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440mxs-wife · 4 years

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Oh, Baby!

Dean exited the restaurant with the take-out order, whistling as he walked to the Impala. He placed the bag on the passenger side of the front seat and turned the ignition. The engine roared to life, then settled into a gentle purr as he pulled away from the curb and started for home.

Since it was a gorgeous spring day, Dean had left the windows open while he waited for the food order. The weather was still cooperating, so he kept them down as he drove. In between songs on the radio, he heard a noise coming from the back seat. It startled him so much that he nearly lost control of the Impala. He pulled over to the side of the road to gather his thoughts and turned around to see what exactly made the noise.

"What the hell?!? A baby?? What is a baby doing in the back seat of my Baby?!?" he shouted as he pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

"Yeah, Dean, what's up?" answered Sam. "There's a WHAT in the back seat of your car?!?" exclaimed Sam. You were passing by the map table when you heard Sam's end of the conversation. You gave him a puzzled look, then relaxed as he held up his index finger to indicate he would tell you in a minute. "Just come on home, Dean, we'll figure it out when you get here. Over and out," Sam finished.

"What's going on, Sam?" you asked.

Sam nervously rubbed his forehead, not knowing how to begin to explain. "So get this. Dean was coming home with our food order from the restaurant. He was on his way back when he heard a noise coming from the back seat. He swerved and nearly lost control, but managed to get pulled over. He looked and saw a baby carrier and a baby in the back seat of the Impala."

"A baby?!? Ooh, is it a boy or a girl?" you asked, completely unfazed and a little excited.

"Really? After everything I just said, that's your only question?" Sam was still a little freaked out.

"I don't really see this as a problem, Sam. In my pre-hunting days, I used to babysit a lot in the neighborhood. Always thought about having a baby of my own someday...." you trailed off, a faraway look crossing your face. "I think I hear the Impala now," you said, bringing you back to reality.

Dean came down the spiral staircase, baby carrier in hand. You rushed to meet him, eager to get a look at the baby. "Here, can you please take her? I have to go back to the car and get our food order," Dean groaned.

"Absolutely, I'll take care of this," you assured him. As you walked away, Dean stared after you to see how you were going to deal with the situation.

You set the baby carrier down on a table in the library and pressed the buttons to move the handle out of the way. The baby had strawberry blond hair and the bluest eyes you'd ever seen, next to Castiel's eyes. She was wearing a pink onesie with baby blue jeans and little blue tennis shoes. Tears sprang to your eyes as you thought she was the most beautiful baby you'd ever seen.

You lifted her out of the carrier and set her on your shoulder. You noticed there was a note tucked into the side of the baby carrier. You unfolded it and read aloud.

To whomever may find this note:

This is my baby, Mackenzie Ann. I can no longer care for her, as my life is in danger just due to her being born. She is a very special baby, one who has an important future ahead of her. Please do whatever you must to protect her at all costs. I wish that I could do so, but I know that you will take good care of her.

Signed,

A Grateful but Heartbroken Mother

Tears filled your eyes and by the time you had finished reading the letter, Dean had brought the food everyone had ordered. "Was there a bag or backpack of any kind, something with baby supplies in it?" you asked him.

Dean shook his head. "Nope, just the kid," he responded.

"Her name is Mackenzie Ann, not 'the kid'," you informed him. "Well, if there's no bag or any baby supplies, I'll have to go back to town and get some things," you remarked.

"Wh-wh-whoa, you can't just leave the baby here! Sam and I don't know what to do," Dean sputtered.

"You also have no idea what to get, either. Relax, Dean. You boys can handle things for an hour or so," you replied with a wink. "I'll be back as soon as I can," you assured them.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

You zoomed back to town to the pharmacy for some baby supplies. Diapers, wipes, bottles, formula, a baby thermometer, pacifiers and even a cute stuffed teddy bear went into your cart. After the pharmacy, you went to the thrift store for some baby clothes and linens.

Your phone rang, so you fished it out of your pocket and checked the Caller ID. Dean. "What's going on, Dean? I'm still in town," you remarked.

"You have to hurry up and get back! This kid is non-stop crying! When will you be back?"

You checked your watch. "Dean, it's only been half an hour! I'll be done shortly, then I'll buzz right back," you promised as you hung up the phone. After purchasing some baby outfits and blankets at the thrift store, you put all of the bags in your car and headed back to the bunker.

Sam met you at the bottom of the stairs, holding the baby straight out in front of him. "Here, you can deal with her now. I'll get the rest of the stuff out of the car," he said as he traded you Mackenzie for the bags you brought in.

As soon as you made eye contact with her, Mackenzie seemed to calm down. You found the bag from the pharmacy that contained the diapers and wipes. After changing her diaper, you mixed a bottle of formula, settled into a rocking recliner and fed her. Once the feeding was completed, you sat holding Mackenzie, trying to get her to sleep. You gently rocked her until her eyes slowly drifted closed.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Dean was walking through the main living area and noticed you and Mackenzie in the recliner. By this time, your eyes were also closed. A soft smile came over Dean's face as he gazed at the figures in the recliner. Sam also noticed you as he caught up to Dean, the same smile crossing his face.

"Kinda cute, huh?" Sam asked as he motioned to you and Mackenzie.

"Yeah. She seems like she knows what she's doing, too," Dean remarked.

"She wasn't even freaked out that you were bringing home a baby, she was really excited. She said that she used to babysit a lot in her pre-hunting days. That, and...." Sam trailed off.

"And what?" Dean asked.

"Well, before you got home, she said something about wanting to have a baby of her own someday," Sam explained.

"From the looks of it, she'd make a great mom," Dean murmured. He walked over to the recliner, knelt down by the arm rest and gazed up at you. He reached up and tucked a stray lock of hair behind your ear, causing you to stir.

"Dean? What are you doing?" you asked sleepily.

He nervously cleared his throat as he stood up. "Just checking to see if the kid was really asleep or faking it," he muttered.

"She is definitely asleep. By the way, what are we doing about a bed for her? I didn't know how long she'd be staying, so I didn't even look at getting a crib," you explained.

"That's okay. Me and Sam took some pillows and blankets, and put them inside an old footlocker we found in one of the many rooms in this place. Don't worry, we took the lid off, so it's all good to go," he confirmed.

You nodded and slowly rose from the chair, putting Mackenzie on your shoulder and taking care not to disturb her. You followed Dean to his room where the makeshift crib was set up and placed the baby inside on her back. You were so caught up in watching her sleep, that you didn't notice Dean had come up behind you. At first, he placed his hands on your shoulders, then moved them down to settle on your sides.

You leaned back into Dean, then turned around in his arms. "What?" you asked.

"Watching you with her....you're so good at this. You really seem to know what you're doing. Sam told me that you used to babysit before you got into hunting," Dean remarked.

"It was my first job, how I first earned spending money," you explained.

"Have you ever thought about having kids of your own?" Dean asked.

You thought for a minute before answering. "Maybe someday. If I met the right person, it might be a possibility," you said softly. "But this life we lead....not really 'family friendly', and not exactly conducive to long-term relationships, you know? So, I'll have to make the most of the time we have with this little one." You gave him a quick smile before casting your eyes downward.

"Hey," he said gently. He put his finger under your chin and tilted your face upward to look into your eyes. "You're going to make a wonderful mom someday. Any kid would be lucky to have you as a mom, just like any guy would be lucky to...." he drifted off. He reached up to brush your cheek with the back of his hand. Dean leaned in and your lips met in a soft, tender kiss.

You pulled back a little to study his face, then dove back in to crash your mouth to his, moving in perfect harmony. His lips left your mouth to trail a series of fiery kisses across your cheeks. Then he kissed along your neck to the place where it met your collarbone. Once there, he took small nips at the skin, leaving his mark.

When you broke apart, you were both fighting to catch your breath. "I had no idea you felt this way, Dean," you started. "I know I've had these feelings for some time now, but thought you only ever wanted to be friends," you remarked.

"Ever since I brought Mackenzie into the bunker, I've been seeing you a little differently. Like seeing a 'future you', happily married to someone, with a family. Then I realized those are things I want someday also, and that I want to be the one to give that to you. You've been with Sam and me for nearly ten years. I don't know how I've gone this long without realizing how I felt about you," he finished.

"I guess it's better late than never, Mr. Winchester," you grinned. "Quick question: why did you put the crib in here instead of in my room?" you asked.

"Because this is where we had the tools for taking off the lid, and it's where we put the crib together. That, and I felt like she shouldn't be too far away, in case she wakes up in the middle of the night," he answered. "And maybe I was going to try and convince you that you needed to sleep here tonight. With me. No funny business, just wanted the feel of you waking up in my arms."

"Well, I guess I'd better get into my pajamas, then, hmm?" you replied. "I'll be right back," you promised as you lightly brushed his lips with yours.

By the time you had returned to his room, Dean had already changed into his sleeping attire and was under the blankets. You were dressed in teddy bear pajama pants and a rock band T-shirt you had once borrowed from Dean. He held the blankets up for you to slide in, patting the space next to him. You took one last look at Mackenzie, kissed her forehead, then got into bed.

Dean curled his arm around your midsection and drew you closer to him. He nuzzled your neck, placing a gentle kiss on your shoulder. "Goodnight, sweetheart," he said softly. A few minutes later, you heard his deep, even breathing, telling you that he had already fallen asleep. "Goodnight, my love," you whispered.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Weeks went by, with no word on any missing babies matching Mackenzie's description. You had just changed her diaper and you were getting ready to feed her, when out of the blue, Castiel paid you a visit. When he arrived, he had an extremely determined look on his face. As soon as he saw Mackenzie, he marched over to you.

"Where did you get this child?" he demanded.

Your arms tightened a bit around Mackenzie. "Dean found her in the back seat of the Impala several weeks ago," you answered, immediately on your guard.

"This child does not belong here. She has an important future ahead of her, and being here puts her in danger," Cas explained.

"There was a note with her that said something about that. What's the deal, Cas?" you asked, still being cautious.

"This child is a prophet of the Lord," Cas revealed. "She cannot be here. I must take her to live with the family who has already been chosen to raise her. They will ensure her protection until it is her turn to serve as prophet," he said as he moved to take the baby from you.

"NO. I don't care what she is, you can't have her," you retorted as you stepped away from Cas and called out for Dean.

"Sweetheart? What's going on? What are you doing here, Cas?" Dean asked as he came out of the kitchen.

"He's trying to take Mackenzie away from us! He says she's a prophet of the Lord and that being here isn't safe. He wants to place her with another family who will protect her until she is called to serve," you explained, tears now streaming down your cheeks.

"Shh, shh, shh, it's okay, Love," he said as he put his arms around you both. "Cas? What's going on?" Dean asked again.

"It has been determined that this child is a prophet and as such, must be kept safe at all costs. A family has already been chosen and she must go to them now," Cas explained.

"This bunker is supposed to be warded, so she is protected here. Please, Cas. Don't take her, not just yet," you pleaded.

Castiel was silent for a few moments, staring off into the distance. He was getting a message from "Angel Radio". "I can give you three days. On the evening of the third day, this child must go to her chosen family. I am sorry," he offered.

You nodded. "I understand. I don't like it, but I understand. Thank you, Cas," you replied. You walked over to the recliner and sat down with Mackenzie.

Dean and Cas watched as you fed Mackenzie. At one point, she started to get fussy, but after a few soothing words from you, she calmed down to finish feeding.

"I can sense that she has developed a rather strong bond with the child," Cas remarked. "I wish that I did not have to be the one to break it."

"She's amazing with Mackenzie, and it brought the two of us together. It's given me hope of one day having a family. I can definitely see the two of us having kids in the future. A kid would be lucky to have her as a mom," Dean added.

"And you as a father," Cas said. "I'm glad that the two of you found each other, and that you're happy together."

Dean and Cas looked over at you and Mackenzie sitting in the recliner, both of you asleep. As Dean reached down and picked up the baby, you stirred awake, a little panicked. "It's okay, sweetheart. I'm going to take her into our room and put her into her crib," he explained.

"I'll be in shortly, my love. Thank you," you said as you yawned.

Dean toted the sleeping Mackenzie on his shoulder, his hand rubbing circles on her back as he walked. You picked up the empty baby bottle and took it to the kitchen to rinse it out. Castiel followed you. "Castiel, is there something you wanted?" you asked testily.

"No, nothing. Only that I again offer my apologies for having to take the baby away. I can tell you have formed a strong connection to her," he replied sadly.

"Yeah, well, unfortunately it's not enough, is it Cas? I will always treasure the time I had with her, though. Excuse me," you said in a choked voice. You went off to Dean's room, which you now shared and began to change into your sleeping attire.

On the evening of the third day, Cas gave you the address for the family that would be raising Mackenzie Ann as their own and ensuring her safety. You put her in the back seat of the Impala with you so that you could spend as much time as possible with her.

When you arrived at the farmhouse, Castiel was waiting by the door, with a man and his wife. They looked to be in their early 30's, the man was dressed in coveralls, probably due to his job of running the farm. His wife was wearing jeans and a button-down shirt, and they both had kind faces.

You brought Mackenzie Ann in her carrier to the door, with Dean holding your free hand. Sam carried a bag with all of her supplies, including her clothes, extra diapers and the teddy bear. You passed the carrier to the wife, tears prickling at your eyes. "Thank you for taking such good care of her," the wife remarked softly.

"You're welcome. She's a really good baby, mild temperament. Likes it if you sing to her, mostly soft rock type stuff. This bag has her clothes and extra supplies in it," you explained. The woman turned the carrier around so that you could see her sleeping face. You kissed her forehead and stepped back to let Sam and Dean say their goodbyes.

"Goodbye, small one. Thanks for everything," Dean said, taking your hand and squeezing it. Sam also stepped in to say his goodbye as well. As the man and his wife went into their house, you all turned and went back to the Impala.

You climbed into the back seat, and to your surprise, so did Dean. He passed the keys to Sam to take you all home. Dean wrapped his arms around you as silent sobs wracked your body. He whispered soothing words to you and eventually your tears subsided.

Back at the bunker, you went to your shared room with Dean and changed into your sleeping attire. You climbed into bed and Dean pulled you close to him, so that your head rested on his shoulder, while your hand laid on his chest.

“I miss her already,” you whispered as a few tears leaked out.

“I know, sweetheart, so do I. But, there’s one thing we can do about it,” he replied.

You raised up to see the mischievous grin on his face and waggling eyebrows. “Yeah? And what is that, as if I didn’t already know,” you said.

“Practice makes perfect, you know,” he grinned before he dove in for a passion-filled kiss.

“Then we’d better get started,” you responded huskily, pulling him in to capture his lips with yours.

“Yes, ma’am,” Dean whispered.

#dean winchester #deanxreader #dean winchester x reader #spn fanfiction #spn fluff #spn imagine #supernatural

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css1992 · 5 years

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Domestic!Starker

[REPOST]

Guys, I’m soo sorry, I’m reposting this because Tumblr made my post from earlier disappear from the Starker tag :´(((

An Anon sent this request:

“Tony's feet are killing him and sweet bf, peter messages him.”

Look at me, sloowly filling prompts. This was supposed to be ready last week, but I wasn’t feeling well, some things happened and I couldn’t write, but now I’m back on track!

Anon, I hope you don’t mind that I took your prompt a little too far, I’m not sure that’s what you had in mind, but I promise there’s a foot massage there. Haha! I hope you like it.

I still have other prompts in my inbox, remember to have patience with little ol’ me.

Domestic!Starker, established relationship, fluff.

Word count: 4k+

Warnings: I believe there’s nothing triggering here, but if you spot anything that might be triggering to anyone, please let me know!

-*-

Peter was eighteen when he joined the Avengers. Tony had been after him ever since he got his powers, at sixteen, and started posting videos of himself on YouTube. He always came to him as Iron Man, though, on top of buildings late at night; in dark alleys, when Spider-man was overwhelmed and outnumbered; during world-ending wars against purple skinned aliens. Tony was always there when Peter needed him – or, Iron Man was always there when Spider-man needed him. The press loved it, they portrayed him as Iron Man’s sidekick, his apprentice. Peter didn’t mind, he liked it, wished it was true, but they only ever met in highly stressful situations. It was like Tony was watching over him or something, like he knew where to find him if he was ever in danger.

Which – yeah. Of course he did.

Peter thought his secret identity was safe, that no one knew who he was, but, who was he kidding, it was Tony Stark, he knew everything. He had been helping him keep his identity a secret from day one, had FRIDAY monitoring the internet for pictures or videos of him changing into the costume. He erased all security cameras’ videos of him changing carelessly in alleys – there were hundreds of those, according to him.

“A little dumb for such a smart kid, but who am I to judge, I’ve done my fair share of dumb in the past,” he’d said, shrugging, sitting on his aunt May’s couch one night, when she was away at work. It was Peter’s eighteenth birthday, and Tony Stark had just rung the bell, invited himself in and asked Peter to join the Avengers. Just like that.

“I’m – uh, I don’t know what you’re talking about, sir, and I don’t know what use I could have for the Avengers, I’m just – I’m just some kid.“ Peter laughed nervously, wringing his hands, but Tony was barely listening to him, he was searching for something on his phone.

“So this isn’t you?” He asked when a 3D hologram video of Peter undressing popped up from the phone. Peter spent exactly fifteen seconds thinking about how cool that was before he started freaking out. “Your secret is safe with me, kid. I told you, I’ve known since the first time you ever put on that awful onesie and started punching bad guys.”

“Why – you’ve never said anything. All those times we met.” The older man put his phone back in his pocket, then shrugged.

“You were just a kid, you had enough on your plate just being our friendly neighborhood Spider-man, I didn’t want to overwhelm you with superhero drama. But you’re all grown up now and we could really use your help, so what do you say?” He looked at him expectantly and the young man blinked owlishly.

Peter learned that day that he couldn’t say no to Tony. Not that he wanted to, but he was used to being a lone wolf, he didn’t know how he would fit into a group of superheroes who had so much history together, but he said yes, anyway. Even if he was moving to Boston in just a few weeks, even if he was starting college – and not just any college, MIT –, even if it would be almost impossible to keep his identity a secret for long after that, even though he knew he’d have to finally tell May everything – he looked into the older man’s eyes and said yes.

That was when Peter Parker’s relationship with Tony Stark officially started, without the suits, and it was so very different from what Iron Man and Spider-man had. When Peter was in the mask, everything was so much easier, he was sassy, smart-mouthed and sarcastic, there was safety in anonymity. With the mask off, though, it was so hard to interact with Tony – the man was a genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist, Peter was just – Peter.

Tony noticed, too, he always looked amused when Peter stuttered and stumbled around him, like the first time the billionaire showed up in his dorm room one night and told him to “suit up, we’re going to Wakanda”, and Peter blushed bright red as he tried to cover his naked thighs by pulling down the hem of the old t-shirt he wore to bed instead of pajamas.

“You’re nothing like I thought you’d be, kid,” he told him on the Quinjet, when they were on their way to Africa to deal with some alien threat. He sat right next to Tony in his only clean T-shirt and not-so-clean sweatpants and he blushed furiously as he looked at the impeccable tracksuit that the billionaire usually wore under the Iron Man armor if he had time to change.

“I-I’m sorry.” He dropped his gaze, biting his lower lip, but Tony placed a hand on his knee, patting it gently.

“Don’t apologize, I like it. Spider-man is kind of a brat, anyway. I like you better.” He winked, and Peter’s eyes widened in awe.

During his freshman year, they didn’t meet that often, at least not in person, but they texted a lot and sometimes even talked on the phone. It usually started with a good excuse, like the time Peter asked about getting a suit upgrade, but they always ended up talking for hours; at first, it was always about Peter’s classes, Tony’s projects, Avengers’ missions, that sort of thing, but slowly their conversations became more personal, intimate. One night, Tony told him his relationship with Pepper was over – had been for a few months at the time, but the press didn’t know about it yet.

Peter didn’t know what to feel when he heard that – on one hand, Tony sounded broken. He wasn’t drunk, thankfully, he’d been sober a few years, but he was clearly devastated, even if all that ever came out of his lips was “It’s okay, I just want her to be happy”. On the other hand, Peter had fallen in love with him over all those months, and he knew he was just a kid and he shouldn’t really know what love was, and people would assume it was just a crush, hero worship, but he just knew deep in his bones that he loved that man. With all his scars and all his flaws, his crazy ideas and his acid jokes, his genius inventions and his big heart.

He didn’t say anything, though, he was just an eighteen year old kid, and even though Tony never really treated him like a child, he knew he didn’t stand any chance. Tony was forty-eight at the time, the richest man in the world, he was fucking Iron Man, the man who saved the whole universe with a snap of his fingers and lived to tell the tale – he was way, way out of Peter’s league and he was okay with it. The fact that the man was willing to talk to him, be his friend, his mentor, whatever, was good enough for Peter. He’d take anything he could get.

He was nineteen when he got back for his first summer break. They all agreed that it would be best for him to stay with the Avengers at the compound, for training exercises and meetings, and he could go home to stay with May during the weekends. Tony didn’t live in the compound at the time, he lived in his penthouse in the city, but he was there almost everyday during Peter’s summer break. His very first night there, actually, Tony invited him to dinner in his private living quarters and then they headed down to the lab and started a bit of a routine. They would spend hours together down there, Tony helped him with his projects and with his school work and Peter helped him with S.I.’s new products and with suits upgrades for all the Avengers. It was already perfect, already so much more than he could hope for.

But it got better. One night, when they were both exhausted after almost 33 hours working non-stop, Peter was babbling about his sparring match with Natasha and how he got his ass handed to him when Tony kissed him. Peter figured he did it because he wasn’t even thinking straight anymore, blind from exhaustion, maybe he just wanted him to shut up, so he took the chance and kissed him back, trying to commit every detail to memory, every single taste and texture, the feel of his strong arms wrapped around his waist, his beard brushing against his soft skin, the smell of grease and sweat, and the taste of coffee and too much chocolate to keep them going for so many hours. He thought he’d never get to experience that again, but he was wrong.

Tony didn’t pretend like nothing happened the next day, he greeted him with a kiss good morning when he walked into the kitchen. The other Avengers present stared, but didn’t say anything. The younger man’s insides were in knots, he was so happy, excited, anxious, and so fucking in love with that man. They only had The Talk that night at dinner, in Tony’s quarters.

“I know you’ve probably heard a lot of shit about me, kid, and I need you to know it’s all true, okay?” Peter stared at him with big, round eyes, cheeks full of spaghetti – that Tony had cooked with his own hands, which somehow made it tastier –, surprised by his words because they had been talking shop and pretending that that wasn’t a date until that moment. “I was a bit of a player –“ Peter actually choked on his spaghetti at that. “Wh – are you okay?”

“I’m fine, sorry, go on.” Peter took a huge sip of water and prepared himself for the blow. That was Tony’s way of dumping him gently, apparently. It involved pasta, candlelit dinner and stories about his playboy years. Great.

“So, I was a bit of a player, I’m sure you’ve heard that, and it’s all true, but – I’m too old for that shit now. I don’t – I’m not like that anymore. I’m saying this because you’re young, you’re in college, and I’m sure you’re not looking for anything serious, you’re just having fun, and I should have thought of that before – before I kissed you. I don’t do ‘just fun’ anymore, kid. So I understand if you wanna stop this right now, I just wanna let you know there’s no hard feelings if you do, it changes nothing, we’ll still be friends, and lab buddies, and sidekicks or whatever. Ok? It doesn’t have to change anything.” It took a while for Peter to piece the words together in a way that made sense, but when he did, his eyes rounded and he choked – again – on his water. “Pete –“

“I want things to change,” Peter blurted, face red with embarrassment and lack of oxygen – either or. The older man seemed a little surprised, but his expression remained neutral. “I-I don’t do ‘just fun’ either, Tony. It’s not me. I want this – us – to mean something. If you’re willing to try.”

And try they did. They learned as they went, one day at a time. As mature as Peter liked to think he was, he was nineteen, and very inexperienced when it came to relationships, so he let Tony take the lead. The older man didn’t mind to take it slow – way too slow, even for Peter. They went on dates that ended with chaste kisses in front of Peter’s bedroom door, Tony never offered to come in. Those dates escalated to movie marathons in Tony’s quarters, where hands and lips were finally allowed to wander, but always above the waist.

Peter wasn’t a virgin and he told Tony that, but still the older man wouldn’t even try to go any further then a little kissing, so, on his last week home, Peter took matters into his own hands and straddled him, blushing furiously, and kissed him hard, pressing his hard-on against Tony’s. He wished he had done that sooner, apparently it was all the green light Tony needed to get things going. Waking up beside the older man the next day was arguably the best thing that had happened all summer and they barely left the room for those last seven days. But when they finally did, Tony had to drive him to the airport with the promise to visit in a month.

They made it work around their tight schedules, between Peter’s classes, Tony running S.I. and they both saving the world on occasion, they had candlelit dinners, quiet movie nights and slow love-making in the shower. If they had enough time for a short trip, Tony would take Peter out of the country, somewhere secluded and safe, where they could spend an entire day lying on the beach or cuddled up in front of a fireplace.

That was Peter’s first relationship, and it seemed to make Tony feel insecure and – guilty. Most of the time, the older man just let it happen, just rolled with it; some other times, though, he’d freak out and rant about how Peter should be out there living his life, meeting people, kissing other mouths. Not even once did Peter feel tempted to do any of that, so as Tony freaked out, he just looked at him and smiled softly, waiting for him to finish to tell him that “It’s okay, we’ll be okay”.

As the years passed after Thanos, things finally started to settle down, the world was as peaceful as it could possibly get, at least Peter thought so. The Avengers weren’t needed as often, so slowly people started leaving the compound, some even moving away from the city or the country – Wanda and Vision were the first to leave for Europe. By Peter’s third summer home, there wasn’t anyone at the compound, so he stayed with Tony at the penthouse.

The older man seemed surprised when Peter showed up, he probably had just assumed that he’d stay with May, but he was so happy he couldn’t stop smiling all day long. It was a new experience for them, “living together”. At the compound, even if Tony had his own living quarters and they mostly stayed there, there were other people involved in their daily routine, way too many people.

At the penthouse, it was just them – they shared house chores, Tony complained about doing the dishes, Peter chastised him about wet towels on the bed, they cooked together and Peter tried not to ruin whatever they were making. Tony worked most of the day a few floors down and Peter stayed in the workshop, working on his personal projects or studying. He’d put together an easy, healthy lunch and he’d head down to Tony’s office so they could eat together everyday. Sometimes they only had fifteen minutes before the older man had to get back to work, some other times they even had enough time for some fun before eating.

They started going out together publicly and the press went wild, but they didn’t really mind. They went to functions together, helped at May’s charity events, had dinner at fancy restaurants or at Burger King, whatever felt right at the moment. Tony took it upon himself to dress Peter up, declaring himself the most stylish out of the two of them, he always picked the (matching) outfits they’d wear to go out in public, which was why Peter’s last day home before summer was over was so ironic.

He had just finished doing laundry when Tony walked through the door, limping slightly and wincing. Peter dropped the basket of clean clothes he was carrying to their room and rushed to his side.

“What happened? Are you okay?” He asked worriedly, looking Tony all over. He seemed fine, didn’t smell of blood or anything, but Peter hadn’t turned on the TV or checked his phone all day, he could have gotten in trouble as Iron Man and he wouldn’t know – although, FRIDAY would probably tell him.

“Nah, I’m fine, it’s just these new shoes, they’ve been killing me all day long.” He winced as he leaned on the wall to take them off and Peter stared at the expensive leather shoes with a frown.

“I told you they weren’t comfortable enough for work, these are obviously party shoes, you’re not supposed to spend a whole day on your feet in them,” he chastised, as Tony sighed in relief, slumped against the wall with his eyes closed when his feet were free.

“And I told you there’s no such thing as party shoes and work shoes.” Tony opened his eyes to narrow them at Peter when the younger man crossed his arms over his chest.

“Well, I guess I was right, then, huh?” He smirked, raising an eyebrow, and Tony laughed.

“Yes, I guess you were. As usual.” He rolled his eyes and opened his arms. “Be a good boy and come kiss it better.”

“I really shouldn’t, you stubborn ass. You’re lucky you look so hot in that suit.” He dragged his eyes over Tony’s body and felt the blood rush south. Tony was 51, and just like fine wine, he only seemed to get better over time. He approached the older man and let him hold him, burying his face in his neck, where he placed a soft kiss.

“You smell like fabric softener, were you doing laundry?” Tony muttered against the top of his head and Peter nodded, feeling the older man’s arms tighten around him. “Are you packed yet?”

“Not yet, I’ll do it later, maybe after dinner. Are you hungry?” He snuggled closer to the other man and felt him nod against his head. “FRI, our Saturday usual.” The AI didn’t even answer, sensing the quietness of them room, and they stayed there by the door for a few more minutes. “Are you stalling because you don’t think you can walk to the couch, old man?” Peter whispered after he almost fell asleep with his nose buried in the other’s neck.

“Shut up, brat,” Tony grunted, pushing the younger man away softly, eliciting giggles from him. “No, but seriously, don’t you ever let me walk out of the house wearing those again.” He huffed, pushing away from the wall to start limping towards the couch. “Actually, remind me to burn them or something.”

“Well, I did try to stop you this morning, you big baby, you never listen to me.” Peter rolled his eyes, watching with amusement as Tony tried to make his way to the living room. He picked up Tony’s shoes then went back to get the basket he’d dropped earlier and headed to their bedroom. “Stay put, I’m just gonna put these away, then I can give you a massage.”

“I love you forever!” Tony shouted from the living room as Peter disappeared down the hallway.

“I know!”

When Peter got back to the living room, Tony was lying on the couch, no suit jacket, no tie and with pretty much all of his shirt’s buttons undone. He had and arm thrown over his eyes and was snoring softly. Peter smiled with fondness and decided to make some tea as they waited for dinner – Tony used to hate tea, but they were trying to cut down on caffeine, mostly because the older man’s doctors thought it might help with his insomnia and maybe even with the nightmares.

He made chamomile tea and grabbed a bottle of massage oil from the bathroom, when he got back to the living room, he watched Tony sleeping peacefully for a while, it was such a rare occurrence, Peter was always asleep before him – he was afraid to ask Friday how many hours of sleep the man got each night. It was nice to see him so calm and relaxed, he was always on top of everything, trying to fix anything he thought was wrong with the world, even when it wasn’t needed.

He sat on the opposite end of the couch and put Tony’s legs on his lap; he stirred slightly but didn’t wake up. Peter took off his socks and dripped some of the oil on his hands, rubbing them together to warm it up. As soon his applied pressure to the sole of his right foot, Tony startled awake, moaning.

“Oh, fuck, right there, baby.” He arched his back, clearly in pain, but the good kind of pain. “Ooh, I really needed this.”

“Good thing we don’t have neighbors.” Peter smirked, letting his thumbs slide all the way down to the arch of his foot, then up to his sole again. Tony grunted, but said nothing smart back, truly enthralled by the massage. “You look tired, did something happen? Besides the bad shoes.”

“Nah, just the usual bullshit. There was a board meeting today, but it was short. Then I had a meeting with a few investors, that was long as fuck, even Pepper was pissed by the end of it. Then I headed back to R&D to see if I could get some work done, but not really. So just basically a lot of walking around with pain, both physical and psychological, ‘cause I couldn’t stop thinking that you’re gonna leave tomorrow and I should be spending your last day here with you.” He pouted slightly and reached one of his hands to rub Peter’s arm. “I’m really sorry, love, I really wish I could have stayed.”

“It’s just one day, Tones, we had a great summer.” Peter grinned, lifting his foot to place a kiss on the bridge, then made circular motions on Tony’s sole and the ball of his foot, where it seemed to hurt the most by the sounds he made. “Drink your tea.” When Tony started complaining, he pressured his arch a bit harder, making him yelp. “None of that, mister, we agreed we’d try this, didn’t we? When I’m gone, you have to promise me you’ll keep it up. And only one cup of coffee a day, okay? No more than that, I mean it.”

“Yes, mom.” The older man smirked, poking Peter’s ribs with his foot, but the young man grabbed it before he could tickle him. He glared at him sternly, resuming the massage, moving his fingers up to his heel and ankle.

“If you act like a baby, I’ve gotta act like your mom.” Peter rolled his eyes, hearing the other man chuckle.

“Is it weird that I find it hot when you mother-hen me? Does that mean I have a mommy kink? Since you call me daddy in bed, should I call you mommy?” He pretended to wonder out loud and Peter burst out laughing, shaking his head in exasperation.

“You’re impossible, Tony Stark.” He smiled fondly at his older boyfriend, finishing the massage by rubbing his toes one by one, before moving to the other foot.

“You like it.” He wiggled his eyebrows with a smirk, but Peter just kept smiling at him.

“I love it.”

They fell silent as Peter moved his hands over Tony’s left foot. It was established early in their relationship that Peter gave great massages, his super-strength and super-soft hands were the perfect combination for a good kneading. Whenever they came home from battle battered and bruised, Peter would rub Tony’s back, his feet, his calves – not many people knew that, but operating the Iron Man suit actually required a lot of strength and it often put a strain on Tony’s body.

“Come here, baby,” Tony called him quietly once he was done with his left foot and Peter went willingly, snuggling to his chest and trying to make himself as small as possible in order to fit against the older man. “I’m really gonna miss you, love.”

“I know, I’m gonna miss you, too, Tony, so much. You have no idea,” Peter whispered back, nosing the other’s throat, smelling what was left of his cologne and aftershave, a smell he grew so used to it made him calm and relaxed.

“I think I do.” He felt Tony smile against the crown of his had and he sighed.

“Just one more year, okay?” He raised his head so he could look at the older man’s face. He looked back at him, smiling softly. Tony held his chin and kissed his lips gently as he nodded.

“Just one more year,” he agreed, and they fell silent again, Peter’s head back to resting on his chest. “Next summer, when you come back for good – will you – where are you staying?“

“Are you preemptively kicking me out?” He asked, amused, moving again to look at the older man, who frowned at him.

“Of course not!” He sighed, closing his eyes for a few seconds, before focusing on his face again “Peter, I really want you to move in with me, but are you sure you wanna do this? Baby, you’re so young, you could –“

“Don’t ruin this, Tony.” He placed a finger on his lips, beaming. “I wanna remember today as the day you asked me to move in. Don’t taint it with one your speeches about how I should be sleeping around with college boys.”

“That’s not what –“ The older man started indignantly and Peter laughed, covering his mouth with his hand.

“Shh, just shut up and kiss me, that’s all I wanna remember.” He didn’t give Tony time to answer as he leaned in and crushed their lips together. For a few seconds, the older man still tried to protest, but soon melted into the kiss, hands sliding down Peter’s back to hold him close. When they parted, Tony had a slightly confused look.

“So, what just happened is I asked you to move in and you said yes?” Peter grinned, nodding excitedly, and the older man chuckled, petting his curls fondly. “You do realize that your future involves a lot of foot rubs and back massages, right? You’re basically marrying an old man.”

“I think I can handle that, I have strong, steady hands, so we’re good.” He closed the distance between them again, tasting Tony’s laugh on his lips as he closed his eyes, thinking that was a very small price to pay.

#starker #peter parker x tony stark #ironspider

180 notes · View notes

loserholland · 5 years

Text

𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞

𝟎𝟎𝟑 ➺ 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮

Pairing ➺ Peter Parker x Reader

Warning ➺ angst, flashbacks (italicized)

Word Count ➺ 4,124

Summary ➺ She always thought he felt the same way, yet I guess she was wrong.

A/N ➺ So sorry for the late update, I’ve had a writers block and changed the song inspo at least four times! I hope you enjoy part three, the longest one yet!

✿ 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓶𝓪𝓷𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓣𝓪𝓰𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓽 ✿ - @loveyathreethousand @taronxfiction @killerqueen-gunpowdergelatine @spideyyypeter @lou-la-lou @babebenhardy @rivervixenbaby @acklesholland @zabdisamor @keepingupwiththehollands @sweet666pea @sspider-parker @jackiehollanderr @caro0512 @thewinchesterchronicles @cporter003 @kisses-holland @spideysnugget @cryszus @sunflowerharrystyles @peterunderoos

@themarvelmaniacsworld

@ivegotparticulartaste

@yulisaangelica

@oyoke

@buckloveshisplums

@spideysimpossiblegirl

Song

☞ Masterlist ☜

Maybe I'll forget, maybe I won't I'm stuck in the moment, and so far from home

Los Angeles, California.

City of Angels, second most populated city after New York.

It was a beautiful city, UCLA was about forty-five minutes away from Santa Monica. Depending on how heavy traffic was. Overall, everyday gave her a reason why she had UCLA on her list of college’s, of course she missed her family.

She was 2,790 miles away from home.

It’s been a good five months.

She tried her best to keep him off her mind, to focus on the reason why she came to UCLA. To start new and forget. Yet, how could she forget about someone she’s been friends with for nearly four years? How could you forget about someone who was there for you when no one else was? The person who could bring a smile to your face when you were feeling blue.

(Y/N) chose UCLA to find herself again, she had lost herself in the past year. Not putting her mental health first, not caring for herself. Allowing herself to hurt over and over.

Someone once said, “Don’t ever love someone so much that you forget to love yourself.”

Being away from home, could be a good thing. She had met some new friends and her dorm-mate was someone she could talk to about anything and everything.

Her dorm-mate Vivian, was one of her now closes friend’s. They oddly had the same interest in most things, which why they instantly clicked. The last thing (Y/N) wanted was a dorm-mate who wouldn’t talk to her or be very unorganized with their belongings.

“Yeah, I got everything mom. I’m unpacking now... I haven’t met my dorm-mate yet, yeah I got here first- Okay- I’ll call you later love you, bye.” (Y/N) ended the call placing her phone in her back pocket moving to open some of the boxes she piled onto her bed and desk.

She took the bed on the left, leaving the right empty for whoever she would be sharing the dorm with. Slowly she began to unpack placing photo’s and other small necessities, she picked out photo that was on the bottom on the box. Her heart clenched lightly, she didn’t remember packing this. If anything it might’ve been her mom who put it in the box.

It was a picture of her and Peter, Christmas of sophomore year. (Y/N) had invited May and Peter to christmas dinner, one of her favorite Christmas’ so far. After eating so much, the duo went to (Y/N) room gifting one another what they had gotten each other for Christmas.

“You first.”

(Y/N) handed Peter the small rectangular box, she had repaired an old vintage tudor rolex watch that her father had laying around the apartment.

Peter tugged at the silky red ribbon allowing the material to follow onto his lap, slowly lifting the top of the box to reveal the beautiful watch. (Y/N) bit her lip nervously, Peter hadn’t said anything since he had opened the box. Did he not like it?

“It’s beautiful, thank you (Y/N).”

She sighed in relief slapping his arm playfully, “You scared me!” Peter chuckled lightly before handing his gift to (Y/N), he hoped she would like it. After hours of consulting with May he settled with this gift.

(Y/N) slowly opened the square box, as she removed the top there laid a beautiful gold bracelet with two charms, she stared at it in awe the two charms were her and Peter’s birth month stones.

Peter felt himself falling back from the impact of (Y/N) hug landing with a loud thud causing Mrs.(Y/L/N) to rush over to her daughter’s bedroom, “Is everything okay?” she looked down to see Peter and (Y/N) laughing their asses off and saw it as a great picture opportunity.

They were laying next to one another with their faces towards one another with a huge smile on their face.

Now that pictures sits on her desk.

And the bracelet?

She still wore it on her wrist.

Pushing through the crowded streets of New York was beyond difficult, people will either let you pass them or they’ll just cuss you out. Never the in-between. He was about thirty minutes late to his first class of the day, let’s just say staying up to finish homework and trying to up hold being your ‘friendly neighborhood Spider-man’ was hard.

Peter glanced at his watch the same watch he had gotten from (Y/N).

Usually anytime Peter ran late to certain things (Y/N) would joke about him getting a watch so he could keep track of time. I guess it was kinda like faith? Having the watch laying around her dad’s study and being able to regift it to someone who needed one. Very badly.

(Y/N) paced around her room checking her phone every five seconds for the time. Peter was a two hours late for their study session, again. They had both agreed on meeting at three, and it was currently 5:23. She didn’t want to call him for what felt like the hundredth time, but she was already annoyed.

There was a small knock on her window, she knew who it was even before she turned around. It was the person she had been waiting on, finally he decided to show up. Peter stepped in once (Y/N) lifted the glass of her window, he knew she was mad. She had every right to be.

“(Y/N) I’m-”

He still hadn’t told her he was Spider-man, or how (Y/N) described him as a person swinging around in a really tight onesie.

“Peter it’s fine, maybe someone should just get you a watch. That way you won’t loose track of time.”

The memory played mindlessly causing as Peter rushed through the busy streets, the shout from a guy he had accidentally bumped into caused the memory to come to a pause.

“Watch it kid!”

“Sorry!”

There was a point in time when he did stop using the watch. Thinking there was no use for him to wear it, but ever since he had read (Y/N) letter. It’s been attached to his wrist ever since.

Cause loving nobody, is breaking my heart But you'll never know this, wherever you are

I guess you could say it was stupid of Peter to only now take use of the watch since he last stashed it in his nightstand draw. Ever since he read the letter, I guess he thought back on how he’s been a horrible best friend in the past year.

Maybe using the watch could make him feel better. Bring some sort of peace of mind to make him feel less guilty about cutting ties with someone he was friends with for almost five years.

The day (Y/N) left to Los Angeles, the day she had dropped off the letter. The day Peter realized that he had fucked up. Peter had asked May to bring him to the airport saying “There’s no time to explain, we need to go before it’s too late.”

Peter rushed out of the car before May could even put the car in park watching him run through the automatic doors. He searched the entire area, she couldn’t have gone through TSA just yet, right?

Well maybe I don't give up easily But I know this is hard to see

“Peter?” Aubri, (Y/N) mother questioned walking closer to a very frantic Peter.

“Mrs.(Y/L/N)! Did (Y/N)?”

Aubri pressed her lips into a thin line nodding in silence, he was too late. She had left. As cliché as it sound’s, Peter was hoping to do those dramatic yet romantic airport speech. All he wanted to do was apologize, for being so blind. For ignoring her feelings. For being a fucking dick.

(Y/N) tried.

She tried to go on dates.

The blind dates Vivian would set her up for. Yet it was never a hit or miss, she would always cancel the day before. It just didn’t feel right, it felt wrong for her to go on a date with someone.

There was still that feeling, those feelings. The love she had for Peter, it was still there. She hated that.

Still having feelings for someone who made it clear that they don’t feel the same way. But that’s why there’s such thing as hope, she hoped one day he’ll feel the same way. She hoped one day, he’d look at her the way she looked at him.

Hope can be a dangerous thing.

And I wish time would slow down So I could keep your heart around

The night (Y/N) had found out Peter was Spider-man. How did she find out he was Spider-man? Well when it comes to being a superhero, or a hero in general that comes with fighting the bad guys. Peter, well Spider-man at the time showed up on her fire escape.

At first she thought it was a dream, the person she had said was wearing a really tight onesie that helped keep Queens safe was knocking on her window.

“Spider-man? Are you okay?” (Y/N) helped him through the window placing herself under his left arm to help him to her bed. How in the world did Spider-man choose for her to help him?

“(Y/N).”

Her eyes widened slowly backing away from the man in the tight onesie, how in the living hell did he know her name? The voice sounded so familiar, like she hears it everyday.

“(Y/N).”

She drew closer to him reaching to remove his mask to see it was her best friend. This was either a joke or Peter was actually Spider-man, her best friend was the friendly neighborhood crime fighter.

“Peter! I-Is this a joke?” (Y/N) whispered yelled, she began to examine his face the few cuts and soon to be bruises seemed real a little too real. She felt her heart sink to the bottom of her stomach regretting what she just questioned him.

“I wish, I-I didn’t know where else to go. I don’t want May to worry.” Peter flinched lightly when she ran her index finger on his fresh cut, Peter was Spider-man and he’s risking his life to help people everyday.

“I’ll get the first aid kit and some water.”

She had cleaned up his cuts that night, the two sat in silence. Slowly she put two and two together, that explain’s why he’s always late and his excuses were way over-used. The Stark internship was Peter being Spider-man and also there was no such thing as a Stark internship because (Y/N) knew she would’ve got it as well.

Her heart swelled with fear. Peter was out there every night looking over the city. He could get hurt and she wouldn’t be there to help him.

“Thank you.” Peter mumbled laying back onto (Y/N) bed, after putting away the first-aid and getting Peter some clothes to sleep in they laid next to one another in awkward silence.

Peter could see the worry in her eyes, he could see how she felt uneasy.

“What’s wrong?”

(Y/N) shrugged it off mumbling “It’s nothing let’s just sleep.” but Peter wasn’t satisfied with her answer so he questioned her again, “What’s wrong? I won’t sleep till you tell me.”

She snorted lightly responding “Have fun staying up all night.” he rolled his eyes playfully before sighing, “(Y/N) I know something’s bothering you.” of course she knew he wasn’t going to give up till she admitted what was bothering her.

“It’s just- You’re risking your life Peter. It scares me that one night, you’ll come back with even more bruises and I won’t be able to help you.” She knew that tonight was not a one time thing and from now on he would go to her for help.

Peter placed his hand over her’s giving it a light squeeze of reassurance, “I’ll be okay. I know my limits, I’m just using what I got to good use. I’d never want to put your through what you think I could.”

If I can't make you stay another day I'll wait another day for you

(Y/N) and Vivian were headed to the café hoping some last minute studying could help with their ‘pop’ quiz in two hours. It would be a lie if she said there weren’t any cute boys here. But, she wasn’t there to date anyone, she was there to study and nothing more. I guess you could say that it’s a bit stiff of her, but maybe it’ll change in the years to come.

“Hey (Y/N).”

Vivian excused herself saying she was gonna get another coffee and lemon cake. Great just great.

“Alejandro.”

Alejandro Villanueva aka Alex. The person she had almost every class with, he had been flirting with her for the past four months. Claiming he won’t give up till she went on a date with him, he’s quite determined.

He took Vivian’s seat taking the paper that was once in (Y/N) hand scanning it before handing it back to her, “You don’t need to study. We all know you’re the smartest.” something he’d say all the damn time. Didn’t this kid have football practice or something?

“Hm, shouldn’t you get to football practice? Mr.Hot-shot Villanueva?”

Alex smirked lightly leaning forward with his arms crossed against his chest flexing his muscles lightly, “Maybe, after your pop quiz you could swing by?”

Swing by.

“Hey Pete, could you um swing by? I-I just need someone, I need you.” Swing by was something she always said to Peter, a pun-intended joke. I guess it just seemed right because anytime she’d ask for him to swing by he was always on his spidey duties.

But what always amazed her was how quick he’d come by. Usually she’d leave her window open for him and knew he was there when the window would shut lightly. He could see how much she’s been crying, her eyes were a bit puffy and red.

Peter quickly removed his mask and engulfed her into a tight hug, she sobbed lightly into his chest everything that she was feeling today all the emotions hit all at once. He rubbed her back soothing her and hushing her attempting to calm her down.

“Let me get you some water and advil, we’ll just cuddle okay? If you don’t want to talk about I won’t force you to.”

“(Y/N)?”

She didn’t even realize she faze out a little, “O-oh! Yeah sorry, um I’ll try.” Alex smiled widely taping his index fingers against the table with glee.

“I’ll see you then!”

For you

Maybe, maybe it was time. Time to let go of her love for Peter. Because as of right now she was just waiting. Waiting for a call or a text that said I miss you. Waiting for a call or a text that said I do feel the same way. She was wasting her time waiting, along with waiting she held onto the last strand of hope.

You know you’ve got it bad when you miss something you never had. At least for a little while, I was the reason behind your smile.

Maybe I'm love drunk, I wish that I'da know What you would say if time would slow down

Hey, I know it’s been a while but how are you?

Delete

Hey, how have you been?

Delete

How’s NYU? Just as imagined?

Delete

“Fuck.” (Y/N) mumbled staring at her dimly lit phone screen, she’s been attempting to write out some sort of message for the past five minutes. Vivian was out for the night so she wasn’t there to stop her.

I know if you read this message, you may not text me back. I hope you’re doing okay and I hope you’re doing well in NYU. I honestly don’t know why I’m texting you, I think it’s just because I miss you. I miss you more than words can explain to be quite honest. I just miss us Peter, our friendship. I hate that I still hold on to this last strand of hope that one day, you’ll feel the same. One day you’ll look at me the way I look at you. Maybe one day, a girl can only hope for so much.

Peter heard his phone chime, he pushed his chair back to grab his phone from the bed to check who had messaged him.

Need help, come over.

Sent from Ned

(Y/N) pressed on the arrow watching as it slowly sent but quickly put her plane on airplane mode watching as the text read as not delivered sighing in such relief she deleted the message.

So I could keep your heart around If I can't make you stay another day

It’s been a while since they got to sit down, hangout, and talk. So Ned took this opportunity for them to have somewhat of a boy’s night while building the lego Millennium Falcon.

“So, have you spoken to (Y/N)?” Ned questioned glancing over at the directions then moved to collect the pieces needed. Ned had somewhat of an idea of what happened between the two, he just knew something lead to them not talking.

“Not since graduation.. when did you last speak with her?”

“Yesterday.”

(Y/N) and Ned were good friends too, she call to check in on him and called him if she needed help with homework and such. Sometimes she’d ask how Peter was, but it got him wondering why the two haven’t spoken to one another.

“What happened to you two anyway?”

Peter pressed his lips into a thin line, placing what he had already built onto the floor. Ned was also his other best friend, he had to tell him. He had to tell someone, he had all this built up emotion about not talking to (Y/N). He missed her, more than he thinks.

“You what?”

“I-”

“So, after she confessed her feelings for you. You two became strangers?”

But they both stopped talking to one another. They just passed one another without saying another word. It worked both ways.

“I can’t believe you didn’t see how much she liked you Peter. When you asked Liz to be your date to hoco, she was beyond heart broken and also why she didn’t go. It’s the little thing’s that make a big difference.”

(Y/N) walked out of the cafe with her coffee in hand, today was a chill day with no classes and since she had missed the last practice Alex invited her to watch she’s making up for it by going today.

There were loud grunts and shouts coming from the field, she immediately spotted Alex giving him a small wave taking a seat on the bleachers. This was more of a friendly support, she was there because she had told him she’d try.

After about thirty minutes Alex jogged up the bleachers taking a seat next to her, “Hi.” he said breathlessly, don’t get me wrong. Alex was handsome and was quite fit. She could see why so many girls drooled over him and would get easily flustered around him.

“Hi, I um sorry I didn’t make it to the last practice.” (Y/N) spoke as a sudden gust of wind swept past them causing her hair to fly in her face. She scrunched her nose at the thought of how crazy she looked right now.

Alex brushed the hair that flew in her face behind her ear, “You don’t have to apologize. Thank you for coming, how was I?” (Y/N) shrugged he’s pretty good, she understood why many colleges fought to have him go to their school.

“You were okay.”

He bumped her shoulder lightly causing her to laugh, “You were great.” she answered truthfully causing Alex to smile widely. He liked her, he really truly did like (Y/N). She wasn’t the type to try and hook up with him just because he was a football player, hell she didn’t even know who he was when she got to campus.

“Do you maybe want to, hangout at Santa Monica tomorrow? If you aren’t busy.”

(Y/N) stared at him blankly, did he just ask her? On a date? Was it a date? This could just be two friends hanging out.

“Are you asking me out on a date Villanueva?”

Alex kept his gaze to his lap, she could see the slight red tint on his cheeks unsure if that was from being out in the hit too long or because he was flustered.

“If you want it to be.”

(Y/N) smiled standing from her seat, “Come by at 5 sharp. Don’t be late.”

I'll wait another day for you Well maybe I don't give up easily

Peter had Mj over for dinner, May thought it would be good to have company over. So he had Mj was in his room while he helped May with dinner. What he forgot about was how he left the envelope a top his nightstand, so when he went to check on Mj she had already read it.

“Hey, dinner should be ready in ten.”

Mj held the letter in-between her index and middle finger, “You stopped talking to (Y/N) because she had feelings for you?”

But I know this is hard to see now

Peter stared blankly at Mj, that wasn’t the first time he heard that question. Ned said the exact same thing and said “How do you not know?” when Peter said “I don’t know.”

“Um, I-I don’t know we just stopped talking. It was both parties.”

Mj pressed her lips into a thin line placing the letter back onto the nightstand, “Peter, do you have feelings for (Y/N)?” the moment that question left her lips his brows pinched in confusion.

“No, I don’t.” he answered with a shrug.

Yeah that was a lie.

“Peter, you’re just lying to yourself. I’ve seen the way you look at her. You look at her with more love than you think.”

You look at her with more love than you think.

“I understand if you don’t feel the same way like you did before. Honestly, when you told me you liked me too. I was beyond surprised because I thought it was always going to be you and (Y/N).”

He took a seat next to her, there was this uneasy feeling. His emotions were all over the place right now. Questioning if he did have feelings for (Y/N), if that might explain why he missed her more than he should. How he wanted to take back the nights where they’d just cuddle.

“If we’re breaking up right now, I’ll be the one to do it. But, we can still be friends. Peter as much as it sucks for me to say, I knew what you felt for me wasn’t 100% there. I could see how you’d look at (Y/N), hoping she’d look too. You love her more than just a friend.”

But I know time won't slow down So I can't keep your heart in my hand

He laid in bed that night, processing everything Mj had said.

“You love her more than you think.”

Maybe she was right. Maybe he did have feelings for (Y/N). Maybe it wasn’t too late to confess his feelings for her.

Those nights where they laid next to one another and how he’d admire how the moonlight kissed her kiss, how beautiful she looked on days she didn’t think she was. How she’d crinkle her nose in annoyance.

“It’s the little things that make a big difference.”

But maybe if you stay a little while You might feel like I do

(Y/N) fixed her outfit one last time twirling around the mirror. This was the first time in a while she had this giddy third grade crush feeling. Vivian was beyond excited for her, she was finally putting her happiness first.

She had been jamming out to some Queen and good ol classic 70′s music, for once she was content and happy with life. Maybe this was a sign, a sign that she was ready to let go of what she felt for Peter.

Slowly over the past five months she began to let go of the memories. All the time they spent together. She was unsure about letting go but now it felt right.

There was a light knock on the door, that was either Alex or Vivian. She leaned towards it being Vivian because she was infamous for forgetting her dorm keys and would constantly wake (Y/N) up to open the door.

“Viv! How many times have I told you? Don’t forget your keys.”

She unlocked the door twisting on the doorknob opening it to see it wasn’t Vivian. Nor was it Alex.

For you

“Peter?”

All the memories of you came flooding back.

#peter parker #peter parker smut #peter parker x reader #peter parker imagine #peter parker fluff #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker x you #peter parker x y/n #loserholland

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wadey-wilson · 6 years

Note

Hey there! What do you think of Homecoming's characterization of Peter compared to the 616 and/or Ultimate? I'm curious what you think because it seems like your a Spidey fan and I've seen mixed reviews on this subject!

okay, that’s gonna be long, so brace yourself. (i just woke up so i’m sorry for typos, alright?)

Peter Parker, Earth-616 vs Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Homecoming, an essay nobody cares about:

- teenager - he is a teenager, looks like one, and acts like one. he’s a fanboy, he eats chips upside down, he jumps on a bed whining about how he’s not a kid (poetic cinema), he loves lego, he loves old alien movies. he doesn’t even know how to spider-man yet. that batman voice to interrogate people because he doesn’t know how to interrogate people? amazing;

- bitten by the spider when he was 15 - yeps;

- brown eyes, brown hair - that’s a small and tirival thing, but nailed it (i checked and the marvel wikia says ‘hazel’ but hazel is just brown for people in love);

- raised by uncle ben and aunt may - although we don’t get the words ‘uncle ben’, we get the general idea of it when peter mentions ‘after everything that’s happened to her’ and when he talks about responsibility in CW;

- midtown high school - peter indeed attends midtown school of science and technology;

- nerdy, loveable dork - he so is. visibly academically gifted, knows answers without even paying attention, studies when he’s in that warehouse, studies when he’s in berlin to fight cap, is visibly fluent in spanish, and he’s just charming;

- flash thompson the bully - check. i saw some whiners complain about how flash isn’t a jacked asshole beating peter up, but like… do you really expect someone like that in a school for geniuses? no. i don’t even expect bullies like in the comics from 60s to be in high school now. ‘bullies’ that i met are the people who are just coolers and more popular than you and make fun of you publicly.

- outcast/loser - check. no friends to speak of except for ned, he’s rather invisible, he’s not the cool kid skater punk that sony tried to present us in the TASM movies;

- suit - now this one is really what people throw tantrums over. earth-616 does present peter parker sewing his own suit, and then making his suits, and then even have the suits made into super high-tech suits in parker industries, but let’s be damn real here - imagine that you’re a 15-year-old boy and have to sew your own suit. would it really look like that?

i’ll have people know that these suits took days and weeks to design and sew by professionals. this suit, however, looks way more realistic when in terms of making by a teenager:

in the ultimate comics, peter’s given his suit by the owner of UCW (that wrestling place), and then MJ was one to sew his suits. i have zero problems with tony stark being the one to give peter a high-tech suit, especially that the kid doesn’t even fully know how to use it. some might argue with me, but imagine you’re tony stark, and there’s this 15yo kid swinging his ass around new york in a onesie and craving to fight baddies - of course you’d give him the best suit you could come up with;

- friendly neighborhood spider-man - friendly neighborhood spider-man should be damn friendly and he is. peter parker is nice to everyone. he’s the spider-man we love in the comics. he helps old ladies, stops small crimes, he probably would be the one to hold someone’s car up when they change wheels. the TASM movies had this problem that their peter parker was a selfish asshole (and like 733456 other problems, but that’s not the topic of this essay), and you don’t see it in MCU’s peter. when everyone is busy fighting, he’s busy saying sorry and greeting a cloak, come on;

- with great power comes great responsibility - this one is also being thrown tantrum over because some people overshadow peter’s sense of responsibility with him wanting to be an avenger. and yeah, he does want to be an avenger. but the sense of responsibility is really there. he didn’t help the old lady to impress tony. he didn’t stop the ‘car thief’ to impress tony. what he did to impress tony was that one thing when he said it was his chance to prove himself and went after the arm dealers, but it started as a choice when he left ned at the party, and turned into choice afterwards, too. when tony took his suit, he easily could have just stand down, go to the homecoming, have the girl of his dreams, and just be normal. but he didn’t. he left the girl on the dance floor before the party even started, he left his group on the academic decathlon to go after the arm dealers, he left his friend and risked his already shredded social status to go see what the hell that explosion was. he didn’t have to go after vulture, but he went after him in a crappy suit, with old web-shooters, and thinking he’ll probably die. more than that, when the plane crashed, he didn’t have to save vulture. he didn’t have to keep on fighting without professional equipment and polished skills. he could’ve ran away. he didn’t.

moreover, he takes responsibility for everything that happens because of him. he saves the kids in the washington monument after they almost die because of the chitauri core he gave ned. he tries to save the people on that ferry boat after he accidentally tore it in two. he saves dalmar after his place is blown up after peter’s brawl with the robbers. go figure.

”when you can do the things that i can, but you don’t, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you” = “with great power comes great responsibility”;

- quips and jokes - spider-man is genuinely funny. he’s not a jackass, and he knows when to stop the jokes and get serious. he was one to joke around when fighting the bank robbers, but as soon as he saw the dalmar’s place being destroyed, he hurried to help, ditching the robbers, because human lives are important. because if you can do the things that he can do, and you don’t, and people die, that’s on you. so he left the robbers and run to save lives. beside that, he’s genuinely funny, even unintentionally funny;

- nobody dies on his watch - that speaks for itself: saving the vulture. he doesn’t kill his enemies and doesn’t let them die;

- not giving up - laugh or not but it’s actually listed as one of his superpowers. did he look to you like giving up when he stepped into flames to save the guy who tried to kill him? nah;

- the avenger thing - so, as i mentioned before, people tend to throw hands about how peter’s only motor for what he’s doing is him wanting to be an avenger. and, as i explained, i disagree. but that’s whatever. in the comics, peter refuses to join the avengers because he’s better working solo. but he’s offered that when he’s older. in the MCU he’s a fanboy, he loves the avengers, they’ve been his heroes forever, of course he wants to be one of them when the fate has it that he can be one of them. who wouldn’t? in time, of course, i turns out that maybe he’s better on his own as a friendly neighborhood spidey, so things play out fine;

some more stuff not strictly related to peter parker:

- liz allen and mj - some people (*glares at the ones who haven’t grabbed a comic in their life but act like they’ve eaten all the brains*) think that the only relationships peter’s ever been in are the ones with gwen stacy and mj. little do they know that peter’s first love interests were actually betty brant and liz allen. mj was actually the one to come as the last one in that line, introduced to him by his aunt after years of talking about ‘that cute girl from the neighborhood’ or whatever. so i’m 100% on-board with liz allen. i’m also on-board with mj not being mary jane;

- the lack of harry osborn and gwen stacy - same people also don’t realize that peter parker met harry and gwen in college;

- ned leeds - i don’t even have it in me to care about the people who whine about ned being torn out from miles morales’ comics because i truly don’t care. it’s marvel’s property, they can do whatever they want, and if they want peter parker to have a good friend in the mcu who’s actually a good representation, then they’ll have it, and i’m happy. (peter parker doesn’t have a pal in high school in the comics, but ned serves great as a second opinion and someone to lean on) (speaking of representation, i love all the chubby and color students in the movie, ugh). also ned leeds is an actual marvel character from earth-616, so get over yourselves;

plus comic references: the movie references to ultimate spider-man #42 and the oh so iconic amazing spider-man #33, and i couldn’t be happier.

that’s it, that’s what i think. peter parker from the mcu is the perfect representation of earth-616 peter parker. the changes that mcu did for the movies don’t burn your eyes, they were made to fit the year the action takes place in and to be more realistic - flash thompson, the suit, the fanboy-ing over the avengers. those are good changes. they actually help the movie and keep the story within the marvel cinematic universe without making peter parker look and feel like someone completely out of character.

#peter parker #homecoming #spider-man #i usually rant to beau how much i hate the tasm movies and how horrible they are #so that was a nice change #thanks for that ask tbh

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veryxobservant-archive-blog · 5 years

Text

Masks fall

So this is not easy for me. I have only recently gone back to writing fanfiction and fiction in general (yes, original fiction). And I posted this on A03 originally.

So a little Spider-Man fanfiction, bit fluffy.

________________________________

The pages felt soft under her fingers, familiar and comforting. Michelle Jones had found comfort in books for years now. Life had dealt her a hard card, but she was coping. She had found ways. Usually one of them was to hole up somewhere with a book on her lap, ready to escape this world for a better one, because this world was not as ideal as others. Heroes in books had it a chance of being heroes. For her, it was an uphill battle, one she wasn’t sure she could win. And yet she tried. But for tonight it was Michelle and her book and the quiet roof of the apartment complex she lived in. It was, in many ways her place. She had a blanket, some snacks, water and pillows stored in a box up there, for evenings like that. It was still relatively warm, so she did not need the blanket yet. But she was also not going back down anytime soon.

There was a sound out of place. It sounded like someone screamed “Oops.” But this high up, this was unlikely. And with her view of the door down, there was no way anyone could just come up and surprise her. She might be in another world, but she was still aware of her surroundings. A flash of movement caught her eyes before she saw someone fall face first onto the roof. Michelle jumped in surprise. It was not every day that someone fell onto the roof you were hiding on.

And not just someone it seemed. As Michelle squinted her eyes in suspicion, she noticed the familiar red and blue of a certain arachnid-named vigilante with a so-called secret identity. Not that she bought it. There were just too many coincidences with that one.

“Graceful, Spider-Man. Ten out of ten. I have to say, I have never seen a spider fall that soundly onto their face!” Michelle smirked a little at that as Spider-Man looked up, at the same time athletically pushing up into a stand. That was certainly something MJ could not do. A small chuckle escaped her as she saw the mask of the vigilante: One eye seemed normal, the other seemed widened in fear almost. “Your eyes are crooked. I guess you damaged yourself.”

“Sorry.” Spider-Man poked himself in the eye quite hard, probably trying to rectify the situation of the giant eye.

“Having a spider black eye?” Michelle followed. It did seem like he had gotten one too many knocks on it.

“More like a spider concussion”, Spider-Man answered. He seemed a little restless, anxious even. It didn’t take a genius to have an idea why. Or well it took someone having an inkling on who was hiding behind the mask. The fact that he did not seem to use anything to alter his voice, did not help the matter. “What are you doing up on the roof at this late time?”

Michelle took a moment to consider her reply. She pulled her legs close to her chest, after placing the book carefully on her box. With a few well-trained movements she had her yellow robe carefully tucked around her legs to protect them from the cold breeze. “I’m looking at the stars”, she replied. Spider-Man looked up immediately, causing the teenager to chuckle again. However, when he looked down again, his eye seemed to go crazy, as if it was unable to focus on her. The other still seemed fine. It made him look slightly crazy.

“We’re in New York, there is light pollution, so you can’t see the stars”, the young vigilante pointed out.

“I was messing with you.”

“Bold.”

“Says the guy in a red and blue onesie, who face-planted onto my roof and got a case of crazy eye right now.”

His reply came instantly: “Hey! It’s not a onesie!”

“Is it one piece of clothing?”, MJ asked. Spider-Man nodded, he almost looked sheepily at that. “Then it’s a onesie.”

“It is a high-tech suit!”

“High-tech onesie!” Michelle countered. Now it was on him to chuckle lightly. So apparently he did like this exchange as well. So it didn’t ruin either of their evenings. That was good. In a way, it was even a highlight for her. Her evening had not been too good. That was why she had come up here to hide away from what was down in the apartment. For a moment there was silence. He had no comeback it seemed and that was interesting. But the tone seemed to shift suddenly - despite the rather weird way his eye still went crazy. He had been shifting his weight from one leg to the other - a typical Peter thing - now he placed himself firmly on the ground like he did when he got serious. He also seemed to stand up a little taller. His body language remained open, curious and worried.

“Why are you really up here?” It was as if he knew her thoughts at that moment, but Michelle knew that that was impossible. As the mood had shifted between them, so had her thoughts. He did look worried and she hated that. Michelle didn’t want people to be worried about her, because she feared being hurt again. She knew it was a weird logic, but sometimes logic just did not apply to humans. In many ways, it didn’t apply to her life. She lived in New York. There were superheroes and aliens in New York, New York defied logic often. And so she considered telling him the truth. She considered telling him that she was hiding up here sometimes. She considered telling him that she was hiding from her stepfather. But she didn’t want to, because he was someone who helped people. He was the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. He helped the little people, too. She didn’t need Spider-Man. She could handle this alone.

However, the breeze seemed to make the decision for her. It caught her thin robe and lifted it away from her leg. Once noticed MJ scrambled to pull it back over her legs, but she could see by the way he stiffened. Suddenly there was tension in his body, the skintight suit showed that of rather nicely. She had an idea why.

“MJ, what happened to your leg?”, he asked. Michelle immediately noticed he had called her by her name, by how she told him he could call her as her friend. It showed that this was a genuine reaction. It wasn’t acted, thought through and mentally checked for the consequences. This was Peters genuine reaction to seeing bruises on her legs. It felt horrible to Michelle. It felt like someone drove a small knife into her throat as she realized what it meant. He had seen the evidence of how hard life could be at her home, that she could be vulnerable. It was something she wanted to hide. But she knew there was a way to deflect.

“MJ? I mean….you could have just announced yourself as Peter…” He flinched a little at that. The way his shoulders moved made it clear, that he was confused, probably at how she knew he was Peter. He reached for his - still malfunctioning - mask and pulled it off.

“How did you know?” He asked, his face a mixture of panic, pain, and confusion. A colorful array of bruises adorned his face.

“I’m very observant,” Michelle said, hoping it had successfully distracted him from her bruises. But his look went back to her legs and now she could truly see the worry in his eyes. But it was not directed at Michelle knowing his secret, it was because of her leg. At that moment only one thought crossed her mind, a lie.

“Lifting in dancing. Some of the guys are very clumsy.” He nodded, but the worry remained. Without being invited he just flopped down next to her, without a single ounce of grace, as if Spider-Man was turned off entirely and this was purely Peter, her friend from school in a ridiculous costume. “What happened to you?” She asked in return.

“A robbery. There were people so I had to take a few punches to… make sure nobody gets hurt, except for me. I heal fast.” MJ knew as much already. She had seen faint bruises on him before, but they disappeared fast. She had already had the thought that he healed fast due to that secret. Now she had confirmation in a way. “Will you tell anyone?”

“Your secret?” She asked. She shook her head. “Of course not. You’re the one superhero who takes care of the little people. I’ll never tell anyone.” The superhero reached for her box and pulled out one of her books. Without another word he started to read, settling into a comfortable silence with Michelle. She turned to her own book, letting him sit next to her until she got up, needing to actually go back down and sleep there. “You should get some sleep, too. School and all that.” He pulled the malfunctioning mask back on and gave her a thumbs up. Jumping up he ran to the edge of the building and jumped from it… Michelle gasped as no web came from his wrist and for the second time that night she heard his “Oops” as a scream as he fell onto the fire escape. “I’m good!” He assured her right away as he finally managed to get a web out of the other wristband and swung away. Michelle shook her head amused and finally turned to back down and to bed as well.

*-*-*-*

In the next two weeks, things changed for Peter, but he had to admit, he loved the change a lot. Michelle now sat with him and Ned and she casually slipped him some articles that would help him with being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, mostly about deescalating a situation, how to talk to traumatized children and such. It was small, but he really, really appreciated it. Today he found an article in his backpack about the Sokovia Accords, with several pages highlighted.

He put them on his bedside table to read when he came back from the patrol that night, not knowing that Michelle herself would prevent him from doing so. He was just wrapping up helping a young man out of the Hudson river - alcohol and a fight with his girlfriend were involved - when he got a text. Karen helpfully showed it to him right away. It was Michelle.

“Could really use a friendly neighborhood arachnid faceplanting onto my roof right now” was what it said. The text caused his stomach to cramp uneasily. He knew something was wrong. He didn’t know everything about Michelle, but she was proud and she would not outright ask for help like that. This was her asking for help. It might not be in the letters, but he knew. And he also knew it was…not good.

When he arrived on her roof - this time no faceplanting involved, it was rather graceful, thank you - he could not see her. He saw her spot and her box and her blanket piled up.

“MJ?”, he asked, leaving his mask on for now, not sure if someone else was perhaps here or not. A beep from the mask alerted him of the heartbeat under the blankets the same time he heard MJ say “Here” from under there. It sounded so weak and shaky. A cold shudder ran through him as he ran. He usually wouldn’t run, but he had to run in this case, something in him told him to. She had already lifted the blanket for him. It took only a short glance at her for him to see what was wrong. Her arm looked funny and not normal at all. Broken “What happened?” he asked as he knelt down next to her.

“My stepfather got drunk. He…flailed and hit me in the face with the elbow and I fell down the stairs.” She said. He saw the bruise under her eye. It didn’t look good.

“I’m taking you to the hospital!” He announced.

“No. Peter, I can’t. I…can't afford it.” The vigilante smiled under his mask.

“Do not worry about that, okay? Spider-Man has ways, trust me. That arm needs treatment!” He could see it in her eyes, that she knew he was right. She hated this situation much more than he did, too. And he did hate it. He felt rage at her stepfather, but also at himself. He should have asked her more. He should not have let her explanation slide. He should have considered her pride. But he couldn’t. Peter picked her up carefully, so she could put her good arm around. He found her quiet after that. As Peter jumped from the roof - his webs working this time, as he had repaired the suit - he felt her hide her face in her shoulder, shaking, probably with fear. He couldn’t really blame her. It was not every day, one swung with spiderwebs through New York to a hospital. Peter could imagine that this even hurt quite a bit.

Once at the hospital, he gave her to the people working there and went to pay for it, with a credit card given to him for emergencies, in cases of people needing medical attention and not being able to afford them by themselves. He looked back at her before leaving the hospital, for a while. He called his aunt to tell May that he would be in the hospital for Michelle, so she wouldn’t have to stay alone - that was assuming she would stay alone like that.

When Michelle was left alone, her arm in a cast, a soothing creme on her bruises, Peter Parker was allowed to go into her. He had told the nurses, that Spider-Man had called one of Michelle's last contacts, assuming correctly that it had to be a friend who could contact everyone else that was needed in order to make sure the teenager was taken care of. He smiled at the girl as he came closer.

“Hey, how are you feeling?”, he asked her as he simply sat down close to the bed she was in. She gave him a weak smile.

“Bruised pride. A spider saved me.”

“A spider in a ridiculous onesie, might I add,” Peter said simply, echoing her thoughts from the other night and she knew why. It was just to make her smile. And it was working. “My aunt is coming to get us. She is arranging for you to stay at our place tonight…for a sleepover. I could even put on a ridiculous onesie.”

“No ridiculous onesie required. And Spider-Mans onesie is kind of cool.”

“Thank you,” Peter said with a smile.

“Thank you, Peter… it feels pretty good to have a friend. One who always has your back.”

#spideychelle #michelle jones #fanfiction #spider-man

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sunshinykittens-blog · 7 years

Text

Meanwhile, Back At The Tower

“Tell him I’m busy!” Tony snapped at JARVIS’ interruption of his work. There was a problem with the coolant on a mini-suit he was working on.

“He says it’s extremely important, sir,” Jarvis replied. “He has something that he needs to give you.”

Tony swore and threw the wrench across the shop. He took a deep breath, set his jaw, and blipped open the screen for his phone. “This had better be important.”

“Oh it is, Mr. Stark,” the young face at the other end promised, “it really is.”

Tony raised an eyebrow and glared at the screen for a moment. “I’ll meet you in the deli around the corner in 10.”

When Tony walked into the deli, he was greeted from across the room by the owner. He waved back at the man and nodded. Might as well pick up lunch while he was here. A few minutes later the kid rushed in, carrying a backpack and panting. Tony took his latte and sat at a table in the corner. The kid took the seat opposite him.

“Hey, thanks for meeting me, Mr. Stark,” the kid tripped over his own words. “I just knew that this was something you needed to have…”

Tony held up a hand and cut him off in mid-sentence. “Stop, I don’t have all day. What did you bring me?”

The kid reached for his backpack. “Oh, yeah, sorry. Ummm, here.” The kid drew two items out of his bag. One nearly filled up the kid’s backpack. The other was somewhat smaller.

“OK,” Tony looked at him quizzically, “why are you carrying around, what are those, purses? And what’s more important, why are you giving them to me? Neither one goes with my outfit.”

“Well, see, I thought you could return them.”

Tony grunted irritably. “What do I look like, Manhattan’s Lost & Found department?”

The kid’s eyes grew round and he stammered a bit. “Oh, no no, it’s just that, well, these belong to two of your employees.”

Tony had never seen these bags before, but then he never paid attention to this sort of thing. “How do you know they belong to my employees?” he asked.

“Because that’s what one of them said,” came the reply.

“When?”

“She was yelling it as she chased the guy.”

Tony grew more and more confused. “What guy?”

“The guy that snatched the purses.”

Tony shook his head. “OK, why don’t you tell me the story, from the beginning.”

“Oh,OK,” the kid said. “Ok, so I was out last night, kind of late, I know, I should have been studying for that math test, but I’d already been studying all night, and I really just needed a break for a while, so I just went out for a bit.”

“Your aunt let you out late at night?”

“Oh no! Aunt May wouldn’t let me out after midnight, even on a weekend.” He looked around, ducking down and whispering, “Please don’t tell her, Mr. Stark, she will ground me forever!”

“You were out after midnight? Are you crazy, you aren’t even 150 pounds soaking wet!”

“Well I put on… I mean...”

Tony ground his teeth and gave him a threatening look. “Just go on with the story.”

“OK, so I was just kind of swinging around – um, hanging out, near Bryant Park, see, and I hear this lady kind of scream. Like not a real scream, but like cut off, you know? Yeah, so I kinda went over, and I saw this guy, and these two ladies, and one of them kinda threw her bag at him, the other one was doing like a tug of war thing with the other bag, until the guy like cut the strap to get it away from her. See, this one right here, see how it’s cut? So he turns and takes off through the park. And the lady who was pulling at her purse, she just takes off running after him. So I figured I oughtta, you know, be like a good Samaritan or something and get the purses back for them. And anyway so she runs out of breath kinda fast, and she’s yelling after him, ‘you just wait until my boss hears about this! Tony Stark WILL find you and he’s gonna kick your ass!’”

Tony smirked. He could just guess who that was. And he had to admit, not many women would chase after an armed purse snatcher in broad daylight, much less into a park after midnight. He kinda respected her a little for it. She had guts. Or no brain. He wasn’t completely sure which, but he expected that the new additions to his Tower were about to make life interesting. Not that life was dull up to that point.

The kid continued. “So anyway, I followed the guy through the park and finally caught him. He had stopped for a minute to look through the big one, so you could say I caught him red handed.” He smiled at his own little joke, then sobered up when Tony frowned at him. “OK so I wrapped him up, took the bags back from him, and then delivered the guy to the cops.”

“And how did you do that, walk in wearing your onesie?” Tony was rewarded by the flustered expression on the kid’s face.

“It’s not a onesie! You gave the suit to me –“

Tony cut him off, “And I told you not to play around with it. But nevermind. What did you do with the mugger?”

“Oh, I left him kinda tied up at the door of the Penn Station PD office. Oh, with a note! I figured somebody would trip over him, and I didn’t want them to let him go. I left the other stuff he’d stolen with him. I just brought these two.”

Tony sat back a minute and regarded the kid. He was growing up, that was true, but he obviously still needed the approval of an older man. Tony didn’t like to think of himself as a father figure, but sometimes he had to just resign himself to the inevitable. He finally gave the kid a tight smile.

“Good job, kid. I’ll be sure to get these back to their owners.” Tony looked over at the deli owner who nodded and put a paper bag on the counter. “Now, get back to your room and get ready for that test, ok?”

The kid hesitated a moment. “Oh, uh, ok yeah. So can I have-”

Again Tony cut him off. “You know the rules, ace the school, be responsible, keep on doing the friendly neighborhood thing. But let’s confine that to daylight hours, got it?”

* * * * * * * *

Tony was waiting that evening when the two housekeepers arrived. He was pouring himself a cup of coffee and watched as they exited the elevator and hung up their coats in the closet. When they walked into the kitchen, he stopped them. “I need to see the both of you. In the meeting room. Now.”

Both women stared at him with big eyes, glanced at each other, and then preceded him into the room. He was being dramatic, he knew, but sometimes a man just couldn’t resist. He waited until they took seats and then walked to the other end of the room and stood with the window at his back. He looked down on the nervous women.

“So which one of you wants to tell me about last night?”

The women looked at each other, the Quiet One pleading with the other silently. Lippy One shrugged and replied, “What would you like to know about?” When Tony pursed his lips and frowned quietly for a moment she went on. “Well, we come in, I start the dishwasher, she goes up to check the theater, and we meet on the top floor. We gather the towels –“

Tony reached under the table and pulled out the bags he’d received that afternoon, plopping them down on the table in front of them. Lippy One fell silent for a moment, then uttering a single, “Oh.”

“Let me try again. What happened last night?”

The Quiet One snatched up her purse and began digging through it excitedly. Lippy didn’t even reach for hers, just stared at it as if it were a snake. After a moment, she let out a big sigh.

“OK, so after we left here last night, we decided to celebrate our first check. She wanted to go to the Tick Tock Diner, so that’s where we went. And on our way to the train station, we got mugged. Guy pulled out a knife, demanded our bags.”

Tony frowned. He was concerned for his people, and, for better or worse, these women were now his people. Even if they didn’t like it. “Did you get a good look at the guy?”

“Oh yeah,” she replied, “White guy, about 5’9”, 180, curly hair and a mustache. He was wearing jeans, a black hoodie pulled up, Converse, and dark sunglasses.”

The Quiet One looked at her friend. And actually spoke. “No he was closer to 6’. And he was wearing camouflage pants and a navy blue hoodie. And a ski mask. And he had a gun, not a knife.”

Then they were talking over one another, arguing about what the guy looked like. Tony rolled his eyes. He noticed Barnes and Rogers stop outside the meeting room and have a short conversation about the arguing women before moving on. Tony shook his head and turned to pull a file from a drawer, dropping that on the table. That stopped the argument, with a comment from the Quiet One of “you are describing the Unibomber.”

“Yeah, they caught him a while back,” Tony mentioned. “Your guy’s name is Davis, Eliot Brandon. He’s a small time thief, deals mostly in purse snatchings, shell games, the occasional knock down and grab. About the only thing you two got right was he was a white guy wearing clothes. He’s 5’11” and was found with a knife. NYPD has him now, though, and he’s not going to be making bail this time.” They exchanged another glance, and finally the Lippy One pulled her purse towards her. “Double check, make sure everything is there. Let me know if anything is missing, I’ll see what I can do about getting it replaced.”

They checked through their bags, and he saw relief on their faces when Lippy found their uncashed paycheck. She pulled out a wad of folded bills and thumbed through them. “Wait, I wasn’t carrying this much cash, this isn’t mine.” She held the bundle out to him.

Tony shook his head. “Think of it as a reward for helping get the guy off the streets.” She gave him a sour look. “OK kids, let’s get back to work.” They rose and headed for the door. “Uh, for what it’s worth? Next time something like that happens, call me. I can pull some strings. Oh, and I’ll have someone drive you two home from now on. No need to thank me.”

Lippy cocked her head to the side. “OK, just one thing. How did you get these back for us?”

Tony smirked. “Let’s just say an associate brought them to my attention.”

They didn’t look so much like they believed him. But the Quiet One nudged her friend and jerked her head in his direction. Lippy huffed. “Thank you for getting them back.”

Tony grinned. “Any time.”

#Tony is busy #this had better be good #why does the kid have purses #and why is he giving them to tony #where did he get them #he stole them back #friendly neighborhood guy in a onesie #Lippy One #Quiet One #they don't even know who mugged them #everything is there #plus a couple hundred more #tony is a good guy #when he wants to be #Lippy still doesn't trust him

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bbaba-yagaa · 6 years

Text

Change of Plans

Author's note: This is another request made by my friend Ele! it was written using the prompt "Sunrise". I was supposed to save this one for later but It Lives Beneath just ended and I feel like this is the perfect time to drop this one.

Summary: Harper just survived an attempt on his life and killed the man responsible for the death of his parents. He decides to pay his girlfriend, Danni, a visit.

Characters: Danni x M!MC

Rating: PG13 (for some language)

Word count: 1,253

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I am simply borrowing them.

*******

Harper Vance pulls himself ashore after a brutally long swim and a near death experience. The man claiming responsibility for the death of his parents was now resting at the bottom of the lake where he rightfully belonged. Waterlogged, exhausted and still bleeding from the struggle, the young man flops onto his back and stares into the fading night sky. Sunrise would be coming soon and surely grandpa and Elliot would be worried sick over his sudden disappearance. But these minor details didn't concern Harper. What plagues him is the fact that more cultists could still be alive and waiting for the perfect opportunity to exact their vengeance on any of his friends or family. Yet here he was, trying to leave Pine Springs and return to a normal life like nothing happened at all. But the hard truth began to set in: there is no going back. A new resolve energizes Harper's exhausted limbs and he quickly pulls himself shakily to his feet. After taking a moment to allow his head to stop spinning he begins to make for town.

Harper stops outside Danni's house and takes a quick look around to make sure none of her family is home. Once he's satisfied with his solitude, he stoops down and picks up a handful of small pebbles before taking position under his lover’s bedroom window. Taking great care not to hit the side of the house or throw too hard all together, he begins to lightly toss the projectiles at Danni's room. After a few minutes of persistent pebbles plinking harmlessly off the glass, the window slides open and Harper's lover pokes her head out.

Danni's hair is a disheveled mess that falls loosely around her groggy face. When she's finally able to focus, her expression turns to surprise.

“Harper?” Her voice comes out somewhere between a whisper and a shout. “Do you have any idea what time it is? And why do you look like shit?”

“It's a long story Danni and I'll tell you everything. Can I come in?” Harper finally begins to feel the burden of exhaustion weighing on him as he awaits Danni's response.

“Yeah, sure. Go around back and I'll meet you there in a second.” With those words, the young woman disappears back inside the window before slamming it closed.

Harper shuffles around the side of the house; his ruined shoes making disgusting squishing noises as he does. When he rounds the corner to the back of the house, Danni opens the back door and gets a good look at the shape he's in.

Her jaw drops at the sight of his bloody, soaking wet clothes and she quickly darts out of the house. “Jesus Harper what happened to you?”

“I'll tell you inside. Not out here where someone could hear us.” The exhausted young man leans into Danni, who wraps a steadying arm around his waist.

“Okay fair enough but you gotta lose the clothes, Vance. My parents will kill me if you get the carpet all soggy.” Danni wiggles her eyebrows, attempting to coax a smile out of her injured boyfriend.

“Fair enough.” Harper gives her a weak smile while steading himself against the back porch and nodding wearily.

With a little help from Danni and a few chuckles while trying to peel off the clothing sticking to his skin, Harper disrobes before the two of them head inside.

*****

A little while later, Harper is sitting on a chair in Danni's room, wearing nothing but boxers, as she uses a sewing needle and thread to close the cut on the back of his head.

“So just like that? You caved his face in with a fire extinguisher and it's all over?” Satisfied with her stitching, Danni uses her teeth to cut the thread before gently smoothing the hair around her handiwork.

Exhausted but feeling alot better overall, Harper laughs while pulling his girlfriend's hands over his shoulders; drawing her chin into the crook of his neck. “Hey, I'll have you know that's it's not an easy task. You know, clawing your way out of a wooden box while the weight of a million gallons of water pushes down on you.”

Danni wraps her arms around Harper's bare torso while looking at his now bandaged hands. “I bet you made it look easy though. Hell I would've paid good money to see the look on Dick's face as you crawled back into boat and went all creature from the black lagoon on him. All joking aside I'm glad you're ok. I don't know what I would've done if…”

“That's the part that scares me the most Danni. You guys would've never known. He would've still been out there in the shadows, maybe even waiting to grab one of you guys next. There could more of them out who survived and here I am, about to run away.”

Acting instinctively, Danni squeezes Harper tight and kisses his cheek. “Don't do that to yourself Vance. You have a life to live and school-”

“No. I belong here now. There's no going back to a normal life after what we've seen and been through. Maybe I can figure out the schooling situation but I need to be here, for you guys. Grandpa and Elliot could've been in the house when Richard grabbed me. They could've been collateral damage.” Out of breath from overexertion, Harper slumps in the chair and leans back against Danni. He runs a loving hand through her thick, brunette hair as the the two of them watch the sunrise through the bedroom window in silence.

Danni internally debates with herself on what to say next. Part of her wants urge him to go home and handle his business. Though, she definitely wants him to stick around. Not because of the potential threat, she could more than handle herself, but because she is in love with the man wrapped tightly in her arms. Smiling to herself, Danni stands and pulls Harper to his feet. “So, what? Are you going to be our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man then? I bet that cute little ass of yours would look good in spandex.”

“Hey, don't tempt me. Especially with your new interest in sexy photography. I'll melt your face off with this body in skin tight onesie.” Harper wiggles his eyebrows at his girlfriend and does his best to strike a sexy pose for her.

“Oooh, sounds like a date. What do you say, eight o'clock?” Danni reaches out and playfully attempts to pinch her boyfriends arm as he swats her hand away.

“I think you've got yourself a deal. Now, we should probably wash my clothes and get them dry before someone comes home and finds you with a half naked man.” Harper starts for the door as Danni gives a causal shrug.

“I'm pretty sure they've caught me doing stranger things.” Harper's jaw drops as the messy haired brunette gently pushes him toward the door.

“I feel like there's a story behind that statement and I'm dying to hear it. We've got plenty of time to kill while we do my laundry.” Harper raises an inquisitive eyebrow at his girlfriend as she continues to urge him downstairs.

“If your lucky I'll tell you. Now come on, Romeo, let's go wash your blouse.” The two of them laugh in tandem as they head for the laundry room. Neither one of them knows what the future has in store but the couple is certain that together, anything is possible.

#danni #danni x m!mc #ilb fanfic #it lives beneath #ilb #daniela asturias #choices fandom #choices you play

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bloodiedskirtts · 6 years

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Santa Baby | Lance Tucker x OFC

Summary: Ari and Lance spend their first Christmas with their twins

Pairing: Lance Tucker x OFC Ari

Word Count: 1.2k

Warnings: Fluff, some mentions of sex and slight angst (because I can’t help myself?)

A/N: I know it’s just turned November, but it’s never too early for Christmas.

This is based on my rp with the amazing @buckysforeverprincess who puts up with my bullshit. I hope I did Lance justice!

Feedback is always appreciated! Thanks for reading. I hope you guys like it!

Ari had never been a fan of Christmas growing up, and that was fine. She never had the nice family dinners, the dozens of presents under the tree, it was just another day of the year for her. When she started her own family with Lance, she started to understand why people loved Christmas. Their first Christmas together, Lance spoiled Ari, not that he needed an excuse to shower his wife and mother of his children with gifts and affection.

Ari was especially excited for this Christmas, because it was the twins’ first Christmas! She knew they wouldn’t understand, they were only nine months old, and yet she had laid out their presents carefully under the tree after she put them down for the night. Motherhood had terrified her when she found out she was expecting, she didn’t think she would be able to do it. But the instant those babies were put in her arms, she knew that she would move mountains to protect them. She adored them.

Even if they still refused to sleep through the night, well, Melody anyway! Liam had gotten better and rarely woke before the morning light. While Melody fussed until Ari or Lance went to check on her. More often than not Ari would break and just bring her into bed with them. But after too many sleepless nights, she had put her foot down. Self soothing was the only way this was going to be resolved she decided, after reading dozens of parenting books and forums. And Melody was getting better, waking only once a night now.

Ari was excited for their first Christmas as a family, so when that familiar cry broke the silence of Lance and Ari’s bedroom, she practically jumped out of bed. She pulled on her Christmas pyjamas which she had planned to wear last night, but Lance had other ideas, giving her an early Christmas present of red Santa inspired lingerie. They were long since discarded, Lance may have become a father but it never dulled his sex drive. Not that Ari was complaining.

She didn’t know how Lance managed to sleep through the noise of the baby monitor, shaking her head as she made her way to the twin’s nursery. She changed their nappies and fixed their matching bear onesies, before picking them both up. They were getting heavy now, she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to carry both of them at the same time for much longer.

‘Shall we go wake up daddy?’ she cooed as she walked back to their shared bedroom, the sun lighting up the bedroom as it started to rise. Melody practically jumped out of Ari’s arms to crawl up the bed to her daddy. She was definitely a daddy’s girl, while Liam rested his head drowsily against his mother’s chest. Melody clearly wasn’t very impressed her daddy wasn’t already awake to play with her and slammed her chubby hand down on his face. Ari giggled, knowing she shouldn’t, it would only encourage that type of behaviour, but Lance had it coming.

He always did.

He opened his eyes, swearing under his breath but brightened to see his daughter sitting on his chest, her blue eyes mirroring his. Both twins looked remarkably like their father, chestnut curls and big blue eyes. Ari had to admit she was a slight bit upset that Lance had all the dominant genes, but she couldn’t be too mad. They were both the most beautiful babies she had ever set her sights on. After some playing in bed, Ari rounded up the twins to bring them down to open their Santa presents.

Lance pulled his pyjamas on too, matching with Ari. Yes, she had turned into that wife, but she didn’t care.

‘Maybe Santa left a present under the tree for you, Lance,’ she said with a smirk, as she leaned up to kiss him.

‘Dunno, I’m probably on the naughty list. I know you definitely are,’ he retorted, smacking Ari’s ass as she left the room.

Lance had taken Liam out of Ari’s arms before descending the stairs, creeping into the sitting room where they had laid out the presents the night before. When Ari turned the light on, Melody squealed with delight at all the new toys in her line of vision. Ari couldn’t help but giggle as she put her daughter down to crawl over to grab anything and everything. She shook her head, helping Melody open her toys as Lance entered the room laughing at their excited faces. Liam was much more awake now when he saw that he had gotten more toys.

When Lance and Ari had managed to open all the toys, the kids were content to play with their new presents.

‘Don’t you think Santa may have gone overboard this year, Ari?’ Lance asked her, cocking a brow at the mess of paper and boxes scattered around their living room.

She pouted at him leaning over to plant a soft kiss on his lips, ‘No.’

She leaned back on her heels a smile on her face, ‘I think it’s time for daddy to open his presents.’

Lance makes a move forward with a smirk, ‘Right in front of the kids?’

Ari rolled her eyes in response, ‘Lance!’ lightly hitting his arm before leaning over to pull a small rectangular box from under the Christmas tree.

‘This is from me, it’s not that much but, I think you’ll like it,’ she told him, a soft smile on her lips.

‘It’s from you, so I already love it,’ he told her with a smile, causing Ari to blush.

She watched carefully as Lance unwrapped the present, lifting the lid on the box, his face moving into a look of confusion. It had looked like a watch box, so that’s what he expected. But it wasn’t and it took a moment for his sleep deprived brain to realise what was in the box.

‘Ari?’

‘I...I know, we didn’t plan it. But we talked about it...and I know it’s a lot sooner than we thought...’

She was blinking rapidly, was he not happy? She thought that he wanted this. That he would be happy.

‘You’re pregnant?’ he gasped, looking up at her for the first time since he opened the box which held a positive pregnancy test.

She nodded anxiously. Before starting her relationship with Lance, she didn’t want any of this. She never saw herself as a wife or a mother or a housewife. And now she couldn’t be happier. She had loved being pregnant with her twins, and was happy being married to Lance. She helped him in the gym when she could, but focused most of her energy on the twins. Determined to give them the happy childhood that she never had. So when she learned she was pregnant again, she was so excited.

She had taken the pregnancy test over the weekend, hiding it from Lance to surprise him on Christmas morning. And she felt like the bottom was falling out of everything. He wasn’t happy?

But when he looked at her, she felt like a weight lifted from her shoulders. He was happy, he was beaming up over at her.

‘You probably should start wearing condoms,’ she teased, as he pulled her in for a kiss.

‘Happy Christmas, baby,’ she whispered when he released her from their deep kiss.

‘Happy Christmas,’ he replied.

Permanent Tag List

@kayleeflower // @savemesteeb // @rainbowkisses31 // @valeriae2903 // @sophiatomlinson23 // @rhiisnotawitch // @mcuimxgine // @randomstoriesofabunny // @marsnothere // @myrabbitholetoneverland // @jessxxoxx // @ka-x-in // @lovely-geek // @lizfawn // @piensa-bonito // @rileyloves5 // @funkenniffler // @writing-for-a-chance // @teawithbucky // @renanyx // @marvelellie // @siriuslyimmoony // @m-a-t-91 // @geeksareunique //@bookgirlunicorn // @justmesadgirl // @buckysforeverprincess // @xxchexchickxx // @jbarnes87 //@sexyvixen7 // @rumoured-whispers // @teenwolfbitches2 // @wildefire // @vibhati123 // @ultimategalaxyprogram // @friendly-neighborhood-lich-queen//

#lance tucker #lance tucker x ofc #lance tucker x oc #lance tucker x original female character #lance tucker fluff #fluff #sebastian stan #sebastian stan characters #the bronze #writing #my writing #christmas #christmas fic #christmas writing #pregnancy #pregnant #twins

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nezumiko · 7 years

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The Tale of Sachi the Rescue Bunny

Some of you may have seen our fundraiser. We wanted to put all the updates in one place, for our friends who may not have seen them.

June 12 — On his way home from work, Ryan found this handsome fellow on the side of our rural road in coyote country, where a white pet rabbit just doesn't belong, so he stopped. The bunny was ridiculously friendly, came right over, and let Ryan pick him up — clearly he was someone's pet, we thought, who must have escaped. Ryan brought him home, and we put up a notice on our neighborhood Nextdoor site, hoping to find his owners. As soon as we got him home, we noticed he was limping — a toe on his left hind foot was seriously injured, hot and swollen, weeping pus, with bone protruding. You can see in the photo below how swollen that hind foot was. We gave him some fresh greens and water, made him as comfortable as we could in our bathroom for the night, and took him to the vet first thing in the morning.

June 13 — It was very bad news. Our vet said she thought he must have torn off a toenail two or three weeks previously, it had gotten infected, and now the toe was necrotic and the bone itself was exposed and infected. He had a high fever. This was a life-threatening injury and infection.

His only hope for survival was surgery to amputate the infected bone — maybe just the toe, if he was lucky, maybe his whole hind limb — put him on several weeks of antibiotics, and give him good nursing care. She estimated the cost of the surgery alone at $1500, with several hundred more in follow up care, pain medication, and antibiotics. The good news was he was eating and drinking, and he seemed to be young enough that he had a good shot at healing if he got the surgery. Even a three-legged bunny can have a happy life as an indoor pet. We took him home with pain medicine and antibiotics, and scheduled surgery for Friday, hoping we'd find his owners by then. Tragically, when we found his former owners, it turned out they had deliberately let him go several months previously because he had chewed things in the house, and weren't prepared to provide any care for him. They told us he was only two years old, and that they used to call him Philip. They agreed to surrender him to us. Since I'm disabled and Ryan only started back to work recently, after nine months of unemployment, an unexpected $1500+ expense was hard to absorb. But we're also incredible softies who used to volunteer with a small animal rescue in California. We just couldn’t turn away from this bun: the gentlest, sweetest-tempered rabbit we had ever encountered. We knew he’d make a wonderful pet for us or another adopter if he survived. We renamed him Sachi, a Japanese word meaning "lucky” and decided we’d find a way. Several people in our neighborhood said how glad they were we rescued him. Taking a leap of faith, we set up a gofundme page for Sachi, hoping to get some help with the vet bills through the kindness of strangers and neighbors alike.

June 15 — We found a fantastic hand-made indoor hutch on Craigslist for $125. The previous owner had recently lost her beloved house bun to old age, and was happy to know it would be going to be a home for a bunny who really needed it. We put a litter box in for Sachi, too, and he got the concept right away.

Sachi was doing well so far, eating, drinking, and pooping just like a rabbit should. As sick as he was, that was a miracle! He didn’t much care for his antibiotics and pain medicine, but he tolerated us giving them to him, and forgave us enough to allow petting afterwards. He did turn out to be a big fan of dandelion and grape leaves. Fortunately we had plenty of both in the garden.

We learned from a neighbor about a wonderful Portland animal hospital, DoveLewis, that has a program that provides free medical care for stray animals. Unfortunately, we also learned that to get Sachi care through that program, we'd have to surrender him to the county, and hope that they didn't decide euthanasia was the way to go.

Even though we could scarcely afford his surgery ourselves, we couldn't part with him. Sachi had found a home with us, and we were going to do our best to do right by him, whatever it took.

June 16, Surgery Day —Fantastic news! The little guy made it through surgery!

Fortunately for him, although the infection had spread beyond his toe, it was still contained entirely in his foot. In a heroic, three hour surgery, his vets amputated his leg up to the hip to ensure that all the infection was excised.

Bad news: Poor guy came home in the cone of shame. Good news: Even though the surgery was much more extensive than originally planned, the total price only came out to $1642, which is not much over the original $1500 estimate. His vets — Dr Houston and Dr Dabritz of Barlow Trail Veterinary Clinic in Sandy, OR did amazing work, and really helped us by keeping costs as low as possible. We absolutely can't thank them enough. We were worried about him eating, and thinking we might have to syringe feed him, but he ate six dandelions leaves with gusto as soon as he got home, and then passed out flat. He woke up for more leaves several times over the course of a few hours. We had to hand feed him, thanks to the cone of shame, but were very relieved! He was to be on strict confinement for the next two weeks while he does his initial healing, and scheduled to see the vet again for a check up in a week.

Amazingly, our fundraiser was already past the halfway mark! We couldn’t be more grateful.

June 17 — More good news! Sachi was bright and feisty first thing in the morning. He was already hopping around in his hutch, fully alert, and eager to be hand fed dandelion leaves. He also resisted taking his antibiotics with much more vigor than he ever did before his surgery. We think that with the infected leg amputated, he actually had more energy and health to protest them with.

He’s already relaxed enough to stretch out and flop on his side, missing leg or no. (Don’t worry, that pink part isn’t anything scary; he’s just a boy bunny who hasn’t been neutered yet.)

June 18 —We had an eventful Saturday night and Sunday. Sachi made it clear the cone wasn't working. He kept banging it into things and knocking things over and couldn't eat. So we shortened it a little, but still it didn't work, and he was spending all his energy trying to get it off. We tried replacing it with a soft donut collar, but he slipped that off immediately. So then we tried a putting him in a onesie. I'm not kidding. Google it: people put pets in onesies post surgery to keep them from bothering their wounds.

If he'd had an abdominal injury instead of a missing leg it might have worked, but instead it just made things worse, trapping poop close to the surgery site. So we took that off him, cleaned him up, and left him collarless. We also made an emergency appointment with the vet for a wound check, since he'd gotten it dirty. The good news was he seemed to be leaving the staples alone. He’d groomed the area and licked it, but just to keep it clean. The bad news was he was still running a fever, but so far with no signs of infection in the wound, so that could be stress.

He was still bright as can be, eager to interact, loved petting, and was enjoying a diet of blackberry leaves, fresh grass, and hay with gusto. Still not a big fan of his medicine, but oh well. Not many people are, really.

It was becoming clear to us that he was going to turn this around and be just the nicest bunny. He'd happily sit in Ryan's lap and be petted, and groom Ryan, too, licking his arm to make sure all the hair lies in one direction. Point is, we were falling in love.

June 19 — WE MADE OUR GOAL! In less than a week, we managed to raise $1500 for Sachi’s medical expenses. We are beyond grateful, and a little awestruck at the generosity of friends and strangers alike, who were willing to help us save Sachi’s life. We should be able to come up with the remaining $500 or so to cover the rest of his care.

June 25 — A week after surgery, Sachi is doing GREAT! We saw the vet Saturday, and she removed seven of the twelve staples that had closed his wound. Sachi, naughty bun, had already removed the other five himself, but fortunately except for one little scabbed area, there was no harm done. The wound is healing well, and he's learning to get around on three legs just fine. He's even figured out how to clean his ears again, a feat not easy when you're missing a hind leg. He's completely litterbox trained, which makes things so much easier for us. As of yesterday he's been given freedom to do limited roaming in the den, and boy is he delighted with it! He's currently stretched out by the window enjoying the view, happy as can be. He'll see the vet one more time on Tuesday, and as long as all is well, he'll be allowed to stop taking his antibiotics, and get on with life as a tripawed house bun. He continues to be the most affectionate, sweet-tempered rabbit we've ever seen. He'll happily sit and cuddle while we watch a movie. His only vice so far is licking the couch. We have no idea why he licks the couch, but he seems happy, and we can deal with the damp patches. Thanks to all of you, Sachi is well on his way to a long, happy life with us — a life he almost certainly would have lost if we hadn't found him just in the nick of time to get him the surgery before the infection killed him. He is one lucky rabbit, and we are two lucky people to have him in our lives, and to have all of you kind, generous, supportive friends who helped us.

#sachi #sachi the rescue bunny #the whole sachi saga #three legged rabbit #tripawed #we're so grateful

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ts1989fanatic · 7 years

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SWIFT-WATCH

Where in the World Is Taylor Swift? An Investigation.

Is she hangin’ with Ed Sheeran in a mythical forest somewhere? Or being transported in a piece of luggage? One thing’s certain: The world’s biggest pop star has been very MIA.

AMY ZIMMERMAN 07.19.17 1:00 AM ET

ts1989fanatic this so called writer is no fan of Taylor Swift, so if you don’t want to almost puke and end up enraged by this TRASH read no further.

Taylor Swift is the teenage tattoo of A-List celebrities: Every so often we remember that she’s still there, and we don’t quite know what to do with her.

The pop star has been more or less MIA since last summer, when Kim Kardashian took to Snapchat to out Swift as a stack of snake emojis hiding inside a patriotic onesie.

Taylor Swift—an incredibly calculating celeb who nonetheless managed to market herself as the naïve girl next door—might be a snake, but she’s our snake. In a galaxy of eye-roll-eliciting Katy Perrys and rage-inducing Rob Kardashians, Swift always stood out as a celebrity who could generate an infinite amount of relatively inoffensive content about herself.

ts1989fanatic there are several snakes mentioned in this post including the writer, but Taylor is not one of them.

From her rotating cast of Ken doll boyfriends to her famous squad, Swift consistently made headlines. Love her or hate her, but show some freaking gratitude for a woman who would go on a double date with her friend who is currently dating her ex-boyfriend just to feed us clickbait-hungry monsters.

ts1989fanatic Calvin Harris is a Ken Doll OK sure this writer is a moron, and the double date was not to feed idiots like you.

When Swift was exposed as a liar and went into hiding, the entertainment blogosphere lost one of its brightest stars. Swift elegantly toed the line between A-list celebrity and overexposure—a line that Kim Kardashian promptly pushed her over. So it’s no surprise that the media-adept star reacted by doing a total-180, transforming from “girl who gets papp’d every day” to “mythical nocturnal creature who may or may not subsist on the burnt offerings of Ed Sheeran.”

ts1989fanatic I’m still waiting for the unedited full conversation and not the 90 seconds of chopped and edited BULLSHIT that KARTRASHIAN put out to prove Taylor as a liar (until then calling Taylor a liar is CRAP)

Keeping a low profile is one thing, but shipping yourself out of your own apartment is quite another.

ts1989fanatic This has already been proven as BULLSHIT and retracted.

Swift-Watch 2017 reached a new nadir earlier this week, when word spread that the star had been carried out of her Tribeca building in a piece of luggage. Stories like “Taylor Swift Was Definitely Not Being Carted Around in a Giant Suitcase” quickly debunked the rumors, but, still, if you have to clarify that Taylor Swift is not cramming herself into a trunk every time she wants to go to SoulCycle, clearly something is up. So how, over the course of one year, did Taylor Swift go from one of the biggest pop stars in the world to a potential human carry-on? What has this woman been up to? And why does Ed Sheeran always seem to make everything worse?

ts1989fanatic Taylor is avoiding IDIOTS like this writer so that she might actually have a normal relationship and a little privacy from being mocked by the media over everything she does.

The Crab Walk

youtube

At this point, the story of Taylor Swift’s Snapchat outing is the stuff of celebrity lore (more specifically, North West’s bedtime story). After Swift fell back on her traditional victim narrative, complaining that Kanye Westreleased a vulgar rap about her without her permission, Kim published footage of Kanye running the offensive lyrics past Swift in the studio. Swift’s lies held up about as well as a street-cast model on an hours-long Yeezy runway, and the pop singer was quickly denounced as a calculating fake. But we didn’t understand the full weight of Kim’s public image assault until a few weeks later, when Swift was caught crab-walking out of her gym to avoid the paparazzi. I’m not saying that Kim Kardashian hypes herself up with a few lines of Pixy Stix every night and watches this video of Taylor Swift walking sideways, but I’m not not saying that.

ts1989fanatic Taylor has always tried to find different ways to avoid the paps, do you all remember walking backwards down a hiking trail I do.

‘Jury Duty’

The VMAs are a site of trauma for anyone who hates bad fashion and Canadian tuxedos. But the annual awards show is particularly triggering for Taylor Swift, whose years-long feud with Kanye West began on that very stage. So when the VMAs rolled around so quickly after Swift’s Snapchat fiasco, the star turned away from her walk-in closet full of sequined mini dresses and opted to fulfill her civic duty instead. Yes, Taylor Swift, image-crafter extraordinaire, managed to avoid a high-profile awards show appearance by claiming that she had jury duty the next day. Knowing that that was a “dog ate my homework”-level excuse, Swift obviously had to go the extra mile and actually show up to jury duty. While a Nashville judge eventually dismissed Swift as a potential juror in the case, the singer still managed to befriend a few lucky Tennesseans—including a local resident who got Swift to sign her copy of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. You truly cannot make this shit up.

ts1989fanatic It was not a claim that she had jury duty IT WAS A FUCKING FACT.

R.I.P. Hiddleswift

There are suspiciously paparazzi-friendly dates, there are fake Hollywood couples, and then there’s this. Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston announced their brand partnership when they swapped spit for the photogs on a bunch of rocks—as one does. It was perfect synergy from the very start: Tom Hiddleston wanted to become James Bond, and Taylor Swift likes white boys. The “human relationship” proceeded in a manner characteristic of typical human relationships.

They ate dinner together, held hands, and traveled the world. Swift even let Hiddleston pick out an interpersonal relationship party favor from her closet of affirmational tank tops. Unfortunately, Hiddleston didn’t appear to “heart T.S.” enough to stand by her side once her stock started plummeting—either that, or Swift realized that having such an artificial-seeming relationship was making her look even less authentic. For a deliberately manufactured relationship, Hiddleswift was pretty ill-timed.

Tom Hiddleston was not Taylor Swift’s most famous boyfriend, nor was he the pettiest. He wasn’t Harry Styles or a Kennedy. He was, however, the most willing to plant his ass on a bunch of cold pointy rocks and make out for some pictures. R.I.P., Hiddleswift: gone but, thanks to an army of dedicated paparazzi, never forgotten.

ts1989fanatic yes their relationship was short lived but this does not mean fake, only two people in the world that know the truth the rest is just Speculation.

Halloween!

Taylor Swift was Deadpool for Halloween, I guess.

ts1989fanatic And you point is you PUTZ

Decision 2017

Despite not having the balls to endorse Hillary Clinton, self-described feminist Taylor Swift urged her 102 million social media followers to “Go out and VOTE.” It worked out really well. Thanks a lot, Taylor.

ts1989fanatic Taylor could not win either way if she endorsed Hillary she would have been attacked for that. Taylor Swift is not to BLAME for TRUMP.

Two Directions

Though technically released in December, Swift’s Zayn Malik duet truly made waves when it was featured in Fifty Shades Darker, a movie about having the least kinky BDSM sex imaginable in Seattle. In January, Malik and Swift co-starred in a music video for the track. Someone on Wikipedia has written a better synopsis of this music video than I ever could: “The video starts with Zayn emerging from his car on a rainy night as the paparazzi take photos. As Zayn enters a hotel he starts singing his part and as the chorus begins he reaches the elevator with red lights and then pans over to another elevator with Swift singing her part and proceeds to her hotel room. Zayn in his room sings the chorus and Swift pours some champagne in a glass. The rest of the video is Zayn and Swift throwing objects like glasses, lamps, pillows across their rooms in anger.”

ts1989fanatic Take synopsis shine it up and stick it were the sun don’t shine.

Super Bowl Bonanza

Swift performed her first and quite possibly last concert of the year in February, telling the audience that, “By coming to this show tonight, you are attending 100 percent of this year’s tour dates.”

ts1989fanatic this part I can’t disagree with.

The Ed Sheeran Rendezvous

Who cares?

ts1989fanatic Millions of fans do you stupid fucking idiot.

Mystery Boo

In May, news broke that Taylor Swift was months-deep into a relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn. While anyone who’s familiar with Swift knows that up-and-coming Brits are her personal heroin, the real surprise was that the singer actually pulled off a secret romance. For months, Swift and Alwyn made like Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk and weren’t seen. A wig was reportedly involved. By the time news leaked, Swift was allegedly already looking at houses in the U.K. (although, to be fair, buying real estate in her new boyfriends’ neighborhoods is what Taylor Swift does between following back on Instagram and going on a first date).

ts1989fanatic that crack about buying real estate is garbage that was something she did once and could easily and probably was coincidence.

The Drop

Taylor Swift will never miss a chance to screw over her enemies, even if she has to orchestrate her vengeance through a WiFi hotspot that she set up inside her giant suitcase. Taylor Swift came here to do many things—make out with the hottest guys, put more fiddles in pop music, name her cat after Olivia Benson—but she did not come here to play. Katy Perry learned this lesson the hard way in June, when Swift quietly released her entire musical catalog on Spotify the same night that Perry dropped her new album. Perry’s abysmal “Witness”—which featured a diss track about TayTay—just couldn’t compete with Swift’s entire oeuvre. It was a rough day for Katy Perry, and a great day for 15-year-olds with Spotify premium.

ts1989fanatic Sorry but KP deserved all she got.

America the Beautiful

While something has obviously been off in Taylor-world this year, nothing cemented this fact quite like Swift’s refusal to throw her annual Fourth of July party. No one event has ever encapsulated the American dream quite like Swift’s mandatory summer squad meet-ups: a mosh pit of blonde beauties with flat stomachs enjoying water sports and baking Pinterest-worthy goodies in red, white, and blue bikinis.

This year, instead of heading for Swift’s Rhode Island estate, the squad was left to their own devices. Most notably, model Karlie Kloss celebrated the Fourth by posing for an Instagram with Kendall Jenner—Kim Kardashian’s half-sister. Kudos to Kloss for finding the only other celebrity in the world who probably can’t name a Destiny’s Child song(and has been accused of a far more egregious act of cultural appropriation). Kloss’ decision to spend Swift’s favorite holiday with a Kardashian was read as an insult, leading to the possible conclusion that Kloss and Swift are no longer besties. Adding overblown insult to imagined injury, Lorde was later caught insinuating that she and Swift are no longer co-squad members.

And then there was only… Martha Hunt.

ts1989fanatic Karlie was at fashion week she’s a FUCKING MODEL that’s her job IDIOT, as for Lorde that’s already been clapped back on by Lorde herself.

For someone who gets paid to write, you suck at it maybe you should get into writing fiction that’s pretty much what this whole piece was.

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artofpeacelove · 4 years

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https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

April 7 is my birthday, and while I haven’t looked forward to that date for a number of years, this specific spin around the calendar feels more “meh” than ever. Especially since I’m social distancing alone in my apartment (well, alone minus my cats), if there’s any difference between “my birthday” and “any Tuesday ever,” I’m not seeing it. It’s clear that having a birthday during the coronavirus crisis isn’t exactly a naturally celebratory, jovial situation, but, experts tell me, having a birthday during this time doesn’t have to evoke the epitome of gloom, either.

Therapist Lauren Cook, MMFT, author of The Sunny Side Up: Celebrating Happiness, says not wallowing is key here. “Make sure you take the time to really acknowledge that it’s your birthday, and acknowledge that it’s a special day, while also giving yourself room to feel sad,” she says.

“Make sure you take the time to really acknowledge that it’s your birthday, and acknowledge that it’s a special day, while also giving yourself room to feel sad.” —therapist Lauren Cook, MMFT

I, for one, would like to achieve this balance—after all, a not-totally-awful effect of COVID-19 is that I have a newfound appreciation for the value of another year—but not drowning in despair on a day I hate in the best of circumstances frankly sounds difficult. So I realize that if I stand a chance at approximating a celebration of any sort for my birthday during coronavirus, I’ll need to rely even more than usual on a little help from my friends. And even though I’m social distancing from them, it’s still totally possible for us to connect.

In that spirit, below find 10 ideas for how you can help the people you love celebrate a birthday during coronavirus so they feel as loved as possible.

10 ways to make a birthday during the coronavirus crisis still feel special

1. Organize a virtual party

Cook suggests everyone quarantining with the guest of honor should FaceTime various others simultaneously, so multiple people can sing “Happy Birthday” at once. That way, she says, it’ll feel like a bigger party. Zoom’s grid-view function can also accomplish this effect, but without the need for anyone to be physically present. All you need to do is organize the call.

2. Do a drive by

Some people have been organizing coordinated caravan drive-bys for their loved ones’ birthdays, wherein various friends and families honk and cheer as they go by the birthday person’s home. You can also paint “happy birthday” on your car windows, blare the “Happy Birthday” song, etc.

3. Take your cues from the teddy-bear hunt trend

Many neighborhoods are engaging in teddy-bear hunts right now, wherein people put teddy bears in their windows, on their lawns, etc., so that children (and adults—no judgment) can spot them during daily walks. If you’re friendly with your neighbors, you can do something similar for a loved one by getting neighbors to place happy birthday signs and festive decorations in their windows or yards to be spotted on a birthday stroll.

4. Send them a celeb shoutout

Cook recommends utilizing Cameo to send your loved one a personalized birthday message from the celebrity of their dreams (or, the closest approximation of that person, available through Cameo). (If any of my friends are reading this, I’m feeling Debbie Gibson or Carnie Wilson, but only if she’ll sing me a few bars of “Hold On.”)

5. assume the role of fairy godmother

Rachel Hoffman, head of therapy at digital mental-health resource Real, suggests dressing up the birthday person and having a dance party. And this can work, even if you’re not quarantined together. For instance, I have a fairy godmother friend who sent me a ball gown to wear on my birthday; she’s going to wear one too, and we’re planning to have a FaceTime dance party in our gowns, plus Kangaboots.

If you don’t have a ball gown at your disposal, no matter; any type of festive attire will do. Deliver it to your friend’s doorstep and cue up Robyn’s “Dancing on my Own,” together (but apart).

6. Deliver them some local goodies

Local bakeshops could use some love right now, so don’t hesitate to send cupcakes or other sweet treats to your friend; it’s sort of your civic duty.

Or, you could bake them a cake using this decadent (but low-sugar) recipe, and deliver it to their doorstep.

7. Send them booze

If ever there were a valid reason to pop a cork before noon, it’s having a birthday during the coronavirus pandemic. Minibar Delivery is an app that connects you to local liquor stores for ordering alcohol and mixers for delivery. Winc allows you to gift a wine subscription to see the birthday guy or gal all the way through the rest of this awful situation. In my opinion, in fact, the happiest birthday gift of all may just be the classification of booze-slinging establishments (shops, not bars) in many states as essential.

8. redefine going out

One TikTok-famous family celebrated a birthday by creating an in-home pub crawl wherein each room featured a different theme—wine and cheese, beer, whiskey, Jell-O shots, etc. Another set up a club in their garage, with Dad as bouncer, to commemorate a 21st birthday. Both are great quarantine-activity ideas, birthday or not.

9. whisk them away on a trip

A similar idea if you’re quarantining with the birthday honoree is to “fake” a vacation to somewhere they were either supposed to go or would like to go when this is all over. For example, if they were planning a trip to Spain this spring, you could make homemade tapas, serve sangria, and screen Vicki Cristina Barcelona. Don’t live together right now? Drop off this birthday “kit” on their doorstep, then video call them while you each enjoy the goodies from your own homes. You can also do an old-school IOU, with a coupon for a free night’s stay in the Spanish hotel of their choice, redeemable once this novel coronavirus has been controlled.

10. Throw a pajama party

Not all that long ago, it was newsworthy that Selena Gomez opted for a low-key slumber party to celebrate her 25th birthday. Sure, now everybody‘s doing it, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it seem like a special choice. If you’re quarantining with the birthday person, set the night up like a nostalgic sleepover with sleeping bags, movie-theater candy and popcorn, hair-styling supplies, mani/pedi kits, and a movie not quite appropriate for your age bracket (Back then this might have meant Friday the 13th. Now? More like The Little Mermaid). Bonus points for matching onesies.

BTW, this is why all your friends have birthdays in the same month. And if all else fails, at least you can give each and every one of them this one very special (and free) gift.

from Good Advice – Well+Good https://ift.tt/2JPdprT via IFTTT

#10 ways to help someone have the happiest birthday during the coronavirus crisis #Good Advice – Well

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yourplasticlittlespastic · 5 years

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ᴏᴜʀ ᴡᴇʙ ᴏꜰ ʟᴏᴠᴇ – Peter Parker fanfic (7/of many)

𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 SERIES

"What about this verse on page 17?... yes, Miss Lorens..."

Gradually, their voices fade into the background with each thought I have, my eyes exploring my notebook as the most entertaining thing in the world. I feel a sting in my bottom lip. I've beeing bitting it intently. Worried.

'psss' I hear someone at my right 'pssssss!'

I turn to see Peter who waves at me so I wave back to him, he gets his phone out and signals me to do it too

I wait for an answer but when I turn to see him, Mr. Solis is asking for his phone, Peter nods and gives it to him. I wince and mutter a "sorry". At biology and Chemistry, I waited for him to talk to me but I think he's shyer than I thought. At recess, I look for Harley...

Harley! Oh shit.

What about what happened yesterday? Maybe I shouldn't overthink or maybe I should? I sigh leaning against my locker waiting for him. Fast steps across the hall and he rushes to his locker.

"You've been waiting a lot?" he catches his breath opening his locker and putting back his books

"Nope, just a century maybe. But don't worry"

"ha ha funny" he closes his locker and walks to me, my hands already clammy "are you ok?"

"Yes, just hungry" I mumble and he claps in excitement

So we walk to the cafeteria for him to get his food.

"So ummm, are we not going to discuss the fact that you kissed the corner of my lips?"

'Just rip off the band-aid, Tannie... being like that will save you lots of horrid moments' Nat voice sounds in my mind

He almost drops his tray and looks at me "I was planning to talk to you at our usual spot..." his blue eyes dancing to both sides

As quietly like we never are, we pace to the benches to sit down

"Do you mind that while we talk I begin to eat?" I say already with my sandwich in my hand

"Dig in....... I like you" he adds exactly when I try to take a bite of my sandwich, I stop and look at him

"Holy shit" I simply say

"Well... that's a reaction" he laughs and starts eating

"Is that no one ever told me they like me before" I snort and cross my leg

"That's not true! many guys from my year always talk about you and that they already told you to go on a date with them but you said no"

"What??! no! they never did that" I confess "Seriously they talk about me?" I ask in surprise taking another bite

He rubs his temple "Yeah... they see you like an heiress or something yet everyone is a little uh... unsure to talk with you... you know, for your attitude"

I quirk a brow "My attitude? what attitude?"

"You're very intimidating and absolutely direct and trust me, I've dealt with your dad but you're something else..."

I snort " proceed with the compliments, please"

Harley rolls his eyes and swallows "listen... you don't have to say anything ok? but that's the latest..."

I shift and look at his eyes "I think I need to uh think deeply all of this but if it helps... I don't hate you" I click my tongue and he laughs

"What about if we don't make it awkward?"

I sigh in relief "Hell yes please!!"

---------------

Music, blah, blah. Art and Robotics, fortunately, went by fast. Harley told me that his distant cousins were visiting so he needs to go and help his mom. I quickly jog out and find Happy.

"How was school?"

"Not a bad day today" I smile at him "You know something about dad?"

"Yep, he just called me... he's coming here in some hours, his flight arrives at 5:30 am"

I buckle my seatbelt and sigh "Great! good news then... I miss him"

When I arrive I prepare myself some food and knock Wanda's door and leave her a tray with comfort food. I then go to do my homework while I search with Friday more news about Steve but they're off the radar. Minutes into variables I lift my head with the sudden reminder that there's a lap pool so I grab a towel and a swimsuit and start looking for it, 20 minutes later I finally discover the room. Still with the same white walls and marble tiles.

Already preparing for sleep I text with Harley who is mocking his cousins, I set an alarm earlier to see my dad.

--------------

I growl at the sound but quickly my mind remembers that my dad is almost arriving. I change and kill the rest of the time preparing breakfast. I hear the doors sliding and I quickly run to the shadowy figure.

"Dad!!" I jump hugging him tightly

"T!!" he returns the hug palming softly in my back "I'm so glad you're safe"

A crane almost crushed me but ok...

"There was an accident at the centre you were in... are you ok? apart from that black eye"

"super-duper! now I'm an active-duty non-combatant and it feels weird" he says gently pushing me to walk with him upstairs "So uh... do you like this place?"

"I do, I'm still discovering shortcuts... oh, I made breakfast if you want"

"uh, yes... toast" he grabs a slice and some strawberry preserve and starts eating "how's your mom?"

I gulp looking at his knitted brows "she's been busy these days but she seems fine, I guess uh, so what's your plan for today?"

"Going to Queens" he simply says filling his mouth with more food

"Why?"

"Oh, I need to talk to a friend there and I'll grab some pizza on the way back" he states "What's your plan T?"

"Well... today I have an Algebra quiz but I'm me so..."

"What do you know about Spider-man?" he suddenly asks "Pop culture is your thing, right?"

"umm I just know that everyone talks about him... they call him the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. I t's so weird because he webs and hangs all around the city dad, I don't know how he does it"

my dad grabs a napkin rubbing his mouth "So... you think he's a good person?"

"Yeah, he helps grandmas and cats, but he needs to seriously change that onesie he wears" I laugh "and maybe the glasses..."

"So now you're Joan Rivers or something?" he says and I slap him on his arm "I'll be at my new office ok?"

I grab my backpack "and I'll be at school, love you"

I walk to the car and see Happy there, all the way to Midtown he told me about the new episode of Downtown Abbey. With long steps, I walk to my locker and then to Geometry running into Ned.

"Hey, Ned! ready for some geometry?"

"Of course! I printed our work, I'll handle it don't worry"

"Thanks, so... have you seen Peter lately?"

he shifts his backpack in his shoulder "Yeah, why?"

"You're his best friend and maybe you know what is bothering him...?" I whisper stepping into the classroom settling in our seats

"I also told him he seemed strange and distracted" whispers back rapidly nodding "but he told me he feels the pressure of everything right now..."

I frown at that "It seems that's his generic answer for everything"

"...Maybe his body is changing or something..." he pauses looking at me for what he just said and both of us blurt in laughter

--------------

I search and I search and I search. Where the Flying fork is locker 1184? I moan in relief when I spot his neatly brushed-back hair and slim figure.

I stride towards him "Peter!"

He rubs his forehead "Tannie hey! it's physics right?"

"Yeah, it is... ready for the first Algebra quiz?"

"Totally, I've been studying nonstop" he smiles "by the way, thank you for offering me advise" His eyes dart to my face for just a second

"Sure, when you feel ready I'll be there, by the way, I like your pizza slash equation shirt" A toothy smile forms in his face and then someone grabs my shoulders making me flinch

"'Sup, Peter! Tannie..." Harley smiles at me squeezing my shoulder

"Hey! I-I see you in class" Peter awkwardly steps away from his locker into the crowd

I jerk my head "What's up Keener?"

"Just to tell you that you look decent today" he bounces in his feet

I snort "Is that your way of telling me I look nice?" I poke his chest making him laugh

He quickly walks to the other way of the hallway and spins to me "Nah don't flatter yourself" he's gone with a wink and my cheeks suddenly feel hot

I enter to Physics with a little smile plastered on my face.

"I like your smile T" Flash winks at me and as fast as the smile formed in my face it drops away

"Thanks, Eugene" I singsong his real name knowing he hates being called like that

Throughout the class, I tried to answer all the questions with the intention of getting Peter's attention and annoy him but he was deep thinking. While going to Algebra I rush to sit and review one last time the important stuff, yes I consider myself a Know-it-all.

"ok class! listen up, I'll give you the questions and some blank sheets for you to fill, complete name and date, no cheating please" the teacher instructs

I'm not trying to brag or anything but in less than fifteen minutes I finished the quiz. Earning some looks from the people in the class including Peter. I was allowed to wait in the hallway so I sit down on the floor leaning against the lockers. Absentmindedly scrolling through my phone.

"That was fast"

A pair of blue sneakers appear in front of me. I look up and see Peter bouncing on his feet

"Come, sit" I move a little for him to sit

"Thanks... care to tell me how on earth you did it so fast?" he leans the back of his head against the metal doors

"Oh, that's all my brain" I snort "ok that sounded cocky... but you also finished fast"

"I uh like exams... it's silly I know"

"No, it's not... I like them as well, the best part is when you see everyone stressed and confused" he laughs stronger and I throw my arms in the air " finally! a true laugh! I did it!"

he clears his throat "Yeah... you did..."

"Have you talk to Liz?"

A sudden shade of pink crawls to his cheeks "Oh...ummm... no... why?"

"Maybe you should? she's a senior I get it but she's cool, you're cool... I don't see anything wrong"

A faint goofy smile appears in his face "Yeah, she is... what about Harrold? is Harrold?"

"Oh, you mean Harley? what about him"

He rolls his eyes. First time I see him flashing some sassiness.

"I think he likes you, he seems nice"

"He is... but I don't know... I am a handful" I shrug wrinkling my nose

"If someone wants to be with you... in the end, they'll be with you, you know what I mean? maybe not, I suck at advising" we laugh seeing how more people are coming out of the classroom.

"Hey, Penis Parker!" Flash walks past us holding a hall pass

"I'm gonna kill him" I whisper

"Get in line, Tannie"

-------------

I spent recess with Harley again at the benches, then I went to the changing lockers for P.E. I'm currently playing volleyball with some girls while boys are stupidly daring each other to climb a rope.

"wuuuu Tannie! show them who's the best" I hear a shout at the end of the benches, the voice echoes all around the gym

Soft giggles from the girls beside me. I spin and see Harley leaning against the wall so I quickly jog to him

"a lot of enthusiasm I see..."

"You need a cheerleader, moral support" he smiles scanning me from head to toes "never seen you in sports uniform..."

I grunt and walk backwards "Please don't be a pervert and stare at my legs"

------------

I feel how my head falls forwards but someone pokes my arm to stay awake. I flutter my eyes and realize I'm still in Ethics. I turn and see Peter.

"Thanks" I whisper rubbing my cheeks "what's that?" I jerk my head to something coming out of his backpack

"Uh, Ned asked me if he could borrow my DVD... he just returned it to me"

"Oh... is that a new backpack? I've seen at least three different in the last days"

he scratches the back of his neck "I ummm... I'm clumsy so... I spill coffee or milk..."

"So... now that you don't have any clubs... what do you do the last period?" I slightly lean to him careful that the teacher doesn't notice us

"I-I go to the library and do my homework so when classes end I already finished everything" he assures me

----------

Making my way to the street, I receive a text from Happy saying he's stuck with work between the compound and the tower and that I can take the subway only if I call him at every point. I rush across the street fully enjoying the freedom I'm granted today. I bounce with a smile on my face. Just walking through busy streets like a normal person even enjoying the traffic noise from the city. I take out my phone and open the GPS to walk to the nearest subway station. I study the route and decide to take the shortcut.

Kinda lame if I think about it. A New Yorker who doesn't know how city life is? Pitiful.

Minutes into the shortcut and debating if I got lost or not, I stop in a corner just in front of a set of buildings. I pinch the screen of the map and sigh in annoyance but my eyes stop in a bright orange spot just across the street. A car. An Audi. My dad's Audi. What? I jump back and quickly hide behind a pillar, only peeking my head. He's getting out and reads something on his phone. He enters the third building. When his figure is gone I cross the street and start following him.

The music inside is loud and the chattering of people echoes everywhere. I stop when I see him in front of the lift. Rapidly he enters and once the doors shut I read the counter... and it stops on the sixth floor. I gasp and use the emergency stairs, dodging people who are blocking the way up. He's visiting his friend, I guess.

I catch my breath when I arrive on the floor. I warily open the door and peek inside. He's just stepping out of the lift so I follow him quietly hiding behind a wall. He stops in a door, knocking only twice. A woman answers, I only cath her hair because my phone starts ringing and my heart skips a beat. I pat my pocket and quickly answer.

"He-hello??" I whisper covering my mouth to stifle the sound

"Young lady, I thought we had an agreement?" Happy says in the other line

"I was about to call you!, I'm entering the subway and I know signal could be bad in here" I chirp trying to sound as innocent as I can

"Good, I calculate at least ten stations, ok? be careful"

I hurriedly end the call and spin to see where my dad was standing but he's no longer there and the door is shut. I slide myself to the floor and just wait. So... hs friend is a woman, huh? Minutes later I hear the buzz of the lift. Slowly, the doors slide open and I spot the familiar backpack with orange coating on its sides and the DVD Player.

"oh fuck!" I whisper and try to get up but I slip on the floor and quickly turn my back on him

Peter?

He lives here?

I lift my head to see where he's going and What. The. Hell? he opens the door my dad just knocked on... What? What is happening?... the only thing to do now is to wait.

A/N: Hope you liked it! Also available in Wattpad! https://my.w.tt/sw2CZNdCv1

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touristguidebuzz · 8 years

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10 Things You Should Know Before Your First Mardi Gras Experience

So you’re going to Mardi Gras, one of the biggest parties in the world. Should be simple, right? If you’re walking down Canal Street with a gaggle of beads around your neck and a very large cocktail in your hand, you certainly could be doing worse. You could also be doing much, much better.

Mardi Gras is a centuries-old cultural phenomenon, and like any great tradition, it’s deep and layered. I lived in New Orleans for seven years and, even as a resident, it took me several years to truly embrace the Carnival spirit. Break away from the drunken mobs of Bourbon Street and you’ll be treated to a kaleidoscope of N’awlins culture. You may not be able to see or do it all, and that’s okay. Just in time for Mardi Gras day (Tuesday, February 28, this year), here’s a quick guide to the things you should know — and the things you might want avoid.

1. Mardi Gras Is a Religious Holiday… And a Family Affair

One of the most common exclamations I’ve heard from first timers is, “I can’t believe there are kids running around here!” While Mardi Gras has a somewhat seedy reputation, that misconception is largely fueled by drunken and misbehaved tourists unaccustomed to New Orleans’ special brand of partying. First off, Mardi Gras, French for “Fat Tuesday” is actually just one day, the culmination of a month-long Carnival Season. It’s also a statewide public holiday in Louisiana.

Carnival itself is a meat, sweets and alcohol-fueled feast and street party that precedes the liturgical Lenten season, a 40-day period that lasts until Easter Sunday — it’s widely celebrated in Europe and South America, with some of the largest and most famed festivals taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Barcelona, Spain; and Barranquilla, Colombia. New Orleans’ Carnival is the largest and best known iteration in North America, although there are also public Carnival celebrations in other southern cities including Key West, Florida; and Mobile, Alabama.

Despite what you might have heard, Mardi Gras actually is a family-friendly event. Image courtesy of Mills Baker via Flickr.

2. Carnival Veterans Go Long, Not Hard

Given that Mardi Gras is the culmination of a month-long party, any skillful local will avoid drinking the whole keg in a single night. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of drinking going on though. On any given day, a Carnival goer might see several parades, attend multiple parties and even see a concert or two, or three. This requires some basic planning and locals will moderate their alcohol consumption over a long period of time. There’s no need to binge since drinks are available absolutely everywhere at any time of day or night. Losing your buzz at 6:30am? Stop by a Bloody Mary stand on just about any street corner downtown (and yes, there are pop-up drink stands on city streets). The important thing is to pace yourself. Because why should you spend potentially thousands of dollars to experience Mardi Gras in New Orleans if you aren’t going to remember any of it?

3. You Can Wear Whatever You Want

Dress standards are difficult to pinpoint and some people end up spending thousands of dollars on elaborate and traditional masks and robes — the Mardi Gras Indians sometimes spend an entire year hand-gluing suits, for instance. And then there are the frat guys in golf pants and Walmart onesie penguin costumes. All are welcome here. Just plan to keep your clothing on if you’re at a parade. That whole “show your boobs” thing is a practice that was born and died on Bourbon Street — this is, after all, a family event. House parties are another story, though, and clothes may or may not be optional depending on which ones you end up going to — just do yourself (and everyone else) a favor and contain yourself until you get there.

Want to dress as a human flower pot? Go right ahead! Image courtesy of Infrogmation of New Orleans via Flickr.

4. It’s The “Greatest Free Show on Earth”

If you’ve landed in New Orleans and someone tries to sell you a “ticket to Mardi Gras,” turn around and walk in the opposite direction — quickly. There are no tickets to Mardi Gras. Every parade is a highly public affair, put on by social clubs that spend the whole year preparing for a single day. Millions are spent annually on the event, all pro bono and for the greater good. Many Carnival clubs, officially referred to as Krewes, also fulfill philanthropic goals. If you do want to buy a ticket to something great, consider one of the myriad concerts taking place around the clock in dozens of music halls and venues throughout the city. If you are really looking to throw it down, buy a ticket to one of the Carnival Krewe Balls. Every parade has a destination, and that destination is usually a grand party — the Krewe of Endymion, for instance, throws one of the biggest parties of all inside the world famous Louisiana Superdome.

5. Mansions Line the Parade Route, and Some Are Beckoning

For most Americans, the thought of walking into a formal party uninvited is an affront to civility. But during Carnival, many of the most extravagant parties you’ve ever seen — complete with extensive open bar selections and smorgasbord buffets — are held in gallant antebellum mansions, and are open to all, as long as you don’t make yourself unwelcome. Don’t assume that every party is open, but if there’s an open gate and an open door, it surely won’t hurt to poke your head inside. If a party is private, there may be a doorman or you might be asked to leave. But fear not, there’s bound to be another adventure no more than a few doors down.

Don’t forget to admire the mansions along many of the parade routes, like this one in the Garden District. Image courtesy of pileckis via Getty Images.

6. Whatever You Do, Don’t Pick up the Beads

One of the great tenets of Mardi Gras is “Do whatcha wanna” … unless you want to pick a string of beads off the floor. Not only is this practice gross — as you can imagine, the streets aren’t in the most pristine condition during the height of the celebrations — it may also end up putting you in the path of an oncoming parade float.

7. Get Uptown

Most hotels in New Orleans are clustered in two neighborhoods, the famous French Quarter and the Central Business District, or CBD. These neighborhoods are generally convenient, but are far from the best places to watch a parade. The traditional route begins uptown, about 3.5 miles up St. Charles Avenue from Canal Street, that is. While Canal Street’s downtown tends to be overcrowded and over-drunk, its true pageantry comes to life the further up this street you get. Crowds are more evenly distributed, house parties are close at hand and the barricades that make life downtown miserable all but vanish. Here, the streets are open and parade-goers can walk right up to carnival floats for a better chance at some of the most prized “throws.”

It may come as a shock, but Bourbon Street (pictured here) really isn’t the best place to watch parades. Image courtesy of jcarillet via Getty Images.

8. Plan Your Escape

In 2017, an estimated 1.5 million visitors will descend on New Orleans throughout the carnival season, effectively quadrupling the city’s normal population. At the same time, the city’s single largest public transit line, the St. Charles Avenue streetcar, is shut down because parades run alongside the tracks. Given the convergence of these circumstances, getting around the city — specifically from an uptown parade route back to the downtown area — can get very complicated and often means traveling on foot. Here are three ways to avoid getting stranded:

Chart a course from St. Charles Avenue to Magazine Street. The two streets are six blocks apart and run parallel to one another. While St. Charles becomes a swamped mess after parades, Magazine remains a bustling six-mile stretch of restaurants and bars. It’s also one of a few places near the parade route where you might find a cab.

Get a bike. There are a few places you can rent one in New Orleans’ downtown and within the French Quarter — there are also a number of places where secondhand bikes can be purchased very, very inexpensively. With streets gridlocked and public transit reduced to shuttle buses, bikes are often the easiest and most reliable form of transportation.

Bring your walking shoes. You’ll probably see a troop of drunken revelers following the end of a parade down St. Charles. Get yourself a cocktail and put your walking shoes on. This is sometimes the most straightforward way to get back downtown.

Have a plan if you want to eventually escape the masses. Image courtesy of jcarillet via Getty Images.

9. Don’t Mess With the Parade Route — or the Police

One of the more beautiful aspects of New Orleans Mardi Gras is the intimacy. In Rio, Carnival goers watch parades from the grandstand, but here, the parades roll unobstructed through several neighborhoods, making the crowd as much a part of the parade as the riders. One of the most fateful sins of Mardi Gras, however, is obstructing the parade route. There are 33 parades running down St. Charles Avenue alone in 2017, some of which extend for miles, so the slightest disruption makes a long night for the legions of volunteers and New Orleans Police Officers who work overtime to facilitate it. Drunkenly obstructing a parade route in front of an agitated cop could land you in handcuffs, or worse, the Orleans Parish Prison. Only approach floats when they are stopped and, if you must, only cross a parade route when there is plenty of clearance — if possible, get permission from a police officer first.

10. Be Prepared to Party

Mardi Gras is hard. Depending on when you arrive, you may be exhausted by the time Fat Tuesday finally arrives. Partiers, drunks and inexperienced revelers are often reeling from their wounds at this point. This is the time when the true spirit of Carnival comes alive. As a neophyte, I took some ill advice from aloof classmates and decided, after staying up the entire night before basking in the street party atmosphere, spent Fat Tuesday recovering. Big, big mistake. Not only are the parades on Mardi Gras Day arguably the most authentic and beautiful, the atmosphere in the French Quarter, Marigny and other New Orleans neighborhoods borders on psychedelic. Legions turn out in all types and genres of costumes while bands and DJs steak out street corners and a great time is had by all. Fat Tuesday is a true holiday, sanctified in the laws and ordinances of the state of Louisiana and observant nations around the world. Everyone is at their happiest, most revelrous demeanor. And everyone is there for one reason: lasseiz les bon temps rouler, to let the good times roll.

Whatever this guy is dressed as, it’s working. Mardi Gras day is the most fun you’ll ever have dancing in the street. Don’t miss it. Image by Dillon Mike, friend of the author.

Have you ever attended Mardi Gras? Share your own tips in the comments section, below.

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