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hollandsfavbabe · 4 months

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Where Do We Go Now

pairing: peter parker x stark!reader

synopsis: in which the death of y/n's father leaves her determined to bring him back and her boyfriend peter determined to save her

warnings: endgame aftermath, death, parental loss, isolation, suicide attempt (but magical?), it gets better - I promise

word count: 7.1k

masterlist

a/n: Hey guys. This is going to be a bit longer than my usual notes, but I feel like I should explain why I've been gone for so long and why this story is a lot sadder than my usual ones. My community has been riddled with tragedy recently as we've lost a lot of people to suicide this past year, some of which have been as young as middle school age. One of my friends died by suicide a couple months ago. I can't express to you guys how hard it's been trying to deal with the pain and the guilt his death has caused me and my loved ones. So many days have passed where I wish I could've been a better friend for him while he was here. It hurts more knowing that other people are hurting too. Writing this was the best way for me to cope for many reasons. I wanted to write about how I'm feeling and honor my friend in some way even if it's through a silly little fanfiction. I know I'm late, but I also wanted to honor one of my favorite characters, Tony Stark as he canonically died this past October. That being said, if you are struggling please, I implore you, talk to someone. There are so many people on this planet who would be so torn without you. My dms are always a safe space if you need anything at all <3

Also I'd like to thank Gracie Abrams for her music that I had on repeat the entire time I was writing this. I hope you like it!

“I am Iron Man.”

The words replayed in your head, over and over like a broken record with no one to turn it to a new tune. That’s exactly how you felt. So alone in your grief that even if miraculously every wish you'd ever made in the whole of your existence had been granted, it still wouldn’t be enough to make you happy again. To make you feel anything besides the constant regret and incessant grief that anchored you down as you wasted away in your bed.

It had been exactly a week since the passing of the great Tony Stark. Everyone else in the compound had mourned their coworker, riddled by a somewhat lesser version of your sadness for only a few days after his death. It’s not as if their grief had been washed away as if it never stained their cheeks with tears or weighed down their hearts with sorrow, but it eased much quicker than yours and before long they could continue their duties. Everything was so much harder for you because Tony hadn’t just been a coworker. He was your father.

You relieved every memory you had of him like bittersweet torture. You remembered when he held you as a little girl, wiping up a bloodied knee. When he discovered you had powers and helped you control them. Later on when he banned you from joining in on the Avenger’s Civil War and afterwards when he thanked you for sneaking in to help anyway. You could almost feel his comforting embrace as if it was only yesterday that he was assuring you before a failed battle against the mad Titan Thanos, the same one that left you dusted and missing your father’s last five years on Earth. And finally, of course, you remember his last moments all too well. It played out before you like the tragic ending of a stage play.

“Let me do it,” you shouted over the sound of war cries and carnage that surrounded you on the packed battlefield. “I can take it!”

You were almost certain that your power, your immeasurable magic, could handle the debilitating strength of the Infinity Stones making you the most reasonable choice for snapping Thanos and his army out of existence, but your father refused to risk losing his eldest.

“No,” he breathed, the metal plate shielding his chest rising and falling from the heat of the action. There was only one way to succeed, only one way to put a stop to the destruction of the universe. It had to be him. “I won’t risk losing you, not while you’re still so young. You have so much life ahead of you.”

“Not without you!” you cried, a tear streaming from your eye.

There wasn’t much time for your conversation as the world was moments away from being wiped of its human history, but despite the odds your father pulled you into a tight hug, as if he knew it would be the last. You both did.

“You are the strongest person I’ve ever known and I’m so proud of what you’ve become already.” he smiled when you finally pulled apart.

“I need you dad,” you sobbed, still reluctant to let him leave you. With the threat of his death, suddenly Thanos’ defeat didn’t matter anymore. Not nearly as much as having your father by your side. “I’m not ready.”

Your dad looked down on you with the saddest of smiles, but if any part of him was upset about his decision, he made no other hint toward it. He just held you close for as long as possible and comforted you in the way that you could always count on him for. In the way, it hit you, that you could never count on him for again. But yet, in the face of death, he cradled you close and spoke in his signature fatherly tone: assertive yet on the edge of softness.

“No one’s ever ready -,” he answered truthfully. “- but I know you can handle it. You always do.”

You looked up at him as he finally pulled away and headed towards the purple giant, but not before turning to you for one final declaration.

“I love you, junior, to the edge and back again.”

And then he was gone. You never got the chance to say it back.

Yours was the last name he uttered before his heart stopped beating and the light on his suit went out. By then Pepper had already said her goodbyes and you both were huddled close to his body, weeping as the other Avengers knelt around you in honor of your father. Peter was hunched behind you, one hand on your shoulder while the other worked to wipe away his own tears. Oh Peter, you had your father to thank for him.

It was Tony who was credited with setting you up with your long term boyfriend, Peter Parker, even if it was a complete accident. You two had gotten acquainted on a fateful plane ride to Germany and eventually ended up together after many failed attempts at confessing your feelings. There was something about him that had you smitten with him from your first encounter, your liking only strengthened when you learned that your father approved. He’d been with you through thick and thin and even now, Peter was the only person who could even remotely share your pain besides Pepper. Tony was like his father too.

He’d taken care of you ever since the incident. Brought you food and water, helped you dress in your black attire for the funeral, laid with you in your bed each night to calm you whenever you awoke in a nightmarish terror. He showed his love for you prevailing over his grief in the most selfless of ways and yet all you had managed to do since you father’s funeral was stand to use the restroom every once in a while. It piled on more weight that your poor soul could already take. You were nothing, but a miserable burden now.

The door to your room opened with squealing hinges as Peter stepped in, returning from school where he had spent the morning reuniting with your shared friends and finding out when the official return date was. You were supposed to join him, but instead you hadn’t moved an inch since he left. It wasn’t as if you wanted to waste the entire day in your lonely sheets again. You yearned for everything to go back to how it was; when Peter was happy and you could share it with him. When your father used to smile upon the two teens he didn’t mean to bring together. When your father was alive.

“Hey,” he said, softly as if not to startle you from your endless torturous pondering. He set something down on your dresser, a small stack of papers he must have gathered from the school, and removed his fall coat before sauntering over to you. The bed creaked and shifted under his weight as he took a seat next to you. “Good news, we don’t have to go back until the next semester so we get a break until January. Ned was asking about you. He wants to know how you’re doing.”

You turned your head to look at him, your eyes red-rimmed from all of your crying and your lips cracked and dry.

“What did you tell him?” you croaked, your voice hoarse from under use. There was little to talk about and no one else to talk to whenever Peter wasn’t around. Pepper had visited you once, but with Morgan to look after, she couldn’t spare much time for her late husband’s grieving daughter. You’d seen Happy a couple times as well, but he needed his own time to recover and reflect on his past time with his best friend.

Peter was gentle as he tucked some of the hair strands snot cemented to your jaw behind your ear and cupped your cheek in his palm. He was cold from the autumn chill outside, but his hand ignited the same soothing heat that his touch always brought forth.

“I said you were recovering,” he answered truthfully. “And that it’s different for everyone. And no matter how long it takes, I’m here for you every step of the way.”

The ghost of a smile graced your lips and had it not felt like it stopped beating after losing your father, your heart may have fluttered in its cavity in your chest.

“Thanks Peter,” you curled closer to him in the most sincere of ways. “But I’m afraid it’s going to be a while before I can get up to see Ned again. Give him my best.”

“Take your time. I’m sure he understands.” Peter assured before pulling off his flannel and laying down beside you to wrap you in his arms, allowing you to tuck your face in his chest. As unhappy as you were, all the swirling emotions of suffering were always suppressed by the sound of Peter’s heart and the feel of his body around yours. You stayed like that for a while, holding each other before Peter broke the silence as it neared time for your midday meal.

“I think you should come with me today,” Peter suggested, rising to run his daily lunch retrieval before running a loving hand through your hair. You couldn’t understand how he hadn’t gotten sick of you yet. You hadn’t been able to wash in over a week. “It’s not good for you to stay here all day long. You need to start moving.”

His voice was full of worry, though he wasn’t overbearing. He wanted the best for you, it’s all he ever wanted really.

“I don’t know Peter, I don’t think I can.” you sighed as tears started to fill your eyes again. How could anyone stand to be around you when you were being so pathetic. You wished there was a way to erase your pain, anything to bring you to your normal self again.

“It's okay baby,” Peter hugged you into a tight embrace, kissing your tears as they fell in slow salty streams. “I know it hurts, I feel it too. But I read somewhere that the best thing to do is keep a consistent routine. Maybe you should start today. Come get lunch with me.”

You wanted to agree, but there was no part of you that could move from the weight of your grief. It pressed you down, gravity multiplied by the mass of your sadness as it consumed you. It felt as if only a miracle could save you now.

“I’m so sorry.” you stated with remorse, but Peter made no move to share his disappointment if he had any at all. Instead he leaned down from his seated position and placed his lips on your forehead, a gesture as if to say that all was alright.

“Please don’t cry, y/n. It’s okay.” he assured you before standing to leave and get you something that you figured you probably wouldn’t even eat very much of.

“I’ll be right back,” he promised, turning the handle of your door to leave before looking back at you sprawled on your bed. Suddenly, as if he had recalled the cure to the rainiest of days, he expression shifted to one of great excitement as he stopped back into your room.

“I almost forgot,” he began. “Doctor Strange was here earlier. He wanted me to tell you he’s offering some meditation sessions for you if you’re interested. He said they’d be good for your powers and that they might help you feel better if you want to think about it. He’s free at 8 tomorrow.”

You nearly perked up at the sound of the man’s name, picking up your head to cast a last longing glance at Peter as he waited for a parting word.

“Thanks,” you managed. “I’ll let you know.”

And off Peter went to get you both something to eat.

You weren’t sure if he knew how dangerous it was for you to be left with your thoughts, how the mention of the magic doctor sprouted a myriad of mystical ideas all aimed at the same goal that would erase your eternal lonesome aching. How to bring your father back. By the time Peter returned with his hands full of two homemade sandwiches and more sweets than the two of you could ever finish in one sitting, your mind had been made up and you were ready to set the plan in motion.

The following evening was your first time out of the confines of your rooms for days. Peter had helped you greatly with all the tasks you did not have the mental power to do all on your own. He had brushed your hair and made your bed and before you left in one of the less expensive cars held on Avenger’s campus, he sent you off adorned with one of his favorite sweatshirts, a peck on the forehead and enough I love you’s to last more than a lifetime.

You pulled the sleeve of Peter’s sweatshirt over your palm as you drove off, using the cloth to wipe away fresh tears that had fallen after you left your boyfriend’s loving gaze. You’d always been an overthinker, but your bad habits crept up on you worse in your unbreakable stage of sadness. Especially in your father’s favorite car.

You didn’t understand why he hadn’t left you already. Maybe he would. Peter had offered to join you at Strange’s, but after you insisted you had to go alone, he made plans to go help his Aunt May figure out their apartment situation as the pair had been inadvertently kicked out after being gone for so many years. You’d almost forgotten he used to split his nights between the compound and his own bedroom. Recently he’d only stay with you.

He promised to be back before dinner so that the two of you could keep up your progress, but an unsolicited voice within you convinced you that he wouldn’t want to return. You weren’t good enough for him anymore, not like you used to be. Your plan was better for the both of you and as you pulled up to the familiar building on Bleecker Street, all the pieces started to fall into place.

You stepped up to the door, raising your fist to knock only for the door to crack open by itself as if to invite you in. You waited for the familiar sternness of Doctor Strange’s voice to greet you once you were past the stone floored foyer, but only wisps of the autumn breeze caught your ear.

“Strange?” you called, your voice still not stable enough to be louder than a whispery dialogue. You were met with no response. It was just like you had planned. The wizard wasn’t home.

You felt a strong tug towards the room of your desires, the forbidden library. It was as if fate was leading you or some other force from above, another sign that you were meant to do it.

Your steps were more sure than they had been in days as you made your way to the self, passing any magical fire walls with the sheer unfiltered strength of your powers. Strange once told you that they were guided by your emotion, the quintessential essence of every magic holder even to people like you and Wanda Maximoff who were outside of his world protecting wizard cult. It was easier than it should have been, like slicing paper with a katana, you broke each enchantment until all that was left was the cool leather cover of the book you were looking for. The book with every answer you needed inside its ancient yellowing pages, but you only needed the spell that would revive your father. Locating it near the middle of the book, your tore out the page and turned back to your car, leaving the Sanctum with the same unhurried pace you had entered it with. There was no stopping you now.

Peter was only an half an hour late for your agreed meet up time when he arrived at the campus. He expected you’d be in your room as per usual and as he made his way to your door, the excitement of getting to hold you and talk about your first day out of the campus since the funeral built up in his chest. He wasn’t sure if any accomplishment in the world could make him as proud as he was of you. With two brown paper bags of groceries in his hand, he couldn’t wait to shower you in the affection that you deserved with all of your favorite snacks, enough to share of course.

“Y/n,” he smiled, using his webbing to open your door handle only to find, much to his disappointment, that you were nowhere to be found.

He checked all over campus, leaving the bags by your bed. No one had seen you since you’d left and the spot where the car you’d taken was still empty, the normally pristine concrete covered in fallen crisp maroon leaves. It didn’t make any sense. Where could you possibly have gone?

“Y/n!” he called, circling the perimeter of the campus looking for you. There was still no sign of your reappearance. “Y/n- oh. Hi Ms. Maximoff.” Peter forced a strained smile as he nearly bumped into the woman.

“Peter, we’ve been over this,” Wanda answered, her voice calm. “You can call me Wanda.”

Like you, the witch hadn’t been doing the best in recent days as she had lost something just as valuable as a father: her partner. While she occasionally had days where the ground would’ve been lucky to feel the grace of her step, her superhero duties had kept her from spending each day hidden from society. She had a different way of coping, but like others, she seemed to start getting back into routine again.

“Right, sorry Wanda.” Peter apologized.

“What are you doing out here?” inquired the witch in her native Sokovian accent, always intuitive. “Is something wrong?”

“It’s y/n. I can’t find her anywhere and we agreed to meet back here nearly - an hour ago!” Peter pulled up his coat sleeve to check the time on his watch, the face of which bore a picture of him and your father from only a few months before the snap. It had been a birthday gift, one of his favorites in fact, though it couldn't top what you had given him the same year: a lego set and your first kiss.

“I didn’t know that she got out of bed. That’s a big step!”

“Yes it is and we were going to celebrate tonight, but she hasn’t come back yet which is really not like her.” worried Peter.

“Where did she go?”

“Strange’s. He was going to give her a meditation lesson for her powers.”

Confused, Wanda's eyebrow furrowed and she crossed her arms over her chest. “Doesn’t she know how to use them already?”

“Yes, but he thought it would help her manage her grief. Working out is a pretty common method, but she hates going to the gym so he figured some meditation would be better for her and -“

“Wait, hold on. Did she go to him this morning?”

“Yes and she was supposed to be back around noon, but it’s nearly six and she’s still gone.” Peter explained.

“Peter!” Wanda chided. She couldn't believe he could make such a grave mistake.

“What?”

“Strange hasn’t been at the Sanctum all day!”

“What?! Where is he?”

“Do I look like a wizard to you?" the witch gestured to her casual leggings and cardigan pairing that drastically differed from Strange's usual eccentric costumes. "How should I know?”

As if summoned by the topic of conversation, a figure appeared in the distant grass, hovering over the blades until he was close enough to be able to walk. His cape that flowed in the breeze like a blood red stream with a mind of its own was a dead give away. Doctor Strange had indeed arrived in the flesh.

“Parker,” he greeted, though he did not smile. “Is Ms. Stark ready for our lesson?”

Peter’s eyes went wide as he realized his mistake.

“Oh no.” he muttered, shaking his head in defeat. He was met with confusion from the wizard.

“No?” Strange repeated. “We agreed upon 8 didn't we? I know I'm a little early, but I assumed she wouldn't be busy. Didn’t you let her know I was coming?”

“Yes,” Peter confirmed. “I told her to be ready and then I sent her off to your place at 8… am.”

“What?!” Strange exclaimed as he summoned a portal to appear leading directly to his found home on Bleecker Street. He stepped through the fiery ring, a silent invitation for the others to follow as he hurried passed your car, up the steps, and into the door which did not part of him the same way it had earlier. Inside he was met with the most frightful of discovers accompanied by the looming feeling of doom as the situation became clear.

The Sanctum, unguarded with his absence, lay littered with books that had fallen from their homes on his shelf’s yet one stood out from all the others. It laid on the floor open with its pages to the ground while every other book was shut. Levitating it with the simple flick of his wrist, a horrifying sight awaited Strange as he turned it over. One of the pages in the sacred book was missing.

“Do you know how serious this is?!” Strange exclaimed and although Peter at first took it as a barbed criticism aimed directly at him, he was able to distinguish Strange’s tone from when he was reprimanding. This was a separate kind of worry, the sort of tone that he had used heavily on the fated spaceship you three had been stuck in until you landed on Titan, Thanos’ home world, nearly five years ago. Treachery was afoot and if your powers were involved, the whole fabric of your current reality could change.

“Which one did she take?” Wanda pointed to the book, clearly noticing the giant tear in its center.

Strange’s voice answered, heavy with concern. “The revival spell.”

“You don’t think she knows, do you? She can’t possibly know how to conjure it.” asked Wanda, the same concern for their future written all over her face.

“That’s exactly what I think.” Strange confirmed.

“What?” Peter asked. “What are you guys talking about?”

“There are many types of magic, Parker, and the Sanctum, the building where you sent your girlfriend, is full of all of them, good and bad alike. Every spell comes with a price, the bigger the spell, the bigger the price and the spell she took comes with one of the biggest prices there is to pay.”

“Think about it, Peter,” Wanda paled. “What does y/n want most in the world right now?”

It hit Peter harder than fresh fallen hail. You were going to try to bring your father back.

“We have to find her. Now.”

Strange tried to use his sling ring to appear wherever you were, but in your grief, the extent of your powers had grown massively. Intentionally or not, you managed to prevent even the most powerful of wizards from using his Sling Ring to access your location.

“She's blocked me out.” Strange frowned. “We’re going to have to track her on foot.”

“She can’t be far,” Peter agreed. “She always takes the shortest path whenever she wants something.” It was one of the many things he loved about you: your ability to turn any taxing task into something much simpler. You were one of the cleverest people he knew. He just hoped it didn’t work in your favor this time.

It was Wanda who had the idea of tracking your magic. She led them to the nearest withering woodland area, where trees with bare branches and dying leaves sprawled endlessly. It was the perfect place to perform dark magic, away from the unyielding eyes of society. The trio didn’t hesitate to run in.

The further they got, the closer you felt especially to Peter despite the fact that he was the only one without his own source of magic. If he lost you tonight, he feared he’d never feel any sort of magic ever again.

They were only half an acre in when Wanda and Strange called out in anguish, the witch falling to her knees while Strange stayed standing, pounding the air with his fist as his trying to break through an invisible barrier though it was to no avail. Whatever was holding him back, it wasn’t fading anytime soon.

“Keep going, Parker!” he shouted, urging Peter forward. “You’re the only one who can stop her. The spell will only allow that which she loves.”

“How do I do it?” Peter shouted. “How do I stop the spell?”

“The page,” Wanda replied, quicker than Strange could as his reply was easy for her to access. “You have to tear it apart.”

Without wasting a second more, Peter sprung back towards where he could feel you, running without fatigue as his superhuman endurance supplied him with plenty of energy.

It was only a minute later that he caught his first sign of you. There was a break in the tree line out of which a bright amber glow poured like an incandescent warning. It was a dramatic contrast from the normal comforting emerald greens of your magic, but it was you nonetheless and Peter didn’t stop until he was so close he had to shade his eyes from the light.

If it weren’t for the dark nature of what you were doing, Peter would’ve considered it one of the most beautiful events he’d ever seen take place. He wasn’t sure if the circle of trees that surrounded you had been a natural formation or one you made for the sake of the spell, but he was sure the way they seemed to bend to your will, despite the hard wood of their birch trunks, had to be because of your power. In the center of it all was you and the page you had stolen atop a pile of purple and golden leaves. You stood before it, eyes closed as you whispered some sort of incantation. Your powers spread above you in orange flickering flames as you outstretched your arms and summoned what looked like the beginnings of a portal, though it was hard to peer through like a bride covered in a veil of night black.

Peter shouted your name, screaming for you to stop, but you didn’t so much as flinch as the portal grew. You couldn’t hear him over the force of your will. He could start to feel what Wanda and Strange were trapped behind. There was some sort of invisible wall that threatened to push him back from you, but he couldn’t be defeated. He had to stop you. Step by step, he got closer and closer to you, watching in horror as your body was lifted from the ground and floated in midair. A new energy started weeping through the fabric that covered your chest, soft and white like a sheer glittering fabric. It drifted towards the portal and as Peter neared you he could make out the outline of a face forming from it in the black center of it. It started to take shape, growing a neck and a body and becoming more concrete than a fragmented part of your energy. He became more unmistakable as the color grew back into his face. Tony Stark, in the flesh. Peter hurried towards the page.

You opened your eyes to gaze into the face of your father, tears flowing down your face partially from the exhaustion of bringing him back and from being able to see him again.

You tried to say something, tell him how much you had missed him, but you were left rendered without a voice. Your words came out as mouthed nonsense, though it seemed he had regained his voice.

“Y/n,” he uttered, though it seemed more like a warning than a greeting after being torn from you for so long.

You mouthed something you knew he’d understand. I love you too, dad.

Some other force called your name, but you ignored it. You couldn’t focus on anything else, but the father you had lost regaining life right in front of you. With every part that he gained, you felt a part of your fade. It wasn’t painful, more numbing than anything like the final dose to end all your sadness. You couldn’t help but relish in it. You were bringing back one of the greatest men to ever live.

You were so distracted, you missed the web that landed on the page below you and pulled it away.

“Y/n,” your dad said again, nearly having enough of one of his legs to step out of the portal when suddenly, the inky blackness swallowed him whole again and dissolved in the forest light, taking back the only thing you ever wanted.

“NO!” you cried as your voice returned to you and you fell back down to the dry grass and dead leaves, crumpled on the forest floor as all of the magic you had summoned faded away save for the glittering cloud that returned to your chest with such force it made you cough. You had failed.

“Y/n!” someone called and you shuddered away from their hand on your shoulder as loud sobs erupted from you.

“Leave me!” you begged. “Just leave!” Peter refused to leave your side, tossing behind him the page he had shredded into tiny scraps of paper as he knelt beside you, careful not to touch you again. “Why did you have to do that? Why did you take him from me?”

“You were going to die! I couldn’t let you di-“

“I WANTED TO DIE!”

Peter froze as you whimpered, the truth spreading above the both of you in the cold air like storm clouds as you cried to him.

“I want him back. Everyone wants him back. No one cares about his depressed daughter and I don’t want to hurt anymore, Peter.” you paused to take a deep breath. “It- it hurts so much.” you could barely get the words out as you were choked by your sobs. “It hurts knowing I could’ve saved him. It hurts knowing it should’ve been me that snapped those stupid stones. And I don’t want to live with that anymore. I had to try to bring him back for the world. It needs him more than it needs me.”

You brought a hand to your face, wiping away some of your tears, though it was no use as more came pouring out.

“I need you.” uttered Peter, looking into your glossy eyes. The sight of your tears and the echo of your screams couldn’t deter him from you. You can’t be repelled from the ones that you love.

“But you miss him, don’t you,” you argued as hot tears coated your face. “You want him back too.”

Peter nodded in agreement.

“I think about him everyday. Our moments together. Like this one time he saved me from drowning in a lake. Or-“ Peter grinned. “- remember when he caught us making out that one time before we told him we were together. He was so mad.” Peter smiled to himself, looking fondly on the memory until he began again.

“I miss him so much and it makes me so sad that I'll never see him again. But I wouldn’t trade you for him. I wouldn't trade you for anyone. You’re worth more to me than anyone else in the universe.”

Your sobs slowed yet the tears did not cease as they still cascaded down your face.

“It hurts me so much.” you restated.

Peter opened his arms. “May I?” he asked. You nodded and before you knew it, you were engulfed by a warmth unlike any other as Peter hugged you tight enough to make sure you wouldn’t try to leave him again.

“I know you do,” he related. "And I wish I could take it away. I wish I could just bag all your pain and throw it all away. But it doesn't work like that. It's going to hurt. It's going to be painful, so much so that you won't move from bed for days and days. You haven't."

"But I feel like everyone else has already moved on. Why can't I?" you shivered.

"No one else was as close to him as you. Everyone else lost a friend. You lost a father. There's a big difference. You can't expect yourself to move on from it. That's not healthy. It's just like I said, I'm here for you no matter how long it takes. You have to take your time with it, don’t rush the process." Peter pressed the lightest of kisses to one of your dampened cheeks.

"I just don't know what to do."

"Breathe."

As silly as it sounded in its simplicity you did as he instructed and inhaled deeply, allowing the air to coat your lungs that hadn’t been exposed to so much fresh air in a week. As you exhaled, you let out another sob in his arms, but somehow it felt better than all the others. You were not rid of your pain by any means and sadness still corroded your core, but for the first time in so long, you didn’t feel so hopeless. Peter placed another gentle kiss on your cheek, encouraging you as you took several more slow breaths and quiet cries until you found the strength to speak again.

“Was it like this for you when your parents died?” you wondered aloud as you pulled away from Peter to look into his chocolate brown eyes that you almost forgot you loved so much, yet not so far that he couldn't keep his arms around your frame that was still bearing his sweatshirt. You hadn’t spoken much about them before and while you weren’t sure where the question had arisen from, it felt like the right thing to ask.

“I was so young when they passed, sometimes I feel like they were never mine to begin with,” he admitted. “I took a couple days off school when it happened, but I don’t remember crying all that much. It’s tragic and sometimes it makes me sad that they’re gone, but I’m glad that it does. It’s a reminder that they were there for me in the first place, that I knew them enough to miss them. The grief is proof that I loved them while they were here.”

You were both silent for a moment as you thought about his words in relation to your situation. All your pain was put into perspective. Everything you had been through since he died, all the days you wasted away in bed, it was all the proof that you had loved him so much when he was alive and that you were still carrying the love you had left for him. You missed your father so much you were willing to die to get him back and for a moment, you almost did.

You parted from Peter’s arms to stand though you still grasped onto his hands as you weren’t strong enough to be upright on your own. You closed your eyes again and listened to the sound of the forest, the swaying of the leaves that still clung to their branches, the faint twittering of birds, and the calm of the sky that was oddly cloudless for autumn. The sound of your name falling from your father’s reformed lips was still faint in the air and for a moment you felt as though you were with him again.

You remembered when he taught you how to ride a bike one evening when you were only four. You remembered the day he pulled you from public school and started teaching you at home. You remembered the look of shock on his face when you showed him your powers for the first time and even more, you remember his pride when you completed your first mission with the Avengers (that he'd approved ahead of time to avoid any more Germany -like surprises). He wasn’t there, but at the same time he was everywhere. And you missed him, but at the same time the absence he left in your life felt less empty.

The tears came out in slow smooth streams, flowing down in slow trickles as you finally sat back down. You didn’t say anything and neither did Peter, but you knew he could feel what you felt. He could feel your father too and minutes slipped by as you sat and cried together.

There was a sudden rustling in the distance and soon enough, Doctor Strange and Wanda had arrived at the scene, no longer held back by invisible barriers. They rushed to you bringing flooding guilt through your system as you began to apologize.

“I’m sorry,” you cried. “I’m so sorry.”

Strange opened his mouth to speak, but he had nothing to say. You could tell by his expression that he was disappointed, but there was more to it. He had empathy.

It was Wanda that leaned down to place a friendly hand on your shoulder.

“Let’s get you home.”

The months following were some of the hardest of your life. Every battle you faced was uphill, but you no longer felt like you were fighting alone. You started going out again, first to visit Pepper and your half sister Morgan who lived in their cabin home. Peter joined you of course, but he played with Morgan for the most part while you and Pepper talked. You cried with her, but you laughed a lot too. She shared with you so many of her own memories, times when your father didn't know what to get you for your birthday, when he had managed to mess up cooking dinner in the strangest of ways, and when he’d accidentally burned your favorite stuffed animal in the drying machine all of which Pepper had to remedy. Though she hadn’t raised you, she was the mother you never had and through her stories you learned that your father had been just as good raising Morgan with her as he had been with you.

You hung out with Ned and MJ again shortly after that. While Peter had suggested a brief check-in at a cafe so you could go home quickly to rest, you surprised him with a much more time consuming idea: laser tag. The four of you had the best time targeting each other, you winning more rounds than any of the others. You ended the day with smoothies, talking as you drank and making plans for the next time you would all see each other. MJ made you promise you would text her if you ever needed anything and Ned gave you a whole plate of his Lola’s ensaymadas, your favorite dish of hers.

Finally, though he was locked up in his house and avoiding humanity, you visited Happy. Peter offered to join you like all the other times, but you assured him it would be best if he stayed home, promising you would return later. Happy was in a similar state of dismay to you when you saw him and while he was able to care for himself and continue with his personal routine, you could tell he was hurting.

You didn't say much when you first entered his apartment, but there was comfort within the silence. You sat with him on his sofa and watched whatever mind numbing program he had turned on to distract his thoughts until you had both worked up an appetite for lunch. It was there, in the middle of a random Burger King in Queens over a plate of cheeseburgers that you both broke down. You told him what you had nearly done, trusting him with the sensitive information as he was almost a second father to you. You took your time telling him the story of how you had nearly died to bring back your father.

Happy cried as you did and when you were finished, he told you how much you meant to him. He traded your story for one from your father after he returned from Afghanistan where he had famously been kidnapped.

"You could tell he was shaken," Happy began. "He told me he wasn't scared to die, but he was scared of losing time with you and leaving you alone. Pepper and I had been so busy trying to get him back, he was worried you had been neglected while he was gone. But when he came home and he saw your room clean, your toys put away, and a fridge full of leftovers from meals you prepared yourself, he was so proud. You inspired him to turn his life around. It was after that he told me that he knew you'd be okay if he was taken from us one day."

You both cried after that.

Long after you had finished your food, Happy drove you to the Parker's new apartment with the promise that he would be okay too, eventually. He also admitted that he was starting to develop quite the liking for your faithful boyfriend after hearing all that he had done for you, though he’d skin you alive if you ever told Peter.

It was that night in Peter's new bedroom that you knew you’d be okay. It still hurt to think of your father and you knew you’d never entirely recover and that the pain would never fully leave you, but there was a certain comfort in it now. You knew Peter felt it too as he snuggled half asleep into your side, his arm slung around your body in a protective manner, but also to keep from falling of the twin bed you shared as he let you sleep on the side with the wall. There were still days when you didn’t want to leave your bed, but there were also days when you felt more elated than ever. You could feel your father in those moments the most, like the shine of his smile took form in the light from the sun. You couldn’t see him nor could you speak with him, but you knew he wasn’t really gone. It was love that kept him around. And it was the love you carried for him that would suspend you for lifetimes, through light and dark until the end of time.

“I hope this grief stays with me because its all the unexpressed love” - Andrew Garfield 💙

#tom holland x you #tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland x y/n #peter parker x you #peter parker x y/n #peter parker x reader #peter parker #mental health #suicide awareness #avengers endgame #tony stark #stark!daughter #stark!reader #fem!reader #you are loved

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roxygen22 · 12 days

Text

Still Here (Chapter 7)

Summary: Three little words from Timmy send you into a panic.

A/N: A shorter chapter, but a BIG one.

Catch up on previous chapters here.

"I should have followed you when you asked me."

In slow motion, Timothée's lips met yours. They were as plush and soft as you remembered. His hands eagerly made their way to your hips to pull your body to his. One of your hands snaked up his back while the other gripped his neck to pull him deeper into the kiss.

"[Y/N], I love you," he moaned when came up for air.

Instantly, you pulled away. He kept his arms out, stunned by your sudden absence from them.

"Timmy...I can't tell you how much I want this. I have feelings for you, too. But it's too soon. I- I can't say it back yet," your voice trembled. You walked over to his truck and dropped the tailgate to sit. "This isn't just a matter of picking up where we left off 12 years ago. I've lived a whole separate life in between. I have a daughter depending on me to keep my shit together.

I got so wrapped up in being wife and mother, I- I don't even know who I am anymore. I need to figure that out first. I rushed headlong into my last relationship with blinders on. I couldn't see anything else but him. I latched onto him because I was alone and lonely. Sound familiar? I lost myself in trying to be whatever he wanted me to be. I can't- I can't do that again." You put both of your hands to your forehead. "I've barely been back more than a month, and I'm already entertaining a new relationship."

Timothée joined you on the tailgate. "But, it's not new."

"Yes, it is!" you shouted. "I'm not the same person I was 12 years ago. We need to get to know each other again to make sure we actually like each other for who we are now, not just getting wrapped up in the nostalgia of what was. I- I've been hurt, wounded, heart flayed open at the hands of someone else who also once said they loved me. Then they fell out of love with me. What does that say about me? What does that say about love?" your voice faded to a whisper.

"It says more about him," Timothée growled. "That he's a damn fool. And so was I to let you go in the first place. But unlike that idiot, I NEVER STOPPED LOVING YOU!" He jumped off the tailgate to pace the sidewalk.

You blinked owlishly at him. "What?"

"Why do you think I couldn't follow through with my engagement in Texas? She was funny, beautiful even...but she wasn't you. And that wasn't fair to her."

"And I don't think this is fair to you!" you exclaimed. "I feel so drained right now. I don't have a lot of emotional energy to offer, and what reserve I do have needs to go to Madison. She's my number one priority. I hope you understand that I'm not saying no. I'm asking for slow."

He stopped pacing and stood directly in front of you, one hand resting on your knee. The other cupped your face. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll go as slow as you need. But, I'm not going to stop telling you that I love you. You deserve to hear it. Know it. Feel it. I will still be here when you decide it's safe to love me back." He broke the seriousness with a flash of his classic lopsided grin. "And if you think being honest with me is going to change how I feel about you, then maaaaybe you're not quite as smart as I thought."

You laughed softly and leaned into his touch. "I'm glad I haven't scared you off. Most men would turn tail and run at the sight of a divorcée with a pre-teen daughter."

"Well, I'm not most men, and I've actually grown quite fond of Madison," Timothée replied.

"I can tell. And she likes you, too, it seems. I think that's what scares me most, though. Any decision I make impacts her as well. She got hurt in all of this, too. I don't want her to get attached to someone who may not stick around. Not that- I don't mean that you would do that. Just in general."

"I knew what you meant. I respect you for putting her first. I would expect nothing less from you. And I'd sooner walk through fire than hurt her." He kissed the top of your head and sat back down beside you. You rested your head on his shoulder for a few silent moments.

"We seem to have our most serious conversations in the back of this truck." You looked up at him and half-smiled.

"I can think of some other things that have happened in this truck, too." He winked.

"Timmy!" you popped him lightly on the arm in feigned embarrassment.

"So what now?" he asked in a more serious tone.

"I don't know. This is new to me, too. I guess we do what we have been doing. We hang out. We talk. We get to know each other's adult selves. But no PDA in front of Maddy. Not yet. I will talk to her when I feel the time is right and slowly introduce the concept of me dating again."

"I can live with that. But when she's not around, can I still do this?" He leaned over and teasingly grazed his lips over yours.

"I can live with that," you breathed out. This time, you closed the gap, all but slamming your mouth against his for a deeper kiss.

<><><><><>

Chapter 8

Masterlist

Tag List: @croatianprincess @bluizh

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darkbluekies · 11 months

Note

Hi blue! I hope you've been feeling well! If you don't mind, would you give us a sneak peek of what you're currently working on? I'm looking forward to whatever it is 💖💕

🥀

Here are some that I've started :)

Let's hope I'll finish them

The hedwig diaries: "I want to kill"

Dear diary, I want to kill and you have to believe it's more than just selfish reasons. I don't know what else to do. I respect everyone, why can't they respect me? Why does no one think that my relationship is serious? I love Y/N more than anything else in this entire world! Am I the only one seeing that? Certainly not, right?

Someone tried to approach them today in the cafeteria. I could see in an instant that he had no good intentions. I've tried to get Y/N to ditch the grotesque cafeteria food, but they won't hear me out … I can't for the life of me understand why. I've told them that I can get my chef to make lunchboxes for us both, but they squirm when I'm trying. I think it's because of what others will think. Y/N wants to blend in and not stand out. Being with me only complicates that. They told me once that if they would start eating food from my house, they'd stand out even more — people might even think they're a gold digger, that they're using me. I know Y/N, I know they're not. Why do they have to care what others think so badly?

Deja vu [Dr Kry x female reader]

He copies the telephone number from the page into his phone. His hands are trembling. He can’t believe that he’s going to speak with you again! Dr Kry walks out into the corridor and dials. He holds the phone to his ear, swallowing.

“Hello?”

Your sweet voice is enough to cause his legs to shake. He suddenly feels like a schoolboy again. Oh, how he hates it.

“Y/N …”, he whispers out when remembering how to speak.

Silence.

“Why are you calling me?” you ask harshly. “How did you get my number?!”

“Your son came into my office and-”

“Oh my God! Don’t touch him, please! Kry, please, he’s innocent.”

Hearing you plead like that again gives him the confidence back.

“Don’t freak out now”, he says. “I’m not going to hurt him. Better yet, I’ll cure him … but I won’t let him go unless you come here. Alone. And if you tell anyone I’ll cause an … accident. You’re familiar with those, aren't you?”

“You fucking madman, Kry!”

He smiles.

“So you’ll come?” he asks excitedly. “I’ll see you in twenty minutes then. I’ll be waiting.”

In our own world [king Edmund x female reader]

"Who were you talking to?" Edmund asks without looking up from his desk. "Fuck all of these papers make me insane!"

"It was the queen, your majesty", the guard answers.

Edmund snaps his head up, his heart skipping a beat. You've finally come to him?

"What did she want?" he asks quickly.

"She just wanted to speak with you", the guard answers. "Nothing more. She said that it could wait so I sent her away. I know how you said that you didn't want to be disturbed-"

"You fucking idiot! That rule implies for everyone but her. Go get her."

"Yes, your highness."

The guard runs out of the room, sensing that he's upset king. Edmund sighs frustratedly, shaking his head.

He returns with you by hid side just a minute later. Carefully, he walks out and shuts the door behind him. Edmund smiles fondly as he sees you.

"I heard you wanted to talk to me", he says softly.

"It was nothing important", you say.

"Yes, it was. Come here."

He pats his lap. You walk over to him slowly and sit down on his thigh. Edmund smiles and wraps his arm around your waist securely.

The balance of a youngster (might change the title) [Silas x reader]

You hide the bloody, crying boy behind you.

“How fucking low are you?!” you shout, unable to control your feelings. “That’s a child for fucks sake!”

You might not be able to stand up for yourself in his Hell house, but you can’t watch them hurt a little kid.

“Lower. Your. Voice.”

Too late. They freeze with their eyes stuck on Silas coming out behind them. You look at him over your shoulder, growing cold. You’ve disturbed his work.

“What the hell is going on out here?” Silas mutters. “I’m trying to work.” He caresses your shoulder protectively. “Baby, are you alright?”

“I’m okay”, you say. “But these men are hurting this little boy.”

He stands between you and the men. You grab the little boy and turn around to walk back inside.

“Boss, that little shit tried to grab my gun and run”, one of the men sighs.

“I don’t fucking care, alright?” Silas hisses and glances towards the back door to make sure you didn’t hear. “How stupid can you be to do this outside where people can hear? Especially Y/N! How many times have I told you to watch what you’re doing?!”

“We didn’t know they were allowed to walk freely around the house”, the other man says. “Honestly. We thought they were either locked in the basement or bedroom.”

Silas sighs heavily. “Idiots.”

Scaring me [Jerry x reader]

Carefully, she lifts your fingers to her plump lips and kisses it softly.

You look at the cabbage.

"Don't think about it", Jerry tells you. "You're not going to continue. This was a stupid idea. Why did I ever think it was okay for you to use a knife? I trust you too much. Fuck sake. You hurt yourself. Get out of the kitchen."

"It's just a little cut …", you say. "I wanted to make something special for you. I had it all planned …"

She cups your cheeks between her hands.

"I know, baby", she says comfortingly. "And I'm very grateful that you wanted to do something for me, but what kind of girlfriend am I if I let you get hurt, hm? My number one priority is to protect you."

"I know, but …"

"I'll continue this. Go sit down in the living room. People like you shouldn't be allowed into kitchens."

I'm planning to make a oneshot where you escape Hedwig too, but I haven't started it yet!!<33

#yandere #yandere x reader #yandere x you #yandere drabbles #yandere imagines #yandere fics #yandere mafia #yandere oc x you #yandere stories #yandere teaser #yandere female #yandere doctor #yandere king #🥀 anon

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miyaniacs · 2 months

Text

Corrupted by Darkness

- Chapter 8 -

Chapter 7 ; Wattpad ; AO3

A/N: Hello :) sorry for the lack of updates... I had to finish my assignment first :D But i wanted to thank you all for your feedback, the comments and the votes! It makes my day whenever I see them <3 So again thank you so much for reading this story and supporting me <3

Azriels POV

Shadows swirl around me while I stare at the ceiling in my room, lost in my thoughts.

"Why did you fuck her when you hated her all those years?" Cassians words echo though my head... like they did for the past weeks ever since he threw them at my head.

I couldn't answer him that day even though I knew the answer then just as clearly as I know it now. If I'd be honest with myself I had known it since the first time I looked in her eyes. Ever since that day, I felt the need to protect her and keep her save. The older she got, the more a different feeling sneaked its way into my mind... or my heart. I tried my best to stay way from her, closing myself off whenever she wanted to get to know me more, finding excuses to leave the room when she got there... it worked out for me until that night I found her crying, sitting alone on her birthday in a dark hallway.

If my heart wasn't arching so much to be close to her and be her shoulder to cry on, I would have ripped that asshole in pieces. Having me so close to me on that night... I thought I was stronger, yet I should have known that my self control wouldn't be as strong as I thought it would be when it came to Nea.

So here I am now, dealing with the aftermath of that night.

I knew it was wrong to leave her broken on the floor that night, my heart was breaking into pieces while I said those words, seeing the tears in her eyes, tears that I caused. I still think that it was necessary to break things up with her... to let her be free and not chained to me, while she is in there and I'm who knows where Rhys sends me. And now that her life is chained to Xadens - I don't need my shadows to see the way he looks at her... to know that he was there for her when I left her crying. I hid myself within my shadows that night, watching over her, in case something would happen. Then I saw him. Heard how she whispered my name, full of hope that it would be me... and I saw the hurt in his eyes, when he saw the disappointment on her face when she realized it was him and not me.

Closing my eyes again I try to recall the way her eyes lit up whenever she talks about the things that excite her, tying to remember her smell, her touch ...

Neas POV

'NOCTIS! NOCTIS HELPE ME!' I scream up at the dragon above me. Another blast of fire wraps around my body and I scream at the feeling of my skin burning. My fists hammer against the imaginary wall that keeps me shielded off whatever controls my body and whatever Sanguis is controlling right now.

'Someone please... Help me.' I cry out.

'XADEN? Xaden can you hear me?' I shout at the opening I in my mind I left for him. But no answer ... it feels like I don't even reach him, just like I can't reach Noctis.

More fire.

Physically my body doesn't burn, but when I look at my hands all I see is burned flesh. Tears run down my face and I keep on screaming.

Sanguis laughs. "Don't worry little girl, two more times and all that's left of you is a sad little pile of ashes... and your body is mine."

"No...! No - please I'll do anything- please." I beg.

"But there is nothing you could offer me." She smiles evilly and then says something to Noctis again, fueling his anger even more. His eyes glow as he opens his mouth again.

Sanguis laughs, while I cry out in pain, as I feel my skin falling off of me.

'Please.. please not like this... not now... not him...' I cry and fall down on my knees.

My vision gets darker and darker and I fall to my left, hugging my knees. I'm going to die... and no one will notice.

Theres a small tugging in my chest... and within the darkness a small golden thread appears.

I wrap my hands around it, as if this small thread is my lifeline- "Help me. Please." I whisper to who or whatever is on the other side of the line.

Above me Noctis opens his mouth again.

'Well that's ...' I close my eyes and wait for the fire to hit me.

Azriels POV

My eyes shoot open and I sit straight in my bed.

Was I dreaming? I ask myself and run my hand though my hair.

Small droplets of sweat run down my neck.

Something feels off.

With a sigh I roll out of bed and make my way to the kitchen.

The whole time I can't get that feeling off my chest, that something is wrong... as if someone's in danger.

"Couldn't sleep?" Cassian asks and I almost drop the glass in my hand.

"Wowwww did I just surprise the one and only shadow singer?" He jokes and playfully hits my shoulder, yet his demeanor quickly changes when he sees the look in my eyes.

"Az, what's wrong?" His voice has a serious tone in it.

"I ... I don't know." I let my head hang and my eyes search for anything and everything while I scan the ground. "It feels like she is in danger..." I whisper the last part.

"Nea?" Cassian asks and leans on the counter next to me.

"Yes... Cassian she..." I begin but my voice breaks. There's a tug.... A tug where all those months was nothing... a tug and the feeling of fearing for ones life.

The glass falls to the floor and Cassian is left alone in the kitchen.

"I know Arziel... I know..." he whispers and pushes himself off the counter.

"RHYSAND" He screams into the night and quickly makes his way to his house.

#acotar fanfiction #acotar headcanon #acotar x reader #azriel x reader #xaden x reader #xaden riorson #azriel x oc #fourth wing #acotar oc #azriel fanfic

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loveswrites · 1 year

Note

could I send in a request for Edward (Twilight) if you write for him separately :>

Edward Cullen X reader ~ You Wimp

Warnings: Idk how to do warnings I never do cause I can't stand them but talks of K*lling ones self is here so beware. Who knows might be a gaslighter involved.

Hi lovely anon! Ofc I do write for just about all Cullens and other separately I just love poly because 1. There is not a lot and 2. I can never choose who I want so I go for all half the time. Anyways I hope you like it! Thank you all for the support! I'm loving the request that are coming through btw! I'll get to them when I can, love. <3

Word count: 1034

Time it took me: 1 hour

"Why are you staring at me?" You asked Edward while turning to look at him. Currently you too were currently in the woods together. Alone just how you liked it. But his intense eye contact made you feel giggly. You were just trying to read right now.

"What do you mean?" Edward said, basically fluttering his eyelashes in his own little way.

“You know what I mean don’t try to play dumb you sparkly mind reader.” You laugh pushing his shoulders playfully, making him smile.

“You're just so beautiful you know that?” He said, again staring at you with those loving eyes of his.

“You look like a love-stuck fool.” You said softly reaching up to stroke his check.

“I can’t say that you are wrong. I’ve waited for you for as long as I could remember.. I never thought you would come to me.” Edward said doing the same to your cheek.

“Maybe I just wasn’t born yet.” You laughed in his face. Once again making him smile.

“You are everything I could’ve ever wished for. No matter how long it took you to get here I am forever grateful for you and your love.” He said, pulling you closer into him for a kiss.

The kiss was everything you knew he felt for you. The way his lips moved against yours was intoxicating. The way his cold skin brushed against your warm ones brung a shiver to your body that only would happen with his touch. The way he was always so gentle with you, even though you always would tell him that you can handle it. He can let go. He never did. He wanted to make sure you were safe from anyone and everything. Including himself.

With these thoughts he pulled away from the kiss. Once again holding himself back.

“You make me crazy.” He said looking at you with dreamy eyes.

His words made you smile like they always do.

“I know. Now can you take me home Charlie is waiting for me.” You stated.

“I wish I could keep you here with me forever.”

“Too bad you don’t have forever because you refuse to change me but you know.” You said standing up gathering your things.

“Why do you have to bring this up?” Edward said, holding his head in immediate frustration on the topic.

“Because Edward you want forever when you know damn well forever is to not be had unless I am changed. What if one day I decide to go on a roller coaster and the ride falls apart cuz someone left a piece of gum on the track. Or what if I’m running from somebody and I don’t notice and I hit my head on a tree huh Edward? Then what! What will you do?!” You shouted but then backed down once you realized you were screaming at him.

“Carlise will fix it. He’ll always help and do his best-”

“His best may not be enough and you know it.” You said, your eyes following him as he stood up.

“I’d only hope that you would come to forgive me as I joined you in the afterlife, If there be a side for me with you.” Edward said.

You blink away the tears in your eyes that came with his words. You couldn’t bare the thought of Edward killing himself just so he could be with you. Were you really that important to him as he says you are? A part of you believed him. The other part of you said that this couldn’t be. You never thought anyone could love you enough to do something like that to themselves. Thinking of it yourself you don’t believe that you could live without him yourself either.

It would put a damper on your future of dating forever. The trust issues you always have would become 10x worse. You’d always think back to him. Edward. You’d always compare your potinect lovers to him. From the first moment you laid eyes on Edward Cullen you’ve seen yourself with him. That was your man from the minute you said Hi.

You always wondered if you manifested it or if it was just fate.

“You’d kill yourself? To be with me?” You questioned frowning a little.

“I’d do anything to be with you y/n.”

“Besides, turn me?” You said looking up at him to which he sighed in response.

“Your my light, My life, My soul. I couldn't do that to you, you have to understand that.” Edward said, frowning. His eyes searching your face. You could tell he was trying to read your mind but he couldn’t. He never could. You weren't necessarily a shield but everytime he tried to read your mind he’d get hit with a wave of overwhelming thoughts. Everything was always jumbled up. Nothing ever made clear since if you tried. And if he tried for too long the voices or thoughts would start screaming at him forcing him away. At least that's how he explained it.

“I can try.”

“Thank you, do you want me to take you home?” He questioned.

“Yeah, make sure I don’t die on the way. You know, I don't want to ruin our couple of years too early. That wouldn’t be so kind of me now would it?” You said giving him a soft smile to try and tell him you were okay with it for now, but also that you weren’t done fighting him for forever and a day.

“You're never gonna stop till I said yes are you?” Edward asked with a slight smile on his face.

“Nope, not until the day I die, Even then who knows I might haunt you.” You said turning your back to him and starting to walk away.

Behind you you heard Edward laugh making you smile even more. You always loved his smile. You loved being the reason for his smiles and laughs.

“I love you.” He said. You heard him walk with you now.

“I love you too.” And you were left alone with your thoughts and the presence of your sparkly vampire. That you would love till the day that you die.

#edward cullen #edward cullen x reader #twilight #twilight x reader #cullen romance #x reader #reader insert #oneshots #cullen x reader #cullen poly

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gachawolfiebloom · 1 month

Text

Your Pursuit of Perfection

Story and Artwork By: @GachaWolfieBloom

Chapter 7: You Can't Escape Your Fears

Summary: A few months after the events of WOTFI 2023, SMG4 starts having really bad dreams about the "Its gotta be perfect" incident. One night however, his fear allows the nightmares to break through and he gets taken to a horrific dimension. He finally meets the tv adware, who manipulates him into returning to his insane ways, intent on claiming much more than the perfect video. Now it's up to his friends to stop this madness and save SMG4. Can they do it in time or will they lose SMG4 forever? (In case you are unaware this is a sequel to the its gotta be perfect movie)

Tags: angst, its gotta be perfect, love confession, luigi, mario, meggy, melony, nightmares, scary, smg3, smg4, smg34, smg3 x smg4, tari, tv adware

Saiko was putting on a rock concert for all the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom. She thought she was doing well until the crowd started to turn on her. A chanting of booing came from the crowd and they all shouted mean insults.

"You suck!"

"I wasted my time on this!?"

"You'll never become a rockstar!"

Saiko could feel her fear overcome her until someone jumped onto the stage. "Saiko! It's not real!" Three had come to save her along with One and Two. "No! Look at this! I'll never achieve my dream of being a famous rockstar!" One tried to persuade her that this was all fake. "This is all just a nightmare. See?" Saiko turned to see how the crowd had a shadowy look to it. Of course! The mist of nightmares. "My fear is what's causing this?" Gaining back her confidence, Saiko picked up her guitar and shouted "I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOU MONSTERS!!!" She had escaped the smoke and was back with the other three.

Mario was despairing as the world had run out of spaghetti. Three came crashing through the door and yelled "Mario snap out of it! It's just a nightmare!" He was still shaking as he said through his tears "But...Mario will never be with his true love again..." Saiko used her hammer to slam through. "Wake up Mario! We need your help!" He remembered how much he loved his friends and how he really wanted to save Smg4. He stood up and screamed "You think you can scare Mario with your dumb tricks. Well guess what? Mario is strong and he will not let you control him!" The scene faded away as he hugged his friends and thanked them for saving him.

Tari was surrounded by hundreds of angry ducks. "I'm sorry. I never wanted to hurt you all. I just love you so much." The ducks didn't listen as they inched closer. Mario hurdled into the room with a gun and said "Freeze!" Three came up behind him with Saiko and said "Tari those ducks are stupid fakers!" Mario grabbed one and shook it with all his might. "FAKER!" Tari was still panicked induced as she still defended her "little friends." "No. They are just scared. I should have treated them better." Saiko pulled out her hammer as the ducks attacked her. "Look around Tari! This is just the work of the nightmare mist!" Tari gasped as she said "How could they?"

Bob was trying to be a successful rapper, but nobody supported him. All the friends that he had made over the years went back to their old ways of rejecting him and pushing him aside. Even Birdo didn't think he was cool anymore. He was about to give up when he heard clapping in the distance. Mario was supporting Bob and the others had came to get him. "This is just a nightmare Bob!" Saiko questionably said "Your worst fear is being rejected from rapping?" Bob tried to deny it. "NO." Saiko then knew what to do to snap him out of his nightmares. "Then prove it." Bob took his microphone and smashed it on the ground. "SHUT UP! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK!"

Melony's nightmare was taking a huge hit on her. She had failed to rescue Axol and now she was all alone. Zer0 had won and killed all of her friends. Just then a huge team of heroes stepped in to fight the eldritch monster. "Melony help us!" Tari called out as she looked up from her tears. "B-b-but Axol i-i-is..." Saiko sighed and said "I know. But we defeated Zer0 and we can defeat this nightmare as well." Melony rubbed her tears and inquired "This is a nightmare?" She turned to the huge creature and remembered how she saved all her friends in 2021 and 2022. That filled her with determination, as she pulled out her sword and ended the life of this bad dream.

Luigi was running his successful flower shop until he got terrible news that it was being shut down forever. He curled up into a ball on the ground and started crying. "Luigi!" He looked up to see who that familiar voice belonged to. "Wake up!" shouted Mario as he kept slapping his brother on the face. "What about my flower shop?" Tari stood in a confident pose and told him "Remember when Meggy coached us. Don't let her or your friends down. I faced my fears and so can you!" Luigi remembered Meggy's final assignment as a flashback of her giving him a thumbs up was playing and Boopkins was dressed in her beanie and headphones. He got up with a determined face and yelled "You're just a stupid nightmare! You don't scare me!"

Boopkins was crying while holding a picture of him and JubJub. Bob burst in and said "LET'S GO BOOPKINS!" He turned and said "I failed on protecting my brother. I'll never see him again." Bob rolled his eyes and said "BEING SAD ISN'T AN EXCUSE! GET A MOVE ON!" Boopkins wiped tears from his eyes. "THIS IS A NIGHTMARE!" Boopkins looked around and realized that it was. JubJub was back home and safe. Boopkins threw his arms in the air and yelled "I am not afraid!" Bob watched and then turned to the camera. "DANG BOB. YOU'RE A NATURAL."

There was only one person left...

Meggy had lost the big game of splatfest. The crowd was yelling in disbelief and Desti looked at her. "You promised to win splatfest for me." One Shot Wren shook his head and said "I expected better things from you kid." She held her head in her hands and whispered "I tried. I really did try." Her friends came running into the stadium. "Meggy snap out of it! It's only your fear!" Three tried to call out to her, but the opposing team started shooting them with their splatshots. While they all tried to avoid it, Three said to them "You distract them while I try to save Meggy." Bob immediately pulled out his grenade launcher and says "NOW YOU'LL SEE HOW A TRUE ATHLETE DOES IT!" Three slipped through the crowd up to Meggy, but the nightmare versions of Desti and Wren stopped him.

They tried to punch and kick him, so he thew them off the ledge. "Get out of here you stupid nightmare creatures." He ran up to her and tried to snap her out of it. "Meggy let's go now!" Her eyes were still full of tears as she whimpered "I lost. I'm a failure. I deserve this..." Three stopped in his tracks when he heard what Meggy said. "Believe me, I know how that feels." Three mumbled as Meggy looked up. "All those times I was lost in thought, it was about Four. My worst fear is that I failed to protect him and he died because of me." Meggy didn't move an inch.

"I just don't want to lose him...or you." He looks towards the ground, but then feels a warm embrace. Meggy hugs him and says "Thank you Three. I don't want to lose you either." He smiles and puts his arms around her as well. After a few seconds he pushes Meggy away from him and reverts back to his tsundere behavior. "Okay that's enough. Give me some space squid." She giggles and looks down to see that the rest of her friends are in trouble. She grabs her splatshot and fires at all the inklings. Once she defeats them, the scene melts away and they all find themselves back in the Nightmare realm.

They weren't alone as the icky creatures were surrounding them. "Ooooo very scary goop." Mario said, wriggling his fingers. They then see a man with a tv head come out of the shadows. "But some of you still are." He said as he directed his attention to Three. "Isn't that right Smg3?" He backed up, but didn't let his guard down. "I won't believe your dirty lies." The smile on the screen did not fade away. It actually got a bit wider. "But there is something you fear. If you surrender, I might be willing to spare your little friends."

An uneasy expression went across his face as the TV Adware continued. "After all they have done for you, this is how you repay them? Taking Smg4 away from them?" Darkness crept closer as Three yelled out in a state of defeat "No! They did nothing wrong! I'm the one who deserves this! I will-" He was about to make a deal with the Adware till Meggy stopped him. "NO! Smg3, you're our friend and you aren't going anywhere. Nobody blames you for what happened."

He stops in shock. "I'm your friend?" They all nodded. "Of course! Mario loves you!" Tari took a gentle approach. "And we know we can trust you." The TV Adware backed up and said in a slick voice "Well I see you have some real friends. Those who would do anything for you."

"This is your last chance. Before they see what you let happen." The others were confused, but Three knew what he meant. "You wouldn't dare..." Only Meggy, Mario, and Three saw their corrupted friend from the inside. Everyone else had taken on the goop outside.

The Adware chuckled and said "Well it seems we are not able to make an...arrangement. Don't worry though. I came prepared. I will get the kingdom I so desperately deserve."

A pink light started to shine through as a figure came up behind him. The creature had pink cracks on his face, his clothes were dirty, and his eyes looked desperately strained. When he was seen clearly in the light, everyone gasped in shock as they all said the same thing. "SMG4!?"

"Now you will all be destroyed and the Mushroom Kingdom will be defenseless! Meet my new friend...NIGHTMARE FOUR!!!"

Your friend is mine now...

Chapter 8: Are You Ready For The Next Show

#angst #it’s gotta be perfect #love confession #luigi #mario #smg4 meggy #smg4 melony #nightmare #scary #smg3 #smg4 #smg34 #smg3 x smg4 #smg4 tari #tv adware

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cupidscrule · 5 months

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PT ONE OF A SHORT FIC!!

Adam stanheight / reader.

Tw - eating disorder, bathroom trap.

Saw 2004

"Hey- sweetie- com'on Hun? Please you need help, we can't keep supporting you if you're just killing yourself." Your mother said to you over the phone, god you didn't care, it wasn't hurting them. All you wanted was one thing, to be a beautiful model, find love, to be loved jeez, and we all know the only way to do that is to be skinny. You were 45kg, 5'4. Yeah, most people would say you're horribly underweight, but fuck them and there stupid opinions, they didn't know you. They couldn't get a say in what shit you pulled, doesn't even matter? Who would care?

Whatever that's besides the point, you were underweight. Still starved yourself, didn't care how people felt, hell you could basically fit toddlers clothes, I mean you always wanted to get in kawaii fashion nows the perfect time. Okay okay back to the point,

You always hated yourself, ugly, pig, god those words you heard all your life. You hated yourself, your loving family, left all your friends, you were alone. Well not really, no I mean like not alone. See everything was going fantastic, i was crying on the bathroom floor like every night, when the shower curtain pulled back and a thing wearing a pig mask shoved a needle in your neck, well probably my neck

Was a bit too hazy to fully remember, so that's how we ended up here.

Little ol me, in a black room, ankle chained, smelled like shit, like actual fucking shit. Jesus, where the fuck am I.

Still haven't figured it out yet. "Hello?? Where the fuck am I??" Oh shit there's someone else here?? Too dark to notice, didn't really think to scream, y'know just in case. It was a males voice, sounded about 20-25. The details don't matter "WAIT I FOUND A LIGHT" he shouts before the bathroom lights flicker on. Jesus no wonder it smelled like shit you were actually in a bathroom, I was just joking earlier. The man was a few meters away from me, he was wearing a white shirt, weird blue button up shirt and was undone, and jeans. His ankle was also cuffed? Fuck whats going on, is this some sick prank? He had short brown hair, and looked tired. Guess you had one thing in common?

"Hey- what's your name??" I asked him with an awkward smile, y'know trying not to start CRYING. "MY NAME IS VERY FUCKING CONFUSED WHAT ABOUT YOU?" jeez, wasn't he just a ball of sunshine? "Well do you remember how you got here?" I said after a few seconds, honestly I didn't even care if he was pissed all I wanted to do was get out of here. I looked around, saw fuck all. Well besides a man in the middle of me and mystery man who killed himself. Yeesh hope it didn't get that unbearable. "Nothing. Fucking nothing. I went to bed in my shithole apartment and woke up in an actual shithole??" He says looking over at me. He looked upset, but who wouldn't if they woke up in a bathroom with your ankle cuffed to a poll. "But- what's your name." Mystery man calmly says, wow what a change in emotion. Went from crazy bitch to sweet little charmer

"The less you know about me the better. What about you?" I say rubbing my eyes, before reaching down to my foot trying to break the chain. "Adam." He says after a solid 40 seconds, god finally something useful. "Huh, well nice to meet you Adam, NOW HOW THE FUCK DID WE END UP HERE?" I gotta admit I did sound a bit angry there but fuck if I care? Seems like a life or death scenario either way. Doubt this guy cares about kindness the way he acted before, "well - nice to meet you.. Adam. Now, do you know anything? Like why we're here?" A good minute passed before I said that, I guess I did feel a bit bad. He looked over at me, looking confused but not at me? "No, I really don't but-" he says before cutting himself off "wait he has something in his hand??" Adam continued speaking, pointing at the corpses hand. Yeesh it was a tape player, what a weird thing to hold onto, it also looked like there was a gun? Well I mean kinda expected that, given the head shit wound. "Can you reach it??" I shout to him, before getting on my stomage Trying to reach for it "No- Wait - actually" he says going over to a bathtub, grabbing the drainer. Using it to grab the small player, "smart.." I said putting on a half smirk, he grabs it with his wet hands, he pulls out two tapes, one with Adam written on it, and the other with yours. He inserts the one that has his name on it and presses 'play'

"Rise and shine, Adam. You're probably wondering where you are. I'll tell you where you might be. You might be in the room that you die in. Up until now you simply sat in the shadows watching others live out their lives. But what do voyeurs see when they look into the mirror? Now, I see you as a strange mix of someone angry, yet apathetic. But mostly just pathetic. So are you going to watch yourself die today, Adam, or do something about it?" Wow, that's fucking harsh. Poor guy honestly? "Hey toss me the one with my name on it-" I say to him holding out my hands, he throws it with the tape.

" Y/n , this is your wake-up call. Every day of you've starved yourself to look hotter, you have people worried that today might be your last day alive. Now, it's your job to end someone other then yourself, Your aim in this game is to kill Adam. You have until six on the clock to do it. There's a man in the room with you. When there's that much poison in your blood, the only thing left to do...is shoot yourself. There are ways to win this hidden all around you. Just remember, X marks the spot for the treasure. If you do not kill Adam by six, then Cathy and Paul will die, Y/n ... and I'll leave you in this room to rot. Let the game begin. Follow your heart."

"Follow your heart -?" I say under my breath, looking over to Adam who is just staring "listen.. girl- we don't have to do what it says. Okay? We can figure this out and both live-?" He says oddly calm, "it said follow your heart- and there's ways to win everywhere?" You say looking around, "you said heart?" He says looking over at you "yeah?" I reply just kinda staring, what the fuck is he doing.

He stretches over towards a toilet bowl which has a heart smudged on it, sticking his hand in the toilet "Adam- no- ew-" you say gagging looking away from him. "Fuck nothing.." he says before opening the top of the shitter, grabbing a black bag with various things in it, "The fuck is that?" I said to him looking back at him, a big ass trash bag which he dumped on the ground as two saws fall out of it, and a little case, with unknown things in it.

Adam immediately goes to cut off the chain, unfortunately the saw flimsily breaks In half. "What the fuck??" He shouts tossing it away, "they aren't meant to cut metal. They're meant to cut off our-" I say staring at the little saw, eyes wide, who the fuck would come up with this sick game? This is torture, hell on earth. What did I do to deserve this?

#cupidscruel🍡#adam stanheight #saw 2004 #adam faulkner stanheight #girlblogging #adam stanheight x reader #adam saw #adam stanheight fluff #fluffy #tw disordered eating #disordered eating thoughts #tw eating issues #saw franchise #saw movies #saw x #saw #2004 #bathroom trap #gay

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theempresstrash · 2 years

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Welcome! :3

If you are here right now more than likely you are a Twitter crypto artist denizen who has heard me, @maxcapacity and probably many other shouting about Tumblr on Twitter. Why Tumblr? It is part nostalgia, part necromancy, part homage to the the Web3 greats who spent years here (some are still here), part rebellion, and part reminding artists to come together to help each other.

Twitter heavily favors text base tweets - it's just a fact. Here is not the case. Many of us are also maybe a little jaded on what is happening overall and feel ignored as artists. Discord is full of scams, twitter group chats are cliquey, but here we are free to roam, explore each others works, and create a visual digital identity we want to present.

Come play with us and remember why we are all here! For the art, to make friends, express ourselves, have a good time and build a better future for artists. Yes we all want to sell work too ofc - we have physical bodies to take care of and bills to pay - but what if we share with each other our wins and how we got them, and our failures and what we learned from them as artists so when we go back to the rest of the internet hellscape we can find more success? At the very least, make some friends here or rekindle connects that may have been lost to not feel so alone. For some of you this is a trip down memory lane, for others you have never been here before. Old or new a like I encourage you to check out who I am following to get started finding each other.

This isn't rocket science - if you can understand blockchain web3 stuff, I have faith you can understand this old beast of a social network. Love you all ~~~ <3

P.S. I'm writing this for specific purposes of a pinned post. It feels so good to be able to write more than 150 characters. Also here are multi gifs side by side -- for the culture.

EDIT: Because I can edit and also adding this - for the culture 🫡🚫

~We are here to focus on the art and building up artists and to build an open, non hierarchal structure to provide mutual support for each other while showcasing the hard work and dope art crypto artists do to try to shape the landscape of web3 to be more artist friendly for ALL artists from diverse backgrounds. ~ Here are some guidelines to foster a healthy community growth:

~ NO SHILL POST/ART SHARE POSTS - why? we want the focus to go back on the artist and deep thoughts, not engagement farming. Shilling/art share is a viable way on twitter to get your art out there because of how the social media is structured. Here - content is the focus. You can discover new artists a multitude of ways including searching hashtags, looking through your fav artists feed of who they are sharing or following, and generally just wandering around.

~ INDEPENDENT ARTIST FOCUS - 10k pfp projects are a part of the nft ecosystem, and thrive on twitter, but here we want to again have the focus stay on independent artists. A basic issue with these projects is to access a lot of their communities they are token gated, and a lot of artists just can't afford them. Also many feel we are drowning in the noise of a lot of the politics and drama that goes on between projects, and need a place again to share ourselves with each other for feedback, support and overall good times.

~ REPORT AND BLOCK THE HATERS / KILL WITH KIDNESS- anywhere on the internet hate is prevalent for lots of different reasons related to our content and not. Bullies are cowards, and to bully someone for a technology they use is boring. Tumblr also does not tolerate hate and harassment in any form. Maybe someone is having a bad day and if able extend kindness. For extreme comments, report them. For continual harassers, block them. This is your space to curate how you wish. We deserve to be here as artists as anyone else, and hope to on top of supporting each other showcase our dope af work we are doing within the crypto art ecosystems to show we aren't all scammers, just artists trying to build a better future.

#crypto art tumblr takeover #empresswrites #nftumblr

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slytherin-girly · 1 year

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Done/ A Draco Malfoy x reader one-shot

House: doesn't matter ~~~~~~~ (Remember u are beautiful!🤍) "Haha look it's little worthless!" Some slytherin shouted pointing at me. I walked faster trying to get away from them Everyone bullied me, even the trio "Awww look mudblood is trying to run faster! What a shame!" Pansy sneered at me. Laughs erupted everywhere around me. "Oi! Y/l/n!" Someone said grabbing my arm. "Trying to run. To bad your legs can't carry you any faster than a slug." Draco taunted. Silent tears trickling down my face. "Awwww is someone gonna cry" Pansy snickered. "You're a worthless filthy little mudblood. And you take up space here." He spat. "You're mudblood mother must've begged Dumbledore to let you in here. You're talentless! A waste of space!" Everyone snickered. "Leave. Me. Alone." I spat. "The bitch talks!" "Leave me alone! You achieved your goal! Say what you want to say! I am done! I'm done with your stupid remarks! I don't care! I don't care anymore! Say what you want to fucking say!" I snapped, everyone now staring at me in shock. "You did it! I want to die! I want to disappear! I don't want to be here anymore! You all made my life a living hell! I never did anything! You all achieved your goal with tormenting me every! Single! Day!" I yelled, everyone surprised of my outrage. I ran out to the girls bathroom, where Myrtle was. "Die then! No one's gonna notice anyway!" ~~~~~~~ "Oh hello Y/n, you never see me anymore how come?" Myrtle asked floating everywhere around the bathroom. "Myrtle, w-why is everyone so-so mean t-to m-me" I sobbed hugging my knees. "Oh Y/n I was bullied because of my glasses, people said they were... funny looking" "I don't see anything wrong with them" "I'll see you later Myrtle" I smiled sadly. "Bye Y/n come back soon" she said floating off singing if you called it that, or humming something. ~~~~~~~ I forced myself to go to dinner despite earlier. I sat alone, as usual at the end of the table staring off into space. "Hey Y/n" Harry said walking up to me "What are you doing here?" "Are you gonna eat that?" He asked, Ron and Hermione were behind him. "I don't know- no-?" "Good." He grabbed the bowl and dumped it over my head. Hermione and Ron laughed along with him and everyone else in the hall. I walked out angrily reminiscing the times when I was happy, a little girl who thought she could take on the world no matter what anyone said about her. Guess younger me was wrong after all. I had grabbed the towel out of my pocket and wiped all I could off and went to a lonely corridor and sat and cried. I learned to always have a small little towel at all times because I never know what could get dumped it thrown on me. "I just want to be happy!" I sobbed. "I just want a normal life!" I sighed and looked up at the moon. It had always looked lonely, but it was always accompanied by the stars. I heard a cough in the distance." Y/n." It was Draco. "Come to humiliate me more I see. Go ahead. Give it your best shot. Not like I'll be around long anyway." I mumbled the last part, more to myself. "Y/n please-" "No! You're right! I am worthless! I am taking up space! I shouldn't be here! You're right!" I shout. "No please listen-" "No! You're right! Maybe I should just disa-" I got cut off by his lips on mine. I hesitate but kiss back. "Now, I'm sorry Y/n. I really am. The only reason I did that was because- because I was in love with you and I didn't know how to show it." "Well you thought of a funny way of showing it." I grumbled. "I'm sorry. I really am." "It's okay." "What-?" "You are not as bad as pansy, I've been tormented by worse. At least you never dumped food al over me." "Be mine Y/n?" "Surely." I smiled. "Now let's get you cleaned up" he said dragging me away.

Hope you enjoyed! Comments and reblogs are appreciated! Love you guys so much! ❤🤍❤

Requests can be made! So please make some! I only write for Draco currently!

#draco #dracomalfoy #draco malfoy fluff #draco malfoy imagine #draco malfoy one shot #harry potter fanfiction #draco lucius malfoy #draco fluff #draco x reader #draco malfoy x reader #draco x you #draco x y/n #draco fic #draco fanfiction #draco fuckingmalfoy #draco angst

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stolenoc · 7 months

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Villainous Nights Fanfiction

Like fully two years ago I started writing a Villainous Nights AU where MC got recruited by Optimus before the Syndicate found her. I've stopped writing it, but I've always liked this scene and I'm sick of scrolling past it in my wips and being sad it won't be used, so here it is.

3500 words, MC x Juliette (Monarch & Bat too, I guess)

When I glance at the screen, it's to find an incoming call from one of my contacts- specifically, from Bat.

I'd be the first to admit I've been pretty forgetful lately- How could I not be? Thanks to all the hit and run attacks the Syndicate have been making lately, I’ve been basically working nonstop. I’m tired in a way that sleeping doesn’t even fix but, even so, I’m pretty sure I would remember saving one of the guys who are trying to kill me as a contact.

Did he like, hack into my phone and add this? Is that a thing you can do? I guess it's probably a thing he can do. His name is listed as "Bat- Just wanna talk", which is… well, it’s in character for him, if nothing else. He does like to talk.

After taking a quick, guilty glance around to make sure I'm mostly alone (I'm not strictly sure if I'd be allowed to accept calls from the people the company is actively at war with), I answer the phone, heart pounding in my ears.

"Hey, Monarch," says Bat, even now sounding as awkwardly, inappropriately casual as ever.

I scoff. It's an angry sound, and I realise that I am angry. How dare he know who I am? We had such a good thing going, the Syndicate and I. It was like a game- A high stakes game that sometimes resulted in broken bones but, you know. It felt like there was respect there.

"You might as well just use my real name," I say, and it comes out as a growl through my gritted teeth. "What's this about, dude? Just trying to scare me? Because congrats, yeah, it's working."

A sudden intake of breath. Then, "No- no, Monarch, uh... Lana. This isn't a threat- okay so, in retrospect? I can see how this-"

"Oh, it's not a threat?" I hiss. "That's funny, because I am feeling exceptionally threatened. I swear, Bat, if the Syndicate goes after my-"

"The Syndicate doesn't know who you are, Lana!" he says, cutting me off. "I do. Just me. I haven't told anyone else. I really do want to talk, just the two of us."

Well. Okay. That shuts me up. I take a moment- there's just a lot to unpack with that. Bat knows who I am, and is calling me "just to talk", and wants to keep the rest of the Syndicate out of it. I... can probably work with this.

Toning down the aggression a notch, I say, "So, what is this, then? Are you looking for a job, Bat? Should I put you through to HR? There’s a couple positions open, actually."

I regret making the joke instantly- that particular wound’s still pretty raw for me- but Bat does laugh. He says, "No, I'm good, thanks. And I'm no turncoat- the Syndicate knows I'm calling you, just not who you are."

"Wait, so you're saying that they know that you know- and they're okay with you keeping it a secret?" I ask, dubiously. "Even Murderpants McKnifeguy?"

Bat snorts. He says, "They're... well, they can't do much about it, really. I'm kinda irreplaceable? They love me for my big genius brain and stuff. But yes, Falcon is extremely pissed."

"Yeah, I bet."

"It helps that I'm kinda keeping away from them, also," he admits. "Full disclosure? Everyone's shouting at me today, it completely blows. But that's not why I'm calling you."

Even though every suspicious instinct Optimus drilled into me is telling me to hang up, to go tell Rene or someone about the intrusion, to run screaming to Juliette's apartment to make sure she's okay, I have the strangest urge to just give Bat a chance.

It's true that he's always seemed a little different to the rest of his team. He rarely makes an appearance in person, and only seems to fight under sufferance- he's treated almost like a consultant. Could he have different goals? Goals that don't involve spearing me with ice lances or burying me under tons of rock?

I say, "Okay, I'll bite. What's this about?"

"I'd like to meet with you in person," he says, after a long moment of hesitation. He quickly amends, "In costume, obviously. Both of us. We can make it look like an accident during one of your patrols."

Oh, that sounds safe. I ask, "What's wrong with talking over the phone? And also, why would I keep this a secret from Optimus?"

"I want to give you something, and I need to make sure you actually get it," he says, then he chuckles a little nervously. "And as for the secret thing… You don't have to, but I'll be meeting you alone. Ideally, Scarlet Brighid won't show up and break my spine. I'd like it if we could both trust each other, here."

Ironically, the grisly description helps me relax. He's not wrong- even if he's lying through his teeth, I'm the one with the army of megacorp superheroes as backup. But if he's telling the truth… No, I can’t risk letting Scarlet show up to do her thing. Enemy or not, I don't want the man dead.

And so, just under an hour later, I make a tiny alteration to my patrol path, with Rene's permission. I started a little late, so I'm in a little bit of a rush- the second I cut the connection with Bat, I called Juliette to make certain that she was completely fine and un-kidnapped, and I ended up soaking in the reassurance of her voice for a bit longer than I should have. I wanted so badly to just tell her why I was freaking out, but...

Well. Lying to her sucks, but lying to Rene is starting to come pretty naturally. The trick is tying the lie to something vague that they can't reasonably predict- for example, it's easy for me to just tell them that I'm 'checking out some unusual activity' as I pass the location that Bat specified, a construction site that's nice and quiet.

It's a tall building, probably fated to be some big office space once the walls are filled in and the scaffolding ends up wherever scaffolding goes after it's finished its job. I could use it to climb to our meeting point, on the building's roof- but flying is only getting easier with each day of training. It's getting to the point that I might just stop walking altogether.

It only takes a minute, and I'm touching down on- not actually on a roof, exactly, because there's pillars sticking up all over the floor that are clearly intended to eventually hold up a ceiling. I resolve to think of it as the ‘top floor’, rather than ‘the roof.’

Bat's already waiting for me, far away from the building’s edge- and he's not looking so good.

"Bat? You doing alright?" I ask, feeling unexpectedly concerned as I jog to his side. He's bent over double, panting audibly even through the mask. He holds up his hands as I approach, as though to fend me off.

"I'm... good..." he says, between desperate huffs of air. "Just... just got here, too... Underestimated... hah... how long it'd take to... to climb all those stairs…"

He looks up at me, still breathing heavily. His digital faceplate displays an emoticon I haven't seen him use before- a pained expression, with a semicolon sweatdrop running down its face.

It's only then that it really clicks with me that Bat's just.. some guy. An extremely smart 'just some guy', granted, one with an interesting power and access to a lot of very cool toys, but he's not like Scarlet, or even Marquis. He's not like the rest of the Syndicate. He's not like me. I could flatten him to paste right here, right now, without even breaking a sweat.

I swallow, hard. Somehow it hadn’t occurred to me before now that just having powers doesn’t by itself turn you into a superhero, or supervillain. When, then, had I made the change from ‘just some girl’ to ‘Monarch’?

Welp, that's a thought for the vault. I just say, flatly, "The Syndicate could really use a flier or two, huh?"

"Oh you have no idea," he says, finally straightening up. His faceplate displays anger, now, but his tone is joking as he says, "You have it so easy, you know that? You never have to touch a stair again."

"Eh, flying has its ups and downs," I say, and even stressed as I am, I can't help but giggle when Bat's faceplate goes completely blank in protest. I have to admit, he's always fun. I say, “And you seriously didn’t bring the whole gang with you?”

He looks around, demonstratively holding out his hands. “I’m the only one here, right? Paranoid much?”

The flippant response really bothers me, for some reason, and I feel that spike of anger again. I say, bitterly, “Well, I guess I have reason to be paranoid. Apparently, I’m awful at keeping secrets. For all I know, my real name is gonna be trending tomorrow.”

He swaps his digital emotion again, this time signifying laughter- but he doesn’t laugh, himself. God, I bet you could write a book on the nuances of Bat’s expressions. He says, “You? No way. You’re great at secrets."

Then, after a beat, he continues, "That is, uh- I peeped your social stuff, you know- Facebook, Twitter, Yelp reviews, etcetera. You look so normal it’s boring.”

“Then how-”

“It was, um. Kinda an accident, honestly,” he says, displaying a blush. “Don’t tell anyone, but I work at Optimus-”

“You work- what?” I interject, dumbfounded. “No, you don’t. At this point, I’m willing to bet cash that Optimus is tracking my periods- you’re not hiding nightly corporate sabotage from them.”

“Hey, does it bother you a little that your opinion of Optimus has gotten so low that you just automatically assume they’re committing unforgivable violations of privacy?”

“It bothers me plenty,” I admit, with a shrug. “It sucks, but that’s corporations for you.”

Bat shakes his head. “Wild. Anyway, I don’t get screened, for the same reason Scarlet Brighid doesn’t get screened. I’m above suspicion.”

That’s absolutely terrifying. I say, “If that’s true, then you’d have to be a board member, or something. Couldn’t you just talk to me directly?”

A big X flashes on the faceplate. Bat says, "Negative. If you think being high on the food chain means nobody will try to eat you, then you’re not suspicious enough. Case in point: I bet you didn’t even know about all the mics on your suit.”

I blink.

"My what?" I ask, genuinely mystified. "Bat, I don't have a-"

"You have thirteen microphones on you right now- I’ve been jamming them since before I called you." Bat cuts me off, and starts pointing at seemingly random parts of my costume. "There, there, there- that zipper there’s actually got a camera in it, not that Optimus would ever use the footage for transparency-"

I bat his hand away, irritated now. I've trusted him this far, but he could easily be just talking out of his ass. I just say, "I'm still on Optimus's side, Bat, even if they're invasive and weird. If you've called me here with the exact same 'Oh, Optimus is totally evil, trust us instead' pitch Wolf’s always trying on me, then I’m gonna get back to work."

"No, that's fine. I'm not asking you to trust my word," he says easily, before pulling something out of the pouch at his waist. It's a lanyard- the same style that important guests at Optimus tend to wear. Hanging from it is a keycard. He holds it out to me, and the card dangles there between us. "I'm asking you to trust this."

I take it, and rotate it in my hands. It's just plain white plastic- I have an identical card in one of my own pouches, since Optimus doesn't exactly go around writing things like 'SECRET SUB-LEVEL SIX ACCESS' on its keycards. I ask, dubiously, "And this tells me... what? Why do I want this?"

A cheeky smile lights across Bat's faceplate. He says, "You know how I'm sorta just, all up in Optimus's business? All the time?"

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, you're super cool. You've aged Paris Optima about twenty years with all the hacking, by the way, she hates you the most."

"Ah." The smile fades, replaced by a blank darkness. "Ouch. But um, anyway, I've read most of your chat logs with her-"

"Creepy."

"-and I know you've been cautioned, repeatedly, for asking about a particular room on Basement Level 10. It's down the end of a long hallway, no number on the door? Is that ringing any bells?"

At some point I started gripping that keycard very, very tight. I look down at it now, and feel my pulse quicken with equal parts excitement and dread. I say, "You're kidding, right? Not even Scarlet Brighid gets in there, she told me herself."

"Optimas only," Bat breathes it like a prayer. He's looking at the keycard very intently- or at least, I guess he is. His face is kinda angled towards it? "All-access- or at least, close enough. The right person could do a lot of damage with that keycard."

It was pretty obviously the wrong thing to say, and the way he straightens right back up tells me he realises that too. I pocket the card, then say, shaking my head, "You know what, you're probably right. If this belongs to an Optima, I need to take it to one. Like right now."

"Lana, wait, listen-"

"Where did you even get it?" I demand, taking a step back, wary of any sudden lunges. "No, don't answer that. Do you have any idea how much trouble I'd get in if I was caught using some bigwig's access card, Bat?"

He holds out his hands, placating. His faceplate stays blank, but I can hear something like panic in his voice as he says, "Yes, yes, I do- but I don't think you do, Lana, that's the problem-"

"It's not a big mystery, my guy! I'd get fired!"

"Fired?" Bat asks, with a laugh of disbelief. "They're not gonna- do you seriously think Optimus would fire you? The woman who can fight the entire Syndicate to a standstill on her own? You're irreplaceable, too."

Despite myself, I feel my face heat up at that description. I say, "That's... obviously a bit of an exaggeration."

"No, it isn't." In another context, those words might be an encouragement, or flattery- but Bat says them grimly, like he just thinks it's very unfortunate for me. "But that doesn't mean you're safe from them, it just means they have some other way to control you.”

I don't know what to say to that, so we just... stand there, staring warily at each other. I've heard enough to know I should just turn around and hop right back off the building, but... something in what Bat just said jolts out an old, forgotten memory. What was it that Marquis had said? Something about Optimus wrapping around you like a parasitic vine, controlling your every movement? I doubt she meant it literally, but…

Well, even if I've been acting the part in front of the Syndicate, I'm not just some corporate bootlicker. I said I trust 'Optimus', but that's not really true. I trust people in Optimus, the ones I know. I trust Rene, and I trust Scarlet. I trust Juliette, too, more than anything. If I rotate the thought around in my mind, I can even say that investigating the company isn't really betraying those people- really, I'd just be finding proof that the company deserves them. Right?

Or maybe I'm just looking for excuses to go somewhere I've been told I can't. I think that might be it.

Bat doesn't seem to mix well with silence. He buckles under the pressure, first by plastering a few new emotions on his faceplate (He settles on a tonally inappropriate smiley face- I guess this is how he forces a smile?), and then by saying, in a rush, "Look, if you're worried about getting caught, don't be. I'd be right there with you, and I can delete you from any logs you end up in."

I quirk an eyebrow. "You'll be with me?" I ask, doubtfully.

"I mean, uh. Digitally. You know. I'll be monitoring you, and inside the system," he says, and his mask becomes a blushy face. "And if what you find in that room doesn't convince you to listen, then... well, then we're done, I guess. But I wouldn't be here if I wasn't confident."

He closes the distance between us, and I let him. He holds out a gloved hand, and asks, "Whaddaya say? Frenemies?"

That's the last little nudge I need, and I won't pretend the fact that Bat's being a huge dork about this has nothing to do with it- I have a soft spot for dorks, as it happens. I clasp the proffered hand tight.

"Frenemies," I repeat, and we shake on that promise. A happy, pointless little thought occurs to me, and I say, “You know, if we’re ever not actively on opposite sides of a corporate war, there’s someone I’d really like to introduce you to.”

The handshake lingers, though not uncomfortably- this moment of truce is a soothing balm to the months of fighting each other, and I don’t think either of us want to be the one to end it. Plus, you know. I like Bat. We can hold hands a little if we want.

Finally, Bat’s faceplate changes- an angry face, again, though it doesn’t remotely match the cheer in his voice as he exclaims, “We’ve been frenemies for ten seconds and you’re already setting me up with someone? Is he at least cute!?”

“You have no idea,” I say, through a laugh. I let the hand drop, and fix the bright LEDs in Bat's mask with a stern glare. "But look, Bat, this isn't going to work twice. If this is just some kind of trick, I’ll…well, I won’t like you anymore.”

I meant it as a joke. There’s really nothing else I could do to him, revenge wise, or at least nothing I’d also be willing to do. And yet, Bat's response is completely sincere, his voice contrasting with the goofy, unchanged expression on his faceplate as he responds, “I know. I hope you can at least believe me when I say that I really, genuinely, do not want that.”

...Then he does change it, into a winky face, which kills the mood a little. I huff out a laugh and say, “Yeah, whatever, man. Listen, I have to go- they’re gonna wonder what I’m looking at.”

I take a few backward steps towards the edge of the roof (the building’s ‘top floor’, I correct myself internally), as Bat replies, “Yeah, it’s been a hot minute. When do you wanna do this?”

My foot lands on scaffolding, and I lean to take a peek over the edge of the building. It’s a long drop to the construction site below, maybe thirty floors. I say, “No time like the present, I guess. I’ve still got my patrol to finish- will you know when I’ve started?”

Bat shoots me a thumbs up. He says, “I can patch into your comm earpiece no problem, so we’ll be able to talk. Give me an hour, then just say 'hey'. We can go from there.”

I look at him a little dubiously. I have no idea where the dude lives, but just getting up here almost knocked him out. Could he even climb down and then get back to his secret bat-cave in time for that?

I gesture over my back with a thumb, and ask, “Do you, uh- do you want a lift down?”

He laughs, sounding just a little uncomfortable. Arms crossed, he says, “Um, no, I’m okay actually. Thanks.”

I insist, “You’re gonna have to climb all the way down. I can get you there in like ten seconds.”

“Or in like, one second…” he mutters, and he hesitantly joins me over at the edge. He takes a peek down at the street below, and shivers. “God, how do you do that?”

“It was scary at first,” I admit. I don’t mention that I still haven’t stopped having those nightmares where my power stops working mid flight and I plummet to the ground, because I’m not sure if that'd be much of a comfort. I step off the edge of the building, where I do not fall, but instead do a languorous midair twirl to face him (I can admit to showing off a little). I say, “Come on, you’ve seen me catch rocks big enough I think they technically count as continents. I can carry two people.”

Bat says, dryly, “Yeah, don't get Badger started on that. She says that fighting you just boils down to us finding fun new ways to give you ammunition.”

“What was it you said? You hope we can trust each other?” I ask, cutting through his nervous snark. I hold out my hand. "I’m not gonna make you, but- look, do you really think I’d just let you fall?”

"I know you wouldn't," he said, and he takes my hand, holding it tight.

#villainous nights #lovestruck voltage #lovestruck #lovestruck fanfiction

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helloalycia · 1 year

Text

watching TV [two] // kate bishop

summary: you’re beginning to get over your sudden breakup, but it’s left it’s mark on you. And as if that’s not already taking its toll, you’re starting to think of Kate in another light.

warning/s: none.

author's note: here’s part two! hope you like it :)

one / three / masterlist / wattpad

Two months later (after the breakup)

It’s hard at first, getting over Hannah. Even though she broke my heart, I still love her. For a while, even after everything. I can’t just fall out of love with her straight away, can I? But it gets easier, mostly because of Kate and also because of time. Time heals all, right? That's what the saying is?

I'd like to think that I'm better now, but the truth is that there's always going to a be a mark left by Hannah. I hate to admit it, but it's true. Sometimes, I get lost in my head, wondering what could have been with her. And when it's not that, I still let it eat up at me – everything she said, everything she made me feel – whenever a chance at moving on or falling in love comes up again. I could be working and some cute girl will flirt with me at the counter, but I can never pursue it. It doesn't feel right to.

I'm scared to put myself out there. I hate that that's how I am now, but it's something I can't control. What if I find someone again and it works out, we fall in love, and then they realise the truth about me? That I'm not enough? And then they leave? I don't think I can go through that again... so for now, I'm happily single. I'm not sure for how long, but it's better this way. Besides, I'm not alone. Kate always likes to remind me of that.

Part of moving on completely is sorting my life out, which includes trying to find a better job than as a barista. And to my luck, I land an interview at a well-established marketing agency which I may or may not really want, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up for.

As I go over my interview notes beforehand, my phone starts to ring and I realise it's a FaceTime call from Kate.

"Hey!" she shouts with a grin when I accept. "Look at you all fancy for your interview!"

I laugh at her enthusiasm, any nerves immediately dispersing when she speaks. "Thanks, nice to know I look the part."

"Of course you do," she assures. "You're gonna be amazing, Y/N. I just wanted to wish you a final good luck."

"What, like you haven't texted me a million times already?" I joke, making her wave her hand dismissively.

"Barely counts until I say it aloud," she defends, making my smile widen with amusement. "Now, remember. Start off strong with a handshake. A firm one so they know you mean business."

"I got it, Kate."

"And always make eye contact with who you're speaking to. No slouching. Raised chin."

"Uh-huh."

"And don't drink too much water or you'll need a pee and that doesn't look good mid-interview."

"Kate," I stop her, trying so hard not to laugh. "I know all of this."

She exhales softly, giving me an apologetic glance. "Right, I know you do. I just– I'm so proud of you for getting the interview. You're gonna be amazing."

"Thank you," I say appreciatively, my insides warming at her words. "I should go now. But thanks for calling. I feel a lot better."

She flashes me a smile. "Anytime. Talk later."

"See you, Kate."

When she hangs up, I let out a heavy breath, trying to push away any nerves or anxiety I have. Kate helped, I won't lie, always knowing the perfect thing to say. Now I just have to nail it.

The interview lasts an hour and I think it went well. I didn't struggle with any of the questions, the vibes were there and, I hate to admit it, but I can finally see myself leaving that damned coffee shop and actually putting my degree to some use!

With a skip in my step, I leave the building where I interviewed with a relieved smile, glad it's over, but that soon transforms to one of surprise when I spot Kate waiting outside. I have to do a double take, unsure if I've noticed correctly, but it's her. Why is she here?

"Y/N!" she calls when she sees me, a grin on her face. She moves forward and hugs me without warning. "Tell me everything. How did it go?!"

I return her hug, still surprised. "I– it went well. I think– okay, sorry, but what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to know how it went," she says with a cheeky smile. "It's important, isn't it?"

I exhale softly, unable to stop the smile spreading on my face. "Kate, that's so cute. But you could've just called."

"It's not the same," she says with a shrug, before linking arms with me and leading the way. "Now. How did it go? You gonna make me wait even longer?!"

I laugh at her impatience. "Right. The interview. Well, like I said, it went well..."

I tell her about how I thought it went, going into detail from when I first walked in the building up until I said my goodbyes. It’s a good feeling being able to tell her, because if she didn't come to see me now, I would've just rang her anyway. Plus, she’s super enthusiastic, wanting to know everything, and I appreciate the interest from someone other than my parents.

"You'll get it, I have no doubts," she says with certainty, after I finish telling her.

"Let's not jinx it," I joke, but also I don't want to get my hopes up just in case.

"Whatever," she mumbles with a playful eye roll.

"I just realised I have no idea where we're going," I say when I notice we've been walking for a while now.

With a chuckle, she says, "Well, I thought you could, maybe, spend the night at the Compound with me. And Tony could get one of his fancy chefs to make us a nice meal, we could hang out with Yelena who's over visiting Natasha. And then stay up on the roof, do some stargazing. If you want to."

I can't help but grin at her words, trying not to laugh. "Sounds like you've already got this planned out."

She's smiling nervously, avoiding looking my way, only making me smile harder because she looks so damn cute when she's not too busy being cocky and mischievous.

"That sounds good with me," I say when she's too embarrassed to speak. Nudging her in the arm slightly, I add, "I don't have work tomorrow, so we can even stay up late."

I've been to the Compound many times, having met the Avengers and finding it awkward to be around them because even though they are superheroes, they're still older strangers whom I have nothing in common with. Yelena Belova, Natasha Romanoff's sister, is someone who Kate is the closest with there (when she visits), so she's the only one who I'm less awkward around. And paying her a visit doesn’t seem so bad.

"Awesome. I'll get us a taxi," she says with a smile. "You can just borrow my stuff. Sound good?"

I nod in agreement, not minding since I've shared clothes with her before, and Tony Stark basically has everything else one can need.

"I don't think I'll ever not be amazed by this place," I admit, looking around at the Compound as we walk through the halls.

Kate laughs from beside me. "Honestly, same. Stark has some serious money. And free time."

"You're pretty rich, too, last time I checked," I tease, giving her a sideways glance.

She rolls her eyes playfully, saying nothing. I smile contently, following her to the lift and eventually the communal floor. It never fails to impress me that Tony Stark has a floor for everyone, including separate floors for communal areas and simply to work out and train. Like, imagine being that rich.

On the way, we bump into a few of the Avengers, whom all greet me kindly and, to my surprise, ask about how my interview went. At first I think it's just a few of them that know, but then I realise Kate has pretty much told everyone.

"I can't believe you told everybody about it," I complain petulantly, embarrassed after the fourth person has asked.

"I'm proud, what can I say?!" she exclaims with a grin, trying not to laugh.

I shoot her an unimpressed glance, to which she merely returns with the grin that seems to be permanently fixed on her face. She doesn't look away, eyes flickering between mine with amusement, and I nudge her in the side before looking away, all of a sudden nervous under her stare. It's the attention, I tell myself. That's all.

Eventually we make our way to the games room to hang out, only to find Yelena and Natasha there, chatting away on the couch. When they spot us, they both get up to greet us.

"Y/N! It's good to see you again," Yelena says with a friendly smile, moving forward to hug me. "Kate Bishop said you were visiting us today."

"Again with the full name, Yelena, c'mon," Kate says with a sigh, making me laugh because I know she hates when Yelena does that.

"Good to see you, too, Yelena," I say, returning her hug and smile.

It's strange to think I'm comfortable around her, considering she's a fully trained assassin just like her sister. But I haven't seen her in action, so it's hard to be intimidated by her when she's only ever been friendly to me. Same with her sister, though that one is particularly amusing because the first time I met the Black Widow, I fangirled way too hard. I'd like to think I'm cool around her now.

"Y/N, good to see you," Natasha says from beside her sister, offering me a smirk and nod.

I can't help but smile embarrassingly wide. "Y–you, too, Miss Natasha." I shake my head, correcting myself. "Miss widow. Black Widow. Ah– Romanoff. Miss–"

"Y/N," Kate cuts me off with a stifled smile. "Chill. It's just Natasha."

I sigh inwardly, cringing because clearly I'm not as calm around the hero as I thought. "Right. Sorry, Natasha."

Natasha's smile widens with amusement. "Cute."

Certain that my face is flushing, I look down at my shoes to distract myself.

"Hey, your interview was today, right?" Yelena asks, patting my arm to get my attention. "Oh, who am I kidding? Kate hasn't shut up about it all week."

Natasha laughs as they both look to Kate. I look up at her and she's scoffing, attempting to deflect terribly.

"I was not going on all week," she says defensively. "I mentioned it a few times."

"To everyone, it seems," I say with narrowed eyes.

"And not just about your interview," Yelena continues, looking at Kate with a grin. "Anything to do with you, Y/N, and you can bet Kate Bishop is–"

"Right!" Kate cuts her off, before looking to me with raised eyebrows. "You up for a round of air hockey?"

I quirk a brow, glancing at the blonde who is laughing to herself now. "Er, sure."

Kate exhales with relief, grabbing my hand and tugging me to the air hockey table in the corner of the room. As much as I know I have the ammo to bully her about whatever Yelena was talking about, I know she seems pretty embarrassed, so I let it slide. For now.

We play a few rounds of air hockey before moving to the arcade machines, even inviting Yelena and Natasha to join us. Never in a million years did I think I'd be playing a zombie shooting game with two assassins and my best friend, but there's a first time for everything. At one point, Natasha leaves for work-related stuff, so it's just the three of us and I find myself seriously enjoying the moment with them. It's even cuter seeing Yelena and Kate getting along. I knew Kate had friends at work, but I always worried for her safety, Avengers or no Avengers. It's reassuring to see how much Yelena cares for her and has her back.

"Piggy back time," I say, making a spinning motion with my hand at Kate.

She sighs dramatically before turning and lowering herself to give me room. I jump up and she catches me, holding me upright on her back by my legs. I smile to myself as I wrap my arms around her neck to balance.

"Is this a common thing between you two?" Yelena asks with a suppressed laugh, pointing a finger between the two of us.

"Sometimes," I say with a shrug. "She loves me."

"Yeah, yeah...," Kate mumbles beneath me, and I don't have to see her face to know she's smiling all the same.

After saying our goodbyes to Yelena, Kate speeds down the hallway with me on her back before we both collapse into the lift in fits of laughter.

"One day I'm gonna be too heavy for you to carry, you know that right?" I says between my laughter as the doors close and she hits the button to her floor on the panel.

"Not if I keep working out," she says with an overly confident smile, making me roll my eyes playfully and look the other way, face stupidly heating up.

When we arrive on her floor, she leads me to her bedroom which is bigger than my whole apartment quite frankly. It's not as Kate-ified as I expect, especially considering she's been living here for a while now, but I guess that's down to the fact that she still takes turns staying here, at her apartment and at her mum's place.

"These should fit you," she says, suddenly throwing some clothes into my face.

"Gee, thanks," I say with sarcasm, ripping the clothes from my face. Looking at them, I begin to hold them up to get a better look. "Is this Avengers merch?"

"What? No!"

A smile spreads across my face as I glance from the monogrammed joggers and tee shirt to her. "It literally has the Avengers logo on them. It's merch."

She gets unnecessarily worked up and raises her brows with disbelief. "What? How would that even work? It's official! The real stuff because I'm an Avenger!"

"Yeah, official merch," I tease, standing up from her bed.

She scoffs. "It's official."

I laugh at her pouty expression. "Whatever you say."

"Just get ready," she says before pointing to the ensuite bathroom. "We're gonna eat after."

"Aye aye, captain." I salute her playfully before going to the bathroom to get changed into something more comfortable.

Soon after we both get ready, Kate leads to me the kitchen where she wasn't kidding about Tony's fancy chefs making us dinner. And it's not just any dinner – it's all my favourites.

"If I ever had any doubts that you were my soulmate, Kate Bishop, they have all been squashed," I say with a smile so wide it hurts. "How did you remember all of my favourite foods?"

Kate shrugs bashfully, pocketing her hands and avoiding my eyes. I'm definitely not mistaken when I see her cheeks dusting pink and I begin to laugh at how cute she is when she's nervous. Immediately pulling her into a hug, I squeeze her tight, hoping she knows how grateful I am.

"Okay, time to eat," I say excitedly, grabbing her hand and tugging her to the table where everything is being finished laid out.

"I think I'm bloated."

Kate snickers opposite me. "Well, nobody told you to have the leftover garlic bread."

"It's garlic bread," I say, as if it's self-explanatory, which it is because garlic bread is beautiful. "And it was leftover for a reason, wasn't it?"

She rolls her eyes, shaking her head with amusement. Meanwhile, I lean back in my seat and sigh contently, definitely feeling stuffed but overwhelmingly happy. Good food does that, what can I say?

"Let me know if I have to carve you out of your pants first or if we can go straight up to the roof."

"Not funny."

She's biting her lips to suppress a grin. "Kind of is. I'm hilarious."

"Hilarious-looking maybe, sure."

She lifts a brow challengingly, blue eyes twinkling with mischief. I don't have it in me to bicker right now, since I'm currently trying to stretch my pants to make space for the extra garlic bread, so I flip her off and look away. She laughs, standing up breezily.

"Let's go walk off that extra garlic bread first, loser," she says, holding out her hand and wiggling her fingers.

Reluctantly, I reach for her hand, letting her pull me up and letting out a deep groan as she does. We both grab a jacket and pull on our shoes before taking a walk around the Compound to get some fresh air.

It's quiet as we do, peaceful since we're just outside the city so there's no usual background hum of New York. It's strange, since I'm used to hearing that always, but it's also calming. Especially since Kate is right here with me. Though, that does mean it's easier to get stuck in my own head more than usual.

"D'you think they'll call me back?" I ask randomly, unable to keep it in.

Kate glances at me as we walk. "Who? The interviewers?"

I hum, looking to her patiently.

She nods like it's the easiest, most obvious answer. "Of course. Not even in a biased way. I've seen you in a professional context. They'd be insane not to hire you."

I raise an eyebrow, trying not to laugh. "When have you ever seen me in a professional context?"

She cracks a smile. "Okay, maybe not entirely. But at work, when you're talking to customers and your colleagues and stuff, that's pretty professional."

I roll my eyes. "That's not the same, Kate."

"You're overthinking it," she says, nudging me with her shoulder to make me look at her again. Her expression is gentle as she adds, "If they don't call, you keep applying for more. You don't give up. The right job will fall into place."

I exhale softly. "Yeah, I guess you're right..."

Just before I can get lost in my own head again, Kate's hand slips into mine, pulling me out of it. She squeezes, thumb caressing the back of my hand comfortingly. I look up, but she lets go as swiftly as she grabbed it, not as fazed as I. Is her hand not full of tingles, too?

When I no longer feel like I'm going to burst out of my pants, Kate and I go back inside and get the lift to the roof, but not before she grabs two blankets and two pillows for us. When we reach the top, I find myself getting distracted by the view of the city in the distance and the stars all twinkling in the sky. I've been here before, yet I'm always impressed.

"You gonna keep straining your neck looking up like that or join me over here?" Kate's voice grabs my attention, and I spin around to see her sitting on the blanket she's laid out.

"Someone's impatient," I joke, jogging over to her.

I get comfortable, laying down next to her on the pillows and tugging the other blanket over the top of us to keep in some warmth.

"It's still quite cold up here, isn't it?" she asks after a moment of silence, and I laugh because that's exactly what I'm thinking.

"Just a little," I agree with amusement, before moving closer to her to feel some body heat. "But it's okay. Doesn't beat the view."

"I believe I'm over here," she says teasingly, and I tear my gaze from the sky and to her, only to see her wiggling her brows stupidly.

"Who's the loser now?" I mumble, trying to fight the smile from my lips as I look back up at the sky.

Just when I think I'm relaxed, Kate decides to speak up again.

"You know, when we do this, I always think of that scene from Shrek."

I squeeze my eyes shut, trying my very damn hardest not to give in and laugh at her randomness.

"The one with Donkey and Shrek looking at the stars and then Shrek always points out the different ogres," she continues, and I massage the point between my eyes as I contain the urge to laugh.

"Kate, I love you, but what the fuck?"

"That's what happens!" she defends, and I finally look to her to see her staring back at me like she's completely sane.

"Okay, yes, you're right," I decide, rolling my eyes and looking back up, not having the effort to figure out the rare specimen that's Kate Bishop.

Pulling up the blanket closer to my chest, I turn slightly so I'm leaning on Kate's shoulder, getting even more comfortable. God, it's so beautiful out tonight. A little cloudy, leaving a dark haze over the night sky, but still clear enough to make out the stars twinkling lightyears away. It's so easy to get lost in it all, forgetting about my day and any of my worries. Kate really knows how to make everything better.

"Stark has pretty good taste in Compounds," I say lightheartedly. "It's so nice out here. Away from the city."

"Never thought I'd hear you say that," Kate jokes. "You're a New Yorker through and through."

I chuckle quietly. "Yeah, but you can't get this in the city. It's a nice break sometimes."

She hums in agreement, and I feel her head rest against mine as she sighs contently. "It is... I prefer it here more than I do back home sometimes."

I suck on my lower lip when I think about her situation, how much she clashes with her mum and how it's only getting worse lately. She never talks about it and I never want to push her, but it still hurts knowing I can't do anything to make her feel better. Not completely.

"The only downside is that it's too far from you," she continues, and that's when I scoff quietly in response, making her snicker.

"Kate."

"Seriously," she says, and I don't hear an ounce of insincerity in her voice despite how playful she sounds. "Why do you think I keep going back to my apartment?" Before I can think to answer, she nudges me in the shoulder with hers. "It's close to yours."

I raise my eyebrows, surprised and also convinced that she's lying to make me feel special or something. But when I pull away to look at her properly, she's already staring at me with a soft smile and a piercing gaze. I don't mean to feel a thrum in my chest at the sight, but it's impossible not to. I've never really paid attention to how beautiful Kate could be. And not in the physical sense, but in everything she did. In every effort she makes with me. In every reassuring glance she's sent my way. In every plan she's ever made to make my day better.

Of course, her smile right now is beautiful, too, matching her bright blue eyes which are as bright as the blanket of stars above us, the ones she should be staring at but isn't because she's staring at me instead. A stare that is making me feel gooey inside and warm all of a sudden. Why am I suddenly attracted to Kate – my best friend Kate – right now?

Backing up inconspicuously, I focus my eyes on the sky once more, trying not to overthink whatever that just was. Because it was nothing. It's Kate. It's my Kate. Not somebody I've thought about in a different way. It's Kate.

"So, I've got a mission coming up soon," Kate says, as if nothing happened, which I have to keep telling myself nothing did. "I'm pretty excited."

I try to push away my confusion and enjoy the moment like it should be. "Oh, really? What is it?"

"Top secret," she jokes, and I blink when I realise what she said.

I kick her under the blanket gently, making her laugh.

"I don't actually know the specifics," she admits, and all she does is move a little closer to me, our arms rubbing against one another, but my body feels like it's on fire. "I'm meeting with the others at the end of the week to discuss."

"Be careful," I warn her, worried as I think about the potential danger she could get into. She's about to speak, but I instantly shoot her a glance. "And don't say you're always careful because you're not. Look at you now? Littered with cuts and scrapes."

Unfazed, she smirks sloppily. "Would I be me if I wasn't?"

I roll my eyes. "Still."

"Okay, mom, I'll be careful," she teases, but I don't let it faze me because I just want her to be okay.

"Good. You better, Kate."

She mumbles under her breath but I ignore it and resort to kicking her gently once more.

The rest of the evening is as good as our afternoon we've shared together, and I try very hard to keep my previous split second thought about her out of my mind. It doesn't return for the rest of the night and I certainly don't intend for it to ever.

Until it does.

"We can't not wear what she bought us, Kate, that's very disrespectful," I say nervously when Kate shoots me an unimpressed glance.

"What's disrespectful is forcing me to go to this boring event in the first place," Kate complains before groaning and laying down on her bed. "The only nice thing my mom has done is let me bring you as my plus one. And even then, she only said yes because then I can't back out."

"I believe her words were to keep you in line," I correct, and when Kate looks to me with a glare, I try not to laugh. "Look, it'll be fun. Think about it like this. Free food. You can hang out with me. Dessert. It'll be great!"

Letting out a groan, Kate covers her face with her hands dramatically. Personally, I don't think it's a big deal. Kate's mum wants her to attend some important work event, a formal one that Kate definitely needs to be on her best behaviour for, and she said I can come, too. It's not my sort of thing, but if it means I can hang out with Kate, I don't mind. The only thing is, she's already bought Kate and I outfits so we can fit in (her words, not mine), but Kate refuses to listen to her mother – no surprise there.

"I have to get to work," I say after realising the time. Standing up, I give Kate a knowing look. "Wear the damn dress, Kate. The last thing I need is to annoy your mother because you didn't listen to her and, somehow, to me."

"Yeah, yeah..."

Patting her on the leg, I smile her way even though she's still sulking in her hands. "Catch you later."

#kate bishop x reader #kate bishop imagine #kate bishop #hailee steinfeld #marvel #marvel imagine #hawkeye #hawkeye imagine #mcu

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cts-ryu-writing-desk · 8 months

Text

She's My Boss

I wrote this one a while back. I was so wrapped up in finishing Maternoween on a tight schedule that I have been neglecting to post this one. So now that the project is finished I am getting to posting some of my new ones. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~

"You coming out with Ethan?" A man's voice rang out of the receiver

A young man was sitting in a dark office room illuminated by his computer screen. "Sorry guys. My boss has been riding me about finishing these quarterly reports before Monday,"

"Dude she's working you to death, tell her to go fuck herself," Ethan's friend said over the receiver

"You know I can't, I need this job" Ethan replied

Ethan's friend let out a loud groan, "Ugh fine. But you're coming out with us tomorrow shitbag. No bailing," his friend hung up

Ethan let out a sigh hanging up his office phone. He remembered eight months ago when he had just shown up for his first day of work. A blonde woman named Debbie who worked in human resources met him in the lobby and brought him to the nineteenth floor. To a sales firm, the Office of Bryton & Donahue. Being handed it over to the receptionist who then handed him off to the team lead and led him on over to his work area. Mr. Bryton had come over to introduce himself. He happily welcomed Ethan to the company. Mr. Bryton was a nice bald man, around his early fifties. Ethan liked his friendly nature.

Until Ethan met Mr. Bryton’s partner, Trisha Donahue. She was a tall woman, towering over Ethan’s five-foot-two self. She was curvaceous, with an hourglass figure with such plump features. Big breasts that bounced subtly with each step of her stride, with her big hips swaying in a hypnotic curve. Trisha looked like a cougar, the kind of woman Ethan had masturbated to rather frequently. With a fiery temper to boot. Trisha knew what she wanted and expected her employees to follow through with it. After all, someone doesn’t become the leading business partner by being nice all the time. Bryton was the Charm and she was the Whip.

He came over to Ethan, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She shouted at him and Mr. Bryton. “Don't just stand around looking like an idiot! Get your ass to work! I don’t pay people to stand around and do fucking nothing!” She shouted louder storming over to him.

“Trisha he just started, I was giving him a proper welcome and making sure everything's set.” Mr. Bryton told her casually

“I don’t care! This isn’t an art gallery! Don’t just stand around!” Trisha turned back and stormed away.

Ethan got sight of her swaying hips. Her fat ass was quite the distraction. And such an exciting thing. Ethan quickly turned away and sat in his cubicle facing his computer. Mr. Bryton saw this and came over to him, “Look don’t worry about her. She can be a bit of a hardass sometimes but she means well.”

“Y-Yeah. It’s alright.” Ethan replied nervously

Mr. Bryton wished him luck and left. He left Ethan there alone with a few files and log-in notes. And a throbbing erection. Ethan tried to calm himself down. But it was quite a while before that throbbing hard-on finally went down. After it finally calmed down, took time to learn the ropes of his job. A few weeks later he felt he was doing so well on the job. But whenever Trisha was around, it was another story. Ethan just tried to stay quiet and keep up with the workload.

That was until he had to work a crazy overnight shift. He was working hard trying to compile everything into a comprehensive report. That he was asked to do so his supervisor can focus on another project. It was due by the next morning. Sadly to say no one had started it before handing it off to him. One of those tasks was handed off near the end of the day, followed by the deadlines. Ethan worked well into the night, the last time he was aware it was nine-thirty at night. The janitor had already left for the night. The office was quiet and dark. Illuminated only by his glowing computer screen. Ethan was hunched over, his head in his hands. A loading bar wasn’t even twenty-five percent by that point.

A string of texts from his friends showing off the party Ethan was missing out on. He closed out his texts. Let out an annoyed and frustrated sigh. He pulled out his phone, going straight to the internet. It opened up to a news page. Touching and entering a simple URL, he was sent to another webpage. With thumbnails of plump thick bodied women. Big curvaceous women; with large breasts and some with big cellulite hips. The banner and name on the website in big bold letters read BBWCougars.xxx. Ethan was logged into his account on the site. Pressing on his favorites tab. Scrolling down and picking one of the dozens of videos that he had favourited.

Figuring no one else was around, he simply let it play loudly echoing through the empty office. Undoing his pants and letting everything slide down to his ankles as he stored his long thin cock in his hand. It was enticing, his heart was racing, letting out little moans of enjoyment. He was getting closer, as the video reached its climaxing end. He didn’t hear the footsteps behind him.

It was Trisha, a look of disgust, she was ready to confront him. That’s when Ethan blew his load. He was pent up, and boy could he fire a load. He threw himself as far back in the chair as he could. Blowing his load over him and right onto Trisha’s chest and chin. She didn’t say a word. Ethan slowly opened his eyes, seeing his white seed sticking out over his boss's black top. A horrible chill washed over him. Trisha just looked at him, the scene of him trying to get up suddenly. She stormed off, he tried to apologize profusely but it was too late. She stormed away. “Fuck, I’m gonna get fired,” he murmured to himself.

The next morning, around when Ethan was supposed to go into the office he simply stood in the lobby debating on running away. Just avoid going in at all today. Eventually and slowly making his way up to the nineteenth floor. Ethan kept himself on high alert. From what he could notice, nobody was saying anything. Or nothing that would or did sound suspicious. His ID card gave him access to the office. Maybe he was fine, or maybe this was all part of her plan, humiliate him in front of the office. Trisha’s secretary came over, “She wants to speak with you in her office.”

“Now…?” Ethan asked nervously

“Yes. Now.” the secretary said

Ethan went right over. His heart was racing. This was it. This was the moment he was getting fired. Trisha sat there looking at her monitor. “Shut the door,” she said sternly

Ethan did as he was told.

“Sit down,” Trisha ordered him

Ethan’s body was shaking. This was the moment he was getting fired. She cleared her throat, her eyes fixed on him. “Do you know why I called you in here?”

“Y-yes ma’am,” Ethan replied nervously

“About your behavior last night, and that mess you made on me, I should fire you right now.”

Ethan clenched up.

“The real question is why shouldn’t I?” Trisha shot at him

Ethan looked down, trying to think of something to say. He stood up shaking nearly in tears. He was scared. He knew he would have to beg for his job. “You’re fired,” Ethan knew the words were coming any second now.

Trisha didn’t hesitate, “Pants off. Now,” she told him

Ethan was thrown for a loop at that moment. She got up and went right over to him. Forcing his pants down. He was perplexed. Ethan’s cock however, after feeling a woman’s touch, was not confused and easily stood firm and fully erect. Trisha wrapped her hand around it. It was warm. He whimpered a little. As she pumped his shaft up and down. It was like a dream. He wanted to say something. It was all happening so fast. “Hmmm. Not a two-pump chump at least” Trisha murmured to herself

She let go. Ethan’s heart was racing. “I won’t fire you, not yet anyways.”

“Huh?” Ethan let out

Trisha stood up in front of him, his cock left out in the open. "If you can make me orgasm before the end of the lunch today I won't fire you,"

Ethan's eyes shimmered in disbelief, and he started to drool. His cock was so hard and throbbing that it hurt. Trisha headed over to her chair

Legs spread as she leaned back. He went in without hesitation taking in every bit of the experience the feeling of her warm thighs, the smell of her pussy, and even the feeling of her untamed forest of pubes as he moved her panties to one side. Burying his face into her fupa, letting his tongue explore. He was going at it vigorously burying his face deeper, to explore further. She could feel his lips and tongue exploring, searching desperately for her clit. His search made her wet from his drool.

Her phone rang. She answered, figuring Ethan was nowhere close to making her so much as flinch. Fortunately, the distraction gave him the perfect opportunity to bury his face nose deep completely going to town. The analogy playing out in Ethan’s head was like a fat guy in a pie-eating contest. Face deep and her clit. Wrapping his arms around her big thighs bracing himself in place so she couldn’t force him off. Her body tensed up as he found her click licking it wildly with his tongue. Sucking on it, getting it onto his lips. She could even feel his teeth. She tried to keep her composure during the call. She put her hand on his head trying to force Ethan’s head away from her. Out of reach of her pussy. She tried to clench her legs, crushing his head between her thighs. Anything she could to get Ethan to stop for a moment.

Once she hung up the phone he came up for air. Her crotch was drenched. Ethan was panting rapidly for air. Eyes glossed over in a daze. She looked at him ready to scream out at him. Instead of screaming she had to stop him from going back in. “What the fuck is with this kid?” What she heard next told her exactly the kind of guy she was dealing with.

“Give me more Mommy,” Ethan just let it fly out of his mouth in a sexually charged intoxicated state

She let him go back in against her better judgment. And of course, Ethan managed to get her to climax not letting up as she orgasmed all over his face. Burying himself deeper wanting to taste every bit of her as she came. As the weeks went on she would drag Ethan away pretending to be furious about something he had done in the office. The two of them would fool around: Sucking, fucking, and fingering whenever the mood came over Trisha. She even started inviting him over or picking him up on the weekend wanting him more.

Ethan couldn’t get enough of her. He was falling in love with her body and her taste. While being prepared as a good man should. She would pull off his condoms. “You won’t need those, there’s no way you're putting anything in there anyways” Ethan remembers telling him once.

To be fair he couldn’t recall. He just remembers being more aggressive with his fucking. Her ass made ripples as he thrust into her. Slapping her ass with enough force to turn her cheeks red. He would fuck her regularly multiple times during the day like a jackhammer. Hardly ever slowing down. Insisting that he was going to knock her up. “I’ll fuck you so good you’ll just wanna get pregnant.”

She tried to ignore his obnoxious male stupidity. She just wanted more. More rough sex. Lots of hair pulling, spanking, and some deep creampies, among other rather inventive decadences. Getting drunk on sex, practically skipping out on days of work because the two of them were just fucking without any caution. There were times she found it hard to keep him away. Loving the stamina of the young horny. A man in the prime of his sexual life. And this was all just within a month of starting their rambunctious sexcapades. It was a wild time leading him to where he was now. He got up, left the dark room, and headed down the hall to the bedroom. “Ethan! Is that you?” Trisha called out

“Yes baby, Just had to make sure my last distraction, was taken care of,” He said walking into another room while undoing his tie.

Trisha sat there in a bright red silken lingerie nightgown. Her belly was swollen. Giving her a very gravid appearance. She traced her hand over her stomach. Ethan could see some of the stretch marks, from her various growth spurts. A sign showing how far she had progressed in her pregnancy. Ethan had a big smile on his face as he went over to her gently placing his hands on her baby bump. “We missed you,” Trisha said sheepishly

“I wasn’t gone that long.” Ethan chirped, “Plus I’m not missing out on some quality time with my girls.”

Trisha looked at him blushing, “I told you they’re not girls. They’re boys.”

Ethan chuckled, “Well maybe one. But I’m sure all three are gonna be girls,”

Trisha pouted, “God that would be a nightmare.”

Ethan sat next to her reaching close to her to plant a big kiss on her. “Don’t worry baby. If they are all girls I promise we’ll make more,”

Trisha blushed. “I-I-No. Yes. God Ethan baby please- No. I’m sure I’ll hit menopause soon”

“All the more reason to get you pregnant again as soon as possible,” Ethan said with lust in his voice

Trisha’s face went bright red. She ran through her memories of the countless unhindered sex the two had. Saying she was fine, close to menopausal - yet he still managed to impregnate her. She truly loved the attention he would give to her. He was well attuned to her physical needs and desires. And despite being shorter, and thinner than she was he loved her body, and the fact that she was pregnant now making her look larger drove him wild. Trisha snapped back trying to compose herself. “Well, if you insist”

She opened her eyes seeing Ethan on one knee, a ring box in hand. Ethan had a big smile. Trisha teared up. She was in a swirl of emotions as she covered her mouth in shock and excitement.

“So, what do you say baby? Would you make me the luckiest guy?” Ethan asked her

Trisha wiped away her tears. “You stupid kid,” she murmured, “I think you know our answer.”

He stood up, as she held out her hand. He slid the ring onto her ring finger and it fit Trtisha’s ring finger perfectly. The two went in for a passionate kiss. Ethan held her baby bump gently. Feeling their babies kicking and moving around in there. Breaking the romantic moment only slightly.

“As much as you like me like this I’ll be glad when they’re not kicking my bladder every day.”

Ethan went down and kissed her bump. Tracing his hand. Whispering “Listen ladies, I know you don’t know this yet. But mommy’s in charge. Most of the time.” Ethan planted a kiss on her stomach, “Isn’t that right Boss Mama?”

Trisha rolled her eyes, “Not right now” she said curling her index finger to him in a gesture to come close as she tried to scoot further onto the bed. Ethan came over undoing his clothes, going in for one more exploration of Trishas thick M.I.L.F. body.

#pregnant #pregnancy #pregnant story #female pregnancy

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