#tony stark is the worlds best dad

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

Hey Syn, I have a very serious question: do you think Matt and Frank can co-parent or would these two be constantly at each others throats?

I mean, they have a lot in common but the way they deal with it is so completely different.

Not to mention that Frank sees Daredevil as a pain in the ass and above the "dirty work" aka killing while Matt condems Franks killing spree. Or their background concerning family (Matt = his dad and Stick; Frank = old parents who didn't know how to control him + Maria and their kids)

I mean, it really depends very heavily on the context.

Like, if you pull them out of canon as they are, hand them a random baby, and assign them to raise it like it’s a flour sack for Health class, then that’s gonna be a hard no. They hate each other, Matt definitely does not want to be a parent, frank wants to be a parent but of like, his kids, specifically, and neither of them are going to want to cooperate on an indefinite basis. They would find the nearest fire station and leave the baby on the steps. But, in the spirit of the question, I think it’s important to note that parenting is something you do not something you are.

Like, it’s a million little choices stretched out for as long as both you and the kid is alive. Decisions you make in the interests of the kid. So, lots of room to fuck those choices up. It’s extremely difficult being a parent, I don’t want to diminish that, but you don’t get whacked with the parent stick once you become in charge of a child. It’s something you have to pick, again and again and again, multiple times a day, seven days a week, including holidays, and a lot of parents don’t pick to like, be parents.

It’s about putting your kid first, and doing what you think is best for them. Sacrificing for them if that’s what it takes. Teaching them not to be a serial killer and taking an interest in them and trying to keep them emotionally, physically, and mentally healthy. A million different things. So, for me, the question isn’t more if they can co-parent, but what, if anything, is a situation where they’d both be willing to take on the responsibility of parenthood together, and then we hit whether those choices you make as a parent are gonna be the same for them.

A few notes:

1. They fucking hate each other.

2. They agree on nothing.

Which is really bad for co-parenting because 1) kids can tell when their parents fucking hate each other, and 2) you need to agree on like, parenting at the very least, or you’ll constantly be fighting.

Really, it’d be a matter of finding the hyper specific situation where they have to make it work for the kid and neither of them are willing to walk away.

Because like, hating each other, not agreeing on anything—those are mindsets, not choices. They still have to make choices. Hypothetically, they could choose to suck it up, be civil, and learn to cooperate for the sake of the kid. I just see very few instances where that would ever happen.

It sounds mercenary, but it’s cost and worth, right? It costs mental time and energy as well as physical money and resources to raise a child. Stack on the costs of having to do it with a guy you fucking hate, and the cost of raising a child is enormous.

The thing is, with Matt and Frank, it’s not like the traditional routes of accidentally finding themselves coparenting is open. Like. Okay. One of them cannot accidentally knock up the other, if we’re starting from canonical sexes assigned at birth and assuming like, no mpreg. They have no way of finding themselves with a biological offshoot of the two of them combined. Before we get to the logistics of “would they be able to work out co-parenting logistically,” any mutual kid of theirs is going to first have to jump the hurdle of getting them to choose to co-parent in the first place. This is going to be the step they almost inevitably fail at.

Choosing to parent a child when you're one of the two most unstable men alive is a big decision. It's an even bigger decision when the other parent is going to be the other most unstable man alive. And that big big decision gets even bigger when you simply fucking hate the other guy. So if Matt and Frank are facing the threshold question of "Are we willing to raise this child?" they're going to almost inevitably say, "No, we need to leave this kid on some nice fire station steps."

And I don't want to make it sound like the kid isn't good enough for them. It's more that if Matt and Frank are being faced with the very important decision of deciding whether they are what's best for this child, they're almost invariably going to say "Absolutely fucking not, get literally anyone else."

Because honestly? Matt and Frank are almost never the best case scenario for a child. Matt's business model is "trust in Jesus to provide for the light bill, yes we will accept half a banana and this 1997 copy of the phantom of the opera as payment for our expert legal services, god bless and amen." Frank does not have a single legitimate income stream. Both of them are profoundly mentally ill and would not get therapy at gunpoint. They've both faked their death on multiple occasions, depending on what canon you're talking about. Falling completely off the grid and having all of their loved ones sobbing at their funeral is a repeated life event for them. Both of them could actually die on any given day. There's warrants out for their arrest. There's probably a shoot on sight policy for them. they both have a proclivity for collapsing, bleeding and dying, to the floor. I'm not convinced they know how to file their taxes.

Matt and Frank electing to take a child in involves a much higher level of choice than having an accidental biological child. If we're like, living in the mpreg or gender bend world or whatever and accidental pregnancy was on the table, while termination would be an option and a choice they could make, they have time to plan and get their shit in order if Frank decides he wants to go for parenting round #2 and Matt like, presumably has an undiagnosed head injury or something if he's decided to voluntarily continue his genetic line.

If they are taking in a child, then that is an immediate choice they have to make with immediate consequences. They don't have nine months to get into more stable positions--the child is standing right in front of them in need of a home, has a set personality, has unique and tangible needs and problems, and their life is probably in fucking shambles if matt and frank are even in the running for consideration. At this stage of the game, Matt and Frank are almost always going to say "Hey, I've developed a great deal of fondness for you, in this, our time saving you from that faceless drug lord or whatever brought your life to such a state of crisis. But i'm sort of a fucking mess and there has got to be a better option for you out of the 7 billion people on earth. i will personally find them and make sure you have a home, but it's not going to be with me."

Frank loved Amy in Season 2 of the punisher, but he still sent her off to live in a different, more stable home. "Being raised by the Punisher and daredevil" is just not a very good environment for a kid. It's going to be really really hard to ever get them to consider coparenting simply because them parenting a child at all is not going to be good for the child, and they will find them a different home.

Honestly, the only thing that could really tip them into deciding to take in a kid would be 1) if the kid's life is just that fucked to begin with and 2) overwhelming emotional complications making it so they can't give the kid up.

TO BE CLEAR i am not making any promises about the "these stupid hells we keep" verse but lisa actually happens to be a perfect case study, so we'll bring her in for illustrative purposes.

Lisa actually just is in a unique position where her life is that fucked. Matt only decided to take her in in the first place because the chaste put him in a bind. On a psychological level, Lisa needs some major help right now. She needs support to do it. But she can't get it, because she can't tell anyone about what happened to her without putting them in immediate risk of the chaste and/or hand killing them. She also doesn't want help to begin with, and wouldn't reach out for help and let people in with the way she is right now. Even if she did, Stick's brainwashing was so fucked that it makes it hard for most average adoptive parents to be able to help with that level of abuse.

Matt doesn't even know if he can find the chaste, let alone take them down. Even if he did take down the chaste, he'd effectively be taking out the only force keeping the hand in check, so now the world may fall to fucking ninjas, who also may go after Lisa. On the other hand, Matt would conceivably be able to provide her the support she needed. He already knows about the dangerous facts, so they don't have to worry about him being killed for knowing. He has none of the problems that almost every other adult on the planet would have for lisa's willingness to open up--he's on the inside of Stick's special group. She sees him as someone like her. He can start chipping away at Stick's brainwashing--if he got his shit together and stopped being such a fucking mess. prayers for him on that. it's the fact that Lisa's interests are so boxed in by the threats on her make the chances of Matt and Frank's co-parenting coming into play much higher.

That being said, if matt knew "murder dad" was an option in therianthropy, he probably would have said "good luck and god bless you seem like you have this under control" and fucked right off to be mentally ill and unstable in peace. Frank is sufficiently dangerous enough on his own to keep lisa safe and, as her father, may be a better candidate to give her support. Like, Matt wouldn't leave her life entirely, but he'd be like the sitcom neighbor who shows up on the occasional special episode and helps her through her brainwashing. Matt legitimately only gets to the threshold of "willing to be this child's permanent adult figure" if there are literally zero other options. And I specify adult figure because matt in hells verse very much is thinking of himself as less of lisa's father and more of her adult roommate who can claim her on his tax forms now. he's the spencer to her carly at best.

Lisa is Frank's daughter. There is not a world where he is willing to walk away from her. So he would have to ignore whatever logistical issues there were and find a way to make it fucking work. Matt is one of those logistical issues, and the question is whether Frank decides to resolve it with like, fuckin' couple's counseling or with kicking matt in the ribs.

The other question is whether Matt stays if there is another option.

Because say like, the day after therianthropy ends, Frank Castle shows up on their doorstep ready to take Lisa back in. He hasn't gone on his murder spree yet, amen and god bless, and won't be doing it at all. It's weird that you asked that question, actually, who would even think of such a thing. He has a daughter to raise and will be devoting his time and effort to that.

Matt's already pretty emotionally involved. Like, he already loves Lisa, even if he may not be able to admit as much. But he's very much still in the capacity of doing this as a necessary evil. He does not view himself as like, a good option--he took in Lisa because he viewed himself as the only option. If he has another option? He'd probably bow out pretty immediately and call it a near-brush with adult responsibility. If there was more time to establish a relationship with Lisa?

It sounds bad to say, but it's really hard to say whether Matt would decide to stay not as legitimately the only living candidate on the planet, but as a voluntary parent, just because he loves the kid in question. It goes more to his own doubts as to his ability to be a healthy influence than his ability to love a kid. He just has a lot of issues and he knows that it wouldn't be good for a kid to be dealing with his spiral. It'd definitely require a lot of growth and healing on his part. But it would take this kind of extreme circumstances to even get to the threshold question of "is matt even willing to try to be a parent?" and he will dive back over that threshold if another option arises.

For Frank, it would be more of a question of getting him to understand the severity of the situation. Frank is very stubborn and set in his ways. To get him to accept co-parenting with Matt, especially as Lisa's like, actual father who has some primacy in this situation, he has to accept that Matt's someone who should be in Lisa's life. It would be a question of whether he actually grasps the depths of what happened to Lisa and the things that make Matt good for her life.

Honestly, I just think that the circumstances to get Matt and Frank to agree to coparent in the first place would have to be so hyper-specific and extreme that it'd almost necessarily exclude them as coparents. That being said, the fact that the circumstances would have to be that extreme actually goes in favor of matt and frank working out coparenting. Like, the situation is already fucked beyond all hope if they are the two parenting options on the table. If they had a kid that needs them that badly, and that they loved too much to leave, then they're going to be in the position where they have to work it out. If they don't, they'll fuck up the kid.

Will they be perfect parents together? By absolutely no stretch of the imagination. They are going to fuck up so bad and so often. But, at their core, they do care deeply about the people they love. They're going to try fucking hard to fix their fuck ups and do better. It would be messy and painful and absolutely riddled with mistakes, but I think they'd conceivably make it over the finish line at the end of the day out of sheer burning necessity.

It does help that most of their biggest problems are going to likely be sidestepped. Like, take Matt's "no kill" code versus Frank's "yes kill" code.

They're going to dodge it just because neither of them are likely to actually want a kid to turn out like them. Like, if they're raising a kid, it's not for the kid to be the robin to their batman. They're not raising them to fight crime. The core of the issue ("How do you ethically run a vigilante career") is going to not come into play because they're probably not raising this kid to be a vigilante. It's probably going to be a very touchy subject that Dad and Other Dad simply do not discuss ever.

Honestly, thoughts and prayers for the very confused couple's counselor they're going to have to get, because they'd have to learn how to bear each other's personalities sooner rather than later. But if they don't figure it on their own, Karen or Foggy is going to threaten their lives and manhoods if they don't get their shit together and take care of that kid properly. They'd have to either come to a truce or find a different living situation for the kid, because it'd be toxic to raise a kid in a household where they actively fucking hate each other.

Daredevil and the Punisher is an entirely separate can of worm. Are they both keeping up the vigilante career? That's a huge problem independent from their relationship--they are constantly risking death or prison, and it's going to be stressful for the kid to have them come home injured constantly. If we assume neither of them are giving it up, eventually they're going to have to either come to some kind of middle ground as to working together or take a very extreme "leave it at the office" approach where they simply do not ever talk about it at home ever. Like married professors who are academic rivals.

The is a very long way of saying that it's incredibly unlikely that they would ever willingly coparent and it'd be a non-issue, but if they did end up in a coparenting situation, then they'd probably manage it. It'd take a lot of fucking work and would be extremely far from perfect, but they would presumably love the kid and put in the Herculean effort required to actually exist in each other's presences for an extended period of time.

[waitimcomingtoo]

I Can See You

pairing: Peter Parker x Happy’s daughter!reader

synopsis: You can see Peter being your addiction and Peter can see you as a secret mission

real synopsis: Happy forbids you and Peter from dating, which only makes you want to do it more

Masterlist

“Hey.” You nodded at Peter as you wandered into his room. The hair on Peters neck stood up on high alert now that a stranger was in his bedroom. He shut his laptop and swiveled in his desk chair to follow what you were doing. He watched you walk over to his Lego shelf as if you’d been in his room a hundred times and admired his Lego titanic.

“Um, hello. Can I help you?” Peter asked.

“Did you build this?” You asked in reply.

“Oh, yeah. I did. It took me almost a full month.”

“Wow. It’s huge.” You said and gently ran your hand along the side of it.

“I know. It’s kinda cramped in here, though. I want to display it in the living room.” Peter told you. His tingle was telling him you weren’t a threat so now he just saw you as a pretty girl who had wandered into his room.

“You totally should display this thing. It’s awesome. What’s stopping you?” You wondered.

“The family pictures in the way.” Peter laughed dryly.

“Psh. Who needs those?” You joked, making him smile.

“Not me.” Peter played along. “But my aunt might be just a little upset if I replaced photos of her dead brother and dead husband with my Lego titanic.”

“That’s nothing. My dad replaced my high school graduation picture with a photo of his dead best friend eating a cheeseburger. It’s not even a good picture. It’s blurry and my dads pinky is in the frame.”

“Damn, your graduation picture? That’s next level. Either he really loved his best friend or it was a really good cheeseburger.”

“Probably both.” You shrugged. “Uncle Tony knew all the best cheeseburger spots in Queens.”

“Wait, Tony? Like Tony Stark?” Peter asked and stood up from his desk chair.

“Yeah, Tony Stark. Oh, that’s right. I forgot you knew him.” You said and tapped the side of your head.

“Your dads best friend.” Peter said to himself. “Wait a second. Are you…”

“Y/n Hogan. Your aunt invited my dad and I over for dinner.” You said and you held your hand out.

“Wait, you’re Happy’s daughter? But you’re so pretty.” Peter said in disbelief as he shook your hand.

“What?” You laughed.

“I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry. Your dad is a very beautiful man. I can see the resemblance.” Peter quickly followed up.

“Seeing the resemblance is impressive considering I was adopted.” You laughed again and continued looking around his room. You saw his Spiderman suit hanging in the closet and touched it with a fond smile on your face.

“Oh God. Can we start over? I feel like I failed at this conversation.”

“You didn’t. I actually think you’re doing a pretty good job talking to me considering the deep lore that runs between us and our mutual acquaintances.” You assured him.

“Oh.” He blushed. “Thanks.”

“No problem. So did this thing come with a Lego iceberg?” You asked and pointed to the Lego titanic.

“No. That would’ve been perfect. But unfortunately, Lego didn’t have a dark sense of humor.”

“But I do. Do you have any blue legos?” You asked with a devious smile.

“Yeah. What are you thinking?”

A few minutes later, you and Peter were sitting on his bedroom floor with his Lego bin between you. You led the conversation, much to Peters delight, as you added onto each others creations. Even though Peter was usually shy and awkward around strangers, he found it very easy to talk to you. Maybe it was because you were already apart of his secret world and he didn’t have to lie about anything, or maybe it was just because you got along. Whatever it was, Peter really enjoyed talking to you. You felt more like an old friend rather then a stranger. Happy came into the room after a little while and was surprised to see you already in there.

“Oh, there you are. I was looking for you. But I see you found Peter.” Happy said and gave Peter a stern look.

“You never told me you had a daughter.” Peter playfully scolded him to keep the mood light.

“That’s because I don’t disclose any personal information to teenagers in spandex.” Happy said curtly.

“Dad. Be nice.” You whispered harshly.

“What are you guys doing in here anyway?” Happy asked as he folded his arms.

“Making a Lego iceberg for Peters Lego titanic.” You explained and held up what you had built so far.

“Interesting, interesting. Peter, can I talk to you for a second?” Happy said through a fake smile.

“Yeah. Sure. Be right back.” He told you before getting up to follow Happy into the hallway.

“What’s up?” Peter asked kindly.

“Don’t even think about it.” Happy said immediately.

“Huh? Don’t think about what?”

“My daughter. Don’t even let it cross your mind. Because if it crosses your mind, I’ll know about it. And if I know about it, I’m gonna kill you.”

“Wait, you think I’m trying to date your daughter? I just met her. Relax.” Peter laughed.

“No, I won’t relax. I don’t ever want to see my daughter in your bedroom, okay? That’s gross. I don’t want you getting your horny little nerd germs on her.”

“We were just playing with legos.” Peter pointed out.

“That’s always how it starts.” Happy wagged his finger. “I know your type. You lure girls in with your boyish charm because they think you’re safe.”

“I am safe, Happy.” Peter insisted. “You know me. You know I’d never break her heart.”

“I know you won’t. Because you won’t get the chance.”

“I’m sorry, but why is it okay for you to date my aunt but not for me to date your daughter?” Peter asked and folded his arms.

“Oh, so it has crossed your mind? I knew you were thinking about dating my daughter.” Happy pointed accusingly at him. “I knew it the second I walked into your room. You’re thinking about her right now, aren’t you? Well stop. My daughter is not allowed in your head, okay? Ever. Get her out.”

“I wasn’t thinking about dating her until you put the idea into my head. But I kinda want to do it now.” Peter laughed in amusement and looked back at his room where you were.

“Don’t you even dare.” Happy whispered and took a step closer to him.

“Or what? What’ll you do?” Peter challenged him. He didn’t even care that much about it, he just wanted to antagonize Happy for his own amusement.

“Kill you.” Happy stated like it was obvious. “Like I said.”

“What if she likes me? Huh?” Peter smirked. “You can’t tell her not to date me. That’ll just drive her straight into my arms.”

“That’s not gonna be a problem because she’ll never like you. She’s too smart.”

“I’m a good guy, Happy. Tony knew that. Wouldn’t you rather her date a nice, responsible guy that you’ve known for years over some random stranger whose intentions might be impure?”

“She can date a guy I know.” Happy shrugged. “Just not you.”

“We’ll see.” Peter shrugged as well.

“What? What does that mean? We’ll see? We’re not gonna see anything because you’re not dating my daughter.” Happy declared.

“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t.” Peter shrugged again.

“No, you definitely won’t.”

“How are you gonna stop it?” Peter asked him.

“With a gun.” Happy replied. “That I use to kill you. To death.”

“I don’t think your daughter would appreciate you killing her future boyfriend.” Peter said innocently.

“You’re not her future boyfriend. You’re not her future anything. But you’re a future dead person if you keep this up.”

“Relax, Happy. I’m just messing with you. I’m not gonna date your daughter.” Peter laughed and patted Happy’s shoulder. Just then, you came out of Peters room with the Lego iceberg you had built.

“I’m gonna help May in the kitchen. Maybe I’ll accidentally knock down a few family pictures while I’m in there.” You said and winked at Peter.

“Why would you do that?” Happy asked you.

“Peter gets it.” You smiled coyly before disappearing down the hall and into the kitchen. Peter watched you walk away and felt something blossoming in his chest. That simple moment of sweet understanding between you was all he needed to fall head over heels for you.

“Happy?” Peter said without taking his eyes off where you had just been standing.

“Yeah?” Happy replied. Peter turned to face him, put his hand on Happy’s shoulder, and smiled sympathetically.

“I’m gonna date your daughter.”

Before Happy could respond, May called everyone in for dinner. Peter and Happy exchanged a look before throwing on smiles so that you and May wouldn’t suspect anything. Happy sat across from Peter with you sitting beside him, meaning that every time Peter looked at you, he got a kick under the table from Happy. Similarly, anytime you tried to ask Peter a question or start a conversation with him, Happy cut you off. Peter tried to do the same with you but was always met with a death glare from Happy. The incredibly silent and awkward dinner ended all too soon and Happy could not have taken you out of Peters apartment fast enough. You waved to Peter as Happy pulled you out the door but there was no time for an exchanging of words. What a beautiful wedding jk jk iykyk.

Peter was fully prepared to let his little crush on you go away on its own without any intention of acting on it. He knew it was a bad idea anyway to get involved with the daughter of the head of security, but that didn’t stop him from thinking about you from time to time.

“Hey Happy. I just wanted to report that I found a lost dog today. But then it ran away again after I returned to to the owner. I’m starting to think it wanted to be lost. Maybe he met a bunch of stray dogs and felt more at home with them on the streets than he ever did in his owner’s apartment. What do you think?” Peter asked over FaceTime as he gave Happy his daily report from patrolling the neighborhood.

“Kid, I don’t care. I never have. You don’t need to keep calling me with random updates of what you do on patrol.” Happy told him. In the background of Happy’s video, Peter could see you walking into the room with nothing but a towel wrapped around yourself and your wet hair hanging around your face. He perked up and felt his face heat up at the sight of you.

“Is that Peter?” You asked and walked over to where Happy was sitting.

“No. It’s not.” Happy said and tried to shut his laptop.

“Hi Peter.” You opened it back up and waved, leaving you with only one hand to hold your towel onto your body. Peter turned bright red as he stared at the screen and felt all dialogue options leave his mind.

“Oh, uh, hi.” He stammered. “I didn’t see you there. I didn’t even know you were home. How’s it going?”

“Pretty good.” You shrugged. “What kind of dog was it?”

“What?”

“The dog you found. What breed?” You asked with genuine interest. Peter smiled at you wanting to know and felt his blush deepen.

“Chihuahua. His name was Pinto.”

“Aw.” You smiled. “That’s so cute.“

“Oh, yeah. Very cute. Very, very cute.” Peters eyes glazed over as he stared at your through the screen. Happy looked back and forth between Peter and you before realizing what Peter was staring at.

“I’m hanging up now.” Happy warned.

“Wait-“

The call ended abruptly and Peter was left alone staring at a black screen. If Happy was going to stop him from seeing you, he would going to have to get creative.

A few nights later, Peter formed a new plan. If Happy was gonna date his aunt, he was going to use it to his advantage.

“Oopsie. I just accidentally ordered two pizzas instead of one. Silly me. What will we do with all this incoming pizza?” Peter asked as he dramatically scratched the top of his head to make it look like he was thinking.

“I don’t know.” May shrugged. “Eat a lot of pizza?”

“That’s a great idea, May. Or, and this is just coming to me now, what if we invite Happy over to eat some? So you guys can have a little date night. He even can bring his daughter. What was her name again? Telulah? Annabeth? Marcy?”

“Y/n?” May chuckled and raised her eyebrow.

“Right. Her.” Peter played dumb. “She probably likes pizza, right?”

“I know what you’re doing, but I’m gonna go with it anyway because there’s no way we can eat two pies and I hate wasting food.” May playfully scolded him as she dialed Happy’s number.

Much to Peters delight, you and Happy showed up a few minutes later. You were standing behind your dad with a bag behind your back.

“Hey. Thanks for the invite.” Happy said and kissed Mays cheek. You looked at Peter over your dads shoulder and waved.

“No problem.” May replied. “It was actually Peters idea.”

“Oh, was it?” Happy asked and stared daggers at Peter. Peter shrugged innocently before making eye contact with you. He discreetly nodded towards his bedroom before going to it. You followed after him once the coast was clear.

“Hey.” You smiled at him and shut his door behind you.

“Hey. Thanks for coming over. I’m glad you could make it.” Peter played it cool but was screaming on the inside over you being in his room again.

“I’m glad you invited us. I have a present for you but I didn’t have any way of getting in touch with you.”

“You wanna touch me?” Peter said in a low voice as he stared at you with his eyebrows raised.

“What was that?”

“I said you have a present for me?” He quickly corrected himself and threw on a smile.

“Uh huh. Look what I found.” You held the bag up and pulled out the Lego Super Star Destroyer, a Lego set Peter had dreamed of owning since he was a kid.

“What?! You got this for me?” He jumped out of his chair and held the box to read it.

“Yeah. You mentioned last time that you always wanted this one. I know you’re a big fan of the movies so I wanted you to have it.” You smiled sheepishly as you stared at him. His childlike excitement and wonderstruck expression made him even cuter than you typically found him. His expression changed suddenly when he realized he could never accept such a costly gift.

“This set costs a fortune. You really didn’t have to do this.” Peter looked apologetic as he looked into your eyes. You laughed a little at how bad he felt and put your hand on top of his.

“It’s okay. I wanted to do it.” You assured him. “Plus, Uncle Tony put me in his will so I’m kinda flushed with cash right now. I would’ve just spent the money on something stupid. And I know he loved you so he’d be happy I used the money to buy a Lego set for us.”

“Us?” Peter cracked a smile and felt his excitement return.

“Yeah. I thought we could build it together while my dad makes out with your aunt.” You suggested.

“Gross.” Peter grimaced. “But the part about building it together sounds fun.”

Now that he was willing to keep it, you tore the box open and dumped the pieces out. You and Peter sat next to each other with your knees touching as you built the spaceship. Peter snuck glances at you every now and then, and you caught them every time. You accidentally made eye contact at one point and he turned pink.

“You know, my dads been up my ass all week because of you.” You said with a soft laugh.

“Me? What did I do?”

“I don’t know. Did you tell him we were dating or something?” You questioned him, making him gulp.

“Actually, he told me not to date you.” Peter admitted.

“He told me the same thing. Little does he know, that just makes me want to date you even more.” You replied. Peter froze and realized that if what Happy said made you want to date him more, that meant you already wanted to date him in the first place. You realized that you had said too much at the same time Peter did and looked at him out of the corner of your eye to see if he was weirded out. To your surprise, he was staring at you with a soft expression. He quickly cleared his throat and looked away when you caught him staring.

“Doesn’t he know that the hottest thing a guy can do is be disliked by the girls dad?” Peter said like it was obvious.

“Exactly. I told him disapproving of you was just going to send me straight into your arms. And who could even blame me? They’re really nice arms.” You shrugged and gave Peter a coy smile. Peter laughed shyly and busied himself with the legos so you wouldn’t see him blushing.

“What did he say to that?” He asked you.

“That there will be a cold day in hell before he lets me go out with you.” You laughed.

“And what did you say?” Peter asked as he looked up at you and found that you were already looking at him.

“I told him that he can’t tell me who to date and if I wanted to go out with you, I will.” You said simply. Peter gulped and never broke eye contact with you and he reached for a Lego brick. Your hands accidentally touched and he saw sparks fly.

“Do you want to go out with me?” He asked quietly. You opened your mouth to answer just as May opened hers.

“Hey, kids. Pizzas here.” May said as she appeared in Peters doorway. You looked at him apologetically before getting up and following May to the kitchen. He desperately wanted to get you alone again to finish your conversation, but Happy was never gonna let that happen.

It came time for you and Happy to leave and Peter was visibly disappointed. As Happy and May said their goodbyes, you pulled Peter to the side.

“Goodnight, Peter. I had fun tonight.” You said sincerely.

“So did I. Thank you again for the legos. It’s the nicest thing anyones ever done for me.”

“I’m glad you liked them. Hopefully I’ll see you again. Hopefully soon.”

“Yeah. Totally.” Peter nodded eagerly.

You held out your hand to shake Peters, which Peter found a little strange. But when he shook your hand, he felt you slip a piece of paper into his. Peter waited until Happy was out the door before opening the paper up. Written in your handwriting was your phone number. Peter looked up in surprise and made eye contact with you.

“Call me.” You mouthed to him and made your hand like a phone just as Happy pulled you away.

And that’s exactly what Peter did. It became your nightly secret mission to sneak off and call Peter once you were sure Happy was asleep or preoccupied in front of the TV. You would talk for hours in hushed voices so no one would hear.

“Can you imagine what my dad would do if he found us out?” You asked Peter one night as you hung over the edge of your bed to talk to Peter.

“So there’s an us to find out about?” Peter asked and felt grateful you couldn’t see his blush over the phone.

“I don’t know.” You smiled timidly. “I really like talking to you, Peter.”

“Well that’s good. I’m happy to hear that. Because I like it too.” He laughed shyly.

“I think about you a lot when we’re not on the phone.” You admitted as you switched positions and rolled onto your stomach.

“You do?” Peter gulped.

“Uh huh. All the time.”

“What do you think about?”

“Oh, you wouldn’t believe half the things I see inside my head.” You chuckled. Peter gulped again and felt his face heat up. He cleared his throat before speaking again.

“Why don’t you explain it to me then?” He asked. Before you could answer, a loud crash sounded from his side of the phone.

“What’s all that noise?” You asked him.

“Mays looking for the pasta maker.” Peter sighed. “We have a thousand boxes of mezzi rigatoni but she wanted fettuccini.”

“Fettuccine actually sounds amazing right now. I need to get up and make some food. I just hope my dad went grocery shopping or else I’m eating sleep for dinner.”

“You should come over tonight.” Peter said before he would overthink it.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Come make pasta with us. May usually burns something and then gives up about 15 minutes into cooking so we wouldn’t have to hang out with her the whole time. We could make pasta together. Just the two of us.”

“Okay. My dads watching a movie in the den so he won’t mind if I go out. I’m in.” You smiled and started to get ready to see him.

“Awesome. Great. See you soon.” Peter grinned and hung up the phone. He quickly brushed his teeth and put on a fresh shirt before joining May in the kitchen. There was a knock on the door soon enough and Peter practically ran to open it.

“Ciao.” He said as he flung the door open.

“Ciao, bello.” You replied. “Scopiamo stasera o cosa?”

“Wait, what? I don’t actually speak Italian.” Peter sheepishly.

“That’s probably for the better.” You laughed and walked into his apartment.

“Oh, good. You’re here. And you brought wine! Even better. Come in, come in.” May kissed your cheek before taking the bottle of wine and opening it.

“Peters been dying for you to get here.” She whispered in your ear, but loud enough for Peter to hear.

“May.” Peter whined and motioned for her to zip it.

“What? I’m just being honest.” May shrugged. “Honesty is the best policy. That’s what I always say.”

“She’s right. That’s a great policy.” You said and gave Peter a look.

“Oh yeah? Does your dad know you’re here?” Peter asked you and folded his arms, already knowing the answer. Your smile dropped when you realized he was right.

“A little lie never hurt anybody.” You replied. Peter smirked, knowing he caught you.

“Come here. I’ll show you how to make the dough.” Peter said and led you to the kitchen with his hand on your back. You and Peter made the pasta dough while May chopped up some tomatoes and made a sauce. May switched the radio on to play some instrumental background music that made the apartment feel like a small cafe in Italy.

“All right. I think we’re ready. I’m gonna get the pasta maker. It should be in the attic.” May broke up the party and put the meatball back in the sauce.

“If you can’t find it, what do we do with all this dough?” You asked her.

“I don’t know. Make a shit ton of Pizza.” May shrugged and left to go find the pasta maker.

“Okay then.” You chuckled. Once you and Peter were alone, you hoped up on the counter and leg your legs swing.

“Should we try it to make sure it tastes good?” You asked as you rolled some dough between your fingers and made a snake.

“Yeah, but not that piece. You made a worm.” Peter said and pointed to your dough.

“So what? It’s just dough. Try some.” You replied and dangled the dough in his face.

“Dough way.” He laughed at his own pun and swatted the dough away.

“Oh, we’re making pasta puns now? You’re gonna pay for that.” You playfully warned him.

“But I dough not want it.” Peter pouted and leaned on the counter you were sitting on so you were caged in between his arms. You both became aware of how close you were at the same time and laughed shyly.

“Can’t think of anything other than replacing “do” with “dough” huh?” You asked and raised an eyebrow.

“Dough, I can’t.” He shamefully admitted. You gave him a look and he held up his hands in defense.

“That one was different.” He pointed out.

“All right. I’ll give it to you. Now eat the pasta worm.” You playfully demanded and dangled it in his face again.

“No. Get that thing away from me.” He laughed and smacked it away. It flew across the room and stuck to a nearby cabinet with a loud smack.

“Wow. Look at that.” Peter said, genuinely dumbfounded.

“It’s kinda beautiful.” You said as you quietly stared at the pasta in awe. Peter turned to look at you and rested his hands back on the counter.

“You’re kinda beautiful.” He said in a soft voice. You tore your eyes away from the pasta to look at him but couldn’t form a single word.

“Even with flour on your face.” He chuckled and wiped a smudge of flour off your cheek with his thumb. You gulped and discreetly picked up some flour off the counter.

“You have some flour on your face too.” You told him as you stared into his eyes.

“Where? Here?” Peter asked and touched his cheek.

“No. Here.” You smirked before throwing the handful of flour at him. Peter coughed and waved his hand to get it away from his face.

“Oh, you’re gonna pay for that.” He warned and grabbed a handful of flour. He went to throw it at you but you caught him by the wrist to stop him. Peter wrapped an arm around your waist and pulled you closer to him so that you couldn’t block his next attempt. But instead of feeling flour on your face, you felt Peter kissing you. You weren’t actually sure if you kissed him or he kissed you, but you didn’t really care. You wasted no time in tangling your hands on his hair and deepening the kiss. His hands slid up and down your back before finding their way up your shirt. You felt your entire body heat up as you kissed him and felt all the tension that had been building up release into the atmosphere between you. He kissed you until you felt dizzy but you didn’t stop even then. You started to unbutton his button down when the moment was interrupted.

“Found it!” May called from the hallway. You jumped apart so quickly that you fell right off the counter. You screamed on the way down as Peter watched with his hands over his mouth. He rushed to pick you up just as May came back into the kitchen. She took one look at the flour covering the two of your, most noticeably the flour handprints on either of Peters cheeks, and knew what had happened.

“Oh my God. What happened in here?” May played dumb.

“Fell.” You and Peter said in unison.

“Oh no. Are you okay?”

“Maybe?” You smiled weakly and rubbed your throbbing head. Peter touched his hands, which now felt cold from the absence of you.

“Oh my God. How did you get flour all over your back?” May laughed and turned you around to see the flour Peter had left all over your clothing.

“I’m a messy girl.” You shrugged and hoped she’d buy it.

“Look at that. The flour on Y/n’s butt looks like a perfect handprint. How funny is that?” May laughed again and pointed to the handprint Peter had left on your black leggings. He turned so red that he had to turn around so May wouldn’t see it.

“I’m gonna go potty.” You said quickly and ran to the bathroom.

“She okay?” May asked once you were gone.

“Her? What? Yeah. She’s fine. Nothing weird happened while you were gone.” Peter said a little too quickly.

“Hm. How did that piece of pasta get stuck to the cabinet?” May asked and pointed to the pasta Peter had flung.

“I’m not sure.” Peter lied.

“Are you feeling okay? Your face and neck is all red.” May asked and pressed her hand to Peters forehead. He knew she was getting suspicious and had to think of a lie to get out of there.

“I have to poop.” Peter blurted and walked out of the kitchen.

“Y/n is in there.” May called after him.

“I’ll go to the other bathroom!” He shouted back.

Peter passed the bathroom in the hallway and stopped outside of it. He pressed his ear against the door to try and hear if you were freaking out or not.

Which you 100% were.

“What the hell are you doing? You can’t just kiss him. You slut bag! You hussy! You don’t even know how he feels about you.” You whispered to the mirror. You splashed some cold water on your face to calm down before looking at your reflection.

“Woman up and get your shit together. Go out there and make pasta with your dads girlfriends nephew like a fucking normal person.” You warned yourself in the mirror.

The bathroom door suddenly opened and Peter fell inside. You gasped and pulled him the rest of the way in before shutting the door.

“I’m sorry! I wasn’t doing anything!” Peter said quickly.

“What are you doing out here?!” You whispered harshly.

“Nothing! I just wanted to talk!” He whispered back in a panic.

“So you wait outside the bathroom door? What if I was pooping?! You would’ve heard it.” You whispered even louder and angrily shook his shirt.

“But I didn’t.” He said weakly.

“I think I need to go home.” You sighed and left the bathroom.

“Wait, no. Please stay.” Peter pleaded as he followed after you. He caught you in the hallway and gently pulled your arm to get you to stop.

“I can’t. I can’t go back in there. She’s gonna know something sus happened.” You whispered to him and pointed to the kitchen.

“It wasn’t sus. But I really think we need to talk about it.” Peter said and looked at you with his big puppy dog eyes. You knew he was dying to talk about it and you felt guilty leaving him after what happened.

“Peter, look. I’m really sorry that I kissed you-“

“I’m not.” He cut you off and pushed you against the wall. The interrupted kiss was resumed and even more passionate than the last. He had you up against the wall as he kissed you as if he hadn’t seen you in years. You forgot all about the pasta and your dads warning and just got lost in his touch. You both knew it was wrong and that you could be caught any second, and that’s what made it feel so right. Peter squeezed your hip, signaling you to jump up and wrap your legs around his waist. You couldn’t feel him smiling into the kiss as he pressed you against the wall. That was the moment you knew you were never giving this boy up, no matter what your father said.

“Peter! Y/n! What happened to my sous chefs?” May shouted from the kitchen. You pulled apart and stared at each other as you caught your breath.

Peter gently set you back down on the floor but stayed in your personal space as he leaned against the wall. You never broke eye contact with him as he fixed a strand of hair that he knocked onto the wrong side of your part. You gulped and smoothed your clothing down before looking away.

“Can we talk after? Please? Don’t go home.” Peter pleased as he buttoned his shirt back up. You looked him up and down and knew you were at his mercy.

“Fine. You’ve convinced me. I’ll stay.” You agreed. Peter smiled in relief and led you back to them kitchen.

“Look who decided to join us.” May smiled proudly and stepped to the side to reveal Happy standing behind her. Peters knees buckled and he immediately fainted onto the ground. You caught him and let him lean on you as you waved your hand in front of his face to wake him up.

“Dad? What are you doing here?” You asked through a big fake smile.

“I could ask you the same thing.” He said through an even faker smile.

“I was making Peter with Pasta. I mean, pasta with Peter.” You stumbled over your words as Peter came to and nearly fell over again. You held him upright but his waist until he could stand on his own. Happy was watching the whole thing and growing more suspicious by the second.

“Hm. You didn’t mention you were going over my girlfriends house when you said you were going out. I find that a little strange. Don’t you?” Happy shrugged as he folded his arms.

“Maybe I find you a little strange.” You said out of the corner of your mouth.

“Now that Happy’s here we’re gonna need some more pasta. Honey, can you knead the rest of the dough?” May asked you.

“Sure. I can dough that.” You laughed nervously. Happy gave you a strange look and you gulped.

“I’m sorry. I kiss-poke. I mean, misspoke.” You gulped again and went over to the dough. Peter went to follow you and earned a longing glare from Happy as he did. The two of you bumped into each other and dropped things on the floor numerous times from how nervous you were now that Happy was there. Once Happy and May disappeared to the couch to drink wine, Peter knew it was safe to talk.

“Stop being weird.” He whispered to you.

“I’m about to murder-suicide us.” You said at full volume.

“Peter, can you help her? You gotta put your elbow grease into it.” May called from the couch.

“Yeah. I can dough that.” Peter replied.

“Stop making dough puns.” You hissed.

“I literally fucking can’t.” He deadpanned. You suddenly felt his arms wrap around you as he put his hands on top of yours to knead the dough.

“What are you doing?” You asked him.

“Helping you knead the dough.”

“Why wouldn’t you just stand beside me?”

“Because this is how men show women how to do things in rom coms.” Peter said very seriously.

“Okay, but we’re not in a rom com. We’re in real life in your real kitchen with my dad who has a real gun.”

“He won’t shoot me. I’m his girlfriends only nephew. I’m untouchable.”

“And so am I as long as my father is present.” You said and slipped out of his arms.

“Is everything okay over there?” Happy asked from the couch.

“Yes.” You and Peter shouted back in unison. You finished with the dough and brought it over to the pasta maker.

“You better speed run this fucking pasta before I lose my mind.” You whispered in his ear.

“I’m going as fast as I can.” Peter whispered back as he put the dough in the pasta maker as painstakingly slow as possibly. The pasta maker squeaked as he turned the handle and echoed off the walls of the silent kitchen. You could feel sweat running down your face and started to fan yourself.

“I can’t handle this. My dad is gonna know what we did.” You said and gave your hair a stressful tug.

“We haven’t done anything wrong.” He pointed out as he finished up with the pasta. You nodded in agreement and picked up the pasta he had made.

“Yet.” He added and stole a kiss against your neck. You gasped and put your hand where his lips had been.

“What are you doing? My dad is in the next room?”

“I know. That’s what makes it so exciting.” Peter said and leaned in to kiss you again.

“The water should be boiling by now. Can you start putting the pasta in?” May asked as she appeared in the kitchen. You quickly turned around and pretended to be doing something so she wouldn’t suspect anything.

“Sure.” Peter smiled calmly at her and put the pasta into the boiling water. May went back to the living room, leaving you and Peter alone once again. You picked up a wooden spoon and pushed the pasta around the pot in an attempt to look busy.

“I can see you. Stop staring at me.” You said when you felt Peters eyes on you. You looked up and sure enough, he was watching you with a soft expression.

“I’m sorry. I can’t help it.” He said as he walked over to you. He wrapped his arms around your waist from behind and pulled you into him. It felt nice for a moment but you knew it shouldn’t be happening.

“I am off limits, okay mister? You cannot be staring at me like that.” You whispered and slipped out of his arms.

“Off limits? What does that mean?” He played dumb.

“It means that we cannot happen.” You said and gestured between the two of you. “We can never, ever happen. My dad will reign hell fire on you for even thinking about it. And he’ll reign regular fire on me because I’m his daughter which will be less hot but still really bad.”

“Psh.” Peter scoffed. “I’m not scared of him.”

“You should be. He has access to all of Uncle Tony’s weapons. So unless you want to get blown up or turned inside out, you need to stop. That’s means stop staring at me, stop touching me, and definitely stop kissing me.” You whispered as you got in his face. Peter smirked now that he had you close again and put his hands on your hips. You gulped and looked anywhere but his eyes as he got close to you.

“You want me to stop kissing you?” He asked as he tilted your chin up to look in his eyes.

“Yes.” You replied, but it came out like more of a question than a statement.

“Are you sure?” He asked and moved in even closer. His lips brushed yours when he spoke and you felt your eyelids flutter shut. Right before your lips could touch, you covered your mouth and stepped back.

“No. No more. We can’t.” You said behind your hand. Peter smiled sadly and nodded his head. He looked disappointed but like he understood.

“I know we can’t happen.” He said in a soft voice. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want it to.”

“It doesn’t matter what we want.” You gently reminded him and nodded towards the living room where Happy was.

“So you want it too?” He asked innocently and tilted his head to the side. You sucked in a sharp breath and thought about the way it felt when he had you up against the wall and how badly you wanted that again.

“Peter.” You breathed out.

“Do you have any idea how beautiful I find you?” Peter asked you. Footsteps approaching made you jump apart and turn your backs to each other.

“Hey guys. How’s the pasta coming?” May asked as she walked into the kitchen.

“It’s coming.” Peter replied.

“It’s definitely pasta.” You nodded in agreement.

“Great. I’ll set the table.” May laughed at your strange behavior and grabbed some plates. Once you were alone again, you answered Peters question.

“Yes.” You told him.

“What?”

“You asked me if I’d want this to happen too. My answer is yes.” You said and looked into his eyes. Peter smiled now that he knew you felt the same but didn’t want to let you off that easy.

“Oh. But then I asked you if you knew how beautiful I found you so I thought you were answering-“

“Shut up.” You laughed as you cut him off. Peter smiled fondly at you from across the kitchen and you felt yourself smile back.

“Do you really feel the same?” He asked, all teasing in his voice gone.

“I do. But I told you, it doesn’t matter what we feel. We can’t date. Ours is a forbidden love.”

“I know. That’s what makes me want you even more.” Peter said with a wicked smile. You stopped leaning on the counter and started to walk to Peter when your dad suddenly walked into the kitchen.

“What are you guys talking about?” Happy asked suspiciously when he noticed the love struck expression on both your faces.

“Dad.” You whined. “Don’t you knock?”

“Knock on what? You’re standing in the middle of the kitchen.” He pointed out. You and Peter exchanged a look, and then you and Happy exchanged a look. Happy looked at Peter and narrowed his eyes, making Peter panic.

“Dinners ready!” Peter shouted despite 75% of the people in the apartment being right in front of him.

“Um, Peter, the pasta is still raw. It’s only been in there a few minutes.” You reminded him.

“Dinner!” Peter said again. “Let’s sit and eat.”

You shrugged and went with it to keep your dad from getting suspicious. You drained the pasta and put it in a big bowl before Peter added the sauce on top. You brought it to the dining table that May had set and put it in the center. Everyone sat down and served themselves some pasta.

“So what’s new with everyone?” Happy asked.

“Nothing.” You and Peter said at the same time. You gave him a look and he gulped nervously.

“Is anything new with you?” You asked May politely.

“Yeah.” Peter nodded. “Talk about yourselves. Tell us everything.”

“Well, um, May and I have been thinking about getting married.” Happy said sheepishly. You spit out your water as Peters jaw dropped.

“Oh.” May smiled tightly. “I didn’t realize we were telling them.”

“Wait, married?” You asked them.

“Yeah. Thinking about it.” Happy nodded as May shook her head.

“But, uh, if you guys got married, what would that mean for us exactly?” You laughed nervously and gestured between you and Peter.

“Well, I’d become Peters uncle, so you guys would technically be cousins.” Happy shrugged as May nodded in agreement. A chill ran down your spine at the use of the “c” word. Peters mouth started to heavily salivate like it usually did before he threw up.

“Cousins?” You choked out.

“Or would they be siblings?” Happy wondered.

“Oh God.” You whimpered. ���Not siblings. Anything but siblings.”

“No, just cousins.” May explained. “Because I would become Y/n’s stepmom but Peter isn’t my son so they would be cousins. But you guys could consider each other siblings if you really wanted to. It might be nice to have a sister, right Peter?”

“Stop talking.” Peter said in a grave voice as he gripped the table to keep from fainting again.

“Relax guys. It won’t be too weird. You’re basically cousins already.” May said with an innocent smile.

“Oh no. Don’t say that.” You whispered and clutched your stomach.

“I’m gonna throw up.” Peter said through a gag.

“Why?” Happy asked as he narrowed his eyes at Peter.

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t you want to be cousins? It’s just you and me on holidays Wouldn’t it be nice to have a bigger family?” May asked Peter.

“Don’t call us “family”, please.” Peter said and gagged again.

“Yeah, no more.” You pleaded. “Not while we’re eating.”

“Are we missing something?” May asked.

“I don’t want her to be my cousin.” Peter grimaced and shook his head.

“Peter. That’s disrespectful.” May scolded him.

“No, it’s okay. I don’t want him to be my cousin either.” You assured her as you wiped some sweat from your forehead. You looked over at Peter and he was just as distraught if you were. He was pale and sweating and extremely close to breaking. You snapped your fingers at him under the table and motioned for him to keep his mouth shut. May and Happy exchanged a suspicion look at the strange behavior in front of them.

“Is there something you guys aren’t telling us?” May asked and leaned on her hand. She stared at Peter, who looked at you in a panic. You shook your head at him, making Happy frown in confusion. He turned to stare at Peter, and that’s what made Peter break.

“I made out with my cousin.” Peter blurted before gasping for air. You groaned and put your head down on the table as May and Happy reacted.

“You what with your what?” May scrunched her nose in disgust.

“You what with my what?” Happy asked and glared Peter.

“Haha. He’s just kidding.” You laughed nervously and waved your hand.

“He better be.” Happy stated without taking his eyes off Peter. Peter was staring all around the room at everything other than Happy.

“This pasta is amazing. Let’s all eat it and stop talking.” You said and shoved some pasta into your mouth.

“It’s a little undercooked.” May commented. “How long did you guys leave it in the water for?”

“Peter?” Happy asked calmly.

“Yes, sir?” Peter answered while looking up at the ceiling.

“Look at me.”

“Yes?” Peter said and looked near Happy, but not at him.

“Peter, look me in the eyes.” Happy commanded. “Right now.”

“I am.” Peter scoffed as he stared at Happy’s ear.

“Not at my ear. My eyes.”

Peter shut his eyes and turned to face Happy head on.

“Open your eyes.” Happy said through clenched teeth. Peter slowly opened one eye, then the other. Happy was glaring at him with a face redder than the sauce May had made.

“Did you make out with my daughter?”

“Which daughter?”

“The one sitting beside you. The only one I have.”

“I don’t understand the question.”

“Let me ask it again then. Did you or did you not make out with my daughter?”

“No.”

“Okay. Good.” Happy nodded in satisfaction.

“She made out with me.” Peter clarified.

“Peter!” You shouted and looked at him.

“You’re a dead man. He’s a dead man.” Happy declared and lunged across the table at Peter.

“Wait! She kissed me! I didn’t kiss her.” Peter defended himself as he scrambled to get out of his chair and run away from Happy.

“You did the second time.” You pointed out.

“Second time? There was a second time?” Happys voice got louder as he chased Peter around the table.

“Daddy, no. Don’t hurt him!” You protested and stood between your dad and Peter.

“Move it, honey. I’m gonna fight him. I’m gonna fight him up real nice.” Happy declared and grabbed the bowl of Italian bread off the table. He started throwing pieces at Peter, but Peter dodged every one.

“Stop dodging my bread!” Happy shouted and threw his last piece.

“Ha! You’re all out of bread.” Peter pointed at the empty bowl before hiding behind you.

“I’ll just have to use my hands.” Happy said and lunged for Peter again.

“Hold on. Step away from my nephew.” May said as she stepped in front of you and held Happy back. Happy stopped trying to attack Peter and caught his breath.

“Happy, you need to calm down.” May told him. “Your daughter isn’t your property. She’s a beautiful young woman. She is allowed to make her own decisions. And that includes deciding who she wants to date.”

“I know that.” Happy sighed. “She just can’t decide on him.”

“Why not, dad?” You asked him.

“For starters, he rented a very inappropriate movie when we were in Germany. No man who respects women would rent a movie called “Grinding Nemo”. I can’t have a guy like that dating my daughter.”

“I was like 15!” Peter whined. “I just bought the first one I found!”

“Grinding Nemo?” You turned and asked Peter.

“It’s like Finding Nemo but instead of fish it was this guy looking for this girls-“

“I don’t even want to know.” You cut him off.

“Happy, you know Peter.” May reminded him. “You know he’ll stop at nothing to protect the people he cares about. She’s in good hands.”

“But why do they have to be his hands?” Happy pointed to Peter and sat back down. You squeezed Peters shoulder before going to sit down beside your dad.

“May is right. You knew I was gonna start dating eventually. And you also know that Peter is a great guy. You should be glad someone like him turned my head. He’s nice, responsible, smart, respectful, and loved by Uncle Tony. So come on, dad. Let me date my cousin.”

“But Tony asked me to look after him. And I don’t always so the best job. I try, but you know he won’t listen if he has his mind set on doing something. God forbid something had ever happened to him….” Happy trailed off and looked down at the ground.

“You’d be letting down the two most important people in your life.” May finished his sentence with a sad smile.

“Its hard for me to remember you’re not a little girl anymore. I thought I would have more time to prepare for this.” Happy admitted. “And I thought Tony would be here to help me. But you’re just growing up so fast. I can’t keep up.”

“We’re both growing up, dad. But we’re doing it together so it’s less scary.” You told him as you put your hands on his shoulders. Happy smiled fondly at you before looking over your shoulder at Peter.

“Do you really like him?” He asked you.

“I do. He listens to me. And he makes me smile.”

“Gross.” Happy gagged.

“Dad.” You whined. “Stop it.”

Happy sighed and looked up at everyone in the apartment. When his eyes landed on Peter, he got up and went over to him. Peter raised his fists in case Happy tried to attack him again, but Happy lowered them.

“Peter, you have my blessing to date my daughter.” Happy said sincerely.

“You have my blessing too.” May spoke up. “But I don’t love the whole cousin aspect.”

“Me either.” You agreed. “Please never get married so we’re never actually cousins.”

“We were never actually talking about marriage. May just said “Aw” during an allergy commercial that showed a wedding.” Happy admitted.

“So we’re good then? We can date without it being incestuous or forbidden?” Peter asked hopefully and wrapped an arm around you.

“I guess so. Just no PDA in front of me, okay? I don’t need to be reminded of this. Ever.” Happy asked and Peter immediately removed his arm.

“No problem, sir.” Peter replied.

“I’m glad that’s settled. Let’s get back to the family dinner.” You smiled and sat back in your seat. Everyone scrunched their face in disgust and you realized your mistake. Calling it a family dinner now that everyone knew you and Peter had kissed and nearly become cousins made everyone a little queasy.

“I, um, I apologize for my choice of words.”

Tag List 🏷️

@awesomebooklover17 @thebookwormlife @imanativeofswlondondahling

@tom-hollands-wifey @whatareyouhidingpeter @takenbyheartstrings @ultrunning

@imyourliquor-youremypoison @andreasworlsboring101 @peterparkoure

@justcallmehitgirl @jackiehollanderr @emmamarshmellow @unbelievableholland

@sovereignparker @every-marveler-ever @undiadeestos @eridanuswave​ ​

@solarxmoonchild @canyouevencauseicant

@quaksonhehe @lovelessdagger

@thesuitelifeofafangirl @marshxx @nooneinvitedfascistbarbie @maybemona

@alexxcorona113 @lethal-wisdom @pandaxnienke

 @officialsimppage e @peterbenjiparker @itsemohours

@freakofmusic25 @tomholland85

@olixerwxxd @whereismytelephone @leilanixx

@so-very-asleep @veryholland @white-wolf1940 @firwproof-blog

@nowayhomeparker @imobsessedzs @spideyspeaches

@spideyspeaches @hihiweezing

@mathletemadison  

[ichorai]

spiderling ; peter parker.

sequel to particles!

pairing ; peter parker x stark!reader

synopsis ; peter was supposed to find you after strange wiped everyone's memory of him away. instead, you found him.

words ; 2.0k

themes ; angst, mild fluff and comedy

warnings / includes ; lots of feels crammed into this, peter is a flustered mess, reader is an insanely smart kid of tony’s, mentions of may and the rest of the spidey gang :(

main masterlist.

Ever since Peter had asked Strange to wipe the entire world’s memory of him, things had been… uneventful to say the least. He studied, he worked two boring jobs for a low minimum wage, and he visited May’s grave every afternoon. 

There wasn’t much else to do when nobody knew him as Peter Parker. 

Sometimes, he’d go out in his itchy, make-shift spider suit that he’d fashioned with bright fabrics from a corner store that also sold his most favorite orange-flavored popsicles, stopping common crime as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

Other than that… he slept. He played Crossy Road on his phone—or he’d rewatch the Star Wars movies for the billionth time. 

He thought of his best friends, Ned and MJ. He thought of his brothers, Peter 2 and 3. He thought of his Aunt May, and Happy, who visited her grave almost as frequently as he did. He thought of the closest thing he had to a father figure, Tony Stark. He thought of Mr. Stark’s oldest kid—which he used to refer to as his significant other. 

The love of his life. 

Y/N Stark.

Peter missed you. He missed you more than anything in the entire world. He missed your wide smile and the specific way you’d throw your head back and laugh so hard you’d be grabbing onto his arm, gasping for breath. He missed how you’d press your chest into his back and kiss along his neck while he did his physics homework, quietly mumbling corrections to his calculations when he’d distractedly scribbled down the wrong formula. He missed how Mr. Stark would pull him to the side to give him the ‘Responsible Dad Talk’ just about every time the two of you hung out together, and how you’d have to tell your dad that you could make your own decisions and you didn’t need him to hover over the two of you.

Besides, you used to say with a soft smile, it’s Peter. You know Peter. He’s… he’s Peter. He’d never hurt me, pops.

But he did hurt you. He erased all the memories you had together—he completely wiped himself out of your life.

You loved him—and he had taken that away from you. 

“I love you,” you had whispered into him as you hugged him tight, a tear slipping down the corner of your misty eyes. Peter wrapped his arms around your waist and held you all the closer. “Come back to me, Peter. Or… or I swear to fucking God—I’ll find you myself and—” 

Your words died on your tongue as he surged forward and kissed you, hard and desperate. The kiss tasted of salt from your tears, of coppery blood from his throbbing, split lip. Neither of you cared.

You hiccupped a sob when he reluctantly pulled away, pressing one last kiss to your grimy forehead, before letting you go entirely. He turned before he could see you crumpling into MJ and Ned, who had roped you into a pained embrace, your shoulders trembling with wracking cries. 

That was five months ago. Five months after Strange wiped everybody’s memories of him.

He’d wanted to find you again—he really did. Obviously, you were an extremely busy person, not only being the oldest kid of Tony Stark, but also a genius student, a researcher, the heir of an entire company, and an older sibling to Morgan. But, if he was completely honest, he didn’t really know what to say.

Hey, I’m Peter Parker and I’m in love with you, but I never got the chance to tell you because this wizard that’s sort of a friend of your dad’s erased everyone’s memory of me because the multiverse broke and a bunch of bad guys from other universes slipped into ours because I ruined my friend’s chances of getting into their dream college—

Yeah. That wouldn’t really work out, would it?

So he put it off. 

Put it off for a week, which rolled into two, which became three, which became three months.

All of a sudden, it was summer, and he still hadn’t seen you. 

He made sure to go to the coffee shop MJ worked at, just to see how she and Ned were faring. From what he heard while he eavesdropped—they were doing great at MIT. 

Peter tried his best to keep up with you through those news articles that kept flashing him ads like You Wouldn’t Believe What This Celebrity Looks Like Without Makeup! or Learn All About Steve Rogers’ Exercise Routine! 

There wasn’t much that he could find about you, other than a couple pictures of you with your little sister, Morgan, chowing down on cheeseburgers at McDonald’s. After all, you’d always been a rather private person, which was the one jarring difference between you and your infamously public father. 

Your social medias were, expectedly, all privated. Peter doubted you’d accept his follow request, anyway.

It was an ordinary Tuesday—Peter had a shift at a car garage in a couple hours, which left him quite a bit of time to burn. He had ACDC softly playing in the background—a band that both you and your dad had been completely infatuated with—half a dozen books spread out around him as he multi-tasked studying new chemical compounds for his web fluid, and rotational mechanics for an upcoming exam. 

Then, much to his surprise, the doorbell rang. 

It’s probably the landlord, Peter thought with a grimace, thinking of the old woman who always had a cigarette between her coarse fingers, despite her own strict policy of no smoking in the building. He turned the music down to a low thrum, before swinging the door open.

And… there you were.

Peter could feel his heart drop to the floor.

You were… God, you were beautiful. There wasn’t much about you that changed—you got a new pair of glasses, he could see, and you’d cut your hair shorter. There was a tattoo peeking slightly out of your loose-hanging t-shirt etched over your skin, depicting a sketch of an arc reactor, in memory of your late father. 

Besides that, you were the very same. The same bright, intelligent eyes, the same lips that puckered ever so slightly to the side in thought, and the same brows that knitted together whenever you were concentrating. 

Your hands were shoved into your jeans as you cocked your head, studying him with narrowed eyes.

“Erm,” Peter started, mouth opening and closing as his brain struggled to comprehend that you were here. In the flesh. Fuck, you were gorgeous. “Wh… Y/N?”

Your eyebrow arched high up, closer to your hairline. “First name basis already, huh?”

“I’m—”

“You’re the Spiderling, aren’t you?” you asked abruptly, nearly giving him whiplash. Before he could say anything else, you were swiping your phone open, a hologram of a Youtube video playing right in front of his face. The video displayed Spider-Man swinging from building to building, stopping a car from ramming into an elderly woman crossing the street with nothing but brute strength. Peter didn’t even remember that happening. To him, that was just an ordinary day. “That must’ve been, what—like, thirty-five hundred pounds, about fifty miles an hour? Impressive.”

“Wh—”

You brushed past him into his tiny apartment. Peter cursed himself for not throwing away the pizza boxes stacked on his kitchen counter, and for leaving his sketches of web shooters out on his desk. 

A small smile graced your lips as you spotted the blue and red scrap fabrics discarded into the trash can. “Hm. You make your own suit? My dad did, too. God—are those goggles?” You picked up his vision goggles from his unmade bed, peering through them as you snorted in amusement. “How on earth do you see anything though these?”

“I—”

You turned to him with an intrigued grin. “I’m sure you already know who I am, seeing as you knew my dad. It’s nice to finally meet you, Spiderling.”

Peter blinked. The overwhelming sense of deja vu washed over him like a tidal wave—you were behaving eerily similar to when Mr. Stark had approached him to go to Germany back in 2016.

“I… how…”

“What’s your name?” you asked, gingerly stepping over his textbooks to stare at his pinboard, where his calendar hung. 

“Peter,” he finally mumbled in reply, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. “And it’s Spider-Man, not Spiderling. What are you doing here? I mean, not that I don’t want you here, but, uhm—how did you find me?”

You looked over your shoulder with a knowing glint to your eyes. “I keep tabs on everybody my dad used to work with. Honestly, it wasn't too difficult to track you down—given the radius of where Spider-Man usually frequents and his response times to local crimes, it was easy to pinpoint where you lived. After my AI ran a couple voice recognition tests and estimated bodily proportions, that led me right to you.” You leaned against his rickety wooden desk with a curious grin. “Thought you’d be a bit older, though. Looks like you’re around my age.”

“I… that’s… wow.”

Wrinkling your nose in amusement, you turned back to his full calendar. 

Peter prayed you wouldn’t flip over to your birthday month—he’d circled your birthday with bright red sharpie and drew loopy hearts all over the little square. Thankfully, you stopped skimming through, pausing at the relatively empty weeks where he had nothing planned other than a few work shifts.

“Looks like you’re free from school in a couple weeks,” you said. “I know this is really sudden and very abrupt of me, but—I’d love to offer you a job at Stark Labs. You must be crazy smart to design synthetic webs with a Young’s modulus that’s off the charts. Could really use that brain of yours at my company. Plus, you’ve got a lot of work experience in the bag.” 

There was a beat of silence. Peter stared at you with parted lips. 

A bit more timidly, you added on, “And… it’d be nice to work with someone that knew my dad.”

Well, Peter didn’t want to brag, but he’d definitely say that he didn’t only just know Tony Stark. But you didn’t need to know that right at this moment. 

“Yes,” he blurted out, a bit louder than necessary. “Are you kidding me? That’s… that’s amazing! Yeah, oh my God, I’d love to! Thank you!”

Before he could stop himself, his body moved out of pure muscle memory and excitement, stepping forward to wind his arms around you, squeezing you tightly. Your familiar perfume made his eyes well with tears—fuck, he missed you so fucking much.

“Oh—” you began to say, muscles tensing. “Okay, then. You’re welcome, pal.”

Rouge flushed hotly over his cheeks as he realized that you weren’t his significant other anymore—in your mind, this was the first time the two of you were meeting. Quickly, he let you go, backing away with a grimace. 

“Sorry,” he winced. “Sorry, I just—”

“Have we met before?” you asked, cutting him off. “I don’t know… it just feels like… nevermind. I’d probably remember a cute face like yours.” 

Peter’s face burned an even brighter shade of red. 

“Here’s my contact information. I’ll send you any contracts, NDAs, legality issues, dates for any research projects you might be interested in joining, payment negotiations, all that jazz,” you told him, placing a card onto his desk. “I look forward to working with you, Patrick.”

“Peter,” he corrected.

A smile played with the corner of your lips. “Right. Peter. Nice music taste, by the way. I love ACDC—I can see why my dad liked you so much.” 

With that, you ambled over his scattered belongings on the floor, flashing him one last beam, before striding straight out the door. 

Peter stared at the open doorway for a minute—or was it an hour? He really couldn’t tell. 

He collapsed into his bed, the goggles you’d dangled digging into his back. He arched up just enough to pull it away, clutching it to his chest with a goofy smile.

You found him. 

Against all odds, you’d found him.

Fuck, Peter loved you so much.

Telling you though—now that was a different story entirely. One that Peter knew was going to take time. 

But for you… 

He’d wait centuries.

[lovewithmary]

(not) moving on — a max verstappen x stark!oc x charles leclerc series

★ fc: madison beer ☆ summary: evangeline "evie" stark is in love with her best friend, max verstappen, but he tries his best to keep her at arm's length. but what happens when she starts to get close to his fellow drivers in the paddock? ★ notes: early chapter bc I am too impatient so I’m taking the poll results as is and assuming charles is the winner. anyways, drama is happening!!!

previous next series masterlist

"Evie's baking,"

"We know,"

"My daughter is baking for two tiny villages or two super soldiers, and none of you thought to ask if there was something wrong?" Tony asked, watching as his fellow Avengers, his wife, and his youngest daughter were all eating the pastries that Evie had been baking since she got off the phone.

"Parker tried grabbing the spatula from her hand, but she threw a bowl at his head. But luckily his Peter Tingle saved him and he dodged," Bucky explained, mouthful with a slice of one of the cakes Evie made.

"I told you not to call it the Peter Tingle!" Peter complained.

"I think she had a fight with Max," Morgan's tiny voice piped up, oblivious to the heads that turned to her.

"Morg, why didn't you say that earlier?" Pepper asked.

Morgan blinked innocently and shrugged, then said, "You didn't ask,"

"Okay, who wants to be the one to ask her about Max?"

A tense air fell between some of the most powerful people in the world, only for them to touch their noses and say, "Not it!"

Unfortunately for him, Tony himself was the last one to do it, which made him curse. "I should've just stayed in my lab," he muttered but went to the kitchen to see that Evie was already starting another batch of cupcakes as if the pile of used cupcake liners between Steve and Bucky wasn't enough.

"Hello, tesoro," Tony greeted, concerned at the fact that Evie barely reacted at the sound of his voice.

"The dining room isn't that far from the kitchen, papa. I don't need to have powers or be a Super Soldier to hear you guys," Evie commented.

"So, will it be easier to ask what happened between you and Max that's made you spiral into a hurricane of frosting— is that macrons? When did you learn how to make macrons?" Tony asked, caught off-guard.

"Max and I had a little misunderstanding. And I didn't know how to make macrons until earlier," Evie responded.

"A little misunderstanding? You're taking over my kitchen with baked goods for a little misunderstanding?"

"I will find a way to bake you if you don't stop!" She threateningly responded, the aforementioned spatula Peter tried taking was in her hand menacingly pointed at Tony.

Tony raised his arms up in surrender, "I won't ask then. I will just be here, in the corner of the kitchen, giving you moral support," he said, taking a step away from his daughter and near the door just in case.

Silence fell between the father and daughter, Evie angrily making a bowl of frosting while Tony was thinking about whether or not he had to bring in Pepper for his own moral support.

That was until, "Do I insert myself into people's business too much? Is it something I do regularly?" Evie blurted out.

"I think you insert yourself into people's business when you think you need to. I don't think it's a lot, but then again, you help me with my business, so I can't say it's too much," Tony shrugged.

She groaned, not getting a clear answer. She should've known that her dad wasn't going to outright tell her when she was being too invasive. "I'm serious, dad," she told him.

"Did Max say something? Whatever he said, ignore it. He drives for a living, he's wrong no matter what,"

"I thought you liked Max. You've known him since he was a kid,"

"I don't like him if he makes my daughter upset,"

"Dad..."

"What did he say?" Tony asked once more.

Evie sighed before washing her hands and grabbing her phone from the pocket of her apron and then giving it to her dad, unlocked and the texts already on the screen. She watched as her dad's face turned angry.

"I'll shoot him out of the sky with one of my repulsors—"

"Dad, no,"

"He didn't have to talk to you like that! That little shit—"

"What do I do?" Evie interrupted him, knowing that if she let him rant, he'd end up wearing one of the Iron Man suits, already on the way to wherever the next race was.

"Do what Starks do best,"

"Which is?"

"To get under people's skin,"

[sonicslushie]

Slipped My Mind ~ P.P.

Summary: You’re the person who designs Spiderman’s suits, but you never actually met the man- or boy- behind the mask. 

A/N: terrible summary & first fic, originally this was going to be based on the conan gray song “yours” but it took an odd turn in there so it's not lmao. But if you wanna read that let me know i’m dying to write more for petey boy. This is also like a little fluff thing that i threw together in a few hours so it’s not the best (my b) 

a playlist for u to listen to as u read<3

Pairing: Peter Parker x Stark Intern!Reader 

TW: kinda a clueless reader, mentions of blood and open wounds, 

Wordcount: 3.6k

Ice cream was all you wanted. It was your lunch break from Stark Industries, the place you interned at because of your impressive resume, and partly because your dad just so happened to be the owner of Tony Stark’s favorite burger place. You had been a pretty smart kid, finished highschool early and graduated MIT with a degree in engineering and all you wanted was to build supersuits. That was the dream, wasn’t it? Helping the world’s mightiest heroes by being the one who created their high tech suits and accessories, actually making a difference for those who saved billions of lives? Yeah, no. 

You started out three years ago as Ms. Potts' personal assistant at the ripe age of 16. You spent 2.5 years of that assisting just doing the basic intern stuff; grabbing coffee and burgers, attending meetings to take notes, scheduling and yatta yatta, the occasional fake laugh at a dad joke that Mr. Stark made. It wasn’t until you joined Ms. Potts in Mr. Stark’s lab to give him his burger, and you corrected his formulas on some project and you thought it was OVER. He looked surprised that you even spoke to him, oh fuck, you messed up. Or so you had thought. He actually told you that you were right?? Then, I swear to god, he asked what you would do to improve the project he was working on. (It was a super suit for the newest hero, Spiderman.) He liked your idea to add what you called the “training wheels” protocol. Mr. Stark decided to give you a chance and he had you help him create the rest of the suit, and now 6 months later, you were in charge of all things Spiderman. 

But that’s not the point of the story right now, right now, you wanted ice cream. 

And you had just bought two big scoops in a freshly made waffle cone. Honestly the best use of 5 bucks, or so you thought. Just as you were about to take the first lick, a red and blue streak sprinted past- no into you. It was like a movie, all you saw was your delicious creamy dessert flying up in the air in slow motion, then- SLAT! Both you and the ice cream were on the ground, a familiar looking super suit standing above you, stammering about how he was “so sorry” and “chasing a bad guy” in a very peppy voice. 

“You’re Spiderman, why weren’t you swinging from building to building?” You asked, furious you were now going to have to buy another one. You just wanted one thing, could you not just have it without dealing with this bozo? 

“Forgot to put in new web fluid. I’m sorry about your ice cream but I’ve really gotta- I don’t see him anymore. Shoot.” He says, shaking his head. “You know what, let me make this up to you. I’ll buy you another one.” 

Well that seemed fair and it slightly cooled off your now bad mood. You agree and wait in line with the dude who you create super suits for. The funny thing is, this was actually the first time you ever met the one and only Spiderman- or Spiderling as Mr. Stark calls him. You don’t even know who the person is under the mask, but at this point you really didn’t care about it, you just wanted your ice cream. 

After waiting in line for what felt like forever and making meaningless small talk with the masked hero, you make it to the front of the line. 

“Two scoops of strawberry, please. Waffle cone.” You smile at the worker, then turn to Spiderboy. You say at the same time as the employee, “5 bucks.” 

The Spiderdude pats his sides as if feeling for a wallet, then looks at you with that expressionless mask- god you had to work on that- and says, “I don't have my wallet.” 

You could almost smack him in the back of the head, but you just take your wallet out and give the worker a 5 dollar bill. Taking the new ice cream, you turn to the hero, “Well now you owe me two, Spidey.” 

“I-I’ll make it up to you, do you have Venmo?” He asks, panic rising in his voice. He sounded young, maybe around your age. If you were honest, he piqued your interest. So instead of rolling your eyes and walking away, you pulled your phone out. 

“Here,” you say, ready to just get back to the lab. He takes a picture of it and gives you a thumbs up. 

“I’ll have to make a new venmo so you can’t figure out my identity, but I gotta run.” He says, and literally runs off. You stand there, looking at the hero you basically manage but just met, then your ice cream. What a day, huh? You shrug it off and begin to eat your ice cream as you head back to the office. 

The ice cream had been off your mind ever since you finished the yummy dessert, and went back to designing your own web fluid. Sure the dude had his own way of making it (you weren’t really sure if it had been coming out of him or not until today, you never really had the chance to ask anyone), but you knew you could do it better. Everyone at Stark Industries called you ‘Junior’ for a reason, and it wasn’t just because of your crazy intelligence. It might have also been the slight egotistical self assurance and the stubbornness you possessed. 

As you worked you listened to music and snacked on the various foods you hid in the lab unbeknownst to Mr. Stark. Here and there you would test the web fluid with some of the new web shooter prototypes you had made, at this point you could swing around New York from how often you used these things. You often thought of it and giggled at the thought; ridiculous, these silly little dreams you possessed. 

You had been giggling about it to yourself when the one and only Mr. Stark walked in- with a kid who was talking so fast and in such a familiar peppy tone that you couldn’t help but look up. 

“-and then I looked up dodo birds and did you know they’re basically just big pigeons?” He finished, looking up at Mr. Stark with big brown doe eyes that sparkled in the light. Sparkle in the light? Oh come on, y/n. You caught yourself ogling at the new kid, still trying to figure out where you heard that voice before. Little miss genius might be able to create the highest tech super suits in the world, but boy oh boy did you have a hard time connecting dots. 

“Right, big pigeons. Anyway, Peter, this is y/n y/l/n. Junior, this is Peter Parker.” Mr. Stark says, looking at you as if you could take the excitable kid off of his hands. 

Now, Mr. Stark is a lot of things, and busy is one of them. This just so happens to affect his memory, and in this case, he completely forgot that he never introduced Spiderling- Peter Parker- to his favorite intern. It slipped his mind, I mean when you’re a billionaire CEO and a superhero, the little things tend to slip the mind. It’s not like he meant to never introduce you two, he really did mean to. But every time Peter’s been at the tower, Junior was always gone either for the weekend or for her lunch break. Plus, Mr. Stark had things to do. Like right now; get out of this boring conversation and get burgers from his favorite burger place with Happy. 

“Oh it’s nice to meet you, Peter.” You say, not knowing that you met Peter earlier that day as Spiderman. But Peter knew, and he also forgot that he had to venmo you for that ice cream from earlier. Caught off guard, his eyes just go wide and he awkwardly smiles and waves at you like an idiot. 

“Um okay. Anyway, Mr. Stark, I was about to head out, but I got the new web fluid made and finished up the new prototypes for web shooters. I also started up blueprints for a new suit. I forgot to mention I saw Spiderboy today and I gotta say, that suit does nothing for his ass.” You say, going back to the blueprints in front of you, making sure everything is perfect for tomorrow morning. Mr. Stark takes a peek over your shoulder, nodding in approval, then says, “Well I’ve got to hit the road, I’ve got… an important meeting to attend. Yeah. See ya tomorrow, Junior, same to you Pete.” 

You and Peter tell Mr. Stark bye in various fashions, being left in an awkward silence, neither of you really knowing how to proceed from there. Mr. Stark never told you that you would be meeting with Spiderdude to discuss your progress on the new ideas you had come up with but if he didn't show up before 5 you weren't staying, you'd didn't get paid enough. Peter wasn’t told he would be seeing the girl he literally ran into and owe her ice cream money. Seems like it just slipped Mr. Stark’s mind again. 

“So um, whatcha doing here Peter?” You say, begin to clean up your workstation to go home. Peter was just standing awkwardly behind you, trying to figure out what to say. He was also unaware that you didn’t know that he was Spiderman, he had figured Mr. Stark would have told you if you were the one working on his suits all this time. 

“Oh I was um- just leaving actually. Looks like you’re ready to go home, so I- Yeah I’m just gonna go.” He says quickly, turning on his heel to leave. At this point you were just ready to go home, so you shrug it off and say, “Nice meeting you, Peter. See ya.” 

He doesn’t say anything as he leaves. If he was being honest, he’s never been good at talking to pretty girls. Not to mention super awesome pretty intern girls who have been providing him his super awesome super suit. Probably too many “supers” but he didn’t care, he could barely even function in the same room as you. Not to mention he made a fool of himself earlier, but honestly you didn’t even seem to remember, which threw him off even more. And when you said “nice to meet you” it confused him, you two had met earlier that day. God, he had to get some fresh air. 

Peter made it outside and was cooling down from that super awkward and weird encounter, when he saw you pulling out of the car park in your car, singing along loudly to some Miley Cyrus song. He turns away, trying not to make it obvious that he was avoiding you. But you turned your head as you were looking for oncoming traffic, and you saw him. 

You don’t know why you did it, but you rolled your window down and yelled above the loud ass music, “Hey Peter! You waiting on a ride?” 

He was too caught off guard to lie, and to be fair he didn’t even like lying, so he shook his head and before he knew it, he was getting in your car. 

“Where are you heading?” You asked, turning the music down. He tries not to be as awkward as before as he says, “Queens, but it’s a far drive you really don’t have to-” 

“Oh I live there too! Don’t even worry about it,” you say, happy you could do something for the odd kid. He was a bit awkward, but in a cute sort of way. It almost made your stomach get butterflies at the thought of you of all people making him nervous. 

“Oh okay, thanks so much. I really appreciate it,” he says, then after a beat of intense silence with Miley wailing in the background, he decides to try and make conversation. “So how long have you been working for Mr. Stark?” 

“Since I was 16, so like 3 years. Most of it was being Ms. Potts’ assistant though,” you say, tapping your fingers to the beat. 

“Woah, wait so did you like graduate early?” He asks, now immensely intrigued. You give him the rundown of the past 6 years of your life, to which he’s very impressed and totally not thinking about how pretty you look in the dying sunlight. Totally would never do that. 

“But yeah, that’s me. What about you, how did you get involved with Mr. Stark?” You ask, glancing over at him slightly. You must say for a dork, he had some very nice features. 

“Very long story that includes him hitting on my aunt. Ugh,” he shivers at the memory, “And a trip to Germany.” 

That rings some bells in your head, but to be fair Mr. Stark is in Germany a lot so you don’t really question it. Like I said, you don’t connect dots very well unless it’s in the form of equations. 

You guys talk all the way to Peter’s apartment, you even give him your phone number if he ever needs a ride to the office. As Peter walks off, you both can’t help but wonder how weird the day has been. But as you drive off and turn up the radio, you put it out of your mind. Time to go home and relax. 

Only when you got home, you didn’t relax. Almost as soon as you step into your apartment, your phone lets out a little “cha-ching” noise, notifying you that someone just venmoed you. You completely forgot about Spidey owing you for your ice cream until you saw the little notification: Spidey paid you $10 with an ice cream emoji underneath. You smirk, then go back to fully entering your apartment. Only to hear your phone go off a few seconds later, another venmo notification, this time a comment left under the money he just paid you. 

I feel really bad about earlier. I figured I’d pay for both. 

You raise an eyebrow at your phone, smiling a little to yourself. He seems sweet. Sweeter than most guys you’ve run into in the middle of New York. And trust me, it’s happened more often than you’d like to admit. 

You type back. 

I really appreciate that Spiderdude. Love the profile pic;)

His profile picture was that one Spiderman meme with the three Spidermans pointing at each other. It made you giggle, at least he had a sense of humor. Most superheroes (*cough* Steve Rogers *cough*) didn’t. A few seconds later he sends another message. 

Next time I’ll get you three scoops:)

You smiled and decided that was a pretty good deal, three free ice creams? Sounds like a scam but you weren’t going to question it. You just put your phone down and decided it was time to have a nice warm bath and rock out to Taylor Swift. 

It was a while before you heard from both Peter or Spiderman, and you were still clueless to the fact that they were the same person. After a few weeks of that whole situation being off your mind, you were going into work on a late night call from Mr. Stark said that something urgent came up with the Spiderling and he wasn’t in town to take care of it. So, you jumped out of bed and rushed out still in your pajamas to the Stark Tower. 

You sped all the way there, the stars oddly bright for the city. You made note to go to the rooftop of your apartment whenever you were able to make it back. You always had a thing for the stars, having not grown up in New York. The city was beautiful, but you could truly say that you hated the nights there. No stars glittering overhead, cars and people being loud at all hours of the night. The only good thing you could say about the night in New York was all the food places that were open 24/7. (You tend to have a craving for Thai food at odd hours of the night.) 

Upon arriving at the Stark Tower, you ask F.R.I.D.A.Y what’s going on, and she directs you to your lab. You make your way up there, wondering what in the world this kid could be needing that’s so urgent. If it’s something stupid, dear god, help him. You would molly whop him into the next dimension. 

The lab doors upon a very beat up Spiderboy, who’s laid across your desk. Laying in a pile of blood. Okay, good enough reason, you supposed, immediately dropping all idea’s of punching the poor kid in the head. 

You rush up to him, taking in his half dead state of being. A giant would- no a hole would be a better way of putting it. Just a big hole in his side, with a lot of blood seeping out of it. You poke him, making sure he’s still breathing. He groans in response, it’s enough to get you moving. You had planned on this a long time ago, you created a device to regrow skin just for this occasion. You found it and within seconds, his wound began healing, though it might take a while for him to create enough blood to be able to even be able to sit up again. At that thought, you ordered F.R.I.D.A.Y. to get the building’s onsite medical team to get the kid. 

Once you were finished fixing his gaping hole, you poked him again, praying he was still alive. There was so much blood everywhere, but you tried to keep your Thai food down as you begged for him to wake up. 

“Come on kid, you can’t die on me. Mr. Stark would kill us both,” you say, starting to shake him now. You could see his chest moving up and down slightly, but he wasn’t waking up. You pleaded in your head for the med team to get there quickly, you didn’t know why you were so upset by this. Sure, it would be sad if the kid died, but you didn’t know him like that. You didn’t know him well enough to be crying over his dying body, begging him to just open his eyes or say something. Not that you could see them through the mask-

The mask. 

Your trembling hand goes to take it off, but the medical team rushes in just as you begin peeling it off, only exposing his neck. 

You step back as the med team begins working on him, you let them know that you healed him, but he needed blood. That was all you could say before they moved him onto the gurney and began taking him away, you called after, “Just wake up, Spidey, please!” 

That was the first thing that Peter remembers hearing, your voice. Lights were flashing overhead as he heard people saying things above him, though he couldn’t comprehend any of it. God, he was so dizzy. And why wasn’t his side hurting anymore? He started grabbing for his side, but the people around him stopped him from doing so. What was going on?

“You were bleeding out,” one of them says from above him, he’s starting to hear them more clearly now. Maybe his superhealing had finally set in. “No, Ms. y/l/n just saved your life. Now calm down, you’re going to be okay.” 

Peter didn’t realize he was just speaking his thoughts as they came to him, he also didn’t realize that you had decided to follow the medical team just to make sure he ended up okay. It’s not that you didn’t trust them, you just wanted to be sure. So much for looking at the stars, huh? 

Peter kept babbling as the medical team got him to their facility a few floors down, starting to connect tubes to give him more blood. One of them goes to take his mask off to check for any head wounds, but he stops them. He’s conscious enough to know that he knows none of these people, and none of these people need to know that he’s Peter Parker. 

“You’re Peter Parker?” You say, total confusion in your voice. Damn it, did he say that out loud? “Yes, you did, you idiot.” 

You get as close as you can without getting in the way of the people trying to help him. Once they were all done and he was getting the blood that he needed, you asked them to leave so you could talk to Peter. How did you not realize? He has a very distinctive voice, and obviously that’s why Mr. Stark brought him into your lab a few weeks ago. Seriously, not your best moment. 

“So you’re the infamous Spiderman?” You say, sitting on the edge of his cot. He peels his mask off and takes a breath of fresh air. 

“Wait,” it hits him that you didn’t know, what is going on? “You didn’t know?” 

“Nope,” you laugh, “I’m not really sure how I didn’t, especially after Mr. Stark brought you in there. I’m also not sure how he never mentioned that you were there person I’ve been making all this superhero stuff for. Must have slipped his mind.” Understatement of the century. 

“I thought you knew, that’s why I never really mentioned it. Also,” he smiles a little to himself, “I promised to get you ice cream next time I saw you. How about it?” 

You raise your eyebrow at him, “You’re in a cot getting blood poured into you.” 

“When I’m better?” 

“Sounds like a date.”

[alloftheimaginesblog]

Headcanons for being Tony Stark's daughter and dating Pietro Maximoff...

Your relationship stays secret for the first few months. Well actually, it's only really a secret to your dad. You know that your dad - the infamous Tony Stark - will react badly to the news that you're dating Pietro so you swear everyone else to secrecy.

Secret glances across the room as Tony and Steve lead a meeting.

Sneaking off during the meetings to make out in the hall way... You've almost been caught a bunch of times through doing this but the sneaking around is fun.

Pietro makes you happier than you ever thought you could be. Even just a few months in and you're planning your future together.

He's sweet, he's so incredibly sweet to you.

He loves you, loves everything about you. He thinks you're the most beautiful person in the world and he feels so lucky to have you.

The rest of the group have a bet on when Tony finds out and how he finds out.

Nat thinks that Bruce will spill the beans.

Clint thinks he'll walk in on you and Pietro making out.

Wanda thinks that Pietro himself will give the game away by accident.

In fact, it's Peter Parker that gives the game away.

"How long has your daughter been dating Quicksilver? That must be pretty cool, huh? Always got your eye on them sorta thing."

You could've killed Parker.

Tony hunts you both down and he's angry, god he's so pissed off but he's probably more angry that you didn't tell him.

"Dad, you threatened to kill my fourth grade boyfriend! We were kids! Why would I tell you about my serious boyfriend now?"

Pietro tries his best to reason with Tony but he's shit scared of him and runs every time Tony tries to corner him for a chat.

Eventually, Tony manages to pin him down and interrogates him.

"What do you want with my daughter?"

"I care about her, sir. I don't want to hurt her-"

"If you hurt her, I will rip you apart limb from limb-"

"I love her, Tony. I'm not going to hurt her."

When Tony realises the seriousness of your relationship, he seems to reconsider. He comes to you, asking all sorts of questions about whether you love him, about whether he's good to you or not, if he takes good care of you, if he makes you happy... He's satisfied with your answers and leaves you be but he's not okay with it all yet.

Tony bans the two of you from being alone together which means that sneaking around gets even harder.

He probably tries to break you up or at least complains every chance he gets. He's oh so dramatic.

If he sees the two of you smiling at each other, he pretends to puke. Pepper has to have a few stern conversations with him to get him off of your backs.

During a fight, you're put in danger and Tony can't get to you in time but it's okay because Pietro does everything he can, including getting himself hurt, to keep you safe and to protect you.

After that, Pietro has Tony's respect. He understands the seriousness of your feelings for the other and he knows it's not just a fling. He leaves your relationship alone.

Pietro helps him in the lab to build something and after that, the pair of them start to bond and grow closer.

It's nice to know that you don't have to hide your relationship from him anymore and that the three of you can hang out without any ill feelings.

He calls Pietro 'son'.

It takes a while but Tony soon becomes your relationship's biggest supporter. He'll be the one who helps Pietro propose, he'll be the one who pays for your wedding and honeymoon, jets you both off somewhere warm and sunny. He grows to love Pietro and grows to love your relationship almost as much as he loves you.

[literaryavenger]

I just saw a skating show and one of the guys looked like bucky and now I NEED a yn × figure skating partner bucky one shot. With them working on a throw and he's all mad she can't land it then gets hurt and all the angst and comforting. Omg please I'll cry I love you! ❤️

Ok, I have to admit this was my first ask and I got so excited that this got a little away from me. I'd like to say I'm sorry for not putting much technical stuff about figure skating in it but I know really nothing, I did my best researching stuff but it's still not much. I hope you're happy how it turned out, if not let me know! I really just took it and ran with it, I really hope you like it. 🥹❤️

also, sorry it took me a little but my keyboard broke and I had to wait for the new one because writing on the phone I would've made too many mistakes.

On Thin Ice - Bucky Barnes x y/n Stark

Summary: you're paired with Bucky Barnes for an important competition but your negative feelings towards each other make everything much more difficult. Figure Skating AU.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x female!Stark reader

Warnings: Bucky being an ass. Reader gets hurt. Angst. Language cause why not. Minimal use of Y/N. My poor attempts at being funny.

Word Count: 6.6K

A/N: I didn't proof read it honestly, I was just excited to publish it. I'm going to double check it sometime tomorrow and edit it later! ❤️

Masterlist

Being a Stark isn't always easy.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not like you’re superheroes or anything, but being the daughter of Tony Stark meant that you always had to be not only on your best behavior but you had to be the best in general, no matter what you were doing.

It’s always been a lot of pressure growing up, but it's something you're used to at this point.

All your life there just wasn’t room for failure.

When you were little you hated it, sometimes even hated your dad for it, but you had to give it to him that it made you detail oriented and more driven and focused than most, so with time you came to be grateful for it.

His continuous badgering you into taking various lessons as a kid is also what led you to discover your passion: figure skating.

Skating was something that just somehow came naturally to you, and the more time you spent at the ice rink the more you fell in love with it.

You loved just spending hours going and going, to the point where the world blurred around you and you almost felt like you were flying.

After seeing how happy it made you, your father eased up a bit on you, but he still expected perfection, which you always worked hard to provide.

All you’ve always wanted was to make him proud of you. Which he was and never failed to mention, but you were still terrified of disappointing him.

All the pressure your last name came with was nothing compared to the pressure you put on yourself, you were always your hardest critic.

That is, at least, until you met Bucky Barnes.

You don't know why, maybe he just hates you and likes to humiliate you, but it seems like he always has something to say about your performances.

It all started the very first day you met, you were 18 at the ice rink your father decided to buy for you on your birthday the week before.

You were shocked to say the least when he told you, but he had always been better at showing his love rather than saying it, and don’t ever let it be said that Tony Stark didn’t love his daughter to death.

It was the same place where you skated for the first time when you were merely 5 years old, which you then changed for one closer to your home, but this one held so much more sentiment for you that the extra travel time was worth it, and it was also much bigger, the place where a lot of the important competitions happened. 

The Saturday after your birthday you finally had some free time having just finished exams week and finally being done with high school once and for all, so you planned to meet up with Natasha at the newly named ‘Stark’s snowland’.

Natasha was also a figure skater and you two have known each other since you were 8 years old, participating in almost a lot your competitions together, which usually ended with the two of you in first and second place.

Then Natasha started doing more and more couples competitions with various partners, but you were still always there to cheer for each other.

When she texted she was running late, you decided to just wait for her on the ice so you went inside, put on your skates and just got lost in your head, glad that the early hour meant nobody was around yet.

Then, after having done a few easy moves and having just finished an Axel, you heard some clapping coming from the entrance of the rink.

You stopped abruptly and looked for the source of the noise when you spotted a brunette cheering on you like he was at the Olympics standing beside a blonde that looked kind of embarrassed by his friends' antics.

"Didn’t realize I had an audience." you said, while moving towards them.

"Well, you should with the way you move out there." the brunette said, shamelessly checking you out shortly before receiving a smack behind his head, courtesy of blondie.

"Sorry about him. My name’s Steve," the blonde said while you tried hard not to laugh at the look his friend was giving him. "and this jerk here is Bucky." He pointed at his friend, who seemed to suddenly remember you were there because he turned to you with a charming smile while you introduced yourself.

"Is this your first time skating here?" Bucky asked "I’m sure I would remember a pretty face like yours." he then added, making you blush.

"I usually only come here for competitions, but-" before you could finish talking you heard the door behind them open and Natasha screaming "Stark!" making the boys turn around to look at her.

"Romanoff!" you greeted her, laughing.

Bucky turned back to you, face suddenly all serious, which confused you a lot since he was all flirty smiles until two seconds before. He mumbled something about having to go and almost ran away as fast as he could.

You looked at Steve who seemed as confused as you felt, gave you an apologetic smile and went after his friend. 

You didn’t have much more time to ponder on the sudden turn of events because Natasha was in her skates on record time and raring to go.

All you know is, for the rest of the day you felt Bucky’s eyes on you but every time you turned to him he had a stoic look on his face, and every word out of his mouth towards you was criticism on whatever you were doing.

And here we are now, 6 years later and nothing has changed.

Now 24 and having graduated college, you can be found at Stark’s almost everyday while you figure out the next phase of your life.

It’s honestly not bad, your dad wanted you to intern for him at Stark Industries during college so, after you graduated, you could start working for him full time, but that’s not what you wanted.

If you’re honest with yourself you do want to take over your father’s empire one day, just not yet.

You wanted to keep doing skating competitions, therefore all the free time that you had during college was spent skating. And so, as a compromise, your dad had you teach a few kid classes during the week when one of the teachers unexpectedly quit one day, and you happily agreed.

You did this for all the duration of college, after graduating you kept doing it and, to your father’s delight, took on even more classes to keep yourself a bit more occupied.

It was at the end of one of these classes that you were suddenly approached by Barnes today, which was very rare.

Usually both of you did your best to avoid each other, even when you started being there everyday, you wouldn’t give each other even a second glance, as far as you were concerned.

You’ve liked him when you first met him, but after months of him being nothing but an ass to you, you decided to stop trying and largely ignore him unless you were in a larger group that consisted of you, him, Steve, Natasha, Sam, another friend of theirs that you quickly became friends with, and Scott, a friend you made your first week of college.

Needless to say, you were baffled to see Bucky walk up to you and not immediately insult your behavior during the lesson that just ended, like he usually does when he gifts you with his presence. Instead he said "Hey Stark, can we talk?"

"Uhm… sure. What’s up, Barnes?" you say while starting to put down the cones you'll need for your next class.

"You know the couples competition that we’re having here in a few months?" he asks, following behind you. You think he looks nervous, which you find weird as Bucky Barnes is as confident as they come.

"Yeah, what about it?" You stop what you’re doing and turn around towards him, too curious to not give him all your attention.

"Well, I wanted to sign up, but it seems like I’m missing a partner.,," he says while rubbing his neck, almost embarrassed by what he’s asking.

"Don’t you usually team up with Nat?" you ask him.

"I do, but she’s gonna be out of town that day, and all the other girls are either paired up or not interested…" he explains, still not going to the point.

"Where are you going with this, Barnes?" You ask, crossing your arms in irritation at the time he was wasting while you still have things to do before your next class.

"Are you really going to make me ask?" he almost whines and, when you merely raise your eyebrow, a clearly amused face at his almost desperation, he finally gets to the point of his interruption. "Fine. Will you be my partner?"

Although you suspected where he was going, it's still a little shocking to hear him ask. Before you answer him though, you feel the need to tell him "You know I’ve never done pairs before, right? Not even outside of competitions."

"I know, but I also know you’re a fast learner." at your confused look, he elaborates "You’ve been training here for what, six years now? I’ve seen you learn pretty advanced moves in a crazy short amount of time for last minute competitions or even just for fun. And, whether I like it or not, you’re one of the best figure skaters I’ve ever met." he finishes.

That last sentence has you scoffing at him and starting to get annoyed at him "You don’t need to lie to me just to get me to agree just because you’re desperate for a partner."

"Why would you think I’m lying?" he says while having the audacity to look confused at your anger.

"You do nothing but criticize me all the time! The real question is, why would I ever think otherwise?"

"Just because I criticize you, doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re good!" he says it like was the most obvious thing in the world. "Please Y/N, I really need a partner, and, right now, you’re my only choice. Please." he adds at the end, just for good measure.

To be fair, Bucky had never been this polite or patient with you, and has never even called you by your first name, so it was clear that this was important to him, which is probably what led you to say yes.

He seemed happy for all of two seconds before going back to being the usual jerk, which made you instantly start to regret your decision, but you figured old habits die hard, you just had to be a little patient and he would get easier to work with the more he got used to this. 

Boy, were you wrong. 

For the next three months you met with Bucky three times a week, working out your routine and training sometimes even for hours.

It wasn’t anything you hadn’t done before, but what really annoyed you to no end was finding out that Bucky’s favorite brand of training seemed to be complaining.

All he did was criticize every move you made, right or wrong, even the couples ones you were still learning.

You also found out that being so close to him for such long periods of time made you clumsier than ever, which did not at all help the situation.

All it took was for you to be near him enough to be surrounded by his cologne and suddenly you were falling more than usual, missing your cues and straight up forgetting the next steps of the routine, which only gave Bucky more fuel to add to the fire.

It also didn’t help that whenever Bucky asked you why you were so distracted you lost all your natural Stark sarcasm and could barely get out a sound, not knowing how to tell him even if you wanted to, which you definitely didn’t, that he was the problem.

But you somehow made it through it and, with a week to go before the competition, you had it down to a T.

Or almost.

"Damn it." you say, frustrated with yourself, after you almost fall again on the landing of the throw jump.

The problem with throw jumps is that Bucky has to pick you up and quite literally throw you in the air and, while he does that quite easily, being so close to him right before he throws you disorients you just enough to miss twists and fumble the landing.

A thing that you’d never tell Bucky, which at the moment is giving the most annoyed look you’ve ever seen on his stupidly pretty face.

"Seriously, Stark?!" He almost yells while skating closer to you. "Why the hell is this taking you so long to get right? You’ve done harder things than this both by yourself and with me, so what the hell is wrong with you?"

Like always, you don’t quite know how to respond to him, not even wanting to acknowledge the cause of your concentration problem.

"Let’s just try this again." You say, quieter than you normally would, and get in position.

Your back is turned to him but you can hear him sigh before you feel him move and position himself next to you. You nod at Scott who’s controlling the music, and he starts again.

Everything is going great, until, again you fumble the landing, but this time you fall on your knees. You can hear Scott shouting your name, so you hold a thumbs up to let him know you’re okay.

You can see Bucky getting closer to you with your peripheral vision, but don’t look up or even try to make a move to get up.

You can feel the tears starting to form in your eyes, not because it hurts, but because you’re so frustrated with yourself for not being able to do this.

You’re trying your hardest not to cry out of anger when you see Bucky’s hand in front of your face, a silent offer of help. The last thing you want to do right now is look at his stupid face, so you slap his hand away and get up on your own, ignoring Bucky almost altogether and putting yourself in position to start again from the top.

Bucky comes behind you, but this time you can feel him looking at you while he says, "We don’t have to go again. We can stop here for today." his voice much quieter than it's ever been before, which only fuels your anger more.

"The competition’s next week Barnes, unless you want us to make fools of ourselves, we need to do this until I get it right." You snapped, letting him see you angry for the first time since you started training.

He was a little shocked but didn’t say anything else while he got in position, signaling to Scott to start the music.

All you can think about at this point is the disappointment on your dad’s face if you don’t win the competition, or worse fall like you just did.

You’re not even focused on Bucky anymore, in fact you’re so distracted that you don’t even make it to the throw jump before you fall, except this time you can feel that something’s wrong as soon as you hit the ice.

You can feel pain shoot from your ankle through your whole body and get immediately dizzy, you could barely make out the lights on the ceiling, your eyes going in and out of focus.

You can hear yelling and, once you concentrated, you can make out Bucky's voice saying words like ‘stupid’ and ‘incompetent’, which made you wish you had just passed out so you wouldn’t have to hear him insult you.

Your mind seemed to clear a little and you realized your tears finally started falling at some point, but you didn’t have much time to ponder on that before you were being helped to your feet, Scott telling you he was taking you to the hospital and everything was going to be okay.

You realized Bucky was no longer next to you before you even realized you didn’t have skates on anymore and were barefoot, but you just assumed he was too mad at you to care about your ankle.

-

You’re sitting in a hospital bed with a stomp on your left foot when your dad walks in, worry all over his face.

"Hey junior, are you okay?" you roll your eyes at his nickname, surely you don’t expect Tony Stark to be any less sarcastic seeing you well enough, but you’ve begged him to drop the stupid nickname which he refuses to because ‘but you’re just like me, it's a compliment!’

"I’m okay dad, just have to wear this for a few days." you say, pointing to your foot on a pillow.

"Good. Wanna tell me what happened?" he asks, taking a seat beside your bed.

"Just landed wrong while practicing the routine with Barnes. Too distracted, kept fucking up landings." you tell him, not daring to look in his eyes.

"Pushing yourself too hard?"

He surprises you with this question, but you promptly answer it. "If I was, I would’ve been able to land all my moves correctly. If anything I’m not pushing myself hard enough."

You can’t look at his face just to see the disappointment at your failure, but when you feel his hand on yours you force yourself to look into his eyes, and, to your surprise, there's no hint of disappointment.

"You know, sweetheart, I do mean it when I say you’re just like me. And there is nothing more heartbreaking to me than looking at you and seeing the same self-destructive tendencies I have reflected on you." he wipes a tear you hadn’t realized was falling from your cheek and keeps going. "I hate that I passed that on to you. I should’ve been more careful with you. I thought that letting you know I was proud was enough, unlike my dad, but maybe I should’ve been more specific."

"What do you mean?" you ask, sniffling a bit.

"I’m not proud of you because you always come first in competitions, or because you get the highest grades. I’m proud of you because I know you always try your best and put all of yourself into everything you do. That’s what being a Stark is all about. Plus you’re my daughter so let’s be honest, I’d love you to death even if you were a high school dropout who deals fake drugs to college kids."

You laughed while drying your tears, grateful for your father’s inability to stay serious for too long.

You hug him and say "Thanks, dad. I needed that more than I thought."

You let go of him and tell him about the real reason you couldn’t concentrate: the long-haired asshole with eyes so blue you felt like you were flying in the sky while looking at them, and like you were drowning the second he opened his mouth to say shit about you.

Of course you didn’t put it on those exact terms, but your dad was pretty good at reading between the lines.

By the end he had a smirk that made you want to legally change your name and run away because you just know he’s never going to let you live this down.

"Well, sounds like he’s really something." that’s all he says, weirdly. You eye him suspiciously but he doesn’t add to his sentence.

In fact, he doesn’t say anything more about it until he’s helped you get comfortable on your bed back home.

"You know…" he starts "little boys pull little girls’ pigtails on the playground to get their attention, because they don’t know what else to do." he says.

"Yeah, boys are stupid, so what?" you deadpan and he laughs then surprisingly says "Exactly. Maybe you’re not the only one that feels something here. Maybe there’s a stupid boy that can’t take his eyes off of you, but doesn’t know how to get your attention other than criticize you." he says, clearly happy with where he ended.

"Is this your long way of saying that you think Bucky likes me the same way I like him?" You raise an eyebrow at him.

"This is my long way of saying don’t be a stubborn Stark and try actually talking to him about this. You’d be surprised how fast stupid boys grow up just to keep the girl they want. Just ask your mother." and with that he leaves with a wink, leaving you wondering how much more immature Tony Stark could’ve been to have to grow up enough to sweep Pepper Potts off her feet.

You spend the next few days as a little ball of anxiety on your bed, not being able to do much but overthink about Bucky, only getting a break when Scott came to keep you company.

The day before the competition you've enough and convince Scott to drive you to the ice rink, knowing Bucky was probably there.

When you get there you can hear music but you don’t think much of it until you get right in front of the door and realize it was the song you and Bucky chose. Frowning, you open the door and what you see makes your jaw drop.

There they are, Bucky and Natasha, doing your routine.

You don’t know when you got closer to the rink, but you cannot take your eyes off of them, that is until you hear someone beside you say "they’re good, aren’t they?"

You turn your head to see Sam and Steve, the latter looking at you in a knowing way that almost seems apologetic of Sam’s words, the effect of which Sam doesn’t seem to notice.

You always felt like Steve could see right through you when it came to Bucky, always looking at you like he knew exactly how you felt and how much his words hurt you.

Seemingly reading all the questions swimming in your mind right now, Steve offers you some answers.

"Natasha came back early from her vacation. He brought her up to speed and she agreed to help him out. They’ve been practicing non-stop everyday since the day after you got hurt." Feeling like you have enough information, you turn back to the ice. 

You watch them work in sync, almost like they're connected by wires and one can’t move without taking the other with them.

You watch as Bucky picks up Nat effortlessly and throws her like she's made of air. You watch as she moves so gracefully that it's almost surreal. You see her land every jump perfectly.

Again. And again. And again.

Every jump, every twist, every second you watch them something inside you brokes more.

You don’t know why, Natasha has been Bucky’s partner countless times before and it never mattered to you, and you’ve only skated with him for less than four months.

Maybe it was the fact that they're using the routing you and Bucky had come up with together, maybe you feel replaced.

Maybe it was the fact that you were coming here to talk to Bucky about your feelings and now you were seeing him flying around the ice rink as close with another girl as he was with you, maybe even closer.

They finish the routine and you can hear Bucky’s laughter, you can see his smile as he tells Natasha how perfect she was, how impressed he is at how fast she picked up everything, how glad he is that she showed up when she did.

Then it hits you.

Of course he’s glad she showed up. He never wanted to do this with you, you weren’t even a second choice, it took literally every other girl he knows to be unavailable for him to even think to ask you.

Why wouldn’t he be happy to have her back? He certainly never acted like this with you. He never laughed, barely even smiled...

He didn’t choose you, he got stuck with you.

Suddenly, it’s like everything he’s ever done, everything he’s ever said to you comes crashing down on you all at once.

It’s like you can actually hear your heart breaking and there’s only one thought on your mind: He likes Natasha.

It makes sense, the first day you met he seemed into you, right up until he saw her and the second he turned around he was done with you.

Maybe he started to be an ass just to make that clear, not wanting to actually say anything. After all, he always was very nice to Nat. To everyone but you really.

And it’s not like you could blame him, Natasha’s always been better than you. Growing up she was always your only competition, it’s a fortune you ended up friends really, considering how easy it could’ve been for you to hate each other.

She’s the reason you spent so much time trying to be better, and you’d like to say it was the same for her, but you doubt it very much.

She’s always been prettier, thinner, stronger, smarter, better with boys and at making friends. She was the obvious choice.

Of course she was Bucky’s choice.

You didn’t realize you were so deep in your thoughts, or that you were still staring at them, until you feel a hand on your shoulder and hear Sam’s worried voice asking if you were okay.

You look at Steve and Sam and all you want to do is get out of here. It was already a miracle you weren’t already crying.

Without saying a word you turn around and walk away as fast as you can with the damn stump on your foot. You aren’t fast enough though, because halfway to the door you hear Bucky’s voice, much too close to you to your liking, calling your name.

For a second you think you hear something seeming happiness in his voice, but quickly dismiss the idea and try to keep going, but then you feel his hand on your wrist turning you around to face him.

His face seems to instantly fall as he looks at you and all you can think about is how sick you are of being the only one that takes his smile away.

"What’s wrong?" he asks in a weirdly soft tone, but you can’t find the voice to answer him.

You two just stare at each other until you hear someone clear their throat behind Bucky, and you look over his shoulder just as Natasha starts talking.

"Hi, Stark. Heard what happened to you." she nods towards your foot "Sorry I haven’t been to visit you, we’ve been pretty busy."

You don’t look at her while you answer, turning your eyes back to Bucky, who’s still holding your wrist, while you say "I can see that. Don’t worry, Romanoff, I’m just glad Barnes finally has a partner that’s not incompetent."

All he does is stare confusedly at you, which makes you angry enough to yank your hand away from him, turn around and walk away, ignoring the calls of your name behind you.

You miss the sadness on Bucky’s face, or the way he questions Sam and Steve about everything you said and did since the second you entered.

Bucky, on the other hand, did not miss the tears starting to fall down your cheeks as you turn away.

You decide not to go to the competition the following day. It would be the first time you voluntarily miss one of Nat’s competitions, but you don’t feel like having a replay of yesterday’s show when it’s already been on replay in your mind all night.

Your absence doesn’t go unnoticed by your friends. Nat and Steve being the only ones that understand, even though they’re not very happy about it.

Another thing that doesn’t go unnoticed by the group is how much more agitated than normal Bucky seems to be.

Even during competitions, he’s usually very calm, but today the only thing that makes him stop pacing around the room is Natasha’s sharp ‘would you sit down’ that makes him sigh and sit next to her on the bleachers where they’re waiting for their turn.

He can’t seem to keep his body still as he starts to bounce his leg up and down out of nerves, and can’t seem to stop even when the redhead gets up abruptly with an exasperated ‘for the love of god’ and goes to sit further from him and near Sam, exchanging seats with Steve, who puts a hand on Bucky’s shoulder, effectively bringing out of his head and making his body still with another sigh.

"You know, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to." Steve tells his anxious friend.

"You know I have to Steve. Otherwise Fury won't let me do other couples competitions."

"I know, but the whole reason you started doing them was for the chance to pair up with Y/N, which never even happened until now." Steve points out while frowning.

"I’m not the one that chooses the pairs, Rogers, it’s always Fury. He’s the whole reason Romanoff and I worked so hard this week just so she could do this. Plus Y/N’s never been interested in these competitions so this whole idea was just stupid to begin with. Now after I finally convince her, she gets hurt and thinks I think she’s incompetent, for some reason." Bucky hasn't been able to stop thinking about what you said yesterday.

Why would you ever think he thinks you're incompetent? He knows he's been a dick to you for years, but never has he ever said you were incompetent.

It's really just constructive criticism given in a poor way. A very poor way... Yeah, he really just has himself to blame for the way you feel about him now, he knows it.

He doesn't even really have a justification for it, either. If he's being honest with himself, he's intimidated by you.

The first time he saw you he thought you were the most beautiful girl he's ever seen, you were so graceful on skates and looked like you were exactly where you belong, lost in your own little world.

Then when Natasha said your name, he realized who he was talking to: the daughter of one of the richest families in town.

He'd heard a lot about you and your family, your impressive achievements on and off the ice. He's ashamed to say he felt small all of a sudden, knowing just from hearing about you that he'd never be good enough for you.

Still, he couldn't help but be drawn to you, couldn't help but watch you as much as he could get away with, but the only way he could justify that without being seen as a creep was to criticize what you did. It made sense, right?

Bucky is pulled from his thoughts, again, by Steve’s voice.

"Well, you were basically yelling that at her when she got hurt last week." at his words Bucky's just as confused as he was yesterday when you stormed out.

"I didn’t…" then it hits him. "I wasn’t talking about her! I was talking about Scott because he wouldn’t hurry up!"

"Oh. Listen, buddy, we both know you like her. You fucked up, big time, and it’s gonna take a lot to get her to forgive you. You could start by stop being an ass to her and apologize." Bucky knows the blonde is right.

It will take a miracle just to get you to look in his direction, let alone allow him to apologize, but he has to at least try to make things right.

He stands up suddenly, startling Steve, and says, "you were there for all our rehearsals, right? You know the routine?"

Steve is confused, but answers with a slow "yeah, why?" but Bucky gives no further explanation, too busy picking up all his stuff.

When Steve puts together what his friend is hinting at, he quickly says "I didn’t mean right now!"

"No time like the present! Go change." he says, nudging Steve toward the changing rooms.

"Buck, if you go now Fury’s gonna kill you!"

"I don’t care!" he yells, basically running out the door and ignoring Natasha yelling his name, the only thing on his mind being running to you as fast as he could. 

Every thought in his head, though, is instantly forgotten as he comes to a sudden stop at the top of the stairs outside of the rink.

There, at the bottom, is you, looking just as shocked at seeing him there as he feels.

After a few moments of just looking at each other, you can’t take it anymore and decide to break the silence. "I didn’t know if I should come in. Didn’t know if Nat wanted my support after I was so rude, you know."

When he doesn’t say anything and just stares at you, you feel the need to keep going.

"What are you doing out here? Did I miss your turn? How did it go?" that seems to snap him out of it and he starts to move towards you, still not saying anything and making you even more nervous as you start regretting coming here.

When he comes face to face with you, finally, he speaks. "I was gonna come looking for you." your brows furrowed in confusion.

"why?"

"I have owed you an apology for a long time now. I’m sorry for being a dick to you for all these years… it really wasn’t about you. I just felt insecure and acted out about it, and eventually I felt so used to it I couldn’t help it..."

You were shocked to say the least, this was the last thing you were expecting tonight. "You felt insecure? Why?"

"Because you’re you!" he almost yelled, gesturing to your whole body and startling you a bit. "I mean you’re a Stark, you’re kind of a legend who lives up to the legend. You’re smart and talented and confident and beautiful. I never thought I’d be good enough for you... I still don’t."

You don't know what to say, but you aren't running for the hills so Bucky keeps talking. "I’d also like to make it clear that I’ve never called you incompetent. I was talking about Lang, that idiot took ages to get his keys to drive you to the hospital. I didn’t even realize you might’ve heard me until Steve pointed it out to me just now while we were waiting our turn and I just had to find you and tell you."

Once everything he said actually registered in your brain, the words came out of your mouth before you could stop them. "Wait, you left the competition to come find me? Natasha’s gonna kill you!"

He chuckles a little while saying, "I’d be more worried about Fury."

"Fury?" You're confused again. "Why would you be worried about Fury?"

"He’s gonna be pissed that I left. He’s the whole reason Romanoff and I trained so hard to make it here, I wanted to skip it after you got hurt, but he said if I did he wouldn’t let me do any more pairs."

"I thought this competition was important to you, that’s the whole reason I said yes. And you wanted to quit it?" You're more confused than ever.

"It was important because it was my chance to finally spend time with you." he says, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I’d rather not do our routine at all if I can’t do it with you." he adds, shrugging. 

"really?" you can’t help but smile at hearing him say ‘our routine’ "But you and Nat work much better than you and I do."

"perphabs, but I still think you’re the best there is. Even when it’s with me, a person you hate." He says the last part while looking at his feet, almost afraid of saying it aloud and perfectly aware that he’s the reason why.

"I don’t hate you." you say, almost too fast.

His eyes snap back up to yours. "You don’t? I mean, I wouldn’t blame you if you did. I’d hate me if I were you."

"Sure, I don’t always love the things you say about my skills, but you’ll never criticize me more than I criticize myself. Mostly, you’re just a distraction." you say shrugging, not fully realizing what you just confessed.

"I distract you?" he says with a smug smirk that kind of makes you want to punch him, bringing his hand to your cheek.

You groan but let him keep it there, loving the feeling of his warm hand against your skin. "Don’t get cocky with me, Barnes."

He laughs, but doesn’t say anything else waiting for you to elaborate with an expectant look.

"Fine." you sigh. "Yes, you distract me. You might be a jerk, but I can’t concentrate when I’m around you. All I can think about is the sound of your voice, and the way you smell and the color of your stupid pretty eyes... I can’t help but like you, no matter how much of an asshole you are to me, for reasons I’m sure have something to do with my father."

He laughs again at your last sentence and you swear you’d never heard a better sound. "So I guess I should be thankful for you daddy issues, huh." he says making you laugh with him.

"Yeah, you very much should be." you put your arms around his neck when his hand drops from your face and his arms wrap around your waist. 

"You distract me too, you know. Everytime you’re in the room you’re all I can see..." He sighs. "I’ll never apologize enough for all the things I said to you, but let me try. Let me take you on a date, for starters."

You pretend to think about it all of two seconds before you’re nodding with a smile, so he adds, "What about right now?"

"Slow down there, Romeo, why don’t we go cheer on our friends first." you giggle at his pout while you take his hand and lead the way inside.

When you take a seat next to Sam, just in time to hear the announcement of Natasha and Steve’s names, there's no wiping the smile off of Bucky’s face. His arm goes immediately around your shoulders to bring you closer as you greet Sam that had a knowing grin of his own.

You watch your friends go through the routine perfectly, to your joy and surprise. You really are proud of them, and you make sure to tell them when they are close enough to the edge of the ice while waiting for their score.

"Maybe after we can all go out to eat something." Steve suggests, still slightly out of breath.

"I’m sorry, punk. I have a date that I’m not missing for anything in the world." Bucky answers without taking his eyes away from you, his smile seared onto his face.

Steve chuckles at how whipped his friend already seems to be, moving closer to the judges with Nat when it was time for their scores.

Second place, not bad for a last minute thing.

As you cheer for your friends while they're given their medals, Bucky leans down and whispers in your ear "we would’ve come first."

You burst laughing and Bucky known in this exact moment that he would do anything to hear that sweet sound for the rest of his life.

You look up at him and raise your voice just enough for him to hear over all the screaming, with a smile big enough to match his "We totally would’ve."

[arlana-likes-to-write]

A Love Lost

Chasing Shadows AU

Summary: From a young age you could see the ghost of those died and you’ve used your gift to help those around you. But when you and the Avengers bring back those who were Blipped, you wished you didn’t have your gift as Natasha didn’t return from Vomir. 

Warning: major character deaths, grief, angst, small mention of kidnapping in the beginning. 

Word Count: 3.1K

“She’s here,” Clint said, sitting down next to you. “Isn’t she?” You haven’t spoken since Thanos was killed and the ashes of the compound settled. You gave the archer a small nod. She was here, standing in the corner, wearing the tactical suit she wore the last time you saw her. “Has she said anything?” You shrugged. That was new when you saw the ghost of the dead you could hear, and speak to them but Natasha was silent. Her mouth moved but her words weren’t reaching you. Clint sighed. “What do you need?” You looked over his shoulder to the woman you loved. 

“For her to leave,” you said. But she didn’t. She stayed. 

When you were younger, your parents and those around you called them your imaginary friends. ‘It was a phase’ or ‘she’ll grow out of it’, they said. But you didn’t. You continued to see ghosts. Some crossed over without bothering you. Others hounded you to give their loved ones a final message. You’ve interacted with nice, angry, vengeful spirits and you’ve tried to help them all move on. But the biggest thing was you didn’t want the world to know what you could do. You had people sign NDAs to keep you, your parents, and your close friends safe. That all changed when the spirit of a young boy came to you and told you where he and a few other kids were being held. The news was all over the story and the next day Nick Fury was at your door offering you a place at SHIELD. You took it, not seeing another way around it. 

But joining SHIELD was the best thing for you. You helped them solve cold cases, joined the Avengers, and met and fell in love with Natasha Romanoff. It wasn’t easy. The Black Widow was super hesitant around you because of your gift. She feared all the spirits attached to her. But you kept the spirits away. That was 13 years ago and now as you stood next to Clint and his family while the other Avengers paid respect to those who didn’t survive Thanos. It was too much. You saw Tony kneeling next to Morgan. Vision was resting his hand on Wanda and Natasha stood next to you. Laura took your hand in hers. You didn’t realize you were shaking. Once the funeral was over, you let go of Laura’s hand and walked over to Morgan. She was sitting by the water’s edge and Pepper was hovering close by. “Hi, sweetheart,” you said, sitting down next to her. You smiled at Tony. Morgan gave you a wave. This was the hardest part for you, especially with kids. “You know your daddy loved you so much.” It was such a clique line. 

‘Love you 3000,’ Tony whispered. 

“He loved you 3000, right?” The young girl’s head snapped to look at you. 

“How did you know that?” She asked. 

“Because your dad and I were very close,” Pepper walked over to you, sitting on the other side of her daughter. 

‘Tell her,’ Tony sighed, rubbing his hand through his hair. ‘Tell her she was the greatest thing I’ve made. She is the best thing with the Stark name on it besides Pepper of course.’ He added. You chuckled and told the girl what her father said. Pepper whipped away a tear that fell. 

“Sweetheart, I think Peter could use a Morgan hug,” the girl jumped up and ran over to him. Tony watched his daughter run off. “He’s here, right?” She asked you. You nodded as she looked back to the water. “I told him to rest, that we would be okay but I’m terrified.” She admitted. Tony smiled. 

‘She’s the smartest woman in the world, she's going to be just fine,” he said.       

“Tony said you’ll be just fine,” you picked up a rock and twirled it in your hand. “But him saying that doesn’t erase the anxiety, the fear but you aren’t alone in this. You have a whole village to help you,” you looked over your shoulder and saw Morgan playing with Peter and Shuri. Pepper nodded.

‘Look after them for me, whisper.’ Tony said to you. 

“I will.” Tony walked over to Pepper and kissed her head. You saw her body shake. He looked at the light. You saw him smile. 

‘I see my parents,” he whispered and joined them. 

*

You ignored Natasha standing with the Barton's as you walked over to Wanda sitting on a bench. ‘Hello,’ Vision said. You smiled at the android and sat down next to her. This wasn’t the first time you sat with her to help grieve over the death of a loved one. After the Battle of Sokovia, you and Vision stayed with her. “We have to stop meeting like this,” Wanda joked. You and Vision chuckled. “Where is he?”

“On your right,” you whispered. She nodded, folding her hands. 

“I thought I’d see him, Pietro, too, when Thanos snapped,” you thought you would see them but those who were snapped disappeared. It almost made it worse. The world was too quiet. 

‘I don’t want to see her for a very long time,’ he said. 

“He doesn't want to see you just yet. He wants you to live.” Wanda laughed, bitterly. 

“That’s so easy for him to say,” she looked at you. Tears were falling down her face. “I killed the man I love and it meant nothing. Why does this keep happening to me?” You didn’t have a good enough answer to explain all the pain Wanda has endured. “That’s an unfair question.” She whipped away her tears. “Can I ask a favor for you?” 

“Of course,” she let out a shaky breath. 

“Can you show me where his stone is?” Vision knelt in front of her. You grabbed her hand and hovered her fingers where the mind stone was. Her fingers glowed red and you watched her magic dance around the stone. Vision closed his eyes and a smile on his lips. “I can’t feel him,” she whispered. 

‘All I feel is her,’ he said. ‘Tell her that grief is just loved preserving.’ 

*

When Wanda’s cries trend into quiet hiccups you told her that you were for her and that she wasn’t alone. You walked back to the cabin. ‘Miss L/n,’ you turned around to face him as he rushed over to you. ‘Do I have to go into the light?’ He asked. 

“Vis, you don’t belong here anymore,” you told him. “The light is going to be better for you,” he looked at Wanda. “If you stay you may see her fall in love or get married or have kids.” Vision's smile grew. 

‘Don’t you think she deserves all those things? I would be honored to see it.’ 

*

Clint walked over to you as you leaned against the car with a beer. You were going to spend a few days with them until you figured out what was next for you. Laura was with Pepper helping her clean up while the three Barton kids were playing with Morgan. Natasha was watching them, a small smile on her face. “Have you tried to get her to cross over?” He asked. You took a sip of the beer. 

“I still can’t hear her,” you told him. He hummed, nodding his head. 

“Do you know why?” You shrugged. You had a few theories. It was a date night and you and Natasha were drinking wine. You told her that you didn’t want loved ones to come to see you because if there were still things that needed to be said then why did death have to be the reason it would come out? So when your mother died she didn’t stay long. She smiled and joined your grandparents. Or maybe you couldn’t hear her because you desperately didn’t want her to be gone. You were sent with Tony, Steve, Bruce, and Scott back to New York in 2012. When you returned your girlfriend's spot was empty. 

“Hey, are you guys ready?” Laura asked with Wanda next to her. 

“Yeah, let’s go home.” Clint smiled. 

*

Home. It was what Clint called the farm and at one point it was. You found the beautiful house with dark green shutters a place to call home. When SHIELD was calm and the Avengers didn’t have any missions, you and Natasha would make a trip up here. But now it felt like a ghost town. The Barton's and Wanda were asleep and you sat on the front steps, wearing one of Natasha’s old SHIELD sweatshirt and a bottle of vodka flipping through old photos of you and her. She sat down next to you. “I’d offer you a drink but that would be pointless,” you took a sip from the bottle and enjoyed the way it burned down your throat. “I don’t know why you're still here. I’ll make sure Yelena is okay. I’ll visit Melina and Alexei, I’ll tell Clint it wasn’t his fault, and the kids will know you loved them.” You took another ship. “Our relationship was the best thing that happened to me. I love you. Goodbye.” You went to take another sip but Natasha tried to stop you. Her hand ghosted through the bottle. You stared at her and even though you couldn’t hear her, her green eyes spoke so much. They were sad and that angered you. “What do you want from me?” You asked. “I’m holding onto you by pictures and the smell of your clothes,” you threw the pictures at her. ‘Tony crossed her, everyone else did, so why won’t you leave me alone?” You yelled, throwing the bottle. It shattered as soon as it hit the grass. You stood up, walking down the few steps until your bare feet hit the grass. She followed you. 

“I knew falling in love with this stupid power was a fucking mistake,” you spun around to face her. “Because now you're gone and I’m here. I’m homesick for somewhere that doesn't exist, for someone I have to learn to miss. So please go away,” she didn’t. “Leave me the fuck alone.” You yelled. A sob left your lips as you fell to your knees but you didn’t hit the ground instead arms caught you. 

“Sh, I got you,” Clint said, rubbing your back. You balled your fist in his shirt as you cried on his shoulder. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “I got you. I know, let it all out.” Through your blurry vision, you saw Wanda and Laura on the porch and Natasha was nowhere to be found.  

*

“Did you ever want something like this?” Wanda asked. You were pulling weeds from Laura’s garden while Wanda was reading a book. Two months have passed since half of the world’s population returned and you still found yourself at the Barton's. But it was an eventful 2 months, you visited Melina, Alexei, and Yelena to tell them of Natasha’s passing. Yelena took it the hardest. The blonde stormed out and only responded to your text messages every so often so you knew she was alive. And Natasha was still around. You would see her standing in the corner watching with a fond smile on her face. Still, you couldn’t hear her. 

You sat back on your heels, whipping the sweat from your forehead. Wanda was looking at you over her book. “Like what?” You asked. She gestured to Barton's house. You sighed, crossing your legs and taking your garden gloves off. “Natasha and I thought about building our own house on their property,” you told her. “But I figured she would want to build on the Avengers property to be close to the team.” Wanda smiled, walked over to you, and sat down, fixing the sun dress she was wearing. “What about you and Vision?” She sighed, crossing her legs. 

“I wanted a house in a nice neighborhood maybe on a cul-de-sac,” she smiled but she didn’t seem happy as she rested her hands on her lap. “A big backyard with a bigger kitchen,” she added. You smiled. 

“You could still have that,” you saw Vision standing near a tree. He didn’t make himself visible all the time but figured he was there. Wanda’s smile faltered. “Don’t close yourself off to it.” 

“And what about you?” She asked. “Are you closing yourself off?” You shrugged. 

“I don’t know, Wands. I don’t know.” 

*

Once again she found you sitting outside the Barton home this time without a bottle of vodka but with the same pictures and wearing another one of her shirts. Unfortunately, they are starting to lose her scent. You sat underneath a tree with a blanket over your lap as she sat next to you. “I’m sorry,” you said and you almost laughed at the shocked expression on her face. “I know this isn’t easy for anyone and I took my anger out on you. That was unfair. I just-” You looked down at the picture in your hand. It was of you and Natasha, her in Iowa spending Christmas with the Bartons. “I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. I feel you slipping through my fingers and I know I’ll never reach out. Now there’s nothing but shadows left,” you looked at her. “Why haven’t you crossed over?” You asked. She shrugged. “Can you see the light?” She shook your head. You frowned at that. You learned that for some spirits who couldn’t see the light, something was holding them back whether it be unfinished business, worried about loved ones, or guilt. 

“Is it Yelena?” She shrugged. “Have you seen her?” She nodded. There was a deep sadness in her green eyes. You made a mental note to invite her to the farm. “Clint?” Again she shrugged. “Wanda?” Another shrug of her shoulders. You sighed. “Is it me?” She didn’t shrug but she looked down at your hands. “Nat, I’m okay. You don’t have to stay here because of me.” She lifted her hand. Her eyebrows meant together and you knew she was biting the inside of her cheek, she only did that when she was concentrating. To your surprise, when she touched your cheek her hand didn’t faze through you like normal. No. You felt her hand on your skin. You gasped at the coldness of her skin. 

“So you can touch me but I can’t hear you. How is that fair?” She smirked. “I miss the sound of your voice,” she nodded, taking your hand in yours. “I’ll figure this out,” you told her. She squeezed your hand. “Okay, okay,” you smiled. “We’ll figure it out.” 

*

“You need to take a break,” Wanda said, entering your room with two mugs in her hands. She handed you one as she sat down next to you. You’ve locked yourself in your room, hunched over your computer trying to find answers. But the internet was giving you very few answers. Wanda watched a tennis ball bounce against the wall. “I’m guessing she’s right here,” she gestured to the wall. You nodded. Natasha had been practicing solidifying her current state so she could interact with the world around her. She was building up endurance for it. “Well tell her to cut it out I’m trying to have a conversation here,” she caught the ball and stuck her tongue out at Wanda. You giggled. 

“You're a child,” you said to the Black Widow. She shrugged her shoulders and opted for throwing the ball in the air. “I can’t figure out what’s going on. This has never happened to me before.” 

“And you still can’t hear her,” you nodded. “She doesn't know what’s keeping her in this world.” 

“If she does know she isn’t telling me. She’s stubborn like that,” that small comment caused the Black Widow to throw the tennis ball at you. “Fuck you,” you said, rubbing the spot where the ball hit. She flipped you off. Wanda giggled at the interaction. It was the first time since defeating Thanos you heard her laugh. You missed the sound. “I just don’t know what to do.”

“The first thing is to take a break,” she closed your laptop. “I bet a certain Black Widow would agree with me.” Natasha nodded. “I will also help you.” 

“Really?” You questioned, looking at her. “Why?” She blew on her tea and took a sip. 

“Because you and Natasha are my friends,” she said. “You’ve helped so many people with your powers, maybe it’s your turn for someone to help you.” You felt your phone vibrate in your pocket. You took it out and it was Tyler Howard, the acting director of SWORD. You didn’t like the man after he fought so hard against you and Natasha to get Vision’s body. 

“Director Howard,” you answered. You put your finger to your lips to tell Wanda to be quiet. Natasha moved closer to you, kneeling beside you. “What can I do for you?”

“Is Wanda Maximoff with you?” He asked. 

“Wanda,” you put your phone on speaker. “That depends. What do you want with her?” The man sighed. You watched Vision faze through the wall.

“You need to bring her to me or there will be -”

“No,” you cut him off. “You don’t get to threaten my friend after everything she’s been through to validate your ego,” Natasha placed her hand on your thigh to help you calm down. “So let’s start this conversation again.” You heard shuffling on the other side of the line. 

“Hello, this is Agent James Woo alongside Darcy Lewis,” you recognized Jimmy’s name back in your SHIELD days and Darcy wired alongside Jane Foster. “We need your assistance in Westview, New Jersey,” you didn’t recognize the city but you saw Wanda flinch slightly and Vision tried to comfort her in some way. 

“I’m going, to be honest, Agent Woo, I’m a little confused, what is going on in Westview that is involving Wanda?” Jimmy sighed. 

“Is Miss. Maximoff with you right now?” Natasha and Wanda nodded their heads at the same time. 

“Yes,” you answered honestly. “She’s been with me since the battle at the Avenger’s compound and I have multiple witnesses to back this up.” You knew the government feared Wanda and you would be damned if they locked her up again. This time it was Wanda who placed a gentle hand on your arm. Jimmy was silent on the other end. The silence was deafening and it filled you with anxiety. “Jimmy, what’s going on?” 

“I need you and Wanda to get to Westview as soon as possible,” he said. “People’s lives are at stake.”  

__

Part 2 (coming soon)

[whatwouldsylwrite]

I saw a lot of spider!Ellie lately but what about captain america!Abby? (only based on cap movies because fuck everything else)

Abby who was a sick weak child with so many diagnoses she had a book with her medical records

Abby who grew up with a father who was helping people during 2 wars already, and wanting to go and be a nurse on the front lines because she couldn't stand suffering

Abby whose father created a serum to improve his daughter's health and it caught hydra's attention

Abby whose father was killed by nazis just after his serum turned her into 6ft beefcake (we will leave Joel's death for tony stark!Ellie i said what I said)

Abby who instead of going to be a nurse goes over everyone's heads until she is put into army training and eventually sent to fight the war

Abby who proves to be an excellent soldier and a strategist

Abby who drives the plane into the ice to save the world, sacrificing herself

Modern!Cap Abby slowly adjusting to the new world but still having her 1940s manners and incredibly dark sense of humor

Modern!Cap Abby who barks orders on the field and is a shy sweetheart at home

And for the good parts: I feel like the story with reader can go two ways.

Bucky!reader who is her best friend, pining after each other for 100 years (literally)

Bucky!reader who falls from the train and becomes the Winter Soldier, forgetting Abby

"it's hard to find someone with shared life experience" Thank you cap!Abby for confirming your type is "frozen for 70 years, didn't know were on the wrong side, nazi victim"

"(Y/n)?" "Who the hell is (y/n)?"'

"You're my mission!" "Then finish it, because I'm with you till the end of the line"

I swear these stupid movies are so gay and so angsty I remember those lines by heart

And obviously hurt/comfort, Cap!Abby helping Winter Soldier!Reader get memories back so ws!reader can fall in love with cap!abby all over again

MORE PINING

And then they finally break and kiss and the peace is restored and the greatest love story of the century is all over the news

OR

Modern!reader who just can't catch a break and somehow always in Avengers' way when shit hits the fan

"Are you okay ma'am?" "Do you need help ma'am?" "Go back to safety ma'am"

Just cap!abby calling you "ma'am" with her old-fashioned politeness and that serious look because she's working and she is concentrated on her operation

Cap!abby putting her shield in front of you to save you and then carrying you to safety

Cap!abby who starts to lowkey flirt with you but it's so polite you don't notice at first (the classic "we need to stop meeting like this")

cap!Abby who comes to your work and apologises for it because it's literally the only time she had between fighting assholes and bickering with Ellie so she could ask you on a date (she gives you flowers! her dad raised a lady)

cap!Abby who takes you on a date on her harley

she so respectful! so polite! she doesn't kiss you until the end of the second date!

cap!Abby who is very well aware of marvels she could find in the modern sex shops (does she have any shame? no)

cap!abby completely obliterating you and being all shy about it later, a little polite puppy

just fuckin.. abby in that cap costume from the ca:tws that has straps and pockets and the gloves?? don't get me started on the gloves

abby putting the shield on her back

just captain america!abby yk

[fandomnerd9602]

On a Whim

Fem!Peter Parker x Stark!Reader

Y/N POV:

A toaster. You were dumped for a toaster. That’s what you kept saying as you drank your coffee in the Moondance Diner. Your best friend Harley Keener was consoling you.

“I’m sorry you had to go thru that” Harley gave you a pat on the back, “but you’re a Stark! You can have any gal you want”

“I’d rather have a quality girl like-” you teared up a little just about to say her name. Harley hugs you tight.

“You gotta get back out there”

“I do?”

He reassures you, “yeah. In fact I dare you to ask out the next girl our age that you see.”

Was it some sort of fate, or divine conspiracy? Because it just happened that your best friend and fellow Avenger in training Petra Parker approached your table in her waitress outfit.

“Hey Harley, Stark, what can I order for you?” she gave you one of her thousand watt smile. The kind that always seemed to make a hard day training feel better. And then you blurted out something. Something you don’t know where it came from, it just spilled out.

“Will you marry me?”

Petra’s POV

She wasn’t supposed to be there for a shift at Moondance Diner. She was supposed to be out on a date with Laslo Allen. But he stood her up. Apparently he got too tired of her running late for dates, completely unaware that she was the Spectacular Spider Girl.

So with a broken heart, she accepted an extra shift at the diner. A bit of extra cash and something to distract her mind.

Luckily as she was in the middle of her shift, she saw you and Harley in one of the booths, sipping your coffees.

“I’ll take care of table five, Betty” Petra smiled at her coworker before heading to your table.

“Hey Harley. Stark, what can I get for you?” She flashed her smile at you.

“Will you marry me?” you asked her. Petra’s heart stopped and then fluttered. You were one of her best friends. Sure yeah you were the heir to the Stark family and a fellow teammate, but she always felt that she could talk with you, tell you whatever was bothering her. It felt real to be with you. There was already an intimacy there that she couldn’t have with anyone else. Petra couldn’t help but smile.

Y/N POV:

You were at a loss for words. Did you really just blurt out a proposal to your best friend?! The silence was deafening. Harley looked at you with a mix of shock and surprising support.

“I-I mean it doesn’t have to be like right now” you stuttered. You didn’t exactly inherit your father’s smooth talking ways. “It can be like a couple months or a year down the-”

“Yes” Petra whispered back. A small giggle escaped her lips, “yes! Yes!!”

She dropped her little notepad and pencil and jumped into your lap. How could something feel so right? Her arms were wrapped around your neck, her infectious laugh was so amazing. You held her tight.

And then she began kissing you. The sparks, the way her lips clicked perfectly against yours. You gently took a hold of her waist and held her tight in your lap, deepening the kiss.

Harley tore a napkin to pieces and threw it up like some sort of makeshift confetti. “Congrats!” he said, “I call dibs on being best man”

Petra’s POV:

She swung thru the city later that day, landing on the rooftop of her and May’s apartment. She was giddy and yet a little scared too. You and her were still seniors in high school and here she was having accepted a marriage proposal. Honestly it made her more giddy.

She crawled into the apartment thru the living room window and came face to face with Aunt May, Tony Stark, and you.

“I suppose congrats are in order” May said with her arms crossed.

“A marriage proposal? Really you two?” Tony asked.

“I’m not doing any better than her” you smiled at Petra, you walked over and took her hand. “she’s it, Dad. The most amazing girl in the whole world”

“But you’re in high school!” May countered.

“Aunt May, I didn’t say we were tying the knot today” Petra spoke up.

“But marriage that’s so reckless” Tony said but then he teared up. “Reckless? Without a care? I’m so proud of you, Y/N! You are my kid!”

Aunt May smacked Tony upside the head for that one. May approached her niece and Y/N. A small smile made its way across her aunt’s face.

“Promise you’ll finish high school?” May asked.

Petra couldn’t help but smile, “I’ll finish high school first.”

You take her hand gently, “And I’ll never leave your side”

Tony just gave a little approving smirk. He tossed a little ring over to the two of you. The one that he found you picking out after Petra went out on patrol. You slid the beautiful yet humble engagement ring on Petra’s waiting finger. She couldn’t help but cry tear of joy and kiss you again

You and Petra spent the rest of senior year studying for your exams, fighting crime and occasionally planning your nuptials. The girl who broke your heart faded in your mind, as much as Lazlo faded from Petra’s. The two of you spent time getting to know one another and grow together as best friends turned lovers. And of course, Tony was more than happy to flip the bill. Even bought you a property in Queens. A reflex he says, but he just wanted to make sure you and Petra were happy.

A funny way to tell your kids how you and Petra ended up marrying one another. But little Richard and May love hearing it. As for the Avenger side of things, the Spectacular Spider Girl and the Iron Knight still make quite an amazing team

Tags: @jacelion @deafeningsharkslimeempath @ma1egamer @holiday-house-of-m @family-house-of-m @konstantin609 @iamnicodemus @supercorpdanbeau @kingofthelizardpeople @multi-fandom-enjoyer

[robertdowneyjjr]

Happy birthday!!! 🥳 Also, I absolutely love your writing~♡ (your stony soulmate au and vampire tony au are my favorite!!!)

For the prompt: Tony being dragged to a weapon's demonstration by Howard, decides to absolutely piss him off by wearing booty shorts and tank tops—distracting Howard's favorite soldiers: Steve and Bucky

hello ily sorry this has taken so long 🥲

———

As long as Stark Industries continues to make weapons, Tony has zero interest in “doing his part” for the company at these military shindigs. Sure, he’s glad that his dad is at least letting him head the efforts for defensive and medical tech, but until the day the weapons department is completely shut down, Tony will not give those power hungry generals the time of day.

So when Howard all but forces Tony into joining him for a five-day trip to Afghanistan for a weapons demonstration, Tony retaliates the best way he knows how. By shamelessly embarrassing his dad.

He takes his sweet time on the plane, lazing casually in his band t-shirt and jeans as they make their descent. He knows he’ll be expected to change into a more “appropriate” outfit once they land because that’s protocol, and he’s looking forward to watching Howard’s head explode later.

That’ll teach him to force Tony into doing anything weapons-related.

By the time the company jet lands, Howard has already changed into his perfectly pressed suit so he can greet the soldiers who have been sent to meet them.

“Hurry up and get changed, Tony. The general has sent his most elite squad to come get us,” Howard says. “Steve and Bucky are the best of the best. Let’s show them some respect and not keep them waiting.”

He turns towards the stairs to disembark.

“What the hell kind of a name is Bucky…” Tony mutters as he heads towards the back of the plane to change his clothes.

Five minutes later, he’s going down the plane stairs like a pageant queen, never mind the fact that he’s dressed like the polar opposite. The chatter between Howard and the two beefcakes facing him abruptly stops when the blonde one spots Tony and immediately blushes a bright red.

When Howard turns to see what the problem is, he goes red too, albeit much uglier and angrier.

“Tony, what in the world are you wearing? Do you really think this is appropriate for a trip of this nature?” Howard seethes.

As he joins the group, Tony looks down at his clothes. His jean shorts cut off six inches above his knees, and his tank bearing his favorite band’s logo is only marginally long enough to not be considered a crop top. He looks damn good, and he knows it.

“I do in fact think these clothes are appropriate, actually. I dressed for the weather.” He pastes on a shit-eating grin and turns towards the soldiers. “Hi, I’m Tony.”

Before either of them could introduce themselves, Howard cuts in.

“Get back in there and change into a proper suit, Tony. This isn’t funny.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. All I’ve packed are shorts and tank tops and t-shirts.”

As Howard splutters, one of the soldiers — the blonde one who had been staring — takes Tony’s hand and shakes it.

“I’m Steve. I, uh, I think you look great. Um, you’ve got nice legs,” he says, his ears turning pink. Tony has a feeling it’s not because of the blazing sun.

The brunette standing next to Steve gently shoves him aside and takes his place in front of Tony.

“Heya, I’m Bucky.” He boldly steps closer and places his hand on Tony’s shoulder. “And if you really do need something else to wear, I’d be happy to lend ya somethin’. I’m sure you’d look incredible in my clothes, doll.” He winks.

Tony glances between the two soldiers, both of whom have not even spared Howard or anyone else a second of their attention since Tony sauntered up to them in his booty shorts and tank top.

He smiles.

Looks like this trip might not be a bad idea after all.

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

Fantastic chapter like always and absolutely adorable.

I love how you expand so much on the characters even the dead ones in this fic in a way that makes them so present in the narrative. The way this makes Frank just completely absorbed by his family constantly while still building them as real people independent to him is great. Just the little details about Maria this chapter and how they relate to Matt is absolutely fantastic

The situation between Peter and Frank needed to blow up spectacularly before getting resolved I should have known that something would actually blow up.

The way you showed the Spidey sense in action through Franks pov was really good it's my favorite Spidey power and really fun to see in action.

Poor Peter though. I hope that once the situation gets resolved he can have a good cry about everything ever.

Also I really want Tony to get punched in the face. Just a small punch! Just once! But Jesus Christ the way he handled this situation has been so bad for Peter I am so angry at him. I know he's dealing with something behind the scenes bit still he needs to think about the impact this all has on Peter it's so bleak and isolating

i simply love explosions and add them in to everything i can. they're the spice of life. do not have the police investigate me i am so so normal about fire

Maria Castle is alive in my head and I love her. the version that lives in my head simply loves Matt. He's the dumbass little brother she's always wanted. He enchants her with his poor decision making and emotional unavailability. When he comes over she insists on throwing herself in his arms and he twirls her around because it annoys frank and they're inherently both assholes. The Maria in my head will never be showcased unless i end up pushing my Castle Family Agenda in earnest, but I will reference her as she exists in my head in works where she's still dead. I love her your honor.

The reaction to tony in kintsugi continues to be hilarious to me because kintsugi partially exists because I didn't see this reaction post-CW. Like the reaction I saw was mostly hardcore Iron Dad and i just didn't really see or hear a lot of commentary about how he handled the time between CW and Homecoming. And in kintsugi I changed literally nothing about how Tony treated Peter in that time and people are soooo mad at him. It's kind of funny

[themculibrary]

Tony Takes Care Of Sick Peter Masterlist

Am I A Dying Man? (ao3) - Odd_I G, 5k

Summary: Peter Parker didn’t get sick, not any more. He hadn’t been really sick since before the bite, and that was what? Three years ago?

He was pretty sure it had something to do with his super healing, but he wasn’t completely sure. They never really had to test it out, after all. But he healed fast, so it generally made sense that his weird radioactive spider system also fought off any infections and illnesses.

— OR —

Peter gets sick, is a dramatic little shit, and Tony is just done with everything.

Appendicitis (ao3) - tommyparkerr T, 15k

Summary: In which Peter doesn't realize until too late that the flu shouldn't be this painful, and Tony Stark is right there to both lecture and comfort him (and accidentally call him his kid in the process).

Blankets (ao3) - kiwifeather G, 1k

Summary: Tony cares for an under-the-weather Peter the best way he knows how (which is pretty good, because he's a Dad™ now).

et tu, brute? (ao3) - turtle_bean G, 3k

Summary: Peter rounds the corner and gives a half-hearted hop. “All ready for the mission, Mr. Stark!”

Yeah, no.

“FRI, give me a read.”

“What -”

“101.7 degrees Fahrenheit, Mr. Stark,” Karen announces from Peter’s suit.

--

or, peter is sick, ned’s worried, and tony is... well, tony.

Extra Noodles (ao3) - duskblue G, 4k

Summary: Peter is staying with Tony while May is out of town. Unfortunately, Peter doesn't feel the best, so Tony is on a mission to figure out what's wrong so he can take the best possible care of him. He enlists his good friend, Bruce Banner in this task.

flushed away (ao3) - underpassgraffiti G, 2k

Summary: "I'm dying," he decides, flushing the toilet and resting his forehead against the rim. He feels disgusting. "I'm dying, I'm gonna die. Spider-Man dies to ravioli."

"Should I alert Boss?" Friday chirps, and Peter groans, waving a hand uselessly.

"No, m'fine," he grumbles. "WebMD will save me."

or: peter gets food poisoning & tony takes care of him.

Into the West (ao3) - ChocolateAndRedbull G, 1k

Summary: When a feverish Peter lets himself dwell on the past, Tony makes sure that he’s there to talk him through it

it's in the job description (ao3) - iron_spider_suit G, 8k

Summary: Peter gets sick just in time for movie night with the team. Tony does his best.

lessons in the metric system (ao3) - akapeterman G, 2k

Summary: “Pete,” Tony said slowly, “You’re sick.”

“No!” Peter said more urgently. “I’m hyp’thermic.”

“Trust me, you are the opposite of hypothermic right now, kiddo.”

or; Peter and Tony decide to road trip to Canada. Unfortunately, a peppermint air freshener happens to be Spider-Man's kryptonite. Confusion ensues. And honestly, Peter blames the American school system. They really should be more clear about the difference between Celsius and Farenheight.

Of Chicken Soup and Brooklyn-99 (ao3) - AnnabelleBlack20 G, 2k

Summary: Peter hadn’t gotten sick since the spider bite. But then again, his rotten Parker luck had a mind of its own. Lucky for him, he’s got a superhero in his corner. Nothing but pure fluff between IRONDAD and his SPIDERSON!

shaken up realities (shaking up reality) (ao3) - lemonlillybee M, 5k

Summary: This takes place after Endgame, and it’s a bit angsty, but everyone lives!

Written for the following Sicktember 2022 prompt: Cold Sweat

Sick Puppies (ao3) - OllieCollie G, 7k

Summary: Tony has been through a lot in his lifetime—from being kidnapped by terrorists to saving the world multiple times and just about everything in between—but he may be facing his toughest challenge yet: taking care of two kids with the flu.

Since I Have You (ao3) - lunasquared G, 2k

Summary: He didn’t register the fact that he started falling until he was caught by a pair of arms right before he hit the floor.

“Whoa there kiddo,” Tony said, helping Peter over to the couch. “What’s going on?”

“‘s hot.” Peter mumbled as he laid down on the couch thankful to finally be off his feet.

OR

Peter gets sick and Tony helps take care of him.

we all have a hunger (ao3) - MotherKarizma G, 6k

Summary: “Morgan,” he croaked, throat afire, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Hey – hey, it’s okay, I’m just…”

“You’re sick.” She mustered up something like bravery, using it to straighten her back and plaster a very grown-up look on her face. “I’ll get Daddy!”

“No!” Morgan jumped, eyes wide. Peter fought to calm his voice. He offered her a smile that couldn’t have been convincing, not even to a five year old. “No, you don’t have to. I feel better now. You don’t have to tell him.”

Morgan’s lips wobbled. Peter knew what her fake pout looked like well enough to know this wasn’t it. “Petey…”

Peter had a lot of reasons to feel guilty. He felt guilty for scaring her. He felt guilty for forgetting to lock his bedroom door, for making scaring her a possibility. He kind of, in a way, felt guilty for doing it in the first place, though not nearly enough to stop.

But more than anything, he felt guilty for this: “Morgan, promise me you won’t tell him. He…he won’t let us swim anymore if you do. And I’m not sick, my tummy just hurt a little bit, but I’m all better now. Promise me you won’t tell him, okay?”

“But…”

“Morgan. Promise.”

When I'm Sick Or Suffering (I'll Still Call You) (ao3) - l_u_c_k_y_c_l_o_v_e_r G, 2k

Summary: Peter comes down with the flu, but a certain superhero makes sure he doesn't have to deal with it on his own.

Wingman (ao3) - Sahiya G, 4k

Summary: Holy shit, Rhodey thought. Tony’s a dad.

[mostly-marvel-musings]

Annoying Neighbour - Part 4

A/N: It seems like it’s been a minute since the last update on this one huh? Two years, damn. Anywho here it is. Leave a comment, like and reblog if you enjoyed reading!

Pairing: Single Dad! Tony Stark x Reader

Warning: Angst? Yeah.

Word count: 1.8k

Annoying Neighbour Masterlist

.

“Hi, I’m Pepper, Tony’s ex-wife. You must be (Y/N).”

It had been an awfully long ten seconds before a reply finally fell from your lips. A weak ‘yeah’ that was barely over a whisper before Tony’s ex-wife clasped your hands together in a firm handshake. The kind of handshake that had you wonder if she was gauging your character and intentions with her husband…well, ex-husband.

A part of you wished to disappear from the site while another part wanted to stay put. The woman was quite stunning. A part of you pictured Tony and Pepper together as the ultimate power couple.

“Were you here to check up on Tony? He’s dandy.” Her tone made you so self-conscious, it was ridiculous. The way she spoke was condescending, even if she probably didn’t mean it.

“Um. Yeah, I actually brought him some food.” You pointed to the take out boxes that sat on the kitchen counter, shifting uncomfortably as Pepper let out a small chuckle, shaking her head.

“Well, aren’t you sweet? We actually were quite hungry.”

We.

What did she even mean? And where was Tony? Why wasn’t he here? You knew it’d make you feel better if he was. At least you had hoped for that.

Shifting uncomfortably on your feet, you decided it was probably best if you left. Pepper clearly wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon and Tony wasn’t here for an explanation.

“I’m gonna go. It was nice meeting you, Pepper.” You mumbled, giving her a small smile and a nod before heading out the door.

“I’ll tell him you stopped by!” She called after you, her tone almost mocking at this point, you thought.

Your brain was on overdrive by the time you reached your house. Why was Tony’s ex suddenly in his house? How in the world did she know about you? And most importantly, where was Tony? There were too many questions that needed answers.

As stressed as you were, a way of coping with that stress made you grab a pair of rubber gloves and scrub your kitchen clean. You didn’t know why but it always made you feel better. Even as a child, every time you were upset, you’d either take a walk outside, clean out your toys or do something productive, a habit you had picked up from your mum.

About an hour later, your doorbell rang, revealing Morgan clutching the hand of a man you didn’t recognise.

“Hi Y/N!” she greeted you cheerfully, making you grin wide as she hugged your legs.

“This is Uncle Rhodey. Daddy’s best friend. Uncle Rhodey, this is Y/N, she’s my friend.” She introduced the man who offered you a kind smile and his hand. Morgan in the meantime was distracted by a painting you had on your living room wall and made a run towards it.

Rhodey explained he was dropping Morgan off at her home but there had been a sudden turn of events, which led him here. He was hoping you’d look after her for some time while Pepper and Tony had a chat. Whatever that meant.

“I’m really sorry to spring this on you, Y/N, and I understand if you’re busy or not comfortable, it’s just that, she insisted on spending time with you.” he nodded towards Tony’s daughter, who was now busy looking at magazines you had lying around your table.

“It’s okay. I wasn’t busy and I like her, she’s a good kid.” you smiled politely at the man, before taking her small backpack from him.

“Tony mentioned he’d pick her up from here later.”

Oh. So he was talking then. Just not to you. And Pepper and Tony were going to ‘chat’ while you played babysitter to their daughter. Shaking your thoughts away, you thanked him as Morgan waved her uncle goodbye before closing the door and letting out a sigh. Certainly wasn’t how you imagined your day to go.

“What were you doing?” Morgan piped up, looking around your house curiously.

“Well, I was thinking about baking chocolate chip cookies, and I wouldn’t mind some help. What do you say?” you grinned watching her face light up at the mention of cookies.

You had always been good with children, it came quite naturally to you and Morgan was definitely a well brought up child. All thanks to her wonderful father, you thought. You were probably too quick to judge but Pepper didn’t seem like someone with a maternal instinct although she was a mom. With what Tony had told you and the fact that Morgan never brought her Mom up in any conversation you had had.

“Are chocolate chip cookies your favorite, Y/N?” she asked whilst mixing sugar and butter with a whisk as best as she could.

“They are. What about you? What do you like the most?”

“Cheeseburgers. Daddy and I love cheeseburgers the most.” she watched you beat the eggs and sift flour, bring the mixture together after adding chocolate chips which she mischievously snuck into her palm.

“Do you like my Daddy?”

You paused for a moment as you opened the door of the fridge to keep the cookie dough to chill, contemplating the answer. It was easy though. You liked him. A lot. It was bordering on more than like for you. Until today. Now , you were not so sure.

“I do, honey. I like him.” you gave her an honest answer, smiling a little as her face lit up again.

“He likes you too. He talks about you a lot.” Morgan offered you some chocolate chips she had stolen, making your heart jump hopelessly at her candidness.

You had some time to kill before the cookies would be ready to bake so you asked her to pick out a movie to watch while you cleaned up. The window of your kitchen overlooked Tony’s living room, which is how you’d often converse with the man. There was a flurry of activity that caught your attention as you scrubbed mixing bowls.

It was Tony and Pepper. Walking around the living room, deep in conversation that you secretly wished you could overhear. You saw Tony rub a hand down his face before Pepper approached him, placing her arms around him and cupping his face. Your heart sunk to your stomach as you watched them kiss.

“Y/N! I think we should watch Frozen! Come quick!”

The bowl clattered in the sink as you pulled your gaze away from the scene that had stunned you. Taking a deep breath you tried to ground yourself, pulling the curtains close and continuing with your task at hand.

“Be right there Morgan!” you tried sounding as cheery as you could, blinking tears away and offering her a big smile.

They kissed. Right in the living room, right before you. Albeit unaware that you had witnessed it. Your brain worked into overdrive as the movie played, Morgan hummed almost every song enthusiastically as she sat next to you, blissfully unaware of the goings on.

This was such a mistake. How could you have been so stupid? Getting involved with a man who had a family? They were divorced, sure. But there was no denying that they were still a family. It was always complicated with families, you knew that. But let yourself get swept off your feet by Tony. The last few weeks now seemed like a dream that had suddenly just come crashing down.

By the time you finished both movies, Morgan was half asleep in your lap and your eyes hurt from keeping unshed tears at bay. You made sure she was comfortable and covered her with a blanket before heading into your kitchen to bake the cookies.

There was a knock on your door as you paced about the kitchen while the cookies cooled down on a rack. In your heart you knew who it was, and your mind was screaming on the inside, cursing you for getting involved in this situation.

Tony stood leaning against your doorway waiting as you opened the door, the sight of him almost making you tear up again. But you couldn’t let him know what you saw. Though a part of you wanted an explanation.

“Hi hon. I wanted to say how sorry I was for not coming by earlier. You know there was a lot that happened with Pep–”

“Morgan’s asleep on the couch.” you cut his speech short, opening the door further to let him in before heading back to the kitchen. He figured you would be upset but he was prepared to apologize. What he wasn’t prepared for was how you were avoiding meeting his eyes.

“Thank you Y/N for looking after her, you really didn’t have to. And look, about what happened–”

“We made these together. But she fell asleep. So here.” you handed him a small container in which you packed the cookies, still avoiding his gaze as he picked his kid up in his arms.

“I understand you’re upset. But you have to let me explain, Y/N. Please.”

You gave in and lifted your gaze up to meet his eyes. Yet another mistake. It felt like your heart shattered all over again looking into those brown orbs that held earnesty. You quietly walked away and held the door, silently hoping he’d leave you alone. You could not deal with this, not right now.

“Could I come by later today? I really need to talk to you. Please Y/N.”

“This was a bad idea, Tony. I don’t think we should see each other anymore.” your voice shook as you uttered the words, blinking away tears that welled in your eyes.

You couldn’t wait any longer. So you did what you had to and shut the door on Tony’s heartbroken face before he could stop you. Sinking to the floor, you sobbed into your hands, aware of the fact that he was probably still outside your porch, listening to your crying.

It had to be done. Getting involved with Tony Stark was a big mistake.

[lovewithmary]

THE ENGINEER | MCU X FORMULA ONE CROSSOVER

INTRODUCTION

summary: where mick schumacher and viviana stark are best friends, unbeknownst to most.

pairing: undecided for now, but f1 drivers x oc

author's note: hello everyone! this is my first time writing about f1, so I'm kinda nervous in posting this. btw this idea came to me after I rewatched iron man 2 and realized that the movie had tony driving the track in monaco so yeah 👍👍there will be more parts depending on the reception this part gets

warnings: mentions of the iron man 2 kidnapping (does this count as a spoiler)

viviana stark's instagram

liked by tonystark, starkindustries, mickschumacher and 49932292 others

vivstark: happy birthday to my best friend in the world 💜 words cannot describe how much i miss you but i hope to see you soon mickey!

tagged: mickschumacher

comments

user1: MICK AND VIVIANA?? SINCE WHEN?? ↳ user2: they’ve been best friends since birth basically 😭😭 their dads are friends and they grew up spending time with each other ↳ user2: and i’m pretty sure tony stark had a hand in building mick’s first kart when he was younger ↳ user3: IMAGINE GETTING TO SAY THAT TONY STARK BUILT YOUR KART?

user4: VIVIANA STARK NEW WAG?

user5: WHY DIDN’T WE KNOW ABOUT THIS SOONER? ↳ user6: they both said in older interviews that whenever they’d been out together, there was always speculation that they were dating and it was getting pretty annoying for the both of them so they started hanging out in secret

user7: CAN VIVIANA COME TO THE PADDOCK? ↳ user8: OMGGG that would be so good ↳ user9: tbh, i highly doubt it'll happen. ever since tony stark got kidnapped at the monaco track, there have been no appearances from any starks only reps for the company

starkindustries: i see a certain statue of the greatest superhero ever 😎 ↳ vivstark: okay who taught my dad how to use emojis? also who let him have the company instagram just so he can post this? was it you peterparker? ↳ peterparker: i had no idea he even knew what they were vivstark ↳ tonystark: how old do you guys think i am? vivstark peterparker ↳ vivstark: oh you don't want us to answer that ↳ peterparker: what she said ^ ↳ user10: LIVING FOR THIS INTERACTION

mickschumacher: miss you v 💜 ↳ vivstark: miss you too mickey 💜

[irondadfics]

Hi! Do you do fic recs? If so, can you rec me some really good really whumpy fics? Like, Peter almost dies but comes back kinda whump and Tony is just the best dad ever!

here are some recommendations for you

Reviving Peter Parker by YellowDistress

Spider-Man was murdered five years ago, on a beach, at the hands of Adrian Toomes. Peter Parker never came home. Spider-Man was murdered five years ago. Today Peter Parker took his first breath.

If You Should Die Before Me (Reserve Me A Place In Heaven) by Aurealis

Peter is locked in a flooding cave in and Tony tries to rescue him.

Identity Theft by KitCat992

It's been months since the events of Civil War, and the Avengers are doing their best to remain a team, having promised to forgive and forget. Unfortunately for them, Tony Stark's latest invention has been stolen and recovering it causes tension to reappear. Meanwhile, in Queens, Peter Parker has two main priorities on his plate — complete his midterm finals, and track down a fishbowl wearing criminal that may or may not lead him right into the hands of the Avengers. Somehow between all of this, Spider-Man's identity is revealed to the Avengers, Steve and Tony's friendship may permanently be damaged due to continued hidden secrets, and Happy struggles to buy a youth-sized casket for Peter's funeral. Things were a lot easier when they were fighting over Bucky Barnes. (Or: The Avengers welcome Peter into their crazy superhero family and will do anything to protect him.)

Burn up with the water by jaybaybay

Spider Man died while millions watched. There was a fire. Then an explosion. And just like that, the famed hero was no more. The world mourned for their loss, then the world had moved on. Save for one. Tony Stark had last been seen when he spoke at Spider Man's public funeral, his demeanor had been calm and stoic; a stark contrast to when he had been seen only days before, screaming and clutching the disembodied torso of the cherished vigilante. Iron Man hadn’t been spotted in months. Not since the incident.  Everyone knew Spider Man was dead. But somewhere, in a prison encased deep in the ocean… Peter Parker lived.

The Humbling River by mysterycyclone

Peter’s been distant lately. Edgy. Angry. On his best days, he moves through his life in a vague daze, skipping meals and sleeping. On his worst, he’s hit with fits of anger that border on unthinking rage.  Monday afternoon, he breaks Flash Thompson’s hand.  Wednesday evening, he goes missing.  That night, the first headless corpse appears in Queens.