“don’t move a muscle,” spider-man growled, stepping from behind the wall and approaching the police. for whatever reason, you listened, despite the fact that you should have fled while you still had the opportunity. some nerve this guy had telling you what to do.
spider-man donned his friendliest tone, greeting, “everything alright, sheriff?”
“we got a tip that a woman ran this way,” the sheriff said, glancing around the rooftop. now would probably be a great time to shapeshift into a chameleon. or literally any small critter.
“i didn’t see a woman. i can assure you it’s just me up here,” spider-man said, scratching his head. “but i can help you find her.”
the sheriff seemed to mull it over, from the brief pause you noticed him take, but ultimately responded, “no, no, that’s okay. you do enough around here, spider-man. we’ve got this one.”
“alright. you have a good night, sheriff.”
your eyes flickered, hearing the footsteps of the sheriff and his team fade. did spider-man just protect you - again?
“why did you do that?” you asked, narrowing your eyes at him from behind your mask. you didn’t like this guy, if it wasn’t obvious enough. you felt like he was trying to get you off guard, and that made you dig in your heels even more.
“because if anyone’s gonna turn you in, it’ll be me,” spider-man said in a low tone, cornering you against the wall and trapping you in front of his chest. “i want to take you down all by myself.”
you snickered. that had to have been the most amusing thing you’d heard all day. you placed your hands on his shoulders, purring, “really now? you think you can take me down?”
“i know i can,” he told you, his words whispering to you with the rustling of the wind. “and i will.”
“hm,” was all you said, bringing one of your hands down his chest. he sounded so certain. 
spider-man cocked his head. you couldn’t see, obviously, but there was a little grin dancing on his lips. “do you touch every guy like this or am i special?”
“i loved a man once,” you told him. not that it was any of his business. you cloaked the wistfulness in your voice with sultriness. “didn’t end too well for either of us.”
spider-man paused, like he was surprised by the sudden confession, but wasted no time to recover. “is that why you’re here?”
you chewed your lip. he was right on the money. “i’m here because i choose to be.”
“but if you had the chance to be something else, something… better,” spider-man started, tracing your lip with his concealed thumb. “you would take it, right?”
of course, you would. those kind of opportunities just weren’t something everybody was fortunate enough to have. you had it all and then you lost it in the blink of an eye, watching it all crumble before your feet. if you were being honest, you were cheating death.
“i guess we’ll never know,” was all you said before breaking out of his arms and jumping off of the building. 
spider-man watched you, but he knew you would be alright even before he saw the raven come up and disappear into brooklyn’s dark evening sky and he couldn’t tell you apart from a star.
THE FOLLOWING DAY…
with your line of work, you had quite a few days off. but that was because you didn’t have a fixed schedule, which was a blessing and a curse wrapped into one. when your boss called, you answered. even if it meant having to haul ass out of bed at four in the morning.
today was one of those days off. you insisted lani didn’t need to do anything, sending her money to make sure she was set since she was basically your daughter’s full-time babysitter. you made meadow breakfast, dropped her off at school, and went back home. 
thinking about meadow and if she was safe always made you nervous. since you could afford it these days, you enrolled her in a private school. it didn’t hurt, even if she hates the uniform at first. you just wanted to decrease the chances of something bad happening to her.
miguel was on his front porch when you pulled into the driveway, your houses not significantly far from each other. every now and then, you let your eyes wander, and then you let your mind wonder why a man as fine as himself lived all alone.
“hey,” miguel said, waving you over. “you’re home early.”
“so are you,” you replied, shocked that he was home. this was a man that worked a typical nine-to-five, so he should have been gone longer than you, technically speaking. though he did tend to disappear often. “i admit i was a little curious when i saw your car still parked when i went to drop meadow off.”
“off day,” was all miguel said, flashing you a full set of teeth. jesus fucking christ, this man had a mesmerizing smile. “what are your plans for today, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“oh, you know. just catching up on sleep and throwing something on the stove,” you told him offhandedly. like any other working individual on their day off, you just wanted to rest. “there’s nothing like a nap on a full stomach. what about you?”
miguel rubbed his nape. “well, i was going to do some extra paperwork and some work around the house, but your plan sounds better than mine.”
you chortled, because you couldn’t even politely disagree. “in that case, you can always come over, if you’d like. no one’s home but me and i don’t bite.”
though you didn’t realize until it was too late, miguel had gotten very close to you. you could feel his warmth on your skin, although your bodies didn’t touch. his arm was just shy of yours. “no, no. i couldn’t,” he said. 
you waved him off. “of course, you could. you’re not a parasite, miguel. we both give to each other.”
“are you sure it’s okay?”
“positive. we’re both grown adults. you don’t need anyone’s permission but mine to come over to my house, you know,” you joked.
miguel visibly mulled it over, his brows furrowed in deep thought, almost as though he thought you were going to eat him or something. but then he bobbed his head and said, “sounds like a good time.”
you broke into a smile that you hadn’t made in years, leading miguel to your house. ironically, it was the first time he had been inside. you hadn’t had any indoor issues that you or lani couldn’t take care of on your own so far, which meant he stuck to yardwork. foolishly, you were a little nervous.
“tidy,” miguel remarked while he followed you to your kitchen. you didn’t see the way he smiled at the tiny pairs of shoes on the rack in the foyer. he noticed that there were a lot of pictures of meadow hanging around, ranging from when she was a mere infant until now.
“very. thank god for lani. i used to think i was a good, but that woman is a different breed of clean,” you said after washing your hands, grabbing a bunch of ingredients from your cabinets and refrigerator. 
miguel observed from behind your island, leaning up against it. “you two seem very close.”
“i trust her with my life. and my daughter’s life. she’s like a sister to me,” you told him, smiling. for a split-second, miguel swore he saw something wistful. “she almost was.”
“almost?”
“almost,” you whispered, plopping a bag of peppers onto the counter. 
miguel didn’t press. if you wanted to talk about it, you would. the two of you weren’t exactly close, no matter how blurry the lines between just friends and neighbors had gotten over the years.
reading the room, miguel expertly shifted the subject, “what are you making?”
the stars were back in your eyes as you gushed, “it’s a family recipe. my mother used to make it all the time. i feel bad now for complaining about how much she did when i was a kid. it’s mouthwatering perfection.” you deliberately left out the part that you felt bad because you would never get the chance to eat her food again.
“i hear you,” miguel replied, watching you cut the peppers. he didn’t like how sharp the knife was. “let me help.”
you brushed him off. “it’s fine. sit down.”
“i wasn’t asking,” miguel said sternly, his feet already moving. 
you blinked. “oh. okay.”
miguel maneuvered around the island, grabbing your waist while he walked past you, which admittedly made butterflies flutter in your gut. you chided them, begging them to keep the excitement to a minimum, but it was no use when you saw miguel had rolled up his sleeves and taken the knife out of your hands.
you pretended to look at the vegetables, though it couldn’t have been more obvious that you were watching his bare, exposed forearms and the taut muscles tense with his every movement. then, reminding yourself that there were other things you could have been doing, you tried to concentrate on the meat.
absentmindedly working, your thoughts were still on his arms, though for more chaste reasons. there were some lingering scratches on his skin, like he’d gotten into a fight or two. you wondered if he was taking care of himself. 
something particularly paralyzing hit you when you realized that that was all you could do - wonder. you didn’t really know miguel, nor did he know you, and you had long convinced yourself that it was better that way. you kept your family a distance from others until they bared their souls to you.
miguel was different. there was an air of familiarity to his presence. like he had half a soul that was completed by yours.
after forty minutes of what felt like reckless conversation featuring the two of you cooking instead of the other way around, lunch was ready and it was noon. you offered miguel wine and chattered over a meal and through your wine drunk haze. 
good thing he only lived next door.
“you know, you cook the best food i’ve ever tasted,” miguel told you, not a single sign of insincerity on his face. 
you perked up, glancing at him from across the dining table. what a kind gentleman he had been, refusing to let you set the table. or carry the dishes over. “really?”
“i wouldn’t say it if i didn’t mean it,” he said. “such great flavor.”
“thanks,” you chirped, breaking into a broadening grin. “i’ve been hoping to pass it down to meadow so that the legacy doesn’t die. she loves watching me cook. her grandmother would be proud.”
miguel cocked a brow. “no other family?”
you shook your head, fidgeting with the near-empty wine glass now that you’d finished your meals. “nope. my mother was single, my father is god knows where, so it was just me and her for the longest. and you know how i said lani was almost my sister?”
“mm-hm,” miguel hummed, brows furrowed as a sign he was listening deeply. 
you sucked in a breath. you had never admitted this to anyone before. “she was my fiancé’s sister. he, uh, yeah. work incident. six years ago.”
miguel’s features softened, the ache on your face conspicuous. hurt recognized hurt. he grabbed your hand from underneath the table, gave it a gentle squeeze, and said, “i’m sorry that happened.” 
“me, too,” you mumbled.
you deliberately left out the part that you were involved in that incident. it was a dinner at alchemax with the man you were about to start a family with and his boss, who had sent the rest of the company home. you wished you would have seen it coming, wished you would have known your drinks were spiked before your almost husband sipped from that glass.
the dosage had killed him, but mutated your dna. you should have died. it was a miracle your unborn baby at the time survived. instead, you turned into a shape-shifting entity, a mere test subject.
though there weren’t any signs, you were always wary, wondering if meadow had been affected by the dosage, but the doctors declared her very healthy at birth and during checkups.
“i lost my family, too,” miguel confessed, much to your and his mutual surprise. “i wasn’t always a lonely old man. i had a wife and a daughter.”
that piqued your interest. “have you looked again?”
“have you?”
that was fair. “no,” you said. not particularly, came a voice in your head, but you didn’t let it speak. “mainly because i have a daughter. i’m careful who i bring into her life. and with work, i don’t have the time to do background checks on who i date.”
“you’re a good mother,” miguel said after a moment or two. “meadow is lucky to have you.”
you smiled gently. “i like to think so.”
minutes of conversation turned into hours with miguel, but you didn’t forgo your plans of napping. almost the second you put on the movie, both of you were fast asleep, your head on his shoulder. 
when you woke up again, your head had fallen to his chest and his arm was tightly secured around your waist like a seatbelt. it wasn’t time to pick up meadow, you had set a time just in case you got a little too distracted, but you noticed a text from lani insisting that she would drop your daughter off since she was in the area of her school and wanted you to rest.
for a little while, you let yourself wallow in the feeling of miguel’s warmth and the sound of his soft snores. it wasn’t very often that you actually let yourself enjoy things.
you were too paranoid. too vigilant. it was nice to put your guard down for a second.
the doorbell rang after a while and you felt miguel’s arm flex protectively around you. he was awake.
“it’s lani. she dropped off meadow,” you whispered, feeling his protective grip slacken. your heart fluttered at how instinctively cautious he was over you.
standing to your feet, you opened the door and greeted your daughter. you made small talk with lani at the door before she said she had places to be and drove off. 
“hi, mr. o’hara,” greeted meadow when she entered the living room, plopping on the couch to watch cartoons. 
“hey, cheeto,” miguel greeted gruffly, sitting up. “you don’t have any homework to do?”
“nope,” meadow said, popping the p. “we don’t have homework on friday’s.”
“oh, silly me,” miguel said, making you poorly stifle a laugh.
meadow giggled, too. 
miguel cocked his head at you, standing beside him, leaning against the arm of the chair. “who are you laughing at?”
you raised your arms defensively. “nothing.”
“i said,” miguel started, donning a playfully monster-like tone, probably for meadow’s amusement. you gasped when he switched your positions, though he was rather gentle when he pushed you into the couch. “who are you laughing at?”
when his fingers started to dance over your skin, you couldn’t even get the words out, convulsing in a fit of giggles as he tickled you and pressed you for answers. you squirmed and writhed, laughing uncontrollably.
“meadow,” you called out for help, but she simply covered her ears and kept her eyes glued to the television screen for all the times you tickled her. but you saw her lips twitch into a mischievous grin.
there was almost tears in your ears at this point. miguel’s fingers were merciless, almost killing you with how much they made you laugh. 
“oh my god, miguel, quit it…,” you chanted, your cheeks hurting. 
“what’s the magic word?”
“stop.”
“wrong answer.”
“please,” you blurted, a line of tears rolling down your face as you writhed beneath him. “please!”
miguel let up, at last pulling back from your frame as your chest heaved and you tried to catch your breath. meadow lifted up her hand and high-fived miguel, both of them looking like nothing but trouble.
miguel plopped back on the couch, asking, “are you okay?”
“i almost pee’d myself,” you admitted through ragged breaths. 
both miguel and meadow laughed. 
once you could breathe again, you called meadow into the kitchen for an after school snack since she insisted that she wasn’t very hungry. “mom,” she called out, standing beside you. “a boy told me he liked me at school today.”
any other parent would have had a heart attack, but you knew your daughter well enough, and asked expectantly, “and what did you say?”
“that he’s icky,” she told you with a straight face. 
you snickered in amusement. “atta girl.”
“do you like mr. o’hara?”
now that almost gave you a heart attack, but you feigned some kind of semblance of calm, asking, “what makes you think that?”
“it just looks like it,” meadow chirped, but she was quick to get distracted by the snacks in the pantry and asked for a blueberry muffin.
but that was the million dollar question. did you like miguel o’hara?
THE NEXT DAY IN DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN…
“it’s about time you got here,” was the first thing hobie said when you arrived at the warehouse.
the abandoned warehouse was rusty and run-down, and it wasn’t too much of a leap to make that it hadn’t been used in years. you swore you saw a critter scurry away upon your entrance.
“hello to you too, hobie,” you greeted levelly. “cutting to the chase, where’s michael fontana? you didn’t leave a live body alone, did you?”
hobie scoffed, “ay, do i look like an amateur to you? follow my lead.”
you followed hobie through the warehouse littered with clutter, boxes cast aside that were presumably filled with old junk and spiders. the job was supposed to easy. tie the guy up, press him for answers, and relay the information. it could have been a one-person job, but your boss preferred having multiple witnesses.
hobie’s fingers curled around a doorknob, turning it and pushing the door open. but the room was void of life. your brows furrowed, glancing up at hobie, uttering, “there’s nobody here…”
you screamed when you felt somebody grab you from behind, assuming it was an escaped michael fontana. this is why you don’t hire nineteen-year-olds, you thought grumpily to yourself.
struggling in his arms, you shouted to your partner, “hobie, the gun!”
hobie didn’t move a muscle, much to your shock, shooting you an apologetic wince. “sorry, mate. it’s nothing personal. i actually like you,” he said. “but boss’ order.”
you glanced back, the sting of brutal betrayal settling in with the mind-numbing realization that the person grabbing you wasn’t michael fontana.
before you could shapeshift, you felt a needle poke your arm and hissed, just a grand total of seconds before your body went slack and the world around you vanished.
when you regained consciousness, the first thing you noticed was how bright it was in whatever room you were in, sunlight filtering through the blinds. the second thing you noticed was that your hands were cuffed behind the back of whatever chair you were now sitting in, followed by the pain flaring through your right arm. 
glancing around, you opened your winced eyes. an interrogation room with an outdoor window. that was a first.
“she’s awake!” you heard someone calling out, craning your head to spot two teenagers. if you had to guess, they didn’t look over seventeen. the boy waved, but the girl tugged his hand back down.
they must have heard someone coming, but they moved out of the way, letting them cross the threshold between their room and yours, the door already open. like they knew for certain that there was no way you could escape.
spider-man came to sit in front of you, across from you. your last memory was of him standing behind you. you narrowed your eyes, sneering, “you.”
you didn’t wonder how he knew who you are, remembering hobie had betrayed you. he must have been ratting you out for the longest. marsai had been looking into how spider-man seemingly always knew when and where you’d strike, but found nothing. you guessed you had your answer.
“not me,” spider-man said, deactivating his mask. “me.”
shock paralyzed you, not that you could move very much in the first place. this had to be some kind of dream. or, better yet, a nightmare. “miguel?” you gasped.
it all made sense now. the disappearances at random hours of the day and ungodly hours of the night. the scratches and bruises you sometimes noticed on his skin, and lord knows you hadn’t even seen half of them. it was because he was out fighting evil, out fighting you. 
“i’m not your enemy,” miguel said, his voice stern like it had been in your kitchen.
“yes, because only my ally would set me up, drug me, and cuff me to a chair,” you droned, voice dripping with sarcasm.
you shifted as much as you could,  uncomfortable at the thought of being drugged. the last time it happened, you lost a fiancé, the future you always wanted, and - on the brink of death - turned into a shape-shifting creature. you were also a little hurt, not that you would show it on the surface. you’d trusted miguel, even liked him, much to your daughter’s suspicion.
wondering how long he knew was even more maddening. this man was posing as your kind next-door neighbor all the while knowing where you were and what you did when you left your home everyday. and all of it was for what - to capture you and cage you like an animal?
miguel lolled his neck. you could see the exhaustion in his eyes, weighing him down. “it was for your own good. you would have tried to shapeshift and get away from me, no?”
you chewed your lip, saying nothing. you didn’t want to admit that he was right. much to miguel’s amusement. 
“about that,” came one of the two teenagers, the boy, you noticed. “we really wanted to ask you about being a shapeshifter. i mean, that’s so cool. i’ve never met a shapeshifter before.”
“most people haven’t, kid,” you said stiffly. “who are you two?”
“i’m miles morales,” the boy introduced himself, stretching out his hand for you to shake. 
wiggling your fingers behind your back, you droned, “my hands are kinda tied here, kid. literally.”
miles made a face, immediately rushing to uncuff you after miguel unceremoniously tossed him the key. 
“i’m gwen stacy,” the girl said as your cuffs slackened and your hands were freed. “can you please tell us what it’s like to be a shapeshifter?”
“no, no, and no,” miguel said for you, clearly against the idea for whatever reason. 
“but why?” gwen pressed. then, an idea hit her and she looked to you, continuing, “miguel didn’t mean any harm. he has a good reason for doing all of this.”
“i’d sure like to hear it,” you mumbled under your breath.
“miguel hasn’t really told us, either,” miles added. “i mean, i thought-”
gwen covered miles’ mouth before he could say anything that would undo and hender their progress and convincing either you or miguel. 
from the looks if it, though, miguel was unimpressed to begin with, a blank look on his face. “whatever you’re trying to do, gwen, it’s not working.”
“it’s her choice,” gwen reminded, returning her attention to you and clasping her hands together against her chest. “please, please, please? we won’t bother you ever again.”
you glanced at miguel, who was glancing at you, both of you trying to read each other. there seemed to be a telepathic communication going on between you both before miguel visibly relented and you said, “alright, fine. go ahead. shoot.”
“can you shapeshift into anything?”
“animals and other humans, but not objects. and only living things that i’ve stored dna from.”
“do your senses get enhanced, like superhuman?”
“my senses depend on whatever - or whoever - i’m inhabiting,” you explained. “like, if i were to shapeshift into a bat, my hearing would be keener. but when it comes to humans, i only don their appearance.”
“do you have weaknesses?”
“next question,” you mumbled. of course, you did. your abilities were impaired when you were sick or injured, and downright disarmed it you consumed or came into close contact with something that you were allergic to. it was your kryptonite, not that anyone needed to know that.
“how long can you stay in shapeshifting form?”
“depends on my health.”
“alright, that’s enough,” miguel said. “both of you. out.”
strangely enough, miles and gwen didn’t argue, seemingly content with your answers. they bid you goodbye and left the room chattering amongst themselves.
you cocked your head, meeting miguel’s stare. “well, cap, what’s your motive?”
miguel got comfortable in his chair, like he was about to give you a monologue. “you’ve been on our radar since you mutated. i was going to just lock you up and throw you with the others at first, since i assumed you were hurting innocent people.”
“you think daddy’s boy and his family are innocent?” you asked with a hint of amusement. 
“rodney malone-fisk?” 
you groaned at that name. “you call him rodney. i call him a spoiled brat.”
“i know what his family did to you. what they took from you,” miguel started, making all the blood drain from your face. “your fiancé didn’t just die in a work incident. he was killed as a lab rat. fisk was trying to test out a mix that would grant him dimension-traveling abilities but it ended up being a shape-shifting solution instead. you were supposed to die, too, but the dosages weren’t measured properly.”
you said nothing. there was nothing that you could say. just thinking about it made tears sting your eyes.
miguel grabbed your hand over the table, squeezed it like he had the other day. there was tenderness he had for you that he hadn’t felt in a long time. you understood him. “you know why i asked if you had the chance to be something better, would you take it? because i know that you’re more than this. you’re not a bad person. you just do bad things to survive.”
“i can’t,” you whispered, swatting his hand away. “everything i touch, i destroy.”
that miguel understood on levels he didn’t want to nor care to admit.
you fought the tears with all your might. after your fiancé died, you lost everything you had. except for your family. you had meadow and lani and built a safe haven for them from the ground up, swearing to protect them with your whole heart.
“i want to give you that chance,” miguel said stoically. “on a silver platter. i want you to join us.”
your eyes flickered. “join you? to do what?”
“you obviously have useful skill that could be put to better use. but kingpin and his son are going to destroy your universe as you know it if nobody stops him. and if anyone deserves to take him down, it’s you.”
that got your attention. kingpin wanted to destroy the universe? your fiancé always talked about his boss wanting to cross different dimensions, but you never thought it was humanly possible.
though considering you could shapeshift, you figured anything was possible nowadays. but your major concern was your daughter, your eyes widening with the realization that you should have been with her already. you could feel a tingle, sensing that something just wasn’t right. 
you didn’t say a word as you immediately hopped to your feet and ran out of the door, miguel immediately giving chase, but you ultimately disappeared into a crowd of spider-people and although it couldn’t have been too hard to differentiate you from them, you were already on the loose.
running as fast as you could, you didn’t stop, although you didn’t really know where you were going and with all the many spider-people roaming around that resembled each other, it felt as though you were running in circles.
then, you came face-to-face with hobie, and scowled.
“move,” you hissed. 
hobie called out your name. “ay, mate, no hard feelings.”
“all the feelings i have for you right now are hard,” you snarled, pushing past him. you would be affording miguel the same amount of animosity when you were certain your daughter was safely in your arms. right now, he was in your way, and anyone stopping you from being with your kid was going to be met with a snappy attitude.
“wait,” hobie called out behind you. 
you turning around, pointing an accusing finger towards him, and snapped, “i was supposed to be back with my child by now and because of you i’m not. so unless you’re going to help me get to her, i suggest you move out of my way.”
“that guy sucks anyway,” hobie said, not having to even think about which option he preferred. “follow me.”
you hesitated, because he was the whole reason that you were even here, but eventually followed him down the hallway, careful to move quiet and stealthily. you were also wary that it could be trap, but truth be told, you had no other way out.
though you probably should have questioned how or why it was so many of them, that was the last thing on your mind. lani was probably worried sick about you. you didn’t have a clue what time it was, but it didn’t take a genius to know that hours had passed, and you said you would be home way before now. 
the hall broadened towards its end where you saw a gathering of spider-people, all looking like they were scouting somebody out. “blast, he’s got them looking for you,” hobie grumbled under his breath. he walked you back around a corner and handed you something around his wrist. “here, take this.”
“what the hell is that?”
“it’s a wristband. it’ll open a portal to your universe. but you’ve gotta go now,” hobie explained, tapping some kind of button. 
you were more than a little surprised when an orange warp portal opened.
“go,” hobie said, glancing around for anybody. “i’ve got your six.”
hearing footsteps approaching, you neared the portal and almost entered, but there was a gnawing question that you couldn’t ignore. you whipped around, asking, “where do your loyalties lie?”
“in myself,” hobie answered without a second of hesitation. “and in the people that mean the most to me.”
you scoffed. “what happened to boss’ order?”
“i’m my own boss. that was in your best interest,” hobie replied, leaning against the wall. “c’mon. get outta here.”
turning around, you sucked in a breath, and walked through that portal. 
BACK IN BROOKLYN…
you returned right back at your house, just near the road. glancing around, nothing looked too out of the ordinary. lani’s car was parked in the driveway, meaning she had to have been there. didn’t she?
running to your house with all of your speed, you prepared to search yourself for your keys, only for your heart to drop when you realized that the door was already wide open.
heart racing, you burst through the foyer, and the first thing you saw when you entered your living room was lani sprawled out on the floor, a puddle of blood beneath her. 
“lani,” you gasped out, crouching down beside her. 
lani’s eyes were fluttering, a tremble in her weak voice as she whispered, “i tried to stop them.”
“stop who?” you asked, trying to stop the blood flow. she had been shot, lying here for only god knew how long. you threw off your jacket and pressed it to her gut, apologizing when she winced out in pain. 
“kingpin’s men,” she croaked. “they took meadow. they want you.”
you gritted your teeth, bristling with anger. hadn’t that man taken enough from you? you let him get away with killing your fiancé, but your daughter was crossing the line and you’d show him the mistake he’d made. even if it cost you everything. “where?” you asked. 
lani lifted up her arm, and that was when you noticed that it was also coated in blood, but there were symbols carved into her skin. 
it was the symbol of an abandoned alchemax building.
“go,” lani said, tensing as though it took all of her strength to say that one syllable. your fingers were clenched into fists. you would kill everyone involved with your bare hands if you had to. 
“no,” you balked, shaking your head. “i can’t leave you like this.”
lani grabbed your hand, lacing her fingers through yours. “your daughter is more important.”
thinking about what they could have been doing to meadow right now made you shudder with a fear you had never felt before. 
“i’ll take her to a hospital,” came a voice from behind you. you turned immediately, recognizing it. there stood miguel, still clad in his spider-man suit. “go save your daughter. i’ve already sent the team.”
you stood, coming face-to-face with miguel, and hissed, “if anything happens to her…”
“i know,” miguel said, as if he understood you wholeheartedly. “go.”
miguel scooped lani up into his arms, and it hurt you when she hissed in pain. you turned to her. “i’ll come back for you.”
lani smiled weakly. “i know you will.”
and with that, you were out the door, shapeshifting into your signature raven and flying across town.
the abandoned alchemax wasn’t exactly old. it was the building where your fiancé was killed and they covered up the incident as the result of faulty equipment, which ultimately led them to build an entirely new facility. you landed on top of the building that somehow hadn’t been demolished yet, transforming back into yourself when your feet were against the ground.
there wasn’t really an entrance all the way up here. the rooftop door was blocked and bolted as preventative measures. guess i’ve got to make my own door, you told yourself, undeterred.
spotting a stray piece of metal debris, you wielded the pipe in your hands. there was always the option of the lower-level entrances, if you wanted to get caught immediately. kingpin’s men were probably staking the place out, waiting to ambush.
you stepped back, holding the pipe, and charged towards the door as you shattered the window open, glass shards flying everywhere. cautiously stepping over the glass, you fitted your way through the gap you’d created, craning your head downwards until your feet plopped against the floor.
you were in. 
there were two halls on either side of you and though you didn’t really know which one went where, you followed your gut and took the path to your right.
the whole place was eerily dark and empty. duh, it’s abandoned, you cogitated. not that it made things any better. all you could hear was yourself, your own feet against the cold floor, though it would be naive to believe you were truly alone.
someone was here. kingpin’s men were everywhere but nowhere at the same time, waiting for you to make yourself known. and miguel had told you that he sent the team that should have been here by now, making you wonder how they got in and if they’d been detected.
you couldn’t explain it, but it felt like you were being watched, like there was somebody on your heels ready to strike you in your back when you least expected it. though to be honest, you always felt that way. always alert. never safe.
what you would give to live in peace again, to rest your heart and mind even for just a second. but you couldn’t afford not to be careful, not when you had a daughter to live for.
walking by a door, you cried out in shock when somebody grabbed your arm in pulling you inside, instinctively shapeshifting into a venomous creature, but withdrawing when you saw that it was only hobie and his friends.
“i almost killed you,” you hissed to him after donning your normal appearance again.
hobie threw his hands off, feigning innocence. 
there were two people you didn’t recognize tagging along with them. gwen shut the door, while a lady approached you, introducing, “i’m jessica. i work with miguel. and listen, we really need your help.”
your brows furrowed. “what’s going on?”
“kingpin’s making this weird space-traveling machine that’s really a doom machine because he’s gonna kill everyone,” some kid rambled. “oh, i’m pavitr.”
miles looked surprised, like nobody told him what was going on, and asked, “you got evil kingpin in your universe, too?”
“unfortunately,” you mumbled. 
“he’s out of control. he doesn’t know what he’s doing,” gwen told you frantically. “we’re making a device that will deactivate the accelerator but it’s taking some time.”
“so what?” you asked, trying to get to the point. “you want me to stall him?”
“he’s got cheeto,” hobie reminded. “there ain’t no telling what he’ll do to her if somebody doesn’t stop him.”
you gritted your teeth, filled with unadulterated rage. god, you felt murderous. you tried to speak levelly, “so, what’s the plan?”
“we split up into pairs,” jessica said. “we find where he has the accelerator. that’s where he’s keeping your daughter.”
hobie declared, “i dibs miles.”
miles didn’t protest. jessica insisted it was best if the younger ones were supervised, so she volunteered to take pavitr and the device that they were cooking. which left you with gwen. “guess it’s just you and me, kid,” you said, stepping out of the room.
“i think it’s really cool that you can shapeshift,” gwen told you while you stealthily crept down a hall with her. “i mean, it sucks how it happened to you, but…”
“shh,” you whispered, tugging her behind a wall. she seemed surprised, but then she heard the footsteps, too.
someone was coming.
“i’m gonna do something really weird,” you told her lowly. “and i need you to play along.”
“what are you…”
you shapeshifted into kingpin. 
“oh my god. that is really weird,” gwen mumbled. 
you grabbed her arm none too gently, reminding her to play along, and approached the man that was working for kingpin. “found this one lurking around.”
“i knew i heard something from over here,” the guy said, shooting gwen a scowl. “you want me to take her off your hands, boss?”
“take her to the accelerator. now,” you ordered, handing gwen over, who was doing a good job at looking dejected. “i’ll follow behind.”
the man didn’t hesitate to follow orders, leading you to the room where the accelerator was. that was far too easy. 
it was a lot of walking. apparently the accelerator was at the very bottom of the building, beneath the first floor, heavily guarded by kingpin’s men. it was a good thing you were wearing something even better than a hyper realistic costume.
the room was white and starkly bright compared to every other inch of the place, though all of that could be chalked up to the fact that it was the only room in the whole building currently using energy. and lots of it, too.
when you finally saw your daughter sitting in a small cage above the accelerator, between bars like an animal, you almost killed everyone in the room. instead, you kept your cool, ordering the dude to unhand gwen.
“anything else, boss?”
just as you opened your mouth to speak, the unimaginable happened. the door swung open, revealing the real kingpin, who seemed more than baffled when he saw you standing there. until it hit him that he knew of a shapeshifter. 
“you fool,” kingpin bellowed, glaring at the man. “that’s her!”
“fuck,” you swore under your breath. 
the man turned to you, watching you visibly break into a sweat, and called out, “hey, you’re not my boss!”
that cry got the attention of everyone in the room, all of kingpin’s very armed men. you gave gwen a look and shouted, “now!”
gwen started to shoot webs, restraining men that turned to put their weapons on you, and you shapeshifted into a wolf, attacking the man that had been under the impression that you were his boss until he was nothing but a bloody course. 
and the cycle repeated. kingpin ordered more of his men to move in and attack you, keeping his distance seeing as you were currently in a form of a wolf that could bite his head off if she so pleased. some of his men took him somewhere else in the room, away from you, and crowded him defensively. 
all the while, your five-year-old daughter was watching. she was almost six, and she was brilliant, and she was watching you attack with something that surprisingly wasn’t fear. almost like she thought she was watching a movie of some sorts, anticipating the next scene.
you were trying to get to her, but kingpin had made it so that if you really wanted to, you would have to get through him first.
blood quickly started to pool around and it wasn’t yours. there were bodies everywhere, dropping like flies. though you desperately wanted to cover your daughter’s eyes and spare her from the horror of seeing multiple people die at your hands in real time, you were in too deep of a rage to stop and nothing would keep you from fighting.
then, it happened. you didn’t move quick enough. the bullet tore right through you, making you howl out, and you glitched back into your true form. the wound was there, blood dripping around your calf.
gwen gasped, coming to your side, but she was caught and forcibly restrained. 
“mom!” meadow cried out, gripping the metal cage bars. 
kingpin cackled in amusement. “bravo, bravo. you know, i really do have to applaud the show you put on right there. this could have been painless if you would have just complied.”
“let my daughter go,” you snarled with vitriol. 
“i will,” kingpin said, like she was the most insignificant part of this little scheme of his. “after you give me what i want.
“what don’t you understand? i don’t have anything,” you shouted, fingers reaching to your wound and becoming stained in your own blood. “you took everything from me!”
“the code, woman. what’s the code?” kingpin hissed. “your fiancé was working on it. he cracked it. the code to the accelerator.”
for a second, you genuinely had no idea what he was talking about, until it hit you. your fiancé talked at length about a device at work that he’d been programming under his boss’ order, but he wanted to sabotage it. he said that it was unsafe. that kingpin didn’t realize the mistake he was making. it was an underdeveloped device that could destroy the whole planet.
you quickly realized he’d been talking about the accelerator. he’d worked many long days and nights on it and still thought that it wasn’t ready for use. that was what kingpin had been developing for all these years, completing your fiancé’s unfinished business.
“damn that code,” you snapped irritably.
kingpin was furious, and started to ramble, “your fiancé died at his own hand. he signed a contract. it isn’t my fault that the mix killed him, but if you don’t telling me everything i need to know about this damn machine, i’ll kill you and i’ll kill-”
“boss,” interjected one of kingpin’s men. 
“don’t you hear me speaking?” roared kingpin. 
“but boss, the baby,” the man started. “she’s gone.”
kingpin’s eyes flitted up to the cage, immediately noticing the absence of your five-year-old daughter. “what? how did she escape? what did you do?”
“i didn’t do anything, boss, i swear! i…”
the man’s words interrupted by a blood-curdling cry as a small but ferocious animal attacked him to the ground.
it was a baby wolf. and more importantly, it was your baby.
“capture that thing!” roared kingpin. 
not on your watch. you mustered the strength to rise to your feet, snatching a gun out of the man closest to you and briefly knocking him out with it just before doing a complete three-sixty and shooting in every direction.
all the while, meadow was agile and too quick on her feet, and it didn’t hurt that she was super tiny. you jogged over to gwen, wincing as you limped over, dropping to the ground to avoid facing the barrels of guns and shooting at the men that were restraining her.
gwen wiggled her arm, probably sore from how tightly they were holding her. “thanks.”
“thank me later,” you said, panting for breath.
“wait!” gwen called out behind you. “you’re hurt. can you still shift?”
you exhaled a sigh. “remember when you asked me about my weaknesses?”
“oh.”
“yeah.”
when you turned around, you saw meadow still kicking ass. just a second later, one of kingpin’s men grabbed her and your maternal instincts immediately kicked in, ignoring all of your pain and suffering to parade over there and take action.
it was like you blacked out. you didn’t even know what happened. one second, you were marching over there, and the next, meadow was safely in your arms and the guy that had dared to lay his bare hands on her was floored with more than a couple of broken bones and was certainly no longer breathing.
“are you okay?” you asked, cradling her to your bosom. 
meadow nodded, nestling closer to you. you were almost elated to tears, unable to describe the relief you felt knowing that she was okay. though it was a shock, you were pleasantly surprised that she had inherited your ability. 
worried, but pleasantly surprised.
“do i need to make any other examples of what happens when you come between a mother and her child?” you shouted out, watching a couple of men cower.
in the next second, there was another shattering noise, like the one when you broke into the building through the window. and then you quickly realized that it was a window being smashed into, fractured glass pelting everywhere.
there was a blur of blue and red, but you still recognized it, especially when the intruder’s feet skidded across multiple faces, successfully knocking them out, until he dropped his red string and came to a land before you.
“miguel,” you gasped, more than a little surprised.
“lani is fine. they said she’ll make it,” he said, knowing that you would ask. that was what was most important to you right now. “i didn’t leave her alone. her mother came.”
you nodded, content with that. you weren’t on speaking terms with lani’s mother - she’d never liked you - but you knew she cared for her children deeply and that was all that mattered in that moment.
“oh, how sweet. a reunion,” kingpin barked sarcastically, looking at you both with pure hatred.
miguel’s jaw clenched noticing your injured form, and he immediately caged you and your daughter behind him, bellowing back, “we can either make this really easy or really hard.”
kingpin cackled. “hilarious! i was thinking the same thing.”
miguel growled, reaching for the person nearest to him, and you covered meadow’s eyes when he went to rip them to literal shreds. she had shapeshifted back to normal now, still as tiny as ever, though.
dropping the guy’s remains, miguel glanced around, red eyes making contact with the startled ones of kingpin’s men. he didn’t have to say anything else. they all immediately surrendered, even the ones intended to be defending kingpin. 
“you know, good help is really hard to find these days,” kingpin groaned.
“save it, doucheface,” gwen said, swooping in to wrap him in her webs.
the doors burst open, revealing jessica and pavitr holding an orange, radiating deactivator, followed by hobie and miles.
jessica gave a nod. “it’s ready.”
“catch!” exclaimed pavitr, throwing the device in the air. 
you caught it in your hands. if anybody deserved to destroy this machine, it was you. and you wanted to do it with kingpin helplessly watching, just like how you watched your fiancé die in front of your own eyes, unable to help.
“say goodbye to this piece of shit, kingpin,” you taunted, handing meadow over to miguel as you approached the accelerator. 
“no!” kingpin roared, restlessly flailing in his restraints, but to no avail. 
nothing felt as satisfying as when you latched the deactivator on the accelerator. the whole machine started to groan, jerking in place, and you backed away. the surface started to crystallize and you watched in pure uncertainty of if this was even going to work. 
for a whole minute, the entire room was deadly silent, only watching. like nobody could tell if it was starting up or breaking down. then, it started to ebb out, atom by atom.
piece by fucking piece.
“it’s over!” gwen exclaimed. 
you bobbed your head. it really was over. this was closure.
“i’ll handle him,” jess volunteered with a sigh, throwing kingpin an unimpressed look before glancing between you and miguel. “y’all got things to hash out.”
you avoided miguel’s eyes.
THE SEVENTH FLOOR OF BROOKLYN HOSPITAL…
it felt like hours that you were waiting inside the hospital lobby, so the second that the nurse came up to you and told you that lani was finally available for visiting, you politely thanked her and attempted to rush the whole way to her room with meadow in yours arms.
“lani,” you exhaled when you opened the door to her room. 
“hi,” lani rasped. she was hooked to lots of different things, paler than usual. though, to be fair, she did almost die. meadow rushed over, handing her a bouquet. “oh, wow, are these for me?”
meadow bobbed her head, beaming proudly. “i picked them all by myself.”
though her every moment was obviously taxing, lani flashed a smile. “you have a great eye, meadow. how’d you know tt loves pink?”
meadow giggled. 
you stepped closer, feeling your heart warm and a tear escape your eye, but you quickly wiped it. “i’m so sorry.”
lani gave you a displeased look. “oh, quit it. this is absolutely not your fault.”
“but it is,” you insisted. “i should have known this day would come. it could have been avoided. you should have left town like your mom or...”
lani called out your name and grabbed your hand with all of her strength. “hey, hey, hey. listen to me. you are my sister and i love you so much. i don’t care what the law says or what happened and what didn’t. there is nothing that would stop me from being there for you and i’d take so many bullets for you both.”
your eyes dampened with tears. 
“it already happened. it’s over,” lani whispered. “let it go.”
you bobbed your head, squeezing her hand back. she was the strongest women you knew, though you had a feeling she would have a contrasting opinion.
meadow inspected the stitches on lani’s arm. “tt, what are you going to do about the stitches?”
lani made a face, as if to say that that was a good question. “well, that scar is for sure never going to fade away and i will indefinitely have some scientific research company’s symbol craved into my skin, but on the plus side, i ironically think i’m officially over my fear of needles. so i’ll probably get a tattoo.”
meadow’s eyes were glimmering and she looked to you. “mommy, can i get a tattoo?”
“when you’re old enough, sweetheart,” you cooed, gently patting her on the back.
meadow pouted.
you threw lani a skeptical look, scoffing, “you of all people are seriously thinking about getting a tattoo?”
“not just thinking about it. i’ve decided,” lani told you matter-of-factly. “i figured that if i could survive a knife in my skin, then a needle is nothing. it’s like i unlocked a superpower.”
you shook your head in disbelief. leave it to lani to always make something out of nothing and the best out of everything. “speaking of unlocking superpowers, you won’t believe what happened today...”
lani furrowed her brows, trying to guess, but when she saw you wiggle yours, all the pieces came into place. “no way.”
you grinned. “yes way.”
“i want to see,” lani said, glancing towards meadow. 
“she can’t do it on command yet. trust me, we tried,” you replied with a chortle. “but i saw it with my own eyes. my baby’s got a gift.”
lani breathed out a sigh of bliss. “she sure does.”
speaking of gifts, there was a knock on your door, followed by an exclamation of, “special delivery!”
you recognized that voice, and seemingly so did lani from the smile on her face. even meadow looked happy. you went to go open the door, revealing miguel, dressed in normal clothes for a change. 
he approached lani, carrying a care package that he sat on her bedside. “i hope i’m not intruding. i wanted to give you a get well soon gift. i got you some chocolates in there, by the way, but don’t eat them too soon. they make your blood sugar levels increase, i heard.”
he definitely heard that from lyla, but he wasn’t going to mention that part.
“thank you, miguel,” lani said, glimpsing through the bag. “how you’d know i love ferrero?”
“someone mentioned it in passing,” miguel said, scratching his nape. 
your heart fluttered. he remembered something that you mentioned in passing?
lani nodded in approval, ever so grateful. there were also some soft blankets in there on top of other things. “well, i appreciate it.”
“it’s no problem,” miguel responded, then he glanced towards you, an unreadable look in his eyes. “we need to talk.”
“right,” you drawled. “lead the way.”
miguel turned his back, heading for the door. before you walked out, lani mouthed to you, “he’s a keeper.”
your heart skipped a beat. 
you closed the door behind yourself, looking up to meet miguel’s eyes. “well?”
miguel kissed you. in front of all of the hospital staff roaming the halls, in front of the loose patients, but you didn’t care. all you gave a damn about was his lips on yours and the way his broad shoulders felt in your palms. it was slow and sensual, a first kiss between lovers.
nothing else mattered in that moment. you forgot all of your pain and agony, all of your fears and woes. you forgot the past because you were so deeply rooted in that moment that nothing else occurred to you anymore.
when you two parted to breathe, you jokingly rasped, “i sure like the way you speak.”
miguel chuckled, placing a hand on his hip, before he sobered. “listen to me. i know i lied to you, but i wasn’t doing it to hurt you.”
“i know,” you whispered. “i’m not mad anymore. but i’m not sorry for storming out. my baby...”
“i know,” miguel finished. like he knew the feeling. “she means the world to you. and lani.”
you nodded. 
“i’m… i’m sorry for taking you away from them. she might’ve been okay if i hadn’t,” miguel apologized, much to his own shock. you unlocked sides of him that nobody else had seen, pieces of him he didn’t even know were still there.
“it already happened. it’s over,” you whispered, as a wise woman had once told you. it was water under the bridge. “let it go.”
miguel almost seemed nervous, which was a surprise. you had literally never seen this man nervous.
grabbing his hand and inching closer to his chest, you asked softly, “did you mean it? when you said you lost your family?”
miguel swallowed. “yes. i know how it feels.”
“then you know that it’s hard,” you started, scrambling for words. “you know, reopening yourself to people. being vulnerable. becoming a slave to your feelings because you don’t want to risk getting hurt again.”
miguel was silent, but you knew from the look in his eyes that he understood you completely. 
“but i want to give it a try with you,” you said, voice hardly the frequent beeping scattered along the hospital floor. “and the team.”
miguel’s eyes widened. “you want…”
“yes,” you cut him off. “i want to be on the team. although, i’m not sure how i’ll fit in. i’m not a spider-thing after all.”
miguel groaned, “who gives a damn? i’ll change the whole name for you.”
you giggled, wrapped your hands around his waist.
miguel found himself doing the same to you, holding you as he stared at you with all the affections a man had to offer. he just couldn’t wrap his head around it, or what it meant for the two of you, but he knew you’d both figure it out. 
“miguel?”
“mm?”
“you’re always welcome to be a part of my family,” you whispered gently, voice muffled against his shirt, though he heard you loud and clear. 
miguel’s eyes fluttered closed, holding onto you like he never wanted to let go, like he’d finally found a refuge in you. somewhere where he felt safe enough to let go. “you’re a part of mine now, too.”
497 notes · View notes
topherwrites · 4 months
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FIC RECS: OUTER RANGE, OUTER BANKS, STRANGER THINGS
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If I made a little comment about every single fic or series here, it would be inhumanely long, so I've refrained from doing so and have just put the summaries for each. This is split into two parts, TGM fics and everything else.
I hope that anyone who reads this list finds something that they love on it just as much as I do! If I missed you, I'm sorry, there was a lot to sort through!
SOME OF THESE ARE 18+, PLEASE HEED THE INDIVIDUAL WARNINGS!
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RHETT ABBOTT
Yellow Soul by @creatchie8
Trapped in a relationship with your high school sweetheart Perry is like a never ending nightmare of always stepping on eggshells. One winter break changes everything as you are reintroduced to his younger brother, Rhett. Looking for an escape, Rhett provides the perfect shelter you crave.
right where i want you by @sushiwriterhere
Standing there, staring at the cotton balls in the trash, some part deep inside of you decides that it’s now or never with Rhett.
Odds are Stacked by @sunlightmurdock
In which Rhett loses a bet and you lose your virginity.
Wayfaring Stranger by @/sunlightmurdock
Betrayal sends Rhett veering further West, searching for answers and searching for himself. Instead, he finds you.
Much Love by @southpawbitch
you & rhett have found yourselves in a little fwb situation despite the fact that you have a fiancé.
About Last Night by @delopsia
A self-indulgent take on Rhett's best friend coming back to Wabang and surprising him after his final rodeo.
Dancing Beneath the Moon by @/delopsia
How is it that your heart only longs for the ghost of a cowboy? And why do you get the feeling that his heart utters the same for you?
Closing Time by @youvebeenlivingfictional
“You’re having a helluva night, huh,” You comment. “S’that supposed to mean?” “You got a shit bull, then you struck out with that girl…And you failed to bait Luke Tillerson into trying to kick your ass.”
RAFE CAMERON
Untouchable by @boneblushed
It is crucial that the head boy and girl of Kildare Academy work together. Too bad the head girl is you and the head boy is Rafe Cameron.
Glitch by @/boneblushed
Rafe has a bad fall on the ski slopes. A temporary amnesiac, he falls in love with you all over again.
So Gorgeous It Actually Hurts by @/folkloreslovechild (deactivated)
childhood enemies to lovers, the slowest of burns, an unbearable amount of pining, both parties in heavy denial for like 90% of the fic, Rafe’s a total douchebag but he can’t help it (you’re gorgeous).
Euro Trip by @/folkloreslovechild (deactivated)
europe summer trip au!
new light by @outerbankies
you come home from college to spend your last summer before senior year in your hometown of the outer banks. an old friend hits you up wanting something more, and you begin to see what’s really been there all along.
You Belong With Me by @forevermoreharrington
Rafe’s fallen helplessly for his dream girl but she just doesn't see it yet.
tis the damn season by @atlabeth
When your roommate Rafe lies to his family that the two of you are dating, you agree to go home with him for the holidays to help sell it as his fake girlfriend after a generous bribe. It's just three weeks in the Outer Banks with one of your best friends -- what could go wrong?
Armour by @probably-writing-x
Having your heart broken was one thing. But Rafe watching somebody break your heart? That was something nobody could prepare for.
So We Won't Forget by @netegf
you meet rafe cameron at a grief support group while he struggles with the loss of his father. he's trying to be a better man, and you can't help but love him for it.
Hate It When You Leave by @/netegf
you are trying to cope with the fact that you're hopelessly in love with your best friend. He's trying to cope with the fact that you don't go after the things you want… including him.
I Know I Am by @bookofbonbon
For Rafe, it's always been you. He's just waiting for you to realise it too.
STEVE HARRINGTON
redamancy by @sanguineterrain
redamancy (n.) - the act of loving someone who loves you back; a love returned in full // or, four times you kissed Steve Harrington, and one time he finally kissed you back.
dancing with our hands tied part i | part ii by @taintedcigs
in which steve is in love with his best friend's ex.
EDDIE MUNSON
Pearl by @cacoetheswriting
a story about two kids trying to navigate through love and loss, inevitable goodbyes, various reunions, friendships and hardships, joy, heartbreak, plus surviving the upside down - all to the sound of Janis Joplin's Pearl.
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jtl-fics · 1 year
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Fluent Freshman - Part 07
PREVIOUS
The thing about Nicky knowing that FF knows Russian and therefore understands every single excruciatingly sweet, ear-reddingly spicy, or shockingly mundane thing that Andrew and Neil say to one another is that he is objectively the 3rd worst person to know this secret.
First place is, of course, Andrew Minyard the man who has now asked him about his family 3 times in the last week and a half. FF doesn’t really care if Andrew goes after the majority of his ‘family’ since it’s just his step brothers and step dad but Andrew might go after his Grandma too so he just says “We don’t talk” every time it comes up and deletes his entire chat history with his grandma that way Andrew won’t know how close they are. If that means that Andrew thinks that no one would look for him if he happened to disappear into a shallow grave FF doesn’t know. He’s already doomed so the least he can do is save his gran.
Second place is, of course, Captain Neil. Captain has mentioned quite a few times that a lot of people stay with friends or people they’re close with over Thanksgiving break. It’s meaner than Captain Neil usually would be off of the Court reminding FF that he has friends but none close enough who would want to spend a holiday with him. He plans to go see his Gran for Thanksgiving and she plans to feed him a truly ridiculous amount of food. It’s the same plan he’s had pretty much every year since he was 13.
Third place is Nicky Hemmick. Nicky is a very nice guy who got him a paperboy to hyperventilate into a couple times and would absolutely never intentionally OUT somebody and compromise their safety! Nicky’s talked with FF about some of his background so FF has full confidence that it’s never going to be something that Nicky intentionally outs to anyone. But there are two main reasons why Nicky is the third worst person to find out about this secret.
The first reason is that Nicky Hemmick just unabashedly loves gossip. FF has heard that with the graduation of the girls the previous year had gone Allison Reynolds who had multiple running bets on multiple teammates and a whole cache of gossip. Now Nicky has access to the ultimate accidental gossip magnet in the man who no one notices, who knows any language the Foxes speak and is too awkward to get up and leave when they start talking.
Nicky will never tell another soul his secret but he also HAS to know what Neil and Andrew are saying to one another and when Nicky lies to cover for him the charge is one free conversation translation.
He’s absolutely hooked on getting translations the since the first time he had asked what Andrew and Neil are hissing at one another one morning practice.
FF translated it awkwardly feeling like a creep and like he’s invading their privacy but Nicky had helped him eat the four slavic letter flashcards he had made up to help a friend study the language when Captain Neil and Andrew had come back early from a weekend alone in Columbia.
Nicky had even assured him afterwards that the ink was probably non-toxic and given him floss so he could get the flashcard wedged between his molars out.
So….
“Andrew’s mad that Captain Neil skipped breakfast because they’re working to make him eat something for every meal. Captain Neil’s mad because Andrew’s the one that kept him in bed so long that he didn’t have time to make anything.”
Nicky squeals in delight
The second reason, which is just compounded by the first, is the fact that Nicky had promised not to tell another Soul. However Nicky Hemmick, the romantic that he is, believes that he and his Fiancé Erik share one soul since they are soulmates. Therefore Nicky Hemmic had barely even registered FF’s tears of gratitude before he was calling Erik to tell him about FF.
The sheer number of close calls that have happened because Nicky HAS to tell Erik about something Andrew and Neil said to one another or something someone else is saying is the reason FF started getting ulcers.
Watching Nicky talk to Erik about him knowing Russian is like watching a member of the three stooges walk through a construction site blindfolded. FF nearly kills himself stopping Nicky from outing him numerous times and at the end Nicky’s smiling, unscathed and unaware of the sheer number of close calls he had sauntered through.
FF can’t wait to go home and bury his face in his grandma’s lap, stress eat two apple pies, and tell her about how he thinks he might just become an electrician or a plumber or an underwater welder because one of his language professors wants him to come and speak to a lower level class (a gen-ed with over a hundred people in it) about the usefulness of LATIN for all their majors since they can parse the meaning via root word and he had panicked and said ’Sure’.
***
The thing about being the only person on the team that knows that FF speaks Russian and is riddled with social anxiety is that it’s absolutely hilarious most of the time.
Every once in a while he has to step in to help the guy.
So sometimes he’ll eat flashcards. Sometimes he’ll distract his cousin with a salacious comment so FF can escape a dangerous conversation with his drunk friend. Sometimes he pushes FF to go talk to Abby about his tummy troubles. Sometimes he’ll hand over one of the brown paper bags he keeps in his backpack nowadays so FF can wheeze into it and sometimes he’ll assure his cousin that FF’s passing out after he offered to teach him how to use a knife was probably because of his stomach ulcers not because FF is terrified of Andrew stabbing him.
Nicky is the only member of the Foxes that FF regularly seeks out on his own to hang out with and Nicky just loves how hard Andrew and Neil are trying not to be jealous about it.
“I want to ask Smith if he wants to come spend Thanksgiving Break with us.” Andrew says out of the blue a week before the aforementioned break when it’s just Aaron, Neil, Nicky and himself in Nicky’s dorm room.
Nicky thinks about FF talking about going back to his hometown in Washington State and how he waxed poetic about spending Thanksgiving Break with his Grandma and how he was going to eat his weight in pie and Macaroni and Cheese.
“He’s planning on going and seeing his grandma. He won’t shut up about it.” Nicky says still glad that FF has a family member like his grandma.
Everyone else in the room look at him.
“He won’t shut up about it?” Aaron asks with an eyebrow raised. Aaron likes FF just fine and appreciates how FF has helped Katelyn start to grasp the fundamentals of the German language so quickly so she can understand what’s being said. “So what he said it twice?” He continues.
Nicky remembers FF’s ability for catastrophizing every conversation with the Foxes into one where it comes out that he speaks Russian and Andrew stabs him. As far as the other Foxes are concerned he’s a man of few words.
“He’s been talking about it all month. If I hear about his grandma’s apple pie recipe one more time I might demand he sneak a slice back for me through TSA.” Nicky loves stoking the flames, especially when the fire is harmless. He watches Aaron shrug and the skin around both Neil and Andrew’s mouths tightens. “You can ask him, the worst he can say is No.” Nicky shrugs.
Nicky is there when Andrew does ask him and he can see the prolonged internal scream of terror on the utterly blank face (or maybe he just imagines it.) and in a way Nicky is a little sad when FF shakes his head and says “No, I have plans with my Grandma.” In an utterly blank voice that means he has functionally blue-screened before turning and walking towards the nearest door so he can reboot in solitude.
“The offer stands if you change your mind.” Neil says and Nicky is impressed with the seemingly very casual thumbs up FF gives as he power walks away.
A little less than a week later Nicky finds Andrew next to FF and FF looking down at a cancelled flight notification after coming in from a truly monumental storm.
Andrew offers Thanksgiving in Columbia again.
Nicky tries to stop it from happening he can see that FF is a little lost in his disappointment over not being able to see his grandma and not thinking clearly but before he can snap him out of it.
“Sure.”
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NEXT
Per your requests:
@i-have-three-feelings @blep-23 @dreamerking27 @andreilsmyreligion @belodensetdust @rainbowpineapplebottle @yarn-ace @iwouldlikesometea @lily-s-world @obscureshipsandchips @booklover242
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toastedkiwi · 1 year
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Croissants
Summary: you have an interview after somebody had mentioned your name after it’s been a long time.
Pairing: Henry Cavill x Wife!Reader
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“We’ve finally got in the studio none other than Grammy award winner and platinum selling artist Y/n Y/l/n!” the host said. “You’re here to promote your latest album. But before we dive into the music… you’re currently with child. Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” you said.
“Do you know what you’re having?” she asked.
“Hopefully a baby,” you said. “But the guy I’m with is huge.”
“You’re worried you’ll be having a big baby,” she said
“Yeah, I’m terrified. His mom was telling me all of her boys were like ten-eleven pound babies— each one of them,” you explained. “And these guys are massive dudes. I can’t imagine the pain she went through. I’m also smaller than her.”
“That’s frightening. I have that same exact fear for if I ever have kids,” the host said. “How far long are you?”
“28 weeks,” you said. “I had to have my heels buckled for me. It’s embarrassing.”
“How’s baby daddy taking the news of you being pregnant?” she asked.
“Well… not to brag but he’s obsessed with me,” you smiled.
“As he should be,” she said. “Speaking of people who are probably still obsessed with you… Henry Cavill, your ex-fiancé, name dropped your name in a recent interview.”
“As he should, I have a fantastic name,” you said.
“It’s been eight years since the two of you have ever been seen in a room together. It’s rumored that you’re the one who got away,” she said. “Have you seen him or heard from him after all these years?”
“Yeah, I have,” you said. “He promised me that he’ll have croissants with jelly when he picks me up from here. There might be a hoodie involved and I’ll probably cry.”
“You two have been seeing each other?!” she flipped.
“I need you all to take a deep breath—,” you said. “I baby trapped him.”
-
“Ah, there’s my baby trapper,” Henry smiled.
You broke out into the biggest smile seeing him stand by the Escalade holding a pastry box. You picked up your pace as best as you could.
“My baby daddy,” you said happily.
“The croissants you requested,” he said opening the pastry box.
You grabbed a croissant and took a bite. Henry opened up the passenger door. You came closer. He leaned down and kissed you. You smiled into the kiss.
“Get in, Darling,” he said.
You happily took his hand and get helped into the car.
“Hi, Kal!” you exclaimed seeing the pooch in the back.
Henry slid in after you. He shut the door. He looked at you. You’re already giving Kal a small piece of your croissant. You buckled yourself in.
“Give me your feet,” Henry said.
You swing your legs over the leather seats. He pulled your feet onto his lap. He unbuckled the little belt on your heels. He pulled off your heels and grabbed the pair of short Uggs on the ground. He slipped them onto your feet.
“There you go,” he smiled.
You unbuckled your seatbelt and scooted into the seat next to Henry’s. His right arm went around your shoulders as you buckle up again. He adjusted the seatbelt on your lap and then found his hand resting your bump.
“How was the interview?” Henry asked.
“It was good. I’m sure you listened to it,” you said.
“I did. You handled it a lot better than I would’ve,” he said kissing the top of your head.
“You would’ve choked, Henners,” you said.
“Probably,” he said. “Would you have save me?”
“Didn’t I already do that?” you sassed.
“Eat your croissant,” he said.
“Do I get a hoodie?” you asked.
“On the plane,” he said.
“I’m gonna hold you to it,” you said.
“I know you will,” he said.
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badingsm · 6 months
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can i request something filipino?like filo reader brings nat in the ph and then they try street foods??
The Proposal Series — II. Immigration, Homecoming, Romanoff
Hi Anon! I hope it's okay to combine your request with my little series! Also, sorry for the delay; I got really busy with school. And oh, credits to The Proposal movie, especially the script and the plot, because obviously that's where this story will go!
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"1023, 1024, 1025, 1026-"
"Will you please shut up?" Natasha snapped from beside you, her sunglasses covering half of her face as you both rode her car to the immigration office. "God, you're so annoying!"
"I'm sorry, if somebody's annoying here, it would definitely be you!" You muttered lowly with a frown before looking at her directly in the eyes. "This is so fucking illegal."
"Where's the fun with always being on the legal side?"
"I'm not going to marry you, Natasha." The first name basis was such a bold move for you to do, but with the pressure, fear, and everything that you've been feeling, you couldn't care less, causing the latter to glare at you with those forest gems that she owned.
"Sure you are." Was the last thing that she replied before her side of the door was opened by the driver, leaving you frustrated with her attitude and everything about her.
You followed Natasha inside, and there you saw the really long line that made your boss curse to herself. Just as you were about to go and line up, Natasha had already left your side, instead opting to go straight to the counter and making the people (who have been waiting for so long) groan in annoyance.
"The line.."
"Shut up and just follow." She instructed as if you're her dog that she could boss around everywhere and anytime she pleases. The next person on the line was about to approach the personnel, but Natasha had already taken her spot with a simple glare. The older woman immediately backed away. "I just need to ask him something."
"Hi!" You smiled apologetically. "Sorry for the..."
"I need for you to file this fiancé visa for me," Natasha said to the in-charge worker at the cubicle, the latter shaking his head in annoyance but nonetheless accepting the papers that you've brought. "Thanks."
"Miss Romanoff?" Cris, as you saw from his name tag, read through the file.
Natasha nodded in confirmation, "Yeah."
"Please come with me."
-
"I want to puke," You whispered in the silence that fell into the room. You were led into an office where papers for people's visas and such are being processed. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Morning, lovebirds!" A man came in, and you were guessing that he's probably in his early 40s. "I'm Mister Loki Laufeyson, and you must be Y/n.." He faced you, making you answer with a small nod because you were still unsure about everything that's been happening recently. "And you must be Miss.."
"Romanoff." Natasha continued with a subtle eye roll because she knew deep inside that she would hate this man for the rest of her life.
"Yes." Loki nodded. "Sorry about the wait. It's a busy day today, as you can see from the long line."
"Yeah, yeah." Your boss cut him off. "And we appreciate you for seeing us on such short notice."
Insert sarcasm.
It's her nature, and she can't help it anymore.
"Okay." The older man shrugged and began sitting on his chair. "Blablablablablablabla.."
You watched him through uncertain eyes as he surveyed all the files that you were tasked to prepare at the last minute before you both came here for this shit.
"So I have one question for you," Loki sighed. "Are you both committing fraud to avoid her deportation? And so she could keep her position in the company?"
"That's... that's ridiculous."
"Where did you get that?" Natasha squinted her eyes, scoffing sarcastically but subtly.
"We had a phone tip this afternoon from a woman named-"
"Sharon." The redhead guessed correctly.
"Sharon Carter." The man agreed impressively.
"Poor Sharon. I'm sorry, you see.." Natasha faked sympathy, remaining standing by the side with her phone clutched tightly against her palm. "Sharon is nothing but a disgruntled employee that I just fired because of her tardiness and laziness. I believe this is just her way for some childish revenge for me… And we know that your department is very busy, so if you just give us the next step, we'll be out of your hair and on our way."
"Miss Romanoff, please." Loki gestured the chair for the redhead to sit, which she obeyed immediately. "Let me explain the process that's about to unfold. Step one will be a scheduled interview. I'll put you into a room where I ask every little question that a real couple should know about each other."
"Mm." You gulped nervously.
"Step two: I dig deeper. I look at your phone records. Talk to your neighbors. Interview your co-workers about your relationship." Loki said firmly, "And if your answers don't match up, you." He pointed at Natasha, "Will be deported immediately."
"Hm.." Natasha nodded with a shrug.
"And you, young lady." You think he's flirting with you when he turns to your side, but it's gone as soon as you blink your eyes, swallowed by the nerves settling in. "Will have committed a felony punishable by a fine of $250,000 and a vacation of five years in the federal prison."
The weight of everything had finally sunk in, and you felt the sweat building up intensely against your chest, your hairline, your armpits—your whole body.
"So," Loki fake-whispered, scrutinizing you with his gaze as if he's challenging you and wants you to give in already. "Wanna tell me something?"
At first, you shook your head, thinking about how you would lose your job and how everything that you've worked hard for (including dealing with the unbearable attitude of Natasha for three years) would come to waste, but then you also remembered that you didn't want to end up in jail for that long, making you nod your head a little bit to answer him.
"Yes?" He questioned, not paying attention to Natasha's foot stomping yours with her heels underneath the table, causing you to shake your head, silently signaling the redhead to stop it already. "No?"
"The truth is.." You cleared your hoarse throat, gathering all your thoughts and setting aside your emotions until further time. "Mr. Laufeyson, the truth is.."
Meanwhile, Natasha sat there with a clenched jaw, looking back and forth between you and Loki, waiting for the outcome of what your next words might bring, but to her surprise, it came out well for her side, especially when you spoke again.
"Natasha and I..." You breathed out deeply, nervously plucking the skin on your fingers beneath the view of this man. "Are just two people who weren't supposed to be in love but did. The reason we can't tell anyone we work with is because of my promotion that's coming up, and we don't want them to think that I only got that because we're in a relationship... We don't want that, of course."
"Promotion?" Natasha raised her brow.
You continued, feeling more confident this time, "We both felt that it wouldn't be the right time to reveal everything, so we kept our relationship secret to everyone. As I said, we don't want them to think that I'm getting promoted just because we are... you know."
"So," He mumbled. "Do your parents know about this?"
"Uh, parents. Don't have one." Natasha quickly cut in, "Adaptive ones, sure, but we've lost contact since I was just a child. Technically, no parents on my side to tell this about."
Loki faced you, "And you? Are your parents dead?"
"No." Your boss answered easily for you, "Hers are very much alive, and oh, in fact, we're actually planning to tell them this weekend on her Lola's 90th birthday celebration. The whole family's coming together, and we thought it'd be a nice surprise."
This eavesdropping woman!
"And where is this party happening?" Loki questioned eagerly to Natasha, like he just sensed something as he squinted his eyes for some flaws in Natasha's words.
"At Y/n's parents house, of course." The Russian answered confidently with a small chuckle.
"And where is that located again?" He pushed, making Natasha mentally curse herself and the man in front of her.
"Um," Natasha scoffed. "Why am I doing all the talking? Baby, come on, it's your parent's house. Tell him where it is!"
"Mexico."
"Mexico," Natasha repeated.
You continued, "Philippines."
"Philippines?" She looked at you with wide eyes but said nothing else.
"So you're going to fly to the Philippines this weekend?" Loki asked with raised brows.
"Yeah." You both agreed, feeling Natasha's hesitance in her tone but disregarding it otherwise because, well, you two don't have a choice; that much is obvious.
"We are going to the Philippines," Natasha informed, touching your shoulder for some fake affection. "That's where my baby's from."
"Fine." Loki sighed, disappointed that he couldn't squeeze you enough to admit anything right now. "I see how this is going to go. I'll have to see you both at 11 by Monday morning for your scheduled interview, and your answers better match up on every account, or else..."
"Thank you, Sir." You stood up immediately to shake his cold hands, while Natasha stood up to answer the call from her phone.
You sighed, shoulders slumping as you showed your way out with Natasha's nose glued to her phone by your side.
Everything inside your head is noisy, and it makes you want to burst out, but every time you open your mouth, nothing comes out, which frustrates your whole being because, my god..
What did you get yourself into?
"Okay." Natasha finally broke the loud silence, snapping you out of your thoughts. "What's going to happen is we'll go down there and pretend that we're girlfriends, then tell them we're engaged. Book our flights. First class. And oh, confirm the vegan meal for me, okay? Because the last time, they actually gave it to a vegan and they forced me to eat this slimy, clammy, creamy salad thingy, which was really—hey, why aren't you taking notes?"
"I'm sorry, were you not in that room?" You sarcastically questioned with furrowed brows.
"What?" Natasha looked at you confusedly before she flashed you a small (not real) smile. "Oh! The thing about the promotion! That's a good one; he fell for it."
"I was serious." You muttered, "I'm looking at a $250,000 fine and five years in jail. That changes things."
"Promote you to a higher position that you're not capable of? No, no way." She scoffed.
You rolled your eyes with a shrug. "Then I quit, and you're screwed. Bye, Natasha."
And just as you were about to walk out, you heard her call you again, making you smirk to yourself.
"Fine. Fine!" Natasha frowned. "I'll promote you, fine—if you do this whole weekend in the Philippines thing and the immigration thingy, you'll get what you ask for. Happy?"
"Not in two years, but right away," You challenged.
"Fine!" She gave in with a groan, and you grinned at how you finally got her to agree with you for the first time ever since you worked for her.
"Now ask me nicely, Natasha." You smirked subtly.
"Ask you nicely, what?" She looked up from her phone, confused.
"Ask me nicely to marry you."
"What does that mean?" The redhead Russian asked with a tone that says she's losing her patience, but nah, you have the upper hand this time, and you sure damn hell you'll make the most out of it.
"You heard me." You gestured to her. "On your knees."
"What the f-" You raised your brow at her in warning, causing her to stop in mid-sentence before she began kneeling down with her sarcastic smile and dangerous eyes. "Y/n.."
"Yes?" You teased.
"Sweet, sweet, Y/n." Natasha did an adorable pout, looking like she's a puppy begging for food, but of course, it was mixed with sarcasm as usual. "Will you please, with cherries on top, marry me?"
You hummed for good measure, pretending to think as you looked away.
"I don't appreciate the sarcasm, but that'll do it." You shrugged. "See you tomorrow, boss!"
And with that, you left her almost falling flat on her face if it wasn't for her attentive skills that she caught herself and saved herself from the embarrassment as she cursed you in her mind.
Off to the Philippines we go!
Taglist (that I forgot yet again, sorry 😭): @taliiiaasteria @marvels--slut @freeyanna
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harlowtales · 1 month
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Paparazzi knew puppy’s name and Y/N was left to her own devices 😤 🐶
18+ Only - Adult themes, Language
“Hey baby” Jack said calling early on FaceTime. It was early morning where he was on tour in New Zealand.
“You look so sexy and groggy.” You said admiring how gorgeous your husband always looks. He took off his bonnet and shook out his curls causing your heart to flutter.
“Stop looking at me like that Y/N that’s how we got Ella.” Jack said cautioning you. You had a little boy from a previous relationship and Jack accepted him fully as his own. “Where’s my little muffin and my boy?”
“Well Jax is at school and Ella is right here. She just finished nursing.” You said happily and showed Jack baby Ella half passing out, and smiling at the breast.
“Funny how our happy place is the same.” Jack said wistfully happy to get a peak at your boob.
“You’re so silly!” You giggled. “I miss you so much”
“I miss you guys like crazy but some people don’t want to pull their kids out of school to go on a world tour.” Jack said with an eye roll and still feeling a way about you making that decision.
“Stability Jackman. It’s all about stability.” You said taking a stretch. “I better get moving. I’m meeting Azura for a walk.”
Just then Lil puppy Lou Lou came bounding up and licked you in the face. Jack was thrilled to see her. She woke up Ella drifting off but she was happy anyway. Ella was always happy unless she was tired and then she’d fuss and rub her head of chestnut curls. She rarely fully cried and was almost sleeping through the night.
“Aight my baby tell Jax I love him and don’t worry about his math test ok. I’ll call y’all later. Your husband said. He made a naughty gesture just before he signed off.
“Jackman! I swear!” You yelled to a blank screen as he vanished. “Daddy looks too good Imma have to be careful before I have 10 y’all” you said to Ella who looked like she was gearing up to go out for a walk.
You took a quick shower and slipped into your favourite hoodie of Jack’s, some yoga pants, and your one of many pairs of New Balances. Today it was Carolina blue 550s because you were missing your man bad. You slipped Ella’s wiggly chubby legs into a New Balance jumper and got the leash on Lou Lou.
“Hey girl!!” You said excitedly to Urban’s girlfriend Azura. Little man is getting big!” You said ruffling their son Liam’s hair.
“Yes he is girl and getting like his daddy wanting to take pictures of everything. We got him a toy camera and he carries it around his neck everywhere like Urb.” Azura said looking down lovingly at 4 year old Liam.
Liam wandered a bit away as you chatted with Azura. Suddenly you heard him talking a few feet away to a lady who was asking questions about his toy.
“Hey there little guy I like your camera” She said with a smile and had a cute dog with her that Liam petted. Azura was watching and everything seemed fine. Liam loved dogs and nothing seemed wrong. It was a beautiful sunny day and lots of people were out walking with dogs.
“Liam be gentle with the puppy ok?” Azura cautioned as he politely asked to pick it up and the owner agreed.
“It’s fine.” The lady said “Hey, you’re Jack Harlow’s fiancée….Y/N isn’t it? And Baby Ella so adorable with puppy Lou Lou. Nice to see you enjoying this beautiful day.”
Both you and Azura froze with a bad feeling. They had been following you and poor little Liam walked right into the trap because the lady had a dog and seemed nice.
“Liam hunny put the doggy down we have to go.” Azura said sternly and cautiously.
“I’m not answering any of your questions.” You said firmly to the paparazzi and turned to leave.
“Well I bet the world will like to see how rude one of the hottest stars’s fiancee is.” They said taunting you.
Azura made a sudden move to jump on the lady and caused a scene. Urban wasn’t under as much scrutiny as Jack so him and his family didn’t have to go through people following them. Jack had trained you how to be in public and around the media. You leaped in front of Azura to prevent her doing anything foolish.
“Well one of you has some sense! I would sue you!” The lady spat back.
“….and we would sue yo ass right back bitch!” Azura clapped back
While the back and forth with the sneaky paparazzi and Azura was going on you had discreetly emergency dialled Andy an “sos” message. It was something Jack had set up for your safety. Andy’s secretary sent police to your location. You stalled the lady until they got there. Let me tell you something.” You said calmly to the lady maintaining your composure “Tell all your slimy fellow bottom feeders that make a living off of this that me and my family, including my husband are not taking any shit and WE will be suing YOU.”
Everyone in town knew who you were but only a small circle knew the puppy’s name. Someone must have told someone else and that someone else was paid off. A small crowd had gathered which made it difficult for the lady to take off running. Police were carefully approaching so as not to provoke her to flee. You saw them coming. You and Azura kept her talking with Azura continuing to intimidate her which she was much better at than you.
“Listen bitch, you don’t get to talk to people’s kids like that with your rented dog and pretend you’re friendly. That’s like attempted kidnapping.” Azura said angrily holding onto Liam who was scared.”
“Get over yourself lady. Nobody even knows who you are.” The paparazzi argued with Azura.
“They know me on twitch bitch!” Azura shot back as she was one of the biggest gamers.
Police were behind her without her knowing and heard the whole conversation.
“Look behind you.” You said smugly to her. She turned and realized she was under arrest.
“I didn’t try to kidnap no kid!!!” The lady paparazzi yelled. “I’m just doing my job!! Let go of me!” She said as police cuffed her and walked her away.
The call you were dreading coming in started lighting up your screen with your husband’s picture. You hesitated to answer. “Y/N dafuq is going on? Are y’all ok?” He said right away with Urban right beside him. “They knew pup’s name?”
“Azura? Liam? Daddy’s right here!” Urban shouted concerned and on the verge of tears.
“Bro call your chick on her phone.” Jack said to him annoyed.
“Jack we are fine see? Wave to daddy Ella, wave pups.” You said as cheerfully as possible and Azura waved too as Urban called her.
“Jack it’s all good we’re fine.” You said calmly not wanting him to know how you were really feeling.
“Nice try Y/N. I invented that whole never show people how you’re screaming inside type shit.” Jack said catching you in the act of trying to appear unbothered. I need Ella where is she?” He asked trying to see into the stroller. “Y/N why are you not holding her close right now with wackos on the loose and why are y’all still out?? Go back home please, and call when you get in.” Said Jack cooing with Ella and being strict with you. “Now Y/N”.
“Ok ok we’re headed back in.” You said irritated your one day out in a while turned into this.
“Listen I’ll have one of boys pick y’all up and take you to my parents. My mom is losing her mind right now. Ella and Lou Lou can play in the back yard.” Jack said in full dad mode. “Go pick up Jax first ok? You need to tell him before he finds out and make sure he’s not scared.”
All you wanted to do was go for a walk. Being Mrs. Harlow was not going to be easy. You didn’t like how firm Jack was with you and felt like he thought you weren’t being responsible enough. You hated when he got like this. “Oh and I love you too.” You said sarcastically. “Bye Jack.”
“Wait..I’m..I’m sorry baby. If you were hurt, if Ella…I can’t…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bark at you. I just…” He paused and was holding back tears. “I love you ok?” He finally finished looking away and trying to keep it together.
“Jack I’m sorry. I snapped at you.” You apologized. You knew he loved you.
“Please get little man, take Azura and Liam home, and sleep at my parents house tonight. Please Y/N.” Jack begged. Seeing him soften up made you feel warm inside.
“Ok baby whatever you need for peace of mind but I’m fine. Really.” You said.
“Yeah she not a little bitch like you!” Urban said getting off the phone with Azura and his son.
“Will you two get off my phone!” You giggled.
@itsyagirljaz @okaaay-mice @ride4harlow
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toomuchracket · 6 months
Text
in front of a mirror (literal d word (dad) matty x reader fluff)
a little random fluffy moment for promptober day 18! just you and matty and your baby daughter getting ready in the hotel room. enjoy <3
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the fluffy pompom on your daughter's hat tickles your already-cold nose, as you walk quickly down the hotel corridor with her in your arms. you sneeze, and lyla jerks in what you think is fright at the sudden noise; you open your mouth to reassure and apologise, but she giggles before you can, that joyous little baby laugh that you think might be your favourite sound in the world.
"oh, you think it's funny when mummy sneezes?" you tease, tickling her little tummy to keep her laughing. "yeah, it is a funny noise, i suppose. but do you know what you're meant to do when someone sneezes in front of you? you say 'bless you'. can you try that for me, munchkin? bless you."
lyla's little face screws up in concentration, an expression she's doubtless inherited from you. "eh ooh."
"oh, my clever girl! well done," you coo, kissing her little rosy cheek as you unlock the door to your suite. "you're so smart, munchkin! you definitely get that from me and not daddy. but don't tell daddy that, alright?"
"tell me what?" matty's voice echoes from somewhere in the suite. lyla makes grabby hands at the sound - again, your genetics.
"that we got babycinos with auntie carly," you reply, pulling off lyla's jacket and hat, then smoothing down her hair as you wander through the living area towards your fiancé's voice. you find him in the dressing room outside the bedroom, sat at the mirror with one of the band's stylists fixing his hair. "hiya! hi, baby. you look good. almost done?"
the stylist answers in the affirmative. matty's face lights up at the sight of you and lyla; it always does, but you don't think you'll ever get over how adorably happy he gets. "hi, my beautiful girls," he says softly. "have you had a nice morning? c'mere, munchkin, tell me all about it."
you pass lyla to matty - giving him a quick kiss as you do - before shrugging your coat off and sitting down beside them. lyla snuggles into her dad's chest, big eyes blinking tiredly as he softly strokes her head. they're so cute in their respective sweatshirts that you could cry just from how much you love them.
matty caresses your daughter's tiny cheek. "is somebody sleepy?"
despite her eyes growing heavier by the second, lyla musters up all the energy she has left to shake her head in vehement denial. all three of the grown-ups in the room laugh at her little curls bouncing, and she grins cheekily.
"i think you might be, baba," matty smiles. "maybe time for a little disco nap before you come out with me and mummy later, yeah?"
you snort. "a disco nap?"
"what? that's exactly what it is."
"fair, fair," you say, resting your head on the tabletop. "could do with one myself, actually. or at least a minute where i sit and do nothing. but it's alright," you stretch. "i should probably start getting ready anyway, once she's asleep."
you try to stand, but matty traps your leg between both of his and smirks. "nope! you're staying put, my love."
"what is this?" you ask, eyes narrowing as you clock the stylist smiling suspiciously too. "why are you both looking at me like that?"
"well, sweetheart, i know how busy you've been lately, taking care of everyone and everything, and i just want to make sure you're taken care of too," matty begins. "so i decided that i'll take lyla for a few hours today and get her and i ready, so you can have a bit of time to yourself to relax…"
"and i'll do your hair for you," the stylist finishes, grinning. "and just pamper you a bit."
the combination of tiredness and the sweetness of the gesture flicks some sort of weird hormonal switch in you; you genuinely start to tear up at the thought of getting a moment to yourself amidst the chaos of tour prep and dealing with both lyla and matty (who's arguably more of a handful than your literal baby daughter). "that sounds lovely. thank you."
matty shifts lyla into one arm and leans forward to wipe your eyes with the other. he pecks your lips, then your nose, making you giggle. "s'the least i could do, darling. oh, by the way, we're also going out for dinner tonight straight after the gig. just the two of us. date night for mum and dad!"
"how have you managed that? who's looking after lyla?" you laugh, almost deliriously.
"the macdonalds. mentioned to ross i was thinking about taking you on a date, and his wife all but booked a restaurant and swiped lyla out of my arms there and then."
"bless her. i'm excited," you smile, kissing matty's cheek. "thank you, baby. i love you."
"i love you too, my sweet girl. have fun getting your hair done," matty shuffles to stand, and you take a second to stroke lyla's head before they go. "we'll be next door if you need us."
"alright, babe."
with a final wink, the loves of your life disappear through the door. you turn back to face the mirror, smiling at the stylist. fuck, why do you feel nervous? "ok. please try and sort me out. i know it'll be a struggle."
they laugh, pulling the hairband from your head. "nah, piece of cake after dealing with your man's hair. and your daughter's inherited it! god help you, babe."
you giggle. "yeah, but they really are cute, with the curls."
and cute in general, actually - while you sit back contentedly and have your hair combed, you smile so hard it hurts your cheeks at the way matty coos and sings to lyla in the next room to get her to sleep. although you can't see them, you can picture the image clear as day; she'll be in her dad's arms the whole time, because trying to get matty to not constantly cuddle your baby is like drawing blood from a stone, and matty will pace around the suite until she fully nods off. only then will he sit down, quietly humming lullabies or just whatever songs are stuck in his head, looking at lyla with the expression of sheer lovestruck adoration he reserves for only her and you.
you actually get to see said expression in action around half an hour later, while your hair is being manipulated and pinned up into a messy updo; holding a peacefully-snoozing lyla just as you knew he'd be, matty moves to lean against the doorframe and catch your eyes in the mirror. "darling - oh wow, i love your hair like that! - i know i said i was going to give you peace, but can i really quickly ask for your input on my fit for today?"
god, his arms flex so gorgeously when he's holding the baby like that. your head fills with daydreams about them flexing like that as he holds you, your hips, your waist, keeping you steady and close to him as he… 
jesus, you need to sleep with your fiancé. it's clearly been too long.
so distracted are you by thirsting over matty that you almost miss what he says. "hmm? oh, yeah. black suit trousers? what's your options for the top half?"
"the saint laurent polka dots, or the black silk one. with the short sleeves."
"i love both, baby, but aren't they a little fancy for a half-hour radio show set?"
matty blushes, looking up through his eyelashes at you in the mirror; he's so beautiful it almost devastates you. "yeah, but… wanna look good for you when we go out after. you'll look stunning, as always - i need to at least try to keep up with you, yeah?"
the stylist utters a quiet "aww!", which kinda perfectly sums up your feelings about your fiancé's words. he's so endearing, matty, looking at you all shy and sweet - you're not quite sure how your heart hasn't caved in from the amount of love for him packed inside it.
and yet… your mind is seemingly still in the gutter. "i think the silk one, honestly" because it shows off those fucking arms of yours better than the other one, baby.
"whatever my girl wants," matty winks, before disappearing into the other room again. he reappears once the stylist leaves twenty minutes later, fully dressed and gorgeous in his finery, with a slightly groggy (but well-rested) lyla and what looks like her entire wardrobe in his arms.
you spin away from the counter and your open makeup bag to look at him. "dilf!"
matty cackles, quickly stopping to soothe lyla when she begins grumbling at his volume. "sorry, munchkin, i just get really excited when mummy lets on how much she fancies me."
"it's not as if you don't know already," you giggle, batting your mascara'd lashes, before shifting your voice into something breathier. "daddy."
"not in front of our daughter!"
"later, though? after our dinner date?"
matty sighs, his cheeks pink. "by all means, princess," he emphasises the nickname, and you beam. "now, lyla-lie, let's get you dressed while mummy puts her face on."
"did you just simon and garfunkel our baby's name?"
"you know it, babe."
your turn to sigh. "alright. carry on."
"i shall," matty sits lyla on the table, just a bit along to the right from you, caging her with his own body while he quickly spreads out her outfit choices. "right, munchkin. well, i'm wearing full black, and mummy's wearing…"
"also full black."
"... so i think we should see about putting you in full black too, baba," matty smiles down at lyla, who's more focused on swinging her little legs than anything else right now. "let's see - oh, these little trousers are cool! d'you like these? yeah? ok. this top?"
you pause your motions of putting highlight on to glance at your daughter; she scowls at the offending top in a way so reminiscent of matty you have to bite the inside of your cheek to stop yourself guffawing.
matty nods. "i agree, it's not quite right. moving on!"
all in all, picking out lyla's outfit for the afternoon takes longer than it did for yours and matty's to be chosen; lyla might look more like you, but she's matty's daughter through and through, a stubborn little fashionista in the making. it takes so long for matty to get her dressed - although you don't totally begrudge him for that, because listening to him try to make up a song on the fly about different items of clothing is hilarious - that you're fully ready (sans lipstick, and even then you're standing tube in hand, ready to go) once she is.
you freeze just before you apply the lippy, though - your fiancé's voice rings out a warning just as you take the lid off. "don't you dare do that yet, sweetheart."
"oh?"
matty smiles. "wanna kiss you first, babe."
and who are you to deny such an appealing notion? you nod, and matty kisses you languidly. his free hand comes up to tenderly cup your jaw, and you smile against his lips; it's not as passionate as some of your other kisses, but as always it's imbued with pure love. you're totally content.
that is, until a tiny hand makes contact with matty's cheek, and he breaks away from you with an "oof". lyla giggles, and you can't help but join in - matty narrows his eyes at his daughter, but he can't resist smiling at her adorable little… well, everything. "excuse me, miss, but mummy and i were having a moment, before you interrupted it quite abruptly. which is actually quite on brand for you, to be honest, kid, given how you were... anyway, what is it you wanted?"
he boops lyla's nose, and she giggles again. as the noise fades into little hums, she turns towards you, reaching an arm out and looking at you pleadingly.
(matty's genetics. definitely.)
"oh, my girl, you want us to do a group hug? alright," you coo, moving closer to the two of them so you can take some of lyla's weight from matty. his free arm snakes a familiar path around your waist to tug you round, and the three of you have a little cuddle for a minute or so. you're reluctant to pull away from your family and the cosy little outpouring of love, and matty seems to be too, but lyla quickly gets distracted by something else and begins to wriggle.
as it turns out, the focus of her attention is her own reflection - you laugh when you realise, while matty cringes into his baby's shoulder. "yep, that's my fault."
"well, someone had to say it," you drily respond, looking in the mirror at your daughter's wondrous expression. "lyla, are you fascinated by how pretty you look in your cool outfit? it really is cool, by the way," you turn to matty. "good job, baby."
"oh yeah, you hear that, munchkin? we got the mummy seal of approval," matty cheers, dancing around a little and making lyla - and you - smile. he looks lovingly over her head at you. "and that's really good, because mummy's the coolest person in the world. and the most beautiful, although i think you're giving her a run for her money. but you do have her eyes, i s'pose - those would make anybody infinitely more gorgeous, if they had them."
you can feel your cheeks burning. you've lost count of the number of times matty's complimented you like that, and yet you still get totally lovestruck every time. "oh, shush," you grin bashfully. "i can't take credit for those beautiful curls, can i?"
"ok, true," matty nods. he sets lyla down on the tabletop - snorting as she immediately crawls right up to the mirror - and tugs you into his side. you immediately snuggle into his chest. "we really do make cute babies together, don't we?"
"we do," you say, smiling at your daughter before turning and wrapping your arms around matty's neck. "d'you want to make another one tonight?"
matty's breath hitches, and he tugs you down for a quick, head-spinning kiss before murmuring against your lips. "fuck yeah i do."
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vivwritesfics · 3 months
Text
White Wedding
His brother was getting married to her sister. Of course they were bound to fall in love - (grumpy x sunshine)
Arthur Leclerc x Reader
limiting the use of y/n in this one, but a few might slip through the cracks
2.5K
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"Charles, you're joining the L/N family, God help you."
She threw the cue card to the side. That was lame, she decided as she neatened up the rest of the cue cards. She read the one on the top, sucked in a deep breath, and looked into her mirror. "Charles," she said to herself. "Before you joined our family, I knew nothing about Motorsport. Now, it is your fault that I spend every Sunday on the couch, watching cars go in circles."
Yeah, that was better, much better.
If it wasn't enough that she'd planned her sisters entire wedding, she was now having to write a speech for it. She was the maid of honour and her sister had thrust almost all of the responsibility onto her. She'd done almost everything, with one of the few exceptions being choosing the dress.
The speech she started three weeks before the wedding. That was how long she thought it was going to take to write it. And, at this rate, she was right.
Her phone vibrated on her bed and she rushed to pick it up. Her thumb double tapped against the screen and it lit up, revealing a text from her sister. The wonderful sister who's wedding she'd just spent months planning.
Come meet me and Charles in the café xx
Fine, she sent back and threw her phone back onto the bed. She sucked in a deep breath and went back to practicing the introduction of her speech. "Charles." She held her pause before practicing the rest of her speech.
***
She walked into the café and immediately walked up to the counter. Ordering a simple coffee, she scanned over the tables in the café, searching for her sister and her fiancé.
Ann and Charles had been dating for two years before he popped the question. For the first year he took Ann to as many races as he could, but, in their second year of dating, Ann had to work. She had to save for the wedding. Sure, Charles had money, but Ann wasn't going to let him spend every penny he had on them. She wanted to pay what she could towards the wedding.
Being the great sister she was, Y/N agreed to watch it with her sister. She sat on the couch with her every single Sunday, no matter the time of day, to watch Charles drive.
Her name was called and she grabbed her coffee from the counter. After locating Ann, Charles, and somebody she had yet to meet, she walked over and sat herself in the empty seat.
"Hi love," Ann said the moment she sat down. She smiled politely at her sister and offered her a bite of cookie.
She refused politely and sipped her coffee as she looked around the table. "Who is this?" She asked. It may have come across as rude, but she was so burnt out from planning the wedding that she didn't much care.
"This is my brother, Arthur," Charles said as he threw his arm around the man sat next to him.
As soon as Charles said it, she could see it. They looked so alike, they could have almost be twins. "He's my best man." Arthur gave her a dimpled smile.
She turned her attention to Arthur. He was handsome, sure, but she was far too concentrated on the wedding to notice anything like that. "You're in charge of the bachelor party?" She asked and had a sip of coffee. "What've you got planned?"
Ann rolled her eyes as she covered her ears. In a hushed voice, Arthur told her his plans for the bachelor party. It was basic and not what she expected for the Charles Leclerc, but if that was what he wanted, that was what he was going to get.
"Is your date already included in the numbers and has she said what's she's eating?" She asked as she pulled her notebook from her bag. Her entire life was wedding planning at this point.
Arthur shook his head. "I don't have a date," he said, his cheeks dusted pink.
"Brilliant," she muttered under her breath. Immediately she realised what she'd said, but she didn't mean it that way. Him not bringing a date just made everything less complicated. "And how is your speech coming along?"
It was crazy how obsessed this girl was with a wedding that wasn't her own. Arthur looked at his brother and then back at the girl. "It's coming along," he said and she noted something down in her notebook.
She went into the back of her notebook, wrote something down, ripped it out, and passed it to Arthur. "My number. Send me a picture of the groomsmen suits when you've got a chance," she said stood up.
She sent them a polite goodbye and walked out of the cafe. Ann, Arthur and Charles watched them go. "Sorry about her," said Ann as she turned to Arthur. "She's just stressed about the wedding."
The wedding that wasn't hers.
***
It was three in the morning, two weeks before the wedding. She was supposed to be fast asleep, but she was still practicing her speech. Her now finished speech.
Her phone vibrated on her bed, and it didn't stop.
Arthur L
He had no contact picture attached; she didn't know him well enough yet. She swiped her finger across the screen and pressed her phone to her ear. "It's three in the morning, this better be good," she said in quiet voice, like there was somebody she was trying not to wake up. In reality, her walls were thin in her shitty apartment and her neighbours were quick to anger.
"Y/N? IT'S ARTHUR!" The youngest Leclerc shouted. She pulled the phone away from her ear from the sheer volume of it. "LECLERC? MY BROTHER IS MARRYING YOUR SISTER?"
"Yeah, Arthur, I know who you are."
"DO YOU THINK YOU COULD PICK CHARLES AND I UP FROM THE CLUB? WE'RE A BIT DRUNK!"
That much she could already tell. "Fucking hell," she mumbled under her breath. "Tell me the name of the club," she said as she pulled on her hoodie and sweats.
That was how she found herself parked herself outside of the club as an incredibly drunk Arthur tried to get an even more drunk Charles into the back of her car. "God, you both stink," she said as Arthur climbed into the front of the car with her.
"Yeah, things got a bit out of hand," Arthur said as he turned on the radio.
Suddenly Charles was sitting up on the back seat. He bounced in his seat and sang along to the music playing from the radio. "Charles, Charles," Arthur said as he reached back for his brother, trying to get him to calm down.
She switched off the radio and Charles immediately calmed down. He slumped down in his seat, his eyes distant as he stared out of the window.
She made a decision then and there to take the Leclerc brothers back to her apartment. They could sleep in her bed while she slept on the couch. It was better than them dying in some stupid, drunken mishap two weeks before the wedding.
Arthur frowned as she pulled into the parking complex beneath her apartment. "Where are we?" He asked as she pulled into a parking space and put the car into park.
She killed the engine, opened her door and pulled Charles out of the back. "Can you walk on your own?" She asked him as she slung Charles's arm over her shoulders. Arthur nodded and she dragged Charles over to the elevator.
As they walked, Arthur grabbed Charles's other side and helped her to walk him up to her apartment. As soon as they were inside, she dropped him on the couch and went to the kitchen to get him some water.
When she returned, Arthur was talking to his brother. It was hushed and in French and she had no idea what he was saying. But Charles nodded under his breath. When his eyes moved to Y/N, Arthur stopped talking and sat beside his brother, holding his up as she handed him water.
After he had finished the water, she and Arthur worked together to get Charles into bed. They kept him in his boxers and pulled the blankets over his body.
Once they had made sure he was sleeping on his stomach, she and Arthur left the room. They returned to the living and, exhausted, the two of them sat on the sofa.
"I'm sorry," Arthur said, his head against the back of the sofa. "I didn't want to call Ann."
"I get it," she said as she pulled her legs beneath her. "My sister isn't the most responsible and she probably would have just joined the two of you. Why do you think I'm planning the wedding?"
She said the last part quietly, and Arthur snapped his head towards her. "Yeah, why are you planning the wedding?"
She played with his fingers, refusing to meet his eyes. "If Ann was planning the wedding, it wouldn't be happening," she said.
"That's unfair, isn't it?"
She shook her head. It didn't matter if it was unfair, she'd do anything for her big sister. "If Charles wanted something so bad but couldn't do it himself, wouldn't you do it for him?"
She stood and grabbed a blanket. "You can sleep in here," she said and passed him the blanket. Arthur gave her a grateful smile and laid the blanket over his body as she walked into her office.
***
Arthur hadn't left her alone since that night.
She wasn't complaining about the constant messages, even if she did have to mute him sometimes. And then when he'd bring her food while she caught up on the work that she'd missed while she'd been planning the wedding.
They spent more time together than she expected. He was annoying, and she didn't mind.
Two days before the wedding and she was incredibly stressed. Arthur could tell, and he knew he had to do something about it.
He turned up to her apartment with the nastiest, greasiest pizza available. For a man so healthy, it came as a great surprise when she opened the door to see it. "Is this serious?" She asked as she stepped to the side to let him in.
"Incredibly serious," he said as he sat on her sofa.
She looked at the pizza. "You know I have a dress to fit into, right?"
"If you can't fit into your dress, I won't be able to fit into suit."
He held out his hand and Y/N shook it. She sat beside him and grabbed her first slice of pizza, taking a moment to relax. "We have the rehearsal tomorrow," she muttered between slices. "I shouldn't be this stressed about a wedding that isn't mine."
"I'd hate to see you on your own wedding," Arthur muttered as he grabbed another slice.
"Who says you're invited."
He held his hand over his heart, offended. Or faking it. "You really think you could live without me?"
She shook her head as she leaned against him and, between them they finished the pizza.
Arthur never slept over. It would have been too weird for Ann and Charles, she reasoned every time she walked him to the front door. But, this time he stopped before he could walk out of the door. "Let me take you to the wedding," he said. "We can sit together and dance together and have a really good time," he said, leaning against the door frame.
She frowned. "Won't our families find that a bit weird?"
"Who cares?"
She thought about it for a moment. "Okay. As future siblings in law, okay."
She shut the door on him and went to bed, but she didn't sleep. The rehearsal was the next day and she was stressed. The L/N family, the Leclerc family, and all of the bride and grooms friends would be there, judging everything she'd spent the last few months doing. Ann would be judging everything she'd done for her wedding.
At the rehearsal dinner, Arthur swapped name cards so that he and Y/N were sat beside each other. She didn't mind, had laughed as he did so. It might have been the first time he'd seen her laugh.
She'd organised the speeches and which order everybody was going in. Charles first, as the groom, and then Y/N, and then Arthur. They had very few speeches, since Ann had said their father wasn't allowed to make a speech.
Lets cut to the ceremony. It was beautiful. She had made sure every had coordinated, that the bridesmaid dresses had complimented the flowers and the groomsmen ties had matched the bridesmaid dresses.
Her own dress was a slightly deeper colour than the bridesmaid dresses. As soon as she had shown it to Arthur, he made sure that his tie matched her dress.
The actual ceremony was beautiful. There were tears, which led to Ann panicking about her makeup. Charles held her as she went from his wife-to-be to his wife. As she went from Ann L/N to Ann Leclerc.
When it came to the speeches, suddenly Y/N couldn't do it. Charles had made his speech, finishing to a round of applause. But then it came time for her speech.
She sat there for a moment, her eyes wide. Arthur nudged her with his elbow and she shook her head. "Arthur, I can't," she said, staring straight ahead. Her speech was on the cue cards on her plate.
"Yes you can," Arthur said. "If you don't, you'll regret it."
But she still wasn't moving.
So, Arthur stood up. "My name is Arthur Leclerc and I'm French!" There was a collective round of booing (mostly from Charles). "And the sister of the bride has something she wants to say."
He sat back back down as Y/N stood up and glared at him. He was an asshole and she was going to kill him. But still, she made her speech and sat back down. "I'm gonna kill you," she whispered to Arthur as she set her cards down. But she couldn't be happier that she had actually made the speech.
She and Arthur danced together. Just as they said they would, they danced to the slow songs, danced to the fast songs, and had the best time together. "Thank you," she said as they danced together, swaying from side to side as they wrapped their arms around each other.
"For what?" He asked with him dimply smile as he looked down at her.
She sucked in a deep breath as she laid her head against his chest. "You've helped make today perfect," she said, closing her eyes. She reached up and kissed his cheek. "You're wonderful, Arthur Leclerc."
"You're wonderful, Y/N L/N."
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julia4today · 15 days
Text
taunt angst
miguel o’hara x fem!reader — drabble
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—-
i can’t be the only one who reads those fics where spider-man keeps missing dates and just want something with more angst, right? like i don’t want them to get back together —- just me? alright 🤷‍♀️
—-
a waiting game. your dates, you mean.
sitting there for two and a half hours turns into a free meal and shots with the waitress. he was ruining you, and this was the final straw. the final time you’d sit on your floor crying after your boyfriend stood you up.
miguel 💋
where are you?
hello??
it’s been an hour
seriously???
wtf read
——
that unfortunately is what all your messages look like, of course followed by a half assed apology and a ‘promise’ to improve his behaviour. you just wanted to turn away from him.
you climbed into your shared bed, the last time you’d be doing that. you’d toss and turn, eventually being woken up my a certain someone.
“hola, amor,” he said, leaning down to take off his shoes.
“no,” you respond, your eyes stinging from tears threatening to fall.
“no? ¿que?”
“get out.”
“get out, amor this is my home,”
“i said get out.” raising your voice, your cheeks read.
“why?”
“you think you can waltz in here after what you did? i waited at that restaurant for two hours!! two hours o’hara! you promised me miguel. the stupid waitress bought my meal, she thought i was on some tinder date! i couldn’t tell her it was my fiancé.” the dark shrouded the room, you were grateful he couldn’t see the pain in your eyes.
“amor im sorry, i promise to do better!”
“JUST GET OUT!!” you throw a pillow at him, breaking down. barely being able to breathe, you scream at him till your voice gives out.
eventually it is only you in the apartment, in the world. your phone rang on end, ignoring calls from miguel, but also your friends, family, peter and jess. begging you to respond.
you could bring yourself to do it, to admit you got played. you could get past this, you could move on. but not right now. no, now was for cursing that man. the man who made you feel loved, only to throw it away. for work? for another woman? you may never know.
but you sure as hell weren’t going to chase after him even though you so desperately wanted to.
—-
i need a long ass fic where he never comes back tbh, somebody make that pretty please. anyway reqs open💋
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caelisblade · 5 months
Text
¡! possessive | marius von hagen
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synopsis: hearing somebody spread lies about a relationship they have with marius, your fiancé had you pissed off so much that you couldn't help but feel possessive over your man. and he deemed a reward fit for your response to a bitch claiming she had a chance with him.
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cws: established relationship, unprotected sex, jealous!reader, possessive!marius, oral (f receiving), squirting, overstimulation
a/n: a little late bday gift for my love @valkyrayn bc thats what we both deserve hehe
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“miss y/n! may i talk to you for a second?!”, somebody exclaimed, you heard the shutter of cameras around the office, your head shooting up in confusion as you saw somebody else replying instead of you. you watched some unfamiliar woman approach the reporter with a smile, shaking their hand. 
“of course!”, the woman replied as you leaned against your office’s door, watching the occasion with amusement. 
the fact that you were about to call security because of unwanted paparazzis in the building was long forgotten. 
“is it true that you are marius von hagen’s girlfriend?”, the reporter asked. you watched with pure amusement as that delusional woman nodded happily. 
“yes, it is true! i started out as his assistant and then… feelings happened, i guess”, she giggled, blushing in embarrassment. “we just wanted to keep things down to figure things out first between ourselves but we are absolutely in love.”
the reporter and that woman chatted for a while and you watched as you snacked your food, giggling until the moment she said something that really infuriated you as marius’s legitimate fiancée, and you just couldn’t hold yourself back from getting mad and fucking possessive over him. 
“we’re also planning on getting married soon! i actually was looking for some documents when i saw an engagement ring for me!”, she squealed with the reporter. she proceeded to tell the reporter how the ring looked, the fact that she knew how your ring looked like creeped you out, too. 
what started out as amusement for that woman’s embarrassment slowly tumbled into anger and frustration as you slammed your door to your office shut behind you as you walked up to her, trying to remain calm still.  
“hello ma’am, may i talk to you for a moment?”, you announced, pretending to be nice. the woman looked up at you with an arrogant expression; shaking her head. 
“don’t you see i’m busy? i‘ll find you later, now leave me alone”, she scoffed before she smiled back at the reporter, try to focus back at the conversation. 
“fine. get the fuck up from my spot. that’s me. i am y/n l/n and i am marius von hagen’s fiancée. not his just girlfriend. i was watching this and allowing it to happen because it was hilarious first but this has just taken a turn i cannot continue entertaining.”
“what the fuck do you mean, you’re his fiancée?”
the woman’s face retorted into panic before she calmed herself down quickly and shouted: “what the fuck?! no, i am his fiancée!” 
“are we really going back and forth like this?! do you see this?”, you chuckled, holding out your hand with the massive ring on your finger, smiling. “this is the engagement ring you were talking about, right? that beautiful crown-like ring with the blue crystals? here. this is it. he is my fiancé, not yours. fucking bitch. i thought you were his girlfriend and he hadn’t proposed yet, huh? shut the fuck up and stop talking about my fiancée like he was ever yours. like he’d ever want somebody as fucking dumb as you.” 
“what the hell is going on here?”, marius appeared, clearly notified by the craziness happening in his offices, looking so fine in his suit and he’d probably have you drooling for him if you were not so appalled by that bitch claiming she was his girlfriend or fiancée. 
“marius, baby, this woman is pretending to be your fiancée!”, she embarrassed herself even further as marius looked at her so confused, slowly walking towards you, grabbing your hand and pulling it closer to his lips, planting a soft, reassuring kiss on the back of your hand. it did have the intended effect because you felt yourself visibly calming down now that he was here, too. 
“pretending to? did you not see the ring on her finger i had personally made for her? how fucking dare you speak to my wife like this? screw this, yes. i am engaged. i am engaged to y/n l/n and we plan on getting married next spring”, he then announced, facing the reporter who looked between the three involved parties, completely horrified of what was happening. 
“if you’ll excuse me, my fiancée and i need to leave. security! get this woman out of here and never let her back inside again!”, he barked orders, anger so evident in his body language and tone. the security officers finally escorted the woman out, who kept on wailing about how he betrayed her. 
“fucking embarrassing”, marius scoffed and shook his head before he started walking out, waiting by the exit for you to follow him. 
“so… may i ask for an interview sometime, ms. l/n?”, the reporter asked nervously, unsure of what else to say. 
you couldn’t help laughing before you nodded. “please leave your card with me. i’ll call you sometime this week for one, hm?”, you replied, lowering your voice then. “and shh.. perhaps i can convince marius to tag along, too, hm?”
you giggled as the reporter nodded excitedly, handing you her card and you finally followed your fiancé to the exit, taking his hand as you felt relieved that the secret’s finally out and you can finally be his fiancée in public, too. 
“mhm, baby, you were so amazing defending yourself there. i’m so proud of you”, marius mumbled, pulling you closer to him in the backseat as vincent drove you both home. 
you couldn’t help but giggle. “thank you, baby, i just couldn’t handle the crap she fabricated. you guys would get married, pff, not even over my dead body”, you giggled, planting a soft kiss on his cheek. “also, did you call me your wife when you were telling her off?!” 
marius giggled, nodding. “absolutely. you’ll be my wife anyway. might as well start getting used to calling you that.” 
“idiot”, you mumble, leaning your head against his shoulder as the drive home proceeds in silence. “i love you.” 
once the car stopped in front of the villa’s entrance, marius got out to open your door, having you smile happily as he took your hand. “vincent? take payton and enjoy a day out. i want to be alone with my wife tonight, hm? you can use my credit card, alright? enjoy your night out”, marius smiled, pulling you into a side-hug and led you towards the door. 
vincent thanked him profusely. 
“why’d you send vincent and payton away?”, you asked confusedly.
“well…”, he giggled innocently, planting a kiss on your forehead. “we might… well, you might be a little too loud with what i’m about to do to you and i don’t want you be embarrassed tomorrow morning.”
your smile faded as you understood his intentions. “oh, you asshole”, you laughed, shaking your head. 
– 
you were covered in sweat, tears and cum. 
the moment you were in the safety of your bedroom, completely alone in the massive house he had you pinned against the next wall, arms over your head as he kissed you in desperation and god, he was so rough. 
“mhm, you’re so pretty, baby. and you were so hot when you were standing up for me like that, and fuck me, if you don’t deserve a reward for that”, he whispered against your neck, quickly discarding of all your clothes. the desperation was not only evident from his actions but also the bulge visible in his pants. 
the need for you was absolutely overpowering each and every single bit of his brain and ability to think rationally. 
all he could think of was how good he was going to fuck you. 
he grabbed you by your ass, lifting you up with ease and pretty much threw you onto the bed, climbing on top of you. you quickly started discarding his suit, not caring that the expensive clothing will be all wrinkly by the time you pick it up again. 
“god, you’re so pretty, baby. all beautiful for me and me alone. nobody ever could match with you.” 
he kissed down your body, finally reaching your pussy and planting a soft kiss on your clit. he couldn’t help but smile at you flinching. marius grabbed your thighs and spread your legs apart, holding them in place as he dove in, groaning against your pussy as he tasted you, eyes rolling back. 
“fuck, you taste so incredible, baby, fuck”, he groaned. “i love your taste. i love eating this pretty pussy. all mine, huh? all. fucking. mine.” 
“yours”, was the only word you could blurt out before you shuddered and came on his tongue for the first time in the night. 
well, you were so fucked. literally. 
“marius, fuck, don’t you dare stop”, you cried, clutching your nails deep into his back. 
his soft, innocent giggle had you rolling your eyes in annoyance, especially when he slowed down with his thrusts as he fucked you. “you’re so cute, baby. god, you’re so pretty, i’m so in love with you, wifey.” 
“stop… stop calling me wife. i’m not your wife yet”, you whimpered. 
“hmm.. no”, he giggled, intertwining your hands together, watching each and every reaction you displayed on that pretty face of yours. for a moment, he didn’t move at all anymore, just softly caressed your cheek as he looked at you with lidded eyes. “you know, baby, i love you so much. today just confirmed how much i really do. i can’t wait to fucking wife you up as you deserve and spoil you like this every single day of the rest of our lives.” 
your eyes got teary as you processed those words. “i’m so… fuck, stop making me cry. i love you”, you sobbed, a big smile decorating your lips. 
“mhm, no”, he chuckled, finally distracting you once again by delivering a particularly hard thrust, making you cry out. “you know why?”
“hm?”
“you” thrust. “are” thrust. “my” thrust. “wife.”
“not your wife”, you replied with a whine, sobbing with each single hard thrust and hit against your sweet spot. “wife me up first before you call me that.”
“don’t worry, i will. soon.”
and you knew he would keep that promise. 
he finally stopped playing around around and started focusing back on fucking you properly, you were losing your mind over how hot this all was. 
“all. fucking. mine”, he grunted before his hips stilled, body trembling as he filled you up with his cum and had you come around his cock, too, creaming around him and leaving a ring of your mixed slick on the base of his cock. 
you were feeling so dizzy with all the pleasure he made you feel, everything was a blurry mess and you couldn’t think of anything properly, just babbling “i love you”’s over and over again. 
“mhm, baby, made such a pretty mess for me, huh?”, you heard him say as you slowly regained power over your limbs. you looked down to where you both were still connected and saw his abs and chest glistening with your slick. “didn‘t know you were a squirter, baby. fuck me, if i‘m not trying to get you to do this again”, he promised, smirking. 
“shit, this was so intense”, you whimpered, tugging at his hair to get him closer, craving his kiss. “you‘re insane.”
“just for you, baby. nobody else could ever make me feel like you do”, he mumbled against your neck, placing relaxing kisses over your sweaty skin. “the only person who’d be able to get me down to my knees without any hesitation.” 
“im glad to be that person”, you giggled, kissing him softly before you tried to get up, only to be pushed back onto the bed. 
“nuh uh, we ain’t done yet, baby. i’m still not fucking done with you, baby”, he mumbled seductively, before you felt him thrust back into you and make you moan out loudly, crying out in pleasure as he started fucking you once more. he was leaving you breathless and overstimulated underneath him as he ravaged you over and over, showing you his love and adoration for you in the most physical way possible. 
and you wouldn’t want to change it at all. 
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clusterbuck · 2 months
Text
hiatus codas: 2x07 haunted
(this is only a 2x07 coda in a well, technically sense of the term)
“this is never going to fit,” eddie grumbles, dropping his head into his hands.
there’s footsteps behind him, and he hears buck’s low laugh. “having fun without me, gorgeous?”
eddie rolls his eyes, but he can’t stop the laugh that escapes him. “the wedding won’t fit,” he says, gesturing at the pieces of paper strewn across the kitchen table. “we’ve cut the guest list three times, and there’s still way too many people. we’re gonna end up with people standing in the aisle.”
“and we definitely can’t do that?” buck asks. eddie tilts his head to look up at his fiancé, squinting to see him in the strong backlight of the midday sun.
“how are you gonna walk down the aisle if people are standing in it?” he asks.
“i’m walking down the aisle now?” buck asks. “i thought we landed on neither of us?”
eddie turns back to face the table and groans. “we did,” he says. “but then—i kind of thought—it might be nice. maybe we both could.”
buck leans down to press a kiss to his shoulder, just above the collar of his t-shirt. he grabs a chair and scoots it over, as close to eddie’s as he can get. he props his feet up on the stretcher and tucks his knees against eddie’s thigh, leans over and kisses the corner of eddie’s jaw.
“yeah, we could,” buck says. “we can do whatever we want.” he grins, and it travels through eddie, still sparking like lighting in his veins though he sees it just about every day now.
“well, almost whatever we want,” buck amends, and eddie doesn’t even have time to frown before buck adds, “we can do anything except invite this many people to our current venue.”
despite himself, eddie laughs.
“okay, so. we need to cut some people,” he says, then looks at buck. “do we have to invite my parents?”
“no,” buck says. “but you did tell me not to let you uninvite them.”
“did i?” eddie tries, and buck looks unimpressed. he digs in his pocket for his phone.
“want me to play the voice memo?”
eddie lets his mouth twist into a pout, and buck just laughs and reaches for him, one hand landing on his jaw to pull him closer for a kiss.
“fine, my parents stay,” eddie says. “but we do have to kick somebody out.”
buck leans over to look at the guest list, one hand on eddie’s thigh for balance. “well, here’s one,” he says. “why is abby on the list?”
“i thought you added her,” eddie says. “aren’t you supposed to invite exes to weddings?”
“you would know,” buck says. “you’re the one that’s had a wedding before.”
eddie snorts. “yeah, but at that point exes would have been like… junior year prom dates. that’s a little different.”
“yeah, okay,” buck concedes. “but we can still take abby off the list.”
“you sure you don’t want to invite her?” eddie asks. he puts his hand over buck’s, still resting on his thigh. “i mean—you can, if you want. i don’t mind.”
“not afraid she’s going to steal me away?” buck asks, and eddie hears the teasing note in his voice but lets just a hint of possession slip into his own anyway.
“i know she wouldn’t,” he says, and buck squeezes his thigh, face twisting into a smirk as he leans in to kiss him.
“she couldn’t,” he murmurs, lips brushing eddie’s with every word. “no one could.”
“even though she made you the man you are today?” eddie asks, and buck rolls his eyes.
“i never said that,” he says. “i said she made me a better man. which—is true, god, you never met buck 1.0 so you don’t know this—but then i met you.”
“maybe we should invite her to the wedding,” eddie muses. “i should thank her for fuddling you.”
buck bursts out laughing. “baby,” he says, fitting his hand to eddie’s cheek. “do you mean fumbling?”
eddie sighs and leans into buck’s hand. “is that what the kids are saying?”
“have been,” buck confirms, running his thumb along eddie’s cheekbone. “for several years now.”
“well, you know what i mean,” eddie grumbles, grabs buck’s wrist and turns to press a kiss to his palm. “but i guess we don’t need to invite her just for that. i can send her a fruit basket.”
buck’s laughter echoes through the kitchen, bright and clear.
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