#ambiguous universe setting sort of since i just like having my cake and eating it too

[shierak-inavva]

card signs

pairing: peter parker x f!reader

warnings: some swearing? can’t think of anything else here

summary: reader has a slow day to herself, and receives some strange information--but you can’t take things at face value, can you?

notes: okay this is...kinda long LMAO i got caught up in reader!POV this time, and we get some insight into reader’s personal life. it’s a big struggle for me not to go big on details oh my god, but i’m trying to keep descriptions a little more ambiguous so yall can imagine what you like u wu;; i also didn’t go SUPER in-depth with her readings, so take that as you will. the tea and coffee i talk about, though, are both blends i use personally ; w; this is part 3 of this little series, here’s part 1 & part 2 !

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Morning found snow trying very hard to flurry up on her fire escape, and [Y/N] burrowing into her blankets a little more before accepting wakefulness. Fuzzy black slippers that had seen better days shuffled across the old thrifted rugs on her hardwood floors, black hem of her robe sweeping along behind her as she headed for the kitchen. Today was a research day; which meant rather than her usual 6 AM wakeup time, she’d gotten an extra two hours of sleep and could take some time to herself for the day—and that meant her coffee routine, first and foremost.

On her way out of her room, however, something made her stop, glancing at one of her old shelving units. Her eyes found the deck of cards resting there, and she took a breath, considering. It had been…not quite a week, but something was telling her to draw, and so, yawning and ruffling her hair a little, she shuffled over to the shelves and breathed deep, shutting her eyes. Just an impromptu read. She’d been lax about daily reads for months now, but it couldn’t hurt, and she knew better than to ignore intuition. A brief shuffle of her deck, and she exhaled long and slow, slipping a card out and opening her eyes again. The Moon. [Y/N] blinked, looking at it. Upright, plain as day. Or, night, she guessed. But The Moon? Her brow knit slightly as she studied the card. The Moon wasn’t a bad thing, just…maybe this was about her hangups with her relationship? Maybe it was her thinking this was romantic, but that was one-sided? Was she afraid of that? Or…her eyes focused on the pale moon in the illustration of the card. Or was there something she wasn’t seeing, something deeper going on that she wasn’t aware of yet? She chewed at her lip a little and slipped the card back in the deck, digging through one of her cases for one of her bigger columns of quartz, settling it on top of the deck and murmuring a thank you as she glanced over a few of her little devotional setups, mind still on the moon. Maybe she’d meditate on this later. For now, she pocketed a piece of smoky quartz and slipped out of the room.

The apartment was chilly; she clicked the heater up just a little for the day and booted up her laptop on her kitchen island, bringing up some morning news—something she’d only recently taken to checking, but she saw a photo of Spider-Man on one of the first article preview slides and smiled, recalling why she’d started checking in the first place. The kitchen warmed up as she made her coffee in her old moka pot and warmed up a lemon poppyseed muffin from yesterday. Today she’d decided to go through some older books and stay in, though…her eyes wandered to her phone, and she wondered if she’d hear from Peter. They’d been on a few dates the past three weeks, mostly just impromptu coffee dates when they had time, he’d gotten her to try his favorite pizza joint and they’d gone to a greek place she hadn’t been to in years, but these past few days had been so busy she hadn’t been over to Queens at all, and now on her chill day she wondered if maybe she should text him to ask about his schedule. They weren’t…officially dating. At least, not…they hadn’t talked about it. She wondered if that was a normal thing. Did you discuss your dating status? She really liked Peter, really liked his goofy smiles and his honest eyes and the way he always seemed like he was trying so hard to do things right. She’d been trying to drop hints that she wanted an actual relationship, but…maybe she should just outright tell him? Her nose wrinkled a little as she set a coffee mug on the countertop. Maybe she was thinking too hard about this. Still… [Y/N] poured some of the fresh coffee into her cup, and glanced at her vintage spice rack, with its glass canisters and the little bronze lids with old labels on them. Her fingers hovered over the little bottle of juniper syrup or the almond powder or even the cloves she usually went for, and she glanced at the bottles of ground cinnamon and then cardamom—and for a moment she reached for the latter, but stopped, shaking her head a little and taking a breath before tugging the cinnamon off the rack. “Just a pinch,” she mumbled to herself, tapping a bit of the rich brown powder into her coffee. A little sprinkling of brown sugar, and she sighed to herself before quickly popping a single clove into the little cup and stirring clockwise. Nothing too much. Maybe Peter would call her. This wasn’t her forte—attracting love?? Her grandmother was probably cackling to herself seeing this. A little grudgingly, she settled onto one of her barstools in front of her laptop, and huffed, tasting the coffee. Of course it tasted good.

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Mid-morning was misting some of her plants, setting up her study space on the rug of her living area. Some tea to give her focus,  a few of her books from last week still out around her, and some of her research notebooks were still out and open to where she’d left off. Her studying playlist was going as she tugged one of her older books over to her on the rug, settling in with it. This wasn’t…exactly ‘traditional’ science, but why not try her options? More often than not the physical and metaphysical aligned, and she knew she’d seen some illustrations that might prove helpful or at least relevant in this when her grandmother had had it.

But, a few hours later, and she still hadn’t found anything she’d set out to. She’d exchanged a few texts with someone from her chem class, had sent an email to the lab in case they needed her on call later, and had taken a handful of notes on moon cycles and travel patterns, and was now on her back on her rug, contemplating going out on her own anyways. Peter was probably working. Or sleeping. He always seemed like he needed more rest; she’d introduced him to melatonin and lavender, but she had a sneaking suspicion he wasn’t really doing anything with that knowledge. [Y/N] got up, after a few minutes. He hadn’t called, she had a day to do whatever she wanted, and she was going to go out and get some of those empty tea sachets because she was going to make a tea blend for Peter. Who was possibly her boyfriend. Tea for her maybe not boyfriend. She gave herself a withering look in the bathroom mirror as she finished up her eyeliner, but then a somewhat alarming thought hit her: she’d never been this invested in a relationship with someone before. What if this was…was like actually something? Love at first sight was bullshit, wasn’t it, but it had been a few weeks now, and… She slammed her makeup cabinet shut a little harder than she’d intended to, and ducked out of the bathroom without looking at her reflection again.

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She hoofed it to the shops, in spite of the cold. The flurries from that morning hadn’t stuck around, but it was overcast and cold. [Y/N] knew plenty of people along the way, people who waved or nodded. She’d grown up here with her grandmother, most of these people had known her since she was a kid. Ms. B, with her dog—the third pekinese she’d owned to date—Mr. Petrovik, arguing with one of the mailmen but taking a moment to wave at her. She headed down Bleecker towards MacDougal and gave a little bow of her head to Mr. Wong, who was stepping out of the townhouse, and he waved back as he trotted down the stoop. “Too cold to walk today!” he admonished cheerfully, and she rubbed at her nose a little. “I don’t mind it.” On the sidewalk waiting for him was Dr. S, who looked a bit more gray in the temples than she remembered. “You’ll mind being sick later,” he quipped, but it was mostly amiable. [Y/N]’s lips curled up slightly as she passed them. “I’ll come stop by for a consultation if I catch a cold, then.” “Not that kind of doctor!” He called after her, and she just snickered to herself, continuing on. “Then I’ll just die, I guess!”

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Mama Paola’s shop was situated between a pizza parlor and a tea shop, and was welcomingly warm inside. [Y/N] shivered a little as the bell on the door jingled on her way in, and a moment later, Mama P’s big gray cat came prowling around the corner of shelves to see who’d entered. [Y/N] stepped over him and gave him a scritch when he hopped up onto the shelf next to her, meowing almost chastisingly for her not immediately greeting him. “I see you, Pepito,” she murmured, scanning for what she needed, and the cat followed along until Mama P herself came sweeping in from the back, all colorful patterns and the deep smell of orange and spice. “My love! Oh, I knew you would come to see me today, mia cara!”

Mama Paola got her settled with everything she’d come in for (plus some whole chamomile flowers, which she insisted upon for this, and some fresh lavender that she tucked into her bag because ‘it’s better, it’s what you need, you take it from me!’ and really there was no arguing with Mama P) but before she could leave, the older woman stopped her.
 “Let me look at you,” she said slowly, looking [Y/N]’s face over, taking her chin in her hand and tilting her head this way and that. “Mm, I thought so.” [Y/N] raised an eyebrow. “What?” Mama P smiled, her crow’s feet etching into her aged face deeper. “You like this boy very much, hm? You’re taking breaks from working!” [Y/N] went a little pink, chewing her lips, but Mama P nodded, satisfied, and let go of her chin to pat her cheek affectionately. “Good. You never came to me for a boy before—“ for a moment, the older woman studied her pensively, and then: “Let me read for you, hm?” And before she could say anything, she was at the counter and Mama P had her own old, worn tarot deck out, shuffled, and had [Y/N]’s hand on the stack. [Y/N] took a breath, focusing. She hadn’t had anyone read for her in months—let alone Mama P. There was some apprehension in her now, some amount of wondering ‘what if something’s wrong?’ Her mind flashed back to The Moon from that morning, and she tried to still her nerves. Mama P laid the cards into a formation to read, and slowly turned them over, one by one. “The Ace of Cups,” she smiled, nodding, “This new love is a good start for you.” Her lips twisted some when she turned the next card. “The Hanged Man. This boy of yours is self-sacrificing.” Her eyes went to the paper bag in [Y/N]’s grasp, “But I think you noticed that already.” The next card made her brow knit, and [Y/N]’s along with it. “VII of Swords.” [Y/N]’s breath caught as Mama Paola spoke, “Something is being hidden, but I sense there is a great difficulty with it. There is weight to this,” she met the younger woman’s eyes and tapped a magenta-nailed finger on the center of her forehead, “But be mindful that things are not always as they seem. Sometimes we do not hide things out of malice, but out of love.” [Y/N] swallowed hard, nodding, eyes following Mama P’s fingers as she turned another card. “The Magician. You, mia cara—take heart from this one. You know the Magician; you take what you can grasp and you use it to create what you desire. The Magician knows that through their own will, anything can be accomplished.” She nodded sagely, turning the next card. “The II of Pentacles. Both of you share this resilience. You will be able to adapt to changes together.” But the final card made [Y/N]’s throat constrict a little. “The Tower,” she breathed out, and Mama P nodded. “Something is coming. There will be great changes—“ she reached across the glass countertop and rested an old, tanned hand on one of [Y/N]’s. “Change is good, my love. You know the Arcana, they have taught you, too: beginnings can only come from endings. Sometimes, we must raze the land for the new flowers to grow.”

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[Y/N] was so distracted on her way home she nearly got clipped by a bike courier twice; dropped her bag once, and then dropped her keys outside of her apartment building, almost in the storm drain. She realized, once she’d gotten inside again and gotten her layers off that she’d also missed a call from Peter, and a text too.

peter📷 : Hey! Busy day today, wanna get a bite later?

It was enough to make her smile, finally, and she settled onto her old sofa to tap out a reply.

me: sounds perfect. you pick the place?

peter📷 : Okay, but you owe me, I picked last time too.

me: put it on my tab.

peter📷 : How about a burger place? There’s a diner near me that’s open late.

[Y/N] nodded to herself, thinking. He didn’t know where she lived just yet; she could just get a taxi if it got late enough. At some point she’d have him over, she just felt a little bad telling him she’d been coming over from Manhattan every time they met up. It was about a half hour over to the coffeeshop they liked, which wasn’t horrible at least.

me: as long as it’s hot and bad for you then i’m in

peter📷 : You can’t say it like that, now I feel like it’s a horrible idea

me: if a burger isn’t greasy enough to k ill you then what’s the point

peter📷 : Okay, our next dinner has to be something healthy.

They decided to meet at 8; which gave her an hour or two to prep, and she used it to mix up a tea blend and get it poured into the little tea bags she’d bought earlier. Lavender, chamomile, a little valerian, a little almond, and a tiny bit of lemon balm. Not a fix-all, but it might at least help him relax; she used this same blend to help herself fall asleep from time to time. The little personalized tea bags were tucked into a silk sachet, and then into her bag, and she was on her way to dinner.

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Taking the metro got her almost to where they’d planned to meet up. It was colder at night; she’d added another dark layer to her clothes and bundled up in one of her massive knit scarves, tucking it over her mouth and nose as she headed down the sidewalk. She had maybe three blocks to walk; which really wasn’t bad, all things considering, and she’d be maybe a little early, even. She could give Peter this tea, they’d get to talk—maybe she’d bring up their relationship, finally; but was that a good idea? She was second guessing things after today, but at the same time, she needed to be more confident in her own intuition… She rounded the corner up ahead, and narrowly missed being clocked by a brick.

[Y/N] stumbled back in shock, the huge concrete block swiping past her and then back again, dragged through the air on a thread. Now she heard the screaming, which…it occurred to her, standing there on the sidewalk, that she should have heard this around the corner, but now she was in the thick of what looked like…maybe a bank robbery? What was this building? The entire side of it had been blown out, and now there was some guy in a massive metal suit yelling things and swinging his arms around at— “Hey! You need to get out of here!” People were running, and Spider-Man, perched on top of the armored man like he was on a mechanical bull, was yelling at her to leave. Yeah that—that was probably a good idea; the metal-suit guy was stumbling around trying to get the superhero off of his armor, and in doing so was flailing and knocking into parked cars and lamp posts, and then into another building. This was a lot more destruction than she’d pictured for a fight with Spider-Man, but then, she’d never actually run into any of this anyways. Some part of her was fascinated by it, watching the masked hero zip around on his webbing and beat the metal suit around. [Y/N] hurried to duck behind a car, and fumbled for her camera, rushing to try and get a shot or two of this, digging in her bag to grab it out. The cops had showed up by now, sirens blaring, and Spider-Man was still at it with the armor guy, but then he webbed the suit’s helmet and one of the arms to one of the legs, and the suit started to stumble backwards—right into the car she was behind. Metal crunched, and she’d tried to turn and run, but when she thought she’d be crushed, she was in the air, watching the metal suit flail a little pitifully on top of what had been a red sedan, looking like a turtle on it’s back. “Whoa.” “Hey—you coulda got yourself flattened, you know!” And holy shit, Spider-Man was holding onto her, swinging them away. [Y/N] blinked in shock, staring at his masked face, the eyes of his suit almost unnervingly big. “Wow. I could have died,” she blurted out, looking back down—they were suspended off of a gargoyle on one of the buildings now, maybe four stories up. He was startlingly strong for someone who looked as lithe as he did in the suit. “Yeah, you could have—are you okay??” He sounded more concerned than she expected, but she was focused on her bag now, hands feeling around inside and trying not to jostle her savior. “I’m fine—shlt!” “That doesn’t sound fi—“ “—I dropped it! Listen, I dropped something important—can you take me back there??” “What??” “I don’t even know where we are right now—I’m supposed to be meeting my boyfriend, and I had something for him and I dropped it—please! I need to get back there!” There was a pause as Spider-Man looked at her, and she wished she had some idea what he was doing behind the mask—nobody mentioned how weird it was to be talking to someone whose face you couldn’t see at all—and then they were moving again, and she wasn’t entirely sure she liked this ‘swinging’ thing. “This guy must be pretty special—“ Spider-Man sounded…pleased? And then settled her on the balcony of a hotel on the corner of where the whole fight had taken place. “Just stay put, okay? What are you looking for?” “It’s a blue bag! It’s kind of small…” but he was gone, and she tugged her coat around herself, watching him swing down near the flattened car and the armor, where the cops were trying to extract the guy out of his suit. A shot of web, and he’d grabbed the little bag up and pulled it to himself, then swung back to her. “This it?” “Yes!” She took it and made sure the tea bags were still all right—thankfully nothing had spilled—and tucked it safely into her bag. “Thank you—sorry about that, I—“ “Listen, next time just…you see the bad guys, you run the other way, okay? I’m sure your boyfriend would tell you the same thing.” “Yeah, probably.” her boyfriend. Peter was that, though, right? Maybe she’d ask. Maybe she should ask. Spider-Man offered an arm again. “Where are you heading?”

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“Peter, it was the craziest thing—like how do people around here deal with that all the time?!” They were sitting in a booth, and she was telling him about nearly dying over two big plates of fries. “Does that happen all the time?! Did you see any of it??” he’d been a few minutes late meeting her, but then she’d been late too. He’d been glad to see her, and hadn’t stopped smiling all night, even when she’d told him she almost had some kind of mecha-suit-guy crush her like a bug. “No, I guess I just missed it…” he shrugged some, “I’m just glad you’re okay.” “I mean, me too—“ she brandished a fry at him, shaking her head incredulously, “Who was that guy anyways?! I mean where do these people come from??” “No idea. Same place as Spider-Man, I guess.” “God, I heard about the destruction that happened with like…what, Green Goblin? Doc Ock? That had to have been even worse than this….” “Yeah, it was,” Peter nodded some, looking down, “It was really bad. A lot of people got hurt.” “It’s a good thing we have Spider-Man, honestly.” There was a pause. “You think so?” “I mean he grabbed me out of there at the last possible second. That counts for something.” She sighed, shaking her head and eating a few of her fries. “Oh!” She dug around in her bag, and pulled the blue bag out, smiling. “It’s…I mean they only got a little banged up. But this is for you,” she offered it to Peter, and he took it, smiling broadly as he opened it to look. “Whaaat…you didn’t need to—what is it?” “It’s tea,” she explained, fingers fiddling with each other in her lap now, “It’s supposed to—it should help you sleep.” “You…really?” “Yeah, I…I use it sometimes, and I thought…” He was inspecting one of the little bags, and his eyes widened. “Did you make this??” “Yeah, I mean it might taste a little weirder than you’re used to…” “I bet it tastes amazing!” he shut the bag again and beamed at her, and [Y/N] felt her face heat up some. “I’ll use it when I get home!” “Well…tell me if you like it,” she gave him a lopsided smile back, and he just grinned.

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On the sidewalk later, she waited on a cab, and he waited with her. “So…” She took a little breath, looking at him after a moment. He smiled broadly. “So.” He went a little pink now, rubbed at his nose a little. “So it’s been…it’s been a few weeks, and I…maybe I’m reading into things, but, y’know…I thought, maybe…maybe you’d be my girl?” [Y/N] just stared at him for a moment, and his face went red. “Or maybe I was misreading—“ “—I’ve been hoping you’d—you’d say something for like…weeks now,” she mumbled sheepishly, face red now too. “God I really must be bad at flirting…” “No!” He hurriedly put a hand on her arm, like he thought she might leave, “No, you’re—you’re great at it!” They both stood there for a moment, other pedestrians passing them in the freezing night air, and finally, when she was starting to think she could just stare at those sweet blue eyes forever, Peter took a little step closer. “Can I kiss you?” [Y/N] gasped out a little laugh, smiling and nodding. “I’d--I’d be more than a little disappointed if you didn’t.” It was freezing; his lips were cold and so were hers, the wind was chapping their cheeks, it smelled like smoke and exhaust around them, but it was perfect. [Y/N] moved forward a little, feeling the warmth from Peter’s body seep through her layers, and she felt him smile against her mouth, and she smiled back. When they looked at each other again, she laughed, reaching up and swiping a little smear of black lipstick off of his mouth with her thumb, and he laughed back before taking her wrist, and kissing her again. The cab came too soon, when it did, and she watched him out the window as they drove off, waving back when he waved from the sidewalk.

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The next morning, there was a blip of an article as she skimmed the news pages, and a blurry photo of Spider-Man: ‘Howling webhead disturbs city! Spider vigilante heard whooping through the streets late last night! Could this be an arachnid war cry?!’

#peter parker x reader #peter parker x you #peter parker #spiderman #spider-man #spider-man x reader #spiderman x reader #reader insert #tobey!peter x reader #tobey!peter parker x reader #OKAY 3rd TIME IS THE CHARM i hope anyhow #tumblr pls just show my posts #the moth & spider thing #reader lives in manhattan and is not used to these spider shenanigans that go on in queens #no i don't have a specific address for her but she has a Fun Neighbor #ambiguous universe setting sort of since i just like having my cake and eating it too #peter is a big dork but would we love him any other way? no #i am also very sick right now so i feel like there are errors all over the place in this