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perpetuelledaydreaming · 3 years

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Illicit affairs - Chapter 4

summary: tony can’t catch a break with his daughter, y/n receives an unexpected call and then goes for a little day trip to coney island and for peter somethings sus.

Listen to: Girls like Girls - Hayley Kiyoko & Ta reine - Angèle

word count: 13.9k (longest chapter yet)

(author’s note at the end now)

series masterlist

If you were honest with yourself, you knew that what you had done at the club days prior wasn’t exactly the kind of behavior that Tony or Steve approved of; honestly none of the Avengers. So, the next day when you woke-up to your dad incessantly knocking on your door, you were aware it wasn’t a good thing. Tony’s face twisted as he watched your body covered in bruises and your tired eyes when you opened the door, with the complete knowledge that he had seen the news and that the news had not been so good with you.

You hadn’t obviously catch anyone, so that presented a problem from a PR point of view because at least that way you could twist the news and tell them that barely destroying an entire building had a good reason. But since it was supposed to be a secret mission it was so much harder to justify to the public. Moreover, some of the news outlets linked the fact that there was a possible connection to the Maggia family, which completely blew out the cover you had and the element of surprise. The Avengers had to release a statement explaining it had been part of aid to the NYPD on a drug raid, which still affected the Maggia family but not that much. Nonetheless, The Daily Bugle had been implacable with you, you had even had to send a cease-and-desist to make J. Jonah Jameson stop the defamation against you since he had published that you were a threat to society.

You figured you had a good rant coming your way, you were aware that you deserved it but you also knew you didn’t have many other choices to get the information you had now gotten or to escape after getting the information. It seemed only logical considering that you had been caught by one of the most dangerous men in the Maggia family / Kingpin circle but none of the Avengers saw it the same way. Harley and Wanda were the only ones that hadn’t been scolding you or giving you the disappointing looks that you received from the older Avengers, and you appreciated that from them immensely. Peter had also tried to be by your side as much as he could, every day since the undercover mission disaster after he got out of class, he would head to Stark Industries and share a chat and coffee before you both got to work or before he had to leave for studying or to see Gwen.

You were always beyond thankful for it, they were the only ones (with Pepper) who managed to make you forget that Tony hadn’t addressed the whole thing since you had opened that door the day after, which upset you even more that he wasn’t even trying to make the effort of listening to you. You preferred Pepper’s approach to the whole thing, considering she was basically your mother: Pepper said what she thought and she wasn’t afraid, she was direct and after telling you what was on her mind, she would still listen. She had told you off and you knew that every piece of a word that came out of her mouth was the truth: “You could’ve killed more people” “You could’ve gotten Peter’s identity revealed” “You could’ve been kidnapped” “You could’ve died” “Can you imagine if Kingpin was there?” “Is this really how we raised you?” “I know Morgan’s only one and a half but can you think of the example you are giving to your little sister?” But after it, she had taken the time on hearing your reasons and what you had discovered. She knew how serious it was and how upset you were, so she ended up telling her assistant to cancel all the dates and decided to spend the rest of the day with you and Morgan watching old Disney movies to make you feel better as you ate popcorn and laughed when Morgan bopped her head to the music.

Nonetheless, the only thing Peter and you had left out of the whole thing was that Black Cat had been somehow involved in it. Instead, you had decided to fabricate a story that you got a lead from your deep research and was simply trying to know more information, finally intimidating one of The Architects minions into telling you everything. Peter hadn’t been so sure about why you wanted to keep Felicia a secret since she had agreed to help you but you had begged him to stay silent, telling him that they wouldn’t trust the information given at first. You had to be sure that they would be ready to fight Kingpin before revealing Felicia’s secret and that she was counting on you.

Peter still was apprehensive about the whole thing, but the way your eyes had turned into puppy eyes when you pleaded him not to tell anything, he was bought. You were thankful that he was sticking with you and especially in the meeting that The Avengers had decided to do a few days after the whole thing, on the early morning in Stark Tower.

“He’s coming for us and he’s not going to stop!” you stated again, glaring at Nick Fury who had been insensately criticizing your behavior.

“Oh, and did you get all this information in that little unauthorized raid you did?” Tony asked curiously as he placed his hand on his clenched jaw. It wasn’t as if he was completely upset, he seemed emotionally exhausted to you with the pinch of annoyance in his voice.

“We were following a lead”, Peter stated as he intervened for you, which you felt extremely grateful for.

“And if it’s serious then we can all be in danger,” you continued as you gave him a thankful gaze. “He’s messing with alien tech and we all know how dangerous that can be”

Steve and Nat gazed at each other while Bruce shuddered at the memories of the Battle of New York, knowing it wasn’t one of his best memories. Tony looked down as if he was trying to avoid the fact that you were right along with the other’s present who’s silence meant, at least for you, that they knew what you were talking about and how serious this could become. But Fury didn’t back down as he glared at you with his only eye.

“Kingpin is not going to do anything unless we keep bothering him”, Fury stated, as he quickly removed the photos projected on the screen of the attack and Kingpin.

It was done for him, he had simply removed the photos and files from the screen, he had stated that the deal was done and it seemed like he would completely ignore your pleas. You turn to Peter, who was giving you the exact despondent expression that was drawn on your face, disbelief was dripping from your eyes as you realized the fact that no matter what you said, there was nothing you could do.

The pangs of annoyance began to grow on your body as you frown while watching Fury play with the screen and get out the other files that needed to be discussed, completely turning the page.

“But Dad-” you started but soon Steve cut you off.

“Look, y/n we are going today to Europe and although this mission doesn’t last a long time, we have to focus on it,” Steve said sternly as he gazed back at you. “More people need us there”

“Hammer’s protected and so is Oscorp, Black Cat hasn’t shown up anymore,” Nat said as if to calm you down, not knowing that Felicia’s safety now laid on your hands.

“Because they are going to be manipulated by Frisk!”, you replied urgently, it almost sounded like a cry.

But Fury cut you off before you could get a word out, which only made your annoyance grow as you glowered at them.

“No more Kingpin Drama, Stark”, Fury intervened for one last time.

“It’s an order soldier”, Steve spoke as he crossed his arms across his chest.

But you weren’t done, if the people who were in charge and had become your family wouldn’t listen to you, you would use your dad. You knew how touched Tony felt about weapons being traded, you knew that he understood the importance of stopping Kingpin because these guns and drugs could affect everyone in the world, not just New York. Although Tony had decided to avoid the topic completely, you knew that if you could at least touch a string on Tony’s conscience you could at least change a bit the outcome of this.

“Dad, please” you pleaded as you watched Tony intently. “You know that we have to stop Kingpin”

Tony sighed, folding his arms as he stood up from his seat. “Darling, we can’t right now”

“But Dad, he’s a threat-”

“I know,” Tony tried to assure you while he placed his arms on your shoulders and stroked your arms as if to comfort you. “But not right now”

You were sure that if you had felt stronger that day if you hadn’t been so mentally exhausted regarding what had happened and how it had been portrayed to the world if you had felt a little bit more support or understanding on why you went to the club that night; then you were sure that the disappointment trickling onto your already anxious mind, wouldn’t have been so obvious.

“I can’t believe you just put me in this position and hope for me to do nothing” you snapped at your father while you glared at Steve and Fury, quickly shaking off Tony’s arms and storming out of the conference room.

In the room, everyone remained silent, even Fury who had been a little bit stunned by the anger that had been dripping from your eyes before you left. Tony gave a loud sigh as he slumped back into his seat while rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hand, while Nat patted him on the shoulder slightly as if trying to calm him down about the whole thing. Every one of the Avengers seated around the table seemed a little bit surprised by the whole deal staring at each other but quickly paying attention as Fury started to discuss the mission that the majority of them were going to and how the others would help from here.

Except for Peter.

Peter was livid because he knew that you were right and the threat that Kingpin posed to you, to all of you and the people that they had sworn to protect. You hadn’t noticed it at the club that day but before you had flown out of the club, Peter had his spidey senses going off, already warning him that Kingpin had arrived. He wasn’t sure how to describe it, except a feeling of dread on his whole body. He hadn’t been scared of many things but the danger that Kingpin posed just by being near, was enough for sending shivers down Peter’s spine, causing Peter’s whole body to ache.

And now, for them (especially Fury) to simply dismiss both of you like that? Especially you who had been pouring all your time and energy into making this mission work, even overcoming your feelings towards Peter on this. If this had been before, Peter might have thought that you would leave it like that, that you wouldn’t do anything to go against what your commander had said. But as he glared at everyone intently, he knew you were probably already thinking in a way you could work this out and he knew that at the moment, he only wanted to be with you.

Peter gazed at your dad quickly, Tony looking back at him with an already knowing look.

“Go” Tony muttered as he slumped more on his chair.

Peter nodded as he went after you but before he could exit the conference room, he heard Fury clearing his throat. Peter rolled his eyes before he turned to see what else did he had to say.

“Parker, nothing more about this, clear?”

Peter remained silent, for a second, knowing that there was no way you or he would back out of this.

“Yes, sir” Peter lied with a nod as he turned around and chased after you.

Peter ran through the floor, passing employees quickly already knowing where to go to find you. Most of the people would think that after a bad discussion or a hard day, they would go to their room and lay in their beds or watch Netflix in the meanwhile. But when you were upset, you would stress invent. Usually diving even more into the work that you already had, trying to improve your suit or even Peter’s or your dad’s, anything could work to keep your mind off what was bothering you. It wasn’t a good coping mechanism, sometimes it would include nights without sleep, messing up your schedule and making you sleep all through the day, barely consuming any food, or interacting with more people. Therefore, Peter had developed his mechanism for when you were upset: hold you. He would usually look down when he got closer to you, his hand would slither behind your back or on your thigh, holding it tightly as you gazed back at him with a thankful look on your eyes.

Peter heard you immediately as the doors of the elevator opened into the lab floor, he passed his lab and walked to yours in a hurry. The glass around your lab had been misted over, so no one could see you there which was usual for you but he knew that it was darker than usual. The panel near the door beeped red but Peter didn’t care as he heard HAPPY telling him that you had asked him to deny guests into your lab at the time; instead, Peter simply quickly tapped the password that he knew by heart as the doors unlatched.

“Hey”

You absent-mindedly raised your head from your suit, quickly taking off the goggles that you were wearing and placing down the small tool you had in your hand. Peter couldn’t help to shudder at the memories that came flashing before him as he watched you tinkering away with a piece of a toolkit that was thrown open on the floor as different holograms surrounded you.

You had been tinkering on your suit and bopping your head to the music whilst Peter had placed soft kisses on your cheek as he served you more wine that you had stole earlier that night. You had giggled and stopped working for a second as you felt tingles from Peter’s butterfly kisses, Peter knew he had drunk a bit more than what he usually did and that was why he was being so forward. Then the clinking sounds of metal tools falling into the floor along with breathy moans were the only thing being heard.

“Hey”, you responded quietly as you watched Peter slowly.

Peter gave an apprehensive step but as he noticed your tired eyes, he knew that you weren’t even thinking that he had dismissed the order you had gave to HAPPY about letting people inside of your lab. So, he quickly walked towards you as your eyes were still glued to him, Peter shot a web towards a chair close by and he brought it towards himself, he sat down next to you as his eyes linked with yours slowly.

“Did I fuck this up?”

Your voice seemed so small that Peter almost felt like crying, your eyes seemed a bit tired and he could tell that you had spilled some tears before he arrived. This was completely true, you had tried your best to keep it together as you exited the conference room and walked through the hallways full of employees but you had broken down as soon as you reached the floor.

It wasn’t so much that you felt hurt about the whole deal and Fury, but it was more the frustration that you felt.

“You didn’t” Peter stated angrily, as he placed a hand over yours. “Fury never saw this coming and he’s not prepared to handle this, they are too busy with the Hydra nests and they can’t spare more avengers”

You sighed tiredly. “He is so stupid; he doesn’t see that Kingpin is probably the one giving these people their guns”

“I know” Peter stated as he listened to you quietly.

“And he’s just letting him get away!” you declared angrily, without noticing how you were starting to interlace your hand with Peter’s.

“I know” Peter stated once more as he watched how tightly you were holding him now.

“And so is my dad!” you snapped, letting some tools fall from the desk as you shook your head. “He stopped building arms for a reason and he’s now just letting Kingpin trade them as if it’s nothing?” you asked frustrated although Peter knew you didn’t want an answer. “We should’ve gone after him from day one and not Felicia, we could’ve-”

“y/n, we couldn’t have done much” Peter interrupted you as he gazed at you, somehow coyly as he admired you and listened to you carefully but you didn’t notice since you were still going off.

“Now, Felicia’s at risk and I said to her that we could help her” you sighed frustratedly, and before Peter could protest you cut him off. “I know she’s the one that said she could help us but she needs us to stop Kingpin or she might get killed. I feel like we are just leaving her behind”

You weren’t really sure why the guilt, of what seemed to be (at least from an outer point of view learned by the spying techniques that Natasha had taught you) collateral damaged from the mission, eat you up so badly. Felicia had left you at the club with nothing more but a “be careful”, but you still felt deeply sorry that you wouldn’t keep up your promise. You thought that it was simply basic human decency what you were experiencing, but in the back of your mind, you were aware that it went so much deeper than that. Felicia had triggered something inside of you and you didn’t know how to make it stop.

“I know, I feel bad for her too” Peter whispered as he stared back at you while you looked away for a second, your mind going miles per hour as thought about your next step: would you leave it like that? No, you knew that you couldn’t.

“You know I can’t leave it like this, right?” you asked Peter silently, staring back at his chocolate eyes with golden specks.

If this had been before you had left, you would’ve probably stood down and simply do as it was told. But you had seen so much destruction thanks to these weapons in Europe, you had seen first-hand what this could do to people and you realized who you were and this version of you knew that you wouldn’t leave it at that. You knew you were asking for too much at the moment, you knew that what would come next would be dangerous for both of you but you also knew that there wasn’t any other way for you.

Peter nodded but he decided to still warn you. “Fury’s not going to like it”

“I know what Fury said Peter, but you as well as I know that Kingpin isn’t going to stop” you explained quickly as your gaze burned him. “If he keeps selling these weapons and we are not there to protect the people, then what the hell are we doing here?”

Peter remained silent, knowing that you were right. It was a big thing, going against what was seemingly the right thing to do. You both knew it was going to be a bold move, you both knew the risks that it entailed and you knew that if you weren’t going to be more careful about everything then it could end badly, not just for you but for everyone. But Peter knew you weren’t backing out of this and there was no way in his mind that he would leave you alone in this, without protection.

“He’s trying to kill us so he can grow his empire, even more, you are aware of that?” Peter reason, still trying to give you all the points that he believed were important to discuss.

You nodded. “Peter he is not afraid, which makes it a bigger threat, I have to stop him” you replied as you watched Peter’s lowered eyebrows as he frowned, you knew he was thinking all the scenarios on his head before he finally agreed to anything.

“I hate going behind your father’s back” Peter finally said with a sigh as he leaned a bit back in his chair.

You felt like you could breathe now that he had agreed with you, you weren’t alone anymore.

“I know you do” you cooed as you leaned into him with a smirk.

Peter groaned as he simply gazed at you with his lips tugging into a smile as he watched watching him coyly, he could see it on your y/e/c eyes, that spark that he hadn’t seen in a long time: bliss happiness that Peter was with you on this.

“You know you want to do this with me”, you said playfully as you nudge him on the shoulder, getting closer.

“I wouldn’t do it for anyone else” he answered honestly with a genuine smile as he pulled your hand, which you were still holding tightly, and placed a light kiss on it.

You felt the slight warmth on your cheeks as you noticed how tight was your hold on him, not that it bothered either one of you.

Peter got a bit closer to you, he felt his heart fluttering on his chest while he watched you intently. He took a strand of hair you had on your forehead and pulled it to the back of your ear, his hand still lingering on your cheek as he heard your heart thumping on your chest faster as each second passed but he tried to not look as if he heard it. Peter instead focused on your features, he didn’t know how you managed to do it, to shine so brightly for him without even making an effort, he could feel the warmth on your smile as your gaze followed his as he tried to scan your face.

He hadn’t managed to be so close to you since that last night before you left and he wanted to engrave your face in his memory again, he wanted to upgrade it. He noticed you had a new small scar from your time in Europe, just below your right eyebrow, he noticed how your cheekbones had become more prominent as he fought the urge to kiss your cheek again, he noticed how good you looked with the undertones of purple under your eyes, he was surprised because he hadn’t paid them much attention before but he realized how good they look on you.

Then his eyes fluttered to your lips for a second.

You felt like you had stopped breathing when Peter’s chocolate eyes traveled for a second to your lips, you felt so stupid when you had automatically leaned it a bit after his eyes had returned to yours, those goddamn chocolate eyes with golden specks that combined so well with the chocolate curls that fell on his forehead and the freckles sprawled on his face.

Peter was about to say something, his mouth opening slightly when you heard your door opening and the two of you whipped your head towards the door as you backed away from Peter almost instantly, causing Peter to tumble on his chair, barely falling from it as Harley sneak his head into your lab, noticing the two of you before smirking.

“Everything okay around here?” Harley said with a knowing grin as he looked at the two of you.

Peter rolled his eyes at Harley’s presence while you glared at him, he knew exactly what he was doing. But before Harley could say another word, Peter simply shot a web to the door a slammed it shot, barely closing it on Harley’s fingers who was snickering as he realized what Peter would do.

“Keep it close, HAPPY” you said to your AI as you turned around towards Peter again who was blushing as he cleared his throat while standing up from the chair.

“I need to go to class but I can come by tonight, oh n-” Peter stumbled through his words while you were still watching him carefully from your place.

“What?”

Peter groaned as he took out his phone. “Ned’s visiting”

“Really?” you gushed.

It had been a long time since you had seen any of Peter’s friends, no one since that night at Flash’s parties and you would be lying if you said that you didn’t miss them. Of course, that you were extremely close, you had tried to catch up with them after you had left, random text messages each time you could send one but nothing more than that. So, when Peter mentioned the possibility of seeing them again, it caused you to instantly smile.

“Yeah, he’s here for the weekend so we were planning on doing something with MJ” Peter answered with a smile as he saw how you beamed.

“Well, why don’t you come here?” you suggested with a smile.

“Are you sure? I mean, we can reschedule or I could come later” Peter stuttered as he watched you nervously.

You didn’t have to be a genius to know it was because Peter was planning on spending that time with Gwen too. You felt a pang of jealousy growing on your chest but you quickly shook it off, reminding yourself that you had decided to be beyond that because of Peter’s apologies, that even if he had said it while you were on a rush, Peter had been truthful about everything and simply because you wouldn’t hate on a girl for being chosen over you.

“You know we left things as friends so I have no problem if Gwen comes” you finally muttered shyly as Peter’s eyes widened in surprise.

Peter swallowed hard, he was glad that you didn’t have a problem with Gwen and that you were being so mature as actually inviting her to your own home. But the thing was that Gwen would probably have a problem with him hanging out with you, again.

Especially since it wasn’t Spiderman related.

“Oh, okay…” was Peter’s only answer as you stood up from where your suit was towards your desk.

“Yeah, come and then we’ll stay up later researching more stuff” you suggested as Peter walked behind you completely stunned by your offer.

But he simply couldn’t and wouldn’t say no.

“Yeah, thank you” he stammered as he watched you while you sat on your desk, already typing furiously on it. Around eight?”

“Sounds right”

“I’ll text you” he replied before the doors of the lab opened.

“And I’ll answer!” you promised before you heard the doors closing and you smiled at the thought of what had happened.

As soon as Peter got out, you got to work. You decided to review the footage of what you had captured on the club, the only bad thing that you realized is that none of the guys at the club weren’t wearing alien technology. You hadn’t detected any actual surge of the energy type that these weapons would usually have, which was disappointing but you decided to analyze and go over the other pieces of information you had while periodically you started mending your suit.

You guessed since there wasn’t any solid plan to stop Frisk right now, you would start with the basics which some of them you already had. If you wanted to push the rest of the Avengers into this or even start any strong case against Kingpin, you had to collect all the information you possibly could need from the trading of the weapons he already had to the possible negotiations he was doing with Hammer or Oscorp. You spent hours hacking all the security systems of Frisk’s legitimate companies to check if they had any important transaction at the moment, after spending only minutes on Hammer’s information and noticing that a big payment had been made.

It was infuriating how stupid he had been, he didn’t even care to hide his trace.

Then, you decided to spend time working on the possible places where the alien technology, weapons, and drugs were being exchanged or store, knowing that New York was the center of operations, there had to be somewhere where they were hiding this. This type of thing had an incredible surge of energy and it was probably really kept-well-hidden for it not to explode or cause anything slightly suspicious. But there wasn’t more, there were a couple of warehouses that you had pinpoint and needed to take a look at but you were suddenly interrupted.

Your phone rang a couple of times, you didn’t think much about it as you turned it around.

It was a private number.

“Who’s this?”

“I’m so sad that you don’t remember me” Felicia’s silvery voice sent shivers down your spine.

Felicia had been MIA since the disaster at the club, her last words being “be careful” had indeed upset you seeing that she was the one that had brought you to the club. But as 24 hours had passed, you started to feel somehow concerned for her, you had even hacked the number and revealed the real one from where she had sent you the instructions, but you soon realized it must’ve been a burner phone since there wasn’t any real answer. After that, you tried to push it into the back of your mind, focusing on your father ignoring you and the Avengers scolding you but still, there was still lingering anxiety regarding Felicia’s state.

“Felicia?”

“Come hang out with me,” she cooed, you felt as if you could hear the coy smile that was so characteristic of her. “I know you aren’t going to college yet and it’s so boring to stay in that cold tower all day long”

You weren’t exactly sure when your mouth had decided to talk before your brain had even time to process the proposal that Felicia was suggesting, but you were already nodding.

“Where should we meet?” you asked, no hesitation in your voice.

“I’m down here at Stark Industries lobby”

You felt a shiver of panic running through your body, you weren’t sure why she had gotten so close to a place she could be recognized by someone, although her characteristic eyes were well hidden behind the mask and she was in no database, you still felt like her hair was really noticeable. You felt afraid that if she was capture by any security camera or eyed by a security guard (who had been on high alert thanks to Happy’s precautions), she might get in trouble.

But Felicia detected the panic in your silence right away and she had it covered.

“Don’t worry, I’m not dressed as Black Cat and I covered my hair” she stated with a smirk, you rolled your eyes at her comment with a smile plastered on your face. After a beat of silence, where you could only hear the people that were walking near her in the lobby and she could only listen to the French music that had been lowered down as you received the call, she spoke. “So, are you coming?”

You felt your heart thumping on your chest because you knew this was probably the last thing you should be doing at the moment, but you still felt compelled to tell Felicia that you would follow her and you didn’t care where. You just needed a good cover before you could leave.

“I’ll be right down, give me ten.” You stated before quickly hanging up.

You stood from your chair as you tried to look at yourself on the camera of your phone, checking if you were actually decent since you realized you had been hours on your lab without really fixing yourself after the meeting. You cursed realizing that you had to at least put on some mascara and blush before you went to meet with her but you cursed as you realized that you still had to sneak out.

“HAPPY” you stated as you began to create a code for a new folder with all the files regarding Kingpin. “Place all of the files on this folder, this is restricted information for anyone but Peter and me, got it?”

“Yes, Miss Stark” the AI answered as all of the holograms began to disappeared from the room.

You then ran towards your suit, which was still a bit damaged by the last encounter but would still work if needed. You placed a hand over it and then tapped the charm on your necklace, soon all the nanobots began to travel from your hand to your arm and towards your chest where they would be stored, the arc reactor shining for a second after it was done.

“HAPPY, where’s my dad?” you asked the AI as you grabbed your phone and began to open the door slightly.

“He’s on his lab Miss Stark, he is busy”

You nodded quietly as you turned your gaze to Tony’s lab, hearing Aerosmith blasting on the speakers as he seemed to be working freely on his suit, goggles on, and everything. Although your dad had taken a few years of rest, as he watched Morgan grow up and spent more time with her, he still couldn’t stop making suits or working on different things. Thankfully he seemed way too focus, on whatever he was doing to his suit at the moment that he didn’t see how you quietly ran to Harley’s lab, sneaking in before Tony finished with one piece of his suit, you rapidly close the doors as Harley, who seemed to be working on a repulsors device that Tony had been interesting on researching in depth because of its energy.

Harley quickly stopped as he realized that you were there, he turned around expectantly.

“Can you cover for me?” you quickly asked him as you leaned against the door, praying that Tony didn’t see you.

Harley smirked. “Who are you going to see? Spiderling already left and it’s studying”

You widened your eyes as you tried to brush off the question. “Oh, no one”

“You know you can tell me” Harley continued as he leaned more on his chair as he watched you fidgeting with your phone.

You knew that Harley knew something, that shit-eating grin that was drawn on his face wasn’t something out of the blue. Although you didn’t care to admit it, Harley also knew you very well after years of spending time together, he knew how to generally read someone extremely well and nothing that he did was a casualty, he was very calculating and he knew how people could react.

“I’m going out with a friend” you whispered, trying to sound as uninterested as you possibly could but you catch the mischievous gleam on Harley’s eyes.

“Friend as in girlfriend or boyfriend?” He asked as he wiggled his eyebrows coquettishly.

You shot him an annoyed look right away. “Does it matter to you?”

“No” he shrugged indifferently.

“Good” you stated as you cleared your throat, hoping that he wouldn’t notice how warm your cheeks had become or how you had been fidgeting a bit. “Thanks, asshole”

You quickly exited the lab floor; relief washed over you as you managed to sneak out without Tony noticing you and rushed to your room. You quickly picked up a bag and tried to put on a little bit of make-up, at least anything so you could look better than what you were looking for before. Thankfully, Pepper wasn’t at the apartment at the moment and Morgan was up in her room with a nanny. You didn’t run into anyone on your way down to the lobby, quickly running through it, your eyes scanning the crowded room of people (since Tony had decided it was a public space as well) to find Felicia.

It didn’t take long for you to spot her near one of the main entrances.

Her outfit was a far cry from the clothes that she had worn in your previous encounters. She was wearing an oversize high-waisted jean with chunky tennis, along with a nice black sports bra that fitted her nicely but was covered with an oversize black hoodie and a beanie, hiding the great majority of her silver hair except for a few strands that framed her face. Her greyish-purple eyes gleamed as she saw you walking towards her with a malicious smile.

“That was fast” she teased as her eyes seemed linked with yours, but you looked away nervously.

“Nice outfit” you blurted out, ashamed by the random comment.

Felicia gazed down at yours, scanning your body. You were wearing an oversize dark blue sweater over a white blouse, the collar popping out from the sweater, accompanied by a white short tennis skirt and some tennis that you had clean up recently. You knew you looked okay, it was a cute outfit but you felt like maybe it was too pristine for her taste.

“Yours too”, she said with a knowing smirk, although it was completely obvious that your outfits were completely different, then she saw you putting on a dark blue mask over your face. “What’s that for?”

You stopped as you look around, already noticing some people staring at you a little bit more than usual. It was a normal thing, for you to get attentive looks when you walked on the streets, therefore you had gotten used to hiding your face if you were going out. It was a common thing you did when you hanged out with Peter and his friends in public places if there were too many people close by, it had become even a normal habit when you were in your mission.

“You don’t want people recognizing us, right?” you asked before quickly placing the mask on your face and taking her hand to exit the lobby, to lose some of the people who had been staring at both of you before they got their phones out.

She smirked as she followed your path on the street. “You have it all figured out, don’t you?”

“Actually, I don’t because I have no idea why you called me” you turned on your heels watching her intently, you didn’t want her to notice that you felt a bit upset that she had left you behind the other night.

Felicia stayed silent for a few seconds; a bit stunned by how forward your comment was.

“Well,”, she cleared her throat. “Since we are going to be working together, I figured we could get to know each other, and… what better way than to hang out” she purred as a hand caressed your arm with twinkly eyes, without addressing what had happened days prior.

You felt goosebumps appearing on your skin, your breathing becoming not all together light as you watched her intently. You knew that probably if Tony or Peter or Steve or honestly, any of the other Avengers saw you doing what you were doing, talking with Black Cat -an enemy- in such a manner, you would’ve probably gotten your suit taken away.

But no one was watching you, no one was judging you and you felt like you could be you, this was your choice.

“Where are we going?”

Felicia didn’t answer right away, instead, she decided to grab your hand and make you run beside her to the nearest metro station, she paid for your ride and you got into the train that she had ordered you to get in, running before the doors close on you. She told you that it was going to be a surprise, you weren’t sure if your heart raced in excitement or suspicion, which even grew when you ended up taking more than one train.

But it was nothing that you expected it.

You had visited Coney Island a couple of times before, mainly with Tony and Pepper and another time with Peter and his friends. It was a place with fun memories but that seemed so far away that you hadn’t thought about it in a long time. The fast times, the bright lights, the arcade rings, the laughs; it seemed so distant as you walked through the place.

“You don’t seem like the kind of person who likes Coney Island” you commented as you glanced at Felicia who was walking next to you.

She shrugged. “I don’t like it in the summer, but in autumn there aren’t many people, which is the only way I can come”

“I get you” you nodded with a smile as you continue to see what games had been added or what you could do, not that you saw it but she smiled too.

Without any warning, Felicia took a hold of your hand and began to drag you through the whole place as the salty air hit your face, mixed with the giggles and laughs from both of you while you enjoyed the day.

If you could describe Felicia in one word, the only thing that came to mind was fearless. Felicia was herself and she wasn’t afraid to be herself, which was something that you wished to be for the longest time. During the day you observed her quietly, noticing little details about her and you felt somehow the similar warmth you had felt with Peter and them. You realized that Felicia laughed loudly, it wasn’t a common thing but when she laughed, she really laughed.

She was also very blunt, she said whatever was on her mind, and sometimes, she didn’t even have a filter; like when one guy had been trying to flirt repeatedly after she had already said she was not interested, as you both bought ice cream to eat in front of the beach. She had finally decided to sing along to the tune of “short dick man”, repeatedly, until the guy had gone away. You had laughed for about five minutes afterward. She had dark humor, which you enjoyed since when you usually made the type of jokes, Pepper or Tony got concerned -given that they were somehow still protective over you-. She was loud, she was angry, she wasn’t shy or embarrassed, she said what was on her mind, she was unapologetically herself and you loved every single moment.

She seemed to be the opposite of whatever you were supposed to be, how you had been raised. You were supposed to be quiet; you were supposed to follow the rules, you were supposed to do whatever people told you, you were supposed to help people and be a good hero, a good girl.

And Felicia wasn’t, but you loved it.

The afternoon continued perfectly, you walked through the boardwalk as you ate your ice cream while she told you stories, although you had to wait until you were far away enough from people to actually start eating your ice cream; you even share a bit with Felicia since she had already eaten hers. You had also managed to play in the different games of the arcade, both of you knowing you would ask for the biggest price as your aim was perfect, both winning the biggest and fluffiest toys that you had seen, but you quickly gave it to a few kids that were in awe as they saw you walking with them. You had managed to sneak into a circus sideshow which had a contortionist, a man who swallowed swords, and a fire eater, you had squirmed on your seat for the contortionist; even more when Felicia had whispered in your ear that she could probably do the same thing. Then, you spent some of the last hours of the afternoon watching carefully the collection of free-standing murals, even taking a few pictures in front of the graffiti of mermaids, amusement park rides, and more.

But although it all had been fun and laughs for a while, when the sun was setting down Felicia and you managed to seat in one of the benches farther away from the rest of the people. You weren’t really sure what compelled her to tell you everything that she had told you, or what had compelled you to ask if she had anyone else in her life, but you immediately felt your heart clenching on your chest as she told you really about her. Felicia’s mom was a no-show, she didn’t even remember her and had been raised only by her father who had died a couple of years ago of bad stomach cancer, which had been painful to watch. He had been the one who had taught her everything, he was the one that had encouraged her to never settle for second best and always succeed in whatever she wanted.

After her father’s death, she had enrolled in NYU which had ended up being one of the worst ideas of her life. She had been assaulted by someone that was supposed to be her friend, but she hated her idea of becoming a victim, something that she didn’t think of herself as, she never wanted to see herself like that; she had managed to get her revenge at the end but after that, she decided to drop out and continue on the path that she was now in. So, after that she hadn’t found anyone, she had acquaintances and she would go out from time to time with people from the different jobs she had, but no one really close. The only one who knew her secret identity had been the bartender that you had seen at the club, who had been a friend of her late father, who had promised her father that he would take care of her.

But regardless, it seemed like she was alone.

You knew that alone wasn’t the same as lonely, and although Felicia never said that she was, you couldn’t help to avoid that she was indeed feeling lonely. You knew being in the job, either as a hero or as a criminal was hard because not many people were in the same business. You had been lucky enough to grow in a family of superheroes and then you had been lucky enough to find Peter but Felicia, she didn’t have people. She liked that mostly she was known as Black Cat, you could tell by how her eyes glowed each time she told you about her times and adventures as this persona, but you weren’t sure why she didn’t feel the same as when she was just Felicia.

“I like that about you, Stark” she had finally sighed as she glanced at you slightly. “You are just you; you are y/n Stark. No secret identity, no hiding”

You shrugged. “Well, that’s not true,” you said pointing at the mask.

Felicia’s grin turned catlike. “Touché”

The air turned lighter than what it had been before as you heard the waves hitting the sand while the moon lightened up along with the bright lights of Coney Island. You glanced at Felicia and realized how the moon always seemed to fit perfectly with her, the way it brightened up her plump lips and for some reason, it made her eyes look more purple than before, while the silver hair combined perfectly with the light. It seemed as if she was transforming to Black Cat herself only with the light of it.

But you could still see some of the heaviness on her eyes, the conversation you had must’ve taken an emotional toll on her and you felt your stomach twisting as you thought about how she must’ve been thinking now about her father.

“Come,” you said standing up in the blink of an eye.

Felicia frowned with a smile. “What are you doing, Stark”

“Come Hardy” you repeated as you offered your hand.

You pulled her into the games once again, more people were arriving now with thicker sweaters and coats as the night turned a bit colder than before. You ran through the places and quickly stopped on the ice cream stand, now only taken one ice cream for Felicia, the one she had eaten with you, and immediately pulled her towards the bright Ferris Wheel. You quickly took your seat as you sat Felicia first and then place the ice cream on her hands and then you adjusted the seat for both of you.

As the wheel began to move, Felicia seemed a bit stunned by the whole ordeal but you could see a smile tugging on the corners of her lips.

“You look good when you smile,” you said quietly, your voice almost dropping down to a whisper as you reached the top of the Ferris Wheel and it stopped moving.

“Well, it was a good day”, she replied with a nudge to your shoulder, watching you playfully.

You glanced at her, her eyes beaming. “It was”

“And we haven’t even got to work”

You felt your shoulders tense up and you knew that your smile had vanished from your face as soon as Felicia had mentioned work. You had completely forgotten to tell her what had happened that very same day, you cursed yourself and how distracted you had been during the whole day. You stammered but Felicia had already caught up with how tense you were.

“What happened?” she asked seriously.

You took a sharp intake of breath, as your mind was grinding, thinking what was the best way to tell Felicia that there was no Avengers other than you and Peter coming to help you. That after telling you everything that she had told you that day, you would disappointment. You turned around quickly facing away as the urge to vomit grew in a second before you managed to calm down quickly.

“Look,” you said as you breathed heavily. “We were dismissed from the mission and now-”

“What? Why?” Felicia asked as she touched your shoulder hastily.

You could sense the urgency in her voice.

“Fury and the others don’t think that Kingpin is an immediate threat and they are going to a mission in Europe today. They don’t want to focus on this”

“He is! Did you tell him everything?” Felicia continued.

“I did!” you answered with the same urgency. “Fury doesn’t care, he doesn’t want to get involve and neither did my father. They don’t listen and I’m tired of it, I’m tired of being only good to follow orders and remain quiet. It’s like I have to prove myself all the time to them, especially dad” you sniffled and only then you realized you were on the verge of tears. “I’m so sorry, I know it’s not what I had in mind either but I can promise you that I will protect you, Peter and I will protect you from Kingpin”

Felicia stayed silent for a moment; you were sure that your eyes were burning holes on her face as you watched how her mind was working it out. You felt like you stop breathing as she figured out her next step, you knew that you would keep your promise but you were terrified it wouldn’t be good enough for Felicia to accept it and simply leave you. The thing was that you didn’t know why you were terrified, was it because she would keep working with Kingpin and the advantage you had for the mission would be gone? Or was it because you cared about the girl in front of you with greyish-purple eyes and silver hair who made your heart skip a beat when she gave you a cat-like smile that she had.

“I trust you,” was what she finally said as she gazed back at you with a slight frown. “If you tell me that you and Spidey can do this, then I’ll help you”

You took a deep breath of relief as you stared at her. “That means a lot”

She shrugged with a smile. “You are special, Stark”

You were a little taken aback by the words of Felicia. Through the dim lights at the top of the Ferris Wheel, you could see a bit of trepidation and heaviness in the forefront, but you also saw warmth in her gaze and something much more intense and much deeper. You would like to say that you recognized it, knowing that you were somehow reciprocating since you two had met. You felt your body burning in anticipation but before you could say anything, you felt your phone vibrating on your back.

You were taken aback by the name that lightened up the screen, along with a goofy photo of Peter from years ago.

“Hello?” you answered as Felicia looked away for a bit while you mouthed sorry.

“Hey, we just finished watching Star Wars and I think we are ready to go now, I’m sorry we are late. So, we are on our way, just giving you a heads up” Peter said contentedly as you heard MJ and Ned laughing in the back.

You involuntarily slap your face with your hand, groaning as Felicia jumped alarm by how hard you had slapped yourself. You had completely forgotten that Peter, MJ, Ned, and Gwen were coming to your home that night, you hadn’t even been checking the hour, completely silencing HAPPY for the day when you had arrived at Coney Island.

“Fuck, no” you groaned as you watched the time, it was over 8:00 pm and you knew you had messed up. Peter stayed silent at your comment for a second as if he was hoping that you had just said the wrong thing but you quickly continue. “Take all the time you need, I’ll be there in forty minutes, can you guys wait for me?”

“Oh, okay,” Peter said a little bit took aback but you didn’t give him time to say anything else as you hung up quickly.

“I have to go, I’m so sorry”, you muttered as you tried to signal the guy who was handling the Ferris Wheel to bring you down.

Felicia didn’t say anything but she just watched you quietly instead as you sighed relief once the Wheel began to go down again, you liked to imagine it was thanks to how you were screaming at the guy down there. You knew that if Peter arrived there before you did, that meant that he would probably simply take the elevator and run into your that, who knew you didn’t have many friends to hang out with and destroying the cover that you thought Harley would have for you.

Nonetheless, you also knew that wearing your suit to arrive early to the house could present a problem because if you were hanging out with someone you would probably bring them home as well and not simply be flying on your own. Plus, you didn’t want to give anything more to the media being that you weren’t their favorite person at the moment and that they could take even a small flight to criticize you.

It wasn’t until Felicia called your name that you snap out of your thoughts.

“Hey, Stark!” she called you and you spun so fast on your heels that you didn’t realize how close she was to you.

You froze as you felt her silky hands take off the mask that you had been wearing as she leaned in, you felt your breath caught when you felt the lightest touch of her hand on the back of your neck as she pulled you in. Your body was buzzing as her lips ghosted over yours, she pulled you in so close that you were now flush up against her, your eyes linked for a second and your eyes fluttered down to her lips, she decided to close the space.

Felicia’s lips tasted like cotton candy and ice cream.

You felt your whole body was crackling, sparkling with electricity and the burning need to feel closer to her. To have her touch. You weren’t going to lie that you were a bit stunned and it took you a minute to respond but her lips were plush and fervently pressing against yours causing you took a hold of her waist and pulled her even closer, another one of your hands traveling to cup her face while your lips continued to move at the same beat as hers.

You had been thinking about her lips long enough, how plump they were and how pretty they looked. But her lips against yours was a whole other thing. It was like you were breathing the other with the taste of the ice cream in both of your lips. Felicia hummed against your lips and you smiled into it, completely hypnotized by the movement of her soft lips and how you felt your skin burning where she was touching.

A whimper barely escaped your lips but Felicia had already pulled back, getting a good look at you. You opened your eyes and blinked in surprise as you watched Felicia’s plump lips form into a cat-like grin, but neither said anything as she watched you intently and quickly placed your mask on your face again.

“I’ll call you, Stark” she whispered before she let go of you and went her merry way.

You struggled to speak, to form any coherent word and so you let her go in silence. Somehow it felt overwhelming for you, every one of your senses had been locked into the moment and it felt as if everything around you had disappeared as you kissed her. You knew that you had been harboring some kind of feeling for Felicia and it seemed like you had lied yourself enough times to simply push that to the back of your head but as you had kissed her it felt like they had been poured out without any warning, and it seemed stronger than what you had anticipated.

You weren’t sure how you got home, all the way through you had only thought about Felicia’s lips over yours and what did it mean? She had been the one to initiate the kiss, was it a way to say thanks? Was it because she had the same feelings that you had? Was it because she just wanted to mess with you?

It was only when you reached Stark Tower that you snapped out of your thoughts thanks to Ned Leed’s voice.

“y/n!”, Ned gushed as he hugged you from behind without any warning.

Sometimes you weren’t really sure how Ned was always so full of happiness and energy all the time, you had guessed -as you had gotten to know him better- that he simply had a gift for it. He was the sweetest boy and the kindness that he had in his heart always set him apart from everyone else. There was a sparkle in him that resonated with you and you didn't find it weird, or awkward when you began to hang out with Ned without Peter or MJ when you first met. You could easily fall into a conversation with him and keep on going for hours, he had become a light in your life; Sometimes, when Peter had assured you that you were his sunlight, you weren’t really sure since you had guessed it was a term that fitted better with Ned.

“Oh!”, you said with a smile “Ned!”

Peter walked behind him as he talked with MJ, laughing at how Ned had raised you from the floor with his hug. Peter had been ecstatic about your invitation, Ned and MJ had been elated as well but Gwen hadn’t been that elated. Nonetheless, he knew how deeply you cared about his friends and how deeply they cared about you. You had easily become part of the group and Peter was more than happy about it.

“How are you!?” you replied as he let go of you and you placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’ve missed you so much!”

“MIT is great!” Ned said with this big smile as you giggled a bit. “I was hoping we could see at least one class together next semester! Do you think you will be over there, next semester? Can you make it work?”

You stammered as Ned gazed excitedly at you, you almost felt coaxed to agree with him, by how wide his smile was, knowing that it was a real possibility that you wouldn’t go back to MIT and keep studying in New York, at least in the foreseeable future but before any word escaped your mouth, MJ intervened.

“Ned, let her breath” MJ stated as she walked over to you with a light smile.

“MJ!” you gushed as you gave her a small hug, knowing that she wasn’t into being too touchy.

She hugged you back which you appreciated. “We’ve missed you here in New York.” She stated as she backed out.

“I know, I’ve missed you guys too” you answered sweetly as your eyes fell on Peter.

Sometimes you forgot how your heart would skip a beat when Peter looked at you like that. Peter Parker had a thing and that was when he smiled truly and honestly, his eyes would just wrinkle a bit and his face would just brighten up, it would look as if his freckles were beaming and would combine perfectly with the caramel curls that would often fall on his forehead. You knew that look so well, because it was a recurrent expression he would have around you but you hadn’t been paying attention since you had arrived, you didn’t know if it was because you had been so absent from your thoughts but it was the first time you were seeing it since you had arrived.

“Hey!” Peter said with a smile and you fought the urge of playing with his curls as he placed a small kiss on your cheek.

“Hey!” you answered rapidly, fighting the urge to get flush but then you remembered. “Um- where’s Gwen?”

Peter's eyes widened for a moment as he cleared his throat. “Oh,” he stammered. “She’s coming”

Peter didn’t know if she was coming.

They had been having coffee close by during the afternoon and talking about a physics exam but midway through it, Peter had told her about your invitation. He knew you had done it honestly as a good gesture, an invitation in order to mend whatever was left of your past friendship and he knew that part of it was also hanging out with his current girlfriend. But Gwen disagreed, she had growled that you were trying to win him back and that he was falling right into it, she felt offended just by the fact that you -or well, Peter- had suggested that she should come, knowing that you were once in love with him.

Deeply, Peter understood what Gwen was saying but he also tried to explain to her what was really happening and how important it was for him given that this didn’t involve just him, but his whole life as Spiderman. Gwen told him that she would think about it but he hadn’t heard back from her.

“Good, I’m glad!” you answered while you swallowed hard, biting your lip for a second as you tried to get back on your train of thoughts. Peter noticed how distracted you look. “Please, come in!”

You were glad that the lobby had already closed down by the time you had arrived so you could quickly take off your mask and breathe freely. Knowing that you still needed, given that you were still thinking about Felicia’s lips and now you were thinking about Peter’s eyes.

You entered the apartment quickly, as you tried to lay all of your things down first so you could be more attentive with your guests, given that you had spent the day with Felicia and not preparing for the hangout.

“I’m so sorry, I don’t have anything ready. I was out”

Peter frowned. “With who?” he asked suspiciously but at the same moment, Harley entered the living room with Morgan in his arms.

Harley’s curly dirty blonde hair was being tugged by Morgan’s tiny hands as she giggled loudly. “I didn’t know we were having guests tonight, then I would have gotten Morgan ready”

You smiled at them as you quickly took Morgan from Harley’s arms and the baby gushed. “y/n!” she was already getting so big and was smarter than you had expected, already speaking correctly and forming full sentences.

“Hi baby!” you cooed as you nuzzle your nose against her.

“I almost forgot you had a sister!” Ned said as he started to play with Morgan, reaching out to her as the baby quickly latched onto his fingers while he cooed at her.

“Who could forget someone so pretty?” Harley asked as he gazed directly at MJ, walking away from Morgan, Ned, and you, his eyes sparkling mischievously.

“Hey H,” MJ said with the same confidence that Harley had, as she beamed at him.

MJ and Harley had known each other since you had introduced them one night a couple of years prior at the compound when MJ was having a sleepover with you. Harley had been instantly enamored by the cool aura that MJ dripped and how little did she care for everything that a normal teenager was supposed to care. MJ, on the other hand, loved how smart Harley was, how he always seemed to say the right thing, and obviously, how interesting he was.

Nonetheless, neither had made a move.

“Harley, don’t flirt with my friends” you commented as you held Morgan tightly and shot Harley an annoyed glare.

Harley flushed a bit, the tip of his ears turning pink as he looked at you wide-eyed while MJ laughed at him with a large grin, the underlying tension between them already growing with your comment.

“Didn’t know we have people coming” Pepper appeared from the kitchen with Tony behind, her long hair tied in one of the ponytails she used to wear years prior.

Pepper began to say hi to your friends as Tony leaned on the couch of the large living room, watching you intently.

“Neither did I” Tony commented as he crossed his arms.

You felt your heart racing in your chest. “I’m sorry, I forgot to tell you”

“It’s okay dear” Pepper stated as she gave you a quick peck on your cheek as you said ‘hi’. “I’m just sad that we already ate dinner”

“Oh, don’t worry we are just maybe going to cook something or ordered it in”, you muttered as you kissed Morgan repeatedly on her cheek for a second as Ned made Morgan giggle uncontrollably.

“Where were you today?” Tony asked plainly at you as he raised his eyebrows.

You felt your blood cold as you turned around in panic while watching your father. Tony had a thing for catching people in lies and although you knew it was possible to lie at him, you also knew that if he saw the slightest twitch or inconsistency, he would be able to see right through you.

He was one of the smartest men on earth, for god’s sake.

“Uhm- Harley didn’t say?” you asked as you looked at Harley while raising your eyebrows.

Harley shot you an annoyed look, which you answered immediately with another one.

“He said you were out with a friend regarding the Halloween thing?” Tony said suspiciously, clearly questioning you and you felt the panic rushing through your veins.

“I was with MJ!” you quickly blurted out as your gaze then fell back on MJ.

MJ looked surprised for a second, stunned at your comment but she was quick, she realized that you needed a cover. You raised your eyebrows at her and nudge to say something, anything.

“Yeah, yeah!” MJ stammered as she placed one strand of hair on the back of her ear as she smiled at Tony. “y/n was helping me pick a costume”

Peter cocked his head and wrinkled his nose, knowing that there was no way that MJ was hanging out with you today, she had spent the last few hours with him and Ned. He knew that you were lying and he stared intently at you. You tried to not react at Peter’s gaze lock on you, knowing that you would have to explain later what you were doing, you only hope he gave you enough time to think about an excuse.

“Right…” Tony sassed as he walked towards you. “What costume did MJ pick?”

“Dad, stop”

“What? It’s not like you have many friends! I just want to know” Tony retorted with a shrug.

But you knew exactly what he was doing and you weren’t going to fail.

“Rude” you stated as you glared at your dad. “I have friends and if you really want to know, we went to a lingerie shop because we want to dress as the characters mean girls so if you don’t mind”

Tony’s face turned bright red as he heard you and was already covering his ears, singing a tune -loudly- by the time you finished.

You smirked.

“You were the one who wanted to know,” Pepper said with a shrug as she smiled at Tony who glared at her, you smiled with a shrug as you continue to play with Morgan and gave quickly a wink to MJ who nodded in agreement.

Peter frown at the interaction, knowing that whatever you were hiding seemed to be important.

“Yeah, yeah” he quickly answered as he stepped towards you and kissed you on the forehead, softly whispering. “I’m glad that you are okay, thank you for taking it okay”

You smiled at your dad and quickly hugged him with Morgan on your arm, who joined in the hug. Nonetheless, the pang of guilt invaded you because you knew it wasn’t the truth, you weren’t taking it okay and you were doing everything that you had been ordered not to do.

Soon after the whole thing, Tony took Morgan out of your arms and said goodnight with Pepper as they went to the other floor to sleep. It was already too late for Morgan and honestly, it was late for Tony and Pepper as well, you felt like you could breathe again when they left. Harley decided to go with you, much to Peter’s annoyance and to MJ’s delight. You then decided that you were going to cook some pasta with wine and then maybe watch a movie, the dinner was nice as Peter and you handled the pasta while Ned and Harley began to cook the sauce, MJ was the DJ as she played one of her perfectly curated playlists since she didn’t know or was interested in cooking.

Throughout the night many different topics resurface, old fights and old movie nights, how Flash seemed to have a permanent crush on you and what had happened in the time that you had left. Ned was the one that lead most of the conversation regarding college and throughout the whole night, Harley flirted with MJ, which MJ responded to with coy smiles and blush cheeks. Nonetheless, you couldn’t stop your eyes from falling to Peter who seemed to be getting quieter and quieter as the night progressed, he seemed to be constantly checking his phone and furiously typing messages.

Deep down you knew they were from Gwen when after a while she still hadn’t shown up.

It wasn’t until you were taking some of the plates to the kitchen while MJ and Ned discussed what movie to watch with Harley that you really had a chance to talk to Peter. He followed you onto the kitchen while you place the plates into the sink with a sigh.

“Hey, where were you today?” Peter said as he entered the kitchen and lean into the marble island as you turned towards him.

You froze as you watched Peter’s inquisitive expression, your mind grinding what you were about to tell him.

“I was doing fieldwork”, you lied as you got closer to him. “Nothing extraordinary”

Peter gave you a veiled expression as your gazes linked. “You know you have to tell me this type of things, right?” he finally answered with a sigh.

“Yeah, but I got no information today” you answered, which was true you hadn’t really talked about anything different with Felicia than her life or random things, there was no new information about the mission per se. “I’ll tell you if I find anything. Are you going to patrol tonight? Maybe we can-”

Peter’s phone started ringing, Peter quickly grabbed it from his pocket and read the name on it. He quickly glanced at you with a painful expression. “Sorry, I have to take this”

You didn’t manage to answer, Peter was already walking towards the living room outside of the kitchen. You didn’t know if it would be the wisest thing for you to try to listen to what he was talking about but you knew he was talking with Gwen. You remained in the kitchen, staring at him talking on his phone, not that he really noticed, he was headfirst into the conversation and it seemed rather intense. You had come to learn Peter’s mannerisms when he was mad or when he was mad and discussing with someone, his stentorian stance, how his jaw would clench, how he would roll his eyes when he felt frustrated, how he would talk with his hands if the conversation got heated.

“What are you doing?”

MJ’s voice snapped you out of your thoughts regarding Peter and your gaze from him, you turned around to see her shaking her head with a smile.

“Dishes” you answered as you pointed at the plates on the sink, knowing that there was no way MJ was buying it as she sat on one of the stools near you.

“Apart from spying on Peter” she added as she raised her eyebrow.

You glared at her. “I was not” you whined.

“Yes, you were, it’s okay,” she said with a shrug as she gazed back at Peter.

You sighed and did the same, watching as Peter ran a hand through his caramel curls frustratingly as he seemed to get louder while he kept holding his phone tighter on his ear. It wasn’t good and you couldn’t help the urge of going to where Peter was, threw his phone away and simply hold him, play with his hair and help him fall asleep as you had done so many times before.

“I just,” you said frustrated. “Why wouldn’t she come?”

“She was busy”, MJ said as she took out her phone and showed you Gwen’s Instagram stories.

You could see Gwen being in a group photo of many friends but especially close to one random guy who was holding her by the waist. Then another one of Gwen’s kissing a guy’s jaw, the photo moving from a smile to a kiss on his jaw. The last one was Gwen being held by her waist by the same random guy as he gave a peace sign.

You winced at the thought of how Gwen must’ve been feeling and you felt the pang of guilt again. You knew she was doing that because it was a call for attention to her boyfriend, you would’ve been lying if you said you wouldn’t be that dramatic, knowing your reaction at seeing them kiss a year and a half prior. It was normal, it was a normal thing to do if you were feeling like that and if you didn’t have any other tool on your emotional box to react to that.

But you also felt for Peter knowing that seeing those stories and the possible text couldn’t be anything good for him, he had to be hurt by them.

“They have been struggling a lot” MJ commented, snapping you once again from your thoughts.

“Who?”

“Peter and Gwen, they just… they have been having issues. Especially since he told him about Spiderman” MJ continued as she watched her phone.

You felt your stomach twisting inside because you knew that Peter hadn’t like being Spiderman for so long but had accepted the responsibility he had when he had gained those powers and that now, years after finally accepting them, they were going to be used against him in a relationship? It didn’t seem fair.

“That sucks?” you stated as you glanced at MJ “It’s not like Peter can decide over his powers or responsibility. It’s something greater than him”

“Yeah, but it still sucks that he has to sneak around and then leave you as an afterthought” MJ replied with a shrug.

You knew that it was also true that this work wasn’t easy and that not many people would understand.

“That’s true too,” you said as you stared back at Peter.

“Love isn’t just chemistry, it’s logistic”

You turned around impressed by MJ’s intelligence on the topic, not that you were surprised that MJ was as smart emotionally as she was smart academically. But the thing was that your mind couldn’t help but to go back to the kiss with Felicia and in reality, the whole thing that was going on between both of you. What was the possible logistic behind that friendship or relationship?

Nonetheless, you didn’t want to fester on it and you pushed it into the back of your mind for the moment; quickly changing the topic.

“Hey, so costume party, you?” you asked MJ with a smile, looking at her cheekily.

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I guessed it was time since now I have more friends. My parents are going on a trip and they let me have the apartment for Halloween so I’m excited. Betty and Flash are also coming back for it.”

You smiled widely. “You know my favorite holiday is Halloween”

It was true, Halloween had become your favorite holiday since you could remember. Birthdays weren’t that special for you, you didn’t enjoy the attention you received, even if it came from Tony or Pepper, and since you didn’t have many friends to celebrate it with when you were younger, it didn’t seem important. Christmas wasn’t your favorite either, your mom had passed away during that time and it didn’t bring good memories, they were always nice but nothing more than that, plus Tony had never bought the puppy you wanted so that contributed.

But, but, Halloween was a whole different story for you. You loved that you were able to be someone else each year and it had become a tradition for you to go trick or tricking with the best Halloween costumes ever. Most importantly, Tony would go with you and no one would recognize you since you would always wear a mask, it felt like you could be yourself and not “y/n Stark”, at least for one night of the year. The tradition had continued even when you were older, Tony agreed of going through the streets of New York in different costumes and go to pick up food and candy from any restaurant you wanted, later eating it at home. One of your favorite Halloween’s hand been when you had managed to take all the Avengers to do the same, it had ended up being one of your favorite days as you walked through Time Square with Steve dressed as Ironman, Natasha dressed as Y/N Stark, Bruce dressed as Thor, Thor as Clint, Clint as Bruce, Tony dressed as Spiderman, and you and Peter decided to dress as Black Widow and Captain America.

It was a great Halloween.

“I do know that,” MJ said as she wiggled her eyebrows. “I can’t wait to see what you come as”

“Ugh, I still have to plan it but hey, thank you for inviting me,” you said honestly with a smile.

MJ huffed. “Why wouldn’t I? You are a great friend”

You winced at MJ’s words as you turned around to watch Peter again discussing even louder, he seemed so exhausted and you felt your heart clenching. Yeah, a great friend that doesn’t tell the truth to her best friend, you thought to yourself as you stared at the soft boy.

Soon, MJ and you decided to leave Peter alone for a bit, Ned and Harley had already started the movie and you sat on the couch with a smile as you watched the large screen. Still, you would turn around towards the door, hoping Peter would come and he eventually did but he seemed so drain, if he had sat closer to you, you would have probably start playing with his hair but he sat far away from you and you didn’t want to be over him, guessing he wanted to be alone.

When the movie ended, MJ gave you the details of the party that was going to happen in about two weeks, Harley invited himself before he placed a small kiss on the corner of MJ’s lips and he said goodnight. Ned gushed about how great the night had been with the same excitement he had, regardless that it was already the other day. MJ thanked you for everything and told you to text her, and then Peter said goodbye.

He seemed so tired and upset, but you knew he was trying his best to hide it.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay and work?” Peter stated as you walked them towards the elevator.

You shook your head. “I think we could use the night off”

Peter sighed and you felt the relief on his eyes as he stared at you for a moment. Deep down Peter had listened to you and MJ talking, not the whole thing but just bits and pieces, he knew that you knew, he had also caught you staring at him throughout the movie and he wished he would just go to you and cuddle, but the pangs of guilt and anger wouldn’t let him.

Gwen had said it was his fault, that he had been the one that hadn’t set the boundaries with you and if he wasn’t willing to do it then she would. She made Peter feel remorseful about the invitation, about the fact that he was hanging with you and he hated it, he hated knowing that although he assured Gwen and himself that nothing was happening between the two of you, he deep down knew he still had feelings for you.

“Thank you” he muttered with a smile as you kissed him on the cheek.

Peter felt his cheeks blushing as he said goodbye and entered the elevator with MJ and Ned, gaze still locked on you and yours locked on him.

But as soon as the doors close, you heard your phone vibrating from the kitchen. You walked towards the kitchen to see who it was and you froze at the text.

Felicia Hardy: see you tomorrow, Stark?

You smiled.

***

taglist: @spideylovin @fandomtrash100 @soullessbabee @liljennyx3

***

Can you tell that I wrote the final scene at 1:30 am?? It’s so late but I really wanted to get this out so I can start writing for the next chapter that’s going to be SOOOOO exciting. many of you had already notice he chemistry between felicia and y/n which i’m glad because that’s what i was going for and i hope their kiss made that tension justice. Felicia’s so much more than black cat so i wanted to add her backstory although i changed it a bit and now she got her revenge on her friend. Plus, there are already cracks that are more notable now between Peter and Gwen, that would hopefully be resolved in the next chapter. I’m really excited about this chapter, I poured my soul into showing y/n feelings for both Felicia and Peter. I really hope you like it!!

The new sneek peak for the next chapter is going to be on. the masterlist if you want to see what’s coming next!

please please please let me know your thoughts and opinions on this chapter and if you have ANY theories or comments I would love to see them!!! I’m already so happy with the love you have given to the last chapters, I really hope you like it! any feedback is well received and thank you so much!

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