#avatar 2: yeah but like. he just spouted off about the place for a bit and then teased his boyfriend | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

awfully-sadistic · 5 years

Text

Of Heroics and Misdeeds

Today’s set of prompts are:

“I’m going to lose my last shred of sanity.”

“You can’t lose what you don’t have.”

Chapter Four

Dot was too preoccupied to put much attention on the pumping music resonating in her car as she drove the long stretch of highway that took her out of New York. Her mind was on a couple of other things at the moment:

1) She had specifically asked for a truck when she put in her order for a rent-a-car to head out on the road. Living in New York, it wasn’t just a misconception that a lot of people didn’t own cars to commute within the city; buses and subways had that handled and with the rise of Ober and PykUp, taxis were nearly a thing in the past with their much more affordable prices. Unfortunately, Dot was one of those people who didn’t own a vehicle and always told herself that she was going to get herself a big ass truck as soon as she moved. And besides, she didn’t really need to travel outside of the city that often... or at all, so the need for personal transportation wasn’t something she struggled with on a daily basis. She did all her work from home and there was a store walking distance from her penthouse if she needed anything she couldn’t get online. She really was a hermit. However, it was really fucking something that the sequel to her most popular romance novel she has been trying to write required her to travel outside of town for research purposes. She couldn’t argue. It was the life of an author and they often did things like visiting exotic places to get a feel of an area they would be writing about in their stories. She’s done it before. She wanted things to be authentic, professional, and properly researched. It would stake a lot on her reputation as a writer and her emphasis on detail saw her quickly rise to the top of the best-sellers list. Suffice to say, she wouldn’t be lazy about this. It’s one of the things she took incredibly serious. But! Today would have been a lot painless if she didn’t have to make her way a few states over in a goddamn car! At least it wasn’t a van, she supposed.

The second thought was perhaps a lot more personal and would send butterflies fluttering about in her stomach when she touched down on it.

2) Peter B. Parker.

That’s about it for that list but there are plenty of complicated and questioning little thoughts that came along with that name. The first being: Is he Spider-Man?

She didn’t quite believe in coincidences so one of the biggest things that convinced her was the night after Peter and Wade left her penthouse, Spider-Man visited her the next day after having that conversation with Peter about Spider-Man. She hasn’t seen him the entire week, what were the chances he would have shown up the next day after a visit from Peter? Not a coincidence. And like Peter Parker suggested, she heard him out. She would have done it anyway but he didn’t need to know that.

She remembered him explaining his side, his thought process of leaving her alone like he did, and his regrets. He really beat himself up over what had happened that Dot felt bad and spent the entire night trying to reassure him that she wasn’t mad at him. She was truthful and told him that she wanted to be, but honestly, what was there to be mad about? Her feelings got hurt but that wasn’t a reason to cut off ties with him; hurt did not equal anger.

It was enough that he explained himself and promised never to do anything like that again. That taking her feelings into consideration is the only thing she could ever ask from Spider-Man.

“Not even to save you if you needed it?” he asked, jokingly. The joking was a good sign because he had been too nervous to crack even the tiniest pun and chance ruining what he had with Dot. So, he was serious until he was certain that Dot wouldn’t throw him out and never have anything to do with him again. Comfortable would be another good way of seeing it.

“I think you’d save me anyway.”

Spider-Man was quiet for a heartbeat or two and Dot could see by the raised bottom of his mask that his exposed smile was soft. It was genuine. She couldn’t read his mind and could only wonder what she had said that made him smile like that.

“You’re absolutely right. And not because it was expected of me.”

“Because it is about doing what’s right, right?” Dot grinned, tilting her head.

“No, it’s because I lo--” Spider-Man’s hands came up and he cut himself off in a panic, “YEAH! WHAT? I MEAN, YEAH! BUT ALSO BECAUSE YOU’RE MY VERY GOOD FRIEND!”

Dot blinked. Then blinked again. Her eyes were wide and Spider-Man was still rambling off about doing the right thing and friendship and other things while he very nervously started to make his way over the balcony; he was still spouting nonsense that went in one ear and out the other because she had been too focused on his words before that.

Lo--?

He what? Lo? Love? And she couldn’t get the chance to ask because he had ran off into the night.

“Luh?” Dot asked out loud in her car, smacking her hands off the steering wheel. “Damn it! What is it?! Do you love me!?”

She was going to have to wait for her reply when she got back to the city. That was what had bothered her the most. Next time... next time she wasn’t going to let Spider-Man off that easily. She was going to corner him and pounce on him like the frightened little rabbit he exhibited on her balcony that night. Then she was going to make him admit it.

Make him admit everything.

“You’re slow today, Spider-Man!”

Despite what the teasing outcry stated and the maniacal laughter that came afterwards, Peter Parker would argue that he was definitely not slow today.

WHAM!

Peter Parker definitely got hit with a car just now. So, maybe there was some truth to that after all. A blur of red and the offending automobile flew into the nearest building that could break his fall and the body disappeared into a swirling cloud of dust and metal at impact. The force was enough to knock loose some concrete that crumbled and sprinkled over him like rain droplets that weighed ten pounds each. They hit the ground with heavy thuds and for a split second, there was only the quiet stillness of the pebbles rolling off the newly formed mound of debris falling onto the ground. Then, a slow-cracking shift as Spider-Man started to move underneath the heavy weight.

“I’m just surprised that someone like you could move around in a big, clunky thing like that,” Spider-Man quipped as he slowly got out from under the rubble and oh yeah, the car from earlier. “How was it being in Avatar, anyway?” He asked, a gloved hand coming up to gesture at his adversary. Spider-Man wasn’t kidding. The villain he was fighting today showed up in a true-to-god Mecha suit that looked like the one from the ending of Avatar and while his nerd side would be geeking out about his own reference, the responsible part of him knew that he had to stop this madman before anyone got seriously hurt.

Like him, for instance.

Normally two-bit villains like this guy would be done in a snap but Peter Parker had trouble concentrating today. Dot was on his mind a lot and why wouldn’t she be? She was funny. Smart. Attractive. Amazing. And Peter couldn’t just get her out of his mind. Even during a crucial moment of fighting bad guys on the streets of his city, New York.

His Spider-Sense knocked him out of the short reprieve he had slipped into, thinking about Dot; that tingling sensation was ever familiar as he finally noted the piece of huge cinder block hurling towards him at the speed faster than a human can throw.

Luckily, he dodged this one just in time. He watched as it flew over his head and glanced over his shoulder; the heavy object bounced a few times along the street and sidewalks before it stopped. He barely had the time to turn his head back around to make a comment about aim before he was met with a mega powered punch from a mechanical arm. Hydraulics hissed in its resting extended position and Spider-Man flew for the fourth time that day. He was running out of buildings to crash into!

“Lucky for you, your heartmate, Deadpool is to the rescue!”

Spider-Man was caught short of rolling into another building, colliding with a hard force instead but the punch had been packed with a lot of power and even Deadpool wasn’t too much of a stopping force -- the both of them went flying back, skidding along the street and landed as a mangled heap of red limbs on the ground.

Peter moaned from under his mask barely making the effort to lift his head. It actually felt good to rest on Wade for a minute while he caught his second wind. “...I thought you were rescuing me.”

“If I did that first, we wouldn’t be in this amazingly compromising position.”

Peter groaned, taking care to roll off Wade to get back up on his feet. He offered Wade a hand, helping the red-suited hero to his as well. “Are you here to help or to flirt with me?”

“A little bit of both, I can multi-task.” Wade grinned as soon as he was back up, the gesture was seen easily from under his mask.

“No, you really can’t.” Peter pointed out but before Wade could retort, he had changed the subject by pointing at where their focus should be. “Let’s peel this Mecha-Man out of his tin can.”

“Ah, Webs. I’ve missed this.” Wade shouted after Peter as he went thwipping back into the fight.

“Nothing has changed since the last time we saw each other, Wade.” Peter shouted over his shoulder.

As soon as Spider-Man returned to the scene, he shot a long string of webbing at the Mecha’s feet, twining the legs together as he swung past the huge mechanical figure in an arc. He was successful on tripping the mechanical suit when it took a step forward, that it landed on its “face” with a heavy thud. Dust swirled upwards and all around, the arms of the mechanical suit flailing wildly as it tried to right itself.

“You look like a turtle,” Spider-Man snickered from his perch, watching the scene unfold. “Except I’d be more than happy to help one of those.”

“Curse you, Spider-Man!” the man shouted from inside.

“Really? You couldn’t go with something a little more recent? You’re in a Mecha suit for crying out loud. You can’t get more futuristic than that!”

Movement out of the corner of Peter’s eye saw that Wade had launched himself towards the Mecha, landing on its back.

“There’s only one way to get to the Tootsie roll center!” Deadpool shouted, raising both katanas that had been strapped to his back. “One, a-two, and a-THREE!”

At three, Wade struck his katanas down into the Mecha’s “protected” battery station, short circuiting the entire frame. It wasn’t anything well placed katanas couldn’t hit. It frazzled and crackled, and sparks of lightning arced up and outwards. Wade made a startled noise from under his mask and fell over, landing on his side on the ground. The man from inside the suit was yelling obscenities and scrambling out from under the now broken Mecha suit, that he didn’t realize Spider-Man had been waiting for him.

“See, not so cool without the suit.” Spider-Man quipped. His arm flew out which sent webbing flying outwards and incapacitating the man to the spot.

“Good job, Webs.” Wade shouted somewhat faintly from the ground. Peter looked over and saw that he was giving him two thumbs up. He shook his head with a good-natured smile and slung webbing around Wade’s wrist yanking the other man up to his feet.

It took no time at all for the police to apprehend this mad man and Spider-Man was once more swinging high above the heads of New York City. However, Deadpool was an eager companion now, clinging to his back.

“We really got to get me some of those slinger-things.”

“We really don’t.”

“Then how am I going to keep up with you?” Wade asked. Peter didn’t reply but attached himself to the side of the nearest building and started to climb up. Wade was still wrapped around his neck and waist with no intention of letting go. Carrying Wade around the city like this was basically a normal occurrence by now if they were hanging out together.

Which was often.

Now, seated high above the city, both Peter and Wade sat side by side. Their feet hung over the edge and looking out below, they could see that traffic seemed to be at a stand still (as it ever was) and the night was coming to life. Peter loved his city even with all the crime stopping he did on a daily basis. But he seemed to find it pretty empty, lacking something, with the knowledge that someone wouldn’t be occupying it for the next few nights.

“Are you thinking about Dot?” Wade asked. He had a hot dog in his hand after he had insisted they stopped for something to eat. It was one of Wade’s favorite past times, at least. Hanging out with Spidey in high up places, eating and talking about anything and everything. He didn’t have that with anyone else. At least, not until...

“Dot?” Peter asked in a nervous tone. He almost fumbled his hot dog out of his normally sticky hands. But his reaction was enough to pause Wade from shoving his entire hot dog into his mouth and pull his mask up his face to give Peter a look.

“Yeah, Dot. Who else?” he teased with a knowing grin.

Most would agree that Wade Wilson wasn’t much of a looker but he was an expressive motherfucker. Yet, Peter knew Wade Wilson didn’t take his mask off for just anyone. It was a huge sign of trust considering Wade’s low self-esteem overall; there was a part of him that thought of that every time Wade showed Peter his face. Peter reached over, lifting Wade’s hot dog to prompt him to start eating again. Anything to make Wade stop from giving him that silly expression.

“It’s pretty much obvious you have a huuuuuuuuge crush on her.” Wade munched through his mouthful of hot dog.

“I don’t think I can call it a crush anymore,” Peter laughed, somewhat sardonically. His tone matched the mocking nature of his laugh yet the only person he was making fun of was himself. “I don’t know what to do. She’s on my mind every day. This isn’t like an M.J. thing; a crush in high school that I grew out of as soon as my world broadened. And I’ve been Spider-Man for a very long time. My world got pretty big early on.”

“It’s easy, you gotta tell her how ya feel.”

Peter’s head turned and gave Wade a look through his mask that told him he was saying things that were crazier than usual.

“I don’t see you telling her how you feel.”

Wade started to choke on the hot dog, pounding his fist into his chest. “Damn, Webs! You really don’t pull any punches.” he coughed as little bits of hot dog came flying out.

“Wade.”

“What?” he snapped back, slowly pulling his mask over his face again. He could recognize a serious toned conversation when it smacked him in the face like well-placed punch to the gut. “I’m not going to do something stupid like that.”

Peter’s gaze searched Wade’s masked features. It was obvious Wade closed himself up again and Peter had the fleeting thought to ask out loud, “You... never showed her how you really look under there...”

There was no delicate way to put this but Wade had never really been a delicate man. And even Spider-Man can say some pretty stupid and blunt things. Peter thought Wade perhaps assumed it would be easy for him to tell Dot how he felt because he didn’t have to face her with Wade’s appearance. He wasn’t an idiot, he just said dumb things sometimes.

Wade pretended he hadn’t heard Peter, but it was obvious he had. He was taking angry bites out of his hot dog.

“....” Peter remained silent and turned to his own hot dog, sitting uneaten in his hand. He knew he should say something to Wade, reassure him on some level, but he didn’t know what to say. But then he remembered something Dot said from their “make up” talk that stuck out to him.

You don’t have to think up of some magical way to fix things with a single word or phrase when there’s been a misunderstanding. That’s impossible. I think as long as you apologize, that is the first step you can take at mending something that has been frayed. Talking things through can always help, not make things worse.

Talking things out, huh?

“Sorry, Wade. That was pretty out of line.” he started and although he felt a little out of his element, he was glad he was able to say something. “It’s not... my place.”

Wade’s hand stopped from picking up the third hot dog besides him. Did it surprise him that Peter apologized? The apology part, not really. Peter was a good guy. But it surprised him that they were still talking; he’d usually drop a subject if it got uncomfortable. Peter didn’t, hadn’t let the conversation end there, and took his feelings in consideration. Feelings Wade was content to push aside and stifle, perhaps suffocate on them later when he needed a reason to hate himself and then act like everything was okay the next minute.

“Well... you weren’t wrong,” Wade muttered, watching his index finger run up and down the length of his hot dog. It seemed like an idle gesture and an afterthought that he was also smearing the ketchup, mustard, and relish all over the place. But his thoughts were preoccupied with Peter now. “I haven’t and I don’t think I will. She’s... too good for me.”

“That’s not...” Peter paused. True? Sure, Wade was difficult. Hard to handle. But how could he reassure Wade of anything when he felt Dot was even too good for him?

Wade scoffed.

“No, it’s not that,” Peter brought up, knowing he left his sentence hanging after an awkward reassurance. “I feel the same way.”

Wade’s head snapped up, eyes questioning and expressing disbelief. “What the fuck are you talking about, Webs?!”

“I think Dot’s too good for me, too.” he put bluntly. “I mean, between the two of us, she’d... be in a hard position.” The innuendo was on Wade’s face and Peter shut it down before he said anything. “Not in that way. Geez. You have Ellie, you know how tough it is for a loved one.”

“Oh. That.”

“Yeah... that. You don’t seem too bothered.”

“I’m just thinking about introducing Ellie to her new mommy.”

Peter’s eyes narrowed. “Weren’t you just telling me how you felt she was too good for you?”

“And weren’t you about to reassure me that that wasn’t true?”

“Eat your hot dog, Wade.” Peter shook his head with a grin while Wade chuckled. The two slipped into comfortable silence, each thinking about their own hang-ups with Dot. The two sharing insecurities in a way that could only compliment each other. And neither could finish their hot dogs.

“Out of anyone on this sometimes miserable rock,” Wade quietly spoke up after a while, “you shouldn’t be worried about Dot being too good for you. I don’t think that’s possible.” He was poking his fingers together, watching his hands do the gesture. He refused to lift his head while he continued speaking as if what he was trying to say was a hard thing to admit. “You two are a pretty damn good match; you’re good looking and she’s good looking. You guys are going to make some ridiculously good looking children.”

“Wade...”

“No, I mean it.”

It wasn’t about “meaning it” -- Peter knew that Wade’s compliments towards him were always genuine. He never really understood why Wade could look up to someone like him given the type of person Wade was -- Peter wasn’t just flattered. That seemed too weak of a word, too impersonal, for as long as he’s known Wade. Peter reached over and lifted the corner of Wade’s mask. Wade reacted negatively almost immediately, slapping Peter’s hand away on reflex. But his shoulders relaxed as did his demeanor as Peter reached for his mask again, lifting it, and pulling it away from his face.

Wade’s mouth was covered in ketchup and mustard smeared on his face thanks to his hastily retreat in his mask. Peter grabbed a napkin from his other side and proceeded to clean Wade’s face.

“You and Dot would make a good couple, too.” Peter grinned somewhat through his teeth. “As much as it pains me to admit it because... I’m really jealous thinking about the two of you together. She’ll be good for you.”

Wade remained silent, almost statuesque, because he didn’t want to ruin the moment by opening his big, loud mouth to say something wholly inappropriate -- which he was really tempted to do with Peter so close to his mouth. But the talk of being together with Dot was enough for him to push that inappropriateness at the far recesses of his crazed mind to think of a future with the woman they both felt strongly about.

“She’ll be really good,” Peter continued, his features taking on a kind expression now. “because she understands how we feel. She’s incredibly sympathetic to understand what we’re dealing with on a daily basis and you don’t get that from a lot of people. All the under appreciation and blame that gets put on us for what?”

“Saving people?” Wade asked, looking up at Peter like a little boy would. He got too carried away by the sensation of Peter taking care of him, he caught himself leaning in as Peter spoke. Just as Peter had gotten carried away with the thought of his past conversations of venting and unloading on Dot’s sympathetic ear.

Peter seemed to blink back into the present, his head moving down to see that Wade was in his personal space, close to leaning against his chest like some kind of harlequin romance cover.

He pulled Wade’s mask back over his face and gave his cheek a pat; it was his way of regaining some of his space back without being too dismissive and snapping whatever daydream Wade was running in his head through the poker like sticking a finger through a blown pink wad of bubblegum. “Yeah. Saving people.”

“You never seemed to have a problem with that before,” Wade pointed out, straightening back into his seat. “you’re all about the little guy.”

“You’re right. I’m not bothered -- wasn’t bothered by things like that. And caring about the little guy, that hasn’t changed. But what has changed was to recognize that the problem of shifting the blame was still there. To realize that sometimes, everything sucks and it’s okay to be hurt over how I seemingly get blamed for everything bad that happens in my city. But it’s not Spider-Man’s -- no, it’s not my fault.”

Wade’s mouth was wide open under his mask and his finger came up to point at him like an afterthought. “Dot totally said that. She’s making you do some inner reflecting, huh?”

“Which is why I said she’d be good for you, too.” Peter laughed quietly, looking down at his own hands now locked together on his lap. He absently twiddled his thumbs as he continued. “Before I met Dot, I never thought about what other people called me or how they perceived me, didn’t put stock into it. I never thought about how it might have bothered me if I let it but sometimes people blame you for some pretty horrific things they can’t take responsibility for and it can weigh on your conscience sometimes without you realizing it. Even logically knowing better, even knowing you had nothing to do with how events turned out, you can’t help but feel responsible when things go bad. I felt... tired of carrying other people’s burdens, it was getting to me. But... Dot was the first person to tell me that it was okay, that I wasn’t meant to, and while that sounds like a pretty obvious thing, I can’t tell you how much of a relief that was to hear it from someone else, you know?”

Wade nodded quietly as Peter turned to face him.

“She taught me that it was alright to give myself a break even if it was hard to do at first. I still struggle with it. I still find ways to blame myself for things I had no control over. But it helps, at the end of the day, to climb up to Dot’s balcony and just talk to her about it. She really puts things into perspective for you.”

“She’s warm.” Wade supplied and Peter caught himself chuckling and nodding in agreement.

“Exactly. Like a mom or something.”

Wade exhaled through his mask, “The things I’d do to Mother.” He paused as he caught Peter’s expression, “What? We’ve both established we have a thing for her. I’m not allowed to talk about it?”

“N-No, that’s not it but--” Peter’s lips pursed together. There was an ugly emotion that reared its ugly head whenever he heard another man talk about Dot the way he could only think about. And there was the conflict that both he and Wade were in the same position -- in love with the same woman. This was a messy situation but things with Deadpool were rarely ever clean. But he didn’t harbor any ill will towards Wade. There was obvious affection Peter held for the mouthy Merc but affection he was still too hesitant on exploring. Then Dot entered his life and his emotions were too stormy to weather. The entire thing was complicated.

Wade placed an arm around Peter, leaning his head against his. “Don’t worry, you’re still my boo. I’m sure the three of us will live happily ever after.”

“The three of us?” Or perhaps he was the one complicating it. It seems Wade had his own little fantasy playing out before him.

“Of course, how else did you think this was going to work out?” he asked, booping Peter on the nose. “I’m not letting you have her by yourself and I’m definitely not breaking up with you, either.”

Peter floundered because he had no ding-dang idea what the alternative was and he chose to ignore Wade’s delusion that they were ever an item. There was never a label, but to say nothing was there wasn’t entirely truthful either. Between Wade’s innuendos, constant touching and flirting, and all the times they were tied up against each other, there had been a couple of curious heart to hearts, curious what-ifs, and compromising situations he couldn’t chalk up to meaning nothing. Peter was open to Wade, the attraction was there...

...but he hadn’t considered a relationship with Dot and Wade at the same time. “I mean... it’s not unheard of...” he murmured as his hand came up to pinch his chin. His eyes were squinted in thought.

“That’s the spirit!” Wade boasted happily.

Honestly, he was surprised Peter was even open to the idea as he always seemed resistant about crossing the line in their strange, little relationship. Yeah, that line. His eyes were crescent shaped in happiness and a smile was bold and broad on his face as he stared on as Peter mulled this over.

“This just seems... like a bad idea...”

“No, it doesn’t. Don’t tell yourself that. We haven’t even tried.”

“No, we haven’t but that’s probably a good thing. Dot shouldn’t be exposed to this...”

Wade held up their linked hands, “We’re practically married, Pete. And I spent an entire week with Dot, alone. She’s already been exposed to a lot.”

Peter’s expressionless mask turned to face Wade who was still smiling, still holding his hand. There had been a long conversation about what that entire week had consisted of and Wade was not shy on leaving out any of the details; he especially laid it on thick after Peter learned about the kiss. He would have ignored him for days after that if Wade hadn’t given him a pretty heated kiss, too. Wade would have reasoned he was passing the kiss from Dot onto Peter but that was only a half-truth. Wade wanted to kiss Peter, too. And Peter was tormented with the thought that he could have sworn he tasted Dot on Wade’s mouth. It was partly what had spurred him on to returning the kiss; the other part, Peter didn’t want to touch down on quite yet.

He turned his gaze away and figured sorting his feelings out for Wade was for another time.

“Okay, let’s say... hypothetically, I’m considering this...”

There was a saying among the superheroes that if you gave Wade Wilson an inch, he would take a mile.

“It’s just a consideration, Wade! Nothing is set in stone!”

“I’m going to tell Dot the good news right away!”

“You definitely can’t do that, she’s going to think we’re crazy!” Peter tried to reason, tried to actually put his heart into stopping Wade. But honestly, the prospect of entering into a relationship with Dot was stopping him from seeing reason -- even if he had to claim Wade along with that. Though, to be honest, claiming Wade wasn’t bad because he thought it would feel the same as things were, anyway. “Besides, she’s not even in town--”

“Yeah, that’s why we’re going after her.”

“What?”

“It’s romantic! And it’ll increase the chances of her saying yes to being our hot lady in the middle of our love sandwich.”

“Love... sandwich...?” Peter repeated, watching as Wade stood to his feet. He rarely got swept away with any of Wade’s plans, taking point whenever they were paired together that it felt he was often babysitting Wade. But this time... this time it would be nice to let his fantasy become a reality. Sure, there was a part of him that was scared about what Dot would say about everything but confronting her with his feelings was something he was determined to do. Peter Parker wasn’t a coward and he wasn’t about to let this opportunity slip through his fingers. Even if it came with strange conditions.

Doable, but strange.

Dot cursed her luck coasting to the stop in the middle of the road. She hadn’t understood what was going on with her car; everything told her it was all in working condition but it just stopped working all of a sudden. There wasn’t any warning lights or strange sounds to signal to her that she was going to have to make an emergency stop. But her car was stalled in the middle of the two lane road and she couldn’t even put on her hazards. The car was completely dead.

She thought to pop the hood of her car before stepping out of the car. Circling around, she ducked her head and looked at everything which made up the car. Granted, she wasn’t freaking car savvy whatsoever, but she had her phone and she had looked up what could suddenly make a car stop in its tracks.

A couple of suggestions she could tick off right away. It wasn’t gas. She had made certain she filled up before she left and if there was any indication she was running low, she would have immediately made a pit stop. On road trips, she didn’t want to push her luck with running out of gas and be stuck in the same position she was in now.

It wasn’t the battery, which she was now looking at. Everything about the rent-a-car was extremely new. She had a report even attached with her keys about when everything was last serviced.

So, spark plugs wouldn’t be it, either.

It was a complete mystery!

The next logical thing to do was to find out where the nearest town was and to call its towing service.

“It sucks to be an adult sometimes,” Dot muttered. Her fingernail was tapping along the screen, navigating through maps trying to find her location. Her hip was leaning against the side of the car and every so often, she looked up to see if there was a car heading her way. She didn’t like to hitchhike, as it was dangerous as shit, but so was standing out in the middle of the road.

She remedied that by moving off the road as much as it unnerved her by having her back turned towards the lush green landscape surrounding the highway on both sides. While there was a sparse assortment of trees and greenery just heading out of New York, some parts of the highway was concealed by thicker parts the further you went along. For instance, Orwell, NY seemed to have nothing but forests surrounding it. But then again, it was a small town.

And as luck would have it, there was another small town surrounding the area. Dot was soon placing an order to their tow truck service and was told that they would be there in fifteen minutes to pick her up. That was good news! She didn’t have to be out there all night and it was incredibly dangerous staying out on the road like this. To pass the time, she fiddled with her phone for a bit to take her mind off things.

Dot was leaning against a tree when she launched her contacts list. She scrolled through with no thought on actually contacting anyone when her finger hovered over Daddypool which made her laugh. She had no intention on changing Wade’s hand in her contacts list. That dork.

Scrolling further, she finally landed on Peter B. Parker. Talking about a dork, who puts in their entire name? She smiled to herself, thinking back to that day when she had handed her cell over and watched him program in his phone number. It was probably a good idea to call someone, to alert anyone about the predicament she was in and that person was sure to be Peter. Sure, she could try and fool herself that she needed to have someone keep her company while she got everything settled, but she knew she missed hearing from him.

The sound of gravel crunching on the road picked up her head and for a moment, she forgot about calling Peter. She saw headlights coming her way from the opposite direction and pocketed her phone immediately. She watched as it slowly pulled to a stop across the street; SHERIFF was printed in huge, bold letters on the side of the body. She blinked in surprise, looking up and down the road. She was a little weary of strangers, law enforcement being no exception. She just wasn’t too fond of people.

A woman stepped out of the vehicle and Dot could feel her shoulders relax as the door slammed behind her. The presence of another woman wasn’t as intimidating or unsure as a male’s when you were a lone female on the side of the road. Especially if the other woman was of color.

“Hello... sheriff,” Dot greeted though she still sounded cautious.

“Hey there.” the sheriff greeted casually in return matched with an easy-going smile. She looked both ways before crossing the highway and stopped to stand in front of Dot’s car. There was a moment of silence Dot took as the Sheriff taking in the scene. From the way her gaze scanned the area, she was making sure that nothing was out of the ordinary; for Dot’s safety and for her own.

“Having car trouble?” She paused and then laughed, “Sounds pretty stupid to ask that, of course you’re having trouble.”

Dot laughed in return, “Yeah, it just suddenly stopped on me.”

“Were you able to call anyone to help you?” the sheriff asked, stepping closer. Dot’s gaze snapped to the brass nameplate pinned to the unattractive uniform shirt that looked a little too formal, too clunky in places that should have been hugging a woman’s figure. At least the brown pants were pretty form fitting.

Sheriff Katherine

“Yeah, there’s a tow truck in the nearest city...” Dot supplied, snapping her fingers because she suddenly blanked on the name. That should have been strange, perhaps, considering she ran the name over many times in her head looking at the map of the surrounding area on her phone. But she was so focused on the presence of another person and add the anxiety of being stranded on the side of the road, it might have just been a culmination of the stressful situation adding up and making her forgetful. “The tow company, they said they’d help me. They should be coming soon, in about fifteen minutes?” It wasn’t a question Dot expected anyone to answer; it was the details somewhat becoming fuzzy.

“Ah yeah, I’m from that town.” Sheriff Katherine smiled before looking down at her own phone. “Fifteen minutes? How about I give you a lift into town so you’re not standing out here in the middle of the street? You’re heading out there anyway, right?”

Dot nodded but she didn’t quite say yes to the offer no matter how attractive the woman standing in front of her was. Something felt off but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Or perhaps it was an overactive imagination; authors do tend to have those. Maybe she was being silly... but maybe she should listen to her gut feeling.

Sensing Dot’s hesitation, Sheriff Katherine leaned over to peer into the open hood of the car. She scanned the insides for a second before straightening up, “Otis should be able to tell you if anything is wrong. And set you up on your way, too, seeing as he runs the mechanic shop in town. He’s pretty good with cars despite how huge his hands are, you’d think he’d be clumsy as heck but he’s grabby and doesn’t let anything go easily.”

“Otis?” Dot asked, suddenly imagining a very sweaty looking mechanic flirting with the line of sexual harassment. With huge, grabby hands apparently. She smiled nervously. Suddenly that ride with this much prettier and safer alternative was looking pretty good. “How long do you think it’ll take? I have somewhere else I need to be by tomorrow.”

Sheriff Katherine shrugged her shoulders and frowned, “I wouldn’t be able to tell you. I know almost nothing about the inner workings of a car but I can tell you about the law.”

Dot laughed and was somewhat put at ease despite the warning bells going off in her head. There was something not quite right about Katherine but no matter how she looked at it, she wasn’t doing anything wrong. But something was bothering her about the way Katherine was saying things that Dot almost got a manipulating feel from her. But that was ridiculous. She was probably being paranoid.

“I’ll take you up on that car ride,” Dot said, looking down at her wrist watch. “I don’t want to be out here any later than I have to.” Something told her that she shouldn’t expose her phone and that feeling was justified when Katherine asked if she should get her things before they left.

“No, I’ll just leave everything in my car. I mean, I’m going to be seeing it in a little while, anyway.”

“And your phone?”

“That’s in the car, too.”

“Perfect,” Katherine smiled with all of her teeth. The gesture would have been innocent enough if it didn’t give Dot the chills. But... what was she going to do? She acted normal enough and returned the smile as Katherine gestured at Dot to follow her. Dot nodded and pushed off the tree. She stopped in front of the car and made sure she closed the hood before moving towards the Sheriff’s car. She was unsure where she should sit...

“You’d probably feel better if you were seated in front,” Katherine laughed again, gesturing for her to sit at the passenger seat. “you’re not in any trouble or anything. Perfectly safe.”

Katherine ducked her head to settle inside the car and missed the look of skepticism on Dot’s face. She knew in every bit of her body that this was a bad idea. But when she weighed her choices, she had no idea what to do; she couldn’t go running off into the woods. The chances of Katherine knowing this place better than her stacked the odds against Dot. There was also no where to go. Dot would be running blind and she wasn’t keen on making herself look like a damn fool. Her only option was to comply and as soon as she understood what she got herself into, she would place an emergency phone call to someone she knew would help her out in a pinch: Peter and Wade. Then, she might call 911.

Surprisingly, the trip to town was around the corner. Albeit the corner was after a long stretch of highway Dot couldn’t have imagined walking the distance of but she was closer to the town of Ludor than she had known. Now that she thought about it, Ludor was a strange name for a town and she wouldn’t blame anyone for not being able to remember it. The population served fifty people, pretty damn small for even the small town standards nowadays! But it seemed lively and it put her at ease, watching children run down sidewalks and folks walking and talking among each other as they went about their business.

Katherine pulled over in front of what looked like an inn and stopped the car.

“This is the town’s B&B. We get a lot of people passing by this time of year coming back just in time as the weather starts to cool down. So this is the place folks tend to stay when they decide they wanna stay over with us instead of going to some sort of cheap, impersonal motel.”

Dot’s gaze dragged up the windshield to take in the building before her. The whole place looked like it came straight out of a catalog of 1890′s Victorian style housing. It probably was a big hit with tourists. Yet there was nothing sinister about it that put Dot off.

“I’ll talk about putting you up for a room just in case you get some bad news. But you can borrow a room for as long as it takes ‘til your car gets fixed.”

“That’s... really generous of you guys.” Dot said and she opened her car door as soon as Katherine prompted. As they walked up the stairs to the B&B, Dot took in more of the architecture. The front porch sat shaded under the classic Victorian triangles and slopes and supplied a couple of rocking chairs with inviting pillows. Katherine opened the screen door and then the front door and Dot was greeted with a cozy entrance lobby with a staircase off to the side, no doubt leading up to the rooms. In the lobby, there was a small seating area and a receptionist area with a big sign-in book sitting at the counter. Seated behind the desk was a sweet looking old woman with glasses daintily perched on her nose.

“Hello, Agnes.”

The old gray-haired woman looked up, her wrinkles making her look more like a bulldog than a human. Dot thought it was kind of charming in a cartoon-ish kind of way and when she spoke, her voice sounded like an old granny as she crooned, “Hello, Katherine, dear. Is this a guest?”

“Yes, this is...” Katherine paused in order for Dot to supply her name.

“Dot.”

“And she just needs something set up for today. Maybe tomorrow, but we’re not hoping for that.” she winked at Dot and Dot smiled back in return. They both watched as Agnes leaned down and slowly pulled up a huge book. She looked like she was struggling with it before she was finally able to drop it down in front of her. Then it took another agonizing minute for Agnes to lift the plastic binder cover and slowly, one page at a time, flip the pages until she landed on the page she wanted.

“We have no reservations for today or tomorrow so she is in luck,” Agnes looked up shaking and giving Dot a kind, grandmotherly smile. “in picking any room she wanted.”

Katherine playfully smacked the desk and didn’t seem to notice she made Agnes jump or noticed the way her old eyes widened in surprise. “What luck, indeed! They have four rooms to choose from but the Rose Room is their biggest one. You should snatch that up before plans change.”

Dot laughed, taking her gaze from Agnes onto Katherine who seemed more excited for her that she landed this room. “Alright, that sounds like a good idea.” she said. Her favorite flowers were roses and so it was already half-decided for her.

“You can go on up anytime you like dear,” Agnes said, slowly picking up the binder again with her shaking hands and the women both watched as she slowly lowered herself to place it back in its place under the desk. “if you get hungry, we’re serve breakfast at 8AM prompt tomorrow so it’s highly suggested you take an early night if you’re planning on staying.”

Dot politely nodded but she’d have none of that being a night owl; plus, she didn’t even plan on staying. But the prospect of food sounded good. “Is there... anywhere else to eat in the meantime?”

Katherine laughed, gesturing out towards the wide open bay window to an area across the street. Dot squinted and she could see a building on the other side. “You can cross over to the town’s bar for something to eat and if you’re looking to uh, wet your whistle.”

“Cool, thanks very much.” Dot smiled first to Katherine and then to Agnes. “Um, before I retire upstairs...” Dot trailed off slightly as Agnes very slowly pushed forward the Rose Room key towards her. Dot’s hand closed over the object and she gave her head a subtle shake before refreshing her smile, “Where is the auto shop? Tow place?”

“Ah yeah, almost forgot. How about I just let Agnes here ring you up when your car has arrived and from there, she’ll tell you where to go?”

Frankly, Dot didn’t see anything wrong with that. But that strange feeling came back to her. She didn’t want to make a big deal pressing for information about how to get back to her car so she nodded and figured while she was out and about in town, she’d ask around and find out from someone who could give her a straight answer.

“Sure, sounds good.” Dot said, giving Katherine and Agnes a nod before gesturing towards the staircase. “I’ll be on my way now. Thank you so much for the help Katherine and thank you for the room Agnes.”

“Not a problem,” Katherine said.

“Of course, dear.” Agnes parroted right after. As Dot was going up the stairs, she was quiet in her steps and intentionally took her time to see if the women would start talking without her there, perhaps resume some sort of conversation. But that was the weird part. She heard nothing. She hadn’t even heard Katherine leave. Thanks to the huge wooden railing and the way the stairs circled around, it was hard to see their faces or expression. But Dot knew they were there, just standing at the desk and probably listening to her ascend. It unnerved her to the point she hurried herself to find the Rose Room. She found it -- the only room with a rose painted on the door -- after passing the Peach Room, Green Room, Red Room, Blue Room, and Yellow Room. She didn’t even have time to think why the other rooms were colored and the room she reserved was the only flower-themed one.

Opening the door and then shutting it firmly behind her, Dot pressed her back against it and took a cautious gaze around the room. It looked normal enough; it had a huge queen-sized bed, a couple of antique dressers, chairs surrounding the bay window that looked outside towards town, and a separate bathroom. It was quiet and for a moment, it allowed Dot to feel safe. But at this point, she knew she was anything but.

It was starting to feel like a good time to call somebody. She reached into her pocket and felt a rush of relief to feel the familiar touch of her cell phone sitting like a heavy weight of reality at her side. It was what grounded her. Pulling it out, she was relieved to see that her contacts were still up and Peter’s name was the first thing she latched onto and it was the first one she called.

“I’M ALL OUT OF LOVE~” ♪

“Wade...”

“I”M SO LOST WITHOUT YOU~” ♪

“Wade!” Peter had the hardest time driving with Wade’s head and the upper half of the man’s muscular body trying to fit on his lap. So the only way to grab his attention was to jab his thumb against the eject button of the radio with enough force that it almost broke the console. Instead of breaking, however, the tape flew out and smacked Wade on the forehead.

“Hey, watch it, loverboy!” Wade sat up, grabbing the tape to see if there had been any damage done to what he had essentially slaved over for three days. “I made this mix tape with you and Dot in mind, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t kill it before Dot got the chance to hear it.”

Peter had to resist the urge to roll his eyes; he just didn’t know at what, yet. It was either Wade’s insistent use of nicknames somehow evolving on becoming a lot more than just endearing titles, Wade’s mix tape, or the fact he was singing along to it.

“She’ll have a chance to listen to it... after she hears the ridiculous idea we’re bringing to her.” Peter muttered, eyes drifting to the rear view mirror. He had long ago left behind New York and though it should have been a hard choice, it really wasn’t when he considered what he was moving towards. “And who knows, we’ll probably be listening to it on the way back holding back tears because she told us we were out of our minds. I’m this close to telling us we’re out of our minds.”

“Have a little faith, shwumpling.” Wade said, trying to fit his cassette into Peter’s radio. Peter gave Wade an incredulous look mainly because he wasn’t sure what that endearment had meant. “What? Shwumpling? It’s sugar dumpling. In baby speak. Know why?”

“No and I don’t care--”

“Because you’re my baby boy.” Wade grinned as he got the tape rolling again, and turned his head towards Peter with a triumphant smile. If Peter had to describe Wade’s appearance, it would be ridiculous. Yeah, he still had his mask on but he was in civvy clothes. Over his red costumed suit. Obviously, he was working through his own insecurities but he tried to make an effort. He took one step outside his apartment without his mask on before he scrambled back inside and changed.

Peter was different, he didn’t struggle with Wade’s self-image issues. He was just... Peter. If he was going to follow Dot miles away from home, he wanted to it in a way he could be vulnerable... to her, nothing between them. That was why he left his Spider-Man suit back at home.

Or so he thought.

“How old is this car, snookums?”

“I borrowed it from Aunt May...” Peter sheepishly said. “After what happened to the Buggy, I thought it would be a good idea to keep it out of commission for a while.”

“I thought it was broken?”

“It’s... not broken, but it’s not fixed either.” Peter lightly chuckled. “Maybe if things go well for us... with Dot, we can take her on a road trip.”

Wade’s mouth was wide open in surprise for the second time that day. It was hard for someone like Wade to contain his excitement and so he didn’t. He reached over, arms wrapping around Peter’s unsuspecting shoulders and pulled the man into a gigantic, tight hug. He was rubbing his masked cheek against Peter’s face, the brunette shouting in surprise as their car swerved in and out of the lanes of traffic.

It was a lucky thing they were the only ones on the road.

After things settled down -- meaning Wade taking a nap in the passenger seat and his feet up on the dashboard -- Peter had some time to think. With nighttime fast approaching, Peter was unsure whether they would catch up to Dot in time. Dot had spoken about this trip through texting Peter Parker so he knew all the details about what her project consisted of and what hotel she would be staying at. It would also make sense for Peter Parker to arrive on her door and the secret about Spider-Man would definitely come out during revelations and admissions but there was a part of him that feared she would hate him for lying to her like this.

He supposed he’d cross the bridge when he got to it but there was no denying the new possibilities about just laying himself bare in front of her. He glanced over at Wade and was surprised by the swell of pride in his chest at his partner. Partner. Man, that word was going to take on a whole new meaning if things turned out okay after this.

This is wild and this was crazy. This was something Wade Wilson would do but who was to say this was something Peter Parker would do for the woman he loved, too? Maybe that was why he was so nervous, uncertain, because he wasn’t certain of what he’d do but he knew how far he would go for Dot.

It was a little while later that Peter reached over and smacked Wade on the shoulder. “Isn’t that the rent-a-car Dot showed you in her text?”

Wade slowly stirred in his sleep before his eyes opened. It took him a while to recognize where he was and what he was doing but as soon as he settled his sights on Peter, it all came flooding back to him. “Which one?” he lazily said, “she sends me a lot of texts, like... so many.”

Peter’s face could only be described as a straight line before he retorted, “That’s because you’re constantly sending her texts. The one from earlier, the model of her car.” he couldn’t understand why Wade would ask Dot for a picture of the car she was driving but considering how he was the one who suggested this trip, it wouldn’t surprise him that he had planned something like this from the start. He didn’t even want to think of the implications behind that. He heard Wade shifting in his seat as he slowed Aunt May’s car to a crawl to pull up behind the parked one.

“Yep... that’s the one.”

Peter glanced over, noting the dangerous change of note in Wade’s voice. It put him on edge because the only time Wade ever had a semblance of a serious demeanor was when Dot was involved. This couldn’t be good. Peter turned the car off cutting George Michael’s dulcet tone quietly crooning from the background and Wade got out almost immediately. Peter sat in the passenger seat, fearing the most. His Spider-Sense wasn’t going off but there was something unsettling about seeing Dot’s car parked out here in the middle of a long and lonely stretch of highway. From what he could tell, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it. If she had been in an accident, there would have been proof. Bent fender, perhaps a dent somewhere, anywhere, on the body. She couldn’t have had car trouble... the thing was a rent-a-car, while not unheard of, breaking down just wasn’t something they did especially not even five hours outside a large city like New York.

Wade circled the car, pressing his face against the window to see inside. He straightened up and shook his head, gesturing with both arms to the driver’s seat, “No one’s inside!”

That much was obvious but to be reassured of that fact was not pleasing to hear whatsoever. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of Peter’s stomach as he watched Wade walk over to his side, leaning in through the window.

“I’m going to check the surrounding woods, Pete.”

Peter’s gaze rose to meet Wade’s. He stopped with the nicknames. Further proof that Wade was taking this serious. His worry must have been the most prominent thing on his face because Wade cupped his face and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“We’ll find her.”

Peter didn’t have it in him to argue or push Wade away. He just nodded and gestured at the center console where his phone was, “I’ll call her cell.”

Wade thumped the hood of the car two times with the palm of his hand before pushing off the car, “Good idea, smarty pants!” he grinned, walking off towards the direction of the woods. Wade might have lightened up his tone but that was no doubt for Peter’s sake -- one of them had to be normal.

Peter leaned over and reached for his phone, his hands brushing the cool metal before fumbling it in his troubled thoughts. He sighed out heavily through his nose, further leaning down to reach for the thing down on the ground. “Gosh dang it!” he quietly muttered, fingers stretching and curling. He just had to pack away his suit and web slingers!

“This the one?”

Peter’s head snapped up so fast, he almost hit it on the steering wheel.

“Uh-huh.”

“What about the other one?”

Peter froze, lowering himself so he wouldn’t be seen. He had no idea why he thought to hide, he just did it without thinking. Perhaps being so used to Spider-Man, he wasn’t sure how to act as a plain ol’ civilian -- hiding wasn’t a normal response. But who were these people anyway? Peter slowly rose his head so he could be able to peer as much as he could onto the scene unfolding in front of him. There were a couple of people in cars pulled over on the side of the road and a couple of people walking along the road, seemingly coming out from the woods. They were carrying toolboxes and one of them had a jack. A couple of car doors opened and closed. Peter watched them surround Dot’s car. That terrible feeling was beginning to have substance to it now. But Peter didn’t make himself known quite yet; he remained ducked and out of sight as he listened on.

“Why are there two cars here?”

“I’unno, I got the same report you did. One car, one lady. If we got another car, that’s pretty cool too, I guess. We can scrap ‘em both. We have the room.”

“But where are the owners?”

“They couldn’t have gone far if we don’t see them around here, you know Uldor has it so anyone can find this place. They’re probably in town already.”

There was a murmur of agreement before the sound of clanking and scrapes caused Peter to take a real good look at what they were doing. He couldn’t tell since a couple of large bodies were in his way. He noted that their backs were turned to him and he quietly and very stealthily and with the flexibility of, well, Spider-Man, he crawled out of his open window. The quiet padding of his hands and feet crawling to the hood of the car went unheard as the louder tinkering masked his movements. He crouched on top of Aunt May’s car, trying to get a better look at what they were doing to Dot’s rent-a-car.

It was clear now that they were doing what he had assumed -- they were pulling the tires off and taking parts away. They were stripping it. He looked around to see if Wade was anywhere nearby. He caught a flash of red and inwardly groaned.

“What do you think you’re doing to my girlfriend’s car!?” Wade’s question was that much more dramatic as he landed on the hood of his so-called girlfriend’s car and blew out the windows with the force of his landing. Peter looked up, wondering just how far he fell and was he climbing trees all this time?!

Peter flipped backwards off the hood as Wade distracted the others and quietly landed on the gravel. He was behind the trunk and he peered around the car, wondering how he was going to assist Wade without compromising his identity.

“Who the fuck are you?” someone shouted.

“Who the fuck are you?!” Wade shouted in retaliation. He did a good job with taking the men off-guard, and they stumbled back dropping their tools with a clatter onto the concrete. He kicked a man in the face, punched another, and soon, it was an all out brawl of flying fists and huge men just fighting in the street.

“SPIDEY, DOING YOUR THING WOULD BE MUCH HELPFUL RIGHT NOW IF YOU DON’T WANT ME TO KILL THESE PEOPLE!” Wade chimed over his shoulder. “AND I REALLY, REALLY WANT TO KILL THESE PEOPLE!”

“Who is he talking to?!” someone shouted, looking around before the butt of Wade’s katana knocked out their teeth.

“DON’T!” Peter grit his own teeth, “YOU KNOW WHY I CAN’T!”

“Oh,” Wade said, ducking someone’s desperate tackle. The person went skidding along the asphalt and Wade snapped his head towards Aunt May’s car. “I DIDN’T TELL YOU, HUH?”

“TELL ME WHAT?”

“LOOK IN THE TRUN--OOF!”

“WHERE IS HIS PARTNER?” another man shouted while succeeding on punching Wade, cutting off his sentence. Men looked around confused for a second before the rumble continued.

Peter’s eyes widened and making a snap decision he was probably going to find hard to explain, he smacked the side of Aunt May’s trunk with his fist, the force immediately popping it open. He pulled out his trunk and found that his Spider-Suit had been packed with the rest of his belongings, folded neatly on top with one of Wade’s crude kindergarten drawings of his symbol blowing a kiss and winking up at him.

Peter grinned and for once, he was grateful for Wade’s meddling.

Wade looked around as the men circled around him carrying variations of the tools they were using to dismantle the car. Normally, he wouldn’t have a problem putting them into the ground but it was just so much harder to win fights without seriously maiming someone. He twirled one of his katanas in his hand, knowing damn well Peter was going to have to subdue them his way with his webbing if he wanted anyone of them to survive. If anyone asked Wade, though, if they were involved with Dot’s disappearance, they didn’t deserve to.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Spider-Man landed into the “ring” next to Deadpool. “but I seem to be having a little car trouble.”

Deadpool cracked a grin, snorting in amusement as he tacked on, “Don’t think we’re going to have any luck with these guys, here. They don’t seem to know the first thing about cars--” Wade kicked his foot out, catching the nearest jack that had been on the floor and sent it flying into some guy’s face. His head snapped backwards, blood and a few teeth went flying out of his head.

“To be fair,” Spider-Man quipped, “we don’t either!” He spun a web around the man Deadpool just assaulted while he was distracted and hurt, sticking him to the ground.

It was as easy as setting them up and knocking them down at this point.

Spider-Man finished webbing all the “bad guys” together in a huge cocoon that sat at the side of the road. They were unconscious and didn’t really provide any answers as Spider-Man and Deadpool put the beat down on them.

“That’s it,” Peter huffed, clapping his hands clean. “Don’t know who we can call to take care of these guys but they mentioned a town around here. Maybe we can get some answers there and call the local law enforcement to clean up.”

“Dot’s got to be at that town, then.”

“No doubt,” Peter frowned, putting his hands on his hips. “I can’t believe our luck. Even outside of New York, we keep running into creeps.”

“Yeah,” Wade shook his head, “the world is kind of a shitty place but it’s a little bit better with Dot out there in it.”

Wade was right, of course. Peter’s arms dropped to the side and the two of them sunk into a silence thinking about Wade’s phrase. Dot was out there, needing their help now.

Peter broke the silence as he gestured at Aunt May’s car, “Come on, we better get a move on.”

The men piled inside and clad in their Spider-Man and Deadpool costume, roared down the road seated side by side.

Dot had been disappointed with the bar selection and had retired back into the Rose Room as soon as she finished her burger and Pepsi. The place itself wasn’t too bad, it was what she could expect from a bar and the people were friendly and didn’t give her any hostile feeling whatsoever.

But now that she was in her room, she thought about her time spent at this strange town of Ludor. There was something she couldn’t quite put her finger on that didn’t seem right but at the face value of it, everything was picture perfect. Perhaps seeming too perfect was the flaw itself.

She thought back to the unclear directions she got about the auto-tow shop, too. No one gave her a straight answer and she couldn’t recall whether it was on purpose or people just weren’t paying attention to what she was asking. She got sent to one end of town and walked the length of the other. She was tired and irritated. Night had fallen quickly and Agnes never really phoned her about the status of her car arriving. Perhaps she should go and check...

Dot looked down at her phone and noted the time. It was nearing one o’clock at night! Wow! When had it gotten so late?! This was definitely not normal. There was no telling if Agnes was still going to be up this hour but Dot figured there was something she could probably look into at the front desk, even if she had to break into the cabinets herself.

She got up off her bed and immediately froze. She heard something outside her door. Her lights had been turned off for a while now and she had been laying in bed, trying to get rid of the headache that was her experience in this little town. Supposing to anyone looking at her window, they would have assumed she turned in long ago. Dot stood rooted in place; there was no doubt about it. She was hearing sound outside her door.

It was faint whispering, and she could recognize Katherine, Agnes, but there was a male voice she couldn’t pin.

“I think the poor dear tuckered herself out. I heard from Samson she went asking around for the shop.” Dot heard Agnes say.

“I bet she was sent on a wild goose chase.” That was Katherine. “There is no auto-tow shop around here. Makes you wonder what the others told her.”

“Probably what they needed to. It’s a good thing she wasn’t suspicious about anything. Her car taken care of?” This was the male voice now. The one she didn’t recognize but he spoke with the authority that made Dot feel he was the one in charge between the three.

“Yes, Row and the boys went to take it apart. Easy enough to explain car trouble about to be squared away to anyone that pulls over and wants to lend a hand.”

“Normally, it’d be nice to have extra bodies around but we can’t afford that right now. Our guest here was a surprise. I didn’t think the Master had any plans on visitors this month.” It was the man again. It threw Dot off guard when he brought up the bit about the Master. Who? What the fuck was going on? But Dot would be a damn fool to stick around to see.

Dot was quietly making her way towards the window not eager to find out, either. The bay window, she could see by now, was bolted shut. There was another window in the bathroom if she could remember correctly. A sound at the door caught her attention and her heart nearly popped out of her chest. Her vision zeroed in at the doorknob to see it turning. They were trying to get inside now.

It was a good thing that Dot always locked her doors. She hurried now, rushing to the window and tried to pry it open. It wasn’t bolted but it was stuck. She looked around before giving up half-way and started to be not so kind to it, anymore. Fuck the noise and fuck that noise, she was going to survive.

“Shit, I hear something. I think she’s trying to escape!”

There was a loud thud as a body slammed against the door and Dot shrieked, jumping in place. She slammed the bathroom door shut just to put another barrier in place and stood on the toilet. She grasped at the nearest thing that would support her slight weight as she sent a foot kicking at the pane. It took a couple of times before the wood started to splinter and Dot took that as a sign that it was unstuck. At the same time she opened the window, she heard the door crash open. She didn’t even look back as she climbed out. She was through it as the bathroom door slammed open and she was suddenly falling into a bed of roses that softened her landing -- just a little; she didn’t even have the time to appreciate the irony of that as the wind was knocked out of her lungs. But she scrambled to her feet, taking off towards the middle of town where she knew the road to be that would take her out of town.

She could hear the front door open to the inn as she circled around the B&B but she didn’t dare look back. She was tempted, especially after hearing someone shout after her, and then hearing footsteps as she was chased into the street she was seeking.

It was surprising when two headlights almost collided into her. Dot crouched into her self, yelling in surprise, and ready to feel the impact of her inevitable doom and yet... it never came.

“Dot?”

Her head snapped up.

“Spider-Man? Deadpool?!”

She didn’t even wait for an explanation, planting her hands on the car and circling it just to pop open the backseat and dive inside. She was safe now. The boys were here. Her boys were here.

“We got to get her to a safe place,” Peter reasoned, looking in the backseat to ensure that Dot was okay. “What happened, are you okay...” He trailed off as his eyes caught movement of the town coming alive. People were coming out of nearby buildings with torches and pitchforks. “--what the heck is going on here?”

Wade’s face was pressed up against the window, taking in the sights as well. “I’m going to lose my last shred of sanity.”

“You can’t lose what you don’t have!” Peter quipped back and without even thinking, put the car in reverse, backed up, and then veered away from the people now throwing rocks at them.

Wade turned back around, wide-eyed. “Seriously, are you guys seeing the same thing I am because if not, I’ve got to tell you. I’m experiencing something that can only come out of some weird fanfiction plot.”

“We all see it, Wade!” Peter said, a little short-tempered. His eyes kept flickering back to Dot who hadn’t once sat up or said anything else. She was probably in shock. Or trying to gather her bearings. Peter was just determined on putting as much distance from Dot and this town as much as possible. And then, maybe coming back later to take care of whatever operation was going down--

Peter was somewhere in the middle of mid-thought and trying to process this situation when out of nowhere, they crashed. It was as if an invisible wall erupted from the ground. The car was instantly stopped, both Peter and Wade bashing their heads on the steering wheel and dashboard. It was a good thing no one flew out the windshield! Peter groaned and instantly turned around to see what had happened to Dot.

She looked dazed but she was okay, considering the crash they just had.

“What happened?” she asked, groaning in pain. She brought a hand to her head and pulled it away to see if she had been bleeding.

“I don’t know,” Peter said, uncertain. He heard Wade getting out of the car in the form of breaking glass and a heavy thud falling onto the ground as he squeezed himself out the window. And then, he heard Wade.

“Do you guys have any idea what I have in that car?! MY BABIES ARE IN THERE!”

BLAM!

“PRECIOUS. CARGO!”

“I thought you didn’t bring your guns!” Peter shouted, sticking his head and then the rest of his body out his window the second time that day. The front of the car was totaled. There was no way he was getting his door open.

“I lied!” Wade threw over his shoulder and then, “It’s a good thing, too! We needed them!”

“Just... don’t kill anyone!” Peter warned as he crawled along the roof and then dropped down to Dot’s side of the car, nearly ripping the door off its hinges.

“Come on, sweetheart,” he urged in a soft voice, offering his hand with a curl of his fingers. “let’s get you somewhere safer.”

Dot looked up and swore the Spider-Man was her personal guardian angel. “Did we crash into something?” she asked, gingerly placing her hand in his. Spider-Man wrapped his hand tightly around hers, firm yet careful about how he pulled her out. He bundled her to his chest, looking around. He couldn’t see anything in front of them but the car was definitely resting against something like they had crashed into.

“I... think so,” he said, maneuvering out of the wreckage. He settled Dot to her feet, his arms spread out to catch her if she felt dizzy enough to fall. “Are you alright? Do you think you can find someplace to lay low while Deadpool and I handle this?”

Dot nodded and then took off in the direction of the bar. It was the nearest building she could see and she figured all the townsfolk were out and about fighting Spider-Man and Deadpool. This time she did glance back, proud of them, before bursting through the door and taking a look around to make sure she really was alone.

The place was empty, eerily so, and it seemed not a body was in sight. She paused to ensure there was no one upstairs or in the back rooms she might have been able to catch by stray footsteps or the like.

Silence.

Nothing.

Dot felt confident, ducking under the bar trying to tuck herself into a corner so in case someone did come in, they wouldn’t see her easily. She was backing up, placing herself against the wall when she hit something solid. She assumed it was the wall and turned around to make certain.

A strangled cry of surprise tore from her throat as she locked eyes on a little girl, tucked into the corner she was trying to get into.

That was right! She saw a lot of kids today. While normally a soft spot, she couldn’t help but feel weary. She didn’t want to throw hands with a 10 year old.

“You have to help us.” the little girl pleaded. Dot sat there at a loss for words. She didn’t trust a damn person in this town but kids were different. They always have been and always will be her weakness.

“H-Help?” she asked, nervously. She kept her voice lowered just in case. She nearly jumped when more kids surrounded her, all crouched to her level and all with the same pleading look in their eyes.

“Help us,” a little boy said, placing his hand on Dot’s knee. He was dressed in a little suit, but had a hideous scar going down the right side of his face.

“He’s placed a curse on us...” another little girl spoke, wearing what seemed to be her Sunday's best. She had a little red bow in her hair and shiny, black shoes. Dot’s heart wrenched for these children.

“A curse? Who?”

“Uldor...”

Peter was glad to see that Wade could keep his promise on not killing any of the townspeople. He was able to knock pitchforks out of their hands and make them retreat enough until he started to run out of ammo.

“It’s time for the slicing and dicing,” Wade muttered, reaching behind himself to pull out his sheathed katanas. Peter held out a hand though as he noticed something.

“Wait, Deadpool. They’re not attacking us anymore.”

“Did they give up?”

Peter’s Spider-Sense was going off so that was a negative. He looked around but couldn’t find the source. “No...”

“Then why--?”

“I can answer that.”

The source came to him, it seemed. A tall, skinny man walked out of the crowd that parted like the sea for him. He was wearing a robe and carrying a staff held high above his head while the other was outstretched towards Peter and Wade. There were millions of jokes running through Peter’s mind but he found he couldn’t crack a single one of them. His gaze kept darting back to the building where he saw Dot run into. It wasn’t the time for jokes. It wasn’t the time to make light of a situation where Dot could very well get hurt if he wasn’t taking this seriously.

“What the fuck is Gandalf doing here?”

Apparently, Wade thought differently.

Or perhaps it was the balance Peter needed in order to keep things from getting too serious.

“Gandalf? How insulting.” The man in the robe spoke in a haughty tone, clearly looking down his nose at the duo. “My name is Uldor and I rule this town and its inhabitants. You have crossed into my territory.”

“You rule this town?” Peter asked, looking confused. He looked around at the townspeople surrounding them. No one moved. No one even blinked. “What is wrong with them?” he asked, pointing at the crowd.

Uldor smirked now, a twist of the goatee, and he looked really proud of what he was about to say. “They are under my curse. This town was set free from its falsities, I’ve made it become what it truly was meant to be!” he shouted with his arms ever rising.

“The hell does that mean?” Wade asked. But Uldor was all too eager to tell. Isn’t that what they do? Break out into their monologue? And so Uldor was no different.

“Many years ago, I stumbled upon this town when I was just a traveler in search for food and water to quench my thirst--”

“The hell year was this?” Wade asked once more, looking around. “We’re not even five hours away from New York, you know, that real big city over the hill there? Why are you acting you were traveling across the Saha--”

“SILENCE!”

The man swiped his hand and with unseen force, Wade was lifted off his feet and thrown into the nearest building. Peter spun, shouting out for Wade before turning back to face Uldor, “What was that?!”

Uldor didn’t answer him because he went back to telling his story like nothing happened, “This town was ripe with hospitality everywhere, around every corner, I was met with smiles, I was put up in a room. People supplied comfort and reassurance. But I feel tell they weren’t genuine. Underneath the many smiles hid fangs and venom, hidden intentions that would best be risen to the surface. But I couldn’t call them out on it. I put it to the test. I put a curse on them, this town would suffer its own destruction unless it acted selfishly to save itself. If they were truly as good as they made themselves up to be, they would be sacrificing themselves for the greater good.”

Peter’s face contorted into frustration. “...And if they weren’t up for sacrificing themselves?”

“Well. The town is still standing, is it not?”

Spider-Man’s jaw clenched. “What do they have to do to save themselves?” he asked again.

Uldor grinned, a hideous sight. There was perverse pleasure in saying out loud that he had been right all along. “These people sacrifice others so they may prologue their life here. They trap tourists, innocent travelers, families, whatever it takes to keep the life-blood flowing into their veins. They use their entire town as a means to save themselves.”

Spider-Man didn’t know whether to feel pity or anger for these fools. He wasn’t looking at people anymore. As he gazed around the faces of the crowd around him, he was looking as husks. Townsfolk ghosts of their former selves. He tore his gaze away from the crowd and onto Uldor again.

“How do you set these people free?”

Uldor looked unamused, quirking his head as he stared down the man in a funny, red suit. “They cannot be free. They must forever feed from the life source of outsiders to sustain themselves. Otherwise, they will be destroyed. I won, either way. I got my answer. Whether I was right or wrong, I would have gotten a substantial food source by sucking the souls away from these people had they sacrificed themselves. But they didn’t and now I have an endless supply.”

“Wow, you really are evil...” Wade’s voice came from the wooden planks that had fallen over his body. He stopped to listen as well, even if that meant he was catching his breath during the duration. He sat up, shaking his head from the debris. “Whatever you hit me with, whoo, buddy. That’s got an nasty kick. Be careful, Webs.”

Spider-Man nodded. This was going to be a tough fight. He didn’t know what to do about the townspeople and he wasn’t sure what the conditions were for breaking a curse. There was one person he could call up but he didn’t think he would have time to make a personal call. It was up to Spider-Man and Deadpool to save what could be safe of this town.

“I cannot let you leave,” Uldor taunted. He was gesturing for some of the townsfolk to resume their attack.

“Well, we’re not staying.” Spider-Man retorted, glancing over as Deadpool made it back to his side. “What do you think, Deadpool?”

“I think it’s time you give me a nickname--oh, that’s not what you were talking about.” Deadpool took a stance.

“Slice and dicing time...?”

“You know me so well, Webs.”

Dot listened to the children’s tale of Uldor and the curse he put on the town. What a complete dick. But the children had a much sadder tale. They were forced to remain children for as long as the curse was active. For as long as the town was “alive” and they were so very tired, so weary, of staying the same.

“I don’t know how I can help you break this curse,” Dot whispered, looking troubled. Some of the children were resting against her, and she had taken to comforting some of them. “do you guys have anything for me?”

“We do,” Annalise, the one with the bow, said. She pointed at the floorboards of the bar. “the Master keeps the amulet of all his power down there.”

Dot paused, swallowing thickly. “...Down where?” But she already knew. She shook her head, “Okay, don’t...answer that,” she said softly. “Just show me where I can go before I lose my nerve.”

There was no way Dot was going to let these children suffer anymore than they had to. Even if she had to put on the bravest face she ever had to in her life.

This was where she found herself now. She was crawling along the small space underneath the bar’s floorboards. If she could look up, she could see the bar through the cracks. It was a little dusty and musty down here but she was doing well so far. She just hoped nothing jumped out at her in this small space. She didn’t think she would survive.

Meanwhile, it had grown quiet outside and she thought she could hear talking. She assumed the Big Bad Meanie showed up and was now making his monologue -- why do bad guys do that, she wanted to ask -- but she knew she didn’t really have time to focus on that. She had to get to the amulet and then find a way to destroy it. From what she was told, it was where he stored all his excess power from the townsfolk when they met more than their quota. She had mixed feelings about the townsfolk themselves but she always pitied the children in situations like this. They had no control over the decisions of adults, why did they have to suffer, too?

Dot cursed silently to herself wondering when she was going to find this thing when she heard something of a magical humming. That had to mean she was close! Pretty soon, she was looking at a small cut out in the ground, just a bit deeper than her crawling space. The area glowed an eerie soft glow of green as her eyes scanned the small enclosed cut out. She just had crawl down because the floorboards above her didn’t leave much room for anything else. She didn’t even think she could stand in that small cut out -- it was that short! Maybe if she tried to stretch--

“WHOA!”

Spider-Man came flying into the bar, crashing through the wooden foundation and splintering into the hole Dot was stretched over. Outside, the fighting had very much resumed and to be frank, Spider-Man and Deadpool were having difficulties trying to fight this magical wizard guy. His magic was tougher than it looked to handle, both being tossed and flung around by an invisible hand and to make matters worse, whenever it seemed they were about to land a punch or a kick at him, one of the townspeople would fling themselves in the way. So far, they hadn’t gotten a lick on Uldor.

Spider-Man slowly sat up and looked around at the small cave in. He seemed confused until he locked eyes with Dot. They were both wide-eyed as they stared at each other.

“Dot?!”

“Spider-Man!?”

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m trying to help the children!”

“The what, who??”

Dot didn’t have time to explain as Uldor came in, a ball of magic formed in his hands. He had planned on hurling it at Spider-Man since he seemed to be incapacitated. But that wasn’t the case; he soon spotted woman from earlier. The one passing through. She was so close to the amulet.

“NO!”

Dot yanked the amulet from off its pedestal. Everything happened so fast yet it seemed to happen in slow motion. All she knew was that she had to destroy it.

“DEADPOOL, SHOOT THIS!” she shouted, throwing the amulet into the air.

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT THIS IS BUT OKAY!” Deadpool’s voice came through from somewhere outside. He kissed his gun and spat, “LUCKY BULLET #69 DON’T FAIL ME NOW!”

Deadpool always makes his mark, even when he doesn’t know what he’s aiming at sometimes. The bullet shot through the amulet and it shattered like glass and a blue magical energy pulsed from the remains, exploding like a large firework. Spider-Man’s Spider-Sense was going haywire and he ducked further into the dugout, throwing his body over Dot’s. Dot didn’t see and luckily, didn’t feel, the resulting explosion overhead. However, she was able to hear Uldor scream in agony, the sound mimicked from outside as dozens of townspeople started to fall to the ground, hissing and smoking into green wisps that soon flew up into the sky.

After a while, everything seemed quiet if not for a few things crackling because they had caught on fire. Spider-Man groaned and Dot sat up in a panic, cradling Spider-Man’s body that had been half resting over her lap.

“Spider-Man!” She cried, “Spider-Man! Are you okay?” she was too afraid to shake him. The back of his suit bore the brunt of the damage; strips of his flesh were exposed and he was bleeding. His mask sat a little crooked over his head.

“Yeah, peachy keen.” he semi-joked but groaned when he tried to move. It just hurts initially but he’ll honestly be up and walking in no time. He made sure to tell Dot that, too.

Deadpool poked his head in, a piece of wood sticking out of it. “Guys, I feel funny.”

Dot gasped, her eyes getting a little teary. “Oh my gosh!”

Spider-Man turned his head to see what had Dot so distressed. He could understand her worry and while he tried to tell her that it was going to be okay, the foundation of the bar started to shake and the place was rattling and clattering overhead. It seemed the damage wasn’t completely over with.

“Crap!” Spider-Man shouted overhead. Spider-Man wasted no time in scooping Dot up from the dugout, the two rolling outside just in time as the bar collapsed within itself. Plumes of dirt and smoke burst outwards and Dot began to cough; Spider-Man helped by holding her face against his chest, shielding her with his body.

The entire town came down around them. Without the sustenance of the townspeople, it was rotting all the way through. An illusion powered by the curse. In a way, it was a relief it was over. In another, scary way, it was amazing what you can find in your own backyard.

Dot glanced up as she heard her name whispered in the wind that tousled her hair, cleared the dust away, and kissed her cheek. She saw the faint outlines of people, waving at her, smiling. She looked confused before realizing that she recognized some of the clothing they were wearing. There was a handsome young man wearing a suit, with a scar on his cheek, waving and fading away. A beautiful woman in her Sunday’s best, a little bow in her hair, and wearing shiny black shoes was blowing her a kiss. She closed her eyes and felt happy to know she helped free those little children and she rested her head against Spider-Man’s chest with a stifled sob.

Spider-Man glanced down, rubbing her back. “It’s going to be okay, Dot. You’re safe now.”

Dot surprised him by taking his face in her hands. “You guys are hurt really bad!” She started looking around, “Where’s Wade?!”

Wade answered by landing on his back next to him, that spike of wood still lodged in his head. He pulled it out with a sickening crunch and threw it aside where it landed with a hollow clank a few feet away. “I just need to lay here for a bit.”

Dot threw herself over Wade, wailing. “YOU NEED TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL!”

Wade tensed up, not sure on how to react when someone started to fuss over him. It wasn’t a familiar feeling. He wasn’t even sure what to call it. Was it fussing? But he knew how to comfort in his own way. He placed a hand on Dot’s back, giving it a rub.

Spider-Man laughed a little, slowly sitting up. His back still hurt but it wasn’t as bad as when he first got injured. His accelerated healing was helping and he knew the same was happening for Deadpool. However, Dot was still new to the details of their powers. Spider-Man happened to forget this, trying to reassure Dot in a way that might have seemed dismissive about their injuries.

He was in the middle of readjusting his mask, saying, “This kind of stuff happens all the time when you’re a super--”

“PETER B. PARKER! I don’t want to hear that shit! Don’t you play this off like nothing! You could have died! We all could have died!”

“Technically, I don’t think I can die--”

“WADE W. WILSON! You don’t want to do this right now!”

Wade gasped, “She pulled the middle name thing with me too.”

Peter’s hands flew up and he was already trying to explain, “I mean it, though! You don’t have to worry, this is--” he paused.

Did she?

Did Dot just?

Everyone sat in silence before Wade broke it again.

“Ohhhh my god, she called you Peter B. Parker!”

Peter was like a fish, opening and closing his mouth from under his mask. “How? When did? What? How? When?” He was running through his mind many ways Dot could have found out but none of them seemed plausible. But then he asked, “You’re not mad?”

Dot looked surprised before shaking her head. “N-No, no. I’m not mad, why would I be mad at you? I... understand you have your reasons for protecting your identity.” She paused, “And for as how I found out... Otto kind of spilled. Except, I feel silly since I didn’t piece it together immediately.”

“Otto?” Peter asked. “From that one time--?”

“Yep. I thought it was a first name in the beginning. But, then when I pieced you together... with Spider-Man, it just kind of made sense.” she laughed quietly, “Meeting Peter Parker right after Spider-Man...”

Dot felt the rumble as Wade laughed underneath her. She gave him an encouraging smile, “Are you... okay?”

“Move a little to the left and I’ll be in heaven.”

Dot looked down and ...realized what Wade had meant. Yeah, making the suggestion Dot sit between his legs while laying on top of him definitely meant he was okay.

Peter was still in a daze when there was a familiar sound of a portal being opened nearby. It caught the attention of all three since it was the only sound coming from anywhere. Heads turned and there it was, the ring of yellow-orange sparks circling, spiraling, into existence as none other than Doctor Strange walked through.

If Doctor Strange was surprised to see anyone at the site, he didn’t show it. Wade’s head thunk onto the ground once more, unaffected by the appearance of yet another super. Yet Dot was another story altogether. She openly gaped, watching as the portal disappeared behind him. He was a tall, imposing figure, wearing a cape that seemed to move with a life of its own. White touched at his temples of an otherwise dark full head of hair giving him a distinguished look. Dot would openly admit that this man was attractive as sin.

Yet, Peter stood up right away to greet him. “Hey Doctor Strange!” he sounded chipper despite the angry marks marring his back as he walked over, lifting a hand in a friendly wave. Dot was amazed Peter knew so many amazing people! Doctor Strange was a man whom she knew little about because not many talked about him so it was hard to dig up any information. She was a little intimated to be honest.

“Spider-Man,” Doctor Strange greeted with the air of someone important and if Dot had to guess, he definitely was by the way he carried himself. He was polite enough to greet everybody else, too. “Deadpool and...?”

Doctor Strange knew exactly who Dot was, but he wasn’t going to deny himself the pleasure of Dot introducing herself to him. That was a little piece of knowledge he kept tucked away, close to the vest, like all the little secrets he was aware of. Dot cleared her throat, and sat up. She made to stand but Deadpool was already at his feet, helping her up to hers as well. The two of them walked over to form the semi-circle around Doctor Strange.

He extended his hand and Dot felt nervous putting it in his. This man oozed class and she felt a little self-conscious looking like soot in the wake of an explosion. But Doctor Strange didn’t seem to notice as he gave her a kind and warm smile, that curious stare taking in a lot more than Dot ever wanted him to see... especially at a time like this.

“Dot.” Dot smiled, uncertain. “Dot Dreadful.”

Wade and Peter were eyeing that handshake with a little more obvious jealousy than... well, Peter, at least, would like to admit. Deadpool was about to karate chop their hands apart but even Peter stopped him by taking hold of his hand and opting to hold it until he felt it was safe to let go. Wade, as one can imagine, was heavily distracted.

“This means we’re boyfriends,” Wade leaned over with a sing-songy whisper. Peter just sighed.

Doctor Strange squeezed her hand in a gentle, but meaningful gesture. It made her heart skip a beat.

“Interesting.” he murmured, “I feel a certain kinship in our matching names. I assume you get comments on yours all the time?”

Dot laughed, feeling relaxed at his casual tone and safe presence. “Oh, all the time.”

“It is the same with me.” Doctor Strange smiled in return. It was hard for Dot ignore the way he held onto her hand. “I would love to hear some of the stories sometime.”

Dot could only mutely nod, knowing her cheeks were tinting pink. Luckily for her, Doctor Strange granted her a reprieve with a knowing smile and a little wink as he moved on to talk to Spider-Man.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Spider-Man divulged the entire trip from uh, planning on accompanying Dot through her trip (which Dot was surprised but it did explain why they were there in the first place!) and stumbling upon this cursed town. Doctor Strange then explained, for Dot’s sake, that anything magical was his expertise and that was why he was there.

“After what I assumed was you guys breaking the curse, I felt the magical energy spike and it lead me here. Imagine my surprise seeing you guys already here.” More so, Doctor Strange was referring to something more tantalizing than the magic he can control at his fingertips.

“After today... I think I’d believe in anything.” Dot laughed, a little tired from the day’s events. Doctor Strange turned to give her a smile over his shoulder and went back to searching at what was left of the bar.

“Ah.” Doctor Strange released a short exclamation, bending down to pick something up. Spider-Man was peering over his shoulder when he noticed a little green sliver between the Doctor’s fingers.

“Did you find something, Doc?”

“Doctor Strange.” he corrected, “Or Stephen,” he told Dot before continuing, “This. It’s a piece of the amulet. As far as I know, the last piece surviving. I understand you had to break the amulet in order to break the curse?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Spider-Man nodded before he paused and turned to Dot, “How did you know that?”

“The little children told me...”

“Children?” Stephen asked, turning around. “That sounds interesting. You must also tell me all about your experience today. I hope it hasn’t been too traumatizing. Perhaps I can help with that.”

Dot smiled, giving in to a little shy nod. She had no idea what Doctor Strange... erm, Stephen, would want with her recounting when Peter and Wade went through with actually fighting the guy.

“I can tell you my experience,” Wade muttered under his breath.

“What was that?”

“How about this, Strangey?” Wade asked, picking up a rock.

“It’s Doctor Strange. That is a rock.”

“And it’s not magical?”

“Again, it is a rock.”

Wade threw the rock over his shoulder. “Anyway, did you know what this Uldor guy was about?”

Stephen paused, running the name through his head. A frown pulled at his handsome features. “No, I’m afraid I haven’t heard of anyone by that name. But surely, it’s the last of him.” He held the sliver of the amulet up to his face, closing one eye to look at it carefully.

“Is it dangerous?” Peter asked.

“Barely. It still has some magical residue on it. I’ll put it away for safe keeping.” He pocketed the sliver and looked around at the little beat up group. “You guys look like you can use a break. I can port us back to the Sanctum Sanctorum if you don’t mind restarting your trip tomorrow.”

Dot glanced back and forth between Spider-Man and Deadpool. She had no idea what the Sanctum Sanctorum was but it sounded... like a better place than here and she figured she could use a break from writing her sequel for a while. Her editor would understand. Spider-Man and Deadpool were looking at her for confirmation, after all, this was her trip.

She cleared her throat, a touch shy about all the attention she now realized was on her. “Y-Yes, please. We... we would appreciate that.”

Stephen gave her a charming smile and Dot stood captivated by his hand gestures as he opened another portal. He placed his hand on the small of Dot’s back and led her into the portal first while giving the boys a glance behind him. “You don’t mind staying over for tea, right? Or coffee if you prefer.” he noted Peter had opened his mouth to protest. His shoulders sagged and he shrugged.

“Just... don’t hit too much on my girlfriend.”

As the portal closed behind them, Dot’s surprised, “W-What?” could be heard clipped behind it.

#{{ original drabbles: 10 dialogue prompts #{{ note: i... am going to die #{{ note: i have spent SO FUCKING LONG WRITING THIS I AM DEAD #{{ note: DONT TOUCH ME IM STERILE

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